If you're trying to sell anything online on social media, anywhere like that, and you don't have a list, if you don't have any followers, it's going to be really damn hard unless you've got a massive budget. So today I'm going to break down for you how you can get your first 500 email subscribers and a bunch of new followers too. it's just three simple steps. They don't cost anything. And you can get started today. So let's dive right on it.
Hey guys, it is Kate here from hello funnels and welcome back to the doing it online podcast. Now, today we are talking email lists, more importantly, starting your email list, Because I think pretty much better than anyone. I know just how important that is. Not only was that really crucial in the success of my first business, I was actually able to grow my email list from zero to about 20,000 followers in my first year, spending zero on ads all through the methods I'm about to teach you.
But I've also taught Thousands of digital product entrepreneurs, how to create their own successful, mostly automated digital product businesses. And the very first thing we need to do is make sure they've got a bit of an email list. It doesn't have to be massive, but you do need a bit because trying to get your first sales, trying to test anything, you don't want to be using ads. Okay. Because that can be really risky and there goes all your profit.
So step number one always is let's give your list a bump. And we do it using my beg, borrow, pay framework. So the beg, borrow, pay framework is a step by step framework for getting your first profit. Or even next 500 email subscribers or more. I've seen people actually get thousands of subscribers using this method. The first two steps are completely free and the last one is optional, but if you're seeing some good success with the first two, it can really help to speed things up.
And that requires just a tiny little bit of budget. now before we dive into the three steps, the very first thing you need to do, regardless of whether you're doing. You know, these three steps or any other type of list building is you need to come up with a really juicy lead magnet, or what we call an opt in bribe, because, you know, let's be honest, that's what it is. We're bribing people to opt in to your email list.
Now, because you are new, because you are getting started, I don't want you here worrying at all about giving away too much for free. There is no such thing right now. The most important thing is that you create something that is. So valuable that people are going to be clamoring over themselves to get it. So that way you don't need to worry about being the best marketer. You don't need to worry about your messaging being amazing or your landing page being amazing.
You know that you can go and share this with a lower level of skill because you're still learning and that's fine. And that's where most people are going to be, but you can go and share this and it, people are still going to want it versus something that's not that great. And you're going to have to really try and be really good at. All those other things you can have to optimize your pages.
You're going to have to make sure that your marketing and your images and your messaging, just nail it every single time. And that's too hard. So let's keep it easy. Let's make sure it is just regardless of whether you sent people like. a 30 word tweet or, you know, a whole big long email. It doesn't matter. People would instantly understand. What this was, why it was great. And your ideal client is going to be falling all over themselves to get it.
Now, the other reason why we want to make sure that whatever this initial lead magnet is that you are sharing is so super juicy is because it's going to help with word of mouth. And again, when you're getting started, when your budget is small, word of mouth is your best friend, because you want people going, I've got this amazing thing. Do you want it?
Even if they pass it along to people, it doesn't matter because those people are finding out about you and if they like it, they can be like, who is this person? I need to go check out what they're doing. So you want something that is good enough that people, like I said, are going to jump on it, even when everything else is imperfect. And they're going to think it's so great. They're going to pass it along to their friends. So create that super juicy lead magnet.
Now, again, another little caveat, I don't want you spending like days on this. Something can be super juicy and super valuable while being like a 20 minute video or a PDF, you know, find that balance there because it really is about creating something that allows you to go and take action as quickly as possible, but you know, making sure whatever that thing is, is still actually something people are really going to want. So that's step number one.
Now we move on to the framework, the beg, borrow, pay. phase number one is beg. And I don't want you to feel bad about this phase, but literally this is what we're going to be doing. What you're going to do to get your first 100 to 150, even 200 people on your list, you should be able to do that through asking your existing networks. I'm talking friends.
relatives, long lost relatives, clients, colleagues, previous colleagues, any groups that you might already be in, it's okay to ask them to share your Freebie because do you know what, if people like you, if you have a relationship with them, any kind of relationship, then they usually, as long as you make it as easy as possible for them, they usually are happy to help.
So if you go to them and say, look, I'm starting up this business, it would mean the world to me and be so impactful to my business, if you could just take this image and this text and go and share it on your Facebook page, or if you could, you know, take this copy or this link and email it to anyone you think might be interested or anyone you think might know someone who might be interested. That is all it takes. Yes. It can be a little humbling, right?
No one likes to go out there with their cap in hand and say, can you help me? But guess what? Everybody does it. There's no shame in it. And people want to help you. They'll feel good about helping you. You're not going to do this every day. This is probably like the one and only time you're going to do this, but it's going to help you to kickstart your business.
And you know what, when your business is thriving, you can send them all a bunch of flowers, take them out for a fancy dinner, whatever you want to do, but don't feel bad about this. Make it easy for them, make it heartfelt, and they will be happy to share. So that's how you're going to get your first, like I said, 150 ish subscribers. The second phase is borrow. So now got a little bit traction. Hopefully got a few runs on the board.
Hopefully you've also seen a few things that have worked better than others. And you're now going to commit to a daily routine where you're going to take that amazing lead magnet that you created and you are now going to commit to sharing it three times a day. That's it. what I mean by sharing it is it's really up to you. Like what makes sense for you? There's going to be a little bit of trial and error, but there's so many different places you can share it.
You obviously can share it on your own social media. So you can share it as a story, as a post. You could do a live, you could pin it on Pinterest. you can also then share it to, into groups like Facebook groups, Reddit threads, LinkedIn groups, like whatever is going to be a place that you think your ideal client might be hanging out. So this can take a little bit of research at the start. There are some great lists available.
Um, if you're in our ecause Empire program, guys, we have that list for you of a bunch of amazing Facebook groups that allow sharing to get you started in all different kinds of niches. So you're going to do that. You're going to commit to that.
3 times a day, and you're going to find over time, the ones that work and don't, and I know this can sound a little bit labor intensive guys, but I think once you sit down for an hour or two at the start and go, all right, where's some great places I can share it, list all those out into a recurring task in your project management system, or if you don't have one, go get one, you know, something like Asana, we use ClickUp, Trello, whatever, you know, floats your boat and just have it.
So it comes up each day, share three times and you go, right, I'm going to click here. I'm going to share it there. I'm going to click here, share it here, and I'm gonna do a quick little, story and chuck it up on stories you'll start to notice some things work better than others because some days you'll have big spikes and you. Sharing it once in the right spot, in the right way that can get you hundreds of people in one go. Yes. You're probably going to have like 20, 30 places. You share it.
They've got you none or maybe one or two here, but what we're doing is we are getting in the reps so we can get those one or two that get you that big win. Now, once you are in that flow of sharing it three times a day, an advanced move, particularly once you've already got a few hundred people on your list, an advanced move would be to start to look out for things like bundles and summits. Usually they can be hard to get into if you only have a tiny list.
So that's why we recommend doing it later. But they are definitely something that can give you a really big boost, all in one go. But like I said, it's more like chicken, egg. It can be hard to get in until you have a list to start with, but there's no harm in putting your hand up. Particularly if you've got something different or interesting to say, they very well may still say yes. Okay, step number three is pay or more accurately pay for itself.
So if you have some kind of product or service you could offer, even if it's just one on one consulting, um, what I would recommend if you are happy to now start to spend Speed things up. If you've seen that you've got some good traction with that lead magnet, like that people have been taking it and have been really excited about it, and have probably even already been reaching out to you in like DMs and emails saying, Hey, can I get more? Can I work with you?
Then that's a really good indicator that this step three is going to work really well for you. So. Appreciate it. All you're going to do is you are going to use our seven day payday template. If you don't have that yet, you can grab it by the link below. You're going to set up a really simple seven day follow up sequence that you are going to automate in your email system. Like seriously, it's easy. And inside the seven day payday, we show you how to do it.
Super easy to create, whether you're using like active campaign, convert kit, mail, chimp, Kajabi, any of those, you'll be able to set this up in an hour, hour and a half kind of tops, you're going to set this up and that is going to then basically promote whatever it is. You have, even if it's just, you know, Here's a link to my calendar to book in for a one on one session.
Surely if you have a business and you're growing a list for it, you've got something, or you've got an idea about something to sell. And even if your big goal is to have a group program at some point, it's actually can be so beneficial to do some one on one sessions in the lead up to it, because it's really great information. It's like basically you being paid to do market research. And the other benefit is this is going to help you with your list building. So as I said, section number three.
Pay or pay for itself is you're going to create your seven day email sequence using the seven day payday template below, and then you're going to set that up. And what that's going to do is that's going to basically allow you to build a bit of budget. So the first thing is once you set up that payday template. Is you're going to keep promoting like you've been doing, like maybe for a week or so.
So you've got enough people have gone through, and then hopefully you will make a sale, well, two or more, depending on what you put inside that sequence as your offer, and also the number of people that are coming through it. And then. Those first few sales, I would encourage you to use even a percentage of that revenue that you just made to put towards some budget to run some Facebook ads to your freebie.
So you will then get even more people coming in and going through that sequence and even more sales. And if you commit to just reinvesting a portion of that over and over, it can grow with a snowball effect and you can actually end up having your ads. completely paying for themselves.
And this is like one of those ninja hacks guys that I don't think enough people know about that's going to allow you to go from, you know, spending, you know, however much time hustling each day, trying to get more email subscribers to having your list growing completely on autopilot, um, making you money and paying for itself. And that is a game changer that can take you from having like a hundred or so to thousands. Really quickly.
And it can also really change what your bank account looks like because the sales will be coming through at the same time. So that's the three steps beg, borrow, pay, or pay for itself. I'm a final bonus tip because you know, it's not just about building your email list. If you're also got a social media platform that you're wanting to be focusing on is I would make sure that on your thank you page. So after. You've got your, your lead magnet, people put in the details. They go to a page.
It normally says, Hey, thanks. It's on its way to your inbox on that page.
Give them a reason, something juicy, even if you've done a lie, like this is something that can work, that works really well is if you've done maybe like a live video or if you've got a real or something that like broke down a process, it's kind of like a little almost mini training and just be like, Hey, Want to watch this little mini training, or do you want to learn how to do X click here, follow and follow me on Instagram, and you can watch that training now for free.
And so you're going to then direct these people who've just joined your email list over to also follow you on your social media platform of choice. And that way you can actually start building up both. So you have multiple ways to communicate with your new followers. So that's it guys. That is a big borrow pay framework. That is the easiest, fastest, and most cost effective way for you to get your first or next 500, 000 subscribers really, really damn fast.
If you do it and it works, please make sure you come back and you shoot us a comment so that we know, or you can DM us over on Instagram at HelloFunnels. I love hearing people's success stories so we can share them with other people. Other people. Now, if also, if you think this was useful guys, if you love this episode, which I really hope you did, it would mean the world to me.
If you could share it with at least one other person who you think might also benefit from getting a little bump on their email list, but otherwise, guys, hope you loved it. Hope it was useful. And I will see you all next time with more nerdy goodness. See you then. Bye.