Owning a business right now is an amazing opportunity

I've owned businesses of one sort or another for the last three decades, and I can honestly say that I don't think there's ever been a better time to build the kind of business you actually want.

Why?

Because technology has completely changed what's possible for a small business - and particularly for a solopreneur.

And I don't mean you need to be especially tech-savvy to take advantage of it - in fact, it's quite the opposite.

Things that would have required specialist skills, a team of people and tens of thousands of dollars just a decade ago can increasingly be created by one person, sometimes for next to nothing.

Here's a slightly crazy comparison...

Many years ago, I worked as a contract software developer for a large US tech company (before I realised I wasn't cut out to be an employee!).

I was part of a project to build a shop-floor data management system - essentially, an application for tracking products as they moved through the manufacturing process.

The budget was around $2 million (an enormous investment at the time)

There was a whole team involved: project managers, business analysts, software developers, testers, product managers and more.

From kick-off to delivery, I think it took almost a year. And even then, there were plenty of issues to iron out afterwards.

Now compare that with what's possible today.

Based on the tools available to us now, I reckon I could build something approaching the same functionality, on my own, over a weekend.

That's not a flex about my abilities.

It's a reflection of just how dramatically the world has changed.

AI, no-code tools, automation, APIs and incredibly capable software platforms have put capabilities into our hands that were once reserved for companies with enormous budgets and specialist teams.

And that's the bit I find exciting.

As solopreneurs, we don't need to use this technology to build bigger, more complicated businesses.

We can use it to build smaller, smarter and more profitable ones.

We can automate work we don't enjoy doing and create things we couldn't previously afford to create.

We can serve customers better and experiment with ideas quickly, operating with capabilities that would once have required an entire team.

The opportunity isn't really the technology itself.

It's what we can now do with it.

Your email list doesn't need to be big - it needs to work.

Many email marketers, especially those new to the channel, set out with one main goal - to grow their email list with as many subscribers as they possibly can! Because the more subs they have, the more likely they are to make sales, right?

Wrong.

My heart sinks a little, every time I sit down with a prospect or new customer and they proudly show me their long list of subscribers that they've managed to accrue over recent months/years - and when I ask the question... "What's your revenue per subscriber?", they give me a blank stare.

Sometimes they've even 'invested' in paid ads to grow their list. 😧

It's the classic case of "Yeah, I'm building up my list and once I reach [fill in the blank] subscribers, then I'll start to sell my products/services."

But here's the truth - if you're making zero (or close to zero) revenue from your existing list, adding more of the same will only increase your hosting costs, potentially reduce your email deliverability, and cause you endless frustration when it fails to work.

More subscribers does not automatically equal more revenue.

Here's a much better approach...

1. Get clear on who is a good-fit for your email list and only add those to your list
2. Become ruthless about 'cold' or unengaged subscribers and remove them
3. Make sure your products and services are aligned with the reason your subscribers joined your email list
4. Only ever present a relevant offer at an appropriate time
5. Treat your subscribers as individuals and collect personalised data
6. Grow your list and track revenue per subscriber from day 1 (if you make $0 from 500 subs, you'll probably make $0 from 5,000 or even 50,000 subs)

So, don't get too focused on growing your numbers, instead focus on growing your return on investment.

What does it take to grow a successful email-first business?

An Email-First™ business has two defining characteristics:

All roads lead to your email list, and most of your revenue flows from it.

That's really the model in a nutshell.

Every month, I talk to solopreneurs who'd love a business that works this way, but many assume they're missing something - a bigger audience, better marketing skills, more technical knowledge, or some secret strategy they haven't discovered yet.

Usually, they're not.

What they lack is confidence in the process, not the ability to make it work.

The shift is from constantly chasing attention, leads and sales to building a simple system that progressively moves the right people towards becoming customers:

1. Decide that email will sit at the centre of your business.
2. Attract the right people with useful content and give them a reason to join your email list.
3. Learn what your subscribers actually need help with.
4. Create and offer products and services that solve those problems.
5. Deliver a great experience, then ask: "What do you need next?"
6. Repeat.

That's where an email-first business becomes particularly powerful.

You're not constantly trying to persuade strangers to make big buying decisions.

Instead, you're creating a series of small, logical next steps.

↪ A stranger becomes a subscriber.
↪ A subscriber becomes engaged.
↪ An engaged subscriber becomes a customer.
↪ A customer gets a result.
↪ And that customer discovers the next way you can help them.

Nothing needs to feel like a huge leap.

The challenge usually isn't doing any one of these things. It's figuring out how all the pieces should work together in your particular business.

If you'd like me to help you figure that out, book a free exploratory call. We'll look at where you are today and what an Email-First™ version of your business could look like.

Book a free exploratory call

Last week's question...

If you didn't see it, I had posed the question of whether you should use a 'tag' or a 'custom field' to capture the most recent product or service a subscriber purchased.

Answer: Use a custom field because the information is subject to change. If a subscriber buys your digital course, the custom field stores that value. If they then subsequently buy your 1-2-1 coaching programme, the value gets updated.

This type of information is super-useful when it comes to figuring out the next product or service every one of your subscribers should be offered.