Got a small list? Maybe you need to make a mess!

I often hear marketers talk about how small their list is.

Look, your list may not be as big as a “guru’s” list. That’s OK. It’s time for you to look at it a little bit differently.

Let’s say you have around 700 people on your list. That’s not a small number. Picture what 700 people in a room looks like. I launched a 6-figure business with a 300 person list. Don’t short-change yourself.

Now, in your advertising, let’s say you spend $60 and generate $20. You’re negative $40.

At this point I often hear marketers who say, “I’m struggling to make this work. My offer is dying on the vine, no matter how hard I work at it. I’m just about ready to throw in the towel.”

Instead of thinking negatively, I would start thinking, “OK, now I have 700 people on a list that I can monetize. How can I monetize this list?” Then use that money to continue to feed your traffic, testing and optimizing it.

Monetize your list right now!

Invite a partner to do a webinar for the people on that list, to sell something that you believe in, and you get a commission.

Maybe just once do a Google Hangout where you offer your product in some weird, different, strange, or unique way.

Now I don’t mean to suggest that these sorts of activities are the basis for a viable business in the long term, but in the short term, you can do some one-off things like this to generate $500 or $800 so you can keep working on fixing and optimizing your funnel.

The long-term game vs. the interim game

Lots of people think that being an entrepreneur is going to be smooth sailing, with everything on autopilot.

The truth is, sometimes it’s not pretty! Sometimes you need to do things in the moment to put out a fire. Sometimes you need to pivot to a slightly different course.

A few months ago I watched an episode of Shark Tank with my daughter and Mark Cuban said something that made me think.

He said something like, When a business declines and goes down, what decision are you going to make? What are you going to do? What options do you have?

It’s the in-between stuff that defines an entrepreneur.

It’s OK to make a mess sometimes!

Like I told my operations guy at one point, “Sometimes you have to crack some eggs to make an omelet. Sometimes you have to make a mess. You can clean up the mess later on, but sometimes you have to make a mess first.”

Until you get your system down, it will very likely be a little bit of a disaster. It may be a bit of a mess. It’s kind of like when you’re redoing a home and putting on an addition, things get messy before they get nice.

Even here at MFA, we make some messes.

I was talking with one of our team members about a particular funnel that we’ve been working on that’s not where I need it to be. I said, “Sometimes you have to do things in the interim to keep things churning, even if you don’t plan to do those same things long term.”

The long-term game is different from the interim game. But you need to play that interim game to get you to that long term place.

What can you offer them?

So that list of 700 people?

I’d go reach out to a partner and do a partner promotion with them.

Don’t be afraid to get on the phone with a bigger player and say, “I want to introduce you to my little tribe of 700 people. I want to feature you and get a bunch of my people to buy your product.” You’d better believe they will listen to you.

For me, I can certainly bring in someone to talk to our tribe about time management, about productivity, or about organizational skills, because it’s all related.

The point is, there are some quality individuals out there who would bring great value to your people.

Whether it be communication skills, relationships skills, or whatever else seems relevant to the people on your list.

So I encourage you to take out a piece of paper right now, start writing down the additional skills that the people on your list would benefit by knowing. Then find someone great who can offer them a way to achieve those skills.

Find a quick way to monetize your list, and don’t throw in the towel just yet.