I just spent a week at a Digital Marketing conference in Dallas Texas. It was hosted by Clickfunnels, a software program that designs sales funnels, web pages, and marketing strategies for business owners.
It was 75% men.
Probably half of them were something we call “funnel builders”. The people who actually USE the software to create marketing pipelines for businesses. Most people have no clue what a funnel builder is, so instead — they identify as:
- Marketing Consultants
- Web Designers
- Email Specialists
- Lead Strategists
- Sales & Marketing Directors
- Advertising Consultant
- Online Business Strategist
- Professional Service Provider
…and on and on it goes. The energy at the conference was high! People had GREAT hopes for the day when they would enter the “2 comma club” from a funnel they built.
I want you to listen closely….especially if you’re a woman.
There was no man there that had his highest aim as:
- Paying for groceries
- Getting Suzy into the summer camp of her choice
- Spending money for a new outfit
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ANY OF THESE GOALS.
But they are small. Pathetically small.
I was in a room full of people hoping to make $1,000,000 from one funnel. And guess what? There were already 50 + who had.
As I pondered this great discrepancy between the people in the room and the people I see and talk to online everyday, I realized that there was ONE main difference between the two groups…
Their title.
Many women in the online space identify themselves as virtual assistants, online business managers, or Tech VA’s. I can promise you NONE of these men called themselves any such thing. None of which would ever come running if you screamed, “Hey!!!!!! I need a Virtual Assistant who needs to know Clickfunnels for $20/hr.”
The only difference between the dudes at this conference and the women I mentor?
The flippin’ story.
The message.
The confidence to sell their brain with their hands.
I walked away from the conference incredibly excited and so sad. Sad that so many women will abandon the game of Virtual Assistance not because it isn’t lucrative, but because they didn’t figure out how to tell the right story.
Some of you might be saying, “But you use the title all the time!” And we do. There is a place for it. And frankly, their are a lot of business owners that know the term and will use it…simply because they don’t know the other labels! You gotta meet people where they’re at. And for beginners, it’s an easy catch-all title that will work until you zone in on your particular genius.
But that doesn’t change the point of this post. No matter what job opportunities you respond to, or what a prospect calls you, I want to know…
What do YOU call YOU?
- Are you in this game with the idea that you want to make an extra $500 a month? If so, that’s probably what you’ll make.
- Thinking about reaching that awesome $2k a month mark so you can quit your job? Great, you’ll get there.
But that’s partly why you’re struggling to find someone to pay you $25 an hour or more. Why clients are ditching you by the side of the road left, right, and center.
Your story is…
I’m a VA who wants to buy groceries each month. I’m your assistant who you can sh*t on. I don’t need a lot of pay because the work I do is mindless. I’m just going to execute, I’m not going to strategize.
And of course you don’t want to strategize at $10/hr.
Right now, you have the chance to change the story. You can go from a Virtual Assistant to a Digital Marketer. From $10/hr to $5000 per funnel.
“But I don’t have any skills?!?!?!?!” I hear you saying.
Then learn them. This is probably the EASIEST of all your problems to solve, and I’ll show you why in a minute. But the truth is you won’t find the time and energy to learn them if you don’t believe that you are in this to become something more than just an assistant.
The problem right now my friend is with you.
- Your vision is not big enough.
- Your mind is not prepared to think like a marketer.
And I know this very well… because everything above? Is part of my story.
The story of spending YEARS making $1k or $2k a month as a blogger – thinking like a blogger, acting like one, and hanging out with all the other bloggers in the space making the same or less.
I charged low prices, ran my services off of my reputation as a mom blogger (hello – my story?!) and I spent WAY WAY WAY too long at that point because I didn’t know how to change my story.
I want you to hear me LOUD and clear. When I had an epiphany about my story, and how it was not serving me, EVERYTHING changed. Because my skill set was the same on Monday as it was on Tuesday.
For some of you, you’re going to have to change your story AND learn your skills.
For me…I already had the skills, I just had the wrong message. And when I changed it? In 14 months I went from $2k a month to having a $10,000 DAY.
I want to help you set your sights HIGHER than a Virtual Assistant Job to pay groceries.
- You can become a digital marketer. A funnel builder.
- You can easily earn $8,000 a month or more.
- From there, you can take your funnel building, marketing skills and SCALE your business.
- You can start consulting.
- You can start a blog/podcast and promote other people’s products and make a ton of affiliate commissions.
- You can monetize a passion you have (like art, animals, child-rearing, math, cars, dancing, etc.) and take your funnel building skills and create additional revenue streams with these side passions.
- You can build out a digital marketing agency and hire people under you to scale your earning potential.
Alright, so here’s where we get to the questions I now you have…
What the heck IS Digital Marketing?
Digital Marketing is the industry of advertising business on the Internet. We have a completely free AMAZING workshop replay that explains Digital Marketing in easy-to-understand terms that you can understand. Click below to watch!
How do I learn Digital Marketing skills?
Digital Marketing skills are broad in scope, and you’ll want to shrink them down eventually. But if I had to create a bucket list of what I did AT LEAST ONCE before I got to the expert status I’m at now, you can check out my Digital Marketer’s Bucket List here! Once you get the “idea” of what types of jobs you can go after as a digital marketer, you can head over to our free workshop all about the 5 simple steps to creating and launching your first course, membership, or program for you or your clients.
Marketing feels slimy to me
This is a HUGE problem for women. We’re taught from a young age that a pushy woman is annoying and ugly. And we all associate marketing with pushiness. I know that there are men who deal with this issue as well, but it’s not nearly as intense. All I can say is this…I can’t change your mind about marketing in one blog post, but I can tell you that when you change your story and begin to understand the WHY behind marketing, the slimy reputation of advertising will fall away. The fastest way to do this is to start hanging out with marketers that DON’T feel slimy to you (cough, cough, me). I do Facebook LIVES on my Facebook page here!
I can’t get out of my own way to change my story!
I know. It’s because it’s hard to do it alone! This is one of the reasons we’ve created the Create Your Laptop Life membership. It’s a bestest, baddest, freelance tribe on the Internet, and it’s full of women and men who are changing their stories too. This IS the place to change your story. We also have a totally free Facebook group that you can join as well!
In the meantime (and while you’re waiting), I encourage you to buy a copy of DOTCOM secrets TODAY.*
*We are affiliates for this book, but since it’s free, we don’t earn commission to promote it unless you buy something else in the funnel. This book is BAD A**. You need to read it. Like, yesterday.
Na'Kole Watson says
AMAZING stuff!!! Just what I needed to start my Monday!!! Thanks, Julie! #ProudCYLLer
Reese says
I know you aren’t writing specifically about women in this post, but this blog reminds me of Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and her Lean In talks. Women very, unfortunately, keep themselves small because they often times don’t think there is room for them at the negotiating table AND when given a chance to negotiate, they often don’t. They accept. They don’t push the envelope. This post needed to be written. It needs to be talked about a lot. You’ve opened the doors for some serious discussion and I look forward to the dialogue. Well done, Julie. I’m so happy to see the direction you’re going in.