In honor of the 100th episode of the FastForwardAmy Show, I'm taking you with me on a trip down memory lane
I'm offering you a peek behind the curtains on what it's really like to run 2 businesses, how I make certain decisions, and what have been the biggest wins and learnings over the past two years.
Make yourself comfortable, grab a drink and get ready for this very special CEO update on what's happening with:
- the podcast,
- marketing,
- sales,
- our team,
- and my personal brand.
Topic #1: The podcast – making decisions with no support
I started this podcast all by myself a little over 2 years ago.
I recorded the FastForwardAmy Show by myself in my PJs, and produced and implemented every piece of content that would go out…
At that time, no one believed it was going to work out.
I got questions like:
How long will you keep on doing this? Will you have enough to say to keep going?
I doubted myself too, but I had this gut feeling that I just had to do this podcast to really build my brand. So I pushed through and took the risk.
Fast Forward to today; the podcast has been one of the primary reasons for the successful first launch of my Business Freedom Elevator™️.
This shows that sometimes, you really need to trust your gut feeling and overcome the doubt inflicted by your environment in order to move your business forward.
Biggest win: we've never missed a new episode on Tuesday
One of the biggest wins of the podcast is that we've been able to put out one new episode every. single. Tuesday.
Not missing a single week at 100 episodes – I'd say that's pretty consistent!
Definitely when you consider I postponed the launch of my podcast on several occasions, because I didn't trust myself to follow through with my plans.
Don't borrow from tomorrow. What you do today will define your future, even when those actions are perfectly imperfect.
So I hacked myself into actually launching the podcast, and improved along the way.
Not all the content is equally fabulous, but we put in the effort we could at the time, and taking this perfectly imperfect action resulted in over 100 episodes today.
Biggest learning: growing the podcast should be one of our goals
The whole podcast process has taught me a lot, and I'm proud of all we have achieved with the podcast today.
One regret I have is that we haven't had more space to focus on actually growing the podcast.
For example:
- Attracting a bigger English-speaking audience.
- Grow our Dutch audience.
- Work on the podcast format.
In the upcoming year, growing the podcast will be a huge priority for us, and of course, keep on delivering awesome content to you every week!
Topic #2: Sales – hitting the €2.000.000 mark
Talking sales, money, and numbers still feels quite uncomfortable for me.
So far, 2021 has been an incredible year with 2 million euros in booked revenue.
That's double compared to what we made last year, and we're still a small team of only 6 people. That's what I call exponential growth!
Biggest win: our clients are massively successful
As I've said before, the podcast is one of the primary reasons for the successful first launch of my Business Freedom Elevator™️.
Now, looking to the second and the third round, which we just closed, it hasn't been the podcast, my Instagram, our emails, or videos that led to massive sales…
Our biggest sales and marketing machine is the success of our clients. They are the reason we keep getting new sales.
Biggest learning: we need to boost our passive revenue
During the past two years, we've been extremely focused on launching, and successfully so, but on the flip side we haven't been focused on our passive revenue whatsoever.
Passive income will be a major priority for us moving forward. And seeing how well passive sales are doing in my other business, I'm sure team FFA and I can make it happen.
Topic #3: Marketing – getting inside the brain of our ideal clients
Marketing and sales go hand in hand for us, so obviously what we learn through the sales stats is what we can improve on marketing-wise.
Biggest win: we know our clients inside and out
No doubt that marketing has brought us a lot of sales, and the main reason that's the case is that we've fine-tuned our messaging even more.
The whole team knows our ideal clients inside and out:
- What they are thinking,
- what transformation they are looking for,
- what pains they experience,
- and what they need to resolve that pain.
Knowing all of this has helped us market our programs around our ideal client and create content that people actually want to consume.
Offering value through our content has become the benchmark for anything we send out.
Biggest learning: focus more on lead generation
While marketing has brought in a lot of sales, it's time to move to the next level, which means focusing much more on lead generation.
I've realized we know how to turn potential clients into paying clients, but we sometimes forget to keep expanding our pool of potential customers.
Growing my podcast audience and our email list to attract new followers and leads is what we'll be looking at to generate more leads.
Topic #4: Team – building a dream together
Two years ago, I had no one on my payroll but a virtual assistant. Fast Forward till today, I'm in charge of two full-time teams of 10 people in total!
One thing I've learned is that there's a big difference between being an entrepreneur versus being a boss – being a boss comes with a lot (a whole fcking lot)* of responsibilities.
I'd worked with freelancers before I started building my team (and still do now), but having the responsibility of full-time team members is a whole other ballpark.
Biggest win: team FFA and I are building the brand together
While building a team has been the wildest ride of my life so far, it has ultimately turned my passion into a business and helped me get over the edge where it's not a hobby anymore. The FastForwardAmy brand is no longer about me building my dream. Instead, it's about all of us, building a dream together.
Biggest learning: becoming a leader is a steep learning curve
I've never worked in a corporate environment before, so little did I know about managing and leading people.
I got so obsessed with getting my business organized that it became the goal itself. But if you want to move forward, getting organized should only be a way to support you and your business.
My biggest learning is that people support a world they help create. It's my mission as a leader to help them grow as people and coach them to unfold the best version of themselves.
Topic #5: Personal – taking a step back to step up
You know I'm all up for sharing the real and raw versions of myself, and I always try to involve you whenever I think there's something you can take away from my learnings, too.
Biggest win: my environment is a safety net, and I'm not alone
I'm blessed to have so many amazing people in my life, including friends and family. I get to talk to them about all the ups and downs in business and my private life. Jessica, my best friend and work wife, is one of those people that I speak to every day. We laugh together, and we cry together.
Biggest learning: taking a step back – as hard as it may seem – to take off the pressure and protect myself
In the past few years, I've created an amazing brand and attracted more than 1000+ clients through my personality and authentic authority, but it also comes with a lot of pressure.
It's been a lot of hard work to be out there constantly, and it has made me realize that it's time to take a step back and protect myself from over-exposure.
It's time to start looking at turning the FastForwardAmy brand into something that can survive without my face.
That means making fewer stories, work more with ads, and have my team take more responsibility and ownership so that I can take a step back and step up into my CEO role.
The goal is to create a brand that's so strong it will stand the test of time. **
Topic #6: Recap – commit to yourself even when you're scared
Oh boy, this was quite the CEO update, diving into everything from podcasting to sales, and from marketing to building my teams.
Hopefully, you're still here, because if there's one thing I want you to take away from all these wins and learnings is that YOU'VE GOT TO BELIEVE IT'S POSSIBLE.
I didn't believe it was possible to build a million-dollar business, but I committed to myself.
I committed to my vision of the life I wanted.
Even when I was afraid, I kept going.
The same goes for you. Whatever it is that's holding you back or make you doubt yourself, DO IT.
Action is drawing the line from where you are now to where you want to be tomorrow.
When disbelief hits you, take action even when you're scared, and as you start seeing results, the belief will follow.
YOU CAN DO IT. I believe you can. Now it's up to you. 🧡
PS did you get inspired by this 100th episode, and do you want to start a podcast yourself? I've got your back! I've created a step-by-step guide with a lot of tech tips and hands-on advice to help you start your podcast. You can download my Start Your Podcast Guide for free through www.fastforwardamy.com/startyourpodcast. Remember: if it scares you just a little, that's the sign for you to just DO IT!
Watch this episode on YouTube or listen via iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and search for episode 100 of The FastForwardAmy Show.
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