You’ve read stories of how 7-figure businesses are built. But how does a 7-figure business die? In this tale, you’ll see how. And if you pay close attention, you’ll learn lessons that will help you avoid the same fate. After all… There are many different ways to grow. But there are a thousand ways to die. Note: The protagonist, Kat, is entirely fictional. She’s an amalgamation of various business owners I know, and their stories. Any coincidence is unintended. The point is to raise awareness...
15 days ago • 3 min read
[Mentee] …yeah, you’re right. It makes sense to stick with the thing that’s working here. It’s really hard to say no to new things. But rather than starting this brand new thing from scratch, we should work on improving the asset we’ve already got. Man, you must've gotten pretty good saying “no“ to the all the new late night ideas your mentees get at this point 😂 I'm just wondering about the amount of new things people wanna do that they throw at you on a daily basis. [Olly] Well, yeah :) A...
28 days ago • 1 min read
I was talking with an entrepreneur recently about a familiar dilemma: “Should I hire XYZ agency for a $30k piece of funnel building work?” The questions were: Is that good value? Does the investment make sense? Should I go ahead? This email is how I think through these kind of large decisions. It might help you make similar assessments. I tend to look at an investment like this through three different lenses: financial competence opportunity cost By looking at all these angles in the round,...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Wait — surely I can’t send out an annual review at the end of bloody January!? I know, I know. But I have an excuse — I was under 10ft of snow in Japan and having too much fun. So cut me some slack, will you? Now look, here’s the context for this long piece of writing: 24 months ago, I started a completely new business (this one, right here) That business made $175k in the first year, as a one-person business (I wrote about it here) 12 months ago, I wrote the words: “I think I can make $1...
2 months ago • 13 min read
Wait — surely I can’t send out an annual review at the end of bloody January!? I know, I know. But I have an excuse — I was under 10ft of snow in Japan and having too much fun. So cut me some slack, will you? Now look, here’s the context for this long piece of writing: 24 months ago, I started a completely new business (this one, right here) That business made $175k in the first year, as a one-person business (I wrote about it here) 12 months ago, I wrote the words: “I think I can make $1...
2 months ago • 13 min read
After years of trying (and often failing) to collect video testimonials for my business, StoryLearning, we’ve landed on the best method of all. Here it is: First, email your customers and say you’re gathering case studies of successful students. Ask if they’d be willing to meet one of your team members (not you) to discuss their experience with the product. Tell them up front that it’ll be recorded. Do the meeting and ask the usual questions: what was life like before? what is life like...
6 months ago • 1 min read
I had an epiphany recently that hit me like a freight train. And it transformed how I think about my businesses. Let me explain... See, there are different types of entrepreneurs out there. You've got the growth-obsessed, the technicians, the "ideas people". But me? I'm a creative through and through. I'm not talking about just churning out content or videos. I mean taking deep, visceral pleasure in conjuring something out of thin air. Birthing a business, crafting a story, breathing life...
8 months ago • 2 min read
From: Olly Richards12th July 2024 Hobbitshire: Can we build a wall before the tourists arrive? This is an analysis of my most recent paid workshop - Business Model Mastery. Sales numbers, mistakes made, lessons. Seems you guys REALLY liked the last analysis I did on my hiring workshop, so I’m going to pull the same trick again today… Repeat myself like a politician in campaign season. (Anyone else sick of that yet?) As you’re about to see, I’ve rolled some lessons from the last analysis into...
9 months ago • 6 min read
In this email, I'm going to show you how book deals happen. The chain of events you're about to see exactly how I landed my book deal back in 2017… Leading to over 25 published books in shops worldwide. But this isn't about me. This is about Jodie. Jodie was the owner of a social media marketing agency. She is also a writer. As she built her SMMA, she kept writing and built her personal brand in parallel. On her personal brand, she talked about the marketing lessons she learned from her...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
