Over the past week, I’ve been spending a lot of time on my Google Coursera course, “Digital Marketing and E-commerce”. It’s quite a comprehensive course with excellent video and reading material, especially the activities that help with practical application.

I’ve been working through Modules 3 and 4 in the 4^th course titled “Think outside the inbox”. Module 3 is “Useful tools for email marketing” and focused on topics such as building and segmenting the email list.

How to write an effective email, tools for email marketing are another two topics in module 3. I particularly enjoyed the activities which instructed me on using email marketing automation tools such as HubSpot and Mailchimp.

Of course, I’ve already had some previous knowledge and experience with this as I use it for my affiliate marketing business. It was fun to use some different programs though and I noticed that they’re all very similar. So, if you’ve used one automation tool, it’s easier to figure out the others.

How was module 4? 

Module 4 I just finished before writing this blog post. It was very useful and practical, not to forget to mention, it is super important. It’s titled “Collect and analyze email campaign data.

Again, as I’ve been running email campaigns for several months now, I was already familiar with much of this topic, but I still learned so much.

This focused on the most common email marketing metrics, how to collect, analyze and report the results. Reporting was new to me as I’ve never been part of a larger digital marketing team working for a bigger company.

For my business currently I only have to collect, analyze and understand the data, then the changes I need to make to improve my campaign.

The activity was actually interpreting collected data and bar graphs and creating a presentation of how it should be communicated to the stakeholders (which was a made-up company).

After completing the activities, the course provides what they call an Activity Exemplar. This is Googles example of what it should look like, so we can compare it to our own work.

Now, I start Module 5 of the 4^th course and then I go onto course number 5.

What’s been happening on the biz front?

At the same time, I’m completing this course I’m also still building my business, learning from my mentor, coaches and peers. I have to say my day is quite filled!

This past week I continued to follow up with my email list, post and engage on social media, primarily on Facebook and track my Facebook lead ads daily progress.

As I continue learning from the Digital marketing course it does help that I can relate to my own social media marketing campaign and implement anything I may not be currently practicing.

My Facebook lead ad has lately not been getting as many leads, in fact, even the reach has reduced.

Over the next week I am going to be reviewing what may or may not be working and make some adjustments to improve the ad’s outcome.

Paid ads are a continued work in progress. There needs to be continual monitoring and adjusting for optimal performance. Seeing that I’m still quite new to paid ads as well I’m a work in progress and learning with each day.

I wake up every day and try to do the best I can with the steps and details required daily to run my business. Sometimes it’s exciting and sometimes it’s very stressful and other times it can be blah!

Just being honest. That’s what my blogging is about. Documenting my journey and being honest enough to share the truth, the good, the blah, and the screw ups.

BUT… IT IS ALWAYS WORTH IT! I love what I’m doing!

On the job front.

If you’ve been following my journey you may already know that I’m also  in the background looking for another job.

My business has not generated much income yet and so this leads me to a place where it costs money to live, and I haven’t made an income for many months.

Job searching has been challenging and even disheartening at times. I’ve been turned down from such easy to do entry level jobs, even Walmart.

My wife has been a superstar keeping my mind right and reminding me not to take it personally and believe if I didn’t get it then there’s something better. She’s so empowering!

Anyhow, just today I connected with a distribution company that showed interest and wants to meet with me this coming week to assess if this is a good fit.

Of course, I will be assessing if it is actually a job I can do since I have two back injuries that sometimes act up, and I don’t want to make it worse.

I hope I can handle it and it all works out. Not making an income for so long has been one of the most challenging things I’ve been dealing with.

I’ve worked since I was 12 years old and although I’ve had seasons of not working I had employment insurance relieving some of the lack of income until I found something else.

Mental health

When you have a lifestyle of always earning an income and identifying with a career job and regular income it can mess a person up to not have that anymore.

It messes with my identity, not being able to help provide for my family financially, feeling like less of a person, and it can get quite heavy at times.

Again, my wife is an enormous strength to me. She asks questions that sometimes I don’t want to answer, she shares tips and techniques for managing better mental health and getting out of my funk.

I wouldn’t be able to continue this way if it wasn’t for her support and constant love regardless of the obstacles that smash me.

She has supported my affiliate marketing journey from the beginning and was on board with the Google Digital Marketing training  as well.

So, although my mental health isn’t always in the greatest shape it’s continually improving, and I have the amazing support of my wife and son to keep me going. I’m so blessed!

I know I was quite personal here with what I’m going through, and I hope that’s okay. I believe in sharing the truth in my journey not for sympathy but to show the possible reality in how a life building an online business can be.

We see so many people on social media that look so accomplished and like nothing goes wrong, but they’re only showing the good in business.

What I’m sharing is how it can really be, and often really is. Of course, each person deals with their own ups and downs and experience different wins and failures.

It’s important to know it’s not easy, it’s not quick, the crap will hit the fan, but never give up and keep working toward your goals!

That’s it that’s all for today friends!

Please take a moment and share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment. Maybe you have a question about what you read or just want to say hi. Either way, I look forward to reading your comments!

Talk soon

Denny

Are you ready to learn a bit more? This is where I started.

The Iceberg Effect

(Any product purchased through a hyperlink on my website may be an affiliate link, potentially resulting in a small commission for me. Please note that these commissions are not an additional cost to you, as the supplier directly pays them.)

The post Business, training and mental health – My journey in progress appeared first on Denny Medeiros - Reinvent Midlife.

I’ll share my experience going through this, but first, in case you haven’t had a chance to read my last post and want to check it out you can do so after you’ve read this post.

This week was a data collection week. Wow, doesn’t that sound so exciting?

It’s one of those things I like least of all in my business but one of those things that can make or break a business.

However, I do find I enjoy it a little more each time I do it. Perhaps it’s because the data can be very powerful in revealing good things and bad things about one’s business.

The data I was collecting was regarding my email follow up sequence that goes out to anyone who subscribes to my Facebook lead ad to get my free PDF.

The Data

The data collected for each email that I wanted to look at is listed below.

Delivered: This captures the percentage of the emails that made it to the subscriber’s email.

Opened: This captures how many subscribers opened the email you sent and one of the more important.

Clicked: This captures how many subscribers clicked on any links that were in the email body.

Replied: This captures how many subscribers replied to the email sent.

Bounced: This captures how many subscribers did not receive the email sent. Emails can bounce because the person’s inbox is full, the email was tagged SPAM, or the email no longer exists.

These are all important, however, at this point I’m more interested in the “open rate”.

From this data I learned that 7 of my 16 emails had a less than 20% open rate, which I believe is very low.

5 of the 16 emails have an open rate between 20% – 40% and 4 of the 16 emails were between 40% – 70% open rate.

Why is it so important to know this?

Think back to emails you’ve received from different sources. What caused you to open the email?

It’s normally the subject line of the email and it stirred your curiosity enough that you opened it!

What makes a good subject line? It depends on the things that interest you.

We have things we’re interested in and therefore may have subscribed to, maybe to get a free eBook, PDF or training.

If you’re like me then you most likely don’t open every email, instead you get that curiosity stirred, maybe by a subject line revealing a sale “50% off”, and so we open the email.

By knowing the open rates of my emails, it helps me to know which subject lines are good and drive curiosity and which ones are weak and need to be changed.

If emails are not opened the recipient can’t see the content or offer being made and therefore will not buy whatever we’re selling.

Does that make sense?

This is why I said that I enjoy collecting and analyzing data a little more each time I do it. Because it helps me fix the weak emails and brings me closer to making sales and making income

It’s can seem easier to enjoy the things that move you forward. In fact, it may be hard if we’re not seeing or currently experiencing the rewards or results.

I’ve learned that I can look at the accomplishment of collecting and analyzing the data as a reward and positive result in itself.

If we’re looking at the end goal of making a sale as the as the reward we can become easily discouraged when a sale is not made for a long time, however there have been many accomplishments achieved to get us to where we are and we haven’t celebrated them.

If we celebrate more of our accomplishments it is sure to empower and encourage us toward further success.

I wasn’t always this way!

There was a day when I used to avoid tasks I didn’t like for as long as possible. I would end up so tired and exhausted while I work and didn’t understand why.

I learned that the longer I would avoid these tasks the heavier they would weigh on my mind causing my to feel tired physically.

Procrastination actually has a physically negative impact on us!

Did you know this?

I learned about it through a book Brian Tracey wrote, it’s called Eat That Frog, 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time.

That thing that we avoid doing because we dislike it the most is THE FROG. If you do it first you will have satisfaction knowing you’ve done the worst thing you will have to do all day.

Your energy increases and you only have the more enjoyable things ahead of you!

I can’t explain it quite as well as Brian Tracey so I’m not going to try. I do know it works!

Instead, I am including the link to the book Eat That Frog. This way you can learn it best!

Please take a moment and share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment. Maybe you have a question about what you read. Either way, I look forward to reading your comments!

Talk soon

Denny

Are you ready to learn a bit more? This is where I started.

The Iceberg Effect

(Any product purchased through a hyperlink on my website may be an affiliate link, potentially resulting in a small commission for me. Please note that these commissions are not an additional cost to you, as they are paid directly by the supplier.)

The post Avoiding it may be worse 🤔 appeared first on Denny Medeiros - Reinvent Midlife.

Someone who’s been there and not only done that but still doing it and showing you how to do it!

I’ll share this with you but first, if you haven’t had a moment to read my previous blog you may want to have a read after this post. It’s about handling when the hit the fan!

Monthly Mentoring

Every month I have the privilege of getting feedback directly from my mentor recorded on what my next steps should be.

Here’s someone who has gone through the worst of experiences and obstacles helping me move forward so I can avoid some of those obstacles myself.

Someone who has learned and mastered the required skills and process of building an affiliate marketing business and is a leader is this industry.

What would you do if you could have guidance from someone of this caliber in the business you’re building?

I’ve always been of the opinion that learning from someone who’s been there is always more beneficial!

This process dates back farther than we think. Some may call it apprenticeship.

This goes beyond just academic book learning and adds hands on support and on the job walk you through it while you’re building the business. This, I believe, is the most effective way to build a business.

If you haven’t tapped into this, I want to encourage you to give it a shot. If you find the right mentor you will not be disappointed!

My next steps.

I submitted my monthly data collected on a MS Excel spreadsheet, and I included everything I did in the last month. My mentor reviewed it and provided suggestions on what to do next.

He was pleased with the increase I had on my Facebook lead ad clicks and leads. Also the cost per click and cost per lead was reduced considerably from the previous month, which I shared in my previous post.

The main concern with the data was that the opt-in % is low and the leads are not converting into sales.

The advice and recommendations made by my mentor keep on using the FB lead ad, but to get the ad looked at buy one of the other coaches who specializes in FB lead ads.

The goal is to review the ad and see where changes can be made to increase the opt-in %. Currently the opt-in percentage is under 15%.

The second suggestion was to review the follow-up process I use and get the offers I make looked at in order to make adjustments required to make sales.

I’ve submitted the details for the first review to increase the percentage of opt-ins and will be watching that review tomorrow. At which time I’ll make the necessary changes.

After I watch the first review, then I’ll submit what’s needed for the second review, the follow-up and offers made.

It’s all a work in progress and with time and getting the best help the business unfolds.

A turn of events

There’s another change I’ve made which I haven’t documented yet but have been working on for the last month.

As you may or may not know, depending on which blog posts you’ve read, I’ve also been job searching to find an income source until my business is making a secure income.

I haven’t been able to land a position for some time now. It seems employers may be reluctant to hire a higher skilled worker for a more entry level job. The fear could be about the employee leaving as soon as a better position comes up.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve had to resign from my previous industry as a career counsellor as it had caused some health issues related to stress and poor management.

I’ve since not been able to get a position anywhere else. After many months of job search a decision was made.

My wife and I discussed options and decided I would embark on some additional training through Google’s Coursera, in Digital Marketing and E-commerce.

This would add value to my business as I have already been doing digital marketing in affiliate marketing, and potentially help me land an entry level digital marketing job.

Google has a network of companies worldwide that hire folks who complete certificates like the one I’m completing.

The course is convenient as I could complete it at my own pace, it costs $66 per month, and after completing 7 courses I get a certificate which is recognized by employers.

In this first month I am currently about to finish the 3^rd course of the 7 to complete. The average person finishes the certificate within 6 months, I feel ahead of the game.

What keeps me going

It’s been a tough road building this business and being out of work with no money coming in.

I used to say it was a roller coaster ride but after thinking a roller coaster is scary but controlled and quite safe in the end, I changed it.

I would say building a business is more like water rafting, bigger risk and much more work water rafting than roller coasting

Please take a moment and share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment. Maybe you have a question about what you read. Either way, I look forward to reading your comments!

Talk soon

Denny

Are you ready to learn a bit more? This is where I started.

The Iceberg Effect

(Any product purchased through a hyperlink on my website may be an affiliate link, potentially resulting in a small commission for me. Please note that these commissions are not an additional cost to you, as they are paid directly by the supplier.)

The post Balancing new skills, mentorship, and growth ⚖️ appeared first on Denny Medeiros - Reinvent Midlife.

You ever feel like the hit the fan and everything seems totally out of whack?

You’re thinking, how did it happen? Where did I lose control? How do I get back to where I was?

This is precisely what’s happened to me over the last few weeks, and these are all important questions!

First, you should know it’s very common and we’re not weird people for going through this.

Secondly, you should know it’s totally possible to get back on track!!

As I continue working on my business it truly is a roller coaster ride. So many ups, downs and unexpected turns.

Still, I prefer going through life this way, knowing I’m building my dream life, rather than being stuck in the regular work grind with no real freedom.

The difference is safety versus risk.

Working a regular job guarantees a paycheck as long as we’re employed. And when life throws us a curve ball and we take days off or vacation time to deal with it there may still be safety and a wage being made.

Building an online business is the opposite, at least starting out. When that curve ball hits, the longer it takes to get over it the longer we can go without earning any money.

We can get set back not having completed as much as we could have.

The important part is to work through every setback promptly and learn what you need from it so you can move forward.

I’ve had one of these moments over the last several weeks and learned a great lesson.

Seems like many of my posts have been following this theme of overcoming setbacks.

The Setback

The interesting thing about this setback is that it came all of a sudden. At least that’s what it felt like.

All of a sudden I felt like everything was chaos. I was having some serious doubts and fears about life and business.

I was discouraged, disappointed in my efforts, and felt like I was falling apart.

Day by day, I was doing my best and feeling like all my efforts were useless.

Have you ever felt like this? How did you handle it?

It sort of shocked me and caused me to ask myself a lot of questions.

How did this suddenly happen? Where did I lose control? How do I get back to where I was?

I was confused, I have my dream board as my laptop wallpaper, I have my goals and motivation on my bulleting board in plain sight.

I have a practice of starting my day with listening to inspirational teaching and getting my mind ready for the day.

I thought I was good, so I thought let’s look back and evaluate the last couple weeks and how they played out.

After a deep look and reflection, I noticed that it didn’t happen all of a sudden. It was a series of small instances over a period of time.

Suddenly this big issue was upon me!

We can get into a routine and reach a place where we can become unaware and let little things slide because we are doing and feeling well.

Does this make any sense?

Let me explain it this way.

One day I’m feeling good and kind of in a rush, so I start my day without the motivational teaching I usually have.

Another day I don’t end up using my mood tracker to set up my day.

This happens several more times over time and suddenly my thoughts are slightly off.

But I don’t think it’s an issue because nothing seems to be that bad.

This pattern continues and with the business of life, work and managing health a new routine has formed.

In time there is a SUDDENLY that happens when “All of a sudden” everything is out of whack and it’s time to pick up the pieces and get re-established.

What’s the lesson?

You ever start a goal of exercising daily to become healthier, then life happens, and you miss a day or two?

A couple weeks later you decide to miss another day or two because maybe you’re over-tired, had a bad week.

After several more days off in the coming weeks it becomes the norm, but you feel okay because you’re still getting a few workouts each week.

It’s those little decisions we make to veer off our routine. We decide exercising is not as important as what we replaced with.

We know the result here, for many people the exercising will stop altogether, leading to potential health issues down the road.

Part of this lesson is to remain DISCIPLINED!

Regardless of what life throws our way we have a choice to remain disciplined and continue that routine.

As soon as we compromise on this we’ve determined it’s okay for this to happen and it will happen again.

In my situation I compromised on maintaining my mental health which led to business tasks. Next thing I know I had not written a blog or emailed anyone on my list for weeks!

The other part of this lesson is to treat these things like they are as necessary as eating and sleeping.

All those things we do for our business,  our mental and physical health should be as important as the basic necessities to stay alive.

Where do we go from here?

It’s not complicated to get ourselves back on track.

Get back in that routine and treat it like those little things you do daily are life changing!

Making those small regular daily choices TO NOT DO those important things in our routine can have a very negative impact on our lives.

In the same way, making those small regular daily choices TO DO those important things in our routine will have a very positive and powerful impact on our lives.

From my experience It may be hit and miss for a while. What I mean is you may have to go through this cycle several times before it’s nailed down.

Could be different for each person, but once that routine is nailed down guard it like it matters because it does!

On another note…

Now that I got that out of the way, I have a brief update on my paid traffic strategy, Facebook lead ad.

I made some changes in October to reach more people and get more leads.

I changed the interest focus from Gary Vee to Dean Graziosi, who has a larger following on Facebook, and I added Portugal to the target countries. I figured since I’m Portuguese I could attract some English speakers from there.

The results were excellent! In September I had 57 clicks, 37 leads, $2.65 cost per click and $4.09 cost per lead. Not the best results.

When I made the change my results for October were 402 clicks, 59 leads, $0.38 per click and $2.58 cost per lead. That’s a pretty good improvement.

It continues to improve. The first week of November I’ve already reached 185 clicks and 23 leads. That’s over 1/3 of last month in this first week! So far my cost per click is at $0.18 and my cost per lead is at $1.48.

I’d say that’s a pretty good improvement

With all that said, I hope you’ve benefited from what you’ve read and got at least one thing from it you can use.

Please take a moment and share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment. Maybe you’ve been going through similar things. Maybe you have a question about what you read. Either way, I look forward to reading your comments!

Talk soon,

Denny

Are you ready to learn a bit more? This is where I started.

The Iceberg Effect

(Any product purchased through a hyperlink on my website may be an affiliate link, potentially resulting in a small commission for me. Please note that these commissions are not an additional cost to you, as they are paid directly by the supplier.)

The post What do you do when the 💩 hits the fan? 🤷 appeared first on Denny Medeiros - Reinvent Midlife.

There goes another week, and we get closer to autumn and some cooler weather!

I don’t know about you but I’m a fan of colder weather. I’m not wired for heat but more so cold.

If you missed my last post please feel free to go over and have a read, it’s about “attitude”  and how it can make or break you!

In this post I’m updating on new breakthrough in my FB lead ad and how I’ve been managing health while running this business.

You may just find some nuggets for your own journey

Facebook lead ad

Since last week when I had updated some revised emails for my lead ad workflow, something was still bothering me.

I was only getting 1 – 2 leads per day, but a lot of time only one lead and some days zero leads.

I decided to try to change the focus of the interest in the ad. I targeted the ad to reach people interested in Russell Brunson.

I’ve been following Gary Vaynerchuk for several years and have been inspired by his teaching and motivation. I decided to target the ad to those following him, as he has a very large following.

The other important part of using Gary Vee, as they call him, is that so many who follow him are interested in building an online business.

Since I made this change I noticed that my leads increased to 2 – 3 leads per day. This isn’t a huge leap, but for me, I see it as significant.

The way I look at it, If I can make a change like that and increase my leads by 1-2 extra per day then it’s possible to continue learning and increase it by more!

What do you think, do you agree or disagree with that?

What I’ve learned from my mentor is to master what I use for traffic generation.

This is done by tracking numbers, assessing what’s working and not working, getting feedback from mentors/coaches, and taking action.

Keeping health in check!

In case you’re new to following my journey, I had initially set out to track not just the business process but also how I manage my health in the process.

I feel it’s important for everyone to see the realities of life and business, the good and bad, the obstacles and victories.

In my lifetime I’ve met some very successful business owners who made themselves sick or hurt to get where they are.

I believe in working hard and doing what’s needed but working so much to get sick, is not the life I want to live!

How do you feel about working yourself to an unhealthy level?

It could mean that sometimes success can take a little longer, and I’m okay with that!

Over the last 3+ weeks, I’ve been dealing with a lot of back pain, a pinched nerve, and pain running from my back down my arm and my right hand is numb.

This has caused me to need repeated breaks throughout the day to lie down and rest my back. Also, many sleepless nights causing necessary naps.

It hurts no matter whether I’m sitting mostly but also standing, even lying down sometimes, but least of all.

I’m getting X-rays very soon to help discover what the issue may be, but for the time being, I’ve added something to help prevent sitting down while I work.

Say hi to my new little friend! The desk riser.

I used one just like this in my last job as a career counsellor after recovering from a back issue that required paramedics to take me to emergency a couple of years back.

I figured I would get my own for my current back issues and know its benefits quite well!

It’s important to put as much, if not, more effort into managing our health as it is in managing our business and overall life.

What’s to come?

Moving forward over the next week I have several tasks to complete.

• Watch the feedback on my last 8 emails from my lead ad workflow and make changes.
• Post this blog post and respond to any comments and feedback.
• Complete Module 6 from my mentors training for the Affiliate System
• Daily document the stats surrounding my Facebook lead ad.
• Post daily on my business Facebook page.
• Work on re-engaging and recording a video for my TikTok, which I left idle for a month now.

Looks like it’s going to be a very busy week!

Please leave me some feedback, let me know your thoughts on running a business and maintaining good health. Also, if you’re using Facebook lead ads, let me know how things are going for you!

Talk soon,

Denny

Are you ready to learn a bit more? This is where I started.

The Iceberg Effect

(Any product purchased through a hyperlink on my website may be an affiliate link, potentially resulting in a small commission for me. Please note that these commissions are not an additional cost to you, as they are paid directly by the supplier.)

The post Work and health. Is it manageable? 🤷 appeared first on Denny Medeiros - Reinvent Midlife.