Over the weekend I got a question inside the HeyCreator community about the best tools for reaching specific online business goals. I wanted to share my thoughts with you too.
If you want to skip the question and just see my recommendations, click here.
Question:
I’ve seen you comment on posts related to creator tooling and I wanted to get your quick advice for the first time creator like myself.
I’m ready to:
1) Setup my first landing page to capture email addresses for a newsletter.
2) Get a custom email address based on my business domain.
3) Start my newsletter.
What tools would you recommend for each of the above? If one tool can do several of these, that’d be great to know!
I’d also like to understand the services you provide and pricing.
As a first time creator, my business hasn’t generated any cashflow and may not for a while so I need to keep costs as low as possible in the beginning.
Response:
Thanks for reaching out. I’m always happy to help.
My recommendations based upon where you’re at and your goals (and for anyone just starting out) are:
1) Landing Pages & Newsletter:
ConvertKit is the best!
You can create landing pages, embed forms on your site if you have one, use ConvertKit as the landing page for your business domain until you can build out your site, create automations to welcome and nurture your new leads, and so much more.
(If you don’t already have a ConvertKit account, you can use my affiliate link to sign up. I’ll give you access to my “ConvertKit Rules” as well as a complimentary 45 minute coaching call to talk about your overall strategy and my recommended next steps to take action and not get stuck in the weeds.)
2) Custom Email Address:
I recommend setting up something like Google Workspace since you’ll get all the added features of their office suite.
However, if you’re already paying for iCloud+, then you can set up 3 business domain emails at no additional cost.
That saves you $7 a month by not having to pay for Google Workspace.
3) Selling products:
I’m assuming you’re getting into the creator business to not only create, but to make some money.
Short term, I’d recommend that you use ConvertKit commerce to sell products since it’s built in and included with your ConvertKit subscription.
Long term, I’d recommend a dedicated sales page builder/shopping cart. I personally use ThriveCart Pro to manage sales pages, shopping cart, and affiliates. I also use ThriveCart’s companion app Learn+ to host courses and member content.
There are a few reasons I like ThriveCart:
1) It’s very easy to use, build pages, and make sales funnels with additional offers, bump offers, the whole nine-yards,
2) Templates make it even easier to get started,
3) Integrations with other tools I use like ConvertKit, Zapier, etc,
4) They currently they have a lifetime subscription (pay once instead of paying recurring fees).
As far as services go, I offer a wide range of services on the operations side of business.
My specialty is being the guy behind the curtain helping creator’s free up their time to focus on creating while I make sure things are running smoothly in the background.
You can see a list of my main offers and pricing here.
Where you’re at right now, my on-demand coaching is probably the best fit.
It’s basically an async conversation where you can ask all your questions, get advice, and I’ll even record training videos to help you troubleshoot any issues you’re facing.
Hope that helps give you some clarity. Let me know if you have any other questions!
If you have questions about running your business, tools to help, or strategy, hit reply and let me know.
I’d love to answer your question and help you make progress toward your goals.
Here’s to the next step!
