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Lifestyle Business School

Business & Economics Podcasts

Lifestyle Business School — The Podcast is hosted by online business strategist Stevie Dillon. It's dedicated to helping current and aspiring expertise-based online business owners achieve the “Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot”: A simple, leveraged lifestyle business with one to two core offers, high profits, working 5-hour days with a lean, remote team (or no team at all!) Lifestyle Business School — The Podcast is for new and established course creators, coaches, consultants and online service providers who want the behind the scenes strategy on how to how to package and market your intellectual property to build a lifestyle business where your value is divorced from your time and you can build a business with deep impact — without relentless scale! Over one million downloads, subscribe and tune in to new episodes every week.

Location:

Australia

Description:

Lifestyle Business School — The Podcast is hosted by online business strategist Stevie Dillon. It's dedicated to helping current and aspiring expertise-based online business owners achieve the “Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot”: A simple, leveraged lifestyle business with one to two core offers, high profits, working 5-hour days with a lean, remote team (or no team at all!) Lifestyle Business School — The Podcast is for new and established course creators, coaches, consultants and online service providers who want the behind the scenes strategy on how to how to package and market your intellectual property to build a lifestyle business where your value is divorced from your time and you can build a business with deep impact — without relentless scale! Over one million downloads, subscribe and tune in to new episodes every week.

Language:

English


Episodes
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🙌 Simple Scales: Swipe This ‘Less is More’ Lifestyle Business Blueprint

7/22/2024
Simple scale, complex fails. Has a catchy ring to it, right. And, a whole lotta truth. Here’s how I know. [Read the full blog post here]. As a person, I am naturally someone that tends to overcomplicate things. Give me a task to complete, and I will somehow singlehandedly find the most complex, convoluted way of completing it. Back in my corporate days, I worked as a Marketing Manager. Working closely alongside me was our PR Manager – who was the exact vision of what you would expect a PR Manager to be. Vibrant, sociable, vivacious. And, light on detail. Whenever we were given a project to work on, she and I would approach things so very differently. I always admired her approach: Pick up the phone, get it done, smiling all the way. Meanwhile? I would sit at my desk for hours upon hours, writing up complex plans and generally just overcomplicating things. Of course, both were strengths in a way – and our very different approaches complimented each other. When I started my business, though? I noticed myself taking that same tendency to complicate things into it. And, let me tell you: THAT did not serve me well – until, it did. In many ways, it was my tendency to overcomplicate things that resulted in the business I have today. I have spent many years learning the art of simplicity. As a result? I create online courses sharing the same simple strategies I created for MYSELF to eliminate my tendency to overcomplicate. Of course, old habits die hard, and the truth is? That still every day I have FIGHT MYSELF not to overcomplicate my business. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:53:12

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⏱ I've Worked 5 Hours a Week Since March. Here's How.

7/15/2024
This isn’t a piece on passive income. It’s not a piece on the freedom to work from anywhere. Or, to pick up and travel the world. Instead? It’s about building a drop everything business and how I built it. [Read the full blog post here]. You see, when most of us think of course or digital-product based businesses we think of the fun freedom that it may one day give us the opportunity to enjoy. We aspire to build the “bucket list” business: One that creates deep impact for those we serve, whilst simultaneously giving us time, freedom and happiness in spades to spend time with little ones, live without financial burden and go on extended staycations. I know I sure did. Happily, six (almost seven) years of hard work, trial and error in, I have mostly done that. But, here’s the clincher. It’s not the “bucketlist” business that I have been the most grateful for this year. It’s the drop everything business. It’s building a business that has afforded me the ability to scale back and work less not by choice, but by necessity. From about March on this year, I have worked around 5-hours a week. The fact that I even COULD – without financial burden or business ruin? – is something that I will always be eternally grateful for. And so, in today’s podcast episode I want to share with you some of the things that made that possible for me. The truth is that it is, unfortunately, highly likely that at some point in all of our business careers there will come a time that we’re forced to slow down, pause or stop business as usual for less-than-desirable reasons. It might be a diagnosis, or a chronic health condition, or an accident. Whatever the reason, having the foresight to know HOW to set your business up in a way that supports you even when you aren’t “in it” is, I think, a superpower and a gift. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:44:58

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⌛ How to Build an Email List to 1000 Subscribers From Scratch & For Free

7/8/2024
To sell an online course or leveraged offer, you need people to sell to. [Read the full blog post here]. The problem? Those looking to build an online course business from scratch usually fall into one of two camps. 1) They are existing content creators looking to leverage their extensive audiences by building a course based business around it; or 2) They are service providers seeking to take their skillset and build something more leveraged from it. My experience is that usually? In both cases, the founder hasn’t started or prioritised email list growth, and they are either starting from scratch or they are starting with a small email list that they haven’t nurtured. So, how do you start and build an email list so that you are able to successfully sell an online course, group coaching program or membership? Here’s two things to keep in mind first and foremost: Firstly, quality matters much more than quantity. The secret? A super aligned email list, and high quality nurture of the people on it. Alignment comes from making sure that the lead magnet you offer to people in exchange for their email address is very closely aligned to the topic of your core offer. High quality nurture means that your lead magnet is more than just a PDF. People need several touchpoints with you (the number is up for date, but it has increased with time – last time, it was around 17) before they are ready to buy from you. And secondly, your email list growth should be done WHILST you are building your business. It’s common to spend months and years spinning your wheels trying to hit a magical number BEFORE you start selling, but actually? The act of starting your course business and launching will be the thing that grows your list as you go. For both of those reasons, the strategy I recommend for people that want to build a successful course business in 2024 is to start by creating a mini-course and delivering it live over four or so weeks. Read more about it in my blogpost. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:52:00

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🌏 Last Minute Eurotrips, Self-Sabotage and 2-Year Olds on Planes

7/1/2024
Have you ever dreamed of jumping on a plane and running away? [Read the full blog post here]. Wanting to live the laptop lifestyle and work from anywhere but unsure how to *actually* do it without your business burning down? Wonder how all of those people on Instagram every European summer actually afford to do it? In a week, I am jumping on a very last minute plane to Eurosummer, family (including a wild 2-year old and lively 4-year old) in tow. This hasn’t been something I’ve had on the planning list for a long time (please listen to last weeks podcast episode where I share about losing my Mum for more context on my snap decision). More than anything? This trip is an exhale. This trip is therapy. And, this trip is a complete disconnect from reality, to reflect, honour, enjoy and heal. At the same time, I know there will be some wondering how I can be so lucky or privileged to make this happen. Which, of course, I am. But, it’s not all that. And maybe, it could be possible for you too. If you’ve ever dreamt of an extended trip and feel compelled or inspired to make it happen, in today’s podcast episode I am going to share how I’ve done it, what it is costing, my thoughts, fears and nerve-citement around doing it with young children and all of the nitty gritty. Let’s dive in. PS. Here's the link to the card I use (I get points if you use my code, my travel fund thanks you). Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:44:24

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🙏 Grief, Loss and Showing Up as a Personal Brand Business Owner In Difficult Seasons (I’m Back)

6/24/2024
This is a story about grief, loss and how to navigate it as a personal brand. [Read the full blog post here]. Almost six weeks ago now, I lost my beautiful mum. (It hurts to type that). It feels like my security blanket has been ripped from under me. I feel alone, exposed and honestly? Just so very sad. Here’s the thing as a personal brand business. Personal things happen. They bleed into business. And as a result, running a very front-facing business in challenging times feels extra challenging – something that has absolutely been my experience over the past while. Today, I want to share a little about my experience navigating profound loss as a personal brand. — Helpful Resources: Insanely helpful conversation: Navigating Grief [ft Therapist Gina Moffa] – With Sam Vander Wielen. I resonated with so much of this. It talks about personal brand businesses in particular, and I listened twice. Feeling seen: Motherless Daughters – Grief support for mother loss. Simply scrolling through these has helped me a lot, the posts are real and reflect a lot of the things I think myself. Simply knowing I am not alone has helped immensely. Questions and conversations with loved ones: List of Questions for Interviewing Your Loved Ones – Brendon Burchard wrote this list of questions he asked his Dad. Lucy Percy at Head and Heart Estate Planning sent me some Legacy of Love conversation starters (not sure if she is offering these, but her Instagram is useful also). Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:01:03:40

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Real Talk: Should You Create a Membership Site? Part Two

5/6/2024
Pre PS We've currently waitlisted our Lifestyle Business School program and we'll be reopening soon. Join the waitlist here if you want to get updated on the best deal and the special VIP bonuses soon as we re-open doors. Last episode I talked about some of the cons of having a membership site as your offer. Now, let's switch sides and talk about the pros of building a membership site. And, when you go into it with realistic expectations - there are many! I do think it's important to start with the cons however, because they aren't usually considered and it's the reason people become disillusioned and give up. Memberships can be magical - with some big ifs and buts. They can be magical 🪄... IF: You are willing to do the work (because, it's WORK - and a lot of it); You have the mental fortitude to deal pragmatically with cancellations; You have a spirit of optimisation and genuinely want to improve and be of service; You have an understanding of numbers and a willingness to learn more advanced concepts, memberships: And, your offer suits it. If you've ticked yes to all of the above, memberships can over time become a fairly lucrative money making machine. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:43:20

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Real Talk: Should You Create a Membership Site? Part One

4/30/2024
Pre PS We've currently waitlisted our Lifestyle Business School program and we'll be reopening soon. Join the waitlist here if you want to get updated on the best deal and the special VIP bonuses soon as we re-open doors. Should you create a membership site? So often, it's sold as the ultimate dream: "Create a membership site and you too can enjoy recurring revenue - forever", they say. Which is kind of true. Only, it also comes with a very, very big asterisk: Memberships are one of the most advanced, psychologically trying, long-game, difficult leveraged business models out there. And, no-one is sharing THAT when they are selling the dream. In October 2023, I launched my very own online membership site. Believe me when I say that I have aged 26 Internet years in the months since (just kidding - kind of). Here's the truth though: They are no joke, and this is coming from someone with six years in the online business space, experience in every leveraged business model under the sun, an advanced understanding of data and advanced marketing concepts and serious grit and resilience. Cliff notes, though: I am a sucker for punishment and I actually enjoy the game of it. But, honestly? I think I'd be in the minority here. It's kind of like an Ultra Marathon runner: It takes a special breed to want to put yourself through it, but it's worthwhile if you have what it takes, you're willing to play the long game and you're up for the task 😅. If you're finding yourself wondering "should I create a membership site?", I want to share with you the cold, hard truth about running a membership site based on my own personal experience. Take from it what you will. My hope is that it will help you go into this model with eyes wide open, because misaligned expectations is the ultimate dream killer. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:59:32

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[Podcast Best Of] Personal Brand v Business Brand — How My Thoughts (And Social Handles!) Are Changing

4/22/2024
I am taking a short break of one to two weeks from new podcast episodes. Here’s a ‘best of’ episode from the vault until I’m back! Last year, I spent in excess of about $35,000 on a huge rebrand. The thought process was this —> I want to build a company. I have a team and I don’t want it to feel like it’s just about me. Stevie Says Social no longer aligned. And, at the time, all of those things were true. Still are, really. But over the subsequent months, my thoughts on how I want to position my business and personal brand shifted slightly AGAIN, and so in today’s podcast episode I want to share some of that nuance with you in case it serves you also. As with ALL decisions in business, there is no “universal truth” when it comes to these things, only ever what serves YOU and the goals you have. And here, right now, are my thoughts (and upcoming shifts) in terms of what serves ME and this small + mighty business in this moment. In this podcast episode we discuss: ✔️ Bringing My Personal Brand Back to Life ✔️ Exit Businesses v Lifestyle Businesses ✔️ Projects v Businesses ✔️ A Personal Brand is the Most Important Superpower You Have Online ✔️ So, What’s Changing? ✔️ And More! Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:18:19

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How to Create an Online Course That Sells Right Now

4/15/2024
How do you create an online course that sells right now? The truth is that times have changed, and what worked even just a few years ago no longer does. The online course market is maturing, and with the growth many are starting to wonder: "Are people still buying online courses?" Here's my two cents: Yes they absolutely are, but it’s uneven at the moment. Some people are killing it and some are finding it tough. If you're wondering how you can create an online course that sells right now, here are seven things to keep in mind. 1. Cultivate Trust and Authority 2. Contracts Create Friction 3. Creating an Online Course That Sells Requires Transparency 4. New Offers Require Time in the Market 5. Positioning is Everything 6. Risk Reversal is Extra Helpful 7. Trust and an Irresistible Offer Are King and Queen Right Now Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:38:37

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Building a Bucketlist Business

4/1/2024
In 2007, I spent six weeks in a hostel in the middle of Guatemala just “because”. Truly, I’d never felt so free. The two years prior had been spent working like a donkey, with good people but in a field I hated. The endgame? Admission to the Supreme Course of Queensland as a lawyer. It was an accolade I spent 7 years working towards.. Only to quit, 6-weeks to the day later. And so, there I found myself in a computer shop in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, on a steaming April afternoon checking my emails when my brothers friend messaged us on Facebook. “Wanna come visit?” – he wrote, “I’m just down the road in Guatemala!” We looked at each other. Of course we would. It wasn’t even a QUESTION. We were free. The world was our oyster. And we could do anything, be anyone, go anywhere! And so it came to be that I ended up spending the best, most carefree, most FUN 6-weeks of my life living out of a backpack in a dingy hostel dorm room in Antigua. Acutely aware that I had opted out of life for a little minute, and feeling grateful as heck for it. Five years later, I started my online business chasing that kind of freedom again. And on the surface, the promise of it all felt.. intoxicating. Time freedom – to work when I wanted! Location freedom – to go back to Central America, or London, or ANYWHERE BUT HERE! Financial freedom – to make more than a doctors wages working on the goddamn INTERNET! I wanted it. The sense of adventure. The possibility. The wonder that came from not knowing what would come next. The Tuesday afternoons spent outside (and not in an air-conditioned cubicle) ALL OF IT. 🍊 Rinse and Repeat has just been added to Lifestyle Business School! This is the ultimate collection of every live launch and promotion under the sun. Join now for $149/m. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:34:02

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You Can't Be a NY Times Bestselling Author with 17k Followers.. OR CAN YOU?!

3/25/2024
🍑 Rinse and Repeat has just been added to Lifestyle Business School! This is the ultimate collection of every live launch and promotion under the sun. Join now for $149/m. I’ve had 17,400 Instagram followers for YEARS now. Sure, it tracks up a bit. Down a bit. But overall, it HOVERS around that number 🛸 Same with my trusty email list. A few subscribers up.. then a few down.. and repeat. But, what can I REALLY expect? I HAVEN’T TAKEN AUDIENCE GROWTH SERIOUSLY SINCE 2017. In 2023 though, I changed my business model. I gained clarity on my founder type and ditched the big, stressful business to to intentionally go back to my creator roots. Here’s why: In November 2022, I turned 40. And let me tell YOU: There’s something about turning 40 that puts everything into perspective. It makes you realise that you are not, in fact, immortal. That “later in life” has actually come WAY FASTER THAN YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD. It helped me – in the best possible way – to define my dreams and what I REALLY wanted to do with the increasingly limited time I have left. Here’s what I realised in the process: That I was really, really proud of what I’d achieved in the 7 years prior since I’d started my business. .. Even though I was a late bloomer. .. Even though I’d spent FAR TOO MUCH of my life *ahem my twenties into my early thirties* waiting for the weekend and losing myself in happy hour. .. And even though I’d veered a little off course in building the wrong model for me. With every misstep, I’d had the tenacity, courage and clarity to course correct and keep chasing after my dreams. And ALSO? I realised that I was in NO WAY DONE YET. That in many ways, I was just getting started. And if YOUR dream is to build a lifestyle business, Lifestyle Business School is the thing I have personally built to help you get there. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:48:31

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Leaving Money On the Table = The Best Business Strategy?

3/18/2024
I don’t care about leaving money on the table. I don’t care about “maximising” my revenue” or getting the “most” out of every day. Here’s what I do care about: Spend Tuesday mornings at a 10am Pilates class. Stuffing around making labels for my new spice racks just because. Googling cool new hair-dos for my little girl. Sitting on the floor with her at 2pm on a Friday, playing hairdressers. I care about travel. I care so much about travel. I care about renting a month-long Airbnb in Norway just because. And getting a van, and traveling around the English countryside stopping at every cute pub along the way. I care about driving down the California coast. Showing my kids Hearst Castle. Visiting Old Town Ibiza, and sipping Sangria at 10pm on a hot August evening. I care about feeling free – really, truly free. Waking up on a Monday and relishing the week ahead. Spending the morning sitting in a cafe, writing for three hours over two half-strength cappuccinos. And never again sitting in an air-conditioned cubicle with no natural sunlight, taking orders from a girl called Samantha and waiting for Friday. I care about life. And living it, unconventionally and messily. And having fun. And being the poster girl for living free. And above all? After building a $2.5m business to the ground in the name of wild alignment, NOT sacrificing all of that at the altar of some arbitrary revenue goal that won’t even give me more of what I want. That’s why I have the business I (now) do. And the values I (now) have. And it’s why I’m now so passionate about sharing with others my ethos for building a simple, highly profitable one-person + a tiny team style business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot ® In this week's podcast, I'll be sharing with you the Seven Commandments of Building a Business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:48:42

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The No Team Dream: A One-Woman Show Working 5-Hour Days With 80% Profit Margins

3/11/2024
In the past two years, I have gone from three full time team members.. To me, one part time contractor. The result of scaling DOWN my team? My business went from 40% profit margins on a good month.. To 80%, always. I halved my revenue.. But took home WAY more profit. And I felt lighter, happier and more fulfilled than I had in years, with my days spent working on the things that truly light me up. Two years on, things looked so very different.. It feels like a dream. The no-team dream. Systems Over Team So, what changed? And specifically, what ENABLED me to re-build my business A One-Woman Show Working 5-Hour Days With 80% Profit Margins? Here’s the cliff notes: From a business model perspective, I moved to a model that felt far more aligned. It required fewer moving parts, fewer offers and fewer resources. And I started prioritising systems over team. It looks like this: ✔️ A Simple Model: One of the most overlooked “secrets” to an elegant business is simplicity. More offers, more work. I worked on refining my business model and offer suite to be simple. ✔️ Increased Leverage: I built offers that leverage my time by packaging my Intellectual Property into scalable offers that were divorced from my time (and didn’t require big team to run). ✔️ And Systems BEFORE Team: Rather than hiring FIRST, I worked to systemise as much of my business as possible, so that my time is now leveraged by processes, automations and tools instead of another set of hands. Together, those three things, once achieved, are a little thing called Operational Elegance – and it has changed my (business) life. Operations doesn’t sound sexy. But truly, it is the thing that has set me free. I want other people to experience it, and it’s why I have dedicated my entire business mission since 2022 to help others achieve the same. If you resonate with this mission? Lifestyle Business School is for you. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:53:00

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Back to Business Basics: Burning It Down and Starting Again

3/4/2024
📫 BRAND NEW! Subscribe to the NEW Lifestyle Business School newsletter here. In December last year I phased out my primary (only) offer in my business in the name of business model re-alignment. And, in many ways, I'm starting again. I'm in a messy creation phase right now. So, a few days ago, I started documenting the journey of re-building my business. This podcast shares more of that process, including behind the scenes insights. BRAND NEW! The Lifestyle Business School newsletter where I'll also be sharing how I do the work, test and experiment and inch forward step by step in my business. If you want to follow me in this journey, subscribe to my newsletter and share it with others too! Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:46:51

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My Top 7 Tips for Building a High Profit, High Leverage and High Happy Business Model

2/26/2024
Here's 7 things I see holding business owners back from their goal to build a leveraged business model. This is based off seven years of experience and working with hundreds of online founders, and noticing patterns. I hope recognising these will help you to shortcut the process. [PS Our newsletter is live! Subscribe here]. 1️⃣ Time & the Hockey Stick Effect Building a leveraged business model takes MORE time upfront, and less time later on. 2️⃣ Misaligned Positioning Get clear on who your offer serves, and match what you do to their problem. 3️⃣ Too Many Offers At max, you need three offers - an audience offer, a core offer and an anchor offer. They should all complement and feed into each other. 4️⃣ Not Applying Scalable Traffic Strategies to a Scalable Business Model The traffic strategies that work for a 1:1 or service business model won't be enough when trying to sell a leveraged offer. More units to sell means that you need more eyeballs to see your offers. 5️⃣ Not Making ROI based investment decisions Once you have the offer sorted, learn the math involved to make ROI based decisions to invest wisely to grow. 6️⃣ Solving the Wrong Problem Knowing the problem, and solving the right one, will cut your journey in half (or more) 7️⃣ Product-Model-Founder Misalignment There is no right way of doing online business, only what is right for you. You need clarity on your endgame, and the model that fits you as the founder. In Lifestyle Business School, we focus on a structured approach to building a leveraged, expertise-based business model - actively working to avoid these pitfalls to build an aligned model with structured strategy that is right for YOU. Join Lifestyle Business School at lifestylebusiness.school/join. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:49:16

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BTS: The Six-Step Creative Process Behind $2m+ in Online Course Sales

2/20/2024
Ever wondered EXACTLY how I create digital courses? The nitty gritty "I do this, then this, then THIS"? I have been creating online courses now since 2018, and have learnt a LOT about what works and what doesn't when it comes to the "creative process". When developing my very first digital course in 2018, I went to Bali for six weeks, wrote a 50,000 word manuscript in the final week because I had no idea what else to do and then came back to spend the next six months figuring out how to make it into a course that people would buy (more on that in this episode)! I don't recommend that approach 😉 With more than $2 million in digital course sales now under my belt, my creative process has developed over time and in today's podcast episode I break down exactly how I do it now. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:26:34

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Instagram Is Not Your Marketing Plan [PLEASE Do This Instead]

2/12/2024
“My launch failed”, she wrote to me one Sunday evening. Weird, I thought. I’d seen the funnel — it was good. So, I asked to dig into the stats. “What was your conversion rate?”, I asked. She stared at me blankly. “You know.. the percentage of people in the launch that bought?” Oh. There was six days of silence, and she emailed me back. “5.4%”. Well, I thought.. the launch didn’t fail. Actually, it converted GREAT. There just wasn’t enough traffic. It was EASY for me to see the issue. And, to objectively see where the opportunity was to improve. But, she couldn’t see it, and subjectively, in her mind it was a big fat flop. It’s kind of the industry’s fault that this sort of thing is a HUGE issue. We EXPECT fast success. Knock it out of the park wins in two seconds. And when it doesn’t work out like that? We scrap the WHOLE thing, and go and build something else from scratch. But, that is a story for a different day. For today? Let’s talk about HER, and how this scenario can be avoided with ONE thing. This scenario is common: GREAT launch. HIGH conversion rate. But, low traffic, so it's perceived as a flop. It is a very common and vicious cycle that occurs when someone decides to start trying to build a more leveraged business model, and it looks like this: I've seen the cycle too many times, and here's what I've realised. There is ONE thing missing, and it's letting down their WHOLE game. That one thing? A simple, effective marketing plan in place to drive the amount of traffic they need to sell their scalable offers with (relative) EASE. And that's what we'll be talking about in today's podcast episode. Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:40:02

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7 Counterintuitive Things I Am Doing to Grow My Business in 2024

2/5/2024
Wondering how I am thinking about business "growth" in 2024? The things I am focused on to build my version of the lifestyle business sweet spot? The actions I am taking that go against the grain of "traditional" business advice? That's what I'm breaking down in today's podcast episode where I'll be sharing with you 7 counterintuitive things that I am doing to build my business in 2024. Links and Resources Mentioned in Episode: Episode 158Free Failed Payment SOPBRAND New Deliver and Delight Course just added to Lifestyle Business SchoolWant more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:27:21

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Red Hot Testimonials: Collecting Money-Making, Business-Shaping Testimonials to Grow Your Business

1/29/2024
Testimonials are money-makers, plain and simple. If you want to bulletproof your authority, shorten your sales cycle and give your buyers peace of mind that they are making the right decision, you NEED a process in your online business for collecting, distributing and SHOUTING YOUR TESTIMONIALS FROM THE ROOFTOPS. Whether you're newer to business and wondering how to get social proof when you're just starting out, or your a seasoned business owner with people raving about you but no solid process for capturing all of that goodness, this is a must listen and business game changer. Prefer to read? Click here, and we break it down in FULL blog post style in detail. Links and Resources Mentioned in Episode: Ep 162Free Failed Payment SOPBRAND New Deliver and Delight Course just added to Lifestyle Business School Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:32:01

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Revealed: Our Full Back End Set Up Process For A Brand New Offer

1/22/2024
Curious EXACTLY how we went about setting up the back end of a brand new offer? Not just the theory, but the here's-exactly-how-we-did-it nitty gritty? Delivering with excellence is both art and science, and in today's podcast episode, we're breaking down exact how we have set up the back end of our membership, Lifestyle Business School. Whether you are thinking about creating a new course, program or coaching offer, or you already have one and it's feeling a little scattered, we will share how to build or refine your back end infrastructure so you can deliver well, streamline your business operations to give your time back and provide you with the peace of mind that comes with knowing you are building intentionally and with excellence in mind. PS Prefer to read? We break it down in full blog post style here. Links and Resources Mentioned in Episode: Free Failed Payment SOPBRAND New Deliver and Delight Course just added to Lifestyle Business School Want more? 📫 Subscribe to the Newsletter: For Expertise-Based Founders ready to engineer a lifestyle business that passes the Monday Morning test with flying colours. Get one actionable step each day, and then weekly thereafter. Subscribe here. 🎧 Subscribe to the Podcast: With 1m downloads, make sure you hit the follow/subscribe button right now. 📝 Download our FREE 26 Page Expertise-Based Business Diagnostic: Get clarity on what to work on first or next. Click here to get it for free. 🎓Join Lifestyle Business School: Get the complete Operating System for starting or growing an expertise-based online business to the Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot. Click here to join today. 📲 Instagram: Follow Stevie on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/steviedillon_

Duration:00:32:01