In the competitive landscape of entrepreneurship, leveraging social media for business growth is undeniable. Yet, is it the most prudent platform to build your business on? Tune in to Episode 514 of the Black Entrepreneur Blueprint podcast as Jay navigates the critical decision between building your empire on a rented platform versus one you own outright.
In this episode, Jay dissects the risks of relying solely on social media behemoths to unveil the untapped potential of owning your platform, Jay equips you with actionable strategies to create your own profitable platforms to help ensure success.
LEARN HOW TO GET MORE QUALIFIED LEADS FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND MAKE MORE MONEY: https://payhip.com/b/N8ZXl
[00:00:00] Welcome to BLACK ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT, the number one podcast and resource for BLACK
[00:00:18] ENTREPRENEURS.
[00:00:19] I'm your host Jay Jones and BLACK ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT was created specifically to educate
[00:00:25] and inspire BLACK ENTREPRENEURS to launch, build and grow successful sustainable businesses.
[00:00:33] Join us as we help building economic power base in the worldwide BLACK community by building
[00:00:39] and supporting BLACK-Owned businesses.
[00:00:41] If you're currently an entrepreneur or want to be an entrepreneur, you're invited to join
[00:00:46] us each and every week here at BLACK ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT.
[00:00:50] Join to the BEB family and get ready to elevate your entrepreneur IQ.
[00:01:00] Welcome to BLACK ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT, episode number 514.
[00:01:08] I'm your host Jay Jones and today we have another outstanding and informative show installed
[00:01:12] for you.
[00:01:13] Today's show topic is dollars versus dopamine, the truth about email versus social media.
[00:01:21] Dollars versus dopamine, the truth about email versus social media.
[00:01:27] So in this competitive landscape that we call entrepreneurship, you definitely have to
[00:01:32] leverage social media to grow.
[00:01:35] But is it the most prudent platform to build your business on?
[00:01:40] Now many people think email is dead and I want you to stay tuned for today's episode because
[00:01:46] I'm going to break down some statistics and numbers and I'm going to dissect email versus
[00:01:52] social media and you may be super surprised once you hear the data.
[00:01:57] And I'm also going to show you how to build your platform where you are in total control.
[00:02:04] Now before we get to today's content, let me just share a few things with the BLACK
[00:02:08] ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT family.
[00:02:10] First and foremost, I want to welcome all first-time listeners.
[00:02:14] Welcome to the BEB family.
[00:02:15] Please stick around until the end of today's broadcast and I'm going to share all my social
[00:02:20] media contact information and resource links such as the link to my latest workshop
[00:02:27] I Need More Leads Dot Pro.
[00:02:29] Go to I Need More Leads leads dot pro.
[00:02:34] So if you're struggling right now to build a consistent lead flow to be able to scale
[00:02:39] your business, go check out I Need More Leads dot pro.
[00:02:44] It's a great workshop and anybody that's struggling right now that's about to go out of business
[00:02:49] that hasn't reached their maximum efficiency with their business or you're looking to
[00:02:54] grow in scale, go to I Need More Leads dot pro for more information.
[00:03:00] Now let's get ready for today's show content.
[00:03:03] Today we're talking about dollars versus dopamine, the truth about email versus social media.
[00:03:09] So social media guys is obviously it's a big part of building businesses.
[00:03:15] What you have to understand is if you build your business solely on social media, then
[00:03:21] you're actually beholden to that social media platform.
[00:03:24] I've talked about horror stories about building businesses on social media solely and what
[00:03:30] happens when you get kicked off that platform or something happens you get barred from the
[00:03:35] platform.
[00:03:36] So we're going to discuss some of those things today, but first we're going to talk about
[00:03:40] what is dopamine and why it's so addictive, the risk of building your platform solely
[00:03:46] on social media and how to de-platform your social media followers to a platform
[00:03:52] that you own.
[00:03:54] And that's the key in today's content.
[00:03:57] First of all let's talk about what is dopamine.
[00:03:59] I'm going to read this.
[00:04:02] Dopamine is most notably involved in helping us feel pleasure as part of the brain's reward
[00:04:07] system.
[00:04:08] Sex, shopping, smelling cookies, baking in the oven.
[00:04:12] All of these things can trigger dopamine release or what they call a dopamine rush.
[00:04:18] This feel good neurotransmitter is also involved in reinforcement.
[00:04:23] That's why once we try those cookies we might come back for another one, two or
[00:04:27] three.
[00:04:29] The darker side of dopamine is the intense feeling of reward people feel when they take
[00:04:33] drugs such as heroin or cocaine which can lead to addiction.
[00:04:38] And believe me guys you can also get addicted to social media.
[00:04:43] You get addicted to those likes and follows.
[00:04:47] So why has social media become so addictive?
[00:04:50] Many social media apps are structured around receiving likes or positive feedback from
[00:04:55] other users.
[00:04:57] This validation from friends or even strangers can cause the brain to release dopamine.
[00:05:02] The chemical in your brain that's tied to the reward center.
[00:05:06] Being addicted to social media is a behavioral addiction just like sex, gambling, shopping
[00:05:13] or eating.
[00:05:14] So that's what dopamine is and that's what the social media platforms want to get
[00:05:19] you addicted to.
[00:05:21] Even if you have an iPhone and you text right?
[00:05:24] When you text somebody and they start texting you back, you see those little bubbles or whatever
[00:05:29] those icons where you know that they're texting you back and now you're just waiting for that
[00:05:35] response.
[00:05:36] There was a documentary on I think it was Netflix about a year or two ago about social
[00:05:43] media and how they engineered social media to create that dopamine rush to get you
[00:05:50] addicted to it.
[00:05:51] I've seen with my kids there in their early 20s, I seen them sit down and we're trying
[00:05:57] to watch a movie and they're watching the movie while they're on their phone.
[00:06:02] The attention span right now that dopamine addiction is killing everybody in that respect.
[00:06:09] So the question of day dollars versus dopamine, you are you interested in more a dopamine
[00:06:16] addiction or are you interested in your dollars?
[00:06:19] We're going to break down email versus social media and you may be super surprised what you
[00:06:25] find out.
[00:06:26] First, let's look at the risk of building your platform solely on social media.
[00:06:32] Social media is free.
[00:06:34] Social media is fun.
[00:06:36] People spend time on social media all day.
[00:06:39] Once again, it can be addictive.
[00:06:41] So we understand how important social media is now you can spend dollars guys, but
[00:06:48] you can't spend dopamine.
[00:06:51] You can spend dollars, but you can't spell dopamine and what social media basically is
[00:06:56] guys, it's a dopamine addiction.
[00:06:59] So we get intoxicated with the likes and follows, but we can't spend that.
[00:07:04] So let's look at some of the biggest risks.
[00:07:06] The biggest and most important risk is your own rented land while you're building
[00:07:12] your business and you can actually get shut down.
[00:07:15] Yes, social media, even YouTube is rented land.
[00:07:19] I can't tell you how many people's YouTube channels have got shutting down.
[00:07:23] All right, I actually got one shut down literally about two weeks ago and I didn't
[00:07:29] even post anything.
[00:07:31] It was a new YouTube channel.
[00:07:32] I was starting and they actually sent me an email and they shut me down because
[00:07:37] of something about terms of service.
[00:07:39] And I literally didn't even post one video yet.
[00:07:42] So I don't know if it was the title of my YouTube channel or not or what.
[00:07:46] But once again, you're on rented land.
[00:07:50] I've told this story a couple of times on some of the previous episodes,
[00:07:54] but it's so important I want to reiterate it.
[00:07:57] One of my young people that I was mentoring, one of my young entrepreneurs,
[00:08:02] they were actually in the weed space, the hydroponic space.
[00:08:06] And they built their business specifically on Instagram, doing IG
[00:08:11] lives and doing all types of content solely on Instagram.
[00:08:16] One of the products that they were selling as an affiliate,
[00:08:20] I believe it was a type of soil to grow to help grow your plants.
[00:08:25] And there was a competitor who actually was selling that same soil as an
[00:08:30] affiliate and what that competitor did to wipe out that competition.
[00:08:35] He got all of his followers to go and complain about that Instagram channel.
[00:08:41] And that channel got shut down multiple times, three, four, five times.
[00:08:45] And every time they tried to get the channel back up, it would get shut down again.
[00:08:50] And so now that business that was a thriving business,
[00:08:54] which was built solely on Instagram is gone.
[00:08:58] And it was doing thousands of dollars of business a month,
[00:09:01] not just with the soil they were selling as an affiliate product,
[00:09:06] but with other things that they were selling also.
[00:09:08] So that's the biggest risk guys are building your platform solely on social media.
[00:09:15] Another risk is what happens when that social media platform becomes
[00:09:20] defunct or obsolete?
[00:09:22] So what happens if you tried to build your business on Periscope
[00:09:26] or MySpace or Vine, Snapchat or even Clubhouse?
[00:09:30] I can't tell you guys how many people told me that Clubhouse was the next
[00:09:36] iteration of the thing. It was the it thing.
[00:09:39] Now, hardly anybody I know is on Clubhouse.
[00:09:43] So when you build your platform on these type of social media platforms,
[00:09:48] number one, they can go defunct or they can become obsolete.
[00:09:52] And then what is your option?
[00:09:54] Then how do you connect with your audience and how do you keep selling
[00:09:58] your products and or services?
[00:10:00] And that's what happens when you build your house on sand and not a solid foundation.
[00:10:06] Now, I want to make it clear.
[00:10:08] I'm not anti social media.
[00:10:10] You definitely want to leverage social media to help build your business.
[00:10:14] But there's a way that you can use social
[00:10:17] media to direct people to your own platform.
[00:10:20] And that's really what you should be doing.
[00:10:23] Or you're at the risk of not being able to contact people anymore.
[00:10:28] OK, and you definitely don't want that.
[00:10:30] So let me talk about some data.
[00:10:33] And this data may actually surprise you, OK, because people think email marketing
[00:10:38] is passe, it's for old folks or whatever.
[00:10:41] But let me give you some statistics and some data to support what I'm talking
[00:10:46] about today and we're talking about dollars versus dopamine.
[00:10:50] The truth about email versus social media.
[00:10:53] Now, I want to review some statistics that I got from, I believe it was
[00:10:58] Entrepreneur magazine and they were talking about email versus social media.
[00:11:03] And if you have 2000 email subscribers, 2000 Facebook fans, 2000 Instagram
[00:11:10] followers, 2000 Twitter followers and 2000 YouTube subscribers and you do a post.
[00:11:18] This is what you're going to get.
[00:11:20] 435 people will open your email.
[00:11:24] You have a list of 2000 people, 435 will open your email.
[00:11:29] 900 people will open your email newsletter.
[00:11:33] So an email newsletter that people subscribe to, that's a 40 to 45 percent
[00:11:39] open rate with a good list.
[00:11:41] Now look at Facebook.
[00:11:43] You have 2000 Facebook fans, only 120 people will see that message.
[00:11:49] Twitter, only 40 people out of 2000 will see your message.
[00:11:55] Instagram, only 200 of 2000 followers will see your message and YouTube
[00:12:03] subscribers, only 100 of them will watch your YouTube video.
[00:12:08] And if you have a YouTube channel, you know most people don't watch the whole
[00:12:12] video, they only watch a portion of the video.
[00:12:15] So let me just quickly recap this.
[00:12:18] You have 2000 people on your email list or subscribe to your YouTube channel
[00:12:24] or followers on social media.
[00:12:26] The highest engagement you're going to get is 900 people out of those 2000
[00:12:32] will open your email newsletter.
[00:12:34] 435 people will open your email out of those 2000 people.
[00:12:39] One hundred and twenty of your Facebook fans will see your message.
[00:12:45] 40 Twitter followers will see your message.
[00:12:48] Two hundred Instagram followers will see your message and 100 YouTube
[00:12:53] subscribers will see your video.
[00:12:56] This is with 2000 people that are following you or on your email database.
[00:13:03] So according to a study done by McKinsey and Company,
[00:13:07] email marketing is up to 40 times more effective than social media.
[00:13:12] The same study showed that the purchasing rate is three times faster.
[00:13:18] So let's break this down a little bit.
[00:13:20] We're talking about dollars versus dopamine, right?
[00:13:23] So if you're 40 times more effective than social media,
[00:13:28] why don't you have an email database built up?
[00:13:31] Right now, the same study shows that the purchasing rate is three times faster.
[00:13:37] We can spend dollars, but we can't spend dopamine.
[00:13:41] So you guys have to make a mind shift to understand how important email is
[00:13:47] and how important owning your own platform is.
[00:13:50] And we're going to talk about how you do that in the next segment.
[00:13:54] The study also mentioned that you get 10 X to 25 X more clicks
[00:14:00] generated than social media.
[00:14:03] Once again, you want people to click, right?
[00:14:06] You want people to call to action, whatever that is.
[00:14:09] You want them to click to that.
[00:14:11] So email gives you 10 X to 25 X more clicks generated than social media.
[00:14:19] I want you guys to understand the power of email.
[00:14:23] I know it's not sexy, but it's powerful.
[00:14:26] Statistics show we're talking 10 X to 25 X more clicks generated.
[00:14:33] All right, likes and all that's cool.
[00:14:35] You know, follows and likes are great, but you can't spend follows and likes.
[00:14:40] But you can spend dollars.
[00:14:42] You want people clicking on your call to action so you can either sell your
[00:14:47] product service or whatever, put them in a sales funnel, whatever.
[00:14:51] You want the call to action to work.
[00:14:53] So why haven't you built a database?
[00:14:56] You know, when I consult with a lot of my new clients, one of the first
[00:15:00] things I always ask them is, do you have a database?
[00:15:04] And when they tell me no, then I know this is going to be a hard,
[00:15:08] a hard struggle to get this to become a successful, sustainable business.
[00:15:14] And that's the key sustainability.
[00:15:17] Anybody can have some brief success, but are you going to be able to sustain
[00:15:22] that success and what email is is a foundational component of sustained success?
[00:15:29] People don't even realize what Amazon does, right?
[00:15:34] Amazon has prime days.
[00:15:36] Anytime they decide they want prime days.
[00:15:39] And the reason prime is so popular is because all they do is send out an email
[00:15:44] to all the Amazon account holders.
[00:15:46] Hey, Amazon Prime Day is July 31st or whatever it is.
[00:15:51] And people get active, right?
[00:15:54] So if you have a database of people that are responsive and you want to make
[00:16:01] sure that you clean out your database periodically because you don't want to
[00:16:05] fill with people that aren't responsive, but you can actually create your own
[00:16:09] prime days. You could have a sale.
[00:16:11] And if you have a 10,000 email database, hey, I'm doing a flash sale for the
[00:16:16] next 24 hours, 25 percent off whatever product or service it is.
[00:16:22] And now you've just turned on the faucet and you're making money hand over fist.
[00:16:29] Now, you can do the same thing on social media.
[00:16:31] But what's the impact in the reach and are people going to actually respond to that
[00:16:36] call to action? I think one of the biggest issues with entrepreneurs is we
[00:16:42] start to look for the quick fixes, the quick dollar.
[00:16:46] And I get it.
[00:16:46] You need that quick income to stay in business.
[00:16:49] But sustainability comes from building a strong foundation.
[00:16:54] Email database.
[00:16:56] Now, let's talk about some of the steps to build your business on a strong
[00:17:00] and profitable foundation.
[00:17:02] Remember, this is your goal.
[00:17:04] I want you to remember this.
[00:17:06] If you don't remember anything else about today's episode,
[00:17:09] your goal is to deplatform your followers to a platform that you control.
[00:17:16] Deplatform your followers from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok,
[00:17:22] wherever it is, you deplatform them to a platform you control.
[00:17:28] Remember, the dollars come from platforms you own.
[00:17:31] The dopamine comes from platforms that you rent.
[00:17:35] Now, what type of platforms do you own?
[00:17:38] This podcast is a platform that I own.
[00:17:41] I can generate a podcast at any time that I want and nobody can stop that
[00:17:48] podcast from going out.
[00:17:50] I have subscribers.
[00:17:52] I have downloads, whatever.
[00:17:54] So now I control this.
[00:17:56] The only way that this isn't going to go out is if I don't pay my hosting bill,
[00:18:01] OK, which is 30 or $40 a month.
[00:18:04] So that is a platform that you own.
[00:18:07] Email, you own that platform.
[00:18:09] I use ConvertKit, but there's a Web of MailChimp.
[00:18:13] There's tons of email marketing platforms out there.
[00:18:17] You want to have an email auto responder platform that you can interact
[00:18:21] with your audience.
[00:18:22] OK, and I also mentioned a newsletter and I'm big on newsletters.
[00:18:28] I'm about to relaunch a newsletter right now.
[00:18:31] But newsletters have one of the highest open rates versus regular email
[00:18:38] because people subscribe to the newsletter.
[00:18:41] Now, obviously you got to have quality
[00:18:43] content in there for people to actually want to open it.
[00:18:46] And you also have to have consistency.
[00:18:49] So when you have an open rate, a good newsletter has an open rate of over 60 percent.
[00:18:56] Right.
[00:18:57] So if you have 2000 people that are on your newsletter database at a 60 percent
[00:19:03] open rate, you're talking 1200 people actually opening and reading your newsletter.
[00:19:09] OK, and then you have to talk about the click through rate.
[00:19:13] You know, you may have four articles in your newsletter, three or even one.
[00:19:17] I know some successful newsletters are only one piece of content.
[00:19:22] It's really one email and people are making tens of thousands
[00:19:26] and hundreds of thousands of dollars with email newsletters.
[00:19:31] The hustle, morning brew, the skim, those are some of the top email newsletters.
[00:19:37] But if you find a great niche and you can sell your advertising,
[00:19:43] people want to be able to advertise in that newsletter.
[00:19:46] So if you are a sports car fanatic or you're a Porsche fanatic
[00:19:50] and you have an email newsletter about Porsches, then you can actually sell
[00:19:56] advertising to companies that want to send a message to people who are Porsche
[00:20:00] enthusiasts and it doesn't matter what the actual subject matter is as long
[00:20:06] as you have a great database and the content.
[00:20:09] So newsletters, I'm telling you guys, don't sleep on newsletters.
[00:20:14] I'm in the process now of relaunching one of my newsletters.
[00:20:19] And I'm super excited about it because that is a great way.
[00:20:23] It's a great platform to own.
[00:20:25] So when you own that platform, guys,
[00:20:28] you can put anything you want into that content.
[00:20:31] So let me just digress real quick.
[00:20:34] So if you've ever tried to run Facebook ads, YouTube ads, Instagram ads or
[00:20:39] whatever, sometimes based on the ad, you're not going to get the ad approved.
[00:20:44] You may have done something against the terms of service that you don't even
[00:20:49] realize. I remember I was trying to run some YouTube ads and they kept saying,
[00:20:54] you can't do this.
[00:20:55] You can't use that word.
[00:20:56] You can't say this.
[00:20:58] Now, when you own and control the actual platform,
[00:21:03] you can have anything you want in it.
[00:21:05] If I have an email newsletter, I can put anything I want in that newsletter.
[00:21:10] YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, they're not going to stop me.
[00:21:14] So that's where the control comes from.
[00:21:17] So the first thing you want to do is control your own platform, guys,
[00:21:22] by driving the audience away from social media, that dopamine,
[00:21:28] to your platform, your email newsletter, your email list, your podcast or
[00:21:34] whatever it may be. So that's step number one, control your own platform.
[00:21:39] The whole goal, as I said, if you don't remember anything else is to
[00:21:44] de-platform your followers from social media to a platform that you control.
[00:21:50] Number two, have a central call to action to drive that traffic to your platform.
[00:21:59] So for example, with Instagram, right?
[00:22:01] You know, you got the link in the bio and a lot of times myself included.
[00:22:06] You'll have multiple links.
[00:22:08] If you use link tree, you'll say link in the bio and you'll have three or four
[00:22:13] different things that places that people can click.
[00:22:16] Now, just imagine that you're doing a newsletter or podcast
[00:22:21] and your main call to action is to de-platform them from that social
[00:22:26] media platform to say your newsletter or subscribe to your podcast.
[00:22:32] So that link or that call to action could be something like this.
[00:22:36] Hey, if you like the content, find more of my free weekly news that are
[00:22:41] click the link in the bio to sign up.
[00:22:44] And the only option when they go to the link in the bio is to subscribe
[00:22:48] to your newsletter or whatever platform that you want them to go on that you own.
[00:22:53] Now, I know that sounds counterintuitive,
[00:22:56] but what you're doing is you are de-platforming that client or that
[00:23:01] audience member to go to a platform that you own.
[00:23:05] And that should be your soul call to action, whatever platform that you own.
[00:23:10] It could be visit my website.
[00:23:12] That's great.
[00:23:13] But just because they visited doesn't mean that you're building your database.
[00:23:18] And I say this ad nauseam.
[00:23:20] You have to build your freaking database, guys.
[00:23:24] You got to build it.
[00:23:26] If you don't build that, I'm telling you, you can be ass out literally
[00:23:30] overnight. I already gave you one example, but there are multiple examples.
[00:23:36] Here's another thing, guys.
[00:23:37] Have you ever noticed how now a lot of your social media posts don't get as much
[00:23:43] traction and what happens when your platform, your Instagram or Facebook,
[00:23:48] they change the algorithm? What are you going to do?
[00:23:52] You had a post that would normally hit 10,000 people.
[00:23:55] Now it's hitting a thousand people.
[00:23:57] I'm telling you, even with Google, so there are different things with algorithms
[00:24:02] that can also disrupt your business if you're solely on social media.
[00:24:07] It doesn't matter what the algorithm does if you have an email database, right?
[00:24:11] Because you can still reach out to them.
[00:24:13] And I want you guys to understand it's not about sexiness.
[00:24:17] It's about effectiveness.
[00:24:19] Remember, we're talking about dollars versus dopamine.
[00:24:22] The likes and the follows and all of that are great.
[00:24:26] But I'm telling you right now, you're building your business on sand
[00:24:30] and not building it on a concrete foundation.
[00:24:33] And you definitely don't want to do that if you're looking for sustainability
[00:24:37] and longevity.
[00:24:38] And the third step that you need is you need to provide solid content
[00:24:43] on a regular basis with the platform that you own.
[00:24:47] OK, solid content on a regular basis with the platform that you own.
[00:24:52] You can use social media once again to drive or deep platform.
[00:24:57] But if you have a podcast once again,
[00:25:00] I'm providing solid content on a regular basis,
[00:25:04] five hundred and fourteen episodes in a row every Monday morning.
[00:25:09] That's consistency.
[00:25:10] If you're doing an email newsletter,
[00:25:13] you want to do it at a consistent time.
[00:25:16] Maybe it's once a week.
[00:25:17] Some of them are every day.
[00:25:19] Maybe it could be two or three times a week.
[00:25:21] Whatever that is, solid content on a regular, consistent basis.
[00:25:27] OK, if you're writing, you know, whatever it is,
[00:25:31] if you're doing just email to your list, maybe you're doing it once a week,
[00:25:35] twice a week, but consistently.
[00:25:38] So step three, provide solid content on a regular basis with the platform
[00:25:44] that you own. And I'm telling you guys right now,
[00:25:46] the faster that you implement this and understand this,
[00:25:50] the better off your business is going to be.
[00:25:53] I read you the numbers.
[00:25:55] I read you the numbers.
[00:25:56] People are three times faster to make a purchase through email versus social media.
[00:26:02] Email also gives you a 10 X to 25 X more clicks generated than social media.
[00:26:09] That's what you want.
[00:26:11] You want those clicks, you want those call to action buttons,
[00:26:14] whatever they are, you want them to be clicked.
[00:26:17] So it's a no brainer, guys.
[00:26:19] You got to start focusing.
[00:26:21] I'm going to talk about building your email database in a quick second.
[00:26:25] But let me just share my social media contact information and resource links real quick.
[00:26:31] All right, guys, I mentioned at the top of the show,
[00:26:34] if you need to build your database, if you need more leads,
[00:26:39] go to I need more leads dot pro dot PRO for more information on my workshop.
[00:26:45] Now, if you want to reach out to me, I'm going to keep it super simple.
[00:26:48] Anything long, guys, hit me on my email, J Jones at black entrepreneur blueprint
[00:26:54] dot com, J A Y J O N E S at black entrepreneur blueprint dot com.
[00:27:00] Facebook, go to black entrepreneur blueprint Twitter, J Jones, zero, zero one,
[00:27:05] J A Y J O N E S zero, zero one.
[00:27:08] Instagram, I have two I G accounts.
[00:27:11] The first one is J Jones for real.
[00:27:13] J A Y J O N E S the number four are E A L second one is black entrepreneur blueprint.
[00:27:21] LinkedIn connect with me there.
[00:27:23] Go there and type in J Jones, black entrepreneur blueprint and also YouTube.
[00:27:28] Please guys, subscribe to the YouTube channel.
[00:27:31] I have additional content on YouTube that is not on the show.
[00:27:34] Go to YouTube type in black entrepreneur blueprint and hit that subscribe button.
[00:27:39] Everything I just said, guys, if you missed it or couldn't write it down,
[00:27:43] is on the website, a super new revised revamp website.
[00:27:47] Go to black entrepreneur blueprint dot com.
[00:27:50] We have all types of free resources to help you elevate your entrepreneur IQ.
[00:27:56] Also for all you first time listeners,
[00:27:59] we drop an episode every Monday morning, five a.m.
[00:28:03] Eastern Standard Time on all your major podcast platforms and YouTube.
[00:28:08] So please make sure you subscribe wherever you're watching this or listening
[00:28:13] to it, hit that subscribe button so you'll be notified when our new episodes drop.
[00:28:17] So I want to jump back in and talk about building your email database real quick.
[00:28:22] So once again, you want to leverage social media with a call to action.
[00:28:27] And your goal is to de platform your followers to a platform that you own.
[00:28:32] The biggest thing guys, you want to do is build an email database.
[00:28:36] And the beauty about an email database is you can segment that database.
[00:28:41] So, for example,
[00:28:43] you're called to action as I gave you earlier.
[00:28:46] You could say, hey, if you like this content, sign up for my free newsletter.
[00:28:51] You know, click the link bam.
[00:28:53] Now they signed up for the newsletter.
[00:28:55] Once you have that newsletter going out or whatever content it is,
[00:28:59] say you put an offer out there for a specific type of product.
[00:29:03] That person buys the product.
[00:29:06] Now you can segment your whole list
[00:29:09] for people that buy that particular type of product or that specific product.
[00:29:14] So now you're able to segment.
[00:29:16] And what's so important, guys, is that once you have a database and it's
[00:29:21] segmented and you know people that have a propensity to buy a certain type
[00:29:26] of product or service you offer, now it's super easy to market that
[00:29:31] product or service to those people that have a propensity to buy that
[00:29:35] product or service. It's simple, right?
[00:29:38] One plus one equals two.
[00:29:40] But when you don't have a database and you're
[00:29:43] unable to segment it, you don't know who your customers are then or your audience
[00:29:49] is, then it's harder.
[00:29:50] Another benefit is, guys, that if they're businesses that want to get in
[00:29:55] front of your type of audience, you can literally charge them for that.
[00:30:00] You can literally charge a business
[00:30:02] to just send out an email to your audience.
[00:30:06] If you have an audience of 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people, say you're a fitness
[00:30:12] instructor and a supplement company comes up to you and you tell them, hey,
[00:30:18] I got a list of 40,000 people in my email database that that's part of my
[00:30:23] audience and a lot of them use supplements.
[00:30:26] Do you think that a supplement company would pay you a thousand,
[00:30:29] two thousand, three thousand, whatever it is, dollars just to send one stinking
[00:30:35] email that happens all the time?
[00:30:38] The audience guys is the commodity.
[00:30:41] You have to understand that if you have and can own your audience.
[00:30:45] And it's called on media.
[00:30:47] Now talk about that all the time.
[00:30:49] Then you have an asset.
[00:30:52] The reason that you're spending money
[00:30:54] advertising on social media is because you don't have your own on media.
[00:30:59] Perfect example of this podcast.
[00:31:02] I can advertise anything that I want on this podcast.
[00:31:05] As a matter of fact, in today's show, I need more leads.pro.
[00:31:10] That workshop, that's my workshop.
[00:31:13] I own the media so I'm able.
[00:31:16] I don't have to pay anybody to market this because I own my own media.
[00:31:21] I own my database.
[00:31:22] I own the podcast so nobody can stop me from marketing stuff on my own
[00:31:28] podcast, right?
[00:31:29] So it's called owned media.
[00:31:31] That is the greatest in the highest form of media that you can have.
[00:31:36] There's own media, earned media and paid media.
[00:31:39] Own media, self-explanatory.
[00:31:41] You own the media, you own the database,
[00:31:44] you own the podcast, you own the newsletter, whatever it is.
[00:31:47] That's on media.
[00:31:48] Earned media is when somebody else mentions you say somebody like Black
[00:31:53] Enterprise writes an article about you.
[00:31:55] That's also free, but you can't control when that comes out.
[00:31:59] Then there's paid media, which is self-explanatory.
[00:32:02] You're paying Instagram and Facebook to market your post.
[00:32:05] You're paying Twitter or whoever to be able to get that post or that content
[00:32:11] out there. So owned media is where it's at guys.
[00:32:14] And that's where the sustainability comes in when you own the media.
[00:32:20] You're either going to own the media or you're going to have to pay for the
[00:32:24] media. So why not be smart and own the media?
[00:32:27] Let me give you another real life example that I did years ago.
[00:32:30] This was in the mid 90s.
[00:32:34] After I left corporate America, I owned an ADT
[00:32:38] dealership, which is an alarm company dealership.
[00:32:40] And I had two offices.
[00:32:42] So I'm thinking about, man, how can I get more customers?
[00:32:46] I have to go pay for a newspaper ads, flyers, direct mail.
[00:32:51] There was no real internet back then in terms of being able to connect with your
[00:32:57] potential audience. So you had to go to old newspaper, magazine,
[00:33:02] direct mail, radio, TV and all that good stuff.
[00:33:06] So I said, OK, I'm trying to get in touch with homeowners
[00:33:10] to help them protect their home with a security system.
[00:33:14] I said, what happens if I create a vehicle
[00:33:18] that I'm able to get my information out there, my advertising out there for free
[00:33:24] and own the media?
[00:33:26] So what I did was I created what people would call a mailer.
[00:33:30] So if you guys have ever seen Money Mailer,
[00:33:33] it's a whole bunch of coupons that come into an envelope.
[00:33:36] I actually created a mailer and I sold advertising space to home
[00:33:43] improvement people, painters, anybody that was in the home services business.
[00:33:47] And what that allowed me to do was run my ads basically free of cost.
[00:33:52] Actually, I made money.
[00:33:54] So the first time I ran the direct mail program, it was to a couple of neighborhoods.
[00:34:00] I think I dropped about maybe five thousand pieces.
[00:34:04] And I actually made a couple of thousand dollars and in every piece,
[00:34:10] every envelope was my ad for ADT security systems.
[00:34:14] So I owned the media.
[00:34:16] I own that direct mailer.
[00:34:18] So when you own that direct mailer or when you own that podcast,
[00:34:23] when you own that email database or newsletter, then you can make money
[00:34:28] and still market your own products or services.
[00:34:31] It's a no brainer.
[00:34:33] So I became one of the top ADT dealers in Philadelphia because not
[00:34:38] because I was a great super salesman, even though I'm a pretty good salesman.
[00:34:43] But I leverage my own media to basically get more customers,
[00:34:50] more leads, more sales equals more money.
[00:34:53] OK. And so that's why owned media is so important.
[00:34:58] I was able to piggyback my own product or my own service in the media that I
[00:35:05] owned and it didn't cost me a dime.
[00:35:07] I actually made money.
[00:35:09] So just imagine if you have an email database of 15,000 people that are in the
[00:35:16] weight loss right now, you have a lead magnet, you generate this.
[00:35:20] It may be a newsletter, whatever it is.
[00:35:23] How many companies do you think would be interested in connecting with those
[00:35:28] 15,000 people through email?
[00:35:30] A ton of them.
[00:35:32] So now you're making money off of the media that you've owned and created.
[00:35:37] Now, the negative aspect to most entrepreneurs is it doesn't happen overnight.
[00:35:44] Right? You don't build that database of 15,000, 20,000 people overnight.
[00:35:49] But remember, this is the long game.
[00:35:51] So if you're smart, when you start your business, you're going to start your
[00:35:54] database. So a lot of a lot of my coaching clients, it's one of the biggest
[00:36:00] or the most important things I tell them.
[00:36:02] A lot of times people are so caught up in their product or service,
[00:36:06] they focus on, hey, let me create this great product or service.
[00:36:09] And once they finish creating that product or service, then they scratch their
[00:36:14] head and say, well, damn, who am I going to sell it to?
[00:36:16] You don't have a database.
[00:36:18] So you should be building your database while you're starting to build
[00:36:22] your business or even before.
[00:36:24] So say, for example, you're an expert using LinkedIn to generate leads.
[00:36:29] Right. And you come up with the idea of building an online course to help
[00:36:34] other people use LinkedIn to generate leads and sales.
[00:36:38] So before you even create that course,
[00:36:41] you want to go out there and you want to put a lead magnet out there for people
[00:36:46] who are interested in using LinkedIn to make sales.
[00:36:49] You can even put something out there as simple as this.
[00:36:53] Hey, I'm thinking about creating a course to help people use LinkedIn to make sales.
[00:36:58] If you're interested,
[00:37:00] please let me know or please click the link or sign up.
[00:37:05] And now while you're creating that online course, which may take a week or two,
[00:37:10] whatever it is, now you're building up the database.
[00:37:13] So when it's time for the course to release,
[00:37:15] you'll have people to sell to or you can actually pre-sell the course.
[00:37:21] Hey, this is my new course teaching people how to use LinkedIn to generate
[00:37:26] more sales. It'll be out in three weeks.
[00:37:29] I'm doing a pre-sale launch with a discount of 10 percent.
[00:37:33] Pay for it now and you'll get a discount.
[00:37:36] Once it comes out, then the price is going to be higher.
[00:37:39] So now you're getting proof of concept, right?
[00:37:43] And what's happening is you're taking that database as you build the database.
[00:37:48] You're generating revenues.
[00:37:50] And that's the whole beauty, guys,
[00:37:53] of understanding email versus social media.
[00:37:57] You control your email, you control your newsletter and you control your podcast.
[00:38:03] Now, people talk about video, but most times people are going to be on YouTube's
[00:38:08] platform and once again, you can get shut down off of YouTube.
[00:38:12] You can get shut down on any social media platform.
[00:38:16] I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that have lost their Facebook
[00:38:20] ads account that have lost their Facebook account, Instagram account.
[00:38:24] I got banned from Twitter for saying something.
[00:38:27] I got banned for about three or four days.
[00:38:29] I think it was something in reference to Trump or the MyPillow guy.
[00:38:34] And I think I said something like you should smother yourself with your own
[00:38:37] pillow and they banned me for like two to three days because I broke the bylaws
[00:38:42] or the terms of service.
[00:38:44] So when you do that, just imagine if I had my whole business built on Twitter
[00:38:49] and they shut me down for something like that, it can happen and it has happened.
[00:38:55] So let's be smart and start building sustainable businesses.
[00:38:59] And I'm going to give you these three action steps real quick here.
[00:39:02] The steps to build your business on a strong, profitable foundation that you own.
[00:39:07] Number one, the goal is you want to de-platform your followers
[00:39:12] from social media to a platform that you control.
[00:39:16] Number one, controlling on your own platform by driving your audience
[00:39:20] away from the dopamine, away from the social media and towards the dollars,
[00:39:26] which is your email database.
[00:39:28] OK, number two, have a central call to action to drive traffic
[00:39:33] directly to your database.
[00:39:35] It could be something to the effect if you ran a Facebook post or LinkedIn post.
[00:39:40] Hey, if you like this content,
[00:39:42] find out, find out more from my free weekly newsletter.
[00:39:46] Click the link to sign up.
[00:39:48] So have a central call to action to drive people to your database.
[00:39:53] And three, provide solid content on a regular basis with the platform that you own.
[00:40:00] Those are the three action steps, guys, to start building your database.
[00:40:05] Your database is the most important aspect of your business.
[00:40:10] It's the most important and it's the most valuable.
[00:40:13] So that's why if you ever sell anything on Amazon, Amazon tells you,
[00:40:18] hey, you're paying us because these are our customers.
[00:40:21] This is our database.
[00:40:23] We're just letting you rent this.
[00:40:24] That's why we're charging you 15 to 25 percent of what you sell
[00:40:30] on our platform because, hey, we own the platform.
[00:40:33] It's even if you got to sell on Amazon, you know this.
[00:40:37] You don't even get the email address of the people that buy your products off
[00:40:43] of Amazon, they give you something encoded so when you can go in your back office,
[00:40:48] if you want to contact them, it's an encrypted email that you send back.
[00:40:53] But you don't even know their email address when they buy a product or
[00:40:58] service from you on Amazon.
[00:41:00] Amazon tells you upfront, this is our database.
[00:41:03] This is our customer.
[00:41:05] We're just letting you borrow it.
[00:41:07] And for that, they're going to charge you anywhere from 15 to 25 percent.
[00:41:11] If you do Amazon fulfillment by Amazon where they do
[00:41:15] pickpacking and shipping for physical products or they're just charging you
[00:41:19] a commission if you sell a digital product.
[00:41:22] Once again, they understand the most important aspect of their business is
[00:41:28] their database and that's what you need to understand too.
[00:41:31] You don't have a database if all you got is social media followers.
[00:41:36] You don't have a database.
[00:41:38] You're on rented land and trust me,
[00:41:41] that rented land can get taken away.
[00:41:43] It's just like eminent domain, right?
[00:41:46] You live in an apartment and the apartment complex says, you know what?
[00:41:50] We're about to shut down because this new developer is going to build
[00:41:54] condo units and they're going to rehab all of this.
[00:41:57] Guess what? You're out. You're gone.
[00:42:00] So don't be silly.
[00:42:02] Build something that you own and control and leverage social media to help you
[00:42:08] build it. Now, I say this each and every week because it's true, guys.
[00:42:11] We get more and more downloads because of you, the B E B family.
[00:42:15] And I appreciate you guys so much.
[00:42:17] Make sure you guys spread the word about the podcast.
[00:42:21] Obviously also the website, the new revised black entrepreneur blueprint.com
[00:42:26] website. We have free content and resources.
[00:42:29] Go to the website, hit the learn tab and we have content about scaling and growing
[00:42:34] your business, e-commerce, marketing mindset, everything you need to help
[00:42:39] elevate your entrepreneur IQ.
[00:42:41] Remember, it's not about me.
[00:42:43] It's not about you.
[00:42:44] It's about us.
[00:42:45] It's about building an economic power base in the worldwide black community
[00:42:49] by building and supporting black owned businesses.
[00:42:52] Love you guys. See you same time next week. Peace.