Business Advice Tweets (Will add to this as time goes by and the quoted tweet gets more traction) https://twitter.com/JamieMcSloy/status/1361697417008193539

In the beginning, middle and end, there is one system to rule them all. It consists of:

- The offer provider
- The audience
- The Offer

All of these can and will change. The three-part system remains the same.

Do not get hung up on the offer, the specific audience or the means of connecting the two.

You see guys... Twitter account>email list> ebook.
Or, FB Ads>Ecom Product with the 12hr only! ticker-tape.

Nothing wrong with the methods. They will only be "the thing" for short time

If you have a business, you need to think of two things:

- the method that works right now
- the overall shape of your business

You can make sales with whatever method now. It will not be the same in 5 or 10 years time. Probably not six months.

That shouldn't matter.

Your current audience are a small, closed, gated-community-styled pool that you swim in.

The potential size of your business is an ocean in comparison.

Don't ever get locked in with your current market.

The next likely "big fish" in social media or mass adoption is something like Telegram or Discord with better ability to connect different, global audiences.

Twitter is saturated. Facebook is ancient tech.
Discord, Telegram, Whatsapp... big now but will stagnate as no new blood.

There's more than one way to use social media, and few understand this.

You can do the extrovert-shouty, MEDIA in Social Media

Or you can do the introvert - sharpshooting SOCIAL in Social Media.

Or some in-between or stuff I don't even know about.

You will end up having to pick a business that suits your personality eventually, if you go the business route.

When you're employed, effect of your personality is limited. You have to do the work whether you like it or not.

When you're your own boss... very hard to do this.

BIG mistake a lot of would-be entrepreneurs make:

FLASHY business SELLS. The guy with the lambo and the private jet photo op sells YOU on their stuff.

This might be for you. Probably not.

Most lucrative business is invisible.

Millionaires selling screws and light fittings.

The most Universal Business Advice Possible™

Find something you're good at and you enjoy. Master it over the years, finding applicable ways to help people in exchange for £, and learn some basic marketing skills to go with it.

Over time, the rest takes care of itself.

The Other Most Universal Business Advice Possible™

If you are at a stage where you think, "I want to start a business but I don't know what" then you aren't ready to be a CEO playboy and shouldn't quit your day job.

Easy fix in the next tweet:

Find one SIMPLE thing you can do that people will pay for.

Cutting lawns. Photographing their babies. Cleaning their windows... it doesn't matter.

It's from this simple thing you can take the first step. Doesn't have to be forever. But it's the first step.

"Wanting it" isn't.

E-Commerce is probably not the ideal first-time business unless you want to fail for the experience.

Errant observation but most of the guys I know successful at online business tried a store first, failed out, learned something else and then came back to it, (or didn't.)

"Is copywriting dead?" comes up quite often

Very premature to say this when for first time in history the majority of communication is now via text

This happens every time a new method gets burned out though and the easy pickings go elsewhere.

This tweet isn't just about copy.

Worth noting: ANY business advice is a "skin in the game" scenario.

Not necessarily in the case of, "only trust dudes who have done it,"

but also, every business and person behind it is unique and their experiences (thus values) are unique.

Including me,

and including you.

Big business has far too much control over the state of the world.

(They can ban a President!)

However, the ability to affect control by micro-entities (businesses, people, small communities) has never been greater either.

Following on from the last tweet

It's never been easier to make more than a living with obscure, niche material.

There are guys writing "nerd becomes superhero with harem of hottie erotica" and making six figures a month.

This has never before been possible.

Following on from last tweet again,

You are probably blinkered by what you already know.

The markets/niches you're in are smaller than you think. (Go on reddit, see guys, "Yeah, this character in this game is a household name" - stupid bias)

continued in next tweet...

There are niches which are massive but are entirely invisible to most of the world.

There are entire ecosystems built around video unboxing of niche products you've never heard of.

You can be a player in one ecosystem or create a new one.

Biggest coronavirus reveal: I was right

In first Direct Response Newsletter issue, I wrote that "Online vs. Offline Business" was becoming a thing of the past.

Now your local store is online and Amazon deliver your groceries.

This trend will continue. http://directresponsenewsletter.com/ 

I saw some people a few days ago claiming that a problem with affiliate marketing is that there's no "exit" where you can sell your asset at the end.

They're completely wrong.

We are entering the age of automated content.

It's not what I thought it would be and that doesn't matter. It's probably not what you think of when you think, "automated content" either.

Think less, "articles a robot wrote," and more, "Choose your own adventure fortune cookie"

Most marketing problems aren't marketing problems at all.

They're either:

- audience selection issues
- problems with the offer
- structural business issues

Business adjacent learning as I move out of direct response work:

Think of everything as an offer.

You swipe on Tinder... what's your offer?
Three year old having a temper-tantrum because they don't want to go to bed... what's the offer?
Up at night worried about the future?

From last tweet...

A free email list is still an offer. You're selling them some benefit in exchange for a regular place in their inbox.

Attention, engagement, investment... all forms of currency and you need to offer something in exchange.

Some of the best business advice I've given before on Twitter isn't business advice

I've made countless gold coins through cold emailing and networking as a complete hermit introvert.

BUT I can talk/write to people.

- Good manners
- Eloquence
- Caring about them

> than an MBA

One of the very first blog posts I wrote back in 2016 (?) was titled, "Every Word You Write Is An Asset."

This is honestly a magical statement. I didn't realise that at the time.

Everything we write has the potential to reach out and reverberate forever

Take that how you will.

Less esoteric but still filed under "Weird."

On copywriting: guys still repeat the statistic "80% of your work should be on the headline" variants.

Have you ever stopped to think, "WTF are they talking about?"

Because I sure have.

Headlines don't even mean the same anymore

Reminder if this long thread on business bits is dazzling you

90% of business success comes from two things:

1. Finding something people want in the first place and giving it to them

2. doing enough to get out of the shallow end of the pool where most of your competition lives

Great idea prompted by the last tweet, (I've done this)

If you're thinking, "I want to start X business" - especially anything new, but "I'm too late!"

Write down 10-20 names of people/businesses already working in the area.

Come back in 1 year. Eye-opening. Most won't survive

If there's somebody doing what you want to do, then the golden rule for your offer is that

1. you can do everything related to servicing the core need like they can

2. You have some incremental improvement that makes your jewel shinier

Everything else... window dressing

I joke about 48 Laws of Power and the Machiavelli stuff a lot, but this is serious business advice:

Most business owners/leaders in the real world don't think like those books/guys promote, and once you do it for yourself, you'll see that quite quickly.

That's why it's funny.

Easy exercise:

Think about a problem you've had for years.
If you received an email from a friend saying, "Hey, I know you've got this problem. Here's a possible fix mate..."

What do you do?

1. Now imagine you're the friend with the solution.

2. How do you become the friend?

Your offer doesn't have to be perfect.

Especially not first time.

If Apple can sell a Macbook that dies at the first hint of dust, you can make mistakes too.

Think about all the "versions" there are of products. Incremental improvements on an offer over time.

Let's talk about business haters.

You will have customers and clients that are never happy. Even if you try your best, they will slip through.

The only way to win is to say, "We're not a good fit, sorry" and get them out of there.

Focus on those you can work for.

Add on to last tweet.

This is personal opinion, but;

Never get yourself into the business of courting controversy for the sake of drumming up business.

On a long enough timeline, it always goes wrong.

One final note on the topic of haters

And this... personal opinion again, applies to personal and business matters

Be VERY wary of doing business with anyone who makes their living courting negative attention. You know the types

Keep your head down. Make sure partners do too

On Fear of Missing Out:

It's a very real phenomenon and it's not logical.

In business terms, "once in a lifetime" opportunities roll around every few months.

The biggest missing out you feel is taking the time out of what's working because you think the easy money is coming

Whatever your business, the hard thing is always working out what buttons to push in the first place.

Pushing buttons - literal or figurative - is never as difficult as the figuring out of the things.

It's also the thing you can't skip, outsource or offload.

You can sell high-ticket products in any niche.

You can sell bespoke offers in any niche.

You can sell low-ticket offers in any niche.

I recommend having a second business not tied to your first.

There's value in going "all-in" but never count out the possibility you'll need income not tied to your main venture at some point.

Passive income = having an asset that generates you money without your input.

Can be book royalties, savings account interests, rental properties.

None are purely passive. That doesn't really matter.

Don't overcomplicate this.

We're in an attention economy.

This means if you can build a recurring offer that's below most people's attention threshold, (e.g. Netflix,) you're in a good spot.

Sub $10 a month recurring adds up very quickly.

You can learn a lot from businesses that annoy you and/or do things completely differently to you.

You cannot mimic them though.

What is it about them that pushes your buttons and how can you apply it effectively in your business?

On Pricing

Generally speaking, the more effort and attention is required on your part, the higher the price should be.

Anything bespoke should be charged accordingly, as you're spending your time and effort to give someone else more of theirs back.

People rush to scale because it's sexier to say you've got a bigger business, or whatnot.

Don't do this.

The net effect of having an efficient system and high lifetime value in place before you scale compounds massively.

Related to tweet above; lot of people will tell you to focus not on saving money or cutting costs, but on making more.

This is a great way to build a leaky boat without noticing

Most economic recession cutbacks involve fixing boat leaks.

Bear this in mind as opportunity & risk