Ep# 087: Automation + Funnels For Freedom with EOFIRE Expert Kate Erickson

I recently went down to Puerto Rico for the high level business mastermind that I'm a part of and I met some incredibly inspiring thought leaders and entrepreneurs that have seen truly unbelievable levels of success in their businesses and in their lives. I think it's so important to have both of those areas covered.

Kate Erickson is most certainly one of those people, but what magnetizes me to Kate isn’t really her accolades or her sales funnel (which is unbelievable), it is more of who she is. She has this magnetic nature, full of humility and calm energy. She has this clarity of vision and this generous spirit and kindness that made you feel like you are hanging out by the pool with an old friend. I learned so much from her on this trip.

You might know Kate--or not realize that you know Kate! If you know Entrepreneurs on Fire, you know Kate, because she's literally the engine that makes that powerhouse go. Her boyfriend and sidekick, John Lee Dumas, is the face of EO Fire, but Kate is the backend of the multimillion dollar business that has touched thousands and thousands of lives through their podcast, courses, products, and their incredible and thriving community.

It was extra special to have Kate on the show because I got to hear more about her journey and learn firsthand how they found unbelievable success by ditching busy, getting insanely laser focused on their craft, and creating their product suite and sales funnel to attract the right people who are ready to buy.

Doesn't that sound appealing? There is so much wisdom in this episode brought to you from years on the front lines because Kate was on them. You'll want a notebook and a pen ready because you're going to learn how to get laser-focused, how to pinpoint your action plan for growth and how to step into that next level of monetization in your business.

WE CHAT ABOUT:

Honoring Who You Want to Be

I honestly don't feel like any amount of money or success could ever make me not want to be [kind and giving].

“People make their vision boards and they picture everything on the vision board but they don't include themselves in that vision. Like the things that I want to accomplish in my life go so far beyond who I am today. I have so much work to do on me to be able to ultimately achieve that vision.”

Finding Your Lane and Ditching Busy

“How I came to discover what I'm best at and how I can best contribute to our business has so much to do with my strengths that I used in the corporate world and being able to identify those and bring them forward into what we do today. I don’t need to start from scratch and figure out what I'm supposed to do. I already know what I'm supposed to do. It's just about embracing and identifying that and being able to carry that forward.”

“It has a lot to do too with just simply setting and getting super clear on your goals. Because if you don't have a North Star to work towards, you're constantly going to find yourself wondering if it should be that YouTube channel or Instagram or podcast or membership site or course or book or any of those number of things.

You'll find everyone telling you that all of those are the best thing for you to do in your business right now. They don't have the answers for what the best thing for you to be doing in your business right now is, only you do. And that has to be based on your goals. So if you're working through your business right now, feeling like you don't have a super clear goal, I feel like that's such an important place to start.”

Taking the Time to Recognize What’s Working and What’s Not

“Another important discipline to touch on is your ability to let things go and to have the schedule of actually looking at [what’s going on in your business] because it's easy to start going and then just continue going. And when you're in that pattern of just more and more and more, go, go, go, next, next, next, you're never taking the time to stop and evaluate what you currently have going on.

There's a lot to be said of recognizing what's working really well in your business and doubling down on that versus feeling like you have to do something new.”

“Even if you are productive and not in the zone of just busy, [you still should] schedule into your day or into your week or month to audit what you have going on and what's working, what's not working, how does it feel? There are some things for me that were producing a good ROI, but they just felt like crap. They always felt like a stress to me. I'm like, ‘What am I doing? This is my business. I get to decide how I do this!’ Like I don't care what this is bringing in financially, if it's constantly weighing on me emotionally.”

What To Do When Your Business Doesn’t Support Your Dream

“I think that goes back to the goals, to the vision, to the casting and getting super clear on what actual activities will help get you there. That's when it gets to the point where you start accepting all these things because other people are telling you that that's what's going to build X, Y and Z or that's what's going to net you X, Y and Z. But again, there are some things that maybe it will, but that’s not you. If you absolutely do not like writing, and somebody tells you that SEO and blogs are the only thing that are going to grow your business, still don’t do it if you hate it! Maybe you consider hiring that out.”

If the whole point is to build a business that fits into your life and your vision and your goals, don't ever sacrifice and make your life fit into your business because then you're in a worse place than where you started.

Finding Time Freedom as a Busy Business Owner

“Automation does not mean impersonal or not caring or any of that other stuff. Automation is just a really smart way to build a business that does not run you, you run it.

What it comes down to is figuring out a system that can help you free up time so that the time that you do spend is on serving your existing clients and the people who are already paying you money. It's so easy to lose sight of the base of clients who are literally paying you money for whatever you've promised them. So many people get stuck in this mindset of, ‘Well now I need to go find more clients.’ And they end up spending their time on the marketing and on chasing new potential clients and they lose sight of those who they should really be giving their time to.”

How to Use Sales Funnels the Right Way

A sales funnel is a value ladder:

Attract your audience with traffic generators--think Free, Consistent, and Value-Driven
Give your audience a quick (free!) win
Give your audience more value with a paid offer

Kate and John’s sales funnel is almost entirely automated! Tune in to listen to Kate break down how they have this set up so that they can run a wildly successful business with maximum time freedom.

The “Secret” to the Success of Entrepreneur’s on Fire

“This type of foundation and platform and reciprocity and trust and connection and the deeper level community growth and audience that we have, I wholeheartedly believe it is because of [consistently showing up]. We would not have the community that we have. We would not have the strength in our business, the platform, the foundation, any of that, if it wasn't for our podcast. That's how it all started.”

Resources from this episode:

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