0 (2s):
Boom. Shake the room. Fire Nation, JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like CEO School. Today we're pulling a timeless EOFire episode from the archive, so the giveaway may not be active, and we'll be breaking down the simplest online business to drop these volume bombs. I have brought Anne Sieg into EOFire Studios. Anne's training has impacted hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to achieve online business success, all while working from home, but nothing has matched the rapid success of her e-commerce students. And today, Fire Nation, we'll talk about how business is the sport of non-athletes. There's an extremely high level of athleticism in business, just like sports. You have to strengthen yourself for your journey and so much more.

0 (44s):
And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Anne and our sponsors. Outbound Squad, hosted by Jason Bay is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Tune in for convos with leading sales experts and top performing reps to help you land more meetings with your ideal clients. One of my faves, The Monthly app with Jason Ethan, where they share hacks, tips and tricks. Listen to Outbound Squad, wherever you get your podcasts and say what's up to Fire Nation and share something interesting about yourself that most people don't know.

1 (1m 20s):
All right, well great to be here with you. What's up Fire Nation? All right, fun little something about me as I got my first taste of salesmanship selling my handed Christmas bells when I was seven years old. So my mom set up my first store and it was a paper box with dollars and change to make my sale. So I went out often in the neighborhood by myself and I sold them all and that was my first taste of entrepreneurship.

0 (1m 46s):
Now would you actually ring the bells to make the sale?

1 (1m 49s):
No, they would not have been heard. This was up in Minnesota and the doors were closed tightly cuz of the cold. But I did ring the doorbell and it was kind of fun because they see this cute little girl. They were standing with their little box of bells and I sold them all and I was like, I, I'll never forget the sound holding my box going back home. This was back in the day when things were safer and kids were let out and without parents shadowing them every step of the way. But the box made the most interesting sound as a little child, it's like I can just hear it. And it was the rustling of dollar bills and I sold them all. I even had a bundled offer. I had white, green and red and I would sell them three for a dollar.

1 (2m 30s):
Wow.

0 (2m 30s):
I mean once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. Anne, I love that. In Fire Nation, as I shared at the beginning, we're talking about the simplest online business. And that's one thing I love about Anna is she does break things down. She really shows you the step-by-step. She shows you how it doesn't have to be overwhelming, doesn't have to be stressful. It really can be simple. But in today's world we have to be unique. And so what makes you, and then specifically the e-commerce business school unique in the e-commerce training space?

1 (3m 3s):
Well, it goes back to I've been an online marketer for 15 years, so I know the digital marketing space really well relative to people put together training. You know, they read some course where you can create training and turnaround and sell it. So I had manuals that I released back in 2007, et cetera, digital marketing, right? And really my big distinction that I always make for people is that yes, everybody needs training. You need that foundation, but it's the experience that encompasses that training delivery. So my background is both my parents were teachers. I was a sports coach for 15 years, I homeschooled for 12 years and I love the teaching environment.

1 (3m 44s):
And so my whole goal is to set up an a, a system, a platform for people to have an optimal experience. As it turns out, I do attract a lot of what I call evolving entrepreneurs. So they're perhaps never have done business and it's quite a mind shift, a mental mind shift. And so setting up a, a platform conducive to that and also one with such a wide swath of support that I like to tell people there's, there's no way they can even physically take full advantage of it all, but that the support is there in spades because as a new entrepreneur it can be a scary world.

1 (4m 25s):
And so we you know, walked them through that process and support them through that. So I've seen, and there's a lot of training info out there, but really what we are is a mentorship because we're developing the person into an entrepreneur. And that's my passion. That's

0 (4m 41s):
Such a critical aspect to the process Fire Nation. I mean you need to have that part of your game intact in Raider role if you're really going to thrive. And speaking about Thrive, let's get down to those specifics. How do you Anne help people who have never before been in business, build a thriving e-commerce business of their very own?

1 (5m 4s):
Well, it does start with the training that is very, it's needs to be very step-by-step. So when we see that there's any kind of gaps in between, we help fill those gaps. But it's also the support as they go through it. So I'll give you a couple examples. What I have found in working with entrepreneurs and I've worked with tons of thousands of people around the world and they'll say, and I have never worked for myself. I know how to show up for someone else but not for me. And so when they come into our program, doesn't matter which product, which training they come into, they are then gifted, so to speak as part of their training, the 10 day accountability bootcamp because what, this is one of the biggest challenges they face as they shift out of a lifestyle that is showing up for someone else and now they've got to show up for themselves.

1 (5m 54s):
So it's actually something we implemented. This is my first online mentor. I met him 16 years ago and I said, you know, we really should do this. I think this would really help people. So we deliver that for 10 days and everything their, their show up is actually tracked showing up for in this public accountability kind of space, which is really different seeing that peers are watching cuz you'll behave differently, you'll, you'll rise up another level when you see that there's that not just accountability to yourself but a group of people that you're going through this bootcamp. And we also have a back office tool called the End of Day Tracker. And that came out of my own business when we came online in 2007 as a corporation.

1 (6m 38s):
2006 is we're a digital team. So how do we kind of keep track of each other's efforts? And so internally as a corporate staff, we developed our e o D end of day. So we then created a tool for our members that they can track their performance with their key performance indicators. And then I'd say this is like your, your business journal, your diary of your efforts and your results. So what we also do as a result of that, we have the graduation, we have the gold, bronze and silver and they get dog tags shipped out to them as part of, if they showed up every day they have to actually graduate and then we ship it out.

1 (7m 19s):
So it's really just inculcating if you will, habituating them into the habits of success and it takes on a greater level of meaning because they're doing this with a group of peers. So it's the 10 commandments of accountability is what my, one of my top coaches, he put it together the program and we know statistically that the results of our members who go through that perform better. So I'm constantly looking for a better experience that keeps 'em, at the end of the day, they need to be consistent in their action and they need to check and adjust along their path so that they maintain their continued momentum.

1 (8m 2s):
So that's been very integral. And then we have another that we added in just this past January peak performance. It's just yet dialed up a whole nother level in terms of the accountability, high level handholding, guiding them along the way. It comes from my work in the sports world for 15 years is kind of mindset that I always felt it was really more incumbent upon me to mitigate the point of failures within the student body that we have. And so we're always watching for how we can better optimize their performance.

0 (8m 36s):
Accountability is everything. I mean Fire Nation you will. And I mean you will rise to another level when people who you know like and trust when they're supporting you, when they're guiding you and when most importantly they're holding you accountable. And I love those 10 commandments of accountability. I mean to me just being able to have that visual and understand what that looks like. Cuz Fire Nation, anybody can start something we want you to finish, we want you to finish that thing. Now you said that you grow entrepreneurs, Ann what the heck does that mean? Are you watering us? Yes,

1 (9m 12s):
Yes. Much like a garden. Truly. I've been an entrepreneur for my husband and I have had numerous businesses, very diverse automotive industry, real estate investment. Came online with my eldest son as my business partner back in 2006. And it's just like parenting. I, I would tell my kids, you know, you, you're my garden and I, I'm responsible to kind of keep the garden clean and weed it and it's a nurturing process and some people are, are very blessed to grow up in a family where they get to experience entrepreneurialism hands on as they grow up. And that's what we did with our three sons. They were always brought into the business.

1 (9m 53s):
It's you know, a run to the bank for a deposit no matter what it was. We tried to, we never removed that and isolated that from them. So when I did direct sales, my two little boys, when they were three and five at that time, they went out into the neighborhood with me. So we always, in our family upbringing, they were a part of the family economy. They weren't like mom and dad are off there doing their thing. They were a part of it. And that's where there's this value contribution if you will, by the children that converse to always getting handouts and mommy and daddy, can I have this and that? No, I'm gonna empower you to learn how to acquire this and that.

1 (10m 34s):
And that's best done by demonstration in real life opportunity. And my goal is to expand entrepreneurialism as much as I can because I believe that's the strength and foundation of our country and the more entrepreneurs we have, the more we strengthen our economy and it's the betterment of the country. I'm, that's kind of been my thing for many decades, my belief. So anyways, I do that within my family. All three of my sons have worked in my business. So in terms of developing them, absolutely I'm still developing, I get mentored. It's an ongoing process coming from the sports world I think of, I gotta call it business is the sport of non-athletes.

1 (11m 17s):
And there is a very high level of athleticism to business, a very high level there, there are some rigors, you will hit some potholes along the way, guaranteed you can put in your business plan, it will happen. And so just like sports is, you have to strengthen yourself for that journey. And so much of that is being with peers and like-minded people because not everybody is there to support us in our journey because they can't even begin to relate to it. That it's just such a completely foreign concept of having your own business. And for me it's like breathing, it's like breathing. So it's just being really aware of that. It's a shift for people. Now, a really integral part of that whole experience is getting to them proof of concept as quickly as possible.

1 (12m 4s):
And I speak very plainly to my members. Like when I do my new member orientation, I show them all sorts of success stories and I said no, but I get it. You're seeing other people succeed. But I know inside you're wondering, yeah that's great, but what about me? And so I let them know the best way you can get to that is you've got to get into action because it's hard to adjust a non-moving vehicle. It's really hard. But if you get into motion then we can help guide and correct you along the way. So they really, it's providing mental coaching along the way. And I'm a very holistic kind of teacher as well that you've gotta meet them at all their needs.

1 (12m 43s):
Emotional business is a pretty emotional game. It's to me it's a lot like raising a child. The the tender loving care that you put into raising a child. You do the same thing in a business. It's something that you love on and that you, I personally feel to have a heart for it because that's what's gonna drive you in your business and where you're constantly focused on it and wanting to see it grow and improve.

0 (13m 9s):
Now I love a lot of what you just broke down Anne, but a couple things I really wanna circle back on cuz to me they were just writer downers is when you use that phrase, I'm going to empower you, I mean Fire Nation, that's the way that you need to be driving forward. You need to be finding mentors who are empowering you. You need to be finding masterminds and accountability partners who are empowering you because you are that average of the five people you spend the most time with. And then the other quote, I just love this business is the sport of non-athletes. And it is so true Fire Nation, I've seen it time and time again where ex-athletes and non-athletes, those people that approach it the way top level athletes approach their sports, they win.

0 (13m 52s):
They find ways to win because guess what? They know it's fall down nine times, get up 10, make that happen. And wow, do we have some things coming up for you? Fire Nation, we're gonna be talking about the first three things that you need to do when starting a new online business and other value bombs. As soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors, tech is great. It can help us grow and scale our businesses in so many ways, but it can also be clunky, time consuming to manage and expensive. That's why I'm excited to introduce you to HubSpot CRM, the best platform to speed up your sales and scale your business without blowing your budget. HubSpot's all in one CRM helps you automate tedious tasks, keep track of all your deals in one place and make sure your whole team has access to the same data.

0 (14m 39s):
No need to worry about the management and cost of a massive tech stack. HubSpot gives you everything you need all in one place. Plus, with fast activation, HubSpot makes it easy for the entire team to get up to speed, saving you precious time. And best of all you can try before you buy. No commitment, no hidden fees, not even a credit card is needed to sign up. Get started for free at hubspot.com. That's hubspot.com. So, Anne, we're back and something you sent over to me that I found very fascinating. Studies show that less than 10% of people complete online training courses that they purchased, you on the other hand have a much higher success ratio.

0 (15m 21s):
What is your secret?

1 (15m 23s):
It's engagement. It's really, we look at what are the points of failure. So I'm gonna give you one that just kind of stood out to us for, again, evolving entrepreneurs is all too often they're, they're clipping along in their business and then life happens. And I know for business you've gotta keep that momentum going until you have it established that you're not so much as needed in the business as you're working on it. And this was just as we stepped back as a team of trainers and coaches and it's like, so where's the point of failure here? Well one of them was the, again for that fact that they're going along and then it is their mom is in the hospital, their son broke, is like who everything under the sun happens as we know, we get hit broadsided just life being what it is.

1 (16m 12s):
And so specifically in a more recent mentorship program, it's 90 day peak performance, we determined that we wouldn't focus well while yes we're focused on a sourcing method. This being for e-commerce, what was more important, important was to zoom out of the big picture of what it would take to help them succeed. And as we studied it, we realized they need to offset, we'll call it grunt work task for example, to offset those as quickly as possible so that you're working on your high value activities and not these low value activities that truly someone else could do for you. Probably even better cuz that's what they've been trained professionally to do.

1 (16m 55s):
So that's what we focus on in this as we made our next iteration of improvements as a case in point and what happened as a result that kind of pleasantly surprised us. And this being with an eye towards an automated e-commerce business, some business models are not as amenable to that, but in the case of e-commerce it is because you can have the vast majority of the task, I'm talking 90% that can be offset to a team who have the systems and software in place to run them for you. So that's just a case in point where we helped mitigate that fallout, that point of failure that frequently happens.

1 (17m 38s):
And I think that's really what it is, is entrepreneurialism as you start with this initial, initial, you know, excitement. And I always tell people, you know, that excitement that you first had, I liken it to a baton, this is kind of my visual of it in the you're doing, what are those races where you pass it off to someone really race kind of thing. And I tell 'em, I never let that baton down for fear that if I set it down, it will take more energy, more mental resolve to get back to that original state that I had when I first got excited about my business.

1 (18m 19s):
It's so true. It is, it's so true. You set it down and a day goes by and two days and three days and before you know it rationalization kicks in and it's the emotions that are attached in and around. Why are you clutching that baton so tightly? Anyways,

0 (18m 38s):
I've seen a Fire Nation over and over again. I mean people that get momentum, you've gotta do everything you can to keep that momentum going. It's like rolling a boulder down a hill like it will take on its own momentum if you let it. But man, once that thing stops getting it going again, forget about it. You have to keep up that momentum. And, and I have teased this a couple times, so break it down for us now, what are those first three things that Fire Nation needs to do when starting an online business?

1 (19m 8s):
It's to look with the end in mind instead of just jumping straight in, which I'm very prone to, I'm a massive action taker. My mom would chastise me when I would cook something and it would

0 (19m 20s):
Fails, what are you doing?

1 (19m 22s):
And she'd say, did you read the recipe?

0 (19m 25s):
Well,

1 (19m 26s):
Kinda sorta. I'm just more prone to take action. That being said, this whole concept of what's your end game? You know, what are you in it for? So in my ca case, it was when my husband had the windshield business and I was homeschooling my three sons at that time. And I was getting the idea that man, we don't have a safety net. It it's, it's all on us. We're we are the safety net. I don't depend on the government to be my safety, it it's us. I'm gonna take the ownership of this. And I realized that anything and everything could happen. So we better have a a backup plan. And I was always doing other side gigs all the time just to add money into the family household. But I had this resolve and determination I was gonna get 'em home.

1 (20m 9s):
That became my driving force. A second one was this, and this is where I think you really lock in the heart and the spirit of your resolve is I have seen the best performance come out when it was more other directed. In other words, the fruit of their efforts was related to others. So in my case it was this, I knew that my three sons were watching me and there I am homeschooling them too. And I said, here, so I'm gonna be doing, I'm gonna be busy in the morning, I'm doing this, this, that and the other thing. And the thing that I determine is they will not see their mother fail. No way, no how that would be the best life example that I could give them. So that's just an example of, of just you gotta lock in that steely resolve, what is gonna be the end outcome of, of what you wanna accomplish.

1 (20m 57s):
So tangibly get husband home, demonstrate to my boys their mama's not a quitter. So those were like die hard, locked in, like I'm in a surgery room, sudden unexpected thing. I had them bring the paperwork, I was working the business, nothing was gonna stop me. Wow. So, and that's just how I feel about it. So I was extremely driven and motivated and a lot of it is, I just like to prove it. And I think that's a lot of it is it's, it's more about what happens inside of you as a result of the journey. That's the, the bigger driver of it all than why I accomplish this and that, which of course we wanna do on business, but I'm always looking at, I want better control in my future and the more I develop myself through my business, the more opportunities that open up to me.

1 (21m 42s):
So I see it as an ever expanding opportunity as I further reinvest myself, me personally into my business. I just make myself better and better and bring more value into the marketplace. So it's really that steely resolve and where you wanna have it take you. Secondly, in biology they call it imprinting. And imprinting is when an animal is born and the first animal they see they think is their mother, it's a little chip, might see an alligator. There's my mother, right? For me, I had the good fortune when I first came online, and this was a long time ago, this was 2004. And so I listened to two different calls about two potential people that I could work with.

1 (22m 26s):
And I much preferred that one gentleman because he was so not filled with hype. And I thought that's who I'm gonna go with. And it was consultative selling approach and it felt very natural, very comfortable. What I was looking for. I knew I needed training because I lacked knowledge, but what I really needed was a mentor. So I had the very good fortune of I got awesome training and I got an awesome mentor that made all the difference in the world. Sadly, that is not the experience of so many people. It's a maybe a digital marketing piece and they never get any kind of help. And that's unfortunate because had I not had that, I, I don't know that I would've been successful. And third is consistency.

1 (23m 7s):
So straight out of the gate when I came into that first training company, we were given tracking sheets. Now I had developed that from the sports world. I would track my pushups, leg gloves, sit ups, you know, everything. I documented it all cuz it was my way of seeing my progress. So with that initial training I was documenting and I was tracking and I could see cause and effect from the actions that I took, the results that I would get. So those would be my, that's what we do with our members as a result of what, what worked for me as a a, a new entrepreneur. Number

0 (23m 40s):
One, Fire Nation. I love that phrase, lock in that steely resolve. I mean man, that is such a visual word phrase right there. I just love that. And then number two, imprinting and then just don't forget document and track. You know, what gets tracked and measured gets improved. You know I love that Peter Drucker quote because it is so true. And Anne, you shared a lot with us today. So, give us the one big takeaway that you wanna make sure Fire Nation really gets from everything that we've chatted about. I know you have a great call to action for us and how we can connect with you and then we'll say goodbye.

1 (24m 17s):
I really believe in the power of the entrepreneur and for their cause and effect, most importantly for themselves and their family. That's what I’m personally very committed to is impacting the family economy. It's interesting when I do surveys as people come into my opt-in for a webinar for example, I pull people and what's really shifted over the last year and a half, so, and it kind of surprised me, is that they wanna give back to the community. They wanna do something for others. And the very dead last thing is they wanna get a fast car and a big house. And, and I've been doing these for about, it's called a dream casting survey and I've been doing this for about 10 years. So, the data has been very impressive and it's that people want to have an impact is what I'm seeing.

1 (25m 1s):
Not so much self-directed. They do wanna take care of their own needs, but they wanna help take care of others. So, I wanna encourage people to pursue those dreams because there is help and support out there for you to achieve it. And I'm gonna say too, with the recent news that's been transpired, I'm gonna call it landing in the lucky bucket, I've been working online for 15 years and my business has kept going without a hitch. In fact, it's just gotten better. So being in the online space has been especially beneficial. So for those of you who are considering that, I can't encourage it enough. It just, it's been a real blessing to be able to come into the online space. And then as far as you want me to share what we have, please do to share what, okay, awesome.

1 (25m 44s):
All right. So, the online, the simplest online business model. So, I have been online for 15 years now, and when I look for simple, it means that you are not so encumbered with what can be some of the most challenging aspects of an online business. And that is traffic and conversions. It's a monster of beast to learn and to conquer that, it just is. And so is to tap into a system that can help leverage that piece that you don't even have to think about. So, I'm talking about the world's biggest sales machine online sales machine, and that is amazon.com. And I like to educate people in the really big picture of what Amazon can do for you.

1 (26m 26s):
First and foremost is to generate that cash flow because you don't on me cash hurting in your business. You want that steady cash flow. So, whether you wanna just keep snowballing that and growing that through an AM Amazon business, you can, or you use it as a catalyst and a springboard to something bigger and better where Amazon has given you that big leg up courtesy of their amazing customer base. So, the simplest online business model is using a very simple sourcing method called arbitrage. We've been teaching it for six years, with over 7,000 students. And that's because it dishes up the most data points for you to make a very reliable, predictable buying decision about a product that you can buy low, flip, sell high very, very quickly.

1 (27m 13s):
If you have the right data points and you know how to interpret it, it can be a beautiful sales machine for yourself and it mitigates you having to learn so many other more difficult aspects of an online business. You're just focused on sourcing. Furthermore, all of that can be offset the sourcing work, the shipping work, every bit of it can be outsourced so that a team runs your business for you. So that's what we have for a webinar that I think people would really, really love to get the information on and just be that much informed and educated and potentially find an absolutely fantastic method for building a really fast successful Amazon business.

0 (27m 54s):
And how do we register for this webinar?

1 (27m 56s):
That would be joinebs.com/fire. joinebs.com/fire.

0 (28m 4s):
And that's EBS as in echo, Bravo, Sierra.

1 (28m 8s):
That's correct.

0 (28m 9s):
Love it. Well Fire Nation, you know this, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with and you've been hanging out with AS and JLD today. So, keep up that heat and if you head over to eofire.com and type an a n n a in the search bar, her show us page will pop up with everything we've talked about, links to the webinar, all that jazz. But go directly to joinebs.com/fire. That's join echo bravo sierra ebs.com/fire. Register for that webinar. Learn all about the arbitrage that's waiting for you. Fire Nation, this is the simplest online business and been doing it for six plus years, 7,000 plus students rocking it every day.

0 (28m 55s):
And thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. All

1 (29m 3s):
Right, awesome. Thanks for having me.

0 (29m 5s):
Hey, Fire Nation, today's value Bomb content was brought to you by Ann. And if you've ever thought about creating a podcast of your own, the podcast journal is for you. It is a gorgeous full leather journal that will guide you step by step in the creation and launch of your podcast in 50 days. That's five zero Fire Nation. Visit thepodcastjournal.com, use promo code podcast for a $15 discount. And thank you for listening to my podcast and I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side. Outbound Squad hosted by Jason Bay is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

0 (29m 48s):
Tune in for convos with leading sales experts and top performing reps to help you land more meetings with your ideal clients. One of my faves, The Monthly app with Jason Ethan, where they share hacks, tips and tricks. Listen to Outbound Squad wherever you get your podcasts.