New entrepreneurs get advice from a lot of different sources- There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of information. From YouTube, and Google searches, from Quora.

The list goes on and on. We live in an information age now and we can pretty much talk. To our smartwatch. And ask at anything we need to know.

Everybody has a slightly different perspective As well. And that doesn’t make it any easier to figure out. What we should do or shouldn’t do. What path to take? And how to take it.

What works for one person may not work for someone else There’s no secret sauce. There’s no formula on success. I was just telling my daughter yesterday after she was telling me she wants to start a business that even the experts tell us.

Try something. See if it works. If it doesn’t work, you try something else. What worked for me may not work for you. Now there are general principles in place that are sort of generic. And yes, there is a right and a wrong way to do some things for sure. But as far as what resonates with people.

For your product or service and how you’re presenting it. And how that lines up with your experience. You may or may not be able to reach your target audience as effectively as somebody else who’s doing the same thing.

Nobody wants to fail. We all want to succeed But success comes after. The failures Success comes after we’ve tried something. And it didn’t work. But we learned from that experience. And what not to do in order. To reach our target audience more effectively with a better pitch, a better angle. A different approach. A better product, a better service.

Surely if we ‘do it the right way’ we’re more likely to succeed But what is the right way?

What is ‘the right way’?

How would you define ‘doing it right’? My rate might not be your right. It might be right for me and wrong for you. It might be right for you and wrong for me. It’s all subjective.

There’s a low budget ‘right’ way and a big budget ‘right’ way. Both are totally different.

I’ve found that. Most new entrepreneurs have the smaller budget approach at first until They are able to build their business. And along with that, build their bank account.

But even while we’re still on that smaller budget even while we Still have that smaller bank account. We can get caught up in the mindset that others have that are on larger budgets in order to ‘do it right’

Now don’t forget. There’s A never ending supply of online tools for your toolbelt to help you on your path to success. Some are free, some are low cost and some are quite expensive

the marketing tools seem to be the more pricier ones. Here are a few of the more popular ones and the kind of money you’ll shell out

· Kajabi is a very popular online tool that will help you sell your products through funnels and landing pages, you can have a website developed, throw in email marketing…but it’s going to cost you between $150-$200/a month

· Hubspot is another very popular source for not only launching but building your business with a wide range of online tools at your disposal, but that can cost you anywhere between $450 and $800/month

· Clickfunnels is another very popular small business marketing site that offers sales funnels for your products. And this one is the cheaper option, if you really want to call it that. Clickfunnels will run you between $130-$160/month

These tools are great if you have the structure, volume and staff in place to support it. You will need a team of marketing specialists to work these tools properly there’s a mountain of work to do to use these tools.

But if you’re paying for them but need time to put the foundation in place, you’re paying for something you can’t even use for quite some time and time is not something you’ll have the privilege of wasting. Once you sign up for these services, the clock is ticking.

Every month you will be charged. No doubt about that. So the trick is, how do you sign up for one of these expensive monthly services and then get your product or service up and running fast enough using these services so that you can start making money?

That’s the dilemma that a lot of people have when they sign up for these pricy monthly services.

· You’ll need your digital products and services in place ASAP

· You’ll need your online coursed finished and ready to market and sell ASAP

· You’ll need your email marketing in place and fully functioning ASAP

But this is the dilemma that a lot of people face. Each one of these three things I just listed takes a lot of time in and of itself. All three of these together may take you a full year.

Paying for one of these high ticket tools for a year and not being able to use it is a huge waste of many thousands of dollars. Now that wasn’t part of the plan, when you signed up for these types of expensive, pricey services.

If this happened to you I’m sure you didn’t see it coming when you saw your money being flushed down the drain. And if this did happen to you, I sure am sorry about that and it’s probably under the guise of being told that this is the right way to do it. “If you’re going to do something, do it right.” Right?

That’s what we’re always told. If you’re going to do something, do it right. The problem with that advice is that somebody else’s right way may not be your right way. Somebody else’s budget and mindset may be quite different than your budget and your mindset.

This is why you will never hear me say through my coaching “If you’re going to do it, do it right.” Not that I don’t want you to do it the right way. It’s just that you need to determine for yourself what’s right for your business.

I can tell you what worked for me. I can tell you what’s right for me. But you need to determine what’s right for you.

Because, if you want to use tools like these, you need to be up and running as fast as possible. You see, I take the low budget approach and always will. If you’re able to quickly build a skilled team and build that foundation for the marketing funnels you’ll need, then great.

Otherwise, be careful. Maxing out your CC or taking out a loan for your startup can be a huge financial risk, and that’s why I’ve seen a lot of businesses come and go throughout my 21 years of being in business. They want to start strong.

They want to hit the ground running they’re very optimistic. They have big, big goals and dreams. I get that. But when they start too strong it can be easy to get in over your head very fast. So if we ever have the pleasure of working together through my one on one or online group coaching my advice is always going to come from the slow and steady approach.

Again, I’ve been in business for over 20 years because of the slow and steady approach.

So if you’re thinking about signing up for pricey marketing services all I’m asking is that you think it through to make sure to make sure that you have the foundation in place in advance so that you don’t get caught up into the whirlwind of success too early and you find yourself in over your head as well. OK?

If you want a low budget alternative, I teach this in my coaching and online course. You can set up a great landing page for your lead magnet through MailerLite and the best thing about this is that the email integration is already built in.

Now, if you haven’t heard me say this yet, MailerLite is free for the first 1,000 email subscribers. And the paid version after that is only $9/month. Did you hear that? Only $9/month. Now, do you get all the bells and whistles that the other services get for their $200 or $500/month? No. But you’ll probably either not need or use those bells and whistles either. So why pay for it?

If you can work through the funnel process on your own, (and I have a Podcast episode on using mind mapping), then you can save yourself a TON of money.

Is this a lot of work? Yes. But it always is. Even if you’re spending $800/month on a pricy service that will do SOME of the work for you. I said SOME. There’s still a lot of work for you to do even though you’re giving them the price of a small car each year.

Is it work? Yes. Can you do it? Yes. Can you do it alone? Maybe. But if you need help, myself…or many others out there can help you through the process.

You’ll get there. It always takes time, but hey, if I can do it, then so can you.

www.tomclairmont.com

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