Boss Your Business - The Podcast

[00:00:00] Yvonne Heimann: Hello, and welcome back to Boss Your Business Mindset, where we explore how some amazing women out there, including Christina Lopez, who is on the podcast today, hello and welcome, built a business, how, how that business changes. How, why, what, how all the things. And, tina, reading your bio and reading your story, I found it really interesting.

[00:00:30] So before we dive into, tell my audience, who are you? What do you do? How did you get here?

[00:00:40] Christina Lopez: Yeah. So I'm going to give you the rough snapshot and feel free to dive deeper if you want to, so again, hi everyone. My name is Tina. And I'm actually a former online business coach now turned into an online content creator.

[00:00:53] And I went from having back to back sales calls to now having a completely passive income [00:01:00] revenue model. And so basically I've been able to build an automated content business that leverages email marketing, affiliate marketing, and digital products to truly be able to have a business that has no team members, no sales calls, And no one time revenue.

[00:01:15] So I am the type of person who likes to set it and forget it. And if I want to take a month off, actually last month or sorry, last year, did a month off in Asia and we made more money passively than we've ever had throughout the year. So it's been a long journey to build that business the way it is now.

[00:01:34] Yvonne Heimann: And it's what I found so interesting is that I've seen a lot of content creators go the other way around. From, hey, I've done all of this to now I'm telling, now I'm teaching you how to do it, and you kind of flip the whole thing around, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on, because I always love to expose my audience to ways [00:02:00] of doing differently. I already know that.

[00:02:05] But what I would love for you to tell the audience, as they don't know yet, is why did you make that switch? Because it's like, when we look publicly, it's this, oh my god, coaches, oh, those amazing people, that's what you are supposed to be doing. Why did you switch away?

[00:02:22] Christina Lopez: Yeah, that's a good question.

[00:02:24] I think the best way to answer this is actually to bring you back a little bit to a couple of years ago. So I had this coaching business. It was very successful. My clients got amazing results, their first five, 10 K in their business ever. And so it was really great in the sense that I was able to get results from my clients, get, make money for myself and really be able to help people in a one on one setting.

[00:02:48] And so the thing that they don't tell you is like a lot of people transition to coaching and they're like, oh, like they, you know, have their content business as you mentioned, and then they go into coaching. The [00:03:00] problem that I had was I started with coaching. So what ended up happening was, you know, when you have a coaching business, you do pretty much everything, right?

[00:03:07] Especially if you don't have a team. I did have a team, but I felt like a manager and I didn't like that either. But, you know, I had back to back sales calls. I had the content creation. I had client fulfillment, and then I had customer support and like all these different layers of this building, this coaching business that it came to a point where it's actually ironic.

[00:03:29] I made the most amount of money I've ever had in my business one month. And what ended up happening was I didn't credit what actually got me there. What got me there was actually working less. And for some reason in my head, I said to myself, oh, like if I made that much of my money and then I need to push harder.

[00:03:47] And so I did. And that was, I learned the hard way. That's not what you do. And so I pushed so much that like I had 20 back to back sales calls and yeah, [00:04:00] every single one of them said no. And I was like, this is not, right. Like I know how to close sales. I've closed six figure in sales. Like I know how to do this, like what's going on here.

[00:04:10] And then I kind of like, you know, hopped on a coaching call with my coach at the time and she's like, are you burnt out? And I was like, what is that? Like, what do you mean? I didn't really even know like what burnout was. She was explaining to me. I was like, I feel like, I think that's what I'm experiencing.

[00:04:26] Like, I just couldn't put a term to the experience, and so that was a very rude awakening in the sense of like, oh, shit, like, I'm actually, like, I am exhausted. I'm tired. And it got to a point where I couldn't, show up anymore physically like and mentally and so what I mean by this is that like I had coaching clients, but I couldn't really serve them in the highest level anymore. And if I couldn't serve them in the highest level anymore, then it truly wasn't in the best interest of them and [00:05:00] so I didn't want to take any clients.

[00:05:02] And so when I said I didn't want to get in clients, the fastest way to close the coaching business is by truly just like stop posting on social media and just don't take any more clients. So I finished my contract and I kind of took a four month sabbatical to be honest. I like took a mental health break.

[00:05:20] And what ended up happening was I kind of had this itch and maybe you'll experience this. Maybe other people have this experience where like, you can't just stop. I'm like, once when you're not, you can't just like stop. And so I said to myself, I was like, you know what, if we're going to do this, then I need to do this differently.

[00:05:40] And so I took that entire experience of like, what did I not like in the business? Well, I didn't like the cash injections actually. Like I didn't like how like you sign a client, you make a shit ton of money, which is great. But like, then you're kind of like, well, shit, where's the next client, right. And it's kind of like this feast and Famine element.

[00:05:59] Like [00:06:00] I didn't like that. So I'm like, okay, we're not going to take any clients because I don't want that type of business. Second thing is I mentioned like, I don't want to be a manager. I had a team of individuals working on my business and it really just kind of sucked the joy out of it.

[00:06:14] And just being a manager is not really what I like to do. And the last element is that like, it needs to be completely automated. Like I cannot be the bottleneck in the business, meaning that like you need to be able to run this business without me. Like I can take a month off and like shit will not like go on fire.

[00:06:32] And like, that's exactly what I said. So when I transitioned to this, okay, no clients, how am I going to fulfill the revenue model? That's going to look like digital products, affiliate marketing, newsletter referrals, that's the alternative, right? No, you know, no team members and that's going to look like automations, leveraging workflows, leveraging tools like Zapier, Airtable, all those things, not really like, you know, having sales calls again, that's going to come [00:07:00] down to automated funnels, email follow up, all those different types of things.

[00:07:04] So now truthfully, like I have a clear calendar. And it's going to stay that way.

[00:07:11] Yvonne Heimann: And I love the, the different perspectives where I'm like, I love all automations and delivery and all the things. And I am preaching don't be the bottleneck just as much as, as you are talking about. You thrive on this. So it's, it's, it comes back down to, Hey, all of this is possible. All of this is possible.

[00:07:37] And if, if you in the audience listening right now, I like, you know what I've been fighting this. I was told I'm supposed to do VIP days and that's the solution. I'm supposed to do one on one and that's the solution. I'm supposed to do the group coaching and that's the solution.

[00:07:52] I'm supposed to do digital downloads and all the things, that's the solution. Because I'm like, [00:08:00] yes, it can be, but due to the work that Tina did of figuring out what aligns with you. There's so many ways that we can do it. And you perfectly show it. It doesn't have to be one on one. It doesn't have to be group coaching. It doesn't have to you actively, I don't want to say actively, you're still actively involved.

[00:08:24] It's not, it's not that you are not doing anything. But it doesn't have to be on camera or in calls straight up with clients in any way, shape, or form where it's not 1980s anymore. There are so many different ways of how we can run a business. And. I love it. I love it. It's a complete different perspective to any other guests that I had on the, on the podcast before.

[00:08:53] So can I ask you, there's a lot, when we say digital downloads and funnels and all the things, [00:09:00] what specifically are you selling/doing with your business right now. How is this thing working?

[00:09:08] Christina Lopez: Yeah, I think the best way to describe it is in a funnel. And I know if that's a new term for anyone who's listening, just think of it like an upside down triangle. Like it's kind of you take the big pieces and then you filter it down as it gets smaller, right? So I'll kind of explain this. So the activities that I really do in my business.

[00:09:29] So when it comes to the way that I had to piece this together is there are kind of three areas. Like I have traffic, and then I have nurture, and then I have conversions. And I'm thinking to myself, how can I automate that, right? And so when I think about traffic, There are different types of strategies that I use in my business.

[00:09:48] Also, another fun tidbit is that even though I'm a creator, I actually don't love being on social media. So I spend very little time on social media, but then you kind of ask yourself like, well, [00:10:00] Tina, if you don't really, or if you're not on social media, where do you get your leads or your, you know, grow your subscriber base and stuff like that, that is, you know, kind of like thinking of like, okay, what's one strategy that a lot of people love to use, but that is leverage and that gets the highest return on time.

[00:10:18] Most people will say ads, but I've never had great experiences with ads. And I personally cannot set it up. I don't know how to do it. And I don't really want to do it. And I realized I was like, okay, well, like, what is the essence of ads? Well, ads is essentially getting, you know, you're paying to play to borrow another person's audience.

[00:10:38] So I'm like, well, okay, how can I do that in a free manner? And the best way that I've been able to do this is actually through collaborations at scale. And so when I'm thinking about collaborations at scale, I'm thinking about freebie swaps. So that's the term where essentially, like, say, for example, like you and I were doing a freebie swap.

[00:10:55] You promote your freebie to my list. I promote your freebie to your list. And then there we go, we [00:11:00] have a swap. I get to expose myself or my freebie to your audience. You get to expose your freebie to my audience and the audience gets something for free. So it's a win win scenario for everybody. Right now, the other layer is actually through bundles.

[00:11:13] So it's a similar concept as well. Where if, you know, the way that I can say this is, say, for example, you have a bundle, a bundle of resources and products. There's the host. They're the person who, you know, is gathering a bunch of contributors. I would be a contributor in this scenario and submit a product that's originally paid and give it to the bundle for free.

[00:11:32] But since we're all promoting the bundle, we get to expose each other to different audiences and people get to sign up for, you know, my product within a specific time window. And that's the way I grow my list, right. And that has been the highest return on time strategy that I've used in my business because it literally only takes me 20 minutes to apply to a bundle, right. And it, when I think of.

[00:11:57] Yvonne Heimann: The resources already done, it's already there. You have your [00:12:00] funnel set up. It's, it's a submission here. You want it? You don't want it. Cool.

[00:12:04] Christina Lopez: It's so simple. And the other layer is like, okay, freebie swaps. Like I can automate that in the sense of like, okay, I just need to, you know, go within my network, figure out who I want to pitch to that has the similar audiences is put it in my air table.

[00:12:17] And then I can automatically send the emails by clicking a button, right. Like again, it only takes 20 minutes of my time. So when we think about the return on time, okay, maybe I spend an hour a month on collaborations, but like that yields, you know, 500 to almost a thousand subscribers within a month. And I didn't need to create a content.

[00:12:37] I didn't need to be on social media because I don't want to do those things. And I do it, I only need to create content if I want to, right? Now that's the first layer of like, okay, traffic. You know, what can we do from that point on and the other layer traffic strategy is at my daily content generator, we're basically like since I'm a blogger, I do like writing.

[00:12:58] I do like creating content on my [00:13:00] own time, I do leverage AI and automation to take that content and automatically repurpose it to social media, but I'm never the one who's actually posting it on social media if that makes sense. So those are the three traffic strategies.

[00:13:12] Now let's kind of talk a little bit about monetization.

[00:13:15] Like how does this all work? How do I make money? Well, as I'm growing, like

[00:13:20] Yvonne Heimann: to jump in really quick, because they, the, they, the thing that often gets forgotten in between, you might be able to generate the traffic, but you still have to turn that traffic and that exposure into something that goes into your bank account.

[00:13:36] So I love that you are jumping into that, because it's like, especially when we were starting out business, it's like, okay, we got to get out there. We got to get out there. And sometimes in, in just that process of learning and doing, we completely forget to actually, you know, sell, pitch, turn, turn, turn all the things you are doing into [00:14:00] money that pops into your bank account.

[00:14:02] So how do you start monetizing this?

[00:14:04] Christina Lopez: Yes. No, I always like to think about optimizing for cash, not for followers or likes or anything because followers and likes won't pay the bills, right. And so when I think about monetizing the first, I kind of have a three, kind of a three step layers in terms of like, okay, these are the passive elements.

[00:14:22] The ways that I make money passively is through newsletter referrals, digital products and affiliate marketing. So I'm going to optimize for cash for every type of those revenue streams. So, okay, you see that I'm growing my email list by hundreds, you know, on a weekly basis. When a person actually signs up, what the first step that they'll be taken to is through a newsletter referral, right?

[00:14:45] And so when people actually manually sign up through my list, like a pop up will come up and say like, hey, like these are some referred newsletters that I actually recommend and I love and use, like, I think you would be interested in it as well. And it's free to the subscriber [00:15:00] and it's free to me to actually set it up.

[00:15:02] And basically the person who like is the newsletter, like who I'm referring it to, they pay me per subscriber that I sent their way. And so if I'm getting like a dollar or two dollars per subscriber and they become a confirmed subscriber, like, and I'm adding hundreds of subscribers to my email list, like, that is the most passive element.

[00:15:22] Like, I literally, like, just set it up and I just grow my traffic, since I'm growing my traffic, I just get paid that way. So that's one revenue stream. Now, there's this funnel piece where, like, okay, a person will get that, they'll sign up, get the pop up, and then they'll, like, say yes, thank you for subscribing to these publications.

[00:15:41] And then I redirect people to a limited time offer, which is my second revenue stream, my digital products, right? And so I'll have a limited time offer of, like, hey, you know, you grabbed this freebie, I think this course is going to be really helpful for you if you want to do XYZ. And so a person will get that limited time offer.[00:16:00]

[00:16:00] I'll have an email sequence to follow up with them and say, hey, like, you know, this is what's going to expire. Make sure you grab it, et cetera, et cetera. Now that's the second revenue stream. The third revenue stream is affiliate marketing. So I, you know, have digital products. I love coming across software.

[00:16:17] Like I'm such a tech nerd. Like I

[00:16:20] Yvonne Heimann: Yeah. Uh huh. Yep.

[00:16:22] Christina Lopez: Like I love, I love technology. So I love like, you know, referring people to like really great softwares that I use. And so like, you know, if I have a digital product, like if I'm, you know, I have a course talking about email marketing, then in the course, I'm going to say like, hey, like you might want to use mailer light, or you might want to use this tool or that tool because these help me.

[00:16:42] And so I'll have a set of emails saying like, you know, you purchased this course. I think these products are going to be really helpful for you because A, they talk, they're talking about it in the course, but B, like they've done X, Y, Z for me. And so like, it's just this whole ecosystem where it's like, you know, I get paid for, [00:17:00] you know, bringing free traffic to my list.

[00:17:02] And I, they don't need to buy anything for them to pay me in a sense of like, it was a free newsletter referral, digital products because like it's beneficial and gives them value and affiliate marketing because it also like you genuinely need these tools to like get XYZ results. Like, I just optimize for cash in every step.

[00:17:22] Yvonne Heimann: And that that's everything around the newsletter and love how this all perfectly symbiotic fits in with each other. I'm assuming that the newsletter itself is an educational piece then that has a couple of sales emails in between, I'm assuming.

[00:17:44] Christina Lopez: So because I love automating things as well, I kind of have a forever funnel set up in place.

[00:17:51] And so what that looks like is, you know, one of the things that people always complain to me is like I'm not getting enough digital product sales [00:18:00] and I'm like, okay well, how many subscribers are you adding to your list? You're like, okay, like I'm adding this many people per week and to tell me that you're not making sales, remember digital products when you're adding that many people I'm like, no, it's, it's not, it's not like a problem of leads, it's a problem of you know, follow up and converting, right?

[00:18:17] And so, you know, my forever funnel, what that looks like is I have a bunch of freebies, right? I have a bunch of freebies that I use and usually these freebies always redirect to a digital offer of mine. So I'm like, okay, well, if I need people to sign up for my freebies, why don't I just give more freebies to my current email audience, right?

[00:18:37] And so like, basically I leverage, they have this thing term called an email marketing called dynamic behavior. So when a person joins my email list. I'll like send them like a quiz and say like, hey, like what are you interested in? I'll track like what are they clicking and things like that just so I can get an idea of their behavior. And so what I would do is like, okay, [00:19:00] like you're telling me that you're interested in digital products and things like that, so what if I give you a freebie if you didn't buy my course yet?

[00:19:06] Like what if I gave you a freebie about digital products and then you were able to get my course about it, afterwards. And so it's providing value to them because they get the freebie and it's a genuine resource that I use in my business. I've just decided to create it free for you guys. But it's a genuine, like valuable resource.

[00:19:24] And then, you know, I'm kind of, when I think about this forever funnel, it's like, you know, I have my weekly newsletter, which is also automated, it's an automated newsletter. And what that looks like is I write tons of content pieces in different forms, like video, YouTube, blog, and things like that. It would be a shame if my email list didn't get it.

[00:19:45] So I just create an RSS feed and gather all those content pieces and just put it in an automated newsletter. I'm like, Hey, Sunday, like this is your content creators club roundup. Like these are all the great resources that are going to help you. And that usually includes one [00:20:00] collaboration opportunity, one video to help you scale and one article to really be able to help you grow your business.

[00:20:06] And so, surprisingly, like, even though it's automated, like, I do not set, I do not sit down and actually create it. I let my automations do it for me. Like, that is, that has very high click rates. Maybe because I have a collaboration opportunity, like, it's, that's genuinely helping them. But, like, that goes off every Sunday and based on their dynamic behavior, they'll get opted in to, you know, sign up for specific freebies that makes sense for them at their stage.

[00:20:36] Yvonne Heimann: I love me some data. Did I mention I love me some data because I do the, I do the same thing, right? Where it's like, I'm, I have a masterclass on Wednesday, right? I have emails based on, Hey, we saw you were interested in it, but you actually didn't sign up. So we have a followup sequence for that or all kinds of things.

[00:20:57] I have a similar setup in my [00:21:00] welcome sequence where I'm asking, okay, wait, where are you at with your systems? It's all in my head. It's written down somewhere, or we actually have SOPs or, Hey, I'm a podcaster. Hi, I'm a YouTuber, whatever it is. And I do the same thing where I want to be able to give you more specific information and more specific resources based on what you need and you want.

[00:21:25] So them engaging with my email, that means I can really funnel this and say, okay, their podcast is perfect. We have the free podcasting template for ClickUp right here. We have a little upgrade on that. If you want to automate that and take that to the whole new level and not at the level that you were at, believe me, I'm not even close to that kind of automation.

[00:21:47] But it's, it's, I wanted to bring this up as guys, when you were listening, there's a lot going on in Tina's business. There's a lot of automated, there's a lot of connections in there. There's a lot of optimization and systemization going on. [00:22:00] You don't have to start there. Tina has painted a perfect picture of what's possible and what you can grow that into.

[00:22:09] That doesn't mean you have to build this within the next two days and be at her level.

[00:22:14] Christina Lopez: I mean, it took me three years. Like if you did it in two days, I'd be, I'd, I'd have to pay you to figure out how you did it in two days.

[00:22:23] Yvonne Heimann: I love that you put a timeframe to it, because it's like, how often do we see gotta love social media, right?

[00:22:29] Yeah, it is. You can have this tomorrow. But you brought up so many amazing ideas of how to automate, how to step away and guys, it doesn't mean you have to drop your coaching business. If it gives you energy, if you love doing it. Do it. This is a perfect secondary revenue stream, or even to support your ongoing clients.

[00:22:54] It also doesn't have to be either or.

[00:22:59] Christina Lopez: I [00:23:00] mean, the one thing that I always tell people, and this was actually very hard for me, actually, because to step away from coaching, like was really hard because I, I did have people in the pipeline who reached out to me and said like, hey, like, you know, can you be my coach? And I would decline.

[00:23:15] I would just because out of integrity, I just didn't want to do it anymore. And I think it's fine to leave money on the table. And I think a lot of people say like, Oh, like, Oh, I need to get a client because, you know, I don't know when I'm going to get my next paycheck or whatever, but like, I am truly somewhere where like, you know what, like it will come when it will come.

[00:23:34] But like, am I operating out of the way that I want to run my business and, you know, the one thing I would say was really hard was when I created this business, like two, three years ago, like it was just an idea, like, literally, I could not find anyone like I would, I'm the, I'm, I have no problem investing in coaches or paying premium, you know, prices.

[00:23:56] Cause like, you know, I'm a big believer in return on time. [00:24:00] It saves my time to invest in coaches and people, right. But like, I legitimately looked to see someone like, okay, can I find someone who has an automated content business? Like, no, I couldn't. And if they did, it was really like in the form of like, Oh, you hire a bunch of agencies, you hire a bunch of like team members and all those different types of things.

[00:24:18] And I was like, well, like, I don't want to be a manager. So that doesn't really, you know, fit within my criteria. And so like, I legitimately had to figure it out by myself. And, you know, I think people forget the layer of, like, your ability to figure things out. Nah, you don't need to buy a course every single time.

[00:24:40] You don't need to invest every single time. And I'm not saying like, don't invest if you genuinely need it, but I'm saying like, have the creativity to figure it out because at the end of the day, like you can spend so much money on coaches and all that stuff, but you could still get a tier one, right?

[00:24:56] Yvonne Heimann: Uh huh. Uh huh. Like you got it done that. [00:25:00]

[00:25:00] Christina Lopez: Yeah, if your back's against the wall, you might as well just figure it out. And that's what I had to do.

[00:25:06] Yvonne Heimann: Fortunately, my audience doesn't have to figure it all out. You got a freebie for them.

[00:25:12] Christina Lopez: Yes, I do. I would love.

[00:25:15] Yvonne Heimann: And opposite to me, you actually like writing.

[00:25:18] Christina Lopez: I do.

[00:25:19] Yvonne Heimann: I don't. I am practicing. I am getting better at it. But yeah, you actually like writing and that fits perfectly into the freebie you have for my audience.

[00:25:33] Christina Lopez: Yes. So if you're someone who doesn't like writing, but would still like to, you know, have some help. We talked a lot about email marketing is I have a welcome email template.

[00:25:44] So this is the exact same template that I use in my business. And basically what this template will allow you to do is will allow you to filter. and see the individuals who are a good fit for your email list and for the individuals who are not, right? It [00:26:00] will really, like, set the expectations for your audience of what they can expect from you, what you can expect from them, which I think is even more important, and it will help you really create, like, that first initial touch point when a person joins your email list.

[00:26:15] And so actually it's usually $9, but I'm going to be giving it to your audience for free. All you have to use is the coupon code podcast24 at checkout, and you will get this welcome email template completely for free.

[00:26:30] Yvonne Heimann: And as always guys. It's easily linked and I think the coupon code is already applied even at that link in the description.

[00:26:37] So you can head right there and grab that. Tina, where else can people find a connect? Connect with you or jump onto your email list and all the things? Considering if you grab the freebie, I'm pretty sure you're gonna end up on the email list. Now that, that would be the total logic follow up.

[00:26:54] Christina Lopez: I mean, yes, you're definitely going to enjoy my email list from there, but if you would like to kind of connect with me more, the best [00:27:00] way is actually through creatorsclub.tinalopez.com. That actually is our newsletter where we will send you one collaboration opportunity, one blog article, one video to help you scale your content business. So that's the best way to reach me.

[00:27:14] Yvonne Heimann: Love that. Thank you so much. And thanks everybody. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you do not miss the next episode and I'll see you there.

[00:27:23] Tina, thanks so much for joining me today.

[00:27:25] Christina Lopez: Thank you.