Fourteen years ago, Amy Porterfield sat in a business meeting with some powerful, rich businessmen, who were sharing their secrets and techniques about online marketing.
‘I was the note-taker. I wasn’t even invited to the main table; I was on the side table,’ she says.
‘They started talking about their businesses, and sharing what worked for them, talking about their fabulous lifestyles. As different as their businesses were, there was one word that their stories all had in common: freedom. Financial freedom. Lifestyle freedom. Creative freedom. Always freedom.
‘In that moment, I realised that I wanted what they had – I wanted the freedom they had, I wanted more agency in my life. I had no experience starting a business or running a business, but I knew I wanted that freedom in my own life.’
Fast forward fourteen years and Amy now runs an online marketing business that has earned more than $82 million in revenue, served more than 50,000 students via online courses and her podcast Online Marketing Made Easy, receives over one million downloads every month.
Today, we talk to Amy about happiness and her new book Two Weeks Notice: Find the Courage to Quit Your Job, Make More Money, Work Where You Want and Change the World.
What’s your definition of happiness?
Freedom! Happiness to me is being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it, and how I want to do it, and being able to surround myself with the people that bring me joy.
Your new book encourages people to leave the 9-5 and create their own business – how do we garner enough courage to take the leap?
I do believe that all of us are born with courage. No matter what age you are, look back at the things that you’ve done, that you thought you could never could possibly do. Look for evidence that you have been brave in the past. Then get clear about why you want to start a business.
Why does it mean something to you? That ‘why’ has to get you excited and a little nervous at the same time, your ‘why’ has to ignite a fire in you. That’s where the courage comes from.
What was your ‘why?’
I started with what I didn’t want. I didn’t want a boss. I didn’t want to be told what to do, when to do or how to do it. I didn’t want to be on someone else’s time, I didn’t want to be on someone else’s dime. And I didn’t want to build somebody else’s empire. I didn’t want to miss dinner with my family anymore. I didn’t want to work every single weekend. Or work late. I wanted my time back.
And then I flipped it and asked – what did I want? I wanted to be my own boss. For the first time in my life, I wanted to experience what it would be like to call the shots for myself.
Creating your own online business can feel overwhelming. Where do you start?
Spend just a few minutes journaling what a perfect day or perfect week would look like for you.
What time would you get out of bed in the morning? What would your morning routine look like? What would the work look like that you’re doing? Where are you doing this work? What kind of work are you working on? Who are you working with?
Get really clear on what you truly want. If we don’t know what we want, and where we’re going, we will never get there.
So, create the vision of your perfect day, then what?
Create the non-negotiables – they are the boundaries and clear lines on what you are willing to do and what you are not willing to do in order to get the life that you want. The mistake I made is burning out in the first two years of my own business – I worked all hours. I realised I needed to set some boundaries, some non-negotiables. If you’re in a 9-5 job now, you can start to practice. Stop working late or stop working weekends.
How do you figure out what business you want to launch?
Find your sweet spot – this is the formula I’ve created for my students to start to explore the business they want to create. There are four quadrants.
The first quadrant is asking: what are you good at – where do you get results? Not just at work. What do your friends ask you to do for them? Write down what you’re good at and what people ask you about, or what do you do in your business right now, that might translate into your own thing. One of my students was an accountant for a big firm, and he went out on his own to start his own accounting business, but only working with retailers on Etsy or eBay. He helped them with their taxes and their finances and found his own little niche on his own outside of his agency.
Number two on the quadrant is start thinking about the solution you can solve for people. What kind of challenges or pain points does your customer have that you can solve? Every business is solving a problem or meeting a desire.
The third quadrant is to discover if people are spending money on what you want to offer. Let’s say you’re really good at meal prepping and helping people get enough protein in their diet, look to see if other people have spent money on finding out about this? Are there podcasts about this? Are there other digital courses about this? Will people invest to have this kind of solution or desire met? Don’t think just because it’s been done before, there’s not room for you. There are over 7 billion people in this world, there’s room for you in your new business.
The fourth quadrant is asking if your idea brings you joy. We’re not going to create a business around something that doesn’t get you excited to get out of bed in the morning. Because you’re going to eat, breathe and sleep this new business in the first few years. You’ve got to enjoy what you’re doing.
Once you’ve landed on the idea, how do you handle your fears?
You’re not supposed to feel competent or confident doing something you’ve never done before. That’s where the courage comes in. It’s taking the leap of faith believing that no matter what happens, you’ll be able to get back up dust yourself off and get out there because you’ve done that in the past before.
But it’s normal to doubt yourself. I doubted myself pretty much every which way. I was scared and I had impostor syndrome and the only two things that got me through was going back to my ‘why’. My desire for a better life was much bigger than the fear I had about taking that leap. Do whatever you need to do to remind yourself. Journal every day and write about why you want to create a business and remember what you don’t want.
I would also fuel your mind with different information and knowledge that is going to keep you going. Listen to two or three podcasts that you love that are mindset based that will just remind you how to get past the hard times, how to continue to think positive, how to get rid yourself of those negative feelings, how to overcome impostor syndrome. There are tons of beautiful podcasts out there that are totally free, that you can fuel your mind every day. Managing your mindset is 80% of the battle. Follow people on social media and listen to podcasts you relate to.
When I started, I could not relate to the people earning hundreds of millions of dollars. All I wanted to do was replace the salary I was making from my nine to five job.
Your book is called Two Weeks Notice and you are encouraging people to leave their jobs in the middle of an economic squeeze, is that wise?
Life is short, you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. So is staying in a job that drains your energy and brings you zero joy the best use of your time? Value your time here on earth by making sure that every day counts. And to do that you must take risks to get what you truly, truly want. Another thing I’ll say is that Amazon and Uber and multimillion dollar businesses were created in really tough times.
There’s never a perfect time to leave behind what is safe and step out into the unknown.
The opportunities that come with taking that risk, far exceed the fear that you will feel in that moment. It will never be a great time. You’re literally delaying your happiness and your growth by being too scared to take the leap.
Make the leap:
1. If you still have a full-time job and have just started considered starting your own business, start by declaring your why.
2. If you know you want to take the leap, but you need some added motivation to make it happen, choose a date and put it on a post-it note.
3. If you’ve already gone out on your own or started a side hustle but you’re struggling to get any traction, start by defining your Ideal Customer Avatar. What is your avatar’s name? What might life look like right now? What are they looking to change? What problems are they looking to solve? What transformation are they looking to achieve?
Two Weeks Notice: Find the Courage to Quit Your Job, Make More Money, Work Where You Want And Change The World (Hay House, £18.99) is out now.
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