Episode – 002 – The Risks you Take By Not Investing in Technology for Your Business
I Investing in technology means making a commitment: it doesn’t mean necessarily investing money, because time is extremely valuable, too. You can’t grow over the same old idea “I’ve always done this/used that” because growth comes from change.
In this episode, I’m sharing how to navigate the tech maze and make the best choices in terms of tools and systems to use for business growth.
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Full transcription
Welcome to Episode 2 of the Online Business Tech Hub. This is your host, Alessia Pandolfi, and I am a tech expert for online coaches and consultants on a mission to rescue my clients from tech disasters.
This is episode two, and we are talking about the risks you take by not investing in technology for your business. This is a hot topic because we are talking about investing money in technology.
But that’s not just it.
OK, when we’re talking about technology, we’re not just talking about money, OK? Investing in technology means making a commitment. It doesn’t necessarily mean to just invest money because as we saw in Episode one, technology can be as expensive as you make it or as simple as you make it. OK, the thing is that investing time is very, very important as well. OK, so. I’ve worked with a lot of clients that either came to me saying, “oh, I have been using this software, let’s say MailChimp forever.
It’s the only thing I know. And I don’t want to take on another software because this is the one I know and I know. I know everything about it. I’ve been using it for years and I don’t feel like changing, I don’t want to change because then it means that I need to learn something new.”
OK, but the problem is that growth comes from change. OK, you can’t grow and expand your business over the same old idea. “Oh, I’ve always done this. I’ve always used software.” This doesn’t work if you want to expand and you want to grow.
And absolutely keep in mind that this doesn’t mean to make an investment on, you know, really fancy software that costs a lot of money every time. OK, if that’s your way of thinking, please go back to Episode one where I explain a bit more about why that approach is not necessarily the right one to take.
OK, so growth comes from change. The thing is that, yes, technology can be a source of frustration. We know that for most of my clients, most of the people I talk to, technology is just a huge pain in the butt. OK, but if you have an online business, however, you need to deal with technology. I mean, there is no way around it. You’ve got to make peace with technology if you are an online business owner. It’s the only thing that helps you grow and scale. So the thing is that investing in technology, investing in technology, what does that mean?
So I said that it’s not just about the money because we said that software can be as expensive or as affordable as you pick. And it doesn’t mean that if a software is very affordable, if not free, it’s like it’s bad software or it’s not going to help you that much. That’s absolutely not true.
When we are talking about investing in technology, we are also talking about investing time, trying to understand if a software program works for you, if a software program supports you, if you are done with a software program because it no longer serves you, this is really, really important. So if you notice that a software program is becoming too restrictive for you, then it’s time to look for something else. Let me give you a concrete example, MailChimp. For me, it’s the most restrictive software of all.
I don’t recommend MailChimp to anyone. I personally think it’s very clunky. It’s very limiting. And if we compare it to other programs out there. They, MailChimp, have you pay for features that other software gives you for free? OK, so MailChimp is very limiting, but there are still people that keep using it because they’ve always used it. That’s all they know. And they feel comfortable. They think they feel like they know how to use that software and they will just keep using it.
The problem comes when you want to go to that next level, when you start to have a lot of free resources, for example. So let’s say that you have three, five, six different lead magnets, OK? And maybe you have a welcome series. So an email automation of, I don’t know, three, five, six emails however many you have.
You have all these emails going out and the thing is that MailChimp, for example, has you pay for the email automation, so it starts to become quite expensive. You know, you have quite a lot of people, you really want to monetize your list, because maybe you have a really engaged list and all your audience is really interested in what you do. You have a lot of free resources and resources you want to start to monetize and automate a bit more because the more your list grows, the less time you have to actually reach out to the subscribers individually.
So this means that, at this point, mainstream starts to become a bit too limiting because it doesn’t offer you the flexibility of another software, for example, Active Campaign that is very flexible and lets you create email automations according to different conditions that you set, which can be when a contact clicks on a specific link when a contact opens a specific email and so on.
So, at a certain point, you may feel that the software you are using they are starting to become too restrictive for you, they are limiting your growth. This is exactly the time when you need to invest some time in understanding if the software you are using is still right for you or not, and take a bit of time to understand what you need and actually what the software can do for you, OK, this is really important.
So that’s why I’m talking, you know, that’s why I said that it’s not just about investing money, it’s also about investing time and understanding if the software that you are using is the right one for you or not.
The other thing I would like you to think of and think about is, again, investing the time to understand how a software program works and figure out how it can serve you. So let’s say that the first step is understanding that the software you’re using, let’s say MailChimp, it’s becoming too limiting for you because you start to have quite a bit of lead magnets and free resources. You want to set up this email automation to nurture the relationship on autopilot with your new subscribers. So it doesn’t allow you to do that unless you pay a whole lot of money.
So you understand that. You understand that it’s time to change. It’s time to evolve. So the next step is understanding and researching and understanding which one is the right software for you. OK, so investing time, figuring out if, for example, active campaign or Mailer Lite is the right system for you. As I said in episode one, by all means, ask around, ask your friends, ask your colleagues, asking Facebook groups recommendations about email marketing platforms, for example, but stay on the topic.
But at the end of the day, it’s you who will need to handle that system, that software. So don’t blindly trust the recommendations you get, start from there, research, and then invest time, spend time understanding if that software is the right one for you if it can serve you all right, or maybe if it’s still too limiting. OK, so a lot of people, when they move away from MailChimp, they make a big jump and go, for example, to active campaign now Active Campaign
For me, it’s one of the best email marketing software out there because it has a very competitive price if we compare all the features that they offer, OK.
However, coming from MailChimp, the jump is really big because Active Campaign is extremely different from Mail Chimp.
A lot of my clients switching from Mail Chimp to Active Campaign. They are really confused at the beginning because it takes time to figure out how Active Campaign works. So. When you pick a software. Always make sure that is actually the right one for you. And I always recommend signing up for the free trial, so you start playing around with that platform, see if it’s the right one for you. I mean, obviously, you can always rely on the video tutorials.
Already now most of the e-mail marketing courses and I mean email marketing platforms and other software, other platforms, they all have their own library of video tutorials. So take a look at that. They can look at the video tutorial, sign up for a trial and start playing around with it, start to create a list, start creating an email automation, start creating an e-mail campaign, a newsletter, and see how it feels. If it feels right to use that, then perfect.
You may have found the right one. If after the video, after watching the video tutorials like five times, you still haven’t figured it out because maybe the video tutorials are outdated and now the backend has a different structure. It’s been updated and you can’t really find what you’re looking for. Maybe that’s not the right platform for you. OK, so invest time on understanding if the platform is the right one for you if it can help you grow if it serves you or not.
And then ultimately, just because you’ve always been using a certain software, it doesn’t mean that you should change it. OK, so now I’m going completely against what I said earlier. OK, so you may find yourself that you’re using certain software.
So, for example, let’s mention, for example, maybe MailerLite. You’ve been using MailerLite for a really long time and you love it and it’s perfect for you.
So you don’t have to change the software just because maybe you want to grow and go to the next level and start to have a lot more advanced funnels and email automations and so on. OK, MailerLite is something in between. It’s an email marketing platform. It’s in between MailChimp and Active Campaign, in my opinion. It’s one of the best platforms out there when you’re starting out and you’re starting to build an email list. But also if you’ve been in business for a long time, sometimes and you don’t need very advanced funnels and email automation, it’s perfect.
I mean, it’s free for up to a thousand subscribers with a free plan already. With the free tier, you can create a really nice landing page, they have a lot of nice templates. You can create forms that you can embed on your website. You have email automations. You don’t have to pay any extra for the email automations, unlike MailChimp.
A lot of my clients ask me for help to move them away from MailChimp. But then, in the end, sign up for MailerLite because, you know, saw you Mail Chimp as the easiest or the logical e-mail marketing platform when you’re starting out. But actually, it’s very clunky. It’s very limiting.
And MailerLite it’s perfect because it’s that platform in between beginner and advanced. And it really is very simple to manage, very clear, very well structured, the customer service is extremely responsive and they are around 24/7.
So I have a lot of clients that have been using MailerLite for years. And I myself, I used it for years before I moved to Active Campaign last year because, I mean, if you find the right platform for you. Then you don’t have to change it. You don’t have to upgrade your systems every couple of years if you find yourself that you are loving that platform. You’re loving that software, and it really serves you and helps you, then you absolutely don’t have to switch it.
But it’s really important to take the time and recognize that the platform you’re using if it’s really helping you and serving you.
Right, OK. It’s important to take the time and understand how that platform is helping you, because you may not realize that maybe you’re starting to look to something different, something a bit more advanced automations. And it may be that MailerLite doesn’t offer you, but there might be a way around it.
So it’s always a good time to take some time and review the systems you’re using and understand that, OK, yes. This software is still really helpful, it’s really helping me, it’s supporting me. I like it. So I want to stay with this software. But it’s important to know why that software is helping you.
It’s important to know how that software is helping you, because once you know the reason why you are with that platform, that’s when things start to change, when you start to feel that you need to know that it’s time to evolve and move forward, it’s easier to recognize and understand which software, which platforms you should upgrade and which you can still keep using.
So we are approaching the end of the episode, so let’s recap a bit.
In this episode, we focused on what you risk losing if you don’t pay attention if you don’t invest time, and money in good technology, which means the technology that serves you.
So technology can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you make it and using the same software over and over just because you’re used to them, it’s not really the right approach, because if you hold onto all the software that you’ve been using since you started, you may never be able to really develop and grow and scale your business. At the same time when you know why the platform you picked is the right one for you, then it makes it easier.
Once you are at that stage that you feel like you need to grow and expand your business, then you know why that platform you are using, say MailerLite, is the right one for you. And so you know that you won’t need to change that platform. You know you won’t need to upgrade it and move on to something more complex. So invest time into the software you are using to understand if they are really supporting you in this entrepreneurial journey or not.
OK, this is absolutely important. So important.
Because it’s so easy to get to give in to the shiny object syndrome, and when you see the latest deal, you know, you feel like, oh, my God, I need to get this. This looks so cool. And maybe you already have another software that is actually doing the job really, really well. So it also saves you time to understand when a software, when a platform, is really helping you and is really supporting you or not.
OK, so this is it for episode two. Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss the latest episodes and absolutely don’t forget to sign up for the free resource, the free email course Kick Start Your E-mail Marketing. It’s a 5-day email course. It’s absolutely free and it helps you pick the right software for you and guides you through all the steps with video tutorials and actionable tips towards creating and setting up your own email marketing platform and finally start creating a really engaged list of subscribers.
All right, I will see you next time.
Bye bye.