Why date when you could just jump straight to marriage?!

The reaction you had to this title is the same one your audience has every time you're in their inbox or they're seeing your posts. You asking for them to trust you enough to put their money with you before giving them anything of value for free is the same thing as asking someone to marry you before taking the time to date them first. Today we're going to talk about the importance of having a freebie for your business as well as what freebies would work well with the products you're already selling by giving you our Ultimate Guide to Freebies... absolutely FREE! 

If you’re new here, I’m Tonya Johnson. I’ve been working full time from social media since 2016 while juggling all things marriage, ministry, and motherhood. This channel is for all the moms out their wearing all the hats and truly living that #bossmom life. We do all the things, so why not simplify our to do list while maximizing our paychecks. 

So how did I come to the realization that I needed to create a freebie funnel? First off, it's important to share with you that I was against this for several  years. "Why would I spend all that time creating something that's not going to make me any money?" Little did I know that this system would not only 10x my income, it would free up more than half of the time I was then, currently, spending on getting  and closing leads. This was time that I would then start using to hang out at the pool with my family, learn the art of card making because finally I had time for a hobby, and pour into my ministry of teaching and reaching teen girls. But we're not there yet, so let me give you a timeline. 

In 2016, I started with network marketing, quickly advanced through the ranks, got invited to all the special events and trips, consistently recognized as a mass recruiter, and was making more money than I ever had before. Unfortunately, this also came with a ton of spam tactics that were quickly leading to burnout. We were encouraged to cold message hundreds and hundreds of people per week, posting was set to 2-3 times daily, and the content was copy paste/spammy join my team posts at worst, and attraction marketing: aka sales posts with more story telling and income bragging along with aesthetically pleasing pictures. Again, it was getting the job done and making me money, but the turnover rate was huge and it definitely wasn't sustainable. 

In 2019, I started taking some social media marketing classes and finally hired a social media coach. My network marketing business blew up, and traditional companies started reaching out to me promote their products. For years I had been posting about "getting paid to post" thinking that that was what I was doing with network marketing... now I was actually getting paid to post haha.

Leaders within my company started asking my to teach their teams, and then leaders outside of my company started asking. I was doing training zooms multiple times per week and loving it. I'm a teacher by profession and passion, so I was/am living my best life when I am teaching. I was teaching value based marketing, but I still wasn't on board with the freebie thing yet. What I was on board with was creating some Digital products of my own to create an additional stream of income that I owned. My very first Digital product was a network marketing planner that ended up making me a ton of money. What I didn't realize until years later was that if I would've started creating freebies I would've shortcutted the process of selling my network marketing products and my digital products. Instead, I spent hours creating value based content for social media and then talking to leads one on one and sealing the deal manually.  I had no way to get consistent leads. Social media isn’t consistent, the algorithm is always changing. If someone wasn't ready to buy, I'd put them on my followup list, but that only works for a few hundred people. If I wasn't manually following up with them, they were falling through the cracks. Sales were coming in when I was constantly posting and constantly in my dms, but when I took a break so did my business… this was a recipe for burnout, and I was getting frustrated, I definitely wasn’t loving my job anymore. The money was good, but the time freedom was non-existent.

Beginning of 2021 is when I created my first freebie funnel and email marketing campaign. I was cleaning and when I clean I always listen to podcasts or audio trainings. About 5 years ago I was listening to a podcast and this multi 7 figure business owner was talking about his morning routine. He said that every day he started with a sermon, then listened to something relating to his business and then his family. So from that point on, I started listening to a sermon, a homeschool podcast/audio, and a business podcast/audio anytime I'm doing something physically that doesn't involve much thinking; ie, working out, driving, cleaning, cooking, etc. 

So I was cleaning and listening to a marketing training and this particular online mentor of mine always had a freebie attached to her trainings and I was always pausing my cleaning and going to her freebie. That's when it clicked. I bought several of her paid products, but it all started by these freebies she was offering, Why am I not doing this? So I did. My network marketing business exploded and I started teaching the freebie funnel to anyone and everyone who would listen to me. At the very beginning of 2022 our company invited us to an exclusive event with all the other top leaders where they put us up at the JW Mariott in Tampa for 4 days and 3 nights, wined and dined us, and rolled out a ton of changes that just didn't align with us. We decided to keep our accounts active, so we could keep collecting the paychecks we had been building, but we no longer were going to promote the products or business opportunity. We decided to focus on our digital product business since it was gaining a lot of momentum. 

In the matter of months, we launched an influencer brand (helping hearts ministries) and a teaching company (the Bossmom Co), and we moved across country. We've checked so many things off of our dream board including living the poolside life and buying our second home. Now, we get to teach moms how to use freebie funnels to not only maximize their paychecks, but also maximize their free time. Having built all three; a successful network marketing business, a successful influencer business (affiliate marketing and sponsorships) and a successful digital marketing business (my own products, none of the MRR garbage), I've been able to help hundreds of women turn their social media accounts into very lucrative income streams. All of that rises and falls on two things: 1. getting over myself and hiring a coach. If you think you're ready for that, start by grabbing a clarity session. 2. Following her advice and creating my own freebie funnel. 

I teach you a super easy to follow system. Not only will your business boom with this system, but it will be consistent even when you decide to take a break. You'll find what I found: people are wiling to spend more money with you and they'll consistently spend money with you after they receive value from you without spending any money. In their mind there will be no question whether or not you are going to give them their money's worth because if you delivered and showed up that way in your free offers, of course you're going to show up even better in your paid products.

Ok, so I can tell you that this system works and that it's worked for dozens upon dozen of my clients, but why does it work? There's actually proof behind this system. Here are 5 science based reasons why you need to be using freebies in your business. 

1. Builds trust - it takes an average of 7-13 times for someone to go from an onlooker to a buyer. When someone downloads my freebie, they immediately see my paid offer also. They already trust me because they got something of value from me for free before I ever asked them to buy anything, so some go ahead and buy, but some don’t. If they don't buy I don't lose them, I also don't have to manually follow up with them for weeks and months. They go on my email list and the followup is done in a value based way until they eventually buy. 

2. Captures leads for your business - To put it bluntly, if you don't have an email list, you're leaving a ton of money on the table. You're also in danger of losing all of your leads if you're relying on social media. Back in 2018 when I was in mlm, myself and several other top leaders got our facebooks shut down. Mine was down for 3 days before I got it back. I had no way of contacting any of my leads because I didn't yet have an email list. I also didn't really understand how to work from instagram at that tine. I remember being so scared that my business was gone and I had no other way to make income. Luckily I got mine back, but it was shut down 5 more times that year alone for 24-72 hours. Several of my friends never did get theirs back and had to start over from scratch. If my socials were shut down today, it would suck to start over, but the only income it would affect would be the income I make directly from social. My business is ran through email from a list I own, so I wouldn't sweat.

3. Law of reciprocity - Simply put, when you do something nice for someone, they're compelled to do something nice back. I give them a value based freebie, they return the favor by buying something from my business. Don't confuse this with giving out samples or hosting giveaways. With a sample, people are trying your product to see if they want to buy it. With a giveaway there's usually a string attached. You post for me, I enter you in the giveaway, so they've already retuned the favor at that point. You've equaled each other out. 

4. Sharing and viral exposure - When you create exciting giveaways (no strings attached) or valuable freebies, people want to share them with their friends and you get more exposure. 

5. Shows them social proof or testimonials of people using your paid products - This part is done behind the scenes. When you deliver your freebie via email, you'll also include testimonials of people who have used your paid products. Remember, on average it takes 7-13 times for a consumer to turn into a buyer. 

You may be thinking... ok, but what do I give away? Let me help you with that! 

Just to show you how this works, here's a 50k foot overview of how I use this in my own business. 

1. I put up a post on social media with a CTA to drop a certain word in order to receive my freebie. Having them drop a word boosts the algorithm and allows more people to see my freebie. 

2. When people comment, I message them the link to my landing page. Next week we're going to talk about how to create a landing page that converts free consumers into paid buyers. 

3. Once they enter their email, they're automatically sent an email with the freebie, a paid offer, and testimonials. Even if they don't buy anything right then, they're now seeing weekly emails with freebies because every time I create a freebie my email subscribers automatically receive it. So they're seeing my offers and testimonials consistently which further promotes them to buy from me not only once, but consistently with each new offer I create. 

1. Download the Ultimate Guide to Freebies, and decide what kind of free offer you want to create.

2. Share that idea in our BossMom community. We'd love to collab with you and encourage you. 

3. Grab a free consultation and I will personally help you tweak your final draft before you create your freebie. 

Until next time, I’m Tonya Johnson teaching you how to manage all things marriage, motherhood, and money. Have a great rest of your week.

If you like anything you see, simply click on the picture for more information. 

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