How entrepreneurs use challenge funnels to grow their business
Start Your Online Business With A Challenge
The Lifestyle Entrepreneur
More and more people are interested in starting their own business to work on something they are passionate about and where they can provide value.
The pandemic accelerated this trend as people sought to escape the traditional corporate rat race, put themselves in control and monetize their passion. In “The Great Resignation” millions of people started to ditch traditional employment to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.
In the past, many entrepreneurs took one of two paths to economic freedom:
- Small business owner
Launching a small business such as a shop or a restaurant. - Venture-backed startup founder
Trying to scale a startup to go public or get acquired.
However, over the last few years, a third path has emerged – one in which a single individual builds an online business by using new tools, technologies, platforms, automation and outsourcing to achieve what would normally take a larger team to do: we call that person "The Lifestyle Entrepreneur".
One of the pioneers of that movement was Tim Ferriss with his book “The 4-Hour Work Week” which has inspired thousands of people and shown them that there’s another path for their venture. Since then, many books and articles have been published around that new type of entrepreneurship, and it has become much easier and cheaper to start an online business.
A few examples
There are some big names in this space that you may have heard of such as Chris Guillebeau, Amy Porterfield or Marie Forelo. However, there are thousands of people who you may not have heard of who also reached financial independence via Lifestyle Entrepreneurship. Here are a few:
- Katherine Krug
Katherine Krug developed painful sciatica after long-hours spent at her desk at a job at a startup. She created her own posture-support product, BetterBack, and now runs a fast-growing business of her own. - Meghan Telpner
Nutritionist Meghan Telpner created her wellness site and the Academy of Culinary Nutrition after healing herself from a serious illness and now covers topics from "health" foods that aren't good for you to motherhood. - Lazlo Nadler
Laszlo Nadler founded Tools4Wisdom, which sells planners on Amazon, after a career as a project manager at a big bank.
It is important to realize that a lifestyle entrepreneur doesn't have to compromise on income compared to a corporate job or other full-time employment. There are many examples of people having built six-figure or even seven-figure businesses, but staying ultra lean in the process with the help of automation and outsourcing.
Types of Businesses
Many people start their own businesses in one of the following three categories, but obviously, the sky is the limit and any passion can be turned into a business idea. However, these categories are what we see most frequently:
- E-Commerce
Selling physical products online using platforms such as Etsy, Amazon, Shopify that offer an online store front and handle payments and shipping. - Education
Teaching online and selling an on-demand digital educational product using platforms such as Udemy, Teachable, Kajabi, or Thinkific. - Services
Offering professional and personal services such speaking engagements, business consulting, coaching, or training in a wide range of topics.
The Challenge Funnel
Okay, now that we've defined the lifestyle entrepreneur, let's look at some of their biggest problems: customer acquisition, engagement, and monetization.
At Framework, we decided to tackle this problem head-on and created a platform dedicated to build and launch Challenges. The Challenge mechanism is incredibly powerful and perfect for any entrepreneur running an online business. It gets your customers into a time-bound learning journey with small goal-oriented action steps and rewards for everyone who crosses the finish line.
Let's look at what makes Challenges so special:
- Challenges are highly engaging, and especially free challenges can be an incredible lead generation tool for your online business. They also build trust and commitment with your business over the course of the challenge.
- Challenges are an amazing monetization instrument as in the moment of accomplishment and celebration at the end of the challenge, it is highly likely that your customer is ready to take the next step and purchase your products.
The Challenge funnel can be at the center of the marketing activities of your online business that (1) brings in new leads, (2) nurtures them with engaging content, and (3) provides an upsell at the end.
If you’re interested in learning more about Framework, please sign up for a free trial or book a demo with one of our product specialists who can walk you through the product and answer any of your questions.