<aside> 🗣 Psst. If you have a Notion account, just select Duplicate in the top right corner and you can copy this checklist to your own Notion workspace and use it as a companion to the Un-Boring Business Roadmap!

If you don't use Notion, from the web you can go to File > Print > Save as PDF to download this checklist!

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<aside> 🔗 Table of Contents ( 🔗 click to jump to a section!)

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<aside> 🗺️ Everything in this checklist aligns perfectly with the Un-Boring Business Roadmap. Go through the checklist in order and when you hit an item you have yet to complete in your business, head directly to that numbered lesson in the Roadmap. There you’ll find our resources to help you complete that step!

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🧱 Step 1: Set your business foundation

1.1 ❓Define the 4 core pillars of your business.

• [ ] You have defined your Audience (WHO does your business help?)

• [ ] You have defined your Mission (WHY does your business exist?)

• [ ] You have defined your Benefit (WHAT benefit does your business provide? What does your customer gain through buying from you that they didn't have before?)

• [ ] You have defined your Offer(s) (HOW does your business deliver your Benefit?)

  <aside> 📋 Offer Examples:

  • *Web design services in three tiered packages
  • Paid watercolor art workshops
  • E-books about mindfulness
  • Digital design goods like fonts and illustration templates*

  </aside>

1.2 🎯 Define your business goals and organize your finances.

• [ ] You have set financial targets for your business.
  • What is your "MMM Number" aka your Monthly Minimum Magic number? How much money does your business need to make monthly to cover your basic business and living expenses?
  • What is your "Enough Number"? This is the upper limit of your financial goals. This is the monthly amount you'd LOVE your business to make to live a life you feel is satisfying, full of happiness and all the good feelings you want.
• [ ] With your financial targets in mind, you have set top-level goals for your business one year from now.
  • What projects do you want to have completed?
    • 📝 Example: "launch two new courses," "try to build up passive income from existing products," "hire an assistant" etc.
  • What LIFE-related goals will these projects support?
    • 📝 Example: "Hiring an assistant will mean I can not work on vacation" etc.
• [ ] You have projected your revenue and expenses one year out based on current projects and future projects.
  • In its current state, how much revenue is your business projected to make each month for at least a year out?
  • If you assume you will accomplish the projects and goals you listed above, how much revenue would your business be projected to make each month for at least a year out?

1.3 🧠 Cultivate a mindset that supports your goals.

• [ ] You have set up routines and mindfulness practices to combat self-doubt, procrastination and perfectionism.
• [ ] You have a system or toolkit for moving through overwhelm when it arises.

<aside> 📋 Examples: *+ I limit my consumptions of Instagram, YouTube, etc. to keep comparison at bay.

• I'm comfortable with the idea of trying things and experimenting.
• Every time I doubt myself I go to the WAIM Slack to get some encouragement and press on.*

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1.4 ✅ Define a system for getting shit done.

• [ ] You have set up a system for quarterly, monthly and weekly planning so you can review what went well, what you learned, and set intentions to make changes when you need to.
• [ ] You have set up a system for tracking and managing tasks.
• [ ] You have designed a daily schedule that is flexible and works WITH your natural rhythms and energy.
• [ ] You have a clear process and project template for mapping out new projects, that includes creating and prioritizing new tasks and adding them to your calendar.

1.5 🎨 Design a unique brand identity.

• [ ] You have created a Brand Identity for your business with logos, fonts, colors and graphics that you can use repeatedly to build brand awareness and attract your ideal audience.
  • Cross-reference your brand identity design with your Audience (Your WHO from the 4 Q's) and ask yourself if it feels aligned with the type of person you're trying to attract
• [ ] You have applied your branding to your website, your social media presence, and any other business materials that your potential customers will see.

🛒 Step 2: Create a compelling offer

2.1 🎁 Determine your core offer.

• [ ] You know WHO your offer is for, what clear problem your offer solves for that person, and what outcome your offer will help them achieve.
• [ ] You have done your Offer Math so you know exactly how many units of your offer(s) at your current price you need to sell in order to hit your financial targets.
• [ ] Ideally you have just ONE core offer, but if you have more than one offer, you have mapped out the priority ranking of your various offers and you know when, where, and to whom to promote each one.

2.2 💎 Build and produce your core offer.

• [ ] You've created your offer and it's either a...

  • [ ] Service: You've streamlined and narrowed down the specificity of your services so you have explicit services you provide and you've "productized" them by creating 1-3 packages that your clients can purchase to make the process of hiring you as easy and obvious as possible

  <aside> 📋 Example: Instead of just saying "We offer marketing services" try something more specific like "We specialize in content marketing — we write articles for businesses to grow their organic search traffic. You can hire us to write 5 articles a month at $x, 10 articles a month at $X or 15 articles at $X."

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  • [ ] Product: You've validated your product idea with your audience, ideally by doing a pre-launch and gauging interest with real dollars.

• [ ] You have designed a sales page that clearly outlines your offer, what's included, it speaks directly to the problem of your potential customer and the benefit your offer brings your customer or client

  • [ ] You have clear visuals that SHOW (not just tell) your customer what they'll get when they buy from you and you've explicitly outlined what they can expect once they buy
  • [ ] You have testimonials from previous customers or clients to build trust with your customer.
  • [ ] Your "buy" button (or your contact call-to-action if you're a service-based business) is obvious and very apparent.
  • [ ] Your offer price aligns with your customer and the overall outcome your offer gets your customer.
  • [ ] You have gone through the buying process yourself to look for friction points and ways to make the checkout process as smooth as possible.

• [ ] You have a process for confirming a purchase for a buyer and if they need any additional information about how to access their purchase, you've set that up as well.

• [ ] You have a system for getting feedback from your customers (to get testimonials!) but also to get suggestions for how to make your offer better and keep your customers happy.

2.3 📝 Learn to communicate your offer's message and unique selling

proposition effectively.

• [ ] You've crafted your writing tone of voice for your brand.
• [ ] You've established a writing process for yourself (what app you use, where you write, how often, etc.)
• [ ] You've evaluated the copy on your website pages, your articles, your emails, and your social media bios and captions, and you feel the writing speaks to your ideal audience, feels unique and authentic to you, and conveys the story that you're trying to tell in each of those spaces.

2.4 🤑 Feel more confident selling.

• [ ] You are not afraid to go into "sales mode" and promote your offer when you need to. (This means more than casually mentioning it to your list or your Insta audience once or twice!!)
• [ ] You know any limiting beliefs or stories you have around money and you actively work to rewrite those stories in your head.
• [ ] You have a budgeting system and you track your expenses each month for your life and business.
• [ ] You "know your numbers" (ie you know how much money your business brings in and how much money it costs to run your business)
• [ ] You know how to write compelling "sales copy"—emails or captions designed to promote your offer.

2.5 💸 Craft a sales strategy to sell your offer.

• [ ] You have established a plan for when and how you will pitch your offer to your audience.
  • [ ] Will you sell your offer evergreen or using an open and closed launch? Either way, you've thought through how someone will find out about your offer and where you will promote it.
• [ ] If you're planning to do an open and closed launch, you've:
  • [ ] Set your launch dates and pre-launch window.
  • [ ] Gotten clear on the details of your launch including pricing, payment options, and what's included in your offer.
  • [ ] You've been over your sales page and tested your offer purchase.
  • [ ] You've created promotional content to talk about your launch to your audience.
  • [ ] You've set a low and high goal for your launch.

🌉 Step 3: Set a promotion & marketing strategy

3.1 🗺 Set your marketing bridge strategy and customer journey.

• [ ] You have identified a clear step-by-step customer journey to take someone from stranger to customer, through the stages of connection from awareness, to interest, to consideration, to purchase, to retention, to loyalty, and to advocacy.
• [ ] You have implemented any tactics necessary to help usher a potential customer through each of those steps on the customer journey.
• [ ] You know how someone initially discovers your brand. (Is it social media? your blog? Pinterest? referrals? podcast interviews?)
• [ ] You are tracking the data at each point of your marketing bridge regularly so you can experiment and optimize for getting more people through your bridge and ultimately to purchase.
• [ ] You have made a list of future marketing ideas to try in order to get more people to your bridge and over to your product castle.

3.2 💌 Grow your email list.

• [ ] You've named or branded your email list or newsletter itself to speak to your ideal audience and what they are seeking from you.

<aside> 📋 Example:

• "Self-Made Society: a newsletter for curious makers and eternal learners"
• "The Action Army newsletter: encouraging entrepreneurs to take action on their ideas"
• "The Weekly Habit": a newsletter for exploring ways to make good habits easier to acquire and maintain

</aside>

• [ ] You have a lead magnet or compelling reason for someone to join your email list with opt-in copy that tells them WHY they'd want to join, what they can expect from your newsletter and how often they'll hear from you.
  • [ ] You’ve experimented with an automated email course or quiz on your website to incentivize visitors to hop on your email list.
• [ ] You have placed email sign up forms on every relevant page of your website to capture traffic, again with compelling opt-in language.
• [ ] You have established an email newsletter plan for what you'll write about, when you'll send your newsletter and when you'll carve out time to write.
• [ ] You have created a content calendar with topics for your newsletter so you know what you're writing about and when.

📣 Step 4: Attract an audience with valuable content

4.1 🧲 Create strategic content that attracts your ideal audience.

• [ ] You have audited your articles on your site to see how many are aligned with your audience and relate to your core offer.
• [ ] You have written and published at least 8 foundational articles on your website that appeal to problems your ideal audience needs solved related to your offer and you've titled them using best practices for SEO
• [ ] You've established a content strategy so you know what channels you're publishing regular content on and when you're creating that content.

4.2 🤳Gain brand awareness using Instagram (optional).

• [ ] You've optimized your Instagram bio and profile to speak to your audience and clearly state what your business does and why someone would follow you.
• [ ] You've created a system for yourself to plan and batch create content for your feed and stories.
• [ ] You have a content calendar for what you plan to post and when.
• [ ] You've researched a list of 20-30 hashtags that will attract your ideal audience that you can circulate on your posts.
• [ ] You evaluate your Insights regularly to inform your future content and optimize for content that engages your audience the most.

4.3 🎙Consider creating a podcast (optional).

• [ ] You've established the primary purpose of your podcast and whether it's to get awareness with new customers/clients OR if it's to deepen the relationship with your existing audience.
• [ ] You've named your show, and created the cover art.
• [ ] You've decided on the format of your show and started a content calendar with ideas for episode topics.
• [ ] You've defined a process for recording, editing and publishing episodes.
• [ ] You've defined your recording setup (where you'll record, what gear you'll need) and you've purchased the necessary gear you'll need to record.
• [ ] You've signed up for your preferred podcast hosting service, and submitted your show to Apple Podcasts through iTunes Connect.
• [ ] You've created a page on your website (or its own website) dedicated to your podcast and decided if you'll be publishing accompanying blog posts for each episode with show notes, etc.