The Lean Start-Up Report:

Run a Lean and Mean Business

(Private: for I Built It Foundation Supporters Only)

First, I’d like to personally thank you for supporting the

I Built It Foundation. Your donation will change a lot of
lives.

So, let’s jump right in, shall we?

About This Report

This report was created to be short, straightforward and
highly practical.

It’s designed to be something you can read in about 10

minutes so you can implement immediately. There’s no fluff
and no theories. And it’s designed to change the way you
think about business.

So let’s jump right in, shall we?

Why Lean?
The idea behind this report can be summed up with two
simple words…

Lifestyle Business

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It’s about building a business around your lifestyle.

What is the point of having millions of dollars in the bank

if you dread waking up every day?

Please remember this important phrase…

“It’s not what you make.. it’s what you KEEP that
matters.”.

In the lean business world, we’d much rather have a $2

million dollar business with two employees that generates
$1 million in PROFIT.

Verses a $30 million dollar business with 30 employees and

just $150k in profit.

With more people comes more over-head. More staff. And much
more stress.

The ongoing overhead is what kills your business (and the

stress is what kills you!).

If you have a few down months, you can find yourself behind
paying the bills. And that’s when the real trouble starts.

So, now that you understand the WHY – let’s dive into the
HOW.

Lean, Mean Productive Machine

Here are my 7 best tips to be super-productive and run a
stress-free business (well, as close to stress-free as
possible).

#1. Never check email in the morning. Start with your

profit-producing activities first. Things like content
creation, video, blogging, etc.

#2. Keep your computer desktop clear. Dozens of files on

your desktop is a distraction.

#3. Figure out your “creative space”. It might be a coffee

shop, a library or even a cozy chair in your family room.
But make that the space where you do your creative work –

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and don’t deviate from it (it should be separate from tasks
like bill paying, etc.)

#4. Only keep essentials on your desk. Computer and maybe a

notebook and a pen. That’s it. If you don’t use it
everyday, take it off your desk and put it out of sight. A
cluttered mind gets distracted.

#5. Turn off all distractions. That means instant

messenger, skype, chat and yes, your cell phone too.

#6. Chunk like-activities together. For example, you will

return all phone calls from 2pm to 3pm. Or you will answer
emails from Noon to 1pm. It’s more efficient than hopping
from task to task.

#7. Celebrate small successes. This is the best way to beat

procrastination. If you love movies – treat yourself to a
movie on Friday afternoon if you meet your deadline (or
close a big sale).

Hiring Smart
When you first start, you will likely do many of the tasks
yourself.

During the first 3 years, I did everything for my business.

And I mean everything.

Here are just a few of the tasks I did…

 Customer support email

 Billing
 CD duplication
 Mailing products
 Labeling products
 Buying binders from Costco
 Marketing
 Sales copy
 Web site
 And the list goes on and on

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Now, I’m not saying you have to do everything above. But
you should, at minimum, understand the process.

Rather than immediately hiring full-time employees if you

are running on a shoestring budget, then hire people on a
task basis.

Here are a few of my favorite places to find people for

tasks…

Fiverr: Inexpensive tasks ranging from voiceover work to

graphics… all starting at just $5.

99Designs: Have multiple graphic designers bid on your

projects. Everything from logos to site design.

CrowdSpring: A competitor to 99Designs.. offering the same

service.

eLance: A marketplace for your projects including

programming and virtual assistants.

Guru: A competitor to eLance with thousands of assistants,

writers and programmers.

oDesk: This marketplace has a heavy focus on technology. A

great place to find programmers and webmasters.

Virtual Staff Finder: A fee-based agency focused on finding

you a staff member from the Philippines. Great service!

What to Outsource?
Here’s a simple rule-of-thumb when it comes to outsourcing.

Figure out what an hour of your time is worth – and if you

can find someone to do it cheaper, than hire them.

If it would take you 3 hours to figure out how to create an

HTML page and your time is worth $50 an hour.. then find
someone who can do it less expensively (and better).

This carries over to life as well.

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We pay our landscaper about $25/hour for lawn and gardening
services. I charge $1,000 per hour – so is spending 4 hours
worth “saving” $100? No way.

Now, I loved gardening and mowing the lawn, I’d enjoy it

and probably do it myself. But I can’t stand doing the lawn
(and I can generate a lot more than the $100 saved during
those 4 hours), so I outsource it.

Training Smart
Once you found someone for a task, start with something
small.

In other words, I wouldn’t give a programmer the job of

building a massive membership site if you never worked with
them before.

Start small. Maybe have them build a one-page web site. Or

perhaps, a simple Wordpress script.

Or for a graphic designer, let them start with a simple

ebook cover before going onto an entire site redesign.

My main assistant, Demetria, has been with me for over 10

years handling everything from billing to customer support.
But she started out doing transcriptions for my company.
Once I saw she was dependable and good at her job, I slowly
added more responsibilities.

It’s also a good idea to stay in contact with your team.

I use the 3 following resources (two are free)

Skype: For calls and live messaging, Skype is a must-have

for every lean entrepreneur. And it’s free.

Google Drive: The best feature is the ability to share/edit

documents and spreadsheets with your team. Also free.

Basecamp: This is the project management software I use to

organize projects. It’s not the cheapest, but I found it
very easy to use – and that’s most important.

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CamStudio: Free screencapture video. Perfect for staff
training.

The Market: Part I

The purpose of this report is to cut through the clutter.
So that’s what I’m about to do.

If you want to build a lean online business you need one

thing: customers. You ALWAYS start with WHO you are selling
to. Period.

There is so much competition – the key to standing out is

to be super-focused on your niche market.

I like to narrow down a niche two levels.

For example, instead of being in the “health” market, you

can niche it down twice like this…

Health => Weight Loss => Weight Loss for Women

Now, you can obviously go even further.

Weight Loss for Women => Weight Loss for Women Over 50.

Did you see what I did there? Just by digging deeper you
can find the “sweet spot” in your market.

The Market: Part II

Now that you have a market in mind, it’s time to figure out
exactly what the WANT.

Notice I said “what they WANT”, not “what they NEED”.

People will spend money on what they want.

Not sure what they want? Visit the discussion forums and
blogs THEY visit.

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Pay attention to the questions they are asking. Things like
“How do I…” and “What is the best way to…”.

Then find out “what keeps them up at night?”.

When you solve a problem = you make money.

You should be in the problem solving business.

The Product: Part I

You have the market.

You know what you are going to sell.

Now – let’s create something to sell them.

For a really lean business, there’s nothing better than

“information products” (especially digital information
products).

Things like e-books and home study kits.

They are inexpensive to produce and the profit margins are

incredible.

I’ve sold digital products for as low as $5 and as high as

$10,000.

Your product mix will fall into one of three categories…

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I recommend aiming for 2-3 products in each of the three
above categories.

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Don’t get overwhelmed, just start with one and get it done.
Then, you can move on to more products as you go deeper
into your market.

I’d go with something in Category 1 first (less than $99).

They are usually easier to create and the lower price will
get more BUYERS into your funnel.

In general, a product at $99 and under is more of an

“impulse” buy. In other words, it’s a purchase most people
will not say “I have to ask my spouse/partner first”.

When you get above that price, they start to think about it
more.

Your goal is to make it easy to do business with you.

Moving FAST!
When you have an idea, it’s vital you move fast. Because if
you have the idea, there’s a very good chance 50 other
people also have the same idea.

And it’s only a matter of time until they beat you to the
punch.

Here’s what I recommend.

Step 1: Get it on the calendar. No matter what, set a FIRM

deadline on when it needs to get done.

Step 2: Break big project down to smaller tasks. For

example… if you want to create a paid membership site,
don’t get overwhelmed. Start with a small task first like
registering your domain name. Concentrated on one small
task each day.

Step 3: Work like a sprinter. Work for 45 minutes intensely

with no distractions. Take a short 5-10 minute break to
give your brain a rest, then come back for another 45
minutes.

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That’s it. Let nothing stop you from finishing that
product. Nothing.

Follow the productivity rules I laid out in the beginning.

Stay focused and remove distractions.

One more thing... your product will NEVER be perfect. And

that’s ok. Nothing kills more entrepreneurs than
perfectionism.

Make it good. Really good – but get the idea of being

perfect out of your head.

Selling… Made Simple

Now that you have your product – it’s time to SELL IT!

Selling online comes down to one thing and one thing only…
TRUST.

Do they trust you?

Do they believe your offer?

Even if they never heard of you before, you can build trust
with customer testimonials. And case studies. Even media
you’ve been on will help build trust.

And to start, your sales doesn’t have to be fancy.

I’ve worked with clients where I had them just create a

simple video with them speaking into the camera. They were
real, raw and honest.. and it works.

You can use iMovie (it’s free with Mac) or even your mobile
phone with the built-in camera.

Upload it to youtube and you’re done.

There’s a program I LOVE when it comes to building web

sites. You don’t have to be a programmer and it’s the
easiest program to create super-slick sites that convert.

It’s called LeadPages and it’s a MUST for every lean

entrepreneur.

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If you have a product you know will truly help people –
then don’t be afraid to tell them about it.

Let your passion shine through.

Simplify Your Marketing

Once you are ready to start selling (and it’s converting
well), it’s time to get some traffic!

There are literally thousands of places and methods to

market your online business.

Just pick a few of the highest priority marketing tasks and

concentrate on those.

Here are some of the best “bang for your buck” FREE traffic
tactics…

1. Blogging: not builds trust and relationships better

than putting out really good content on your own site.

2. Guest Blogging: get in front of other people’s

traffic. Offer to write for their site. Here’s a large
list of over 500 sites that accept guest bloggers.

3. Article Syndication: look for other high-traffic sites

that accept guest articles. For example, I just got a
weekly column for Entrepreneur.com. Other examples are
eHow, How Stuff Works and Instructables.

4. Article Submission: submit your site to high-traffic

article databases like EzineArticles.com

5. Facebook: you MUST build a facebook fan page. It’s no

longer optional. Get that done and post there often.

6. Social Media: There are other social media options

(depending on your market). Places like Twitter,
LinkedIn or Pinterest have millions of your potential
customers just waiting to hear from you.

To help organize your traffic, check out this program,

HireJill. It gives each task a point system based on value.

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But there’s another level to marketing. And it’s…

Paid Traffic
Free traffic is great.

However, if you want a 7-figure business (and beyond), you

must to be able to BUY your own customers. Period.

It’s what has grown my business to 7-figures a month. And

every serious entrepreneur needs to look into this.

Here are three things to think about when diving into the
world of paid marketing.

#1. Learn It Yourself: It’s a tricky world – but it’s

possible to learn media/traffic buying.

Just be prepared to study hard and there is a learning

curve.

Here’s the best (and only) course I recommend if you want

to start buying your own traffic.

It’s called the Traffic Black Book. It’s 100% comprehensive

and shows you EVERYTHING you need to start buying your own
traffic. By the time you go through this course, you’ll
understand how to generate virtually unlimited paid traffic
(and sculpt your offers to convert).

#2. Hire a Media Buyer: There are people who specialize in

paid traffic. They’ll usually get a percentage of your ad
spend (15% is average).

For example, if you spend $10,000 per month on Google

Adwords, your media buyer (or agency) will charge another
$1,500 on top of your $10K as their commission.

Do google searches for “media buyers” and “online ad

agency” and ask for references. And start with a small
budget to test.

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#3. Facebook Ads: By far, the easiest way to get started in
buying traffic is with Facebook Ads. It takes just a few
minutes to setup and you can laser-focus on your prospects.

You can target based on age, gender, job, hobbies, location

and more.

Here’s a BIG TIP with Facebook Ads… start with a low daily
budget of $5 to $10 per ad. Facebook will optimize your ad
and give you even more clicks at a lower price!

Put It On Autopilot
You’ve got your product.

You’ve got your traffic.

And you’ve got your web site.

Now, it’s time to create a system.

To have a true lifestyle business, you need a business that

can run (and repeat) without you. This means a system.

I know what you might be thinking.. this is where things

get very technical. But it’s actually the opposite.

It’s about one thing… SIMPLICITY.

For each process, just create one document. Personally, I

just create a document in Google Drive so my team can
access it (and I can update it anytime).

Be sure to include WHO is responsible for each task (if you

have a team). Otherwise, it’s all on your shoulders.

And include ALL the details (passwords, logins, etc.) in

ONE PLACE. This makes it very easy for your team. You
wouldn’t believe how much this can change your business.

Here’s an example.

Let’s say you are going to sell a new ebook. The beginning
of your “Ebook System Document” can look like this:

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 1. Turn the word doc into a pdf file (Jennifer)
2. Upload the book to our server (Jennifer)
(mysite.ftp.com / u=abc / p=abc)
3. Setup the template “Delivery” page (Jessica)
(template is in google drive called ETemplate)
(upload to server)
4. Send email to affiliates
(email template is on google drive called AFtemplate)
(use aweber.com / u=abc / p=abc)
(list in aweber is “ebookaff”)

Do you see how easy that is? How there is zero room for
confusion or interpretation?

Now, do this with ALL of your business processes including…

 Customer support (logins, refunds, etc.)

 Product launches (affiliates, setup, etc.)
 Product creation (transcriptions, file conversions,
etc.)
 Social media (posts, updates, etc.)
 Content creation (blogging, article writing, etc.)
 Traffic/Marketing (PPC campaigns, media buys, etc.)

Again, just a simple document is all you need – and often,

one page is enough.

Make it so easy-to-follow that anyone could read it and

work for you within 5 minutes (with virtually zero
training).

When you have a system – you are on your way to a lean,

mean business machine.

Enjoy.
I hope you found at least ONE big idea in this report.

The pages you just read are the reason I’m able to run a
very profitable business with virtually unlimited freedom.

Thank you for investing in the “I Built It” Foundation and

I wish you much success with your business.

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Rock ‘on,
Ryan Lee
RyanLee.com

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