self-made

secrets The Regular

Girl Guide
to Building a
Profitable
Marina De Giovanni Online Empire
self-made
secrets The Regular
Girl Guide
to Building a
Profitable
Marina de Giovanni Online Empire
self-made secrets
The Regular Girl Guide to Building a Profitable Online Empire
Copyright © 2020 Marina De Giovanni/Not a Model
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
Cover and design: Bree Grosshandler
Cover photography: Grant Puckett
 TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S SELF MADE SECRETS

09 15 27 81 93 103
INTRODUCTION SECRET ONE SECRET TWO SECRET SIX SECRET SEVEN SECRET EIGHT

Become a Self- How to Attraction Income The Self-Made The REAL

Made Badass Stand Out Marketing Success Hacks Trifecta Secret

37 53 67 111 117 125

SECRET THREE SECRET FOUR SECRET FIVE BONUS

Content Monetization Developing a My Final Self-Made Your Success

Growth Hacks Methods Sales Process Advice Challenge Is My Success
That Match You Can Put
Your Skills On Repeat
INTRODUCTION

become
a self-
made
badass
09
INTRODUCTION

How to become
a self-made
entreprenuer badass
Gone are the days when business school was a
requirement to become a successful CEO. Today,
regular girls are starting multimillion-dollar
companies and running them exclusively from
their MacBooks. Common people are doing un-
common things with their lives, and they show off
every day in our Instagram feeds, leaving us
wondering, “How’d they even do it?”

The beauty about this modern take on business

is that all the information we need to get started
is available at our fingertips. And if applied prop-
erly, it has the power to transform our careers and
our lives.

The problem? There’s an abundance of conflicting

information, and for beginners, navigating through
these waters can be overwhelming and uncertain.
But lucky for you, you’re here reading this book
because you recognized it as an opportunity to
get information from someone who’s already been

11
there, done that (me!). Congrats, smarty-pants!

I can
The pages in this book are filled with battle-tested, proven
strategies that I’ve personally used to build a seven-figure
online empire. It took me the better part of five years to
grow my business and “crack the code,” as some might say.
I spent those years strategizing, testing, marketing, and

proudly
eventually mastering the online business world. And as a
result, I can proudly call myself SELF-MADE.

And soon… you can, too! All you need to get to my level
is this book, enough concentration to finish it, and an
appetite to change your life.

call myself
Let’s get started.

self-made
And soon… you can, too!

12
SECRET ONE

how to
stand
out

15
SECRET ONE

How to
stand out
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to figure out your
perfect target audience. This is about focusing on
the who, rather than the what or the how. We’ll
get to those in later chapters, but for now, we
want to get very specific about who our PERFECT
customer is. This information will be the foun-
dation of your business—everything you do, you
should do with that perfect customer in mind.

So before you do anything with your business, you

have to be crystal clear on who exactly you want
to target.

H E R E ’ S W H Y I T ’ S S O I M P O R TA N T

Understanding who your audience is will help

you to magnetically attract them, which will
make building your audience and monetization
much easier.

Ultimately, building a business is about building

a tribe. There must be a sense of community, a
sense for the people involved that they’re part of
something bigger than themselves. This element

17
of “tribe” is one of the things that can make a brand go

Focus your
global. You want an audience who’s going to OBSESS over
you and your content because they feel like your interests
and theirs are one and the same.

When done properly, your marketing will act as a vehicle

to bring your tribe directly to you. And from there, your

marketing
tribe will grow.

The first question that you need to answer when thinking

about building your tribe is: “Who is my target audience?”

SELF -MADE PRO TIP

on a niche.
Focus your marketing on a niche.

This will instantly wipe out 99 percent of your competi-

tion. Which means you’ll stand out from all of the people
out there who aren’t targeting a specific demographic.

So let’s say you’re really into bicycling. Now, if you wanted

to get information about bicycling, would you go to an
account that puts out content about all things fitness—
I’m talking HIIT, weight training, cardio, diet, bicycling,
everything? Or would you go to the account that focuses
only on content for bicyclists? Who do you think you’d
be more drawn too? Who would you expect to have more
knowledge on the topic? The bicycling account, obviously!

So get specific about who you want to communicate with.

(This will make creating content so much easier. More on Self-Made Pro Tip #1
that later.)

Now if you’re thinking, “How do I find my niche?,” I’ve got

you covered.

18
21
 interests. They love fashion, fitness, travel, and on and on,
but they can’t decide which one they like the most.

How to discover your niche If this is you, consider combining two topics. Narrow it
down to two passions and then weave them into each
We’re going to find your niche together in a simple other. You’ll want to create content that’s about 80 percent
bulletproof exercise that I always teach my new students. on one topic and 20 percent on the other.

This is exactly what I do. My main niche is beauty, and

Step One my secondary niche is female entrepreneurs. So when I
Write down all the broad topics that you’re interested in. combine them, it’s beauty for female entrepreneurs—or
entrepreneurship for women interested in beauty. And all
FOR EX AMPLE
of my content supports this.
Fitness
So when I’m creating beauty content for social media,
Food like makeup videos, I think about female entrepreneurs.
Travel That means I go for a look that can be achieved quickly.
Beauty Why? Because entrepreneurs ain’t got time to go full
glam! And my content reflects those needs. I myself am a
Step Two female entrepreneur, so I always ask myself, “What kind of
makeup looks would I want to see?” Anytime I see a full-
Write down how you can make each topic you’re interested glam look, I’m a bit turned off because it’s just unrealistic
in more specialized. The way to do this is by targeting a for me in my day-to-day life.
specific segment of the population.
That’s 80 percent of my content. Now for my second niche,
FOR EX AMPLE
I focus on female entrepreneurship, as I said. And this is
Workouts for moms where you are: you’re falling into that target market. This is
Budget travel for millennials where I teach topics like business, marketing, social media,
and things along those lines. There are obviously plenty
Dating for lawyers
of female business coaches out there. But what makes me
Fashion for petite women stand out is the crossover. My target audience is going
Now, a lot of people go through this exercise and have a to be girls who are interested in beauty and interested
hard time picking something, because they have multiple in entrepreneurship. And if you join any of my Facebook

22 23
groups, you’ll see that reflected in those communities.
Secret #1 Quick Summary
Most of my customers and clients are not the typical
“business” type you see getting their master’s at the local
University. They’re savvy, sexy, female entrepreneurs 1. Building a business is about building a
who are interested in lifestyle topics like beauty, fitness,
food, fashion, and travel. They’re more creative than tribe and a community.
corporate. Many of them have their own coaching
businesses. They might be makeup artists, fitness trainers, 2. It’s important to know who you want
fashion designers… you get the idea.

So if you’re still struggling to commit to one niche, you

can combine two topics like I do. And if you still can’t
decide which way to go, here’s what you do: Just make a
decision. There is no wrong direction. We either win or
we learn.
to target because it will make creating
content, attracting new followers, and
monetizing faster and easier.

If you don’t like the outcome of the niche you’ve chosen,
you can always pivot and choose something else. Keep
pivoting until you find something you like. That’s how
you win at life. Keep trying out new niches and new target
audiences until you find one you like.
3. Targeting a niche will wipe out 99% of
the competition and help you stand out.
4. The way to define your niche is to think
about a broad topic and then break it
down for one segment of the population.
For example, fitness for moms.

24
SECRET TWO

attract-
ion
market-
ing
27
SECRET TWO

Attraction
marketing
Now that you know who your audience is, I’m going
to show you how to magnetically attract them to
you. To get your audience’s eyes glued to your
content and, more importantly, to your products.
But how? Simple — by communicating the right
message to the right audience.

And the secret is understanding your audience’s

desires.

So together, we’re going to answer this question:

What does my audience truly care about?

In order to successfully attract, you have to create

content that serves your audience, whether that
be entertainment, advice, solutions, or something
else that helps them in some way. You have to
continuously give value if you want to draw people
in. That’s how you get your tribe to actually want
to follow you.

Attraction marketing is about understanding what

your audience wants and giving it to them in the
form of content, products, or services. As long as

29
 they’re interested in the results you can give them, they
will follow you and buy things from you.

And the way to figure out what your audience wants is to

identify your ideal customer’s characteristics, behaviors,
likes and dislikes, and challenges and frustrations.

A S K YO U R S E LF

What’s this person’s background?

•

Where do they live?

•

How old are they?

•

Are they married or single?

•

Do they have kids?

•

• What are their struggles and challenges in their life

right now?
• What are the things that they want to achieve in
their life?
Who do they want to become?
•

With the answers to these questions you’ll be able to

create content to attract your ideal customer. This exer-
cise is so important, because…

SELF -MADE PRO TIP

To get someone’s attention, you first need to understand

what already has their attention.

Let me show you a brief demonstration of this theory

in action.

30 31
32 33
In the two images above, you can see examples of ads
I’m using to promote a free Instagram class. A common
mistake people make is screaming, “Hey, attend my class!”
Secret #2 Quick Summary
“Go buy my book!” “Get your guide now!” This stuff
doesn’t work anymore, people! 1. To attract your tribe, you need to really
Instead, I use images of things I know already have my understand who your target audience is.
audience’s attention: nails, outfits, shoes, girly stuff, and
so on. If you remember, my target audience is savvy, sexy Identify their characteristics, behaviors,
female entrepreneurs who have that beauty crossover. So
if I want to attract this audience, I have to create content likes and dislikes, goals, frustrations,
that represents that combination: beauty and female
entrepreneurs.
and so forth.
So what I’m doing here is using information about my
ideal customer to create content that gets their attention.
2. Then you need to answer the question
They’re drawn to me because you don’t commonly see of what they want. Use that information
business coaches with ads of nails and shoes. It’s unusual.
to create content that serves them in
So you want to figure out what your ideal customer already
cares about—what already has their attention. Then use some way.
that to create marketing messages to attract them.

Pro Tip: To get someone’s attention, you

first need to understand what already has
their attention.

34
SECRET THREE

content
growth
hacks

37
SECRET THREE

Content growth hacks

A lot of times people tell me, “I don’t know what to
say in my videos,” or, “I don’t know what to write
in my captions,” or, “I don’t know what content to
put on my blog.” Whatever medium you’re focusing
on— Instagram, YouTube, Facebook Live, a blog,
a podcast, whatever— it’s a common problem for
people to feel stuck, not knowing what type of
content to create or what to say. As a result, most
people get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing.
Which obviously won’t make you self-made. So
we’re going to talk about how to figure out exactly
what kind of content to produce. The kind of
content your audience will love, the kind that will
push your business forward, the kind you can
create without getting overwhelmed or stressed.

First things first: We want to figure out what kind of

messages will resonate with your target audience.
How do we do that? By coming up with themes.
Themes are simply topics that your audience
wants to learn about.

Start by thinking of all the things that are important

to you and your audience, as it relates to your
niche.

39
 CORE BELIEF 2

Be authentic

Exercise: CORE BELIEF 3

Attract an audience organically (avoid follow4follow groups)

Coming Up With Themes
Step Three
Step One Take the information from the first two steps and start to
build themes around it. Like this:
Answer this question:
What are my audience’s core challenges? THEME 1

Starting an online business

In my space, my audience’s core challenges are:
CONTENT 1
CORE CHALLENGE 1
How to get started on Instagram
Don’t know how to start
CONTENT 2
CORE CHALLENGE 2
How to start a blog
Don’t know how to create consistent content
CONTENT 3
CORE CHALLENGE 3
How to find a profitable business idea
Don’t know how to make money

Step Two
Answer this question:
What are my core beliefs about this topic?

In my space, my core beliefs are:

CORE BELIEF 1

Just start (figure it out along the way)

40 41
THEME 2 THEME 3

Creating consistent content Making money online

CONTENT 1 CONTENT 1
The art of content batching How to sell digital products
CONTENT 2
CONTENT 2
Document, don’t create
How to develop a sales process
CONTENT 3
CONTENT 3
Instagram Stories
Invest in mentors who will show you how

42 43
 CORE BELIEF 3

High fat, low carb

Let’s take a look at Step Three

Take the information from these first two steps and start
another example, say, to build themes around it.

in the fitness space THEME 1

Getting started with exercise

Step One CONTENT 1

What are my audience’s core challenges? How to get started with HIIT—30 seconds on, 10
seconds off on the treadmill
CORE CHALLENGE 1
CONTENT 2
Don’t know how to exercise
Which HIIT gyms are the best
CORE CHALLENGE 2
CONTENT 3
Don’t know how to stay consistent
Why bodyweight exercise is my favorite HIIT style
CORE CHALLENGE 3
THEME 2
Don’t know what food to eat
Staying consistent
Step Two CONTENT 1
What are my core beliefs about this topic? Get a trainer or nutritionist to keep you accountable

CORE BELIEF 1 CONTENT 2

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Plan your meals ahead of time

CORE BELIEF 2 CONTENT 3

Consistent diet like intermittent fasting Pick your food before getting to a restaurant

44 45
THEME 3
What to eat to compliment your exercise regime
CONTENT 1
Meals to eat before/after workouts to properly fuel
your body
CONTENT 2
Foods that speed metabolism
CONTENT 3
How to track your macronutrients
See how this works?
By focusing on your audience’s challenges and your
personal beliefs, you’ll eliminate the “I don’t know what
to post” dilemma that stunts growth.
Once you start posting your themes, you’ll want to gauge
your audience’s reaction and see what people like (and
don’t like), so you can build a list of themes that consis-
tently attract your ideal customer.
Now, it will be difficult to accurately test if you have a
small audience. Say you’re exclusively posting on a social
media platform and you have 100 followers. If you get one
comment on a photo and two comments on another, tech-
nically that’s doubling your engagement. But because the
numbers are so small, it just doesn’t give you enough to
go on.
THE RE IS A SIMPLE SOLUTION
I’d suggest posting in Facebook groups that are relevant
46
to your niche. It’s a great way to get more eyeballs on your
content to see what people like.
The key when testing is to pay attention to engagement.
Are people leaving comments or asking questions?
•
Are people tagging their friends or sharing your posts?
•
• Are people in the group DMing you to tell you they
loved the post? Or need additional help?
Once you have a couple of themes that are resonating with
your audience, you can crank out posts on those couple
of themes over and over again— don’t reinvent the wheel!
You don’t need to come up with new themes all the time.
That’s kind of where people get stuck. People think, “Oh,
well, I posted about this idea last week. I posted about
it again this week. People are going to think I’m talking
about the same thing all the time. They’re going to stop
paying attention.” That’s actually a mistake.
SELF -MADE PRO TIP
People pay way less attention than you think they do.
They’re busy, they’re living their own lives. If you repeat
content (in different ways) on a couple of central themes,
it will actually help you get your message heard and attract
more people. It’s competitive and noisy out there. So to
stand out, you must repeat your message consistently.
Results are in repetition.
My only caveat with themes: A U T H E N T I C I T Y.
What I mean by that is this: Don’t come up with a theme
47
 Before we close out this chapter, I want to address the
number-one thing that stunts growth: fear. If you want to
become self-made, for real, you have to make a conscious
effort to control fear and allow yourself to grow. If you’re
afraid of creating content that people won’t like, or that
your friend from high school will think looks silly— if you
let that fear control you, you’ll never get to where you want
to go. There is no such thing as failure. There are only
learning opportunities.

So don’t be afraid that you won’t get engagement. Remem-

ber, we’re testing! If you don’t get the engagement you
want, good! Cross that theme off the list and move on to
the next! Keep going until you’ve found your themes.

and start talking about it only because you think it’s going
to increase your engagement. If there’s something that
grabs people’s attention but you don’t really believe in
it, you don’t want to be talking about it. That’s short-
term thinking.

For example, imagine you’re in the fitness niche and you

know the ketogenic diet is a trending topic. If you don’t
follow the diet off camera, don’t be on camera pretending.
Pretending is impossible to keep up with for long. When
you’re being authentic and true to yourself, people can tell.
Your business will grow faster, and your overall quality of
life will be much better.

48 49
Secret #3 Quick Summary
1. Creating content themes solves the “I don’t know
what to post” dilemma.

2. How to come up with themes:

• Write down all your audience’s core challenges.
• Write down all your core beliefs.
• Combine the information from previous steps
to create themes.

3. Once you have your themes, test them out and see
what people like. Once you have an understanding of
which themes resonate with people, you can continue
to create content around those themes.

4. It's okay to repeatedly use the same themes! People

don’t pay as much attention as you think they do.

5. Don’t be afraid to create content or worry that

you won’t get any engagement. Remember: we're
always testing!
SECRET FOUR

monet-
ization
methods
that
match
your
skills
53
SECRET FOUR

Monetization
methods that
match your skills
Here’s the truth: if you want to become self-made,
you have to figure out how you’re going to mone-
tize. Having a cool brand and lots of followers is
great… but you can’t deposit followers at the bank.
So I’m going to give you a simple list of methods
that you can use to start making an income from
your business.

Now, what one person is good at, another person

might not be. So how you choose to monetize
should reflect what you enjoy and what skills you
already possess. I can’t stress enough that you
want to be authentic to yourself.

SELF -MADE PRO TIP

You want to build a business based off of some-

thing you LIKE.

If you don’t like creating content about products,

then brand collaborations probably aren’t for you.
Maybe instead, you love to share information and

55
help people. Well, then, selling digital products could be
your monetization method. Understanding yourself and
choosing your monetization method based on what you
like is the ultimate self-made secret.

Oftentimes, we find ourselves in jobs we don’t like. But

when you’re an entrepreneur, you have control over your
day-to-day schedule. Picking something that you genu-
inely enjoy is going to push you to work harder without it
actually feeling like work.

Pursuing a business you enjoy is crucial to your success

and overall happiness. If you do that… you win at life.
So I created the list below so you can pick and choose
what speaks to you on a personal level. After you’ve
gotten through this section, you’ll know what methods
you can use to monetize that match your skill set and
passions. Let’s get into it.
coach over the phone or online.
PERFECT FOR ENTREPRENEURS WHO
• Have already accomplished something that other
people want to do. You can coach someone on how
they can achieve the same goal you achieved.
• Enjoy teaching and working with people in a more
intimate setting.

Six Ways to Monetize Selling a Service

Coaching
Coaching means you help your clients get a specific result.
So long as you can help someone reach their goals in a
specific area, then you can be a coach.
You can coach someone one-on-one or in a group setting.
And coaching doesn’t have to be in person — you can
If you’re a makeup artist, hairstylist, photographer,
wedding planner, etc., you can leverage social media to
promote content that relates to your service. For example,
if you’re a wedding planner, you can create content around
wedding planning. And someone who is interested can
reach out to become a client.
PERFECT FOR ENTREPRENEURS WHO
Like to do the work themselves rather than teach
•

56 57
 someone how to do it.
Have a skill people are willing to pay for.
• • Are working with limited resources but want to
Selling Digital Products
Digital products are things like e-guides, e-books, online
courses, memberships, etc. This is the monetization
method I’ve had the most success with, and it’s the one I
recommend most people use to get started. Why? Because
it’s easy and inexpensive to create digital products, yet
they have the potential to make big bucks. And unlike
coaching, you don’t need to work more hours to get paid
more — you can scale your products.
As far as knowledge goes, you just need to be one step
ahead of the people you’re trying to teach. For example: if
you’re a brand new makeup artist, rather than creating a
course for experienced makeup artists, create a course for
everyday girls. You don’t need expertise — you just need
to be a level above your target market. There will always
be people with less knowledge than you. Focus on them.
58
PERFECT FOR ENTREPRENEURS WHO
monetize quickly.
• Want more control over how much time they spend
working with individuals (you can add coaching
elements as bonuses for an extra fee).
• Enjoy putting together guides, course materials,
and lessons.
Want to create a product they can continually scale.
•
Selling Physical Products
This is where you sell a physical product like clothing,
art, cosmetics, sneakers, etc. There is a lot of potential for
growth in physical products. But there’s also a huge
challenge: start-up costs. You need cash up front for
inventory, manufacturing, shipping, labor costs, etc. In
most cases it can be quite expensive and more difficult
to get started with.
However, an alternative is to sell your items using online
shops like Etsy and CafePress. You can avoid inventory
costs, as these items are made to order. (Each creator or
vendor will make or stock the item after the order has
been placed.) So you can avoid the inventory cost in this
situation. For example: if you sell custom t-shirts, this is a
great outlet so you don’t have to hold inventory of unsold
merchandise. Make sense?
PERFECT FOR ENTREPRENEURS WHO
Already have a physical product they are selling.
•
59
• Have an idea to create a product and have the
overhead to produce it.
• Have the knowledge to create something that they
can sell.

Brand Collaborations
Brand collaboration means brands pay you to promote
their brand on your social media or blog. If you have the
right audience for the right brand, then this can be a great
approach. Full disclosure: what the brand is really paying
for is access to your audience. If you want to get paid
by brands, you have to first build an audience that those
brands want access to. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a
huge audience, but you do need to have a specific target
market of followers who relate to the products that a
brand will want you to promote.

PERFECT FOR ENTREPRENEURS WHO

• Are looking for a secondary stream of income without

having to create their own product or service.
Enjoy creating content around products/services.
•

• Have a highly engaged niche audience of 5,000

followers or more.

Affiliate Marketing
This is where you post content about a product, and then
you direct people to a specific link. It could be a link in
your bio, on Instagram Stories, on your blog or website, or
in an e-mail. When someone purchases through your link,
you’ll make a commission on that sale.

60 61
 PERFECT FOR ENTREPRENEURS WHO

• Are looking for a secondary stream of income without

having to create their own product or service.
Enjoy creating content around products/services.
•

• Have multiple audiences on different platforms: a blog,

Instagram, an e-mail list, etc.
• Have a highly engaged niche audience of 10,000
social followers or more, and/or an e mail list of
10,000 subscribers or more.

M Y R E C O M M E N D AT I O N F O R N E W E N T R E P R E N E U R S

In my experience, the most profitable and easiest mone-

tization methods for someone who’s just starting out are
the first three on the list: offering coaching, a service, or
a digital product. Why? Because with these methods, you
can get started right now. They require very little up-front
investment, and you can customize them to match your
passions and personality. You don’t have to worry about
inventory or shipping or employees or anything else. All
you need is yourself and a smartphone. Those tools alone
will get you far as an entrepreneur.

But the secret to becoming self-made is to start with one

monetization method that suits you, master it, make a
consistent income, grow your business to where you want
it. And then you can stack on additional income streams.
Don’t try to do too much at once.

Why? Because focusing on one method will increase the

speed and performance of that method. You’ll start seeing
results there. Trying to do too much at once will slow down

62 63
your progress and leave you feeling burned out, with few
results to show for it. Secret #4 Quick Summary
So grow your business using one monetization method
until you reach a certain profit goal. After you’re satisfied 1. If you want to become self-made, you have to figure
with that goal, you can take on another method. out how to monetize effectively.

2. Six Ways to Monetize:

• Coaching
• Selling a Service
• Selling Digital Products
• Selling Physical Products
• Brand Collaborations
• Affiliate Marketing

3. For new entrepreneurs, I suggest selling digital

products, because there’s little upfront cost but huge
income potential.

4. The secret to becoming self-made is to start with

one monetization method, master it, and then stack
on other income streams over time.

64
SECRET FIVE

sales
process
you can
put on
repeat
67
SECRET FIVE

Developing a sales
process that you
can put on repeat
Once you’ve decided on a method to monetize,
your next step is to create a sales process where
your audience can actually purchase something
from you — the real secret to becoming #SELF-
MADE . In the digital world, a sales process is
called a funnel. A funnel is the buying process
you lead customers down in order for them to
purchase your products and services.

To create a sales funnel, I feel it’s necessary to

break the process down into two major parts,
marketing and selling. While both terms have
several meanings, here’s how I’m going to use
them to explain sales funnels in this book:

MARKETING

Marketing is everything that the prospect sees

BEFORE you talk about your product or service.
The role of marketing is to create desire for your
specific product or service before your prospect
knows there is a product or service on offer.

69
SELLING ad that says, “Have you been struggling to build your
Selling is everything that happens AFTER you’ve created Instagram following?”
the desire for a product. This is where you’ll start talking
about your product(s) or service(s)— features and benefits,
the price, the guarantee, etc.

SELF -MADE PRO TIP

The role of marketing is to send people into your sales

process (funnel). And the sales process gets people to buy
your product or service.

Here’s an overview of how I’ve used sales and marketing

in my sales process:

MARKETING

On Facebook and Instagram, I’ll advertise a free video

training on how to attract followers on Instagram.

SALES

When the user clicks the link to the free video, they’ll
land on a website page that delivers the free video train-
ing but also doubles as a sales page. By being on this page,
they’re entering my sales process. On this page, I’ll offer
a program that complements the video training—it’s
the advanced version. You can think of the video as the
outline (so it’s still valuable); the program I’m selling is
the step-by-step guide.

Now let’s take a closer look and see what this process
looks like from the user’s perspective…

They’re scrolling through Instagram, and they see an

70 71
If the user thinks, “That’s exactly how I’m feeling,” then At the end of the video is an offer for a course that teaches
they might click the link, which will take them to my my specific step-by-step attraction marketing method for
website where they can watch my free video. The video building a targeted Instagram following.
delivers helpful information about building your
Instagram following using a method called “attraction
marketing” which focuses on attracting followers, rather
than chasing them.

The end of the video prompts the user to scroll down to

see exactly what’s included. As they scroll, they learn that
this program focuses on real attraction marketing strat-
egies rather than tactics like “follow4follow” that other
courses teach.

They also discover it’s been proven to work, as thousands

of other women are already getting results by applying my
teachings to their Instagram accounts.

And if they purchase the course, I will offer them additional

valuable courses as an upsell to the program.

Now let me be clear: while this is an opportunity to

make additional sales, I want you to think of it as an
opportunity to offer additional help and support. We

72 73
74 75
are in the business of helping people. So yes, this
chapter is about the sales process, but think of an upsell
as a complement to the original offer: something that will
help people reach their goals, FASTER .
Got it?
To review: In this example, marketing is the free Insta-
gram video to capture people’s attention and deliver value
in advance. Selling is promoting an Instagram course.
So that’s the difference between marketing and sales—
and how they work together. Ultimately, marketing is
about getting people’s attention and building desire for
the topic. And selling is talking about the offer itself (the
price, the benefits of your product, all that sort of stuff),
and making a sale.
My example used a free video to entice people, but you
can use many other methods to grab people’s attention
and send them into your sales process. You can entice
them with a:
• Free PDF download (cheat sheet, report,
e-guide, e-book)
Free mini-course (a series of videos)
•
Free webinar
•
to the sales page, whatever that might be?”
Well, I have good news, because it’s just two steps:
Step One
Give them consistent, valuable content.
To make a sale, you need to build a bond with your audi-
ence—to get them to know, like, and trust you. You do
that by providing consistent, valuable content that’s
entertaining, educational, and genuinely helps people.
Step Two
Place a call to action in your content.
A call to action is simply a phrase that encourages your
audience to take a certain action. For example, if you had
an e-commerce store, a call to action could be
“60% off sale today only. Click the link in my bio to get it
before midnight.”
Here’s a sample script
STEP 1: Call out [TARGET GROUP]+[DESIRE].
Hey [TARGET GROUP], want to [DESIRE]?

Free phone consult

•
STEP 2:Tell them what life might be like when
[DESIRE] is achieved.
And more!
•
Imagine having [DESIRE].
Now you might be wondering, “How do I get people from
social media into the sales process in the first place — to STEP 3: Tell them what you’ve got that will help them
the free webinar registration page, to book a call, directly get their [DESIRE] (or get it faster and/or more easily).

76 77


I’ve got a brand-new video series/cheat sheet that
shows you how to [DESIRE] faster and more easily Secret #5 Quick Summary
than you thought possible.

STEP 4: Add a call to action.
Simply click the link in this post to learn more.
Let’s look at this script in action.
Imagine you’re promoting an online course about how to
make delicious green smoothies for busy moms.
1. You want to create a sales process so you have a
strategic plan for attracting an audience, selling
them a product or service, and generating revenue
as a result. You can create a profitable sales process
by utilizing marketing and selling.

STEP 1: Call out [TARGET GROUP]+[DESIRE].

Hey moms! Want to jump-start your weight loss,
increase your energy level, and clear your mind?
STEP 2: Tell them what life might be like when [DESIRE]
is achieved.
Imagine looking slimmer and feeling healthier. Well,
I have good news!
STEP 3: Tell them what you’ve got that will help them get
their [DESIRE] (or get it faster and/or more easily).
I’ve got a brand-new video series that shows you
how to make quick, easy, and DELICIOUS green
smoothies that are filling and healthy for the whole
family. You’re going to love it!
2. How I’ve done this: I create an ad that sends people
to a free video (that’s the marketing), and when they
click it, they go to a page with the free video… and
the page is also selling an online course (that’s the
selling). This is my sales process.
3. You can also do this with a free pdf download, a
consultation call, a free video series, a free webinar,
and more.
4. To get people from social media to your
sales page, you have to do two things:

STEP 4: Add a call to action. • Give them consistent, valuable information.

Simply click the link in this post to learn more. I can’t • Include a call to action in your content.
wait to hear about your transformation!

78
SECRET SIX

income
success
hacks

81
SECRET SIX

Income success hacks

Before you set out to create your sales process, I
want to give you two proven hacks for producing
income success online. These two hacks are strat-
egies that I go back to no matter what level I’m at.
I’ve had the opportunity to learn from some of
the top social media and business mentors in the
world, including Gary Vee and Tony Robbins, and
I can confidently say these are hacks that they’ve
used to build their (massive) empires.

Model the Competition

“Find someone who has achieved the results you
want and model what they do and you’ll achieve
the same results.”
– TONY ROBBINS

A lot of people think that competition is bad, when

in reality, competition is great! Having someone
in our niche that’s crushing it is a good indication
that our business model is proven to work! You
never want to create a totally new product that’s
never been sold before. Why? Because it hasn’t
been proven to sell, making it too much of a risk.
You always want to look for validation in the

83
competition before starting something yourself.
Basically, you want to find someone who’s already been
there, done it—and use their business model as inspiration
to build our own. There’s no sense reinventing the wheel
when you don’t have to. Just check out what other people
are doing, and model them!
This should probably go without saying, but this does
not mean copy them. It means figure out what they’re
doing that’s working and use that as inspiration for your
own business. A good way to think of modeling is in
terms of drawing. You can look at an image and try to
draw something similar, but put your own twist on it—
like by adding different colors or styles. That’s modeling.
Copying is blatantly tracing the image and using no
individuality or creativity whatsoever. We do not condone
copying. We do condone modeling as a way of gaining
inspiration and finding a direction to go in.
For example, if you’re a beauty brand, find a beauty brand
that’s doing well. Buy their products, and pay attention to
their sales process, so you can see how they’re selling their
products. Check out what ads they’re running, how they’re
doing Instagram Stories, what kind of content they’re
posting, what e-mails they’re sending. What promotions
are they running? How much do their products cost?
You want to try to reverse engineer what they’re doing.
Figure out how they’re making money. Dissect their entire
operation as an end user. Look at what headlines they’re
using, what they’re posting on social media, how they’re
collecting e-mail addresses, how they’re following up with
84
their customers via e-mail— the whole nine yards. Put
yourself in the passenger seat of their business and see
what you can learn from them! But as I said: model, don’t
copy. Copying isn’t cool.
HOW I MODEL OTHERS
• In any aspect of my life I want to improve, I hire a coach
or mentor who has achieved the result that I want.
• I also find people who have done what I want to do
and attend their events and buy their books, courses,
and services.
SELF -MADE PRO TIP
Modeling is the fastest route to success.
Focus
"FOCUS: Follow One Course Until Successful”
– R O B E R T K I YO S A K I
The biggest mistake I see new entrepreneurs make is that
they start out not knowing exactly what they are trying
to achieve. They get so excited about starting their self-
made journey, so they do this thing and that thing and
the other thing, and as a result… get no results (oh,
the irony).
When you do things with no real reason behind them,
that doesn’t move you forward toward your goals. You
don’t attract clients, your followers don’t convert to
customers, you don’t build an engaging audience, there’s
no real prospects or progression, no revenue or income
85
86 87
 plan, nada! And the sad truth is that this is a very
common mistake. I see it all the time.

So rather than trying to do a lot of things at once with-

out having a clear idea of where you want to go, focus on
what you really want. Put your attention on one thing at a
time, master it, and then go to the next thing. As the old
saying goes, If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch
either one.

So don’t try to do two things, or three, or four, or five,

because you won’t be able to fully concentrate your
energy on any of them. You’ll end up dabbling in a
few different areas, and it’s going to be hard to get a
positive result.

If you want to achieve maximum results, focus on one

thing and go all in! So if you want to be a coach, go all
in on being a coach. Obsess over being a coach, create
content every single day that will help your target
audience. Or if you want to work with brands, start
making videos on all your favorite brands that align
with your business. Research their brand hashtags, send
them e-mails, spend half of your day every single day
on creating content for brands, and the other half on
researching brands you could work with. Make sense?

Basically, figure out who’s done it, purchase their

products on how to do it, read everything you can get
your hands on about that topic, listen to podcasts and
audiobooks — go all in and focus on it 100 percent. Follow
one course until successful.

88 89
So just do those two things: model the competition and
focus. They’re the smartest and fastest hacks I know to
grow your income and your business.
90
Secret #6 Quick Summary
1. Don’t try to enter uncharted waters with your
business. You never want to reinvent the wheel —
instead, model the competition.
2. Model, don’t copy. Modeling is looking at the
competition’s business operation as a whole and
using it as inspiration and direction for building
your own plan. Copying is stealing their content,
captions, sales pages, e mails, etc. and putting
your name on them.
3. Focus on one aspect of your business/ monetization
method at a time. Don’t try to chase too many rabbits
at once, because you’ll end up catching none.
4. Whatever you focus on, go all in.
SECRET SEVEN

self
made
trifecta

93
SECRET SEVEN

Self-made trifecta
The self-made trifecta is this: care, gratitude, and
patience. This secret is often overlooked, but in my
opinion, it’s the most important one. It’s a trifecta
of practices that add to our health and happiness,
both professionally and personally. If you can
master the self-made trifecta, you’ll be leaps and
bounds ahead of most entrepreneurs.

Care
The people in your audience have to feel that you
authentically care about their well-being. And
equally, they have to feel that you are similar to
them. When they feel like you’re just like them,
they’ll feel understood, and they’ll feel that you
care.

At the end of the day, when it comes to building a

business, we’re in the business of helping people.
You have to genuinely want to serve your audience.

Our goal as entrepreneurs is to help people solve

their problems. It’s an exchange of value. You’re
giving them something that’s solving their prob-
lems, and in return, they’re making a purchase
with you. That’s why selling becomes easy when

95
you genuinely care about your tribe. If you’re passionate customers will sense it if you genuinely care for their
about your products and you know they can help, then it’s wellbeing. Your success is about serving others.
not sales, it’s solutions.

The magic is in serving your tribe and ensuring their

Gratitude
success — making their success your mission. It’s not
about you; it’s about them. The more successful they are,
the more successful you are.

How to Show You Care

• Share what you believe in, get personal with your values
• Tell personal stories, let your viewers inside your past
• Show behind the scenes, bring people on a journey
with you
• Ask questions and listen
• Respond to comments and questions on social media
• Respond to direct messages (DMs)
• Build community: encourage your audience to interact I’ve had the pleasure of being coached by Tony Robbins
with each other and interact with you and Gary Vee, and one of the key takeaways for me was
simple: Be grateful. It’s so easy to get caught up as an
• Give gifts, do giveaways
entrepreneur. Caught up in how fast we’re growing. Caught
• Offer advice: ask your audience what they struggle with up in comparing that growth to others who are “doing
most, then give them solutions better,” especially in the world of social media. My advice
• Ensure congruency in messaging, be consistent! is, instead of comparing yourself to others, be grateful.
• Provide outstanding customer service Replace your unrealistic expectations for yourself with
gratitude. This simple shift will make a huge impact on
SELF -MADE PRO TIP your business and mindset.
CARE is the most important aspect of building your tribe.
We all want things NOW. That’s just the society we live
It’s something that can’t be seen— it can only be felt. Your in, so don’t feel bad about it. Instead of feeling down

96 97
because you’re not where you want to be at this moment,
appreciate the journey that you’re going on. Don’t expect
everything to happen at the click of your fingers. You’re
growing a brand and an empire—it takes time, girl!

You’re going to be there building a brand, hustling, and

working hard for a long-ass time. It’s not going to happen
overnight. So you don’t want to be waking up every day
and setting yourself up for disappointment, because it’s
just going to create negative energy— and that’s going to
create a lack of motivation. It’s not going to empower you
to get to the levels of success that you want.

So instead, just be grateful for what you have. Be grateful

for the audience you have, for the income that you’re
making. Be grateful for your friends and family who are
supporting you. If they’re not supporting you, that’s also
okay — be grateful for them anyway. Just be grateful for
your life and work with what you have.
And whatever you do, don’t compare yourself to others.
Rather than focusing on what you don’t have, focus on
what you do. You’re going to be happier that way.
Patience
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have
to understand that you’re going to be tested. The way to
win is to be patient. If something’s not working, just
change your approach. If you’re trying to grow a following,
a client base, an income, and it’s not working… change
your approach.
It’s great to set big goals, but you don’t want to have this
expectation that things are going to immediately happen
for you and you’re going to get these instant results.
That’s setting yourself up to fail. You want to build a
business and life, but it’s a journey that you’re going to be
on for a little while.
A huge part of success is just showing up. It’s not
quitting. It’s working hard. Make a commitment to
yourself that you’re going to move forward from where
you are NOW, so you can start getting closer to where you
want to be. Don’t compare yourself to others. Stay in your
own lane and take your own journey.
It just takes hard work and time. That’s the price that
you have to pay. You can’t get something without giving
something. If you want success, you have to give hard
work. That’s just the exchange that you have to be willing
to make.

98 99
“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like
most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your Secret #7 Quick Summary
life like most people can’t.”
– STU DE NT O F WA R R E N G . TR ACY 1. The self-made trifecta is care, gratitude, and patience.

2. You need to genuinely care about your audience and

want them to succeed. Show your audience that you
care about them. Show them your life and give them
a safe space where they can be themselves. Help
them solve their problems and achieve their goals.
Caring is the most important element of building
your tribe.

3. Be grateful for your journey. Don’t compare yourself

to other entrepreneurs and tell yourself you could
be doing better. Replace unrealistic expectations
with gratitude.

4. Be patient with your progress. If something isn’t

working, change your approach. A big part of success
is being patient and not giving up when you don’t
get results quickly.

100
SECRET EIGHT

the
real
secret

103
SECRET EIGHT

The real secret

Imagine how confident you’d feel if you started
taking action on your goals TODAY. Now I know
this can be difficult when you’re faced with a lot
of options. You can find yourself feeling stuck and
unsure where to go.

The solution is to just make a decision and go all

in. Commit to one direction and don’t look back.
Many people feel that they don’t want to make
the “wrong” decision. But the way to think about
this is… life is about learning. We either win or
we learn. For a lot of decisions we face, there is
no such thing as the right direction or the wrong
direction. If something doesn’t turn out the
way you wanted, you can learn from it and use
that information to turn it into a positive outcome
later on.

So what to do when you don’t like the outcome?

Let’s say you’re asking yourself, “Should I start

a beauty brand, or should I start a fitness brand,
because I like both?” You choose the fitness brand,
and it doesn’t work out. So what do you do?

105
Option one is you could just give up. You could quit
because it wasn’t what you hoped it would be. The
better option is to change your approach. Whether that’s
sticking with the same business but changing your
strategy, or pursuing a new niche or business altogether.
If something isn’t working, you try something else, and
you keep doing that until something sticks.
You keep pivoting, trying new things until you get what
you want. That’s how you win in life. Avoiding taking
action, not starting because you fear you’ll make the
wrong decision, is how you stay exactly where you are.
When things don’t go your way, be optimistic about it.
Look at it as a lesson learned. Figure out how to turn a
problem into a solution. Figure out how to see something
that didn’t work as positive rather than negative. Just keep
pivoting until you’ve achieved the result you’re after.
SELF -MADE PRO TIP
Sometimes you can be just a few days away from hitting
your target. It can be a little piece of knowledge that’s
missing, or one little skill set that will make all the differ-
ence. You have to maintain optimism; you have to believe
in yourself. To believe that you’ll be able to figure it out.
It’s just like riding a bike for the first time: you’re probably
going to fall off. But you get back on the bike. The second
time maybe you fall off again, but you’ve got more balance
this time. And you try again, and again, and again, and
now you know how to ride a bike. That’s kind of what
it’s like with entrepreneurship. It doesn’t matter which
topic you choose, which audience you decide to focus on,
which product you decide to create. It’s all just creating
momentum. As long as you believe in yourself and you
know where you want to head, then just taking action
toward that bigger goal is going to eventually get you to
the result that you want.

The key is just not to be afraid to make decisions. Every-

thing you’re going to do, you can ultimately learn from.

It’s like the old saying about Thomas Edison, who created
the light bulb. When an associate said it was too bad he
hadn’t been able to get results, he said, “I have gotten a
lot of results! I know several thousand things that won’t
work.”

For many of us, our “failures” are often just situations

where something we tried didn’t work, and so we gave up.
But oftentimes, we don’t realize how close we actually are
to success.

106 107
Secret #8 Quick Summary
1. The real secret to becoming self-made is to make a
decision and go for it.

2. Don’t wait around going back and forth in your head.

Instead, just decide to go forth and not look back.

3. The problem for most people is they’re afraid of

making the “wrong” decision. But there’s no such
thing as a bad decision. We either win, or we learn.

4. If you make a decision and you don’t like the out-

come, all you have to do is change your approach.
Ninety-nine percent of people quit. But real self-
made entrepreneurs just keep changing their
approach until they reach their idea of success.
my
final
advice

111
My final advice
Before I let you go on your very own entrepre-
neurial journey, I want to leave you with this last
message. I want to let you know that there’s nothing
special about me. I didn’t grow up with parents
who ran businesses, I never went to college to
learn how to market or build a business, I didn’t
have friends who could show me the ropes or “had
connections” on the inside of this world. I’ve built
my online business from scratch with patience
and hard work.

The truth is, anyone can reach their goals with

their business and get what they want in life. All
you have to do is be willing to make sacrifices,
consistently work hard, and never give up. That’s
it! You are capable of building an audience and a
brand. But only if you get started.

Remember, magic happens when we just take one

step in the right direction. And then take the next.
And before you know it, you’ve walked a mile and
achieved more than you thought was even possible
— all from small steps.

Imagine what your life will be like when you’re

finally able to work for yourself, have the oppor-

113
tunity to be creative, help people from all over the world,
feel a sense of accomplishment, and proudly call your-
self SELF-MADE. I can tell you from experience that it’s
nothing short of magical. I know this is a dream that you
want, and it is absolutely within your reach to actually
make it happen.

I’ve taken you as far as I can with this book. Now it’s up to
you to apply the strategies you’ve learned. And remember:
just take it one step at a time. Model the competition, be
patient with your goals, and never give up. If you don’t like
the outcome, change your approach. You got this!

I can’t promise it will be easy, but I can promise it will be

worth it.

115
BONUS

self-
made
chall-
enge
117
BONUS

Self-made
challenge
I hope you’re excited to embark on this new journey
into the world of entrepreneurialism. There’s never
been a better time in history to make this dream
real. So if you’re pumped to get started but not
sure exactly where to start… I’ve got your back.

I know it can feel scary and overwhelming to start

something new. So to help alleviate some of that
pressure, I’d like to encourage you to participate in
the Self-Made Challenge. This challenge will help
you to actually get started. Remember: just take it
one step at a time.

Ready?

HERE’S THE CHALLENGE

Take ONE idea from this book and take action on

it in the next ten minutes. Don’t focus on complet-
ing the task; just start it.

Success is not about getting everything perfect.

It’s about taking action. So dedicate the next ten
minutes to taking action.

119
 important to pick a method that is realistic for you right
now. Take into consideration your skills and resources at
this time. What can you get started with tomorrow?
If you’re wondering where Write down the monetization method which best matches
you should begin, I’d your skills, so you know how you’re going to make money
from your business venture.

recommend one of these Secret 5

Secret 1
Complete the writing exercise to help you discover your
niche, so you will have clarity about the direction you’re
heading.
Secret 2
Write down your answers for the questions about who
your ideal customer is, so you will know EXACTLY which
audience you should target.
Secret 3
Complete the “Coming up with your themes” exercise
so you have specific ideas for content to create — content
that will yield high engagement rates and resonate with
your audience.
Secret 4
Answer this one vital question: Based on my skills, what
monetization method will I use to build my dream business?
Monetization is the foundation of any business— so it’s
Decide what kind of sales process you’d like to pursue in
order to turn followers into customers.
Secret 6
Create a folder of influencers/brands/entrepreneurs in your
niche that you can model. Use them to create a blueprint
for how to grow and monetize, specifically as it relates to
your niche.
Secret 7
Write down why you’re grateful about getting started as an
entrepreneur. This will help you to maintain perspective
when things get tough. Running a business can be hard.
You need to stay focused on what you’re grateful for so you
can keep your motivation and energy levels high. This will
give you the inner drive to keep pushing forward toward
your goals.
Secret 8
Is there any area of your life or business where you need
to make a decision, but haven’t yet? If so, could you make

120 121
that decision NOW ? Write down the decisions you’ve been
putting off that you know you need to make.

REMEMBER

This is a ten-minute exercise. So don’t get too bogged

down with details or perfection. Just jot something down
quick and move on. Just pick one task and take action in
the next TEN MINUTES.

The most important thing is to start. You don’t need to get

everything perfect. You just need to get going. Take the
first step — you’ll figure out the rest.

You ready? Good.

I can’t wait to see what you create!

122
your
success
is my
success
125
Your success
is my success
Before we part ways, I want to let you know that
this book is not the end of our conversation, but
the beginning. I’m dedicated to helping you reach
your goals. That’s my mission in life. So, I invite
you to continue the discussion by joining one of
the best female entrepreneur communities on
the internet at facebook.com/groups/MarinaDe-
GiovanniMastermind

YO U C A N A L S O F I N D M E H E R E

Instagram: instagram.com/MarinaDeGiovanni
Facebook: facebook.com/notamodelbymarinade-
giovanni

I sincerely want to THANK YOU for spending

this time with me and letting me be your guide.

I wish you all the success you can dream of.

Dream. Believe. Succeed.

Marina De Giovanni

127
Copyright © 2020 Marina De Giovanni/Not a Model