ConvertKit vs GetResponse: One is Better!

When you’re faced with choosing an email marketing tool for your business, remember this: You shouldn’t be on the lookout for a tool that has ‘all the features’. Rather, you should be getting a tool – or any kind of software – based on whether it has the right features. That’s why today I compare ConvertKit vs GetResponse: Which tool will work best for your business?

For example, if you’re a solo entrepreneur who wants to sell an online course on your website, you don’t probably need a full-fledged marketing software with CRM, ad tracking and advanced segmentation. But, if you run a million-dollar ecommerce business, an email marketing software without these features is no good for you.

That’s why, when ‘shopping’ for email marketing software, your goal should be to choose one that’s a fit for your business.

ConvertKit Vs GetResponse: Which Email Marketing Tool is Right For You?

In this article, we are going to compare two popular email marketing tools: GetResponse and ConvertKit.

None of these tools are, so to say, ‘bad’.

But, because of the huge difference in features, only one is going to be the right fit for you. We’ll contrast the features in both tools which will help you decide which one will suit the needs of your business.

And again, that’s what ultimately matters.

Before we get started on that, though, here’s a brief intro of both tools – who they’re for and what they’re good at.

ConvertKit

If you are a creator, a one-man business or a solo marketer who sells limited products or operates within a niche, ConvertKit is designed for you.

Here are some features which make ConvertKit unique:

  1. It is a ‘subscriber-centric’ email marketing software. This means it provides great functionality that makes it easy to segment your audience and nurture them with targeted content.
  2. The tool is easy enough to be operated by one person or small teams, yet the features it gives you are powerful enough to support your growing subscriber-base – and business.
  3. Its automation tools are as good, or even better than what you get from ‘bigger’ email marketing tools like ActiveCampaign or InfusionSoft. Plus, the software is a pleasure to use because it’s so easy to understand.

With that being said, ConvertKit is just an email marketing tool – but a really good one. But you won’t find a great landing page builder or a CRM tool bundled with it. For that, you’ll have to subscribe to other marketing tools and integrate them with ConvertKit.

If you are really interested in learning more about ConvertKit, please read my full Convert Kit review here.

GetResponse

If you run a business that stocks a high number of products, have a sales and/or marketing team, and are particularly focused on developing relationships with your leads and customers, GetResponse is a perfect email marketing tool for you.

Here’s are the features which make it unique:

  1. It is a ‘customer-centric’ email marketing software. This means its functionality can help you build a lead database, follow-up on them with personalized emails and convert them into your customers.
  2. It has multiple tools bundled together under one roof. This means you’ll need a dedicated team to fully take advantage of GetResponse.
  3. It is a tool that’s focused on helping you make sales. That’s why GetResponse isn’t just an email marketing tool. You also get a CRM service, landing page and webinar builder – and much more.

In essence, Getresponse is a great all-in-one marketing suite with some pretty diverse tools. But it isn’t easy to operate single-handedly. To take full advantage of all the features, you’ll need a dedicated team for it.

Here’s why:

With GetResponse, don’t think of it as just an email marketing tool. Rather, view it as ‘a complete CRM (customer relationship management) software which comes with email marketing capabilities’.

And in conclusion, the main difference between both tools is this:

ConvertKit IS an email marketing tool. GetResponse HAS an email marketing tool.

ConvertKit Vs. GetResponse: Feature Walkthrough

The difference between the number of features ConvertKit and GetResponse have is huge. Here’s a helpful overview of exactly what features you get with ConvertKit and GetResponse:

Features

 GetResponse ConvertKit
Email Builder Yes Yes
Form and Landing Page Builder Yes Yes
Survey Builder Yes No
Marketing Automation Yes Yes
Subscriber Scoring Based on Activity Yes No
Webinar Marketing Yes No
CRM Yes No
List Building and Segmentation Yes Yes
Email Autoresponder Yes Yes

So let’s start by taking a detailed look at what it’s like to use both ConvertKit and GetResponse. This will help you see better what each tool is capable of – and what you can really accomplish with them.

ConvertKit: The ‘Subscriber Centric’ Email Marketing Tool

With any email marketing tool, the first thing you should check is how good it is for writing emails, creating autoresponder campaigns and automating the whole process. In addition, you also want to examine how well of a system it provides you for getting and managing your subscribers.

First, let’s start with the form builder of ConvertKit which is how you’ll gain subscribers in the first place:

ConvertKit Form Builder

In ConvertKit, there are two ways you can capture the emails of your subscribers to grow your email list:

  • Forms
  • Landing Pages

I’ll be honest right from the start, there aren’t a lot of customization options. There are just three templates for creating forms and similarly, a limited amount of templates to create landing pages.

But overall, the functionality of these are pretty good.

First of all, you can host your forms and landing pages on ConvertKit itself. You don’t even need a website. Second of all, if you decide to put it on your website, you can set triggers as to when you want your forms to appear. You can put them in between text, as a pop-up box or as a slider.

In addition, after people subscribe through your forms, you can redirect them to a thank you page, send them a downloadable file and more.

ConvertKit Email Features

The Editor

In ConvertKit, you get a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor in which you can write your emails.

And to be honest, it is a pretty barebone editor.

There aren’t any templates to get you started. This means you can only add text, images and GIFs to your emails. The best you can do is change the background and element colors in your emails – and that’s that.

ConvertKit says they don’t include emails because ‘barebone’ emails have a higher chance of converting.

But even then, the functionality of ConvertKit’s editor is pretty limited. You can’t drag and drop elements like text, images, GIFs and other cool widgets to create your email. It’s like you’re working in a Word processor.

Email Autoresponder (Campaign Creator)

Like any email marketing tool, ConvertKit’s email autoresponder is great.

You can easily create a series of emails for different marketing campaigns – customize the timings as to when you want to send each email, choose the dates when you want each email to be sent – and more.

In addition, you can create a broadcast, which is a one-time email you can send to all your subscribers.

Overall, ConvertKit’s user interface of writing emails and creating campaigns is pretty solid. On the left side, you can see all your emails in the sequence – and quickly navigate to the one you want to edit.

The only thing that’s really lacking when it comes to email in ConvertKit is the editor. Whether you love its simplicity or not – is up to you.

ConvertKit Subscriber Management System

To manage your subscribers, ConvertKit gives you just one list. And in that list, you can divide your subscribers using ‘tags’ and ‘segments’.

Tags are simply how you divide your subscribers based on their demographics, activity or relationship with your business. And segments are how you categorize different tags to further create the user groups you want. Nearly most of the time, this system works well.

This is because tags act as custom fields and you can put as many tags as you want in a subscribers profile. And since segments allow you to further organize your tags, you can pretty much divide your subscribers into any kind of audience you want.

The only problem is you get one list. This is a bummer because if you are running two separate businesses or websites, you can’t create another list of subscribers. For that, you’ll have to create a whole new account.

ConvertKit Automations

ConvertKit gives you a full section called ‘automation’. This is a powerful feature where you can automate nearly every single aspect of your email marketing. Here, you can do things like:

  • Start an autoresponder campaign when a subscriber joins your list.
  • Tag subscribers based on how they interact with your emails.
  • Trigger ‘actions’ based on something a subscriber does (or doesn’t do).
  • Connect multiple autoresponders together and send them automatically to the right audiences.

Ultimately, automations in ConvertKit is a powerful service that as you use it, the easier it will make email marketing for you. Subscribers will automatically receive new emails, get segmented into tags and segments, be added to autoresponder campaigns and more – all without you having to do a thing!

GetResponse: The ‘Customer-Centric’ Email Marketing Tool

With GetResponse, you get many marketing tools for your business. Let’s break them down one by one and see how GetResponse differs from ConvertKit as a whole:

Email Marketing

In GetResponse, you truly get a fully featured email marketing tool for your business.

Right of the bat, there are 500+ unique email templates for you to choose from for every kind of email imaginable. And once you land in the email editor, you can a really intuitive drag-and-drop builder that allows you to simply drag text, images, videos and other cool elements onto your emails. Plus, there is an HTML version of the editor that lets you create simple text-based emails like in ConvertKit.

If that’s not enough, you also get 1000+ professional iStock photographs to put in your emails.

Plus, you can create autoresponder campaigns just like with ConvertKit. But unlike ConvertKit, you get a cool ‘calendar view’ in GetResponse with which you can see exactly which dates which emails in the campaign will be sent to your subscribers.

Landing Pages

GetResponse’s landing pages deserve its own section. That’s because when compared to ConvertKit, or any other email marketing tool really, they offer a much better selection (and better designed) landing page templates. There are literally hundreds of them with beautiful graphics and vectors which make it a pleasure to use.

There are templates for Opt-in pages, squeeze pages, promo pages, downloads pages and more. Plus, like for emails, you get 1000+ iStock images and an image editor to edit them to suit your needs.

With ConvertKit, if you truly want to create a professional landing page, you’ll have to subscribe to a service like Leadpages or Unbounce. With GetResponse, you don’t need to.

But if you plan to put forms on your website only, this feature of GetResponse might not be of much use to you.

Webinars, Forms, and Surveys

In GetResponse, you get more ways to capture subscribers.

Sure, like ConvertKit, you can create forms and landing pages to get emails. But other than that, what you also get are webinars and surveys.

This is a feature which very few email marketing tools have.

In GetResponse, you can easily host a live webinar and create forms which let you capture the email of your attendees. Your subscribers can easily join your webinars using their phones and tablets.

Plus, the Webinar tool in GetResponse isn’t ‘basic’. Your attendees can chat with each other, you can write things in a virtual whiteboard, create polls, surveys and much more.

It really is a full-fledged webinar solution.

And finally, GetResponse gives you a full survey tool to create professional surveys with which you can get emails (and valuable feedback) of your website visitors.

CRM Tool

To be honest, GetResponse’s CRM isn’t a feature-packed as other dedicated CRMs like SalesForce. But it’s more than powerful for you to keep track of your ‘leads’ and turn them into your customers.

For starters, you can a five-column dashboard which is divided into ‘New Opportunity’, ‘Qualified’, ‘Presentation’, ‘Won’ and ‘Lost’.

It is an extremely visual place where you can put your leads and prospects in the above categories, assign users to follow-up on them and custom fields and tags, right within the CRM tool.

Plus, you can add notes, events and time-based to-dos so you always know how to follow up on each lead.

Marketing Automation

Finally, tying all this together is GetResponse’s automation feature. Like ConvertKit, it is visual, lets you set triggers which activate based on behavior, allows you to link your many autoresponder campaigns and much more.

And while it is similar to the one in ConvertKit, it is so much more powerful in its functionality.

Because with ConvertKit, you are only able to automate your email marketing. But with GetResponse, you can automate activities that are happening inside your webinars and CRM as well.

This significantly increases the scope of what you can automate in GetResponse, and allows you to tie not just your email marketing, but also sales activity and live webinars together as well.

Final Deciding Factor: Pricing

If pricing were similar, the clear winner would definitely have been GetResponse. But in this battle, this is not the case.

Convert’s pricing starts at $29 per month for 1000 subscribers. The more subscribers you have, the more you’ll pay. But no matter which plans you get, ConvertKit gives you all of its features.

But GetResponse has different pricing. Their basic plan starts at $15 for 1000 subscribers and gives you just email autoresponders and the ability to create landing pages. This plan isn’t that good – and if you want something like this, you should get ConvertKit instead.

But if you want to open up features such as the webinar, full landing page builder and CRM, you’ll need to subscribe to the $49 plan, which when compared to ConvertKit, gets you more features at a better price.

But in the end, it all depends on what you want.

Do want a service that’s fully dedicated to email marketing? Or do you want a service that also takes care of your sales with a CRM, gives you a webinar tool + provides email marketing? The decision is yours…

To make your decision, how about doing some further reading?

ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign: Why We Chose ActiveCampaign!

ConvertKit vs. MailChimp: Who Wins?

Building a SaaS and Selling it When The Time is Right with David Schneider (interview)

Interview with founder of Ninja Outreach, David Schneider

In this interview, we talk with the founder of Ninja Outreach, Dave Scheider, about his experience building a SaaS and why he sold it when he sold it. Many entrepreneurs don’t consider their exit strategy and we want to get you thinking about this because you should always have a plan.

Now that David sold the marketing software NinjaOutreach, he runs a new company called LessChurn which is a Conversion Rate Optimization software for SaaS and Membership Sites.

David has some great experience being on the front lines and hustling as an entrepreneur and shares some very valuable insights we can all learn from in this interview.

6 Ways to Enjoy the Holidays as an Entrepreneur 2018

This time of year can be quite stressful. Not only are we leaving another year behind, but we’re also starting off a new one. As entrepreneurs, it can be tempting to take this time to ‘catch up’ on all those lingering projects we’ve wanted to get done all year, but I would caution you against that.

Over the past few years of owning my own business and now as co-founder here at Change Creator, the end of the year brings its own joys and strains.

Today, I snapped at someone in a work meeting.

I had no patience, no time to discuss stuff, I was annoyingly rushed.

You see, that’s what happens at this time of year for me. I have a million little projects that still need to be done. Add to that the holiday strains and stresses (I have an 8-year old) and you’ve got one cranky person. Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to do my best and find time to just ‘chill’ but every year I give in and do way too much and feel that strain.

So this year, I’m stopping this cycle.

And, I’m going to focus on these 6 ways to enjoy the holidays as an entrepreneur and start 2019 as a more refreshed, positive, all-guns-blazing person on a mission!

1. Take some time to meditate.

Today a trusted colleague told me (again) to meditate. It’s something relatively new to my life but has made such a difference. I swear, 10 minutes of meditation is better than a few drinks to focus and relax you. You can meditate anytime, anywhere as long as you can find your center and focus. I will usually go through meditation spurts, followed by my most productive, happy days, then I’ll let the meditation slide for a few days, followed by my most stressed-out, unproductive days.

There’s a connection here people! Meditate = calm, productive, decisive.

Over the holidays, I encourage you (and me) to take a few minutes every day and meditate. It will keep all those busy schedules, family political discussions, and last-minute trips to the mall in perspective.

2. Delegate your holiday tasks too.

I have to admit. I used to be one of those overachievers during the holidays. I used to make homemade gifts, homemade stocking stuffers, and send out cards. I would schedule and host parties and do the whole nine. Well, I’ve decided that none of these efforts brought me any more joy than what I do now.

Over the past few years, I’ve streamlined my holiday efforts and found joy in what really matters, getting some downtime and eating copious amounts of food with friends and family.

I stopped doing all the cooking and shopping too. This year, I delegate. Everyone wants to be included and it’s not that tough to let people help.

I also do a lot of online shopping.

Just like in business, we can’t to it all on our own. If you are going to enjoy the holidays, you don’t want to be rushed off your feet planning and doing it all on your own. Delegate to friends, family, or just simplify. You’ll thank me for that when you get time to enjoy that third eggnog too!

3. Don’t start anything new from now until the new year.

Okay, folks. Finish whatever you need to this week and then done. Don’t start a new project, don’t try to get a jump on next year’s plans. Take this time to complete something, but stop there.

If you have a free day, that’s okay.

You don’t need to extend any extra effort to tackle those big, new projects. Guess what? It will all be waiting for you when you get back.

4. Unplug for (at least) one day!

I realize not everyone celebrates “Christmas” and that’s okay. But just because you don’t officially celebrate the holidays, doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the one day of the year that most people don’t work.

Unplug for one day. Please.

Don’t check your emails.

Don’t send any emails.

Don’t schedule posts or do some Facebook campaigns.

Unplug and enjoy!

5. Give yourself and your crew a break!

Our employees work really hard for us all year. Please, let’s not be those owners who demand work get done all year round. I’ve worked for many clients that think that Dec. 31 is a perfectly suitable deliverable deadline.

I will never be that employer. Our crew needs time to refresh and relax too.

If You Have a Great Team and Want to Keep Them, Here’s What You Need to Know

6. Enjoy yourself.

Have a few drinks. Have a few laughs. Watch some cheesy tv. Make sure you take the time to just enjoy — 2019 is going to be a big year, you need to be ready!

15 Ways You Can Integrate Social Impact Into Your Life Now

How Can I Matter?

23 Self Improvement Tips for Social Entrepreneurs

How to Tell Your Brand Story To Connect Meaningfully With Your Audience (5 Tips)

This article was originally published on The Sedge.

Marketing. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this is not your favorite part of being a Change Creator.

It might even be the last thing on your list. It might feel a bit scary or uncomfortable; it might feel like a task outside of your wheelhouse, or it might be something you wish you could simply avoid altogether.

As a Change Creator, the entire reason you started your social venture is to serve your community with a product or service that improves their life.

You don’t want to worry about ‘getting in front of customers’ or ‘pitching’ or ‘promotional campaigns’. And you certainly don’t want to feel like a sleazeball! You don’t want to feel like you’re pulling the wool over people’s eyes, or pushing too hard for a sale.

You just want to do the thing that makes a difference.

If you’ve ever felt this way, I have great news for you: there is another way to share your impact brand and position yourself as the go-to company (or person) for what provide. You can market your social business in a way that feels authentic, values-driven, and human.

First, let’s look at what branding and marketing entail.

Anne Miltenberg is the founder of The Branding, where she co-creates branding strategies with social entrepreneurs. In her interview with Change Creator, Anne shared what branding means to her:

“Branding is framing who you are, what you do, and why it matters. It’s having a deep understanding of who needs to know you, and how they’re going to find out about you.”

Related: Interview with Anne Miltenburg: How Her New Branding For Good Guide Can Help Your Business

Once you’re clear on who you are – your brand – you need to share it out and connect with the people who might be interested so they know you exist and are aware of the products or services you provide. That’s where marketing comes in.

Think of it this way:

If you have something that your community needs (which I’m sure you do), your job is to make sure they know about you. To that end, branding and marketing are not ‘nice to have’, they are essential activities to deliver on your mission.

People who need you are not going to find you out of thin air, or in a haystack. You need to be visible and take action in order to reach them.

I’m sure you’re doing your best to share your message. You’re probably sharing ‘who you are’, ‘what you do’, and ‘why it matters’.

But are you doing it in a way that sticks with people?

Every day you’re taking action in your business, and this shows that you walk the talk, which is important. Your actions will help reinforce the facts you’re sharing about who you are, and why you matter.

That’s great. But there’s actually a third ingredient that is going to be the most essential to help you connect with your audience and share your brand in a way that they remember, can relate to, engage with, and will share with others.

This ingredient is using storytelling in your branding and marketing.

When you use story effectively in your communications, it helps people not just understand, but connect with who you are. It helps them think of you when they need that thing that you’re delivering or creating or doing.

Here are five ways you can use story to connect authentically and meaningfully with your audience.

 

#1 – Share something personal.

This comes up naturally in stories but it’s worth mentioning because sharing something personal is a great way to form a deeper connection with your listener.

As a purpose-driven entrepreneur, the reason why you do what you do is an inherent advantage. It can be a unique driver for communicating with your with your people (although remember that you still need to have an offer that is competitive and creates real value).

As the founder, you want to use story to share why the work that you do is meaningful to you individually. You don’t need to keep your messaging ‘all business’. You can share the personal reasons why the work you do is important to you. Including this personal perspective will resonate with your audience and definitely make an impression about why they should remember you and the work that you do.

# 2 – Don’t be afraid to show your imperfections through story.

You might feel like you have to have it ‘all figured out’ in order to have a professional brand. But this approach can distance you from your audience and supporters.

The reality is, through your stories, you can show a little bit of imperfection. It could be hesitations or vulnerabilities that you might be feeling. No matter who you are, you have experienced challenges. Having doubts, questions, and vulnerabilities is a part of the human existence that we all share, and that’s why it’s so powerful.

If you’re willing to share some of those imperfections in your messaging and in your stories, it makes them that much more relatable to the people who are listening. They’re not thinking that you’re some mannequin up on a pedestal who has it all figured out, like a polished robot.

They see, “Oh, wow, this person is totally human. Their business is their passion and their business has flaws, too. And that’s okay. And I actually like them better for that because they’re real. And I get them because I have those challenges too.”

It creates a bridge where your audience can relate to you, and this shared experience can be extremely powerful for your for your brand.

#3 – Communication is a two-way street

Marketing is about standing alone shouting from the rooftops with your message, hoping it lands on your audience.

It is a two-way street with your potential customers and wider community. It’s important to give space for them engage with you, to respond and share what they think about what you’re doing. To give their feedback about your product or your offering or services.

I like to think of marketing as relationship building and it’s similar when it comes to your brand. Your audience wants to be part of the conversation, not just shouted at.

Sharing your story provides people a way to connect with your brand because stories need both a teller and a listener, otherwise you’re just talking to yourself!

Since stories are just as much about you as they are about your listener, you need to make sure that you provide channels for them to engage. Open that space. If you don’t invite them into the conversation, they’re not going to have any reason to raise their hand and talk to you.

It’s your job to make sure that you are opening up that two-way communication with your audience. Stories are a great way to do that, again, because you’re relating to people on a personal level and you’re sharing your experience and imperfections.

When you start from there, you can say, “Have you experienced this too? What’s your experience with this situation? What do you think about that?”. You open up the dialogue.

Make sure you’re always asking questions and letting your audience know that you want to hear from them.

#4 – The hero of the story is (spoiler alert) not you or your business.

Although it opens up the connection, people do not listen to you for your stories. They listen to make meaning in their own lives.

They are listening for ideas and greater understanding that applies to their own situation and objectives. It’s a very human thing to be fairly centered around your own life – you’re the one living it after all!

So your listener wants to know how, whatever you’re sharing, effects them and their life.

That makes them the hero of the story!

In the standard story arc, the hero is the person who goes through the journey. They try, they hit challenges, and they go through a transformation of some kind. They come out of their life experiences a changed person.

The hero of your brand is not you – it’s your customer, the person who is benefiting from the value that you create. This is a concept that Donald Miller outlines in his book, Building a Story Brand,

Donald explains how instead of being the hero, your role is to be the guide. You and your business are there to support the hero on their journey. No matter what kind of product or service you offer, whether it’s for a paying customer, or a beneficiary who is engaging with that value, it’s really all about them. And the more you keep that in mind in your stories and in your marketing, the more authentic and meaningful brand you will create.

#5 – Show transformation with examples.

I’m sure this is old news to you, but great stories have a beginning, middle and an end. As mentioned, usually there’s the person who encounters some kind of challenge or conflict, and they need to figure out how to move through it, coming out a changed person.

This arc can be summed up as a transformation, or a before and after. You want to use examples in your communications to show that you understand what that before and after is for your hero customer. You get where they’re at and you want to help them move through it.

The better you can describe that transformation through tangible examples, the more people will feel heard and understood. With that trust, they can rely on you as a guide in this transformation.

Those are the five tips I have for you to use story as you build your brand and connect with your audience as an authentic social entrepreneur who hopefully is getting comfortable with marketing and selling because really, it’s your impact is there if you don’t have customers?

Remember, if you’re not sharing your message with a wider audience, aka marketing, then why are you around? Why are you in business? And why are you doing this work? The people who can benefit need to hear from you and it’s your job to make that happen.

If you’re ready to craft the most compelling founder’s impact story, there might still be room in Captivate. Captivate is a 6-week program to help you articulate your story and put it at the heart of your marketing, so you can cut through the noise and attract your best customers, funders, partners and supporters.

You might also like:

The 7 Essential Storytelling Tips for Social Entrepreneurs

Transformational Leadership That Gets Big Results

How Vangst Built the Number One Cannabis Recruiting Platform From Scratch

This article was originally published in Change Creator Magazine issue 19.

For a great entrepreneurial idea to grow into a successful and thriving business, there is often a window of opportunity that is momentarily open. Successful business people know how to take advantage of that window of opportunity even when traditional business wisdom advises the opposite.

Vangst Staffing is today the number one recruiting resource for the rapidly growing cannabis industry across the United States and Canada. Since originally launching in 2015, they have connected around 5,500 candidates with professional employment opportunities in the rapidly emerging cannabis industry, and will most likely participate in helping to staff a large part of the quarter million jobs that are expected to materialize in this industry within the coming years.

The resounding success of Vangst, however, didn’t happen overnight. Rather, it was the brainchild of a young entrepreneur who believed in her business proposal even when the emerging industry still was in its infant stages.

The growth of Vangst from a one-person startup with zero clients to the number one recruiting agency in one of the fastest growing industries on the continent offers several helpful business insights, strategies, and ideas that other entrepreneurs would do well to replicate.

Identifying Unmet Business Opportunities

In 2015, the cannabis industry was still stigmatized and branded as a fringe industry dominated by a select group of people on the margins of society. Karson Humiston, the founder and CEO of Vangst mentions that when the company first started, almost no professional from the pharmaceutical industry would have considered a career within the world of cannabis. Three years later, however, Vangst is successfully connecting professional pharmacists and other professionals with high paying jobs in this industry.

What changed?

As state legislatures across the country began to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis, Karson was able to foresee the growth opportunities in this market. While others scorned the emerging cannabis industry as nothing more than a few marihuana farms and dispensary shops, she was able to anticipate the market.

As cannabis slowly became legalized across large portions of the continent, acceptance would grow and people would discover the benefits associated with this previously stigmatized plant. Karson understood that past prejudice would make it hard for professionals across the industry to discover and take advantage of this emerging job market. Similarly, companies that operated within the cannabis market would also find it difficult to find quality employees for their growing businesses.

Thus, Karson´s idea of creating a staffing agency and recruiting resource specific to the cannabis industry filled a need in an emerging market that most people continued to avoid because of inaccurate perceptions about the industry. Today, lots of qualified individuals from a wide range of professions are looking at the cannabis industry as a potential career option. There are jobs available for botanists, executive assistants, chemical engineers, and dispensary store managers, to name just a few of the potential job openings. Vangst was able to get a head start on the industry and firmly establish a quality business service for both employers and potential employees in this industry.

Persistence and Tenacity

Identifying emergent markets is one part of the Vangst´s success story. However, it took a healthy dose of persistence and tenacity to see the business idea through to success. After going to an industry tradeshow and identifying the possibility for a cannabis industry staffing agency, Karson spent well over a year waiting for her first client. “I remember thinking that every day I would wake up and think that today is the day I´m going to get my first client,” Karson mentions.

She followed up with companies that she met at the tradeshow, relentlessly called the contacts on her list, organized meetings with these companies, and was mostly rejected. Finally, one cannabis company offered her an opportunity, mostly because they were impressed that she had continued to ask for a meeting after several prior rejections. Karson mentions that “somehow I was able to find them their accountant…and they referred me to some additional cannabis companies.

When you can get that word of mouth referral from a big brand…that is really what it took to go from zero clients to several clients.” Karson believes that entrepreneurship is about believing in a business idea and sticking with the plan.

“You have to believe in what you´re doing…and I was not willing to give up until I got a client. Setting goals and going after them…is the big differentiator between companies that can get off the ground and companies that inevitably fail,” she offers. “It comes down to giving up.”

Direct Outreach

While Vangst did build a small website that explained the services they offered, they didn’t simply sit back and wait for the phone to start ringing. Rather, Karson and the first members of her team would incessantly make phone calls to leading companies in the cannabis industry. They believed in their business proposal and wanted to contact directly people who mattered within the industry.

Amanda Guerrero, business development manager at Vangst, was one of the first employees that Karson hired. Amanda wanted to explore the Los Angeles cannabis market and was given free reign by Karson to try and create a new market on the west coast.

She would spend lots of time at networking events and developing strong relationships with people in the industry. Amanda shares that getting out there and spending lots of time in front of people who matter in the industry was essential for business growth.

“Being able to stick your hand out…takes a lot of confidence and grit, and it´s not a very comfortable position to be in…if your personality doesn’t lend itself to being outgoing.”

Instead of just sitting behind the phone, the hustle involved in going to conferences, setting up meetings, and introducing yourself to complete strangers was fundamental for strong business development. “The more that you introduce yourself to strangers the fewer strangers you’re going to have when you go back to visit,” Amanda adds.

As Vangst looks to expand into the Canadian market, Amanda has spent much time going to Toronto and other Canadian cities in search of companies and allies that will be willing to work with Vangst.

A Focus on Relationships

Vangst believes that relationship building has been the key to their success. Early on, the purpose of spending long hours at networking events wasn’t to find short-term success, but rather to build long-term business relationships.

Amanda´s time spent trying to expand Vangst´s influence in Los Angeles did not yield any immediate fruits. The market wasn’t ready and legal barriers still existed. However, the time and energy Amanda spent developing relationships with key players in the local cannabis industries planted seeds that later blossomed into long-term business relationships once the market did emerge.

When the company was just beginning, Karson mentions that Vangst was essentially offering a free service to their clients just to get their foot in the door. The extremely low entry offer was a business strategy aimed at building trust and letting their clients discover the quality of the service that they provided.

As Vangst has grown from a one-person startup to a company with over 50 employees working in markets across the continent, Karson wanted to make sure that all employees shared the main value of focusing on relationships with clients and maintaining the individualized component of the business service they offered. Making sure that employees´ goals are aligned with the long-term vision of the company is a fundamental strategy to help the company maintain one of the original elements that helped it succeed.

Business Insights and Strategies to Learn From Vangst Vangst

Vangst has almost singlehandedly built a community of entrepreneurial people that want to get involved in the emerging cannabis industry. Over 160,000 people are currently employed full time in the cannabis industry and that number is expected to triple by 2020. Their sound business strategy and philosophy has made Vangst poised to continue to be a major player as the cannabis industry continues to grow. Other entrepreneurs would do well to learn from Vangst´s experience, namely:

  1. Identifying unmet business opportunities in an emerging (though overlooked) market
  2. Persistence and tenacity even when the market appears to be non-responsive
  3. Direct outreach towards major players in the industry
  4. A focus on building relationships with clients

How Vangst Broke into The Emerging Cannabis Market and Skyrocketed Growth (Interview)

Hunting For Happiness: Joe Rogan’s Pearls of Wisdom

Lessons For a Simpler Sustainable Life By Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard

Over 90 Actionable Pieces of Advice from Change Creator Magazine 2018

It’s been one amazing year giving you the best social impact and innovation business leaders in our world. If you are someone who wants to change the world, but just don’t know how to get there, this list of actionable insights and key takeaways from our best content in the magazine app are you for you!

This year we will put out 10 issues of Change Creator magazine. Why 10? Before April 2018, Change Creator magazine was a bi-monthly publication but then we heard from all of you and decided to start publishing it monthly, with more strategies, tips, and mentorship in your pocket each month.

We’ve had the incredible honor of interviewing some of the world’s brightest, most impactful people on the planet and we’re super proud of the exclusive interviews we bring to you.

Without any further ado, here are xx actionable pieces of advice from Change Creator Magazine 2018:

January 2018: Dr. Muhammad Yunus: The Godfather of Social Enterprise [Cover]

We started the year off right with this exclusive interview with Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

“Start with a big vision, solve a big problem, but take small, bite-size steps to get started towards fulfilling that vision.” Dr. Muhammad Yunus

We were so honored to get to talk to Dr. Yunus in this special edition that started our year off right. In this exclusive interview, we asked:

Is it just about providing society with something good?

How is it different from Apple creating useful products or creating jobs?

It is very easy to get bogged down by definitions. Some people are prescriptive, advocating a very narrow definition. We, at Change Creator, have a slightly more inclusive view. For us, if a venture has a social mission at its heart, it qualifies as a social business.

There were a lot of key insights in this special edition that started the year off with a bang. Here are the key actionable takeaways from Dr. Muhammad Yunus himself:

  1. Start with a big vision, solve a big problem, but take small, bite-size steps to get started towards fulfilling that vision.
  2. You must create a new road if you want a new destination. Replace old systems that no longer serve people.
  3. Do not let others frighten you out of the work you believe in.
  4. Break down your fear, take a risk, and allow yourself the ability to fail.
  5. Money is not a solution itself but a vessel through which you can achieve your goal and drive big impact.

January 2018: Bryan Goldberg, Kate Ward: How Bustle Built Their Media Empire [Feature]

We learned a lot about building a huge audience and really tapping into your what your audience wants, not what you think Google will like.

Appeal to organic traffic by pushing out content that will appeal to readers, not Google. Rank will follow, but don’t ignore paid advertising media.

We also learned a lot about hiring the people who are going to drive your business — when Bryan Goldberg wanted to start Bustle, he knew Kate Ward would be his go-to millennial, but she refused — until he persisted.

Here are the key takeaways and action steps from our Bustle feature:

  1. A flooded market isn’t always a red traffic light. Assess what makes your concept different, and flesh that out.
  2. Have a clear objective, ethos, and concept. Then stick to it.
  3. Hire brilliant staff who fit into your target market. Leverage them to appeal to investors.
  4. Make sure you have enough capital to leap onto hot marketing opportunities and product development.
  5. Appeal to organic traffic by pushing out content that will appeal to readers, not Google.
  6. Rank will follow, but don’t ignore paid advertising media.
  7. Find innovative social media marketing trends and act on them ahead of the masses.
  8. Form social partnerships and keep fishing for more influencers.
  9. The instant you have a monthly visitor rate worthy of advertising, find sponsors.

“People told us there is no room,” says Goldberg. “In fact, you’re picking by far the dumbest category to go into. You are going to be annihilated.” Bryan Goldberg, Bustle.

Guide to Social Business: Special Edition

In this special edition, we cover all the key factors of starting, growing, and scaling a social impact company. Think of this as the go-to guide to being an impact entrepreneur! Filled with valuable insights you won’t get anywhere else, we bring you the best tips and advice to help you live the life of your dreams — and save the world.

Some key pieces of actionable advice:

  1. Think outside the box to get things done. Be scrappy! Social businesses often have unconventional and disruptive needs – which means you will also need to do things differently!
  2. Get all the help you need — tell people you are starting a social enterprise and build those strong relationships from the beginning.
  3. Figure out a business model that works for you and your impact goals. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for everyone.
  4. Start making money as soon as you can so you can amplify your impact.
  5. Use content to build strong, lasting relationships — share and create valuable content!
  6. Start ‘bite-sized’, as Dr. Muhammad Yunus told us. If all goes well and you’ve validated your idea, you can begin to expand your offering and impact.
  7. Think about products with dual-markets as a viable impact model, you can help those in need and conscious consumers in North America too.
  8. Choose a social impact idea that will fire up your life, that matches your unique values.
  9. Before you quit your day job, make sure you validate your social impact idea and know that it’s a viable option wanted in the marketplace.

“Be open-minded and look for opportunities in unlikely places. At least 80 percent of the amazing entrepreneurs Change Creator has interviewed have found their big idea during a unique travel experience.”

<<Change Creator Magazine Goes Monthly!>>

Before we launched out April magazine, Change Creator decided to start going with monthly releases of the magazine. Our goal: to become more of a monthly, mentor-in-your-pocket, bringing you the best advice from both the business world and social impact leaders! Going monthly means even more exclusive insights, interviews, and strategies than ever before!

April 2018: Sonya Renee Taylor: The Business of Activism [Cover]

We saw the powerful example of how a movement became not only a thriving business but an agent for change in our life. How can you start a purpose-based business?

“Recognizing that radical self-love is the first step. Do the hard work of looking at your own social constructs. What do you believe? What are your core values? Do the inner work first, before you begin to change the world.”

Sonya Renee Taylor shows us that we can start a social movement that radically changes and challenges social norms and make it a thriving business.

  1. Be your own Sonya. Live in your truth. Align your business with your values from the get-go; it’s the only way to build lasting results.
  2. Get early supporters on board to help build your vision. Give them the authority to make decisions, bring ideas to the table, and make it their mission, too.
  3. Monetize your movement if you want to build a sustainable solution. Figure out the business stuff, too; don’t wait to start making money.

 

May 2018: The Future of Blockchain [Cover]

In our May edition, we decided to bring you the power and technology of Blockchain, which will have a lot of impact in the future for social good. We went out to San Francisco to get exclusive interviews with some of the pioneers in the Blockchain and social impact space and showed you the vast opportunities that exist.

“By redefining business value in the context of social issues, decentralized technologies like Blockchain can create new social economies that fund social causes, stimulate social innovation, and enable individuals to make a living through social impact.”

June 2018: Seth Godin: Leadership, Innovating Impact [Cover]

Getting to interview Seth Godin for this edition was a thrill — we are big fans of his approach to marketing here at Change Creator.

“Entrepreneurship…is actually the least risky thing you can do…” Seth Godin interview.

We learned a lot in this edition about leadership, marketing, and the future of life as an entrepreneur. Here the key takeaways from our exclusive Seth Godin feature:

  1. Treat your customers morally and with respect.
  2. Throw away the jargon and think simply. Choose and become the change you want to see.
  3. Inspire your staff and buyers to want to do what you want them to do instead of doling out orders or expecting reciprocity.
  4. Treat your buyers with empathy and responsibility. Get to know their values.
  5. Don’t let fear or uncertainty dissuade you. Choose an industry that fills your soul and explores the things that make you nervous.
  6. Learn to find happiness in scary places.
  7. Let culture inform your decisions instead of becoming distracted by complex best practices.
  8. Do one thing every day to push yourself forward.
  9. Start with a small viable market and move on to greater things as you learn.
  10. Find an innovative concept that brings value and changes the world.

July 2018: Sarah Kauss: A $100 Million Company Combatting Plastic Bottles [Cover]

When it comes to social impact, there still seems to be this myth that to be successful means you can’t make a lot of money, and if you do, you have to be a charity and give it all away. With S’well waterbottles, Sarah Kauss takes this falsity and turns it on its head. Yes, you can make $100 million. Yes, you can have a $100 million worth of impact too. Taking on plastic pollution head-on, offering consumers a viable, beautiful option, Kauss is the very definition of social impact entrepreneur.

In this edition, we feature our exclusive interview with this powerhouse and learn how she started this waterbottle + social good empire.

“It might be good to say that I had a complex business plan with detailed financial goals, but I didn’t. I had a basic business plan with this amazing ambition to enhance the drinking experience in the hopes of ridding the world of plastic bottles.” Sarah Kauss, S’well.

Sarah took 30K of her own money to start and scale this business. This is an achievable dream. With determination and a strong desire to change the world and combat plastic pollution, she grew her business and is poised to be the market leader in this space.

Here are the key takeaways and action steps from our Sarah Kauss article:

  1. People need small, achievable actions if they’re to be motivated to create change.
  2. Rapid-fire start-up growth isn’t the only way to broach social entrepreneurship.
  3. Sometimes, slow and steady builds the strongest brand.
  4. Build a network of supporters who will fuel your determination during the first years of your business plan.
  5. Sometimes, preserving your vision is more important than preserving your bank account.
  6. Premium brands take time to take off.
  7. Prepare for growth by hiring people who can manage your mature business from the start.
  8. Social causes require work, not complexity.

July 2018: Jake Orak, Turning Big Challenges into Big Impact [Feature]

Jake Orak is a special friend here at Change Creator. As our first cover story, he set the stage for all future editions of the magazine by showcasing an immensely passionate and successful example of what a social entrepreneur rock star looks like.

Since that cover story, we’ve met up with Jake in person and did this follow up an interview in July. I can honestly say that his passion for his art, his business is as genuine in real life as he comes across on our podcast interviews. But, there’s more to Orak than meets the eye — he’s also a savvy business owner, marketer, and has shared his tough lessons so freely with us here.

“Implementing this new business model has helped us reconnect with the ‘why’ of our business again. It has given us a fresh story and helped us connect with digital marketing more.” Jake Orak.

Here are the key takeaways and action steps from this follow-up interview:

  1. Don’t be afraid to pivot your business. Your plan at the very beginning may not come to be a year or two down the road. There are many variables that go into creating a successful business and none of us can capture all of them. Be nimble and ready to change as the market changes or when you realize your initial idea probably isn’t going to work out.
  2. Pivoting can take longer than expected. Any big change will take longer than your estimate. This goes back to all of the unforeseen and unaccounted for variables.
    Financials are a core competency. While some parts of your financials can be outsourced, you’ll want to keep your finger very close to the pulse of all things financial in your business. Don’t be afraid to periodically dig deeper into the numbers to make sure the final (derived) picture is the real picture.
  3. Create a buffer that preserves cash. Don’t let you cash dwindle to just a few dollars. Create a buffer that doesn’t allow your cash to go below a certain amount. This way, after all expenses are paid, you still have the cash to handle any emergency that may arise.
  4. Don’t settle in and accept the status quo. What everyone else in the industry is doing may not be the most efficient approach. Explore new ideas that break with industry norms.
  5. Take breaks from the business. Completely disconnect and spend more time on “play”. This meant family, friends, and hobbies for Jake. Activities that don’t involve thinking about the business. Ultimately, these breaks made him a better leader and delegator. As well, he’s done his best work ever in the last year and feels more deeply connected with the company mission.

August 2018: Jay Shetty: Mastering Content Impact [Cover]

In August, we introduced the incomparable storyteller, Jay Shetty. With billions of views on YouTube, Shetty is a master at telling a story and his approach is based on science and ancient wisdom.

“We don’t destroy ourselves with burnout. We destroy ourselves by doing things that don’t matter.” Jay Shetty.

From 25K in debt to a social media phenomenon, Shetty took us into his storytelling strategies, let us in on how he started, and most importantly, how we can do that too.

Here are the key takeaways and action steps from our exclusive with Jay Shetty:

  1. Wealth and success are poor bedfellows, so build your brand out of passion and purpose instead.
  2. Solve a billion problems instead of aiming for a billion dollars. The profits will follow.
  3. Selfish content creation cannot compete in an attention economy. Grow to understand your demographic before you try to reach it.
  4. Build a clear concept of your content’s themes and structure. Brand strength and universality will evolve from it naturally.
  5. Create premium content, but live the principles you share. Transformational stories are the foundation of your brand and authenticity, its substance.
  6. Sharing ideas you haven’t given time to evolve is like serving uncooked food.

August 2018: Ryan Foland, The Art of Effective Communication [Feature]

We met master communicator Ryan Foland at a conference last year and were thrilled to include his exclusive interview in this edition of Change Creator magazine. If you’ve ever had to speak in front of an audience, pitch your business or tell your story, this article can help you!

Getting to the most precise message is the heart of his 3-1-3 method, which takes succinct communication to the core. If you can’t communicate your message in 3 sentences, 1 sentence, then 3 words, you need to get to work on that.

Here are the key action steps and takeaways from this article:

  1. Be aware that you are already starting to communicate before you even speak. Your clothes and body language say a lot about you.
  2. The less you say, the more profound you are. Deliver the message in a short, concise way.
  3. Leave room for questions. Allow your audience to get intrigued by your idea and welcome their questions.
  4. Listening is a speaking skill. To be a good speaker, you also need to be an effective listener. Engage people to talk by also asking them the right questions.
  5. When validating an idea, ask what problem you are trying to solve. People only care about how you’re going to solve their problems. Focus on that when selling your idea.

September 2018: Pot. Purpose. Profit. The Social Impact of the Cannabis Movement

The number of jobs that have opened due to cannabis is astounding. Studies show the cannabis industry will have surpassed the number of jobs in our manufacturing industry in only a few years, creating another 300,000 new jobs. It comes as no surprise that with this massive demand, there will be a tremendous amount of work to be done.

Cannabis prohibition has enslaved a powerful resource, creating extreme misconceptions for almost 100 years! Having been underground for decades, cannabis and its many benefits are sadly still unexplored.

We decided to put out this special edition and discuss the social implications and opportunities in this growing field where impact and innovation will be needed the most.

“I stood with a huge number of advocates. My heart began to pound as a sudden weight swept over me. I didn’t really understand the oppression I had experienced until this moment.” Amanda Spriggs, writer.

Learn from people on the front line of this movement how you can get involved, build a business and improve our world.

September 2018: Karson Humiston, Amanda Guerreo, Vangst

As state legislation across the country began to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis, Karson was able to foresee the growth opportunities in the cannabis market. Taking these trends seriously, Vangst was born.

Thus, Karson’s idea of creating a staffing agency and recruiting resource specific to the cannabis industry filled a need in an emerging market that most people continued to avoid because of inaccurate perceptions about the industry.

When we interviewed Vangst, we were not only curious about how they grew their business but how they anticipate the cannabis opportunities to grow in the next few years.

It wasn’t an overnight success, despite how it might appear to the outside observer. Vangst was started on hard work, big goals and the principle of getting the first client in the door, then growing.

“I remember thinking that every day I would wake up and think that today is the day I’m going to get my first client,” Karson mentions.

Here are some big takeaways and action steps from our exclusive interview with Vangst:

  1. Build relationships from the beginning. These relationships will help you in the beginning of your business and for the long-term.
  2. Offer free services to potential clients to get your feet in the door.
  3. Make sure employees’ goals are aligned with the long-term vision of the company.

October 2018: Virgin Unite, Jean Oelwang, Turning Challenges into Opportunities [Cover]

It was such a thrill to get this exclusive interview with the CEO of Virgin Unite, Jean Oelwang. Not only is she a badass leader, but she also gave us a lot of impactful and seriously good insights to help us scale our impact and overcome challenges.

“You will be knocked down many times if your idea is revolutionary enough to change the world.” Jean Oelwang.

Here are the key takeaways and action steps from this cover article with Jean Oelwang:

  1. Build communities, not spreadsheets. Change needs to be about the people you impact upon and who are part of your team.
  2. Join forces with partners who share your values. They will make your journey easier.
  3. Celebrate failure. “You will be knocked down many times if your idea is revolutionary enough to change the world.”
  4. Build your corporate culture around respect. Make your workplace a source of empowerment, learning, and innovation. Train and develop your team to encourage individual growth.
  5. Behave according to your brand’s values and allow your team to find personal fulfillment in their own purpose.
  6. Immerse yourself in the culture you hope to help. You cannot change a nation you’ve never visited.
  7. Infuse your partnerships with your brand’s mission and they will carry you where you want to go.
  8. You don’t need to be the star of your own brand. A leader in the social impact space must know how to serve the community, not lord over it.

October 2018: Virgin Unite, Q and A with Sir Richard Branson [Feature]

We’ve wanted to get Sir Richard Branson in the magazine for quite some time! He’s not only a social innovation rockstar, but he’s also a great person! We sent him a few burning questions and he sat down and gave us his insights in this special Q and A.

One of the questions we asked him was: What advice would you give a mission-driven entrepreneur who wants to change the world today about overcoming the fear of risk?

Here’s his answer:

“Simple — take risks, don’t avoid them.

Those who succeed do so because they dare to take risks, and they’re not too afraid to reach out and ask for help when they lack the skills they require or the advice they need.

If you allow fear of failure to become an obstacle, well then you’ve failed before you even get going.

Entrepreneurship in its very essence is all about taking risks.

You can create your own luck by opening the door to change, progression, and success.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

Stop Struggling to Find Your Social Business Idea and Read This!

October 2018: Art Barter, Not Your Typical Leader [Feature]

If you want to know how to scale a business, the ethical way, this exclusive article with Art Barter, Founder, and CEO of Servant Leadership Institute, is for you. In this article, we take on the myth that successful people in business are ruthless and greedy. It doesn’t have to be that way!

Art Barter proves that the more you can lean into your values, letting those ripple effects change your company, the more your company can scale and grow. It starts with how you approach business and who you hire:

“If you are clear on your values and know who you want to serve, you need to hire people for character first and competency second.” Art Barter.

Here are some key takeaways from this feature article:

  1. Find and follow your own values and principles and be strictly faithful to them,
  2. Empower your employees to live out the mission and goals that you have defined for your business, and
  3. Don’t be afraid to show your heart to both your employees and your customers.

November 2018: Milo Runkle, Mercy for Animals [Cover]

In November, we brought you some really passionate leaders taking on the challenges of animal rights and activism. With our cover story, Milo Runkle, founder of Mercy for Animals, we delved deep into his motivations to launch this passion project, but we also learned how he scaled his company and impact.

“We went from trying to address every issue facing animals to focusing on the one that causes the most suffering for the largest number of animals: factory farming. We had limited time and financial resources and wanted to be as effective as possible.” Milo Runkle, Founder of Mercy for Animals.

When Milo chose a non-profit business model, he became part of a new generation of lean NGOs that refuses to lower its standards. None of Mercy For Animals’ talent, social media outreach, or marketing is scrappy merely because it exists on donations. That’s how good business moves forward and scales with the time.

“We have the power to change the world. Don’t ever forget it. To be born human, at this crucial time in the history of our species, comes with remarkable power and privilege — and immense responsibility: responsibility to lead heart-centered lives that seek to inspire compassion, love, and hope. Each and every one of us has unique powers and skills that can make this world a kinder and a more just place. The actions we take, the words we speak — they create ripples. Together, we can create waves of change.” Milo Runkle, Founder of Mercy for Animals.

Here are some key action steps and takeaways from this exclusive article:

  1. Build a development network of mentors, mentees, and supportive organizations. Go to conferences. Read. Find trusted allies. Then nurture those relationships.
  2. Direct your energy where counts: at policymakers and corporate spenders.
  3. Diversify your revenue stream, but earn your donations by creating real change.
  4. Expose your audience to your cause by telling stories that humanize and move it beyond the abstract.
  5. Narrow, resounding goals achieve far more than broad, impossible ones.
  6. Hire mission-aligned staff and nurture them, particularly if your cause is a traumatic one.
  7. Invest one-on-one time into your key relationships with donors.
  8. Create a data-driven campaign and hone it in an evidence-based way.
  9. If you think of your impact in terms of all the enterprises who are working towards your cause, you’ll be able to identify unmet needs. That cumulative impact will also keep you inspired.
  10. If you’re working in the food space, connect with The Good Food Institute and consider investing in New Crop Capital.

December 2018: Joel Brown and Emile Steenveld, Master Your Mind, Life Changing Adventures in Bali [Cover]

When Joel Brown cobbled together his website, Addicted2Success in 2011, he was just another nine-to-five sales executive with a hunger for his own success. Today, the site is one of the web’s hottest properties, with enough traffic to attract several million-dollar purchase offers. Who needs a million dollars when you have million-dollar dreams, though? And when you want to impact a million lives…

In this exclusive interview with Joel Brown (one of our earlier cover stories) and Emile Steenveld, we take you to Bali — where this team of two are doing some seriously amazing, life-changing things (and having a blast too!).

“You can have all the strategies down, but if your mental game — your mindset — is not en pointe, you’re not moving anywhere.” Joel Brown.

In this final edition of 2018, we wanted to end your year on a high. Getting your mindset right will help propel your success as we prepare for 2019!

Entrepreneurship requires you not only to believe you can succeed but also to align that success with your authentic self. “We teach people how to nurture their sores and their scars that they’ve been hiding or avoiding or pretending not to know. That’s when they can start moving into the strategy with Joel. You can’t go into strategy, you can’t brand yourself, you can’t be really authentic until you accept [your limiting beliefs] first.” Emil knows this lesson. He’s already been here, in the mud, trying to fight his way through his own limiting beliefs, but what does that have to do with branding and corporate objectives? Plenty, it turns out.

If you want to level up your life, your business, your entire existence, this exclusive cover feature is for you.

Here are the key takeaways and action steps from Bali:

  1. Get in touch with your self-limiting beliefs (the persistent complaints, concerns, or critiques that keep you from progress) and find a vision that integrates with your authentic self.
  2. Let your values determine your goals. To identify them, list five or six people you admire and note their key values. Put those that resonate with you on your wall and develop the steps you need to take to action them every single day. Let daily actions transform into habits.
  3. Create a five- or 10-year plan that reflects your ultimate version of yourself in the future. “The key here is that we reverse engineer it, so write out your fifth year or your tenth year, then ask, “What did I have to do in my fourth year to get to the fifth, and the third year to get to the fourth?”
  4. Don’t ignore your personal scars — they will keep you from your entrepreneurial dreams.
    If you’re giving too much, you’ll never have the energy to serve at a higher level. Let your vision determine what you say yes or no to.
  5. Focus on thriving, not surviving. Ask what you can create, not how you can get through.
  6. Measure your achievements by the impact they have, not the money they earn.
    Live with intent.
  7. Begin to action your ambitions even if your vision is not yet perfectly formed. Then, let the feedback you receive help you to refine your goals. Focus on progress, not perfection.
  8. Live in your genius and delegate the rest to those who can master your weaker abilities.

“We need to delegate to elevate. You want to make sure you’re stepping into your genius as much as possible and then delegating the rest.” Emile Steenveld.

Actionable Advice from Change Creator Magazine: Conclusion

We’ve given you a lot of great advice and exclusive insights this past year, but we’re just getting started! There is so much more to Change Creator magazine than we could do in this one roundup article (including more feature articles, interviews, action steps, and more). We cover a lot of topics but the core of all that we do is still the same — good business.

If you want to change the world and harness the power of good business to do so, then Change Creator magazine is for you. Our app is designed to be that mentor in your pocket, where you can get insights and mentorship wherever you go.

Please let us know who else you’d like to see in Change Creator magazine. And, please reach out to us and tell us what you think!

Our final actionable advice for you moving into 2019:

“Don’t be afraid to change the world. Change is possible and only you can serve with your unique values and gifts.”

Get ready for 2019 and subscribe now to Change Creator Magazine with our holiday special for just $1.99/month >>> Click Here to Get Started

Life of a CEO: Knife-in-the-Back to Epiphany

My “knife-in-the-back” experience had a positive side in that it led me to experience an epiphany. Congrats, you say – so what?

I agree, so what, people experience their epiphany every day. Wikipedia says an epiphany (from the ancient Greek epiphaneia, “manifestation, striking appearance”) is an experience of a sudden and striking realization.

To have an epiphany is common, not exceptional. You all know this and you all know it can apply to any facet of your life.

We experience these striking realizations when obfuscation by the universe conveniently clears and you see a pathway open up with pristine clarity. A clarity that could engender exhilaration to agony.

This story of my epiphany was related to career or at least the rest of my career. Wikipedia says “career is a person’s course or progress through life”. Although it’s arguable I don’t have a career as such any longer. I have to fess-up and declare that I’m 63.

Prior to my career epiphany, I had been CEO of a startup for 2+ years, starting when it was a concept and taking it to production in Azure and securing revenue from a couple of marquee customers.

I was pretty happy with the progress, although progress is rarely as fast as shareholders want.

Those 2 years were full speed and some. You know what it’s like when you start at the start – you’re working with the outline of an idea and you have to confirm product/market fit, raise capital, build the thing and then sell it.

Actually, it’s fun, in a way that people who haven’t done a startup might not appreciate.

Anyway, I’m 2 years plus in and suddenly the vibe changes. When you’ve been around for a while you get to be alert to what might otherwise seem like very subtle, even imperceptible changes.

The New Guy

The subtle changes started when the shareholders introduced me to this new guy they felt could really assist with the rate of progress. It didn’t take long for the new guy to start convening meetings (not always with me present), giving presentations, suggesting strategies and sharing his thoughts on the new business model he felt was essential for growth. Now the red lights were flashing.

At a Board meeting where I wasn’t advised the new guy would be presenting, I got to hear about his brilliant new strategy for the business. A full 57 slides of unrelenting banality.

So, now it’s clear. The “new guy” will be replacing me as CEO. This is classic “knife in the back” (KITB) stuff. It’s also typically the work of cowards. A collusion of cowards spruiking falsehoods.

Ironically the KITB is actually a kind of twisted backhanded compliment – a test to see if you’re perceptive enough to know what’s happening. If you figure it out then you’re actually politically adept, if not, well you’re clearly a loser.

I thought there’s no way I’ll lie down for this, particularly as I had formed the view that this “new guy” was totally out of his depth and knew next to nothing about the realities of life in a SaaS startup.

So, here we all are in the “strategy meeting” and the new guy is explaining his brilliant new vision, except his brilliant vision could be likened to a large bucket of caca.

I thought, “Are these Directors really swallowing this crap and believing the polyana picture pitched by the new guy?”.

Oh fuck. They really are. They’ve taken his bait – hook, line and sinker.

Seeing a Golden Opportunity

So in the course of about 2 weeks the scene has gone from me confronting shareholders to ask whether the new guy is, in fact, my replacement, which initially received a resounding “oh no Greg, we value you far too much to do that”, to a couple of weeks later “well, we feel it’s for the best and thought you could move to more of a part-time administrative role”.

Now, in case you may be thinking that I would ride off quietly into the sunset, I can assure the reader I didn’t. Given I’d experienced the pain of a KITB, I thought it only fair that I too should reciprocate and inflict pain.

Having been headhunted away from my previous CEO role, where I was happy, with a great team and a supportive Board, I had formed a view that the very least they could do was fully pay out my contract, rather than just give the minimum notice period of 3 months. After all, there was a clear moral obligation in my view. They’d headhunted me, so they were morally obligated to do the right thing, particularly after the KITB way they executed the change of CEO.

The conclusion of this sorry saga came with a confirmation by the key investor that they’d agreed to my request, although agreement came with a couple of caveats, which I thought were fine. By this time I just wanted to be out of the team, from which I had been unceremoniously benched.

I began to feel that this just might be a golden opportunity. A clean break, fresh air, new perspectives.

And a decision to fly away for a total change of scenery for about six weeks turned out in hindsight to be pure brilliance.

There’s no doubt been many people who’ve written about the cathartic release that overseas travel can initiate. In my case landing in Vienna in the early part of summer and then heading to southern Austria, on to Slovenia and ending up on the Croatian coast really did the trick.

If I’d have stayed in Sydney it’s quite possible my epiphany may not have exploded into my consciousness the way it did when I was sitting at a bar overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

That obfuscation by the universe I mentioned previously, dissipated sublimely as I was finishing my third margarita, watching the sunset lingeringly on a balmy Balkan evening.

Making a Real Change

That bar, that blissful evening, those scrumptious margaritas ended up being a potent recipe that sponsored a realization that I’d been gifted a wonderful and once-off opportunity to make a change for the better.

No longer would I pitch my talents to a group of investors who were seeking a CEO they could slaughter at their whim.

My vision at the Croatian bar was that I could help so many people in my community to crystalize their hopes for a future that they design and control. So many people in my community harbor dreams about creating and owning their future and I was the person who could set them up for success.

I saw with total clarity that my 63 years of experience actually had tremendous value to people who needed guidance and support for their entrepreneurial journey. And of course, there are so many ways to plan your journey, so many motivations and countless options.

Since that epiphanous moment in Croatia, I’ve taken many steps towards realizing my vision. When people ask me about the countless questions I know I must eventually answer, I say, “I know I don’t have all the answers today, I don’t even know all the questions today. I focus on taking a step forward each and every day, just like the Chinese proverb that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.”

I like to think of the entrepreneurs I help as heroes and that they are on a heroic journey. The classical myth of the hero, setting forth from her known world to venture into the unknown world where she’ll slay the beast and return to her world as a hero.

I’m with her on that journey, helping her realize the heroes dream.

In the few months since the evening at the Croation bar, I’ve formed a not-for-profit called SEVENmile Venture Lab in my hometown of Manly, a harbor/seaside village that’s about a 20-minute ferry ride from Sydney.

I now have two co-founders who share my vision and together we’ve created a sizable wave of support. I can’t call it a tsunami just yet. Our community has embraced my vision to bring social and economic resilience to the regions we serve by educating and up-skilling people with a focus on the creation of new enterprises by women and men who want or need to design their future, young adults (16-25 years), migrants and the over 50s.

I’ve secured premises from our local Council and sponsors are circling as the word spreads that SEVENmile was devised around social resilience, diversity and inclusion.

When I tell the story of how I came to start SEVENmile Venture Lab, people lean forward and engage with excitement. That’s a very cool reward in itself, sensing that my humble vision can actually influence such a strong reaction.

SEVENmile will encourage and guide entrepreneurs of all ages and backgrounds to venture into unknown territory, just like I’m doing with SEVENmile.

There’s more information here for anyone who feels inspired to emulate the mission of SEVENmile: https://www.sevenmile.org.au/

What Does it Take to Find Purpose and Build Your Personal Brand: Dov Baron

How to Get Unstuck: Lessons on Moving Forward That You’ll Love

33 Qualities and Skills You’ll Need as a Social Impact Leader

Opportunities For Climate Entrepreneurs and Impact Investors

This article was originally published on B The Change.

It’s been a busy time for the environment. Actually, it’s been a busy 50 years, but when the conversation around the health of the planet recedes into the background, we get shockingly destructive reminders. For example, Hurricanes Michael and Florence and the earthquake in Indonesia which have all made the same point:

The time to act is (and has been) now.

These reminders have disproportionately affected those who are least able to withstand it. We still hear about broad devastation — and neglect — of many parts of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. And the earthquake in Indonesia is just the latest in a long line of extreme weather events that continue the tradition of impacting the poor and vulnerable.

So how do we move the conversation from “Why” and “Who caused it” to “What do we do about it”? Thankfully, the hard work is underway. A range of social entrepreneurs is already tackling these problems. We have a unique opportunity to focus on raising awareness around their work, at a time when the discourse is focused on increasingly unimportant questions like “Whose fault is this?”

The Facts

While there is still disagreement on the causes of severe climate deterioration — as frustrating as that conversation continues to be to some — there is well-documented and verified data around the changes our planet has endured.

To start, the planet’s average surface temperate has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the 19th century.

Thanks to the progressive sophistication of industry, how we make the things we frequently consume, and the extended quality and duration of our own lives, that change has primarily been driven by carbon dioxide increases (alongside other human-made emissions).

Our oceans have borne the brunt of this impact, with the top 2,300 feet (700 meters) of ocean showing a warming of 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit since the late ’60s. And according to America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the average surface temperature of the seas has risen by about 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 100 years. Basically, since the 1980s, about a billion time the heat energy of the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been added to the ocean which is the same as an atomic explosion every few seconds.

Whether you believe that humans caused it, didn’t cause it or are the butt of some cosmic practical joke, the American Meteorological Society boils it down to the following overarching narrative:

  • Our climate is changing.
  • Humans are playing a role in causing that change.
  • Human-caused climate change poses risks that we are not prepared to address.
    We have numerous options to manage those risks.

Fortunately, we’ve already started thinking about how to combat these adverse impacts. Solutions to managing those risks fall into four broad categories:

  • Mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Adaptation by increasing our capacity to cope with climate impacts.
  • Geoengineering/climate engineering by counteracting those impacts through manipulation of our earth system.
  • Expanding our knowledge base and worldwide education through better understanding climate change’s implications and our options.

These strategies are not mutually exclusive. In order to be successful, we will likely need a range of solutions that champion mitigation, adaptation and innovation.

Sounding The Alarm – Time to Act

Despite common misconception, the infrastructure financing gap doesn’t only exist in emerging markets, though infrastructure shortages disproportionately affect those in developing economies. The Infrastructure Report Card, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers every four years, awarded U.S. infrastructure a D+ in 2017.

Officials in South Carolina, which was directly impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Florence in September 2018, must think about how to rebuild a range of physical infrastructure in the coming years. And despite the infrastructure that has been threatened with recent natural disasters, existing needs already were growing.

Across the state, driving on roads in need of repair costs drivers $502 a year, and over 10 percent of South Carolina’s bridges were recently rated as structurally deficient. Desperately needed drinking water-related infrastructure in the state will cost an estimated $1.8 billion, and 178 existing dams are currently considered “high hazard potential.” Beyond traditional infrastructure, the state’s institutions need help too. South Carolina’s schools have an estimated capital expenditure gap of $90 million.

And that was before Florence.

Our needs have steadily been increasing without a rise in the frequency and scale of natural disasters. How we rebuild — and with what capital — should be an essential part of the current conversation.

Huge Opportunities For Investors and Entrepreneurial Innovation

Impact investors and sustainability advocates have been searching for multilevel solutions for some time, thanks to a deeply felt sense of urgency.

For some reticent investors, the discussion around investing in climate only becomes comfortable as a market-opportunity (rather than an impact strategy). It’s no wonder why: Those investment gains have been — and continue to be — sizable. And in a time of increasing market volatility, investing in climate across some asset classes can offer an alternative to lower yields and inflation protection.

But moving capital — and getting investors excited about investing in climate — is only one part of the challenge. Many investors respond to this clarion call by asking “Well, who do I invest in?” It’s a fair question, but it hints at innovation stagnancy, which is simply out of touch with the numerous companies that are developing scalable, high-yield climate solutions.

For example, we don’t have to look much further than the Certified B Corporation community to find a range of catalytic companies and innovative thinkers on the case. The next time you meet someone who laments about how hard it is to invest in climate, share a few of the following examples.

Examples of Some of the Movers & Shakers 

Conservation

BioCarbon Partners, a newly certified B Corp (and a Best For the World winner in 2018) focuses specifically on the deforestation threats in Zambia. It sells carbon offsets generated from its local projects and channels those returns into preserving forests. Working directly with local communities, BioCarbon also offers opportunities for local income generation while creating a market for entrepreneurship.

Waste Management

Valley City Electronic Recycling is a Michigan-based recycling provider with clients across the Midwest. With a commitment to a “zero landfill policy,” the e-waste provider focuses on disassembly rather than shredding. This shift allows the recycler to repurpose reusable base materials and creates local jobs in the process.

Renewable Energy

Ilumexico was founded in 2009 to address a specific problem: a disproportionate lack of access to electricity in rural Mexican communities. By providing access to clean and safe energy, Ilumexico has designed a new framework for community intervention and access. Its approach includes educating households on energy use and consumption, providing energy access to schools and hospitals (often neglected by small-scale suppliers) and promoting clean and safe energy access. Illumexico combines two critical ingredients of sustainable energy use and consumption: education and access.

Carbon Capture and Credits

GreenCollar is the largest provider in Australia of carbon abatement — the practice of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide produced through “dirty” energy. To date, it has implemented over 100 carbon farming projects throughout the country, supplying over 62 million tonnes of abatement. The investment in the environment across renewable energy, carbon, water quality and biodiversity seeks to protect some of Australia’s most vulnerable natural landscapes while helping to create additional income streams for farmers and graziers in an environmentally sustainable way.

For more information on the vast number of B Corps working to protect and repair our planet and develop market-based solutions, check out the B Corps directory here.

Billy Parish: From Yale Dropout to Climate Change Warrior

Do Millennials Really Need Companies that Care About Money and Mission?

Joel Solomon: Secrets From an Impact Investor Leading the Clean Money Revolution

ConvertKit vs. MailChimp: Who Wins?

The battle has started. The war between two of the most popular email marketing tools on the planet: ConvertKit vs. MailChimp Which one is best?

Which of the two tools should you choose for your next email marketing campaign?

MailChimp comes in first, touting its many advanced capabilities that ConvertKit doesn’t have. ConvertKit looks upon it smugly, claiming to have a more superior system of email marketing.

Both are right – and capable in their own ways. But unfortunately, only one will win your heart.

So which is it?

Will you choose the lovable MailChimp with its adorable monkey mascot? Or will you choose ConvertKit, where all the cool kids are hanging out?

To help you decide, we’ll compare both these tools one-on-one in this article. There will be no mercy. Strengths and weaknesses, pros and cons, features, quirks – we’ll discuss it all.

So, without further ado, let the games begin!

MailChimp Vs. ConvertKit: A Brief Introduction

Before starting this review, I think it’s important you know which kind of audiences Mailchimp and ConvertKit want as customers.

MailChimp loves to have small businesses on its platform, especially small ecommerce stores. All their current features and future updates are geared towards making email marketing crazy simple and powerful for people who sell products.

To show you just how much Mailchimp loves small businesses, here’s a recent tweet of them confessing their love:

ConvertKit, on the other hand, has a huge crush on ‘creators’. They make it extremely clear that all their features, services and long-term strategy will go towards making email marketing easy and powerful for creative professionals.

Also, here’s ConvertKit literally confessing they exist for creators:

This means MailChimp wants small businesses to use its email marketing services and ConvertKit wants creators to use theirs.

Here’s a quick rundown of the services both email marketing tools offer:

ConvertKit Highlight Features

  1. Build website forms and landing pages so your visitors can subscribe to your email list: Unlike Mailchimp, ConvertKit only lets you create website forms and landing pages only.
  2. Organize your list with tags and segments: ConvertKit keeps things simple. All your contacts get stored in one list. That list can be sorted into tags and segments. As we’ll discuss down below, this may seem less powerful than MailChimp, but it isn’t.
  3. Create email sequences and one-off broadcasts to send to your subscribers: ConvertKit has two separate sections for sending emails. The broadcast section lets you send single emails to your subscribers and the sequences sections let you create and send a series of automated emails.
  4. Build a visual automation workflow with which you can see the exact journey each of your subscribers will take: This is one area where ConvertKit absolutely trumps MailChimp. The automation section lets you combine workflows and email sequences to help you create a truly awesome email marketing automations.
  5. View detailed reports of your emails, broadcasts, sequences, and subscriber list: Just like Mailchimp, ConvertKit lets you see the performance of your emails, broadcasts, sequences and subscribers listing, including tags and segments.

Don’t forget to check out my full ConvertKit review!

The Full ConvertKit Review: Is This the Email Marketing Tool for Your Business?

MailChimp Highlight Features:

  1. Create website forms, landing pages, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, Google ads and even physical postcards: With MailChimp, you aren’t just limited to getting subscribers through forms and landing pages. If you don’t have a website, you can also create Facebook, Instagram and Google ads as well.
  2. Organize your list of subscribers into lists, segments, groups and tags: In MailChimp, you can create multiple lists for your subscribers. This is really useful if you have more than one website or businesses – and want to keep each business’ subscriber list separate. Within a list, you can organize your subscribers into different segments, groups and tags.
  3. Send automated emails when a subscriber completes a specific action you want, gets added to a specific group, segment or tag or if an event or date passes: Using MailChimp, you can send emails to your audience when they take the specific action you want. These emails can then be followed by other emails which trigger after a set date or another action taken by the user. In this way, you can create automated email campaigns in MailChimp.
  4. Get personalized reports on how your forms, automations, emails and ads are performing – and the state of your subscriber list: You can view how your ad campaigns, landing pages, emails and website forms are performing. You can see open rates, click rates, people subscribed, people unsubscribed and more.

ConvertKit Vs. MailChimp: Advantages and Disadvantages of Each

By now, you’ve got a general idea what each of these tools is capable of.

And since this article is a comparison between two tools, we’re not talking about the basic functionality of them. Both these tools are capable of the basic stuff… you know… creating emails, building drip campaigns, A/B testing, reporting etc.

What we’ll talk about in this article are the main things which differentiate both these tools.

This way, you’ll get a better understanding of which tool will suit your needs…

That being said, here’s what we’ll talk about both the email marketing tools in this article:

  • The ‘builder’ tools and their functionality.
  • How they let you manage your subscribers (super important).
  • How they let you automate your email marketing process.

Let’s start by taking a look at each tool’s ‘builders’:

ConvertKit Builder:

ConvertKit gives you two ways to capture subscribers for your email list:

  1. Website Forms: You can build forms which you can display on your existing website. Or display it on a separate web page creating in and hosted by ConvertKit.
  2. Landing Pages: Landing pages are stand-alone web pages you can build in and host on ConvertKit. You can directly take your subscribers there and host it separately on your domain or in ConvertKit.

As far as templates go, ConvertKit doesn’t have a lot of them.

Both the landing page and form templates are extremely limited. And the only true way you can customize your forms in MailChimp is by adding custom CSS.

MailChimp Builder:

The MailChimp builder comes loaded with much more functionality. You can use MailChimp to create:

  • Forms: Similar to ConvertKit, you can build forms and put them on your website, but you cannot host them on MailChimp.
  • Landing Pages: You can build landing pages with which your subscribers can directly buy your products.
  • Social Media and Google Ads: This is a feature which only Mailchimp has. You can build Facebook, Instagram and Google Ad campaigns using the templates provided or from scratch.
  • Postcards: ‘You’ve got mail!’ – literally. Because MailChimp lets you send physical postcards to your esteemed customers. Straight from the U.S of A.

Also, MailChimp offers much more templates that ConvertKit, which provides more exciting possibilities for you to customize and create personalized forms, landing pages and more.

Now, let’s take a look at how each of the tools let you manage their subscribers…

ConvertKit Subscriber Management System

First, it’s important to note that ConvertKit only lets you create one list – and not a single more than that.

And in the list, there are two simple ways for you to organize your subscribers.

  1. Tags:

Each subscriber can get a tag based on their behavior i.e. an item they purchase, a link they click, a form they enter etc. It’s up to you which tag you want to give a subscriber based on which action they tag.

Suppose you want to identify those subscribers who’ve bought something from you. For that, you can tag your subscribers with tags such as ‘customer_ebook’, ‘customer_course’, ‘customer_videoseries’ etc depending on the product they’ve bought.

  1. Segments:

Once you tag your customers, you can organize your tags into segments. Segments are a way to organize those tags which share the characteristics you want.

Suppose you want to send an email sequence to all your subscribers who are customers. For that, you’re going to create a segment called, let’s say, ‘all_customers’ and put all your ‘customer_’ tags in that segment. This way, you will be easily able to send emails to just your subscribers.

MailChimp Subscriber Management System

MailChimp takes a totally different approach when it comes to subscriber management.

For one, you can create multiple lists of subscribers. This will allow you add subscribers from different websites or businesses under one account – something you can’t do in ConvertKit.

Mailchimp offers three ways to organize subscribers in a list:

  • Tags:

In MailChimp, you can also tag your subscribers to further identify them. But unlike with ConvertKit, you have to manually tag them. There is no way to automate this process.

  • Groups:

Your sign-up forms can have different options your subscribers can choose before they subscribe. Depending on the option they choose, they’ll be placed in that group.

  • Segments:

In Mailchimp, you can segment your subscribers based on purchase activity, geographical and personal information, tags and segments and much more.

In ConvertKit, you have to create tags yourself and then assign that tag to a specific behaviour. In Mailchimp, this happens automatically and you can choose the segment you want. This is definitely more convenient, but a bit less flexible when compared to ConvertKit.

Now that you understand how you can organize your subscribers in both these tools, let’s move on to the final differentiating factor between the two, i.e. automation.

ConvertKit Automation:

If there is one place where I can confidently say ConvertKit trumps MailChimp, it’s in its visual automation section.

You see, ConvertKit lets you see exactly what your whole email marketing automation looks like – and lets you edit it right from the visual graph!

This feature is really very awesome.

I mean, you can directly see which form a subscriber will enter through, put them into an email sequence you’ve created, edit that email sequence, assign the subscriber a tag or put them into a segment based on the action they take and much more.

It’s truly an amazing automation system not unlike the one found in bigger ‘business-class’ email marketing softwares.

MailChimp Automation

Mailchimp has its own unique take on automation, but it isn’t quite as well built as ConvertKit is.

What I mean to say is there is no way to see exactly how your whole email marketing system is operating. Everything looks disoriented and there’s no way to see the moving parts within your campaign.

Other than that, you can definitely still automate your whole email marketing process.

You can create complete email sequences and assign them to be sent to subscribers based on the actions they take or the tags they get assigned to.

More than that, Mailchimp offers pre-built automations right from the start. There’s an automation for a welcome sequence, cart abandonment, order notifications and much more.

How Much Does This Cost? A Look at Pricing

ConvertKit starts at $29 for its most basic subscription, which limits you to 1000 subscribers but gives you access to all its features, which is the case no matter which plan you subscribe to. The more subscribers you have, the more you’ll have to pay. You can calculate your pricing here: https://convertkit.com/pricing/

You can start your free trial here — get 14 days for free!

Mailchimp, on the other hand, offers more complicated pricing.

Their biggest advantage is they offer a free service which limits you to 2000 subscribers and 12000 emails / month – but restricts access to features such as advanced segmentation, which lets you apply even more detailed filters to your subscribers and more, delivery by time-zone and more.

Their basic plan starts at $10 and limits you to the 500 subscribers but opens up functionality such as predicted demographics, which lets you see the gender and age of your audience, delivery by time-zone and more. Similar to ConvertKit, the more subscribers you have, the more you’ll have to pay. You can calculate your pricing by going here: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/

But the advanced segmentation, comparative reports and multivariate testing feature however, are still reserved for the pro plan, which costs $199/month on top of your existing subscription.

Still Unable To Decide? Here Are Some Thoughts That Might Help You

In the end, let me ask you a final question: Who are you?

Are you self-professed ‘creator’? Or are you an entrepreneur with a small business?

The difference between the two might not be much. After all, both of you will sell something to your audiences, whether it’s a beautiful piece of art or some latest gadget.

But what you identify yourself as will be deeply reflected in the way you approach your online business – and consequently, the way you run your email marketing campaigns. And knowing who you are professionally will help you choose the email marketing service that you are most compatible with – and that is compatible with you.

And not so fast.

Features also matter. If one service isn’t offering you the features you want, go with the other one.

For example, if you’re a small business, but visual automations matter a lot to you – then go for ConvertKit. Similarly, if you’re a creator, but want the ability to get subscribers with Facebook and Instagram ads in addition to forms, go with MailChimp.

And hey, don’t think of this as a marriage, but rather a first date. So don’t take too much time deciding.

Both ConvertKit and MailChimp offer some breathing room for you to test their services. MailChimp offers a free plan which lets you test most, if not all the features. And ConvertKit offers a free 14 day trial for you to test their complete service.

Take both of them for a spin, and then decide which one you want to get things started with.

You might also want to check out:

Ontraport vs Aweber: Email Marketing Showdown [2018 Comparison]

Ontraport vs ActiveCampaign: Find the Best Solution for Your Business

4 Expert Marketing Principles For Conscious Entrepreneurs (Bonus Inside!)

Change Creator has interviewed well over 100+ conscious leaders and entrepreneurs. So, we decided to work with some of our awesome partners to dig through them all and pull out the best marketing secrets we could find.

What we found are true marketing principles every conscious entrepreneur should know.

The bonus we mentioned is at the end, don’t forget to check it out, you will love it!

 

 

4 Expert Marketing Secrets For Conscious Entrepreneurs

These are in no particular order…

1 – Break the mental chokehold and changing your inner-story.

By Tony Robbins | Entrepreneur, author, philanthropist

We all have different experiences and tell ourselves different stories. Whether you hear a story or you tell yourself a story, it will have a deep impact on the external results you produce.

“I’ve been in this game for nearly 40 years. I’ve worked with millions of people from more than 100 different countries across the world. Across the board, the number one problem business owners face when they are trying to grow their company is always the same. When a business is struggling, most business owners shift their entire focus to strategy.

But 80% of the time, the chokehold on the business is actually the owner’s psychology.

Of course, the strategy, the skills and tools – these are all critical components to creating real and sustainable growth. But knowledge alone is not power, it’s simply potential power. Execution will always create greater results than theory. And execution starts with your psychology. Because there is only a limitation when you buy into it. The whole game of business is about taking a vision and turning into a reality. If you are feeling disempowered, then you are accepting an unspoken assumption.

As a business owner, your job is to break down the limitations holding you back. Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a thing, or you think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Because the minute you start believing that the problem is true is the minute you start inhibiting your growth.

ACTION TIP

Is your story limiting your life? Your business? That inner game is key in any kind of story marketing. What you tell yourself about your business is what others will either be drawn to or put off from. Before we get into the more strategic marketing tips, think about how you talk about yourself, your brand, your mission.

 

2 – Create content that shares what you uniquely know, not just highly researched data.

By Victoria Fine | Founder of Finally

Content marketing is a term you hear a lot these days. Companies are finally starting to recognize the value of creating content that helps market and sell their products, especially online. There is no better expert when it comes to content marketing in the social impact space than Victoria Fine, who was the founding managing editor at Huffington Post Impact and Education.

When we discussed how to strategize content for impact companies, Victoria talked about sharing your personal stories and expertise:

“So when people are considering their own content, I like to encourage them to think about not just the message they have to tell, but all of that shared expertise and insight that has been pulled together through an entire time and the career that they have been in in the past.”

Share your expertise. People want to know the challenges you face, how you overcome them, the successes you had and how you won them. We all are teachers and we are all students.

ACTION TIP

Lean into your skills. When creating ‘free gifts’ or incentives for your audience to build an email list, consider what skills, talents, or experiences you bring to the table that can solve an immediate problem for someone. What can you teach? You don’t have to be an expert. You just need to know something that someone else does not. Or, just interview an expert and offer something valuable to your audience!

 

3 – Be vulnerable, share your big failures.

By Russell Brunson | Founder of Clickfunnels

Storytelling was a huge factor in how Russell Brunson, Founder of Clickfunnels, got his company the edge over the competition. Not only did Russell go out and speak directly to his audiences, but he also wasn’t afraid to talk about his big failures, including his bankruptcies — all in the name of connecting with his audience.

“I think that the more that we’re willing to open up and be vulnerable and share those things, it connects people with you. And then when a competitor comes out with something similar, the usual… better or cheaper, whatever, people aren’t going to be like, ‘oh, I’m going to leave because this has this feature. This is better and cheaper’ It’s like no, I like I’m going to go with Russell and the vision and mission, because of that they stay connected with the company and everything else.”

ACTION TIP

Vulnerability is an important part of genuine marketing in a digital world saturated with junk. Don’t be afraid to tell your audience about your most vulnerable experiences. Your story is powerful. Connect with your customers on a human level to develop a loyal audience that trusts you.

 

3 -Get outside of the building. Talk, talk talk. Listen Listen Listen.

By Gavin Armstrong | Founder of Lucky Iron Fish

Lucky Iron Fish manufacturers just that, small fish-shaped blocks of iron. The simple product is one in high demand for its health benefits. Simply drop the Lucky Iron Fish in any type of boiling water to infiltrate it with iron nutrients to combat iron deficiency.

Lucky Iron Fish started in Cambodia when the founders saw the need firsthand. Given the product is something people put directly into their food, the team had to establish trust in the communities and design something that was culturally sensitive. Gavin shares more about his thought process in his interview with us:

“We can design everything we want in the lab back home but if you don’t have something that’s going to be compelling for the end user, it’s not going to go anywhere…. It was critical for us to spend a lot of time understanding the market before we moved into it.”

ACTION TIP

Consider how you can get to know your customers even better. Plan a time to go visit with a few and spend the day observing and asking questions. Set up time to talk over Skype. Whatever you have to do to start talking to them right now. And don’t stop, this is an ongoing process for any impact entrepreneur. It’s ESSENTIAL.

 

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Change Creator Presents: The 15 Best Interviews for Impact Entrepreneurs 2018

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Change Creator Presents: The 15 Best Interviews for Impact Entrepreneurs 2018

Subscribe on   iTunes   |   Soundcloud   |   Stitcher

Welcome to our first annual top 15 podcast interviews list.

We’re really excited to close out the year reaching well over 100+ interviews with incredible entrepreneurs impacting the world, all in their own unique way.

The Change Creator Podcast highlights the new revolution of business and how people are truly changing the world with their unique expertise.  Discover inspiration, hope for building a better future, and the strategies to create your own legacy – to be a Change Creator.

We talk to a range of experts, not just social entrepreneurs or marketing gurus. We interview Nobel Peace Prize winners, award-winning social entrepreneurs, marketing experts, celebrities, and young activists on the front lines building a life that matters to the world. This diversity is important as each person has expertise that we can learn from to excel as an authentic and conscious leader.

While we are selecting the best of 2018, this is not a competition.

Our intention is to offer you a little guidance if you don’t have time to listen to every show and offer some deserved recognition. We believe that these select interviews a lot of important value and should not be overlooked. To determine who is on the top 15 we consider audience feedback and content value.

In addition to the interview, you’ll find related materials such as books, articles and magazines to explore deeper.

Without further ado…

THE TOP 15 

The below list is no particular order.

1 – Jay Shetty: Understanding Storytelling and Creating Content That Drives True Impact 

Shetty is a smooth talker with a lot of wisdom to share. I really enjoyed this conversation and I know you will too. He’s an entrepreneur impacting the world on a global stage by leaning into his unique genius on Youtube – storytelling. From Monk to online influencer he has reached billions of views with his work and is continuing to grow.

Eager to understand storytelling and his process, we connected with Jay for this incredible discussion.  In this interview, you will learn what storytelling really is about, how he selects content, how he approaches it and even the equipment he uses.

Related:
Jay Shetty: What is Storytelling and What Makes a Good Story?
6 of the Best Inspirational Videos For Entrepreneurs from Jay Shetty
Cover Story – Change Creator Magazine issue 18

Listen to the interview:

 

2 – Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize Winner): Solving Big Global Problems with Small Steps

No matter how many interviews I had under my belt, I was still nervous about this one. We met Yunus in San Francisco and were able to weasel our way into an interview for a great cover story with Change Creator Magazine. I plowed through his incredible book, A World of Three Zeroes, to prepare myself. Once we connected on the phone it was all smooth sailing and became one of my favorite interviews so far. He’s full of experience and passion which just become contagious. You will leave this interview ready to take on the world.

Related:
Interview with Muhammad Yunus: Taking Small Steps for Big Social Business Impact
31 Dr. Muhammad Yunus Quotes to Inspire You to Greatness!
A World of Three Zeros (Book highly recommended!)
Cover Story – Change Creator Magazine issue 13

Listen to the interview: 

 

3 – Seth Godin: What it Takes to be a Leader of Tomorrow

Timing is always important and over a year ago I reached out to Seth Godin and the timing was not right, I got shut down. Almost a year later I felt the time was right and tried again. He got back to me in about 5 minutes and when I asked when he was available for the interview, he replied saying, “How about in an hour.” Whoa! I didn’t want to say no but didn’t have much time to prepare for this one, haha.

Godin has always been an inspiration to us here at Change Creator. His unique way of thinking about business is one thing, but he’s also always ahead of the trend. The idea of storytelling is booming today as a key to marketing but he wrote that book in 2011. He’s great at using anecdotes and metaphors to help people clearly understand new things. So what does the leader of tomorrow look like? Find out in this compelling interview.

Related:
Seth Godin on Leadership for the 21st Century
Seth Godin Exclusive: Insights on Leadership that Matter Today and Tomorrow
This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See (incredible book!)
Cover Story – Change Creator Magazine issue 16

Listen to the interview: 

 

4 – Guy Kawasaki: Pulling Back the Curtain on Startup Success

When I told Guy Kawasaki that I was hesitating to do more videos he simply said, “man up!” I had to laugh and agree with that. Guy is a straight shooter with a ton of experience and knowledge to share. He tells it like it us and offers really important truths about getting feedback, sharing ideas and what makes a startup tick.

We wanted to better understand the startup word from his perspective because he’s seen so many pitches and worked with many brands. You’ll enjoy his personality and get a lot of solid takeaways that should empower your own startup.

Related:
Guy Kawasaki: Secrets to Startup Success
Cover story: Issue 11 of Change Creator Magazine

Listen to the interview:

 

5 – Victoria Fine: Content Strategy For the Social Impact Space

Change Creator produces a hefty amount of content between the magazine app, website and the podcast. You can say we are content strategy nerds. We were introduced to Victoria who is the queen of impact content. Currently, she’s the founder of her own company, Finally. But historically she was the founding managing editor at Huffington Post Impact and Education. The director of a strategy at Slate and the first managing editor at Upworthy. This is such a great discussion as content is critical to any marketing strategy today, especially in the impact space. She’s also a contributing expert to our Captivate program on storytelling for marketing.

Related:
Understanding Content Strategy for the Social Impact Space: Victoria Fine

Listen to the interview:

 

6 – Mona Amodeo: How to Build a Brand That Matters Today

Personally, I have always been a geek about branding. What makes good branding, why, how does it work? Building a solid brand was instrumental to Richard Branson’s success. And, I know it’s a huge part of any impact business today too. That’s why I connected with Mona, this is her world and her expertise.

In this interview, we explore what it takes to build a brand that matters. These are insights you can take away and apply to your business. Good branding goes far beyond visual appeal. Hold on tight and listen closely to this one.

Related:
How to Build a Brand That Matters Today: Mona Amodeo, PhD.

Listen to the interview:

 

7 – Christal Earle: How This Creative Brave Sole is Changing Lives One Tire at a Time

When you hear a great story you become a marketer for that person because you tell it to others. That’s what happened here. Christal’s story is emotional in a big way. It pulls you in and offers many lessons for life and entrepreneurship. We liked it so much that even used it in our course, Captivate, and featured a story in Change Creator Magazine, issue 21.

Get ready to learn about courage and perseverance.

Related:
Explore Change Creator Magazine issue 21
Win a $200 gift card from her company Brave Soles (ends 12/12/18)

Listen to the interview:

 

8 – Art Barter: Transformational Leadership That Gets Big Results

Great leaders don’t tell people what to do they inspire people to do what needs to be done. Art took a $10M per year company and in a few years, time turned it into a $200M company. We had to know how he did that. His secret is all about leadership style.

Explore what servant leadership means and steps you can take to become a more effective leader that gets real results.

Related:
Explore Change Creator Magazine issue 20
The Servant Leadership Journal: An 18 Week Journey to Transform You and Your Organization (book recommendation)

Listen to the interview:

 

9 – Kathleen Kelly Janus: Secrets to Scaling Your Social Venture to over $2 Million

She interviewed over 200 social enterprises to learn why some reach $2M in revenue per year and other don’t. Kathleen is a social entrepreneur, author and lecturer at Stanford University’s Program on Social Entrepreneurship. This was something we wanted to learn more about!

She’s sharp and has a lot of great insights to share around this topic. Her book Social Startup Success is a must read for anyone in the impact space.

Related:
Feature article – Change Creator Magazine issue 13
Social Startup Success (book recommendation)

Listen to the interview:

 

10 – Rick Alexander: Everything You Need to Know About Becoming a Benefit Corporation

Sure, legal talk might seem boring but it’s a huge part of the business and something most of us ignore. As more people are starting to become a B-corp we thought it might be a good idea to learn how that impacts investing and other areas of the process.

So we connected with the head of legal policy at Blab, Rick Alexander. Who better to talk to and he shared a ton of important insights every Change Creator should be aware of, especially if you’re considering a B-corp status.

Related:
Feature article – Change Creator Magazine issue 19
Rick Alexander: Everything You Need to Know About Benefit Corporations and Legal Structures

Listen to the interview:

 

11 – Russell Brunson: How to Build a Loyal Audience and Self-Fund Your Startup

He kept showing up in my Facebook feed a while ago and finally I decided to listen to what he had to say. Long story short I got his books and they rocked. We had to talk to Brunson about marketing. In this interview, he talks about self-funding but also how he visits Kenya each year to help build schools. His company, Clickfunnels is crushing it now.

Related:
Russell Brunson: How to Build a Loyal Audience and Fund Yourself

Listen to the interview:

 

12 – Jake Orak: Tackling E-commerce Challenges Like a Champ

After our first magazine cover with Jake, we ran this second interview just about a year later to see what’s been going on with Ethnotek, and he faced some big challenges and successfully navigated them. Finally, our team met Jake at SOCAP 2018 in SanFrancisco. We had a blast!

In this interview, Jake shares some of his war stories which offer a ton of important advice.

Related:
How Jake Orak Built a Social Good Business to Preserve Indigenous Cultures
Cover Story – Change Creator Magazine issue 1

Listen to the interview:

 

13 – Sarah & Kevin: A Creative Marketing Strategy That Helped Raise $2.6M in Funding

We were introduced to Kevin and Sarah by someone in our network who thought they were doing great work. And they are! As founders of the Dyrt, they are dominating the campground “find and review” market. They used creative marketing strategies to build their base quickly and share great tips for landing the big investment.

Related:
Getting Back to Nature: The Dyrt Has an App for That and Just Raised $2.6M

Listen to the interview:

 

14 – Ryan Foland: How Mastering Communication Can Change Your Life

If you want your message to connect with people you have to learn how to communicate clearly. Sure we all talk and communicate but conveying an idea so someone understands in just a sentence or two is an art. That’s I spoke with Ryan, this is his speciality! He talks about steps you can take to be more powerful as a communicator and his process for doing so.

Related:
Communication Skills that Drive Your Business: Tips from Ryan Foland
Interview with Ryan Foland: How Mastering Communication Can Change Your Life

Listen to the interview:

 

15 – Emilio & Samantha: Turning a Passion for Minimalism into an Impact Business

This was a unique discussion with two people are not just downsizing how many things they own. They are helping people live a more extraordinary life and scaling that impact through online programs and books such as, A Recipe For An Extraordinary Life.

Related:
Turning a Passion for Minimalism into an Impact Business

Listen to the interview:

Final Words

Think about all the experience the 15 people above bring to the table. When you want to expedite your success you need to be open to learning from others. That’s what Change Creator Magazine and Podcast are both about.

Read, listen, learn, grow.

I hope this list is helpful, I know you’ll find the interviews empowering.

Now go forth and have impact in 2019!

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