If you’re in the online business world, you probably know the incredible Amy Porterfield. She’s recently published her first book, “Two Weeks Notice.” I had the privilege of chatting with Amy and picking her brain about everything from how she spends her day to the challenges she faces as a successful entrepreneur. I'll be sharing some of her insights and tips for building a business you love, as well as some exclusive behind-the-scenes information about her new book. So get ready to be inspired, learn some new skills, and take your business to the next level with Amy Porterfield.

In case you haven’t heard of her, Amy Porterfield is an ex–corporate girl turned online marketing expert and CEO of a multimillion-dollar business. Today Amy empowers people across the globe to take their futures into their own hands and find professional autonomy, independence, achievement, and success far beyond what a corporate glass ceiling would traditionally allow. Her action-by-action teaching style provides aspiring business owners with the tools they need to bypass the overwhelm and build a business they love.

In this episode, you’ll hear…

• Why Amy decided to write a book, why this book, and what she learned about herself in the process
• Whether or not starting an online business will bring you happiness
• The common qualities of successful online business owners
• Behind the scenes of how Amy runs and organizes her business and life
• What’s working in the online marketing world

If you’d like a shoutout (and a chance to win a $20 gift card), just leave a review on Apple Podcasts and send a screenshot of it to me on Instagram via DMs!

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

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• Amy Porterfield's website: amyporterfield.com
• More info about Amy's book, Two Weeks Notice: twoweeksnoticebook.com
• Purchase the book on... 
• Bookshop
• Barnes & Noble
• Target
• Amazon
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Produced by Nova Media

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Hey, and welcome back to On Your Terms. I'm your host, Sam Vander Wielen. Today is a very special episode because, today, I have the one, the only, Amy Porterfield on the podcast.

Hey there. Thanks so much for having me.

I'm so excited for you to be here. I was just telling you, everyone is so excited for you to be here. So, I just really appreciate you taking the time. I know you've been very busy with the book lately.

I'm so happy to be here. I love chatting with audiences like yours. And, yeah, it's been a whirlwind with the book, but it's finally out into the world. It's been out, at the time of this recording, about a month, so I feel like I'm finally getting back into normal life.

I can imagine. And that was actually the first thing I wanted to ask, I want to start at the beginning with the book, like, how did the idea of writing a book first come to you?

You know, I've been in business for 14 years and I've always thought that I would write a book. I think it's something kind of normal that most entrepreneurs will think about or eventually do. But I just didn't know what was I going to write about. And I have a lot of different people in my audience, from total beginners to a little bit more advanced, to those that have multi-million dollar businesses, so I thought, Who am I going to serve with this book?

Yeah. I can imagine. I can imagine that book having been so helpful back in the day. And like I always say, I still remember Googling what is an email list. I don't understand what this is. Is it do I keep a list somewhere?

Exactly. That's the thing. I teach a lot of newbies. And we created a glossary because it is so unfair to expect people to know what an opt-in page is, and a conversion, and what goes on a sales page, and all the different lingo but also things that we do in online businesses. So, yeah, I was the same as you, like, "What are they even talking about?" So, I wrote the book to explain a lot of that.

Yeah. And I think the book is fantastic. You were kind enough to send it to me ahead of time. And you're exactly right, it's so helpful for that and I think it will help people to get really clear on what the big starting blocks are, you know, to getting their business off the ground.

Great question. Yeah. So, my whole business model is digital courses. Not only do I have digital courses, but I teach people how to create digital courses. So, that's my mode of operation that works really well for me. However, a book, in my opinion, it allowed me to have a bigger reach. And I wanted to go more mainstream with this book. Meaning, I don't want to just be known as someone who teaches other people how to create digital courses. I want to teach people how to get started with an online business in general. And I wanted to reach people that did not know who I was.

Yeah. That makes a lot of sense because, being a person who had a corporate job, if somebody would have told me to watch a webinar, I would have been like, "What's a webinar?"

Exactly. That is very foreign to a lot of people. So, I wanted to kind of meet them where they're at.

Yeah. I think that's great. I was so curious reading through the book, and obviously you are the expert of experts on this and you've been talking about this for a long time, but was there anything that you learned about yourself or your business while you were writing the book?

That's such a good question. So, two things. One, when I was writing the book, I had a lot of doubts because I'm not a natural writer and it takes me a long time. There's a reason I'm a podcaster because writing takes me a long time. So, there is a lot of insecurities that came up during the writing of the book. Am I saying the right thing? Is this all just garbage? Am I really going to change lives with this? Can I even write? Sometimes I would write something and be like, "I'm like a third grader? What is happening here?"

Yeah. That's so interesting. Because those are the initial mindset blocks that a lot of your people are going to face as they go to put themselves out there for the first time. I often forget how foreign it probably felt the first few times I was talking to my camera or writing an email to a big email list or something like this. It's all so natural to us now.

Right. Exactly. But all those feelings came up again and I thought, "Oh, this is what I need to feel right now."

That is so interesting. Did you ever envision that your business would look like what it does now?

Absolutely not. So, I tell this story to my students, where a couple of years ago, I was still living in California - I'm in Nashville now - and we had a spa in the backyard and it faced the house. And Hobie, my husband, and I got in the spa one night and all the lights were shining on our house. And I looked at it and we had this big, beautiful house in California. And I said, "Would you have ever in your wildest dreams thought this was our life, where I have a multimillion dollar business, we don't have any debt, we have this gorgeous house in California, we have a good relationship with our friends and family, and the business is growing?" Like, never in my wildest dreams.

Yeah. That's for sure. I always say, leading a team of employees is a really fast way to learn whatever issues you still have.

So true. I was talking to a guy yesterday that I was interviewing and he said, "I listened to this podcast of this guy who built a multi, multi, multimillion dollar software that he ended up selling for, like, $250 million. So, it exploded and became so successful." So, here he is from scratch, built this software, sold it for $250 million. And someone asked him, "What was the hardest thing about building this business and building the software?" And he said, "People. Managing people was the hardest thing I had ever done."

I know. Do you ever have days where you look back to the beginning and are like, "Man, I miss some of the simple times in your apartment in Carlsbad."

Yes. Because now I have a team of 20 full time employees and I could not do what I do without them and I love them dearly. But there are moments that I'm like, "Remember when it was just me and a five hour a week assistant, and I didn't really have to answer to anyone, and I wasn't on the hook for I have to make money in order to pay my employees?" Like, that's an extra stressor that will never go away. So, yeah, there's some days I miss that first few years of being a whole lot simpler.

Yeah. That simplicity often pushes me. Like the other day, I was talking to the team about feeling there were too many steps, too many cooks in the kitchen to get some social stuff out the door. And I was like, "Guys, I literally used to just sit there and write this and hit post." So, there has to be a better way.

It's so true. Yes, the amount of hoops. So, my team is really big on systems and SOPs and processes, and I appreciate that. It's like a monster that has a life of its own right now in the best possible way. But I have those thoughts sometimes, like, "Oh, my gosh. We jumped through five hoops to get an email out, where it used to just be me and my assistant." However, the emails these days are way better. And when a lot of people are touching it, a lot of mistakes can happen, so there needs to be those SOPs in place. But at the same time, sometimes I'm like, "You guys, I think we could cut three steps out right now." So, I agree.

Yeah. It's always good to go back to those simple moments, I think, sometimes. I was curious, too, in the book you're talking a lot to people who might be in a job right now, like we used to be, and thinking, "Okay. Maybe this is a possibility for me that I hadn't even realized that I can go out and do this business."

Yes. I think you're right, so if you want to escape the 9:00 to 5:00, if you want to get out of that, I think you have to get really clear why you want to get out, what don't you like about it, or what do you want. So, in the book, I go really deep on we've got to get clear on our why, not only because it will help us make the right decisions as we leave our 9:00 to 5:00 job - because in the book, I map out a runway of how to leave a 9:00 to 5:00 job where once you leave, you can have success on the other side. So, getting clear on your why is just important to make those decisions - but also when you get out, you're going to be faced with so many challenges like we've talked about.

Yeah. Totally. And I was just saying on a podcast interview the other day that, to me, I think I chased down the freedom. And I wasn't really thinking of it this way, but I think I was thinking about time freedom. And now, I feel this incredible freedom in the business, fortunately, that's like, if I don't want to do something, I don't have to do it. That seems like incredible freedom to me.

It is, right? It's incredible. And where else are you ever going to get that? Like, quite honestly, you and I could wake up tomorrow and say, "You know what? I don't want to work today." And I would have to cancel some things and maybe ruffle a few feathers on my team because they were relying on me. But at the end of the day, it's okay. That is ultimate freedom in my opinion.

Yeah. And if we build up that recurring revenue, then we could take off for a long time.

Amen. Amen. That's what I love about you. Like, talking about this evergreen funnel you've built, and what you've been able to do with your business, and not go live all the time, and not do huge live launches, that's the ultimate freedom right there. I love that.

Yeah. I'm very grateful. So, for those people who do leave and start their own online business, do you ever see some common qualities in those people who end up becoming successful eventually, even if it's not super fast?

Yes. I think the number one quality I see is, those that leave their 9:00 to 5:00 job, start their online business, and it's become successful after a few years, the number one thing is they absolutely value managing their mindset. So, I always say, and I learned this from my Tony Robbins days, that 80 percent of being an entrepreneur is mindset, 20 percent mechanics.

That is so interesting. I'm glad you said that about the Full Focus Planner, too, I'm going to look at that. And I love Asana, too. I put everything in there. I put everything personal, everything. I love it.

I'm not even surprised because you're so efficient. And I was going to ask you if you have a project management tool. I think it's essential. Even if you're a solopreneur, get into the habit of putting everything into your project management tool.

Yeah. I talk a lot on the podcast about how, actually, when it was just me and I didn't have anyone working for me, I actually signed up for Asana, got everything into four categories. You know, I have the marketing category, operations category. And it was just me, but I sketched everything out. And then, that way, I started to learn it so that when I did start to bring people in, I was like, "Here's my system, and you can make it better."

Yes. That's exactly what I teach my students.

Oh, that's so funny.

That's exactly what I teach them. I love that. And that takes discipline. When it's just you, getting every task into a project management tool, you could easily cut corners. But what I love about you is you are disciplined. I mean, you are a lawyer, so that makes total sense. But you're going to do it right and you're going to show up. And that is a great sign of a successful entrepreneur. So, I'm not even surprised you're successful.

Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. Although, I'm not very successful at my Asana tasks to drink my daily amount of water, and so sometimes I go in there and I'm like, "Whoops. It's still on last Wednesday but that's okay."

I love that you have that in there. I'm going to start doing that. I'm going to put some more personal stuff in Asana.

They're called Daily Non-negotiables. So, I have my daily non-negotiables in there, which is my water, get outside every day 15 minutes, take a walk with my dog - I have a dog who looks like yours except black - and then taking my multivitamin and my probiotic.

Okay. This is great. Those are things that I do every day - well, I want to do every day, but I'm not as good. It's funny that I am more consistent in my business than I am in my personal life. And I have had a coach for years and years and she's a wellness coach. And I got on the phone with her this morning and I said, you know, it's so easy to do the things in my business I have to do, because if I don't do them now that I have a team, it's a trickle effect. I kind of ruin everybody's day when I don't hit my own deadlines. And so, that I can do.

Maybe, like, checking it off in Asana because there's something about it every day I feel so accomplished, like, "Took it."

I'm doing that. I'm doing that.

Yeah. That's funny. Yeah, We're the first domino at this point. And I'm always like, "Well, if my domino is not pretty strong, then I just mess everything up after that." So, that's how I try to think of it.

You know, I hate to say that I'm busier than I would like to be. And I don't know if that's just coming off of a book launch and it was so much going on. Now, I'm kind of playing catch up with everything else we put aside. But my days have been really busy.

Yeah. That sounds awesome, but also a lot.

It's a lot right now. I'm looking forward to getting into the summer soon to slow down just a little.

Yeah. What are you hoping will take off of your plate?

I don't know, Sam. That's a great question. Now, that I have this CEO, I think a lot of the meetings, I don't think I need to be in as many of them if I have a CEO. So, over the next few months, I think I'll have less team meetings. And then, in addition to that, probably less review of a lot of the things that will get reviewed before it comes to me. So, that would free up a lot of time.

Yeah. Well, I'm excited to hear about it in the future, that's for sure. Have you found any, like, personal hobbies or rituals or anything that you do that kind of help keep you grounded through all of this?

Oh. Let's see, some personal hobbies? Well, number one, one of the reasons we moved to Nashville from California is that we had an opportunity to buy a fixer upper lake house. And in California, Southern California, you don't own a lake house unless you have way more money than I have. And I have a lot of money, so that says a lot. It's so expensive. In Nashville, it's not as much.

Yeah, me too. I can relate to that. Yes, for sure. And I don't ever, ever, ever stop thinking about business. Like even when I'm out and about, I'm just analyzing the marketing messaging and the things. And I'm sure you're the same way.

It's true. I could really drive my husband crazy if I'm not careful.

Yeah, you and me both. And I always say to my husband, Ryan, I'm like, "They don't want to know my opinion, but if they were to change something here, what I would think about is --" and he's like, "Well, no one asked, so let's just leave it." It's so funny. But that's kind of exhausting though, too, right?

It is. It's like your mind never shuts off, that's the thing. I encourage so many of my students to move from 9:00 to 5:00 into entrepreneurship, but one thing I caution them is you will think about business 24/7. It will become your baby. I feel like I birthed this business. That's why managing your mind is so important because it feels like it never turns off. When it's your baby, it just never turns off.

Yeah. It's also why I encourage people to give themselves credit for all that time that you spent thinking. Because as a lawyer, we used to joke that we would bill people in the shower. Because if you're in the shower and you were thinking about a case, you're like, "Oh, I should do this," we would bill somebody for that. That's work. Thinking is work. And so, I don't know where in our business that somehow got shoved aside.

It's true. We can't get paid for all the time we're thinking about work.

We can bill our own businesses.

Right. Dang it.

Yeah. It's not very profitable. I was thinking about how you probably experienced, as you shared, a lot of challenges and obstacles in those first few years of your business. And I was curious if you could, like, reflect on a challenge you had back then versus maybe a challenge you've had in, like, the last six months or a year in your business.

So, challenge back then, so let's go back, like, 12 years or so, I really struggled with, one, figuring out what I was going to do. I always knew I wanted to teach marketing and online business, but I didn't know if I could do it through a digital course, even though I wanted to. I didn't know if I would have to do a service based business or whatever. So, there's so much experimentation.

Yeah. It's like all those stories that we pull out about what things mean, right? And in the earlier years, I remember I thought this when I was reading your book as well, that I remember when I would make those mistakes in the beginning, I always thought there was a plan B. Like, it almost felt like I had gotten out of prison because that's kind of how my job felt. And then, I felt like every time I messed up, I was going to go back to jail. That's always how it felt to me.

Yes. You're so right. That needs to shift. In the book, I talk about this concept of Unboxing, letting go of the concept that you are employed, that you have to do things a certain way. And so, getting rid of your clothes is a great way to unbox. I love that. I'm going to have to use that example someplace else, because it's such a great example of I'm shedding who I was and I'm stepping into who I want to be. I think that's brilliant.

Yeah. It's very helpful. I highly recommend donating your corporate clothes, and then there's no going back after that because those suits were expensive. That's what I thought.

You know, I'm so glad you asked this because I recently put together a presentation for my students about kind of where digital courses are going in 2023. But this is just online marketing in general as well. And I really do think people are looking for more of a personal touch. So, through 2020, 2021, we were kind of getting back into the world figuring out this new normal, and I saw major shifts during that time.

Yeah. That's really cool. I did do a live webinar back in the beginning of this year, and then I sent a little video message to everyone who had asked really good questions in the chat, like, we saved them, and that worked really well as well and led to a lot of really good conversations. So, that was helpful.

That is good. I love that. Did you use a certain tool for that?

Yes. We used this little app that I'm trying to remember what it was called. Someone set it up for me and sent it to me.

[Inaudible].

Yeah. I will remember and I will put it in the show notes because it was free and it was pretty cool. I kept all the videos to, like, under five minutes, but I let them know if they had questions for me. And I'm always going into Instagram, I send voice notes if somebody has a really good question or something like that. So, I totally agree, the personal touch seems to be there.

I think there's a sophistication. I think we see it every year. It gets bigger and bigger of they know you're going to sell on that webinar, they know you're going to talk about some product you have, like, why not just put it out there in the beginning? And I kind of play around with that. When I do webinars, I might mention I'm selling something at the end, I might not, but I've seen people do it really eloquently and I think it takes people off their guard.

Yeah. Yeah. It's so interesting. And for one of our favorite topics, email marketing, what are some of the things that you think are working really well with building an email list, converting your email list right now?

So, I feel as though making email list growth a priority in your business is essential. Anyone doing business online, you've got to have a thriving email list. And notice I didn't say a huge email list, just thriving, so that's engaged and people are opening up your emails, clicking on those links, all of that.

Yeah. That's really cool. Okay. And I was also wondering if there's something that you feel like people aren't focusing on right now in marketing their online businesses that they should be.

I think one is email list growth. I don't think people focus on it enough. To me, I have this motto, growing my email list is how I do business. Meaning, it's not something it's one and done in my business. It's not a stressor. It happens every day behind the scenes of my business. Once you build a strong foundation, it can happen every day in your business. I didn't wake up this morning thinking I better grow my email list, but I can promise you it will grow by hundreds today based on the different strategies I have out in the online world. So, number one, I think that's something.

Yeah. Yeah. Really getting into those nitty gritty details, which you can do with your Full Focus Planner.

Yes, you can.

Well, I hope you don't mind, but I have a series of little Would You Rather questions that I always do with everyone that are just fun. Not really businessy.

Okay. Good. Let's go.

Okay. So, would you rather read fiction or nonfiction?

Fiction.

Have you read anything you've liked lately?

Let's see here. Oh, yes. So, Daisy Jones and The Six.

I love that book. Yeah.

Such a great book. And then, now it's on Prime, so I'm going to watch it. My husband gets to watch it, too, and he loves it. So, that was one that I absolutely love.

Yeah. All her stuff is really good. Her books are really good.

Really good.

Did you read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo?

Love it. And did you hear that that's coming out as a movie as well or a series?

Yes. I'm very excited.

And then, there's another one. I think it's called Malibu Rising. I loved that one. So, I love her. Tara Reid, is that what it is?

Taylor Jenkins Reid.

That's right. Yes. Yes.

Her stuff is really good. Yeah, I like that, too. Well, this one's going to be a tough one for you, but would you rather live at the beach, the mountains, the desert, or the lake?

I'm going to have to say lake.

Oh, that's a good one.

I'm going to live at the lake.

Good thing you have a house there. Would you rather have coffee or tea?

Coffee all the time.

What's your coffee order?

So, it is a venti, sugar free vanilla soy latte. And I do not get it a lot, but it's like the biggest treat. And my team always brings it to me when we're in launch mode, so it's kind of extra special. But, yeah, that's the one I get.

That's so cool. But at home, do you make coffee at home too?

I do. But, like, literally super simple, easy coffee at home.

Yeah. When you and Hobie cook together, do you clean up as you go or clean up at the end?

Great question. Hobie will clean up as he goes. He hates to have a mess at the end. I'm probably just messy through the whole thing and then know he'll clean it up. So, I'm not cleaning up at all. That's terrible to admit, but it's probably true.

I like that deal. Would you rather hit up a fancy restaurant or the best food truck?

Best food truck all day long.

Yeah. There's some really good ones. Would you rather get a phone call or a text from a friend?

Please do not call me. Text message.

It's so funny.

I'm an introvert so I like text messages.

We had a team meeting yesterday, and we hired somebody to do the Colby training for us.

So good.

Yeah. She came in, and at the end, everybody had to share the best way to communicate with them and the worst. And everybody on the team was like, "Do not call me ever."

So sad. I mean, back in the day, that's all we did.

I know.

It's like, "Why are you calling?" Like, one of my best friends, I'm like, "Why is she calling me? That's weird." Like, it's horrible.

Yeah. And then, I was overanalyzing every time I've ever called anybody on the team and feeling so bad about it. It's like, "I'm sorry, guys. I just had to. I was out. I had to do something."

I called one of my team members yesterday. Sometimes you got to get on the phone.

Sometimes you do. Thank you, Amy. I'm going to clip this out and send to all. Okay. Last but not least, would you rather have x-ray vision or magnified hearing?

Oh. I would choose x-ray vision.

Oh, good one. Any reason why?

It just seems scandalous. I think I would like it.

That's true. Yeah. Scandalous and also safe. You could save a lot of people.

That's true.

Well, that was so much fun. Will you tell everybody where to find the book, where to find you, all of the things.

Yes. So, Two Weeks Notice, you could buy anywhere, in a bookstore or online, and Amazon, bookshop.org, wherever you want to go. And then, I have a podcast called Online Marketing Made Easy. So, it's all things marketing. And you can find me on Instagram, @amyporterfield. So, those are all the places.

Thank you, Amy. I'll share links to the book and everything below. I just so appreciate you doing this with me.

Thank you so much. This has been a lot of fun. You take care.

You too.