I love hearing stories of people who are willing to take risks to follow their dreams.
Especially when they make it. That’s when the goosebumps kick in!
Liz Dialto is a dreamer, an action-taker, and a risk-taker extraordinaire.
My wife and I interviewed Liz for our other podcast on our Marriage More blog (yes, I have more blogs and podcasts 🙂 ), because she has built an amazing online business centered around what she loves: fitness.
Why I wanted to also reshare her story on the GF¢ podcast because I thought it also fit perfectly in what I’m doing with Operation: #investNOW.
When you find out what Liz did to invest in yourself and her business, you’ll totally understand why.
GF¢ Podcast Sponsor
Big thanks to Betterment for being the official sponsor of the GF¢ podcast! You can learn more about how Betterment is changing the way you invest here.
Liz’s Background
- Grew up on the East Coast
- Very into fitness from a young age Began selling Cutco knives, and was the #10 seller in the nation at age 19. This was the start of her career in sales/marketing
- Opened district office for Cutco two years out of college.
- Realized she wanted to work for herself and help people.
- Moved from Washington, D.C. back to New York City
- 2008 – Liz was approached while she was working out and asked if she wanted to become a personal trainer, so she left her job and took a 60% pay cut to make $8.25/hour to become a personal trainer.
First Online Experience
- Began as a blog, not a business – was originally fithealthybeautiful.com.
- Rebranded in 2011 to www.lizdialto.com
- Joined a Mastermind – intentions of site, and business were unclear.
- Clarified customer avatar: Busy women who want to feel sexy, but don’t want to spend all their time at the gym.
- Wasn’t quite sure how to make money online, so she began looking into coaching programs.
- A blog post detailing Liz’s diet and fitness regimen leading up to her rebranding photo shoot became her most commented-on post, and led Liz to create her first info product, “Tighter in 10 Days.”
- “Tighter in 10 Days” was the first time Liz made money online
Investing in Online Success
- Liz began grad school, studying exercise science. While she was in D.C. at school, Liz retained her personal training clients in New York.
- A-Ha moment: Liz could make money coaching people without actually being there in person. Remote coaching wasn’t online, just remote, but provided the catalyst to begin her online business.
- Decided to leave grad school and invest in her business, instead.
- Asked her mother for a $20,000 loan to invest in Marie Forleo’s mastermind group
- In a coaching course or program, you’re paying for the convenience of having all the necessary information in one place, the successful experience of someone who has done what you want to do, and a supportive group of people who can act as a sounding board for your business ventures.
- Many people want to start an online business but don’t want to invest in it. Like in any other venture, you have to spend money to make money. Pick and choose your investments, but you ultimately must invest in yourself and your business in order to be successful.
How to Monetize in a Niche Market
- How Liz made her first $100: Remote coaching, first info product, “Tighter in 10 Days,” business coaching, and helping health and fitness professionals take their offline businesses online.
- Make a list of things you write about that you’ve mastered and/or could be considered an expert on. Think about how you could provide a simple service or create an info product about those things you have mastered.
- Key: Keep it REALLY simple.
- Ads will not make much money unless you have lots of traffic, and they can compromise the integrity of your site. Use them wisely.
- Find products/brands you believe in, and find affiliate programs for products you promote. If there are no affiliate programs, try to create one, or become an Amazon Affiliate.
- See if you can be paid to talk about the things you love, that you would already be talking about even if you weren’t paid.
Liz’s Revenue
- Current: fitness coaching calls, daily sales from “Tighter in 10 Days,” “The Complete Body” program (as a live course and a continuity program), and business coaching.
- Upcoming: Mentorship program for health and fitness professionals and a new info product, “Swing Your Way to Sexy.”
Finishing Thoughts
- Clever titles, while cute, are a part of her brand
- The first info product started at $97 but lowered to $67, which will never change
- Still figuring out a consistent revenue stream. In 2013 (at the time of the original podcast), the lowest month’s revenue was $3,500, while the highest was $35,000.
- It’s important to put systems in place to drive traffic, such as Facebook ads.
- Experiment and take risks – you don’t know unless you do.
- Involve your audience in the evolution of your brand – they will be loyal.
- Liz’s unfair advantage to success has been her personality – It’s important to stay true to yourself while creating your business.
- Frustrations: being able to relate back to where she came from as she grows and evolves. Her target customer is herself, several phases ago.
Liz’s Final Tips
- Know yourself. Figure out your strengths. Tests like the Meyers-Briggs personality type can help you stay true to your strengths.
- Hire out/Outsource the things you don’t want to do that drain your energy. This ends up creating more energy for you and is well worth the money spent.
Summary:
- Used her experience from selling Cutco Knives and applied it to her successful online business
- Quit a sales job and took a 60% pay cut to work for herself
- How she discovered her 1st online product by writing a simple blog post and listening to her readers.
- Convinced her mom to help her join Marie Forleo’s $20,000 Mastermind group instead of getting her Master’s degree.
- Learn how she was able to first make money online with fitness coaching
- How she also diversifies her income stream with affiliate marketing
- How she tested different price points on her online course to arrive at her current price of $67.
- She reveals how her online monthly income ranges from $3,500 to $35,000!
- How to deal with haters and have fun with it.
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