Jason SurfrApp's Blog, page 7
June 30, 2019
A Foolproof Way To Get More Paying Clients
Episode Summary
If you’re a creative freelancer and struggle to get paying clients, we’ve got a foolproof plan of attack for you in this episode! We also have a fun new project we’re working on, somewhat related to clients and client-work the next few weeks.
June 29, 2019
Building A Brand From Start to Finish
Introduction: What Is This Project And Why Are We Doing It?
We’re building a brand and Squarespace site from start to finish and sharing everything along the way.
We’ll be creating a fictional brand (complete with a logo and custom brand elements) and then selling the entire thing in a fun way.
We love branding, design, building Squarespace websites, sharing our processes, documenting the journey, making money in unique ways, and THIS experiment is bringing all of those elements together!
What started as a simple comment I made to Jason (“I think I want to get back into doing some design work”) has turned into the in-depth post you are currently reading. Jason and I knew we didn’t want to actually take on a client and deal with the back-and-forth nature of that relationship, as we did that for years and it’s not what we’re focusing on now. So instead, we asked ourselves, how could we get creative with this idea and do something different with brand and website design?
Watch the introduction video Jason and I recorded about what we’re calling Building A Squarespace Site from Start to Finish (or BASSSF, as Jason loooves to say):
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What can you expect from Building A Squarespace Site from Start to Finish (BASSSF)?
In the next couple sections of this post, you’ll get to watch me break down every step as IF I were working with a client. I’ll be walking you through the processes I’ve honed over the years, which include:
BRANDING: Doing the initial branding exploration (a mood board and tone words)
BRANDING: Creating the brand assets themselves (colors, logo, and graphic elements)
SQUARESPACE SITE: Setting up the Squarespace site (initial setup and style page)
SQUARESPACE SITE: Building the layout of each Squarespace page and completing the branded design of the site (home, about, services, product, etc)
CUSTOMIZATION: * All the ways someone could customize the brand and Squarespace site to fit their needs!
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Once the brand and Squarespace site are completed, you’ll be able to buy them in a unique way!
We love doing things differently around Wandering Aimfully. We believe thinking outside the proverbial box can not only help you stand out but it can help you generate revenue. Well, we’re putting that belief to the test with this project.
At the end of this post, ONE person (or company) will be able to purchase the completed brand and Squarespace site. But, we aren’t just slapping a price tag on things, we have something fun up our sleeves.
Put July 22 on your calendar as that’s when we’ll announce how this will be sold. If you want to hop on our email list to find out first, enter your email here:
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Coming July 8: Creating The Brand from Scratch: Mood Board, Logo, Colors, and Brand Elements
The full update about building the brand will be released on July 8th! Sign up for our email updates so you get notified as soon as this update goes up 
June 23, 2019
An Update On Caroline’s Anxiety and the WAIM Show Format
Episode Summary
It may have only been two weeks for our show schedule but it had been a month since we recorded a new episode of the WAIM Show. We’re continuing with the podcast (don’t worry!) but we are no longer doing a video-version.
In this episode, we talk about some of the things that have made the biggest impact in improving Caroline’s battle with anxiety, including a specific vitamin regime and a big change in our diet.
We also share what’s next for Wandering Aimfully and what we have planned for the rest of this year.
Hope you enjoy the update and the longer, looser show format! Let us know what you think by reaching out on social or sending an email our way 
June 15, 2019
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe with a Side of Business
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved chocolate chip cookies (not an insanely original or unique thing, right?). As I’ve gotten older I’ve wanted to consume less “bad foods” in my life and, big-time spoiler alert: Cookies are mostly made up of BAD FOODS.
In the paragraphs below I want to share how my journey to find/create a delicious (and healthy!) cookie recipe became a solid analogy for running my own business.
But, like you, I get frustrated when I come to a recipe and I just want the damn recipe without having to scroll forever. That’s why I’m starting with the recipe itself! You’re welcome!
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Vegan, Dolphin-Safe, Gluten-Free, Organic, Single Bowl, 8-Ingredient, “Healthy” Chocolate Chip Cookies
June 9, 2019
Our Relationship and Some Sea Otter Facts
Episode Summary
When it comes to relationship advice we don’t tend to give it very often. Relationships are all extremely different and individualized but we have noticed a few key trends and important factors in almost a decade of being together.
In this week’s episode, we explore some of the biggest lessons we’ve learned and share some of those important factors we believe all couples can utilize to keep relationships healthy and happy.
Plus, if want to learn some facts about sea otters OR you just like seeing a married couple try to navigate their relationship on camera, you should enjoy watching (or listening) this one! 
June 1, 2019
How To Deal With Feedback and Criticism
Episode Summary
Around these parts, we believe feedback is dangerous and can almost literally kick you in the face, Chuck Norris style! We all struggle to deal with feedback and criticism so we decided to share tips we’ve learned over the years.
One of the tips we’ll spoil for you: It’s SO IMPORTANT to realize who you are getting feedback from and IF you should take that’s person’s feedback. While we all love our friends and family, often times their feedback isn’t warranted and shouldn’t be taken to heart (especially related to business feedback or criticism where they don’t have firsthand experience).
The rest of our tips about feedback? You’ll have to watch or listen for those!
Also, if you want a fun drinking game: Take a drink every time we say “Chakespear” in this episode.
May 26, 2019
We Need To Stop Measuring Our Self-Worth With Social Media
Episode Summary
Being on social media websites can be helpful for our businesses and for staying connected with loved ones, but the longer we spend on these networks the more our self-worth gets tied to them.
We’ve realized over the years how swept up our decision-making can get with social media metrics. Even on this episode, we talk about not posting more “real” moments because they don’t match the curated life we want to portray.
We definitely don’t have all the answers when it comes to NOT measuring your self-worth on social media, all we know is that it’s a slippery slope and we need to tread lightly. We need to acknowledge our behaviors, our choices, and force ourselves to take breaks from always being connected to social media.
Related article: Do A Social Media Detox
Source for dopamine article: Are Facebook Likes Similar To Cocaine Addiction
QUESTION FOR YOU: Are you willing to take a break from social media or at the very least only check it once or twice per day? (Feel free to comment with your answer on YouTube).
Want to support us and our show?
We recently created a 100% free, no strings attached Test Drive of our Wandering Aimfully Membership. You can kick the tires and see all the goodies we have to offer, along with a hands-on preview of our newest program Build Without Burnout Academy (a 6-month guided program to help client-based business owners transition to digital products).
You’ll also be able to see inside our “Vault,” which contains 30+ courses and workshops to help you grow your business or make big changes in your life. Give the WAIM Test Drive a shot and don’t hesitate to reach out and set up a quick 1-on-1 call with us!
Joining Wandering Aimfully is the best way to help support us on our journey AND help yourself grow your business (or start a business) with intention and on your own terms.
May 19, 2019
How We Got Rid of Our Bad Habits
Episode Summary
When it comes to getting rid of bad habits the first thing you need to do is acknowledge them.
So often we go through life not changing our ways because we’re ashamed of some of the choices we make and don’t want to deal with adjusting our behaviors. But, like many things in life, when you do the hard work you come out a better person because of it!
We’re not going to pretend we’ve gotten rid of all of our bad habits (ahem: Caroline’s clothes pile and Jason’s limited patience with all other drivers on the road), however, we have kicked a few bad habits to the curb and talk about how we’ve done it.
May 12, 2019
Why We’re Not Playing The Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) Game Any Longer
Let’s back up for just a moment and talk about where our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) journey began…
In October of 2017, we had a 3+ hour meeting where we brainstormed what would eventually become Wandering Aimfully. The two biggest parts of that brainstorming session were 1) combining our previous businesses together into one entity with an ethos you could get behind and 2) moving to a monthly membership (MRR) model and away from selling individual products.
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We whiteboard’ed the heck out of that whiteboard!
You may already know how #1 (ethos) turned out since you’re reading this! If you don’t, feel free to check out our About page.
For #2 (membership model), we wanted to move from selling individual digital products to a membership model. We’d experimented with this in 2015-2016 as BuyMyFuture and in 2016-2018 with BuyOurFuture. With Wandering Aimfully, we wanted to try to capture more consistent and predictable monthly income (the coveted, MRR).
We’ve learned A TON these past 12 months building, selling, and running a monthly membership community but something just never felt quite right.
Selling our Wandering Aimfully Membership as an ongoing monthly membership product was a great experiment. And, all things considered, we DID grow our MRR from $0 per month in May 2018 to ~$9,000 per month in May 2019 (not bad, at all).
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However, a monthly membership model, one where customers have to think about committing to pay each month, in perpetuity, is a BIG ask. And as we saw over the course of 12 months, a high percentage of our monthly members didn’t want to be paying us monthly forever.
Over a 12-month period, we sold 146 Wandering Aimfully Monthly Memberships but ended up losing 45 of those paying members. That’s a 31% membership churn, which isn’t good.
If you want to dive deep into the last 12 months of our business and our MRR adventures, feel free to read our extremely detailed “Journey to 330” post.
Where MRR is Concerned, 4% “Churn” is WAY Better Than 31% Churn
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but when we sold our BuyMyFuture and BuyOurFuture products, we only lost 4% of our customers (using a lifetime pricing model). That 27% difference was enough to get us to take a hard look at continuing to use a monthly membership model or to switch Wandering Aimfully over to a lifetime pricing model.
If we look at the average value of a lifetime pricing customer (BuyMyFuture or BuyOurFuture) it’s $1,500 per person.
We had 425 people purchase BuyMyFuture/BuyOurFuture from September 2015 to March 2018
At an average value of $1,500, that’s $637,000 in revenue
Across that 30-month span, the average MRR was $21,233
At 4% “churn” we missed out on approximately $25,500 ($850 per month)
Our total revenue minus churn using lifetime pricing: $611,500
Our total average revenue per 12 month period: $244,600
If we look at the average value of a monthly membership customer (Wandering Aimfully the past 12 months), the maximum total value per member could only have been as high as $1,000.
We had 146 people purchase memberships from May 2018 to May 2019
We didn’t have 146 customers the entire 12 months, but we do know our total 12-month revenue was $71,000
Across the past 12 months, the average MRR was $5,916
At 31% churn we missed out on $4,500 per month
Even IF all customers stayed on for 12 months (which they didn’t) our maximum yearly revenue would’ve been $146,000
The final comparison for the financial side of monthly memberships versus our lifetime membership model:
Average MRR: $5,916 vs $20,383
Average 12-Month Revenue (ARR): $71,000 vs $244,600
Average New Customers Per Month: 12 vs 14
When we compared our monthly vs lifetime membership, the numbers were pretty damn clear.
The huge caveat here is that we don’t have 30 months of monthly membership data to compare with. That being said, we don’t need the full 30 months to make the right decision for us (we know what data we have NOW and aren’t interested in waiting around any longer to make a change).
The MRR and ARR numbers speak for themselves but when I broke down the customers acquired per month to reach each set of numbers it’s pretty incredible that it’s only a difference of TWO customers! Only needing two more customers to have 4x the MRR?? That’s crazy!
Aside from the stark financial differences, there are also some emotional and time-investment differences we had to consider.
We’re 100% aware of the fact that this comparison isn’t perfect but it was enough data to show us the writing on the wall. Plus, there’s a whole other side of this equation.
The emotional aspect of what you sell.
When we sold our BuyMy/BuyOurFuture product with lifetime pricing I knew the person buying that product was committed to us. They were essentially raising their hand and saying, “YES! I believe in you Zooks… for life! 
Simple Ways To Add Thoughtfulness To Your Life
Episode Summary
We’re all guilty of thinking of ourselves before thinking of others but in this episode, we want to challenge you to add more thoughtfulness to your daily life (and business!)
How can you be more considerate of the other humans around you? What SMALL change(s) can you make that might cause a positive ripple effect for someone else?
In this fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in our daily grind. Take a moment to step outside yourself and see if you can break a bad habit or two. The world would be a much kinder place if we were all just a bit more thoughtful.
And hey, we’re also talking about thoughtfulness when it comes to your business: Actually putting yourself in your customer’s shoes and seeing if you’re delivering a THOUGHTFUL experience to them.
QUESTION FOR YOU: In what way can you be more thoughtful in life or business? What habit or process can you change? (Feel free to comment with your answer on YouTube).
Want to support us and our show?
We recently created a 100% free, no strings attached Test Drive of our Wandering Aimfully Membership. You can kick the tires and see all the goodies we have to offer, along with a hands-on preview of our newest program Build Without Burnout Academy (a 6-month guided program to help client-based business owners transition to digital products).
You’ll also be able to see inside our “Vault,” which contains 30+ courses and workshops to help you grow your business or make big changes in your life. Give the WAIM Test Drive a shot and don’t hesitate to reach out and set up a quick 1-on-1 call with us!
Joining Wandering Aimfully is the best way to help support us on our journey AND help yourself grow your business (or start a business) with intention and on your own terms.
