This diagram will change your business forever

Read Time: 4 minutes

Welcome to BE THE EXPERT! In today’s issue:

• The diagram that will change your business
• The Best New Features Coming to YouTube in 2024
• An all-in-one solution for building and running your entire online business

This diagram will change your business forever

It’s time to ditch the value ladder and replace it with a value matrix.

A value ladder is typically defined as a set of content and products starting with free or low-ticket items and increasing in price as you move up the ladder toward courses, coaching, and services.

Sounds easy enough, but when you consider that there are dozens of important topics within your niche and dozens of ways to package and deliver value, most of us wind up with a messy mix of pieces and parts that don’t align with our goal of growing our expert businesses.

Why? As entrepreneurs, most of us are idea people who are easily distracted. I call it entrepreneurial ADHD…

Online marketing gurus take advantage of that and try to get us to chase new shiny objects all the time:

• Webinars! VSLs! Podcasts!
• Courses! Memberships! Coaching!
• DIY! DFY! DWY!

In BTE47 (​Fix Your Broken Value Ladder​), I described how I approached this challenge, and the result was what I now call a Value Matrix.

The diagram below is a template for creating your own.

Designing your value matrix

Designing your own begins with defining your signature system: the key pillars you teach or offer that help your ideal client get to the outcome you promise them.

The black boxes on the left are Strategy, Systems, Tools, and Team. We help our clients establish these so they can build successful online businesses.

This step is the key to aligning ALL of your content, marketing, products, and programs.

Across the top of the diagram, we have the typical value ladder from left to right: content, lead magnets, courses, coaching, and services.

Finally, we have columns from top to bottom that combine all the pieces in that column.

The combination of these dimensions is the value matrix.

This does NOT mean your goal has to be filling in every cell.

The first step is choosing ONE dimension to build out completely.

The key decision is whether you want to focus horizontally first, which means building a full value ladder for ONE of your pillar topics.

OR

Focus vertical, choose a delivery methodology (DIY, DWY, DFY), and build out each of your pillar topics.

Value matrix example

In my case, we built out the Done For You services column first. I chose an agency/services model and we started building and delivering in all four of my pillar areas.

You may decide to focus on DIY, which would mean building courses or modules for each of your pillars.

The beauty of the value matrix is that as soon as you complete one course, say for Pillar 1, you could begin selling it as a stand-alone course.

Then, as you continue to build the other courses for the other pillars, when those are done you could position all of them together as a flagship course or a membership program where people get access to all of them.

Now, imagine you add one coaching call a week for each of your pillars. You would then have a done-with-you offer (the DWY vertical column) populated and a program you could sell at a higher price since it includes coaching.

The course content stays the same, but you add another layer of value to it.

The same could be done by adding 1:1 or done-for-you services at an even higher ticket price.

The power here is that what you teach and deliver stays the SAME because it is all tied to your signature system.

As an example, in my Content Engine pillar, we now have DIY, DWY, and DFY (the horizontal pillar). So within that one topic area, we have the full value ladder.

My process has been to do it FOR clients first. Then systemize it. Then create a course about it. Then add coaching calls. So DFY first, then DIY, then fill in the middle with DWY.

That’s the product side of things.

On the marketing side of the diagram (content, lead magnets, etc.) the alignment is the same. I have created TON of content related to content marketing. We have highly valuable lead magnets for content planning.

That horizontal pillar is completed: ads, content, lead magnets, DIY, DWY, DFY.

As we methodically do that for each pillar (row) then the value matrix get completed and we can offer the vertical dimension spanning all the pillars.

It does take time

Depending on your topic and niche and how comprehensive your approach is, this may take months to a year or two to complete.

The KEY though is picking ONE dimension to focus on first so that you can pre-sell and sell as soon as possible to generate revenue.

As soon as you have one cell in your value matrix done, you can promote and/or start selling it.

I see too many folks trying to build ALL of this out before they even start creating content or testing their offers. Big mistake…

The value matrix enables all of us visionary / entrepreneurial ADHD folks to be able to have that big picture vision and work toward it methodically: once cell at a time, in one dimension at a time.

Take Action

Fast-forward to the point where you have completed your value matrix. Now, you can run marketing campaigns that are very specific to segments within your niche.

For example, I tend to rotate through my pillars. For a given month or quarter, I may focus on the Content pillar and attract people with needs in that area. Other times, it is funnels, tools, etc.

Sometimes, I pick the other dimension (the vertical) and focus on people looking for a comprehensive DIY solution across all the pillars (our Training Vault + Community membership) or full DFY (our agency offer)

This keeps your marketing fresh while also showing your audience you have a comprehensive system that can meet them where they are.

Sunday Spotlight 💡

Content Spotlight:​

In this video you’ll learn the four pillars forming the foundation of all successful online businesses.

This is an example of the content column from the value matrix above. High-value, free content that attracts people into your audience.

Tool Spotlight

ACCELERATE Suite – Built on HighLevel

ACCELERATE is an all-in-one solution for building and running your entire online business.

It replaces thousands of dollars a month worth of tools with one integrated platform.

From email to CRM to courses to communities and over 30 other major capabilities, it is the only tool you need.

Just this week, advanced countdown timers were added, which is another $80/mo product we’ll be able to replace with ACCELERATE…

Book a free ​tech strategy call​ with me to see if it’s a good fit for you!

News Spotlight

​The Best New Features Coming to YouTube in 2024​ – Gizmodo

At its annual event held in New York yesterday, YouTube ​announced​ a bunch of features it’s introducing on its platform in 2024. Several of these features are powered by Google’s DeepMind AI tech and are more focused on creators than viewers.