If you’re frustrated with being on the “content hamster wheel,” you’re not alone.
And if you’re not getting the results you want from it, you’re really not alone.
You need a viable audience that builds your business, though… and that means raving fans, not just followers.
But it’s just not working out for most people.
And yet, the gurus (and wannabes) keep beating the content drum.
“Just create great content,” they say.
“Just put in a year without making a dime and it’ll all work out,” you hear.
Sure, there was a time when this may have been true. But it’s a time that’s long gone.
It’s a New Era for Digital Marketing
Back when I started Copyblogger, creating lots of high-value educational content – content good enough to sell that was instead given away for free – was a revolutionary act.
Then as content marketing caught on, the flood of content that began with blogging became a tsunami.
Today there is way too much content, and people have even less capacity for attention.
Just imagine how much content has been created in just the last decade. Hint: more than the entire history of the world up until that point – by a lot.
Also, consider the competition for profitable search terms in Google.
It’s a brutal environment made worse by Google increasing the number of paid entries on the first page, pushing those hard-won organic results even lower.
Fortunately, people aren’t looking to follow a content “creator.” They’re looking for a leader who will guide them to a solution to their problems and the satisfaction of their desires.
You become that leader by connecting with your ideal prospect in a very specific way.
This has been the secret of my success with Copyblogger and beyond, and it’s also true for everyone who’s attracted an audience that supports their business in a meaningful way.
In short, to attract the audience you want and need, you have to become the leader they want and need.
You need to become a “leading” expert. And I’d like you to invite you to become one along with us.
The Three C’s of the Leading Expert Alliance
You see a lot of “marketing bros” talking about psychological manipulation and other shady tricks they say you need to succeed.
In reality these are usually just standard aspects of copywriting repositioned as new, devious, and exciting. Basic stuff I taught at Copyblogger long ago.
On the other hand you still have the “just create great content” folks, who don’t seem to realize that “great” content is only in the eye of the beholder. That means what’s great for one type of prospect may fall flat for another.
The true “secret” indeed resides in the realm of social psychology. But it’s not manipulation or coercion that’s called for… it’s developing a uniquely strong sense of trust between you and your prospects.
To make that trust happen, you need sophisticated education delivered in an easily understandable, engaging format. But no one makes it alone, so you also need a network that provides accountability, support, and opportunities for collaboration with likeminded fellow marketers and entrepreneurs.
That’s what the Leading Expert Alliance is all about.
It’s a place where you can interact with peers and forge meaningful business relationships, all while gaining the coaching, connection, and community you need to succeed.
Coaching
It all begins with education. Not the same shallow nonsense being peddled on social media, but in-depth explorations of what works and just as importantly, why. You’ll get instant access to toolkits, courses, seminars, and more to build and solidify your digital marketing expertise. You’ll then expand your understanding with ongoing presentations, workshops, and Q&A sessions.
Connection
Expertise-based businesses are usually solo ventures or small teams, often operating remotely. While individuals can accomplish more than any other time in history thanks to technology and an understanding of powerful psychological marketing principles, connection with others matters more than ever as well. Build a real network, find freelancers to help, and meet collaborators and potential business partners among true peers.
Community
The early promise of social media was of global community, but instead we got chaos and greed. As the mass social media dwindles, smaller tightly focused communities of like-minded people are on the rise. The Leading Expert Alliance is founded on principles of true community, and is hosted by digital veterans who have developed and maintained virtual membership environments since 2007.
It’s hard to “sell” connection and community, because these things need to be experienced to fully appreciate. That’s okay, because as a learning-based community, the Leading Expert Alliance leads with an abundance of premium digital marketing education.
Let’s take a look at some of what you get instant access to when you join, because it’s a lot.
Get Instant Access to Fundamental Education:
It all begins with the right education. The Leading Expert Alliance is a community with actionable learning as a foundational element, and our premium educational content is designed to walk you step-by-step through a winning approach to digital marketing that works.
Step 1: “What to Say and How to Say It” for Your Ideal Prospect
As human beings, we are neurologically hardwired to act based on our values. Our core human values are the driving force behind every decision we make.
They determine what we choose, and why and how we behave. And that’s why value-based marketing messages are much more effective at prompting purchases than relying on demographic buckets that tell you very little about what motivates a particular prospect.
This is why you must understand your ideal customer at the level of values and the attitudes that result from them. This bundle of beliefs makes up a unique worldview, which allows you to truly see things as they do and craft empathetic messages that work.
Your objective is to create a detailed profile of your ideal prospect that indicates how they think, feel, and see the world in the context of the problem you solve. You’ll use this profile to figure out each content element of their unique buyer’s journey (what to say) and the best way to communicate the information in each step (how to say it).
Our Leading Expert Marketing Framework gives you a process for nailing down that intimate outline of your prospect, and the content and messaging they need to do business with you. Here’s what’s included:
- Full Manual (83 pages) for in-depth explanation, instructions, and citations.
- Five Worksheets that prompt you through each step of the process.
- Eight (8) research-backed Worldview Profiles to identify your persona.
- Generative Artificial Intelligence prompts for finding endless content ideas.
- Our proprietary A.I. Knowledge Base for answering your questions.
The Leading Expert Marketing Framework sells for $150 individually, and you have instant access as a crucial starting point in our LEA membership.
Step 2: Attract an Audience While Turning a Profit at the Same Time
Expertise-based businesses such as consultants, coaches, and freelancers with something relatively expensive to sell are in the best position to build an audience in the current environment.
Selling services is the answer to the audience-building problem and the initial revenue problem.
You just have to do it strategically.
So I took my own entrepreneurial history and developed a strategic compression framework that takes you from client services to digital products in a matter of months, not years.
I call this the Personal Enterprise Growth Framework. And it can radically and rapidly transform your business into multiple streams of future-proof revenue.
Best of all, this approach avoids the “content hamster wheel” that has you constantly creating content with no tangible return for up to a year or more (which as we know no longer works like it used to anyway).
This is exactly how I would start today if I were brand new to the game. And it relies on a strategy that many don’t consider – creating a productized service based on the expertise you deliver with your client services business.
The course gets started with important fundamental principles that support the execution of the Personal Enterprise Framework.
From there, we dive into the framework itself and lay out – step-by-step – how to build a true expertise-based business with multiple streams of income.
Personal Enterprise Accelerator sells for $495 as a standalone course, but is included in your LEA membership and is available instantly when you join.
Absorb these five modules of lessons in the way that works best for you: presentation videos, audio only, or text transcripts. You also get downloadable slide decks and supplemental guides and resources.
Module One:
- ✓ The scalability secret that makes it possible to achieve six or even seven figures in profitable revenue without employees or investors.
- ✓ The incredible “compounding gains” that happen with the personal enterprise methodology that makes it much more likely to wildly succeed compared to a traditional content creation approach.
- ✓ The strategic and intentional process that accelerates your business beyond client services in a matter of months.
- ✓ Why creating large amounts of “original content” has very little ROI when it comes to selling solutions to your audience.
- ✓ The blueprint for positioning yourself as an expert mentor to your prospects, and why it makes them more likely to buy compared with most marketing.
- ✓ Why thinking like a “marketer” will likely hurt your effectiveness and your profitability, and what to do instead.
- ✓ What a reality TV show can teach you about selling client services, and how to replicate why it works… on a shoestring budget.
- ✓ Why focusing on your “personal brand” can handicap your business building efforts, and what to do instead.
- ✓ The Four Horsemen of killer digital business positioning, and how to decide which one is right for you.
Module Two:
- ✓ The 3P Framework for becoming a thought leader – without ever making the cringeworthy mistake of claiming you are one.
- ✓ The real reason prospects will buy from you, and how to carefully select the problems you solve and the people you serve.
- ✓ Why people don’t want improved versions of known solutions, and how to identify truly new ways to solve profitable problems (this alone will be a game changer for your business).
- ✓ The powerful method Steve Jobs used to carve into the market share of larger rivals, and why it’s the core principle you must embrace to succeed in bootstrapped digital business.
- ✓ The subversive reason people may reject your valid expertise, and how to use this insidious fact of human nature to your profitable advantage (this is the key to success that others misguidedly seek to avoid – and it’s right there for the taking!).
- ✓ How to understand your prospects better than they know themselves and enter the conversation that’s already happening in their minds.
- ✓ How to achieve the magical milestone that makes a robust personal enterprise possible.
- ✓ Why a tiny email list can be the catalyst for immediate revenue and profit while building a broader audience, plus the true purpose of social media.
- ✓ How to design your website to maximize the business objectives that matter when it comes to building a profitable digital business.
Module Three:
- ✓ The best way to attract loads of email subscribers – it’s finally emerging from the underground!
- ✓ All the crucial criteria you need to consider when building your email list so you can accurately calculate ROI and maximize profit.
- ✓ How to “borrow” the expertise you need to attract a profitable audience and develop in-demand solutions.
- ✓ The “upside down” approach to audience-building that works way better than what everyone else is doing (which means pretty much no one is doing it this way… so the time is ripe to zig while others are mindlessly zagging).
- ✓ Why creating massive amounts of content is not a “free” traffic strategy, and how it can actually cost you in terms of mental health and digital business success.
- ✓ The common fallacy of the “lead magnet to tripwire product” approach that some still preach – even though it hasn’t worked in close to a decade.
- ✓ How to develop a buyer’s journey for people who are at different stages of awareness and motivation without driving yourself nuts with complicated email automation hacks.
- ✓ The key to understanding how your prospects think, feel, see, and behave in the context of your niche in order to simply tweak your core messages based on two critical audience distinctions.
- ✓ The one crucial aspect of yourself you must communicate to your audience to get them ready and willing to buy from you – and it’s related to something beyond your expertise.
Module Four:
- ✓ Why understanding the frustration, desperation, or even fear and anger your prospects are facing is crucial, and how to translate it into profitable action.
- ✓ How to draw out your most motivated prospects for instant return on investment when building your audience, and how to nurture the remaining people for future solutions.
- ✓ How to expand on the third “P” of effective thought leadership so that your prospects are absolutely compelled to tackle the problem that led them to you in the first place.
- The three core elements you need to attract an audience while making a profit from the very beginning.
- ✓ How to use high-impact free offers to gain audience traction in a way that your typical “lead magnet” simply can’t match.
- ✓ How to select a “media vehicle” that sells to your most motivated prospects while naturally nurturing your broader audience for new products and services.
- ✓ A deep dive into offers and how to make them irresistible in the context of your solutions.
- ✓ When to use a “soft offer” and when to go hard.
- ✓ The persuasion technique that dramatically alters (for the better) how a prospective buyer perceives a product or service, even though there’s been no actual change to the terms.
Module Five:
- ✓ Why the “worst case scenario” of the Personal Enterprise Growth Framework is a thriving client services business (and why you won’t want to stop there).
- ✓ The strategic process that allows you to productize your expertise by simply running a thriving business while working with your clients – so you can then stop working with clients, or simply pick and choose the most interesting and lucrative projects and people to work one-on-one with.
- ✓ How to use the “can’t fail” co-creation methodology that allows you to develop winning training programs that not only sell, but also create raving customers who can support your business for years to come.
- ✓ How to further productize your group coaching or cohort-based training program into a passive self-paced course that people will be compelled to complete – and be ready to buy more and tell others about.
- ✓ How to position your digital business for the upcoming shift related to augmented and virtual reality with smart decisions that benefit your business right now.
- ✓ The next natural step after productizing, and how it increases revenue while opening up entire new categories of products, services, events, and more.
- ✓ The Zen-like way you’ll come to know what your audience wants to buy next (there’s nothing “woo woo” about how powerful this is… and you’ve been honing it throughout the process you’re learning in the course).
- ✓ The new product development framework that allows you to naturally shift from “ideal audience member” to “perfect buyer persona.”
- ✓ How to aggressively expand your audience as you further expand your personal enterprise (or kick back and enjoy your lifestyle – with this approach, it’s totally your call on how ambitious you want to be)
Step 3: Tactical Training for Implementing Your Strategy
Now that you have a profile of your ideal prospect and an audience attraction and product development strategy, it’s time to execute! For that we’ve got five high impact roadmaps that explore traffic generation, email marketing, community building, and more.
Traffic and Audience Building Essentials
Traffic and Audience Building Essentials a four-lesson roadmap to successful email marketing at the intersection of strategy and technology.
- Delivering Strategic Value: How to Determine What Content to Create
- Let’s Get Technical: How Segmentation and Automation Work for Smarter Email Marketing
- Authority on Autopilot: How to Create a Self-Paced Email Course to Sell More
Email Marketing Essentials
Email Marketing Essentials a four-lesson roadmap to successful email marketing at the intersection of strategy and technology.
- Your Ideal Audience: How to Strategically Attract the Right Prospects
- Delivering Strategic Value: How to Determine What Content to Create
- Let’s Get Technical: How Segmentation and Automation Work for Smarter Email Marketing
- Authority on Autopilot: How to Create a Self-Paced Email Course to Sell More
Community Commerce Essentials
Community Commerce Essentials is a four-lesson roadmap to help you build a profitable online community.
- How to Position Your Community for Success
- 7 Principles for Creating Belonging in Online Communities
- The Important Lessons Every Online Community Builder Learns (Sooner or Later)
- How to Choose the Right Online Community Platform (And Set It Up For Success)
Website Essentials
Website Essentials is a four-lesson roadmap to help you build a rock-solid website that sells.
- The 4 Essential Steps for Planning a Website That Converts Prospects to Customers and Clients
- 7 Website Basics to Nail Down Before You Build
- DIY: How to Build Your Platform Yourself
- DFY: How to Get a Website Done For You (The Right Way and For The Right Price)
Agency Essentials for Freelancers
Agency Essentials is a four-lesson roadmap for ambitious freelancers who want to expand into an agency.
- Stop Thinking Like a Freelancer, Start Thinking Like a Business Owner
- How to Build Leverage Into Your Agency
- The Basics of Automating Sales and Workflow
- How to Turn Your Agency Into an Asset
These five “Essentials” programs sells individually for $120, adding up to $600 in value that’s available to you instantly when you join LEA.
Plus: On-Demand Expert Seminars
We’re not done yet. No matter what specialized topical help you may need, there’s likely an expert seminar in the Leading Expert Alliance that will provide guidance.
Here’s just some of the illuminating expert advice you’ll have instant access to:
Rand Fishkin
Pamela Slim
Charles Vogl
Azul Terronez
Trudi Roth
Denver Nowicz
Danielle Hughes
Daren Smith
Jay Acunzo
Each of these on-demand seminars are exclusive to LEA members, and are easily valued at $95 each. Even better, our seminar archive is added to each and every month along with all the other regular-scheduled value you receive from your membership.
Ongoing Education, Accountability, and Networking
Coaching:
✓ Monthly expert workshops on a core skill or tool.
✓ Periodic Q&As with Leading Expert founder Brian Clark.
✓ Monthly “Lunch and Learns” where community members present on their area of expertise.
✓ Discounted access to advanced coaching, consulting, and writing services.
Accountability:
✓ Weekly accountability threads for staying on track toward your goals.
✓ Member-led groups related to topics like imposter syndrome, building local sites, and more.
✓ Periodic Hot Seats to get tailored feedback from community members.
Networking:
✓ Open forum to ask questions and share resources.
✓ Leading Expert Marketplace to seek/barter products/services.
✓ Private messaging system to communicate with members and instructors.
✓ Regular live chats to network with members.
Here’s What Members are Saying:
I’ve attended many marketing workshops and taken many online courses, but nothing has impacted me more (by far) than the LEA community.
Brian Clark makes himself regularly available to the community to tackle their most pressing marketing questions and challenges. He doesn’t hold anything back. You’ll always get his very best recommendations, and he’s a deep well of wisdom on a broad range of marketing topics.
And Jerod Morris is a master at building community. He is totally transparent and is always tuned into the pulse of the community and nurturing and inspiring members.
I’ve created two high-value offers since I finished the course, and have sold two of them already. I’m living, walking proof that your system works and is so much easier than trying to increase traffic and sales of tripwire or low-ticket offers.
Also, I’m in the middle of this 2-week ‘done with you’ cohort based course inside my community. Wins coming in every day for those taking the course, new sign ups (at $495 a pop) coming in daily.
What happens when you start with your high ticket offer and let that inform your done-with-you and do-it-yourself offers is crazy alignment. Everything becomes so much easier.
Brian Clark’s personal enterprise approach provided a major A-HA moment for me and is a game changer for my solopreneur business. Embracing this framework enables me to follow a more structured, guided and connected approach in every facet of my business, from developing products and services, to marketing and collaborations.
The Leading Expert Alliance has been a tremendous addition to my business life. The community is first rate, and events like the regular Q&As with Brian and Jerod are extremely valuable — whether you’ve asked a question, or not. Everyone in this community, from Brian and Jerod down to the newest members are so giving of their time, knowledge and experience. I can’t recommend it more highly.
I am relatively new to the field, but having learned so much from Brian Clark I was excited to become a part of any group he created! In addition to being masters in the field, Brian and Jerod are always so supportive. Their knowledge has helped me grow and learn enough to be able to finally get started with my business.
It’s hard to find information and inspiration at the next level, especially for small businesses who aspire to big profits. I’ve been running an online business for over a decade and I’m finding the info provided in the community really useful and targeted. Thanks Brian and Jerod!
In addition to the helpful presentations and multiple learning opportunities, you’ll hang out with people who really get you. Brian Clark, with his decades of successful online entrepreneurship, is here to teach and help, and community members will provide feedback, help, and support through every step of your journey.
Brian nails it with the Personal Enterprise Growth Framework by flipping conventional wisdom on its head. His style of teaching brings concepts to life so you can apply them to building your business right now. The Personal Enterprise approach is the way forward.
The opportunity has never been better to create the lifestyle you want for yourself and your family. And there is nobody better to lead you along the path to build your personal enterprise than Brian Clark. If you are serious about a growth framework that helps you build and grow on your terms, this is the way.
What I love about the Personal Enterprise approach is that it’s a strategic blueprint for morphing a successful client services practice into unique digital IP that can be delivered online at scale. It’s an organic, thoughtful process designed for less financial risk and more likelihood of success.
Praise from Brian Clark’s Industry Colleagues:
Brian Clark knows first-hand what it takes to succeed in business today, and he shares that knowledge with a spirit of generosity.
If you work for yourself, you’d be crazy not to make Brian Clark’s advice a regular part of your week.
Some of the best business advice I’ve ever received came from Brian Clark.
Every strategically-minded creator needs Leading Expert. You’ll get the advice and tactics you need to grow, without hustle nonsense or magical thinking
Everything I’ve attempted to accomplish in business, Brian Clark did it first.
What’s the Investment?
Membership in the Leading Expert Alliance is $495 a year. And with the value of just the education you get instant access to adding up to thousands of dollars, it’s a no brainer.
That includes:
- The Leading Expert Marketing Framework ($150)
- Personal Enterprise Accelerator ($495)
- The Five “Essentials” Courses ($600)
- Complete Presentation Archive ($1,000+)
- Ongoing education, accountability, and networking ($495)
If you’re not happy, you can easily cancel at any time with the simple push of a button at your profile in the member area. No phone calls, no hassle, and no run around.
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
We want this to be even more of a risk-free decision for you. Sign up now and participate in the community for a full 30 days, and if it’s not for you, simply message Jerod or Brian for a full refund of your $495 and you’ll never be charged again.
Fair deal? Let’s get started!