If there’s one thing I can sum up about the 2023 business lessons that I learned thus far is this – change is inevitable.

Well, that doesn’t sound like news to you, eh?

Yes, it sure is exhausting when so many changes happen to you all at once and at a rapid pace.

It can feel like nothing seems to be constant anymore apart from the inevitable change.

If that’s how you feel right now, I totally understand. I also feel the same way about all the changes that I’ve seen in 2023 alone.

But here’s the good news for you.

Some things seem to remain the same regardless of the changes we’re seeing right now.

Yes, they’re going through changes as well, at least from the process’s perspective.

But the fundamentals remain the same.

I’m sure you can guess what they are if you’ve been reading this blog long enough.

Now that we’re only days away from wrapping up 2023, it’s worth having a look at the 2023 business lessons that I learned and carry with us in 2024.

The money is indeed on the list

If you have been in the online marketing space as long as I have, then I’m sure you heard the phrase ‘the money is in the list’ as if it’s some kind of a chant among online marketers.

Well, guess what?

That mantra still holds true to this day even with gazillions of ways for us to promote our book.

So, why is it that having an email list can be the most powerful marketing arsenal you can have at your disposal?

The reason for that is simple – you have a direct way of communicating with your audience. And you own them.

Of course, you can do the same with social media if communicating with your audience is what you’re after.

But imagine when that said social media platform you use suddenly disappears from the face of the earth.

Or how about if the government bans the social media platform you use for whatever reason?

Even if none of those things happened, there’s a big chance that the said social media platform is no longer performing like it used to like what happened to me with Tumblr.

It’s because of this reason it’s important to own a direct communication with your audience.

And the best way to do that is none other than through email.

As far as the marketing message is concerned, it’s a lot easier to let your audience know about your book as opposed to letting them know through social media.

Anything that you post on social media tends to get diluted, anyway, with other posts competing for their attention.

So, you may as well let them know about your new releases through email. At least you can rest assured the message is getting through to them no matter when they open the email.

What you should do

It goes without saying that you should start building an email list now if you haven’t already.

And if you don’t know where to begin, you can take a look at my short guide right here on how you can get started with building an email list.

As you can see here, this is what I’m going to focus on going forward.

I have yet to finalize my plan to build and grow my email list.

But you can bet that I’ll share with you what I’m doing to build and grow my email list on this blog for sure.

All these systems will only work for you if you have an active website

Not going to lie that it’s nice to have a system that can help you with building your email list and selling your books directly to your readers in place.

But here’s the issue with those things that I’ve been saying on this blog for as long as I can remember.

Like it or not, those things will only work for you when you have an active website.

So, what do I mean by having an active website then?

You need ways to bring traffic to your website, of course.

Without traffic, none of these things will work in your favor.

This is what I noticed when I didn’t update any of the blogs, this one included, for such a long time.

Not only that the traffic took a nosedive. But it didn’t generate any sales and affiliate commissions at all.

The fiction author blog will only start generating affiliate commissions for me when I’m actively blogging on that blog once again.

Don’t get me wrong.

Having a system to build your email list and sell your books directly to your readers is important.

But it can only work when you have fresh content on your website. It won’t do anything to you if you leave it as it is.

What you should do

It’s no secret here that I’m a big fan of blogging since it’s something that I find easy to get started.

Just to be clear you don’t need to do blogging if it’s not your thing. You can give other forms of content marketing such as YouTube and podcasting if you’d like.

Don’t have the time and commitment to produce content?

You can also use Google Ads or Facebook Ads to drive traffic to your website.

If you’re new to paid advertising, I highly suggest you learn as much as you can about the advertising platform that you plan to use.

It can drain your wallet if you’re not careful.

Regardless of what you choose, remember that consistency is the key. It won’t give you the result you want if you’re not consistent in your marketing effort.

Social media doesn’t give you the result it claims

I used to believe that social media would eventually work for me if I learned how to use the platform properly and give it some time to make it work.

But alas, I don’t see any result at all regardless of what I do.

Did I make mistakes in all the things I have to do? It could be because there’s no way I can tweet 5 to 10 times a day just to gain some traction.

Do I need to give it more time for those strategies to work? Yes, I should give it some time. But I’ve been learning and tweaking them for years and I still don’t see any significant result.

And the worst thing of all, do I need to get these courses or tools considering the successful results many people get from that stuff?

Well, maybe I should.

But the thing is the free tips that I got from those free webinars don’t even work. So, what makes you think that the paid stuff will be any different?

Sad to say, I still don’t see any result from my social media efforts despite doing and tweaking them all for years.

What you should do

It’s okay to quit social media if it doesn’t seem to do anything to your book sales or it takes way too much of your time to keep them active.

I quit social media not too long ago and I don’t regret my decision, not even one bit.

Yes, I admit that I was anxious about it at first, thinking it would negatively affect my website traffic.

But guess what?

It doesn’t.

Well, the traffic that I got from social media is minuscule, anyway. So, it doesn’t seem to be that much different whether I’m active on social media or not.

Good for you if social media works amazingly well for you.

But if you’re in the same boat as me, there’s nothing wrong with quitting and trying something else.

You will still need to carry these lessons in 2024

Just because they’re the 2023 business lessons, it doesn’t mean they will stay and get buried in 2023 forever.

You can bet that you will still see the same lessons being carried over to 2024.

How 2024 will turn out is something that I’m not sure of. But one thing I know for sure is I look forward to seeing the lessons that I’m about to learn in 2024.

So, stay tuned for the 2024 business lessons that I learn as an author at the end of next year.