You’ll know Omar Zenhom from The $100 MBA and Webinar Ninja. He started his journey towards becoming the master of online marketing after 13 years as a teacher.
Now, he and his partner Nicole are taking the business world by storm.
Omar used his background in education as a tool for marketing, which makes him one of the best at what he does.
His frustration while attending Wharton Business School is what led to him dropping out and building The $100 MBA.
He has since found a better way of educating people on how to develop a business, and revolutionized it forever.
But how has he actually grown his businesses into the big successes of today? With the help of his wife Nicole and his constant focus on content creation.
While chatting with Omar, he offered 6 tips for winning the online game.
Click here to grab the Omar Zenhom interview transcript >>>
It’s got his every word
[player]
#1 Control Your Own Business
Or if you can’t have complete control, at least share it with your partner like Omar does.
Part of the reason you would have started your business was so you could have full control over your own destiny. So when you’re starting out, fight to keep full control of what you’re growing.
Omar doesn’t believe in the method of growing a business by going out and searching for the funding. That’s because the more people you have in the pot, the less control you’ll have.
You’re no longer just answering to yourself and you can no longer call the shots. You’ll find that they will put pressure on you to provide a quick return for their investment.
Sure, it may end up taking longer to grow the business, but it will happen at your own pace. Growing slower actually gives you the opportunity to adjust, implement and enjoy the process of becoming a success.
At Marketing for Owners, we are building from the ground up
However, by avoiding the funding route, you’re making it harder for yourself. You need to have the commitment and drive to get through the rough patch. He set a deadline to get it finished, and he made sure he hit it.
Omar took the radical step of saying no to work for 2 and a half months to concentrate on building The $100 MBA course. He took the risk that it would pay off in the end.
But even more drastic was to give customers life-long unlimited access for just $100.
Thankfully, it all paid off. He has control and hasn’t got to share any of the benefits; except with Nicole.
#2 Become A Teacher Yourself
Omar’s time in education was his greatest education of all.
He was an academic teacher for a long time. With a Master’s in Education, time spent as a high school teacher and teacher of English overseas, he was well established.
And his time developing new teachers makes him well-experienced in helping others achieve their overall goal.
This background has taught him how to communicate ideas, which is a skill essential to producing content online.
But it’s also a skill which is pivotal on becoming a success in the world of business.
Being able to communicate clearly and concisely gives you an advantage when trying to sell your products.
It also gives you the ability to manage a crowd and have stage presence, which is essential when doing public speaking of any sort.
So if you don’t already have these skills, you’ll need to learn what it takes to teach.
Books are great mentors. But you may also benefit from taking a few lessons from a teacher. A lot of us know teachers, so harness that information.
Have a chat with one and learn what it takes to become a great teacher.
Many people think that teaching is easy and that anyone can do it. But there’s a reason why teachers need a lot of qualification. After all, we need the best people educating the next generation.
#3 Market Yourself With Guest Posting
During those 2 and a half months Omar spent preparing his course, he also focused on marketing it. He was marketing long before he even had a product to sell.
Click here to grab the Omar Zenhom interview transcript >>>
It’s got his every word
The result was that he built up his awareness, got the brand known and had prospective customers already queuing.
This is because he harnessed the power of guest posting. He got himself out there and in front of the people he thought would want to use The $100 MBA. He made the most of the already-made audiences which existed.
However, there is a skill to guest posting with success. It’s easy to say no to someone when they’re only pitching an idea.
So when Omar wrote guest posts, he made sure he did his research. He got a feel for the content they had already produced and what their customers wanted. Then he’d write it before even contacting them.
It’s a lot easier to get a yes when you’ve already given them the finished product and done all the hard work.
This presents a win-win situation. They get content on their website which cost them nothing. And you get free marketing which only cost you time.
And then do it again and again for other people in different marketplaces. It’s a great and wide-ranging marketing strategy.
Offering an incentive, such as a freebie, will then help motivate their readers into becoming your customers. You’ve got guaranteed money coming in.
Which is a relief after a few months of hardship.
#4 Give Before You Receive, Then Keep On Giving
Don’t be afraid of giving stuff away for free. You’re building value and building trust.
At Marketing For Owners, we love giving stuff away – like our 71 Tools Ebook.
That’s why so many people produce endless content for their customers in the form of blogs, eBooks, videos, and podcasts. It’s almost a ‘try before you buy’ mentality.
None of them cost very much to produce, so they’re an ideal way of getting potential customers on board. And plus it will be there forever.
Years after you produce a blog, you’ll still find that it’s working just the way you intended.
Look at how much Omar produces: He has a weekly blog on the $100 MBA and Webinar Ninja, as well as a free video course, five full eBooks, and a daily podcast.
Constantly fill them all with good information and ensure you’re being of service. You’re going to get noticed if it’s of any worth.
But you’re unlikely to find instant success, and you may end up doing a lot of work without much instant return. You’re going to need to avoid getting hung up on why nobody is noticing you.
Instead of spending a year wondering why you’re not known, spend a year producing content. Everything you produce unlocks another way in which people on the Internet can find you.
When you do finally hit upon that success, don’t stop what you’re doing. You don’t just market your business once, you do it over and over again.
You can’t just take your audience for granted. You need to stay humble and treat them with respect. You’ll want to keep them coming back to you.
At a party, you take the time to introduce yourself to everyone and get to know them. But after a few times, you don’t just stop socializing.
You keep on at it. You build the relationships and have a rapport with them.
And that’s exactly what you should be doing with your online content. Get to know your customers, and let them get to know you too.
#5 Understand What Your Customers Want
You’ll need to know your customers intimately. It helps if you know exactly what they want, and don’t want.
And you’ll always want to be evaluating them as well. Their desires change. Your customer base might even change over time. You should be staying on top of every change.
In the modern world, that’s easy to do. By joining the forums and reading blogs, you will get kept in the loop. You’ll see what problems they’re having and that could spark your next great idea.
This is especially important for Omar. He recalls the advice given to him by Noah Kagan of AppSumo and SumoMe when starting Webinar Ninja: With software, there is no finish line. You keep improving, changing, growing, and fixing bugs.
To be able to solve a problem simply for your customers, monitoring what your customers are saying online is invaluable. It can help you find areas of improvement which you may have never thought of.
So it’s important to invest time in getting to know your customers, and then keep talking with them.
#6 Recognize The Potential Of Webinars
When it comes to building a rapport with your customers, webinars are a great way of achieving that. They get to connect with you on a much more personal level, and there is the option to communicate with them.
Click here to find out about Omar’s free 7 day course
And doing this regularly is the closest you might come to meeting with people and building the relationship and trust.
It was Omar’s own attempts at producing webinars which led to him creating Webinar Ninja. He came up with a solution to making it easier to control the video, chat and everything else in one place.
People then kept asking him what he was using. And then when it kept selling out, he noticed there was a market for what he had created. Webinars were no longer a pain for everyone.
And now Omar does webinars on making webinars. Along with a lot else, he is teaching people how to teach when they produce a webinar.
Webinars are a great way of training people how to use your product. Or to help them use someone else’s product. It’s about helping them make the most of the resources they have available.
And when you host a webinar you’re using, practicing and developing your teaching ability.
As you do it, remember to ask ‘Are you getting it?’ That way you know whether you’re explaining yourself properly for them to comprehend. If not, it gives you an opportunity to find a different way of explaining.
Before you know it, you could be building a community of people who love you and love your brand.
And Finally
Omar has a lot he can teach you. On The $100 MBA, he can help you with everything from the day-to-day running of a business, to marketing.
Reading his blogs will also help you to see how you can educate customers on your website.
His podcasts are also full of a variety of information. He answers questions, talks to other great entrepreneurs, and gives you lots of valuable information.
Click here to grab the Omar Zenhom interview transcript >>>
It’s got his every word
And don’t forget to make use of his free eBooks and courses either. With his aid, you’ll soon begin growing your idea and start giving your customers exactly what they want.
If you fancy making a webinar as part of your business, then be sure to head over to Webinar Ninja as well. His free course will help you to launch your first show and develop your skills.
Connect with Omar and Nicole