So, WHAT Is Business By Design?

It's quite hard to explain because it is an online course, online processes, online recourses, online step by step, online community... etc etc - and everything in-between for you to run a successful online business, and it's more than that too!

Don't let any of that overwhelm you, instead let's start with HOW I got to be part of BBD (Business By Design).

Back in 2016...

I was dabbling with the thoughts and ideas of 'one day' creating an online course, generating my own income, and living a more free lifestyle. 

I am a daddy to 3 amazing little boys all under the age of 10, and I was working full time in central London in an office job that was no longer fulfilling me.

I wanted more in life... I wanted to spend more time with my children... I didn't want to rely on my employer to shape my future and dictate what I can and can't do. I knew there was another way, but I hadn't quite figured it out myself!

I had spent several months (8 to be exact) trying to work things out on my own and there wasn't really anything out there that taught you HOW to set up your own online digital business!

But that all changed in February 2016 when I had received an email from James Wedmore announcing that he was running a competition where a small number of lucky winners will get the opportunity to be part of a FREE 8-Week group coaching program with James himself.

James's BETA Program...

Inside the 8-week coaching program via Zoom every Wednesday, James was going to reveal his EXACT blueprint for how he makes millions of dollars every year with his online courses, and the lucky winners will be coached to be able to do the same.

I was INCREDIBLY excited, and I had to somehow manifest my way to become one of the lucky few.

All I had to do was upload a 2 minute video as to WHY I should be chosen...

👇 this was the original sign up form 👇

I am not going to show you my video because it is too embarrassing, but all you need to know is...

I GOT IN! 🍾

Little did I know...

Those incredible, life changing 8-weeks with James would one day turn into Business By Design.

And since 2016, I have had the absolute pleasure to witness the birth, and the growth of Business By Business...

I was there before it even got its name, and have seen BBD grow into an incredible online course that it is today.

And the ONE thing I love above all about BBD (other than the fact that I personally helped James with some of the development of BBD), is James's original vision was to create a course designed to set you on the path to success for your business.

That’s why it’s called Business by Design. It’s business by YOUR design. And that is still TRUE today!

Business By Design isn't a course where you start from the beginning, and finish the end and you're done!

Oh No!

It is MORE THAN THAT!

When I first started my business, I needed a sales process, I needed passive income, and I needed help with marketing. And thats exactly what I got from BBD. My first EVER online launch generated me over $22,000 from one webinar.

But as your business grows, you need to learn to let go of things and look to grow other areas.

The next stage in my business was to hire staff so that I wasn't juggling everything and burning out. And so again, I jumped into BBD and learnt HOW to hire staff, where to source the right staff at an affordable fee, and how to start growing a team that will in return grow my business.

Once I had a team looking after admin stuff for me, this gave me the freedom to pivot my business into a next level of income. I wanted to add a high end coaching ticket as well as still offering my $500 course. And once again, I jumped into BBD again and learnt everything I needed to plan, create, and launch a high ticket coaching program.

And even to this day, Business By Design just keeps improving and KEEPS helping me scale my business.

Is It Right For Me?

This is normally the first question that comes to mind for most people and truth be told, it should be!

Not all courses are designed for everyone, so it's important that you only pay for programs that are going to help you move your business forward.

After speaking directly with James and his team, they clarified and said this is who Business By Design is for:

• Digital course creators
• Coaches and consultants
• Service providers
• Content creators/online influencers (blogger, vloggers, social media influencers and podcasters)

And here's who it's NOT for:

• E-commerce business owners
• Brick and mortar business owners 

Ideally, if you're looking to become an expert in your field or you already are, but you're yet to fully monetize your presence, then Business By Design is right for you.

Anything Else I Should Know?

Before the global pandemic, every BBD member has the opportunity to join James at his annual event, BBD LIVE, for FREE.

Inside Business By Design

The Business By Design program is split into 6 training modules. Plus processes, templates, scripts taking you step by step through most activities you'll do as a business owner.

They are:

• Module 0: BBD Foundations 
• Module 1: YOU By Design
• Module 2: WORKING By Design
• Module 3: OFFER By Design 
• Module 4: Your Sales System
• Module 5: TEAM By Design
• Module 6: SCALE By Design

All modules also come with:

• Written PDF transcripts
• Interactive workbooks
• Mentioned resources
• Assessments
• Step-by-step procedures

Plus Processes & Executions

• 9x SPECIFIC Outcome-Oriented Goal EVERY 90 Days (more info below)
• 13x Resources and Business Processes
• 5x Before, During & After The LAUNCH Process
• 11x Launch Execution Guides (from webinars, challenges, video series and 8 more)

New for 2021

• 16 weeks of live coaching with James and his stellar team of coaches. And each training session will focus on one of these three areas:
  • Niche Alignment
  • Offer Alignment
  • Launch Alignment

BBD Module Breakdown:

When you join, you'll start by taking the Foundations module.

Inside you'll find out what to expect from the program and how to join the BBD community. There's also information on your ticket to Business By Design Live going down in 2022.

The final step in Module 0 is to sign up for a 90 Day Action Plan, which is like a “choose your own adventure”.

You pick an option and it spits out a 90 day plan to work on to achieve results. 

The options include: 

• Nailing your niche
• Building an audience
• Hiring someone
• Identifying what you're going to sell
• Putting systems in place
• Relaunching an existing product  
• Launching a beta product
• Still Don't Know Where To Start?
• BONUS: Reverse Engineer Your Goals for Money on Demand? 

This module is designed to help you understand the one person who matters the most in your business, YOU!

It focuses mainly on the mindset aspects of what it takes to become an online entrepreneur.

It breaks down into 7 lessons:

• Lesson 1: Creating YOU By Design
• Lesson 2: The Number 1 Thing All Successful Digital CEO's Have
• Lesson 3: Your Beliefs About Business
• Lesson 4: Your Beliefs About Money
• Lesson 5: Alignment
• Lesson 6: Your Relationship With Time
• Lesson 7: How To LET GO Of The Biggest Thing Holding You Back 

My Thoughts?

This module is less about spiritual references and more about understanding how the mind works. That way you can adjust it before you start diving into the more practical material.

I personally think this is a huge problem most entrepreneurs will face and I actually congratulate James for having the courage to talk about it in a business program.

Most business courses like this skip over the psychological aspects of what it really takes to run a business and James does a good job communicating this in each lesson.

Next up in Module 2, the focus is on developing the right working habits in your business. 

Some key topics include: 

• 90-day planning
• Understanding key metrics
• How to work on needle moving projects

The lessons break down like this:

• Lesson 1: Intro video
• Lesson 2: Define Your Breakthrough YEAR
• Lesson 3: How We Run Our Business
• Lesson 4: Mount Everest Exercise For 90 Day Cycles
• Lesson 5: Know Thy Numbers
• Lesson 6: Elevating Your Role
• Lesson 7: 2 Essential Ingredients For Getting Anything Done
• Lesson 8: How We Work As Team 
• Lesson 9: The Ascension Model 
• Lesson 10: Direct Response 
• Lesson 11: Principles Of Marketing  

My Thoughts?

James has upgraded this module several times since 2016. He really UP-LEVELLED it up in 2018 and he has recently come back to improve it even more.

More recently I have dived back into this module, and more so with Lesson 8 because I have always struggled to manage a team myself and I got some really good takeaways from that lesson. I also re-worked my ascension module as my business changed during the pandemic so Lesson 9 was really helpful recently too.

Module 3, probably one of the MOST important modules inside BBD. From memory James changed it in 2019 when it was called “BUSINESS By Design”. 

I asked James why he decided to replace 2 new modules last year and he mentioned that most people said they were struggling to come up with an offer and sell it to people who wanted it.

That's why he is focusing heavily on solving those two issues.

Here are the lessons:

• Lesson 1: Intro
• Lesson 2: Core Ingredients Of An Irresistible Offer
• Lesson 3: Nailing Your Promise (Part 1)
• Lesson 4: Nailing Your Promise (Part 2)
• Lesson 5: The Right Process
• Lesson 6: The Pricing Framework
• Lesson 7: Bundles & Bonuses
• Lesson 8: Risk Reversal
• Lesson 9: Scarcity & Urgency
• Lesson 10: The Story
• Lesson 11: Homerun Offer Examples
• Lesson 12: How To Know If You Have A Homerun Offer

My Thoughts?

I used to really struggle with my offer, and for some reason the whole process seemed too long and too overcomplicated.

But when James recently change this whole module out, it was a gamechanger for me.

If you want to discover EXACTLY what your people want, and how to give it to them in the form of an online program, this module solves that problem by showing you EXACTLY how to craft an irresistible offer!

The focus here is getting sales for the new offer you have just created

Here's the lesson breakdown: 

• Lesson 1: Intro
• Lesson 2: The Messaging Framework
• Lesson 3: Your Ideal Customer
• Lesson 4: Their Struggle
• Lesson 5: The Transformation
• Lesson 6: Their Mistakes
• Lesson 7: The Missing Ingredient
• Lesson 8: The Objections
• Lesson 9: The Origin Story
• Lesson 10: Identifying Case Studies
• Lesson 11: Identifying First Steps
• Lesson 12: Content That Sells
• Lesson 13: The Pivot
• Lesson 14: Putting It All Together
• Lesson 15: Identifying The Right Launch For You

My Thoughts?

This module was pretty huge for me. Here's why.

Coming from a corporate world, sales process in B2B is very different to the online sales process. Selling has always been a mind block for me. That feeling of slight embarrassment, and the feeling of failure always lurking on my shoulder.

What this module did was to transition my beliefs around selling from trying to push offers onto people to understanding the process of pulling them in. This is something my old B2B world really could learn from.

I am going to be honest here. I didn't really dive into this Module when I first started out. But roughly 18 months into running my business I needed help because I was juggling all the tasks. So I dived into this module and 'OH BOY' it literally saved me (and my business)! James covers 4 phases of hiring and I really like how he has laid this out.

 The 4 Phases Are:

1. You (solopreneur)
2. Outsourcing (hiring affordable VA's on Upwork)
3. Freelancers (higher paid professionals)
4. In-House Team (growing your own team) 

Here are the lessons:

• Lesson 1: Intro
• Lesson 2: Which Phase Are You In?
• Lesson 3: What Exactly Is YOUR Role?
• Lesson 4: Who To Hire
• Lesson 5: Hiring A VA
• Lesson 6: Local Hiring Process
• Lesson 7: Getting Stuff Done

My Thoughts? 

As a solopreneur you are going to need help at some point and James has a unique process in finding an affordable virtual assistant which will help you grow much faster. 

This module really highlighted for me WHY I love BBD because for some of you (like me when I was juggling everything), the idea of building a team might be a long way off, however James does talk about moving through 4 phases of hiring and when I was typing this out, I realised just how much I keep relying on BBD at different stages of my business growth.

The final module and the 6th module inside Business By Design is dedicated to scaling your business.

In layman's terms...

You finally have all the pieces together; the offers, the marketing strategy, the team, the processes, the front end, the back, and everything else which means it is time to take your business to the next level and scale it beyond a million dollars.

Here's the lesson breakdown:

• Lesson 1: Intro
• Lesson 2: Post-Launch Process
• Lesson 3: When A Launch Fails
• Lesson 4: Increasing Promotion Performance
• Lesson 5: Increasing Your Launch List
• Lesson 6: Automation
• Lesson 7: Thank You Video

My Thoughts?

It is very rare to see other coaches or course creators talk about things like post launch analysis. Or how to improve on your current results inside your business.

Most businesses are successful because of the principles and lessons you learn from the mistakes you made/ or from the results you didn't get.

I believe there is too much misinformation around thinking your first launch or promotion should be a success.

The reality is, and James points this out, it takes a few attempts at promoting the same product before you start to get some traction.

WHEN IS BBD AVAILABLE?

James only opens the doors to Business By Design once a year, and those doors are usually only open for 4 days!

If you're excited to be the NEW class of 2021, your opportunity to join BBD opens on Monday, June 28th 2021.

👉 If you are ready to jump in and change the way you run an online business (the right way), you can CLICK the link here to upgrade your investment and be sure to get these special bonuses.

My FINAL Thoughts + Pro's & Con's:

Most online courses specialise in a specific area of sales or marketing, or launch an online course and that is all they offer. I can see why it might be challenging to market an online course that practically teaches everything but James really is doing what he does best, overdelivering!

Even still, like every online program, there are some missing elements inside Business By Design.

For example, I believe a good addition would be to bring in other experts who specialise in specific areas like 'How To Use Facebook Ads For Your Launch' or bring in an online software platform CEO like Clay Collins of LeadPages who James knows well and have a lesson on 'How To Create a High Converting Webinar Sign Up Page'. BBD does cover these inside the processes section, but live training from a specialist in a specific field would be gamechanging. 

My guess is that he didn't want to overwhelm people, which is something that's a huge problem in the business coaching world today.

I also have heard from previous students that because there are so many people enrolled each time, it can be a bit challenging to get all of your questions answered (which is WHY I have added this as one of my bonuses so NEW students of BBD enrolling under my link have their own private professional coach to ask those burning questions from someone who has been inside BBD with James since the very beginning).

As mentioned already, one of the the biggest WINS you get is the 3-day, in person live event called BBD Live where you actually get to meet James in person and get his feedback on your business.

Even huge programs like B-School by Marie Forleo don't offer anything like this.

The other key standouts are getting access to the same procedures James uses for his business which are hyper-detailed and modules 1 and 2 which I haven't seen in any other online business program.

A SMALL CON:

For me being in the UK, and having a small family, one slight small draw back is that BBD Live is usually held in California which is 8 hours + on a plane, plus taxis and hotels and not to mention meals and other expenses. 

That said, it is a conference like no other. It’s so different and it’s a lot of fun, the guest speakers in the past have been Amy Porterfield, Stu McClaren and more, and it’s really informative, you get to connect with a lot of people, and make amazing friends. It is a long way for a few short days but it is also an event I really hate missing.

BIG PRO:

You also have lifetime access to Business by Design when you join. It’s not a membership, there are no recurring fees. You don’t have to renew to stay in the group or anything like that. Some courses I have invested in that were over $1000 only come with a 12 months access and you need to renew every year (that is a BIG no no for me).

But not James. You just make that investment. You make that purchase, you go through it, and every time it gets updated or content gets added to it, more bonuses are added, which James does pretty much every year, you get all of that. So it’s a lifetime access type of thing.