Your Platform: Plant the Seeds

Want to succeed at all this? Then get your head around the fact that you’re a farmer now.

Your platform is your garden

It’s where you plant the seeds that grow up to become your customers, followers, and supporters. Even your future causes, products, and services!

Like farming, you have to consider all that goes into making a plant grow, survive, thrive, and bear fruit. The metaphors that spring to my mind are endless. so let’s assume you’re with me in the general sense.

You’re going to need patience, above all else

It takes time to grow your platform. You have a lot of prep work to complete before you even share it with the world. Then you have to maintain its growth by feeding it and designing it to keep out the weeds.

Done right, it will eventually bear fruit and become self sufficient to a great degree, too.

You’re only looking for your tribe

You want to grow your presence in a way that is of massive benefit to the right people. That’s key. The right people. Not all the people. And you don’t need many in order to support your mission.

The weeds will remove themselves

If you build your platform right, you’ll only hear from those who resonate with you and not from those who don’t. You’ll offer ways for your people to move forward with you and the ones who don’t dig you will just drop off. Very stress-free!

Platforms: Why, How, and Marketing

Jason Leister: Incomparable Expert

Platform and Mindset Development
Draw people in. Don’t chase them. Systematize it. Foster patience. Learn to be someone comfortable with this approach.

Smaller Budget Site Build System

Bluehost

Web Hosting, Email, Domain Registration
24/7, incredibly patient support team that WILL solve any hosting problem you might have.

StudioPress

Premium WordPress Themes and Design Support
Start your site build with the right framework. Designed by and used with Rainmaker, or any WordPress theme, when you’re ready.

S2 Member

Membership Site Development (optional ~ premium)
This is a WordPress plugin that lets you build a protected content member site and online store.

Necessary Tools And Help

Constant Contact

Autoresponders and Email Marketing
You need a way to automatically say hi to the new guys. You also want to keep that conversation going.

OptinMonster

Create Beautiful Lead Capture Forms
Takes email marketing forms from any service and makes them better!

Vimeo

Video Hosting
There are many services that will host your vids. But few offer what Vimeo does.

W3 Schools

Web Developer Code Tutorials
Unless you can afford a geek, you’re going to have to learn some code. I live here. Free!

Image Handling

PicMonkey

Image Editing
Very easy, yet very powerful editing tool suite anyone can master. Free & Premium.

Pixlr

Image Editor
Take the images you grabbed and edit them in phenomenal ways. Free!

Jing

Image Grabber
Grab the images or pieces that you are allowed to grab and make them fit where you want them to. Free!

Fotolia

Images, Vectors, Illustrations and Video Clips
I once used a $1.32 image without permission and had to pay a $500 fine. Don’t do that. Use these guys.

Unsplash

Free “Creative Commons Zero” Image Database
Incredible free images to use any way you’d like. (Gets you around the copyright issues safely.)