Our sponsorship program has ended having fully delivered its mission.
Congrats to all of our successful applicants on their spectacular achievements through this program!
(For those who were thinking of applying, but didn’t … Procrastination is a thief.
You can still work with SMARTSTART. Reach out if you want our help.)
Got a solid business or business idea, but no lottery win or trust fund you can draw on to make the dream happen as quickly as you might like? Looking to carve out a place at the top as an expert, thought leader or influencer?
Working a side hustle and waking up every morning wanting to hand in your resignation so you can pursue your business dream full-time? Tired of seeing others succeed online and thinking “Dammit, that should be me!”
Do roughly 2+ years of business building in just 3 months with expert professional guidance. Learn how to create unlimited income from your business ideas. And make competition irrelevant.
SMARTSTART is the Juilliard of digital business schools for discerning entrepreneurs. Our timeless bespoke training dramatically improves your business results through intentional business development and integrated strategic digital marketing.
SMARTSTART has been putting entrepreneurs in the top 1% of those who succeed online for 20 years now. Over 264,000 digital business owners know the difference SMARTSTART makes to business success. Why not you too?
Do you believe in the value of your professional expertise, products, programs and services and want to use the internet to create income for yourself while having a greater impact on the world?
We start by helping you ENVISION your future as an enlightened business leader capable of generating unlimited revenue in your business. That’s step one, the pre-work of embracing The Power of PURPOSE!
Then, there are 10 collaborative work sessions covering:
After completing our program, you’ll have:
SMARTSTART helps build profitable, standout businesses that make competition irrelevant for extraordinary entrepreneurs, experts, and visionary leaders with high potential.
For 20 years, our innovative philanthropy program made it possible for business owners to enjoy the rewards of helping others, by first helping themselves. And, we’re still working with a select few business owners each year who want help creating a business and marketing success story.
Many past participants in SMARTSTART, people of all ages from many different walks of life, are now living their business dreams. You can too!
We have one mission – fast-tracking your business success by providing access to reliable resources, expertise and professional guidance/support that otherwise might not be available to you.
Many businesses struggle to survive due to a lack of:
We help prevent visionary business leaders from wasting their time, money and energy by filling those gaps as they work on establishing a strong online presence capable of creating sustainable high income for themselves from their marketable business ideas.
You’ll be choosing your revenue streams and defining the revenue model(s) you want to use as well as the strategies for bringing money into your business. Then you’ll be crafting your unique business success map and your strategic marketing plan with expert professional guidance and support over 90 days (10 collaborative work sessions).
You’ll say “goodbye” to guesswork! And stop going around in circles.
You’ll be absolutely clear on what you need to do to build a wildly successful business, including:
You’ll learn new skills and let go of unproductive thinking and behavior putting an end to feeling stuck and overwhelmed forever.
You’ll discover the most efficient and effective ways to implement the best strategies for meeting your specific business goals and marketing objectives and achieving rapid results at the least cost.
You won’t be doing it all alone; you’ll have direct, personal access to a leading specialist in strategic business development and integrated marketing who works with you as a collaborative partner from start to finish.
Sound good?
For a quick one-minute introduction to how SMARTSTART helps you create unlimited predictable revenue in your business, watch the video below:
SMARTSTART began as a $50M social experiment in 2002 and became available online in May 2007. It quickly grew to helping many thousands of business owners build their dreams in 93 different countries around the world. (As of January, 2021 over 264,000 entrepreneurs know the difference SMARTSTART makes to business success.)
No dream is too small or too large to qualify for participating in our innovative philanthropy program.
To date, SMARTSTART has provided more than 100,000 hours of subsidized professional services, project management, team building and strategic digital marketing and business development advice, in combination with various levels and types of education, financial aid and other assistance given to entrepreneurs and experts with demonstrated high potential for business and leadership success.
Here’s how we’ve helped some of our SMARTSTARTers who are just like you!
Sara Oblak Speicher shares her SMARTSTART experience.
Anita Toth shares her SMARTSTART experience.
Wayne Kelly shares his SMARTSTART experience.
Judith and Jim share their SMARTSTART experience.
Perhaps you can relate to these recent applicant success stories.
CLIENT 1:
Like so many people out there, this client had spent a fortune on masterminds that didn’t deliver on their promises. Worse, she had paid a hefty 5-figure fee to a marketing consultant who did not complete the work despite being granted deadline extensions totaling 5 months.
This client has an awesome signature program with a great track record, but no comprehensive digital marketing strategy, support or campaign plan to consistently generate leads, qualify prospects and drive sales. Her challenge? Creating increasing, consistent demand for services.
After the digital marketing review, she had 119 recommendations to consider designed to create marketing momentum to help her be seen, heard and found, a 90-day plan identifying what to focus on first, and an annual marketing and promotion campaign calendar to work with to guide implementation. She’s been adding new clients consistently with much less effort every week and has added multiple additional team members to meet demand!
CLIENT 2:
This man dreamed of making a major impact by changing the lives of children around the world. He’d created several successful small-scale local initiatives and had written a book (but didn’t know how to sell it) and wanted a wider stage for spreading his message of hope and unlimited possibility for all (but didn’t know how to work with the media). Like many, he had a limited budget, had tried a lot of ways to move his ideas forward (that weren’t working out) and didn’t know where to go or what to do next without losing everything. By narrowing his focus, building strategic relationships, and concentrating on the right things he was able to succeed beyond his wildest dreams in <1 year!
CLIENT 3:
The due diligence review revealed she had a new (and viable) business idea, an old website, no significant social media following, a terrible webinar, sales and marketing funnels that didn’t convert, a stale brand and a history of wasting heaps of money on poo-rus and others who delivered very little useful to growing her business. And every month she was paying for tools and applications she simply didn’t need.
Today, 18 months later, she has an awesome brand, two signature programs (one that delivered 6-figures in revenue last year and another solidly positioned to deliver 7-figures this year), a growing social media presence, an expert sales team and the right strategic partners in place to help keep her business moving forward. She is currently streamlining her martech stack and is well-positioned for exponential growth year after year. And she’s not the only one.
Any of these could be your story too …
Here are just a few of the hundreds of other client success stories powered by SMARTSTART to inspire you!
Our program provides a mix of customized support and expert strategic business development and digital marketing advice based on what your intake assessment shows is needed to best move your business dream forward. When you aspire to become a top leading expert, industry thought leader or high profile influencer, it’s no longer about lead generation, it’s about establishing your online presence and generating demand for “brand you.”
IMPORTANT NOTE: The length of time needed to build your business dream and generate demand at the level you desire varies depending on the:
Fast learners and action takers make rapid progress in 90 days, the first of which are devoted to learning how to use our recursive methodology called SMARTSTART! It isn’t a race, but the idea is to get you the best results possible and have you working independently in the least amount of time. Many of our program participants recoup the full cost of the program before they’ve even completed the training!
Others with more to learn and do or who need longer than that may be considered for additional support and assistance contingent on the progress they have made and the commitment they’ve shown to building their business and preeminence online.
Come join us where data science, strategic thinking and modern craft meet!
SMARTSTART works with extraordinary entrepreneurs and experts with high potential whose raw idea, concept or existing business has a viable and verifiable market. Your mindset and attitude must also be well suited to your aspirations; establishing yourself as a visionary business leader is not for the timid or non-action takers.
Your business can be any size and in any stage of the life cycle (i.e., start-up, launch, growth, expansion, or scale).
Your products and services might currently be being marketed online, offline or a combination of the two.
Of course, if yours is a completely new idea or concept, you won’t likely have any marketing in place for analysis, but this does not disqualify you as an applicant. In fact, this was precisely the situation of our most recent beneficiary of the program who came to us with nothing but an idea to work with. We essentially had to start over from scratch.
Also, while there may not be any revenue in your business at the time of your application, the potential for significant revenue growth over time must be apparent (again, as verified by our own independent research).
As the business owner and leader, you can be anywhere on the spectrum of completely inexperienced to highly experienced in your industry, but you must have a certain character and work ethic and commit to upholding high standards of professional excellence to participate in program benefits.
Our goal is to help you realize your business dreams as quickly as possible. Depending on the size of your dream and how hard you’re willing to work to achieve it and establish your online presence, timelines do vary.
The support offered through our program is unique to the specific needs and strengths of each client; there are no one-size-fits-all solutions in SMARTSTART.
Click the red button to begin the application process!
All applications receive equal consideration during the selection process.
We are specifically looking for businesses, leaders and ideas with high potential for successful development. Typically successful applicants share one of more of the following characteristics, in that they:
IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not apply to any SMARTSTART program if you are someone who wants to half-ass the work while expecting whole-ass results. Also, we do not invest in the following industries: pornography, big pharma, supplements, financial or real estate investing, or multi-level marketing schemes.
We have a two-stage selection process for all applicants:
The first review involves completing an application form as part of our intake assessment.
There are NO WRONG ANSWERS to the questions. We just need to learn more about you, your business dream(s) and your aspirations.
We might also ask you to complete one or more additional assessments at a later stage of the selection process. (We pay the cost of these, if applicable.)
It usually takes no more than 3 business days to learn the status of your application. A short call will be arranged at mutual convenience for those being offered an interview with respect to joining our program.
Those whose applications are selected to move on to the selection round are invited to complete two additional interviews with current participants in the program so they can find out more about what’s involved in this work and get candid, objective answers to their questions about what it’s like to be in SMARTSTART.
It’s only AFTER you complete these interviews, that you’ll make a final decision as to whether or not you want to join and buy your seat in the private coaching program.
Successful applicants receive a follow-up call to discuss what we can offer to support their unique needs at the completion of the selection review. There is no obligation to proceed further unless you want to take advantage of the benefits of our collaborative support program.
It costs you nothing to apply to the SMARTSTART Philanthropy Program. So, if this is something that interests you, do not delay getting your submission in to us for review.
Let’s build your dream!
