It’s consistent across the board for every freelancer, solopreneur, coach, or consultant who succeeds at making real money online.

See also:

1. 4 Most Critical Strategies for Freelancers & Solopreneurs
2. 5 Online Entrepreneur Types (Which Are You?)
3. Nail Your Niche: 6 Steps to the Perfect Target Audience
4. 6 Must-Have Ingredients for a KILLER Social Media Marketing Plan
5. How to Create an Online Course That Actually Makes Money

The 20-Mile March

To understand what it is, it’s helpful to learn a little history — specifically, the history of the journey to arrive at the South Pole.

In 1911, two teams departed on their own treks to be the first to reach the South Pole. One team was led by Roald Amundsen and the other was led by Robert Falcon Scott.

Scott’s team established the strategy that they would push forward hard on days when the weather was good, and rest when the weather was bad.

Admundsen’s team established the strategy that they would march 20 miles per day, every day, good weather or bad.

So, how did it turn out?

Well, there were a number of differences that came into play.

But Admundsen’s team made it to the South Pole and back, arriving back at their base camp on the exact day that he had projected.

On the other hand, a reconnaissance team found the frozen bodies of Scott and two of his team months later. The entire team had perished along the route.

What’s the marketing lesson behind this history lesson?

It’s the concept of the 20-Mile March: or daily, consistent action.

You define a set of tasks that you will complete every day, day in and day out, week after week, and month after month… And you continue doing this consistently, daily, until you reach your defined objective.

Zero-Level Marketing

So let’s get a little more specific on how this relates to freelancers, solopreneurs, coaches, or consultants who succeed online.

One of my friends is a successful online marketer, who has made a consistent, reliable 6 figures online every year since 2008. She has a set of tasks that she completes every day. She calls this her Zero-Level Marketing.

Zero-Level Marketing is a set of activities that she completes every day, no matter what. It’s the foundation, and other promotion activities build on top of that.

She says that Zero-Level Marketing should be something like brushing your teeth. You just feel uggy if you don’t do it every day. And, it becomes a habit that you do without even thinking about it.

Here is her Zero-Level Marketing.

1. She writes her email list.
2. She creates and shares a piece of content.
3. And, she makes 10 new friends on social media with people in her industry.

For myself, I have what I call my Daily Dozen. It’s actually less than a half-dozen, but each activity has a couple of sub-tasks. And, frankly, Daily Dozen is just easy to say and remember.

1. I write my email list (if an email is on my promotion calendar).
2. I post on Medium
3. I engage with my followers on Twitter.
4. And, I review my scheduled posts on Twitter

I have other things that I do on top of this, from time-to-time, but this is the foundation. And, I do this day in, day out, week after week, month after month.

What is YOUR 20 Mile March?

So, what is your own particular 20-Mile March? How can you create your own Zero-Level Marketing that builds on that concept?

For example… Suppose you decided to focus on one specific social media network, with the intent to add subscribers to your email list. Suppose that by taking daily, consistent action, you added 15 new subscribers to your email list per day.

See also: Email List Building for Absolute Newbies

And, suppose that you wrote to your email list every day, sending a newsletter filled with incredible value.

In a month, you’d have 450 new subscribers.

In a year, you’d have 5400 new subscribers.

Suppose that, after the first 90 days, you decided to add a second social media network, and that you defined a set of daily actions for that network, as well.

In a year, you’d have a robust, vibrant email list with over 10,000 subscribers. And, several studies have shown that a properly managed email list should be able to generate $1 per month, per subscriber. That consistent, daily, 20-Mile March that you created for yourself would generate an income for you of $10,000 per month, after the first year.

And, quite a bit leading up to then, as well.

So, what’s keeping you from your own 20-Mile March?

Did This Help You? If so, it would be awesome if you hit the Follow button, so you get an update when I publish my next story.