Ep. 12: Secrets of Connection-Based Marketing with Elissa Odell of Huxly

We believe in reciprocity and value exchange. And so if you think about it, how do we build relationships today? Through a conversation.

Welcome to the Prosperous Woman Podcast. I'm Claire Sellers, a business mentor and coach who is absolutely obsessed with helping you create the business of your dreams and your most prosperous life. Tune in for inspiring conversations with extraordinary women that will propel you towards becoming The Prosperous Woman. Hello and welcome to The Prosperous Woman. I am so, so, so excited to have my amazing, amazing dear friend Alisa Odell on the show. She is a marketing genius and is a pioneer in terms of connection-based marketing. Um, Elisa, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you for such an amazing introduction. I've been dying to be on your podcast, so I'm so excited to be here.

Yay. I, so I have to start with how we met because it's like such a funny, weird story. So Elisa and I both ended up, so as everybody knows, I lived in Mexico City for many years, and for my final year in Mexico City, I lived in this beautiful apartment overlooking a park. I, it was my my favorite apartment. And when I left for Austin, I left that apartment behind, left all the furniture in it, and just handed it over to some Swiss guy. Like, I wasn't really involved in the transaction of who took over. I just kind of left. And probably 6 to 8 months pass, and I end up back in Mexico City at a random dinner party with a girlfriend who was visiting from Austin. And I sit next to this gorgeous blonde girl who I've never met before, and I say, oh, you know, where do you live? And, and she told me, you know, the area that she lived in. And I said, oh, I used to live there. Like, which building do you live in? And she, she told me, and then I said, I used to live in that building. What apartment? And lo and behold, the Swiss guy got kicked out for partying. And they wanted another quiet American girl. And so Elisa took over and she is—

Hello.

She's living in my old apartment.

Oh, it's a dream apartment. It is a— I'm never leaving. So because of Claire, I have been blessed with all my dreams and desires.

Oh my gosh. And she decorated it way more fabulously than I did. But it just goes to show that if you're meant to meet someone, The universe will find a way because I, it was just, I had no reason to be at that random dinner. I was tired. I didn't wanna go. And we happened to, it was like a 30-person sit down, like we sat next to each other. So it, I just love the story and it— Yeah.

And you're, you know, you're like one of my go-to people here in Mexico City. But I feel like this city does it. There's so many like serendipitous things that happen here, or maybe it's just where I've been in my life. So.

Well, it's just, it's so amazing to have you in my life as such a dear friend and an inspiration as a fellow entrepreneur. You have been— how long? Like, if we had to quantify, I mean, you've pretty much been an entrepreneur your whole career, right?

Yeah. Starting in 2014. Before that, I worked for a nonprofit for 2 years. So I've been a founder of many different— everything has been an iteration of each other, of a belief system. But yeah, I've been an entrepreneur for a long time.

So before we get into, like, your history, I'm just gonna tell the people. So Elisa has invented something with her co-founder called Huxley, and it is— I describe it as a connection-based marketing program that happens in the DMs on social media. And what's so incredible about what she's created is that it helps people feel connected to big brands. As if you were sitting next to them at a dinner party. Like, you're really in conversation with potential clients in a very, very intimate way, and no one else is doing this. You're really at the forefront. What you guys have created is just— it's absolutely incredible. It's fascinating. It's fun. It's edgy. She's gonna tell us at the end how you guys can all experience this and kind of test it out because it's you really have to experience it. But Elisa, I would love to, before we get into more about Huxley and kind of where you see the future of marketing, like tell us a little bit about your journey through entrepreneurship because I think it's very inspiring for people to hear where you were and where you are now.

Yeah, I would say being a founder has been the biggest teacher in my life. Like if you wanna expedite your professional and personal growth, just choose to start a business. It's like holding up a mirror to yourself. So I started my career working for a pretty big nonprofit called Invisible Children, and I was hired— this is gonna sound crazy— to make a war criminal famous. So there was 10 of us early 20-something-year-olds who moved to different cities around the country to activate celebrities, not, um, local organizations, to get street artists to paint like a, a war criminal's face on murals and stuff like that. So the nonprofit focused on advocating for a war going on in Northern Uganda where kids were being abducted from their home. So we had this documentary come out called Kony 2012, and it went viral in 6 days. So it generated $14 million and had 120 million views. So here I was living in LA, really young, hustling, like, trying to meet with celebrities, trying to make this film viral. And YouTube took my job. Like, YouTube took my job. And it— and that's where I met my business partner. And we both shared the similar values in life, what we wanted from our careers. And the biggest thing I learned was from going viral was the power of good technology, good storytelling, and community is the way to build a foundation of a brand and a story. So that's where it really all—

I love that. Wait, just say that again because like we're so aligned on that. What is it?

What are the 3 things? Good technology, like a good user experience.

Yeah.

Storytelling, like authentically telling your story in a human way.

Yes.

And then community.

Totally. I like, I mean, let's shout that from the rooftops because I think—

Shout it out.

That's it. That's it. Like, that's all you need. That's all you need. Okay, continue. So then what happened?

Like, and ironically, I don't think you need fully paid ads. Like we weren't doing paid ads or anything like that. That like you, this was 2012, so virality was not a thing. Gondam style didn't go viral yet. Instagram wasn't what it was, but we invested in one-to-one relationships with people around the country. We knew how to tell good stories through documentaries. So because of YouTube, we blew up. We were on every news station, every celebrity was tweeting us. So I wanted to take everything I learned. I was like, oh my God, my career's changed. I wanted to be a therapist at the time, and I went through my own mental health struggles in college and in high school. And for me, it was really clear that there was a need online for mental health tools for millennials. At the time, Gen Z wasn't even— they were like in middle school. And I was like, okay, great, let's build a digital school for life. Let's build a place that destigmatizes taking care of yourself. Please keep in mind this is pre like wellness trends, like where it's cool to wake up early and work out and meditate. So I partnered with really smart industry experts. I partnered with Match.com, their matchmaking company called 3 Day Rule. I partnered with a CEO of a nonprofit. Like, we worked with really amazing thought leaders to create online courses. Um, I worked with like a famous yoga teacher. So we created this amazing technology to make it cool to learn online. We produced these fancy videos. And I'm sure your audience understands this. Just because you have good lighting, just because you can talk on camera, doesn't mean you know if your audience changes their lives. You don't know if they're impacted. How do you gauge that? How do you know what's resonating? And from an audience member, how do you stay motivated to change your behavior? And as a very mission-oriented founder, I was like, well, fuck this. Let's go make our courses interactive. Let's put them on Facebook Messenger. And overnight I had people from their 20s to their 70s answering questions in the DMs, sharing vulnerable information. And I realized, oh my goodness, people are lonely. People want access to information that's convenient. Chat is very powerful to help people change their behavior. So that's how I entered, entered the world of chat marketing, which I'm in now. So it was a crazy journey of constantly learning and iterating. But over the journey of my career, I've been a, a tech entrepreneur.

Mm-hmm.

Because for me, that's a great vessel, but I lost myself in that journey. I lost myself in being a stereotypical startup founder. So it's, it's been quite a journey to lead us to where we are now versus like the mental health focus.

I love that. I love that. And I think, you know, one of the things I say all the time, and you know, my girls who listen to me and have been in my programs, like, they already know what I'm about to say. But like, so much of having a business, being a feminine leader, and being a successful entrepreneur is just following the opening, saying yes, and, and daring to be obvious. Like, those are, you know, the, this, those are the beliefs that root back to The Three Rules of Improv by my improv teacher, Dan Diggles.

Okay.

I did not know that.

Yeah. I don't think I've ever told you I did improv to help my founder journey.

No way.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I did it in college. I mean, I think I always knew I would be an entrepreneur, but I mean, so much of my background in theater I apply to entrepreneurship and I really, I really stand by, you know, follow the opening, just keep saying yes, and dare to be obvious. Like those are the three rules of improv and You know, that's exactly what you did on your journey. And if you look at any successful entrepreneur from, you know, Sara Blakely to you to, you know, Walt Disney, like, that's what they did.

Yeah.

Like, none of this, none of this is rocket science, and people are over— grossly overcomplicating so much of it. And so I love that you just were like, okay, let's give people what they want and what they need.

Right? And so it's a fine balance, because I think this is where my childhood trauma came and ate me alive, is it was so obvious to me. Deliver content to where people spend time. Make it fun, make it entertaining. Don't make it daunting to sit down and watch a 3-hour online course. Make it about your audience. Put your audience first. So I've always had that philosophy. To build a relationship, you need to put your audience first as a brand. But at the same time, I'm raising venture funding from investors. I'm trying to grow my team, and everything I'm seeing is you can't be you and be successful. So like this dichotomy of like, okay, I'm listening to my users, I'm listening to my audience, but I'm being told what I'm doing doesn't work. So it was, it was this constant inner battle of not honoring myself.

And that's, I think that that's something that, you know, especially I work with so many coaches and, and, you know, service providers and healers where, you know, essentially they are the business. And the most successful ones are the ones who feel empowered enough to just be them. Oh my God. You know, who, who, because people, people buy based on emotion and connection, which is, you know, the, the centerfold of, of your business and your work. And, you know, the, I really believe the more me I am, the more people I call into my world, the more impact I make, the more money I make. And because we're conditioned, I mean, from a very early age, you know, I mean, we both grew up in the South, which is probably a whole other episode. Like, you know, it was, it was not like, be you. It was be perfect, look perfect, say yes ma'am, no sir, you know, like do, do like present as what they want you to be.

Yeah.

And so I think for some of the most successful entrepreneurs, what we've had to do is decondition that and be willing to not be perfect. You know, like so much of my business is, you know, sharing my journey, sharing that, you know, I made this big move to Austin and I thought it was gonna, you know, solve all my problems and I, my life fell apart. And like, people remember that. That's what people connect to, right? And there's a— there's again a fine line and a nuance between kind of trauma-porning your story and, and, and allowing yourself to go through it, to be in it before you can be it on the empowered side and share from a place of, you know, leadership. And, you know, here's what I've learned on the other side of this thing, and I now see it as a blessing.

I mean, I'll connect to my Southern roots. That's why I started out my story saying that my career has been a mirror to my inner world and what needs to be integrated and healed, because my whole life, as much as I came onto this planet very bold, very like a very outgoing soul, I learned to shapeshift at a young age to survive. And it was crazy how those subconscious ways of surviving showed up in business. And I remember I got really sick, gained a bunch of weight, had like really no community in my life. Like all I wanted to do after work was lay in bed, eat some food, and drink wine.

Mm-hmm.

And I was, feel like I was sacrificing everything. Like, yeah, on the outside I had these career milestones of fundraising. You want under 2% of women to receive funding. I was part of that now, but I was so miserable and so unhappy building a software company for anyone to make interactive online courses. To build relationships. And I just was so disassociated and I said, I'm done. Like, I just woke up. Thank God for a spiritual awakening. I woke up and I was like, this is not working anymore. But I had this moment after I stepped away from burnout and I said, hey, the woman I want— like, I know the woman I want to be. I'm going to— I know this is going to skyrocket that and I'm going to wake up and I'm her. And what's crazy now is that I am that version of myself that I envisioned. but it took years. Like, it wasn't like a— I woke up out of bed depressed with all these unhealth issues. No, it took like daily decisions to be the woman I want to be, and my company helped me do that.

So I love that. And, you know, I always say like, your business is your greatest portal for healing and self-discovery. So like, can you kind of take us through, like, first of all, how did you— because so many women listening, like, they're in jobs that they just know aren't aligned and they are maybe, they've started a business. I see this a lot. They've started a business that quote made sense based on their past career and they just basically have repeated the cycle as an entrepreneur that they were living in their 9 to 5 or working for someone else. Like how did you find the inner strength and kind of inner motivation to step away from that?

To step away from my business?

To step away from, you know, when you, when you were sick and yeah, to step away from like what wasn't yours and from, you know, kind of being something that wasn't true to you.

I, I, I, that is such a good question. I mean, my first reaction, my first gut response is when you wake up and you realize, oh my God, I can't feel anything. Mm-hmm. I feel numb. I think it's when I realized I was so disassociated from my body, living in anxiety. This is not the point. This is not why I became— when I decided to become an entrepreneur, I wanted just to make mental health more accessible for people with healing. But I ended up like beyond sick, unhappy. I think it was just like this, like my ego kind of died for a second. I don't need success. I don't need the Forbes 30 Under 30. I don't need this anymore. Yeah. That's why, like, I realized I am not my company. Yeah. I am not my career. That is a part of who I am. And when I realized that, but then, you know, then I like reflected, I'm like, shit, I'm still super ambitious. I still wanna put stuff into the world. How can I recreate, how can I unlearn this stuff? And I have to be transparent, I'm still unlearning. Like, I just got out of— Of course. Yeah. Of doubt.

Yeah.

2 days ago. So it's still a process.

Yeah. And you know, I think I remember this moment and maybe I'll do a solo episode on this, like my, my best friend of, you know, 20-something years. I call her Princess. Her real name is not Princess. You've heard about her a million times. You know, I'll never forget, she was visiting New York and she came to my apartment and she looked at me and she just was like, where are you?

Yeah.

And she sat me down and she was like, there's nothing behind your eyes.

Mm-hmm.

And I needed someone who wasn't in the rat race, who wasn't on the hamster wheel, you know, who was farther along on the spiritual path at the time to kind of shock me because I was just go, go, go, go, go. It was like work, work, work, work, work, happy hour, happy hour, date, date, date. And it was so normalized to kind of be in that numb existence where— and it feels so good, right? When you're climbing the ladder, and you know, you're, you're, you know, getting accolades from colleagues and coworkers, and they're telling you you're amazing, like, yay! It feels so good to our inner child who's like just desperate for love. But like, in the act of that, we actually end up completely abandoning ourselves, and we become a shell of who we were born to be. And You know, for me, I think, you know, the turning point was really, you know, Princess saying, like, as someone who's known me since I was a little girl, to say, where are you? And, you know, it was truly like the next day I started making some radical changes. So I think sometimes it does come in just like a moment where you're just like, no more.

No, that's amazing. I wish the universe had me function that way, but I'm a slow burn. Like, everything is slow. Like, I wish— I'm not going to lie. I wish I had someone slap me in the face and be like, what's happening to you? I had family members kind of like allude to something or my best friend being like, let's read Eckhart Tolle and talk about how we're not our minds. But that's really beautiful. Yeah.

And I think, you know, it always is a slow burn, but I think there comes like a straw that breaks the camel's back moment.

You know? Yeah. I mean, the pandemic escalated everything. Yeah. Like, I was home in Florida. I'm originally from Florida. I felt my body craving home, which was like the most— and then the pandemic hit and I said, fuck it. I'm not— I hope it's okay that I'm cursing. I'm not coming back. Like, I'm not going back to— I was in Los Angeles. I'm not going to LA. Like, I'm staying here.

And so what happened then?

I got quiet. Yeah, I got with myself. I was in— I was like deep in a spiritual awakening for a long time, doing like a lot of trauma healing with EMDR, working with a shaman, spending— hiking every day in nature, trying to find who is Elisa now. I think I was so enmeshed, codependent in relationships, I couldn't feel me anymore.

Mm-hmm.

I had to relearn what it feels like to feel like me.

Yeah. And I think when you can build and create and grow a business from that place, mm-hmm, it's just so much easier.

Yeah. I mean, I agree with everything you were saying about it's just easier when you show up your authentic self.

Yeah.

Like people can feel it, they can see it. I still struggle sometimes with putting on this professional persona because I've spent a lot of time with men in their 60s and 70s. The beginning of my— when I was a kid with religion, now as an adult with executives and investors. And I had— I realized none of it was working because I was showing up not me. And then I've showed up myself over the past 2 years. Just some miracles and beautiful things have happened.

Yeah.

But it's still like a— it's like a reprogramming my nervous system. It's not just like a thought process. It's a— embodying the woman that I wanna be. And I feel like we're currently in a new upleveling season of that.

I love that. I love that. So where, where does Huxley fall in this whole journey? Like, and yeah.

Yeah. That's, yeah. Back to me. That's interesting. So where I left off in my story was I, you know, found a new way to deliver online courses. So I went and built software for it, had all of these creators on our platform. And then I realized, oh no, people don't know what they're doing like. They're not creating. They're creating just like SMS blasts. They're not actually using the software and good storytelling to build a one-to-one relationship. So I pivoted to be more of a B2B model, working with brands that really could benefit from my services. You know, one of the beautiful things about starting a business is really knowing your customer needs and personas, and I realized I can really serve health and wellness, D2C nonprofit-based businesses. So now what we focus on doing is helping brands build one-to-one relationships with their audience over Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. And we help them create chat marketing experiences that could be like a lead gen form, but making it conversational, creating a really fun quiz. I worked with the nonprofit Charity: Water that they're focused on funding access to clean water around the world. Mm-hmm. We created an experience as if you were traveling to Zimbabwe to learn how clean water changes people's lives. And the, and the reason we're focused on this method of working with brands is today people are more lonely and isolated than ever. I think brands feel like they're just speaking into a void. So we really help brands be the gold in the digital clutter.

Mm-hmm.

And how we do that is by humanizing them. It's bringing like a fun dimension to their brand where it's not just like, buy my product, buy my product. You know, we believe in reciprocity. In value exchange. And so if you think about it, how do we build relationships today? Through a conversation. This technology is so powerful. I mean, so we on average can get people to spend 5 minutes with the brand in the DMs. You know this, like people spend 3 seconds on Reel.

Yeah.

We have a 2% conversion rate. We have a 35% click-through rate, and it's because we're making it an, an exchange. It's not about how great a brand is. It's about asking questions and building a relationship. So founder and I see ourselves more as relationship experts in marketing than we do technology or chat. Like, we're obsessed with human behavior and UX, and it just happens that I can help brands make more money, increase their brand awareness while they're doing really fun stuff online.

I love that. And, you know, I actually was just talking to a client who's in the middle of a big launch right now. And someone like posted about her in this really big, actually Florida-based moms Facebook group. And she got like 40 new followers overnight, like women that like ideal clients. And she was like— I was like, we need to get in conversation with all of those women. And she was like, well, how do I do that? I don't wanna feel salesy. Like, I don't know, like, you know. And I was like, well, like if you saw them, you know, in the carpool line, what would you say to them?

Oh my God, that's the best advice.

You know? And she was like, I would say, you know, hey, are you from, you know, like, hey, I'm so-and-so, you know, are you, are you a new mom here?

No, 1000%.

And I'm like, perfect, let's translate that, you know? So, hey, I saw you follow so-and-so. Are you friends with her from Florida? There's no, there's no goal to the, to quote, get the sale. You're just having a conversation with a human. And so like when I say I don't do like ick, sleaze, BM sales strategies, I stand by that. What I do is I help my clients connect with humans in an authentic human way.

Yeah.

Because if, if you're not doing that on social media, then you basically have a one-way show where you're just posting pretty pictures and reels and selling it to people.

I mean, you're speaking my language and what I spent a lot of time educating people about. I think today the consumer, your audiences are smarter than ever. Yeah. You know, there's a reason, like, for me, I'm very annoyed by SMS unless I love the brand or I want a discount code. Same thing goes with the DMs. So today, I know you've seen this, there's coaches and influencers using the DMs to get you to go to their podcast. Yeah, that's great. That's convenient. But a lot of people are using it to be like, hey, sign up for my webinar, give me your email without there being like a value exchange. Right, right. I kind of want to tell— just give your audience the inside scoop about what's going on on Instagram.

Oh, please. Yes.

Yeah. So Meta has officially announced the number one place people are spending time are the DMs. I'm assuming everyone probably knows this because that's where we—

I don't think people know this because you told me this like 6 months ago and I was like, oh really?

Yeah, it's, that's the number one place. And because Meta has seen such a shift, right? Do you remember when we used to tag people in videos or like a comment? Yeah. Hey, go look at this. Oh, now we just send it to our friends. And if we need something from a brand, we message them, right? Like it's probably like a customer service thing or something. So because of this, Meta has opened up Instagram DMs for automation. So what does that mean for you? That literally means a new direct line of communication that no brand has ever been able to have, because it's one-to-one. It's not like email where you're blasting out. So now, you know, if you use a tool called ManyChat, which I recommend your audience checking out, you can create automated conversations. So someone like— you can have people type a password in into a comment of a reel, and instantly a conversation will start. So you can be like, hey, do you want to learn about how to live in Give me, give me something that you're like— That you're—

Well, I'm launching my, you know, 5-figure sales masterclass.

Yeah. So you could give a teaser to that in the DMs where people having a conversation with you. And then honestly, before I really recommend someone who wants to automate their DMs to do that after they know who their audience is, they have an established brand, their DMs are swarmed, and they're ready to scale.

Yes.

To know how to show up authentically themselves. Like the woman that you were mentioning, like you—

I was not ready for this.

No, but your, your advice was to the point.

Yeah.

Because what this shows us about this behavior change with social media is that people need to get in those DMs. Like when that person follows you, be like, hey, it's so nice to meet you. How can I help you? Or like I've had coaches do that for me. Well, they'll be like, okay, well let me send you, like I'm in, in wanting to improve my sales. Acumen. I had someone be like, okay, what are your needs? Let me send you something. That's the world to me. She didn't sell me on anything. She didn't say book a demo, like book a call with me. And that is such an amazing, amazing relationship tool. Even like if someone doesn't feel comfortable do that, doing that, send them a voicemail.

Be like, oh, hey.

Yeah.

I also say like voice memos are great. And you know, for me, like I don't even lead with a value or an offer. I literally lead with a connection. I see you're from Sarasota, Florida. My family had a beach house there. It's one of my favorite places in the world. How long have you lived there?

Yeah.

And now I'm not saying that because I'm gonna try to sell this woman into my program. I'm saying that because like looking at her photo of being, you know, on, you know, the beach in Longboat Key, like brought me back and it made me feel something and I wanted to tell her that. Yeah. And then, you know, she— most of the time when you lead with connection, people will say something along the lines of, oh my gosh, yeah, I love Sarasota. I love what you're doing. I've always wanted to travel and have my own business. Like, you're so inspiring. And then that creates an opening for me to say, wow, thank you so much for sharing that. Like, I really love helping women make this their reality. Like, I believe it's possible for anyone. I have, you know, I have a, a free Dream Clarity mini course I think you might love. And I do consent-based marketing. So I always say, would it be okay if I shared the link with you?

Mm-hmm.

And then she can say yes or no.

Right? No. And I just feel like this is such a more powerful tactic than creating thousands of reels. Like, yes, there's a time and place.

Yeah.

Funnel. But this is like the relationship building aspect, right? And especially when you're in the business of coaching or service space, like that relationship is the foundation, right? I mean, that's what I learned from— not to bring it back to this viral nonprofit— to be like, my first job with them is I lived in a van public speaking around the country. I can guarantee someone who's listening to this knows about this. I would go public speak on stage and I would hang out with students one-on-one and we like built this whole community of activists. And the reason we could scale was because we had one-to-one relationships. So now because of social media, you can do that. Like you don't need to go face-to-face with everybody. You can just have an intimate conversation. And I, and I think the sad thing is, is we're more, we're more connected than ever, but we're more lonely than ever.

Yes.

Little interactions like that are really delightful.

They mean a lot. They mean a lot. And you know, the, the other thing, and again, like The world I'm coming from is, you know, smaller audiences, let's say like under 25K, you know, women who are, you know, have products, service providers, coaches, healers, things like that. Like when you're at that level, for me, I, if I spend an hour a day connecting with people in my world, whether that's past clients, current clients, people that are commenting on my posts, new followers. That's probably the most needle-moving activity in my business.

Mm-hmm.

Like over the whole, you know, on the whole, like if we, because what happens is, let's go back to, you know, the Sarah, the woman I'm talking about Sarasota and she says, I've always wanted to, you know, travel like you and have my own business. And then I say, I have, you know, I'd love to I would love to gift you this free mini course. Is that okay? Can I share the link? And she says, yes, I would love that. And then, you know, let's just say, you know, maybe in a couple weeks or in a week, I follow up and I say, hey sister, like, just curious, you know, did you have a chance to check out the course? And she says, yes. Oh my gosh, I love it. And then let's say I happen to be launching the Dream Accelerator. Which is one of my signature offerings, it is no longer a cold DM for me to say, send in a voice note, like, you know, I'm just gonna be direct here. Like, if you are feeling called to go from, you know, an idea that's on your heart to making it a business, I have a program that's enrolling right now and I think it would be a really good fit. I'd love to hop on a quick call and just like feel more into the fit. Let me know what you think.

Claire, I don't even know why you have me on this podcast. I love that strategy. It's so good. No, but it's, I mean, I know it's worked for you so well 'cause it's a core value of yours.

Yeah. I mean, it's genuine connection is one of my core values and I think it's something that, you know, I'm inspired by you to teach more women how to do it right, well, and in integrity because it's taught so poorly in my opinion.

Oh, yeah.

That people, what, what happens is people end up sending these, hey, like, I saw you liked my post, sign up for my free masterclass. And they end up, I mean, I'm instantly dry. I'm turned off. I'm unfollowing you. They end up burning bridges. Whereas if they would just lead with their heart and like, what would you do if you saw the mom in the carpool line? You just, you, I guarantee this woman will turn into a potential client in the next year.

1,000%. 1,000%. Two of my favorite influencers, Lauren Bosnick, the founder of Skinny Confidential. She's one of the OG influencers. She said for like, maybe for decades she was in the DMs daily talking to her audience.

Yeah.

Now this woman runs an empire. Melissa Gonzalez, one of my favorite influencers.

We love her. We love you, Melissa.

We love you. She was in the DMs responding to people for so long. Now these people run like very large businesses. But there is something to say about using the DMs to connect with your audience.

Yeah.

You know, there's something to say. And then something else, because, you know, I, I think a lot about data and so, and market research and understanding your customer. And like everything you were saying, you're instantly learning who these people are. Yes. Yes. So, oh my gosh, they admire you for all your traveling. Okay, well now you know your audience's core value. One of them is travel.

Is freedom, travel.

Yeah. You're getting market research handed to you through chat.

100%.

So like right now, one of my projects I'm doing right now is market research in climate change. But when it comes to the coaching world, like it's such an amazing way to be of service by having a conversation to know how you can show up for your audience. Yeah.

No, and I, I'm so glad you said that cuz I was gonna add that on. Like one of the reasons I am such a stand for this type of marketing in the DMs And for sales calls, which I know is like a little bit different, you know, Huxley doesn't necessarily do sales calls, but the concept is the same. And, you know, I'm always very transparent. Like, I'm single. I don't have kids. I don't think that will be the case for hopefully much longer, but I have a lot of capacity to connect with people right now. And I feel that one of the reasons my business has been so successful and grown so quickly is because I talk to people. Like, when I'm on a sales call, I'm literally being spoon-fed my ideal client's struggles, my ideal client's desires. They're telling me. My sales pages are done. I have content for weeks.

I mean, same thing for me in sales.

Yeah.

When I meet with my ideal—

When you're doing your pitches and things like that, like, you know, you're, you're you know, your sales process is much longer because it's a, it's a much higher ticket product. You know, it's a, it's a different business model. But you know, you're hearing the same thing. And so I think, you know, when I tell anyone starting out, you know, especially, well, any business actually is get on the phone, whether it's offering free sessions, free coaching sessions, whether it's, you know, I'm offering 5 free sales call, you know, and don't call it a sales call, call it, you know, something that adds value. I'm offering 5 free Financial Freedom Imprint calls, you know, get on the phone with people and, and get so in deep with what their struggles are and what their desires are. And then you build your offers, you build your marketing, you build your messaging, every single post, every reel, is centered around that. And to be honest, you know, when I go back to the Opulence Method, which is my, my belief in business, which is if you have, you know, an irresistible product suite that people love and need and that sells itself, and you have magnetic messaging and marketing that speaks very specifically to someone's desire and someone's, you know, needs and what they're struggling with. and your energy is 1,000% aligned with what you're offering, like truly in your heart, you can't fail. You just can't fail. Like, find me a business that's thriving that doesn't have those 3 on lock, because I've, I've tested this on like every business type and, and you need those 3 things and like you will thrive. And the root of all of those 3 is understanding your client. what they need, what they're struggling with, and educating them on how your product is the answer to their prayer. That's it. That's it. Like, that's it.

Sales 101.

It's so simple. And like, there's people out there making it so complicated, and it's like, you need an 18-step funnel, and you know, this crazy DM strategy, and it's like, can you just be human?

So literally, I mean, you're speaking our values back to me. Literally, we say, treat your audience like a human, not a number.

Like a mom in the carpool lane.

Oh my God. No, I love— that is actually a great— that's a great analogy. Yeah. Like a mom in a carpool lane.

Or, you know, like a woman, like we, you know, Elisa and I have been to some networking events together, like, or like a woman at a networking event, just like, hey, you know, how long have you been in town? Yeah.

Yeah. So simple. You know, I, this is a side story. So when I quit my business, quotes, quit for a second, I've always, I've been mentoring younger women coming outta college to find their first job or first internship. It's been one of my expertise and I've loved to do it as just a friend. And during the pandemic, right, you know, I was like, oh shit, everyone's losing their jobs. I have such a sense to help people. I had no website, no professional email. I posted on 10 Facebook groups being like, hey, I have a list of all the companies that are hiring right now. Here you go. Does anyone wanna have a phone call? Hop on a call. Like I will like help you strategize and if you wanna work with me, let me know. I got 4 or 5 clients in like 4 weeks. Yeah. I had 30 phone calls. It ended up not being something that was aligned for me. I love doing it through the lens of like mentorship, not monetizing, but going back to like, I just was like, I know what I'm good at. Yeah. Let me see what these people's needs are and see if I can show up and make their process faster.

Yeah.

And I mean, I have no sales pitch. No. I mean, you do sales for a living, so I like know, and I'm a theater kid, so I'm, yeah.

That's, but Yeah.

I like, it was fun to see it show up for me. And like when I launched Huxley, the first, like the first iteration of it, I had no website. I posted on Facebook groups and I had 10,000 people taking our online courses.

Yeah. I mean, literally, like what I did exactly what you did when I had graduated from my coaching program, I went in probably 4 or 5 Facebook groups and I said, you know, I've just graduated from, you know, CoActive Coaching. It's the Harvard of coaching schools. I'm really honing in on what type of woman I want to be of service to. I'm doing 10 free calls, you know, just DM me and I'll send you the link to book. I mean, I probably had like 40 women reach out. I did probably like 20 calls and I think like 5 or 6 of them converted to, you know, my first paying clients. Like, and this is literally what I tell my, you know, my new clients starting out with me in the Dream Accelerator. I'm like, this is what you have to do. I think so often people are trying to get the shortcut and they're distracted by, you know, the program that says like, you know, hit your first $60K month, you know, immediately. And, and that's just not the reality. Like, if you wanna build a business that's in true alignment, it takes time, it takes iteration, it takes failing forward.

Mm-hmm.

And it takes putting your client and yourself first.

I love that you said yourself first too, 'cause it's like a mutual thing.

It's mutual.

Like my client first, I feel like I'm sacrificing my boundaries and then I get resentful.

Yes, totally.

And then also if you're jumping from $60K a month, like your nervous system's not ready to hold that.

Right.

Like I just am such a believer in the, the physical experience and the energetic experience of running a business, you know? And like for me, I'm not even remotely where I wanna be professionally, but I'm okay with that.

Like, I don't— And you know you're on the way.

Oh my God, 1,000%. Like, yeah, I, I, we're very like, I, my, the big vision of the, of our company is to be the leader in conversational marketing, to be the company that knows how to create the most delightful elevated experiences. I wanna work with companies like Louis Vuitton. Like, I wanna work with all the household brand names to help them use this in the most ethical, delightful way. 'Cause chat can be exploitive.

Mm-hmm.

So I feel a lot of moral responsibility to build a, build a really great company that makes great money, but also impacts people's lives as well.

I love that. I love that. And you're doing it and it's just such a joy to watch you and just watch how, you know, you do it in such deep alignment with your values and your purpose and, you know, always putting the experience of the other first because I think that's So important.

Oh yeah. And let me tell you, trying to teach brands to drop content. And I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I have moments where I see my competitors in the space doing everything me and you don't like. And I have these moments of like, oh my God, am I gonna fail because I'm not doing like a quick funnel? And that goes back to like my nervous system having to trust that our method of execution works for us. So.

Totally.

Quieting out that noise, baby.

I love it. I love it. So we're kind of coming to the end here. We could keep going. We're gonna have to do a part 2 on like— I feel like we just—

There's— Claire Sellers' marketing class.

I do too. It was very good.

Yeah.

My— I have a few final questions. So one is like, what do you see? Like, what— let's— like the future of marketing.

What do you see? Authenticity and human connection and being transparent, I think, is going to become more novel. Really do. With the rise of AI right now, we're not seeing AI enter the whole consumer brand. And when I mean brand, I mean even like coaches and service people.

Yeah.

It's just your brand. That, that feeling connected to your, to the products and the people you love, I think is going to become more novel, which means the more grounded you can feel in yourself, the better, in my opinion. And I don't, I mean, this is gonna sound so simple. Social media is not going anywhere. Like a lot of people think that it, like, it might be changing now. Social media's not going anywhere. But I think to be transparent with you, I can only see 1 to 2 years ahead with marketing.

Yeah.

Because it shifts so, so much.

Yeah.

But I think the human connection online is gonna become more novel, which is really depressing and a huge opportunity for—

It's a huge opportunity.

To really leverage that.

Yeah, and I think it's a huge, huge opportunity. And, you know, for the coaches, the online service providers, like, lean into human connection and lean out of the shiny object, quick fix tactics. Like, I promise you'll get where you wanna go faster by being human.

No, the quick fixes really bother me.

Yes. And they often, they might work in the beginning, but honestly, I haven't seen great results with that. Yeah.

Yeah.

So I always like to close with the same 3 questions. So question 1 is, what does prosperity mean to you?

Okay. I've been thinking about this question. I know there's not a right or wrong answer. Prosperity means to me is living from like an open, receiving gratitude heart. Like, to me, prosperity isn't just resources. It's not just money. It's not just physical things. It's about how I'm experiencing my life through, like, a— like, from a prosperous lens of— I feel like I'm unlearning lack mentality as we speak, but I am probably on the journey and should sign up for one of your programs to work on this. I love that.

What is the next dream that you are devoted to creating?

As I've alluded to, I'm in an upleveling season of my life. I've been holding a vision for the woman I wanna be professionally and personally since my early 20s, and I feel like she's about to be here. And what that looks like is being able to walk into a boardroom and kick ass and make millions of dollars, but then also walk away and be in my feminine with a partner and friends and not over-identifying with my career. I think that's That's the next dream. But like professionally, like I said, like I want to work with Adidas, I want to work with these big brands. Like that's the next vision. But I think for me it's that masculine-feminine balance in my life.

I love that. I just got chills. I saw, I saw you like walking into the boardroom and then like meeting your man on the outside.

Like, that's exactly like— no, I've had this vision many moons ago where I was wearing like a pleather red skirt.

I love it.

As we've talked about, I'm entering my femme fatale era. I picture, you know, going in like closing huge deal knowing I'm gonna be on the face of like Fast Company or something. Yeah. But I have work-life balance and I know, like, I used to need those accolades. I don't need those accolades now. Now it just feels like a fun game. Like it feels like a gamification of life. So I want to be, I wanna be able to hold space for all of that. And so that's what I'm working on right now.

Beautiful. And then finally, where can people find you? Where can they connect with you?

Yes. So we've been sitting here talking about chat marketing, DMs, and you— I'm sure people are like, I wanna know, what does this look like? Head to my company's Instagram, Hey Huxley, H-U-X-L-Y, no E. And you can DM us the password 10X to learn what the DMs exactly can do. So we teach in there how to increase your engagement, how to increase your open rates, stuff like that. So I recommend, and we're always dropping wisdom there about the DMs. And then if you want to just follow my Mexico City life on Instagram, it's just Elisa O'Dell.

Amazing.

Yes.

And definitely DM 10X because it's like very fun. There's like fun gifts and all sorts of stuff. Like, you'll be amazed at the process.

The best compliment ever. I was out to dinner with Claire Sellers Sellers and I heard her laughing. I'm like, what are you laughing at? And she was going through one of our like chat experiences. And I'm like, oh, okay, that's like the nicest thing ever to be laughing.

I was like talking to your Instagram DMs and I was like, I feel like I'm like in a legit conversation. I mean, it's incredible what you've created.

Thank you. It's, you know, we didn't get to touch on it. It's such an art to be able to really bring a voice to life in the DMs. But my, my Instagram talks all about that and what we do.

And the best way to experience it is to experience it yourself. So DM 10x and you will be mind blown. Yeah.

100%. 100%.

Elisa, thank you so much for being here. This has just been like so amazing, and I just admire you so much, and I am like holding this vision with you of where you're headed, and I know that time will collapse.

Oh yeah, you're part of this. You, you have to hold me accountable.

I'm in it for life. Thank you for tuning in to the Prosperous Woman Podcast. I am so grateful for your presence and for being a part of this community. Feel free to DM me @itsclairesellers on Instagram. I would love to connect with you and hear what resonated with you in this episode. Don't forget to subscribe to the show, and if you enjoyed what you heard today, leave a 5-star review. Your feedback means the world to me and helps me reach more incredible women just like you. And because I love to spoil you, just DM me a screenshot of your review on Instagram, and I'll send you my free Prosperity Activation Course as a thank you. It's my way of investing in you and your dreams.

Woo!