Brave Biz Lab 2024 05 24

Hello.

Long time no see.

Hi.

Oh, my gosh. Let me see. Oh, and some. Some familiar faces. I always love the fourth Friday because it's like I get to see all the people. Hi, Mark. Hello and welcome.

Hi, Katie. I'm rich.

Okay. Am I frozen or are you guys frozen? I think I might be frozen. I'm going to turn this off and turn it back on. Okay. Is that better?

Okay.

Awesome. Welcome, everyone. If you are brand new to Brave Biz Labs, welcome. I do this as an open format Q A. So whatever questions you have in regards to getting clients, marketing your services, figuring out pricing, dealing with your adhd, when it comes to doing all the things, all the questions are welcome. There's no judgment for how early on in the process you are. There's no such thing as a too complicated question. If you're not sure how to even ask the question, that is welcome too. We can figure it out together. This is a safe space to be whoever the fuck it is you are. Swearing is welcome. I do it a lot. If you have children in the background, I apologize. And other than that, let's dive right in. What questions do you have? We have an hour.

Let's.

Let's make sure you walk away with all your answer, all the answers you need.

Hey, Katie, I'll jump in. Yeah, I'm just kind of getting back to starting and focusing on my business and I'm thinking about sort of how do I spend my time? Like both in the, in the day and the weekend. So if you have thoughts about sort of in thinking about your time, how do you break up your time? How do you think about categorizing your time? Like any thoughts around that could be really helpful for me. I think she's frozen.

Okay, I'm back now, I think.

Okay, you're back.

You're back.

I heard. Yeah, everything went wonky for a second. We had, we had a storm yesterday. I was supposed to lose my Internet yesterday, not today. Anyway, I heard how to, how should I prioritize my week? And then it went wonky.

So I think the question I have is, you know, I, I am moving from my full time job to starting this business in a few weeks. And so really thinking about like time blocking or how do I think about time and like, how, how do I spend my time? How. What is there, like, how do you think about for your own business breaking up your time in terms of like, categories of like, you know, client work or deep work or marketing or like that. That could be really helpful for me as I really, like dive into this, this phase of my business of like, how should I be spending my time and how do I think about spending my time in this, in this new, new world for me.

Yeah. So especially before you're making a full time income from your work, your number one priority is marketing, right? People cannot give you money if they don't know that you exist, right? I don't know how many of you, like walk around with your eyes closed and like a wad full of cash in your hand, just like trying to hand it bump into someone to hand to a stranger, you know, that's what, that's my hobby on the weekends. No, just kidding. But yeah, like you can't make money if people don't know that you exist, right? So even, even if you're so early on in your business that you're not even sure who your ideal client is or whatever, like, start posting on social media, start sharing about yourself and your own journey and like, who you are, what you care about, what drives you nuts, right? Because you want to start attracting the people who feel like they know you. Because even if they're not your ideal clients, the fact that they'll build a relationship with you on social media, like when you do start posting about your ideal clients and what your offer is and this, that and the other thing, they'll, they'll care about you, right? So even if your post is not relevant to them at all, they'll, they'll comment because they want to see you succeed, right? Oftentimes like new business owners are like, okay, well I'll just wait until I know all the things about my business and then I'll start posting. And then they start posting. They start posting stuff that's really specific to their ideal clients and like what they do and they hear crickets because they haven't built relevance to their audience. Like their audience doesn't have a reason to give a damn about them, right? So your number one priority, John, every single day is visibility, Right? In support of that, you know, making sure that you have your payment links all set up, making sure that you have your client agreement all set up. If you don't have one, I recommend David Fryman. He actually offers a special rate to all of my clients to do client agreements and things. Because here's what I see happen so often is you know, you start the business, you have, you know, your social media running, you're having sales conversations, but like, you start sabotaging yourself because you don't have an agreement set up and you don't have the payment link. So you're on the sales call with someone, you're so excited about working with them, and then you're like, oh, I don't have any of this stuff set up. So if they say yes, then I have to scramble to do it and I'm probably going to do it wrong. So then you start slowing things down. Right. Because you like, you know that you like, you have to, you know, take the kids soccer later, say, and you have to go grocery shopping. You have to do all this stuff. Like, when are you going to fit in writing a whole agreement, Right. So get all that stuff set up so that like, it's built and ready to roll when someone says yes to working with you. Deal.

Awesome. Thanks. Yep.

Don't over complicate it. At this point in the business, it's a lot of fun because you get to focus on like that one and a half things, you know?

Cool.

Good enough. All right, cool. What other questions do we have today?

I have a question, Katie, but first plus one to that, because it was amazing being able to just send somebody a link to, like, here's the agreement. Once you're done with that, here's the payment. Yeah. To like just have it done and ready.

Yeah.

But yeah, getting that set up ahead of time is wonderful. Okay, so I have a question. Now that my business is starting to pick up steam and a lot more people are paying attention, I'm getting a lot of unsolicited advice from a lot of really well meaning people. And I said thank you for that feedback. I have a business coach.

Yeah.

But I have people who are saying things like very well meaning. I have some people I want to refer to you, but I think you should do xyz. And so I know the answer to this mostly, but I want to hear your thoughts of like, what do I do with all the unsolicited advice, especially from people who are not business owners.

Yeah. Yeah. You just say thank you. And in your mind, you take that file that they just put like uploaded to your brain and you double click on it, you drag it to the trash and you plop it in there and then you empty the trash.

Well, the reason, and mostly I agree with that, but some of them are nuggets of like good ideas. Right. That are like, hey. And actually, so I'll give you a specific example. So, you know, I work with HR professionals to prevent and recover from burnout. So I had a mentor who means really well who says, hey, there's, there's quite a Few people that I'd love to send to you because I know you and I know what you're good at. But they are middle management who want to become bigger leaders without getting burnt out. I said, that's a great market. That's actually not the market I'm going after at the moment, but thank you for that feedback. It's something for me to look into, but now it's stuck in the back of my head of, I want to keep going where I'm going. But at what point do I say, okay, those are some good ideas to test.

Well, here's the thing. Like, if you're getting the referral for that business without marking to it, and you can help them in the same way that you help your existing clients, what's stopping you from helping them?

It's true.

It's nothing.

No.

When I first started, I. So, like, when I first started my business, I started off as a dating coach for men, right? Because I was like, I lived in San Francisco. I was single, dating was miserable. And I was like, I'm gonna fix these guys. Like, for all of womenkind, straight womenkind, I'm going to fix them, right? Went out, started marketing, got pretty much all female clients because they were also, you know, experiencing the misery of dating. And then they all needed help, like, with executive presence and, like, their leadership. And then all of my coaching friends were like, wait a minute, you're getting clients paying how much? Like, I need help with that. And so I started showing them, and then they started referring, like, their friends to me to work with me. And so I was like, oh, cool. Well, you know, obviously what I do, like, the sales training and the marketing training and all the stuff that I've gotten throughout my whole career in sales and marketing, obviously it's useful to coaches. So I started just marketing to other coaches, right? And then I started getting messages from lawyers saying, hey, I know you don't work with lawyers, but will you work with me? And then with copywriters and so on and so forth, because the problems are the same, right? You know, you're actually killing it with your marketing when you're getting people who are outside of your niche just a little bit saying, hey, I think I want to work with you. Okay, Right.

So it doesn't mean change your marketing because it's working.

It means your marketing's working. It means Your marketing is 100% marketing. Marketing, working, marketing.

I like it. That's the new trend for Friday.

Your marketing is working. Yeah, so. So it's great feedback And. And I would say, you know what? Like, thank you so much for thinking of me.

Yes.

Here's a link to. For them to book a call if you want to share it with them or if you want to introduce them to me via email, then it's absolutely worth a conversation, you know, because you and I.

That's actually what I said. I said it's worth a conversation just to see fit.

Right.

But the rest was, like, I don't know, a lot of unsolicited feedback of how I could market myself better.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And.

And, you know, it's. It goes away over time when people realize that what you're doing is working for you and that you obviously have a plan.

Yeah.

Right. It's funny. It's really such a sign of love when people, you know, start giving you feedback and, like, you can tell their fear is activated on your behalf.

Yeah.

Right. Because if they were in your position, they'd be so afraid they were missing out on this business and that business. Right. So the fact that their saboteurs, that their fear gremlins are, like, activated on your behalf means they care so much about you.

Yeah.

And I knew it was from a place of caring. Right. But it's. It's like, how do you say, thank you very much? And, you know.

Yeah.

And then kind of put it, like you said, put it in a back folder.

Yeah, yeah. You know, I have. I have a dear neighbor. She's like an aunt, and her favorite compliment to give me is like, oh, you look so professional now. A few years ago, you really didn't look very good. And it's like, she's, like, complimenting me now by putting down former me. And it's like, you just kind of have to understand, like, people don't necessarily understand how they're coming across. And, like, they can't. They can't give any better than that. Right.

And.

And it's really helpful to know that your clients have the same people in their lives who think they're being supportive, but they're not actually being supportive. That's why it's so valuable to work with a coach. Right.

Cool.

Thank you.

So does that help? Does everyone else feel like that's happening for them, too?

Yeah.

Lots of helpful opinions out there.

So many. So many. Yeah.

Especially from family. This is why it's really better not to speak about your business in the beginning. With the family.

Yeah.

I mean, with Kate. Yeah. Mm.

Yeah. I had a family member who's like, you shouldn't swear as much. Not very professional. I'm like, but I want to scare away people who will be offended by me swearing. Like I have to. Otherwise we're going to get on a sale, on a sales call or they'll be my client and I'll drop an F bomb. They're like, oh my God. They'll clutch their pearls and run away. You know, we have to do that beforehand. So anyway, what other questions do we have today?

Hey, Katie, it's good to see you again.

Good to see you.

I want to tag team on what a comment you just made about scaring people away. So how do you get over that fear? And maybe this is a psychological question of scaring away potential clients, you know, not just the people you don't want to work with. And we've talked about that before. You know that those are not your niche or your, you know, you're past that and try and try to be the be all, end all for everybody, which you can't be.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So can someone tell me what the current population of the United States is?

A quick something million.

330.

330 million, I think. Okay, cool. And so, Mark, let me, let me just ask you. So how many clients could you potentially take in one year?

Oh, man. May, maybe, maybe, maybe 50, I think that seems like. Then that, that's a high number.

Yes. Okay, so let's max out. 50 in one year. How many working years do you want to continue going for?

Oh, not that many.

How many?

Maybe 10.

Cool.

So that's 500 people. I'm pretty sure you can find 500 people in 330 million.

Yeah. Thank you for dumbing that down for.

Me.

Because, you know, we get caught in our. And you know me, I get caught in my head and I'm just over spinning. So, so can I tag on to that real quickly as I. And you, you know, you know, you know my story and stuff and we've been connected over the years. You know, I stepped away for a while because I had to have some income coming in. Now I'm jumping back in. So the social media part and the marketing thing, I thought that was spot on. Thank you, John, for that first question because that's what I needed to hear. But so as I get back in, do I. Do you suggest doing like an intro post? Because I just started reposting on LinkedIn recently. Um, I did kind of a recap of what happened. I'm back in the market, so to speak, kind of doing this. But that's where I'm struggling with this. Like do or did I just jump in with both feet and just go for it?

Jump back in.

Okay.

You know, it's funny.

That's what I thought.

Yeah, it, it's, I mean, but here's, here's like, how it's such a great shout out to how we perceive social media, right? It's almost like we were at like, like a family reunion, then we left for a little while, right? And then all of a sudden we're coming back and everyone's, and you're assuming everyone's like, where'd you go? You disappeared. No, it wasn't you, it was just me. Right. Like, you don't want anyone to feel weird about the fact that you're just jumping back in. No one's paying attention.

Got it.

Right. You know, and also, like, and this goes for everyone, you're going to need to introduce yourself over and over and over and over again, right? Because you're going to get connected with, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of new people who will have seen a couple posts of yours thought, oh, well, that's interesting. And you're just going to have to keep introducing yourself so that they know who you are. Right. It builds a lot of credibility because remember, it's not like you're at a coffee shop and they're able to like shoot the shit with you whenever they want. Right. They only get access to whatever it is that you choose to give them access to.

Thank you. That helps.

Yeah, totally. Okay, cool. Dina? Yeah.

I have another follow up call with the NGO that I. The other one, not the one that I'm doing for Quantum, but another one that I give them the option to. Again, I forgot the term scale and sliding scale.

So think of like a kid's playground. Yeah, Put on the slide. Yeah.

Why scale? I don't understand. Okay.

I don't know. I didn't make up the term.

And they came back to me with a figure to 20,000 shekels, which is $5,000. Okay. And to do a partial pro bono. And what I did was I said, I re. I heard in between the lines that they don't understand what it is that we're going to do. And they suggested to offer additional compensation once we hit certain results. And I took a step back, I said, forget for a minute about the budget. Do you understand the commitment? And I don't even want to start working with you if it's just for a pilot, because the inner mindset, from what I heard, the way they used to work in the past, it would be Starting to the pilot to test it. The waters doesn't work like that. Especially if they want to create a new investment case model for the strategy for the organization. That's the first, the second strategy for the donors and then a donor's presentation and then they have to email to 100 potential donors, secure five meetings and maybe get one. Yeah, but it gave more color. We have another follow up call this Sunday and wanted to share that and ask if I should agree because they might push again for lower budget. But that doesn't, it covers only minimum. I mean it doesn't even cover.

Yeah.

And in this case just to advise wouldn't be good enough because it's only one person with special needs that is fully committed. So there will be a lot of work that needs to be done in the beginning and then you'll be on my end. But yes, and then I will walk into, meet with the board and maybe the board will take volunteer on the voluntarily basis some of the activities and some other people, but I don't know. So I have to be involved in the beginning.

Yeah. So typically I'd say stick to your cons, but I know like A, you need, you need the income coming in and B, you need the energetic income. You need to be doing the work.

Yes, yes. Right.

You, you like to get you out of your head of like all the things that you're going through. So like early on in your business, like, I know it's not ideal, but sometimes it's like, okay, cool, I'll take some of the income knowing that it's going to be more work. But the trick here is going to be to set a very clear scope around what you're willing to do and what they're going to have to supply some bodies to do. Right. And you're not going beyond that scope. You're not being like, oh, I'll help you out this time. No, it's them. Right. Because like you can only do so much and you can't be totally wrapped up in helping them for, you know, dirt cheap when you need to be out generating more business.

Yes.

Right. And you and I both know even a little bit of help here is going to move the needle for them.

Yes. But still it will take at least a year to get the results. I mean. Yeah, because I did some intelligence. It doesn't matter. But I do know it will take time and there will be a lot of work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I mean it's, I mean it's 100% up to you, but you can you can be very clear about, you know, this will get us started. But also it's going to take you, you know, like a year to really start seeing the results. Right. So we can absolutely get started on it. They may just have some hesitancy because they've never brought someone like you in before and they don't know what it's.

Going to look like.

Yeah, they have better experience. Yes.

Yeah. You know, and, you know, as you're, as you're growing in your business and as you have a full client list, like, you get to just kind of back off of people and say, hey, listen, sounds like you have some trust stuff that you need to work through. You know, here's some ways for you to still be in my world and get to know me better. Like, for instance, this call. This call. You know, if someone doesn't know me very well, I'm like, you know, every single fourth Friday of the month, I have a free community call. Come and, come and join. You know, get to know me, see that I'm consistent, see that, like, I generally give, you know, advice along these, these themes. And if that's the kind of support you're looking for, then, you know, you know, you know, over a few months that I'm not going to change. Right. But for right now, I think it would be really helpful for you to have some income.

Yeah. Okay, So I do not negotiate anymore because I've done that already in the previous call while I told him we need to look into that once again and we need to understand. You understand what it entails, right?

Yeah. So as long as they understand what it entails and what your scope will be for the first portion of this and that if they want to continue to, like, enact the entire strategy, they're going to have to pony up some more money. As long as that those boxes are checked, I think you're good to go.

Okay, got it. Okay.

But congratulations on, on the $5,000.

Yeah, yeah, but I mean, I'm. Yeah, I'm not celebrating yet and waiting for. But yes, thank you. Yes. I am so grateful for that. Yes, absolutely. And once again, I forgot what we discussed about an objection that says timing or how to.

Yeah.

Early on not to get. Avoid that type of objections, but just not related to the school, but in general. And it was something that popped to my mind and. Yeah.

So specifically for you, and so for anyone who's working with companies, I want you to know that, like, the sales cycle's long.

Okay.

To get a corporate contract signed, sometimes it can take anywhere from six months to a year, sometimes longer. Okay. This is why when I'm working with clients, I always recommend go for one on one clients as soon as possible. Right. So a few ways you can kind of push people to make a decision sooner and to commit sooner is especially if like they've decided they want to do this, you can say, awesome. So because I have limited availability, if you're dead set that you want to do this, but you can't start for another three months, then here's what we should do right now. I'm going to send you your agreement and I'm going to send you a link to make payment that will lock in your spot for three months from now. If two months from now you realize the thing that, that's preventing you from getting started is going to take longer, then reach back out to me. We can always kick the can down the road a little bit more. Right. But that way, you know, you have me locked in for, you know, X period of.

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I don't know why I am scared that it, it will come up as a. Because I don't know. Yeah.

So.

But here's the thing. You and I both know you're having so many conversations with people, there's going to be a point where you're not going to have bandwidth to take on a client like this.

Yes. Okay.

That's it. We know that you only have how many hours that you're awake in a day.

Okay. Yes, you're right. You're right, you're right. I hear you. And on my onboarding, I mean, sorry, the discovery strategy call, can I ask them how quickly they are willing to start or how committed they are? I mean, because it is in the form.

Yeah, so, so you want to, you can always ask like, what is the timeline that you want to get started on?

Okay. Right. Okay. Yeah. And I wanted to say that I came up with an idea after our call today about do you like surprises? So it's a very long post for tomorrow.

Okay, good. Can't wait to see it.

Hopefully. Yeah. Thank you.

Awesome.

Yeah. All right, what other questions do we have today?

I'll go, hey, Katie, I'm rich. So. So I do a lot of like corporate video and everything. And since starting my business about three years ago, everything's been word of mouth. And the few times that I actually have tried to prospect it is always just blown up in my face. And I want to say that it's like a twofold, obviously it's Just a numbers game. But also, I. I also feel that I'm kind of in competition with, you know, the. The freelancer.com, the fiverr.com of like, oh, well, I can pay $10 and get this done. Why would I pay your rate? I'm like, well, I've been in the business 20 years. I know what I'm doing. Like, I'll give you a lot more quality for, you know, and it ends up becoming like, oh, just like, I'm almost, like, trying to convince them. And in addition, what. I've fallen into the trap, which I know is deadly, that currently I only have one client, which is she's been feeding me a lot of things through her clients. So I'm kind of like she's subbing me out, which is great, but I can't. You know, you can't survive on that.

Totally. So when you say prospecting, tell me what you mean.

So I would get some leads through, like, neighbors and whatnot. So I'd meet with them in person, just, like, local companies, whether they were realtors, whether they were, you know, financial planners or financial advisors. I've got a. Somewhat of a financial background. I used to work at cnbc, so I know the ins and outs of all that. Um, and I'm like, just. Just say go. And I can give you, like, tons of content and plans and everything, like, to drive your business. But it's, you know, it just always seems to fall flat. Like, I don't know if I'm interested in that. And, you know, you know, so that's the way it's been going.

Okay, cool. So I actually don't advise on doing prospecting like that at all.

Got it.

Yeah, it's because, like, I. Like you're describing, it's a massive waste of time. It's really demoralizing, and, like, there's no obvious need, like, someone may. So to Yvonne's point, you know, here's someone who's like, I have an idea for your business. Let me introduce you to my friend Rich. And they're like, oh, like, I don't. I don't want this right now, you know, so here's. Here's what I do recommend is creating content, talking about why they would need someone like you, right? So maybe they're launching their very first digital course, and so far they're shooting it on zoom and it looks shitty. And they're like, like, I want to look somewhat polished and professional. Maybe they're getting this push to, like, be on social media, and, like, they're they're okay on camera, you know, but like, it just, it looks bad and like they see other people with all these, you know, different, like edits and things that make it look really polished and interesting. Right? Or maybe they're really boring as to listen to on camera and they need something that'll like, really zhush it up. Right? You want to talk about their pain points and like, why they've already decided to do video, right? And then you can talk about like, the difference between finding someone on Fiverr who like, no shade here, but like, there may be a language barrier and like, how are you going to describe what it is that you, you, you want to need to. Someone who may, may have a translation issue, right? Or like, you don't have like guaranteed quality or they could disappear or whatever. Like, wouldn't you prefer to have someone that you lock in a relationship with who's consistently helping you churn out content? That's really good, right? So, and part of it is you want to dig into what are the pain points your ideal clients have. This is one of the things that I have. All my clients do is market research. Really, really understand. Like, what are they afraid of, what are they frustrated with, what, what do they want more than anything and what do they see as getting in their way? Right? Because at that point it takes time, it does take time to like, post consistently and build up this reputation and get people kind of thinking, oh, I need to h rich guy. But at the point where they start booking with you, like, they're already sold, they've already decided, I need this kind of help. Right? And at that point it's a question of budget. It's a question of is this actually the right fit, you know, what is he going to do for me? And then from there they just have a yes or no decision to make. Right? But that way you're not chasing after people who are, you know, just being forced feedback from loved ones.

You're.

You're genuinely having conversations with people who've already raised their hand and been like, that's me. Hi, I need help. Hello. Right, right, right.

Just one more thing to add with that. So I started to, you know, form some relationships via LinkedIn through, through like some, I guess, you know, a group of professionals group. And I was talking with this one financial advisor fairly consistently, but I was never like, hard selling. I was just literally trying to grow that relationship. And eventually he actually, you know, came to me and said, you know, could you look at, you know, I'm paying this guy X amount. Could you look at it and just give me some thoughts? Yeah, absolutely. So I took the time, like, I spent about like an hour and a half watching it and then giving him, like, I probably gave him like two pages worth of notes, nothing horrible. And I always started with like the praises up top. And then I'm like, then I went to the technical and some improvements, and then literally there was like no response whatsoever. And I'm like, f you, like, yeah, like, we've been building this and then you go come and ask me for something. I'm like, I'm never doing that again. I'm going to charge for that time.

Yep, absolutely. And, you know, we all have to go through that moment where we deal with a free chaser and. And you know what happens oftentimes is they feel the energetic imbalance of it and then they feel like they owe you something. Right. But they weren't prepared to owe you something because they were being a freebie chaser and you gave so much that they're like, oh, I'm in debt now. Right. And so we actually. I know it's awkward in the beginning to be like, cool. Yeah. To do that. It's like usually a 90 minute deep dive that I do. I charge 600 for that, you know, to really give you feedback and help you grow as a videographer, whatever. But, you know, here's the link to pay. And then I just need you to submit X amount of minutes of video that you want me to review. Right. And it just makes it so energetically clean. Right. And remember, someone who spends money with you once is, I think the number is like 70 or 80% more likely to spend money with you again. So it makes a huge difference.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Yeah, for sure. Alex, I can't tell if you're like waving a fly away or you wanted to raise your hand.

No, but Rich talked about Rich. Sorry. I can so empathize with you. And I've worked in corporate marketing for 15 years, and my first reaction to when you said, how do I compete with all the fiverrs and like, all the other people that you can, you know, book from all over the world, my first reaction was like, go try it. Like, please get someone, and then you'll see the result. And then you come crawling back. Because I've. We've tried it before in the past, too. I've worked at many different companies and at startups and at corporations. The difference between, like, hiring somewhere where there's maybe even a little bit of a language Barrier to. They just don't have the same like aesthetics. Like if you are in the US and you're catering to US customers, there's certain aesthetics that you know, like the US market likes. So. And if you're getting someone from Thailand, completely different aesthetics. So that doesn't. So I would always just like, I don't know, like I, I don't have true advice like especially not in prospecting. I'm just saying like I have been the like your customer and I know the difference between someone that is cheap on fiverr, etc. And a true corporate video videographer, designer, etc. Because those designs are like, okay, cool, I have one more feedback. Can you like integrate that and then we're done and we have a beautiful video and I had immediately a content idea for you. Sorry for unsolicited advice as we're talking here about it.

I always happy to accept it.

Thank you.

Seen a really amazing post from a designer on LinkedIn and she's charging a lot for logo design. And it's the same thing I think as you because you can go on and you can even get like, you know, you can make a pitch or have people companies pitch on Fiverr, etc. And all of these many other platforms and you can basically even get like something for free. You can even go on Canva, but the results are probably questionable later because it's just like, oh, I did something creative with the award or um, and so what she just did on LinkedIn was, and she's from Germany, so won't even be in competition to her. Um, she said she asked her followers like, hey, send me your, your logo designs and I'll give you feedback for free. Um, so. And she posted that feedback then publicly and said like, look, this is a good logo, but this is what I don't like here, this is what I don't would do differently here, et cetera. And then someone immediately sees like, man, this knowledge and the thought process that goes behind this. Like this was the cheap logo got from somewhere. And as your followers see, like, wow, this is how Rich thinks about this creation process and this is why this costs so much more money. Like, sorry, what's just an idea. I'm marketing, so thank you.

My brain fires. I want to. Yes. And all of that and I want to add to it. Like I imagine when, when you did go to the video person through Fiverr, it's not like you were just doing this for fun. Like there were other parts of the project that kind of depended on this being done. Right?

Yeah.

Right.

So like, it's not just, you know, the amount of money spent on that video. It's slowing down the whole process and then having to like, find the right person after the fact, after this person is proven wrong and all the frustration that goes into it. And then answering to your boss, why is this project late? And then dealing with like managing expectations across the organization. Right.

100%.

So you get to speak to all of those problems beyond that are caused by picking the wrong video person.

Yeah, 100%.

Thank you.

Yeah, of course. Yeah. Awesome. Great question so far today. Who would like to go next?

I do actually have a question solely.

Didn't plan on having a question. I only joined to like hear everyone speak and get inspired by the questions. But John immediately inspired my first question because I'm like completely at the beginning. I've been doing what I've been doing for a while, but just signed on as a client to like starting to scale because what I'm doing is like not gonna work to scale. And I'm like in this. So I am marketing and I've worked for corporations typically before where everything is beautiful and glossy and you have templates for everything. And now I'm doing marketing and I do it for others and make other people's stuff beautiful. My own stuff looks like crap. I finally, after two years, did a professional photo shoot.

Still don't have a website.

I don't have a logo. My company name was. Is absolutely has nothing to do with what I do. It was just like, I need a name because I want to finally like get that llc. So it's, you know, just in case anything ever happens. So my question is, when do you do all of that? I'm like, so like when I post online, I'm like, I would really like to have a beautiful Canva design or something. And I.

And.

But then it needs to be the right one because I don't want to change it again after a month or I don't want to use a new Canva design every again logo. And I don't know.

Yeah.

How do you get over this hurdle, this pro. This part of the process is the most painful to my marketing and design clients.

Okay.

It is the most painful because you're aware of what good marketing and what good design looks like.

Yeah.

And it's hard for you to look past, like the messaging is what matters most here.

It's very hard for me to see that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it will be and it will always be. And like that that's just gonna suck for you. I'm sorry.

Good.

Right. So right off the bat, like, having, having a business name.

Cool.

Very, very supportive of it. I want you to remember, though, when people meet you, because they're not gonna, like, meet your business out in the world.

No, absolutely not.

Right.

They're gonna meet you and I am the business.

Yeah, exactly. And. But, like, they're probably not gonna rem. They're gonna remember your name.

Yep.

Right. So they're gonna go online, they're gonna Google your name. So, like, if you don't own your own domain name that has your. Your name, I would go and buy it right now. This is for everyone. If you don't own it, go buy it. Because that's what they're gonna search for.

Yep.

And then, you know, at the end of the day, like, it really. It doesn't ever actually have to happen. You know, I, I'll use my own business as an example. You know, I make multiple six figures a year. Mike. My logo is something I made up on Canva. Okay, great. Like, in the back of my mind, I'm like, yeah, I should probably pay someone to redo that at some point. But it's not hurting me right now. Okay.

Because I'm, I'm like Rich's ideal client. I'm like, okay, I'm going to go to my designer and have this professionally designed. I was like, wait, wait, wait. I first need to make money before I reach the point of like, you need. You need to spend money to make money. But I don't know if logo design is very high up on the priority.

Well, and also, like, let's acknowledge, you and I both know that to do a logo that's going to be at all effective for the business, you have to understand who the ideal client is.

Exactly. So that's where I get stuck. And so I'm at the beginning. I don't know where my ideal plan. I don't even really know my offering yet. And then I starting to think, like, okay, if I post on, like, like, I get even so wrapped up in my head about Instagram, I was like, do I use my company name now? Do I use my name? Well, my name is technically already taken for my personal, Personal, like, fully locked down Instagram account for friends only. Like, I get so like everything right now.

Don't overthink it right now. Here's, here's the deal. We're going to strike right now when you make your first a hundred thousand dollars from your ideal client that we're going to define when we first start working together, because we haven't had even had our first session together.

Right. You know?

Yeah.

As soon as you hit that $100,000, that's when you get to take a little chunk of that and put it towards this.

Okay, Sounds good.

I like it. Yeah. Yeah.

And you're gonna bullshit it along the way. You're gonna, like, come up with your own stuff. You're not gonna spend money on that because I want you focusing on generating income from your ideal clients.

Yeah.

Okay.

Right.

Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Our brains are really good at coming up with, like, the critical to do list of all the things that are gonna make us seem more credible and more. And all this stuff. And like, we have to have them done before we can go and do the thing. None of that shit matters. Yeah.

And then you talk to your marketing friends who come up with the unsolicited advice of like, well, maybe I think you should really have a company profile on LinkedIn and your website should also be ready because that's all we've learned and that's what wise everyone else to do, depending on the business they're in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Very hard to then.

Yeah.

No, it doesn't apply to me, though.

Yeah. Well.

And of course you and I are going to dig into that in our first couple sessions. Right.

Thank you.

What your to do list is that you actually should be spending money on and time. Right.

Thank you.

Yeah. I will say this. You know, websites, I actually don't recommend my clients invest in them for at least a year. Right. Because, like, if you said, like, the first website I ever did was a glorified resume about who I am as a person, what I believe as a life, you know, thing, no one cares, like, no one's coming to that website and be like, I have to work with this person. They're thinking, this nothing to do with me. Who is this?

I'm.

I'm going to go find someone else.

Yeah.

Right. And then, of course, I switched niches so many times I had to like, redo the website each time I had a new niche. Yeah, right.

And I'm always like a proponent of, like, first comes the content and what you speak to, and from there you develop the design and everything. I mean, it's literally my work. So if I were to design something, it wouldn't speak to. I mean, maybe it would, but would be a coincidence. So true. I need to hear that. Thank you.

Totally.

Yeah. And also, like, just naming, like, you can be an expert at this stuff. And it's always going to be harder to do for yourself. Right. That's, I mean, I have a really hard time doing my own strategy. You know, I can do strategy for everyone else and then I get to my own business. I'm like, I don't know.

And absolutely empathize with that.

Yeah. Any other questions on that?

Nope.

Awesome. All right, what other questions do we have today?

Why?

I guess I'll jump back in real quick. So I did set up a company page on LinkedIn because my company name is different. It's not like, you know, you know, rich video or whatever. So if, you know, for starting to post content, because I'm horrible at it, I don't like, it'll take me, I probably like an forever to think about content for me, but I can hear someone and be like, here, you do this, you do this, you do this. But if I start or when I start posting, I mean, should I be posting on both my personal and the business or just personal?

Just personal. Company pages get virtually zero reach. It's kind of a place for people to see that like you actually do work for yourself, you know, and you do have your own company. It's, it's like a small little verification bit. It's, you know, I, I joke that I could absolutely make a website that says that I'm a neurosurgeon and like I do all the best brain surgeries. Right. There will be people in the interwebs who see that and they're like, cool, she's a neurosurgeon.

Cool.

Yeah.

Like, next time, next time I need brain surgery, I'll just go to her. I like her. You know, don't. I know I can barely like cut my steak in, in a straight line, but anyway, but it's just one of those things that adds just little, little, little itty bitty bit of more credibility that you are who you say you are. Right. But don't waste time creating content for it. Right. If, if you want to take like some of your more hard hitting content pieces that you do on your personal page and kind of like copy and paste it and, and share it again as your company, you can totally do that. But I, I honestly like, I don't even waste time with my company pages. Yeah. So yeah, LinkedIn is Janky AF. The sooner we learn that and the sooner we learn. Okay, cool. LinkedIn has become this successful with things that barely work. Like we can do anything. Right. All right, great question. What else, what else do we want to Cover today. Yes.

Can I drop a link to my questionnaire for the onboarding form for your review? I'm not sure that all of the questions are relevant for me because I copied yours. Yeah.

Why don't you drop it into Heartbeat and I can give you feedback there?

I meant Heartbeat.

Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.

Yeah.

Just so no one thinks that they're outside of, like, an. Like an internal joke or anything. Like, Dean is in one of my group programs, and we have Heartbeat where they get to ask me questions in between, and it's easier for me to give feedback there. I'm not, like, trying to keep you out of the answer there, so you can always join.

Is not paying me to say that.

Awesome. What other questions do we have today?

All right, I have a question, Katie. We're still in the May challenge of posting every day, and I have to say, it has been invaluable doing that because I'm on, you know, my 24th instance of posting, and it's been really interesting to see, like, what people react to or what they don't, or also seeing that the links don't. Or the posts obviously don't show up for others in chronological order because I'm getting, like, views on things that are.

All over the place.

Yeah.

But.

So once the challenge is over, I want to keep the momentum going, and I think I remember the answer. But you suggested post at least every weekday, correct?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because I mean, it also gets easier with practice.

Yeah. I mean, there is a point of diminishing return. Right. So on LinkedIn, you. I mean, if you post more than twice a day, like, you actually kill reach for a lot of your posts. Right. And honestly, you don't need to post twice a day to get in front of your ideal clients. You, like, once. Once a day, five days a week is ideal. Right.

Especially.

And I. I would say this is most important for you because you are trying to teach your HR clients to have boundaries around their weekends.

Yeah.

Right. And so it is kind of like a. Like, I'm practicing what I'm preaching kind of moment. Right. Doesn't mean you can't work on the weekends. Like, if you wanted to write all five posts on the Sunday and then schedule them, perfect, you have to do less work during the week. But, yeah.

Yeah.

I just don't want to fall out of the habit because it's been. It's been a good. I feel like I have an established habit now.

Yeah.

You know, so I actually made up this challenge on a whim. Like. Like, literally laid the track as the train was coming because I had this idea and wanted to get out there. Should I do it again?

For sure?

Yeah. Okay, please do.

So the other thing that I was thinking about. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Oh, I was saying I missed the.

Cutoff and I'd love to join a.

Challenge if you've got it going again.

Okay, I will. All right, I'll make sure you get the email, Terry. And then Yvonne, what were you think?

Well, the other thing that I'm planning ahead for is September is actual self care month in the US and so I'm planning ahead that like, I would love to either go live or post like a small self care something or other every day. But so I have to do some planning for that because I'm, I'm finally comfortable with posting. Because if you recall, when we first started this challenge, I wanted to throw up after every post that I hit. You know, post to, it was awful. I was like, oh, God. But I'm not comfortable doing video or live yet. So I think by September I should be.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And one of the things that I do with my clients when you're just starting to do live is if you want to do it with training wheels and do it with me, we can do that together.

I will take you up on that.

Yeah, yeah, we'll schedule that for sure. It's actually, it's a lot of fun, you know. And I will say this about live video. Everyone thinks, okay, well, I have to be perfect. It's actually not perfect. That builds trust, right? When you're on live, like, everyone knows you're live, right? Especially if they're commenting and you're responding. Right. The lives that have built the most trust are honestly the ones where I screwed up the most royally. Right? Like, I remember this one live. I, you know, did a side quest story because I have ADHD and that's how we communicate with people. And I'm telling this whole elaborate story that had a point that went along with the main point of the live. And I completely forgot where I was going with it. And the, the chat I just remember erupted into this like, scavenger hunt of like, where was Katie going with this? Right? But it's like the willingness to screw up publicly, the willingness to be human in front of a bunch of people and show that it's okay actually builds so much more trust than here I am with this perfect presentation. And look at this, look at this and see my Barbie hands.

You know, how did you handle it? I'm curious I just laughed.

I just laughed. I was like, oh, my God, I've completely forgotten the point. And, like, do you guys remember the point? Like, oh, crap. And then I was like, we were talking about this, and then I went here, and then I went here, and I have no idea what I was talking about. And then you just kind of like, you know, riff and improvised. You know, if. If you want to do live video at some point as part of your. Your marketing strategy, I highly recommend taking some improv classes. It makes a huge difference, because then, like, you learn how. How, like, making mistakes actually isn't a problem. And you can always. Yes. And yourself. Right. And so for Dina, for you, for example, you know, you could always, like, if you were in that moment where you were telling a story and forgot the point, you can say, oh, my God, I've completely forgotten the point. And then you can bring it back to. You know, sometimes my clients, when they're presenting to investors, they're nervous, and they'll start talking about something and they'll forget the point, and then they have to figure out how to, like, dance in the moment until they find the point again. Yeah. Oh, and you bring it back to, like, by the way, like, this is not a big deal right now. The fact that I've lost the point of the story like, this makes me superhuman, right?

Yes.

And that's what I'm willing to admit, that I've made a mistake. Like, that's what investors trust. They don't want someone who's gonna always say, oh, everything's fine. This is what I meant to happen. They want someone who's gonna say, I up. I up. I forgot this, I forgot that. Blah, blah, blah, I need help. Right. Because that. They can do something with that. They can protect their investment with that.

Absolutely.

If this person's constantly bullshitting them, saying that they have. They have everything, you know, all handled. It's great. When it's not great, they can't help with anything. Right.

And some, I mean, oftentimes than not, something goes wrong.

Yeah, yeah.

Just the postitude helping to create.

Totally. And so you can say, one of the things I develop with my clients is, you know, a couple different talk tracks that they can jump right into when they forget the point when they were in a presentation. Right.

How did you just take it?

And you didn't even find the track of what you were talking about again. You just changed it into something else.

Oh, okay. Interesting.

Yeah, Yeah.

I have. I have a question on that. I don't know if we have time.

Yeah, well. Oh well, Yvonne jumped off. Okay. I'm like, where'd she go? Okay, yes, absolutely. What question do you have.

Again? We can postpone it because of time. It's, it's just that I, I was talking as I was thinking about presentation structure because I know that and it depends for what purposes but it still, the engagement rate should be on the other side more than the presenter and anyway, forget about it. Sorry. I will come back to you with a very specific question. Now I'm too on the. Yeah.

Awesome. Well then for the sake of time, since we do have a lot of people here, why don't we move into main takeaways? How I like to do this is we're going to popcorn it. So whoever volunteers to go first will tell the next person who goes. Who will tell the next person to go. Who would like to start us off? Yes, Mark, I'm going.

And hopefully you'll like this. My main takeaway from this was stop being a weenie and just do it already.

Right?

Yes.

I love it.

I need to remind myself of that every day.

Join the club.

So let's go to Dina.

Oh, thank you so much. Set boundaries with. Well, in general and also specifically with my call on Sunday and, and also the. On when. When I am bored about the timing. Anyway, yes, I have a lot of thoughts right now, but set boundaries and I will pop, pop it to Kerry. Thank you.

Thank you, Dina. I have two main takeaways. One is I talk myself out of posting all the time. I have a moment that I think would be really great and then I, I let the inspiration die and then I go back and look at it.

And say, oh, you know, it's probably.

Good that you didn't do that because people would have. It doesn't make any sense.

You would have sounded like a crazy person.

You would have ended up crying on the front porch to your husband asking.

Him if he married a loser. That's a true.

And then my. I think really the big takeaway is if, if LinkedIn can be so successful being janky AF, then you can too. That's actually the big takeaway of the day. I will go for Mark. Oh, wait, Mark. I think he started us off.

Oh, did he start?

Okay, sorry.

My. All.

My other big takeaway is that I need to pay better attention. Did Terry go? No, not yet. Okay. So my big takeaway is to stop my negative self talk and just start posting those 30 posts that I have sitting in a folder on my computer already and to stop believing like I said all those negative thoughts in my head.

So yeah, stop being a weenie too.

I will go to John.

Thanks, Terry. My two takeaways are like get visibility. So focus on my marketing and focusing on my backend, I think are really important for me to help structure my days. So I'm taking that away and I'll pass it over to Alex.

My main takeaway is that I need to stop thinking out about perfecting everything because that, like, drive for perfection is absolutely hindering in me and making any progress.

And who are you picking?

Monica didn't go yet.

Right. Thank you.

My main takeaway for today is that company pages on LinkedIn isn't necessarily bad.

You can have one, just don't spend.

Time on it necessarily. And I really like the quote. Your marketing is working. I'll pass it to Sean Marie.

Hi.

So I guess my two takeaways also. The don't worry about things being perfect. That's huge. And the visibility. Posting every day. My. My business is basically word of mouth through my friend network, which is also a business network. I was an academic, now I'm in editing. So for me, I guess that means just post on Facebook every day and just remind people that you exist and show them, you know, talk about what I'm doing. And I'm doing some design as well. And just because every time I will tell someone what I'm doing, I get work. It's. It's in this. Like, just remember to do it. Like, if this works, if you would just not hide, you know, hide away at home.

Just.

Yeah, that's my takeaway.

Love that. Love that. And who are you picking next?

Let's see.

I don't.

Wait.

Who?

Monica went, Terry went. Carrie, John.

Dina.

Dina went.

Right?

Yeah.

So I think Victoria and Rich are the two that haven't gone yet.

Oh, okay.

I did not see them.

Victoria.

Oh, you're. You're muted. Victoria, we can't hear you. There we go.

Sorry.

I'm on my phone and it's like everything's tiny.

Of course. Yeah.

Maybe I tried turning it. Maybe I can see more. I don't know if that's any better.

Sorry.

I'm actually working. Working at the same time as listening to you guys. So I'm being sneaky because it's five o' clock over here, but. Sorry, I'm a mess. What I've learned, I think, is none of my concerns or issues are unique. Like hearing all of you guys, it's just like.

Just.

Yeah, Nothing unique. It's all the same. And it's really inspiring to hear everyone. So hashtag iamgiant we need for number two.

Yes.

And I think last but not least, Rich, If you can, if you can join us again. I don't know if you're able, You might be driving. Okay, Rich, we're just going to assume that you're driving or otherwise unable to talk. I hope you're safe. Anyway, everyone, thank you so much for joining. I hope this was super useful to you. If this is your first Brave Biz lab, we do this every fourth Friday of the month. So feel free to come back. If any of the talk of my program sounded interesting to you, then just DM me and I can send you a link to find out more. Otherwise, have an amazing long weekend and stop being a weenie in all things. All right, have a good one everyone. Bye Bye.

Bye.

Thanks Katie. Thank you.