Brave Biz Lab 2024 07 19

Hello.

Happy Friday.

Hello. Hello.

Hello. Welcome. Jason.

Mine's been great. Katie, how is yours?

I'm alive. I'm alive. I. I don't know how much my team explained to you guys. I ended up in the ER on Wednesday thinking I had appendicitis, but I was actually just so violently ill that I pulled muscles in my abdomen that felt appendicitis. And I, like, I've just been in bed all, all week.

Just. It was like a bad, like food poisoning or something and then flu.

It was not good. So anyway, I'm doing this call. I have one more call later this afternoon. I'm going to be napping in between and then hopefully I'll be back to normal by Monday. Thank you for your understanding with rescheduling. We're going to be doing all of our normal calls next week. I hope that works for everyone. But anyway, yeah. Ah. But honestly, the beauty of having a team. The beauty of having a team that can jump in and communicate things as needed because I honestly couldn't even open my computer. My computer on those two days that I was really bad. So.

Wow.

Yeah.

Anyway. Yeah, yeah, a lot of fun. Anyway, what are we celebrating this week? Let's start there. I'm celebrating that I'm alive, that I survived. I'm celebrating that Katie's okay too.

I love how your team made it seem like small, like Katie's feeling unwell. No, Katie was probably like vomiting and herself to death with stomach flu and she had to go to the ER because she pulled muscles in her stomach. Like that's like another level.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I appreciate that. They made it sound polite. Yeah, super polite.

I was like, is this what we're saying now for like mental health? I was like, katie is unwell. No, you were just like dying.

Minor anxiety. No, no. Yeah, no. What else are we celebrating today?

I got a new client.

Congratulations.

You.

Thank you. Well done.

Super excited. Same day, I had one client graduate and I had one that confirmed this morning. So full circle.

Love that. What else are we celebrating today?

I. I guess I have a dog sitting business now.

That's a nice business. That's a nice side hustle.

Yeah, yeah.

So I'm, I'm, I'm. You can hear the barking in the back. I'm sitting with a 15 year old senile Shih tzu who just like barks at the air, just doesn't know why. And then he has like a specific witching hour to hour and a half in the early evening, which is like sundowner syndrome. That people with dementia get. And he just like barks. And my people pleaser is learning so many lessons, like, you can't make this dog happy, Lauren. He's just not going to be. Not with extra food, not with treats, not with outside walks, not with snuggling on the couch. He's just. He needs to bark at the walls. And I'm allowing him to do that now.

It makes perfect sense to him. So.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah. So I have a successful dog sitting business, I have a Thursday gig and I have a three home sitting gigs coming up and that's part of what I do now.

Yeah, yeah.

Congratulations.

Thanks.

What else are we celebrating?

I have a celebration. Well, I finished my one page proposal for corporate clients, so that's a big one. But that actually inspired me to work on my next book.

So.

So I have a full outline of my next book written, the intro. And I actually need to stop myself and write the book proposal so that I can start shopping it around before I get too deep into it. So I don't know, I felt like I got hit by a lightning bolt of inspiration and I spent probably 13 hours writing yesterday or over the last two days.

Amazing. Amazing. Oh, my God. We have Michelle joining from Australia, so she'll be very tired, so everyone be kind to her. That's awesome. I'm trying to think, God. I mean, if you wanted a hybrid publish, I would know some people, but like, I'm all for you going and getting it properly published.

Well, I'm gonna try the traditional. My first book was self published, so I know how to do that. So this one I'm gonna try the traditional route. And if not, I'm going to try Balboa Press, which is a self publishing arm of Hay House. And if not that, then I know how to self publish anyway, so I have a plan. Either way it's going to get out there. It doesn't hurt just for cred, so. But yeah, it's like a big project now that I. It's going to take me a while.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally amazing. Congratulations. Anything else we want to celebrate before we move into questions Today.

I think I had a breakthrough with my corporate offering and I reached out to like 10 people because I was struggling with like, I don't know who to reach out to. And then I had one of those like light bulb moments. And so things are feeling like they're falling into places where I want them to sort of be close to at least.

Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny when that clicks right yeah, yeah, yeah.

Awesome.

All right, well, then let's take it to open Q and A. What questions do you have? If you're new to Brave Biz Labs, literally any questions, welcome. It doesn't matter. It can't be too beginner. Like, there's no such thing as too beginner. There's also no such thing as too advanced. If it's too big of a question for me to go fully into here, then we can take it offline. We can also move it to our group calls if you're in byob, but everything's on the table. Who wants to start?

I'll start.

Jason.

So nice to meet everybody. So I'm happy to be here. My question is around trying to refine or really get the ICP statement down so that I can figure out how to start targeting who I would talk to in the market research.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So just want to set the expectation here with market research. So you're going to. You're going to do your first announcement. Hey, I need to interview people. You're going to give a description. If you start getting people who are perfect and that are your ideal client, you're like, yes. Then you stay with that description. And if it's like, this isn't quite what I meant, then we change it, and then we change it again. And we change it again. And it's an iterative process. Okay.

Right.

So don't get hung up on it being perfect. Right off the bat, I actually, right before this, I saw your iterative or your next iteration on what you did. Do you mind if I share my screen and walk through it?

Sure.

All right.

See?

Can everyone see this? Okay, so, all right, right off the bat, love this. When you walk into the room, you feel small. Like, you know, we all know that sensation. You never quite feel like you measure up. You know, we go long. We, like, we make this really long, and then we cut it down. Like, I want to. I want to ask you, like, where don't they measure up at work in relationships? Like, just out in the world? You don't feel deserving of success, love, or joy. And keep people at arm's length to ensure that nobody ever gets too close. Like this. This requires a very deep level of self reflection to. To be aware of this. This is. This is something. Why don't we do this? We do this. I do this exercise a lot, but I want you to take a piece of paper, and I want you to draw out four columns.

Right?

And you've done this before. I. I invite you to do this with me again, because this is really helpful because oftentimes we get sucked into our expert speak, right? And of course, Jason, like, as you're interviewing people, it's going to. You're going to get language. It's going to make it so much easier for you to get out of your expert spe week. But this is an exercise for you to play with.

Okay?

Column one is symptom.

Is what?

A symptom.

Okay.

Okay. So a symptom. You have a runny nose. Okay? Column two is problems. This is what you, as the expert, see as the root of the problem. The person has the cold virus.

Okay?

Okay. So solution. This is what you, as the expert, see the solution. They need rest and they need some cold medication.

Okay?

Okay. Outcome. This is what they are picturing as the outcome that they want more than anything, and that's that they can lay down and breathe through both nostrils and fall asleep without problem. And that nose is no longer rubbed raw. Right?

So.

So you don't feel deserving of success, love, or joy, and keep people at arms length to ensure that nobody ever gets too close. Where would you put this?

I would put that as a problem.

Yeah. So your clients are not thinking this way. So what we want is when they read this description, they're like, huh, that's me. Oh, that's me. Yeah, I do that. Oh, fuck. That happens, too. I was just bitching about this to my best friend when I had a couple drinks the other night. Oh, okay, cool. Don't want this. Right? So. So we wanted to take this out, or we want to translate it into whatever the symptom is going to be.

Okay.

You know, so it could be they haven't gotten a promotion in 10 years, you know, and like. Or they really want another job, but they, like, find excuses not to apply for it. But they're not applying for it. For some reason. They have been single for 10 years. You know, their kids complain that they never get to spend time with them. Right. You're mean and judgmental of yourself, and deep down inside, you believe that when things really matter, you'll screw it up and fail. Right? Like, things never seem to work out for you. Right. We want to bring it back to when they're admitting things about themselves to their best friend or in their diary. Like, what are they saying? Like, never. Things never work out for me. I don't. I don't know why. Kind of do know why. Right. But you want to really speak to them with, like, what. What symptoms they're talking about right now. Let me see. If you spoke to people the way you speak to yourself, you would not have many friends. I think that's true for most of us. The vast majority of our, of us who, who would have friends, they spoke to them the way that we speak to ourselves. We see worst case scenarios. Yeah. So much energy is, is, is spent thinking up worst case scenarios that will most likely never happen. This is again, that in that problem category. So this isn't how they're seeing it. Like they're just so afraid of things going wrong. Right. Because things go wrong all the time in their lives.

Yeah.

Right. Let me see, what's the symptom of this?

Well, for me, a symptom of this is like having anxiety literally stop you from enjoying your moment in your day.

Tell me, like in very literal physical sense, like what does anxiety feel like to you?

It feels like racing thoughts and like a vibrating energy that feels uncomfortable. Shortness of breath and it feels like a dark cloud.

Okay, cool. And what situations instigate that?

When I feel like I have made a mistake or not delivered what I said I was going to deliver, or if I feel like I have made an investment and I don't see how it's going to be successful, you know, maybe not knowing how I'm going to handle a mortgage refinance or something like that, like all of those things would. Anything that would, it's, it really comes down to fear, like where I'm afraid that the outcome isn't going to be positive.

Yeah, yeah. So feel fear of failure.

Yeah.

Right. You're so afraid that you're going to fail in this way, this way and this way that you don't do the things that you need to do.

Right. Which is why I wrote you for two years before signing up for this program.

Join the club. Okay. Yeah. So we want to bring it down to that very literal symptom. Okay, let me see. You have to find ways. Yeah. So here's, here's what we want to like really look at your niche. Like, do you want to work. I know we talked about this in your strategy call, but do you want to work with people who are in recovery? Do you want to work with people who just use drugs and alcohol to numb and they may have a problem with it or not?

Well.

For kind, like my expertise and experience comes from the fact that I'm like seven years in recovery. But my fear is that going down into that niche really pigeonholes me to work with a whole bunch of people that don't have the ability to necessarily deal with coaching to solve their problems.

Yeah.

And so my thought process has been around. How do I redefine this in a way that I can maybe attract people that are struggling with those things, but do it in a different way?

Yeah. Yeah. I, I like the idea of you working with people who have like, adjacent problems.

Yeah.

You know, who have similar things happening in their life, but they're not there. But you are also a safe space for people who've dealt with addiction.

Yeah.

You know, because you've been there.

Right, Right.

Okay. So does anyone else want to, like, if. Jason, are you open to me making this practice for other people?

For sure. And I, I don't want to, like, take up the whole session too.

I just apologize. Rule number one, we don't apologize for taking up space on this call. Okay. This is actually great practice for everyone to like, see what's a problem with the symptom. So who sees a problem like a root of the problem thing in here that they want to share. And just speak? Because I can't see everyone.

Well, one, one problem I see is confidence.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah. Confidence is one of those things that we talk about a lot, but it's not really. No one stays up at late at night thinking, oh, God, I wish I were more confident.

Right.

They're like, oh, God, I wish I lost £20. Oh, more money. Oh, like, I wish I weren't so stressed out about bills.

So would those be the symptoms, the £20? The symptom?

Exactly. We want to think about symptoms are the things that are that they stay up at night thinking about, obsessing over. They're the things that they about to their best friends. They're the things that they say, oh, well, if I could only have this figured out, then I'd be happy, then I'd be more confident, then I'd get the job, then I'd get the partner, then I. You know, as humans, like, we tend to attribute, like all of our problems to, like, simple things, like, if I only made more money, if I only did this, if I only did this. And of course, like, a lot of those things can cause us to be happier and more fulfilled, but they're not necessarily what we're going to work on in coaching. Right. But what you, what your client thinks is their problem before they hire you is going to be very different from what the problems they work on after they hire you. Right. This is, this is the never ending struggle of coaches is we want to talk about coaching. We want to talk about how magical it is and, like, the things that we see as the problem in their life that are going to get better. Our clients don't see it that way. Right. Our clients see it like they want to lose 20 pounds. Our clients see it that. Oh, God, I wish my marriage were better. I wish my, my husband were more supportive. I wish this, I wish that.

So for me, when I was going, when, if I reround, rewound the clock to the years before I went to recovery, it would have been like, I, I, I want to be able to stop doing this thing, but I can't. Yeah, right. Like, that was the thing where, like, I, I don't want to, to do this thing that I'm doing anymore, but I keep doing it despite the fact that I don't want to.

Yeah.

So at the end of the, Every day I feel gross and shameful about it because, like, I'm ducking off to drink in the middle of the afternoon instead of, like, doing what I'm supposed to be doing at work. Like, that was my life for years before I find I found recovery.

Right.

That would have been the symptom or the problem.

That would have been the symptom.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So I want you to play with this. It's, you know, another variation. I want you to come up with three things that they're sick of, that they're tired of, that they don't want anymore, that they're complaining about in their life, and then come up with the three, like, positive sides of that. Like, what are the things that, like the outcome version of that. When we're talking in symptoms and in outcomes, we don't want to be clever. We don't want to do alliteration. We don't want to be metaphorical. We want to be, like, as, as blunt and as straightforward and as plain language as possible.

So I could say, like, sick of getting passed over for a promotion. Yeah. Because that, that resonates with me.

Yep, yep, yep.

If I can give you an example. So I help people recover from burnout. So the, the, the, the problems are usually overworked, lack of delegation, unclear deliverables. But people don't think that way. They think, I'm exhausted, I hate my boss, I want to quit my job, I want to run away. Those are the symptoms. Right. That's how they feel. The causes are many, and then the solutions are like, I feel good, I look forward to the work that I'm doing. I'm present with my family. Like, those are the things that, like, they feel better at when the burnout is gone.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

In. And oftentimes the symptom is going to be the same. It's just going to be the same for everything. The symptom for my clients is I don't have clients. I'm not making money. I have no. Like, I don't know how to make money from this business. I don't know how to get people to sign up for my shit right now. The problem can be they have a shitty relationship with money. The problem can be they don't have an offer. The problem can be they don't know how to market or how to sell and blah, blah, blah, right? The root of the problem, I, as I see it, is like, you're being weenie, right? Because if you're. If you're afraid of doing something outside your comfort zone, you're never going to learn how to do it right? So we can use kind of like how we see the problem as thought leadership out there as like, you know, kind of our brand, you know, but we don't want to use it as. As our marketing because the marketing has to go to, like, how do they feel when they can't have what they want? You know, what does it feel like?

I don't know, Katie. I was sitting around thinking, man, I'm a weenie.

But, I mean, but it goes into. After I've said all the other things, you know, people start like, connecting it to, yeah, I'm being weenie about this, right? You know, what does it feel like to be at Thanksgiving with your family and everyone's asking, oh, how's your new business going? And you're like, I don't have any clients, I don't have any money. Like, how do I tell them it's, like, going okay, or it's going great, because that's what they want to hear when that's a fucking lie. You know, we want to connect with that kind of language, right? And. And this is the process. You're not going to get it perfect, right? So I want you to come up with the three things that, like, are what you think your ideal client are going to go through, and then the three things that are the positive version of that that they want instead. And start there.

So those would be the outcomes, the positive version.

Yeah, exactly. Luna, you're out. Luna. Luna, come here. Out of the room.

Sorry.

That. Okay. Okay, cool. Does that make sense to everyone? Did she make your dog bark? Lauren? Okay, good.

No, mine hasn't stopped working. Or whining all morning.

Oh God.

Poor dementia filled dog.

Oh man. This is helpful to everyone. I know, I know it takes a long time to start thinking outside of the problem solution way because you're an expert in what you do. You know, it's really hard to like back it up into, you know, what your clients are going through right now in this moment. Right. Because that was a long time ago for you. Right? So know that this is not like it's simple, but it's not easy. Michelle, what are you doing awake?

I have no idea. I have no idea. I was lying in bed and then I got a. You have 10 minutes to the thing. And I was like, well, I've been on one ever in six months. So I was like, it, I'm up anyway.

Well, everyone, this is, this is Michelle. She lives in Australia. She never gets to come to the ship because it's, it's in the middle of the night for her. And she's a branding coach. She helps people come up with their personal brand that really connects with their clients. So I invite you all to cross pollinate if you don't get to see each other normally, like stay in touch, you know, communicate with each other. I'm sure you know, this is a very lonely path. Starting a business and having friends never hurts.

Michelle, I'm, I'm in Europe so I also have a bigger time gap than everyone else does.

What part are you in?

I'm in Germany. Well, I'm on the border of Germany and France.

Oh, nice. I. I'm going to Ireland in like three weeks. So I'll actually be on more calls. Actually after. In about three weeks time I'll be in a load more calls, so that would be nice.

I was just in Dublin in January for a wedding, so you'll have much nicer weather.

Like why, why would you go to Dublin in January? That makes no sense.

Exactly. And they, they got married. Well, obviously no one gets married in Dublin in January, so they got it really cheap. So they were like, yay for us getting it really cheap. And they said, I an Irish wedding, you only like they all have alcohol problems there. So they were just essentially they didn't need a pretty venue to go inside and get drunk. So.

That'S like quintessential Irish wedding. Yeah, I'm actually going home for a wedding as well, so.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, awesome. What other questions do we have today?

I just thought maybe I would say something from my own experience if other people are struggling. So I hate content and I hate writing content. On LinkedIn, I about it all the time to anyone who will listen. But I noticed a huge difference now since I've been posting every day and pretty much every day I've gotten a huge jump in enrollment calls. So if you're on the fence about posting shit because you're second guessing because I had a lot of half written posts and I just wouldn't post them, this is kind of me telling you to just fucking do it. Because really I have a 50% increase and enrollment calls just by posting and it's only been two and a half, three weeks that I've already seen no like difference. So just.

Yeah, I think I'm also going to do another 30 day challenge to post every single day in September. So you'll all get access. You don't have to pay for it included in all my programs. So you'll all get access to that. But yeah, it makes a huge difference. So thank you. Susan. I'm sorry you hate it, but I'm glad it's working.

I do feel like it's getting easier now. I definitely was horrible and I was banging my head. But I will say I think it's because I am a perfectionist with writing. I have a journalism degree, I was a journalist. So now I think my, my writing still has to be like a level. And it doesn't. I'm writing a fucking LinkedIn post. But nonetheless, Chat GPT helped. I don't know why I trust a computer to tell me it's good, but you can. I actually did. I got the paid version and it actually sounds less like a machine when you put in something and ask it to help create something like a base for your. Or if you want them to, to fix your writing in any way. So if you're having trouble writing stuff or kind of putting your thoughts together and you find ChatGPT sounds like a machine, the Chat GPT for the paid version actually is a lot better.

Yeah. You know, with this stuff, use what works for you. And also like, you know, to the point like your writing doesn't have to be good, it has to sound like you.

Yeah, right.

Because like there's something in it that there's this level of trust that you get when someone sees your content for a while. Like, oh, I should probably talk to them. Oh, I should talk to them. Oh, they're talking of that. I have that problem. Okay, I'll just book a call and then they get on the call with you and you speak exactly the way you write. Right?

Yeah.

My, my posts are not grammatically correct by any stretch of the imagination, but they sound like me. They have the weird pauses and shit. And that's, that's how I speak, you know, and it's, it really does build an immense amount of trust when someone gets on the phone with you and they're like, oh, you are who you are. Okay, cool.

Yeah, yeah, of course. And yeah, I wouldn't take it also out of ChatGPT just as is, but I think it does help people that are maybe too much in their head that they are struggling to put things together. So it's a tool, but it's not, it's not an end all, be all.

Yeah, yeah, but I mean going into chat GBT and saying, hey, give me 10 prompts for this kind of person who has these kinds of problems, you know, that's a, if you're really struggling for ideas, that's a great way to do it. Right.

How do you, how do you handle like in my situation, I still have a full time job, so, so the cross pollination on LinkedIn with regards to like some of the stuff that I talk about is like, about my company and if, if I start talking about my coaching and I'm talking about my company, is it going to be confusing? How do you handle that?

First, block them.

Your company? Yeah, block them. That's an option.

That's what I did.

But will your company have any problems with you having a coaching business on the side?

So we've already discussed it, but they're okay with me having a coaching business on the side. However, I think if I started posting every day about my coaching business and I was no longer representing my company brand, eventually I could see potential problems.

Yeah. So you want to, you want to honestly split the difference, you know, so you want to create content that's about your brand, you're about your company. Right. We're talking about the like challenges in sales or here's something helpful for those of you who are doing X, Y and Z or you know, here's, you know, we helped this, this client get from here to here, you know, so you're still posting on behalf of the company, you're still representing and then you want to shift into, you know, kind of a different Persona where you're talking about the issues that a lot of your clients struggle with and you just want to do a nod to like, you know, you know, I, I work at this company but I'm so passionate about helping people who are stuck in this kind of like shitty vortex of life and create Something different that I also do this thing. You just kind of want to constantly do that nod so that people can see that you have two sides to you. Right. You know, you can also just share personal stuff where you embed information in it. And when I say embed, I mean, like, I could take a picture of my desk right now, which I won't because it is disgusting. And I could say like, here's where I work from home. And like, you know, I have nail polish and I have hand lotion and I have, I have, you know, like a muscle relaxed ball. And oh, there's that earring. Lost this. I wasn't. This is actually I lost this hearing. And I can say all this stuff and I can say, you know, this is where I do most of my, my client calls and this and that. The other thing, share a picture of your desk in the comments. There's really no business point to that post.

Right?

But you've learned stuff about me. You've learned that I'm a messy human being. You've learned that I have like, tension in my shoulders, probably if I have a muscle relaxed ball on my, on my desk. You've learned that I take clients. Client calls. What does she take client calls for? If someone's curious about that, they might investigate further. You know, when we're, when we're sharing content, we want to like, share bits about ourselves that help people kind of like create the whole picture. So I want you to imagine everyone who's seeing your content is at home and they have like this blank canvas and they're drawing a picture of you or they're painting a picture of you. And as they learn more details, they add more details to the picture. You know, like, oh, she likes fantasy books. Oh, she loses earrings. Oh, this, oh, that. Okay? Because as they gain all those details, they'll start thinking of you as a friend. They'll start thinking of you as someone that they, that they actually know. You know, we all have that sensation, right, where we saw something on TikTok or on, on Instagram and we've seen this person's content so much, and it's so funny that we go to tell the story and we like say, oh, I have this friend. Wait, no, not really a friend. Uh, and then we like really struggle to like, explain our relationship with this person who has no fucking idea who we are because we're one of millions of followers, right? That's, that's what happens when we share the right way about ourselves on social media. Right? And once people have Like, a lot of details. Once you start sharing about your business, once you start sharing about the people you help and the solutions or the outcomes you help them get to, they really will start remembering that and attaching that to your picture. Right. And they may be your ideal client. They may be like, oh, my God, you know, Jason, who I already liked for these reasons, helps people with this problem that I have crap, maybe I need to work with him or they're going to start thinking, oh, my God, my friend Doreen was just bitching about that the other day. Maybe I need to connect the two. I think they'll like each other anyway. Right. So, like, as you're thinking about creating content, like, yeah, you can go full hog into, here's my business, here's who I help, here's my business, here's who I help. But that gets. It's not as effective as you giving kind of the full picture of who you are. Right. And then it becomes far more about you building a personal brand on LinkedIn and not just trying to get clients for your side hustle business and ignoring your company. See what I mean?

Yeah.

Also is part of your job to post on LinkedIn about your job?

Kind of like, I, I'm a sales person at a startup tech company, so oftentimes, like, you know, I'm going to be speaking at a conference or if I'm going to be doing something, like, that's the medium that, that I'll use for that. Yeah.

Just the reason I'm saying, like, after 20 years in corporate and in the HR space, we've never gone, like, nobody looks at anybody else's LinkedIn content. If you're working together, sales might be slightly different, but your company is most likely not paying attention to what you're posting about yourself.

Yeah.

Like, we all think everyone's got eyes on us, but actually they, they, they really don't.

Yeah.

Or no one will make the connection.

Jason. Also, if you want an example of, like, content that you can write about your job that makes it feel like you're posting about your job. I really like Zoe for the kinds of content she shares about her sales role.

Yeah, I like her too.

Yeah. And you can kind of, you know, take inspiration. You're not copying her by any means, but you know, what's, what's a cool email you use with your team to open up a conversation with a potential client? You know, you can share the occasional thing like that from time to time.

Okay.

And also, you know, there's nothing wrong with you focusing in on people who are in sales who also have the kinds of problems that you want to work on with clients. Yeah, that's a pretty cool niche, if anything.

If anything, it makes you more credible. Someone told me they, they, they were interested in coaching with me because they saw I had a marketing background.

Yeah. And it doesn't mean that people outside of sales won't work with you if they have the same problems. They'll, they'll message you and be like, hey, I know you work primarily with salespeople. You know, I work in marketing, I work in accounting, but would you work with me too? Cause I'm having all the same problems you're talking about.

So.

Something to think about.

Yeah.

Yeah. What other questions do we have today?

More of a comment. I think we all.

Oh, you went, you went mute halfway through your. I think we should all. And then I didn't hear the rest.

Yeah, we, we all should do messy desk posts now.

Yeah. I'm really going to have to clean first, though.

It's like cleaning for the cleaners.

Yeah, exactly. Which I shamelessly do all the time. What other questions do we have?

I have a very random question. What do you do on days where it feels that it's pointless to post because something like a holiday or something like Crowdstrike happened and you're just like, nobody cares because it's just flooded with a particular topic. Because today I'm like, I don't feel like posting because nobody's going to read my post.

Yeah. I mean, to Susan's point, you make a fluffy post. You post something personal, you post something funny, you post something you might repost something that you posted before. Remember, there are people on the interwebs who are tired of the thing that everyone's posting about.

True.

Right there. They're absolutely. Or if you have a comment on like a current event and you can like throw in your 2 cents, go for it. You know, It's honestly a balancing act between kind of being a crowd pleaser, you know, where you're getting reach and you're getting interactions with your post. So, like, for instance, when Will Smith went up and. And slapped Chris Rock, you know, everyone was posting about that. Right. And having read Will Smith, most of. I didn't finish it. Most of Will Smith's memoir, and knowing a fair bit about trauma, I posted something that just kind of gave my 2 cents on it. Not excusing the, the act at all, but just saying, like, I can kind of see how this would come to pass, you know, and it was kind of, like, that's what everyone wanted to talk about that day, you know, So I just kind of gave them away to talk about it in my comment section, you know, but likewise, you can give them something different to talk about. Right? Remember, you posting consistently is a trust builder in itself. Even if it's not something that people necessarily want to read that day. Even if there's, like, other stuff going on that's taking their attention. The fact that they're seeing your name show up, it's like, oh, Monica's still here.

Okay, cool.

You know, Susan's still here. Yvonne's still here. Jason's still here. You know, we don't have a marketing problem as small businesses. We have a memorability problem. All right? If we can make our name show up in people's field of awareness every single day, for some reason, even if it's kind of a post, we're reminding them that we exist. Right?

Just to. Just to give, like, an actual example. So she sees it in practice on one of my calls. Since I told you, my enrollment calls have been up since I started posting. It's someone who just told me yesterday. Yeah, I just keep seeing you all over my newsfeed, and I decided to book a call and I. And then I was like, another reason why I need to just keep doing it. But they said that I was all over their newsfeed, so.

And also remember, guys, like, you're probably the most interesting person in your ideal client's newsfeed. Like, no, no doubt you're the one that's posting personal stuff. You're posting some interesting stuff, some funny stuff. Do you see what, like, boring old school LinkedIn is posting about? Like, we're so excited to announce the launch of this thing. Like, we're thrilled to announce that, you know, we've done this thing. Oh, it was so exciting to see everyone at this event. Like, like, enough. It's like, it's like the worst PR releases, you know, these random announcements that no one gives a about. And here you are, you know, sharing a picture of your cat or, you know, talking about how you just got a new barbecue by the pool or something else. And it. It's something human that actually allows them to feel like they know you and have a little conversation with you. You know, it's like, well, what do you like to barbecue? Oh, like, you know, do you have big parties? Do you like to, like, experiment? You know, does it also do smoking? I don't know. I don't know a whole lot about barbecuing But I, I even. I could come up with something to say about it. Right? Like, don't.

Sorry, Jason, if you've been like, what? Like, I've been wildly inconsistent about posting in the past, like, I'll go on runs of like a couple of weeks and then I stop and I go away for a couple of months and then I start again. Is. Do, do you need to, like, make a. Some sort of intention so that your audience knows why you're back, or do you just start again and see what happens?

Yeah, it's. You know what? I don't know who said it originally, but everyone says it. LinkedIn is not an airport. You do not have to announce your arrivals and your departures. You know, it's just like, you show up, you create content. I always think it's like, it's kind of boring when people explain why they were away. It's like, you're human with a life. Of course you were away for a while. You know, if you were away for like a really interesting reason, or even a not interesting, like if you had terrible stomach flu, like, oh, God, I survived. This is amazing. I'm really happy I'm still here, guys. Like, sure, make a post about that. But you do not owe anyone that explanation. Right. And people aren't at home, like, with their, their little tracker thing being like, I haven't seen a post from Jason. I'm gonna write him up for this. Like, don't trust that guy anymore.

The other thing. And Katie, you taught me this because I felt the need to announce, like, I'm gonna start posting. Right. Like, for some reason, we ourselves, the way we post and schedule is chronological because it's our life.

Yeah.

Our posts show up asynchronously all over the place. Like, I have people commenting on posts from three weeks ago and I'm like, how is that happening?

Yeah.

Right.

So they're, they're actually not seeing things in the order that we're producing them, so it actually really doesn't matter. So you could, you know, post today. I'm gonna post, I'm gonna start posting. But that's not going to show up in order to your audience.

Yeah.

The way it shows up for you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So don't worry about it. I mean, if it helps you feel like you're accountable now and you've announced that you're going to post every day, then sure. But I don't find that kind of accountability works for me. As soon as I announce something, I start getting resentful about it. Yeah, exactly. Does that answer the question, are y'.

All using multiple mediums? Like, are you posting here?

Here's what I want to just blanket rule for everyone. Until you are consistently getting clients from one platform and you have it down to a science and you understand exactly what it takes to get clients from the one platform, you're not allowed to be on any other platforms.

Okay.

Right. Unless, unless like you have like a very solid following somewhere else. Also you're just maintaining like, you know, Michelle, you have a solid following on Instagram and your ideal clients are on, are on LinkedIn. You know, so for you, like, it's a small exception, but it's a small one. Right. Because really like one social media platform, especially in the beginning stages of your business where you're highly unlikely to piss anyone off so you get blocked is, is enough for you to build up to a six figure business. Okay. Once you have that dialed in and figured out and you can systematize it and automate some things, then we can start talking about you going on to another platform. But what happens when you, when you try to be on too many platforms or even just like two platforms is it's a fuck ton of work and all the platforms require different things to be successful. So you might become like a really good LinkedIn writer and then you try to do the same thing on Instagram. Instagram requires different things and then you're not going to be good at Instagram and then you're going to start panicking and then you're gonna start trying to do something different and then it's gonna start affecting your LinkedIn content because you haven't built like a solid know how on LinkedIn. So then your strategy starts warping for both and then it stops working on LinkedIn and it's still not working on Instagram. Then you get so discouraged that you give up on everything. And that happens a lot. And I don't want that happening to you. So one, just one. Deal.

Deal.

Yeah. And exactly. LinkedIn is also far less likely to have evil trolls. Yeah. Or even just annoying trolls, you know? And don't be afraid to use the block button if anyone's pissing you off. No one gets to steal your energy, you know, so even if someone is being nice and annoying the crap out of you, they still get blocked.

Like the person that keeps trying to sell me real estate says, I read your profile and I have this business opportunity is right in line with you. I'm like, how does holistic wellness and real estate, like how are you connecting those dots? I'm just curious, like, what is your mental model? Are you just full of real estate?

Connects everything. Yvonne, didn't you know? What other questions do we have today? I'll go.

I mean, this is probably. I'll put this out to the whole group, but I've caught myself kind of getting into compare and despair quite often over the last week or so. I mean, probably longer than that, really. Realistically, it seems like. I know it's like the red car theory, but also I do feel like what I'm doing is so hot topic at the moment. And then sometimes I see something. Damn, I didn't think of that. And then a lot of times I'm like. Like I'm comparing. So I usually unfollow, but it's still like, just niggling away at me sometimes.

Yeah, it's hard to remember. And I. I fall into this as well. Remember, the Google machine is tracking everything that you're posting about commenting on liking. Right? So you're liking stuff that someone who's a specialist in branding would like. Right? Yvonne, you're probably commenting and liking stuff that has to do with health. You know, I know. I.

If I were to pay attention, I would think that everyone in the world is a wellness coach, because that's all. Like, I have to remember. Like, I'm just seeing it because, yeah.

The algorithms are seeing every. All of our activity on the whole web. Right. They're seeing every post we make, every comment we make. They're really paying attention to all the conversations we're involved in. And then it's like, okay, cool, you're really interested in this.

Cool.

Let me show you other people who do this because you're so interested in this, you might want to buy from them. Right. The algorithm can't discern for, oh, you're a service provider in this. This industry. Okay, cool. Like, you don't need to see all the other service providers. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's right. Honestly, I don't know anyone who does what you do. Michelle and I help people start businesses.

Yeah, okay.

Right. You know, and also, like, the ads that we see, you know, people have gotten very good at creating ads that just looks like content. Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with seeing a competitor or someone who is kind of adjacent to your field and seeing their content be like, oh, my God, that's such a great take on this. And, like, bouncing off of their content and saying, oh, my God, this creator started talking about X, Y and Z. And it got me thinking and here's my two cents on this.

Yeah.

A, that shows that you're not threatened by anyone in your industry. Right. It kind of shows who you're lying to. It gives them a call out so they, you can tag them in your post and say, oh, my God, they had this great take on this. Want to point it out? You know, here's how I would kind of, here's my opinion how it slightly differs, but 100% they're right with this.

Yeah.

You then get to reach their audience. They will feel super flattered that you called them out and. And complimented them in that way. You know, so that's absolutely a way for you to do it. Or like, you can also just say, oh, my God, like they're. They're posting about this topic. That is such a great idea. I'm also going to post about this topic. You're never going to copy them. You're not going to do any, any infringement on their intellectual property, but you can absolutely start posting about the same kind of topic. You know, but if it ever gets to the point where you're seeing someone's post and they're activating you and they're making you feel negative. Immediate block.

Yeah.

You do not have to put yourself through that.

Yeah.

You know, there's no extra merit badge for like feeling super insecure and doing it anyway.

Like you.

Yeah. Secure.

Yeah.

Right. Okay.

Thank you.

Of course.

You guys could see my block lists. They're so long. Block everyone.

Something I would say about comparing that a friend of mine pointed out, because I also was a bit annoyed that sometimes people, these coaches that have this great content all the time and they have these beautiful photos and they just seem like they're on top of all this. And I feel like I'm struggling just to do one post so kind of with this comparison thing. And she mentioned, yeah, but how many people do you think is behind her? And I said, what do you mean? And she goes, you don't think that she has a team that takes these photos of her on the beach? You don't think that she has someone that's also going through her LinkedIn and liking and responding to messages and to commenting on things.

She.

That when it's so much that this person's putting out there, they probably have a team behind them and you are your own self trying to keep up with someone. That it's unrealistic expectations. So I'm really glad she mentioned that because now if I see someone who's doing awesome, I just think they probably have A team behind them and that's how they can do all that. Amazing. You know, it's me, myself and I, and my, and then my assistant who I now hired to do all my accounting. But I'm not a whole team, so try to keep that in mind.

I, I also want comparison.

Oh, go ahead.

But I also want to name that there are a lot of people who are very good at appearing successful online.

Yeah.

And they'll say, oh yeah, I make, I make hundreds of thousands of dollars or pounds per year. And I can tell you there's one creator in particular who is constantly on this bandwagon, constantly telling people how to be really successful on LinkedIn. There's a lot of scammy shit to look successful. And if you go and look up his business name in the UK, he made like £32,000 last year. It's, it's fake. It's all fake. You know, there, it's so easy to make yourself look successful. There's another guy, I'm forgetting his name, but he like has all these like really glitzy, glamoury photos of himself looking super professional in this beautiful environment. He's, he's an, he's a guard for an office building and he's off time. He stands in the foyer of the office building and has someone take pictures of him in a nice jacket. He doesn't actually have, he doesn't make any money from LinkedIn. He did look successful. Yeah, we like, I think where the.

Comparison is helpful is like I know coaches who work on burnout who charge extravagant amounts of money. I can think of one where she charges $10,000 for a two month program and actually she gives me the ick. And she recently posted like she's hiring other coaches because of whatever, but she's paying the minimum wage. And so I'm like, it's a good reminder to me that I'm like, I'm sorry, but I'm like, my service is for sure better than hers. And she's charging 10x what I'm charging. Right. Because I actually am personal. I'm the one coaching them and I'm not farming it out to coaches at minimum wage. So it's. That comparison can be good where you're like, if they're charging that much money, I definitely have room here.

Yeah. I also want to name, sometimes those big ticket programs are actually anchors. They're not selling any of them. Right. Oh, it cost $10,000 to work with me for two months or you can buy my $400 product and do it yourself. Like, that's such a good anchor for people. Like, okay, well, I'll take the $400 product. Right. And if they're only selling 10 of those a month, like, that's. Well, still not a lot of money, right?

Yeah.

So.

Just to pig. Piggyback off that.

It's. I.

It's ironic because a lot of what I do and kind of speak to myself here as well, but, like, a lot of what I do is people who are not too honest will get lost in that because you have the. Particularly women.

Because.

Because we're kind of told to, like, sit down and shut up. And, you know, it's kind of like unpacking all that because you.

Everybody else.

Not everybody else, but a lot of people are doing that super, super confident look, how much money, like this big kind of bravado thing that, you know, they kind of feel lost in that noise, so. Trying to find their own uniqueness. So, yeah, I just find that interesting.

And also, like the fact that you're feeling that way, you're feeling self conscious and you're comparing yourself. I guarantee your clients are going through that. And part of it is that they don't have a defined personal brand. Part of it is they're seeing other people look super buttoned up and polished and like. Like, everything looks cohesive and professional, and they're like, I don't look that way. Oh, damn. Like, you know, so you can. You can absolutely, like, hop on the handle and start talking about how you feel this way. And you. You help people, like, get out of this. You know, there's so much credibility in saying, hey, listen, I'm. I'm the person who helps people with this, and I still struggle with it. Right. Because only someone who's actually good at helping people with this stuff would be confident enough to say, and I still struggle with this. Right. If you're really good at helping people lose weight and you also struggle with your weight, like, there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's something that's hard. And you can. You can empathize with your clients that much more. Right? One, two main takeaways. Before we run out of time, before we lose everyone, we're gonna popcorn it. So whoever goes first picks the next person who picks the next person. Who would like to start us off with your main takeaway today?

I'll go. So in terms of the symptoms, I like the reminder that you need to be very blunt with those and not try to come up with analogies, because I really like analogies and I need to get out of that.

Thank you, Michelle.

I like the. Yeah, Using the. Comparing to your advantage. So, you know, if somebody is not doing as good a job as you or, you know, not your jam, then they're probably not somebody else's either. Cool. So, Susan.

Yeah. I really liked what Ivan was saying that we. We have this idea that everyone's kind of super zoomed in on us. And I know she was talking in reference to, like, Jason and his company, looking at his LinkedIn, but I think it's a really good reminder. Sometimes we can feel like all eyes are on us, and it can be a little bit scary. I think what we put out there, and I think this was a good reminder. Not everyone is, like, stalking me and keeping eyes and taking scores, what I am or what I am, what I'm not doing. So. Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome. All right, everyone, have an amazing weekend, and I will see you next week. And thank you again for your flexibility this week. I really appreciate it. All right, talk to you soon. Bye.