Growing a business without social media

I can taste. I can taste. Hello and good evening. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach. Welcome to my live, everyone. I have the weenie sign going. It's, it's funny. So I have, I got this. It's bright green, obviously, and I thought it was, you know, great because I love green. For me, it represents like growth and money and like, you know, all the good things. And it's pretty. And I ordered the sign. The problem with neon green is that if I don't adjust the lighting on my ring light, it makes me look sickly. So someday I'm gonna forget and I'm gonna look like I'm dying and I'm not. It's just, just the green light anyway. Hi, good evening. So a little housekeeping. I'm going live to the Facebooks, to LinkedIn, to YouTube, to Twitter, and to you to Instagram. And tonight I'm talking about social media, which is fitting because I'm going live on all the social medias except for Tik Tok, which I still. If you guys want to go and follow me, I need to crack a thousand so I can go live there too. Anyway, that's what we're talking about tonight. We're talking about social media, Talking about social media and starting your business. So I just did a pop up training and I'm super, super excited about it. And I got a great question from someone who is just starting their business and they're hesitant to get on social media because they have kind of a love hate relationship with it. I don't blame you. I don't blame you. There's like a lot of weird things that can happen on social media. People get addicted to it. There can be some negativity. People can also just become negative while they're on social media. Where's my pen ADHD thing? I have to have a pen in my hand. Okay. They can also get negative with themselves on social media because you're constantly comparing yourself to other people. Hi, Andrew. Welcome. Katie's great. Thank you. Talking about herself in third person. How are you? That's the question. But yeah, it's super easy to get into the compare game and look at other people in your industry and think, oh, my God, they're killing it. They're doing so much better than I am. Why am I even trying? Right? So want to just remind you all that that's a choice. That's a choice. What you focus on is always a choice. And if you choose to go onto social media, and compare yourself to a bunch of people. That's choice. You can also block them. You can also unfollow them. You can, you can prevent yourself from seeing people that make you feel bad about yourself. You do not have to submit yourself to that. But here's the thing. Social media is an incredible tool that we have at our disposal. Great. I'm happy about that too, Andrew. Literally, I'm. I'm talking to God knows how many people because Streamyard doesn't tell me how many people are actually watching. I know Andrew's here, but I'm sure there are other people here as well. I. These videos that I'm. I'm doing live right now will stay on the Internet and I know people watch them because I get messages the day after, the week after, a month after quoting myself back to me, which is a really weird experience, guys. I mean, I love that you do it. I love that you get value and you're able to quote me back to me. But oh my gosh, I say some funny, weird things. It's funny to have some people, like, remember it and come back to me with it, literally. It doesn't, it doesn't matter how many houses you go to to knock on doors. It doesn't matter like what street corner you're standing on waving to cars with a sign saying, hey, I take clients for SEO management or for copywriting or whatever. I'm a life coach. Come and work with me. You're not going to get in front of many people as you possibly could. Hi, Heather, welcome. Hi, David. As you can by posting on social media. I was going through my numbers on LinkedIn last week. I think the number said something like, I reached 54,000 people on LinkedIn alone with my posts last week alone. I don't know about you guys, I'm an extrovert and I, I wouldn't have like a chance in hell of talking to 54,000 people if my life depended on it. And I definitely wouldn't be able to do so in a way that built credibility, that built a relationship, that gave them some kind of sense of who I am and, and how I could help them or someone that they know and. Hi, Randy, Welcome. No carrot carrot cards tonight, unfortunately for you. And here's the incredible thing about today is we all carry around this little thing. I can't pick up my phone and show you. We all carry around this little thing in our, in our pockets that literally can get us in touch with millions, if not billions of people and can get us in Touch with. So yes, I am an extrovert, Randy, if you can believe it or not. But put us in touch with so many of our ideal clients who are out there. There's no other time in history where this is possible. Literally, like you'd have to go to the town square and like climb up on some like box and yell at people back in olden days. And like even then they might just think you're nuts and throw cabbages at you. I've literally done every kind of lead gen that is known to man in my sales career. My very first sales job, I literally did cold calling. I would call businesses. I worked for a video production company. I would call about a hundred businesses a day and I get hung up on about 98 times a day and I'd end up talking to two people who are just too polite to hang up on me and eventually got me off the phone. It was miserable. It was not fun. Fun fact. The original cold calling or cold numbers list. Do you know where it came from? This is a rhetorical question because none of you can talk. This is alive. This is the one woman show. So literally when, when phones became a thing and people started getting them installed in their houses, only the rich people could get them installed in their houses. So when like a company wanted to sell to rich people, cool. Let's just get a list of everyone who has a phone. Like, great. They're all qualified leads. That's where it comes from. Okay, Just now people are just like blanket emailing anyone who has an email. That does not qualify anyone for to get your email. So sorry, cold outreach is dead. Okay? There's so many better ways. So that's one way. I did Legion. I also at one point was that person who stands in a Home Depot and asks you if you have solar on your roof. And let me tell you, I was so good at that. I broke company records for Solar City, which is now Tesla. I was so good because I looked people in the eye and I connected with them and I cared about them as human beings and I was really good at my job. Anyway, did that. I also created referral networks with other businesses. I created referral networks with like customers who were really diehards for the brand that I worked for at the time. There. There's so many ways to get clients and all of them take a fuck ton of time compared to writing a post and sharing it on the interwebs and letting it do it do its thing while you maybe go and engage on other people's posts to like, you know, train the algorithm to come in and show your stuff to more people. It's absolutely incredible, Randy. Technology has made the world flat. Well, let's not, let's not like, rile up the flat earthers. But yes, I agree. You know, it's, it's incredible to me today. You know, I was in this conversation online about, you know, how troubled the world is right now and how like this next generation, I firmly believe they're going to be this amazing change, this amazing impact. Not putting the responsibility on them to do this at all, but the thing that's going to empower them is that they have access to information that I never had when I was growing up. Like, we had the Internet, sure, but not to the degree that we, we have it now. Like, I couldn't see how people are living their lives halfway across the world. There was no way for me, to, me or anyone in my, in my age group to build that level of empathy for people across cultural lines. I'm a fir. I'm a firm believer that this is why so many people are more comfortable coming out as non binary, as trans, lgbtq, because they see, see representation on this little machine in their phone and they feel safer. It's not that they're just more, more of them, they just feel safer because they're seeing other people like them, right? They're feeling that level of connection. I have a business point to make here and I want to connect it well. So if people can see images on their phone that make them feel safe to be themselves in their own life, if that connection is possible just from us sharing little videos and sharing little written blurbs and all this stuff, Imagine what's possible for your business. Imagine like how you can make people feel seen and understood in a way that they look, they look at your stuff and they're like, oh my God, this person gets me. This person understands exactly what I'm struggling with. They understand my problems, they understand what I'm afraid of that I really haven't admitted to any, anyone before. And if they understand all those things about me to that degree, I bet they also know the solution. I bet they also know how I can get to my ideal future. I bet they can help me achieve my dreams, whatever they are. Let me see. Catherine, para true. Thank you. So. But it's an amazing tool that we have if we use it properly. Now, the person in this training that I did just now is pop up training. I literally planned it this morning. So it was a small training is really nice and Intimate. She was saying how she was really hesitant to go on social media for her business because she doesn't like talking about herself. Right. And I get it, yes. Like, talking about yourself is really uncomfortable, especially when you're not used to posting. It's very vulnerable. Like, you know, if you're posting about yourself, you're literally kind of inviting the whole world to come in and comment on you, which, I mean, who needs that, really? Like, unless you're really comfortable. I'm very comfortable with it, but I'm also an extrovert and extremely open. Not everyone has to be that to be successful on social media, I promise you. So I talked her through. What I see is the three pillars of, quote, unquote, thought leadership. And I know that term is bandied around way too much, and people are like, we're sick of it. But listen to me, listen to me. Thought leadership, whatever we want to call it right now, it's a beautiful way for you to showcase that you know what you're talking about without talking about yourself. Okay? So in my mind, there are three pillars of thought leadership. Okay? Number one is the expert. Heather. Massive introvert here. Yes. I mean, I think you already do this with your. Your podcast. Like, you do a beautiful job. And with your. Your social media presence, like, you're. You do a beautiful job of showcasing yourself without showcasing yourself. You know what I mean, Heather? Anyway, but so there are three pillars. There's the expert. All right? Now, the expert's tricky to pull off because usually people find the expert really boring, right? So Anthony Fauci was an example of the expert. Not relevant to anything until the pandemic, really, like, you're welcome, Heather. But, like, when he was hyper relevant because there was a pandemic happening, like, he became very well known. Like, he became the go to person because he was the expert that we all knew right now, Depending on what your niche is, depending on what you do, like, you may be able to create content that people want to share around. And this is that helpful content that we see, like, be bandied about all the time. Like, go, just provide value. Just be helpful. Just give advice, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, sure, you can absolutely do that. That's one way that you can highlight yourself as a leader of your industry. If we want to not use the thought leadership terminology, the second way is really being a pointer. Now, my favorite example of this is Oprah Winfrey, right? She. She has built a whole career on being a pointer thought leader. And what that means is she's like, hey, this person's cool, you should pay attention to them, and that person's doing something interesting, you should pay attention to them. And what about this person? Blah, blah, blah. Now, it's backfired on her a little bit because there are some people that she's highlighted who've gotten a little crazy and run for. For government when they have no business running for government. But, you know, you know, it's a risk. It's a risk, but it's something that you can absolutely do to show that you are solidly and. Hi, Lynn. Welcome. To show that you are solidly in an industry and, you know all the things in that industry. Right. So if you're a copywriter, you get to point to different things happening in the copywriting industry. If you're in wine, as Wine Gal Lin is, you could absolutely point to different winemakers and different, like, wine distribution companies and wine bars and just, like, highlight them. It's a beautiful way to plant yourself firmly in the market state of the people that you serve. Right. Let me see. Javi, Always a risk in business. Oh, gosh. What are we. What. What is the risk? Oh, the. The government thing. Yes, I think so. I think that's what you mean. But I'd love more clarity. Okay, so you can be the expert. You can be the pointer. You can also be the believer, Right? Like, I want anything about, like, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, right? They believed. They believed, and they just talked about their beliefs, right? And then they believed for you, and they believed for you, and they believed that you could live a better life. They believed this was possible for you, and they just talked about that over and over and over again. You know, there's an element of what I do where I'm just telling people not to be a weenie because I believe that there's a world in which they can be super brave. Right. I believe that you, whoever you are watching, you know, I believe that you deserve to do work that you love and make a really good living doing it. Okay. There is, like, a whole track that every one of us could go on. Thank you, Lynn and. Hi, Sharon. Welcome. We could all just go on and on and on about what we believe for other people. That's a beautiful way to be on social media, to talk about what we care about, to show how we're useful to the world in a way that shows that we are a leader in this space. Because who the hell are you to believe anything about me or believe anything about this industry unless you are already an expert in this space right now? All this goes to say, this is stuff that you can talk about to get attention in your. In your audience or from your audience, from your ideal clients, but it's not enough. It's not enough to get your clients to say, oh, my gosh, here's the expert. Here's the person I need to work with. I need to book a call with them. I need to figure out how I can give them my money and be in business with them and have them transform X, Y and Z for my life, for my business, or whatever. It's not enough. What is enough is figuring out how to connect with your clients in a way that allows for them to see that you get them. Like that, that social media thing that I was talking about before, how people are far more comfortable coming out as themselves because they see other people on these little screens doing that more and more. It makes them feel safer because there's someone out there who is also brave with them. Um, for you to be able to call out your ideal clients and make them feel like you've been tapping their phones or reading their diaries, you need to do empathetic marketing. You need to speak to the problems that they have in the way that they would describe them if they were at a bar, a few glasses of beer in and bitching to their best friend. Like, that is. That is what is going to build the most trust with them. Javi, expert over industry leader over warm and fuzzies from the social proof and authority. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So, like, you know, one of the biggest fears my ideal clients struggle with is this idea of selling their services and seeming really salesy and pushing and manipulative, because that's what they've seen, right? And so a lot of what I talk about is, you know, hey, like, you realize that sales doesn't have to be that I flipped the narrative. You know, I talk about different ways that sales can happen. I talk about what you can post on social media to get clients. You know, the fear that comes with it. The very first few times that I went live, like, I was sweating, right? I was like, I was so nervous. My face was red. I, like, didn't really know what I wanted to talk about, but my coach had challenged me to do it anyway, and, oh, my God, like, they were terrible. They were terrible. I was going live and I was like, you know, showing, like, the kitchen that I was in and, like, trying to make up stuff on the spot and, you know, leaning into all my improv training, and I remember just thinking, like, oh, my God. Whoever's watching this is going to think I'm a massive idiot. They're just going to think I'm a moron. Like, no one is going to hire me if they ever see this. And I remember ending the live and as fast as I could, going and deleting it because I didn't want anyone to be able to go back and watch it right now. Okay. So I talk about that. And that's exactly what my clients are going through right now. They're in that stage. Right. And so me just talking about that and connecting with them and just saying, hey, listen, like, I know what that's like. I've been there and normalizing it for them. That's. That's a way in which they will understand that I get them on this level. And you can do this too, whoever your ideal clients are. Let me see Joseph Kane. Change the world and make money doing it. Yes. Yes. I love it. Yeah. You know, people don't like buying just anyone or anything on the Internet. Like, they want to invest in something that they feel connected to. They want to invest in something that they feel will normalize the struggle for them. Right. And so a beautiful way to do that is just say, hey, you. I see you and what you're struggling with, a lot of people struggle with. I work with people all the time who have the exact same problem. And just so you know, you're not a freak. There's nothing wrong with you. This is normal. And by the way, if you want help with this, this is what I do. Randy House. That's back when you're a weenie. Lol. Randy, we both know that I am still a weenie. We are all still weenies. There's no overcoming being a weenie. You just have to be a brave weenie. But, yes, it was when I was a weenie. Jada, do you have a favorite book that talks about sales in a way you like to model? This is gonna sound so cocky, Jada. But I do. I just haven't written it yet. Yeah, I just haven't written it yet. There's. Yeah, I. There's no yeah. I can't think of a book that talks about sales the way I teach sales. It's coming. It's been coming for a really long time because I have been dragging my feet on finishing this book. But yeah, for me, for me, here's what I believe about sales. Sales is building a relationship. So when you get on a sales call with someone, your job is to build that relationship. That's it. And if through that conversation they see that this relationship with you can help solve their problems, it's a no brainer for them to invest in working with you. Right, Jada? Say less. Sign me up. You'll be the first one to get the book when it comes out. Okay. But, you know, and if it's not at the end of the phone call, you've created a relationship with this person. You know, I can't tell you how many times I have gotten to the end of a sales call with someone. It's not a fit. Not a fit for either one of us. I'm not feeling like they're going to be a good client for me. They're not feeling like I can help solve their problem, but they're walking away knowing that I care about them. And they're walking away having a very clear understanding of what I do and who I help. And can't tell you how many times I've gotten referrals from those people because I didn't try to sell them on something that I didn't think would serve them best. And they were so clear on who I help and what I help them do that they were able to identify my ideal clients out there better than anyone because they were able to differentiate. Okay? You're not like me. You have separate problems. Those are the problems that Katie said that she helps with. She couldn't help me, but I know she can help you. Right? That. That is the ultimate goal. When. When you're doing sales well and well, like you're doing sales holistically, you're doing it for the benefit of the whole ass person in front of you. Okay? That's. That's why I call my sales model of holistic selling. But I'm punch. Okay, let me see. What am I? Joseph Heck. Yeah. Randy? No. Oh, a brave weenie. Yeah. You're fighting me on being a weenie. Okay. And Jada. Yeah. Yeah. You're gonna be the first person I send a book to. Okay. Don't worry. As soon as I finish writing it. Oh my God. Love that authenticity about sales being a genuine relationship building process. Thank you, Javi. Yeah, you know, it's. Here's what I don't like the grant Cardones of the world. The. The people who are like, you know, always be pushing the thing. They teach all these weird, manipulative tactics that are meant to, like, catch people out and like psychological tricks. And I'm sorry, if you need psychological tricks to sell your shit like, you shouldn't be selling it. It's not good enough. That's it. Like if you can't just have a genuine, honest, warm conversation with someone about like where they're stuck, what they want, what they're afraid of, like all the stuff that's getting in the way and then talk about what you do and have them sign up like you're not good enough at what you do, you have to go get better. One gallon. I don't know who that is. Maybe it's better that I don't. Yeah, you don't need to. There's a, there's a great, I'm forgetting his name, but he's out of the UK and he did this whole series on, on YouTube about the contrepreneur entrepreneur, but with Khan in the beginning. And there's a whole formula that they tend to follow in their like one or two day events that like, it's like a checklist and it's all designed to try to get people to give up their money and a lot of it's fake and it's so unethical and I hate it. And it's not necessary if you're offering an amazing service. James. What's up good people? Not much. We're talking sales and social media and marketing. Yeah. I mean the beautiful thing about our world is that like I can come on here and talk to people who are all over the world, I mean, depending on time zones. And you may be my ideal client, you may not, you know, but you're, we're able to create this conversation and connect in a way that like this was not possible 20 years ago. Right? This is not possible 10 years ago. Who am I kidding, right? And you know, through this kind of conversation, you know, you may discern that I'm the right person for you or that I'm not. You may be able to tell who I help. You could refer business to me. This is what's possible for you. This is the beauty of social media for your business. Right? Because if people don't know that you exist, they cannot give you their money. Right? Isn't it so much better to allow thousands upon thousands of people to know that you exist? I'm like, I know, I'm like really militant about this because I'm getting crazy eyes. I get that sometimes. James, I'm training in financial services. Where I live. If anyone even mentioned mentions insurance, the people dial 911 and call the cops on you. Oh my God, yes. Yeah, yeah. So like how, how do you then like sell your service? Like there are so many ways for you to kind of, like, embed what you do in what you share online. So, James, a great example of this would be, you know, talking about your day and explaining how, like, you know, you take a break at 11am you go walk the dog, and you do this and you do that, and then you go and do, like, a couple adjustments for. For some. Some of your clients who had some damage on their house. And this is. And then here's how you hold their hands through that process. Because it's painful already because their house is damaged. Right. You want to make sure it's as seamless as possible, whatever, like, depending on what kind of insurance you sell. But embedding is always that process of, like, just saying, hey, listen, like, this is my life, and just dropping some. Some easter eggs about, you know, the work that you do. Catherine. And Catherine. I spell my Catherine the same way when I'm on all my legal documents. Agreed. I just want to create what works for people. I wanted to. I want it to make a difference, and I want people to have an avenue to support my work so that I can create more. Yeah, yeah. You know, like, at the end of the day, you are providing a service or something to make people's lives better. Like, there is nothing wrong in asking for something back. Absolutely. Artists have been doing it for millennia. Let me see, Jada, let me see. So why won't it let me show? Okay. Being around some of the people that, like, use the psychological tricks to sell is kind of draining, too, because they tend to be shady people and they tend to have narcissistic tendencies. 100%. Yes. They lack empathy. 100%. I want you to imagine walking to a room with 300 people who are on their last hope, who are desperate to make whatever work, and standing up in front of them and presenting false testimonials and false information about success stories and then asking them to give money that they don't have for your program or your service that you really can't stand behind because it doesn't have a great success level. You have to be a narcissist to do that. Okay, we're not talking about being a narcissist on social media and trying to just get people's money. We are talking about creating empathetic, supportive businesses that really do help people on a deeper level and. And speak to the root of the problem. So even. Even if someone never works with us like they are ideal client, they never pay us a dollar, they never end up in our business. We want whatever we're creating to make their life better in some way, shape or form. Right. I got a message the other day from someone in New Zealand who I'd never spoken to before in my life. I mean, I remember this till the day I die, who literally had just launched her business with a business partner. They had a bunch of people sign up for the first iteration. And she messaged me and said that the, the motivator for her to start this business was that a couple years ago, she kept seeing this tagline on social media. And every time she thought she's damn it, I gotta do it. Damn it, I gotta do it. Like, I'm being a weenie. I'm being a weenie. And the tagline was stopping a weenie and start your business already. Now, I don't remember her commenting on my stuff. She might have. I like, you know, a lot of people comment on my stuff. We never spoke ever. She's never had a conversation with me. But that one sentence that when I kept posting and being in her world and being. Making her aware that I existed, that one line just kept getting under her skin and it motivated her to go and start her business. You know, when you're doing true empathetic marketing, you are helping people without ever knowing that you're helping them. That's. That's the absolute magic of social media. It's like the quantum impact level. Right. People you don't know are being impacted and helped by the energy that you are sharing out there in the world. It's. It's really. There's. If you don't believe in magic, like, that is magic. That's magic, people. Yeah, yeah, I agree, Catherine. That is blah, blah, blah. Okay. James is selling life insurance. If anyone wants life insurance, James can help. Let me see. That's your funnel. Okay. Just going through the comments. Jada's right on the money with that take. Yeah. Steven Rogers, you are late. Where you been, man? Hobby. Stop being weenie is now ingrained in my mind. Lol. Great, great Brand and tagline. Yeah. So just be careful what you make your brand and your tagline. I was a little drunk, honestly, when I put that as my LinkedIn. And now it's my life, Heather. It took me like four years to get over my shit about social media and now I'm here. I can't believe I waited so long. Yeah, you know, it's. I think we all have to go through our own kind of like mental garbage around what we believe social media is, and we also need to find our correct tribe. Like the people that will kind of shepherd us in and show us the ropes and also show us how. How to do it well in a way that's aligned to our personalities and our values and all that stuff. That's really the biggest difference. And Leah Turner, who we both know was a big part of that for me. Let me see. Catherine. Songwriters call that an earworm. Yes, exactly. Kimberly. Aim high. Don't look back. Keep going. No weenies. Yes. Yeah. Does anyone have any questions about posting to social media? If you do, put them in the. In the chat. Let me see. Hi. Oh, wine gallon. Hi, Heather. Me too. I'm still a weenie. Mill got you over it? Leah Knocked it into your head. Hardcore Mill is incredible. If you don't know Mel, she is a social media manager out of Austin. Right. She and I both work with Heather. I. I adore her. I fangirl for her all the time. Wine gal. Lynn. I'm still trying to learn how to get out there. Well, well, Lynn, you know, there are so many ways. If you ever want help, I'm here. By the way, all this, like, empathetic marketing, how to show up on social media so that you get clients. This is all stuff that I train in my build your own business group program. It launches this week and you can jump in. It doesn't matter if you have a business or not. Like, it is literally designed for absolute beginners to start their business and start taking clients. The goal is we start this week. The goal is to get this group and whoever signs up in the next six months to make a cumulative million dollars by the end of the year. And if you want to help me with that goal and get your business off the ground, I would love to have you in it. Let me see. Javi, what's the dumbest business related social media post you've seen? When did it go wrong or where did it go wrong? The dumbest related social media post. Okay, so the dumbest post I see an unfortunate amount of times and I apologize to any coaches in the world who are seeing this and you're feeling called out. I did this too. Is those posts offering like 100 free sessions or 30 free sessions or all stuff. Stop. Stop giving your work away for free. Stop it. Cut it out. Cut it out. Kimberly. I use Streamyard. It's my favorite. I've tried others like Restream, which is garbage. Streamyard's the best. But here's the thing about giving away free sessions, and let me tell you, I have tested this time and time again. Because I want to be wrong. I want to help coaches get clients in a way that helps that, like, feels good to them and, like, helps them get practice as coaches. Right. It does not work. And worse, it trains your world that your work is for free or is for cheap. Okay. So you're undercutting your own value before you even get started. You're also undercutting the value of your whole damn industry, which is not gonna ingratiate you to people in your world. Yeah. And Heather, free takers never buy. Yeah, it's a great way to. To bring in freebie chasers, essentially. But, yeah, that is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. If. If you're, like, genuinely trying to practice, if you have a new skill and you want to practice it, give away free sessions. Sure. Like, who cares? You're not starting a business at that point. But when you want to start a business, when you want to start getting paying clients, stop giving it away for free. Also stop talking about what you want. You know, there are a lot of folks who are starting a business and they, like, go on social media and they're saying, I want three clients. Okay, good for you. But why should anyone sign up with you? You know, it goes back to empathetic marketing. You know, you have to connect with your clients. You have to make it clear that you understand them and their problems that you can help. Like the fact that you want clients, like, good for you. Like, everyone does. Like, I have, like, a million dollars. Maybe I should post that on social media. Doesn't mean I'm going to get it. Yeah. So if that answers the question, Javi, those are the things. And then Kimberly, of course, Stream Yard is just absolutely incredible. Let me see. Bentley, what do I do if I dislike social media? I'd love to grow on LinkedIn as well as Facebook as I see it as necessary. But I've never been big on it personally. Yeah. So, yeah, if you just dislike social media, I hate to say this, it's kind of something you have to learn to like. You have to find your people. You have to find people who make it fun for you. And here's where I would vote is pick one. Because this is what a lot of folks do when they first start their business is they're like, I'm going to show up everywhere. I'm going to be like, Gary V. I'm going to be on every single platform. And here's the problem with that, is that a, you're one person. You don't have a media team. You have a lot of stuff that you're doing already and you need to focus on actually making money. You can't just create content all the time. And so people tend to get burned out for one and for two. Like content is different. Like content success is different on each platform, right? So what's successful on LinkedIn may not be successful on Facebook, which may not be successful on Instagram, which may not be successful on TikTok, which may not be successful and may not be successful. So it's really hard to learn well what works best on, on each platform. So if I were to vote, I always vote on the social media platform that has the highest organic reach. Bentley, I would tell you, go LinkedIn. Because Facebook, I know they're coming out with like their version of reels now, which is making you kind of more discoverable. But people aren't really connecting in the same way that they do on LinkedIn. So I would vote that. But find a way to make it fun, like start, start like a weird competition with people or poke fun at people. You know, Luke Matthews did it. Kimberly or Catherine. Free. It's so hard not to do free. But people pay attention to what they pay for 100%. You know, early on it's really tempting to give away your services for free or for cheap because you feel like, you know, to justify paying for it later, you have to show some success. You have to show some testimonials or some case studies. It never works. It never works because your cheap clients, and I hate to call them cheap, like I'm sure they're lovely humans, but you know, they're paying cheap prices for you. They're not going to do as much of the work. And because they're not doing as much of the work, they're not going to get results that are going to be impressive enough to the people who would want to pay more to get better results, right? This is one of the reasons I love empathetic marketing, is because it's a great way for absolute beginners to go on to social media and get actual high paying clients without having those testimonials, right? Because we all have to start somewhere, right? Like you have to start somewhere and they're going to be the first few clients who like have to just kind of trust that you know what you're doing, you're going to get better over time. But like those testimonials from those cheap clients or those free clients, like, I'm a big believer that words carry energy. And when you use the words of someone who got it for free or got it for cheap. Guess what energy that puts out and guess what energy that attracts. It attracts more free and cheap. And cheap. So, yeah. And yeah, you're gonna get. They're gonna get better results for putting in the money. And Kimberly, couldn't agree more. Javi, great answer. Thank you. Kimberly. Lost connections. When I started charging with my app, they all said it should be free and that free is how you build a community. No, sorry. Yeah. Friends and people who demand that you do work for. For free. No, I think there's a special circle in hell for them. Not that I actually believe in hell, but you know what I mean. Yeah. No, like you. If one of my friends opened a restaurant, I wouldn't go to that restaurant and demand free appetizers. No, I would go and buy appetizers. I'd want to support them. Like, they're doing this amazing thing. Yes. Let me. Let me support you and give you some money for this. Hobby. Great question. Bentley, you make social media fun for me. Yeah. Bentley, you guys. You guys pair up, create a little rivalry. Yeah, you can be Luke Matthews 2.0. He's an introvert. He made. He made it work. Randy House. See who can wear the weenie outfit the best. Yeah. Javi and Bentley, I'll have to send you your own weenie outfit fits. Let me see. Kimberly, what's your number one tip for social media? The thing you tell everyone, and if people could just understand and do this one thing, it'd be a game changer. Kimberly, it is posting every single day for at least three months and then continuing for as much as long as possible. Everyone wants to. To, like, hack good content. They want to figure out how to create really good content that converts into clients right away. So before they start posting, it's impossible. It's impossible. Like, you can sit in your room all alone and just think of, like, random shit to put on the Internet that you think is going to resonate with your ideal clients. But, like, you're not going to know if it works until you actually put it out there and. And, you know, see if it works. Right? So. And your first few posts are going to be garbage. Like, it's going to be bad writing. You're going to format it wrong. You're gonna learn through trial and error by, like, posting something and being like, oh, my God, I got so many likes and so many comments and posting another thing and be like, huh, I got one. Like, and my mom commented, what did I do wrong here? And you're gonna be able to go and see what works best for your audience, but really, you have to build that consistency. You have to show up and show up and show up and just create and ship and create and ship, as Seth Godin likes to say. I hope that helps. Bentley, thank you for the insight. Of course. Anytime. I'm happy people asking for handouts from your business aren't your friends. Yes. Hell yes. Kimberly. Yes. Okay, great. Let me see. Okay, so, Lynn, thank you. I'm so happy I was able to join this. You're awesome. You make me laugh, but it's mostly super smart. Oh, thank you. It's happy. Just here. Here to entertain. Lynn. I love it. Okay, Bentley, the whole world is saying this. You have committed to wearing the weenie costume. All right? This is. There's no turning back, my friend. Okay, we will. We will have to link up, and I will send you your. Your weenie costume. Catherine. I'm on Mighty Networks for my community. One thing they say is to go for the whole more than the number. It's the depth of connection that can really help make transformation. Yes, I agree with that. I would rather have a social media account that has 500 followers that are all my ideal clients than 5,000 followers who aren't my ideal clients. But here's the other thing. Like, if you can get to 5,000 followers that are your ideal clients, that's even better. Right? So, yes, go for the who, but don't let that stop you from going for a number. Right. I think they say that obviously because they don't want anyone on Mighty Networks to give up because they're not getting the results they want from the platform. By the way, I'm about to give up on Mighty Networks. It's not the platform for me. That's a conversation for another day, though. But absolutely, go for the number. There's no shame in going for the number. I'm currently on a bender about growing my social media following. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. I think people tend to make fun of others for going for, like, a big social media following because we see it as a vanity metric. It can be a vanity metric if you're doing it for vanity's sake. But if you're doing it to grow your business, that's a business metric, and you're fully okay to do to go for it. Bentley versus Hobby. The weenie costume showdown of 2023. Oh, my God. Yes. Oh, my God. I'm gonna have to host, like, a whole event just for this, it's gonna have to be like a WWE smackdown but with hot dogs. Kimberly. Create good content by creating it every day. Yeah. And honestly, like, create bad content by creating it every day. Some of my most successful posts when I first started posting every day on LinkedIn were the posts where I just kind of like, observed what was going on in my own head. Like, observed how, like, my own thinking was wrapped up in, oh my God, I have to write a post that's gonna change lives. Like, I have to write like something that's so groundbreaking and so important that people are gonna like cry and offer their firstborn babies to me. And like, that's way too much pressure. Why am I doing that to myself? Right? And I'd write a post about, like, how silly it is that I would just go and create like, you know, like mind blowing content every single day. And like, it should be easy. Like, that's nuts, right? Like, let's give ourselves permission to write shitty content. But writing about the writing process is also content. We go in. Okay, are you sure? Because I've got a lot of that. Yes, I'm sure. I'm so sure. Because it's endearing. It makes people feel like you're a real person, like you are relatable. Because we've all been there, we've all had performance anxiety in some way, shape or form. We've all had imposter syndrome. The more you can show that to people, the more they're going to trust you here. Okay, so I actually, I'm going to change my answer. Javi asked previously, what's the worst thing I see on social media? And the worst thing I see on social media is those posts. It's like asking a super vulnerable question of, you know, whoever's reading it and the person writing the post just doesn't share. Like, vulnerability is a two way street and you don't have to bear your soul. But if you're asking people what like their most painful relationship moment was, or like what their most painful breakup was like, and you're not then going and sharing your most painful breakup, like, why would they have any reason to share that, something that vulnerable with you when you weren't going to share it with them first? Right. Vulnerability is also, it's, it's a, it's a scale or it's a, you know, what's a spectrum? That's the term. That's the word. It's a spectrum. So like Lynn, to the point, like you can share your internal monologue when you're Overthinking, writing something. Right. That's. That's on the lighter end of the spectrum. Right. You can also talk about something, like, really traumatic that happened to you. That's on the heavier end of the spectrum. You also get to choose how many details you share whenever, in any direction. But if you're wanting other people to share vulnerably in your comment section, guess who has to go first? You do. Let me see. Bentley. Javi, I love you, bro. So I'm gonna warn you. I know how to fight. Oh, God. No, no. Like, this has to be like a fun weenie fight. Like, maybe if we just. I'll have you guys throw actual hot dogs at each other. Catherine, Para. I'm on Mighty two. Cool beans. Oh, yeah. If you guys. If you're both jiving on or vibing on on Mighty Networks and you collaborate, that's an amazing way to. To learn how to do it better. Oh, my gosh. It's gonna be a weenie showdown. It seems like. Okay, Joseph Kane. It's hard to find ideal clients when you have such a small niche. So a great big blanket to cover. Niche is good. And that's why I like social media. Yeah. You know, I say this all day, every day to my clients. You're not just trying to get in touch with your ideal clients. Like, yes, they're out there, and you hope that they're going to see your stuff, but here's who you're trying to get in touch with. Their mothers and their neighbors and their cousin Jill and their dog walkers. You want all those people in your network to understand who you help and what you help them with. Right. Because when they. When they are at a barbecue and they're talking to that person and they're hearing that person bitch about the thing that you help solve, they can be like, oh, my God, my friend Joseph Kane, he works on this. I need to connect you, too, because he talks about this all day, every day, and I think he can really help you. Right. Social media allows us to do that. Social media allows for that to happen. Funny story. When I was a dating coach for men, which was my first niche, which did not work out because only one dude signed up with me and eight women did. More mothers of men reached out to me than actual men. They wanted me to coach their sons because they wanted their sons to get married and give them grandchildren already, you know, I was, you know, speaking to the wrong niche, apparently. Really funny. But we want. We want the moms and we want the cousins, and we want the dads. And we want all the. All the family and all the people. Yeah. Yep. All right. I'm gonna. Let me see. You're on Mighty too, Katie. I didn't know that. Yeah, I've had a really bad experience with Mighty Networks. I think it was just. It was poor vetting the. The person I was working with before I started working with Heather, who's incredible, she had a very like, can figure it out attitude. And also, like, because she didn't vet things properly, it didn't work out very well. It just wasn't the right fit. Let me see. Catherine create bad content by creating it every day. That's good medicine for those of us with social media anxiety. Yes. Oh, my God. Social media anxiety. I'm gonna use that term. That's such a good call out. Randy House content writing can be tricky. I wrote a post the other day and only got 31 impressions. I repurposed it the very next day, added a space, moved two words, and had over 300 impressions in the first hour. Well, Randy, if this was LinkedIn, know that LinkedIn basically shit the bed a few days ago. I wrote a post in the first 45 minutes. I only got eight impressions, which I normally get a lot more than that. So it wasn't just you, it was everyone. Guys, I've been going live for almost an hour. It's 50 minutes already. Thank you so much for everyone who's joined. If you can tell, my voice is getting a little hoarse. I've been talking non stop today, so I'm gonna end here, but thank you so much for joining. I'm gonna just go through and thank everyone. So we have Lynn, we have Heather, we have David Klein, we have Sharon. Thank you guys so much for joining me. On Instagram and then on LinkedIn and Facebook, we have Catherine and Randy and Joseph and Javi and Kimberly and Bentley and more. More of the same people. Let me see who else? Just want to make sure. Jada, let me see. And James Patrone. I. I hope it's Patron, not Petroni, because I hate mispronouncing people's names. Let me see who else. I don't want to miss anyone. And Andrew. And Andrew. Thank you all so much for joining. I hope this is super useful. If anyone is really stuck in their social media game and you're trying to get clients, you're really struggling with it. The build your own business group program is launching this week. I train you on everything. How to do your ideal client market research, interviews that you know exactly what you need to say how to design your offer, how to go and market yourself, how to go and sell. It's an, it's like a game changing program. The price of it, I've actually lowered the price from what it used to be. So for those of you who've already spoken to me at some point or other about working together, the BYOB program used to be far more expensive. There's still a version that's more expensive. I've, I've repurposed it and added a bunch of stuff to it. So it's now an advanced program. But for those of you who are wanting to get started, wanting to get your first five high paying clients, this program is a game changer and I would love to talk to you about it. If you shoot me a dm, we can set up a time to talk. Let me see. Randy. Thank you, Kimberly. Thank you, Jada. Thank you, Catherine. Thank you. Jamie. Ziska. I love that last name. Thank you so much. And Bentley. Sad I missed the start of it. Glad I got to catch some of it. Okay, well you go back and watch it because they'll save it everywhere. Anyway, I love you all so much. I hope you have an amazing night and happy 4th tomorrow if you celebrate. Otherwise. I will see you all tomorrow. Okay, bye everyone. Got to end in all places.