539. Build connection with your audience

You could have the best idea in the world, but if you don't know how to market it, it's just not going to get out there. Welcome to the earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. Each week I'll bring you a guest or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear. You can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves, get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go. Welcome back to the show.

And it's time for another quickie because.

There'S always time to fit in. Inspiration and thank you guys so much for tuning in. Means the world to me. Like, truly, you have no idea. This has been such. I say this all the time, but this podcast has been one of the biggest blessings of my life because it has made me be consistent and it has made me show up and I honestly have no clue what I'm gonna talk about today. I don't. I have no idea. There's a few things swirling in my head. I just got back from a run, so that's like a mega warning. Like when I get back from a run, it is like, I wanna do all things I want. I have so many ideas. I have so many of these posts for Instagram that usually go to the posting graveyard that are just brilliant, right? Like, oh my God, I'm gonna blow my own mind with these and then nothing happens. So that's one reason I love this podcast, is because it's like I have no choice. I have to put content out. I have a whole team who telling me right now, like, we don't have your quickie yet. Yes. Oh my gosh. You guys always ask me, how do I get things done? You get it out there and you let people know you're putting it out there. You set a deadline and then you, when you get to the point where you can hire people to help. Because I didn't have people who helped me with this podcast in the beginning it was just me on the mic and then my brother in law would help upload it to itunes.

So.

So you guys, you can totally do this. And by the way, I could have googled it and uploaded it to itunes, but he was working for us. So with that said, you can absolutely begin get people involved. It's like once you get people involved on your journey, oh, God, you're. You're tied down. You're in, right? Like, you have to show up. So that's what this podcast does for me. And before I get into riffing on whatever topic is going to land inside of my brain, please, God, open up my brain and let me talk about what these people need to hear today. Um, there's my big ask. So while we wait for that to land, why don't I tell you that we have a grant that is still going on. By the time that you hear this, we will still have 16 winners that will be announced. So Chris and I have decided to take $20,000 of ours and to give two $1,000 grants away to small businesses every single week. So on Instagram live, on Wednesdays at 6 o', clock, PST, we go and we announce the two winners every single week. We have some cocktails together and we answer questions. So this is just something that we wanted to do to be able to give back to small businesses, because small businesses have supported us so much, and we are a small business as well. And it's just so important that we all know that we are there for each other. And even if for some reason you do not get chosen, it is, like, so beautiful. If you guys listen to the science of giving and the science of even just thinking about giving that we had done, Chris and I had done on one of our his and her podcasts on my show, you will know that even just tuning in is actually so good for your brain, and it gets your brain moving in the right direction and really opens you up to new ideas, creative ideas, and connection with other people. So, so interesting. If you want to go tune into that podcast. So what are we going to talk about? What are we going to talk about? I have been in a place of really. I have got my head down right now. Like, I am working on Light Pink, which is my new alcohol company, like, 24 7. And I have a big team of people who are working in the social department. We're working on the social together. We're working on the. The branding, the imagery, all of that fun stuff. And I've noticed that what's happening is I have been posting on Instagram less. I'm still doing stories, but I'm just like, I made up this story that I'm too t or it's too hard, and it's like, if I post that Means then I have to engage, and then I don't have the time. Then I feel overwhelmed. And then I was like, wait a minute. You need to make this just easier on yourself. And you need to remember, like, these freaking people support that. Like, they support the crap out of you all of the time. The least you can do is show up and, you know, post how you're feeling and support them and create some posts that maybe seem more fun to you right now. So posts that seem more fun to me right now are supporting people, like, really trying to figure out how we can support and connect within our comments. So with that said, I listened to this amazing podcast by Jenna Kutcher today, Gold Digger. And that's the name of the podcast. And it was just literally about this exact thing. It was literally about falling back in love with the idea of posting and that you get to engage with your audience. You guys, like, literally. I have so many people who are like, I want to start this business. I have this idea. I want to buy this machine to start this business, whatever that, you know, thing is that they need to invest in. And I'm like, that is so freaking awesome. Okay, how are you going to market it? Who are you going to market it to? And they're like, well, I don't know yet. Okay, well, no matter what business idea that you have or what you want to do, there always has to be an audience that you will be marketing to. I cannot stress this enough that this is the most beautiful time to. To just show up on social and start connecting and building an audience. We always overthink it. We overthink our pictures, we overthink our posts, and then we end up again letting everything go to the posting graveyard. You guys, I. I have, like, the most genius Instagram posts and pictures and thoughts and all of these really great things I'm sharing, you know, millions of followers that. It just doesn't exist. It's all in the graveyard. But if I brought this to life and actually started posting, we could all have this. This beautiful engagement, this amazing community, these incredible people that when you decide to launch that incredible thing that they need, they're there. They're already there. Curated perfectly by you because it's you being authentically you. So I'm just gonna see if we want to take this challenge. Jenna. Jenna talks about a challenge on her podcast where she just showed up for, like, 30 days. Every single day, it picture of her because she found that the engagement with that was higher. And I actually know that the engagement on mine when It's a picture of me is higher as well. Got you. Throw a dog in there. Like, just borrow somebody's dog and your engagement is going to spike as well. So just like, go on a random walk and be like, can I hold your dog and take a picture? I mean, maybe don't do that at all. I'm joking. But hey, maybe not. Maybe. Maybe I'm going to see some of you with random dogs. I don't know, collect all the puppies in the neighborhood. That would be a very popular picture as well. Like, lay in a pile of puppies. Very, very popular. Okay, back to posting pictures of yourself for 30 days. Like, put some thought behind it. Not too much, but just start feeling what it feels like to show up consistently. So this podcast has done that for me. Like the. This is a huge way that I've created community. This is a huge way that when I'm going and I'm. I'm pitching investors or when I pitched for my book to my pitched my book proposal to different publishers, they want to know who's your audience? Where are they? Do they buy? Are they engaged? Are they interested? How many? Like, and it doesn't even have to be a lot, depending on what you are doing. It's are they engaged and are they the demographic who would actually purchase this? So I can't tell you how many times, like, you could have the best idea in the world, but if you don't know how to market it, it's just not going to get out there. So if you want to create a business plan, you can't forget that marketing is actually, in my personal opinion, the most part of the entire thing. So with that said, I actually think this time is the best, most beautiful time to engage with people. We're all on social, we're all at home. Even if we're not posting, we're looking at other people's things. We're going in our DMs, we're checking things out, we're shopping online, even if we're not buying. And we're just filling up our cart. Does anybody else do that? I have like five carts right now that have probably 10 different things in each of them. And I get emails like, hey, do you want to complete your transaction? And I'm like, no, I just want to keep filling the cart and looking at things. Like, there's some crazy satisfaction, affection that comes with that. I heard of people doing this, by the way, like two years ago. And I thought I was like, what is wrong? Like, I've Never done that. That's so weird. And I'm actually thoroughly enjoying it. So sometimes I pour myself a glass of wine and shop and never check out. It's freaking amazing. It's like window shopping on the Internet. So anyway, random, but with that said, I'm just gonna challenge you because I'm gonna challenge myself. So now I have to freaking do it. Why do I do this to myself? That's why this podcast, sometimes it's just like the bane of my existence because I'm like, well, shit, I just said I have to do something, so now I have to do it. I'm going to challenge myself to show up. I'm going to try to show up in my feed. Not try, because that means I'm leaving a window cracked. Shut up. Doing it. I'm going to show up in my main posts every day for 30 days. What? Dang it. I hate when I say things out loud. Okay, so you go and say these things out loud. Right now. I have no problem doing stories, but man, those posts just really get me. You know what I'm saying? And also, I'm growing my pink page right now. So it just feels like, you know, it can feel like a lot. But if this feels like a lot and this is all I have to complain about with Instagram, then my life is pretty good. Like my community freaking rocks and I want to engage with them more. So there you go. There it is.

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All right you guys, so I would love to know what you got out of this podcast if it inspired you to post. If you're gonna do it too with me, we can be posting sisters, buddies, whoever's listening to this and I would love if you'd share and just share your biggest takeaway and tag myself and at earn your happy so that I can know what you took away. And you guys, if you have not applied for that grant yet, if you're like Lori, you left me hanging. You didn't even tell me where I could apply. It's loriharder.com forward slash grant. It's lori harder.com forward slash grant. You can see all of the rules there. If you can apply all of the great things are all on that page so I hope that you get to show up there. We are not Chris and I are not picking. We have our team choosing so they get together every single week. They go by vote. They make sure and clear it that nobody knows anybody. So is all good. So you guys go over there and put in your application for the grant for $1,000. So we will have like I said 16 left. 16 people left. That's a really good chances you guys. So go over there and apply. Until next time earn your happy. Bye everyone. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment. Tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear more of it would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again guys. Bye bye.