How to Start a Coaching Business Q&A with Terry Rice | 5/27/2021

Hey, welcome to Q and A. This is your chance to get any questions answered about the course, which is how to start a consulting business or anything you have going on currently in your consulting business as well. So your day to day getting started, whatever it is, I'm here for you. First thing I want to do is answer some questions that came in in advance. And then we do have some people here, at least one person who's going to come on stage and we're going to have a conversation. So looking forward to answering those questions, but let me get these initial ones done first. So I'll summarize, more or less. How do you tell a client that you don't want to work with them, but you do have someone who could do the work and try to get a referral fee for that? First of all, I think it's good to an extent that you're trying to push this off on someone else, so long as they're a good fit. And I always say the best policy is honesty, which is not new whatsoever. But the more clear you are with someone, the more time you save, there's less ambiguity. And you can just, you know, present it in a professional way as opposed to, you know, kind of surprising them with it or just coming at them sideways. So, yeah, I'll be clear about it, but I would also make sure the other person's able to fulfill whatever challenges they might have and solve that. And it's beneficial because it's more of a seamless handover if you already have someone available in regards to asking for a referral fee, I'm not sure if you're asking if the person who's going to take over for you, if you're asking them for a fee, in that case, that's fine. I mean, it's pretty standard if you want to do that, to charge around 15%. So could be for the life of the engagement, could be for the first, you know, 60 or 90 days. I wouldn't ask the company that you're quitting for referral because it's like, hey, I'm gonna leave, but if you pay me, I'll find someone you might be better off just doing as a favor just to kind of get rid of them for whatever reason you wanted them gone, but that's. That would be my advice. Another question. I've been posting on social media more often. Unfortunately, I'm having a trouble with trolls. Do you have any advice in regards to how to deal with this? Yeah, I mean, here's the thing with trolls. They're they're depressed. They're not happy people. Like, no one is a happy person who just trolls on occasion. Right? It's just like, that's. That's how they are, unfortunately. So first of all, realize that it's not like it's you personally they have a problem with. It's like them personally they have a problem with. Meaning internally. The best thing that I think you can do often is just to ignore it or to even delete it. If it's like on a post, dm, ignore it as well, because when you engage, you're giving them more fuel to continue. That's what they want. They want a reaction. So if you can give them nothing in response, then that's a good fit. If you can block them from ever commenting or contacting you again, do that as well, because again, that's not what you're there for. So I would encourage you to do that. Another thing that I would also consider is when you see messages like that and they're coming at you have another post where you talk about how there's so many great people on the platform, whatever it may be, just so you can kind of celebrate the good people out there. Then they'll chime in and most likely support that as well. So that's what I would do. But I know it is unfortunate and annoying. So I hear you there, and I'm actually going to write an article about that probably next week for Entrepreneur magazine. So be on the lookout for that. I'm actually looking for an expert to give me some tips as well to have something more official in regards to how to deal with it. But, yeah, don't engage, because what happens is other people see you engaging with this person and it's going to make the lowest version of yourself. Even if you are trying to be professional, they're not going to be right. So you're arguing with a troll or a fool, and. And it's like, that's really not the way you want to present yourself. So I would pass on that, but that's the only question that we had come in, or the only two questions. So what I want to do now is, Gabriella, I'm going to bring you up and make you a panelist, and we're going to start chatting about you and your business. Oh, I put my headphones on, so. So let's do that. Hello. Let me chest something real quick.

Okay.

Oops. Can't everything hold on? It's my fault. Fix this. There we go. Hey, how are you?

Good, how are you? Doing?

I am doing well. So how can I help you today? What do you do, what do you do it for and how can I help?

Well, right now I work full time and I'm a full time grad student. So I'm starting to dip my toes into consulting. I work in the learning and development space and that's where I would like to consult. But I'm getting a little stuck on the zones of function. So working on my doctorate in industrial organization organizational psychology. So I do a lot of organizational development, a lot of training focus, learning and development focus. And one of the things that I'm stuck on right now is that I have a lot of knowledge but really limited experience. And so that's one of the reasons why I wanted to start consulting was because I wanted to kind of use that to fuel my experience because I'm not really getting the opportunities that I want in my current position. And so I'm trying to figure out how to leverage the knowledge I have while still having limited experience and maybe doing that at a very high level.

First of all, I should have said this first. Thanks so much for joining the course and thanks so much for joining us today. So apologies for not jumping on that first.

No worries.

So can you give me a little bit more detail about how you want to help these organizations? I think that might help me as well.

Yeah. So that's probably where I'm getting a little bit stuck because there's a lot of different areas in learning and development that you can help with. Where I would really like to help is either like fixing a broken training system, like they've had a training program or something that that they've put in place many years ago, but it's not working or using training to solve a problem for them. So they realize that usually training is the solution, but they're not really sure what kind of TR or what kind of organizational development that they need, whether it's like change management or coaching or you know, having an employee development program. So kind of helping them solve that problem. Because diagnosing is something that I'm really good at as well. So that's one of the things I have on my zone of genius is diagnosing is something that I'm really great at, especially when it comes to orgs, but also solving problems is something that really motivates me too.

And you're saying that, you know, you feel like because you're rather new, that could be a challenge. But I see it as a unique advantage. And I'll explain what I mean by that? One of my buddies is a persuasive communication coach. He helps nonprofits be more persuasive in their communication in order to win bigger donations. But he used to be in corporate sales up until about six, six months ago. And sometimes when he's talking to potential prospects, they're like, yeah, but you haven't been doing this that long. You know, you're not an expert like all these other people. He's like, he's like, that's exactly why I'm the perfect fit for you. Because you've heard all these other approaches before. You've heard all these other pitches. You can't innovate from within. And if they're native to this industry, it's going to be harder for them to find these unique solutions. Because the way he says is this. When you have experience, you always go backwards to what's worked in the past. But when you're curious, you know, when you're gritty, you're looking forward to finding new solutions to unique problems. So I think on your end, that's one way to position it.

Okay.

And the fact that you're coming straight from academia is actually pretty good, too, because I remember when I worked at, when I worked at Facebook, they would hire a lot of grads because they're like, look, we want to meet you before you get, know, bogged down by all these habits you might develop somewhere else. So for you, I mean, the fact that you're fixing problems is good too, because you're like, you need a fresh perspective. Right. If things were going well, I wouldn't be here. That's why we're talking right now. And then I think the most important thing is now that you have this, you know, understanding is saying, okay, what's my detailed process of how I do, let's say an organizational audit? Right. So maybe the first step is just saying, okay, what's your goal? Like, you know what, what would be an ideal future state of your company a year from now based on our time together? Let them describe that and then say, okay, cool. Well, let's get some concrete goals around that. Maybe it's increased retention, maybe it's higher morale, whatever it is. And from there, do some kind of audit based on whatever challenges you're initially seeing at all levels. And I'm just giving you examples for what your process could look like.

Yeah.

And you're probably an expert this. So I don't want to insult your intelligence.

No, you're fine.

But doing that audit, giving them some kind of playbook for how to implement these changes. And then if you're staying on to help them fix it later, the more confident you have in your process better, the more confident you'll. You'll appear to them as well. So how does that feel so far? Just kind of.

Yeah, that feels.

That feels really good. I think the biggest thing and one thing that I've noticed as well as, you know, kind of like starting a business is that usually you start, you know, it feels kind of broad even when it's like, really niche, is because you don't have all of this experience or you don't really know, like, how. How things go out in the world like that. You know, I've been working, I've been an employee for so long, I've not had my own business before. And so to me, this. It's more difficult to kind of get in this mindset of, like, okay, how am I going to be a business? How can I be a business owner and then serve organizations in a way that I haven't ever done it before? And because I don't have as much experience and I've been so bogged down in knowledge, you know, I think it's harder to refine, to like, refine exactly what I want to do, you know, if that makes any sense.

Yeah, I would say this. I would look for other people in this specific area who do L and D for organizations. Look at their websites, sign up for their email list. If they have free webinars, check them out, follow them on social media, and just kind of get used to the way they talk because then you'll see. Okay, I like that. I don't like that. Here's where I think I can find my niche eventually. But starting a business, I mean, that, that's one part of it. But just knowing what it feels like to like, actually be in that vision of someone who's successful. You want to have these almost like remote mentors who are doing exactly what you want to do. Like they're on stages at conferences, talking about L and D and how important it is and how it's changed due to Covid, because there's so many more unique challenges that you have. And honestly, if you don't meet them, you're going to lose your star employees because they say, look, I'm just going to go back to what I was doing before. I'm going to work from home, I'll start my own business, so on, so forth. So is there a specific problem that you enjoy solving for these organizations? That training would help. I wonder if there's. If there's something like that can even be more niche.

Yeah, I mean, I think that's what I need to really sit down and think about because, you know, some people. Niche by industry, but I don't really want to do that because if you usually, if you go that route, it's whatever, you have experience. And my experience is in construction and while it's definitely needed in there, not in industry that I enjoy working in, and I have experience in health care as well, but it's been a while since I've been in that industry. I mean, I think for me it's just usually the problem. The symptoms of the problem are just low employee engagement. Right. And so that's a symptom of it. But usually they don't really know what the root of the problem is because it could be that, you know, people aren't being developed or they have no clear, like, career pathway. And so that's why people are leaving and they're really disengaged. So it's difficult if people don't have like an OD specialist or somebody that is familiar with those concepts. They see symptoms of the problem, they don't necessarily know what the problem is.

Yeah, yeah. All right. So you're needed now more than ever. Because if the problem is low employee engagement and they're not sure if they're going back to in person or going to stay remote for the next however long, they need someone like you. Right. Because that's what's keeping them up at night. Like, this person's not engaged. Is it because they're doing something else? Are they bored? I don't know what they're doing because I can't even see them right now. So on your end, I think you kind of like looking at maybe like the top five commons or five common reasons for low employee engagement. Maybe it's lack of recognition, maybe it's lack of compensation, maybe it's. They don't like the job, you know, like whatever it is.

Yeah.

And just start talking about this stuff on social media and, you know, once you have a website set up. But maybe just what you just said is like, you see symptoms, I get to the root cause, and it could be anything. It could be these, these five things. And I. That's why I do this audit where I, you know, I reach out to these employees as well as your internal, you know, management team, try to find these problems and then create a solution that's aligned with that. But you don't have to be niche. Niche right now because it might happen three months ago. We're talking. You're like, hey, Terry, look, you know what? I decided I'm only going to focus on millennials or whatever's younger than millennials. I can't remember because one of my, one of my buddies. Clients, he teaches communication skills to younger employees at tech companies because a lot of them aren't engaged because they don't know how to communicate.

Right.

So as a result, some of their best ideas stay trapped inside of them or they leave because they're not getting recognized or they can't build their own personal brand because they're not communicating effectively. So he's niche in this case on employees. I believe they're younger than 30 years old. You might find yourself doing that same thing, you know, six months from now where you're like only younger employees because maybe that's who's moving more often. I'm not really sure. But right now, just kind of get your system down again. Look for other experts in the exact same space. See what they're talking about. And you would never copy anyone. But you don't have to start from scratch either. You can just develop that process. I think it's the most important thing. And do you have ends with organizations that'll let you try this out?

I'd have to think through that. So. Right. Right off the top of my head I would say no. Right off the top of my head I would say no. But I don't think it would be difficult to find those opportunities. Yeah.

Because what I'm thinking is this, getting your first client can some time be the most challenging. Right. Because like I've never done this before, but I am self taught, so that might be an initial. Well, that's one thing to do, right? Is find an organization that can be your first client. I would consider reaching out to your personal and professional network and asking them if they know anyone or if you know an org directly. Go ahead. But I believe that's in module four of the course or module three, one of those two. But I give you an actual script you can use when you're reaching out to people.

Okay.

Another thing you can do to get started is what I've done as well, and this is Also in module 2 is survey people. You can reach out to organizations and say, you know, what's your number one challenge when it comes to employee engagement or something like that. And there's a link to that survey in the course as well. But just get real data from these organizations. That say, this is the biggest problem, this is the biggest problem, so on and so forth. And you know, by design, create a solution, align with those problems and you might be able to say to some of them, hey, do you mind if I try this out with your org? You know, I can give you some kind of discount or even do it for free if it makes sense, but that's how you'll get your hands dirty and get some real world application of what you're doing.

Yeah, yeah, I definitely think that that would be helpful and kind of help me refine the specific problems I want to work on. Because I mean, low employee engagement may be a couple of things, but I really enjoy the training and development side of it. You know, where it's building training programs, um, training employees or coaching employees, like that's the side that I enjoy the most and developing the most. So if it's another issue, like maybe compensation, that would be something that I couldn't help with.

Yeah, and that's good. You're like, hey, I don't know. Like that's. Yeah, that's not my thing.

Yeah.

So when you say building these programs, are they. Is someone internally, are these like recorded programs? Is this like, what's this training look like on your end?

It, it depends on what the needs are for the client. So I would think of something like it could be onboarding, like you're creating like a whole 90 day process. That's something that a lot of orgs don't have or they don't do very well is onboarding people into the culture and into a role. Like usually you may see something like onboarding that happens for a week and then they have nothing else for that's role specific. And that is really key to getting somebody ramped up and getting them, you know, really proficient on their own more quickly or building specific programs for maybe a role that could be in there. For example, we have one at my current org that's for apprentices. You know, we have a specific leadership development program for them. So leadership development programs or role specific training programs that are focused on kind of career development or onboarding training programs, which is an area that a lot of, a lot of works tend to miss.

Yeah, I'm picking up on that just from my friends talking about how their careers are having challenges because, like, there's no roadmap. I'm going to give you a very specific, more or less homework assignment.

Okay.

You're on LinkedIn, I'm assuming.

Mm.

So LinkedIn learns, has a lot of courses on sometimes the most random stuff, like how they.

Yeah.

How to like make eye contact. But what I would like you to do is look for some that are specifically around, like organizational training, like increasing employee engagement. Try to find something along those lines and then look to see who's either liked that course or, or taking that course. And I'll consider reaching out to those people on LinkedIn saying, Hey, I see you have an interest in increasing employee engagement. You know, based on the fact you took this course. I'm wondering, can you answer this quick survey? Maybe it's a one question survey or three question survey, whatever it is, but design. Those people have indicated they have an interest in this stuff. So you're not just saying, hello, HR person. I'm just curious, do you care? Right. It's like, yeah, yeah, I can see you took this course. And I would do that because what might happen is you get your first clients that way. That happens quite often. But how does that make sense? The way I'm describing it, like, literally people on LinkedIn with a connection request saying, I see you have an interest in this. Can I, can you please answer this one question survey?

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Okay. Because if you do that, you'll create a solution in line with a problem and then you're building your network of all these, like, HR people who might eventually hire you as well. So it's a win, win situation.

Yeah, definitely. I like this idea a lot.

Where would you feel stuck, though? Because we talked about a few things, but where would you.

Yeah, stuck.

Like once we part ways tonight, like, where would you be like, oh, I should ask that, like, where, like, what else comes up?

I mean, the only other thing that I've kind of have questions about is just balancing, like, balancing. And I don't know if this was the case for you, but, you know, like, I'm full time, I'm working full time and also trying to start this business on the side while also being a grad student. But I'm almost done with the grad school part. But, you know, it kind of makes me, I know that entrepreneurship is being more accepted as like a second piece that you have as an employee, but I do wonder, like, how you balance that effectively and still kind of market yourself while you're also an employee for someone else.

Yeah. I think for you right now, the most immediate thing I would do is be a little patient with your progress. Just because you're working, you're in grad school and you're starting this business, you're probably done like in A month or so, so you have more time then. But I wouldn't get frustrated if you weren't moving as quickly as you wanted to, because that's a lot, right? So in regards to the balance, I mean, when I first started my business, I had a newborn. You know, my daughter was, you know, young, very young. So the way that I would suggest this is like saying, like, all right, well, how many hours per week or per day can I dedicate towards building this business? Maybe it's four, whatever. And then just make that as impactful as possible. So plan for those four hours and say, all right, well, I want to go on LinkedIn learns and make a list of 30 people who work in HR and have seen this course. I want to reach out to them with this connection request. That's the most impactful thing I can do because I'll get this great information. Or maybe in the first hour, it's like I'm going to put together that survey that the guy talked about, that Google survey. I want to get that all set up and then I'll send out these surveys after that. Maybe that takes you a week to get through and you might be frustrated. You're like, man, if I just had all day, I could be done with this. You don't. So that's what it is. I mean, in my end, my kids are all under six years old. I have three kids here under six years old. Yeah, they've been home every day since March of 2020. I wake up at 4:30 and I work for like two hours before they wake up. I do my most impactful work at that time. So it's kind of like that discipline that you have that you have to have, but not to the point where you're sacrificing your personal life or your mental health or anything like that. Because if you look at how many hours you have in a day, like, I don't have to walk through math, right? You can find an hour here or there if you cut out stuff, Right. Like for me, recently I've been like, binge watching Community. I don't know why, but it's a pretty cool show. But I'm like several episodes into it, even though I have other stuff I should be doing, right?

Yeah, yeah, always.

So, yeah, I mean, once in a while, like I won't watch it, but it's been like that for like the last month. So just finding that time and just like if, and I don't know if that's a problem with you, like being distracted by other Stuff. But just think before you do something, you know, why be. Why be happy about the outcome of this time a month from now? And then maybe for me, watching Community isn't a good idea. Maybe finishing my article after write for next week is a good idea. But that's, that's, that's really it. It's. It's planning it. So instead of a to do list, I also say plan, put it on your calendar. So whatever your to do list is, literally block off time. And if you won't put your to do list on your calendar, there's a commitment problem that you want to solve for. But that's what I would do is like, literally my to do list would be on my calendar.

Okay. Okay. I like that you mentioned just to be, like, doing your most impactful things. I think that doing it that way helps eliminate a lot of waste, you know, just like, wasted effort that often can happen where you like, oh, I want to, you know, fix my website today and do all this other crap that you really don't need to be doing. That's not going to move anything forward, you know, which I think a lot of people I know that I get stuck in that kind of stuff too, because it's a lot more. It's easier, you know, it's. It's easier sometimes than to do the impactful stuff, you know, like writing or, you know, whatever it is that maybe you're assembling block that you're like, oh, man, just don't have the brain energy for this right now.

Yeah. One of my clients has had that same problem for the last week. She is a brand strategist, so. And she's redoing her website. So she's like, has this, like, perfectionism that's going into it. And I'm like, hey, how are you doing with that? She's like, well, I was going to do it, but then I got sidetracked, like, creating like, Instagram reels and Instagram stories. And I'm like, isn't the point of social media people reach out to go to your website and buy something? So maybe the website in order first, then do all that fun stuff. But it's like, it's so easy. And it's not. It's not busy work, but it's like, there's. Yeah, and the problem is you get an immediate reward from posting.

Exactly, exactly.

It's there. Whereas the website, you're like, I can't even show this anybody yet. So there's no reward whatsoever. And that's where she's stuck. I think we're gonna get over it soon.

Yes, yes. So I like that a lot. And that's kind of how I had to have had to live my life anyways, because I'm very structured with my time since I work full going to like doing grad school, finishing my doctorate. So I have had to be very intentional, like with my time and my energy to make sure that I get the things done that I need to get done. Now. Lately, not so much, you know, pandemic and all, but, you know, it is, it is really nice to be intentional about that. And that was a lesson I learned a couple years ago when I first started grad school. Really helps move things forward a lot.

Yeah, yeah. That discipline now is going to pay off so much in like the next even like six months. But here's the problem that comes up because there's, there's focusing, which is saying, I have to get this done. Like that's what I'm focusing on. And there's filtering. Filtering is when like bad ideas come up. You're like, I don't want to do that anyway, so I'm not going to waste my time. Focusing is when good ideas, good opportunities come up that might be revenue generating, but are still a distraction from your long term goal. Because someone might come to you next week and say, hey Gabriella, we got this new thing going on. It pays 300 bucks an hour and it's only going to take you this much time. That's transactional revenue, but that's not aligned with the legacy that you're going to create through your own business. So keep that in mind too. You're going to have to say no to things that aren't horrible ideas and they might be revenue generating, but they're still not aligned with the long term plan that you're developing.

So how would you identify those? Would you just say, like anything that doesn't match up, like with vision, goals or values or like, how do you identify those?

Yeah. So to your point, it all starts with having a goal and a vision and having a very clear plan on how to do so. And you want to have it all laid out like this, that, that, that when something new comes, an opportunity, you'd say, can I integrate this into that opportunity? So I'll give you a real example right on my end. You know, I have my business going with consulting and a few other things. A company reached out to me saying, hey Terry, will you record these instructional videos? For a large company, it's like they won't tell me the name right now, but it's either LinkedIn or Google from what I can tell. And in my end I'm like, yes, I can do that, because that supports my vision of being seen as like, you know, a thought opinion leader in the knowledge base. And I can use the B roll from these videos for my own website. And I get paid for it too, right? So that's fine.

Yeah.

Another company reached out to me and said, hey, Terry, we want to partner with you to sell your courses into orgs like LinkedIn learns and we'll be your broker for it and we'll give you like half the revenue. Do you want to talk about this? And like, oh, can you, can we talk about this? Can you record an intro for this? I'm like, dude, no. Like, that is not even close to what I was thinking about before. Like, that's an interruption because you're asking me for all this extra stuff and there's no guaranteed money. They were guaranteed money. It's a very short assignment. So I'm like, cool, I'll do that. But that's what it is. It's like, does this align with what I already had planned out? Is this going to push something back? And if it's not directly aligned and you have to remove something, you're going to say, what do I value more? This or this in, you know, two years or whatever? Because again, you, you still can't sacrifice your health, your mental health or your personal time. So something has to get moved off that list with every new thing that comes up. So that's, that's the way I think about it.

Okay. I think the last question I have just sort of in regards to, sort of in regards to niching is just like communicating what you do to people effectively so that they like immediately, you know, kind of like latch on to that. What is the best way to structure that or which module is that in? Do you talk about that?

It's module three. Yeah, module three, I think.

Okay.

That would be your personal branding statement or your position statement. So I help this audience do this specific action so they get this outcome. So I would say I help consultants build their brand and revenue, but without sacrificing their personal life, their mental health, or, you know, the other things they value. So the problem some people have is they talk about themselves the whole time. It should be on your audience. I help organizations develop critical limitations to their success and then design learning and development programs to solve for that, allowing them to scale efficiently and increase employee morale. Like I'm kind of making this up.

But yeah, yeah, that's.

That's where it is. But it's not just the problem you solve. It's the outcome of solving that problem.

Okay.

That you want to speak to.

Okay.

And you need to get that done, because when you introduce yourself to someone saying, hey, do you know someone who can help me? It's got to be like that quick. What do you do? This. Like my friend Jake I mentioned, he says I help nonprofits communicate more persuasively so they can win bigger donations. Like, that's what he's saying. Like, nonprofits communicate more persuasively, bigger donations. That clear? And I would challenge you to keep it to 20 words or less. Okay. Because it's not an elevator pitch. Those are long and boring, I guess. I mean, that's like. I don't know if people still use those, but I hate them. So. Yeah, you want to say it succinctly.

Okay, so with that kind of piece, you know, like you said, it's very specific. What do you tell people who are kind of like, well, I don't want to get stuck, you know, just doing that. You know, like, there are other things that kind of fall within this, you know?

So what would you.

Because I think that's the other reason why I'm getting stuck, because I'm like, oh, I don't want to be stuck to this because I kind of do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and I want to be able to do those things, too. I don't want them to think that I can't also help with this. But maybe it needs to be that very specific.

What are the this and that things you're referring to?

Well, I mean, it's like I said, I do sort of a blend of learning and development and organizational development. Right. So, like, coaching, like coaching executives, that's something that I could do, too, but it's not like it would. That would almost need its own kind of I help statement in a sense, you know? Or it could be a piece of something that I offer, like in a program or. But depending. It depends on the needs of the organization. So things like that. That they could almost be like, that could almost be its own separate business. So that's.

That.

Those are the things I'm kind of thinking about.

So it's. I mean, it could be something like, I help organizations develop the teams and culture. Okay, so now I'm now getting too broad.

Yeah.

See that. So that's what I. That's what I mean is like there's. I don't know, there's a lot of things that can capture what I do that it could be very broad, but I don't want to be too broad that they don't know what the hell I do.

And here's the thing. I mean they're not. You're going to have something to say afterwards. It's just more of like a quick statement. But run this back to me again. So you also said you might train executives, is that correct?

Yeah. Or do coaching, like leadership coaching.

Okay, so I think that's fine because you're still. It's still education. So it's like I teach or. No, hold on. This might take more than a minute.

That's okay.

But you're like, I help. Yeah, it's like teams and visuals upscale or something in order to something you're there still. It's still. Okay. I'm not iterating it clearly right now, but it's still there. But you don't want to say and. Or too many times because that impact. But I think it's fine seeing I help organizations improve their culture and outcomes by developing. Developing like programs aligned with growth and fulfillment. Something like that.

Yeah, no, definitely something that would encompass kind of all. Could potentially encompass all those things. I think what somebody told me a while ago because I had been. I've been wanting to start this business for two years now. And so I've done a lot of like courses or things like that too because I'm a forever learner. So I'm constantly just like devouring knowledge. And so somebody had told me like, well, I mean, you can have your I help statement too, but you know, they might ask for more anyways. You know, they could always ask for other things that you may do. So I appreciate that. Thank you so much for having me up here and talking to you about this.

Yeah, absolutely. Let's. Let's go back for a second though. But what your friend said is exactly right. Like it should be enough for them to either get it or say, can you please clarify? Because like if it's on your website, you'd have that blanket statement. Then after that it would say like more clearly, like, do you need help with this? Maybe it's this, maybe it's that. Either way I can help. Not you're one shot.

Okay.

Trying to think of another example. Yeah, because like even with Jake, he says I help nonprofits, you know, persuade more persuasively communicate. Like that even sounds vague. It just has to be explained a bit more once you pre qualify that interest.

Yeah.

Okay, so that's gonna be your homework assignment. So work on that and then a lot of work. Yeah.

Okay.

I think you got this.

Yes, definitely.

Great chatting with you every week. So any other questions, you know where to find me.

Sounds great. Thank you so much.

Yep. I'm going to somewhat demote you here, so let me do that real quick and change to attendee. Cool. So. Oh, sorry I spelled your name wrong but do you want to chat as well? I can bring you up if you want to answer some questions on your end. I want to get that update in regards to how you're doing. I know you've been actually because I know you surveyed your audience as well and you got some feedback from them. So let me see. Alright, cool. So let's catch up with you. I'm going to make you panelists and we'll get that update.

Hi, can you hear me?

I can. How's it going? Hi.

Good.

Sorry I'm off camera right now. It's going well. It's been such a week this week. I've been looking for people that might want to take my, what I'm calling it a month long RFP accelerator where I will teach the version of my eventual online course live over the course of like four weeks and focusing on different items every week. So I've been getting a bunch of leads, posting on Facebook and in Facebook groups and doing like posts that are speaking to like almost a story that I went through so that I can get them to at least a message and then I can get on a phone call with them. So it's been, it's been interesting. I've been getting a bunch of feedback but in the process I talked about my Atlas framework and this guy reached out on messenger, just saying, I'm the founder of AEC Business, he's from Canada. He has this like whole website where he does this. He says he has like 7,000 CEOs and there's like a partnership model for course makers and you were just talking about this, which is interesting with, with her. But we have a call tomorrow because like, because I was like, what do you mean where he was interested in doing like a partnership model where I would teach my course which is very targeted to his audience in business development for architects. And there's no cost to me but it's like a partnership. So I was curious about your thoughts for that because while I'm doing that, I'm also looking more on like a one on one level, for. For people to try this out live with me.

So, yeah, let me. First of all, let me congratulate you on just getting all those leads coming in from being active on social, because I know when you're first starting out, it's hard, right? Like, is anyone listening? Does anyone care? So for you to see that, that impact is great. So I'm really happy for you.

I had to, like, thank you. I appreciate. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. I was gonna. Yeah, I was. I was saying I have tried before, but what got me success here was telling a story almost in a way that they would empathize with me. And so I actually have literally just got into your marketing section, but so I haven't done all the things I should be doing. But I found this tidbit from this woman named Daniel Leslie, who does a lot of online course kind of coaching, and she was talking about her tasty framework, which is like telling a story with specific parts, which I'm sure you also talk about, because I think you just did with a pain point and, like, in a storytelling way. And I got so much engagement on my one post that I was like, but. But not like people saying, hey, I'm interested, but, like a bunch of likes. And then some people DMing me being like, I really empathize with you. Can we talk? But it's almost like, can you give me advice versus can you, you know, be my client? So I'm trying to convert these interested people that want advice and want, like, my journey are inspired by my journey into people who want to, you know, pay me to take my course. So that's where I am at right now. So I'm curious if you have, like, warm leads that, like, you know, a strategy to convert them to, like, taking your accelerator? Because I want to charge them, you know, fifteen hundred dollars for my beta version for like a month long live thing. So, yeah.

Yeah, well, let's answer that question first, then we'll go back to the course thing. So, yeah, I mean, I think one thing, especially since like, early 2020, mid-2020, that's worked well on LinkedIn is storytelling. Right. So I could say, you know, when I first started my consulting business, I was, you know, cold calling people without providing any value. I wasn't clear on my services, so and so forth. It was so frustrating. I almost gave up and I had a newborn daughter. But then I learned this process of just, you know, boom, boom, boom. And here I am now, right?

Literally.

Yeah, yeah, it works. And What I found is my content that has more of a storytelling aspect, like about my kids especially, gets more reach and engagement, but then I always have to tie in some kind of business aspect to it as well. Otherwise it's like you're getting, you know, awareness, but not from the right audience necessarily. So I'm glad to see that this is working for you as well. Let's go back to those people who are reaching out and just want to pick your brain. That's frustrating. It is frustrating. It happens to me all the time. This woman reached out to me and she's like, oh, I love your content. I saw your entrepreneur article was so great. I would love to work with you. I have an idea. How about you mentor me for free and then you can use that as a case study on your website. And I'm like, why would I do that? I have 20 video case studies already. I can't do that. So I like, I generally do like talking to people. So, you know, I'll, I'll communicate with them, but when I start asking questions, I'm like, okay, that's a perfect opportunity for you to join this course that I have or to book a discovery call. But you, you.

So sorry, just clarifying. So you get them on the phone, but then you have a separate discovery call which is more targeted for your product versus just talking to them real quick for like 15 minutes or however long. Are you still on with them when you try and qualify them?

I mean, I qualify people typically in this. So if we're talking about the online course, that's different. I wouldn't really talk to someone on the phone about that. Typically I would just talk to them and see if I can help them via, via Messenger. But what you're saying is in regards to pivoting towards this, this course, I would say like, hey, look, you know, all great questions. You know, I'm actually putting together a course that solves just that same problem. It's a month long accelerator. We're going to walk through this, that and that. I would love to talk to you about it if that's of interest.

Okay.

Greater. We're going to walk through this, that and that. I would love to talk to you about it if that's of interest.

Okay, yeah, no, that is what I was doing. I was, I was treading lightly because I didn't want to get kicked off of these Facebook groups. But then people are literally like, are you creating a system? And I was like, I just sent you a DM because I don't Know which. The line between, you know, promotion and whatnot. But no, that's. That's really interesting. Okay. I mean, what do you do with people that have liked it? Nothing. Right. Like, likes don't mean much.

I. Well, here's what I would do. Okay. So what I would do is see if they ever post, and if they post, I would engage with their content because. Yeah, I mean, because someone else will tell you something different. I don't like cold DMing people. Hey, I saw you like my post. Do you want to give me a dollar? That's not my style.

Yeah, that's terrible.

Yeah.

But I know people who tell you to do that. This one guy I know, and he'll admit it's Guy Carlos Gill. He's a social media marketing expert. He does it all the time. Like, if he notices someone viewed his LinkedIn profile, he will send them a message saying, did you want to learn more about my services?

That's tough. Yeah, I don't like that.

Let's talk more about him. Like, he's a nice guy, but I know during COVID he lost all his business and was selling masks. Oh, apparently that didn't work. You know, like being that guy. So. So, no, I mean, I think likes, I would leave that alone. You do want to tread lightly because you just want to provide value. If you keep on providing value, the right people will come to you and say they'll ask you so many questions. A DM just makes sense.

Okay.

At that point. Right. So. And then ask the moderator to say, hey, admin, I'm real name. Look, people are asking me questions. Is it okay for me to say, please DM me? Or, hey, would you like me to do like a Facebook Live for the whole group? Oh, yeah, if it's of interest. If we get like 10, 15 people that want to show. Does that sound good?

It's like a webinar, but live. Yeah, that's a really good idea.

Yeah.

Okay. I think that's a great idea because you could convert, like, irrelevant women. Well, one is tricky because one of these groups is led by, like an architect's coach. So it's like I'm taking business from her, but I'm not. I'm teaching different things. So I just have to build a relationship.

Perhaps.

But before I picture my.

Yeah, and what could happen is she gives you leads and you give her, like, I don't know, 10% or something, 15%, whatever. It makes sense. But you're not competitors. You complement each other, but you're not a competitor. So I think forming a partnership would make sense. Like on my end when I was doing digital marketing consulting, I would partner with people who made websites and say, hey, if you're making some. If you're making a website for someone and they need digital marketing, let me know. And if I work with someone who's doing as it has a website that's horrible, I'll let you know as well and, you know, help each other out. So I think that works pretty well.

Yeah. You know, it's funny you say that because. Okay, so I have this Atlas framework which is about articulating, tuning, tuning your values, laying out your narrative, assembling your portfolio, and sharpening your interview strategy. Sorry, I had to say that to make the next part make sense. I had a targeted.

So jealous that you're. Your program spells something.

Well, that was also a tidbit from Danielle. This woman is catered to this online course. I know I would have never come up with that because I didn't. Until she's like, put it in a framework and make money. More. More money from it. I was like, okay. But that same framework, if I just change the, you know, approach to tuning it to your client, but tuning it to a prospective employer becomes like a career coaching thing. And I kind of had that epiphany last week because I realized a bunch of students always ask me on LinkedIn about my career path and how I applied and blah, blah, blah. So then I. Yeah, so it's also applicable for architects that are in mid, like in a firm of their own, but also if they're looking for a job. So I know now that that's like two topics similar to who was just speaking before me, like, how do you really choose? But right now I'm just trying both things out and seeing where more leads are. But the younger students sometimes want more one on one coaching. And I know this person who I took coaching services from, so I can refer them to her and she's actually offered me an affiliate marketing fee for it. So I. So it's awesome. Yeah. And someone. Yeah, so I think that that might work out. First, I was very afraid I'm like stepping on our toes because, you know, imposter syndrome. I was like, who am I taking clients away from her? She's my coach. What will she think of me? But then I started realizing that my services are different. It's less soul searching, more like if you have a person, you know, it's complimentary. Long story short.

So, yeah, I like that. Yeah, I like the fact that you're offering the career guidance too. Because then, you know, kind of going back to what Gabrielle was saying, it's like, you know, I help architects, you know, advance their career and win more contracts.

You know, it's like, yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah, that's. That's clear. And the other one is like, I help young graduate students get the dream job. Or what? I mean, that's too great. I'm still figuring that one out. But I spoke to someone on Instagram about it, speaking of putting myself out there. And she's running her own two week accelerator in London, and she wants me to collaborate with her, which would be some form of fee. So where I would get some money from her cohorts. So I'm gonna pilot it there. So lots has happened in the last two weeks. So thank you for all of your.

Yeah. How did you meet her? Like, how did that happen?

So she was. So I searched on Instagram for influencers, similar to where I want to be speaking to architects, and this Instagram profile popped up called 2C scale. Then I went to her website, she always looks for articles from guests. So I pitched her an idea and she's like. I said, the RFP toolkit, I could write about it. And she said, well, my audience is a bit younger, but maybe there's other things you could write about. Let's stay in touch. So then I got the, the other version, which I just told you, where it's Atlas Framework for young graduate students applying for their dream job out of grad school. Like, the whole thing applies. Could you. Because you're assembling a portfolio. It's not a proposal, but a portfolio. So she was very into that. She said, my audience really needs that. So do you want to collaborate with my first round of doing this with 16 students. And I was like, yes.

So amazing that, like, just from, like on your phone, you know, casually, while you're like, you know, with your kid or whatever, you're like, all right, let me see what happens.

And she. I know. I. I think, yeah, her, like, we, we come from similar backgrounds. I feel like our cultures, I often find if you look alike, they like, tend to gravitate towards you. I know that's terrible to say, but, like, it matters. Like, I mean, I'm a South Asian woman and she's also a South Asian woman, but in London. So it's like somehow we connected on, on. On our topic itself. But yeah, like, exactly.

Gabriella.

Yeah, yeah, so. So that happened. But, but I. Sorry, I'm long Winded right now. But what would you suggest to do with. With the call I have with the guy wanting to do a potential partnership. I've been to his website and I can't decide if it's scammy or real. And that is a red flag for me.

Do you mind? What's. Do you mind seeing the company or.

Yeah, no, no, no. I'll tell you.

Sorry.

It's called.

So funny.

Sorry. What if it's the same thing? AEC business. I think it's aec business.com. let me just get there. But it's the one about Lego blocks. There's a bunch of them that pop up.

Oh, okay. A site for trailblazers.

Is this the one? I'll send you a. I'll send you a link. I don't know if I sent you to the right one.

Gabrielle is getting deeper into the whole working people that look like you. There's a science behind it. AEC Business. An award winning construction innovation technology blog and podcast.

No, this is not the link. Sorry. If you give me one second, I'll get it to you. I'm just all over the place. I'm sitting myself down and getting to the right place to look for this founder at the AEC Business.

No worries.

Gosh, this is tough.

No, don't worry about it. I mean it's not like we're situation.

No. But I would really love your feedback. So copy. Okay, I got it. I'm just gonna put it down here. The reason I. I was debating if it's a scam or not was because I saw a couple of typos on his website and I know. Yes. And. And then I was like it could be ESL because he is from that background and I think I shouldn't be so judgmental. But yeah, I just copied and pasted it to you.

Yeah, I mean there's typos on my website too. So.

Yeah, and he looks. His framework looks really relevant. I don't think it's a scam, but I just wonder like what he mountains.

And like all these things.

Alright, so all these things but nothing specific, if you know what I mean. Like you have to like sign up for an account and I'm not seeing testimonials. I'm just a little confused by the whole thing.

But yeah, so explain the model again. You give him content and then what?

So he hasn't explained it fully. He'll do that on call tomorrow. But he said there is. In addition, I was thinking more about our solutions problem partner program. It's all about partnering with creators like you in this industry to launch their business and courses. There's no cost to this. And then he goes on to say it's partnership driven. It helps creators profit with fast growing recurring revenue without the hassle of marketing and selling on their own.

Okay, so same thing. Okay. So the question to ask is, can you give me an example of someone who's partnered with you before as testimonial? Like someone who has done this and that I can find online. I would get an understanding. Does he want to use your pre existing content or does he want you to create new content?

He wants content around the Atlas framework. So it's pre existing but it's. Right now I'm in flux too. So like I haven't fully finalized all my content. I was going to do the live accelerator to then after that put it online when I get a better feel for how people react to it.

Yeah. I would be clear that you're like, hey, I'm like a month away from even being able to do this stuff. So it's not like a let's hurry up and go just because you reached out to me out of the blue.

Yeah. Because if you want, you made video content. I don't have that. Like what? Yeah. So I'd be confused about that.

I just don't want this to become a distraction because it's like you're getting a lot of momentum right now.

Yeah, I could do this on my own. Yeah.

Yeah. Because like let's, let's think for a second. Like it has to be a hell yes or a no. And you're still trying to figure out the guy's sketchy or not. So that's definitely not a hell yes. Not even close to a hell yes right now.

Yeah.

One thing that I, the challenge I'm having this other organization, it's like they want me to do this work first and they'll pay me. I'm like, if you pay me up front, we can talk more. But I can't put aside all this other stuff or maybe money. So I would see what work you have to do before getting paid anything as well.

Yeah. Okay, that makes sense.

Yeah. He's like, oh, make this course. And then, you know, we'll, we'll shop it around. It's like, no man, because I can shop around myself. Like, I don't, I don't know if it's not going to work just based on my own efforts. So why would I give you sales and has to deal with you when I haven't tried it out myself.

I know that makes sense. And I think that's what else I'll see. And if I can. My other question is, if I do put it on your platform, does that prevent me from putting it on my platform? Because then that would be a no. Because I don't want this to become part of his, you know, his account.

So I gotta say, like, it seems like I wouldn't do it because this is your signature framework that has a cool name. And let's pretend they sell it for 10 bucks. I'm making this up, Right? How would you ever sell it for more than that? You know what I mean? Like, do you have to, like, make up some other framework now? Because everyone might just go there and buy it instead of from you.

Yeah. And they wouldn't even know it existed until they signed up for his, like, whatever this thing is on the website. I just don't. Sorry. I don't understand where people would find it. I guess there's. He said there's 7,000 CEOs in his platform. So there's. And he's based out of Canada, so these architects are already using it as a membership subscription. And I would become one of the other courses and people would just. I believe that's the case. But I guess there's no harm in talking to him. But the questions you're saying. Yeah, the questions you're saying are really critical and I need to ask them.

Let's kind of dig deeper. What's the term CEO mean? And I'll explain what I mean by that. So when I worked at Facebook, you could target. By job title. And people would often target job title CEO. But it's like, I could say I'm the CEO of getting money records. What's that? Yeah, you know, like, what does that mean? Am I SEO of a large organization or I just call myself a CEO? You know what I mean? So it's like. I mean, I'm not trying to say this is not going to work, but it's like, even the term he's using, like, all NBA, that makes me think of, like, the stuff Seth, you know, Godin's doing, like, with the term alt NBA. So I don't know, like, let's.

Yeah.

Feel it out, but make sure it's a. Hell yes. And make sure you're not giving away your talent. And I don't. I haven't heard a way for you to work with this person without giving away the Atlas format, which you created and should have control.

Yeah, you're yeah, I need to talk to him about, about that. So something is giving me the heebie jeebies about it. So I should follow my gut, but I'll talk him.

So yeah. Okay.

Well, this has been really helpful and I need to check out your LinkedIn marketing section because I have. That's the one place I haven't marketed enough. And there's LinkedIn groups. Do they function similar to Facebook groups or are they more like professional and you're not allowed to post things like you can post on Facebook groups.

And with LinkedIn groups, I'm going to give you a, a shortcut to something to check out with LinkedIn groups, you want to see how active they are. Is it people just spamming it and you know, like no one's interacting or they're actually, are you actually having good conversations? So definitely check those out. And yeah, I mean you're fine providing value, but just get a sense of the culture. Do you see other people saying, oh, I have a link on my website to this guide or is it mostly people just providing value? I would do that, but I'm going to put a link in the chat window right now to this article that I wrote for Entrepreneur about me posting on LinkedIn 90 times in 90 days.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

Give you like a high level overview of my, my system for leveraging LinkedIn. But in the, in the closing moments here, I want to bring this up. I, I had this post on LinkedIn Thursday and it's just like off the cuff. Didn't really plan it, but I said, you know, the other day I saw this post on LinkedIn that I disagreed with. I kept scrolling and enjoyed the rest of my day. Like that's, that's all I said. And since I wrote that, it's gotten like 1.3 million views on LinkedIn. Like I don't know, like 30,000 likes or whatever. The CEO of LinkedIn sent me a message saying, hey, I really like what you're saying on your profile.

I noticed that and I love that and like your humor of even no means. There's another thing you just said today. I was like, oh, that's so like great.

So yeah, I'm glad you dig that. But it was, it was like it came out of nowhere. I'm like, I've never gotten over a million views for a post before.

But do you hashtag a specific way or like, or is there algorithm where they are far more open open to sharing it with beyond your connections? I don't understand like who gets to See what hashtag a specific way or like or is there algorithm where they are far more open to sharing it with beyond your connections. I don't understand like who gets to see what.

So in this case I didn't even put a hashtag in. I was just like literally on my phone like messing around, like, boom. Why are there 200,000 views on this thing? Like what happened? So in this case I didn't even put a hashtag in. I was just like literally on my phone like messing around, boom. Why are there 200,000 views on this thing? Like what the. Like what happened overnight? So yes, hashtags are important typically. And what I say in the course is your first sentence has to be like very eye catching. So you can say like, you know, this is the worst experience I ever had as an architecture and then go into it so and so forth. So yes, hashtags are important typically. And what I say in the course is your first sentence has to be like but yeah, you do want to use relevant hashtags for your industry, but don't just use the most popular one, find some smaller ones too because everyone's using architect. So you're going to click. But like if you put in like architect tips or architect careers and it has like less that might have less followers but it's easier for you to rank for it because of that. Another thing and why we're talking about this is you have to engage. The more you engage, the more reach you get. That's how algorithms work. So I'm glad we're talking very eye catching. So you can say like, you know, this is the worst experience I ever had as an architect and then go into it so and so forth. Right. So I have a list of about 40 people that I before I post, I'll look to see if they've posted recently and I'll engage with them. So it might be a thought opinion leader, it might be a podcast host that I want to work with. It might be a conference that I want to speak at. I'm looking at the event organizers, it could be a meeting. But yeah, you do want to use relevant hashtags for your industry, but don't just use the most popular one, find some smaller ones too because everyone's using outlet that I want to appear on. So I'll go through this spreadsheet and I'll bookmark their the link directly to their shared content now to see, oh, have they posted today? If the answer is yes, I'll try to find a reason to interact. Now I want to say, cool, dude. I'll try to have a thoughtful comment.

Yeah.

And then what I'll also do is anyone who's. Anyone who's liked any of my recent posts that provided that architect. So you can include that. But like, if you put in, like architect tips or architect careers and it's like, less. That might have less followers, but it's just to my audience, like, hey, if you're a consultant, you need help with this. Boom. I'll see who's liked that post. Then I'll go look at their profile and see if they posted recently. And I'll interact with their content as well, because I know they. Okay. If this coaching stuff resonates with you. Okay, cool. I want to make a deeper connection with you as well. And then it starts this reciprocity where the next time you post, they see your content, they keep on engaging, so on and so forth, forth. So that's. That's what I do for about an hour a day. Closer to half an hour, 45 minutes, actually, depending on what your daughter's doing. But I do that in the morning with my daughter as she's first starting. Easier for you to rank for it because of that. Another thing and why we're talking about this is you have to engage kindergarten.

Well, congrats to her. No, that's really good advice. I've been organically doing it on Instagram, but I'm finding my audience less, like, engaged on Instagram. I have to dig deeper, but Facebook groups, new thing for me. I've never really been active on it, so.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm just so amazed. This is what I said to the CEO of LinkedIn. I'm so amazed that, like, people like all of us can just. The more you engage, the more reach you get. That's how algorithms work. So I'm glad we're talking about this. Right. So I have a list of about 40 people that I literally just get on our phone and get on a platform and just find our target audience so easily.

Yeah.

All you have to do is provide value and not try to take from people, try to give to them first. And you will get rewarded with DMs and, and attention and all this other stuff. You have to give first. And you want to make a system for it, though, because I'm seeing engaged. But if you just go on the platform and go, who should I engage with? That takes forever. So you have to make a list. Other people that I engage with on before I post. I'll look to see if they posted recently and purpose are LinkedIn editors. LinkedIn has about six 60 editors for various verticals. Find one that makes sense for your niche. Maybe it's industrial manufacturing or whatever. I'm making this up.

Yeah.

But what might happen is they might put you in the trending news section. If you comment on one of their posts then you get a ton of I'll engage with them. So it might be a thought opinion from that as well.

Yeah, I've been. I got some emails from editors being like, can you comment on this post? I think it's relevant to you. I should do.

It never happens to me ever.

I mean urban design and city related.

That never happens to me.

Okay, that's so funny. And I ignore it. So I should stop.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Goodness gracious. So much. I have like I feel very overwhelmed but in a good way right now. But I need to leader.

It might be a podcast host that I want to work with. It might be a conference that I want to speak at. I'm looking at the event organizers. It could be immediate stock of everything.

I've just committed myself to because like I feel like when you start putting yourself out there, the universe like gives for some reason I had like. But yes, we're past 8:30. I'll respect your time. We'll talk later. But yes, I can go on for a while.

Awesome. Well, yeah, I mean, thanks so much for the update. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

No, absolutely. Thanks. Okay.

And I'll grab this last question here. The outlet that I want to appear on. So I'll go through this spreadsheet and I'll bookmark there. Do I ever write on Medium? Gabriella, I would. I don't reason being the majority of my articles I write are for. Let me just get you off the stage if it's a problem. The majority of the articles that I write the link directly to their shared content. Now to see. Oh, have they posted today? Right now are for Entrepreneur magazine and they don't want that information or that content on other platforms such as medium or even LinkedIn. I would though because it's a way for people to search for your content and find you not just, you know, going there directly because they know who you are. It's good for your SEO as well because it might have stronger SEO than your website. If you're writing for me, if the answer is yes, I'll try to find a reason to interact. Now I won't just say cool dude. I'll try to have a thoughtful comment and then what I'll also do is any medium though, you might as well write an article on LinkedIn as well because there's no reason to stab it on one platform. In this case, I would do that just to get more eyeballs on the content. But yeah, I write an article every week, usually around like anyone who's liked any of my recent posts that provided thousand words. Get in the habit of doing that because kind of like the same thing I was saying just now, like I'll spend 90 minutes writing that article, then I'll go raise my kids. Right? But then once that article is out there, people see it and they reach out to you and like, hey, no, I read this, I read that. How can I learn more about what you do? So the most impactful thing you can do at your time, I just to my audience, like, hey, if you're a consultant, you need help with this, boom, I'll see who's liked. That is create an asset, in this case, content that will keep on rewarding you going forward. And eventually that's going to be an online course course. Right. It can also just be like a 20 minute explainer, video, whatever it is. But focus that effort, like we were saying before, on things that will either save you time or make you money. Hopefully both. And that's how I focus on not to keep on using the same word, but focus on impact. So yeah, you have to start work next week and know how you're managing post. Then I'll go look at their profile and see if they posted recently and I'll interact with their content as well because I know they. Okay if this coaching stuff resonates with you. Time. Oh yeah, you're going back. Yeah. Well, that's why you're building up these assets now, you know, like it's, it's, it's what we just said. It's like, okay, what can I do an article every week? Why? Because it's going to attract traffic to my website. I can talk about it on social media and then spending maybe it's 30 minutes a day on social where whatever it is. Okay, cool. I want to make a deeper connection with you as well. And then it starts this reciprocity where the next time it's like, gosh, you know, can you imagine years ago, even two years ago, you had to like go to networking events and say, oh, let me just talk to you unless you're boring. And then I have to try finding excuse to leave. Like we have such an advantage right now where we can do all this stuff from our phone and on our own time, you know, and, you know, and raise kids and go to grad school and work. So you post, they see your content, they keep on engaging, so on and so forth. So that's, that's. If we're short on time, we got to be high on impact. And that's really what I focus on. Yeah. Micro learning. Yeah, I dig that. Cool. All right, well, I'm gonna go watch Community, but this has been great chatting with you and I appreciate the progress updates and keep them coming. So I'll talk to you soon. Have a good night. That's what I do for about an hour a day. Closer to half an hour, 45 minutes, actually, depending on what is doing. But I do that in the morning with my daughter as she's first starting kindergarten.

Wow. Congrats to her. No, that's really good advice. I've been organically doing it on Instagram, but I'm finding my audience less like engaged on Instagram. I have to dig deeper, but Facebook groups, new thing for me. I've never really been active on it, so.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm just so amazed. This is what I said to the CEO of LinkedIn. I'm so amazed that, like, people like all of us can just literally just get on our phone and get on a platform and just find our target audience so easily. All you have to do is provide value and not try to take from people, try to give to them first, and you will get rewarded with DMs and attention and all this other stuff. You have to give first. And you want to make a system for it, though, because I'm seeing engage. But if you just go on the platform and go, who should I engage with? That takes forever. So you have to make a list. Other people that I engage with on, on purpose are LinkedIn editors. LinkedIn has about 60 editors for various verticals. Find one that makes sense for your niche. Maybe it's industrial manufacturing or whatever. I'm making this up.

Yeah.

But what might happen is they might put you in the trending news section. If you comment on one of their posts, then you get a ton of engagement from that as well.

Yeah, I've been. I got some emails from editors being like, can you comment on this post? I think it's relevant to you.

I should do it never happens to me ever.

I mean, urban design and city related.

That never happens to me.

Okay, that's so funny. And I ignore it. So I should stop ignoring.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay. Goodness gracious. So much I have like, I feel very overwhelmed, but in a good way right now. But I need to, to take stock of everything I've just committed myself to because like, I feel like when you start putting yourself out there, the universe like gives for some reason I had like. But yes, we're past 8:30. I'll respect your time. We'll talk later. But yes, I can go on for a while.

Awesome. Well, yeah, I mean, thanks so much for the update. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

No, absolutely, thanks.

Okay. And I'll grab this last question here. Do I ever write on Medium? Gabriela, I would. I don't. Reason being the majority of my articles I write are for. Let me just get you off the stage if it's a problem. The majority of the articles that I write right now are for Entrepreneur magazine and they don't want that information or that content on other platforms such as Media, medium or even LinkedIn. I would though, because it's a way for people to search for your content and find you not just, you know, going there directly because they know who you are. It's good for your SEO as well because it might have stronger SEO than your website. If you're writing for Medium though, you might as well write an article on LinkedIn as well because there's no reason to stab it on one platform. In this case, I would do that just to get more eyeballs on the content. But yeah, I write an article every week, usually around a thousand words. Get in the habit of doing that because kind of like the same thing I was saying just Now, I'll spend 90 minutes writing that article, then I'll go raise my kids. But then once that article is out there, people see it and they reach out to you and like, hey, I read this, I read that. How can I learn more about what you do? So the most impactful thing you can do at your time is create an asset, in this case content that will keep on rewarding you going forward. And eventually that's going to be an online course. Right. It could also just be like a 20 minute explainer video, whatever it is. But focus that effort, like we were saying before, on things that will either save you time or make you money, hopefully both. And that's how I focus on that. To keep on using same word but focus on impact. So yeah, you have to start work next week and don't know how you're going to manage your time. Oh yeah, you're going back. Yeah. Well, that's why you're building up these assets. Now, you know, like, it's. It's. It's what we just said. It's like, okay, what? Can I do an article every week? Why? Because it's going to attract traffic to my website. I can talk about on social media and then spending. Maybe it's 30 minutes a day on social. Whatever it is, but it's like, gosh, you know, can you imagine years ago, even two years ago, you had to, like, go to networking events and say, oh, let me just talk to you, unless you're boring. And then I have to try finding excuse to leave. Like, we have such an advantage right now where we can do all this stuff from our phone and on our own time, you know, and, you know, and raise kids and go to grad school and work. So if we're short on time, we got to be high in impact, and that's really what to focus on. Yeah, Micro learning. Yeah, I dig that. Cool. All right, well, I'm gonna go watch Community, but this has been great chatting with you, and I appreciate the progress updates and keep them coming. So I'll talk to you soon. Have a good night.