How to Convert Premium Buyers from your Content While Posting LESS w/ Julie Solomon

Welcome to the Makeshift Happen podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life. So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shit happen. Welcome to the show, Julie. I'm so excited to have you. I actually started following you in 2018 or '19, and I remember taking a class of yours at one point actually that helped me a lot in, uh, my pitching skills, which it helped me land some features and grow this podcast that we're speaking on now. So it's kind of feels a little full circle to to like have you on the show. So welcome to Makeshift Happen. I'm so excited to chat and to share your genius with everyone that's listening.

Well, thank you so much for having me. I love podcasting. I know from just what I do know about your podcast and community that it's a great one, so I feel very honored to be here.

Yeah, I'm so excited to have you. Okay, I want to talk a little bit about your journey as an entrepreneur because you have been in the game for a while. You have seen all the different phases that this space has gone through. There's been so many changes. And before, you know, you kind of became this personal branding coach and bestselling author and podcast host, you had like a different life, right? Where you spent 9 years as a publicist, you helped scale the brands of Grammy Award-winning musicians and celebrities and authors. So I'm just curious, like, what it was like for you making that transition at that time, cuz everything was different at that, at that time from PR to going out on your own and doing something in, in entrepreneurship. How did you know that it was time to make the leap? What was the coaching kind of landscape like at the time? I'd love some insight into like what that was like.

Yeah, this is such a great question because I think that it lends to actually a, a really important lesson when it comes to messaging, which is I knew that it was time to make the pivot because that is what the world and the community and the audience around me was requiring. To add more context to that, I started as a publicist in traditional music and book PR in, in 2007, and when I started kind of consistently creating content on Instagram, which was in 2013, I was still also a full-time publicist. But for a few years between 2013 and 2016, when I was a blogger at the time— we would now call them content creators, but I was a blogger— I was pitching myself for brand deals, for media opportunities, and I was really starting to see and take stock of what the online landscape was needing and wanting and really where the gaps were. And one of the gaps that I saw that I could fill was this gap of taking, you know, an idea and being able to effectively articulate that with messaging to the person that you would want to buy from you. So whether that was brand deals or your own products and services, I really saw that there was a gap in the marketplace of people teaching these content creators, these online coaches, these service providers, the skill sets that they needed specifically when it came to branding, visibility, and messaging. And that is where my genius came in. And so I knew that it was time to make the pivot and really go all in on what is now my online education and coaching business in 2016, when I saw that the market really needed from me more of my marketing, messaging, visibility tips than they needed my fashion tips and beauty tips. And not to say that there aren't other content creators out there that fashion and beauty may be their niche, and that's what they go all in on. But for me, when I got really honest with myself about what my genius was and I could really best serve people, it was in what I had been doing for years prior. And so that was kind of my answer to leave traditional PR and really bring my skillset to the online platform. And the first way that I did that was through online courses. I created a course called Pitch It Perfect, which is the one that you were talking about back in 2016 that helps content creators and bloggers learn how to effectively message themselves through the content of pitching so they can land brand deals, media features, really anything that they want. And it was that decision to create create something that wasn't in the marketplace then, you know, cut to today, it's like there's a ton of courses out there on pitching. There's a ton of courses out there on how to become a content creator and an influencer. But back then it was really the only, at the time it was, it was the first and only thing of its kind, uh, for that industry and niche. And then from there I just kept really listening to what my ideal audience and clients needed, and I kept evolving my business to today. And really back then, the way that the online coaching landscape looked like was vastly different. You would have people, you know, sharing things on YouTube channels or maybe sharing bits of information of content on Facebook or Instagram, but you didn't really have— or you would have people have courses, but you didn't really have the online coaching industry really network that we see today where you have masterminds and online coaching programs and things of that nature. So a lot of it was very much in its infancy, and it's been really cool to be a part of it during this whole time. And it was only 8 years ago, but in the online space that can feel like 100 years ago, but to see how it's grown and evolved, and more importantly, how we as creators and we as coaches have been able to grow and evolve and adapt the ever-changing landscape, it's been what's so interesting and cool about the process.

I think that's one thing that you have to be able to do as an entrepreneur of any kind, is continue to adapt and innovate. And I know it gets like— I think the internet is the space that probably changes the fastest, especially with social media. So it feels like we have to reinvent ourselves all the time and get more creative with how we're launching, how we're selling, how we're positioning offers, what our offers actually look like. Like there's so much, and I think people get discouraged with that, of feeling like I just created that thing and now it feels like it's, you know, not the thing that people want anymore. But at the same time, there is, you know, if you have that true kind of entrepreneur spirit, there is that kind of excitement in that as well of like, when you have a new creative idea that you haven't seen anyone do yet and you're like, oh yeah, I'm really going to change this up and innovate, it makes it feel exciting. But you've been in the space for a really long time. What has your personal experience been with feeling like you have to reinvent the wheel or keep changing? I mean, especially with social, right? The way we show up on social media now is so different than what it was in, in 2016.

So I think the big thing with this is that a lot of times our initial reaction to that is to get a little bit more negative, a little bit more down where like, okay, I just created this thing and now it's not the thing that the marketplace wants. But for me, I really just encourage those that may be feeling that just to get curious, because if you have created something that the market no longer needs, then it kind of means a couple of things. It means that you either need to refine your offer, which we should all realize that that never ends. We're always in a state of refinement. I mean, again, I've been in this for 8 years and I'm still refining my offers to this day and it never ends. And I think that now in almost the end of 2024, now more than ever, this industry is requiring a level of excellence that I don't think it required back in 2018 because the landscape was still so new and there weren't as many big players in the industry yet. I actually think that that's a really good thing. I think that, yes, it, it means that people— coaches really do have to suit up and show up. They really do have to work their muscle in a whole new way. They really have to be the the absolute best at what it is that they do. This industry no longer allows for people just to kind of load in and make money anymore. People are being way more discerning with how they spend their money, who they spend their money with, you know, who they trust, who they put their name behind, as they should. I think that in a lot of ways it can feel disheartening, but it's actually a really, really good thing for the industry because we want this industry to be filled with nothing but Nobody needs more watered-down content. Nobody needs more watered-down how to do things. Like, we're good on that. We've got a lot of— what we need more of is people really deciding that they want to be the absolute best at what it is that they do, really own that genius wholeheartedly, and make the absolute best offer that they can for their premium clients. No more half, you know, aying it, for lack of a better word. No more thinking that 50% or 75% is good enough. No more good enough energy. It's really about giving it your all, because if you can't or you don't, then there's just not going to be space for you left here. And I think that that's a really great thing. I— it definitely makes me put my money where my mouth is. It definitely makes me go back to my offers and think, how can I make this offer more exceptional? How can I get my clients better results? How can I get them the transformation that they're looking for faster and easier? How can I make this curriculum more digestible so they actually get the results? How can I offer some more higher-level opportunities or high-touch opportunities for them to really be seen, supported, and coached on. I think that a lot of that is what is really required. And even if you're not a coach, let's say if you're a content creator listening to this, the same thing applies to you when it comes to content creation and when it comes to brand partnerships, media opportunities, any of those legacy building opportunities that you may wanna do in the future, like writing a book or speaking on stages. None of that is gonna happen if you continue just to halfway show up and dip your toes in this without really going all in. And the The best way to know if you're doing that is really getting honest with yourself about, am I really specializing in something? Am I sharing with the world what it is that I specialize in? Or am I trying to get by just being a generalist? Because the more that you specialize in something, the more money that you make, the more authority that you build, and really the more of that leader that you become and that you become known for. So that's really where I see it going. That's how I think that we all need to start looking at it, of really it's giving us this gift and this opportunity to show up in a much more higher level and superior way.

I read a quote just the other day from Alex Hormozi, which, you know, is always just very blunt, but it was something like, you are sad that it's not happening faster for you, but it's because you're not as good as you think that you are. Just like, you know, just kind of speaks to this idea that you're talking about of this industry has really started to boom and there's so many people in here now, and now there's more discernment from the customers and the clients and people really looking for that mastery, as you said. And yeah, I couldn't agree more. You know, I think your highest paying client is going to be the person that's looking for mastery. They're not looking for the jack of all trades or the generalist that can kind of help them with a thousand little things here and there, but someone who can go really deep with them on one topic and they know That's my girl, right? Like if they think of Julie, they think of pitching or they think of messaging, they think of that, you know, building that strong personal brand. It's like, that's who I wanna go to for that because that's what they associate you with. And I think, you know, I just talked about this with some of my mastermind girls this morning. We have this concept of like content pillars, right? And I think content pillars are valuable, but I'm also starting to think even more about this concept of like mastery markers. Cuz I think content pillars back in the day were very, like you said, general. It was, it was things like mindset, money, like those could be content pillars. Whereas when we're talking about becoming a specialist and going really deep on something that you're a master at, it requires you to really hone in and really speak to those several things that you wanna become known for and that you are a master at. And so thinking about what your mastery markers are, like what are the 2 or 3 things that you want someone to think of you for? They, when they think of Sam or when they think of Julie, oh, it makes me think of that. Let's bring her on the podcast to talk about that. She's the girl that's always talking about X, Y, Z. 'X, Y, or Z, she would be great to speak on our stage.' I think that's how you start to get those associations when people think of your name, and then they know that you're perfect for an opportunity because you have this association with something that you've gone really deep in and that you're a master at. So I love that advice, and I think it's becoming even more important in the landscape that we're seeing today. Absolutely. Something that you've mentioned a couple of times is messaging, which I also love to geek out on. I think for me, like, messaging comes really naturally, but I've also had to get into space of being able to figure out like how to teach people this skill and learning how to think in a way that really speaks to the most primal, like raw desires of the ideal client. But I know that you have so many incredible messaging tips, so I wanted to dig into this together. Let's start with mistakes and just kind of like generally some of the messaging mistakes that you see often. Where do you think people go wrong with messaging?

Well, I'm gonna back it up one step because initially where people go wrong with messaging is thinking that they have a content problem when they don't. The real reason why you're not getting more followers, your engagement's not growing, even though you're being consistent with your content, your pitches are falling flat. You know, you create a piece of content and people are saying things like, you're so inspiring, but they don't buy from you. Or visitors come to your website, but then they bounce off. The reason why all of that happens really comes down to messaging and whether you've built a following of 100,000 or 1,000. Whether your revenue is $100,000 or $10,000, if your messaging isn't aligned and clear for your ideal client, then you're going to constantly, forever see the struggle in the growth that you really deserve. And so we have to really kick this off by first clarifying the difference between messaging and content, because they're not the same thing. And it's truly the key to turning things around once you understand the distinction. So messaging is your foundation. It's literally the core narrative that defines is how your ideal client perceives whatever it is that you throw at them. So the transformation that you offer, the depth of your authority, what it is that you want to be known for, right? It's that perception of that. Content, like your Instagram posts, your sales pages, your emails, your pitches, your About Me page, that is just the tactical execution of the messaging.

It's like the vehicle.

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Exactly. It's like what's driving the ship. So if your messaging isn't clear and aligned from the get-go, it doesn't matter how many followers you have. It doesn't matter if I literally drop got 1,500 of your most juiciest ideal clients in front of you today to sell to, you're not going to see the sales growth that you deserve, no matter how much content you create, how many followers you have, etc. And so content only works if it's executing a very well-defined message. And I think where people make mistakes is that— because I see it all the time, I'm sure you do too— you know, people will say, well, Julie, can you— can't you just audit my sales page or look at my Instagram bio and tell me, you know, what I should change? Or maybe it's my email sequences, even the best audits in the world of all of those things are going to fall short if the underlining messaging isn't clear and executed from the get-go. And so that's why so many of those that are probably listening right now are not seeing the results and haven't seen the results that they've wanted for so long now, because they're focusing on creating more content or creating content pillars or niching down or creating a content schedule when really refining the messaging that anchors all of that in is what they should be focusing on. So when you dial in your messaging, that's when everything changes. Your authority grows, your content converts, you make more sales, and most importantly, your ideal clients actually start coming to you ready to buy. So you don't have to feel like you're pushing or convincing or having to launch something new every single month in order to make a sale.

Where do you think someone could start on their own if they're listening to this and like, damn, maybe it is my messaging, that's probably the problem. Where do you think they could start realistically for themselves to do a little audit on their own? What should they be looking for? Is messaging about using the language of your ideal client? Is it about speaking to the desires in the right way? What is one of the easiest ways for someone to start actually trying to make change with their messaging other than obviously hiring a specialist?

Well, the first thing someone could literally get off of this podcast episode and go and do an audit and what they wanna ask themselves and what they wanna really be looking at when they're thinking of it through the auditing is that their content should always be actively moving their audience toward making some kind of decision, preferably a buying decision. And the reason why I say that is that if you're just creating content for the sake of creating content, you're wasting your time. I don't know why anyone would do that. Like, why are you showing up on Instagram every single day and creating content when you're not making money?

That's my nightmare.

It makes no sense to me. So whether you are selling your own products and services, or whether you are a content creator that is selling affiliate links, or, you know, you have a brand partner partnership, you're selling someone else's products and services, you always need to be looking at your content through the lens of moving someone toward making a buying decision. A really easy way to do this, I actually have a framework called the Momentum Messaging Framework. There's 6 components that help you make this happen. Really easy to remember. The first one that you want to look for during this audit is movement. Your content should be leading your audience somewhere, preferably the buying decision. The other thing that we need to do is that we need to make sure that the content, and this is talking about the structure of a content, has something that I call so-but transitions. So this is what actually creates the forward movement using the words so and but, because most of the time when you look at someone's content, it reads like a laundry list. This happened and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened. Nothing is more boring to read than that, and nothing gets someone to scroll faster past your content than content that reads like a laundry list. So instead, you want your content to have these nuances of storytelling, right? So this happened. But then this happened, so I did this, but then this was revealed, so then this happened. That psychologically actually captures way more attention initially and for a longer term than if you were just to go and give the laundry list. So content needs to have so-but transitions. They also need to have an emotional hook. They need to— and this is what you were just speaking on— they need to speak to the actual emotional desires of your ideal clients, not just facts and not just pain. It has to be the emotional desires. What does your ideal client want the most? What is that emotional desire that they have that, you know, you can help them get to through what it is that you offer? Then I know it sounds common, but we need to have a call to action. Every piece of content you create should be directing somebody to a next step. I can't tell you how many pieces of content I see that literally have no call to action. So we have to remember that our audience, our ideal, most premium clients, they are not mind readers. They are looking to us to lead them on where to go next. So we need to make sure that we have that in there. And then when I think about niching down, I don't think about content pillars. I don't think about any of that, what industry you're in. That's really not the definition of niching down. Niching down is really about speaking exactly to whom your offer is for. It's more about a subgroup of people than it is the actual content or the actual industry itself that you're in. So you wanna make sure that in your content you are niching down to to speak to exactly who your offer is for. And then of course, we wanna make sure that the solution that we have feels like the only fit for the needs of our ideal client. So this is where we have to make sure that no matter what the content is, that there is an irresistible offer behind that. And this is where we kind of go back to what we were talking about at the beginning of this conversation. We have to be leading with something that is exceptional. When we specialize in something, when we become known for something, Like you had mentioned earlier, when people think of Julie Solomon, they may think of pitching or messaging or branding or visibility. That's not by accident. That is because I have made sure to very intentionally and explicitly paint the picture of that in every single piece of content that I create. It's, it's the messaging that anchors all of it. And so that's really where those words that you need to use really come in to create that irresistible offer. Now, in the nuances of this, Of course, you're gonna wanna make sure you had mentioned, like, do we wanna make sure to speak in the language that our ideal audience speaks in and not something that we would describe? Yes. All of those things are true as well. But I think the most important piece to this is that this is really meant to make content creation a lot easier. In fact, you don't actually need to create new content at all. Once you do this audit, you could actually go back to the last 10 pieces of content that you've created and literally just repurpose them using the key components of this framework and repost them. And it's what's going to allow you to transform what you already have so that every post or every email or every story or whatever the content is really becomes a magnet for your ideal, most premium clients only.

Two things that I always say is make them care and make them feel something. I think those are two key elements of of knowing if your messaging is working is do they actually give a shit? And I think we have to be really honest with ourselves, which sometimes we just expect that people are gonna want what we have to offer, or they're gonna care about what we have to say, or they wanna read our email, or they wanna read our posts. When the reality is, if we were being really honest with ourselves, we would say everyone's pretty busy and most people don't really give a shit. So we probably have to give them a reason to care. We have to make them care. And I think I think, you know, as we know, most purchasing decisions are made from first an emotion, and then there's usually some sort of logic tied into it, but purchasing decisions are often mainly emotional. So if your content can make them feel something, I think that adds to what you were saying about like moving them towards an outcome. Like, yes, it's giving them the direction, it's providing the CTA, but like the messaging is also creating that movement because it's making them feel activated. It's making them feel alive. It's making them feel like their dream is possible or the desire is on the other end of this offer. And so that all adds to like the aliveness or like the movement that is inherently in a piece of content, right? Like, how do you know that your messaging or a client's messaging is working? What's a good sign to know like my messaging is actually probably working? 'Cause I think some people might look at the wrong metrics. At least I know for myself, sometimes my posts posts that are the best converting in terms of sales don't get the most amount of views or the most amount of likes, but they get some more comments. Like, there's some more real engagement from, like, ideal clients. So from that lens, what would you say are good indicators of, like, I think the messaging is landing, I think it's working?

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So it depends on what your goals are. I'll tell you, for me and my ideal clients, my goals are always sales because we don't create content just to create content. We don't create content for the likes and follows. It doesn't lead anywhere. So my metric and the metric of my ideal clients is, are you making more sales? Are you making more consistent sales? Are people sliding into your DMs asking to work with you more so than they did before? Are you able to make more sales without having to launch all the time? Are you able to make more sales without having to get on sales calls all day? So those are kind of the benchmarks that we look at because there really are two different types of content. And this is kind of what you were mentioning. I call it pleasure and power content. So that power content is going to be that authority-based, sales-driven content. And then the pleasure content is going to be more of that engagement-driven, relatability content that it's good to have both peppered in there, but to typically the pleasure content is not going to be the ones that you're going to see a lot of sales from. You're probably going to get a lot of likes, you're probably going to get a lot of comments, you're probably going to get a lot of the, oh my gosh, you're so inspiring, or oh my gosh, I feel this, or oh my gosh, me too. And that's good to have, right? Because it shows people that you're a human, but it's not necessarily going to help you convert. What helps you convert is more of that power content, that authoritative, really driven in testimonials and results, and you being a specific only solution for, for your ideal client that gets them sliding into your DMs and saying, you know, how can I work with you? So I do think that having both is important. However, I also know and believe that someone does not have to relate to you in order to buy from you. They just have to know that you are going to give them the solution that they are looking for now, faster and easier than ever before. And I think a lot of times people, you know, we hear that phrase, no like and trust, right? No, like and trust is important, but again, how you said buying is emotional-based. I don't have to relate to someone to feel emotionally compelled and called into their messaging to believe that they are the authority to me, that they're going to actually get me what it is that I want. I don't have to relate to someone at all. And so what I encourage people doing is people tend to just primarily create pleasure content and don't really create a lot of power content because it doesn't get you the And so they think that, oh, something must be wrong with my content because it's not getting the engagement that I wanna see. So let me just do more of this pleasure content because that's what gets more engagement. However, we need a balance of both, or even I believe we need more like 80% power content peppered in with 20% pleasure content. The other thing that you can do is that you can put more of your power content in stories. That's where I tend to see most of my sales. My in-feed is more about awareness, building that authority, know, like, and trust, pleasure, engagement, humanizing the experience. But the stories is where I make the sale. And stories are meant to— shocker— tell a story. Most of us don't create stories in that way. We're just kind of randomly posting random things throughout our day that don't really have a through line as to the problem that we solve and who it's for. So if you can start to think of a these series of stories as I'm gonna actually take my ideal client through a messaging story where I am providing power content with a really strong call to action on the end, you're probably gonna see a lot more sales there. And so that's what I typically say. The stories is where you sell. The feed is where you grow that engagement. Of course, you can sell there too. And you really wanna be focusing more on, you know, 80% power content. When you think about stories as well, it's always the first place that people go when they open their app. It's the first thing that we see at the top. We always scroll through people's stories first. So you can really build not only a lot of connectivity and engagement, but you can build a lot of authority there. And then the pleasure content tends to stick on my feed more. And that's where, you know, I'm humanizing the experience and what it's like to work with me and, and be in my world. But those are probably the two biggest things that if people can really start to hone in on that and deepen the concepts on that, they're gonna start looking at their metrics in a whole different way. There's a lot of metrics that I never even pay attention to, because it doesn't matter to my specific goal. And they're really going to start creating smarter content, not creating content just for the sake of creating content. And really, I believe in— it takes so much time to create content, so why don't we make our content work harder for us than we work for it? And this is how you do that.

Yeah, so good. I think sometimes, you know, I'll post things that I know this is going to be sort of a flop in terms of like it's not going to be the reel that has the most amount of views or the most amount of likes, but it's very intentional and it's that kind of power content and it's speaking and has a really strong CTA. It's going to drive sales. So I post it anyway and I don't care that, you know, the reel's views are like the lowest of all my other things. It's like, well, that reel made me money, you know.

Care about the vanity metrics. I care about the hard line and the sales and the impact that I'm able to provide.

And it's fun. It is always fun, of course, to create some of that pleasure content. I feel like when I think of just give, you know, my audience some examples. When I think of like what pleasure content looks like in my feed, it's probably the videos of me with some— doing like a voiceover to some kind of like trending audio. And of course it's related to like what I talk about, it's not completely irrelevant, but it's just a little bit more fun. Or it's like a reel of me like dancing or doing something like really silly, or I don't know, something like that. And those always get the best views, you know, those the reels job off. But at the end of the day, the ones that sell, exactly to your point, is those— the content that has more of that power, that authority, where they can see the case studies, the results, the testimonials. And I loved what you said about stories too. I talk about this, like, I teach it, like, calling them story sets. I think that's what you were talking about in the sense of, like, the story should tell a story, but really, like, being more curated and thinking about, on this day, what is the outcome that I'm trying to drive, and what would I love for people in my audience to do today? What's an action that we love for them to take. And now how can we walk it back from there and make a curated set of stories that has that power element to it and that also tells a story? There's some text on the screen, we're getting that effect of people holding down their thumb and reading. And also, you know, when you started really growing in this space, and like when I was starting online in 2018, 2019, the stories were so different. I mean, it was just like a daily vlog of like literally everything that you did. And I've even, for myself over the years, had to go, okay, hang on, is this working anymore? What am I doing? Am I just posting stories like a lifestyle blogger, or like, what's the actual outcome? And so I think there is a lot of power in what you shared there about being more intentional and curated with those sets of stories that really drive an outcome, for sure.

And I think too, it's because it's not just about, as we mentioned, someone relating to you, because we know that people don't have to relate to you to buy from you. It's not just about building the know, like, and trust, even though that, that's important. It's not just about even feeling something right? Because we could also make people feel pain and pain point marketing works, but it takes so much longer to get that person to say yes to a sale than it does desire-based marketing. But really when I go to create content, I don't ask myself, what am I creating today? I ask myself, what am I selling? And everything stems from that. You can reverse engineer it to that. And you also wanna think about, it's not just about making someone feel something, but how do I create this in a way that my juiciest, most ideal client, I'm really being honest with myself. I know who they are. How do I make them obsessed with this content that like they literally are hanging on every single word? They cannot help themselves but to just scroll through reel after reel after reel, highlight after highlight after highlight. That is really what the goal should be, is to make your content and your messaging so perfectly poignant for that ideal client that they can't put their phone down. They become so obsessed and then they're like, who is this? And they start Googling you and then they find your podcast and they start listening to all the podcasts and they just start going down this rabbit hole because you are speaking to them like no one has ever spoken to them before. And that's what we want them to feel. We want them to feel like, oh my flipping gosh, Julie Solomon is inside my brain. I have never had someone get me the way that she does. That's how you're going to stick out among the saturation, create smarter content, actually not have to create as much content because that one piece piece of content is going to do so much more work for you. I may sometimes only create 2 pieces of content a week on my feed and maybe post on my stories 4 to 5 days a week, but I make sure that every single time that I, that I spend creating that, it's so intentional and only for my ideal client that they hang on every word. And that has this power that compounds longer than just throwing something up to throw something up. And so So thinking of it in that way, I hope that's helpful for those that are listening. Like, really think about what am I selling this week? What am I selling this month? And what does my ideal client need to know so that she knows that I am the only solution for what it is that she's looking for?

I love that. Solving for the outcome, so important. I think working backwards is so much easier than just trying to do random things and hope that it leads somewhere. Like, know the destination, know that endpoint, know that outcome you're trying to create and then work backwards from there. But to your point, the next thing I wanted to talk to you about was posting less, cuz I know you've been sharing a lot about this and you kind of alluded to that just now, but I've heard you say that posting daily is a waste of time and doesn't help you grow. So let's unpack that. Cuz I think that's a big permission. So that feels like a sigh of relief for so many of us, right? Like, oh, thank God. Finally, the algorithm is doing something that we love. It's allowing us to post less. I mean, I mean, it's amazing. I think, you know, even posting less in stories, like, that's been so enjoyable. The less I post, the better the engagement is when I do post. So talk to us a little bit about that and your experience with changing your posting schedule and the power in that that you've seen for yourself and your clients.

Yeah, so that was something that I just— out of me, out of my own boredom and exhaustion with creating content consistently, because that's what we're told to do, you know, I started to kind of test this out. And I'm like, well, I I wonder what would happen if I really just focused on quality instead of quantity. And if I really took time to be intentional and created pieces of content that again, were just the juiciest, most digestible pieces of content for my ideal clients only, because I don't create content for people I don't wanna work with. I don't create content just to create content. And of course, this does mean that you have to know your ideal client. Client so deeply. And I'm not just talking about the demographics, I'm talking about those core desires. What is keeping him or her up at night? What are those things that if you could wave a magic wand and give to him or her, that she would, you know, give you the sun, the moon, and the stars for? This is really understanding psychographics and the key triggers that move her decision-making. And so once you know that, then you can start to create some really, really get content. And because I do know my ideal client so intimately, I just said, okay, instead of just creating something 5 days a week, I'm gonna create 2 to 3 pieces of really high-packed, high-value, but also easily digestible pieces of content that she can take away. And it was astounding, the results. Not to say that like I went viral and da da da da da, because I don't think that that's a metric that really really produce anything other than you maybe had a trending audio and posted at the right time and had the right hook. But it was night and day in terms of, I can't tell you how many people would slide into my DMs that week, people that I didn't even know were following me, people that I'd never heard of, and would say like, oh my gosh, I've never had someone get it the way that you get it. How can I work with you? And what that showed me is that the less content that I created, but the more more quality content that I focused on, the more that it was actually calling in those premium buyers that, you know, a lot of times they're more empowered. They're not looking to you to amplify them. They're not looking to you to sell them. Like they know what they want. They're just like, here, pay in full. I'm ready. Where do I sign? And it makes the whole transaction easier. It makes them get results faster because they're the right client and alignment for for the offer, and it makes the whole experience on both sides just night and day compared to pushing out a bunch of content that may call in people who aren't really your ideal clients, and then you're having to kind of weed through all of them to actually get to the ones that are premium. So that was the biggest sign to me, is that not only the sales, but the caliber of clients that were coming in when I really focused on quality, intentional content. Content for them was night and day. And then also really thinking about how can I give someone a very high-value taste of what it's like in my world. And so if this can be the, the freebie, so to speak, that then leads them to the next thing, how do I make that the absolute best that it can be? Because a lot of people feel like, oh, I don't want to give away my best stuff for free, or if I give everything away then they're not going to buy my stuff. But I just don't agree with that. I mean, I think about about, you know, if you go to Nordstrom and you're like, hey, I want to buy this really expensive perfume, if they go, well, let me give you a little, a little sample to take home, try it, see if you like it. Well, the likelihood of if they gave me a regular sample and I liked it, the likelihood of me going back to buy the $200 bottle of perfume is probably going to be a lot higher than if they gave me some like watered-down, janky version of a sample. I'm probably not going to go back and buy the $100 thing. So I kind of look at my quality content in that way. I actually take pieces like very high quality yet digestible, cuz we don't wanna overwhelm people with something, but very high quality, just little teasers of things that are already inside my programs and my offers. So I'm not creating anything new. I'm actually repurposing content and I pull it into a reel or a story series or a carousel. And I make that very, very very potent and very specific for my ideal client. And I may do 2 to 3 of those a week, and I call it a day. And it has been night and day since I started doing this over a year ago now, of just the ease of creating content again, calling in a more premium buyer. And like you said, just taking that load off. Like, it feels so heavy to feel like we're never doing enough, to feel like the FOMO of not creating. I can't tell you how many times past versions of me, you know, would go out of town on a girls trip for 4 days and then I would come back home and I would just have this overwhelming like guilt of like, well, now I've got to catch up. You know, I've got to be like obsessed with this motivation. I didn't post enough or I didn't— the posts weren't strategic or curated enough or I didn't sell anything. And I would just like run myself to the ground thinking that I had to keep up with this fake thing that I made up and told myself was required in order to grow. But that's just not true. And I've tested it time and time again. I've had clients that have also tested it that I think it was the month of July. I pretty much took the whole month off. I think I posted like 6 times and we had like our highest month of the whole year. And so when you look at it from that angle, not only is it great for business, but it's just great for your mental health. It's great for your emotional wellbeing just to know that like everything is gonna be okay if you don't post every day. And it especially makes it a lot easier than that when you do decide to post, that it's the absolute best thing that you can put out there.

And I love that you're talking a lot about this idea of repurposing, because that's another huge sigh of relief, you know, of not always having to come up with a brand new idea. I mean, we can, we can innovate and change things up, and repurposing doesn't always have to mean just reposting the same way that it was, but it's like the same, like, overall message and theme. You can just put it into a new packaging, you know. It's like the same tricks but just in a new box. And that's kind of like one of the major games of content as well, which makes it a lot easier too. And I, I love that you shared so transparently that you'll take really good stuff from your programs and actually pull that into context. I think that's a really great tip and is something that, you know, so many people can utilize. Because if they have really great stuff in their programs, why not give little tasters of it in your content. Because like you said, the free stuff, when it's really high quality and amazing, is going to make it more likely for the person to want to come back and get the paid stuff. And I've always been such a big believer of that as well. You know, anytime doing something free, I'm like, I'm gonna go all out for this. This is your audition. If you think about it like that, that's like, this is my audition for my ideal client. I don't want to show up half-assed giving them something that's, you know, watered down. Like you said, I want to talk a little bit with you about scaling in business and this idea of like compounded growth, because I saw one of your posts on social that I love of just kind of your overall journey and how we can kind of take a look at what that really looked like from year to year and how the growth really does compound. And so in that post, you know, you talked about how in 2017, I think it took you 9 months to go from $250K to $1.3 million, and then in 2018, it took you 90 days to get to $1 million. So that, I mean, that's a really great example and snapshot of just what compounded growth can really do for you without constantly creating new offers and without always launching something live. Can you talk to us about why you believe that was possible and what went into that?

Yeah, so the first few years of my journey, which I think is the same for anybody, was really about, you know, of course, like getting clear on who my client is and what my genius is and what my purpose but really it's about that strategic refinement and clarity. It's really, you know, once you kind of have those core things in the works, you know, I believe that simplicity reigns. And I believe that a lot of times we think we need to learn more when really we don't need to learn anything more. We just need to refine and optimize. And so it was unlocking that in my head after a few years of like, I have a signature offer at the time, you know, it was an online course. I know who it's for. It's selling consistently. So how do I refine and optimize this to get to that next level? And so that was really the first stage. And so for me, that looked like a couple of things. It looked like really getting over this idea that paid ads were this bad thing, or that it was like a badge of honor to be like an organic girly. Because really when you look at business anywhere, there's, there's no successful business that doesn't use paid advertising. Like, give me one. One successful business out in the world that does not spend money on marketing. Like, there's not one. I knew that that was going to be a big change. There was also a little bit of a leadership maturity that had to happen at that stage, that I was like, I can't just be making this money and like shoveling it over to the side. And that's what was happening. Like, I was a six-figure earner, but I was so afraid to spend more because I saw that as like losing money instead of investing back in my business. So once I got over that mindset shift and I really started to understand, is when a lot of things things started to change for me because I was able just to reach an audience that I couldn't reach organically because I'm only one person and the algorithm and the way that it all works. And so the thing with ads that people have to understand, because I would have people come to me and be like, well, how are ads working for you? Because they're not working for me. I've tried them before and I wasted money. And I always love to remind people that ads are just an amplifier. They are just going to amplify what is already there. So if what is already there is an offer that hasn't been, you know, successfully validated in the marketplace, if what is there is messaging that is not connecting to your ideal audience. And if what is there is not a premium client that you're calling in, then the ads are not— they're gonna just amplify that and you're just gonna get more of that that's not working. So I always believe in like, you first have to validate the offer. You have to sell it to the ideal clients that the offer was made for. And once you're able to do that and kind of launch successfully a few times, then you know that you're ready. And so that was really the, the big kicker for me is that I was able just to expand the volume. And I think a lot of times people waste months or even years and leave so much money on the table because they don't understand that a lot of times more sales is just a volume game. It's not a, I need to learn more game, I need more followers game, I need to create better content game. It's a volume game. And it's about making sure that that messaging is locked in, that offer positioning is locked in, and you're calling in the ideal clients. So that was a huge change for me. At the same time as well, I was also starting to, of course, course, work with brands and pitch myself for media. And so that visibility component was kind of starting. That was really the first stage. And then the other thing that really helped me go to 7 figures so quickly was Sales Systems. If I'm running ads and I'm now having this volume of people that I never had before, I've got to make sure that I have an internal sales process and sales system that can actually hold all of that stuff that I'm calling in. And so I had to start to create automations systems, processes, funnels, and internal structure. Even when I didn't have a quote unquote team, even if it was me, you know, myself and my VA, I had to really start creating, you know, automated processes and systems internally on the business side, but then also on the marketing side with funnels in order to actually sustain and hold all of the new leads that were coming in. Because without them, they literally fall through the cracks. And that's another reason why a lot of people have a hard time scaling because they refuse to really work on the internal systems and the marketing systems that have to happen in order for you to actually hold getting 50 new leads a day, 100 new leads a day. And we can't manually handle all of that input. There's no way. So it has to be done through an automated funnel and system. So learning how to set up really easy because I am not tech savvy. So like really easy automated funnels allowed me to be able to hold those leads, take them through a sales funnel so they could make a buying decision within 48 to 72 hours of signing up for my free training or whatever the free thing was, or the low ticket thing was. And that really helped the scale. So those were the two big things more than anything that helped in those first three, first few years. And then only then once I had, you know, the refinement in place I had the sales systems in place, I had the automation in place. Was I actually able to scale? And then that's what actually gave me the platform and really the, the safe foundation that positioned me for those higher impact opportunities, like speaking engagements and launching my podcast. You know, I didn't launch my podcast until I was a 7-figure. I was able to do more intentional brand partnerships. I was able to get a book deal. I was able to, to, you know, uh, start working with clients in a much higher level in a mastermind and really be able to hold that space. I wouldn't have been able to, even though I wanted all those things and I was trying to call 'em in, there's no way that I would've been able to successfully hold all of that if my sales system was a mess, if my automations were nonexistent. And so I think that that's a lot of things that people either want to avoid because it's not fun and sexy. Sexy, or they think that it's hard, and they try for years and years and years to, to like build a 7-figure business completely organic with an audience size of 400 and an email list size of 2,000. Like, the math's not mathing. Like, it's just not gonna happen unless you sell $50,000 offers. It's like really simple math and numbers, but these are the things that I know trips so many women up because I used to be that woman that got so tripped up by it, which is why I love to help women work through those things now. You know, I have women that come to me and they're like, I've been doing this for 5 years, but I don't have a funnel in I don't have a sales system in place, and internally we're a mess between me and my, you know, VA and my graphic designer. And so it's, it's fun to really help people set up that structure that's needed so that they then can get to all the fun stuff like the book deals and the speaking engagements and really just leading and becoming known as an authority in their industry in a much higher way.

So good. I mean, and this is inspiring me too, cuz I feel like I'm finally ready to dabble in paid ads. We've gone organic all the way in into 7 figures, which has obviously been amazing. And it's the, you know, the proof that it's working and, you know, the, the products are good and people are getting results and the messaging is working. And so I think, yeah, I am excited for that. But it does feel when you go, when you go from all organic to then thinking about paid ads, it can feel overwhelming at the start. And I think this past year has been the year where we were really doing that kind of backend stuff of getting really organized, automating everything between me and, you know, my couple of team members, just making sure, yeah, everything runs smoothly. And then I do think 2025 is going to be the year where we play with ads, which I'm excited about because it's an evolution. And, uh, you have inspired me of like, wow, I mean, like the compounded growth of if you have, you know, a proven system and something that works, and then you add again those numbers to it, just— it's a volume game after that.

Ads are a long game. Like, what you don't want to do is turn them on, then turn them off, and turn them on, then turn them off. It's like the worst thing that you could do for the algorithm, and it makes your ads more expensive every time you turn them on. So you have to remember, like, it's a long game strategy. It's not like it used to be in 2018 when I first started running ads where you would give Facebook a dollar and it would automatically give you $5 back. But it still happened. That's where the refinement comes in. I think on average for people, you give it a dollar, it gives you $3 back. That's still good. You know, that's still great. So it's kind of like, if I could give someone a dollar and they always give me $3 back, how much money do I I give them all the money because I'm gonna be tripling what I get back every single time. Why wouldn't I do that? And so I think that it's just, again, all of these things that I know now, I know because I gave myself permission to really strengthen my leadership maturity. I gave myself permission to really strengthen my business maturity. You know, I gave myself that permission to no longer just be this little content creator in the corner and really start to look at my business as something that was in fact a business and something that wasn't just about me. Me. And not to say that I need to have 20 employees, I don't. I run a very small but mighty team. There's 2 full-time employees, the rest are contractors. I've been through it all. So like, there's incredible people out there that specialize in everything that you would need, and, and they're highly efficient and can manage themselves. But it's really, it's not so much about getting the support as it's really about you giving yourself permission to be an adult and to like run your business and run the information that's given to you and stretch yourself new ways. Like, no one's coming to do it for you. It's you. You have to be the person that you're looking for to do that.

Yeah, that's a big mindset shift, and I think a lot of women need that because we start feeling like, oh, if I could just help one person, you know, I just really want to help someone with this. And you know, we start so pure in that sense of having a small seed of a dream, but then we also have to grow and expand with that dream and realize that if we want to impact the amount of people that we have the ability to impact, we also have to see ourselves as a CEO. I think that's something that comes much more easily to men than it does to women. And so I think it's a big mindset shift for a lot of us, is like, wait, like, I run a company, you know? Like, we, we often think of ourselves, like you said, as like a content creator. Like, oh, I sell these like courses. But you're talking about that shift of like holding more responsibility, of becoming bigger in your leadership and in believing that what you do is really important and impactful and treating it as such, which is huge.

You know, the first kind of key indicator when I work with new clients that, you know, when we're working through this kind of business development, leadership maturity piece, always ask them, if I dropped 100 new clients, new paying clients into your world today, 100 of them, gave them to you 5 minutes, would you be able to hold that with the current systems that you have, the current team that you have, the current business that you have, the current mindset that you have to go and get on a call with 100 new clients tomorrow and onboard them? Can you do it, yes or no? And 10 times out of 10, they're like, no. And I'm like, yeah, but you're saying you want that. So like, you want it, you see it, if you spot it, you got it, but you can't actually hold it, which is why the universe isn't giving it to you. So we've got to first work on holding it before it's gonna, it's gonna show up for you. Because what you don't want to happen is that they drop in and then you're not ready for it, and then it's like boom, the universe smacks you across the face.

You know, sometimes that's the quantum leap that a lot of people go through. And I have talked to my business mentor about this. I'm like, you know, everybody wants this quantum leap of like, I had a $100K year and then I had a million dollar year. And it's like, usually when that happens, you're in big doo-doo.

Like you're—

you usually have a lot of fucking problems at the back end of your business.

We had automations and funnels in place, but I didn't have the right internal team in place, you know. And then you've got clients that aren't happy, you're dropping the ball here, and it's, it's all part of the lesson to be learned. But I think the biggest thing that people can take away with is that— and I remember like in my 20s when I was looking for my man of my dreams, I had, I had a therapist do this to me, and I'm gonna share it with you all. It's like, write down a list of like every quality that you would want in your dreamiest mentor or coach. Like, if you are really being honest with yourself, when you close your eyes and you're like, if I could go to like this one person and they could solve not all of my problems, but they could solve a lot of my business problems, and they could tell me exactly what I need to do, and they could give me the right direction, give me the right tools, processes, systems, everything that I need to actually get this result— write down all of those qualities that that person would have. And then I want you to take that piece of paper, I want you to put it somewhere where you can see it every day, and then I want you to go out into the world and be that, because that's how you're going to actually attract the clients who want that kind of mentor and coach too. That's the best thing to do. I had a therapist be like, write down all the qualities that you want in a man, and now you go be that out in the world, and you'll attract that, right? It's the best thing to do. And I do that with myself every day. It's like, you know, or every season, I guess. It's like when I'm wanting to elevate, because each level is always going to bring a new level of not just business refinement and strategic refinement, but emotional maturity refinement and business leadership And a lot of times it's just about getting really honest with ourselves about like, I'm saying that I want this kind of client. I'm saying that I want this kind of offer. I'm saying that I wanna sell these kinds of things at high ticket, or I'm saying that I want this kind of volume, but am I actually showing up in my business, in my day-to-day life as someone that can actually hold all of that and be a leader for all of that? And if the answer is no or not yet, then that's what we need to work on.

So good. I love how you've, you've kind of brought that point forward several times of like, can you actually hold it? And you're speaking about it in a strategic way, but it also has that kind of energetic spiritual thread through it, which is my personal favorite. I always say, you know, for me in business, it's where strategy meets spirituality. I think that's like the magic where, where it all happens. That's the secret sauce. So I love that, that you're bringing that forward because it's so true. It's like, can we energetically hold it? Are we prepared for it? Are we the person that feels worthy of it? That's exactly what you're speaking to. And then there's the tactical side of that, of can we clean up the backend? Can we get the team ready? Can we set up these automations? So it's the energetics, and then it's also the actual implementation of the, of the strategy behind the scenes to allow us to be ready and capable to hold everything that it is that, you know, we say that we're desiring and that we want. So, so good. Thank you so much, Julie, for coming on and, and sharing your wisdom. This is like a mini training, you know. I think so many listeners are going to get so much out of this. If you guys don't already follow Julie, make sure that you do. I'll have her shout out where you guys can find her. But thank you for your time and your wisdom. It's been such a joy. Let everyone know where they can connect with you and, um, what the best way to get in touch is.

Absolutely. Okay, so if you are someone that wants to dive deeper, and specifically in the messaging concepts that we talked about today, you can go actually to juliesolomon.net M-S-H. It is a special link that we made just for your community, so we know that they came from your world and we can take extra care of them. But this is where you're going to be invited into a training that gives you my messaging frameworks, and it really walks you through the messaging components that you need to start creating more quality, better content. You got a lot of a bird's eye view of that today, but if you're wanting to deepen those concepts, you can go to juliesalmon.net/msh to get the details there. I know we have podcast listeners here, and so if you love to listen to the podcast, The Influencer Podcast is my podcast. You can listen to that wherever you love to listen to podcasts. I do hang out the most on Instagram in terms of my preferred social media platform, so you can find me over at Jules, J-U-L-E-S Solomon, S-O-L-O-M-O-N, and then juliesolomon.net is my website.

Amazing. All right, we will link everything in the show notes for you guys as well. Make sure that you give Julie a follow if you loved this episode. Take a screenshot, share it to your Instagram stories, tag us so that we can connect with you and also that Julie knows that you found her on Makeshift Happen. And yeah, if you have another content creator, influencer, business owner friend that you think would benefit from this episode, copy the link and send it to her in a message. Let her know you were thinking of her. We love you guys so much and we will talk to you next week.

Bye.