Sep 27, 2023 | Podcast
Fear of failure is a common stumbling block for many entrepreneurs, but what if we told you that it could be your biggest asset? Join us as we challenge the conventional notion of failure and explore how it can be a powerful tool for growth and success. With insights from the wise Paulo Coelho, we begin to see failure for what it really is – not an end, but a stepping stone.
We’re not stopping there. We’re also flipping the script on fear itself. Ever considered the cost of not trying? Today, we’re uncovering the potential of fear as a catalyst for action and how visualizing worst and best-case scenarios can guide your entrepreneurial journey. The road to success does not exclude failure; it embraces it.
To wrap up, we’re throwing in a special treat. Discover your unique business personality type and learn how to build a business you love. On top of that, we have an exciting live masterclass, Make Messaging Magic, just around the corner. This is your chance to move past fear and embrace the possibilities that lie within failure. The journey to your dream business starts here. Don’t miss out!
Make Messaging Magic Waitlist – https://shawnmynar.com/waitlist
“Doing it, giving it a try, trying your best, getting it started, having a business, getting it off the ground right there is the ultimate in business success.” – Shawn Mynar
“Having something not work out, not go as planned, does not mean you and your business are a failure.” – Shawn Mynar
“The reality is failures are just lessons you need to learn to get where you want to go.” – Shawn Mynar
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business that excites you, not overwhelms you. Today’s topic is all about failure and how to make sure that your business doesn’t fail, because I know that is a big fear out there Rightfully so. Building a business doing something new, taking some risk. You want to know how can I make sure that this is a success, which is obviously the opposite of knowing it will not fail. So how can you make sure your business doesn’t fail? Now, before we get into that conversation, I have a really exciting announcement. If you’ve been around for a while, then you may remember back in the spring so probably like five, six months ago now I hosted a live masterclass called Make Messaging Magic, and it was super fun. We had a great time, so many light bulb moments, and I since have had people asking if I was going to be doing it again, how they could get involved. They wanted access to that, and so I decided to host another one this fall, coming up probably within the next, I’d say, three to six weeks. I don’t have an exact date yet, but I do have a waitlist for you to get on. If you are interested in learning how to create good messaging around the work you do. We talk about messaging a lot here on the show, but if you’re still not familiar with what that concept is when it comes to your business, it’s essentially how to package everything. You do everything. You know what, everything that’s going on in your head about how you can help people, what you do to help people, how they’ll feel after they receive your help. Turning all of that which I know is in your head into the words you use for your business, aka your messaging. And your messaging is a critical piece to your marketing strategy. It is the reason why people will sign up to work with you and won’t sign up to work with you. It matters a lot. The words that you use in your business is everything, and so I’m going to host a live class with all of you, showing you exactly how to create your messaging in your business, how to take everything that’s in your head right now and learn how to properly deliver it to the people that need your help, to the people that you want to work with, using it in your business in every area in your social media, on your website, in your emails. Literally every marketing piece that you have for your business needs to be infused with your messaging. But in order to do that, you need to know what that is for you and your business and your unique personality. That’s a huge piece of your messaging is infusing you into your marketing. So we’re going to do all of that together. Live coming up in a few weeks. If that is something that is of interest to you, head to www.shawnmynar.com/waitlist soon, like today, and get your name on the list so that you’ll know when the dates are for the Make Messaging Magic Masterclass coming up in a few weeks. Waitlist is over at www.shawnmynar.com. I’ll also make sure that is listed in the show notes. Okay, let’s talk failure. What a nice light subject for this podcast episode. But something we need to talk about because that is in the back of probably every business owner’s mind, is how do I make sure my business doesn’t fail and what if it fails? And sometimes that what if it fails is enough of a question that the business never gets started, and you may be one of those people in that place right now where your fear of failure or all the other fears that are come up, bubble up to the surface of a business owner are keeping you from even starting your business, and that is very real. That is a very big thing that could potentially keep it from ever happening, and that really is actually the crux of our entire conversation today, and it is actually all summed up in this quote I want to share with you. To kick things off, the one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one that never tried. Do not fear failure, but rather fear never trying, and that’s from Paolo Coelho. It’s what I really want to talk about today in terms of failure and really is the short answer to the question of how do I make sure my business doesn’t fail. Well, the answer is to have a business, to start a business, to get your business off the ground, to try to do the thing. That is the only thing that you need to do to make sure that your business doesn’t fail, because doing it, doing the thing, giving it a try, trying your best, getting it started, having a business getting off the ground right there, is the ultimate in business success. So that right there means your business hasn’t and can never fail. Simply by doing it, simply by getting it off the ground, simply by starting your business. Having your business, sure, it may change, you may pivot, you may consciously decide it’s no longer what you want, it’s not what you want to do, it’s not working for you. That doesn’t make it a failure. Those are just decisions that you make as you move along in this life and learn more and things change and opportunities come up. That is not considered a failure. That is considered maybe the ending of a chapter to start a new chapter or to try something new. You know, there’s all these other things that we can think about in terms of our business, but failure is not one of them as soon as you start your business. So, because I know this is such a big fear for so many of you and can often be the thing that keeps you from actually starting which, like I said, as soon as you kick that thing off and you start making money on your business, you have succeeded Absolutely. I don’t care if it’s a dollar, a thousand dollars or a hundred thousand dollars. You have succeeded in your business. But I do want to break down this fear of failure, because I think it’s the biggest fear out there for most entrepreneurs, because you can almost like see yourself having to kind of give up on your dreams or admit failure, hanging your head and going back to looking for a job or to work for someone else, knowing that it didn’t work, and to even take it a step deeper from that. I think a lot of the fear of failing comes from two places First of all, financially, being afraid of not making ends meet financially, not making the money that you need to survive or the income that you want or need for your family. And then also having to admit defeat, the embarrassment, the shame, the pain that comes with having to admit that something didn’t work. It’s uncomfortable, right and so not wanting to go through that, not wanting to have to feel those uncomfortable emotions that come when your business didn’t go as planned or you have to pivot, or you do have to go find a part-time job where you’re waiting for it to grow, you don’t want to feel those potentially uncomfortable feelings, so you’re just trying to avoid it all together. And this is all coming from your ego, the ego part of your mind, and they’re legitimate. These are legitimate reasons why it would feel scary to think about your business. Not making it to think about that failure that is possible Financially might be a problem, having to admit defeat not great, but in no way is this a sign that you shouldn’t move forward or that there’s something wrong with you for feeling scared and being worried that you may fail. This is a very common experience for probably every business owner out there on the planet. And also, if you were to ask these business owners, like the most successful business owners you can think of, if you were to ask them, they would have a long list of their numerous failures in their business. Because here’s the thing You’re going to experience things that your mind will want to call a failure. There’s going to be some idea, some offer, some post, some message, some product that doesn’t go well, that doesn’t land, that nobody wants, that doesn’t get the response you thought it would. It’s going to happen, it happens to everyone. It’s part of the process. That is almost something to just expect, and then, when you expect it, it can make it a whole lot easier when it does happen. But that is not an actual failure. Your mind wants to call it. That wants to wrap it up in this big whole like failure web where you feel terrible. All of these super icky emotions come up because of it. You start questioning everything in your life and start freaking out about everything. But it’s not a failure and that’s the biggest message I want to make sure you hear today. Having something not work out, not go as planned, does not mean you and your business are a failure. It doesn’t mean the world is going to end tomorrow. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be made fun of or judged. It doesn’t mean you’re going to run out of money. It’s just something that didn’t work out, which happens all the time in every area of our life. Your business is no different. Me personally. I’ve experienced so many failures in this almost 11 years now of being in business. I have created programs that nobody wanted. I’ve talked about this before here on the show, but I’ll remind you all my first four program launches I had zero people purchase. Four times four program launches, zero sales. I could have so easily thrown in the towel and gotten all up in my emotions and totally thought everything was just doomed after just one of those or two of those or three of those definitely after four. But I didn’t. I kept going and learning as I went and making tweaks and trying to understand how I could get these programs out into the world into the hands of people that needed it. And that whole experience of all these failures really is what has made my business what it is today and the success I’ve had today, because it made me learn marketing Like after those four failed launches, I went deep into the marketing world and learned everything I could about how to be a marketer in my business not just the coach that I was, but also the business woman that I wanted to be and to be able to get, like I said, get my work in the hands of the right people. The people that needed and wanted my help, without feeling sleazy and slimy and use car salesman vibes didn’t want any of that, and so it took me on this quest to now know what I know and do what I do and help who I help, and I literally wouldn’t be where I am today without those four failed launches. So the reality is, failures are just lessons you need to learn to get where you want to go. Let me say that again Failures are just lessons. You need to learn to get where you want to go. I say this all the time. I’ll say it again there is so much value in things not going as planned, in things not working out. There are lessons to be learned that inevitably Will take you where you want to go. You could not have gotten to that place you want to go without that happening the way that it did. Think about, for example, just to give a little metaphor here, let’s say you have a child who starts playing football and as they’re learning football and getting into it, they realize they’re really good at kicking the ball. They really like that. It comes really naturally. The coach notices and they become the kicker of the team and in that process then realize actually I feel like soccer is my sport. I feel like I would love soccer. I love kicking, I feel really good about it. I’m really good at it. Everyone’s noticing how good I’m at it. I’m gonna instead be on the soccer team and then years go by, soccer happens and I’m getting a scholarship to their favorite college and everything works in their favor because they realize soccer is their sport. If they would have gone to gymnastics they may never have learned that they’re really good at kicking the ball and they really enjoy that and soccer is a really great place for them. They may never have learned that. So Then does that mean that that child is a failure at football, or that child is a failure for not trying gymnastics? No, it was part of the process. You would never think that of that child. And so for you to think that Of your business because you’re using what you’re learning and what you’re doing and what isn’t working to then pivot into what is working and learn so much about yourself and the process and everything that it takes along the way, how could we not call that anything but a success? So that’s really the message here today is just having the business, doing the business, getting it out there, starting it up. Going through that phase of your business automatically makes it impossible for you to fail. All right, let me go through some tips for moving through the fear of failure. I don’t want to call it getting over the fear of failure, because I don’t think it’s something you get over. It’s not something that, like, disappears at any point. It’s you moving through it and taking action despite your ego bringing up that emotion. Okay, so the first tip I have for you is to get real with yourself. The reality is, if you don’t try, your chance of failure is 100%. And I know that’s a little harsh, but we’ve got to. We’ve got to get there. We’ve got to understand that, especially if you are in this place where you have an idea for your business, you have this desire to help someone else. You have all of these things, all these tools that, quite honestly, most people in this world don’t ever experience. They don’t ever feel that desire or that need to start their own business, to be of service to others, to have an entire business wrapped around how you can help someone else. That is rare, and so the fact that you even have that instinct, have that idea, is huge, and so the reality is, if you don’t act on it, well then you’re failing that instinct, you’re failing your desire, your path, this road that you’re meant to go down, because if you weren’t meant to go down it, you would have never even had the idea, it never would have come into your consciousness, it wouldn’t be a thing right now. So the reality is, the only way that you can fail is to not try at all, to not bring those ideas to reality, and I also think that it’s really important to Understand the cost of not trying. Is it you staying in an unfulfilling job, not helping people that need your help, not making a bigger impact during your time on this planet, not experiencing the time or financial freedom that you desire or that your family needs from you not having time for the things you love to do. These are all really important things to consider when you make the decision of not trying. And is it really worth that? Is staying in your comfort zone and not trying, the thing that your mind may consider a failure if it doesn’t go as planned Worth not experiencing everything you want to experience and not doing everything you want to do? Get real with yourself and understand the consequences that come with Not taking action out of a fear of failure or any fear that stopping you from moving to that next step. It is important to really take inventory, to really look at the consequences and see if it’s really worth it. Or would it just be better to give it a shot? Give it a try, do your best to get it out there and get one step closer to all of these things becoming reality. My second tip for moving through the fear of failure is to change your relationship with failure. Failure is just feedback, failure is just a learning experience and, even better, failure is necessary to get you where you want to go. It is an inevitable Part of the path to your dream business, to doing what you want to do. It’s going to happen in some way or another, but all it is is a lesson. That’s all it is. It’s Guiding you in the right direction to learn what you need to get where you want to go. That’s it. And when you think about it that way, it’s not that scary. It’s actually kind of exciting because that means you have a learning experience ahead and with that learning experience means that you will know what it’s going to take To get you where you want to go. But you can’t learn it until you get there. You can’t preemptively know what that is going to be. It has to happen along the way. And the third tip I have for you Prove it wrong. Your fear of failure is actually pretty weak because there’s a very small chance of that thing that you’re scared of happening actually happening, which means you can very easily prove it wrong. Like, literally one client, one purchase, one like one comment, one subscriber, one person listening. What if no one likes my post? What if no one reads my email? What if no one wants my freebie? What if no one listens to my podcast? These are often big enough stories that our minds create for us to ever do that thing, to ever start a podcast, to ever put out a paid offer, to ever ask for clients to do the thing that we want to do. That will move our business forward. Because we’re worried, what if? Like? All the what ifs come up, and the cool thing is that those what ifs almost never happen. But you just have to get to that point where you are doing the thing so that you can prove it wrong. I love proving my fears wrong because it’s actually quite easy to do so you just have to do the thing that you have this fear behind, and then you’re able to be like, oh, okay, well, actually that didn’t happen, I don’t need to worry about that. Or, what’s even better is okay, that did happen. And here I am, I’m still okay, I’m still alive, I still have a roof over my head, like, for example, in signature program bundle. There’s a big fear behind that comes up often about well, what if no one signs up for my program? And my question back is always yeah, what if? What if no one signs up? Would you still be okay, would you? What would you need to do to be okay? What would happen if no one signs up? And inevitably the reply is well, everything would be fine. Everything would actually be the same as it is now. Except I would have learned so much during my launch process I’d be ready to do it again. I could make some tweaks based on what I now know didn’t work. I would spend a little bit of time working on my messaging or switching up my offer to make it more irresistible, and I would launch again. That’s that’s it. So there, that fear, like the fear that we have ahead of time, is so much bigger than the response whether it doesn’t actually happen and it wasn’t something to be scared of at all, or it does happen, but it’s still fine, like life is still fine, everything’s okay, and you actually now have so much more information to try again or to do things differently or to pivot, whatever it is that comes out of that situation. But it’s the fear behind it that is so much stronger, and when we can just prove it wrong by doing the thing and seeing that everything is good, that really takes the power away. And then my last tip is actually a little exercise for you. I love this exercise, and this probably sounds a little strange, especially coming from someone who is super positive, likes to look on the bright side, likes to find the good things out of a bad situation, especially with everything we’ve already talked about today. But this is one of my favorite exercises. I want you to think about maybe the situation in your business that is scary right now, something you may be trying to do. You’re not sure how it’s going to go, or maybe it’s just launching your business at all and really taking that first step to really get it out there. Think of the absolute worst case scenario. What would your business failing actually look like for you? How bad would it get? Would you have to get a job? Would you have to go back to doing what you were doing? Would you have to pick up more hours at the job you do have? Would you have to take out a loan? Would you have to cut back on expenses? From this financial perspective, that is often what drives this fear of failure, like I mentioned at the beginning. So, really getting into financially, what would happen if no one bought your program? If you only got two clients right away instead of filling up your schedule? What would you do? What would that look like? And also, from the perspective of emotionally, how would it feel? What would it look like if your business failed and you had to go back and find a job or you had to get pick up part-time work while you’re building your business? What would that feel like? And I know this is getting dark right, but I think it helps so much, first of all, to see that, yes, there are options. Yes, I would still be okay. Yes, I would have some other paths to explore while I’m working on my business. And then another great thing about this exercise comes from the second part, which is now to think about the absolute best case scenario. What would it look like if you launched this thing? You started your business, you tried out this, you got this thing going. Whatever it is that’s currently the next big thing for you that could really catapult your success. What is the best case scenario of that happening? What would it look like? How much money could you make? What would that money do for you in your life? How many more people could you help? How would it go? What would be a day in the life of you having this super successful thing that you just did? Get really clear on both of those, because at this point from where you’re at right now. Both are equally possible, and it would take the same amount of energy to have a massive success as it would be for things to go not as planned. So where are you putting your focus? Because where focus goes, energy flows. And for you, getting in this pattern of thinking about, well, what if it fails? What if it doesn’t do this? What if it does that? What if it doesn’t go as planned? What if? What if? What if? That’s exactly where you’re putting your focus and, by way of that, is exactly where you’re putting your energy. But you can just as easily guide your energy into a different direction simply by guiding your thoughts into well, what if it goes better than planned? You get to decide what’s at the end of that, what if? And by way of doing that, we’ll then guide your energy towards the results that you want. All right, that will end our discussion about failure for today, but I hope it has given you a new outlook, maybe a new perspective, and maybe just even called you out a little bit on where you are putting your thoughts and what you’re thinking about and what may be stopping you from actually doing the thing that you want to do, or taking that next big step, and really understanding how necessary the feelings that you have are, and not only necessary but common. But that is what will get you to the point where you can have this experience of learning what you need to learn and growing in the way that you need to grow, and taking that next step that you need to take to get you on the path to your dream business, to this life that you’re hoping for. You have to go through these moments and you’re going through them, and that’s a great sign, but now it’s time to make sure that your actions coincide with that, instead of letting it stop you. All right, my friends, we will leave it at that and until next time, take care. Hey, wait up before you go. Do you want to know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly. Before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type, With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident knowing your building a business you love. Head over to www.shawnmynar.com Right now to find out your flow, business personality type and once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s www.shawnmynar.com and quiz. As always, the link is in the show notes.
Sep 6, 2023 | Podcast
Ever been curious about the power of paid advertising in business growth? Strap yourself in for an enlightening journey as I, Shawn, share my personal experiences with the world of paid ads. Ever thought about navigating the realm of Facebook and Instagram ads? I’m here to reveal why having certain systems in place before investing in paid ads is crucial, no matter your business stage. Despite some initial blunders and financial setbacks, I’ve harnessed the art of expanding my business consistently, even during my downtime.
Dive into the realm of building trust and likeability with customers who find your business through paid advertising. You’ll uncover the process of moving social media followers from being mere spectators to signing up for freebies and eventually turning into paid customers. This episode peels back the curtain on how prioritizing time and freedom over money, using paid ads, can break the chains of relentless content creation. If you’ve ever had doubts about investing in paid ads, this is your golden opportunity to comprehend how it can grant you time and financial freedom.
Lastly, I’ll shed light on how paid advertising can be utilized to grow your email list, boost your social media following, and ultimately make sales. You’ll learn the importance of continually refining your ads to hit the sweet spot and how you can control your spending. Discover how to warm up the cold audiences you reach through paid ads by crafting a safe, consistent, and engaging content space. So, don’t miss out as I dissect the essentials of running successful ads, like having an irresistible freebie, a solid freebie landing page, and a powerful welcome email sequence. And, yes, there’s more – we’ll soon have a Facebook and Instagram ads expert joining us on the show!
Burnout-Proof Your Business Masterclass – https://shawnmynar.com/burnoutproof
“A solid freebie landing page is essential to have a really good return on investment with your ads and it needs to be in place before you even consider it.” – Shawn Mynar
“If nobody wants your freebie in your organic audience, then chances are it’s not gonna go well when you put money behind it and start paying for ads.” – Shawn Mynar
“Be willing to spend money that you may not get and use that information to then test and tweak and really find a flow that works for you and for the people that are seeing these ads.” – Shawn Mynar
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business thatcomplements your life, not complicates it. Today we’re diving into the world of paid advertising and when you should consider potentially using some paid advertising to grow your business, to make sales, to build your audience, whatever your main goal is, which there are a lot of potential goals when using paid advertising. So we’re going to dive into that today, my thoughts on it, what I’ve learned, what I now recommend others do, based on what I have done well and done not so well over the years with paid ads. So that’s kind of where we’re going to be coming from today, which serves as my big, huge caveat here. First and foremost, I am by no means an ads expert like not even remotely close. I do have one coming on the show. We are currently in the work trying to schedule a time to get together and record that episode. So I do have a Facebook and Instagram ads expert coming on the show very soon. But before I did that episode, I wanted to give my own experience just very much as a business owner to business owner kind of figuring out as we go, kind of thing to share, that which then kind of tease us up to then talk to that expert in the future. So this is my own personal experience. And then I also want to mention that because we mainly talk about online business here on the show. When I say paid ads, I’m referring to using social media and other kind of online network type platforms for your advertising. So things like Facebook, instagram, pinterest, google, youtube, linkedin, tiktok I’m sure there’s more, there’s probably more coming. You know these kinds of online platforms that have tons of eyeballs on them every single day and can kind of use their algorithm to show your ad to the right people for your work and they historically work really well. Once you have them figured out, I think most of us can say that we’ve potentially even purchased something or at least went to someone’s website or at least downloaded a freebie or something like that from something we saw on an advertisement on social media platform or on Google, on YouTube, something like that. So that is what I’m talking about today when I say paid advertising. And the thing is, yes, we do talk about online business here mainly, but these kinds of ads work for so many types of business, like local brick and mortar type businesses use this kind of online advertising all the time service based businesses, product based businesses so really it’s good to know this information, no matter what kind of business you have, and it’s also good to know no matter what stage of business you are in, as we’re going to talk about today. There are some things that you need to have in place before you start using or paying for ads, but it’s not like you have to be at a certain level of success or a certain level of audience or a certain number of years in your business or a certain number of clients had none of that. It’s just how what you have going on behind the scenes and how it’s working. Basically and that’s really the starting point so that can happen. Whether you’ve been in business for a month or 10 years. That is not a measure of when you should be starting your ads or considering using them. So just know that, even if you feel like you’re not in that place yet because you don’t have this established business, keep listening, because you’re going to find out that that’s not actually necessary. Okay, so my personal experience with using ads I have only used Facebook and Instagram, so meta, as it’s now known, meta ads when you set them up on in one place under that umbrella. They then go out to Facebook, instagram, messenger, whatever else is underneath the meta business. At this point, someday threads when they start having advertising on there, I’m sure too, but at this point, this is the only platform that I have used for paid advertising. I’ve not used anything else yet, like Pinterest, google, youtube, that kind of thing, although I’ve heard great things about all of them. Depending on where your audience is really, I am going to say something really crazy. I love paying for ads. Yes, I know totally does not make sense. I get it, but I do really really like it, and I’ll explain why. And yes, I know, in the back of my mind all the time I think I’m paying money to these giant institutions, putting more money in these mega wealthy people’s pockets. Yes, there is that, but there is also the fact that I’m able to reach these people that want and need my help that I would not ever otherwise be able to reach. So I kind of look at it that way too. It makes it a little easier to swallow. So, anyway, yes, I love paying for ads. I’ve been using them for years. It was very rocky at the start. The short reason for that is because I was not ready. I didn’t know what I was doing. When you start running ads before you’re ready and before you know what you’re doing, then guess what? You lose money. It’s like going to Vegas and putting $100 on a blackjack table when you have no idea how to play blackjack probably not going to go very well, and especially if no one there is willing to teach you or help you out or show you what to do. You’re just kind of on your own, which is how it is. Then you’re probably going to lose money unless you get super lucky. But now this has been six, seven years down the road. They are great. They make it so that my business pretty much runs on autopilot and is consistently growing every single day. Even when I don’t send emails, even when I don’t show up on social media for a while, even when I’m on vacation or taking some time off, my business still grows because of what my ads are doing. And when I say grows, that means a few different things. First of all, it means that my email list is growing because my ad is for a freebie. So when people see that, they can then click on the ad and go to the landing page for my freebie, put in their name and email address and get the freebie, get on my email list and become part of my welcome sequence. That then goes into my regular weekly newsletter. So that’s the first thing. The second thing is that it grows my social media following. So some people they may not even sign up for that freebie, but they see the ad and then they click over to my Instagram or to my Facebook and follow me. So that is a really great way to build up your social media following too. And while those people didn’t get on my email list right away, they are now part of my social media and at some point in the future, as long as I am talking about my freebie regularly, they can then get on my email list that way. And then the last thing is that people make purchases after becoming part of that freebie. The freebie then goes to a offer and people take up that offer and then make purchases. So when your ads are set up right and if that is one of your goals for your ads is for people to make purchases, when they’re set up right they have quite a big ROI or they can, a return on investment. So, yes, you may be spending $100 a month on ads but you’re making $1,000 a month from those purchases, so that’s net $900. Or you may be spending $1,000 on ads but you’re making $10,000, which is quite a big return on investment. So that is why it truly is an investment. When you know that you’re ready which we’re gonna go over when that is, when you know you’re ready and you know it’s the right time, then spending that money pretty much guarantees a return. And even more so, while not everyone is going to make that purchase right away, you know right within the same week that they saw your ad. But if they are on your email list, they can then go to listen to your podcast or go to your social media or keep getting your newsletters that are coming regularly. You can have that opportunity to warm them up and for them to get to know more about you and your work and what you do and your personality, get to that place of no like and trust, which is going to be different for everybody, and so that person that came from an ad now two months, six months, a year down the road is now purchasing. So that is kind of one of those return on investments that you can’t really track with ads right away, but do have that return over the long run too. So that is it’s just. It’s so cool. It makes it amazingly simple and easy to continue to grow your business and besides all of that, which is already so great, right, one of the reasons why I love ads the most is because it makes it so I don’t have to constantly create content or be on all the platforms and be worrying about the algorithm and get stressed if something does poorly. A few episodes ago, we talked about social media and I kind of alluded to why I don’t worry about social media at all, why one of the things has helped me detach from my social media, and that is ads. Because I have these ads running, I know now what works and what doesn’t. I’ve been doing it for a long time, I’ve tested a lot of things and I have a flow that works. And so, with that, that doesn’t mean I’m not showing up, that doesn’t mean I’m not recording podcast episodes anymore, that I’m not sending out emails anymore, that I’m not posting on social media regularly, but it’s this other thing going on in the background that I know works really well. And then all of the rest of this is enhancing that experience. So if you are getting those new, very, very, very cold members into your audience from ads, then it is still important to continue to show up for those people. Like I said, a lot of people aren’t most like. The vast, vast, vast majority of people aren’t buying right away. Some of them are following you on social media but not signing up for the freebie right away. All of these situations you need to continue that process of building no like and trust for these people who just found you off of a paid ad. They have literally no idea who you are, and that’s what I mean about them being super duper cold. They have no clue who you are. They basically can kind of almost guarantee they don’t like or trust you. And you have to, you know. But they’re curious enough, I guess, to follow you or to sign up for your freebie. But then you have to do the job of gaining that trust, gaining that likeability to take them to the next step, which may just even be going from following you on social media to signing up for your freebie or then from signing up for the freebie to then becoming a paid client. You still have to do that work. The ads aren’t going to do all of that for you and that is why you still need to show up for your business. But having that going on in the background just lightens the load, I feel like, and that is now how I feel. So, like I said, if I don’t feel like showing up on social media for a day or a couple days or a week, whatever, no big deal doesn’t matter, doesn’t affect that side of my business whatsoever, and kind of along those same lines. I feel like there are people in this space who kind of brag about not spending money on ads and being able to build up this big following or whatever thing they’re bragging about without spending any money on ads. But then when you actually look at that business, when you dig deeper, it’s because they are creating so much content. They are basically a slave to content creation. They have to show up on social media every single day and they are building that audience and potentially building this big giant business off of constant content creation. Like every aspect of their life is on display. For me I don’t want that life. I don’t want to feel like that when it comes to content creation. I want it to be okay to not do that for an extended period of time If it’s not working for me. I don’t want that pressure. I don’t want every aspect of my life. I don’t want to have to have video everything that I do. It’s just not fun for me, that’s not where I want to be in my life or my business, and so using ads has taken that pressure off, has made it so that I don’t have to do that. So here I am bragging about using ads so that I don’t have to be a content creation machine. So there’s really kind of two places to go there and you and everyone gets to decide how they want that to go. I mean, if you want to grow your audience, which then in turn grows your business because you get more eyes on your work so that is an obvious flow Then you basically have a couple options you can use time or you can use money. So if you use time, then that means that you are on that content creation wheel all the time, using your time basically to create content, to constantly be posting, to constantly be sharing, to be on all the platforms, to be trying new things, to get in front of the right people, and that takes a lot of time. There’s no way around it. Not only that, but you also also have to consider the amount of time it takes to create the momentum with your content. So time also meaning like the days, weeks, months, years that it takes to build that up. Or you can use money and then you can basically pay to get your work in front of the right people. That would be just your dream clients. You can pay to do that and pay for a much bigger impact in that way. So, knowing for sure that you are going to get your work in front of X number of people every single day, instead of posting and hoping three people see it, those are essentially your options. Time or money. Now for me, always and forever, my biggest value, my biggest, I guess the thing that is most important in my entire life is time, time and freedom, which means I will use money to make it so that I have more time, that I have more freedom and I don’t feel pressure. For me, that is my decision, that is what is most important to me in my flow, business and truly, what I have seen time and time again and this is something my mentor says as well is that the more I put my emphasis on how I spend my time versus how I spend my money, I get both in return. So my mentor, the way he says it those who care more about how they spend their time than how they spend their money will always have plenty of both, and I have found that to be true myself in my life and in my business. But obviously everyone’s going to feel differently about that scenario, and I know that there are people who really put a lot of emphasis on where their money goes, and that is totally okay too, and just know that with that comes this alternative aspect, which is your time and how you’re spending your time. Okay, so, already talked about a lot of this, but quickly let me go over the pros of using paid advertising for your business. Like I said, they work. It works to build your email list, it works to get you followers on social media or whatever platform you’re using, and they work to make sales. And you can absolutely have a campaign that is just set up to send people to your email list. It’s just a lead generation campaign. You don’t have to have anything for sale at the end of that. It’s just to get people onto your email list so you do have a place to connect with them authentically, away from the apps. So that is a great way and that is actually a really inexpensive way to get started with ads. Yes, you won’t be making sales right there, right away from that campaign, but, like I said, that happens down the road Once you have your email list built up and you warm them up properly, and then you can take them into a sale sequence when you’re ready and make sales at that time from the people that you’ve got with these ads. So that’s the first thing they work. The second thing is, once you find out what works, they can be pretty hands off, which is really nice. I find that they do require some kind of almost like monthly maintenance. I would say sometimes more than that. But once you’ve gone through the process of testing and tweaking and there is always a process of testing and tweaking, kind of trying to figure out what graphics work, video still, what’s working with your audience, what’s viving with them, and also the copy for your ads, what works best in that regard too. So there’s always a little bit of testing involved. But once you find that, you find the sweet spot, that one ad that is working really well could continue to work for like over a year, which is really nice. Yes, you do have to continue monitoring it, but can be pretty hands off and really bringing in new leads, new clients, new followers, whatever it is you’re trying to do every single day for the long haul. And another pro is that you control how much you spend. So you can spend as little as like a couple dollars a day to get started. I can’t remember, I don’t know if it’s five dollars a day is the minimum for Facebook and Instagram, but it’s somewhere around there. So very reasonable to get started if you just want to start small and see how it goes. And also you can do it for a specific period of time. So maybe you just want to spend like a hundred dollars in a week or two. Then you can set the start date and end date, set that you want to spend a hundred dollars, let it do its thing and then you basically are able to budget and to really track that. So you never are overspending or you can’t have any control over it. If something not isn’t going well or you don’t want to spend any money on a certain ad anymore, you can shut it off and it will immediately stop spending money on it, which is really nice. So to be able to have that control over your budget and how much you spend and being able to start at a really very reasonable place to get started and kind of see how it goes and test the waters is also really nice. Now some of the cons, which of course there are. First of all I’ve mentioned this already but it really important to note these are very, very cold audience members. These are people who literally didn’t know you existed until two seconds ago. They’re already kind of skeptical. They don’t really want to give you their email address. They’re hesitant to follow you on social media. They’re definitely checking things out before they decide whether it’s worth it or not. Just know they are very cold and because of that, first of all, they may not ever open another email that you send. So you may have see a difference in or a change in, like your open rates on your email list, your click rates, that kind of thing. You may have to clean your list more, which I’m not going to go into that today. So if you don’t know what that is, just leave it, but if you do know that you may have to clean your list more often. You may also notice that the engagement on your social media account starts to dip, isn’t as good as it was, even though you have more followers. The follower account is growing. Your engagement decreases because, again, these people don’t know you. They just started following you, didn’t engage in anything, and now the algorithm potentially isn’t even sending them any of your stuff. So that’s something to consider too, and so, yeah, there’s just going to be more coldness. I guess, to your audience, that you will have to then do your due diligence to warm up. Like I already talked about, staying consistent with emailing them, making sure you do not ghost your list, especially these new people that just got on your list, making sure you give them a really warm welcome, make it a really nice space, send them consistent, helpful and engaging emails, and that will help with the warm up process. And also same thing goes for your social media space, these new followers that you’re now getting because of your ads. They also are very, very cold and they need to have that warm welcome, that kind of safe space, to feel like they can get to know you, like they start liking you, they start trusting you and are able to take the next step. So, while you don’t have to be on all the platforms all the time creating constant content, because your ads are kind of doing that work for you, you do still have to be present. You do still have to be around and creating content at a more normal clip, something that works for you and your business. And, like I said, if you want to take a week off, go for it. That’s not going to mean much. But if this person who just started following you from your ad then doesn’t see anything at all from you after like two weeks, three weeks, a month now, they don’t even know who you are, why they started following you in the first place and you’ve you’ve lost them. So being able to stay top of mind with these people is really helpful from the stance of them being a very, very cold audience. So remember that. The next con is that you may not get an ROI return on your investment right away, potentially ever. And this really goes to the main point of our episode today, which is, if you don’t know what you’re doing or if you’re not ready, you will not get a return on your investment and you could potentially spend this money and never have it come back. Now, that is part of the process. That is something that you can do if you’re okay with throwing money out the window or, more so, throwing money into Mark Zuckerberg’s pocket. But instead, I’d rather you make sure that you’re ready and go through the process of knowing that before you then move on to ads, because I want you to get a return on your investment and you will because, like I said, they work. So you will get that return once you are ready. And you know I mentioned that my start with Facebook ads was really rocky. This was back in the day I was promoting a webinar for my fat burning female project and ransom ads. I had a friend set the pop I didn’t even I don’t even know if he knew what he was doing, but I certainly didn’t and he set them up and they actually did decently well in terms of the ads sending people my way. But I didn’t have the back end as tight as I needed to have it, and so those people did not show up for my webinar, like I don’t think any of them did. I had 1600 people register, I think, and I had, I think, 100 people show up for the webinar and they were all warm people that were in my audience already. So it did not work. It did not go well because the back end, what they were going to experience after they submitted their information from that ad, was not good, it was not tight, it was not set up well, and so I basically had to kind of eat the money that I put into those ads and that experience and just learn from it. And I never since have run ads without knowing for sure that what they were going to experience the second they put in their email address was an amazing experience that got them where I wanted them to go, which is kind of what we’re going to talk about little foreshadowing there. But anyway, let me go over a few more cons. Another one is that they are hard to learn, I think, although I feel like it’s gotten a little easier over the years. But for me it would definitely be worth it to learn from someone who is an expert instead of doing it on your own. And trying to learn even from using like the help section they have for you is makes it even more confusing. So learning step by step from someone like, I think, a course is a really great way to learn the back end of setting up your ads. Once you know it, you know it and it is a lot easier. But that first initial thing, like the second you log in, you’re immediately like oh my gosh, what is going on. But if you have someone who can kind of show you their back end and show you where to click and show you what to select, it makes it a lot easier. So I do recommend that. But, like I said, once you have it, you’ve got it and unless they make some major changes which they have over the years you’ll be able to set up your ads in like a matter of minutes and know that you are setting them up correctly. Okay, now let’s get into the nitty gritty of when to start using ads to grow your business. Before I talk about this, let me remind you of what will typically happen when you set up your ads If you are running an online service or product based business. Now, if you’re a brick and mortar type business, this is going to be different. You may just be sending people to your website so they can set up an appointment or learn more about your services, your offerings, that kind of thing. But if you have a business that is virtual, that is online. You take clients online. Virtually. You have digital products or services, whatever that is. This is typically how your ads will be set up. You will run an ad promoting a freebie and that ad will be sent out, will be shown because you’ve set it up this way, will be shown to people who are your dream clients From there. Those people that are interested will click on that ad and be sent to your freebie landing page. They’ll enter their name and email address to get that freebie and then they will be sent to kind of that confirmation page of like, hey, thanks, your freebies on its way, kind of thing, and then they will be put on your email list. When that happens, they will then get sent their first initial email that typically has the freebie and is also like a welcome thing, and then they will also become part of your email welcome sequence where every few days, they get an email from you with more tips, more information, more things that they would find interesting ways to engage with them, maybe a little bit about your story so they get to know you. This really nice welcome sequence that warms this very, very cold person up to you and your work and then also, within that welcome sequence, you can point them to more of your content your podcast, your blogs, your YouTube, your social media. If you don’t have any of that, totally okay, you’re just giving that content, basically in those emails with like tips and advice and more free stuff, essentially more ways to get some value from you and for them to see the kind of work you do and to get to know your personality and that kind of stuff. Okay, from there they could then go into a sales sequence where you are promoting potentially a workshop, a course, your one on one services, these kinds of things that they now may be ready to consider purchasing from you because they now know you, like you and trust you. That is an optional thing that you can do if you would like to get sales out of your ads. Doesn’t have to be. You can just use them as lead generation and get them on your email list and continue to get them into this warm space, and then they’ll be ready for your launch when you do launch your paid offer. So that is the general idea of what is happening when you are running ads. So in order for you to start using ads, you need to have all of that right. That makes sense. You need to have an irresistible freebie, and when I say irresistible I mean irresistible. It really needs to be something that some very, very cold people who have no idea who you are and are super protective of their emails want to receive. That is when you have a really or get a really good outcome for your ads and a really good return on your ads and get a lot of bang for your buck. And if you’re starting small and spending $10 a day, then you want that $10 to be really effective. So you know, if you have a really great freebie and a really great ad, you can have people sign up for that freebie for like a dollar or two. So then that means you’re getting five to 10 new people on your email list every single day. But if it’s not a good freebie like an enticing, irresistible freebie and or the ad isn’t good, like the creative isn’t good, what the visual, like what they’re seeing, whether it’s a video or an image or whatever it is if that’s not great, or if the copy of your ad isn’t great, which is totally different than writing any other kind of copy, but if that caption isn’t enticing, then you may not get even one sign up for that $10 you’re spending every day. So your freebie really matters, and so does the creative and the copy of your ad. So, first things first, a very irresistible freebie. The next thing is a solid freebie landing page. I’ve said this a lot. I will say this till the day I die your landing page for your freebie is like a sales page. It is a sales page for your freebie and should be treated as such. It’s not just like this thing you throw up saying title of my freebie enter your name and email address here, thanks. Like that is not what we’re doing here. It is a very needs to be a very well thought out, well organized, lots of great copy that speaks directly to your dream clients. Because, again, remember these people, they don’t know you, they’re skeptical. How can you get them on your side? How can you get them to trust you enough to put in that email address? And it’s usually because what you are offering is so enticing they can’t possibly say no. That goes for whether it’s something that’s $1,000 or something that is free. So you need to treat them the same. A solid freebie landing page is essential to have a really good return on investment with your ads and needs to be in place before you even consider it. The next thing you need in place is a strong email welcome sequence. We talked about how, once they sign up and are on your list, they are getting this and it’s all automated. This entire process is automated. By the way, in case you haven’t noticed, nothing is happening for you once you get it set up. It’s just going on all the time. But once they are on your email list, they then are automatically part of this welcome sequence you have, where you’re sending them these really engaging emails and getting them to know you better, giving more helpful, valuable, free content, sending them over to other areas where you have content, if you have that kind of thing. So I already talked about that, but that is super important. You cannot. I seriously would strongly discourage that you use ads or really give anyone who is cold onto your email list without a welcome sequence, because then they’re just like okay, I got this freebie, I still don’t know who you are, I know nothing about what you do, I’m still skeptical, I’m still cold. I mean they’re gonna unsubscribe or, you know, when you email me, even a week later, I’m gonna forget who you are and I’m not going to have any idea that you’re someone who can help me and that you’re someone that I want to help me. Having that welcome sequence in place really helps with that. And then, like I said, lastly, a really enticing paid offer, which is optional. If you want your paid ads to then go into someone making a purchase, then you need that paid offer that is enticing, intriguing, must have kind of situation for that person, and then you know, if you have that, then you need a really great enrollment sequence and all that stuff which we’re not gonna talk about here because all of that part is optional, but just know, if you’re going to move into that aspect, then you really want to consider what is going in your sales sequence, those emails that you’re sending for them to take that next step and make a purchase. But at minimum you need irresistible freebie, a solid freebie landing page and a strong email welcome sequence. You have to have those three things before you start running ads. And then one last thing is you need to be committed to continuing to warm them up for the long term. So that means you need to be committed to sending regular emails to your list, once a week, at the very least once every two weeks, to your email list on a regular basis, before you start putting new cold people there. So really get that on your schedule. Really make sure you will never ghost your list again before you start running ads. So now, how do you know that you do have an irresistible freebie, that you do have a solid freebie landing page that converts really well, that you do have a strong email welcome sequence that gets people interested in you and your work and potentially gets people replying back and asking more about what you do or about the content you shared and starts conversations? How do you know? Well, really, the only way to know this is to test it, and you want to test it, preferably without spending money testing it, which means you need to use what you have available to you organically. This could be the social media account that you do have. It could be your network. It could be friends and family that you know actually are close to being dream clients. It could be in Facebook groups you’re in. It could be in from other content channels that you do have. Maybe it’s your blog, your website, your YouTube channel, your podcast. Whatever you have available to you organically, use it. So I recommend, my very best advice, is to get all of this set up and then offer it to the audience that you do have, wherever that is, and see how it goes. See if people are interested in your freebie. See if your landing page does convert well, see if people do start conversations from your welcome sequence. See how it goes with what you have available to you for free, and then that can be an indicator of how it will go when you put some money behind it. If nobody wants your freebie in your organic audience, then chances are it’s not gonna go well when you put money behind it and you start paying for ads. Now, in some cases it may just be that your audience that you do have isn’t actually your dream clients, and that’s possible too. So, keeping that in mind, but really, really try to find some dream clients in your current circle and offer them the freebie, send them to the landing page and see how it goes. Now you can absolutely set this all up and pay and test it with ads. That is an option. But you have to be willing to spend money that you may potentially not get back and kind of knowing that and setting your budget of what you’re willing to spend and potentially never see again and really making peace with that and being okay with that. Like, if you just don’t have an organic audience at all, you have no one that you can test this on or you don’t have the time to build one before you wanna start testing things, then you can have all of this set up to the very best of your ability and then use ads to test it. But, like I said, be willing to spend money that you may not get back and use that information to then test and tweak and really find a flow that works for you and for the audience, the people that are seeing these ads. So that’s an option too. But, like I said, if there is any possible way for you to test this organically with the people that you do know that you do have in your circle the audience that you do have, that it’s definitely going to be the best way to go and will save you money so that you know when you’re running ads that you already have that confidence that everything is in place, the flow works, they’re gonna have a great experience, they’re gonna love their freebie, they’re gonna be interested in opening the rest of your emails and reading the rest of your emails and getting engaged with you further until it’s time to make a purchase and then make the purchase. So that’s how you get a return on your investment when spending money on ads. And just quickly to know, if you are a member in the Signature Program Bundle, then you have all of the tools and resources that you need to make sure you have this whole flow set up really well so you can really start using ads in your business quite quickly. I would still recommend doing the testing on your organic audience. But you have the emails, you have the landing pages, you have the freebie ideas. You have all of that in the Signature Program Bundle to set up your entire flow and if you wanna be a part of that, you can head to www.shawnynar.com/burnoutproof and learn more. But yeah, I think I’ll stop this conversation about ads for today and we’ll pick it back up when I have my expert to come on the show and share more about kind of the ins and outs and what to really look for, the common mistakes and things like that, so you can make sure that you do get that big return on investment for what you’re spending on your ads and make them really, really work to grow your business, kind of on this autopilot system, this automated thing that you have going on in the backend, which is just so amazing. If you have any questions you’d like answered about running ads, make sure you send them my way over on. Instagram is where I hang out most at Shawn Mynar. Send me a DM, let me know your questions or what you want me to make sure to cover in the next episode of talking about paid advertising, and I will make sure to do so. And until next time, take care, hey, wait up before you go. Do you wanna know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly. Before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type. With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident knowing your building a business you love. Head over to www.shawnynar.com Right now to find out your flow, business, personality type and once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s www.shawnynar.com. As always, the link is in the show notes. I’ll see you next time.
Aug 30, 2023 | Podcast
Are you ready for a transformational journey from full-time employment to owning a successful business? Buckle up, because I’m about to share the roadmap I navigated, transitioning from an employee to a business owner and further, from a one-on-one client business to an online platform. Join me in this enlightening discussion where we dissect how to start and grow your business alongside your full-time job or other business ventures, tackling the hurdles and challenges along the way.
Ever wondered how to create a scalable business model that allows you to quit your day job? Together, we’ll explore the secret of maximizing limited hours without compromising quality time with family, creating a signature program, and developing a robust marketing and sales system. We also touch on crafting an email list, a freebie associated with your offer, and a potential approach based on the signature program bundle to get your business off the ground. Let’s embark on this journey of entrepreneurial success together. Tune in, and let’s start building!
“If you don’t use a calendar for your life, I don’t know how you’re getting anywhere, but if you don’t, start now.” – Shawn Mynar
“The way that your business work and most businesses works is that the time and the energy that you spend now gets that return in the future, so it’s really an investment.” – Shawn Mynar
“The number one most important thing that you should be spending most your time on is figuring out your paid offer and getting it out into the world.” – Shawn Mynar
Burnout-Proof Your Business Masterclass – https://shawnmynar.com/burnoutproof
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business based on flow, not force, no hustle, no grinding, no long hours. Actually build a business that you love. Today we are talking about a topic that is long, long, long overdue here on the show, because I know that this is the situation that most of you are in right now, at least those of you that I talked to. I know this is the case for a lot of you, which is that you are starting your business or you are growing your business while also having a full-time job somewhere else, maybe also having another business, or maybe also taking on a full load of client work, something like that, where your business isn’t the only thing that you’re working on, which I mean just life in general would keep that from being the case for any of us, but still, you have something else going on in addition to starting your business growing your business, building your business, all of that stuff. I know that that can feel like a lot. I think sometimes it can feel like it’s almost impossible to do both. You ever get to a point where you can only work on your business, which I know is a really big goal for a lot of you. The reason you’re starting your business, the reason you’re working on your business, is because you want that to be your thing. You want to potentially get to the point someday where you can quit your other job or hand off your other business or transition away from taking one-on-one clients and in this other role, in this other type of business. I know that that is a big dream and a big goal for a lot of you. But when you’re in the thick of it which is the case for so many of you right now it can feel like it’s going to take forever. It can feel like maybe it’s almost impossible and to still have the time and energy and mental capacity to work on your business. After coming home from a full day of work, or on the weekends, when you’re trying to recharge, to go back to your job on Monday, it’s like how is this going to happen. That may be something that you’re feeling right now, but today I just want to share an idea for you of how this could look. Talk about some of the minimum things that you need to be doing to get your business going right now when you have such a limited time and capacity to do so and really getting it going in the time that you have available and then really also breaking down how you could be spending your time to get your business going right now when it’s not your only thing. So that’s what you can expect today. That’s what we’re going to go over. I’ll start by sharing my own personal experience with this. I will say, when I first started my business, I went from like having a job one day to being unemployed and having a business the next. There was no overlap. I don’t know if it was like just ignorance I guess you could say of like just kind of thinking it would work out and everything would be okay and I would not need to have that job any longer and I could just do my business. And I would say that I was lucky in that at the time I was starting a personal training business, lots of people need personal training, had lots of friends and past clients and things like that that immediately started working with me. So while I didn’t like immediately have the same income coming in, I did have it. I had the same income coming in right away and it was enough for me to survive. So I can tell you that I don’t have experience in having a full time job and working on starting my business, because I didn’t do that overlap thing from the get go. But when I went from a one on one client business, which was like the only thing I did was just taking one on one clients, to having this online business with a signature program, that was more of this kind of transition because I had really three things going at one time. I had a really busy one on one client practice that took most of my time. I was working on creating my signature program and I was also really sick, which I’ve mentioned quite a bit before. That was really the catalyst that got me into wanting a business that allowed for more free time and flexibility and income, which is why I transitioned to the signature program model. So that in and of itself, being sick was such a big deal and a really big time and energy suck. One of my biggest symptoms was just chronic fatigue always being super, super tired, sometimes not being able to get out of bed, a lot of times having to cancel on my clients because I was feeling sick that day. So I had to kind of manage that. But then also the protocol was super intense, which sounds really weird, but part of the recovery process was just having this super intense protocol lots of medications, lots of supplements, lots of these other things I kind of had to do to manage myself and some of those things made me not feel very good or like there were some kind of transitional phases I had to go through. It’s kind of hard to explain until you’re in it, but you get the idea it was a lot, and so I was kind of dealing with that and also having to work around those days, sometimes weeks, where I wasn’t feeling good and I didn’t have the energy or mental capacity to do anything, along with this really pretty busy one-on-one client practice and also really wanting to transition out of that, really needing to for my health, and kind of having to do that on top of it all. So I feel like that moment of my life which at this point it really feels like a moment, like I still remember it, but it feels like such a small, tiny little blip on my radar of life where things were really busy and my time was spent very differently than it was before or it has been after, and that’s one really important point that we’re going to get into no-transcript. I in that time spent my mornings while I was eating breakfast. I always got up several hours before I would need to be with a client or anything like that, so I would make my breakfast, eat and work on creating my program. Then I would have my day full of clients and then after dinner I would work on my program some more, and then on weekends I would also. I probably spent three to four hours per week on creating my program and it took me three months to put together. So I worked on it from basically mid-September until mid-December and then launched it in January after the holidays were over. So that’s my personal experience with working on multiple things at one time and making time for that so that you can make the transition in your life that you want to make. So let’s get into some of the takeaways that I learned from this, but also just from what I see in the clients that I work with and the members of the Signature Program Bundle how they are making it happen for themselves as well. So first things first. The only way this works is if you make time for it. Basically that seems like a no-brainer, but it needs to be said you have to make time for this other thing that you are working on. In this case it is your business. It doesn’t need to be like tons of time. You don’t need to spend eight hours of your Saturday and Sunday working on your business. Two to three hours. If that’s all you can do right now, that is great. Two to three hours per week so this could be chunked up into like an hour on Wednesday evening and then two hours on Sunday afternoon. You know it can be chunked up into places of your day and your weeks that work for you and your life and everything else you have going on. Now. This does mean that you may have to give up some things. For now, maybe you don’t watch TV on Wednesday nights and instead you work on your business. Maybe you do a grocery store pickup for now instead of going to the grocery store. Maybe you work on your business during your lunch break at your job. There are things that, once you’ve decided on how much time you are willing to commit to your business each week, when you really sit down and look on the calendar, you can find these little spots of time that would work to integrate your business building activities into your day. I think it’s also important that if you have a family or a partner or even a roommate that you typically spend a lot of time with, you need to have a conversation with them, let them know your schedule and when you’re going to be working on your business and get that buy-in from them as well. Let them know that that’s part of their schedule now too, because, yeah, it’s it’s likely that the time you’re going to be working on your business right now would normally be time that you’d be spending with them. And again, I am not saying to get rid of all the quality time that you spend with your family and your loved ones and your partner. That is not what I’m saying. That is not what you need to do to build your business, but again, we’re talking a few pockets of time per week and then it actually really makes the time you do spend with them more special. So really see, if there’s times where, yeah, you and your partner are just watching a TV show or you and your family are just kind of like all hanging out in the same room but doing separate things, that makes a great time to work on your business. And one of my favorite favorite things is what we hear in my house called coexisting, where you’re still in the same room, so you still have their presence, you’re still all kind of together and have that feeling, but you are all working on different things. So you are working on your business, your partner, your family, your roommate is doing something else, but you’re coexisting, so maybe you both have your earbuds in just kind of in your own worlds, but in the same room. It’s actually quite delightful. I highly recommend. If that’s not something you’ve done before, it’s great. And when it comes time to work on your business, you don’t have to feel like you’re sacrificing time necessarily with your loved ones. It’s just coexisting time, which we all need to. And another thing to remember that I kind of alluded to earlier is that this is just one teeny, tiny little season of your life. It is not going to be like this forever. Especially, the more you can commit to this process and this schedule and these hours, these pockets of time that are dedicated to your business, the more you can stay committed to those, the quicker this season of your life will be, because the quicker your business will grow, obviously. And so it’s just this one season. This is not how your life now is. So if it feels more busy, well that’s because it is. If it feels like you have less time to watch your favorite TV show, well that’s because you do, but it’s just for now. It’s just for now, and especially if you are working towards a business that will give you more free time and flexibility. You are doing this now with the knowledge that so much more is going to open up for you so soon because of the dedication and commitment you are making now. So your entire calendar and free time is going to change so drastically so soon as you stay committed to this season of your life now. So remember it’s just a season, and if your partner or your roommate or your family is having a hard time understanding why you’re working on your business during a coexisting time instead of watching the TV show with them, then remind them that this is a season of your life as well and not a forever thing. So that’s the first step is, yeah, you have to make time for it. That’s the only way that it will work. And as soon as you have decided on the times that you will spend on your business each week, the amount of time, the pockets of time where you can put in that time, and that’s okay. If it’s different every week, that works too. But you have to schedule it. This is a very important step and if you don’t use a calendar for your life, I don’t know how you’re getting anywhere. But if you don’t start now, and even if it’s just for your business, even if it’s just, you have a business calendar and you even set alerts, you set reminders so that it reminds you, hey, in 30 minutes it’s work on biz time, whatever you have to do. But you have to schedule it in your calendar. And when you do, as soon as it goes in your calendar, it becomes as important, if not more, than a client meeting. You would never know show a client. You would never just not show up. You would never cancel a paying client to go to the grocery store. You would never cancel a paying client because your dog needs a walk. No, you would go to the grocery store before or after your client meeting. You would take your dog for a walk before or after your client meeting. The same thing goes for this time that you are putting into your calendar. I like to call it work on biz time. You can call whatever you want or even put in more specifically what you are doing during that time, which we’re going to go over in a few minutes, what you’re doing during that work on biz time, even better, even more specific, to really show you exactly what you’re doing. So once it’s in the calendar, it’s as important as a paying client. And if you wouldn’t change or cancel your client because of something which would pretty much only be like an emergency or illness or something like that, then you cannot change or cancel your work on biz time. That is how serious this needs to be. And when you start thinking of it that way, you will be amazed at how quickly you can start growing your business because you are really coming to it with that same level of commitment. And one thing we talked about in the accountability group of signature program last week that I wanted to bring up here is that time that you’re spending on your business now it will be worth thousands of dollars in the very near future, potentially. So no, you’re not getting paid that hour like punch in a clock, like hey, I worked on my business for an hour, now I have $50. That’s not how this works, of course, but you are going to reap such massive, massive benefits in the near future, for that hour that you committed to, every single hour is going to be worth thousands of dollars and so much time back in your life. So remember that every time you sit down, it’s not just you putting in work with no return, it’s just that the way that your business works and most businesses work, is the time you spend and the energy you spend now gets that return in the future. So it’s really an investment, it’s a time investment and it’s an energy investment now for what you will reap in such big, huge ways in the future. So remember that as you sit down to work on your business. Okay, so now that you have your time commitment figured out and scheduled and it is in the calendar and it is definitely happening let’s talk about the most important things that you should be working on in that time. So another big hurdle that I see is that you have such a limited amount of time to work on your business because you have all these other things going on in your life and then that time that you are spending on your business, you’re not spending on the right things. You’re not spending it on the things that are actually going to move the needle, and you have to be really super picky about this if you are someone who has this limited amount of time to work on growing your business each week and really focus on the things that matter. So, first of all, right away, the number one, most important thing that you should be spending most of your time on is figuring out your pay offer and getting it out into the world. We’ve talked about a lot of the different types of paid offers you can have here. We’ve talked about having a one-on-one clients, a signature program, paid workshops, courses, ebooks, all these things. There’s lots of different opportunities for you, but you need to figure out what that is and get it out into the world ASAP, or else, again, you’re going to be working on these things that aren’t actively bringing in income. And if your goal is to have a business that brings in income which should be the case otherwise, you have a hobby but if you want to bring in money from your business, then that’s the number one thing you need to do. Obviously, right Now, if you want or need to have a steady income coming in from your business before you quit your job, then you need a paid offer that is scalable. You will not have time for one-on-one clients. You can have a few, but it’s not going to be enough to bring in the income you need before you can quit your job. Because think about it you have two hours, three hours, maybe four hours per week that you can work on your business and still be at your job and still be there for your family and all these things you have going on in your life. So in those hours you can take two, three, four clients. That’s it. That’s all you can do. You are going to be limited to that until you have more time freed up and, no matter how you slice it, those two, three, four clients a week are not going to be enough income to quit your job and still be at that income level that you want or even close to it. So you really need to work on a scalable business model for you if you are someone that needs to or wants to have that steady income coming in to feel safe enough to quit your job. So this is where having something like your own signature program comes in handy, because you can either spend those couple of hours per week with clients making a little bit of money, or you can spend those couple of hours a week working on this scalable business model that is going to allow you to work with an unlimited amount of people and bring in the amount of money you need to quit your job, and you can do this while having something else going on and working on your business on the side. This is the kind of business model for that person who has a full-time job or full client load or another business or something else. That’s taking up a lot of your time and this is something you’re working on the side, especially if you want your business to grow and you want it to potentially be at a place where you could quit your job or you could stop taking one-on-one clients and make that transition. This is what you need to be spending your time on Now. If you only want to take one-on-one clients in your business, that is totally fine, but then you are going to most likely either have to be in a position where you can potentially have less income coming in for a while while you kind of make that transition of quitting your job but then working on building up your client roster and during that time of working on building up your client roster, you’re okay with making less money and your family is okay with you making less money and that kind of thing, that’s an option. Or, if you have a job that will allow you to slowly start working fewer hours, maybe go to a more part-time position as you are working on getting your client work up. So that’s another option if you have that kind of job. But if you aren’t necessarily sold on only working with one-on-one clients, then my recommendation is to spend the time that you do have right now working on that scalable business model and get that out into the world, get that bringing in income. Then, once you have enough income coming in from that, then you can quit your job and spend your time a lot more free time, while you sell this income coming in from your program, and then you can work with one-on-one clients also. So that’s what I would do if you are not in a place where you can lower your income. So that’s the very first, most important thing that you are doing with this time that you do have to work on your business. Each week you are working on getting that pay to offer out into the world. Then, kind of on top of that, you are also going to start building an audience and engaging with them while you are working on this pay to offer. So this kind of happens simultaneously. So what I would recommend doing is spending 30, 45 minutes, maybe an hour, each week of your allotted work-on-biz time, getting all of your social media posts done for the week, as I mentioned in a couple episodes ago. I think that’s how I approach social media and it works really well to just sit down and get as many as you can done in a certain amount of time that you have and then call it good, but really make sure it’s dedicated time working just on your social media posts. I feel like when you have that in your head and you’re really just in that zone, you’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in a short period of time. So that’s going to be kind of your way to also start building and engaging an audience during this time, and then the rest of the time can be spent working on your paid offer and then working on kind of your whole marketing and sales system to get that paid offer out into the world. Now, if you only have a couple hours a week, this is going to be like 90 to 150 minutes per week working on your paid offer and the associated kind of like ecosystem of that paid offer. So if you don’t have an email list yet or a freebie associated with your paid offer, then that will be kind of part of this process too. That is what you’ll start working on as well once you have that paid offer solidified. Let me give you an idea how all of this could look and, just to be totally transparent, this is completely following exactly the steps outlined in the signature program bundle. It is a process I know like the back of my hand because, first of all, I’ve done it a bazillion times in my own business and now I teach it. So it’s something I’m very, very familiar with. So I feel confident in sharing how this could look for you based on this process. So let’s say you have three hours per week to work on your business and you’re spending 30 to 45 minutes of those three hours on social media and then the rest of the time so let’s say, two, two and a half hours per week just working on your program. Okay, this is how it could look. Week one you will use those couple hours to solidify your program topic and create your program outline. Week two you would decide on the content of each module. Week three you’re going to design the logo, branding and name the program. Weeks four and five you’re going to create your freebie landing page and welcome email. Week six and seven you’re going to write notes for each lesson. Weeks seven and eight you’re going to record your video and audio lessons. Weeks nine and 10, you will edit the video and audio. Week 11, you’ll create and design PDFs and other tools for the program. Week 12, organize and upload it all into a hosting platform. Week 13, decide on offer components. And then weeks 15 through 17, get ready to launch. So that is the entire process I just shared it with you in like 30 seconds of building a signature program. That’s the whole process and, yes, it really can be done in this timeframe If you are really organized, if you follow the process to a T, if you use every single tool I have available to help you, and that time that you are really spending on your business is dedicated time, like you’re not checking social media or checking your email or kind of partly talking to your son or daughter over here. You know this is dedicated, really, really purposeful time. This is what it will take, and I know like 17 weeks sounds like a really long time, but also, in 17 weeks you could have a totally different situation and when you look at it that way, that is kind of amazing to think about that it only takes 17 weeks. So if you’re listening to this remotely close to when it airs, just to put this into perspective, 17 weeks from this air date, which is the very last week of August, is Christmas. So by Christmas you could have this awesome paid offer launching out into the world, and you’ve been collecting emails since week five. So that means for another 12 weeks you have been collecting email, so you have an audience of people who are interested in your work as well, and you’re probably not going to launch your program during the holidays, but you would be ready to launch it out into the world in January so you could turn over the new year with a new offer, a new engaged audience, this great business model ready to go in a matter of 17 weeks. How cool is that? Like? It’s really not that far away, and your entire next year could be totally different because you followed this plan and it only took you three hours of dedicated time for 17 weeks and then, once the 17 weeks are over, then you can spend those three hours per week continuing to build your audience, to create deeper connections with the people that you do make contact with, creating other types of content, like starting a podcast or starting to write on your blog or whatever, writing emails to your list these kinds of things that we talk about. But now you have this paid offer out into the world. You’ve been working on building your email list now for 12 weeks. You have that going strong. You’ve been posting on social media regularly for the past 17 weeks. All of this has really started to build momentum in your business. And then you have now, this time that you are no longer spending working on your paid offer to continue that whole process, to start working on the whole ecosystem of the rest of your business and creating that demand for your paid offer. And so the next time you launch, you have even more interest in demand and a bigger audience and deeper connections. And it keeps going until you get to a place where you’re making the same, if not more, during your launches, as you are at your job, and you can quit and just focus on your business. How cool is that. But it all starts from this one place of really working on that solid, paid offer and doing so in this small amount of time that you have each week which is totally fine as long as it is dedicated, committed time that you have put on your calendar and you are sticking to, no matter what and then following a process, a simplified process, to make it happen so that you don’t have to worry about what you’re doing next. You just do what’s next, you just look at the next step in the process and do that. That’s all it takes and it really can happen. I actually think that’s one of the biggest blocks that I see that keeps people spinning in this wheel of working on your business, but then it not really happening and having to stay in this full time job or other situation for a really long time, and it’s really just because you’re spending the very limited amount of time that you do have working on your business trying to figure out what to do. Like you’re like okay, I have this hour, I’m going to work on my business, and you sit down and work on it and you have no idea what you’re doing, what you should be doing, what’s next, how to make this happen, and so you just kind of like go through this 45 minutes worth of trying to figure out what to do and then, once you figure it out, well then it’s like time for bed or time to take your kids somewhere and you’ve lost that entire opportunity. So don’t use this limited amount of time that you have spinning your wheels trying to figure out what to do. Follow a specific plan, follow a plan, follow a process and get it done. And it really starts with having that structured schedule, knowing that end goal and then breaking each week down step by step, with a very few specific things that you need to do that week. That way, you know that time that you’re spending is super productive because you’ve done the work ahead of time of knowing what each week entails, like I did earlier. Okay, week one is this week two and three is this week. Four is this? Following that type of of protocol, to know what each week involves will make it so much easier for you. And, of course, if you want help with this, if you want to know my process for creating your own program, you can always head to shawnmynar.com/burnoutproof and watch my free masterclass. Get in on the bundle if you want to be a part of this process and you want to do it alongside a group of others who are going through this process as well, most of which have full time jobs or full time client loads, so they will be in the same boat as you. That is your place. To make sure that you know what you’re working on during this dedicated time that you spend each week working on your business, and pretty soon it will be the only thing that you’re working on, and it may still take even, let’s say, three hours a day, but then the rest of your time you’re spending doing what you want instead of going to a job you don’t love. So that’s pretty cool too. Again, free masterclass will break down my entire process for making this happen. shawnmynar.com/burnoutproof, and that’s also where you get exclusive access to the signature program bundle. Hope to see you there and until next time, take care. Hey, wait up before you go. Do you want to know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly, before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type. With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident knowing you’re building a business you love. Head over to shawnmynar.com/quiz right now to find out your flow business personality type and once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s shawnmynar.com/quiz. As always, the link is in the show notes.
Aug 23, 2023 | Podcast
Who says you need a massive audience to make significant sales? Buckle up, because we’re going to shatter that myth and equip you with the arsenal you need to generate sales, regardless of your audience size. Infact, selling to a smaller audience can be incredibly potent as it allows for deeper connections and trust-building. Are you ready to unlock the secrets to selling effectively to your small but mighty audience?
Through the course of our chat, we’ll explore the strategies to connect, convince, and convert your audience into buyers. From leveraging your personal network to running high-impact special events, we’ll walk you through the process that has been the backbone of my client acquisition since 2017. And, guess what? It works wonders, even if your network isn’t vast. Because, at the end of the day, it’s not about the size but about the quality of your audience and how you engage with them.
Finally, we’ll touch upon the power of authenticity in communication. The secret to making your audience fall in love with your offer? Be real, be you. It’s all about transitioning your followers from casual observers to committed customers. So, tune in and let’s explore this together, let’s make your small audience your biggest asset!
“Is there this special, imaginary, magical number of people that you need to get in front of before it makes it worth it to make money? To build your business? To start your business? Of course not.” – Shawn Mynar
“What you put out is what you will attract back… putting out that energy to your small audience that you would if your audience is bigger, breeds a bigger audience.” – Shawn Mynar
“If you want to grow your audience, then you need to show up as if that audience has already grown or is already growing.” – Shawn Mynar
“I want you to get super duper clear on the benefits and the transformation of what you are selling, not the paid offer itself.” – Shawn Mynar
Burnout-Proof Your Business Masterclass – https://shawnmynar.com/burnoutproof
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Speaker 1
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business that works for you. Not what works for your neighbor, your friend, that person you follow on Instagram, but what works and feels good to you. That is what we do here. So if that sounds like something that you’re into, you’re in the right place. Today, we’re talking specifically about how to make sales in your business and even to make it one step more specific, how to make sales when your audience is small. Maybe you’re just starting out on building an audience. Maybe you’re just starting out on building your whole business. Either way, what needs to change, or how can it work to make sales and make money and have an income coming in from your business? While you’re in that process of building an audience and maybe right now it’s small in your relative terms I feel like I can confidently say that most of you listening have what would be considered a small audience. And guess what? Me too, as I’ve shared in the past few episodes, I basically started over from zero a few years ago as I decided to pivot my business. I was no longer in alignment with what I had been doing and that large audience I had grown was no longer a good fit for the work that I was now into doing, so started everything over and left behind that old big audience. For let’s call it a clean slate. And while I’m super proud of how I’ve shown up over these past few years, how things have grown in that time, I am not one of those people who have experienced this like real going viral and they wake up to hundreds of thousands of new followers or anything like that. I’ve been a very slow and steady growth system for me and I’m proud of that. I’m proud of how I’ve continued to show up and we’re going to talk about this coming up in a way that greeted that kind of growth Breed. It Is that a word? I think it’s the right version of that word, but if not, just roll with it. So all of this to say I get it. Anything I’m going to share with you today comes from experience and experience in the last few years. Like I mentioned in those past few episodes, it was a whole lot different to grow an audience 10 years ago, specifically on social media, but then also having that translate to an email list and a podcast following and all that stuff. It was easier to do back then than it has been over these past few years, specifically in 2020 and beyond, and so here I am, speaking from experience and, more importantly, I hope I can also be proof to you that you don’t need a big audience to have a successful, easygoing business that is profitable and brings in income for you and your family to live the life that you want, which I am so grateful to be able to say that I do and my business does and it has. This entire time, even during that pivot, even when I was starting from total scratch, I was still able to do that with this very small audience and with having this pivot and all that stuff, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Now one more thing before we get into it, I want to just again I always have these caveats, but let me just add a caveat here All in big in this context is very relative. There are people who have 100,000 audience members and think that that’s small and are, like, worried about that small audience they have when it’s 100,000 people. And then there are people who have 500 followers or subscribers or whatever and think that that’s big and that’s great too. It is all relative. Now, the good thing about that is that it doesn’t really matter if you think you have a small audience or a big audience, or you’re somewhere in between, because the short answer to the question posed at the beginning of this episode, and the whole reason for this episode, is how do you make sales when your audience is small? Well, it’s the same way that you make sales when your audience is big. The size of your audience does not matter. Now, there is one thing I think that specifically stands out as being easier or like an advantage to having a small audience that I’ll share at the end. But overall, you’re going to do the exact same thing now if you consider your audience to be small right now, as you will do when you consider your audience to be big or as your audience grows. It’s all the same. And, just as a quick definition, I would consider an audience for your business to be a combination of people that follow you on social media, like your business social media channels. Anyone who subscribes to your email list is getting your emails and is on your email list. Anyone who listens to your podcast, if you have one, or tunes into your YouTube channel when you post new video. If that’s something you do, it’s this collective amount of people who are into your work, who are viewing your content or engaging in your content, that is considered your audience and, as I’ve mentioned and as I think that you could understand, that’s kind of important for your business to have people who consume your content, that would be interested in becoming paying clients or customers. Everyone needs an audience. Every business needs an audience, and even more so that’s becoming more evident and more important as we shift continuously into this more online space for every type of business. Even if you’re a brick and mortar store, you still have this online presence, and that includes an audience. Okay, so now that all the caveats are out of the way, all the definitions are out of the way, let’s get into this, and we’re going to start with an exercise Right now. I don’t care if you’re driving, walking, working out, whatever you’re doing, while listening to this, while doing that also, imagine your business and imagine that business exactly how you want it to be and having, let’s say, 10,000 followers on Instagram. So every time you post, you get tons of likes, you get people commenting and engaging, you get DMs every day with people who want to connect with you and your work. It’s a very active place for your business and if you already have 10,000 Instagram followers, imagine that’s 100,000 or a million or whatever would be kind of this awesome goal for you to have. Imagine you are there and you also have that same amount of people on your email list. Your open rates are great. People are actually reading your emails, they’re clicking on your links, they’re checking out your offers, they’re engaging in your free material. That is also a very active place in your business. So, knowing that, so knowing you have this very engaged, active audience of thousands of people, how do you show up in that way for your business? Are you sending out emails regularly to these 10,000 people who are actively engaged and reading those emails? Are you sending them out every week? Are you posting on social media for these 10,000 people in a very regular way, because you know they value those posts, they respond, they react and it just brings in more connection and communication for you. Are you taking the time to engage with people in your comments and DMs and really starting that communication, starting those conversations? Are you talking about your paid offers to these people, knowing that they are engaged, they are active, they are interested in your work. Does that, then, make it more possible for you to talk about your paid offers with them? And when you do talk about those paid offers, are you just briefly, casually, quietly mentioning how people can work with you, kind of like baked into this tiny little social media post that people scroll by, or are you shouting it from the rooftops? Are you really creating this amazing marketing campaign with this free material and this exciting bonuses and all these ways that people can work with you and how awesome it would be for them to become a paying client? How are you marketing to these 10,000 people? What does that really truly look like? And be really honest with yourself of how you would show up in your business if you had this very active, engaged, larger audience, and is that how you are showing up now with 10 people, with 100 people, with 1,000 people in your audience? Is that the same For most people? And I don’t know. Your case is your case, but for most people, and from what I see, it’s not. There’s a big discrepancy between how you’re showing up with a small audience versus how you would show up if you had a bigger audience, and I think a lot of people have the idea that maybe it’s not worth the energy or worth the time when your audience is small, like, what’s the point? What’s the point of sending emails every week when only 20 people read them? What’s the point of posting on Instagram every day when your posts only get five likes? What’s the point of trying to sell anything when nobody is seeing your stuff, when, for me, that is the time that it’s most worth it to put the time and energy into doing that, because how else do you expect to grow, how else do you expect to get your business off the ground? How else do you expect to attract more people? How do you expect to make money if you don’t think there’s any point in trying to sell anything right now? How are you going to make money then? Is there like this special, imaginary, magical number of people that you need to get in front of before it makes it worth it to make money, to build your business, to start your business? Of course not, but if that’s the kind of mentality that we have with our audience size or with selling, then there’s always going to be that bridge you have to cross that you will probably never cross, and so we get into this cycle where that business remains elusive or making more money remains elusive. It always brings to mind that very known saying of what you put out is what you will attract back, something that I thoroughly believe. It has happened in my life time and time and time again. But putting out that energy to your small audience that you would, if your audience is bigger, breeds a bigger audience. What you put out is what you’ll attract back. If you want to grow your audience, then you need to show up as if that audience has already grown or is currently growing, instead of oh well, what’s the point? It doesn’t seem like it’s worth it, it’s so small, I’m not getting any engagement. Well, why do you think that is? What kind of energy are you putting into that audience that you do have? Another common saying that is really important to point out here everyone starts from zero and everyone grows from there, and what determines that growth is what you put into it now, not what you’re trying to say for later, say for a better time, say for when things are different, say for when you’ve already grown a little. That’s a very backwards way of thinking about it Starting from zero, putting in that time and energy now, with the backing of the energetic expression of growth, and knowing that to get that growth you have to show up in that way now. And not to mention just this other thing yes, maybe you only have 20 people that are reading your emails right now, or five people who are liking your Instagram posts. Well, what if those 20 people are going to be the next 20 people in your program? Or what if those five people who like your posts are your next five one-on-one clients? That is super exciting. That is a big deal, and it wasn’t necessary to have more people in your audience to get your business going, get your business off the ground, get your next five clients, fill up your next group program, because you showed up for those 20 people, for those five people, and now you have this really awesome business, without having this super crazy big audience or without waiting until things changed, because you did it now. And I would argue that it’s actually easier to sell to a smaller audience, to make sales, to get clients, because having that small audience, that small community, brings intimacy and with that intimacy comes this greater chance for real connection and when you have that connection, you have that no like and trust factor that we talk about so much here. That is a requirement for people to buy from you, for people to want to work with you, building no like and trust. They have to get to know you, they have to like you and they have to trust you. That is much easier to do with a small community. Just think about how it feels to be at a networking event or some sort of group event in a room full of 15 people versus a room full of 1500 people. That intimacy is there and it feels real and the ability to create these really amazing connections and having these really intimate conversations is there. That can’t be there with 1500 people and so, believe it or not, people with bigger audiences do have to work a little harder to build that no like and trust factor, because that intimacy level you can’t do that when you have 10,000, 20,000, 100,000, a million people in your audience. And I think it’s really important and something that can be felt when you have a small audience versus a big audience is like that feeling that there’s an actual person behind the account. I feel like as the accounts grow, it’s like their social media managers are actually the ones posting, or just it just doesn’t feel as authentic or it doesn’t feel like there’s a real person sometimes. But when you are just building this more intimate connection with this smaller audience, then people know they’re talking directly to you. They can comment and you’ll respond, they can send you a DM and you’ll get back to them all of those things and that is so important to make sales and make genuine connections that lead to paying clients. So I mentioned back at the beginning that you are going to make sales in the same way with a small audience as you would with a big audience. So let’s actually go over what that looks like. This is my own flow. I’ve used to sell pretty much every paid offer I’ve had since 2017. And that is because it works. It works for every type of paid offer, even filling one-on-one client spots. This is absolutely what I would do. If I were looking to get five, 10, 15, however many one-on-one clients that you need or want, this is exactly what I would do. I’ve also talked about this a lot in other podcast episodes. This is going to sound familiar. I haven’t changed anything Again. Why? Because it works. I also want to say that there is a lot of resistance to doing this flow. This is what I teach others to do again because it works. But I want you to think about something for a second. How many free webinars, challenges, video series, audio series, private podcasts, all these things, all these free special events how many have you been a part of? For me, I’ve been a part of a lot of them. You probably have too. They’re everywhere, and why is that? Because they work, not just for me. This is not some proprietary thing that I came up with. This is a known thing that actually works across the board. The vast majority of people who have successful online businesses are using this same approach. Now we want to find a flow with it. So can you take something that has been proven to work for years and years through millions and millions of people and find your flow with it? That’s what we want to do. That’s how we can hopefully get rid of some of the resistance that you may be feeling to doing this whole system. So here are the steps. First of all, you are going to invite people to a free special event. This invitation will come via email, via social media, any other platforms you have for your business, your website, those kinds of things. Use any and all avenues that you have for reaching people in your business. Again, if you are just starting out and you don’t have any of these things, that’s okay. But then you are going to use your personal network, your friends, your friends of friends, your friends of family, your coworkers, your former coworkers, your high school classmates, your fellow gym goer, that gal in your yoga class, it doesn’t matter. You are going to use your personal network. That is your audience. At this point, if you are just starting out, you don’t have an email list, you haven’t started your business social media account. Use your personal account. That is exactly what I did to get my first clients when I started my business. This is now 10 years ago and, like I said, things were very different, but still I didn’t have any quote unquote audience to go off of. So my first clients were not even my high school friends, but my high school acquaintances, people I just happened to know from my hometown, and then past coworkers, sisters of friends, that kind of thing. It was very much a personal network thing and that’s because I was posting about my business on my personal Facebook page, which was all I had at the time. So that’s what I used. And then from there it grows because as you get those clients. They have a great experience. They really believe in your work. They tell people. You ask them to tell people. You get testimonials from them all the while. You’re working on building up an audience. You’re posting on social media. You are creating a freebie and inviting people into your world via your freebie. All these things are happening. So your email list is growing. Your social media following is growing. Maybe you start a podcast and you get a listenership and you also have these kind of personal network connections now that are helping to get you clients through referrals as well. You got to start somewhere and if that’s where you are right now, that’s where you got to be. I would say maybe there is a little bit of scrappiness to that, to really reaching out to your personal network. But if you want a business that’s sometimes required and it’s okay and there is a really good chance that your personal network there are a lot of people who need what you have to offer, even if it’s not directly, but, like I said, maybe it’s a sister of a friend or a mom of a co-worker or something like that you can use who you know to start your business. So don’t feel discouraged if you don’t have a social media started yet, you don’t have an email list and all these things that you were going to build over time. Don’t be discouraged in thinking that you can’t start your business until those things are going. Get your business going and that is what will encourage those things to grow along with you, and that starts with the personal network. Also, I will mention here that once you have a proven paid offer and a proven flow to getting people interested in your paid offer which usually comes from that special event, comes from a freebie, even before that special event when you have all that set and you know it’s good and you know it’s proven and you know people want it and they’re willing to pay for it, then you can actually look into paid advertising to invite people to that special event too, which will grow your audience quite quickly as well. That’s a huge caveat I would say definitely don’t jump into paid advertising until you have that proof of concept. This is something I’m actually going to do a whole episode on really soon and have an expert come on too as a guest to talk about when you know it’s time to invest in paid advertising. But for now, until you have that really proven process and flow and everything’s working really well in your business. Let’s stick to these free methods, these more organic, just kind of you reaching out, potentially being a little scrappy, if that’s what we want to call it, and inviting people to your free special event. That special event, like I said, could be a workshop, could be a masterclass, could be a challenge, could be a private podcast series, could be a video series. There’s a lot of different options. I personally believe that, for the first time that you are having a special event for your business, a webinar, workshop, masterclass is the way to go. It is the easiest to put together, the least time consuming to put together and has the highest return or, I guess, conversion rate historically over many other types of free events. So it’s given you the biggest bang for your buck. Let’s put it that way. So, anyway, you’re gonna have the special event, you’re gonna invite people. Those people that register for the free event then become your launch list. They are forever part of your audience, they are forever on your email list and for this particular launch, they are going to be the people that you are connecting with to talk about your paid offer. So then you host the special event. You give great value, while leaving kind of the how up to your paid offer, like not giving everything away but really giving some good value, really getting people thinking and understanding kind of what they need to do, why it’s important all that good stuff. And you’re doing so in a very real, very authentic, very engaging way. So people feel that connection with you, they feel comfortable with you, again building that no like and trust. And then, as that special event is coming to a close, you invite those people into your paid offer. You give them a special incentive for being at your event. Like maybe they get a certain discount because they attended, because they signed up, or they get an extra bonus or two because they were a part of the special event. Give them a certain amount of time to take you up on that offer so they know how long they have to decide. It usually helps if it’s a small window versus this super long extended window, because you want them to make a decision while the the info is still fresh. The longer you go, the further it gets into the back of their mind until they just don’t make a decision at all. So you give them this short window to make a decision. You give them an incentive for being a part of your special event and then you will follow up via email with your launch list, whether they attended the special event or not. Maybe they watched a replay. They couldn’t make it. Whatever it is, whoever said, yes, I am interested in this special event, they rose their hand. They are your entire launch list. So then you remind them of this special offer that you have, what’s possible for them if they take you up on this offer, what they’ll leave behind, what they’ll move towards, what’s waiting for them and how they can get started. And you are doing so every day until that offer expires, until the doors close. Like I said, probably going to be a pretty short period of time. I always recommend a four day window. So within those four days, you’re emailing to remind them, you’re giving them something to consider, something to think about, and you’re encouraging them to make a decision one way or the other. And then you have your clients, you have your program participants, you have your course students, whatever it is, whatever your offer is. This happens whether there are five people or 50,000 people, same thing. Just get started, start doing it now, get it perfected, get comfortable with the process now, not when you’re at 50,000, because, to be honest, it’s going to be a whole lot more overwhelming then than it is now with five or 50 or 500. This is the process. This is what I basically lay out for you and write for you and do everything for you inside the Signature Program Bundle. This is the launch process that I have done all the work for you. You just have to plug in your messaging and you have a workshop. You have all of the emails, you have everything you need to properly launch. I literally wrote them for you, so that’s available for you. If this all sounds overwhelming, I have taken that part out and you can learn more about that whole process and what’s included if you head to www.shawnmynar.com and check out my free masterclass going on right now, and that will also give you a special deal into the bundle. But anyway, I digress, let’s talk about some nuances because, yes, this is the process, but without, I guess, some expertise behind it, which, yes, is something that you will learn the more that you do, but can also be learned by someone who has done it before you and has learned kind of the ins and outs of what actually sells, because you can go through this process and it not work. That’s just the reality. There is some nuance to it, of course. First thing, and most important by a landslide is your messaging, something we talk about here a lot. I want you to get super duper clear on the benefits and the transformation of what you are selling, not the paid offer itself. It is not super exciting and not putting your paid offer as a no-brainer in your client’s eyes if you talk about oh, it has 15 modules and all these video lessons and go at your own pace. That stuff’s important and you will include it, but it’s not something you lead with. What you are leading with is the transformation. What will change for them? What will change for their lives? How will their life look when they work with you or after they work with you? What is that desired thing that they are looking to achieve that you can help them achieve? Really, really talk about that in such great detail that they can see themselves in that after because of the work that you’ve done with them. That is your messaging. That is like one piece of your messaging, but really really important. Get super clear on the benefits and transformation and speak to that over and over and over and over again. The next thing is in your kind of delivery, I guess I would say. I think there is just so much to be said for being authentic and real and engaging, speaking to your people, your audience, as if they were friends, not you being the expert, you being the practitioner, you being the coach and them being these people who need help. Yes, that is the relationship, but they will get so much more out of it and they will feel so much more connected if you talk friend to friend. Yes, you are someone that has something that could help them, but you don’t need to showcase your expertise in the way you talk to them. It can be still seen just based on your knowledge and experience and how that comes across. But can you deliver that in a way that feels very friendly, feels like you’re on the same page, like you’re a real authentic person? That is huge. The next thing that will really really super help your sales is making your offer absolute gold, like a total no brainer to your audience. That will be a combination of just really establishing the value of the transformation that will be had by going through your program, going through your course, being a one-on-one client, whatever it is that you’re selling, really showcasing the value and the importance of that transformation that will be happening. That automatically sets it up as like oh, this is a total no brainer, I absolutely need this. But then also making sure the price point is right for what you are doing. That does not mean low, that means right, so big difference there. And the bonuses and the guarantee that makes it a low risk opportunity. All of these things really work with our buyer behavior that all of us have to make it feel like a no brainer to say yes, I feel comfortable investing in this with this person because I want this transformation. It is this dance that we do with every single person who is deciding between yes, I want this, no, I don’t. And when you have the right offer and the right ingredients to your offer, then you have the right steps to make that choice, for that person to make that decision a yes, I absolutely need and want this. Again, all this is stuff I go over inside Signature Program Bundle. And then the last thing is your special event has to be appealing. People have to want to be there. That special event is so important. It is the bridge between hey, I know this person I casually follow them here or I’ve heard their name or whatever into hey, this is a person I really want to work with. I really value the work they do. They clearly know their stuff. This is the person. For me, that is a very important step. It is extremely hard to go from hey, I know this person, I follow them on social media or I get their emails. Sometimes I read them all that stuff, like that very casual connection, to like, oh, all of a sudden, this person has something to buy, but I really I don’t know enough about them, I don’t feel connected enough with them to be able to say, yes, sign me up. We have to have that bridge and that is the special event. So many people want to skip the special event and then, guess what, they are super disappointed when they don’t make the sales they wanted. And it could totally have been avoided if you just spent the time and the energy making this really awesome special free event for your people so they have the chance to get to know, like and trust you. That is my soapbox for special events that I will continue to repeat over and over and over again, because they are so, so valuable to your business and the thing that will bring in sales. Now, to go back to this nuance, though, it has to be appealing. It has to be something that people actually want to attend, want to learn, want to know and are willing to take time out of their day to be there or are willing to sign up and give you their email address to receive those things. Just really think about a valuable, free, special event that you can provide and make it super appealing. Like the title has to be appealing, the subtitle has to be appealing, your messaging for the special event needs to be appealing. That is just as important, if not more important, than the title and subtitle and messaging of your actual paid offer. You got to get people in the door to your free thing in order to get them into the door of your paid thing. So what can you do to really get those people interested in signing up for your special event? So, so important? Now we’re going to wrap this episode up, bringing it back to the beginning. I kind of made this little comment about one thing that is actually much easier to do with a small audience than with a big audience. That really, really works to your advantage, especially when it comes to making sales and that is to personally reach out to people. Now, I know people with big audiences that still do this, but they’re using a team of people to help them reach out and that works and that’s really cool. But how much cooler is it if someone who might be interested in working with you and has been a part of your special event and is on your email list or in your audience on social media, if they get a personal message directly from you, from the person they want to work with, the person that they are considering to be their coach or mentor or practitioner how sweet is that? And you may have the ability to do that if you have a small audience right now, and that is very much to your advantage. So, anyone who showed any interest in your paid offer, send them a personal message directly from you. Make it very obvious that it’s personal. See if you can pull something maybe that you can see on their social media or something you know about them, some sort of conversation maybe you’ve had in the past where you it’s obvious that it’s you and you’re talking just to them and that is a very personal message. Send it via email or via DMs or whatever it is, wherever your connection potentially already is or wherever you feel most comfortable sending it from, and just see if they have any questions offered to schedule a Zoom chat with them to answer those questions or to see if you’re a good fit to continue working together. So this is for people who are on your launch list, people who attended your free event, or people who signed up for your free event but then didn’t attend. What works really well is people who clicked on your sales page but didn’t purchase, and this is something that you should be able to get from your email service provider. Whoever’s sending your emails to your list, you can see the clicks and you can see who clicked, and then you can reach out to them personally. Obviously they’re interested. They were checking out the sales page. Something has kept them from buying and maybe that could be something you could talk about personally with them. That is what I did when I first pivoted and my audience was very, very small. That’s what I did to still get the number of sales that I made, to still keep my business really going. Strong was just really focusing on those personal interactions and sending out personal messages all the time to establish that communication. Start the conversation, because often it’s just people want to talk to you. They just want to, like, air their concerns, they want to get their questions answered by the person, and that really helps get them off the fence and into your paid offer. So it’s worth it, it really works. Yeah, it’s a little bit of time on your end, but that’s often what’s required, and then you have a fan for life too, because you took the time to speak with them personally. So I highly recommend that this is a great time to do it, when you can still keep track of those clicks and those people and you know who attended and who didn’t, and you know you have that ability, with a smaller audience to, like I said, create that really intimate space for them. That often can’t happen with this really big audience. And when someone you know, like I said, you don’t even know if it’s them behind their posts or their emails and if they are reaching out to people personally, it’s not actually them, it’s their team and all that stuff. So this is a great time to do this potentially, and that is something that will really really increase your sales, just by reaching out to them personally, along with doing this whole other flow that I just talked about. Consider that a non-negotiable, and if you need help with that process of getting all that put together and getting people into your special event and getting people into your audience, let me know. I can help. Send me a message and we can chat about it. All right, we’ll leave it at that. Just remember that a small audience is great. It doesn’t really mean anything. It’s still your business to treat it like it’s a big audience, because you never know who’s out there. You never know what can happen and if your intention is to grow your business, you need to show up now as if you have that business already. So if you’ve been waiting for things to get to a certain degree, to have a certain number, quit waiting, do it now. Show up as that person now and you will be floored at how that changes things and how much further your growth can go and how much quicker your growth can go. All right, friends, with that, until next time, take care, hey, wait up before you go. Do you want to know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly. Before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two-minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type. With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident knowing your building a business you love. Head over to www.shawnmynar.com/quiz right now to find out your flow business personality type and once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s www.shawnmynar.com. As always, the link is in the show notes.
Aug 16, 2023 | Podcast
Tired of the relentless social media grind for your flow business? We promise to teach you how to utilize this powerful marketing tool without it consuming your sanity. Join us as we share our unique perspective on maintaining your online presence, one that can alleviate the stress and cease the negative feelings often triggered by the constant upkeep of social media.
We share our personal journey of evolving our perspective on social media. From a space of stress and overwhelm, we’ve found a comforting and productive process that includes a consistent and achievable posting schedule. We delve into the strategies we use to craft engaging content and how we stay responsive to the ever-changing landscape of social media. We’ll also explore how data analysis can guide us to create content that resonates, capture attention with high-quality images and videos and craft posts that captivate your audience.
Finally, we present a liberating outlook on social media – viewing it as a tool for authentic connections rather than a dreaded chore. We discuss how to maintain a social media presence without it consuming all your time and energy. We dive into how we learn to detach from the stressful demands of social media and approach it as a cherry on top of our overall business flow. If you’ve ever wrestled with your feelings towards social media, join us for this insightful conversation packed with practical advice on transforming your online experience into an enjoyable aspect of your flow business.
“I have detached any meaning about me, my business, my success, how much money I can make, I detached any of that to what happens on social media… nothing means anything to me emotionally.” – Shawn Mynar
“Don’t keep posting things that aren’t working. If they are not getting the engagement you want, that means it’s not working.” – Shawn Mynar
“Without detachment, when you are feeling attached to anything, you make something that is completely out of your control mean more than it does.” – Shawn Mynar
Messaging Episodes: Episodes 184-186
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Speaker 1: 0:13
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business that complementsyour life, not complicates it. That’s what we’re doing here Today. We’re talking specifically about how we can use this major source of free marketing in social media for our flow business in a way that feels good and isn’t so daunting, so scary, so overwhelming. How can we really fit social media into a flow business? Now, first things first. I am in no way a social media expert, like not in the least. So this is not a conversation of how to create a viral post, how to gain thousands of followers overnight, how to become an influencer Nope, that’s not what I am an expert in in any way, shape or form, and will not be talking about that For me. What I feel like I can bring to the table in terms of a conversation around social media is how to find peace and let’s even say joy in social media again, how to use it in a way that feels good for you, that isn’t stressful, that isn’t, like I mentioned, overwhelming or scary or all of these things we kind of put behind the idea of social media, and I feel like it’s becoming more and more so as the years progress and as social media becomes more of this like staple really for all businesses, and with that also comes a lot of other stuff that we have to kind of deal with really from like a mental, mindset, energetic perspective over anything else, and that’s what I feel like I can help you do potentially see a different side of things or have a different perspective on social media. So that’s what we’re going to do here in this episode, and the real reason behind having this conversation and the need to even put a whole episode into talking about social media is because, from what I see from talking to a lot of you, is that social media is really one of the biggest blocks to your flow business. It’s something we don’t want to do, maybe, but we feel like we have to, we feel like we should. So that has this like extra weight to it. It’s something that maybe you do and you put a lot of energy into it, but it feels like there’s little reward. It feels like it’s not working. It feels like you know there’s a lot of effort and nothing to show for it and that feels really icky, like not good, not potentially worth it, not a good use of your time. And then again we have that block and it’s something that overall can feel frustrating for some people, can feel confusing, can feel annoying, maybe can feel time consuming. There’s a lot of that negativity, that that low vibe energy, I guess we’ll call it, when it comes to social media. So really that’s why I have these conversations occasionally talking about social media, even though not an expert, don’t know, couldn’t tell you how to gain thousands of followers overnight. So don’t have that kind of expertise, but do have a perspective. So we got to talk about it because of the blocks that you may be having when it comes to social media and, when you do, how that really blocks the flow of the rest of your business Because, like I said, yes, it is a big piece to any business these days, no matter what kind of business you have or want to have, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. And, like I called it at the very beginning, it’s a free marketing tool which was like non-existent 20 years ago. This is a free marketing tool that we have at our disposal in a way to reach so many people from all over the world. That is really quite cool when you think about it that way. And so what if we can find a way to enjoy it, to fully embrace it and to make it a maybe we can even call it semi fun part of your business? Wouldn’t that be nice? And wouldn’t it be cool to look forward to opening up your app, to look forward to posting, to look forward to figuring out what to post and what to say? What if all of that had more of a light feeling to it? And when it did think about it from an energetic perspective, if that’s how you’re approaching it with enjoyment and ease and flow and just be in yourself what kind of energy would that bring to it? And, when it does, how does that attract more people With that? Simply just an energy shift. Not really change in anything else except what you’re infusing and how you’re showing up Energetically to these apps. It’s so cool to think about and it really does make a huge difference, like the days and weeks where I don’t really feel like posting. I’m just not into it, I’m not feeling it, I’m working on something else or whatever, and I post more so from a place of I Should, or I feel like I have to. Those weeks I see a significant decrease in engagement and Reach of new followers and all of these things, so it really does make a difference. So what if we can have this shift, and how would that change things for For your business and you and how you approach these tools that aren’t going anywhere and everyone’s using, and we might as well just embrace and use them to our advantage. Now, before I go any further, let me answer a Question that I know is on some of your minds, and it’s a question I get a lot Do I need to be on social media for my business? Like I said, it’s such a big tool, a powerful tool, a free tool that businesses of all kinds are using these days. But if you absolutely Hate it, if it puts you into a terrible headspace, you don’t have to. That’s your choice and this is your flow business. If you don’t see any possible way how you could ever Shift your Mindset or your headspace around social media any any of them, there’s so many of them now any. If you can’t find any Type of social media that would work for you and your flow business, then don’t do it. There are other ways of getting new people into your world, new eyes on your work. That is possible. Obviously, no matter what, your email list is a non-negotiable. So creating a freebie, getting people on your email list, using other tools to get people to your email list, that’s all that really is necessary. For a successful business is to have an email list where you can Regularly connect with your people. And so what can you use to get people on to your email list? You can use your really great SEO optimized website. That is super important for all of us, but, especially if you’re not going to use social media, you got to get that website optimized and up and Using the right words on your site. You can start a YouTube channel. You can start a podcast. You can use Pinterest. You can pay for advertisements on Google, on Pinterest and, if you do have even just a Facebook account, you can use Facebook ads. There’s a lot you can do that doesn’t require you showing up on social media. Even if you do have Facebook ads, you don’t have to post on social media besides just having that account. So it is possible, but like I said, and I’ve always said, free marketing tool. I mean I’m gonna use it. It’s free, it’s marketing, it’s getting in front of new people in a way that has never been the case in history. Why not use it? It’s not going anywhere. It’s only getting more and more of that kind of environment for businesses. Might as well start getting used to it now and and really take advantage. The reason I kind of thought about this podcast topic and I’m doing it now is Because I was at my acupuncturist’s office last week. I just recently started going to her again after several years probably like since 2020-ish and so she was going through my chart from way back when we were first meeting years ago and Just making sure that we had talked about everything that had been going on then and what was going on now and what we may still need to address and that kind of stuff. And she said so last time you mentioned social media was stressing you out. Is that still something that’s bothering you? And that really kind of caught me off guard, because my relationship with social media has drastically changed over the past couple years, and To kind of be reminded of where my headspace was the last time I saw her was Fascinating, because it is just so different. It’s not remotely a source of stress for me anymore and it brought me back to that time when it was a stressor for me. So just a little history for everyone who’s not familiar and hasn’t been Following me all these years on social media. So I started my Instagram account in March of 2013, so over 10 years ago. That was also right when I started my business, so I immediately started using it for my business and if you were on Instagram, so I guess I should say, just side note real quick when I say social media, for me that’s Instagram. It’s always been my platform of choice, probably always will be. It’s just where I feel most comfortable. But a lot of what we’re gonna talk about today goes for any social media platform. So for me, started Instagram in 2013, immediately started using it for my business. It was a very, very different time. Obviously, as is the case with anything, any sort of platform that starts up and is new, and you know, really social media was still kind of new. Back then, all we had really was like Facebook and my space. I think had already like collapsed, I don’t know, but it was just a different time. It was really easy to get followers. The feed was chronological, hashtags still worked, you could still find people really easily and and so for me, because the feed was chronological, not that many people were on it and posting at the time not nearly what it is today. I posted twice a day for years and then, by 2016 so I’d say three years, three and a half years maybe. Later, I was over 10,000 followers just simply by posting Regularly. I had started my podcast. I had been kind of getting some buzz going on with my podcast, having guests on that posted about that and getting followers. That way, there was just a. It was just easy. Let’s just be honest. It was easy to get followers and so then within a year of that probably, I had doubled that. So then I was over 20,000 followers by 2017 I want to say maybe early 2018. Again, it was a case of just people posting and sharing my content, talking about my podcast and my work and that kind of stuff and and having like pretty big names with a large following talk about my work. That was when I really started to pick things up, and so Instagram became a really big piece of my business. From the very start. It always had been and it was fun. You get a lot of engagement back in those days. You have a lot of likes and comments and you get followers and I Literally made a ton of really good friends, some of who I’m still friends with in real life today because of social media and the vibe that it was back then. And so then I want to say in like let’s see 2019, maybe there were just this shift in Instagram, like the algorithm changed and I’m sure it wasn’t just at this time, I think it was over the course of years, but this is when I really started noticing it. Like the algorithm changed, the engagement was weighed down, there was a lot more ads. You know, it wasn’t chronological, you were just seeing all kinds of random stuff. People weren’t seeing your stuff and Because of that shift from and knowing what it had been and how easy it was to now really seeing quite a big difference. It’s stressed me out, it was a big piece of my business and it stressed me out. So that was really what started this, like me feeling stressed around social media. And then, on top of that, I decided in 2020 to start a brand new account specifically for my business coaching where I really just pivoted. My entire business started over and started over with a brand new social media account, and that was a real challenge, because now I’m starting and if you have started a new account in the past few years, then you know this I’m starting from scratch, oh, in a place that’s already very different than when I did last time. The engagement is different. Having people follow you and find you and see your work is very different. Like, I don’t even think that hashtags are even still working these days. Now there’s like SEO kind of stuff, and it just was a different ballgame. It was a lot harder than the first time that I had created an account and built up my following, and so it all just kind of like, at that point, this like 2020 type situation, which was already a stressful time of life for everyone. On top of that, I just started feeling really weird around Instagram and it started stressing me out to the point that I told my acupuncturist which is kind of crazy that it was ever at that point where I felt like I should share, like me getting on social media, me posting me, not getting out of it. What I’m putting into. It is stressing me out. That was the thing, and so over the past few years, I have made a big switch. I feel like I’ve gotten to a really healthy place with social media where I do actually enjoy it. I feel like I can say it. Is it like my favorite thing to do in my business? You know, creating these posts? No, not really Do. I want to be on video? No, not really, but I do it and I actually enjoy the whole process. I know that it’s a nice addition to my business. I see how it is helping my business. But here’s the big shift. It’s not the only thing I’m hanging my hat on. It’s not the only way people are finding me, it’s not the only, it’s not really at all. The way that I get sales and the income that comes in from my business is not coming from social media. I have a lot of other things built up in my business and this, as I have always talked about for social media, is the cherry on top. So there’s a couple of reasons why and how I had that shift. I was able to shift my perspective and get to this healthy place where I post on social media regularly at a clip. That feels good for me and my flow business and I enjoy it and it doesn’t stress me out. It really doesn’t really have any sort of emotional impact on me whatsoever. The first and most important reason is because I have completely detached and not like I post in ghost, like I just post something and then don’t look at it for 48 hours until it’s time to post again and just don’t pay attention to social media at all. I don’t do that. I do engage. I do log on and scroll and check out comments and reply to DMs and start these conversations and stuff. So that’s not what I mean by detaching. I’m also not a robot with it. I’m not just like repurposing content and although I do so, we’re going to talk about that but I’m not just like robotic with it. I’m not having a non emotional space or vibe to my account either. What I mean is I have detached any meaning about me, my business, my success, how much money I can make, the impact I can have, what I have to offer, how I can help people. I’ve detached any of that to what happens on social media. There is no attachment, no meaning behind the number of likes I get, how many people comment or share or how many new followers I get. Nothing means anything to me emotionally or it doesn’t answer any questions I have about my business. Like can my business be successful? Well, only if I get a certain number of followers or likes or comments. That’s not happening in my brain anymore. I have posts that do really super well and get a lot of engagement and get a lot of likes and shares and saves and all that stuff, and I have posts that totally flap. Both of those happen on the regular and neither one of those means anything Beyond just data. And it wasn’t really until I was able to fully detach from everything social media related and the success of my business and how my business is going to go and how valid I am. When I could detach from all of that. Then I was able to see the treasure trove of data that is available for your business when you post on social media regularly. It’s a very like analytical way to look at social media, which I’m not the most analytical person although you have to be to some degree to have a business, of course, and know what works and what doesn’t but it’s like. Once I was able to take out the emotion of social media and just look at it in this very analytical way, it was like a whole world opened up and it really is almost like you’re treating it like an experiment, a constant experiment for your business. Every single post is like a mini experiment, and when you treat it like that and when you look at it like that and you detach the emotions and just see it in this analytical perspective, you get this very clear path, very clear signs of what works and what doesn’t for your business and what your people want to see and what they don’t care about, what gets their attention and what doesn’t, what really resonates with your people. And not only does that help you figure out what to post and what to say on social media, but also for the entire rest of your business. Every other piece of content can really be determined and you can really get some direction with it and a lot of clarity around it if you just start looking at these posts as mini experiments and collect data all the time. So when I have posts that do really super well, why did they do well? What was it that caught people’s attention? What got them to hit that like button? What got the algorithm to really push it out to more people? And then the same thing goes when they don’t do well. Why didn’t it do well? Why didn’t it resonate? Why did people scroll by without looking? Why did the algorithm not really think that was a good thing to push out to more people. That’s all it is. And when you can figure that out and find the equation that works for your audience at that time, that they are resonating with, that, they are enjoying, that really hits a button with them, then you know, do more of that. And when you see things that don’t work okay, that’s not working right now, that’s not the right way to engage my audience. I’m going to stop doing so much of that so you can see what to put more energy into and what to put less energy into. And also knowing which I think we all know by now how quickly social media changes. What works now and that might be different next week and the week after and the week after I know for sure, like how fast it moves something that I posted like a very specific real type post that said something in a specific way. I post that one week and it does amazingly well. And then two weeks later I post something very similar and it flops. So it’s. This ongoing experiment is actually really cool and really fun to see what’s working now. What do people like now? What really gets people to slow their scroll and take notice and read more or comment or like or share it with their friend. What gets people to stop? And that is an experiment and it’s data collection and really fun to see it that way, I think. So you are going to become an investigator of your business using your social media account, and when you do that and this is something I don’t see a lot of people doing that is my biggest piece of advice. When you become an investigator and you start looking at the data and using that to your advantage and figuring out what that means for your audience and what you should and shouldn’t post, now Don’t keep posting things that aren’t working. If they are not getting the engagement you want, that means it’s not working. So to continue to post that kind of post or say that kind of thing when it’s not working is just a waste of time and energy at that point. Yes, it may work at some point and you can go back and revisit that kind of post or that topic later, but right now it’s not working. So stop posting that kind of thing and mix it up. Maybe you just need a different kind of image, maybe you need a different font. Maybe people don’t resonate with your branding, which is very likely Like the more simple I get with my posts, the better they do. At this point, I’m just have the most basic font and the most basic colors and it works. They work way better than anything I’ve done in the past. So maybe you need to simplify. Maybe you need to have a video instead of an image. Maybe your videos and images are too fuzzy or bad quality or boring. That is real. People are picky these days and they can be because of how optimized everything is and how easy it is to take high quality videos and photos. So if your photo isn’t fuzzy or bad quality or low light or something, and same thing goes with your videos, that’s a very easy switch. That then could get you a lot more engagement. So make sure you are using the highest quality video that your phone can handle. You may need to switch your settings. So if you are questioning this at any point right now because I see a lot of this so just stop right now and Google highest quality video settings for whatever the name of your phone is Do that. You’ll be shocked at how much can change just by you having a higher quality video or image. So it could be simple things like that. That is something that you can try in your next experiment. Post something very similar, but do it in a higher quality and see what happens. I don’t know if it’s a similar post, but use more simplified font and a more simplified background and see what happens. If people can actually read it, hey, guaranteed there’s gonna be a lot more engagement. And, of course, same thing goes for your caption. Is your caption boring? Are you using practitioner speak Instead of really speaking to your audience, speaking in a way that they will understand? Are you catching their attention in that first line, that hook that we have right at the very beginning, that makes people want to stop and hit the read more button? There’s just so much there that you can again be an investigator and Collect the data and then see what’s working and what doesn’t, switch some things up and kind of this controlled environment to see what helps and what doesn’t. It’s really fun and maybe that’s just me talking, maybe you won’t think that’s fun at all, but it definitely takes out the emotion from it and puts in this more analytical like hey, this could really help my business if I just figure out what my audience wants, what they resonate with, and and leave what doesn’t. So I’m gonna figure that out and I’m gonna keep figuring it out and I’m gonna use that to help move my social media account forward, but then also my entire business, because, likely, if they enjoyed it when I talked about this In this Instagram post, they’re probably also gonna like it if I write an email to them about this topic or, you know, have a podcast episode about that topic so you can use it for the rest of your business. So what do you do that stops their scroll? Remember, we have like point oh, two seconds to get someone’s attention as they’re scrolling. They’re not gonna stop for a post that’s boring, that’s too busy, that’s hard to read, that takes too long to figure out the point, that’s blurry or fuzzy, like. Remember all that. So what are you doing that stops their scroll? And what are you doing that doesn’t? And when you find those things that aren’t working, shift them. Don’t keep doing the same things that aren’t working. That’s not gonna make them start working better if you just keep trying and trying and trying with something that’s not working. Like I said, maybe in a month or two months they will, but right now they’re not. So what can you shift? How can you change things so that they do start working. Okay, that was a little bit of a side tangent, we got off track a little bit. Let’s get back on track and continue talking about detachment. This is how you can fit social media into your flow business, because without detachment, when you are feeling attached to anything but let’s talk specifically about our topic today you make something that is completely out of your control Mean more than it does. You make it mean something, you attach a motion to it, you attach a false narrative to that and as soon as that happens, well then there’s that block. That’s in your flow business. There is that big rock in the middle of the river that you Move towards, that you stay stuck on and everything else around you is flowing as you continue to stay stuck. So Getting to that place where you posting On social media doesn’t mean anything. You getting a certain number of likes or comments doesn’t mean anything. You getting or not getting a certain amount of followers doesn’t mean anything. And, like I said, when you switch to that more analytical perspective when you become an investigator collecting data and every single post is an experiment, that really helps with that detachment. So see if you can move into that headspace. And then the second reason that social media Is no big deal for me these days is because I’ve massively simplified it, and let me give you some tips that have helped me save time and energy these days with social media. Um, it’s really simplified the process. So you know, I don’t have to feel like overwhelmed or anything when trying to post on social media or trying to figure out what to say. Uh, just simplifying the whole process is so, so key. First of all, figure out what you can commit to and stick with it. How many days per week Can you commit to posting every single week? How many posts can you share? So, for me, I’ve really come to the conclusion that I’m like a three post a week kind of gal. I can commit to that. I can do it all in one day and we’re going to talk about that in a sec and be done with it. That is doable for me. I can do that every single week. Sometimes, yeah, it’s only two, sometimes it’s four or five if I’m promoting something that week, but for the most part, I commit to three times a week, posting on instagram every single week and I have done that. That is my commitment, that is what I can do Consistently and that’s all super important is to be consistent. Like I mentioned, something that helps with that is remembering every post gives you more and more data, so the more data that you can get, obviously, the better your whole business is going to be, and the only way to do that is to post consistently. And so what can you commit to? If it’s only once a week, that’s fine. Once a week every week is better than ghosting your social media for three months and then posting for five days. That doesn’t work. So once a week, that’s what you can do. Do it so once you figured out your posting schedule and what you can commit to consistently every week. The second thing is to figure out your focuses and Stick with them. So, yes, you’re now posting consistently and this is what you’re posting about. Now. Some people, like social media experts, kind of want you to pick these pillars that you go by. I personally haven’t really ever been able to stick to that. I need a little bit more give to that. Um, it just works better for me to have a little more fluidity, but I do have these focuses that I stick to. So, for example, for me, I have four Areas of focus, and I think these are really good. These are really general. I think pretty much all of you could, uh, stick with these four and it would really work for your business, but that’s totally up to you. You can use one of these, two of these four of these. You can have totally different focuses, up to you, but I do want you to think about it and really figure out A way to get some sort of organization or flow into what you’re posting. So for me, the first one is encourage. These are typically like mindset shifts, to consider motivational quotes, that kind of thing. This is something that you could try. Maybe your audience loves Quote type things, like text type posts, like mine does. They always do super well. Maybe they don’t, but that’s something that you could try and see what the feedback is like on those type of posts. The second type of post that I do is an inspiration post. This is really showing or talking about what life could be like after their transformation. When they do the thing that I coach people how to do, what life could be like. This also usually includes my story as kind of the after, so really focusing on the after or the transformation what life could be like, how things could be feeling or going or or what they could be doing or will be doing when they go through your transformation. And then the next one I typically do is an educational post, and what this isn’t is you getting into coach or practitioner mode and trying to teach people something as this, like authority. Now, yes, this is a very good place to to establish your authority, but you don’t have to put on your practitioner, coach hat and start talking in that language here, and that’s obviously. I’ve talked about this a bazillion times. That is what I see so many of you doing, and you’re not going to get engagement on those posts, except for, maybe, people that are also coaches and practitioners, which probably aren’t your market but your want to be clients, are not going to engage in those posts because it’s too over their head. So just because you are educating doesn’t mean you have to be all authoritative with it. How can you educate and still stay on their level? Use their language? So this could be like three tips to blah, blah, blah. Five examples of how to x, y, z. You know these. How to type posts or tip type posts. Those always do really well. They also do really well as reels, and you don’t even have to be in the video, you know, you can just have a background with your three tips. That always works really well. So, again, this is something to potentially try for your audience. And then the last type of post that I do is an invitation post, and this is really like to invite people into my freebies or my offers, and obviously that’s not just like hey, I have this free thing, go get it. It’s really kind of laying the foundation, the background, why it’s important, why it’s something that they should should sign up for, what they’ll get out of it, why it’s important, all that stuff. So, and this is all the messaging work that we have talked about so much here, and if you haven’t listened to those episodes, I’ll try to link them in the show notes. But there’s so many about how to talk about your stuff. You can’t just say here’s this thing, which is what so many people do, but we can’t do that. So that’s really it. Those four types. I just kind of cycle through every. You know, and I’m not in any like okay, today it’s this one, and then the next day it’s that one and the next day it’s that one. It’s not that it’s more fluid. Like I said, for me, that’s what my flow business needs is to have that fluidity based on what comes up that I want to share that day. But you can absolutely be more structured with it and just cycle through all through all four over and over again. That totally works. You just need to figure out what works best for you and what you can stick with and what you can commit to and actually do. The third thing that has really helped me simplify my approach to social media is to reuse old posts. This is a game changer. If you have been posting for a while on your account and you’re still talking about the same stuff, go back like six months, three months, even a year, whatever it is. Go back and find old posts that did well back then and try them again. You can just repost the same thing, like you’d have to probably find the same image or redo the same image, but then you can just copy and paste the caption and just repost. Or you can like what I’ve been doing is something that I posted as a post back in the day. I’ll redo it, but as a real, I’ll just kind of rejigger it a little bit and try something slightly different. But it’s kind of amazing how posts that were popular a year ago still work today. And it’s almost no work on my end except for just copying and pasting that post and then potentially finding that same image again or switching out the image or something like that. But super easy and has really been working well on my end. So that might be something you can try. And again, it’s just data, it’s just something to notice. Like this topic worked well six months ago, still works well today. Now I know that something that is kind of always going to be there, always something that will probably do pretty well. And then the last thing that is so important, an absolute game changer for me that I started doing a year or so ago is to batch prep all of my posts. I am not really that much of a batch worker like some people are, but for this I have fully adopted the strategy and it really works. First of all, I feel like my posts are a lot higher quality because you know, in the past, when I was just figuring out what to post every day, that day it would be kind of on the fly. I wouldn’t always feel like it. It would be interrupting something I actually wanted to do so I would just kind of half-asset and just post something, whereas when I have dedicated time so for me it’s every Monday morning the first half of my day is figuring out what I’m posting on social media that week and creating all the posts, writing all the captions, getting them all ready to go. So all I have to do is hit post for the rest of the week. You can use a scheduler I don’t use one, but you totally could. I just put them all as drafts and then hit go when I’m ready. But that has just changed the absolute game for me, because now I only have to think about social media once a week and what I’m going to post. And if we’re talking in terms of consistency, that is the way to be consistent because they’re done as long as that is in my schedule, that that’s what I’m doing that day for this period of time, nothing else on my calendar to do. In that time they get done. I don’t have to push them and I don’t have to try to post something when I don’t feel like it and the energy isn’t right and I just want to get it done. That’s kind of a waste too. So really figuring out what I can commit to, how much I’m willing to do in that period of time. So for me, monday mornings, those three posts, I get them done and get them all ready to go. I don’t think about it the rest of the week, and that has really helped and also helps with the detachment piece to it too. So those are my tips. Last thing, before we sign off, is to find a little bit of fun in it, and I know that can be a challenge, primarily because we have some lower vibe emotions attached to social media. But what if it could be fun? What if it didn’t really mean anything? What if you already knew your business was going to be successful, no matter what happens on social media? That day, and when you have that detachment and you have everything all figured out and it feels a little bit more simple and doable, what could change? And remembering, most importantly, what social media is really here to do yes, it’s a place to build your business, but it’s not a place to just be promoting your business all over the place and be really stuffy with it. And business, business, business. It’s a social place, social media, and it’s a place for you to be you, a place for you to make some friends, have some conversations, make some connections, meet some new people, get to know people and have people get to know you. And going back to last week’s conversation, for us introverts, we get to do all of that with that screen acting as our barrier and protecting our energy. So you have this place that can build your business and be a really great tool for you to just make some new connections and have people get to know you better. With that barrier still in place as an introvert, it doesn’t have to be a serious place and really it shouldn’t be a serious place and it doesn’t have to be you being professional all the time, and it shouldn’t be, because that’s not what makes people stop their scroll, that’s not what builds that connection. Every single time I have hosted a coaching call or anything and asked people what is attractive of other people, you follow other people, you admire other people’s work, you enjoy it’s always the same answers. It’s always because they’re down to earth, they’re relatable, they’re real, they have a good personality, they feel that connection. Just because of all those things, they’re real people and that’s what we’re looking for and that’s what your clients are looking for too. So how can we apply that to what we’re doing over on the gram or wherever you’re showing up on social media these days. Remember the real purpose of social media connection and communication. And when it comes to your business, it’s specifically just about your people getting to know you better and you getting to know your people better. It’s not, and really shouldn’t be, your primary sales tool. It’s not and really shouldn’t be your only audience builder. It’s not the only way people will know about your offer or your freebie. You have other stuff going on Again, things we’ve talked about over and over here on the show. You have those other things built up in your business too, and I really feel like, without those things in place and really starting to feel like social media is your only chance. It’s the only way for people to find you. It’s the only way to build up your email list. When you put yourself in that bucket, that’s when it becomes really heavy. It’s like you’re putting way too much weight on one thing that, like I’ve said, you don’t really have any control over, and that’s when it can really start feeling emotional and can really have this attachment thing coming with it, so when you can take a step back and see what else is going on in your business and how other ways that people can find you and get to know you. And then, as I’ve always said, have social media be the cherry on top of your overall business flow. That is when things really start feeling good and just as a little dangle of the carrot. I’m going to talk more next week about a tool that I use to really get in front of the right people and build my email list and everything without relying on posting on social media and the organic reach that social media brings. Let me talk about that next week. So be on the lookout for that, but let’s see if we can get to that place where we can be more detached with it, not only because now it’s an experiment, but also because you have other things going on in your business to build your audience, to build your email list, to get people to know, like and trust you, and you also have social media to help with that as another tool, not the only tool. So a couple of different ways we can think about it, different areas you might be feeling, different mindsets you might be in with it right now. I hope that just having this conversation has helped all of you in some way in how you can approach social media, how you can use it to your advantage and see it from what it really is. And with that I will leave it there. Let me know what you think of the show over on Instagram, of course. Send me a DM at Shawn Mynar. And until next time, take care, hey, wait up before you go. Do you want to know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly. Before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type. With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident knowing your building a business you love. Head over to shawnmynar.com/quiz right now to find out your flow business personality type and once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s shawnmynar.com/quiz and, as always, the link is in the show notes.
Aug 9, 2023 | Podcast
As an introvert and former personal trainer, I know just how challenging it can be to reconcile a quiet nature with the demands of entrepreneurship. I’ve walked this rocky path, from disregarding my introverted needs early in my career to experiencing burnout, and finally, finding a way to create a successful online business that respects my need for solitude. In this episode, I invite you on a journey of discovery and learning, unpacking my own experiences and exploring the potent mix of being an introvert, a helper, and an entrepreneur, guided by insights from Susan Cain’s book, Quiet.
If you’re an introvert who wants to build a thriving online business that aligns with your need for peace and quiet, this episode is for you. I’ll share with you the advantages of adopting an online business model, from the comfort of working from your own home, to reaching a wider audience without the energy drain of stepping onto a live stage. You’ll learn how to tailor your business to your needs, create effective marketing plans, and launch a signature program that respects your energy reserves. Together, we’ll explore how you can transform your introverted nature into a powerful tool for entrepreneurial success. Join me as we navigate this unique intersection of introversion and entrepreneurship, and lay the foundation for a burnout-proof online business.
“You are free to be an introvert and to protect your time and energy, and to take care of yourself and to spend time doing the things that you love.” – Shawn Mynar
“Online business is the best business model for introverts.” – Shawn Mynar
“Really consider more specifically what you want your business to look and feel like knowing that all of that is possible, all of that can be packaged up into this really wonderful, gentle, cozy thing for you and that is your flow business.” – Shawn Mynar
Burnout-Proof Your Business Masterclass – https://shawnmynar.com/burnoutproof
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Speaker 1: 1:17
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business that you love, that works for you, your life, your family, your hobbies, what you want to do with your time and something that you really truly love to do. I just got back from a little summer road trip and I’m feeling refreshed and recharged and excited about the rest of the year and everything that we’re doing here on the show and in my business. It’s just, it’s such a great feeling and this kind of goes into what we’re going to talk about today to go on vacation and love being away and being on vacation and taking a break and getting away from everything and thinking about nothing of importance really, but then coming back and being excited to come back and excited to get to work and excited for what’s ahead and how I get to spend my time and my days. It’s something I’m so, so grateful to have built for myself and am now also so grateful to be able to help you build that for yourself too, because it really just makes a world of difference to be excited about what you’re spending your time doing and how you’re helping people and what you’re putting out into the world and what you’re building for yourself and your family and your life, and how you spend your short amount of time here that we have on this earth, in this body. So that is where I’m at feeling really refreshed, but also feeling so grateful and excited for what’s ahead. And we’re kicking it off today with this episode, specifically talking to my introvert friends, which I know is a big portion of all of you out there listening. It’s a lot of you and even if you don’t consider yourself an introvert you’re more of that extroverted nature. I still think that you will find some value in what we’re going to talk about today and even resonate a little bit with what I’m going to say, even though you technically don’t have that introverted nature. But this one was inspired by the book Quiet by Susan Cain, which I just got done reading a few weeks ago. If you haven’t read it, it’s a great book. Especially if you’re an introvert. It really helps you kind of understand your place in the world, especially when it feels like the world is becoming more and more extroverted, more and more loud and noisy and needing to show up and be everywhere and have this certain type of energy when, for introvert, that’s not really how you like to run your life, that’s not what feels good to you. The subtitle of the book is the Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. So that gives you an idea of the theme of the book and it really is so good, especially for us introverts. I wanted to do this episode in particular because, first of all, I am an introvert, which I think everyone knows by now. Even if this is your first time listening to the show, I think I’ve made that clear that I’m an introvert. I’m also a helper. I’ve always been a helper, from a very young age. I love helping people. I love connecting with people in that way and being someone who can provide even just a listening ear or some support, some guidance, a hug, whatever is needed. I love being that role in other people’s lives. And I’m also an entrepreneur. I have an entrepreneurial spirit I again have from a very young age and really need to be doing my own thing, doing what I love, figuring out what that is for me and making that my livelihood in a very big, big way. Like, feel that very much on a day-to-day basis that this is what I meant to do. I meant to be my own boss. I meant to have my own thing going. So the combination of all three of those, I think, is a little unique. It’s a pretty interesting combination and I really have gone now in my business in the direction of helping people who are also in this unique position of being an introvert, of being a helper, wanting to make that meaningful impact on others’ lives and also having that entrepreneurial spirit. How can we combine all three of these things to really work for us? And over the years the past decade plus that I have had my own business I figured out how to make that happen for myself, and now I’m helping others make that happen for them. Now, back when I started my business as a personal trainer, at the time I really thought that I was just going to have to suck it up, ignore my introverted needs, my needs for space and time and aloneness, and just suck it up and see clients all day, have this super busy schedule, be around people all day long, even when I really felt like I needed my introvert cave and just I have to deal with it, because that’s how my business had to run, that’s how I was going to be making money to support myself. So I had to kind of let that part of me ignore it. I guess it’s not like it went away, but I just had to ignore that desire and I did. And, as I’ve shared before many times now, a few years into that kind of business, I burned out, and that burnout, in combination with being sick and needing time and energy to heal my body and to get well, I created my first signature program. That was my solution to be able to continue helping the people that I needed to help, that I wanted to help and helping more of them, without it taking any more time and energy from me and in fact allowed me to get back the time and energy that I had now spent a few years just completely ignoring and just filling up my calendar as much as I could because that was my only way of making money and switching that all around and figuring out another way to do things and, as we all know, I think this is now what I help other coaches and practitioners do and to be able to build that burnout proof business. So you are free to be an introvert and to protect your time and energy and to take care of yourself and to spend time doing the things that you love, whether that be out in the world hanging out with a bunch of people or in your own introvert cave by yourself, taking care of yourself and getting back your energy, reviving your energy, which is what we, as introverts, very much need. We need the time and space to do that. But then also, specifically, not only being an introvert but wanting to help people and wanting to make this impact on others’ lives and in the world and wanting to be there for others, but then also having to kind of balance that with your own needs to have that time to recharge, to be alone, to need to go into a cave, to need more free time and flexibility for yourself and getting drained by too much interaction with other humans, which is the reality for introverts. So how do you balance this desire to want to be there for others in such a big way but also need to protect that space and time and energy for yourself? It’s such an interesting place to be in as this introvert that’s also a helper, and I’m just taking the time to kind of explain this because I know this is a lot of you listening and I want you to realize how kind of unique of a situation. This is, in a good way. It’s not, like this, bad thing, but it’s definitely something to consider in yourself to make sure that you’re not, like me, ignoring certain parts of you because you think that’s the only way that you can help other people and make an impact the way that you want to make, and also not ignoring that desire that you have to keep things simple, to keep things small, to have lots of time for yourself, to not be forward facing in front of clients all day or having to interact with people all day, really recognizing what being an introvert means for you and how you can use that to your advantage, versus having to ignore that aspect of you in order to do what you want. You don’t have to do that. You don’t have to pick and choose, you don’t have to decide and you don’t have to ignore aspects of you that are actually really important to you and really important to this world, which is what that book Quiet kind of really shows you and brings to light for people who are on the more introverted side of things. So I’m going to be referencing that book a lot. There are certain pieces that I kind of highlighted that I wanted to make sure we talk about in this episode. So, just so you know, it’s the book Quiet by Susan Cain. Yes, I definitely recommend it if you are an introvert or even if you have introverted family or friends that you want to kind of understand a little better. Great book, okay. So now that I’ve kind of laid that groundwork, the whole reason is because the goal of this episode is to let you know, remind you, convince you, maybe even that online business is the best business model for introverts. And I know some of you might be like, well, yeah, but you have to put yourself out there, you have to be the face of your business, you have to be the center of attention. So nope, that is not for introverts. Or you have to be on video, you have to do social media, you have to put on webinars, you have to talk in front of groups of people, you have to record podcast episodes. All these things we talk about so much here on the show and are a big part of having an online business. You may be feeling like, no, those are not for introverts. And yet here I am, the most introverted of all introverts talking into a mic every week for the past eight and a half years. So how is that and that’s what I’m going to talk about today and why really, the things that you do have to do or I don’t want to say have to do some of the important potential components of an online business are actually perfect for an introvert, and not just an introvert, but an introvert who wants to help people and be an entrepreneur, have their own business, do their own thing. So let’s chat a little bit about why. First of all, you get to decide exactly how you want your business to look and feel, which means you get to make it work for you. There are so many different iterations of having an online business and you know they all work. There’s nothing that is totally out of the question like. You absolutely can’t do it this way. There is no one right thing you have to do, no one right way to do anything. You have the flexibility to decide what that looks and feels like for you. So, going to the book quiet. Most introverts prefer a more gentle way of doing things and because of this, I can also imagine that introverts want a more gentle approach to business. I know I do, and if you think about all the other businesses, business types in the world. Most business models would never ever be able to call themselves gentle, to be seen as gentle, I think if you ask a non online business owner about their business, very rarely would any of them use the word gentle to describe their business. But with an online business, you absolutely can have a very gentle business. I could easily call my business gentle and that would be very accurate and reflective of how I built it, how I wanted it to look and feel. So if you want a more gentle, more simple, more easy going, more flow business, you can have that in an online business. You don’t want to see clients at all, don’t? You only want to have like five clients at a time, five VIP type clients at a time Cool, do that. You don’t want to have a big team to manage Don’t have one. You want to work from your couch in your sweatpants Cool, do it. You only want to work four days a week or you only want to work from eight to three every day Great, set it up that way. The level of flexibility and customization for your business is so high, is so strong, and you really truly can have it be customized to you and your life and your needs and your energy and your health and your well-being all of those things are important to you. Now let me be clear. I am in no way saying that there isn’t work involved, that you don’t have to hustle at times, that there won’t be times where you do have to expend more energy. You do have to work hours that maybe aren’t your ideal it’s not like it’s always butterflies and rainbows and this simple, easy, flowy, gentle business. You’ll have to step out of your comfort zone. You’ll have to do new things, you’ll have to do things that make you nervous. You’ll have to do scary things. You’ll have to feel the fear and do it anyway. And if you’ve listened to even one other episode of this podcast, then you know all of those things are part of building a business. Even if it is a flow business, even if it is a gentle business, those things still exist and you can also have a business that feels very good and actually it’s all part of the overall flow. It’s part of the process. But just know that the business that you’re working on that may feel scary at times, that may make you nervous at times, that may bring your ego out and give you all the imposter syndrome, all the scary thoughts that business can and will be completely tailored to you, and doesn’t that make it feel a little easier, a little more worth it to get out there and do that scary thing to know that it’s this really awesome business that’s built completely for you by you. All right, the second reason why an online business is the best business for introverts is in this kind of piggybacks off of what we’re just saying, but I just wanted to point it out specifically. Here you get to run your business from where you feel most comfortable with the schedule you feel most comfortable with, and this is probably the biggest thing for introverts needing to be in a non stimulating environment, a place they feel comfortable in, and also needing a schedule that allows for lots of me time. Those are some big key points that differentiate introverts from extroverts needing that space, needing this non stimulation, in order to do their best work. So for me, for example, right now, as I’m recording this podcast episode, I’m in my comfy clothes, I just got out of the shower, my hair is wet, I’m in my home office with my dogs laying next to me. It feels very cozy, it feels very safe, it feels very non stimulating and very comfortable, where I can create my best work. And while all of this is happening and I’m feeling so good in this space while recording this podcast episode, the reality is, in a few days, thousands of people are going to be listening to this. You are listening to this and it still was something that I could do in a space that feels comfortable for me as an introvert, but still get the word out, still communicate, still connect with a ton of people while protecting my own space and energy. And how cool is that? It’s not like I had to get on some big, giant stage in front of thousands of people all at once, which would absolutely terrify me, probably to the point where I couldn’t do it. I think the most I’ve ever spoken in front of it like on stage, was maybe a couple hundred. And yes, that was terrifying and I’ll talk about how I made that happen. As an introvert coming up, but to not have to do that, for that not to be the only way, and not really even to be remotely the best way to communicate with thousands of people, to know there are so many more avenues, to do that in a place that feels comfortable for you, is phenomenal, and that’s just not something that most people can say until they really put their business into this online space, all right. The third thing your screen acts as a barrier. We don’t get in a real life situation so you can communicate more freely than in person. Like I was just saying, with this podcast a quote from the book perhaps social media affords us the control we lack in real life, socializing the screen as a barrier between us and the world. The same person who would never raise her hand in a lecture hall of 200 people might blog to 2000 or 2 million without thinking twice. The same person who finds it difficult to introduce himself to strangers might establish a presence online and then extend these relationships into the real world. I find this to be so, so true. Back when I first started, the very first thing I started to get out into the world in the online space was my blog, and at the time I couldn’t have spoken to 20 people in the same room, and yet I was able to blog, to write my blogs and put them out into the world. And some of those blogs are still out there today and they’ve probably been read by hundreds of thousands of people. But I could never, ever, have done that without the barrier of the screen and, like I said, same thing with this podcast without the barrier of the mic, social media and the barrier of the phone. Really, all of these tools that we use to connect and communicate with tons of people, thousands, hundreds, millions, whatever it is that is something that is now afforded to us as introverts, without having to be in that socializing type environment, face to face with people which is sometimes really great for introverts and sometimes isn’t and to be able to have that is so powerful, to be able to have that type of connection and that level of connection while still feeling comfortable and protecting your own energy and boundaries and space. Now, I do have a caveat here. We’re not talking about shyness. So in the book Susan describes shyness as the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating. So there’s a difference there and from the definition of shyness it seems to me like this may be more of an ego getting in the way, kind of thing that is fear-based. It literally says the fear of social disapproval or humiliation. We’ve talked about that a lot on this show the fear of putting yourself out there, fear of judgment, fear of disapproval, all of those things and how to get over it, because it’s something that can really hinder your ability to put your work out into the world. And I used to be very shy. It used to be introvert and very shy. I am no longer shy. I think I have done the inner work to get over that as an adult and to be able to calm those fears and put them aside enough to put my work out there, because I know how important that is and my ability and desire to help other people is stronger than those fears of judgment, failure or disapproval that would potentially hinder someone from putting anything out into the world. So that if you are experiencing that, that fear of putting your work out into the world, of showing up for your business, of being on social media, of having a podcast, all of those things because of fear, then just know that that’s not introversion. You may also be an introvert, but those fears are something else and it’s not actually a characteristic of being an introvert. So it’s shyness, it’s ego, it’s things that can be worked on because it’s a mindset experience that you’re having a mental experience. So, moving on to the fourth one, because you’re doing something you love and your work is important to you, you are able to do some quote, unquote, extrovert things. And then you have that time and space built in to recover from those extrovert things, which is another huge characteristic of being an introvert is, yes, if you do, just say, go to a party, go to a networking event, do something where it is very extroverted in nature, you recoup your energy spent by being alone, by being in your comfy space, your introvert cave, as we’ll call it, and that’s how you recharge. Another quote from the book Quiet introverts are capable of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important people they love or anything they value highly. I think, no matter what, there are going to be some extroverted things you’ll have to do in your business every once in a while. But, according to Susan, when it’s something you love to talk about, something that’s important to you which I hope is the case for what you’re building your business around I hope it’s something you love, something you’re passionate about. When it is, you’re able to do those extroverted things for the sake of this work, you can have the energy to make that happen. You can do it. You can do it and you want to do it for the sake of your work, for the sake of something you love, something you consider important. This is how I feel when I speak on stage. As I mentioned earlier, I have back when I was in the nutrition space. I probably spoke in front of an audience on stage like eight to ten times and, like I said, some of them were hundreds of people and it was challenging. It’s not something that comes naturally to me, it’s not something I’m comfortable with, it’s not something I want to do, even, yes, super nervous. But I did it and it was great and it was fine and it was actually quite fun all the times. But the reason I was able to do it and the reason that I wanted to do it was because of what I was doing. I was very passionate about what I was talking about. I knew it was very important of a message to convey and I also knew it was really important for my business to do those kinds of things. It’s the same way I feel about networking events or things like that. Not fun, not what I really want to be doing feels very against my nature, but also something I’m willing to do. I’m able to do because it matters, because it’s important to me, it’s important to my business and it’s something that I can do, even if it’s totally outside of my introvert bubble. Yes, I get nervous every single time. I get nervous just walking into a room with people and sitting down for like a conference. I still get nervous in big groups of people, but I do them. I’m totally fine doing them. I feel good after I do them. I believe in the work I’m doing and I believe that it matters and that is what feeds that ability to do those extrovert things. So all this to say yes, if you want to introvert and you still want your own business and you want to help people in a meaningful way, it is entirely possible to do so without having to give up any of these things or to ignore any of these parts of you. With an online business, and because of everything I just talked about, that online piece is really key here because it allows you to reach more people, to communicate with more people, to help more people without the energy drain of being in person or being in an environment. You’re not comfortable in working hours, you’re not comfortable with not having the free time and flexibility that you need these things that are really important to us. Knowing all of this, and whether you have an online business or not right now, these are the things that you need to make it happen. This is it. Do this and you got yourself an online business. First of all, you need a paid offer. How do you want to help your clients and make money while still honoring your needs? You have to figure out what that is for you and, as you are probably well aware of by now, my recommendation is a signature program for you. If you want to introvert and a coach or practitioner, it really, really is just the best business model for you, for your needs. It allows you to help the people that you want to help and really put out some content in a meaningful way and provide that support for people, but also do so in a way that protects your time, your space, your energy and allows you the ability to uncap your income potential and make the money that you want to make. So there’s just such a win-win situation, especially for people like me who need that time and space and flexibility and just being comfortable in what you’re doing, but also have this big desire to reach more people, to help more people, to make an impact and obviously I have everything that you need to make that happen for you and your business. You can definitely learn more about my process in my free masterclass I have going on right now called Burnout Proof your Business with a Signature Program. It’s totally free. It takes you through my entire process of not only how to build your program, but then also how to get it out into the world. You can go to www.shawnmynar.com. The second thing you need for your introverted online business is an audience. Yes, even if you’re an introvert, yes, even if people freak you out lots of people definitely freak you out you still need an audience and that’s where that barrier of your screen, your computer, your phone, your mic, whatever it is, really helps. So what platforms and tools do you want to use to attract people to your work? How do you want to put yourself out there, knowing that, yes, that is part of the process, that’s part of any business that you build? Is there a social media app that you feel comfortable with? What other platforms or means of connection do you feel comfortable doing? Start thinking about that and figure it out and work on that content creation schedule and also, in terms of that schedule, what feels good and comfortable and doable for you. How often can you show up on these places in a very consistent way that does protect your energy and gives you the time and space you need? And remember, like I am right now I put out a podcast weekly, but I’m doing so in a place where I feel very safe and comfortable and cozy and introverted, and it feels good and I still can have an extroverted type business, which, again, I just think is the coolest thing. And then the third thing that you need is a marketing plan. So how do you want to let your audience know about your paid offer? So how do you want to connect number one with number two? That is the third thing that you need. And no, it can’t just be telling people about it and hoping they’ll sign up, or putting something out into the world, putting your program out into the world, hitting, publish and just waiting. That is not a plan, that is a non-plan, I would say. So I recommend always a free special event to kick off your launch of anything in your online business, and that’s what I show you how to do and really give you every single tiny little thing that you need to make that happen for your launch plan, your marketing plan, inside the Signature Program bundle, but that’s what I recommend. So what do you want that special event to be? And just figuring that out and then putting it all out into the world and rinsing and repeating, making this your business model and just doing it over and over and over again. That’s all it is. So that is, I think, where we’ll stop for today. There’s so much more I could talk about with this. I just again, like I mentioned, really think this is a unique position to be in as an introvert, as an entrepreneur and as a helper, like in a coach or practitioner kind of sense. So, if that’s, you really consider more specifically what you want your business to look and feel like, knowing that all of that is possible, all of that can be packaged up into this really wonderful, gentle, cozy thing for you and that is your flow business. That is going to be different than anyone else’s, but know it’s possible and, like I’ve talked about in this entire episode, really consider that online space. If you haven’t ventured out into the virtual world, just consider it and see what that would mean for you and what your business could potentially look like. And, again, if that’s something you’re interested in. Check out that free masterclass I have. I think that will help you understand a lot what that would look like for you. And again, that’s at www.shawnmynar.com/Burnoutproof. We’ll have that linked in the show notes as well. All right, my friends. With that, we will say until next time, take care. Hey, wait up before you go. Do you want to know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly. Before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type. With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident knowing your building a business you love. Head over to www.shawnmynar.com/Quiz right now to find out your flow business personality type and once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s www.shawnmynar.com/Quiz. As always, the link is in the show notes.
Aug 2, 2023 | Podcast
Ever wondered why your business isn’t flowing as smoothly as you’d like? Could it be the fear of investing that’s holding you back? In this riveting dialogue, we explore the significance of investing in your business, the blocks that often keep us stuck and the paradigm shifts necessary to overcome them. We expose the realities of running a successful business and break down the monthly expenses involved.
Investing in your enterprise doesn’t end with money; it’s about investing in yourself too. It’s about creating and nurturing a business that aligns with your personality and passion, a business that flows. We lay bare the details of my own journey as an entrepreneur, offering insights into what you might need to budget for if you’re just starting out. We delve into the specifics of the various monthly expenses that go into running a six-figure business and how to manage them effectively.
But we don’t stop there. It’s not just about the numbers, it’s about the mindset too. We also introduce you to a quick, two-minute quiz designed to reveal your flow business personality type, helping you understand your business at a deeper level. By understanding your own business personality type, you can align your business to your strengths and passions more effectively. Tune in and let’s conquer the fear of investment together. Your journey to building a business you love starts here.
“You can’t build a business without the infrastructure in place and the knowledge to make it happen.” – Shawn Mynar
“Anything you spend money on to make that business run, to make it profitable, all of that is an investment. It is there so you can make more money, to get a return on your investment.” – Shawn Mynar
“You are worthy, capable and deserving of that business but you have to show yourself that and the way to do that is by investing in yourself.” – Shawn Mynar
“Believe it or not making financial investments are the catalyst for that growth to really make it happen.” – Shawn Mynar
“Investments are here to make you more money and they will when you take that action, have that energetic shift with that transaction.” – Shawn Mynar
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Speaker 1: 0:12
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business that flows with you, your personality, your energy, your life and what matters most to you. Today, we’re talking money and, more specifically, about the money you are putting into your business and how to know what to spend money on, what to invest in in order to get that flow business that you desire. And here’s why we’re talking about this right now in this whole evolution of building your flow business, because I personally see a lot of fear and blocks around this topic Stuckness, resistance, all the things that we’ve been kind of talking about and building on in the last few episodes those things that keep you from having the business that you want. I am literally seeing on a regular basis, people not starting their business or continuing their business because of $100. And I know that when you’re not making any money, $100 is a lot. I get that and I’ve been there and I’m not diminishing that experience in any way. But also, you have decided, you have had the vision, you have had the idea to have your own business or to want your own business. That’s why you’re here. I’m assuming you want to work for yourself. You want to make more money or have a more uncapped income potential than being in a job or in a profession that only pays you a certain amount. That is appealing to you. You want to help people, you want to do what you love, you want to follow your passion All of those things, those main reasons why you and most people really want to have their own business, want to do their own thing. We’ve talked about this in the past few episodes of finding out those reasons for you, those triggers, those dials that are important to you and keeping those at the forefront of your business. So, knowing that you are in this place where you have had this vision or this idea of the business that you want, and being in that place where this is something that you are working to achieve, can you think of one business that doesn’t have to invest money into it before it can make money? I mean, I can’t. As far as I know, that doesn’t exist. Any business has to invest, make investments in the startup of their business, in equipment, in staff, like all of these things. I mean so many businesses in this world, so many types of businesses, have startup costs that are huge, like taking out loans and just in putting all of their savings or life savings into their business, and that is a very real thing. That is what it takes oftentimes for these businesses out there like think about coffee shops and bakeries and restaurants and even like salons and just all of these types of businesses the amount of startup costs involved to get going. You can’t build a business without the infrastructure in place and the knowledge to make it happen. So you need infrastructure, like in the case of a bakery. You need a place to rent for your bakery, you need equipment, you need an oven, you need a mixer, you need staff to help you, you need a register, you want all these things that you need to get this business going. And then, of course, you have to know how to actually create a bakery type business, which I feel like is a lot more involved than a lot of us know. Unless you are in that industry and know the ins and outs same with, like a restaurant, a coffee shop, like, I feel like there’s more to the story. There’s a lot that you need to know behind the scenes before you even try to get involved in that type of business. So you have to find the knowledge and often invest in learning those skills, learning what’s involved to make your business successful. So getting to the point where you have the infrastructure, you have the tools, you have the equipment, you have everything you need, plus the knowledge to build a successful business often isn’t going to come for free. I can’t really think of any instance where that would be free, even like a lemonade stand that your kids are doing, you have to go buy the lemonade in order to have the lemonade stand right. So every business, from the time you’re five years old on, takes these investments, these initial investments and ongoing investments. And yet I see a lot of coaches and practitioners I talk to a lot of them, who are scared, who have a block against making those investments. And obviously you can guess what happens when there is that block, when there is that resistance is that it really can’t happen or it can’t happen in the way that you envision it happening. And, of course, I wanna go back to this metaphor I’ve been using for the past few episodes now that I will continue to use because I think it’s so great of the river and you being in the raft flowing down the river, and that’s really a metaphor for your business and how it should feel and how it can go and where we want to get to with your flow business and what that means to you. But being scared to invest in yourself and your business is like this big boulder in the middle of that river or in the middle of your flow business. Your raft is gonna get stuck against that big boulder and it’s gonna stay there forever. You’re not going to be able to move past that boulder and continue down the river, continue flowing until you can learn how to reframe that situation that way that you’re feeling about the money that you’re putting into your business and start seeing it in a new light and really seeing it for what it really is. And that’s what I wanna talk about today, because when you do that, that’s when things really start to move for you, when you can get out of the way of that boulder, move beyond it and continue the flow and not even have to worry about those future boulders that may come up in terms of your blocks around investing in yourself and your business. They’re not even a thing. You’re gonna keep flowing down the river, no problem, okay. So why is this Like? Why is this such an important thing for you to grasp and have kind of a change of heart around or a shift in mindset around. First of all, because you actually will have the right tools you need to make your business happen. You’re not trying to piecemeal together a bunch of free access to things that don’t really work that well, aren’t really a great experience for you, take a bunch of time, definitely aren’t a good experience for your audience. I see that a lot. I see a lot of piecemealing, free stuff, free access to things and trying to make it work and it’s a challenge and it’s hard and it’s not a good experience for anyone involved. It doesn’t feel like that either and so that’s kind of a barrier to the business that you actually want. You’re actually making your business harder than it needs to be by trying to get these free things all to work together. So you’ll actually get the right tools that you need to make your business work, to make it professional, to make it a good experience, to take less time and energy from you, which I know is a big reason for a lot of us to have our own businesses. So that’s the first big deal big thing that comes out of your shift in mindset around investing in yourself. And secondly and this is a big, big one this is what happened to me. When you’ve invested in yourself, you’ve put energy behind your work, behind your ideas and your business, and that energy brings about a new energy in you. It literally shifts your vibration, your frequency, your energy and it makes this kind of like a gotta make it happen a more determined type energy. It lights a fire in you, I think, because you just invested in yourself. So you’re gonna make it work, you’re gonna do what it takes to make a return on that investment which, like I said, brings about this more like determined type of energy behind your business and often it makes things happen a lot faster, really gets the wheels turning a lot quicker in your business when you have made those investments. Like I said, this happened to me back in 2016, I think. When I first decided to create my own program before I was making any money on my program or even knew if it was going to be a thing, be successful, make a profit, anything like that I invested in Kajabi as my program hosting platform. I know a lot of you guys are using Kajabi now too. It’s something I recommend. I’ve been there since 2016, so a while now, but at the time that was a lot of money for me. Like I mentioned, when people aren’t doing things, aren’t starting their business or aren’t continuing their business, because of $100, I get it. That’s where I was at that point. It was a lot, it was a big deal, it was a big decision for me to make. But as soon as I made that decision and I bet on myself and my desire for the kind of business that I was building and the kind of business I wanted, I made that payment and it lit a big old fire in me to get that program out into the world and have it be a success. I feel like If I hadn’t done that, if I had kind of waited to make that investment, I could have easily spent like six months, 12 months, hemming and hawing over my program, putting it on the back burner, bringing it back up and changing things, then putting it away again, talking myself out of it, trying to make it perfect. All of these things we do to procrastinate. And making that investment, that initial thing, that was a big deal. At the time I was willing to do whatever it took to make my ROI, my return on investment I wanted. I didn’t want to pay for something that I was. It was like a sunk cost. That wasn’t an option for me. So I made the investment and you know, a couple months later my program was out and it was a success. And you know, thank goodness for Kajabi. It’s something that I am forever grateful for, forever grateful that I took that leap and made that big investment, because now it’s like gosh. The return on investment has just been insane all of these years, still by far the best investment I’ve made in my business. But anyway, all of this to say, if you ever need motivation to move your business needle, spend some money on it. It’s amazing what that can do. And if you find yourself procrastinating, spend some money on it and watch yourself unprocrastinate. Real quick. And that’s really, I guess the whole point of this episode is to start having you think in that mentality because, as I’ve said, I’ve seen a lot of resistance to spending money on your business. One of the biggest questions I get from people who are interested in joining the Signature Program Bundle is like how much will it cost to run my program? What costs are involved? Are there any other costs I need to know about Cost, cost, cost and let’s break that down a little bit. First things first. Most of the money you spend to build your business is not a cost, most of it. I’m not gonna say all of it, because I’m sure there are situations where you’re not getting a return on what you’re spending, but for most of the money you’re spending it’s an investment. The definition of an investment is the action or process of investing money for profit or material gain. And guess what? You are building a for-profit business, so that means anything you spend money on to make that business run, to learn how or what to do to make it profitable, even to make it easier or less time consuming for you. All of that is an investment. It is there so you can make more money to get a return on your investment. So that’s a little mindset shift for you to work on and consider right there. Are you thinking about it in terms of costs and, like I mentioned, like sunk costs, things you won’t ever get back, they’re just out there, gone, you’ll never see it again or are you thinking about the money you’re spending on your business as an investment and something that is going to bring you two times, 10 times, 100 times return? That is a mindset thing. Now let’s talk specifically about having an online business, because happens to be my specialty and I know that’s also what a lot of you are doing or want to do. And this would look like, you know, having online courses, programs, workshops, taking clients one-on-one and seeing them virtually anything like that where you know you’re using the interwebs to run your business. And if that is you, you’re in luck, because having an online business is one of the least expensive businesses to start. I don’t really know what the right word is Cheapest, not the right word. It takes the least amount of investment initial investments to start by a lot, so I thought that is a way to demonstrate this. I’d break down what I currently spend per month in fixed expenses for my business. So I think of these as like operating expenses in a way. I’ve had an online business for eight years now. I’ve kept my business set up pretty simple throughout those entire eight years. I really spend money on the necessities, and so that’s what I believe these are at the stage of business I’m in right now. So here’s a breakdown. These are all in US dollars and most of these I actually pay per year, so I pay for the whole year at once and you get a discount when you do that. So that’s why some of these numbers are a little strange, because I did divide them into months just so we have some consistency here. So here we go. I paid $22 a month for podcast hosting, plus an AI service that does the show notes and transcripts for each episode. I pay $49 a month for automated webinar hosting service. I pay $15.75 a month for Zoom, $15.30 a month for quiz hosting, $9.95 a month for Canva Pro, $15.30 a month for bookkeeping software, $85.68 a month for email list hosting, $25 a month for website hosting and $166 a month for program hosting on Kajabi. Now I know that seems like a lot. It equals $404 a month, which is $4,848 a year. Those are my operating expenses to run a six figure a year business. I mean. Not many business owners in other industries can say that that’s a very high profit margin. Not very many expenses because there’s no massive rent bill. I work from home in my home office. I actually get a tax credit for that. There’s no major equipment needed. Yes, I have a computer. I have a microphone. It’s real simple stuff that I bought years ago and are still working well for me. There’s no inventory, that I need no payroll. Yes, I have a contractor, but really simple, really basic stuff. Now, yes, I do make more investments throughout the year, specifically in advertising, my own continuing education and mentorship, but those I feel like are variable. They’re not essential to the operation of my business. I can not include them if I ever don’t need it or don’t want it or I’m having some sort of financial crisis. So I’m not including them in this list. These are just the things that really keep my business moving and humming and, quite honestly, easy for me. Very simple, so $400 a month. Think about that. If you have a program that is $500 and one person buys it per month, you’re still making a profit. How nice is that? If just one person buys a $500 program and you have all of this stuff, you would still make a profit. Now let me go back through this list actually because I want to show what would actually be needed or required or a good idea for someone who’s just starting out or you know not as not eight years down the road. Ok, so $22 a month for podcast hosting and AI. If you don’t have a podcast, don’t need that If you do have a podcast, but you can do your show notes and transcripts yourself, or don’t want transcripts, can do your show notes yourself. That would drop down to $12 a month with Buzzsprout. $49 a month for automated webinar hosting service Most likely if you’re just starting out you probably don’t have an automated webinar. Don’t need that. $15.75 a month for Zoom Probably going to need that because if you’re meeting with clients or you are having a program where you do host live calls, you’re going to need more than whatever it gives you for free, which I think is 20 minutes or 30 minutes, something like that. You’re going to need to have access to longer times on Zoom. So $15.75 a month for that. So count that in. $15.30 a month for quiz hosting If you don’t have a quiz, don’t need that. $9.95 a month for Canva Pro I love Canva Pro. I think it’s well worth $10 a month, but you don’t need it. They give you plenty that you can do and start with for free, so you can cut that out at the beginning. $15.30 a month for bookkeeping Don’t need this. I think there are free. I hope there are still free bookkeeping softwares that you can use. If not, maybe you can do it yourself to get started and then you wouldn’t need that $85.68 a month for email list hosting. This is based on what at least the one that I use, which is ConvertKit is based on how many subscribers you have. If you’re just starting out or you’re a little smaller, then that $85 won’t be the case. You’ll work up to that over the years. So I think you’d maybe start at $25 a month at most. So keep that. You’re going to definitely want an email list. Keep that in there. $25 a month, we’ll say $25 a month for website hosting. This is different, I think, across the board. But if you don’t have a website to start, that’s okay. If you’re just going to use landing pages a lot of times your email list hosting platform will have landing pages that you can use, or your program hosting platform definitely will. You can use those instead if you don’t have a website up yet, but if you already do or will quickly after starting, then yes, there will be some expense to that. $25 a month-ish I don’t know, I’m not sure what other hosting platforms are out there. This is just what I pay, but let’s assume it’s somewhere around there and then $166 a month for a program hosting platform. Now this is me paying for a high level of Kajabi, and Kajabi’s an all-in-one platform, so it includes website and it includes email list. So if you’re going to do Kajabi, you wouldn’t have those expenses, but let’s say you’re using some other program hosting platform. Or if you are not going to do programs and workshops and courses but you’re going to do one-on-one client work instead, you’re still going to need a place to host that part of your business. There’s a client portal management type system. There’s a lot of those out there these days too. I believe that price range is more in the like $50 to $75 a month type price range. But really it’s like if you’re using Kajabi and you don’t have to pay for website or email list hosting versus a different platform and then paying for separate website hosting and paying for different email list hosting, it all ends up being the same. So for this example, let’s just say we’re going to err on the side of more, just so we have all of our bases covered. Let’s just say $100 a month for some sort of program hosting or online business hosting or client portal type platform, just to make it easy. So $100 a month there, and then we’ll keep the $25 a month for website hosting and keep the $25 a month for email list hosting. But again, those could all be rolled into your program hosting platform, but still we have $100 a month, $25 for your website. We have, say, $25 for your email list to start. Everything else is going to be free, besides $15.75 a month for Zoom. So let’s call that like $170 a month to operate your entire online business. Think about that. That is really cool. And if we again, if we go back to having a program that’s $500 and you get one person to buy it per month, that’s still a huge profit. That’s like $325 a profit every single month from one person buying one thing. That is a really high return on investment, a really high profit margin. Honestly, a successful business by all means. Now, of course, you are going to have more than one person buy your stuff. You are going to have potentially more paid offers besides one program that’s $500. And even if you don’t, you still can have this super profitable business and a nice, easy business too, which is great. But just really consider how awesome of a business you are building that has such a low financial barrier to entry and how profitable it can be, like that big profit margin, that big return on investments that, quite honestly, most business owners cannot say. It takes a lot more to get started for a lot of other businesses and I can tell you, every time any of these payments come out of my account, I feel nothing but gratitude for allowing me to have this simple, profitable business. These things all save me so much time. They make everything so much easier. They create a good experience for me and my clients. So, very grateful for every single one of these things. Okay, so here’s where we’re going to start reframing the investments you make in your business. Let’s go back to that vision that you created of your flow business back in the past few episodes and if you haven’t listened to those, really important that you go back and do so after this episode, because it’s just going to help formulate exactly what you want your business to do, for you to look like, for you to feel, for you. It’s such an important first step to creating the business that you actually want. So make sure you go back to those past two episodes 200 and 201 to do that work. Okay, so go back to that vision that you created of your flow business how it looks, how it feels, what kind of income are you bringing in? What kind of business do you have or what kind of business is it? What kind of clients do you work with, what are your paid offers and how do you work with those clients? These are all questions that you should already know the answer to. If you did the work back in those episodes, that comes really naturally and comes really easily. You can get that vision of what you’re working towards up in your mind that flow business and what that looks like specifically for you, as specific as you can possibly get, and how it feels and how it moves and how it grows and all of that stuff. So these questions I just asked you should have a pretty easy answer to that. So get to that version of you and your business. Now. What would that version of you say yes to? What are the requirements to get to that version of your business? What will you need? What will your clients need? What will they expect out of you and out of your business and out of your work? What will they expect from their experience with you? Invest in that. If that version of you would say yes to making that investment to make your business more profitable, to make it easier, to make it flow better, to give a better experience to your clients. If that version of you says yes, then this version of you needs to say yes to that is how you will get to that version of you and your business. So, anytime you are up against this block or this fear of spending money on your business, that is your barometer. That is how you will decide If that future version of you that’s living in your flow business and doing it would say yes, would incorporate that into their business, would need that for that type of business, then say yes now, and that is what will get you there. You can’t wait until you’re there to get that. You need that now to get there. And, like I said, when you make that investment, your energy shifts, your vibration changes. You step into that version of you now and that is what will drive you forward. And I want to say one more thing, just in my cheerleader type space that I love to be in. You are worthy, capable and deserving of that business. But you have to show yourself that and the way to do that is by investing in yourself, proving it to yourself, proving that you believe in yourself and, believe it or not, making financial investments are the catalyst for that change, for that growth to really make it happen and to be used as motivation, as drive to get there, to end your procrastination, to end your over thinking. It is amazing what happens when you say yes to investing in yourself and use that as proof that you are capable, that you are deserving that, you will make it happen. So there is a lot of energetic expression behind that transaction. So think about that. It’s not just money coming out of your bank account that you’ll never see again. What is it really doing, what is the real purpose and what is the real return on investment? And, as I showed you, I’m eight years down the road with an online specific business. I’m spending $400 a month Like that’s a drop in the bucket, when you can have a successful business helping other people. What an enormous benefit, an enormous payout to believing in yourself and to doing it. So I’m not telling you to spend tens of thousands of dollars. Please don’t. You don’t need that to have the business that you want, but you do need to make some strategic investments now to get where you want to go and please don’t be afraid of that. Please use that as the drive that maybe you need to get there. And also, please, please, please, don’t use these investments or your unwillingness to make those investments as an excuse to not have your business as like this thing of like oh well, I can’t do that, so I guess this dream just can’t happen. That’s an excuse and it doesn’t have to be that way. Remember, these are investments. They are here to make you more money and they will, when you take that action, have that energetic shift with that transaction. Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now. I hope you all understand that I’m not saying spend all your money and go into debt and take out a loan that you can never pay back. I hope you can see that that’s not the point of this episode. I’m also not telling you to buy things that don’t feel in alignment just because someone promises that they could make you more money and they have all these like fake testimonials to show for it. That’s also not what I’m saying. You all have the ability, the innate ability, to understand what is best for you to invest in for your business, based on what that future business looks like, based on who that future version of you is, and just using that inner knowing to guide these decisions and getting kind of your mind out of it to the best of your ability. I know, with money it’s like the mind really wants to go crazy because of all of our stories around money, and if you have stories I have lots of episodes about money blocks in the past Scroll back, you’ll see them. Download those and start working on your money blocks. All right, and with that I will wrap up with just one simple, easy request If you would be so kind to let me know that you are out there, that you are listening, that these episodes are enjoyable and meaningful for you. You can do that by leaving a review on Apple or a rating on Spotify. Wherever you listen, you can just send me a DM and let me know you’re out there listening. Whatever you can do, it means so much to me to know that I’m not just talking to myself, that you are out there listening. It really means the world to me. So thank you all so much and until next time, take care. Hey, wait up before you go. Do you want to know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly. Before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type. With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident, knowing you’re building a business you love. Head over to shawnmynar.com/quiz right now to find out your flow business personality type and once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s shawnmynar.com/quiz. As always, the link is in the show notes.
Jul 26, 2023 | Podcast
Ready to dominate business overwhelm? We’ve got your back! Join me, your host Shawn, and the awe-inspiring Louise Henry, as we unravel the mysteries of Asana, a game-changing free project management tool, that’ll not only help you stay organized but also tackle that business overwhelm head-on. Louise, with her rich business journey from launching a jewelry line, to becoming a virtual assistant, and now an online course creator, is the perfect accomplice in this exploration.
Why should you break down a mammoth project into manageable tasks and how does it breed a sense of momentum? How can a habit tracker possibly keep track of your progress and what role does a checklist play in keeping you motivated? We’ll answer all these questions and more. Plus, discover how Asana’s flexibility allows it to easily absorb changes, and how quickly you can expect results. Louise isn’t shy about sharing her personal process and even throws in a challenge to kick start your journey with Asana. Trust us, you wouldn’t want to miss this!
Join us as we talk about Louise’s nonprofit, Tim’s Club, an initiative close to her heart dedicated to empowering individuals with autism to lead purposeful lives. And yes, for those eager to delve deeper into Asana, Louise is hosting a free three-day challenge on August 7th at www.shawnmynar.com. Get ready to learn, evolve, and conquer business overwhelm with us. This podcast is not just a conversation, it is a treasure trove of actionable insights and strategies to help you build a flow business. So, are you ready to flow with us?
“It’s actually really important to just have one tool. Like one central dashboard for your entire life.” – Louise Henry
“When you’re relying on your paper planner you can often lose your goals, you’re not really sure if you’re moving all of your dream projects forward so it’s much easier to do in a digital space.” – Louise Henry
“Know that concept of building your second brain, that’s really what we’re using Asana for, you just download everything in and then you know what you need to do to move everything forward business and life.” – Louise Henry
“If there’s something that can help you be consistent which we all know is a key to success when it comes to content and growing your following, this is it. Just get yourself organized to be consistent.” – Louise Henry
“Anyone who’s been in business for a bit of time will tell you to just keep showing up. Keep doing it consistently.” – Louise Henry
Louise’s FREE 3-Day Biz Makeover Challenge – https://shawnmynar.com/makeover
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Shawn: 0:00
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business that flows for you and your life and your personality and your energy and everything else that’s important to you. Today, we have a super special guest to welcome to the show, louise Henry. We are talking about a mutual obsession that we both have today and how you can use this tool to overcome overwhelm in your business and get organized so you can keep moving forward, which we know is a critical piece of a flow business. Before I introduce you to Louise, just a quick note. We talk at the end about a free three-day challenge that Louise is hosting, coming up in a few weeks. I want to make sure that I shout it out here too, so that you don’t miss it and can make sure to get yourself enrolled. Friends, this is a non-negotiable. You have to learn what she is going to teach you in this challenge. It’s free, it’s live. You have a chance to connect with her and ask her questions and to learn this essential tool, really this first step to your business. We’ll give you all the details and what I’m talking about in this episode as we have our conversation. I just want to make sure that you have the information here first to get yourself involved in this challenge, with Louise coming up on August 7th. So www.ShawnMynar.com is your place to save your seat for the challenge. It’s in the show notes. Grab your seat and, in the meantime, get to know Louise through this episode. Let me tell you a little bit about her before we dive into the conversation. Louise Henry is an online entrepreneur and educator over at LouiseHenrycom. Louise helps you create a more leveraged passive online business through systems and automation. She does this by sharing free tutorials on her YouTube channel and through her online courses up level with Asana website that wows and passive profit accelerator. She’s passionate about supporting you as you bring your big dreams to life and helping you work smarter, not harder, which we are all about here on the Flow Business Podcast. All right, let’s go chat with Louise. Louise, thank you so much for coming on the Flow Business Podcast today. I’m so happy to be here Lots to talk about Good conversations, because we both have a mutual obsession with one very specific thing and something that we know is so helpful to all business owners everywhere, specifically those of you listening today. But before we get into that I want to introduce you to the listener. So tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do, who you help all that good stuff.Louise: 3:24
Awesome. Hi everyone. I help entrepreneurs create a more simple, streamlined business, so I love talking all things tech and systems. That’s why I’m absolutely thrilled that you’re here. Basically, I want everyone to have their own version of a Flow Business. So, yeah, just really helping on the back end to make that happen. So I talk about different systems, my clients range. I would say I have some early-stage people who are just getting started all the way to more advanced. But, yeah, absolutely Love what I do. I’m originally from Toronto, canada, but embraced the work from anywhere lifestyle, grabbed my laptop, went around the world for a little bit and then settled in Panama.Shawn: 4:10
Yeah, sounds like the ultimate Flow Business, if you ask me it sounds amazing and I think it’s so cool. Like there’s, honestly, I feel like very few people who love the systems and tech behind having a business like this, and so to have someone like you who’s like, yes, give me all the behind the scenes stuff, I will show you exactly how to do it is such a relief for people like me who are like, ah, during the headlights anytime I have to do anything. So thank you for that. That’s really great that you love that stuff. So one of the things that I think is most exciting to talk about with people, and especially people like us, who have these very kind of obtuse businesses in some people’s eyes, is like how you got to where you are and how it all started and where you came from and even what you were doing before you got into your own business and going through that whole journey with you. So can you take us through that?Louise: 5:03
Sure, okay, so it all started when well, okay, it actually started. It was very obvious early on that I should be an entrepreneur, like I was trying to start things when I was like 13. I was trying to like we’re going to have a dance company and then we’re going to have a restaurant, like I was just trying to do it from a very early age. But finally I graduated from university and I was like I just know that working a corporate job is just not for me. Like I just have this really strong gut feeling. So I decided to skip that entirely and start my first business, which was actually a jewelry business, because I thought that, in order to start a business, that you had to have a completely brand new, unique product that nobody else had ever created. Of course, that’s not the case. That’s not the case at all. Okay, that is Very wrong. So, yeah, we were doing these really cool pieces. We basically designed little symbols to represent the name, represent the meaning of people’s names. So it was super cute, very unique. I learned so much. It was a very different business than what you and I have. It was dealing with inventory and shipping and designing and all of these things, but I learned so so much. Well, I decided to move on from that particular idea because I was like this is way too complex and I don’t want to deal with things like inventory. I decided to take those skills and become a virtual assistant, because I was like, okay, cool, now I know social media, I know email, I know how to build websites Like I had to do that for myself. So I was able to translate those skills into the online space. And actually at that same time, I had gone on a holiday. I went on a holiday to Bali and when I got there, I realized that there were all these people that were just working from their laptops and like riding around on scooters and living in a tropical environment, which, for me, is like the dream, and I was like this is so incredible. So I was really inspired by that and wanted to have a business that was just fully remote and I could run from anywhere. So, yeah, that was that. Met my husband on that trip, actually. So met my husband on that trip and then I was like, great, I’m moving to Bali. Like let’s go, yeah, so that sort of started the whole travel digital nomad side of things as well. And then, after doing virtual assistance for a while, I discovered the world of online courses and I was like, oh, this is really the type of business I want to build, because I want something that is leveraged, I want something that doesn’t have me on tons of calls every single week. I really was trying to go after as much of a freedom based business as I could create. So then I went into courses and now that’s what I do full time and have been doing for many years now.Shawn: 7:45
Oh, my gosh, I love that. I love the jewelry business. That sounds amazing. And also I love the idea of well, that’s not actually what I want To really get into this kind of complicated, probably business and be like, no, I need something, like I still want to do the business thing, but this kind of model is not it. And yeah, you’re right, it’s like at that stage and it was the case for me too I didn’t know that you could have this kind of business where you are working from wherever and all you need is a laptop. It’s so cool. So let me tell you about how I found out about you. So I was hosting a group of my clients in one of my mentorship programs. We were on a call and I just started talking about how they really need to be using Asana and even, I think, pulled up my Asana and showed them how I use it and what I was doing in my account. And then I started getting this through the chat all these people bringing up your name and your courses and your YouTube channel and how you’re like the queen of Asana. So I immediately went to your YouTube and then started following you and all that stuff. That is our mutual obsession Asana? Yes, it is. It’s such an amazing tool. For anyone that doesn’t know what is Asana, yeah, asana is a free project management tool.Louise: 9:07
It has an incredible free plan. Of course there’s other tiers, but the free plan is phenomenal. You can get started on just that and it is basically a tool that is going to help you organize your entire business and life. But it is so much more than a to-do list. It is not just input in your tasks. It’s really a complete system for everything that you have to do in your business that helps keep you organized, clear, calm, on track and just feeling way better about your business. First of all, some keywords Free.Shawn: 9:40
This isn’t another expense that you have to use for your business at least not at the level that you are most likely going to be using it at, I think for, like, obviously, corporations and stuff. They should pay, and it’s worth it, I’m sure, for them. So free, big one, and also not just your business, but your life. This is a life tool, right, organizing everything you ever have, going on, anytime, anywhere, which is so important too.Louise: 10:06
Exactly, it has to be the personal side as well. Most people think, oh, I’m just going to use this for work and I’m like, no, it’s actually really important to just have one tool like one central dashboard for your entire life. So any appointment, any reminder for your dog or something, it’s going into a sauna.Shawn: 10:26
Yeah, oh gosh. And then when you have that one spot for everything, I mean just imagine what is going on or what isn’t going on in your brain, what you’re not trying to do through just memory, which isn’t always great for all of us, right? We can’t rely on that. So your obsession, we’re going to call it, we’re going to keep calling it that. Your obsession with a sauna where did that come from?Louise: 10:50
Yeah, honestly, it’s because I was running my business before without it. I was trying to grow my business and I had a notebook, and then I had a planner and I was trying to rely on my memory, which is terrible my memory is not great at all and so it was really the stress. I was like I don’t think business has to feel like this. I’m sure there is a better way. So then, when I discovered a sauna and realized I could download everything that was in my brain and I could put it into a digital system to work for me instead, I was like this is brilliant, everyone needs to know about it. And it just made everything so simple, streamlined. I would wake up and, because I had already planned out my projects ahead of time in a sauna, I knew exactly what I had to do that day. So then, all of a sudden, now I’m accomplishing a lot more of my big goals as well, and so I started to see the connection between not only is this just helping me feel so much better with how I’m approaching work, but like, oh, now I’m actually like checking off all those big goals that I really wanted to achieve.Shawn: 11:59
Yeah, we talk about overwhelm a lot here and really kind of focus on the mindset aspect of being overwhelmed in your business and with all the things that you have to do and just focusing like way too far ahead. But like on the very tangible level of overwhelm is just that you’re not organized. You know, like you’re just trying to do it all with sticky notes and a planner and all that stuff, which is great, but it’s not really getting you organized, it’s not really doing anything for you besides, I guess, maybe putting what’s in your head onto paper, but then if you don’t look at that paper, then what Exactly? So I really love the idea of a sauna as a tool to help with overwhelm, specifically for new business owners trying to really get things up and running. And I always say I really don’t think I would even have a business still if I didn’t have a sauna. Like I really don’t know what I’m doing when I wake up in the morning until I check a sauna, like okay, this is what I’m doing today. When that is done, I am done. Amazing, and it has just helped me so much to not have to worry about what I’m supposed to be doing at any given moment because it’s all right there, and also to stay on track with what I’m doing and actually achieve my goals because they’re all there. So I want to know a little bit more, if you can explain. Say, you’re really great at having a planner, you’re really great you’re your to-do list and looking at them every day and trying your best to stay organized the traditional way. What makes this different?Louise: 13:31
Yeah, I think what happens is when you bring it into the digital space, you can take it to a whole other level. For example, let’s say that you have on your to-do list record a podcast episode. Right, let’s say that you have that on your to-do list. Okay, that’s great. But in a digital system you can already have a checklist written down with all of the small little steps that you might forget. For example, design the graphic for that episode post on social media. So all of a sudden, your execution of every single task becomes so much stronger because you have a record of every single thing that is important and you’re reusing that again and again. So it’s clearing up the mental space. You don’t have to think about what are all those steps. You just create a task based on that and then you go through and you check things off. So I think that really helps your execution of tasks be so much better. And a lot of times in planning, life happens we need to shift due dates, we need to move things around. So that’s another benefit for Asana. But I think the major thing is that it gives you a bird’s eye view of your entire business. So in there you’re creating spaces for everything you’re doing for your client work, everything you’re doing for your own marketing. You’re creating these spaces and you’re making sure that all of those are organized and that you’re moving all of them forward as well. When you’re relying on a paper planner, you can often lose your goals. You’re not really sure if you are moving all of your dream projects forward. So it’s much easier to do in a digital space.Shawn: 15:09
Yeah, and with Asana I use the calendar view the most and those things that aren’t done, that pass the date, I still see them and so I still have to get them done, whereas with a planner you turn the day and they’re gone. They’re magically gone. But if you actually have to look at that calendar and have it glaring at you like, hey, you didn’t do this yesterday, you didn’t do this last week, still need to get done. And yeah, I do. I love moving things around, shifting things. Part of my flow business is having that flexibility. If I don’t have the energy to record a podcast episode Tuesday, then I’ll do it Thursday, I’ll move it over and that kind of thing. So having that flexibility is super important and, like you said, not just having the overarching big task there but then breaking them down into smaller tasks. That again, if we’re talking in terms of overwhelm, a lot of times the big thing is overwhelming, but if you actually think about all those steps that it takes to get that big thing, if you just put start a podcast, start my own podcast somewhere, that’s super overwhelming. But if then you break it down into all those little sub tasks and each day you’re doing one of those things and Asana can do that for you and let you know what those things are, then it’s doable. It’s all doable, exactly yeah. And so I then would assume that you do have to take the time to think through those sub tasks and to plan this all out and to make it an actual system. But then, once it’s done, it’s done Exactly yeah. So, for example, walk me through. Let’s say we talk about creating our own signature programs here, a lot on the show. Let’s say we want to use Asana to help us get from like I’m just going to get started figuring out what the topic of my program is all the way to launching. So how would that go? What would I need to do in Asana to make it so that that is working for me?Louise: 17:15
Yeah, so I would create a new project for that specifically. And then what you want to do is break it down into little actionable items. This is how you’re going to move forward and not get super overwhelmed by oh my gosh, there’s so many things involved in creating a signature program. You’re just going to break it down into little steps. Yes, honestly, it helps so much to just know. Okay, today I’m going to tackle these like three small things and ultimately know that you’re moving that project forward. So I would go in and put all of the tasks that you can I mean the fact that you teach that. I’m sure you have a checklist for people with all of the steps.Shawn: 17:53
We have lots of steps, yeah.Louise: 17:55
Yeah, amazing. So that’s happening more and more too With big projects. You can Google or you can find a mentor that has already figured out what all of those steps are, so you can actually cut down on so much of the time trying to figure out what they are. And then you input it into Asana. You set due dates, you set a few milestones as well. So you know like, okay, milestone number one is I’m going to outline my signature program Amazing and you’re going to set a due date to that and you’re going to focus on just getting to that point, getting that part done, and you’re not going to get overwhelmed by all of the other steps that may follow that up.Shawn: 18:31
Mm-hmm, Totally so. That’s something like say for example, you’re getting in the habit of writing your newsletter every single week, so how can we use Asana to help us get into that habit?Louise: 18:46
Absolutely it is. Basically, it’s very simple. You’re going to add it in as a task and you would add it as a recurring task so that it happens every single week. I mean, there’s so many things in my business that I didn’t. If I didn’t have all these things set up as like remind me to do this every week, it wouldn’t get done 100%. So simply inputting all of these things right? So that’s another difference to having a physical planner, rather than you having to manually remember to do that every single week and write it in for every Wednesday. That’s just going to happen automatically and Asana is going to remind you to do so, and it feels so good to check it off in Asana and to look back, see all the progress. You’re going to love it.Shawn: 19:25
I will admit that I have put things into a sauna that I’ve already done, just so that I can check them off, because it is so great and it feels so good to be able to do that little check mark. What about those people who feel like, oh my gosh, they’re talking about more tech? This is another thing I have to try to learn. I’m already feeling overwhelmed with all these other tools I’m supposed to do and use and learn for this kind of business. I don’t want another one. What do you say to that?Louise: 19:55
I would say this is the one that you need. This is the first one, because it is going to make accomplishing everything else that you need to do much simpler, and it’s going to ensure that it actually gets done. It’s so easy, especially when you’re starting your business, to be overwhelmed by the what feels like thousand things to do, so a sauna is going to help you cut through that noise. Figure out what is actually important. Plan out any project that you want to do, for example, starting a podcast and actually bringing that to life. Organize this all. Figure out what you need to do, before you then go and chase all these other different softwares. I think is most important.Shawn: 20:35
Yeah, like this is the one that’s kind of a non-negotiable and it helps make those other platforms doable, because you’re just feeling that much more organized and that much less overwhelmed with it all. So you can kind of go step by step, but I’d say this is a place to start for sure. What do you use it for in your life? Like you personally, what’s in your asana for life stuff?Louise: 20:59
So life stuff, not business stuff, yeah, yeah, okay. So in personal, I am tracking a lot. I actually use it kind of as a spreadsheet in a way, so I have in there like keeping track of some money things and like, okay, what are my monthly expenses? Like I use it as a record as well. I use it for my like Sunday reset routine, so I have that in there. That’s a recurring task every Sunday. Every single like friend thing that I have, like every friend meeting, is in there, everything. Okay, let me open it up and tell you all of the things so I have in asana. I have a personal board and so I have that listed out and I have. I can literally see everything, so I never have to worry about like paying for my month of yoga, for example, like that’s in here. I, yeah any any sort of little admin that comes in your personal life, like, oh, I have to pay insurance and like little things like that I never have to actually worry about or remember. It just pops up in my asana and I’m like, oh great, okay, cool, I’m just going to quickly do that and check it off. I also have another board called home ideas, and that in there is basically my wish list of everything that I want to buy for my house.Shawn: 22:16
Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. Yeah, so this is one running tally of all the things that you want Exactly.Louise: 22:23
So it’s a running tally and so I have all of that and then I have within the task I have where I’m going to buy that thing. I have like the photo to keep me inspired, so you can sort of use it as a vision board in a way as well. So I have that. Then one of my biggest dreams was to start a nonprofit. So what did I do? One of the first things go into a sauna, set up a board for that, start mapping out like, okay, what are the things we can do? And we’ve really just embraced one step at a time. So like all the steps we could think of are in a sauna and we’re just like chipping away at it one by one, and it’s seriously built so much momentum and we’ve been able to bring it to life. So that was really cool. I also have in here I have a habit tracker, so I’m like, okay, I really wanted to build the habit of doing yoga more regularly and learning Spanish. So they’re in there and I can see, I can look back at the month and I can see how many days I actually did that thing. Cool.Shawn: 23:24
I love the habit tracker. Have you always been organized, or is this something that has built up over time, maybe because you’ve had your business and now you’re just kind of using it for life too?Louise: 23:36
Yeah, I don’t actually consider myself that organized.Shawn: 23:39
Okay.Louise: 23:40
Yeah, yeah, and I’m not like people think that because I’m teaching this, they think like, oh, you just must be super type A and like, have always really on top of things. I’m like, no, I was trying on paper for a really long time. My memory is terrible. I have definitely dropped the ball so many times that it more so was a sauna is a necessity in order for me to do everything that I want to do and for all the things in our businesses that we have to do, as, like I need a system that I can rely on. So I sort of think of it as you know, that concept of building your second brain. That’s really what we’re using a sauna for, and you just download everything in and then you know exactly what you need to do to move everything forward business and life, yeah for sure.Shawn: 24:21
So you mentioned your organization, your nonprofit. Will you tell us more about that?Louise: 24:26
Yeah, absolutely, it’s called Tim’s Club. It is a nonprofit dedicated to helping people with autism lead a full, purposeful life, and inspired by my little brother, tim, who’s going to be thrilled one day when he realizes that his name’s on the sign. Yeah, so always always a big dream, basically, when, when you grow up with autism, you’re pretty okay in a lot of places, when you’re in school age so basically up until 18 and after 18, the availability after that for any programs or like where you’re going to live things like that become a huge issue. And so that was my me and my family’s number one concern of like what is Tim’s life going to look like as he, as he grows up, as he becomes an adult? So, always wanted to do. This is definitely an inspiration behind the business as well. It’s like, okay, what can I build for myself that would allow me to build out a project like this? So we’re building a day program here in Panama. My brother’s going to be moving to Panama as well and we’ll go Monday to Friday to this phenomenal day program that we’re building and, yeah, for not only people with autism but for the whole community as well. It’s got a cafe. It has art therapy, music, therapy, all of these things, and so that is the goal, and that’s what we’re trying to build it.Shawn: 25:53
Oh my gosh, that is amazing. Congratulations on that. That’s so cool, and so that sounds to me. You know, talking about your flow business sounds to me, like you mentioned, that was a big piece of you building this business, with being able to have that be a part of it and have that be a goal and help your brother in that way and others in that way. When I think of a flow business and kind of what we talk about here, it’s like building a business that feels good, it’s fun, it works for you, it works for your life, your personality, what’s important to you. It complements your life, it doesn’t complicate it. That kind of thing is all things we’re trying to build here. So I want to know more about what makes your business a flow business for you, in particular, knowing that everyone’s is different.Louise: 26:39
Yeah, absolutely, and I love this, I love this topic, like I love seeing what is, what is that version for people? Okay, so for me it is definitely something that is scalable. I wanted something that would be able to have this like big impact. Like that is just so exciting for me. So I wake up each morning and I’m really excited to pursue this goal and even, like, with my content that I put out there, being able to help thousands of people all over the world is like the coolest thing, yeah, so I wanted something like that that would have big impact, but that wouldn’t have me like tied to my computer, wouldn’t have me, like you know, doing work that didn’t feel in alignment for me, like was really outside Of my zone of genius. So I didn’t want that. I wanted something that, yeah, could be run from my laptop and so that really for me, means I wake up, I could be working from home or I could be like going to my favorite cafe, I could be it. So it’s very flexible, I guess is what I’m trying to get at. Yes, it’s very flexible. So the schedule itself is really flexible. What I do each day, you know it’s not, I guess it’s not too routine and strict. I have a lot of what feels really free and flexible during each day. If I need to take the day off, I absolutely can and just go to the beach for the afternoon instead, you know. So I really wanted flow. Really I really connect with that word. I wanted something that would just create so much space for me in my life and I feel this has. I’ve been able to travel all around with this business. I work with an incredible team. I’ve been able to hire people and just like have so much fun and joy on a day to day basis and do things that I love, and the fact that we have that as an option is just incredible. Like it really is truly amazing. Like when I first started that jewelry business, I did not know that this was an option. I did not know that you could be so intentional and really design every element of your business in life. So that’s what this has allowed me to do. So that means like having a yoga teacher come to my house and like start my days with yoga and have lots of time for just like being honestly, having like silence and being able to journal and read books and that sort of thing. So I was really looking for, like this calm sort of calm tropical life.Shawn: 29:08
Yeah, while you created it, which is great and it very much, very similar to mine the flexibility, the flow, being able to kind of do what you want for the most part with your day, and, yeah, it’s work, but it’s work you enjoy and you can kind of move around, that you can take a day off when you need to, just based on your energy, which I think is so important that we start recognizing day to day what feels good for us to do that day, because that’s when the best output is created, right? So the tools that you use to do that you mentioned online courses, right you? Also. We talked about your YouTube channel, so you use YouTube to kind of build your audience. Tell us a little bit about that.Louise: 29:53
Yes, absolutely. I love YouTube. I will tell everyone to get on YouTube who is trying to grow their business in their audience. I think it’s just such a smart long-term strategy. So a lot of my strategies I’ve implemented are, yeah, just like showing up week after week checking off those things in Asana and it all ultimately adds up Like it does. You might not see the result tomorrow, but three months from now, six months from now, you’re like, oh okay, this is really working and YouTube is one of those strategies. But it’s been wonderful. It’s allowed me to share my expertise. Like I love that we have tons of free content out there as well. It’s not all just paid programs, but then, of course, it builds our audience, our email list and then people that come and enroll in my courses Mm-hmm.Shawn: 30:40
Yes, 100%. And to bring it back to Asana instead of it just being randomly written down somewhere that on Wednesdays you’re going to create a YouTube video, it’s in your Asana, so you will actually do it every single week or whenever your schedule is, and then, once it’s checked off, it just kind of repopulates to the next week or to the next month or whatever, and that makes it so that you actually do that and you stay consistent with it. And when you have that consistency you know, for talking in terms of really seeing your business grow and having a tool that helps your business grow, if there’s something that can help you be more consistent which we all know is like the key to success when it comes to your content and growing your following and that kind of stuff this is it. Just get yourself organized to be consistent, like that’s all you have to do, then you don’t have to worry about it. It’s no energy off of you, it’s just following what’s in Asana.Louise: 31:30
Absolutely, and trusting that, like I think anyone who’s been in business for a bit of time will tell you, just keep showing up, keep doing it consistently, like that is ultimately what is going to bring in the results that you want. So yeah, having anything that will support you and being more consistent is an absolute must.Shawn: 31:51
Yeah, and patience, because it takes time, you gotta keep doing it. Okay, so on that note. Last little thing here you are hosting a free challenge coming up very soon. Tell us a little bit about what that challenge is, what people are going to learn and all that stuff.Louise: 32:11
I’m so excited it’s going to be so much fun. It’s kicking off on August 7th. It is the three day biz makeover challenge. So if you are loving this conversation and you’re feeling like, oh my gosh, I really feel I could get more organized and you can see how that would really positively impact your business, then you are going to absolutely want to come and join us for this event. It’s free. I show up every single day and I do a training. So if you really want to see us on us, see how it all works, understand, like from a very practical level, how this is going to change your life so much, come to this challenge. We’re going to be talking about systems. We’re going to talk about crafting your ideal daily and weekly schedule and just really help you makeover your business and have it feel so much better and get it way closer to being a flow business.Shawn: 33:02
Yes, I’m so excited for this challenge. It sounds amazing and really everyone needs to go. They just need it. You need to know this. You need to have this organization, these tools, these systems. Take it from someone who’s already done it and has learned it all for you and then can just show you the step-by-step approach so you don’t have to try to open this new app and figure it out. That never goes well. So take it from someone who’s already done it and learned the tool for you. I’m so excited for it. I do have a really easy link for everyone so they can go to www.shawnmynar.com Makeover and get access to that. It’s free. It starts August. What was it? August? August 7th, august 7th, okay, cool. I’ll put that in the show notes so everyone can get involved in that. It’s live too, so they’ll be able to ask you questions and get real-time answers and stuff like that too, which is always fun.Louise: 33:59
Absolutely. We’ll be challenging you to take an action step every single day so that you can really see some progress in your business, make this makeover really happen. There’s going to be prizes. There’s the whole community. It’s super fun. It’s a super fun event and very much worth it. All of the lessons each day are just going to be 30 minutes. So even if you’re super busy, just come and join us.Shawn: 34:22
Yeah, and I love that there’s real-time action, like within three days you’re going to be building something. It’s not just sitting there learning something that you will never actually implement. It’s actually doing it too, which is so great, exactly Okay. So www.shawnmynar.com Makeover to get in on that. Thank you so much, louise, for being here. This is really fun. Love what you’re doing. Our mutual obsession is strong, so hopefully everyone else listening will now be obsessed too.Louise: 34:53
We’re passing it on, yeah it was so fun to talk with someone who loves us on as much as I.Shawn: 34:58
Yeah, again, I don’t consider myself all that organized too, but I think that’s probably why because I have a business, I got to get things done, so it’s very helpful to know what those things are.Louise: 35:11
Exactly. Yeah, it really does make such a huge difference. I know it can feel intimidating to approach a brand new system, brand new app, but in this challenge I’ll break it down, I’ll show you exactly how it all works and you’ll really understand exactly what we were raving about today.Shawn: 35:27
Yeah, hopefully we have gotten the point across that this is like a non-negotiable All right. Well, thank you so much for your time. It was so great chatting with you, and take care, thank you.
Jul 19, 2023 | Podcast
Are you ready to conquer your fears and achieve your business dreams? I’m your host Shawn, and I promise that by the end of our time together, you’ll have a fresh perspective on how to overcome the fear that’s blocking your path to success. I’m inviting you to join my free Burnout Proof Your Business Masterclass, where you’ll learn how to create a signature program, just like the one that propelled my business to new heights. Brace yourself for a ride that will lead you to work less, earn more, and regain control and flexibility in your business.
Fear in business – it’s like a boulder in our river, impeding our flow and growth. But what if I told you that not all fears are real? Buckle up as we embark on a deeper journey to distinguish real fears from fake ones. We’ll explore basic needs, worst-case scenarios, and I’ll ask you some tough questions. It’s normal to feel fear; what’s important is how we manage it. Let’s face it together, head-on! Remember, bravery is not the absence of fear, but the audacity to confront it. So, are you ready to bet on yourself in the world of business? Tune in!
Burnout-Proof Your Business Masterclass – https://shawnmynar.com/burnoutproof
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Speaker 1: 0:13
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to build a business. That’s fun, feels good and, of course, flows. Today we’re going to talk about this big giant looming thing in the background, especially as business owners fear. It’s probably been the most talked about topic here on the show since day one, and that’s for good reason. It’s because it’s by far the most glaring, standout reason for you to find yourself moving upstream in your business. We’re continuing on with this analogy of your flow business being the kind of business that allows you to just move with the current flow, with the current, instead of either forcing it by going upstream against the current or just not moving at all and letting that current, letting that flow go around you, neither of which is the epitome of a flow business. One of the biggest reasons by far that I see business owners stuck in that place and not moving with the flow of their business is because of fear. Totally understandable. It’s a big, obvious reason. It is an important thing that comes up, especially as business owners with all of these new, different kind of scary things that we’ve never done before coming out of having a business. So we got to talk about it Before I do reminder the burnout proof your business masterclass is going on now. If you do not want to create a business that causes burnout in you and in your life and in loving what you do, then this is a masterclass for you. Or if you already find yourself in that place, I mean it’s something that we as helpers newborn helpers can get into really quickly, especially when we are so focused on helping our clients and being there for them and also trying to build this thriving business. It’s like all of a sudden we’re burnt out because we haven’t spent enough time thinking about how we want our business to look for ourselves, and so I created a masterclass. It is totally free, it is on demand. You can watch it when it works best for you, but you just have to go over to the page and select the time that you want to watch it, and that is at www.shawnmynar.com. I’m going to take you through the process of creating your own signature program, which, for those of you that don’t know, is really what I have, at least in my own business, found to be the vehicle for building my flow business, and it has been with just one program that I created years ago, that I was able to reach and help a lot more people while working way less, way fewer hours, having a lot more flexibility in an open calendar, while having this thriving, growing business and increasing my income while working less, and that was really important to me at the time, still is very important to me today. That really is the definition of my flow business, and if that’s something that resonates with you, too, then I’m going to share my entire process with you, and especially if the idea of burnout isn’t appealing to you which probably is most people or if you already find yourself in that place with the work that you’re doing with others, this is the place to be www.shawnmynar.com. You can schedule your session Now. Fear, a big thing that is stopping you, potentially, from building your flow business, because it’s the thing that’s keeping that consistent, flowy movement from happening. It’s often what stops us in our tracks and keeps us from taking that next step forward. And you know, let’s go back to that river analogy that I’ve been using this entire time. Fear is like that big boulder in the middle of the river. So, as you’re floating down the river, maybe you’re in a raft, maybe you’re in an n or two, maybe you’re on a canoe, doesn’t matter what it is. You find yourself up against this boulder and your boat, your vehicle, gets stuck on that boulder. So you’ve stopped moving entirely and you look out beyond that boulder, what’s coming up ahead, and you can see that, yes, there are a few rapids to go through, nothing you can’t manage, nothing you can’t handle, but there is a little bit of turbulence and after that you can see ahead this smooth, clear, beautiful river. The sun is shining, the water is sparkling. It just looks so inviting. You know you want to get there and, yes, you have to go through a little bit of choppy water to make it happen, potentially, but it’s going to be worth it and you know you’ll be okay. So now you have a choice. Are you going to stay stuck on that boulder constantly looking ahead up at that clear, beautiful, sparkly river, or are you going to push off of that boulder, make it through the choppy water, those little rapids ahead and get to the clearing where you can continue to flow? It’s your choice. I hope you can see the analogy here in that, obviously, that boulder is the fear and you have the choice every day in your business, especially knowing that the business you want is up ahead. You have seen it, you know it’s there, you know it’s possible, especially after the last episode where you had the opportunity to kind of create and visualize your flow business. Just the fact of you getting it into your mind, creating that vision, means that it is available and possible for you, because if it weren’t, then you wouldn’t have even brought that up, like me, visualizing myself as a professional NBA player. I just wouldn’t even pop into my head, it wouldn’t even be a thing because, let’s be honest, that’s not possible. I’m a 42 year old woman who is five foot one and not athletic, so that thing is just not happening. My vision of that dream business ahead of me is possible, it’s doable, it is happening because I have created that in my own mind. Okay, so that means that that vision that you created of your dream business is that clearing that bright, beautiful, crystal clear water ahead. And, yeah, there may be a few bumps along the way, there may be some rocky moments along the way, but nothing you can’t handle, nothing you can’t get through in order to get to that clearing. So are you gonna let that boulder stop you and just stay looking ahead at what could be, or are you gonna push off and go through the rapids to get to that point? I hope you like that analogy. I thought it was pretty good. I think it creates a little bit of a vision here for us. So let me say this before I move any further and I think you know this, but let me remind you a flow business requires you to actively face your fears and move through them. It requires bravery, it requires trust and, most importantly and I think where a lot of you may find yourself lacking from the conversations I have with you it requires betting on yourself, believing in yourself, investing in yourself and knowing you can do it, knowing that you are capable, that you are deserving of what you want, of that vision ahead of you. In all of that, I feel like so much of those requirements. The stopping point is fear. So that’s why we have to keep bringing it up here on the show Today. What I really wanna focus in on and this might be a little might ruffle some feathers is in talking about what I have kind of come to call it in my own world, fake fear. Most typical business fears are fake. They’re not real fear. Now, trust me, I know how very real they feel. I’ve had my fair share of scary business moments. Every business owner has it’s part of the process. It’s what is required, as I mentioned before, of being in business. It happens, and I’m not diminishing anyone’s experience in any way by calling this fear, this feeling that you’re having, fake, but instead what I wanna do is create a system for you to help you move past these fears so that when you actually give yourself the time and space to think about what’s going on in your mind that may be stopping you, that you can see how your mind has kind of made up that fear. And that’s what I mean by fake. So let me explain even further. The emotion of fear has the purpose in our bodies to alert us of danger, right? I think we can all agree on that. Like life or death, survival instinct kind of danger, and so if something is threatening your life, the feeling of fear will stop you from doing that thing, or it will at least alert you to the real aspect of survival versus not survival. For example, I have a fear of heights. So when I’m hiking, I’m out on the mountains. If I get too close to the edge of a cliff, I feel fear. I feel fear like this in my entire body, just like, is totally succumbed to fear, and that is real. That’s because I need to be alerted that if I fall I may not survive Like that’s a real danger, a real threat to my survival. Now let’s look at some common examples of business fears. A big one that I see is being afraid to put yourself out there. That could be to post regularly on social media. It could be to put out a podcast, it could be to start a YouTube channel, whatever it is in putting your work out into the world. That fear usually stems from a fear of rejection or a fear of judgment. Those are two common roots of fear that business owners have, and that actually stems from, typically, a time in your life where you were rejected or judged and it sucked. It didn’t feel good, you were embarrassed, you were hurt. There was an emotion there that you don’t really ever want to experience Again. You want to avoid that situation at all costs Totally understandable and so now that moment of rejection or judgment it’s coming back to haunt you, trying to keep you from building your dream business. So that moment is now stored in your subconscious programming as something you want to avoid something that is a quote unquote threat, because you don’t want to go there again. So you are going to now have this big guard up anytime that you are in a place where you could feel rejection or could feel judged and get into that place. So now we have that fear instilled. Here’s the big question when you experienced that moment of rejection or judgment, were you still okay? Did you still have a roof over your head? Did you still have food on the table? Did your family and friends still love you? Were you still able to move forward in your life? Most likely the answer is yes. You were still okay, even when you got made fun of in front of your entire third grade class. Yes, it was awful, it felt terrible, but you still were fundamentally okay, your needs were still met and you were still able to survive life. And again, I’m not saying this to diminish or downplay that moment of judgment, criticism, whatever it was. We have all had them. They suck, it’s terrible and they really do continue to haunt us the rest of our lives. And that happens to everyone, right? So I’m not trying to diminish that, but I want to put it in a different perspective because this is going to help you move forward when these past experiences do try to butt into your business building process. So now, if you were to put yourself out there again and say start that podcast, post on social media regularly, announce your new paid offer and let’s just say someone thinks to themselves oh that’s weird that she’s doing that. Notice my little attitude in my voice for someone that would actually think that, or maybe listens to your podcast and finds your voice annoying and doesn’t want to listen again Will you still be okay? Or let’s say you’re afraid to launch your program or talk about your paid offers. Because what a lot of people are afraid of? Because what if no one signs up? What if too many people sign up? And I get overwhelmed. If you launch your program and no one signs up, will you still be okay? Will your basic needs still be met? Will you survive? If you launch your program and it’s a massive success, will you still be okay? And I know some of you are thinking well, of course I would be more than okay if what I was doing was a massive success, but you would be shocked to know how many people including you, potentially subconsciously, without you even really knowing it, are afraid of success, are afraid of the change that comes to your life when, whatever you put out, there is a success. You would be shocked to know that something to explore in yourself. Here’s another example, a harder one. So let’s really think about this If you launch your program and people don’t like it, will you still be okay? Will you still have a roof over your head? Will you still have food on the table? Will you still have family and friends that love you? I know it’s a hard one, because it’s like that is super embarrassing. That would just destroy me. Gosh, I would just like never want to show my face again if I put something out and I got replies that people don’t like it. So I know that that’s hard, but again, fundamentally speaking, will your needs still be met If someone doesn’t like what you put out into the world? Okay, I have another hard one. If you quit your job to go all in on your business, you invest a bunch of money. Let’s say you invest a couple thousand dollars to get the training and tools you need to make it happen and it takes a year to make enough money to support yourself, will you still be okay? Will you still find the money to have a roof over your head and food on the table? Will your family and friends still love you? Now, for some people you might say, yeah, I can use my savings, I can take out a loan, I can get a part-time job, I can borrow money from my family, I can take one-on-one clients. So, yeah, if that happens, if it takes a year to be able to support myself, I will still be okay for that year. And now for some people, this is actually a no, you won’t be okay and that’s fine too. But it’s a place for you to discover your own real fear versus fake fear. It just means that for you, that situation is a real fear and you can plan accordingly for that. So maybe for you it means keeping your job while building your business on the side, because that means you will stay okay and that gives you the ability to have actually less fake fears because you know you have. You know that no matter what, no matter what happens, you will be okay because you still have your job, you still can put food on the table, you still can pay for your rent or your mortgage, and that makes everything else basically a fake fear. So hopefully, all of these examples show you what I mean by a real fear versus a fake fear, a fear that truly is an alert to your survival versus a fear that your mind has made up to keep you quote unquote safe, based on past experiences that weren’t actually life threatening, but were uncomfortable and were not something that you ever wanted to experience again. And so you put up that wall against that feeling, and now your mind thinks that is an actual threat to your survival because of how it has interpreted your reaction. So here’s the test If this thing that I’m afraid of happening happens, will I still be okay? If this thing that I’m afraid of happening happens, will I still be okay? That is your test. Anytime you are experiencing what feels like a block Towards your flow, business, something that’s keeping you from moving forward in that flow. Now, of course, in order to get to that point, you have to be able to, and willing to, see your fears for what they are. You have to be willing to do a little digging in your own mind and with your own actions or reactions, and see what’s stopping you, what really is at the root of why you’re not doing what you want to be doing or what you know is the next best step for you. What Is that block? Where does that stem from? And you will find that there’s some sort of fear behind that, most likely. And when you can get to the route and you have the ability to say will I still be okay if the absolute worst happens? And you know I’m a very naturally positive person, an optimist almost to a fault. But when it comes to fear and when it comes to business and when it comes to actually moving forward, I really love thinking about the worst case scenario. And when you think about that worst case scenario, okay, what would be the absolute worst that comes from this? And if that happens, will I still be okay? And if you can answer yes, like yes, you still will have your basic needs met, you have shelter, you’ll have water, you’ll have food, you’ll have love. If you have those things, then move forward. If you want, then it’s time to kind of reconfigure that next step and find a way to make it something that will still keep your survival intact, keep your needs met and keep you moving forward towards that beautiful clearing of sparkly water that’s ahead, aka your dream business. And as we wrap up, I just want to remind you again that the feeling of fear is normal and expected. As a business owner, you are doing a ton of things that you’ve never done before and so you don’t know how they’re going to turn out. You don’t really know what’s going to happen. You can take an educated guess and have a plan, but there’s still a lot of unknowns and there’s a lot of leaps of faith to take as a business owner. So being able to manage that fear and move through it is a skill that all successful business owners have. They didn’t start with it. It didn’t come naturally, it wasn’t something they didn’t have to worry about or think about. It is something that Every business owner has acquired over their time of building their business because their desire for that business was louder, more prominent, a bigger part of their life Then that fear. So there was that drive to move forward. That then you know. Primarily, those fake fears come up and want to derail and they were trying to get rid of that fear Come up and want to derail and they were able to. All successful business owners are able to see that fear for what it is, notice that it was something that isn’t actually a threat to their survival and move forward despite that fear. So no one is immune. It’s called being human. Even more so, it’s called being a business owner and having a desire to create something for yourself. And I really think that the ability to manage fear Is truly what separates those who continue building their dream business and those that get stuck on that boulder and never move forward. So that’s why we’re having this conversation, and will continue to have this conversation here on the show, and I will continue to very lovingly, let’s say push you past your fears, push you to really see them for what they are and move through them, because I know you have what it takes to do that. If I can do it, you can do it. So here’s where I push you a little bit. What’s a fake fear you’ve been letting stop you? You probably have one. We all do. It’s okay, it’s normal, but now we have to pull it up, bring it to the surface, so that we can see it for what it really is. So what’s a fear you’ve been letting stop you? It’s your boulder in the middle of the river at this moment, and if that fear comes true, will you still be okay, will you still survive, will your basic needs be met? And if so, if the answer to that is yes, then what can you do to move beyond that fear? What is a very real, tangible action step that you can take today to start moving beyond that? And it doesn’t have to be this massive, giant leap forward. Most fears are best moved through with small action steps taken on a regular, consistent basis. So what is that for you? And also always remember what’s waiting for you when you do take those actions. So remember that vision you created in the last episode of your dream business and what that specifically looks like for you and feels like for you. Remember the analogy of moving, pushing yourself off that boulder, getting through the little rapids ahead and then getting to that sparkly, clear, beautiful, sunny water where you can just relax and go with the flow. That is what’s ahead for you as a business owner, as soon as you face those fears and move beyond them and that’s what’s really cool about this particular idea of will you still be okay if this fear happens. But what’s even more realistic is that, first of all, what you fear will happen most won’t even happen and, second of all, because you’ve moved beyond that fear and knew you would be okay even if the worst happens, you actually get to experience something beyond your wildest dreams, and something that isn’t just you being okay, but you being absolutely, amazingly, spectacularly awesome, right? So not only does that fear not actually happen in most cases, but you will be so beyond, okay and get to actually experience your dreams. So it’s worth it, because, unless your survival is at stake, then that fear is something that you can move through, that can, you can move beyond. And how cool is that? Now, if your survival is at stake, don’t, please don’t, don’t do it. Don’t get too close to the ledge, because you really truly might fall and not survive and I will be scared for you and I will be scared for myself. The fear of heights is real. Okay, so I will leave you with all of this and something for you to really think about this week and come up with a fake fear action plan for yourself. All right, until next time, take care. Hey, wait up before you go. Do you want to know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly. Before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type. With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident knowing your building a business you love. Head over to www.shawnmynar.com/quiz right now to find out your flow business personality type. Once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s www.shawnmynar.com/quiz. As always, the link is in the show notes.
Jul 12, 2023 | Podcast
What if you could create a business that not only brought you financial success but also joy and fulfillment? Welcome back to another episode of the Flow Business Podcast, where we’ll show you how you can create a business that complements your life, rather than complicates it. We’ll be unraveling the secrets behind a thriving flow business, and how understanding your unique personality type can pave the way towards a business that feels good, fun, and wonderfully flowy. Get ready to take notes, ask yourself some tough questions, and begin crafting your very own flow business.
In the first half of this episode, we delve into the specifics of your flow business vision. We’ll be asking questions about where you’ll work, what you’ll do, who you’ll work with, and even what kind of content you’ll create. The aim is to give you a vivid image of your future business, something tangible that you can strive for. And then, we’ll explore the concept of “flow dials” – elements in your business that bring joy and create an attractive energy. I’ll be sharing my own flow dials and how they’ve helped shape my business into the success it is today.
As we wrap up this episode, prepare to take a quick and insightful quiz that will reveal your flow business personality type. Understanding your unique type is crucial in helping you prioritize your activities and ensures that you are operating in areas that you truly love. This is not just another podcast episode to listen to, but rather a session to actively engage with. So, grab your journal and join me on this exciting journey of crafting a flow business that is as unique and amazing as you are!
Niche Confident Course – shawnmynar.com/niche
+++
Are you building YOUR flow business? Find out here >>> TAKE THE QUIZ!
Ready for a business with less hustle, more flow? Create your own signature program >>> WATCH THE FREE MASTERCLASS!
Chat with me on Instagram >>> @SHAWNMYNAR
Get the latest scoop >>>SHAWNMYNAR.COM
+++
Enjoying the show? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + leave a REVIEW and tell me why!
I appreciate your support. 🙏
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Speaker 1: 0:13
Hey, hey there, friends, Welcome back to the Flow Business Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and this is your place to create a business that complements your life, not complicates it, that feels good and fun and juicy and flowy. That’s what we’re doing over here Now. In the last episode, i introduced you to the concept of a flow business. I kind of explained why this was the next era for this show and where we’re moving things. And now the next step and what we’re going to do today is to help you figure out what your own flow business looks and feels like, what that means to you and how you can use that to understand what you should and shouldn’t be doing in your business, for your business, to grow your business, what will work, what won’t, just simply based on what you want, what you desire, what feels good to you. So that’s what’s coming up in this episode. One quick announcement I want to share with you, a really big one, a really fun one. I gosh back probably six to eight months ago. Everything kind of is rolling into one long stretch, but a while ago I created a course called Niche Confident, and it is all about my entire process, this kind of five step process for figuring out and defining your niche, or niche or dream client or ideal customer whatever you want to call it which, as I think we all know or can guess, that is the very first step to building your business. You’ve got to know who you want to work with, who specifically you want to help, and that’s also a big sticking point for a lot of people and something that really keeps them from potentially ever getting started or ever really making any big moves in their business is because they’re just stuck on who that dream client is, who that person is, who they want to help, who they feel comfortable helping and getting all of that defined and figured out for themselves. So I created a course called Niche Confident to help you do that. Well, guess what? This week only, which if you’re listening to this, when it airs it is mid July 2023. This week only, it is free. I have been selling it for the past six, seven, eight months for $97. Right now it is free and you can head to it, shawnmynar.com, slash niche and ICHE to grab your free access to the niche confident course. I’m also going to be offering free reviews of your niche so you can send your dream client statement to me. I will review it, give you some suggestions, some tweaks, let you know what I think in terms of it being specific enough, relatable enough, if it’s where we really want to be with your niche statement, and I will do that for you for free, for the next week as well. So this week only coming up that we are coming into mid July 2023. This is your chance to figure out and finally get confident in your niche for free. So head over to shawnmynar.com, slash niche and ICHE to get your free access into that course. All right, let’s talk about your flow business. This episode is very much an action oriented episode. This is a training for you. Think of it that way. This is something that you are going to need to do real work around. You can’t just well, you can please do listen to this episode while you’re on a walk or working out or in the car, making dinner or whatever, but then also know that you will probably have to go back and listen to this again when you have some time in front of your computer or at your desk or in your bed with your journal, to where you can do more of what we’re trying to do here, where you can really take action with this, because there are some questions you need to ask yourself and you do have some real good, solid, well thought out answers to, and then those answers are what will create your flow business. So, like really important stuff here, good, solid work to be done, really well used time, i would say, for you to actually take this seriously and go back and listen to this episode. Listen to it once, just through. I think that would be helpful too, because then you can know the steps and the process ahead of you. But then go back and really answer those questions as they come up and that will create your flow business. Okay, so first a little backstory on this. So I don’t know if you all are familiar with Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich. My wife has been following him for a long time and always wanted to get me into his work. Now, as you may know, if you’ve been here on this show for a while, and if not, then I’m going to tell you right now I very much live from an abundance mindset. I have worked through a lot of money blocks in my life that have shaped a lot of my decisions in the past and really worked through that and spent a lot of time on that and now really focus and really create my life from this abundance mindset. Now, all of that being said, i’m a pretty aggressive saver and investor. I don’t spend a lot of money. That’s just not something. I just like. Things that cost a lot of money generally don’t provide a whole lot of happiness for me. I’m more of an experienced type person instead of like a things person, so I don’t spend a bunch of money unless it’s on like a vacation or you know something like that. But at the same time, I really don’t like a budget. I think budgets are very restrictive. They come from a place of lack and scarcity and that’s not how I live my life and that’s not the mindset that I’ve now created for myself, after spending basically my whole life in a lack mindset up until now. And so when my wife comes to me and we are now married and we’re combining finances and all that stuff, and she points me to Ramit Sethi She’s followed him for 10 years and she says we got to, you know, create this, create our budgets or whatever And I’m like nope, not doing it, like totally closed off. But then he happens to come out with a Netflix show called How to Get Rich, and this was a couple months ago, and so I started watching it with my wife and I’m like totally drawn to it. I love him, i love it, i love his coaching, i love the concept, i love it all. Like it totally changed my thoughts around. Like money coaching, i guess you could say And you know it’s not, he doesn’t believe in budgets either. He’s more so about creating your rich life and figuring out what that means for you. Everyone’s rich life is different And being able to spend your money on those things that mean something to you And don’t spend your money on those things that don’t. And figuring out, kind of, where you’re spending and where you’re saving and what you could allocate differently to truly live your rich life. So I’m kind of giving him a little bit of a commercial here, which he totally deserves. It’s great And you should all go check it out. So watch that Netflix show. Got really into his philosophy. And then you know, we sat down and thought about our rich life and what that means and what that looks like for us. We created our conscious spending plan, which is his version of budgets, but in your rich life way, and which in all of this, just made me feel so differently about money and budgets and just really feeling like I could live this abundant life while also still having these things that I’m working towards and saving and being responsible and not spending money on things I don’t actually care about but then really spending a lot on things I do care about. And it just changed my relationship with, like money, coaching and budgeting and that kind of thing. All these things I had kind of stories around in my head from my previous life of lack and restriction and all that stuff when it comes to money. But then at the same time, while I’m going through all this, i’m really realizing how similar it is to what I do in business, what I believe about business, what I teach about business, and how similar our philosophies are just in different areas of life His with money, mine with business, and so really all of this to say I’m going to kind of piggyback off of Remiit’s rich life theory and use it to discuss your flow business. So if you do go and check out Remiit’s work and you see how he has everything set up and you’re like, oh, Shawn’s talking about this very similarly Yes, i am, i’m just this is my disclaimer right here, right now. I’m not copying, i’m just using this to piggyback off of and use that philosophy to kind of shift it into your business. You can use it for money, you can use it for business, you can probably use it for like every area of your life. So I just want to put that disclaimer out there now and give you the backstory. So today we are going to define your flow business, we are going to figure out your flow dials And then we’re going to link those two together to discover your flow focuses. Okay, so three big steps here. When I ask people why they want a business or why they want to start a business, the answers are usually pretty similar And very much of it revolves around one thing, and that is freedom, the big F word that we all want out of our business. Time freedom, financial freedom, schedule freedom, location freedom all of that sounds so great. So it sounds like I want more time for my kids, for myself, for my family, for my hobbies. I want to make my own schedule. I want to work for myself. I don’t want a boss telling me what to do anymore. I want to make more money than I could at my job. I want to be able to work from anywhere so I can travel while I work, and I want to make money doing something I love. Any of those ring true for you, probably, and that’s okay. These are all great and true and good and wonderful. But for your flow business, we got to go deeper. This is still way too broad, and when things like this aren’t specific enough or real enough, it’s not enough to keep driving you forward, it’s not enough to keep you flowing down that river, especially when things get inevitably hard or uncomfortable or scary. See, it’s not enough because it’s still too big, and when it’s that big or that out there, it seems far away, it might even seem, in the back of your mind, too good to be true, and so the drive to make it happen doesn’t last because of the vagueness or the vagueness or the lack of specificity. So, for your flow business, the very first step is to define it like, really truly envision it and get specific with it to the point where you can almost feel it like it’s right there. So it’s time to find out what is really important to you, like really important, And what isn’t important to you. There might be things that you think your business needs to do for you that you actually don’t really care about that much. And what is that? What do you really want And what don’t you care about? Why do you really want it And what does that really look like for you? And what doesn’t it look like? And this is where it becomes your flow business, which is going to be totally different than anyone else’s. It’s not going to be like my flow business or your best friend’s flow business or those people you’re following on Instagram’s flow business. It is yours and yours alone, and it’s really fulfilling and refreshing when you realize that your business doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s and it’s not going to and it’s not meant to. And if you don’t really care about things that people are telling you you quote unquote should care about, then cool, don’t care about them and build a business around what you do care about, which is likely something totally different. So, for example, your flow business could mean meeting with clients one on one every day, monday through Friday, until that 3pm time marker hits, when your kids get home from school, and then you don’t touch your computer or think about your business until the next morning. It could mean traveling the country in a van while running your group program every quarter. It could be building an eight figure empire and managing a full team of 20 to make that empire happen. It could be creating a side hustle for some extra cash while keeping your full time job that you love. It’s all about what that looks like for you. So the first step today is to create your flow business vision. I want you to get that vision of you living out your dream business where everything is flowing and feels good and it’s fun and you’re really thoroughly enjoying it. Everything you want is coming together The income, the impact, the audience, the platforms Everything that you’ve been wanting your business to do is working. Get that vision in your head now in vivid detail, not just general. We’re not going general with this. We’re getting specific, because specificity drives you forward. It will keep you going with the flow instead of stopping or turning around and going against the current. So this is what will drive us creating your flow business vision. So what does that look like in as clear and specific language as possible? So where are you working? Are you working from a coffee shop? Are you on a beach with your laptop? Are you in your cozy home office? Are you traveling around the world or traveling in a van around the country? Where are you working And what are you doing when you are working? Are you on a computer? Are you in person, face to face, with your clients? Are you traveling around to different potential clients? What are you doing in that time that you are working? Maybe you’re creating content, maybe you’re recording a podcast, maybe you’re hosting a workshop, or maybe you’re hosting a group coaching call. What are you doing? Who are you working with? Are you working by yourself? Are you working with your life partner, because you have built this business together? Are you working with a team? Do you have an assistant? Who are you working with? How many clients do you have? So, are you working with a handful of clients? Do you have hundreds of clients? Do you have thousands of clients? What does it look like? the work that you are doing with the people that you want to help? How many of them are there And what are you working on with them? How are you working with them? Get clear on all of that. How many people are in your audience? And, just for reference, as a reminder, i consider audience people on your email list in your social media channels, listening to your podcast, reading your blog posts on your YouTube channel, whatever it is. How many people are in your audience in your community? Is it hundreds, thousands, millions? get as specific as you feel comfortable getting here. Just pick a number. Pick a number that feels good, like you would feel like oh, my business is humming along. I have this many people in my audience in my community, and how are you connecting with those people? What do you do to connect with them? Do you have a podcast with you? Connect with them? Do you have a podcast? Do you send out emails? How often do you send out emails? What kind of response do you get to these kinds of platforms that you’re using to connect with your audience? Do you get DMs about what you’re putting out? Do you get replies to your emails? Do you get reviews of your podcast? You know? really get specific on what’s coming in in response to how you’re connecting with your people. What kind of content do you create? What topics do you talk about in your content? How do you get that content out into the world? What’s your schedule like? That’s a big one. When do you work? How often do you work? And another biggie what do you do when you’re not working? What do you now have time for because you’ve built this flow business that works perfectly with your desires? What do you now get to do because you have time for it? Get specific in that area, too. Ok, so this is going to be the part that you can come back to when you have time and you have pen and paper or you have a document in front of you on your computer that you can really truly answer all of these questions. So this isn’t just about kind of casually thinking about it as I’m talking and as you’re doing something else, i’m sure, while listening to this episode. This is about really taking this step in your business to do this work. So getting that vision in your head, that really vivid, clear vision of your flow business, and then also writing it down. The second piece of writing it down is just as important as creating that vision in your mind. So writing it down And then, ideally, you’re putting that somewhere close by on your desk or in your office or somewhere that you can go back and reference that when things start to get hard which they will when things start to feel scary which they will when you get overwhelmed or when you come up against a roadblock or something’s not going the way that you hoped it would, you come back to that because this is your flow business. This is why you’re doing what you’re doing Now. The next step is to discover your flow dials, and I don’t know if I mentioned this when I was talking about Ramit Sethi’s work and how it kind of inspired this conversation, but he has money dials where you figure out what you love to spend money on and then you work to be able to turn the dial up in those areas of your life where you love spending money on things and it really means something to you and it helps with you living your rich life. So we’re going to do the same thing here, but with your business and your flow dials. So your flow dials are things you love doing, ways you love spending your time and energy in your business that bring positive results to your business. Now, that last bit I had to put it in there because it’s important. It is not like creating content that I never share with anyone or spending all day designing my logo in Canva. Yeah, those things are fun. Maybe you enjoy spending a lot of time in Canva and doing all that stuff. But those aren’t part of a flow business because they aren’t keeping the business moving. They are characteristics of a still or stuck business, which we are no longer a part of, right? So what do you love doing in your business that also has a positive outcome for your business? So, like what sounds fun? When do you lose track of time? Like you’re working on something and you spend like hours and it feels like it’s been minutes. You just totally got lost in what you were doing. What would you spend more time on if you could, if you had more time, if you had more resources, if you had more clients, if you had a bigger audience, whatever it is, what would you like to spend more time on? And so, in that vision of your flow business, what are you doing? What do you see yourself happily spending time on? These are your flow dials and these are the things that you’re going to want to turn up in your business. Turn that dial up. You want to prioritize them. Spend more time and energy on them, because when you do that will have a greater impact on your business, because it’s something that you love, and just even energetically, how you infuse the things that you love doing, the energy that’s infused in that is a positive, attractive energy. So just that alone is really important. But also, when you’re doing something that you love, the quality of the work is so much better too. I mean, i think we can all agree that when you’re doing something because you feel like you have to, or you’re supposed to, or you should, it is not, it doesn’t come across as well as when you have just gotten in the flow and really created something that felt good and fun and right. It’s just, it’s different, right. I think we can all agree with that. So that’s what we want to spend more time doing, and again, that is going to look different for everyone. So here are some examples just general examples of what some of your flow dials could be Working with clients, posting on social media, showing up on Instagram stories, podcasting, creating videos, writing emails, blogging, coaching and or teaching, speaking engagements, networking, connecting with your community, creating courses or paid content, hosting workshops. So those are just a few examples of some things that you could enjoy doing for your business and in your business. Some of my flow dials, just to give you some more examples in my business personally teaching, both live and recorded. I love to teach, i love to share what I have learned, and so that is something I highly prioritize in my business. I also love podcasting, which is why I’m here right now with you. I like writing the notes, i like doing the research, i like thinking about the topics that I’m going to share and getting all of that kind of figured out and worked out, and then I also love recording the episodes. Now, i don’t love really anything after that. I don’t love show notes, i don’t love editing, i don’t love any of that. So that is something I actually have someone help me with. Chris, who is probably listening to this right now, is helping me with that part of my podcast, because that’s something I don’t enjoy and isn’t a good use of my time, and he does. Another one of my flow dials is writing weekly emails, letting myself just write in my voice as it comes out and just letting that all flow based on what I’m feeling, what I’m vibing, what comes up for me that week, what’s important that week. And just chatting with you all via email is also something I really enjoy and something I turn up in my business. Connecting with my community. I love having a private group. I love having office hours with my bundle members. I love connecting in DMs and via email. I just love chatting with you all one-on-one, and I would love to do more of that. So hit me up, just send me a message. I really do want to hear from you and we’ll absolutely get back to you. So feel free to connect with me. And then my last flow dial that I have written here that’s important is organic social media. Now, this was something I had to really shift my perspective in over the years, especially those moments when it feels forced and whatever. That’s, when I’m like, nope, not doing this, because it can start feeling that way, i think for all of us. But I really have embraced this idea of just showing up on social media when it feels good, not forcing it when it doesn’t feel right or good or I feel like I’m trying to force something to say or force something to post, and also not relying on it for my business. And as soon as I could get away from the idea that what I do on social media or don’t do on social media and the amount of followers I get and likes I have and all that stuff matters to my business, as soon as I was able to cut that cord. Then I had this really great relationship with it and it became a flow dial of mine, because I do enjoy posting on social media when it’s organic, when it feels good and is fun and not forced. So that is now a flow dial of mine that I turn up in my business. So you can see that your flow dials may be nothing like mine, they may be the complete opposite of mine, and that is okay too. But it’s important for you to figure out what those are. What are the things you wanna turn up your time and energy on in your business? spending more time and energy on those things because they’re fun, they feel good, they let you up, they have a positive impact on your business. So you figure those out and if you are in the stage where you haven’t done some of this stuff or a lot of this stuff before, so you don’t really know well, then The answer is to try, try them. Think about the things that you think might sound fun or most fun, most appealing to you, and give it a try. Try recording a podcast, see how it goes. Try writing a blog post, see how it goes And feel into them, and that helps you define how you want to be spending your time. But just trying to go by what everyone’s telling you to do or what you think you should do is probably not going to get you there. You have to experiment for yourself and try different things. And hey, guess what? You can record a podcast episode and never put it out into the world. If you do it and it doesn’t feel fun, you don’t like it. And same thing goes for a blog post or a video for YouTube or whatever. Just go through the process of actually doing it, as if you have that in your business, and see how it feels. See how it goes. Now, of course, it’s not going to be like smooth sailing if your first ever podcast recording or YouTube video recording, it’s not going to be smooth sailing, but can you see yourself enjoying that process on a regular basis and continuing to do that? And then, if so, then that is a flow dial that you are going to be turning up and turning on in your business, and if you don’t, then you don’t move on to the next thing and find some things that you do enjoy. Now the last step is to connect these two. So now you have that vision of how you want your business to look when it truly is your flow business. And now you have these dials of the things that you enjoy doing, that feel good doing, that bring a positive impact to your business. Now we connect the dots between those two and those become your focuses or really like your action steps or your to-do list for your flow business. So, as an example, let’s say one of your flow dials is teaching and coaching And your flow business vision is to work while traveling the world and taking weeks off at a time. So then how can you use that dial to create that vision? So that’s really what we’re doing and that’s what I mean when I say you’re connecting the dots. How can you use those dials that you just figured out to create that vision that you now have? So your flow business focus might be something like serving my clients through online programs and courses, because you know that with online programs and courses, you are teaching and coaching, but you still have that flexibility and the time off to travel the world and take weeks off at a time. So that is the connector. That is how it’s all going to come together to be your flow business. So another example if you love creating videos and your business vision has you connecting with your 10,000 person engaged Instagram followers. Then how can you use your love of video to do that? And the answer, or your flow business focus, is to create engaging, educational video content on Instagram to grow your audience. So you love creating videos and part of your flow business vision was to have this engaged, loyal Instagram following. Well, then, you can use your love of video to get there to create that vision. Another example let’s say you love podcasting and your flow business vision has you connecting with people through DMs or emails and really just having these nice juicy conversations with people one on one. Then how can you use your podcast to connect deeper with people? Well, maybe it’s being my real raw self on my podcast episodes to encourage connection from my audience. So that is going to be your focus. So now you can see you have these action steps that connect everything you love to do with this business that you love, so you can have the whole flow set up and now you know what to spend your time on. That will still feel really good to you. So that is your third step in this process And, as you can see, it is something you’re going to have to spend time on. It is something for you to get out a piece of paper and really do this whole process And especially this part where you’re trying to connect the dots and figure out how you should really be spending your time in your business. Like that’s a huge deal. So take this seriously And, like I said, go back and listen to these portions of the episode. If you need more time and you want to be able to do this, when you have some paper in front of you totally understandable, but these are just starting to get your juices flowing and then you can go back and actually do it at another time. So, as an example in my business, for my focuses, one of them is to create step by step digital programs, courses and workshops that my clients can get access to at any time to work on when it’s best for them. And I can work on when it’s best for me because part of my flow business vision is this really flexible schedule with free time when I want it or need it, and so this allows me to do it. But also a big part of my vision is to create really simplified systems to help my clients get their results. I really love simplifying everything. I guess it’s a dial to really something I love doing. So, then, creating these step by step digital programs allows me to do that. All of that at once. Another example I can share with you of mine bring my best real self to the podcast and put out the most valuable free content I can to as many people as possible, encouraging a deeper connection with me and my work. So, obviously, podcasting is something that I love to do, as I mentioned, and a big part of my vision is to reach a large number of people, as many people as possible, in a very real, authentic way and have a real, authentic connection with as many of those people as possible hopefully all of them And the podcast is a way to help me do that. So that is my driver, that is my focus and my way to make that flow business a reality. Okay, so I hope that makes sense. Seeing all of these different kinds of examples will hopefully get you thinking about it in that way, and then, really, the last step to this is just to start living it now. Your flow business isn’t a far off destination that maybe you’ll get to after you’ve gotten a certain number of clients or made a specific amount of money or have a certain number of followers. It is happening right, this very moment, and you get to and need to live it now. So those focuses that we now created for your business, those are your action steps to get you there, starting right now, not later, not next year, not once some magical marker happens. Right now. Your flow. Business is happening now, whether you want it or not, whether you are ready for it or not. This is your chance to embrace it and to make it happen, instead of continuing to push it away or to stall or to stop in the middle of that river and try to move against the current or try to stay still against the current. Just go with the current. It is the easiest path, right, it is the most fun path, the path of least resistance, and you get to live that now. So just get started, do this work, figure this out, take some time out of your day, get out a piece of paper or your journal and write all of this down really specifically and start doing it, start living it now. All right, my friends, i will leave you with that and just one last reminder that this is your one chance to get the NITCH Component course absolutely free. Zero dollars okay, normally goes for 97. Over on my website I’m marking it down to free this week only. Head to www.shawnmynar.com slash NITCH to grab that and send me a message over on Instagram at ShawnMynar, just send me a message. Let me know what’s up. Let me know what you’re working on. Let me know what your flow business is. Let me know what you’re struggling with. Just let’s check. I’m here for it and I would love to get to know you. So, ShawnMynar, over on Instagram, send me a DM and until next time, take care, hey, wait up before you go. Do you wanna know the biggest reason why your business may not flow? Because it’s not in alignment with your personality type. Building the right business for you means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, energetic expression and what’s most important to you, so you can build your business accordingly. Before you spend one more minute working on your business, let’s make sure it’s the right business for you. I’ve created a fun two minute quiz to discover your flow business personality type. With the results of this quiz, you’ll know exactly what to prioritize in your business so you can feel confident, knowing you’re building a business you love. Head over to shawnmynar.com/quiz right now to find out your flow business personality type And once you find that out, hop over to Instagram and let me know what you discover. Again, that’s shawnmynar.com/quiz. As always, the link is in the show notes, take care.
May 31, 2023 | Podcast
You have (or want to have) a business. Which probably means you have something to offer that people will pay you for. To make sure your business is profitable and successful, you need that paid offer to be something people *actually* want to buy so you can make sales and provide an income. Today, we’re going to talk about how you determine what that paid offer should be for YOUR business.
“Sometimes it takes doing it to realize what you don’t want, just as much as it does to realize what you do want.” – Shawn Mynar
“You’re allowed to evolve and change and find new things that you are passionate about and move with it.” – Shawn Mynar
“It’s all about the wants and needs of your dream client at their level. What they know, they want, and need.” – Shawn Mynar
“Listen to your audience. The best idea for your paid offer will come directly from your people.” – Shawn Mynar
“A huge piece of a thriving, healthy, profitable business is connecting and communicating with your people.” – Shawn Mynar
The Write Your Business Shop – shawnmynar.com/shop
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
As a listener of this show, you probably have or want to have a business, which means you have something to offer that people will pay you for. And to make sure your business is profitable and successful, you need that paid offer to be something people actually want to buy. So you can make sales and provide yourself an income. Today, we’re gonna talk about how you determine what that paid offer should be for your business. So stay tuned.
0:33
Hey there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving, Freedom filled online business way work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session.
1:17
Hey, hey there, friends, and welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host here on the show. Thanks so much for tuning in. And hanging with me today, we’ve got a lot to cover in terms of figuring out your paid offer, what that should be for you, and your business and your clients and what’s going to work best for everyone. But first, a few quick things, I will be taking the month of June, which if you’re listening to this when it airs, which I know a lot of you don’t. And that’s totally fine, too. But it will be the next month off of the show. So there will not be any new episodes for the next four weeks. As I basically take a summer break, I’ve just decided after eight and a half years of podcasting that I’m in a season of life for taking occasional breaks from content creation is what works best for me and my energy, and my family and my business and everything. So there will be no new episodes coming out in the next four weeks. However, when I come back in July, and this is 2023, if you’re listening to this in a totally different year, which also may be the case, then first of all, doesn’t really apply doesn’t matter. There’s plenty of episodes now for you to listen to. So you can disregard this conversation. But when I come back for those that listen kind of as these episodes come out, there will be a rebrand of the show, it will be Episode 200, which is also a big deal in my book, kind of a milestone, if you will. So we’ll be kind of celebrating that. And yep, like I mentioned, a rebrand, I’m going to get some guest experts on the show over in the next season and those kinds of things. So lots coming up, lots to be excited about. But first, a little bit of a break, which I hope you are finding in your life and your business too, because we all need to reset and recharge every once in a while. So that’s what’s going on over here. And then another big big announcement, I talked about this over on Instagram stories, and I’ll share it here too. Back when I really committed to taking my business online, which was in I want to say 2014 2015 time I really committed and I knew it was going to happen, I was going to figure out how to make it work. And there were two kind of like goals, I guess just these things that I really wanted to happen. kind of almost like these milestones of having made it I guess, if you will, and yes, I’m using air quotes in this was my mind back in 2014 2015. A lot has changed since then. But you know, we’ll go with it. I first of all, wanted to have something that would allow me to have a Black Friday sale, I wanted to be able to be with like everyone else in this world and have something I could mark down for Black Friday and promote it and get all this excitement and all that stuff. So in 2018 I had my signature program the fat burning female project out into the world had been for over a year at that point. And I put it on Black Friday sale. So check the box complete on that desire that goal of that and, you know, sidenote, never had anything else ever put on Black Friday sale after that. Not my jam, not my vibe, not something I want to be a part of, but hey, I did it. And I was able to find out that that wasn’t something I wanted to keep doing in my business by actually doing it. So you know, sometimes it takes doing it to realize what you don’t
5:00
Want just as much as it does to realize what you do want. And then the second thing of that whole visual I had for myself was to have a shop now at the time had no clue what I would put in this shop, especially if I was going to be selling like digital products like courses and programs and workshops, and masterclasses, those really aren’t necessarily the best thing to put in a shop, because they typically need more kind of like sales, more marketing involved than just like having this one page up, go click, buy and purchase, like, get into my cart, and then click the purchase button, and you have this thing. So I wasn’t sure how that was going to happen. But it was something that just really seemed cool to have back then. Well, now, my friends, I officially have a shop. This was not even something that was on my radar. As I started kind of diving into copywriting and starting to share more with you about how to write better copy for your business. And creating these tools to help you didn’t even really cross my mind that this would turn into a shop. But then as I am organizing and trying to figure out the best way to make these resources available, hey, why would I not create a copy shop and have everything that I have available for you in terms of helping you write your copy for your business in one place on my website. So I now have a copy shop, it’s officially titled The write your business shop. And that is over at Shawn mynar.com/shop, you can go check that out. As of right now, there’s like seven or eight things on there, maybe seven, there will eventually by the end of the year be 10 I’m hoping for that’s my goal for the year. Right now you can get the right your website bundle. But then if you just want to work on one page of your site at a time, I haven’t broken down the bundle. And you can get right your homepage right your about page right your services page. I also have the messaging magic masterclass over in the shop. And that includes the messaging workbook that will absolutely change the game and your business that’s over in the shop. So yeah, I’m really excited. It’s kind of like another check box, completed of this whole journey of having an online business and what it looked like, at the beginning when I started this 789 years ago, and what it looks like now how it’s all evolving. And of course back then there’s not a chance that I would ever think my shop would be a copywriting shop. But here we are. And that just shows how much can change in your business in your life with what you love to do with what you’re good at with what you’re passionate about over time. And that’s kind of one of the best things about having a business is that it can change with you and your clients, your dream clients can change with you and kind of evolve and grow. And there are people I know listening right now that have been with me since then there have been clients back then when I was teaching nutrition when I was teaching personal training, and then now are here and are learning copywriting from me and learning business tools and tips. And that just shows how really your business is like this living breathing thing that evolves with you, your clients evolve with you, you’re allowed to evolve and change and find new things that you’re passionate about and move with it. So totally going off on a tangent here. But all of this to say I have a shop and I’m really excited about it. It’s a big step in my business and something that has finally come true that I kind of forgot I wanted but now that it’s here, oh my God, that’s actually really cool. So go check that out at Shawnmynar.com/shop. Okay, let’s get into this paid off her talk. Because, you know, as is the case with a lot of the topics that we talk about here on this show. It’s something that I see that I don’t want to call a mistake, because it isn’t. But it’s something that a lot of coaches, practitioners, experts, who are trying to build their own business doing that type of service. They’re actually making it harder to build that business and to make money to create an income for themselves, because they simply don’t have the right paid offer. Meaning they’re not offering their audience or the people they want to help the right thing they want to buy. There’s a mismatch. And that can come down to a lot of different reasons. We’ll talk about those coming up. But at the end of the day, I think it’s quite obvious that we
10:00
We want to offer our dream clients something they actually want. And when you do that, hey, business gets a lot easier, making sales becomes a lot easier. So that’s what we are after today. Okay, so here’s the disconnect that I see quite often. And that is you creating a paid offer. That is what you want to do, what you want to teach what you want to coach on what would work best for you.
10:35
Or, and or really, what you know, your dream client needs, how this is the really, really, really hard part, especially as a coach or practitioner, or someone who knows the problem that their dream client is experiencing, like the back of their hand inside and out, and they know what they need so desperately. And you get into that space where like, yes, you just need this. But your dream client doesn’t want that or doesn’t know, that’s what they need yet. And so you’re jumping like 10 steps ahead of them and trying to sell them something, when they’re way, way back here. And they need to be brought up into that space where they’re ready for what you have, because now they know, that’s what they need. And that actually is a copy thing. So we’re gonna get into that towards the end of the episode. So let’s put a pin in that right now. Because we’ll circle back and talk about it when we talk about how our copy plays into having the right paid offer. But obviously, I think you can see the problem here, if you are creating something that you want, that you want to do that you want to teach on. And or you’re creating something that you know, your dream client needs, but they’re not in that headspace yet, then your train lion doesn’t want it, it’s like, you could be talking a foreign language to them. Everything that you say everything you post, everything you email them about is a completely different language, they do not get it, they do not want it, they’re tuned out. And then it’s not going to sell you are not going to make the sales that you want to make, even if you have an audience full of Perfect Fit clients. And what’s the worst is that you spend all this time creating a paid off, or let’s say it’s a signature program, you’ve spent all this time creating it and getting everything ready, you’re prepped to launch it, you put it out into the world, and no one buys it. That can feel really disheartening, really frustrating, really disappointing. And you get into that disappointment mode, you start spiraling about how no no one wants what you have to offer, your business is doomed. It’s never going to happen for you. No one wants to listen to you. Our ego has a lot of stories, especially about that situation. But really, it’s just because it’s not the right paid offer. That’s it. If such a logical like analytical 3d thing, you just don’t have the right paid offer. And then under that umbrella, there’s a few things to consider to maybe it’s not the right type of paid offer. So for example, if your dream clients really want support, and accountability, with the problem that they’re having with the journey they have to go on, then a hands off DIY course isn’t going to cut it, that’s not going to be valuable to them. And again, did talking a different language as soon as you bring up your DIY hands off course because that’s not what they want. That’s not what they need. But if they say I just need to know exactly what to do, and then I’ll do it. No problemo. I will get this done. Just give me the step by step instruction, then that’s a great for a DIY course. They see that like hands off DIY, step by step instruction, video tutorials blah, blah, blah. They’re in. Right? So it’s all about the wants and needs of your dream client at their level, what they know and they want and need. But then it also could be that it’s just not the right topic. And this is something that happened to me. So I have very much a real example of this. If your dream clients are saying, I want to lose weight, and then you create a program on mindset when you know that mindset is a key piece to losing weight.
15:00
They don’t know that they don’t care. They get into this space of yeah, that mindset sounds really cool. Yes, I will totally work on that. As soon as I lose weight, they don’t have that connection. This happened to me. So back, when I was kind of feeling complete with the fat burning female project, which was my first signature program, along the way of running that program for 1000s of women, I very much came to realize that their problem was in their mindset, they were having a very poor relationship with their body, they had a lot of disconnects, around food and food relationship issues. And it all came down to a mindset thing, and really looking at what was going on in their minds to heal their bodies to lose weight, if that’s what their body was meant to do, and to just get comfortable, and confident no matter what kind of thing. I saw that as a need, that these people wanted. And my current audience, which was quite large at that time. So I created a program around the mindset of gaining a healthy, happy body didn’t didn’t go didn’t go well. I know there are some of you listening right now that were in that program. And I know, we all know that it was a great, it was a really fun program, there was a lot of mindset work, and strategies and tools and things like that there’s a lot of energetic work, and vibrational work, it was a really cool program. But it didn’t hit, it didn’t land with the vast majority of the audience I had at that time, I was literally speaking a different language to them when I started talking about the mindset. And like I said, it was very much one of those things where it’s like, this sounds like something I would be interested in. But first I need to lose weight, like this is my imminent problem, I need someone to tell me how to lose this weight, or, you know, heal my thyroid or get my adrenals back on track or whatever this like surface level problem was with their health. And then I’ll work on my mindset, it was like two separate things. Now, knowing what I know, now, this is like, what, five, six years later, I would work on my copy, I would work on my messaging. And I think that program would have gone on to be a raging success, if I would have done those things instead, you know, again, Side Story, this doesn’t really have anything to do with what we’re talking about today. But interesting to know that at the same time that program was running. And you know, there were a few people coming in, I was doing launches for it. And you know, it was a success in its own right, I would say. But at that same time, I started taking clients who wanted help with their businesses. So this it was kind of like this secret thing I was doing behind the scenes just thinking I would help. You know, these colleagues, my peers that were coming to me asking for business help, I would just kind of do that as one off things. But then I actually really enjoyed it. And it started spiraling and you know, over time turned into this and what we are doing here now on unstuck entrepreneur and everything I’ve done over the past four years as a business coach. So it was meant to be that program was not meant to be a success, because then I wouldn’t be here sharing with you the lessons I learned from it not being a success. So here we are. Anyway, let’s get back to talking about your paid offer. So in the case of it just not being the right topic, then it might be either that you need more time building up the right audience. If that is a topic that you are really passionate about, that you definitely really want to have a paid offer around, then spend more time work building up your audience of the right people who are ready for that topic, or is interested in that topic, or find the topic that your audience your current audience is interested in does need help with does and resonate with. Which brings me to the overarching solution to all of this that you’re probably already kind of figuring out, which is to listen to your audience. The best idea for your paid offer will come directly from your people. It doesn’t matter if right now, that is 10 people or 10,000 people or 10 million people, it doesn’t matter, but you have to use what your audience is saying to create the paid offers for
20:00
for your business that will actually sell. And that means you need to connect with them. A huge piece of a thriving, healthy, profitable business is connecting and communicating with your people. Because your people have the answers, your audience basically writes your copy your audience, establishes your messaging, and your audience will tell you what paid offers to put out into the world. So connect with them get really super interested in every single thing. They say in a comment, they leave any direct message and you reply to email. You can even set up some virtual chats with your dream clients, you know, open up an hour on Zoom or something like that, and schedule like a few 15 minute appointments, just to talk with your people, people that maybe have purchased from you in the past, or you have some sort of connection with and you would feel comfortable going deeper with them. That’s always an option. But you have to start listening, taking notice of what they’re asking for it because I can guarantee they’re telling you now they might not know they’re not directly saying, Hey, will you create this kind of program? Or will you do this kind of DIY course, they’re not saying that, but they are telling you about their problems. They’re telling you what they would love to have, what they’re not getting what they need, what they don’t want, they are telling you, or they will tell you if you prompt them to. So use your social media, use your email connections, and see if you can get some answers. Now I do think that you’re gonna get better answers. If you ask more indirect questions like, you know, what’s been on your mind lately? What are you struggling with right now in relation to you know, whatever your niches, getting those kinds of things, kind of like prompting them to talk about their problems to talk about what they need, what they don’t want, instead of just saying, Hey, would you guys like a course on blah, blah, blah? Or, Hey, would you like me to do an eight week program on blah, blah, blah? That that’s not what we’re looking for here? Because that’s actually not going to provide very accurate answers. Because of course, yeah, until I know how much I have to pay sure I want to DIY course, that’s not what we’re looking for here, we’re looking to create something so valuable for them that the price that you set it at doesn’t matter that price point is irrelevant, because you have listened to them and created something that they need, that they want, that is valuable to them that solves their problem provides a solution provides the space, the kind of, of support that they’re looking for. That is what we need to know. And then once you have those answers, create that create a solution to their problems, an answer to their questions, a desire they have that’s not currently met a support group, if they want a support group, or a DIY hands off kind of thing that they can do whenever, if that’s what they want, create what your audience wants. That is how you make sales. Now, let’s move into talking a little bit about the copy aspect of this too, because there is the opportunity to take a paid offer that you know, your dream clients need, and turn it into something they want. Really that’s kind of the whole purpose, or that’s the power of having a really good copy. So if you have created a or want to create a paid offer, that you know, your dream clients need, but they’re not quite there yet, like I said, with my example of the mindset but then wanting to lose weight, then you can use your copy to bridge that gap. And this is really just a lesson in the stages of awareness, which I don’t think I’ve talked about here on the podcast yet I know I did in the messaging masterclass and the write your website, there’s so many places where I have, but I actually don’t think I’ve talked about them here yet. But a big piece of copywriting is to take your clients on a journey through different levels of awareness until they are ready to purchase from you. And if someone does not know that they need your solution, that you have that solution and that you are the right person for them than they are stuck in a more problem aware place. They are very much aware of their problem. They know exactly how it feels in
25:00
exactly what they don’t want to happen, that is happening. They know the symptoms, and the experiences they’re having, and they’re stuck there. And when you’re stuck in problem aware, you don’t know a solution exist. And if you don’t know solution exists, then you don’t fully don’t know that your solution is the right solution for them. So they need to be guided through that whole process of yes, there is a solution. Yes, this solution will get you out of this problem state. And here’s why. And here’s how that looks. And here’s how it’ll go and what you can expect. And then yes, I have an option for you to get that solution. And here’s how that looks. And here’s what we’ll do. And here’s what you can expect all of those things, then you slowly move them down the road from problem aware, to solution aware, and then to product aware, which is that your offer is their solution. And again, we go into this way more in the messaging masterclass. But that’s just an example of, if you’ve created something that is a solution that your people aren’t yet aware of, then that doesn’t necessarily mean that your offer won’t sell or isn’t good. And you need to start over and start from scratch. No, but it does mean that you have some work to do in your copywriting and how you present that solution and meeting your clients where they’re at and coaching them to that point where they now see you as the solution or as the one that has the solution to their problem. So it’s like a really long journey, potentially, it could take time. And it definitely takes talking about it differently and presenting it differently. And that is the power of your copy the power of your words, the power of what you say, to the right people at the right time in the right way. And that is why I love copywriting I think it is the most amazing, transformative thing for your business. And it is something that every single one of you needs to get really clear on right away and start working on these skills for your business. I mean, your other option is to hire someone and have them write every word in your business for you, which would literally cost you millions of dollars. So I don’t think you want to do that. Instead, learn how to do this in your business, and it will absolutely change the game for you. Now this copywriting technique does not work. If you have created something that you wanted to create, like something that you wanted to teach you wanted to coach on, something that sounded really good to you, let’s just put it out there and see what happens and it flaps that won’t necessarily work, there’s a chance it could you could try to kind of maneuver your copy to become more appealing to your dream clients. But like I said, it’s probably more so either creating something that you know, your clients already want, or spending the time building up a new audience that does want what you want to teach, which is great too. Because obviously you want to be doing what lights you up what you’re passionate about and sharing that with the world. So it is going to be worth taking the time to build up an audience that agrees with you. So if you’re in that space, where what you want is no longer what you used to talk about or what your old audience is looking for. That’s okay. But you’ve got to make that decision of do I create a paid offer that they want? Or do I go off and pivot a little and start working towards this new thing? That’s an option too. But no matter what if you have not created a paid offer yet, or you’re not getting the sales that you thought you would on a paid offer you have put out, then you have to do this very analytical analysis. I think that’s like kind of saying the same thing twice. But you have to do an analysis of if it’s something that your dream clients are asking for. Is it something they are looking for? Is it solving a problem they know they have? Is it providing a solution they know they need? Where is your paid offer, stacking up in relationship to what your audience is currently saying? You just if you listen, I promise you they are telling you exactly what they would pay for. They really are. It’s just a matter of tuning in, and then fall
30:00
believe that it’s a really cool thing to make sure that you know that your next paid offer will be a success. And like I said, it could be someone even just saying, I would love a support group, I would love accountability, I would love to meet other people who are in this boat too, then like I said, a course isn’t going to do that for you, you need to create a signature program or something where they have that community where they have other people going through the process to and vice versa. If they don’t want that, just give me the steps and I’m done. Then now you know that too. So having this big giant program would be a waste, they don’t want that. You just have to listen and figure that out for you and your people and your business. And it will all come together and you will make the sales that you want to make and you will help the people that you want to help. Okay, I will wrap things up here for the next month as I take a little summer break. And I will be back in a few weeks with more new episodes, and a fresh new rebrand. So until next time, take care.
31:09
Hey friends, Shawn here and if you’re a coach or practitioner who is looking to help more people, make more money and have more free time than I have a special invitation for you that you don’t want to miss. Right now. I’m hosting a free masterclass that will walk you through the process of adding a signature program to your business. As many of you know, the signature program business bottle has been my primary way of doing business since 2017. And after seven programs of my own created and helping dozens of other wellness pros create theirs. I’m now sharing my exact process with you for free. In this one hour masterclass. Now, you might be thinking, Shawn, I’m just not ready to have my own program yet. Or I don’t have the time to build a program right now. Are you crazy? I totally get it, I get all of it. Which is exactly why I created this training in the first place. I want you to see how possible this really is for you, and how simple it can be when you have a tried and true proven system in place, no matter where you’re at in your business today. So if you’re like most coaches and practitioners who have a dream of creating a scalable offer in their business, that helps the people that are meant to help without it being directly tied to your time and energy than there’s a seat with your name on it inside my burnout prove your business masterclass. In just one hour, you’re going to learn why adding a signature program will uncap your income potential forever and give you more time for your own life, health, family and self care. You’ll learn exactly how my client sold out her first program, even with a small audience. Because of this one super simple marketing hack that I am going to reveal. You’ll learn the simplified, foolproof process that will take your knowledge and experience and turn it into your own program in just six weeks, and also how to implement an automated marketing system that will grow an engaged audience full of Perfect Match clients that can’t wait to enroll in your program. Once it’s ready. Even if right now you’re starting at zero. All you have to do is head to Shawnmynar.com/burnout proof and save your seat for this masterclass before it’s gone. Shawnmynar.com/burnout Proof can’t wait to see you there.
May 24, 2023 | Podcast
Writing emails…it’s one of those things you know you need to do as a business owner, but often something that, for a lot of people, can feel challenging, time-consuming, or boring. Today, we’re going to change all that. I’m breaking down my email-writing process so you can say goodbye to writer’s block and start writing emails your audience actually wants to read in a fraction of the time.
“At minimum, it’s every other week that you are sending these KLT email where it’s just building rapport, and giving value and connecting with your audience.” – Shawn Mynar
“When you experience writer’s block, my best recommendation is to just write something. Just get something on the page.” – Shawn Mynar
“All emails should have a goal, or a purpose, or a point. So what’s the point, why are you sending this?” – Shawn Mynar
“I can guarantee you with 100% certainty, it will take you so much less time to do the outline first and then fill in the gaps as it comes most naturally to you, not necessarily from start to finish.” – Shawn Mynar
“Don’t try to write it well the first time. There absolutely zero need to write something remotely decent even on the first try… But you have to get something out, you have to get the overall idea and what you wanna say out of your head and onto paper.” – Shawn Mynar
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
writing emails. It’s one of those things you know you need to do as a business owner, but often something that for a lot of people can feel challenging, time-consuming, and or flat-out boring. But today, we’re going to change all that. I’m breaking down my email writing process. So you can say goodbye to writer’s block, and start writing emails your audience actually wants to read in a fraction of the time. Let’s dive in.
0:31
Hey there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving, Freedom filled online business way work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session.
1:15
Hey, hey there, friends, and welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, thanks so much for hanging out with me today on this special episode talking all about the email, the business email that you are sending as a business owner. So not just any old email, but the email that your people actually want to open and read and click on and do the thing and get more involved in your business. So kind of important, really big topic, one of my favorite topics to talk about. So first of all, if you aren’t yet sending emails, in your business, this episode is for you, this is a very, very important episode for you to get over that hump to get over that hurdle, to really embrace the idea of sending emails for your business. Because if you’re not, you’re making it about 1000 times harder than it should be, to have a business and to make money in your business by not sending out emails. And that goes for you know, even if you’re a local business, even your if you’re a brick and mortar business where people come into your office or come into your shop, or whatever it is, emails still work, emails are still important if you have a business. So really important episode for you. And then also, if you are a business owner, or becoming a business owner, who struggles to write the emails you do send to them, you know, you need to you’re already on board with that. But there are struggle, they’re not fun. They’re challenging, you don’t know what to say, maybe you’re not getting the response, or the engagement out of the emails that you do send, people aren’t taking action, people aren’t opening people aren’t reading, people aren’t clicking, whatever it is, this is also a very important episode for you. And if you’ve ever had a case of writer’s block, when it comes to reading your emails, this is definitely the episode for you. So that’s what we’re gonna get into today, I have a very specific process that I follow for writing emails that I really don’t think many people know to follow. This isn’t something Well, I guess maybe it’s something I made up, but I don’t think so. Maybe my own process is but it follows a very specific kind of guideline for how to write emails, which, first of all, is not to write it from the first word all the way down to the last word in order that is definitely prime and ripe for writer’s block. And for writing an email that doesn’t actually do anybody any good. So it makes it way harder on you too. So that’s the first thing and we’ll talk more about that coming up. But it also is, you know, just not really having a very clear direction and understanding of your email before you start. So that’s what we’re really going to do and focused on today is creating the framework and the outline for your email because once you have that writing the actual email like filling all of it in is easy peasy. And as I promised in the intro, going to cut so much time off of your email writing process. That’s what we’re going to get into today. Now, first thing is to recognize that there are many different types of emails as a business owner. So let’s
5:00
break those down first. So, you know, kind of in your own business, what emails you’re sending. And then also what we’re going to talk about specifically today, because each type of email, has its own process has its own purpose. And they’re all treated quite a bit differently. And today, we’re going to focus on one specific type. So the first type of email that you have in your business is the welcome email. And this really is actually a series of emails. So this comes after someone has opted in, potentially to your freebie or even just to your email list. And they have said, Yes, I would like to receive your emails. So we talk about that welcome sequence a lot here on the show already have. So not going to go over that. But that is one type of email is the welcome email series that comes right when someone joins your list. Then we have the enrollment email series, which is your sales sequence. This is when you have something that you are selling, whether that comes after your special event, or it’s just this thing you’re kind of starting to talk about with your audience, you have those emails that are specifically designed to sell something, again, very different than any other type of email, then you have what I like to call the invitation emails, which this comes before those enrollment emails. And this is an invitation to your special event that then will kick off your launch will kick off those enrollment emails. So invitation emails are again, very different than a welcome email or an enrollment email. This is more so an invitation to a free special event, which is very exciting. And there’s a lot of build up to that. So that’s a totally different story. And then the last type of email to kind of categorize here is what I call the KL T email, otherwise known as your regular weekly or bi weekly newsletter, I think newsletter kinda feels a little stuffy. When we think about it that way, you can absolutely call it your newsletter, it’s totally fine. But I call it the Kol T. Because really what we’re doing is we’re building that know like, and trust in those emails. There’s nothing necessarily for sale. There’s no specific invitation to a specific event at a specific time or anything like that. It’s just getting in touch with your audience that has already been on your list for a little bit. They’ve already gone through that welcome sequence, they’re already getting warmed up. But this just continues that process, it continues to get your name and your work in front of their eyes, so they can build up that connection and that rapport, aka know like and trust. So Kvlt emails, that is what we are going to focus on today, that regular email quote unquote, newsletter that you’re sending to your email list on a regular basis. And yes, I did just say regular two times in the same sentence, because that is important. This is not and never should you think of your newsletter, your KLTV email as just being this like sporadic thing that just like happens when you have the time or anything like that. This is something that you are committing to, as a business owner to send to your people regularly. If the most that you can send in commit to doing that, for your people is every other week, that’s okay for now until you’re able to carve out more time. But at minimum, it’s every other week that you are sending these Kvlt emails where it’s just building rapport and giving value and connecting with your audience. Okay, but hopefully you can get to a point where it’s every week, same time, same day, it’s on your schedule, you know, it’s happening, and hopefully with what I’m going to share with you today, it becomes so much easier for you to write these emails and easier for you to think of what to say and the emails that you can carve out 3045 Maybe 60 minutes a week to write these emails and get them sent. Okay, so that is the type of email that we’re talking about today. The other ones can maybe be another episode in the future but those are not what is being discussed in this particular episode. Okay, now before we can even think about writing an email, we need to create the outline for that email. When you have a writer’s block. The main reason is because you are staring at a blank
10:00
page and expecting to write an email from start to finish, no problem like, very first word all the way down right in this email know exactly what you’re going to say exactly how it’s going to sound Oh, man, this is so amazing. Here’s my awesome email all the way to the very last period, and then you hit send. That is not how emails are written. That’s not how this works. And that is what is making it harder for you to get them written. So if you’re ever dealing with a writer’s block in any area of your business, whether it is emails, or sales pages, or landing pages, or freebies or whatever you’re creating, and you experience writer’s block, my best recommendation is to just write something, just get something on the page, because the second that you are no longer staring at a blank page, you will notice the very obvious change in your brain and in your ability to put more on the page as soon as it isn’t blank. And so that’s why I always recommend doing an outline, because not only are you putting something on the page, so it’s no longer blank. But you’re also putting together an idea or a plan for what you’re about to write. So really, what we’re going to talk about in terms of email outline today, that can work for many other things like pretty much every other thing that you are writing in your business can start from this initial outline that we’re going to do today for your email. So consider that and and remember that next time, you’re feeling stuck with other things that you are trying to write for your business. Okay, so we gotta get something on the page. And it might as well be an outline, because we can then plan your email. So you have some direction for the rest of that email, which will easily shave off like half the time it’s taking you to write emails currently. So step one of your email outline is the purpose of the email. What’s the point of this email? Why are you sending it? I sure hope you’re not sending emails to your audience that doesn’t have a purpose. That doesn’t make any sense. All emails should have a goal or a purpose or a point. So what’s the point? Why are you sending this is it to share a tip is it to highlight a freebie is it to get them to listen to a podcast episode, or to have them read a blog, whatever it is, get super clear on that. So once you know the goal of that email, write it at the top of your page. Now you’re going to delete this later. But for now, first of all, it gets something on the page so that you no longer have writer’s block. And it will serve as a reminder of what your email is about to make sure you stay on track. Okay, so we’re no longer staring at a blank screen anymore, you have the goal of the email written at the very top of the page. Step two, based on the purpose of what you just wrote down that purpose, that goal, the point of the email, what’s the topic? Now your purpose of the email is not the same as the topic, but it will be based on that it will be a topic that is related to the purpose of the email that is really clear, really specific, just one topic. That is a very direct correlation to the purpose. So for example, let’s say that you are promoting a freebie with low carb recipes. You have a low carb recipe book 10 recipes, and it’s totally free, then the topic of your email could be about the biggest benefit of low carb eating, it could be the biggest myth for low carb eating a common mistake that people make with low carb eating a recent benefit that has been found in low carb eating with a study that was just done. There’s lots of different topics based on just one purpose. And this is where also, if you ever find yourself wondering what the heck am I supposed to write about in my emails? If you go through this process, you will find that there are actually so many things that you could write about in your email and you only need to pick one. So I just gave what four or five different examples, right? There’s four or five different emails that you could send over the next few months and that’s just for that one specific freebie. There are many different things that you can have as your purpose or your pull.
15:00
might many different things that you can direct people to in these newsletter type emails. And then once you figure out that purpose, then there are so many different topics that you could go down. So anytime you’re feeling blocked for topics, start with this outline. Okay, so once you know the topic of that particular email, write it down underneath the purpose. Now, next step is, what’s a problem or desire your reader has in relationship to the topic of your email, write it down, you could have a couple and then you can use that as kind of like a brainstorming session and pick the one you like the best, but it’s just going to be one for this email. And again, you can see that within one purpose, there are many different topics to consider. And then within those topics, there are also many different problems or desires to consider that you will use as the starting point for your email. So once again, the options are endless for you. And there’s really no reason ever to be stuck on what to say, or do you even have anything to say, in an email when you go through this outline process, okay, so use this as a brainstorm session if you want. But regardless, figure out a problem or desire related to that topic and write it down. This is going to be the start of your email. This is how your email is going to open.
16:39
So let’s give another example continuing with this same low carb eating the recipes. The problem could be that they’re worried about the particular myth that you’re going to discuss, like worried you’ll be bored with food, where you’ll miss out on your favorite foods that is a potential problem or worry that your reader has. And it’s also a common myth that you want to talk about in this email. So that could be or desire could be that they want a particular benefit that you’re going to talk about in your email, they want to have more energy throughout the day. And that is, again, the desire. So we’re kicking off email with either this problem or this desire totally up to you which one you pick, and which one feels most probably relevant to your readers is something you’d want to consider. So that’s step three, that is the opening of your email. So just write it down, you’ll have to write down or create your entire paragraph. But just we’re doing the outline. So just write down that problem or desire. Next step, step four, what’s a personal story, a client story, a real life metaphor, or analogy, or something else, that’s relatable to that topic. So once again, personal story, client story, metaphor, real life example, real life analogy, something like that, that we can use to bridge the gap, and create that relatable humaneness factor within this email. This is also what makes your email interesting and something that people want to read. So kinda important. I’m assuming you want people to actually read your emails. So this is a really important step. And this is going to be the middle of your email. Once again, I’ll give you an example. And basically writing a whole email as we go through this episode. Sticking with the low carb eating theme, let’s say that you’ve decided the problem is that they’re worried that they won’t be able to eat, the foods they love. That’s their biggest concern that something you want to discuss in this email. And so you decide to use a story from a client that you had, let’s say, your client, Linda, really wanted to reap the benefits of low carb eating, but she was really worried that she wouldn’t continue to enjoy pasta night with her family. That was something that was really special, this kind of tradition that they had, and she didn’t want to give that up. That’s the client story I’ve decided I’m going to use for this email. So again, write it down. Just a brief description, you’ll have to write the entire piece of it unless you really are on a roll and you really feel like it’s coming to you cool, then write it but at minimum, jot it down so you know that that’s the middle of your email what you’re going to talk about, okay? Step five, why? Or how is your topic the solution to that problem, or desire, this is where we bring it all together. Write a short description. This is going to be the end
20:00
Have your email, you’re going to bring in the topic of your email here. And also the purpose the point the goal of your email here. So if it is to shout out a podcast episode or a blog post, this is where you’re going to link to it. This is where you’re going to talk about why they need to continue reading or download this freebie, or keep listening and go over to the podcast. This is the big kind of finale of your email where everything gets brought back together. So for my example of this email I’ve been writing in this episode, I would say something like, you know, once I explained to Linda that she could in fact, reap all the benefits of low carb eating and still enjoy pasta night with her family, she got so excited, you could physically see the relief come across her face. And I even gave her one of my all time favorite recipes for zucchini Alfredo for her to make for her family on the next family pasta night. And this is just one of the 10 recipes I have available in my free low carb living recipe book, grab it here. There we go. Email written, no, just kidding. But at least I have my outline. And this is again, something where you are just at minimum jotting down your idea. These are all kind of fragmented pieces at this point. But it created the outline, and it got your juices flowing. Now you know also how your email is going to flow. And you have somewhere to go from here. Because now the next step, second to last step, you’ve outlined the beginning, middle and end of your email, it’s time to go back and fill it all in. You don’t have to do this from top to bottom, you do this moreso by what feels easiest, when you go back and look at your outline, and you have that problem or desire listed out then then you have that kind of relatable piece that is your middle email, you have that idea figured out. And then you have the end of your email where you’re tying it all together and talking about the whole purpose of your email. which one feels easiest to flesh out first? Which one can you write out in full first, that would just you’re drawn to that just feels like oh yeah, let’s just get this part done. Do that, and then do the next and then do the next. It doesn’t have to be in order. So right now you’re just taking those three pieces and fleshing them out as it comes naturally to you. Then the final step, actually, no, let me add on a step. So now this is the second to final step. The second to final step is to then move from top to bottom of the whole email and edit it all and make sure it flows. So this is where you take kind of the chunked up beginning, middle and end and actually read it and edit it to be a nice, well written flowy email. That is the next step. So they you kind of put all the pieces together. And then the final step, for sure. The end, the final I promise, is to write the subject line, and P S, these are by far the most important parts of your email. First of all, with the subject line, if you don’t have a good subject line, no one’s opening your email, they’re not even reading the email, they’re deleting it before even given a chance. And that really comes down to the subject line. It has to be enticing, intriguing, it has to make people want to click in. So you know, there’s a whole training I could do on subject lines. And I think I’ll do that probably here on the podcast or maybe in a live event. That’s a bigger topic we won’t get into today. But at minimum, I can tell you that it needs to be catchy, it needs to be relevant to what’s going on in the email. And it needs to be short, most inboxes and especially if someone’s looking at their inbox through their phone, which I think at least 50% of people do. It is a really short amount of space for that subject line to come through. And if you can’t get the whole point of the email in that short little subject line box that you have, then they’re more likely to not even open it. So get it as short as it can be so that you see the entire subject line in the inbox while still getting the point.
25:00
across and making it catchy and clear and to the point, okay. So that’s why I recommend doing the subject line last because you want it to be very relevant to what’s gone on in the email. So you can even potentially pick out a specific line or something that’s catchy from your email and just kind of repurpose that into your subject line, or at least just really stay on target on topic with your email. So I definitely recommend writing that last. And then as far as the PS, that PS is the most read piece of your entire email, a lot of people will skim your entire email, and then actually read the PS in full. So always include a PS, in your emails, and even a PPS, or PPP s, if you really want to, they will be read. And so this is important, it’s important to make it actionable, it’s important to bring it back to the topic and purpose. If you are promoting something where there is a click off into a podcast episode or a blog post or something like that, then there should be another link to do that in your PS. So you can even just kind of reiterate what you said, in your email, kind of like a TLDR too long didn’t read and have that be your PS. There’s a lot of different options there. But if it’s something where that feels like the easiest thing to start with the easiest thing to write because it is so like to the point just like, here’s what this email is about, here’s what I want you to do click this thing, or whatever, then you can write that first. But if that’s not coming naturally, and you’d rather wait to write the whole email first and then use the PS to kind of sum it up, then right at last, okay, but it is important. So definitely take the time to write a really catchy, clear, concise, to the point direct. How many times how many different ways can I say the same thing, P S. And that’s it. Now you’ve written your email. And while it may seem because there are a lot of steps, I think there’s like seven or eight steps to this. While it may seem like this is a more complicated process and would take longer, I can guarantee you with 100% certainty, it will take you so much less time to do the outline first, and then fill in the gaps as it comes most naturally to you. Not necessarily from start to finish. So we have that beginning, which is the problem or desire that you’re opening the email with. Then you have at the middle which is best story or the example or a metaphor or something just furthering along the problem or desire, just making it feel very relatable. Bringing in some realness, and humaneness into your email in the middle, and then ending with your solution, which in this case, is the whole point of the email, whatever value you’re looking to give to the reader in that email that day. That’s how you sum it up and bring it all together, tie a bow on it, and call it an email. And then you have the subject line and the PS. Okay, so that is my simplified system to write an email that people actually want to read and open and click and be engaged with, which just improves your business on so many levels just by upping the ante when it comes to your emails. Now, just to wrap things up, I do have a few quick writing tips. I have so many writing tips. But I’m going to keep these really related to this kind of writing. First of all, and this really does apply to all writing this is so, so, so important. This will change everything for you and your writer’s block and just feeling like writing is really hard. Don’t try to write it well. The first time, there is absolutely zero need to write something remotely decent even the first try, no one is going to see it. But you have to get something out you have to get the overall idea and what you want to say out of your head and onto paper for it to be anything good. So I just challenge you to write a really, really bad first draft just get it out. Just get it written. Every single time I remind myself of this. I immediately find writing a bazillion times easier. I just get it out and I it doesn’t make sense necessarily. It’s not complete sentences.
30:00
It doesn’t flow, it doesn’t sound good, but it’s out onto paper. And I just get it all written, this is kind of flows into the second tip I have for you, I get it all out. And then I worry about making it sound better making it actually be good. That is a totally different process than writing. So you have to write it first. And then edit, you cannot write and edit at the same time. And that is my second tip. So you have to write it all first in a really ugly, terrible, bad version, and then go back and edit it because it is way easier to edit something that’s not well written and turn it into something that is well written than it is to try to get it all right on the first try. And so and it’s actually two totally different acts in your brain and your brain function, writing and editing two completely different things. So not only do you need to write it off first and get it all out and let it be ugly, and go back and edit it. But you also can’t like write one line and then try to edit that one line or write one or two paragraphs and go back and try to edit it, you can’t do both, you can’t be both at the same time. So get it all out and then go back and edit it as many times as you want. Until it’s some you know where you want it to be. But don’t try to be everything all at the same time. Okay, that helps immensely, too. And that really is where you can see yourself actually becoming a better writer, by letting it be messy and letting it all out first. And then using a totally different act in your brain, a totally different area of your brain to edit it over and over again until it’s how you like it. And it actually takes less time to do it that way to believe it or not. And then my last little tip for you, this is something I’m just going to keep repeating to you over and over and over again. Because it’s something I still see, just so so so much of in this coaching, and practitioner and experts space, you have to write like you would speak, right like you’re speaking to a friend, I want you to keep it casual, keep it conversational, keep it personality packed, show your personality, that is such a big deal to getting your anything really anything that you have written in your business to get people to actually read it. People want to read things from real people, they don’t want to read things from robots. And no, I’m not necessarily talking about AI, although that’s a problem too. But just even you trying to be more of the practitioner and more of the coach and make more of the expert, versus being a relatable human that has knowledge and experience to share in a very real way. That is what people really connect with, especially more and more in today’s world when there is so much content and so much stuff to consume. we gravitate towards those things that are most relatable, and real and raw and we want to read and just kind of feels almost like we are reading an email from a friend, or we are reading a social media caption from our friend. That’s how we really want this to go. And you know, at the same time when you do that, yes, you’re building connection in kind of that real way. But also, you are showing your expertise, you’re giving people the opportunity to see your expertise because you’re getting that attention that you wouldn’t necessarily get with you’re trying to sound all professional and like Uber, you know, focused and Uber expert and not loosening up and showing your personality and keeping it real and raw and conversational. So if you find yourself naturally gravitating towards that more professional approach to writing, that’s fine, get it out but then use a one of your editing passes to really look at it from that lens of am I writing or speaking or saying this in a real way in a way that I would speak in a way that I would speak with someone I’m really comfortable with like a friend or a peer or a colleague or someone like that. Okay, so that is my third and final tip for you as you are working to write better emails. There’s always room of course, to learn and grow and expand and
35:00
Um, do things differently than you’ve done before. So while it may seem like you don’t want to create an outline of your email before you actually write the thing, I would just really encourage you to try it, just try something different and see how that goes for you and see if it actually does make things easier. Now, of course, if you’re like, really in the zone, you’re like, oh, my gosh, this email, it just like came to me, I actually have to get this out, it’s gonna be so great, then cool, just do it, that’s fine. But most emails aren’t going to be like that most emails will take a little bit of thought a little bit of a process to make sure they’re really great, then this is the process that I use. And this is the process that you now can use to make sure you are writing emails people actually want to read. Alright, and with that, I will leave you there. I would love to know if you try this with your next email, send me a DM over on Instagram at Shawn Mynar there. And let me know let me know how it goes for you. Let me know what you think. I’d love to connect with you there. And until next time, take care.
36:10
Hey, friends, Shawn here. And if you’re a coach or practitioner who’s looking to help more people, make more money and have more free time than I have a special invitation for you that you don’t want to miss. Right now. I’m hosting a free masterclass that will walk you through the process of adding a signature program to your business. As many of you know, the signature program business bottle has been my primary way of doing business since 2017. And after seven programs of my own created and helping dozens of other wellness pros create theirs. I’m now sharing my exact process with you for free. In this one hour masterclass. Now, you might be thinking, Shawn, I’m just not ready to have my own program yet. Or I don’t have the time to build a program right now. Are you crazy? I totally get it, I get all of it. Which is exactly why I created this training in the first place. I want you to see how possible this really is for you, and how simple it can be when you have a tried and true proven system in place, no matter where you’re at in your business today. So if you’re like most coaches and practitioners who have a dream of creating a scalable offer in their business that helps the people they’re meant to help without it being directly tied to your time and energy, than there’s a seat with your name on it. Inside my burnout prove your business masterclass. In just one hour, you’re going to learn why adding a signature program will uncap your income potential forever and give you more time for your own life, health, family and self care. You’ll learn exactly how my client sold out her first program, even with a small audience. Because of this one super simple marketing hack that I am going to reveal. You’ll learn the simplified, foolproof process that will take your knowledge and experience and turn it into your own program in just six weeks, and also how to implement an automated marketing system that will grow an engaged audience full of Perfect Match clients that can’t wait to enroll in your program once it’s ready. Even if right now you’re starting at zero. All you have to do is head to Shawnmynar.com/burnout proof and save your seat for this masterclass before it’s gone. Shawnmynar.com/burnout Proof can’t wait to see you there.
May 17, 2023 | Podcast
Have you ever had that nagging feeling that you’re not qualified to help the people you want to help? That there are people out there with more education and experience doing what you want to do, so who are you to be doing it too? If you have, you’re not alone. In today’s episode, we’re going to explore the mindset block that’s making you feel unqualified and how to squash that feeling and start helping more of the people you’re meant to help.
“Your business is you and your ability to help another human. That is how you are going to make a living.” – Shawn Mynar
“Part of this process is really being okay with and willing to explore your fears and becoming aware of how they show up for you in your actual life, your actual business.”
“Your role as the coach is to help guide them towards the best decision for them. To ask them the right questions. To move them along on their own journey and to help them make the best decisions for them.” – Shawn Mynar
“Focus on the people you want to help and how you can connect with them in the deepest way possible.” – Shawn Mynar
“Get more comfortable doing what you want to do with your clients that is really the most basic, simple, tangible way that you can feel more qualified.” – Shawn Mynar
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
Have you ever had that nagging feeling that you’re not qualified to help the people you want to help, that there are people out there with more education and experience doing what you want to do? So who are you to be doing it to? If you have, you’re not alone. And in today’s episode, we’re going to explore the mindset block that’s making you feel unqualified, and how to squash it so you can start helping more of the people you’re meant to help. Stay tuned. Hey, there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving, Freedom filled online business way work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now, I am obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session. Hey, hey there, friends, and welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, happy to have you here. Thank you so much for your support of this show. And we’ve got to dive right into a pretty big topic that I have been wanting to talk about here on the show for a while now. Because it’s something I see that is quite rampant in the coaching practitioner expert space where you are in a service based business or service based role. And guess what pops up, as soon as you start getting more into that role, putting yourself out there more marketing yourself getting more and more clients creating more and more paid offers for your customers. As all of that happens, then there is also the potential to have more doubt and uncertainty. And to be even more specific, this feeling of being on qualified, I’m starting to question, your ability, your capabilities to start doubting your ability and capabilities. And as a byproduct, especially if you believe that and start really kind of letting those emotions take hold. While then you continue to play small, you potentially don’t put yourself out there and the way that you should be or could be, you’re not growing your business and the way that you should be or could be. And it all stems from what really is a classic case of imposter syndrome. I mean, that’s really what we’re talking about here that really is kind of the bucket term for this feeling of being unqualified of not being capable or questioning your abilities. It all is under that umbrella of imposter syndrome. And we’ve talked about that quite a bit here on the show at least two or three episodes just based on impostor syndrome. And here we are again. But taking a little bit different of a turn here because I really just want to give you some tools and just some things to consider. If you are feeling this way. And if you’re not right now, that’s amazing. But there is a potential that you will someday in your business. And, you know, it may not even be that you feel unqualified when it comes to how you help clients. But you might have that feeling that imposter syndrome me feeling when it comes to having a business of being a solopreneur of running your own show being your own boss that may have you caught up in these emotions, doubting your abilities, not feeling capable of making that happen for yourself and for your business. So, you know, there’s a lot of different paths we can go here. But regardless, if we’re talking about imposter syndrome as a whole, well, this is something that we know is super common, like 70% of adults experience imposter syndrome at least once in their life. And I really think that for business owners because of that option to not only be feeling or doubting your capabilities as a coach or as a practitioner or helping your clients. There’s also the possibility or addition of feeling that way about running your own business. So I really think that for business owners, it’s like nine be percent where you have this feeling of what am I doing? Why am I doing this people are doing this so much better than I am capable of doing? Why am I even here? Who am I to think that I can be a successful business owner and a successful coach, a successful practitioner, who am I to be doing this, that is really what it comes down to. And so if you are an adult, if you are a human being already a really good chance that you felt this or will feel this at some point in your life, if you’re a business owner are trying to become a business owner, and especially in this service based role, which we’re going to talk about to then hey, Jones’s are quite likely, at some point, you will have that nagging thought, or that nagging emotion of doubt of uncertainty, and feeling unqualified to be doing what you’re trying to do. And to go into that next level where it’s someone specifically in a service based role, where your business is you and your ability to help someone else with something that is just obviously ripe for this entire environment, this entire mindset block that we have. And it sounds like, Am I qualified enough to do this?
6:27
Do I need more certifications education experience? Before I can help someone else do I need to keep going for more, there are people more qualified, smarter, prettier, bigger audiences already doing what I want to do. So why bother? Who am I to do it too, that’s what it really sounds like, or comes across as in this specific service based role. And understandably, because like I said, it’s you your business is you and your ability to help another human, that is how you are going to make a living. So again, really important conversation that I have been wanting to have here on the show for quite some time. Because this is something that probably at some point, most of you will experience and will have those thoughts and it might go down a rabbit hole to where you do stop showing up or you do push your business off further push what you really want to be doing further and further away. Because of this, really, what is a mindset block over anything else. And this block could really be the thing that’s keeping you from the business that you want, from building it to be what you want it to be, and to grow to the point where you want it to grow. And you know, help the people you want to help make the money you want to make. Spend your time doing what you want to spend your time doing. It could really be something as simple, I’m not going to say easy or anything like that, because this is not. But it’s as simple as this one mindset block that you are still dealing with that is still going on in your subconscious programming. Often without you being aware, you just have that feeling or have that the chatter, that mental chatter that is keeping you stalled out keeping you stuck or keeping you from showing up in a way that you should show up all because of this one subconscious belief that is still within you. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today. I do also kind of want to put some blame on to social media. And to kind of remind you of the power of something like that, and how abnormal it is for us to be able to look into every single person’s life and business. And you know, suppose it bank account and suppose that amount of clients and all these things that are kind of glamorized on social media these days, especially in the solopreneur, coach, online business space, that is not normal. And that is not healthy. And that is often where some of these blocks that we could potentially not even have not even be kind of activated, I guess. Those come up because of our ability to see into everyone’s lives and that is not okay. And if that is something that you find is triggering for you, then you have to be honest with yourself about that. And stop. Like, don’t scroll on social media unfollow the people who are causing that in you. You should not be Following competitors, and you know, I’m using air quotes with competitors, because I don’t really think anyone in this kind of service based rule has a direct competitor. Because we’re all unique. We all do things totally differently, even if we’re helping people with the same problems. But you know, in your industry, if there’s anyone who’s triggering to you, that is, like making you say these things of, well, this person is doing this already. And they’re way more qualified, they’ve had more clients, XYZ, whatever you’re coming up with these stories that you’re coming up with. If a person brings that out, and you are following them on, follow them, don’t scroll on social media, do your business, work on social media, spend your time be on your stories, share your your post, whatever you want to do, and then call it good and get off. Because it’s quite likely that the reason that you are stalled out in your business is because you’re watching others who aren’t. And that is causing a lot of strife in your own mindset, your own headspace, and it’s not normal, it shouldn’t be that way. 20 3050 years ago, that’s not how businesses ran. And they probably didn’t have to deal with nearly the amount of imposter syndrome that we have to today, because they don’t didn’t have access to this abnormal amount of information coming in. Okay, so that was my social media. So box for this episode. Now, let’s move on to the pep talk portion of this episode. And that’s really what this is today, these are reminders that I want to make sure you are telling yourself as you go about this business building process. These are things to do, I would say tools to have and processes to go through for yourself. As we’ve talked about here a lot on unstuck entrepreneur, in particular, when we talk about the mindset blocks, the subconscious programming that we may have to go through in order to get to the point where we can have a successful business where we can help the people that we want to help that is all in our work, that is all stuff that you have to do on your own for yourself. Yes, I can talk to you about these things, I can give you all the pep talks in the world. But that is still a conscious thing, that is something that is happening consciously for you to hear it, what we need to do is let it register and shift things subconsciously. And that is where you know, the fear lives, that is where the mindset blocks are. And that takes more time, it takes more practice and consistency in order to fully release those. So just so you know, I am giving you a pep talk today, I’m giving you some tools and things to work on. But it has to be something that you are doing on a consistent basis that you are recognizing and that you are taking control of in your own life and in your own business to shift that subconscious programming. Okay, so let’s start this pep talk with a definition and that is the definition of qualified, there are two different definitions one is officially recognized as being trained to perform a particular job, also known as certified. And then the other definition is competent or knowledgeable to do something aka capable. Okay, so two different definitions for one word, which is qualified. And I want to bring up a point right here that is important. And that is if you are legit, not qualified. And there is a real possibility of that, especially in the coaching industry, which is unregulated, so anyone can call themselves a coach, you do not have to have any sort of training, certification education, nothing before you can call yourself a coach and start coaching people which, you know, I could see in the future that changes and in order to have that title for yourself, you do have to go through a coaching certification or training program. But right now, that is not the case. And while today, we’re going to spend more time talking about the possibility of being overtrained and over educated in an attempt to squash these feelings of impostor syndrome of being unqualified. We also need to talk about the opposite, which is truly not being qualified and claiming that you are. That is something that I would strongly discourage you from doing even though it isn’t time Technically a regulated industry and there’s no direct path, like, do this, go here, do that, get that certification, and then your code, even though that is not present, there are still a ton of educational opportunities that I recommend exploring and finding that certification, finding that training, finding a mentor, and do it the right way, so that you can help people the right way, as a truly qualified coach. Okay,
15:32
so just wanted to put that out there. I know for most of you, it’s the opposite problem. You have tons of knowledge and training, but you still feel unqualified, or you still find yourself questioning your ability and your capability of helping your clients. And this is a mindset disconnect. It’s a safety mechanism. Most likely, it’s a safety mechanism against fear of failure, fear of judgment, maybe, perhaps even embarrassment, fear of disappointment, there are a lot of reasons behind that mindset disconnect behind that safety mechanism coming up to make sure you don’t have to feel that you don’t have to experience these things that you’re afraid to experience. So then we create this mental chatter in our conscious mind that is that imposter syndrome. That is you having these thoughts of not being capable not being qualified enough to help your clients. So it’s all based on what’s really going on underneath that fear that’s really going on underneath and what are you afraid of what could possibly happen, that you absolutely do not want to happen, so much so that you are staying away that you are keeping yourself safe from that even being a possibility. So like I said, failure, judgment, embarrassment, disappointment, there could be other things going on for you. But those are just the ones that came to me off the top of my head, but you need to figure that out. For you, that’s part of this process is really being okay with and being willing to explore your fears, and then becoming aware of how they show up for you in your actual life and in your actual business. So let me remind you of a few things to help you release that safety mechanism. So you can get back to helping the people that you want to help and creating this business that you want to create. There really are only two things, okay? Thing Number one, as someone in a coaching type role, you are a helper, you want to help people in a meaningful way, you are there to be someone’s guide and support system, you’re not there to provide all the answers and know everything. That’s actually not a good coach, and no one is looking for that. And no one is expecting that there is no one that will become your client that expects you to know every single thing and just tell them exactly what to do. Your role as a coach is to help guide them towards the best decision for them to ask them the right questions, to move them along on their own journey and to help them make the best decisions for them. More important than you knowing every possible thing that your client could ask you, is it the relationship that you build with them, the connection, the rapport you provide, that your clients feel seen, heard and understood. That’s what they want. That’s what matters. They know that they have your attention, that you want to help them as much as they want to be helped that synchronistic relationship, that feeling of just being gotten through that I don’t even think that’s the right English or the right grammar, but like someone gets them, and you are that person and as soon as that is established, then you have a client for life, even if you don’t know the answer to a question they have. I actually feel like there’s something really special about having a coach or practitioner who doesn’t know everything, but is willing to find answers for you. And as long as that relationship is built with your clients, then if they have a question and you don’t know the answer, but you can say hey, I’ll get back to you. Let me go talk to my mentor or let me make sure I have this Correct. And I’ll get back to you, that’s cool. No one even will blink an eye at that. So you do not have to know everything you are not expected to know everything. But you are expected to create a real relationship with your clients. And that is what truly matters to them. And that is something that, like I said, you know, we’re all so unique, how we create relationships are unique, our personalities are unique. So it doesn’t matter how many people are doing what you’re doing, no one is going to create the connection that you will with your people, because we’re all different. So you don’t have to worry about that. But just focus on the people that you want to help and how you can connect with them in the deepest way possible. Now, my second reminder, the only way to feel more qualified is to get more experience. So this is more kind of on the practical level a little bit worrying, stressing talking yourself out of taking action, hiding, doing busy work, instead of doing work that will actually move the needle, none of that gets you more qualified, none of those things will get you that feeling that you’re looking for watching a bunch of webinars, listening to all the podcasts, reading all the books, those also are probably not going to make you feel much more qualified. Now you might feel like it actually you probably are becoming more knowledgeable. Yes, for sure. If you are listening to podcasts and reading books, about the area of focus that you work on with your clients, you are getting more knowledgeable, but not more qualified, that is not the same thing. Because qualified is actually really a feeling you feel qualified or you feel unqualified. So it’s not this tangible thing of, oh, I just read this book. And now I know more, you have to have that feeling. And that feeling really only comes with experience. So from this very practical perspective, get more experience. And I know that might feel hard for some of you because you can’t get past this mental hurdle. To get you to a point where you are getting the clients, you are creating the program, you are hosting the workshop. And if that’s you, then my recommendation is to offer to do sessions with your family, your friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, whoever you know, whoever is in your network, start asking to get more experience, start seeing if they will be practice clients even. And you can do those for free in exchange for testimonials. And obviously, the biggest exchange just for you to get more comfortable and to feel more qualified, which is the biggest and best exchange and will completely catapult your business to the next level. As soon as you have that feeling. And you’ve had those practice clients. Now if you’re doing something more like a program, a group program, then do a beta group. First, I always say that that is part of what I teach and signature program lab, you have to run a beta group first to test out your program and test out how it goes and what you include and what you don’t include and if it all works, or what you need to change. And when you do that, you get a discounted rate in exchange for feedback. But it also gets you more comfortable in your own program. And it helps you of course, feel more qualified running that program. So do a beta version of your program first. And just overall get more experience. Even just give your friends advice or give them coaching feedback, even if they don’t ask for it does get more comfortable doing what you want to do with your clients. That is really the most basic, simple, tangible way that you can feel more qualified. I just feel like there’s so many people who have that feeling simply because they don’t have enough experience under their belt. And as soon as you do, even if it’s just one or two more people, it will completely change that and you will go on to absolutely crush your business after that because it relieves that feeling. And it brings in this new feeling of competence. And this happens at every stage of your business. This is not just at the beginning when you’re first starting with clients and getting going and having that feeling of not knowing what you’re doing. But as you move on to the next level as you pivot as you start offering new offers and talking about new things, and just taking everything to the next level what you do with your clients, what you talk about what you do in your business, that will keep coming up and again it’s just this can continuation of getting more experience, and remembering what you’re really there to do, which I think I can say for all of us is to help people to be of service to another human. That is what you’re really there to do doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to look a certain way. It doesn’t have to be like so and so that you’re checking out on Instagram that’s doing great work. It is what you should be doing to help that person to help those people in your own unique way and creating that connection, creating that relationship, creating that space for someone to feel seen, heard, and understood, and then being their guide, being their person that can really help them. Okay, we’re gonna wrap this up with one last thing that’s kind of Woo. And that is what we need to do to help integrate this all into your subconscious. Because, like I said, hearing all of this listening to what I’m on a podcast, having me chat about it in your earbuds right now, is only doing so much, it’s just scratching the surface of your conscious mind. But this is all living deep within your subconscious programming. It’s why you have those fears. It’s why you have the mental chatter. It’s really something deeper than just Oh, Shawn told me not to worry, and just to go get more experience and to create this connection with my clients. So I’m gonna go do that, and all this is gone. That’s not how this works. Instead, it is something that you have to integrate for your own programming in your own life, how it’s showing up for you. And it’s something that needs to be gotten done consistently. And with intention, in order to change things for you. So as you may know, if you’ve been listening to this show for a while, I always love and recommend journaling, and, or visualizing. So that is what I want you to do pick one or do both, for what we just talked about today. So first, I think it would be great to write about the kind of coach that you are or that you want to be write in detail in your journal, no one’s going to see this but you you can throw it away. As soon as you’re done. This is just getting it out of your head and onto paper. really creating this scenario for yourself. What kind of coach Are you? What kind of coach do you want to be? How do you show up for your clients? What do you feel when you are with your clients? And what do your clients feel when they are with you? What kind of relationships do you have with your clients? What do you work on with them? And I would even go through this scenario of what do you do when you don’t know the answer to something? When your clients have a question, and you’re stumped? What do you do in that scenario, write it out. And this is all in present tense or write it out as if it’s happening right now. Okay, so that is the journaling practice that we can start with just really getting things out on paper, really starting to see and feel and experience, what you want your business to be like, what you want your clients to experience what you want to experience with your clients. Just let it all out, create this scenario in your journal of how you want it to go and how you really expect your your sessions to go or your program groups to go your course to go your workshops. Just lay it all out, get as specific as you can. And while you’re doing that, you may notice that it’s also becoming this vision, like you have this vision of you with a client or you in front of a group of people on Zoom for your coaching call, or you in front of an even bigger group for your workshop. What does it look like when you are a confident coach or a confident practitioner in your business with your clients really dive deep. And see if you can let that vision keep coming to life, close your eyes, take some deep breaths, get into a meditative state. And just let yourself see it. See what you want your business to look like. See what it will look like when you really go after what you want. When you really put yourself out there. When you don’t have these fears holding you back. Just let yourself get into it. So kind of a two pronged approach. And then the goal really is to keep doing this. So once is probably not enough to break all of these subconscious programs that you have going on. But if you can do it over and over again and just let yourself visualize that business that you want and get to the point where you’re even feeling that level of competence that you are going to have in front of your clients or your groups and just get to that level. Pull in your visualization, get there in your journal. And then you will slowly start to see that is also how you show up IRL in real life. And that is something that comes with consistency and patience and practice and just really staying on it and doing that kind
30:18
of mindset work, you know, the whoo stuff that really, really changes everything for you, once you commit to it. And once you start seeing the benefits, you will be hooked. So like I said, start with that journal, just get everything out, there’s no prompts are anything, I just want you to really focus on what it looks like and what it feels like in your business for both you and your clients when you show up as the competent, qualified person that you are, and then transfer that over into your visualization and get as spicy and specific with it as you can, and then keep coming back to it. Okay, so that will wrap up today’s episode, again, just something that is out there. It’s happening a lot, it’s a big deal. It’s really keeping a lot of people from doing what they’re really capable of doing and creating the business they’re really capable of creating. And it does go back to that mindset work. That is something that we bring up here a lot on the podcast and for good reason. You can create all the programs, you can have all that you can have this amazing one on one client package, that you’re never going to get anyone to buy because you don’t believe in yourself and your capabilities. And that is mindset work. Okay, it’s not about doing anything else different in your business is about doing something different within yourself within your own programming. And that’s what we really need to focus on. So those are some reminders for you and some things to consider. And until next time, take care. Hey friends, Shawn here, and if you’re a coach or practitioner who’s looking to help more people, make more money and have more free time than I have a special invitation for you that you don’t want to miss. Right now. I’m hosting a free masterclass that will walk you through the process of adding a signature program to your business. As many of you know, the signature program business bottle has been my primary way of doing business since 2017. And after seven programs of my own created and helping dozens of other wellness pros create theirs. I’m now sharing my exact process with you for free. In this one hour masterclass. Now, you might be thinking, Shawn, I’m just not ready to have my own program yet. Or I don’t have the time to build a program right now. Are you crazy? I totally get it, I get all of it. Which is exactly why I created this training in the first place. I want you to see how possible this really is for you, and how simple it can be when you have a tried and true proven system in place, no matter where you’re at in your business today. So if you’re like most coaches and practitioners who have a dream of creating a scalable offering their business that helps the people that are meant to help without it being directly tied to your time and energy. Then there’s a seat with your name on it inside my burnout proof your business masterclass. In just one hour, you’re going to learn why adding a signature program will uncap your income potential forever and give you more time for your own life health, family and self care. You’ll learn exactly how my clients sold out her first program, even with a small audience. Because of this one super simple marketing hack that I am going to reveal. You’ll learn the simplified, foolproof process that will take your knowledge and experience and turn it into your own program in just six weeks, and also how to implement an automated marketing system that will grow an engaged audience full of Perfect Match clients that can’t wait to enroll in your program. Once it’s ready. Even if right now you’re starting at zero. All you have to do is head to Shawnmynar.com/burnout proof and save your seat for this masterclass before it’s gone. Shawnmynar.com/burnout Proof can’t wait to see you there.
May 10, 2023 | Podcast
If you’re a listener of this show, then it’s probably because you have OR want a simple business—a business where you can help other people while still taking care of yourself and enjoying free time and flexibility. Sounds pretty great, right? Well, in this episode, I’m going to take you behind the scenes of a simplified, flow business and break down the ingredients you need to make it happen.
“You can have paying clients before you have a website up. Use your network, use your friends of friends, friends of family and find some people who need your help and offer to help them.” – Shawn Mynar
“No matter what your paid offer is, you need a plan to get people in the door, to get people to say ‘yes, I want in, this is for me, I can’t wait, I want to work with you, take my money… you need a plan and place to do that.” – Shawn Mynar
“As soon as you have created your launch plan, you can rinse and repeat over and over and over. It can, and should, be repeated.” – Shawn Mynar
“Your website is the gasoline of your business, it is that important, it is what makes it all run.” – Shawn Mynar
“If the rest of your flow is set up really well, then social media isn’t as heavy and doesn’t feel as hard, as complicated, it’s actually quite fun.” – Shawn Mynar
Write Your Website Bundle – shawnmynar.com/website
Signature Program Bundle – shawnmynar.com/bundle
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
If you’re a listener of this show, then it’s probably because you have or want a simple business, a business where you can help other people while still taking care of yourself, enjoying free time and flexibility. Sounds pretty great, right? Well in this episode, I’m going to take you behind the scenes of this simplified flow business and break down the ingredients you need to make it happen. So stay tuned. Hey there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving freedom build online business, where I work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session. Hey, hey there, friends. And welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host. Today, we’re talking about something that I didn’t think we were going to talk about. But I was on my hike this morning had a whole different episode planned out. And this idea popped in my head of this topic, and really honing in on the actual ingredients that you need all of the ingredients, which there are quite a few to a simplified flow business, which automatically sounds ridiculous, because why would there be all of these ingredients if it’s supposed to be simple, but you know what, sometimes it takes those different ingredients, those different tools to keep things simple, and to let things flow. And so while this is something that we talk about a ton here on the show, it is also always done, I think, and kind of like chunks, and in different episodes. So I thought it would be nice to have one episode where all of this information is in one spot that you can come back to as you need it and remind yourself what you’re supposed to work on next, to make this business happen for yourself. And not just any business. But a business that is simplified. That is burnout, proof that doesn’t require you constantly being on and available and working. So you can have that free time and flexibility. And you know, that’s the goal. That’s why I talk about what I talk about why I teach what I teach, because I am very passionate about that I’m very passionate about you, being the helper that you are and helping the people that your mental health, but also not beating yourself up in the process, also giving you the time and space to work on yourself, to have time for yourself and your family and the things you love to do. And to not work all the time. Because that’s not fun. And that’s not the point of being here on this planet. So I’m already going off on a tangent. And this is what happens when I have random ideas that come to me an hour before I record is that we have tangents sometimes. And that’s okay. So anyway, before we get into those ingredients of your flow, simplified business, I want to remind you that I have launched officially of the right your website bundle, that is your proven template to have a website that works get it up and running, have it be a big part of your client attraction system, which is something we’re going to talk about that is an ingredient of what you need to focus on in your your business. And the right your website bundle is your place to go if you want it done right the first time or you want to redo your website and know it’s going to be right from here on out. And it’s something that is actually working for your business. It is the hub of your business, the home for all of your work and your home on the internet and a nice warm engaging place for your future clients, those people that you want to work with to come and get the help they need. That is how I created this template for your entire website. And all you have to do is plug and play your messaging, which you’ll also figure out as part of the bundle. The messaging magic workbook is in there as a bonus, so you will know your messaging and you will simply plug it into the prompts. The formula is in the template that I have provided for you for all four pages of your website the most important pages homepage about page services page and Contact Page So that’s available for you at the introductory offer, which is ending soon, like as in days from when this airs. So make sure that that’s something that you check out, see if it’s the right fit for you. And if you’re ready to have your website, work for your business, instead of you doing all of the work, this is what I really created for you to do that Shawn mynar.com/website. Okay, the ingredients for a simplified flow business. Like I said, this came to me on my hike this morning. And I got the idea because I was thinking, like, I wonder if people think me starting to talk about websites and web copy. And really all the copy talk that we’ve been having here on the show lately, is kind of out of left field. Like if it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, if it doesn’t seem like it’s part of the overall picture of what I normally talk about and discuss and my overall mission for you and your businesses. I just wonder if it doesn’t seem related to talk about website copy, but then also have these programs on signature program and email lists and finding your niche and all these things that I do and talk about and share here on the show.
6:18
And for me, especially as I made the decision to create write your website, and for the future things that I will be creating in the copy writing space. That was like the most logical next step, it was like I had to do it. And not just because I love copywriting, I love writing. And it was fun for me to do. But because it is the missing link for so many of you, to having this business that you really want and to making it not feel so hard and be so hard and complicated on you. It’s like you may be doing what you feel like are all the right things when it comes to your business. But your website is still not where it needs to be. Either. It’s doesn’t exist at all, or it is something that was kind of like a thrown together thing for you, which is completely understandable. I did the same thing when I first started my business, absolutely get it. But now you’re at this point where that’s got to change. And that could quite likely be the reason why your business is stalled or not growing or you’re not getting clients or attraction, or the things that you were hoping you would have by now, in your business. That could be the stopping point right there. So it’s something to look at. It’s the next step. And it was the next step for me. And I hope now potentially that I have explained that you can see why they are so interconnected, everything I do everything I talk about, and everything I teach in my product suite, if you will, which now there are five different options out there that all are based on you creating a simplified flow business and taking the guesswork out of doing that, because I don’t want it to take you months, years, however long to make that happen for yourself. I want it to be as painless as quick and as energy saving as possible on you, which is why I do what I do. Okay, so now that we got that out of the way, let’s go behind the scenes of this simplified flow business and see how these things really all work together to make your business successful and profitable, while also still remaining that simple and flexible thing for you as well. Now, caveat, we’ve talked about all this before, nothing here is new. But I thought again, like I mentioned, having all of this in one place would be a good idea for an episode because I think, as I’ve talked about all of this, they all have like have their own episodes or their own series on the show instead of it all being in one spot. So that’s what we’re really doing here. And also just being a good reminder for you because we talked about a lot of things. And sometimes we just need to hear these things over and over again. And then also a reminder for you right now so that this doesn’t get overwhelming is that you don’t have to have all of these in place and working perfectly. Before you can even launch your business or make your first dollar make your first sale. That is not what I’m saying here. you hopefully know if you’ve been listening to this show for a while that I’m all about you getting your first like getting scrappy and get your first client Your first few clients from the very start, so you have some money coming in. And then start working on all of this stuff, including your website, you can have paying clients before you have a website up, use your network, use your friends in front of friends, and friends or family, and find some people who need your help, and offer to help them. So that can all happen right away. And then from there, once you have a few clients under your belt, and you’re seeing some people, you have some money potentially in the bank or coming in, then start working on this stuff, too. Okay, so I just want you to know, I’m not expecting you to have all of this perfectly set up from the beginning, from the start, I think it is something that happens in layers, and definitely shouldn’t be the reason that you hold yourself back from getting your first clients or continuing to get clients continuing to use your network and get people into your system. Without all of this set up. Now that keeping that in mind, I do also want to bring up that if your business is feeling harder than you were hoping it would feel or than it should be. If you’re kind of spinning your wheels, trying to find paying clients trying to get people into your programs, or your courses or your workshops, or whatever your paid offer is, then it is quite likely because one of these at least ingredients are missing or broken. So while I don’t think and don’t want these to be a requirement to you, starting your business and getting it up and running, I also want you to look at this with an analytical kind of eye and see why it does feel hard, why something is broken? And where is that broken? And what can you do to fix it to make it easier on yourself. Okay, last thing, one more thing, before we get into this list. This is specifically for an online business, if you want your business to be mainly digital, and virtual, then this is for you. If you have or want a local business, a brick and mortar, something like that, I feel like a lot of this will be the same, a lot of this still applies. But there are going to be different opportunities available to you, that would potentially make more sense to get people in your actual door, like local opportunities versus maybe having a podcast or something like that, which you totally can still have. But you will want to explore more of your local marketing system to Okay, the ingredients for a simplified flow business. And if you are more of a visual learner, you might want to actually create a little diagram of this. And just so you can see all of the pieces how they all flow together, if that would help you. But I’m starting at the very end point, which is your paid offer. And that is the goal of having a business is to yes help people and have freedom and all that stuff, but also to make money. Right that is when you are in business is when you are making money. So your ingredients for a flow business have to include at least one paid offer. If you want it to be on the higher end of being more simplified and flowy, then you’ll want to consider a paid offer that doesn’t involve trading time for dollars. So that would be like a signature program or a course or something like that. And if you want help in creating that the signature program bundle is available for you and will take the guesswork out of creating that type of paid offer in your business. But this isn’t also a bash on one on one client work either. If that’s the paid offer that you want, go for it. I only say that because as you can probably guess you will have a more limited time flexibility freedom kind of situation when you are taking clients one on one end meeting with them virtually or however you choose to do that, that will be less of that. But that doesn’t mean that your business isn’t going to be as simple or as flowy it’s just going to look a little different for you. And then also keep in mind that typically with the one on one client work that also comes with more paperwork, more things to organize more things to do and stay on top of for each client more back and forth communication. So Again, not like that simplified flow business isn’t possible with that business model, it’s just going to look different and it is something for you to consider. But no matter what you’ll need at least one paid offer, which I think is pretty easy to do. And if you haven’t done that yet, take some time to get very solid on what your paid offer is, and make sure that it is enticing and appealing to your dream client. Okay, so we have that that’s the end goal. Now, the next thing you need in this whole system is a launch plan. So this is how you get people into your paid offer. And yes, this goes if you are doing just one on one client work right now, if you have a signature program, if you have a workshop or a paid masterclass or something like that, no matter what your paid offer is, you need a plan to get people in the door to get people to say, yes, I want in this is for me, I can’t wait I want to work with you take my money, they’re not just going to magically appear and say that, you need a plan in place to do that, to build excitement, build curiosity, showcase that product or service that you created, let them know, it’s the best solution for your dream clients. So that the logical next step is Hey, yes, sign me up, I want that. That is your launch plan. Now, this is something that I think a lot of people feel like is really complicated. Takes a lot of time. A lot of people shy away from this like full on launch plan. And then they don’t make sales or they don’t make the amount of sales the number of sales they want or need. It is a very, it can feel like a very big and overwhelming thing. But it doesn’t have to be it can actually be really fun, it can be really simple. And the best thing ever about it all is that as soon as you have created your launch plan, you can rinse and repeat over and over and over, it can and should be repeated. So that is why this is a built in part of your simplified business plan is because your launch is going to be something that you work on once and just keep repeating. And yes, there will be tweaks you make certain things that did or didn’t work, maybe you have to replace an email or add or subtract a slide from your webinar template or something like that. But for the most part, it’s done once, and then lightly modified and done again and again. And again. So that makes it really easy. And a really important piece to your system. If you don’t have this, like I mentioned, broken, majorly broken, you are not going to make the sales you want to make you need a launch plan. Once again, this is the entire launch plan that you need is available in the signature program bundle. So if you need help creating your launch, plan it it is in there for you just create it, follow the step by step do every single thing I tell you to do and you will have a great launch, and I have all the templates and everything you need to Alright, the next ingredient is an epic freebie. We just got done talking about this. We’ve talked about this a few episodes ago and how to know if your freebie is epic. But when you think about it in this overall flow of your business, I think it makes sense because you need an audience to launch your paid offer to so we have that paid offer. We have that launch plan. Well Who are we going to do that launch plan with. And that is where your email list comes in. And your email list is built with your epic freebie. And you only need one you don’t need like a million freebies, you may need to create a few freebies until you find the one that is truly epic and that your audience is really interested in. But once you have it, then go with that one, you don’t need a bunch of them. Just find the one that works for you and your dream clients. Now once again, this is a situation where yes, you have to create the freebie, which you know, it could be like a one page PDF, it could be something really simple. It could be like a couple of different recipes or something. And that could come together really quickly for you. And then create the landing page for that freebie which I have exactly what to put on your landing page. Again in signature program bundle. I know this sounds like basically this long commercial for signature program bundle. I don’t want it to be that. It’s not meaning to be that but just to show you that that you have the resources available to you to make this happen in your business. I’m not just telling you to do all these things, and then pushing you out, like a new bird from the nest. No, I’m still here to support you and you have the resources you need. Okay? So just know that everything I talk about how I have done the work on my end to make it as easy as possible for it to work in your business. Okay. So once you have that freebie created, and you have that landing page that is converting, that is enticing people to put their email address into the form and get the freebie and be on your email list. Once all of that is working, then it is always working behind the scenes on autopilot, it is never not working, right. So you take the time, set it up, and then it’s done going on behind the scenes for you. Okay, so once you have that epic freebie that is your audience for launching your paid offer. We have to make sure that audience gets warmed up properly to you and your work. So that is where a warm welcome sequence comes in. That’s your next ingredient. So once someone signs up for your freebie and email list, they get this series of automated emails that welcome them properly, to your world, to your work to everything you do to your personality, all that stuff. And it also means you don’t ghost them. It’s not like they sign up for this freebie. And then don’t hear from someone for even a week, even if you email your list every week, but you don’t have a welcome sequence in place. While they may have signed up the day that you normally send your emails. So they go a whole week without hearing from you. And by the time that week is up, they have no idea who you are. They you they got that freebie so long ago, they may or may not have even looked at it yet. But there has been no follow up on that. And so you have like ghosted them, and they don’t know who you are, and they’re not warmed up to you, they’re just getting this random email, it doesn’t make sense. And you lost them. So that is where a email welcome sequence comes in. Once again, write it once, get it done, and it’s done forever, it’s constantly being delivered to those new people who come onto your email list. Automatically, you have that all set up, you don’t have to think about it worry about it, it’s just happening. And I’m not gonna say it again. But you know where to go. If you need help with your welcome sequence. I’m not going to say it, but it’s in there. It’s in the one spot I’ve been talking about this entire time. Oh, and one more really great thing about welcome sequences is they can and should be pointing people to your other content to your paid offers even so, depending on what your paid offer is how hands off it is or isn’t if it’s an evergreen situation. Or if you have a paid offer that is then you may be making sales straight from your welcome sequence. If just say for example, you have like an ebook, that’s $20. And your freebie is something kind of related to that ebook, well, then, you’re welcome sequence can actually be a series of emails that gets them primed and ready to buy that ebook, and then purchase right then in there. So for talking totally hands off, totally simplified, totally flow, that is an option for you to do it right within the welcome sequence, which is entirely possible. Okay, moving on to the next ingredient, which is an evergreen content platform, talked about this before too, in detail. But this is really like having that blog, that podcast, that YouTube channel, that place where you are consistently putting out new content, but then that content lives on forever. That content is something that comes up in a Google search. Or if someone’s searching on the podcast platform for a specific topic, then that is something that can be going on behind the scenes for years and years and years to come. bringing in new eyes to your work and getting them introduced to your work really quickly and easily through that content, especially and we’re really it goes for any of them. Like if it’s a blog, then it’s based on your writing and putting your personality and your brand into your writing. If it’s your podcast, hearing you in their earbuds is a really easy way to connect with people. If you’re a YouTuber and you want to do videos seeing someone’s face and their hand gestures and all that stuff is like this immediate can action point for people to get warmed up to you very quickly. So, you know, I debated saying that this was an optional one. But I know you guys know, I don’t feel like it is, I think that it is just one of the best ways to get your work in front of more people to build your email list to market your paid offers, like without me even thinking I was going to or trying, I’ve already talked about my paid offers, like five or six times in this episode, just because that is naturally what’s coming up as a resource to help you and it’s part of this conversation, it’s just naturally coming up in conversation. And so you have the opportunity to do that in all of these platforms. But I think that this is probably the one one of the ones one of the ingredients that gets the most resistance or feels like the least flowy of these ingredients, and is not something a lot of people want to do or have time to do or feel like they can do. And I understand that. So that’s why I do want to say, you know, if this is just totally not you, if you just cannot get on any of these platforms, then if the rest of your system is working really well, that’s fine. But if it’s not, or if you want more enhancement of it, then you do need to really consider what your evergreen content platform will be. And know that it is such an integral part of the rest of your flow like it is what is allowing the rest of your business to flow, that it’s worth it to sit down every week or every couple of weeks, and create new evergreen content. So create a new video, record a new podcast, write a new blog post and get it out into the world. And again, it will live on forever, right. So keep that in mind that while it is probably one of the things that takes the most consistent work like it can’t really be totally hands off. Because you do need to keep creating content. But what you are creating is living on forever. It’s not just like that week that you launch your podcast, and then everyone listens, and no one ever hears it again, you’ll get downloads for that specific podcast episode for years to come. And that’s really cool. And it makes it worth it. And part of that flow system. Alright, the next ingredient is a well written, compelling, SEO friendly website. This is like the energy of your flow business of this whole system. If your business was a car, a vehicle, this would be the gasoline, your website is the gasoline it is that important. It is what makes it all run because it gets fresh new eyes on your work straight from Google people who have literally no idea who you are. But then they come onto your website and they feel something and they experience something and they have that you get me moment. And they are fans. So that is happening constantly behind the scenes every day. And then you have people coming in from social media maybe or referrals or networking opportunities, you have all of these situations where the next step for people to go is your website. And it is the deciding factor of MI sticking around and getting to know this person more and signing up for the freebie looking at their paid offers, checking out their podcast, their blog these things, or am I bouncing and going to find someone else. It is that important to this whole system. It is the thing that will get podcast subscribers or YouTube subscribers, it will definitely build your email list behind the scenes going on on autopilot. So you have that epic freebie. And then it has this really amazing spot on your website that is compelling. And it really showcases exactly why that reader needs that freebie. And they sign up all going on while you’re hanging out with your family because it’s all going on behind the scenes, right? So it’s just such a big piece of that system. And then you know, once they become subscribers of your email list or even just of your podcast, then they are part of your audience. And that audience then goes on to get into the launch plan that you have and then into your paid offer. So seeing how this is all flowing from top to bottom or really end result. ought to beginning I guess is more appropriate. And then the last ingredient, this is it, we’re almost at the bottom of the list already. The last thing is a social media page, just one, just pick one and do that one really well. And, of course, we all have feelings about social media, I’m sure. And, you know, I know there’s a lot of people who don’t want to be on it at all. And if you don’t, that’s fine. But then of course, every other ingredient that I just went over has got to be dialed in which it should be anyway. But if it’s dialed in, and you’re super confident in how your whole system is flowing, and getting you clients, then not being on social media at all is totally fine. But the thing is that if the rest of your flow is set up really well, which of course, it will be and should be, then social media isn’t as heavy mailing doesn’t feel as hard as complicated, it’s actually quite fun, because you’re not counting on your posts really doing all that much for you, you’re just kind of using it as this enhancement as this like cherry on top as this kind of immediate way to get content out in front of a few people. And knowing that everything else is going on really well on the back end and on autopilot, then you have the opportunity to play around with social media and make it an experiment and see what works and what doesn’t and just have fun with it. And of course, yes, that is a place where people will go to your website, after they see you on social media, they will potentially sign up for your freebie, if you are talking about that on social media. So it is an avenue, that shouldn’t be totally counted out. And we actually can have a very different way better relationship with it, when it’s not like everything to your business, when you have things set up really well in every other area then is actually quite fun and isn’t make or break in any way. Okay, so those are the ingredients, let me see how many there are I did not number them. 1234567. Okay, so seven ingredients of your simplified flow business. Now, what I typically see people have is like four or five of them. So you have a paid offer, I think that that’s probably the easiest thing to do. Because you know, you need to have a paid offer to make money and to be in business. And that’s really the first place we go, which is great. A lot of you have really great freebies, too. You have awesome freebies, you’re talking about your freebies, every once in a while, which, you know, I think could probably be talked about more, but you have these great freebies, too, which is awesome. And some of you even have really great welcome sequences, you’re really doing a good job in warming up your new audience members as they come onto your email list and giving them that great experience right away, which is cool. And then there are some of you who do have evergreen content platforms, you have started a podcast you are showing up on YouTube, you are writing SEO optimized blog posts, you’re doing the thing there too great. And then there may be a social media account that’s kind of hit or miss kinda like sometimes I post sometimes they don’t, I can’t really figure out what to even post. I’m not posting things that feel like the most up to date thing to post not really working with the algorithm. But I’m posting. So we have some of that going on too. So like I said, four or five things that are going on to some degree and maybe working a little bit to some degree. But then there’s still that struggle. There’s the struggle to get clients the struggle to grow their email list, their struggle to get subscribers on their content platforms, the overall growth isn’t happening and it starts to feel like a spinning the wheels type of situation. And so now that we have all of this laid out, you know the entire flow, the seven pieces. Now I’m wondering if you can see why that would possibly be it’s because the flow hasn’t been fully set up yet. And like I said, I don’t expect you to have all seven of these things perfectly in alignment before you get going and get started and your business takes off. I’m not saying that but I want you to remember that if things aren’t going the way you want them to go, what more of your flow do
35:09
you have to work on? What’s still out there for you to do? Because there’s something I know it, I know, there’s something that isn’t yet working that isn’t yet aligned with the rest of your flow, okay. And the ones that I see that tend to be missing, the most are the pieces of the puzzle that make money and get clients. Those are the things that are missing or broken or not working, which are your website, and your launch plan. Those are the two big pieces that I see missing out on everyone’s flow. And like I said, a lot of you have websites, but they’re not optimized, they’re not doing their job, they’re not really doing anything, they’re kind of dormant. And a lot of you have these paid offers, that you do occasionally talk about and try to get people into. And that’s not working either, because it’s not a comprehensive launch plan. It’s just you talking about something, which isn’t really that exciting, it doesn’t create that level of excitement, you need to get someone to pull out their credit card. Okay, so those are the two things that I see missing in most people’s flow businesses. And so if you’re listening to this right now, and you are very much feeling in that place of I want more clients, it’s not happening, I’m not making the money I’m gonna make I’m not getting the growth I thought I would get and that I want to get, then go through this system and see what is broken in yours. What is missing? What is broken? That is what you are basically kind of always thinking about and always going back to knowing that this is the overall flow. And where does what needs more attention, I guess what needs to be redone, needs to be reconsidered reworked, where is it time to upgrade, those are all the things that are kind of always going on in the background as you continue to create this business. And I also want to make it very clear that I am totally aware that it takes time and energy to get all of this set up. I don’t expect you to have this all set up in a week or a month even it takes time. And that’s part of the process. And like I said, I have done what I can do to take the guesswork out of it to save you as much time and energy as possible, so that your entire flow business can be up and running on the back end in the background on autopilot where you’re out living and enjoying your life. And still having that growth and getting your work in front of new eyes and getting people signing up for your email list. And all of these things that are needed to grow your business are all set up and working appropriately and making your business simple and flowy. And feel good and fun. That is the goal here. All right, I will leave it at that. Again, if you would like any help in any of this. Just shoot me a DM over on Instagram and we can talk about it and figure out what’s the best first step or next step for you where you should go where things might be broken or incomplete in your system and get them up and running. So at Shawn Mynar on Instagram would love to hear from you. All right, until next time, take care. Hey friends, Shawn here and if you’re a coach or practitioner who’s looking to help more people, make more money and have more free time than I have a special invitation for you that you don’t want to miss. Right now I’m hosting a free masterclass that will walk you through the process of adding a signature program to your business. As many of you know, the signature program business model has been my primary way of doing business since 2017. And after seven programs of my own created and helping dozens of other wellness pros create theirs. I’m now sharing my exact process with you for free. In this one hour masterclass. Now, you might be thinking, Shawn, I’m just not ready to have my own program yet. Or I don’t have the time to build a program right now. Are you crazy? I totally get it. I get all of it, which is exactly why I created this training in the first place. I want you to see how possible this really is for you and how simple it can be when you have a tried and true proven system in place, no matter where you’re at in your business today. So if you’re like most coaches and practitioners who have a dream of creating a scalable offer in their business helps the people they’re meant to help without it being directly tied to your time and energy. Then there’s a seat with your name on it inside my burnout proof your business masterclass. In just one hour, you’re going to learn why adding a signature program will uncap your income potential forever and give you more time for your own life, health, family and self care. You’ll learn exactly how my client sold out her first program, even with a small audience. Because of this one super simple marketing hack that I am going to reveal. You’ll learn the simplified, foolproof process that will take your knowledge and experience and turn it into your own program in just six weeks, and also how to implement an automated marketing system that will grow an engaged audience full of Perfect Match clients that can’t wait to enroll in your program. Once it’s ready. Even if right now you’re starting at zero. All you have to do is head to Shawnmynar
0:00
If you’re a listener of this show, then it’s probably because you have or want a simple business, a business where you can help other people while still taking care of yourself, enjoying free time and flexibility. Sounds pretty great, right? Well in this episode, I’m going to take you behind the scenes of this simplified flow business and break down the ingredients you need to make it happen. So stay tuned. Hey there, I’m Sean miner, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving freedom build online business, where I work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session. Hey, hey there, friends. And welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host. Today, we’re talking about something that I didn’t think we were going to talk about. But I was on my hike this morning had a whole different episode planned out. And this idea popped in my head of this topic, and really honing in on the actual ingredients that you need all of the ingredients, which there are quite a few to a simplified flow business, which automatically sounds ridiculous, because why would there be all of these ingredients if it’s supposed to be simple, but you know what, sometimes it takes those different ingredients, those different tools to keep things simple, and to let things flow. And so while this is something that we talk about a ton here on the show, it is also always done, I think, and kind of like chunks, and in different episodes. So I thought it would be nice to have one episode where all of this information is in one spot that you can come back to as you need it and remind yourself what you’re supposed to work on next, to make this business happen for yourself. And not just any business. But a business that is simplified. That is burnout, proof that doesn’t require you constantly being on and available and working. So you can have that free time and flexibility. And you know, that’s the goal. That’s why I talk about what I talk about why I teach what I teach, because I am very passionate about that I’m very passionate about you, being the helper that you are and helping the people that your mental health, but also not beating yourself up in the process, also giving you the time and space to work on yourself, to have time for yourself and your family and the things you love to do. And to not work all the time. Because that’s not fun. And that’s not the point of being here on this planet. So I’m already going off on a tangent. And this is what happens when I have random ideas that come to me an hour before I record is that we have tangents sometimes. And that’s okay. So anyway, before we get into those ingredients of your flow, simplified business, I want to remind you that I have launched officially of the right your website bundle, that is your proven template to have a website that works get it up and running, have it be a big part of your client attraction system, which is something we’re going to talk about that is an ingredient of what you need to focus on in your your business. And the right your website bundle is your place to go if you want it done right the first time or you want to redo your website and know it’s going to be right from here on out. And it’s something that is actually working for your business. It is the hub of your business, the home for all of your work and your home on the internet and a nice warm engaging place for your future clients, those people that you want to work with to come and get the help they need. That is how I created this template for your entire website. And all you have to do is plug and play your messaging, which you’ll also figure out as part of the bundle. The messaging magic workbook is in there as a bonus, so you will know your messaging and you will simply plug it into the prompts. The formula is in the template that I have provided for you for all four pages of your website the most important pages homepage about page services page and Contact Page So that’s available for you at the introductory offer, which is ending soon, like as in days from when this airs. So make sure that that’s something that you check out, see if it’s the right fit for you. And if you’re ready to have your website, work for your business, instead of you doing all of the work, this is what I really created for you to do that Shawnmynar.com/website. Okay, the ingredients for a simplified flow business. Like I said, this came to me on my hike this morning. And I got the idea because I was thinking, like, I wonder if people think me starting to talk about websites and web copy. And really all the copy talk that we’ve been having here on the show lately, is kind of out of left field. Like if it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, if it doesn’t seem like it’s part of the overall picture of what I normally talk about and discuss and my overall mission for you and your businesses. I just wonder if it doesn’t seem related to talk about website copy, but then also have these programs on signature program and email lists and finding your niche and all these things that I do and talk about and share here on the show.
6:18
And for me, especially as I made the decision to create write your website, and for the future things that I will be creating in the copy writing space. That was like the most logical next step, it was like I had to do it. And not just because I love copywriting, I love writing. And it was fun for me to do. But because it is the missing link for so many of you, to having this business that you really want and to making it not feel so hard and be so hard and complicated on you. It’s like you may be doing what you feel like are all the right things when it comes to your business. But your website is still not where it needs to be. Either. It’s doesn’t exist at all, or it is something that was kind of like a thrown together thing for you, which is completely understandable. I did the same thing when I first started my business, absolutely get it. But now you’re at this point where that’s got to change. And that could quite likely be the reason why your business is stalled or not growing or you’re not getting clients or attraction, or the things that you were hoping you would have by now, in your business. That could be the stopping point right there. So it’s something to look at. It’s the next step. And it was the next step for me. And I hope now potentially that I have explained that you can see why they are so interconnected, everything I do everything I talk about, and everything I teach in my product suite, if you will, which now there are five different options out there that all are based on you creating a simplified flow business and taking the guesswork out of doing that, because I don’t want it to take you months, years, however long to make that happen for yourself. I want it to be as painless as quick and as energy saving as possible on you, which is why I do what I do. Okay, so now that we got that out of the way, let’s go behind the scenes of this simplified flow business and see how these things really all work together to make your business successful and profitable, while also still remaining that simple and flexible thing for you as well. Now, caveat, we’ve talked about all this before, nothing here is new. But I thought again, like I mentioned, having all of this in one place would be a good idea for an episode because I think, as I’ve talked about all of this, they all have like have their own episodes or their own series on the show instead of it all being in one spot. So that’s what we’re really doing here. And also just being a good reminder for you because we talked about a lot of things. And sometimes we just need to hear these things over and over again. And then also a reminder for you right now so that this doesn’t get overwhelming is that you don’t have to have all of these in place and working perfectly. Before you can even launch your business or make your first dollar make your first sale. That is not what I’m saying here. you hopefully know if you’ve been listening to this show for a while that I’m all about you getting your first like getting scrappy and get your first client Your first few clients from the very start, so you have some money coming in. And then start working on all of this stuff, including your website, you can have paying clients before you have a website up, use your network, use your friends in front of friends, and friends or family, and find some people who need your help, and offer to help them. So that can all happen right away. And then from there, once you have a few clients under your belt, and you’re seeing some people, you have some money potentially in the bank or coming in, then start working on this stuff, too. Okay, so I just want you to know, I’m not expecting you to have all of this perfectly set up from the beginning, from the start, I think it is something that happens in layers, and definitely shouldn’t be the reason that you hold yourself back from getting your first clients or continuing to get clients continuing to use your network and get people into your system. Without all of this set up. Now that keeping that in mind, I do also want to bring up that if your business is feeling harder than you were hoping it would feel or than it should be. If you’re kind of spinning your wheels, trying to find paying clients trying to get people into your programs, or your courses or your workshops, or whatever your paid offer is, then it is quite likely because one of these at least ingredients are missing or broken. So while I don’t think and don’t want these to be a requirement to you, starting your business and getting it up and running, I also want you to look at this with an analytical kind of eye and see why it does feel hard, why something is broken? And where is that broken? And what can you do to fix it to make it easier on yourself. Okay, last thing, one more thing, before we get into this list. This is specifically for an online business, if you want your business to be mainly digital, and virtual, then this is for you. If you have or want a local business, a brick and mortar, something like that, I feel like a lot of this will be the same, a lot of this still applies. But there are going to be different opportunities available to you, that would potentially make more sense to get people in your actual door, like local opportunities versus maybe having a podcast or something like that, which you totally can still have. But you will want to explore more of your local marketing system to Okay, the ingredients for a simplified flow business. And if you are more of a visual learner, you might want to actually create a little diagram of this. And just so you can see all of the pieces how they all flow together, if that would help you. But I’m starting at the very end point, which is your paid offer. And that is the goal of having a business is to yes help people and have freedom and all that stuff, but also to make money. Right that is when you are in business is when you are making money. So your ingredients for a flow business have to include at least one paid offer. If you want it to be on the higher end of being more simplified and flowy, then you’ll want to consider a paid offer that doesn’t involve trading time for dollars. So that would be like a signature program or a course or something like that. And if you want help in creating that the signature program bundle is available for you and will take the guesswork out of creating that type of paid offer in your business. But this isn’t also a bash on one on one client work either. If that’s the paid offer that you want, go for it. I only say that because as you can probably guess you will have a more limited time flexibility freedom kind of situation when you are taking clients one on one end meeting with them virtually or however you choose to do that, that will be less of that. But that doesn’t mean that your business isn’t going to be as simple or as flowy it’s just going to look a little different for you. And then also keep in mind that typically with the one on one client work that also comes with more paperwork, more things to organize more things to do and stay on top of for each client more back and forth communication. So Again, not like that simplified flow business isn’t possible with that business model, it’s just going to look different and it is something for you to consider. But no matter what you’ll need at least one paid offer, which I think is pretty easy to do. And if you haven’t done that yet, take some time to get very solid on what your paid offer is, and make sure that it is enticing and appealing to your dream client. Okay, so we have that that’s the end goal. Now, the next thing you need in this whole system is a launch plan. So this is how you get people into your paid offer. And yes, this goes if you are doing just one on one client work right now, if you have a signature program, if you have a workshop or a paid masterclass or something like that, no matter what your paid offer is, you need a plan to get people in the door to get people to say, yes, I want in this is for me, I can’t wait I want to work with you take my money, they’re not just going to magically appear and say that, you need a plan in place to do that, to build excitement, build curiosity, showcase that product or service that you created, let them know, it’s the best solution for your dream clients. So that the logical next step is Hey, yes, sign me up, I want that. That is your launch plan. Now, this is something that I think a lot of people feel like is really complicated. Takes a lot of time. A lot of people shy away from this like full on launch plan. And then they don’t make sales or they don’t make the amount of sales the number of sales they want or need. It is a very, it can feel like a very big and overwhelming thing. But it doesn’t have to be it can actually be really fun, it can be really simple. And the best thing ever about it all is that as soon as you have created your launch plan, you can rinse and repeat over and over and over, it can and should be repeated. So that is why this is a built in part of your simplified business plan is because your launch is going to be something that you work on once and just keep repeating. And yes, there will be tweaks you make certain things that did or didn’t work, maybe you have to replace an email or add or subtract a slide from your webinar template or something like that. But for the most part, it’s done once, and then lightly modified and done again and again. And again. So that makes it really easy. And a really important piece to your system. If you don’t have this, like I mentioned, broken, majorly broken, you are not going to make the sales you want to make you need a launch plan. Once again, this is the entire launch plan that you need is available in the signature program bundle. So if you need help creating your launch, plan it it is in there for you just create it, follow the step by step do every single thing I tell you to do and you will have a great launch, and I have all the templates and everything you need to Alright, the next ingredient is an epic freebie. We just got done talking about this. We’ve talked about this a few episodes ago and how to know if your freebie is epic. But when you think about it in this overall flow of your business, I think it makes sense because you need an audience to launch your paid offer to so we have that paid offer. We have that launch plan. Well Who are we going to do that launch plan with. And that is where your email list comes in. And your email list is built with your epic freebie. And you only need one you don’t need like a million freebies, you may need to create a few freebies until you find the one that is truly epic and that your audience is really interested in. But once you have it, then go with that one, you don’t need a bunch of them. Just find the one that works for you and your dream clients. Now once again, this is a situation where yes, you have to create the freebie, which you know, it could be like a one page PDF, it could be something really simple. It could be like a couple of different recipes or something. And that could come together really quickly for you. And then create the landing page for that freebie which I have exactly what to put on your landing page. Again in signature program bundle. I know this sounds like basically this long commercial for signature program bundle. I don’t want it to be that. It’s not meaning to be that but just to show you that that you have the resources available to you to make this happen in your business. I’m not just telling you to do all these things, and then pushing you out, like a new bird from the nest. No, I’m still here to support you and you have the resources you need. Okay? So just know that everything I talk about how I have done the work on my end to make it as easy as possible for it to work in your business. Okay. So once you have that freebie created, and you have that landing page that is converting, that is enticing people to put their email address into the form and get the freebie and be on your email list. Once all of that is working, then it is always working behind the scenes on autopilot, it is never not working, right. So you take the time, set it up, and then it’s done going on behind the scenes for you. Okay, so once you have that epic freebie that is your audience for launching your paid offer. We have to make sure that audience gets warmed up properly to you and your work. So that is where a warm welcome sequence comes in. That’s your next ingredient. So once someone signs up for your freebie and email list, they get this series of automated emails that welcome them properly, to your world, to your work to everything you do to your personality, all that stuff. And it also means you don’t ghost them. It’s not like they sign up for this freebie. And then don’t hear from someone for even a week, even if you email your list every week, but you don’t have a welcome sequence in place. While they may have signed up the day that you normally send your emails. So they go a whole week without hearing from you. And by the time that week is up, they have no idea who you are. They you they got that freebie so long ago, they may or may not have even looked at it yet. But there has been no follow up on that. And so you have like ghosted them, and they don’t know who you are, and they’re not warmed up to you, they’re just getting this random email, it doesn’t make sense. And you lost them. So that is where a email welcome sequence comes in. Once again, write it once, get it done, and it’s done forever, it’s constantly being delivered to those new people who come onto your email list. Automatically, you have that all set up, you don’t have to think about it worry about it, it’s just happening. And I’m not gonna say it again. But you know where to go. If you need help with your welcome sequence. I’m not going to say it, but it’s in there. It’s in the one spot I’ve been talking about this entire time. Oh, and one more really great thing about welcome sequences is they can and should be pointing people to your other content to your paid offers even so, depending on what your paid offer is how hands off it is or isn’t if it’s an evergreen situation. Or if you have a paid offer that is then you may be making sales straight from your welcome sequence. If just say for example, you have like an ebook, that’s $20. And your freebie is something kind of related to that ebook, well, then, you’re welcome sequence can actually be a series of emails that gets them primed and ready to buy that ebook, and then purchase right then in there. So for talking totally hands off, totally simplified, totally flow, that is an option for you to do it right within the welcome sequence, which is entirely possible. Okay, moving on to the next ingredient, which is an evergreen content platform, talked about this before too, in detail. But this is really like having that blog, that podcast, that YouTube channel, that place where you are consistently putting out new content, but then that content lives on forever. That content is something that comes up in a Google search. Or if someone’s searching on the podcast platform for a specific topic, then that is something that can be going on behind the scenes for years and years and years to come. bringing in new eyes to your work and getting them introduced to your work really quickly and easily through that content, especially and we’re really it goes for any of them. Like if it’s a blog, then it’s based on your writing and putting your personality and your brand into your writing. If it’s your podcast, hearing you in their earbuds is a really easy way to connect with people. If you’re a YouTuber and you want to do videos seeing someone’s face and their hand gestures and all that stuff is like this immediate can action point for people to get warmed up to you very quickly. So, you know, I debated saying that this was an optional one. But I know you guys know, I don’t feel like it is, I think that it is just one of the best ways to get your work in front of more people to build your email list to market your paid offers, like without me even thinking I was going to or trying, I’ve already talked about my paid offers, like five or six times in this episode, just because that is naturally what’s coming up as a resource to help you and it’s part of this conversation, it’s just naturally coming up in conversation. And so you have the opportunity to do that in all of these platforms. But I think that this is probably the one one of the ones one of the ingredients that gets the most resistance or feels like the least flowy of these ingredients, and is not something a lot of people want to do or have time to do or feel like they can do. And I understand that. So that’s why I do want to say, you know, if this is just totally not you, if you just cannot get on any of these platforms, then if the rest of your system is working really well, that’s fine. But if it’s not, or if you want more enhancement of it, then you do need to really consider what your evergreen content platform will be. And know that it is such an integral part of the rest of your flow like it is what is allowing the rest of your business to flow, that it’s worth it to sit down every week or every couple of weeks, and create new evergreen content. So create a new video, record a new podcast, write a new blog post and get it out into the world. And again, it will live on forever, right. So keep that in mind that while it is probably one of the things that takes the most consistent work like it can’t really be totally hands off. Because you do need to keep creating content. But what you are creating is living on forever. It’s not just like that week that you launch your podcast, and then everyone listens, and no one ever hears it again, you’ll get downloads for that specific podcast episode for years to come. And that’s really cool. And it makes it worth it. And part of that flow system. Alright, the next ingredient is a well written, compelling, SEO friendly website. This is like the energy of your flow business of this whole system. If your business was a car, a vehicle, this would be the gasoline, your website is the gasoline it is that important. It is what makes it all run because it gets fresh new eyes on your work straight from Google people who have literally no idea who you are. But then they come onto your website and they feel something and they experience something and they have that you get me moment. And they are fans. So that is happening constantly behind the scenes every day. And then you have people coming in from social media maybe or referrals or networking opportunities, you have all of these situations where the next step for people to go is your website. And it is the deciding factor of MI sticking around and getting to know this person more and signing up for the freebie looking at their paid offers, checking out their podcast, their blog these things, or am I bouncing and going to find someone else. It is that important to this whole system. It is the thing that will get podcast subscribers or YouTube subscribers, it will definitely build your email list behind the scenes going on on autopilot. So you have that epic freebie. And then it has this really amazing spot on your website that is compelling. And it really showcases exactly why that reader needs that freebie. And they sign up all going on while you’re hanging out with your family because it’s all going on behind the scenes, right? So it’s just such a big piece of that system. And then you know, once they become subscribers of your email list or even just of your podcast, then they are part of your audience. And that audience then goes on to get into the launch plan that you have and then into your paid offer. So seeing how this is all flowing from top to bottom or really end result. ought to beginning I guess is more appropriate. And then the last ingredient, this is it, we’re almost at the bottom of the list already. The last thing is a social media page, just one, just pick one and do that one really well. And, of course, we all have feelings about social media, I’m sure. And, you know, I know there’s a lot of people who don’t want to be on it at all. And if you don’t, that’s fine. But then of course, every other ingredient that I just went over has got to be dialed in which it should be anyway. But if it’s dialed in, and you’re super confident in how your whole system is flowing, and getting you clients, then not being on social media at all is totally fine. But the thing is that if the rest of your flow is set up really well, which of course, it will be and should be, then social media isn’t as heavy mailing doesn’t feel as hard as complicated, it’s actually quite fun, because you’re not counting on your posts really doing all that much for you, you’re just kind of using it as this enhancement as this like cherry on top as this kind of immediate way to get content out in front of a few people. And knowing that everything else is going on really well on the back end and on autopilot, then you have the opportunity to play around with social media and make it an experiment and see what works and what doesn’t and just have fun with it. And of course, yes, that is a place where people will go to your website, after they see you on social media, they will potentially sign up for your freebie, if you are talking about that on social media. So it is an avenue, that shouldn’t be totally counted out. And we actually can have a very different way better relationship with it, when it’s not like everything to your business, when you have things set up really well in every other area then is actually quite fun and isn’t make or break in any way. Okay, so those are the ingredients, let me see how many there are I did not number them. 1234567. Okay, so seven ingredients of your simplified flow business. Now, what I typically see people have is like four or five of them. So you have a paid offer, I think that that’s probably the easiest thing to do. Because you know, you need to have a paid offer to make money and to be in business. And that’s really the first place we go, which is great. A lot of you have really great freebies, too. You have awesome freebies, you’re talking about your freebies, every once in a while, which, you know, I think could probably be talked about more, but you have these great freebies, too, which is awesome. And some of you even have really great welcome sequences, you’re really doing a good job in warming up your new audience members as they come onto your email list and giving them that great experience right away, which is cool. And then there are some of you who do have evergreen content platforms, you have started a podcast you are showing up on YouTube, you are writing SEO optimized blog posts, you’re doing the thing there too great. And then there may be a social media account that’s kind of hit or miss kinda like sometimes I post sometimes they don’t, I can’t really figure out what to even post. I’m not posting things that feel like the most up to date thing to post not really working with the algorithm. But I’m posting. So we have some of that going on too. So like I said, four or five things that are going on to some degree and maybe working a little bit to some degree. But then there’s still that struggle. There’s the struggle to get clients the struggle to grow their email list, their struggle to get subscribers on their content platforms, the overall growth isn’t happening and it starts to feel like a spinning the wheels type of situation. And so now that we have all of this laid out, you know the entire flow, the seven pieces. Now I’m wondering if you can see why that would possibly be it’s because the flow hasn’t been fully set up yet. And like I said, I don’t expect you to have all seven of these things perfectly in alignment before you get going and get started and your business takes off. I’m not saying that but I want you to remember that if things aren’t going the way you want them to go, what more of your flow do
35:09
you have to work on? What’s still out there for you to do? Because there’s something I know it, I know, there’s something that isn’t yet working that isn’t yet aligned with the rest of your flow, okay. And the ones that I see that tend to be missing, the most are the pieces of the puzzle that make money and get clients. Those are the things that are missing or broken or not working, which are your website, and your launch plan. Those are the two big pieces that I see missing out on everyone’s flow. And like I said, a lot of you have websites, but they’re not optimized, they’re not doing their job, they’re not really doing anything, they’re kind of dormant. And a lot of you have these paid offers, that you do occasionally talk about and try to get people into. And that’s not working either, because it’s not a comprehensive launch plan. It’s just you talking about something, which isn’t really that exciting, it doesn’t create that level of excitement, you need to get someone to pull out their credit card. Okay, so those are the two things that I see missing in most people’s flow businesses. And so if you’re listening to this right now, and you are very much feeling in that place of I want more clients, it’s not happening, I’m not making the money I’m gonna make I’m not getting the growth I thought I would get and that I want to get, then go through this system and see what is broken in yours. What is missing? What is broken? That is what you are basically kind of always thinking about and always going back to knowing that this is the overall flow. And where does what needs more attention, I guess what needs to be redone, needs to be reconsidered reworked, where is it time to upgrade, those are all the things that are kind of always going on in the background as you continue to create this business. And I also want to make it very clear that I am totally aware that it takes time and energy to get all of this set up. I don’t expect you to have this all set up in a week or a month even it takes time. And that’s part of the process. And like I said, I have done what I can do to take the guesswork out of it to save you as much time and energy as possible, so that your entire flow business can be up and running on the back end in the background on autopilot where you’re out living and enjoying your life. And still having that growth and getting your work in front of new eyes and getting people signing up for your email list. And all of these things that are needed to grow your business are all set up and working appropriately and making your business simple and flowy. And feel good and fun. That is the goal here. All right, I will leave it at that. Again, if you would like any help in any of this. Just shoot me a DM over on Instagram and we can talk about it and figure out what’s the best first step or next step for you where you should go where things might be broken or incomplete in your system and get them up and running. So at Sean Mynar on Instagram would love to hear from you. All right, until next time, take care. Hey friends, Shawn here and if you’re a coach or practitioner who’s looking to help more people, make more money and have more free time than I have a special invitation for you that you don’t want to miss. Right now I’m hosting a free masterclass that will walk you through the process of adding a signature program to your business. As many of you know, the signature program business model has been my primary way of doing business since 2017. And after seven programs of my own created and helping dozens of other wellness pros create theirs. I’m now sharing my exact process with you for free. In this one hour masterclass. Now, you might be thinking, Shawn, I’m just not ready to have my own program yet. Or I don’t have the time to build a program right now. Are you crazy? I totally get it. I get all of it, which is exactly why I created this training in the first place. I want you to see how possible this really is for you and how simple it can be when you have a tried and true proven system in place, no matter where you’re at in your business today. So if you’re like most coaches and practitioners who have a dream of creating a scalable offer in their business helps the people they’re meant to help without it being directly tied to your time and energy. Then there’s a seat with your name on it inside my burnout proof your business masterclass. In just one hour, you’re going to learn why adding a signature program will uncap your income potential forever and give you more time for your own life, health, family and self care. You’ll learn exactly how my client sold out her first program, even with a small audience. Because of this one super simple marketing hack that I am going to reveal. You’ll learn the simplified, foolproof process that will take your knowledge and experience and turn it into your own program in just six weeks, and also how to implement an automated marketing system that will grow an engaged audience full of Perfect Match clients that can’t wait to enroll in your program. Once it’s ready. Even if right now you’re starting at zero. All you have to do is head to Shawnmynar.com/burnout proof and save your seat for this masterclass before it’s gone. Shawnmynar.com/burnout Proof can’t wait to see you there. Shawnmynar.com/burnout proof and save your seat for this masterclass before it’s gone. Shawnmynar.com/burnout Proof can’t wait to see you there.
May 3, 2023 | Podcast
Having a website for your business is one thing, but getting people to actually visit it is another. And maybe right now, your website is a desolate place on the web and not doing much for your business. Or maybe you haven’t even bothered to get a website up for your business yet because it seems like it’s just going to turn into a desolate place on the web so why bother. Either way…it’s time to fix that because it IS a prominent piece of your client attraction system. there are simple strategies you can start doing now to get more high-quality visitors to your website. Because I’m sure it’s no surprise that the more website visitors you have, the more clients, customers, and sales you make. In this episode, I’m sharing 5 simple strategies to get more visitors to your website.
“You have to make sure your website is working, you have to make sure that it is well-written, well-organized site that flows…until you do that the strategies aren’t going to work.” – Shawn Mynar
“I spent intentional time really writing my site, making sure that the words were good for my visitors but also good for google.” – Shawn Mynar
“Remember: Google loves good copy. Let’s make sure that is happening on your site and that will be the big ticket hands off marketing strategy and way for you to get paying clients.” – Shawn Mynar
“You are the person who is going to get more visitors on your website and that comes from you sharing about it.” – Shawn Mynar
“Let’s make sure that your website is actually working for you, let’s get it up and running… Your website has to be part of your new and improved marketing strategy that actually works.” – Shawn Mynar
Website That Works Masterclass – shawnmynar.com/webclass
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
Having a website for your business is one thing, but getting people to actually visit it is another. And maybe right now your website is a desolate place on the web, and not doing much for your business. Or maybe you haven’t even bothered to get a website up for your business yet, because it seems like it’s just gonna turn into that desolate place on the web. So why even bother? Either way, it’s time to fix that, because it is a prominent piece of your client attraction system. That right now you may be missing. There are simple strategies you can start doing today to get more high quality visitors to your website, because I’m sure it’s no surprise that the more website visitors you have, the more clients customers and sales you make. In this episode, I’m sharing five simple strategies to get more visitors to your website. So stay tuned.
0:53
Hey there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving, Freedom filled online business way work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session.
1:37
Hey, hey there, friends. Welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur podcast. And welcome to the final episode, in the website that works series that we’ve been doing here on the show. This is the third episode in a row that I’ve dedicated to talking specifically about your business website, and how to actually make it work in your business, how to get new fresh eyes on your work, how to get leads from your site, and how to get paying clients. So we’re wrapping it up today talking about how to get visitors to even show up on your website. So you can actually have the chance to turn those people into paying clients. Kind of important kind of a big deal, probably something we should talk about here. And we’re gonna get into it. But first, it’s the official launch of the write your website bundle going on right now, I just want to chat about this for a second in a like a totally raw, real way so that you really understand what’s included, what’s involved how it works, because it really is one of the coolest things I have ever put out into the world. I’m super, super proud of it. And I really don’t I don’t know, I think it’s quite different than anything else I’ve seen out there. Now to help build your website. I’ve not seen anything like this in the way that I have it laid out and so much of it done for you that I just want to gush about it a little bit, I guess. So here’s the deal. I, as a copywriter, I put on my copywriting hat. And I wrote prompts for every single section of the four main pages of your website, multiple multiple prompts, like anywhere from four to 10 different prompts for each section of your entire website. And in those prompts, it gives you the opportunity to first of all, like have this very professional, engaging copy, while at the same time plugging in your own messaging, which means every single person, even if all of you were using the exact same problem, it would sound completely different, which obviously there’s a ton to choose from. So there’s no way any website whatever remotely sound the same. But it gives you the guidance, you need to actually write your site in the way that it needs to be to engage people to keep people there to help people understand that you’re the right person for them, that you can help them that you’ve been there that you know what’s up that you know what’s going on in their mind, you know, their obstacles, their challenges, their beliefs, and you also have this solution. And that solution is what they need. So that’s very much kind of in this journey that we talk about here a lot. But now I’ve taken it to your website, I’ve written the prompts for you. And all you have to do is plug in your unique messaging into these prompts using the framework that I have laid out for you. And you have this completely transformed hub for your business. And then speaking of those sections, and I talked about the sections of your homepage in last week’s episode as well. It’s the
5:00
It kind of showed you a little bit about how it’s laid out. But I created a specific framework for every one of those pages that works for this coaching, practitioner, expert, service based business specifically. And that came from a lot of studying and learning in the copywriting space, because this is not just like, Oh, I’m just gonna plug things in here and there. This is based on research based on data based on psychology. It’s not just based on what I think is best. This is research backed. And also with my own experience, and having 10 years of a website and finding things that worked and didn’t work in my own business, plugging all of that in to create this framework, this flow that every single page of your website absolutely needs to have. And so I put all of that together, combined it all. And out came the right your website bundle with 220, over 220, copy writing prompts for every section of your site, 220 example. So every single prompt that is in the workbook also has a real life coaching type business example, I use all different kinds of businesses, you know, all different kinds of coaching, and niches so that there was something for everyone. But even still, just having that as an example of seeing the messaging plugged into that prompt is so helpful and will keep you inspired to create your own. So 220 of those. And then I also created these mock up design templates. So once you have written your copy, you know how you want it to sound, you know which prompts you want to use, and it’s all been figured out, then you plug it into that design mock up so you can see kind of how it all flows together, especially when it meets, you know, your images and everything else that you need to include on your site. So you have that as this kind of draft layout. And then you can go in, and it’s super easy at that point to find a design template and plug it in, play your copy into that design template. Because as we know, I hope I’ve said this before, and if I haven’t now I am copy first design second, for everything, not just your website, for everything, copy first design around your copy, okay, so you’re going to write your copy with the prompts. And then you’re going to plug that into your mock design, see how it all flows when it’s together, and then transfer it over to your design template to your actual website and hit the publish button. And if you are still not quite sure about your messaging, you know, we’ve talked about messaging a lot here on the show. But if you’re still like struggling to really bring out the words that you need to say in order to get your dream clients attention, and really speak to them. That is also part of this bundle. Right now, as a bonus, the complete messaging magic workbook is part of that bundle. So literally everything you need to do this all and do it all in a very professional well written site, instead of just throwing something up is all available in this bundle. And it will take you like a fraction of the time to get this going than just to try to DIY this without any assistance and try to figure out what to say and where to say it and how to say it and what to include and what not to include. And that’s a lot. So we’re going to take the guesswork out of it, we’re gonna get it done, we’re gonna make sure that it’s a website that actually works, that actually shows up in Google that attracts your dream clients. That is something you’re proud of. So you want to send people to your website. And once they’re there, it converts, it converts them into leads, and they’re on your email list. It converts them into paying clients. That is the goal. That is what we do inside there. Right your website bundle right now it is available for you to get started, get your website up and move on with your life and your business and like cross that off your list forever. That is at Shawnmynar.com/website. Go check it out, see what you think get started, and of course super happy to have you. All right, let’s move on to these strategies that you can use to get visitors on your website. And it probably goes without saying at this point based on what we just talked about the past seven, eight minutes now that First things first you have to make sure your website is working. You have to make sure that it is
10:00
Have a well written, well organized site that flows that is engaging, that it speaks to your dream clients that it says the right things where they need to be said, and draws them in. Because until you do that, those strategies aren’t going to work. In fact, it actually becomes a repellent. Because even if people are coming to your site, which they are, there are some people coming to your site. And if you start using the strategies we’re gonna talk about before your website is truly ready, then they’ll come. But they will not do anything. After that, they will bounce and they will go to someone else’s site, or they will go check Instagram, instead of staying on your website. That is obviously not the goal that doesn’t really do a whole lot for your business. Because once someone has come onto your website and not had a great experience, chances are they’re not going to go back. So instead, make sure your website is truly at the point you want it to be. Get your hands on the bundle, make it happen, and then use the strategies to really boost your conversions on your website that is ready to work. Okay, so now that that step is done, and that conversation is out of the way, let’s get people to your website. So I’ve shared this before I shared this over on the website masterclass. So you may have already seen, this is actually a graph, which you’re listening to this as a podcast, you’re not gonna be able to see this, but I think you’ll still be able to get the gist of where my website visitors are coming from. So I have a graph in front of me showing 60 days worth of website visitors and where they came from. The first one search engines has 14,949 visits. The second one, Facebook 808. The next one is Pinterest. 535. The next one is Instagram to 25. And then there’s a bunch of others that barely even register like minimal. But let’s go back to these numbers, search engines, basically 15,000, the next highest Facebook, and I believe this is probably because of Facebook ads 808 15,808. So whole message here, the vast, vast, vast majority of my website visitors come from Google, like vast majority. And that is with me like pretty proudly displaying my website everywhere. It’s still, number one referrer by far is Google. So that is my number one, my first strategy for you to get more visitors to your website is make it searchable. Make it Google friendly, make it Google’s BFF. And that comes when you have an SEO optimized website. And this is also my favorite strategy because it’s hands off. Like that 15,000 visitors came to my website, without me really even touching my website for those 60 days. I once a week, actually my podcast editor Chris, Hey, Chris, he puts a podcast episode up on my website once a week. Other than that, no one really touches it. And I still am able to get 15,000 visitors to my website. And then those visitors turn into email list subscribers, podcast listeners, social media followers, course, purchasers, all the things. Okay, so there’s a natural progression from those people coming to my website from Google and turning into leads and clients, which is pretty awesome. And like I said, totally hands off. But you need to have good copy to do this. And when you have good copy, it will naturally do this for you. I’m no SEO expert and I didn’t hire someone or pay anyone to do it for me. I just spent intentional time really writing my site, making sure that the words were good for my visitors, but also good for Google. And you know, I naturally did that that’s naturally part of the right your website workbook. That’s all baked in. So you don’t really have to worry about that. If you’re using the workbook, it will happen automatically because I plug that into all of the prompts I laid out for you. So that’s an option. That’s what I did. The main thing that you need to do to make your website SEO friendly, besides just having good copy and not being confusing and not being vague, because Google doesn’t like confusing or vague
15:00
or cookie cutter, or sounds like everyone else, because if you sound like everyone else, guess what none of you are gonna be on Google. So really being unique standing out and having good copy is the ticket. But also as an extra strategy, knowing your main key phrase, which, for something like your homepage, your about page or services page, that’s going to be your main title, I guess, if you want to say, your identifier, and your niche. So like, for me, that is business coach, for wellness coaches and practitioners. That’s my main key phrase. So putting that in a lot of places like really talking that up, which like I said, you will do that naturally, when you follow the right your website workbook, and you will have a key phrase and you will be SEO optimized. Okay. So remember, Google loves good copy. Let’s make sure that is happening on your site. And that will be the big ticket hands off marketing strategy, and a way for you to get paying clients through Google, yes, Google or any search engine, but I think the 99% of people use Google. So that’s what I’m saying here. All right. The second one is you, you gotta share about your website. And this really happens when you have a website you’re proud of, if you’re currently not talking about your website that much, it’s probably because there’s some underlying resistance there, like you’re not totally convinced, it’s the best place for people to convert, it’s the best place for people to get to know about you and your work, it might feel like there’s something off still. And so you’re not sharing about it as much as you should. But if you’re truly really proud of your website, and you know it’s doing its job, then you are just shouting it from the rooftops and making sure everyone knows to go there. And just being really proud and loud about it. So you being the strategy to get more visitors to your website looks something like this, it will be linking to it in your social media accounts, which, you know, a lot of people use, like the link tree thing or something like that as their Instagram link. But if you have a website that is super engaging, and really leads people in the right direction to get their freebie to work with you to learn more about your podcasts and start listening and subscribe. That’s really what we’re putting in those link tree things for the most part. So what if you just had this really awesome website, and then you’re putting that into your social media channels. And people are going there regularly, because you’re also being like, hey, Lincoln bio to learn more, and it’s going to your website. So that’s an option, and then linking to it in your podcast description or your YouTube description. So if you do have one of those platforms going for your business, then you should definitely be linking to that in your podcast. Like, I think for this podcast, it’s like, within the first line, I think I say, hey, Shawnmynar from Shawnmynar.com here or something like that right away, so that people who are interested in the podcast or maybe listen to one episode, now they’re curious about me and my work, they will then go to my website. So you should have that linked up, and that will automatically get more visitors. And same thing goes for your YouTube descriptions, your overall channel description, and each episode as well each video, you can also send people to your website from other people’s podcasts that you are a guest on, or if you do any guest blogging, so they’re gonna want to be like, where do I send people, and you have that opportunity to be in front of that different audience and send them to your really amazing website where they will then go further into your work, become a subscriber become a paying client. So if ever you are on someone else’s podcast and even if that isn’t an opportunity you’ve had yet, it will be someday you need to have a website. That is amazing before then because I think I’ve shared my story. If not, I’ll share it some other day. It’s you don’t want to get in that spot where you’re kind of embarrassed about your website, as you’re sharing it with this audience that you just spent an hour warming up and most likely the host that you are conversing with, will ask your website handle so be prepared. And then think about
20:00
If you’re ever at any networking events, or you’re ever at a speaking engagement, or anything like that, where you’re either in front of your dream clients, or you’re in front of peers, or with colleagues or friends or anything, where are you going to send those people, you can’t send them to some random landing page with your freebie and hope that they’ll sign up without knowing anything else about you or without getting warmed up a little more, you have to have that hub of your business, your home, on the internet, and that easy place to send people. So any sort of networking thing. And again, even if that’s not something that you’ve done in your business, yet, there will be that opportunity in the future sooner than you think. And you have to be ready for that. And you have to have that place where you know, when you send people, they are not going to bounce, they are going to get the information they need, they’re going to feel the way they need to feel to take that next step with you. And in that same sense, like, What about just random people? Where are you sending them like the person you happen to talk to, in the grocery store line, that’s actually a perfect fit, or maybe they have a friend who would be a perfect fit for you, or even just friends, family acquaintances, you have to have that really simple, easy, great place to send people to, again, like I said, it can’t be a random landing page, it can’t be a sales page, they’re not there yet, you need to have that central place. So again, you are the person who is going to get more visitors on your website. And that comes from you sharing about it, which most likely comes from you first, getting really proud of your website, and knowing it’s something that will actually move the needle in the right direction when you do send people there. All right, the third strategy, your referrals. So your clients, as you start building up your client roster are going to tell other people about you and the work you do, they’re going to recommend you and where do you think they are going to send people to, again, not going to be some random landing page, not going to be some sales page? It’s going to be your website? So again, is that a true representation of you and your work? Is it something that you know, when those people get sent there who they’ve already had one person, someone they probably trust? talk you up? So is your website, going to continue to do that Justice going to continue building up that curiosity to the point where they then you know, reach out to you want to chat with you sign up for your newsletter, those kinds of things. So your referrals, something to consider something to think about? Again, if you don’t have clients yet, if you haven’t yet had a client, but you’re getting ready to again, those referrals are going to come quicker than you think. Are you ready to have them go to your website. Number four, your blog posts, and not just any blog posts, your SEO optimized blog posts, I believe I’ve shared about this before in several different episodes. So I don’t want to go in too deep about this. But let this be your reminder that any old random blog post that you just decide you want to write about isn’t enough, you have to do your research. Know that it is something that your dream clients are searching for, know that it’s something that gets put into the Google search bar, and then write your blog post accordingly. And also, when you write that blog post, share about it, share about it on all your social channels, share about it in your newsletter, talk about it multiple times to start showing Google that that’s a post that people are interested in. Because as you get more visitors to that post specifically, then it will just continue showing Google that that’s a really interesting post. It’s something people want to know and it will start ranking it in the Google search. Now this is important for your overall website visitors strategy, because of course it gets people on your website. But then based on how the rest of your site really like the vibe of the rest of your site. It will determine if that person who came there for that specific blog post then moves on to go to your homepage to go to your about page to check out your services page to contact you. That is really what determines it. It’s like that starting point, that initial door is open and then do they bounce or do they continue down and get further in
25:00
further into your work. So really important to the overall marketing strategy. The overall website strategy is just that one blog post that really is important to your dream clients specifically, and shows up on a Google search. And then number five, we have a good old Pinterest, my good old buddy Pinterest, I love Pinterest, especially as part of your website marketing strategy, because Pinterest is one of the few platforms that actually wants you to get off of their platform. And on to someone’s website. You know, it is a search engine very similar to Google. So you know, Google wants you to go check out these other websites, and so does Pinterest. So you can create a pin that directs people straight to your homepage, or straight to your about page, it’s quite cool, you can really link up any page that you want. And again, if you want to go the blog route, if you have a website that is set up well, and has that vibe that will keep people continuing down the rabbit hole of your site, then even if someone comes to your website via a blog post via Pinterest, they will still stay and do more things get more involved on your site. So it’s a very good opportunity to build up your email list and get paying clients and get more listeners of your podcast or more watchers of your YouTube or more readers of your blog, or anything that you want people to do from Pinterest. So again, you can link up your homepage, you can link up your about page, you can link up your freebies, you can link up your blog, post all great strategies, and also went on Pinterest, there is a spot for you to put your website I mean, really just think about like anything you sign up for anything you use anything you do, there is a spot for your website. Is it doing anything? Do you want people to go there or are you kind of just having it in the background, knowing it’s not really a true reflection of your work, knowing it’s not really doing anything for your business because no one’s taking action, because you haven’t set it up to be an action taking system that can change that needs to change. If you want a business that grows with a very hands off strategy, hands off marketing, your website is a big piece to that. So let’s make sure your website is actually working for you. Let’s get it up and running. So you don’t have to worry about it. It can just be going on in the background. As you go about your life as your business grows. Just think about it. Wouldn’t it be nice if people found you instead of you always spinning your wheels and spending your energy trying to figure out how to find people? What if the situation was reversed and people were just finding you and contacting you and signing up for your things on in the background as you go about your business and the life that is the goal. That’s what we’re gonna do here. You know, I’m all about simplifying things for you. I want your business to be simple. I want it to be stress free. I want it to be burnout proof. I want you to enjoy it and not be efforting so dang hard with so little to show for it. Your website has to be part of your new and improved marketing strategy that actually works. And we will do that for you with the right your website bundle. Get it today. Get it going get it up and running, get it crossed off your to do list and move on with your life. Shawnmynar.com/website to get going and get the introductory offer going on right now too. So go check that out. Shawnmynar.com/website and until next time, take care
Apr 26, 2023 | Podcast
Your website’s home page will most likely be the most visited page on your entire site (unless you have a viral blog post). It’s the first impression of you, your work, and your business. Which means it needs to be an organized, inviting space where all visitors can be guided to the next best step for them, depending on where they’re at in their journey. When it comes to the copy or words you use on your home page, there is a very specific flow to follow to make sure its doing its job, especially for a service-based business. Today, I’m going to share with you my very own signature home page flow that I created specifically for coaches, practitioners, and experts.
“The home page of your website is arguably the most important page in your entire site…and because of this, it’s really the first impression of not just your website but you and your business and your work.” – Shawn Mynar
“The quality of your homepage and what is on it really is the differentiator between someone who glances at it and someone that stays and dives deeper into your website.” – Shawn Mynar
“It’s the words that will be a deciding factor between, do I keep reading down the page or do I find something page.” – Shawn Mynar
“The goals of your home page is to immediately connect with your visitors and let them know that they are in the right place, keep them engaged down the page and guide them to the next best step for them.” – Shawn Mynar
“Every visitor that is going to come to your page is different and we need to account for every single type of visitor that is going to be on your home page.” – Shawn Mynar
Website That Works Masterclass – shawnmynar.com/webclass
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE:
0:00
your website’s homepage will most likely be the most visited page on your entire site. It’s the first impression of you, your work and your business, which means it needs to be an organized inviting space where all visitors can be guided to the next best step for them, depending on where they’re at in their journey. When it comes to the copy or words you use on your homepage, there’s a very specific flow to follow to make sure it’s doing its job, especially as a service based business. So today, I’m going to share with you my very own a signature homepage flow that I created specifically for coaches, practitioners and experts. Let’s dive in.
0:44
Hey there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving freedom build online business, where I work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I am obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture. not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session.
1:28
Hey, Hey there friends. Welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host here on the show. And as always so grateful to have you checking out this episode and for your support of the show. We are in the second episode of the website that works series that I’m doing here. On the podcast, we started last episode talking all about how to know if your website needs a refresh. Or if you don’t have a website yet what you need to make sure to include so that it doesn’t need a refresh like six months a year down the road. That was in the last episode, Episode 193. And then here we are today talking all about your homepage, specifically. And then we have a few more episodes coming up over the next few weeks. That will be more about your about page and other things that you need to make sure you include in your website to get people to actually visit it. So that’s coming up in this entire series that we’re doing. And this is all in kind of a celebration of a few things. First of all, a free masterclass that I have just put out it’s going on now over at Shawn mynar.com/web class. This you guys this masterclass is so helpful for you. If you have a business and you have a website and hey, you know what, if you have a business, you should probably have a website. So I am breaking down I’m taking you behind the scenes, I’m showing you everything that I include, on my homepage, why I included it, why it’s important, what you should consider when you’re building your website, I’m doing it all for free for you. And it is going to help you so so much because Take it from me take it from everyone else who has had to go back and redo their website not that fun. So if you can get it right and do it right the first time or even the second time if you need to refresh your website, one that you already have up, this will take all the guesswork out of it and make it so that you now have a website that lasts for years and years to come and is a really hands off part of your business which is huge. That’s what we’re here to do. We are here to make things a little easier, make things a little more simple in this service based business that you have. So be sure to go save your spot find a time that works for you Shawnmynar.com/web class and take this seriously block out this time as like make my business easier time and show up and be there and and be present and take notes and it will change so much for you. So that’s going on and then also on top of that another thing to celebrate is the release of my right your website bundle. I will just tell you right now you’re going to get a super special deal on that if you attend the masterclass This is my oh my gosh, so much heart and soul has gone into this over the past few months. So much creativity. It was such a release for me but it really is essentially me as a copywriter as a train a copywriter. Writing as much of your website as I can for you while you
5:00
Who still put in your own messaging your own brand voice to really make it your own and make it unique and special, and stand out from everyone else in the crowd. That is the goal here is really a mash up of copywriting and professional copywriting with your own brand voice, your own messaging, bringing them together to write you a really professional, engaging, attractive, organized website. So that is what right your website bundle does for you for the four main pages of your website homepage, about page services page, and contact page. And it’s all together in a bundle it takes it just makes DIY in your website. So dang easy, like so much easier than it would be if you’re just staring at a blank screen trying to figure out what the heck to put on your website, which I know I’ve been there. It’s very challenging writer’s block is real, especially when it comes to this really important piece of your business. And this thing that kind of lives on lives out into the world. And new people are hopefully coming to it every day and really deciding, is this person worth my time? Or do I need to leave and go find someone else? Big Deal your website is? So making sure it says the right things. It does the right things and it has that flow and is organized will do all that for you together. So you can learn more about that directly at Shawnmynar.com/website. Although like I said, Insider’s tip, you’re gonna get a very, very, very good deal on that if you had to the masterclass first, so you can go check it out and see what’s out. But hey, if you like deals if you like, discounts, which who doesn’t? Then check out that masterclass and Oh, really give you a more behind the scenes look at it, too. Okay, so Shawn mynar.com/website and Shawnmynar.com/web class for the free masterclass going on now. Okay, let’s dive into your homepage today. Like I mentioned last week, and we’ll continue to say this is important stuff. If you have a website up right now that’s published, that’s just kind of in the back ground of your business, not doing a whole lot, not really getting a whole lot of traffic or not getting that traffic to do anything beyond, just check out your website quickly. And then leave good information for you. Also good information if you don’t have a website yet. But you know, it’s something that you need in your business. And maybe it’s something that you’ve kind of been putting off, just keeping on that to do list for some day. And that someday just keeps getting pushed further and further away. Now at the time, just get it done. And get it off your to do list and have it actually working for you have this like home base of your business out into the world. Let’s get it done. Okay. And so what you’re going to learn today will help you do that and make it so much easier for you to do that. So obviously, the homepage of your website is arguably the most important page on your entire site, unless you maybe have this like blog post that has gone viral and it’s getting like 1000s of views every day. But even those people, a lot of them are going to go over to your homepage, from that blog post that originally got them to your site. That place where people most often go. And most often people will come into your website is through your homepage. And because of this, it’s really the first impression of not just your website, but you and your business and your work like really super important stuff to consider when you think about it that way. Because the quality of your homepage and what is on it really is the differentiator between someone who glances happens upon your website glances at it. And then x is out and goes to the next thing on the Google search or, you know, keeps looking. And someone that stays and dives deeper into your website goes to that blog post goes to check out your podcast goes to check out your about page or what you have for your services. Big difference and it all comes down to what’s on that homepage and how it makes them feel. Not just what how it looks. Yeah, your design is great. Your colors are great, your fonts are great, but also how it makes them feel and the words your copy is what will help with that as well.
10:00
will guide those feelings, those emotions. So that’s what we’re going to break down today. Your homepage is not a billboard of all the different things that you have going on. Unless you are a celebrity, and everyone that is going to your website already knows you. Cool use it as a billboard, that’s great. But most of us are not celebrities. And so having a home page that is just a billboard of all of your things, doesn’t do anything to connect with these people who do not know you yet, when you can remind yourself that your entire website, really, but most importantly, your homepage is not about you at all, it will make a huge difference. And then you have the chance to really connect with the people that are coming on to your site, they need to know they’re in the right place. First and foremost, the very first thing right away within the first few words, they need to know they’re in the right place. They need to feel seen, heard and understood. And if they don’t feel that right away, they’re gone. They’re not going to bother moving on reading your about page or in your blog posting what you do for coaching, because they don’t feel like they’re in the right spot. They don’t feel welcome. They don’t feel invited. They feel like there’s something better out there for me, and they’re gone for good. And believe it or not, this is all happening within the first few seconds of someone being on your homepage, like I said those first few words. And yes, back to the design. Yes, it is important that it’s clean, that it is inviting that it looks good that it’s organized. But it’s the words that will be the deciding factor between do I keep reading down the page, do I keep going or do I find something else. And so if that first section of your homepage, which is called the hero, if that is a very connective point for them, then they’ll keep reading to the next section and to the next section and to the next section. And then if at any point things go off the rails, then they’re gone. But as long as you stay in this flow, you keep them in this flow, then you have built this connection with them as they’re going through your page. And you’ve gotten them hooked to keep going into your website further and get to know you more and get to know your work more. And hey, guess what become a paying client or at minimum, sign up for your free offer sign up for your freebie that then gets you email list subscriber and they become a lead, which then becomes a paying client down the road. Okay, so the goal of your homepage, make sure you remember this is to immediately connect with your visitors, and let them know that they are in the right place, keep them engaged on the page throughout that experience, and guide them to the next best step for them. That is the goal. Those three goals really have your homepage. Now, the tricky thing that almost nobody is considering that I want to change the game on, I want to make more well known I want to really put it out there is that on your homepage, you really in your whole website. But let’s specifically talk about the homepage today, every visitor that comes to your page is going to be different, we have all different kinds of visitors, every single one of us is very different. And we need to account for every single type of visitor that is going to be on your homepage. There are people coming at all different stages of their journey. There are people who don’t even know they have a problem. Or people who know they have a problem but really don’t know if there’s a solution to their problem. And they’re out there looking. They’re googling they’re searching, they’re wondering, I have this problem what do I do about it and then there’s people way on the other side who already know you like you trust you believe in you want to work with you. And they just need to find out how they know about your offers, they know about your services, and they’re just looking for more information. And then there’s a bunch of people in between those two extremes that we need to account for. So different levels of awareness from the problem to the solution. And then there’s also people with different personalities of course we all have very different personalities and specifically when it comes to your website, different decision making styles. So I’m just going to let you know right now this is extremely important to everything you create in your business and accounting for these different decision making styles. And I’m gonna go over that in much more detail in the masterclass friends you need to know this information. It will be a game changer for your entire business by
15:00
I’m showing you in detail over on the masterclass. So make sure you check it out, take the time, take notes, absorb it, apply it, and let it change your entire business. But anyway, taking all of this into account, just knowing how many different types of people are coming to your homepage, and being able to associate and be inviting to every single one of those people, because the second that you focus too much on one type of person, and then don’t consider the other type of person, then you’ve excluded someone, you’ve excluded someone or if someone doesn’t know about the solution to their problem, but just knows they had a problem. If you move too fast, or too far forward for them, without them knowing they’re in the right place first, then they’re gonna go find someone else who’s talking about the problem better, right? So we have to be this inclusive space, your website needs to be this inclusive space for every single type of person coming to your site in order to make it actually work for your business. Because otherwise, it’s just going to be this boomerang effect where people come in, they see what you have written, they check out you know, this kind of blob boring, basic website, and they they’re out because someone else is talking about it better. And now that client that would have been a perfect fit for you to work with is gone. And we do not want that we are going to change that here. And now. So anyway, I took all of this knowledge, and I put it into a signature website flow for every page of your website. But we’re just going to focus on the homepage today, I put it into this flow. This framework, I guess you could call it that makes sure with 100% certainty that your website is an inclusive space for every type of visitor that you have knocking on your door. That is the main point with this so that you have this warm, inviting, welcoming, inclusive home on the internet. That’s what we’re doing here, I’m going to break down this entire flow. If you want to see it in action, which I encourage you to do, I’m actually showing you how this looks on my own homepage. Over in the master class, it will make a lot more sense, especially for you visual learners, it will make a lot more sense when you see it in action. So be sure to again, save your spot for the master class at a time that works for you. But I did want to just talk about it here for those that are more auditory listeners. And for those of you who just want to take notes, and you think you can really grasp it with just the notes that you have and apply it to your website. Okay, so my signature framework for your homepage has 10 sections. And let me just briefly also remind you, I think you already know this, but let me remind you, this is specifically for the coaching type business that coach practitioner, expert consultant, service based business model, where essentially you and your help is what you are selling that is specifically for this it is obviously a very different framework for someone who has, you know, an Etsy shop or for someone who has a brick and mortar type business different. This is specifically for the type of business that you have. And based on everything that I know about these types of businesses, everything I know about those types of clients, and what they need to hear and what they need to understand before they are ready to make a decision.
18:41
Sorry, all of that, let’s get into this, the 10 sections. Number one, like we already talked about the hero section. So this is all about catching that initial attention, sparking the curiosity and making it clear what the rest of the page is going to be about. We have like, like I said, those couple seconds, 2.6 seconds to make that first conscious impression of your website. And to let these people know that they are in the right place. Your hero section has to do that. And it has to do that very succinctly. in as few words as possible. It needs to be really catchy, it needs to be really clear. It cannot be cutesy or clever. That is not what we’re doing here because that creates confusion that makes people work too hard to understand what you’re saying and if this website is the right space for them. Clear, clear, clear, clear, concise, catchy, those things to really make this person say in those 2.6 seconds, make them say, Ah, they’re talking to me. This is for me. Let them see themselves in your words. So in a hero section
20:00
There will be that headline like a very obvious big bold headline as few words as possible and that really get the point across. So it’s a really great space for like punchy types of words and phrases and sentences. And then under that, you’ll have a sub headline, which is a little smaller design wise still stands out, though not like body copy, small, but sub headline little smaller. And this gives more clarity and context to that headline. So it can be a little bit longer, but it’s really more direct and clear about what the rest of the page is going to be about. And then you have a call to action, you must have a call to action in your hero section for those people who are either spontaneous decision makers and just want to go to the next thing, which there are people that are definitely like that, and also the people who are coming to your website that already know like and trust you their solution, they’re aware of your solution, they know they want to work with you, they just need to go to your services page so they can check out and there are those people that are going to visit your website as well. So call to action, very important. And also an image of you, preferably since you and your services are the selling point are the focal point of your business. section number two of your website is what I call real talk. This is where we have a moment of just pure connection, there is nothing else going on, there is no other motive or anything that you have to do in this section, except connect with your visitor, every single visitor. And the way we do that is to really bring to life, their problem in a very real way. That’s why I call it real talk, just like we’re in front of our friends. And we know that there’s a problem they’re dealing with, and we’re just chatting it out with them. But when you do this, it builds that you get me factor the quote unquote, you get me factor that I love to talk about, because as soon as they feel like, oh my gosh, this person gets me they understand they know how I’m feeling right now they know this problem I’m experiencing in this struggle I’m having it immediately increases that desire for not even a solution, but your solution. So we have to have that moment of real talk right away. Then we move on to just a one liner, I call it the magic wand moment. This is Section three, there’s a lot of magic one moments that go on throughout your entire website. They’re just these big, bold cross heads, they go across your entire website. And they are very punchy, strong, powerful one liners that clearly connect what you do with what they want what your visitor your dream client really wants. So this is your chance to express the value of your work in one clear, succinct line that really grabs attention. And this is not talking about your offer, or your product or your group coaching program or anything like that. This is talking about what you do, how you deeply help people, and what can change in their life, what their life looks like what the experience is like, when they have that when they go through that process. That is all happening in one very clear, punchy line, then we move it down and go to section number four, which is the path. This is really the place to start talking about and sharing your services what you do. So there’s a couple of different ways that you can do it, you can either talk about the specific areas you work on with clients, like for example, if you take one on one clients in a coaching package, then you can really use this space to talk about maybe the three steps that you take people through the 33 things that you primarily work on with people. So you’re giving this a little bit of a glimpse into the process of what it would be like to work with you and what you focus on. Or if you have different types of products, like maybe you do offer a one on one services, but you also have a course you will have a program, you have an ebook, you have a workshop, you have these other paid offers, then you can talk about the different paid offers and the different ways people can work with you. Okay, but this is where you get to showcase your work. And not just in this way of like here’s what I have to offer here’s what to do but in a in a way and providing context providing descriptions of why it’s important why you include
25:00
Would it what it will look like to go through that with you what they can expect and what they’ll experience. So a lot more of the touchy feely part of why you do what you do, why you offer what you offer, along with, you know, really showcasing those offers. Then we move on to the fifth section, which is the first pass of social proof, potentially, there’s an optional one a little higher up that I’ll talk about in the masterclass. But this one is a non negotiable social proof number one, in Section five, you will use client testimonials or stats of your work to show proof of what’s possible when people take your path. So you just got done talking about this path that you will take people on either through your one on one work, and the process or the different offers that you have. And now you just need to provide proof of that. So anytime you are having social proof on any page of anything that you create, you know, testimonials, or results, or stats or anything like that, you are proving what you just said, so you just made this case for the path that you take people on through your work. And now you’re backing it up with social proof, either through client testimonials, or stats of your work. Okay, and then we move on to Section six, which is just now introducing yourself, this is the intro. And
26:37
a lot of people, I think, put their intro a little too high up on their homepage, and it just doesn’t have the same resonance. When it’s too soon as it does when it’s a little further down, you’re paid. And you’ve already got the buy in. So you already had the chance for that real talk. You already kind of took them on this like little mini journey of what could happen, what their life could look like what a results they could experience if they go down your path. And only now are they asking, well, who is this person? Why didn’t Why should I trust this person? I mean, it all sounds great. But who am I even talking to right now or reading about right now. And then that intro section becomes that much more powerful, because now you’ve given them a reason to care. If your about section, your intro sections too high up, they don’t care about you yet, they haven’t given them a reason to care. So they will breeze by it. Or they will just like that will totally disconnect them from your website, and they’ll leave. Okay, so now, now that we’re past all of that the intro section has power. And obviously, in your intersection, you’re just basically taking a few sentences, just very briefly, showing that you’re a real person who can help them. You’re building rapport, you’re building trust, you’re creating that sense of likability. So a very brief description of what you do, why you do it, and why it matters to them. So your intersection, yes, it’s about you, but only as it relates to them. And it is short for now, because you have an entire page to talk more about yourself. And your intersection will include a call to action to go to that about page and learn more about you for those that are ready. Next, we move on to the dream feature crosshead. So this is another just one liner, going all the way across your page, very bold, very punchy, really draws attention for everyone to read. And this is reminding your visitors of what they want, why they want it, what’s possible for them, and coaching them to take the next best step to start that path to go down that road. This is your opportunity to paint a very clear picture of their desire of them living their desire of what will happen when they get there. And when you do that gives them hope. And when they have hope. They want to take action. So you have one very punchy, clear, bold spot on your website, your homepage more specifically to do that. And then we move on. This is section number eight, where we have another place for social proof again, proving what we just said. So now you’re going to use client testimonials at proof that that dream future is possible because other people like them have done it to not to where those client testimonials are just so so important. Now we are at section
30:00
And nine, which is what I call the easy, yes, this is showcasing the easiest way possible for your visitors to get started toward their dream future. And for most of us, that’s going to be our freebies, very low barrier to entry, it’s free, all you have to do is put in your email address, and you can get started down this path. So the thing in this easy yes section is to, again, really treat your freebies as a place to show what’s possible to show what will happen with just taking that one next step with this freebie, and this is really good for those people who are skeptical, which a lot of people that come to your website are going to be. But if you do the right thing, if you say the right thing, when it comes to your freebie, and let them know that this mini transformation can happen just in this one step, then that skepticism fades a little. And they feel comfortable, at least making this easy, yes, and they become a lead. So this is a great spot to showcase your freebies. And again to say the right things, prop them up in the right way to make them an extremely desirable first step for your visitors. And then last section, section 10. This is optional. If you have other platforms, this is your chance to shout them out. So I call this the platform shout out, you’re going to use this section almost as like a directory of any other places that visitors could check out. So maybe they’re not even ready to say this easy yes to your freebie. But they would read a blog post, or maybe they would go check out a podcast episode. Or maybe they could follow you on Instagram. This is your spot to get that last little buy in for the very skeptical people who just aren’t ready to take any other action yet. So your platform shout out can like I just mentioned, talk about some blog posts that you have talked about some podcast episodes you have and guide people over to subscribing to your podcast, a YouTube channel, your social media pages, any other platforms that you think would be important for your visitors to No, and this is where we really, you know, if we’re getting this cold traffic onto your website, which you should be from Google searches from Pinter searches. And then they’re they’re taking the time to read everything to go down your page, which they will because you’ve set it up appropriately. And there is a specific flow that is organized and inclusive of every single type of person. Then, when they get to the bottom, and they’re ready to take some sort of action. This is how you get more subscribers on your email list. This is how you get more followers on your social media channels. This is how you get more listeners on your podcast, more readers of your blog, because your homepage has done its job. And those are the 10 sections of your entire inclusive, organized homepage. Not I know it may seem like it’s a lot but it really is not. Most of this stuff is very short. I mean, that’s one really important thing too, about your homepage. Is it just not having a ton of unnecessary words, say what you need to say and then move on. And so much of this is just big, bold, punchy statements versus a ton of needless words. Right? So like I said, you’re going to see this in action. On my website. In particular, I’m going to walk you through it, and why I include things when I include them based on people’s different decision making styles and where they’re at in their journey. So their level of awareness from their problem to the solution. I break all of that down in the masterclass you’re going to want to check it out. Trust me, it is huge. It will change the game for you. So again, Shawnmynar.com/web class for that. And if you’re like, oh my gosh, wow, I really see how I need to organize my homepage better. But I have no idea how to do this. I have no idea how to write all of these sections. Hey, I’ve done it for you. Let’s DIY your website together. That is exactly what we do in the write your website bundle. Every single section is laid out for you in the way that I just did with the 10 sections of your homepage. But then I also give you so many hundreds of different prompts that you will fill in the blank on with your messaging and your brand voice to write this for you
35:00
In a matter of hours, okay, so I know this might seem overwhelming. But don’t worry, that’s why I’m here. That’s why I created the write your website bundle, let’s do it together, let’s get it written, get it out into the world and actually working, okay, so I hope mainly that you are seeing how important it is to give your website a little bit more thought than you potentially have or did in the past. And then it really isn’t something that you can just throw up and get out into the world and never think about again, because it’s not doing anything that was like a total waste of time, if that’s what you did, even if you did only spend a few hours getting something up in air quotes. That still it’s not doing anything and what would happen, what would change for you and your business and your ability to attract clients without having to always be trying things on social media and doing this and doing that. And all these things we tried to do to get clients if your website was actually working, because it was actually drawing in people it was actually bringing in new visitors and keeping them there and keeping them engaged and showing them what’s possible, showing them their next step on their journey. Like it can just be so much more such a bigger part of your business that’s essentially hands off, if you just take the time now to do it. Right and to really understand what needs to happen, what needs to be included, what needs to be left off and make it work for you the first time. Okay, so that is what we’re doing in this series. That’s what we’re doing over on the masterclass and of course in the right your website bundle and I will leave it at that for this episode. All you have to do now is go save your spot. Find a time that works for you for the masterclass and let’s keep this conversation going. Okay, Shawnmynar.com/web class, you can find the link in the show notes that will take you right there. And until next time, take care
Apr 19, 2023 | Podcast
Question for you: Is your website actually doing anything for your business? Is it regularly bringing in new traffic, leads, and clients? It can and should be, and if it’s currently not doing that, it’s time for a little website makeover. In this episodes, we’re going to go over the key signs it’s time for you to refresh your website and how a few simple changes to your website can mean BIG leaps for your business. Don’t have a website yet? Use this episode to learn how to do it right from the start!
“You can network, you can use landing pages, you can do those things to start making money right away but then quickly after that, you are going to need a website especially if you are expecting your business to grow.” – Shawn Mynar
“The reality is you need a good website, that is just as important. You need a way to get these people even interested in learning more about your paid offers. A lot of the times our website is one of the most important ways to do that.” – Shawn Mynar
“You need that ‘home’, you need that place that is a good representation of you that is well-organized and showcases your work as it relates to your people and flows well.” – Shawn Mynar
“We want the visitors that come to stay and check things out and take action. Whatever the right action is for them, based on where they’re at when they visit.” – Shawn Mynar
“A key sign of your website working is that your visitors do take an action.” – Shawn Mynar
“Your website is your business’ home, its the face of your business, it’s often where people get their very first impression of you. Is your website really living up to that job?” – Shawn Mynar
Website That Works Masterclass – shawnmynar.com/webclass
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
Question for you. Is your website actually doing anything for your business? Is it regularly bringing in new traffic leads and paying clients? It can and should be. And if it’s currently not doing that, it’s time for a little website makeover. In this episode, we’re gonna go over the key signs, it’s time for you to refresh your website, and how just a few simple changes can mean big leaps for your business. Don’t have a website yet cool. Use this episode to learn how to do it right from the start. Let’s dive in. Hey, there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving freedom build online business where I work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session. Hey, hey there, friends. Welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host on each and every episode. And as always super grateful to every single one of you for checking out the show. And this episode in particular, which is all about your website. And this also is kicking off a new series, all about websites, it’s the websites that work series here on the show, I’m going to be spending the next four to five episodes, talking to you all about how to turn your website into your 24/7, online salesperson, your hardest working team member. And that comfy, cozy inclusive, inviting space for your people on the internet. It should be all of those things. And from my research from what I know to be true about the coaching space, the wellness space, the solopreneur space, especially in the service based business model. There are websites out there that just aren’t pulling their weight. They’re just not doing the job. And so we’re going to take the next four to five episodes to make sure we change that for you and your business. And that starts today with five signs. It’s time to refresh your website. Does your website need a little makeover? Yeah, most likely it does. And like I mentioned, if you don’t have a website yet, let me tell ya, save yourself a ton of time and headache. And do this website thing right from the start. In, you know, now you will have this these tools, this education, this training to know what that means. And if there’s anyone out there listening, who is like, yeah, my website needs a refresh, we can all agree that it’s just easier, it would have been easier just to do it right from the start and not have to go through that whole refresh makeover process. So getting back to why I have taken it upon myself to talk about your website. Well, first things first. I have had my own website for over 10 years now. It has gone through many, many iterations, like super embarrassing, I can’t even go back even seven, eight years ago, I cannot go back because it’s so embarrassing. But in that time, you know, I really had to learn how to make my website work better for my business out of necessity as my business was growing. And as more people were asking for my website or heading to my website or googling me or googling my work, Googling my programs get Can’t you just can’t send them to a crappy website. You just can’t. Because they are still in that space where they want to get to know more about you and what you do and why you do it. And most importantly, if it’s right for them, and if they don’t get that answer right away, they’re gone. And that is just such a missed opportunity. So that is the first thing and just what I have been through in my own journey through my own website transformation over the years and how important I have learned it is for your business. And like I’ve said many times before, it’s not something that you need in order to kick off your business from the get go. You don’t need a website to start building your email list. And even start getting clients getting paying clients, you can network, you can use landing pages, you can do those things to start making money right away. But then quickly after that, yes, you are going to need a website. And especially if you are expecting, and planning for your business to grow, and you’re expecting and planning for people to want to learn more about you and maybe go from being a social media follower to checking out your website to learn more about what it is you do, you need to have that place. Like I said, that cozy, comfy, inclusive, inviting space for people to go. That’s the bottom line. And as you all I think, know, my ultimate mission, if I am like just drilling things down as deep as they can possibly go for my mission, with my business, and with my time spent here it is to help you help more people, while also helping yourself, whatever that looks like for you. But a lot of times that looks like having more time, having more space, having more freedom, having more money, these things that will help you while also helping others. And, you know, there’s a lot of help in there. But that’s really what it dials down to, for me is helping you help more people. And the reality is, yes, you need a great offer. And we talk about that a lot here how to have that really attractive paid offer for these people that are in your orbit. But the reality is, you need a good website. Also, that is just as important. You need a way to get these people even interested in learning more about your paid offers. And a lot of times our website is one of the most important ways to do that. Yes, there’s social media. Yes, there’s your email marketing, these are all tools that go together in your overall marketing strategy. But you need that home, you need that place that is a good representation of you that is well organized and showcases your work as it relates to your people and flows well, and is this really comfortable space for people to want to spend time getting to know you better getting to know your work better, if any of those things don’t happen, they’re out because there’s other people to go check out who potentially are doing something similar. So we want to keep that from happening, obviously. And so that’s really where I’m at with this desire to help you with your website. Between that and then spending the past six months learning more and more and going deeper and deeper into copy. And particularly website copy being one of the kind of pillars I’ve been really researching and practicing and learning and even getting certified in website copy. In particular, it is because a lot of people think that design is the most important thing of their website. And yes, it typically is that initial attraction that will even get people to read one word, yes, they need to feel have a good vibe when they initially look at it for the first point five seconds. But then it’s the words that keep them there. It’s the words that keep them staying on the page, clicking over into other pages, and learning more and more and going deeper and deeper. And then ultimately getting into your world becoming a lead, getting on your email list becoming a podcast listener, becoming a blog reader becoming a paying client. It’s the words on your site that do that. And one last thing to bring up is that yes,
9:39
I think we’ve already talked about this being a super important tool for your business. It has the ability to do a lot for your business. But one really important thing because I want you to be able to take care of yourself too, while also having this amazing growing fabulous business. Is that your website can and will be a pretty hands off tool for you. I’m all about simplifying, I’m all about making it as easy as possible. I’m all about getting things automated and working for you 24/7 Behind the scenes, while you go live your life and take care of yourself and take care of your family and friends. And your website, if it’s working, is one of the best tools that will do that for you. That’s why I say it’s the your 24/7 online salesperson. That’s what it should be doing for you. And I think we’re all really into having more things be hands off in our lives, but especially in our businesses so that we can go out and live our lives and still be attracting leads, and creating clients and customers out of those leads. So now yes, this all sounds pretty amazing, right? And yet, what I am seeing is that there’s not a lot of this happening in particular in the coaching space, the wellness space, the wellness practitioner space, there’s a bit of a breakdown between having a website that works and just having a website, that what I assume, because I did this, too, was this, like, let me just get something up. And then I’ll revisit it later. I’ll get back to it. I’ll learn more later and really make this website do more. But then that later, like never really comes. And hey, you know, I am all for that imperfect action. That is amazing. You got your website up. It’s in the pushing the website to the backburner and just kind of letting it sit there for months and years collecting dust without making those improvements, without revisiting without learning more about how to make your website a little better. That is what we need to address here. Because those improvements could mean a major difference in your business, like major difference in the amount of clients you have coming at you how your email list is growing, how your podcast is growing, your website is part of that strategy, or should be part of that strategy, and getting those built up. And then I also see a lot of this perfectionism showing up in the website building category, which is just trying to figure out what to say what to do, where to design what, and put everything and spending so much time on your website and never hitting publish, because it’s not perfect. And of course, that’s a never ending cycle that will never change because first of all, perfection doesn’t exist. And second of all, you don’t know how to make it better, you don’t know, you don’t know the answers to the questions you’re trying to figure out. Right. And so once again, there’s that major missed opportunity for creating this ease in your business and this flow in your business and getting fresh new eyes on your work. And then the last website category I see is these people who spend 1000s of dollars to hire someone to design and write their website for them. Which seems like a good idea, because I’ve just said how important it is and can be for your business. And that you should take it seriously. So it’s like, okay, cool, then let me get this awesome website that works. Let me start getting paying clients. And I’ll quickly make the 1000s of dollars I just spent back because my website is drawing in new leads. But the problem with that is that when you when it comes time to potentially change something on your website, or add a new page, or your messaging needs to be tweaked a little bit, maybe you’ve pivoted a little or gotten more specific or something like that, then you don’t know how to do that. So you have to hire someone every time you need to make a change or a tweak to your website. And not only that, but even more importantly, you still haven’t really learned how to communicate in your business part of the website writing process, or really any process you go through to write copy for your website. You’re learning how to communicate with your people and that transforms everything in your business. If you know how to write your website, you know how to write a sales page. You know how to write an email, you know how to write a social media caption? Because you’re you’ve learned that the messaging you’ve got the messaging down pat And then you’re plugging that messaging in to pretty much anything. And it sounds really good and attracts the right people. So it’s part of this learning process and your business that you have to do. So you might as well do it while you’re creating this amazing website for yourself. Okay. So that took a really long time to explain the whole why behind this series. But I thought it was important so that you hopefully now have the intention and the motivation and the energy behind figuring out how to make your website work for you and your business. And this is your website, wake up call. So let’s do it. This is your sign to invest a little more time and energy into your cozy home on the internet, knowing you’ll reap the benefits for years to come. And it will be another hands off piece to your business success. Okay. So the first thing we’re going to do in this series is a little checklist to see if your website is ready for a refresh if it needs a little makeover. Now, like I mentioned one last time, because I know there are people listening who don’t have a website yet. If that is you, then this is still a very important episode, because you can get it right the first time, you can avoid some pretty big mistakes. That To be honest, most coaches, practitioners service based businesses are making right now. So tune in, stay focused, write this down and get to work on your first website. And then yes, of course, if you already have one, we’re going to make some improvements. But let’s start with a little objective assessment. Let’s see how your website is currently doing. Now, first things first, get clear on one thing, if your website was working for your business, what would that look like for you? And everyone’s answer is going to be different. This is for you to figure out your barometer for success. When it comes to your website. How would you know that your website wasn’t working? Would you get more inquiries about client work? Would you have more readers on your blog? Would you get more people into your evergreen program? How would you know that your website was working? Or would it just be that you see your number of visitors increase, which could be a great sign to figure that out for yourself? Alright, here is the checklist. The first way to know if it’s time for a little website Refresh is if you’re not getting as many visitors as you’d like. Now, again, that number, that barometer is going to be totally different for everyone. But pretty obvious sign no matter what I’d say if you’re not getting any visitors. If you’re getting very few visitors to your website, then that’s a sign that there’s more that you can do to get in front of new fresh eyes to get on the Google page for something that your dream client is searching for. And to get people that are already in your audience, potentially as Instagram followers or email subscribers, or, you know, podcast listeners to get them intrigued enough to head over to your website and learn more about you and your services. Or to get people from Pinterest over onto a blog post or from Google over to a blog post or a podcast episode that you turned into a blog post, like we talked about a few weeks ago, getting those eyes to getting that intrigue that interest from a search engine over to your website. That is a very powerful tool for your business and can and should be happening because of your website. Copy. So if that is not, then that typically means you’re probably not getting as many visitors as you like. And it means your copy needs a refresh because a well written site means that it is SEO optimized and much more likely to show up on that Google search and also keep people coming back, which is also a sign of a good website and will increase your visitors. number of visitors. One thing I found out in the beta group for web copy in a week is that a lot of people don’t know their website stats. It is important to Know that it’s important to keep an eye on that and to check back and see how you’re doing, especially as you do this website refresh, see how it improves as you improve your site. I always recommend even if you are working with a platform or website platform that tracks your data, your analytics, I would still also use Google Analytics, you can go to Google and Google how to set up Google Analytics. And it will tell you how to do that for your website. And it you can go down a rabbit hole, there’s so much information, you don’t need to know everything that it shows you to be in the know on your website, but you can at minimum, see how many visitors you’re getting per day, where they’re coming from, how long they stay on your website, what pages they go to, like, what are the most common, or most popular pages on your website, you can get some really cool information from Google Analytics. So I would recommend setting that up for your website. No question. All right. So if you’re not happy with the number of visitors that you are getting on your website, then a refresh will change that for you. Number two, the visitors that you do get are taking action. So if you are getting a bit of traffic, maybe from a blog post, or from people clicking your social media link, or from your podcast, something like that, but they’re not doing anything else, while they’re there, then that’s a website copy problem. So we don’t just want visitors, although that’s amazing and a good start, but you want those visitors to then become leads become contacts, book discovery calls, inquire, send contact form, obviously sign up for a bunch of freebies, that would be kind of what I would think, or consider as a lead. So that’s what I mean, when I say lead is that they signed up for your email list, that then becomes a lead to even at minimum, read a few blog posts. So they’re at least getting deeper into your work or reading your about page or heading to your services page, that kind of thing. So we want the visitors that come to stay to stay for a little bit and check things out and take action, whatever the right action is for them based on where they’re at when they visit. And that’s really, you know, we’re gonna talk about this in this series, that’s really what matters is that your visitors, all of your visitors no matter what stage of problem to solution they are in, feel like they’re in the right place and have a next step to go to. And that’s much easier to do than it sounds like and I will show you how to do that in a special workshop coming up that I’ll mention at the end of this. But a key sign of your website working is that your visitors do take that action, they do take an action. Otherwise, it’s just a sign that yeah, while it may be showing up on Google, or there may be people hopping over from social media, your website isn’t necessarily intriguing enough or inviting enough, or even just organized enough for people to continue on. So that is a big time. All right. The third one is that it’s not a true reflection of you and your work. This one is going to hit a little bit hard for those of you who went the route of just getting something up, which like I said, I commend you for doing that. I love that you took imperfect action that is great, but then never went back to update it. Or refresh it since and so now it’s just collecting dust and not a true reflection of you and your work. Remember, your website is your business’s home. It’s the face of your business. It’s often where people get their very first impression of you. And is your website really living up to that job? Is it really showing how important the work you do is how valuable it is? Is it making someone feel comfortable and welcome and invited? Is it showing your personality? Is it connecting with those specific people that you want to help and making them feel like they’ve found someone who really truly gets them? Copy that is cookie cutter or basic or boring? That is not a true reflection of you and your work because you’re not cookie cutter or basic or boring, the work you do isn’t any of those things. So why would your website be, that is not a good representation of you and your work. And if you’re feeling this, because we’re having this objective, just kind of checklist, we’re state keeping our emotions out of it for now. If that is your website, then it needs a refresh. And it will make a huge difference for your business. Number four, if your website is more focused on you, than on your visitor, again, let’s keep it objective. Yes, it is your website, and your business and your service. But your website is not about you, at all. 95% of your website is about your visitor. There are a few spots on your website, where you will talk about yourself. There’s one small intro section on your homepage, and about a third of your about page is about you. And even in those sections, it is only about you as it relates to your dream client. And then all the other sections of your entire website are about that is connecting with your visitor in a real deep, authentic way, by talking about them, by connecting with them by communicating with them, by sharing with them, and really helping them see that you get them. Like I just mentioned, that’s what we’re really after on your website and constantly talking about yourself. Even if it seems like that’s what you’re supposed to do. Or, you know, you want to really convey that you’re an expert that you get it that you’ve been there, you’ve been through it that you’re certified in this and your education is this. Now there is a spot for all of that. So it’s not like you’re not going to say any of that at all. But it is a very small piece of your website. Because if people don’t know that you can help them if they don’t feel that connection. If you haven’t properly communicated that first, then they don’t really care about you, or what you’ve been through your history, your past, your certifications, your education that can only come and will only be effective once they already feel like they are in the right place. So it has to be at the exact right time. A good way to know if you’re talking about yourself too much on your website, and really in anything that you write is to just look at the amount of times that you say, I and my and me in any of your copy. And if it seems like it might be a little much or really just anytime you see an I or me or my and you think or you can find a way to take it out and turn it around. So it’s actually talking to and about and for your dream clients, then do it, see how many eyes and means and Mize you can take out and turn it around. All right, let’s move on to the fifth one, the final checklist item to know if you need a website, refresh. And that is if it’s dis organized, there is actually a very specific flow for your website that when followed will keep it organized for you. And also for your visitors. Because if you are introducing things too soon, again, before your visitors have really bought in before they’ve really gotten to see that they’re in the right place. And before they’ve built up any of that you get me factor. If you introduce things too soon, then it feels off for your visitor. And it does feel disorganized in their mind. And that is again something that can very easily mean they just find the nearest X button and click off and never revisit your site again. So you do need to make sure that it flows and like I said yes, there is a specific framework that you need to follow that I have created. It’s my signature framework actually specifically for coaching and wellness practitioner businesses. That is different than in any other business. So we’ve got a treat differently. And especially our visitors are different too, because they have different problems and desires and needs. So I created this framework that will make it so your visitor feels like it is organized specifically for their personality type and their level of awareness in the problem that they have the solutions that are out there, you and your solutions, there’s so many different possibilities of visitors that could come to your website, and they all need to be taken care of, they all need to feel a certain way and know that it’s organized. And so it sounds complicated, I know. But I took that complicated mess, and did it for you, I figured out the right equation for you, and put it into my right your website workbook, which I will share more about in just a second. But right now, I just want you to take a peek at your website, if you have one. And scroll through and see if it feels organized to you kind of look at it from this objective lens. And see is it organized in terms of when you’re talking about a freebie, if you have one, when you’re talking about a podcast, if you have one, when you’re talking about your paid services, if you have them when you’re where everything is placed. And if it really flows, that is your first step. And if you feel like it flows, well, cool, great, don’t change it. But if you feel like there could be some improvement, then that is your sign for a little website, refresh. Okay. So now it’s time to tally up things and see how you did if your current website is doing all the things, then cool, great. Like I said, don’t touch it, you are good to go. But if any of these signs I shared with you just now feel a little off for you and your website, then first of all, welcome to being a normal business owner who needs to refresh things from time to time as they learn and grow. That is what we do. That’s exactly what you should be doing is changing things, evolving things as you learn and grow and change and evolve. That’s the point. And I would recommend starting to toy with that idea. Now see when you can schedule in some time to work on your website in the next few weeks or a few months. See if you can put that in your calendar to just see what happens when you have dedicated time to improve your home your cozy space on the internet. And if you don’t have a website yet, then I really hope this lit a fire under you to get that website up and running and get it done right the first time around. So hopefully you’ve gotten some ideas of what not to do or what to look for to know when things are working and when things aren’t. And as we continue going through this series, then you’ll get more and more ideas of how to improve and or how to build your website right the first time. And of course, I would love to help you write your site and cut the time it takes for you to refresh and or launch your site. way way down. We’re talking hours of time instead of months of time to make it happen. I will show you how to do that. And right now I’m hosting a free masterclass that will get you started that will get you on your way to update updating your website copy or writing your website for the first time in it from a place where it actually is working for your business instead of just collecting dust and never seeing the light of day so we will change all of that. I want your website and I want Hoby you want your website to bring fresh new eyes onto your site and turn them into email subscribers, social media followers, podcast listeners, blog readers and most importantly, paying clients and customers. That is when you know you have a website that works and that is what I’m going to show you how to do in a free masterclass I have going on right now over at Shawnmynar.com/web class. That is where you can choose your time to take part in the masterclass or watch it on demand. I want you to do it when it works best for you. And also when you have some dedicated, intentional time to really learn and absorb and take these things and apply them into your business because we are going to go through that strategy that plan that path that will make this happen for your website that will instantly upgrade your website, it is actually a quite simple strategy. That is the difference between someone continuing to stay on your site and get involved in your work and get to know more about you and inquire about working together. And someone who quickly finds the nearest x out button and never returns which we do not want those missed opportunities. Okay, so super excited to have you at this masterclass Shawnmynar.com/web class to sign up and find a time that works for you. Or like I said, you can watch it on demand too. And get started on this no time to waste. And let’s not do that, again. Let’s build out a website that actually does something for your business and as a hands off marketing strategy for you. And it all comes back to having a well written compelling site and that includes copy and I will show you even if you hate writing, and you’re not a good writer, and all these things, you’re telling yourself, I will show you how to make that happen. Okay, hope to see you there. Shawnmynar.com/web class. And remember next week, we have yet another episode all about your website. So until next time, take care
s
Apr 12, 2023 | Podcast
Let’s take a break from our regular business discussion for a little heart-to-heart chat. What do you really want? Have you asked yourself that question lately? It’s not often that we pause and reflect on why we’re doing what we’re doing (or not doing what we’re not doing). So get your journal out, and let’s discuss what you really want out of this business and if you’re willing to do what it takes to get there.
You may think that you know what you really want but if you let yourself just flow with it, you might find you actually want something totally different. – Shawn Mynar
Get real with yourself, get totally unfiltered, honest, get out that journal, no one’s gonna read it, no one’s gonna know but you have to get real and see if you are willing to do whatever it takes to get there. – Shawn Mynar
What I see is a lot of desire that is not being met because the path to get there is undesirable. – Shawn Mynar
You want security that is your deep need and desire yet getting there will take risk. So you have to wade through the waters of risk, wade through the complete opposite of your desire to get your desire. – Shawn Mynar
There is a reason why you have to go through what you don’t want, to get what you do. – Shawn Mynar
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
Let’s take a little break from our regular business discussions for a little heart to heart chat. What do you really want? Have you asked yourself that question lately? It’s not often that we pause and reflect on why we’re doing what we’re doing, or not doing what we’re not doing. So get your journal out, and let’s discuss what you really want out of this business. And if you’re willing to do what it takes to get there, stay tuned. Hey, there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving freedom build online business way work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session. Hey, hey there, friends. Welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, so happy to have you checking out the show. This is going completely off script, I had another episode that I was planning on recording as of this morning. And then I don’t really know what happened other than I had this thought, pop into my head of something that I really just wanted to share with you all and to kind of get you thinking about in your own lives and your own businesses. So we’re scrapping the idea, saving it for next week, which just to let you all know, we’re heading into a podcast series, all about websites starting next week. So that’s really exciting. And make sure you stay tuned and are subscribe, so you get notifications when those episodes air. But before we do that, we need to have a heart to heart, I’m gonna keep this short and sweet, I’m just gonna let it roll, what comes out of my mouth is what comes out of my mouth. And there will be more work for you to do on your own to really be able to kind of dive into what we talk about today. So my question for you is, what do you really want. And we’ll keep this in the general theme of business, because that’s what we do here on unstuck entrepreneur. But this goes for any area of your life and is a tool is an exercise that you should be doing pretty regularly in all areas of your life. But let’s stick with this business thing, because I’m gonna guess that you are here listening to this, because you either have or want to have a business. So by wanting or having that business, what do you really want? Why did you choose to start a business? Or why are you wanting to start a business? There are so many other things that you could do with your time so many other avenues you could go down so many other careers you could pick. Why do you want this business? So once you know that, then you have to dial it in? Because your first answer to that question isn’t really it. That’s your surface level want, perhaps but there’s a lot more underneath that. So once you know and have an answer to why do you want a business? Then you can take it one step deeper and say, Well, why do you want that? And why do you want that? And why do you want that until you get to the point where you have that core need that core desire of what you want this business to bring you. So let’s do one for an example. Let’s say why do you want a business? I want to help more people. Okay, well, why do you want to help more people? Because I feel like I have something valuable to share. I feel like it would be meaningful. It’s my purpose. Okay, well, why do you want that? Because I want to feel fulfilled. I want fulfillment. It feels like it’s something that would bring me that. So in the end, you want to be fulfilled, or you want purpose, or you want meaning that you’re true desire, that’s what you really want. Or another example, why do you want a business? I want and more open calendar and schedule? Well, why do you want that? I want to have more time with my family more time to spend doing things I love. Well, why do you want that? Because I want to have more joy in my life, I want to have more peace, more ease in my life. So then what you really want is joy, peace and ease. And that’s what we’re looking for. So we’re looking for what you really, truly want. That’s the first step. And I want you to like I said, get out your journal and do this, I want you to go through those steps. Because you may think that you know what you really want. But if you let yourself just flow with it, you might find you actually want something totally different. And just as a side note here, wanting to make a lot of money is a legit thing that you can want. But then yes, what goes beyond that. So why do you want to make a lot of money, and keep going until you get that figured out? For a lot of people. It’s a sense of security, or of safety. And so that’s what you really want. And your mind has made the connection that money equals safety. And we’re not going to go into that today. That’s not the point of this discussion. But just getting to that place where you can see what you really want underneath that money underneath that time underneath helping more people, okay, so we have that core desire, that core need, you want to be met, and you’re using your business to do that, which is absolutely fine. Now, the next step is to get real with yourself, get totally unfiltered, honest, get out that journal, no one’s going to read it, no one’s going to know. But you have to get real and see if you are willing to do whatever it takes to get there. And this is where a lot of people get tripped up, because you want something. But the path to get there isn’t something you want to do, or isn’t something you’re willing to do or isn’t something that you can do. And that is a legit thing, too. Like the mental blocks, the mental barriers, the emotional barriers, the things that are literally keeping you stuck right now might be preventing you from getting what you actually want. But you’ve just got to know that. Because what I see is a lot of desire that is not being met, because the path to get there is undesirable. And these are the kinds of thoughts that were popping into my head this morning that I was like, I really just have to share this with somebody. So it might as well be my podcast, friends, but think about this. You want security that is your deep need and desire. Yeah, getting there will take risk. So you have to wade through the waters of risk wade through the complete opposite of your desire to get your desire. You want peace and ease? Yeah, getting there will take work. And it will take periods of hustle. So again, what you want, getting there is the complete opposite. You want freedom? Yeah, getting there will take time, structure, organization and persistence. complete opposite. You want to not have to work so dang hard. But getting there will take hard work.
9:04
You want an introverted business. But getting there means putting yourself out there. So like how fascinating and we’re keeping this at business, but I think this does apply to other areas of life. But how fascinating that our deep core desire, what it takes to make that a reality is actually wading through the muck of the complete opposite. And I think that’s on purpose. Like that actually makes a lot of sense. And, you know, on so many levels, but one of the most obvious being the learning experience and the potential breaking down of those emotional barriers, those mental barriers, those mental blocks that are supposedly keeping you stuck that we just talked about, and for some people They’re so real, that they really are the thing that is keeping them from their desire. But the breaking down of that happens by going through the opposite of what you’re looking for, and then coming out the other side and reaching that point, and it being so much sweeter, and so much more purposeful. Like it has a purpose, there is a reason why you have to go through what you don’t want to get what you do. And I’m speaking in like black and white a lot right now. I know. I mean, I’m sure there are ways to have a secure business without taking risks. Maybe I mean, I don’t know, that doesn’t seem real. But maybe there are certain businesses where that is a possibility, but I don’t know of them. There are ways to have a peaceful and easy business without taking work and hustling again. Like, I’d like to see that in action. Don’t know if that exists. But again, just know, I’m not saying that this is 100%, there are probably outliers, I don’t know of them, and chances are your business is not going to be one of them. But if it is, that’s cool. That’s great. You’re amazing, good for you. But the majority of us, we have to wade through the muck, that is the complete opposite of what we want to get what we want. And the question that you have to ask yourself is, do you want that? Are you willing to do that, and that might be potentially what is actually keeping you stuck, because you don’t want to do what you don’t want, obviously, but mentally and emotionally, you haven’t made the connection yet. That doing what you don’t want to do is there to get you where you want to go. It’s part of the entire process. And it is meant to be that way. So if your desire is strong enough, and if you’ve spent enough time really understanding what your core desire is, then are you willing to move through that muck to get to the other side, knowing that it’s there for a reason, it will always be there, it’s part of the process. And there’s so much growth and depth and learning, oh, gosh, there’s just so much in that space that you just eat wouldn’t even have the level of desire and gratitude and excitement for getting to the other side and reaching your core need your core desire. At the end of it all. If you didn’t have to go through that, it just wouldn’t be the same. So you need to go through the stuff that you don’t want to to get where you do want to go. So are you willing to do that? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get there? And if the answer is no, the answer is no. Or maybe it’s not right now. That’s okay, too. But you have to get real with yourself and make sure you are clear on that core desire, and the kind of non negotiable path to get there, which is typically the exact opposite of your core desire. So I just wanted to bring that up, because I just kind of that. I don’t know if you guys have already thought about that. But it just came to mind to me today. And I thought that was so fascinating, that the thing we most want, is often behind, or on the other side of the things that we don’t want are the things that are the scariest, or the things that are the most uncomfortable. And but it all is that way, on purpose for a reason. So those are your two questions to ask yourself and get clear on and if you have come to the realization that yes, I know what I really want. I do really want security, I want abundance, I want peace and ease. I want freedom i want purpose. I want meaning whatever it is that you really really want. If you finally come to the realization that you’re gonna have to get uncomfortable and do the things or some things that you don’t want to get there, then that is when a lot opens up for you. That is when the clarity comes in the path forms. You have the energy you have the drive you have the purpose behind it, all of it starts coming together, as soon as you kind of come to terms with what it’s going to take to get you where you want to go, and you accept it. And with that Acceptance comes lightness, you can see the light, it is there and you know your path, and you’re willing to take it, you’re willing to walk step by step down the path. And that is where your desires are met. But until you can face it, and until you’re like, stop trying to find another way to make it happen. While you still say, safe in your cocoon, or never have to do things that you don’t want to do, then you will continue to feel that stuckness. And as a caveat, I think I’ve said this before, but just so you know, like, yes, your business can and should be fun and exciting and full of things that light you up. But there’s also things that you don’t want to do. I mean, that’s just part of it. And you will get to a point where the things you don’t want to do, you’re having other people do, you’re paying other people to do them. But even still, there’s always going to be those things that maybe aren’t totally lighting you up. And that’s okay. So as soon as we can acknowledge that over all this business thing is an amazing, awesome, exciting opportunity. But it does have those things. And especially when you’re in that building phase, which so many of you are right now, when you’re in that building phase, the mock is still present. And that’s part of it. And it makes it that much sweeter. When you are doing those things that do really light you up. It’s like, you know, a car works its hardest when it’s going from zero to 20 miles an hour. But then as soon as it’s on the highway, and it’s coasting at 60. It’s easy, easy peasy. And that is how your business that is how anything that you are building goes. It’s at the beginning of building that momentum, where the most resistance comes in. And the most maybe not. So fun stuff comes in. But as soon as you move through that, it gets easier and easier and easier until you’re coasting. And so let’s think about that when it comes to our business, especially at the beginning of business in the building phase. And as you’re creating momentum, all of this is on purpose. And can you recognize that and remember that when you’re moving through and doing this stuff that feels like the complete opposite of what you actually want? And you’re like, why the heck am I doing this? When this feels so backwards? Like I feel like I’m going in reverse getting further away from what I really want. It’s part of the process. That’s what’s getting you to what you want. And when you know that does it make it feel a little less heavy? Does it give it more purpose? All right, I will leave you at that. My friends. Like I said, starting next week, we have a four episode series all about websites. So be on the lookout for that. And until next time, take care. Hey friends, Shawn here and if you’re a coach or practitioner who’s looking to help more people, make more money and have more free time than I have a special invitation for you that you don’t want to miss. Right now. I’m hosting a free masterclass that will walk you through the process of adding a signature program to your business. As many of you know, the signature program business model has been my primary way of doing business since 2017. And after seven programs of my own created and helping dozens of other wellness pros create theirs. I’m now sharing my exact process with you for free. In this one hour masterclass. Now, you might be thinking, Shawn, I’m just not ready to have my own program yet. Or I don’t have the time to build a program right now. Are
19:03
you crazy? I totally get it, I get all of it, which is exactly why I created this training in the first place. I want you to see how possible this really is for you and how simple it can be when you have a tried and true proven system in place, no matter where you’re at in your business today. So if you’re like most coaches and practitioners who have a dream of creating a scalable offer in their business that helps the people that are meant to help without it being directly tied to your time and energy. Then there’s a seat with your name on it inside my burnout prove your business masterclass. In just one hour, you’re going to learn why adding a signature program will uncap your income potential forever and give you more time for your own life health, family and self care. You’ll learn exactly how my client sold out her first program even with us small audience because of this one super simple marketing hack that I am going to reveal. You’ll learn the simplified, foolproof process that will take your knowledge and experience and turn it into your own program in just six weeks, and also how to implement an automated marketing system that will grow an engaged audience full of Perfect Match clients that can’t wait to enroll in your program once it’s ready. Even if right now you’re starting at zero. All you have to do is head to Shawnmynar.com/burnout proof and save your seat for this masterclass before it’s gone. Shawnmynar.com/burnout Proof can’t wait to see you there.
Apr 5, 2023 | Podcast
This week, I’m answering YOUR questions all about business-building. We’ll chat about turning a podcast into a blog, how to write good captions, creating a simpler business, what I’d do if I were starting my business right now, and more!
“If you have anything good to say in your captions, you have those two lines to click more and keep reading your caption. That means it needs to be a really good hook, or else they’re going to keep scrolling.” – Shawn Mynar
“We’re a little too inundated with boring right now so how can you make your content not boring? And so much of that is messaging, 99% of that is messaging.” – Shawn Mynar
“You need to build a business that you actually want to do.” – Shawn Mynar
“Take a deep breath, give yourself some space, focus on what’s working and feel for that intuitiveness of now is the right time to bring in something else. That is what keeps it simple.” – Shawn Mynar
“The online business space has changed a lot, there is a lot more saturated, but with that comes a lot more knowledge with what works and what doesn’t.” – Shawn Mynar
Make Messaging Magic Workshop – shawnmynar.com/magic
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
This week, I’m answering your questions all about business building. We’re gonna chat about turning a podcast into a blog, how to write good captions, creating a simpler business. What I do if I were starting my business all over again, right now, and more, you definitely don’t want to miss this listener q&a episode. So stay tuned.
0:31
Hey there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving freedom build online business way work from home in my sweatpants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a business and life they love. Consider this podcast your safe space to learn both the inner work and practical strategies required to build the impactful profitable business of your dreams, no hustle, grind, or long hours required. That’s right hustle culture, not welcome here. Let’s get into today’s session.
1:15
Hey, hey there, friends, and welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur Podcast. I’m Shawn, your host, and we’re mixing things up a little bit today doing something I absolutely love to do. I’m answering all of your burning questions, right now about business building. So yesterday, 24 hours ago, I asked over on my Instagram Stories for any listener questions that you wanted me to answer here on the podcast for this episode, and got a bunch, we’re gonna get through as many as I can, in the next probably 30 to 40 minutes. And whatever I don’t get to we’ll do this again. And you can ask again, and I’ll make sure to get to them that time. This is something I love to do, first of all, because then you get your questions that you have, right this moment answered, which in the world of business that changes often. And we have these things that come up that we’re working on at the moment and have questions around, don’t know the answer, just kind of stay in this whole like cycle of not knowing and potentially doing the wrong thing or not moving forward not doing anything. And thus were stuck, which is why this is called on stock entrepreneur. But also because it gives me a chance to just kind of flow with my answers. So for these episodes, I don’t have any notes. Besides the questions that you asked me, I’m just gonna roll with it. And this is very much what I do. If I’m in a coaching call group call something like that, where it’s live on zoom as we just kind of chat it out and talk about things. In this one, I love to do so much with you all. So it gives me an opportunity to do that here on the podcast. Most of my episodes, I have a topic and I have taken some sort of notes to keep me on track. I’ve done the research. I’ve gotten all prepped. And for this kind of episode, we’re just going with the flow. If you enjoy these listener q&a style episodes, please let me know. And I will do more of them. And also, if you ever have any question that you want me to answer here on the podcast, especially if you think there’s more than just you who is maybe struggling with that problem or that question, please let me know. And I will definitely take the opportunity to answer it here for everyone, including you. So you can do that over on Instagram at Shawn Mynar. Just send me a DM I’m on there, checking that all the time, so we can chat there. All right, let’s jump right into these questions. First one from Nikki, I’m struggling to turn my podcast into a blog. Is it the same exact content, just different format? My answer here is yes and no. So it is not like you can just maybe download a transcript of your podcast and put that up as a blog post. It doesn’t translate word for word like that. But it can be you writing out in more detail what you have highlighted or talked about in the podcast episode in a way that is readable, obviously, to blog readers and using that as your blog post. So things that sound good
5:00
verbally don’t translate into good reading and vice versa. So you do have to, yes, have that different format, make sure you are taking that into account. But that really is just the beginning when it comes to blog post, because at least in I feel like today’s world, I feel like where a lot of you are at in your business, you would be using that as content to get more fresh eyes on your work to get more people onto your website to get cold leads, and potentially turn them into email subscribers, to get more people interested in your services, that kind of thing to grow your business to grow your audience to get some fresh blood in there, right. I mean, there are people there are bloggers who have millions of followers, these giant subscriber lists and all these things. And they can pretty much write a blog about whatever and put it out into the world, to their email list and to their social media followers, and people will go read it. But for someone who’s more just starting out, and maybe as a smaller audience, you’re using that blog post and podcast, but specifically want to talk about blogging right now. You’re using that blog post to get new people interested in you, which means you have to show up in front of those people, they aren’t just going to magically find your blog post. So that blog post needs to be SEO friendly. First of all, you need to have optimized it to show up on search engines when someone is searching for that particular topic that you are talking about in your podcasts and then translating over onto your blog post. So it has to be optimized for that it just isn’t going to naturally pop up. That way, you have to learn about SEO, if you are going to be blogging, please blog with intention, and have that intention be to show up on Google in front of your dream clients when they are searching for something. So that’s the first thing but then it also needs to be something that people want to read about that people are searching for. So that yes, it shows up on your Google search when they are looking for that. And people are actually searching for it. So they would put it into the Google search bar the first place. But then also you can and should be using Pinterest to help kind of quote unquote, promote your blog posts. And that also means that people need to be looking for something like that on Pinterest, it needs to be something interesting something that they’re curious about a problem, they want to solve a solution they’re interested in hearing about something needs to spark interest. And I’m bringing all of this up, because first of all, there’s a lot of people blogging just to say they have blogged and hoping that somehow that will get people landing on their website. And it’s not that easy. That’s not the way that blogging works. There is a lot of strategy behind blogging. And the cool thing is that it’s not hard at all, you just need to know it. And there are tons of free resources out there that can teach you that that can show you what’s important when it comes to SEO, and picking out your topics for your blog posts. But I share this because not every podcast episode is necessarily going to make a good blog post. So for example, this episode that I’m doing right now, which is just kind of random listener q&a, not going to be a good blog post, because it’s all over the place. There’s not one particular topic. And it’s probably not something that someone who doesn’t know me at all, some cold person that comes from Google is going to be interested in reading because it’s a lot of different things going on. But it does make a good podcast episode. This is fun. And one listener can get a bunch of different information and a bunch of different topics. So great podcast, and not great blogpost sorry, my dog is having puppy dreams in the background. So just may hear a little bit of dream barking going on. But this is real life. And this is just going with the flow of this kind of episode. Now, even though this podcast episode, this topic, or what I’m doing here in the listener q&a isn’t necessarily a good blog post. Maybe just one of the questions would be like this particular question of how to turn a podcast episode into a blog post would make a good blog post in and of itself. So then that would require Yes, you have the
10:00
Topic, if you’ve done the research, you know, it’s a good topic, you know, it’s something people are searching for. And then you could basically take kind of what you’re talking about in that one section and expand on it for your blog post. And then yes, there are going to be podcast episodes, for example, 10 passive income ideas for your online business is a podcast episode I did a while back, that makes an excellent blog post pretty much as is. So would take kind of the notes I had for each of those 10 fleshing them out a little bit to be readable and to be SEO friendly. And that would be my blog post. So I think the overall question and answer here is, Is it as simple as just kind of switching formats a little bit and hitting Publish? And no, it’s not. It does take more work and more strategy, if you want to actually use those blog posts to gain traffic, which I’m assuming is what you want to do. Now, the other cool thing about doing this is, you can have that blog post that’s very much related or very similar to a podcast episode that you did, and then link your player, your podcast player into that blog post, and potentially have someone who happened to land on this blog post of yours through Google or Pinterest or something like that. And otherwise, very cold person has no idea who you are, but then sees that you do podcast episodes about similar topics, and then becomes a podcast listener. So you can gain listenership by doing these blog posts that are essentially your podcast episodes. So that’s where the crossover really happens. And also, just having this one topic that you can turn into multiple pieces of content is helpful, too. But it’s not as simple as just moving it over into a blog post, for the most part, if you want people to actually read it. All right, next one, how do you write a good hook for an Instagram post podcast or website, this comes from Allah sonda. For those that don’t know, a hook is that very first line, let’s talk specifically about Instagram captions here because that’s most commonly where something like a hook is used, at least in how we’re talking about it here on a website. A hook is your headline, really. So that’s more the right wording, I guess, the right term for that. But for social media captions, and you know, video scripts, even Yes, podcast grips, that first line is called a hook. Because it is hooking the readers or listeners or watchers attention, you want that to be a very engaging curiosity inducing line. So people will keep reading or listening or watching, you’re grabbing hooking their attention.
13:19
I like to mostly think about this in terms of Instagram in particular, because if you’re on Instagram, then you know, you have I think like two lines of your caption that is visible underneath the picture, their video that you posted, and then everything else you can only read, if you click More, and then it drops down and lets you read the whole caption. Which means if you have anything good to say, in your captions, which I really hope that you do, you have those two lines to get someone to click More and keep reading your caption. That means it needs to be a really good hook, or else they are going to keep scrolling. And in an age of today, where scrolling is the norm and we just scroll Scroll, scroll super click quickly. We are kinda like halfway out of it when we’re scrolling it just like a very weird vibe. That needs to be a really, really potent hook to get someone to continue reading your caption and to be remotely interested in your post and to engage with it. So there are a lot of different ways you can do that with hooks. There are a few kind of tried and true things that I always fall back on if I’m struggling to write caption which yes happens all the time. Totally normal to not have this like beautiful, amazing curiosity inducing engaging caption just fall out of you as soon as you sit down to write
15:00
That’s social media post, it’s normal to have to think about it for a little bit. But these are ones that I fall back on, that work really well and are pretty simple to put together as long as you know, your dream clients. And as long as you’ve done some messaging work, so these are, as soon as I say this, everyone who went through the make messaging magic workshop is going to be like, oh, yeah, here she goes, again. Because we talked about this, and it is true. It really is this easy. Two things, bring up a problem, or bring up a desire. Describe? In all, there’s so many different ways that you can talk about your clients one problem, like there really are, how does that problem show up in their lives? How does it look? How does it feel? What are they doing? What are they not doing? What are they saying to themselves? What are they complaining about? What’s keeping them up at night? What are they struggling with? Share that describe that in that very first line as your hook? And when you do and especially if you format it as a question, because then it will make the reader say, am I this person? Or am I not? Am I dealing with this? Or am I not? If I’m not, then I’m scrolling by and that’s also not your dream client. So it doesn’t really matter if they scroll by.
16:26
But to have your dream client identify with that question you just brought up that very clearly dictates and describes their current problem where they’re at right now. That’s going to get them to keep reading.
16:45
And then same thing goes for the desire. So again, so many ways that you can describe and talk about and write about your dream clients desire, where they want to be what they want their life to look like, what they don’t want to be dealing with anymore, how they want things to go, what are they desiring? How does that look? How does that feel for them? What is their dream life look like? What are they working towards?
17:16
Call it out? Again, you can put it up into a question you can state it as this like, imagine if kind of situation and your dream clients will identify themselves in that one statement, and click to keep reading because that’s what they want. So by you knowing that getting into their heads and, and really explaining or describing exactly what they’re thinking or how they’re feeling, whether it is a problem or a desire, you’ve caught them, you’ve hooked them, because you are explaining it potentially better than they even could. And it’s like you’ve gotten into their heads. And that immediately gets that you get me factor going. And that is your person. And that is the person that’s going to keep reading. So those can always be your fallback go to if you cannot think of what to say start there and then let it flow. And you know, in the make messaging magic workshop, I have the rest of the format that will go underneath that problem or desire what you need to say after that, to really make it a full blown caption. And you can get that over at Shawnmynar.com/magic. But start there that will work that will always be a place that you can go. Now beyond that hooks that are clever, that are funny, that are relatable hooks that ask a question or bring up a pretty solid statement are great hooks that start sharing a story like you don’t get the story in that but you know a story is coming after that hook that kind of set up the story. All of these do really well. The real thing to just always ask yourself when you’re doing creating any content really for your business is make it past the test of would someone who does not remotely know me or like me, or trust me, would they still stop and consume this content?
19:26
There’s a lot of boring content out there. And even if someone does really like you really know you and really trust you. Boring, we’re a little too inundated with boring right now. So how can you make your content not boring? In so much of that as messaging like 99% of that is messaging, because that is also where you figure out your personality, your brand voice what you want to really stand for what you want to be known for and you
20:00
also infuse all of that with where your dream client is at and knowing exactly what they need to hear, right this moment, you’ve got to get really clear on that. And as you can tell, I’m very passionate about it. Because that is what will make you stand out. And when there’s so much boring content out there, that’s what you need. That’s what will take you to the next level. So you’re, you know, I’m getting off topic here, but your Instagram captions, that one line that hook at the very beginning, that should be the least boring thing you have ever written every single time. And that is what will get you so much more engagement. In all your content is really thinking about what you’re saying, instead of just writing the boring thing, writing the safe thing, no more of that, because now we know better. All right, moving on to Danny, I feel overwhelmed and disorganized. Oftentimes, in my business, like my attention is being pulled in a million different places. I’m craving more streamlined, more simplicity and less noise. Do you have any tips or suggestions, even if it’s things to prioritize, and things to table for later? Well, this just happens to be my area of expertise. And I know Danny, and I’m pretty sure that we are potentially both manifesting generators, which is human design. And if you don’t know your human design, I would very much recommend that you learn that it really just makes such a difference in knowing how you operate and why you are the way you are and that it’s actually a really good thing, and how to use that to do what you’re meant to do here during your time in this life. So anyway, sidetrack but I actually there’s an app called my human design, I believe, and you can get a lot you can get your chart and a lot of info for free. And then I think it’s $5 a month or something if you want extra info, but you can start there for free my human design app, I believe, and I’ll let you know if it’s something different, but I’m pretty sure that’s it. So I say that because I’m feel Dani and her question very much. And I think that this is a specific trait of certain personalities or designs, a certain characteristics of people that tend to feel this, a million different places feel the noise want to go and do all the things at the same time have so many ideas have so many different things they want to do. And that makes you feel scatterbrained it can make you feel like you’re in a million different places. And that leads to overwhelm, of course. So that is where I have found myself many times. So I feel Danny, I understand where she’s at. And that is also why I have made kind of my MO around business to simplify. Let’s make this as simple and streamlined as possible. Because at the end of the day, you need to build a business, this goes for everyone. You need to build a business that you actually want to do that you actually feel good doing. And that you could actually go in to your home office or wherever you do your work or open your laptop every day, and be excited and feel good about what you’re doing. Now, does this mean that all of business is this absolute joy and you love everything about it? Absolutely not. There are things about business that aren’t fun that nobody wants to do, probably, but the over arching business that you create the structure, the goals, how you operate is something that you love, something that you want to do. For me. Simplicity is important because if not, I have the type of personality that goes overboard gets stressed out, and I don’t, my body simply doesn’t handle stress well, and it just becomes a mess. So my business needs to be simple for it to work for me. It sounds like Danny is in a similar boat. She wants simple because that is how she sees her future going forward. That is what is going to work best for her. She is currently in this space of feeling overwhelmed, disorganized and all this noise and that’s not working for her. So now she knows Okay, I need a more simplified business model and to understand what to wear
25:00
gone and what not to, if that is you, if you also crave simplicity when it comes to your business, I have some tips. First things first, you need to prioritize things, of course, as is the case with all of life. And when it comes to business, especially Danny’s has a more established business, and is doing really well. And probably within that is now getting a lot of opportunities thrown at her a lot of different ideas coming in, that she wants to do, or even that her audience is asking for. And now feels like there’s too much on her plate. What first of all, is working for your business? What are those things that are moving the needle the most in your business, because when you actually look at it, and you really do a little analysis of everything that you’re currently doing, or want to do in your business, there’s actually probably only a few key things that are really moving the needle. For example, let’s say you’re doing both a weekly podcast and a weekly blog. Well, when you actually look at and analyze how that’s going for your business, you may find that yeah, people are listening to the podcast, but not much is coming from that beyond as listening. But the people that land on my blog, well, then they very typically come over to my freebie and get on my email list and actually stay and eventually become paying clients. Again, total example, you would have to know that in your business, like where is the needle moving the most for you. Like I said, there’s a likely a couple places that stand out a lot more than anything else. So that can be your core non negotiable. If it’s, you know, one certain program that I run once a quarter that does really well, and people really love it, and they get great results. And I love running it. And it’s easy. At this point, I can kind of rinse and repeat. That’s a great thing to keep in place as your non negotiable. And then yeah, when I think about how people get interested and get involved in that, yes, it’s me posting on Instagram, and it’s my podcast episodes. Okay, cool. So your non negotiables are posting on social media, doing your podcast, and running that program, once a quarter non negotiable must happen, that is your business. And then everything else around it can kind of be filled in as you want to. And with a little bit more grace, because you have your core thing that’s working, that’s a non negotiable that you’re always going to do. From there. Also, you of course, need to think about what you enjoy what is lighting you up, versus tearing you down. If that program that you have is working, and it’s great, and you run out once a quarter, and people are getting great results, but you don’t like it, it drains you to do it’s not fun, you don’t feel aligned with it any more than that’s also not a good place to be in your business. Because again, like I said, you want it to be something that you look forward to opening up your laptop every day and doing. And if you don’t feel that way about that particular part of your business, then that’s a place to work on. And so it could just be changing out that program for something else, or you know, having a different kind of paid offer lots of different ways you can think about that. So it’s a combination of what’s working for your business, and what’s working for you. So once you have that figured out, that’s your core, that’s your business. From there, the rest. So all these other places you feel like you’re being pulled, things you want to do, just take a deep breath with it. Because you have time. That is what I think gets a lot of us in trouble is wanting to do it all right now and having these great ideas and just wishing they could all be happening and being so excited about it and wanting to push forward with them. But when you realize that you have a lot of time, nothing needs to be done right now or this month or even this year. If you can give yourself a little bit of space to focus on what’s working, what’s moving the needle, what you’re enjoying right now. And then as you have more time and space, then you can work on bringing those things in at a pace that feels a little better for you and doesn’t make you feel overwhelmed. So just knowing that those things
30:00
are going to happen, but they don’t need to happen, right, this moment, can take a lot of that overwhelm off of your plate. And again, just focus on that machine that’s working. That’s really where the simplicity of your business comes in is building a machine that works. And then filling in the gaps from there, as you feel called, not because of the outside noise, or even the internal noise of your brain that wants to make everything happen today, just take a deep breath, give yourself some space, focus on what’s working, and feel for that, like intuitiveness of now is the right time to bring in something else. That is what keeps things simple. Now, I want to take it back a few more steps, because I know a lot of you are in the place where you’re still building that machine. And this all sounds really great to you right now. And you can’t wait until you do have this simple machine. That is your business. But you’re not there right now. And that’s part of the process. That’s part of having a business and creating something new and great and wonderful is all of the trial and error that comes with it. But that doesn’t mean that in that time when you’re trying to build your machine, that it needs to be chaotic and crazy and hectic and overwhelming and frustrating. And all those things like yeah, sure, you may feel overwhelmed at times, yes, you will probably feel frustrated at times. But that doesn’t need to be how it looks all the time, while in the process of building, you can still keep it simple. And be in that phase of trial and error of building one component and it not working of trying another component and that not being what feels best for you. It’s part of it. And that’s okay. And it really just makes you finding that simple business machine. Once you have built it, it makes it that much sweeter, and you will get there. But in the process, please try to tune out the noise that may be potentially coming from, you know, some comparison itis going on being like Uber connected, like way over connected to the rest of the world because of social media, and things like that.
32:38
Tune in to what feels best for you what you want your machine to look like how you want it to run and operate. And again, what would make you happy for the long haul of opening up that laptop every day. All right, next one from Lisa, are you going to be offering copywriting services soon? Thank you so very much for asking this. Lisa, this has been something that I was like, how am I going to be talking about this on the podcast? When am I going to share this? How is it going to go kind of thing and just kind of letting it unfold and waiting for the right time. And now I guess is the right time because I’m being asked. And so if you’ve listened to gosh, probably in the past couple months, I started this whole thing in November. So past couple months, I’ve been talking about copywriting a lot. And I just now have my beta group of my web copy in a week going through the process as we speak and getting feedback. And so to answer Lisa’s question directly on copywriting services, my plan is to start by offering copywriting products. I toyed with the idea and am still, I guess toying with the idea of offering done for you copywriting services, because I really actually love reading other people’s copy. But when I sit down to think about it, and how I want to help you, me writing your copy doesn’t really help you that much in learning how to write, copy. And that’s what you really need. Like, if I were to write your web, copy it well, great, but then you still don’t know how to write for your emails, you don’t know how to write for your social media captions. Any other pages of your website that you add in the future, you won’t be able to write those and they won’t sound cohesive. And so that’s not really solving the problem that I want to help you solve. It’s just applying a band aid in a way by me doing it for you. And not only that, but it’s expensive. It’s pretty pricey.
35:00
Yeah, like we’re talking several $1,000, to hire a copywriter to write some content for you. And that’s just not the kind of business that I desire and that I think works best for you, my people, my dream clients, I want you to feel really confident in communicating with your dream clients to the point that they want to purchase from you, I want you to learn how to write copy, that helps you make more money, and it is 100%. Related, you need good copy to make good money bottom line. And I want you to do that. And I want you to learn how to do that. And I want it to become second nature for you. So I am going to be having a little bit of a like a copywriting shop, I am starting obviously with websites. And we’ll help you not only learn how to write your website, but give you the prompts and examples to make it really simple and easy for you to write your site. This includes the homepage, about page, services page and Contact page, those will all be a standalone, you can get one page, if you just need a homepage, you can get just the homepage, or all of it as a bundle. So that’s the first products I will be having. And then after that I will be working on creating kind of like a launch bundle that will include sales page sales, email, templates, webinar template, and those will all be separately again, you can also get them as a bundle. So if I get those out and running and ready for all of you in the next like six months, that would make me really happy. And that’s the goal. And then I do have more ideas from a copywriting product standpoint, coming in the future, but don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, as we’re just talking about Danny’s question and wanting to do all of it right now. And feeling overwhelmed. Like I definitely feel that I want all of these available right now. And I just want to work 24/7 To get them all out because I know they’re going to be so helpful. But I’m not doing that I’m giving myself some space. So the website products will be available for the general public after the beta group has gone through them thoroughly. And I’m assuming that will be in like a month or so. So end of April, beginning of May 2023, you can start looking for those. And then the launch copy products will be available probably in the summer sometime of 2023. So looking forward to that, and just really being so excited for what your business can and will do. When you have better copy. That’s, that’s it, that’s what I really want for you. And I want you to learn how to do it and
38:13
just be able to release some of the pressure and maybe some stories around writing and copywriting and selling and all of those things that we tend to struggle with as newer businesses and or without someone who is a marketer on our team that does this for a living. When you have to be your own marketer. I want you to feel so much better about that. And I know this can do that for you. So that’s what I’ll be working on. Lisa, thank you so much for asking and be on the lookout for that stuff soon. All right, let me do one more really quick. This last one from Caroline, if you were starting your business right now, what would you do? Great, great question. Again, I’m so happy you asked this because if you’ve been listening for a while then you know that I have been a business owner for 10 years for a decade. And I talk about this all the time. It really is like that thing of like well back in my day, but I really feel that way. Business and an in particular online business was so different 10 years ago. And so I do often think well, if I were starting from scratch again right now, would I do anything differently than what I did back 10 years ago. And I also want to remind you that I pretty much did start over start a brand new business like two years ago. So I have kind of restarted again in this new kind of climate when I transition
40:00
And from being a nutritionist, to being a business coach for wellness pros, and basically teaching everything I had learned about business, and coaching, and online business and marketing and everything that I had done over the eight years of being in that coaching, nutrition, personal training space, I then started teaching that to people in those types of positions, which is where we are now. But that was, I think, two, two and a half years ago now. So
40:35
not that long ago, I started a new podcast, I started a new email list, I started a new social media account. And that’s exactly what I would do, because I did, if I were starting my business, again, today, I would create a scalable revenue stream a scalable business model, like a signature program, I would create a freebie that correlates corresponds directly to that signature program, I would start a platform. For me, that would probably be podcast, if I were in the coaching type space coach practitioners in some service based role where I was helping another human, I would probably choose podcast, if it’s now if I’m thinking if I were just having my copywriting weighing of my business, like I’m doing right now and adding this layer, I guess, to my business with those products, the way that they are designed, I would actually probably do blogging instead. But I would pick a platform, one platform to go all in on.
41:53
And I would start creating content for that platform, I would talk about my freebie and every single one of those episodes, I would make that podcast or those blog posts, highly searchable, highly relevant to my dream clients, I would do research to make sure that they were topics that people were looking for were interested in, were wanting to listen to or wanting to read, to make sure that I’m putting out content for new people to get to know my work. And I would show up on one social media channel, which for me would be Instagram. And that’s what I would do to start my business I would post consistently on Instagram, I would share one podcast or one blog post per week, depending on what kind of business I had. And I would have a scalable business model. And I would have a freebie. And in between that I would take one on one clients so that I had income coming in, I would take as many one on one clients as I needed to, to have income coming in while I’m building up my audience while I’m getting my beta group through my program. While I’m getting new people on my email list and engaged in my podcasts and those kinds of things. I would use the network that I already have to get clients, especially if I’m in the Health, Wellness, general coaching space, my friends, my family members, my friends are friends, my friends or family members, overall network of people, there are clients that want to work with you, or in this case, me. And I would get in touch with those people and take those clients while I’m building my business machine. And that would be my business machine. Like we talked about earlier today. That is what I would do. So very similar to what I did when I did transition my business a few years ago and very similar to what I did 10 years ago to just with a lot less floundering, I think in between there because I mean, well now I know a little bit better. But even if I didn’t know, it’s way more obvious these days, because there’s a lot more people doing it. And you know, like, yeah, the online business space has changed a lot. And there is a lot more I guess saturated, we’ll call it. But with that comes a lot of knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. And there’s a lot of people talking about it and sharing it like me here on the show to help you avoid all the floundering I did when I first started and to really focus on the creation of that machine and doing what you need to do to get there. So that’s what I would do if I were starting today. All right, we’ll leave it at that for this episode. Like I said,
45:00
If you do have a question that you want asked on a future episode, just let me know, send me a DM. I’ll keep them all. And we’ll do this again sometime soon. Thank you to everyone who asked a question. I really appreciate it super fun for me. And I hope this was helpful for you. And until next time, take care.
45:21
Hey friends, Shawn here. And if you’re a coach or practitioner who’s looking to help more people, make more money and have more free time than I have a special invitation for you that you don’t want to miss. Right now. I’m hosting a free masterclass that will walk you through the process of adding a signature program to your business. As many of you know, the signature program business model has been my primary way of doing business since 2017. And after seven programs have my own created and helping dozens of other wellness pros create theirs. I’m now sharing my exact process with you for free. In this one hour masterclass. Now, you might be thinking, Shawn, I’m just not ready to have my own program yet. Or I don’t have the time to build a program right now. Are you crazy? I totally get it, I get all of it. Which is exactly why I created this training in the first place. I want you to see how possible this really is for you, and how simple it can be when you have a tried and true proven system in place, no matter where you’re at in your business today. So if you’re like most coaches and practitioners who have a dream of creating a scalable offer in their business that helps the people they’re meant to help without it being directly tied to your time and energy. Then there’s a seat with your name on it inside my burnout prove your business masterclass. In just one hour, you’re going to learn why adding a signature program will uncap your income potential forever and give you more time for your own life, health, family and self care. You’ll learn exactly how my client sold out her first program, even with a small audience. Because of this one super simple marketing hack that I am going to reveal. You’ll learn the simplified, foolproof process that will take your knowledge and experience and turn it into your own program in just six weeks, and also how to implement an automated marketing system that will grow an engaged audience full of Perfect Match clients that can’t wait to enroll in your program. Once it’s ready. Even if right now you’re starting at zero. All you have to do is head to Shawnmynar.com/burnout proof and save your seat for this masterclass before it’s gone. Shawnmynar.com/burnout Proof can’t wait to see you there.
Mar 29, 2023 | Podcast
So you have a freebie…or maybe just an idea for one that you want to start working on but…is it epic enough? In a sea of freebies everywhere we look, will yours catch the eye of your dream client? And will it be valuable enough for your dream client to give up their highly-protected email address to receive it? These are just a few of the questions you should be asking yourself before you put any free offer out into the world. Because, if it’s not epic enough, it’s not going to do much for your business and growing your email list and audience. So, in this episode, we’re going to take a look at what makes a freebie epic and how to know if yours passes the test.
“Everyone in the service-based business needs a freebie and an email list.” – Shawn Mynar
“You need to have an epic freebie, you can’t have a crappy freebie and expect it to do much of anything for your business.” – Shawn Mynar
“When I say sharing about your freebie, I don’t mean it’s just an afterthought on your website. That’s not sharing your freebie. This means making it a big piece on your website.” – Shawn Mynar
“Any feedback we get with anyone is so valuable in our business is so valuable and you should be using that as data.” – Shawn Mynar
“People sign up for freebies wanting something short, sweet and to the point and expecting that.” – Shawn Mynar
Episode 128 – Do You Really Need An Email List?
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
0:00
So you have this freebie, or maybe just an idea for one that you want to start working on. But is it actually epic enough? In a sea of freebies, everywhere we look? Will yours catch the eye of your dream client? And will it be valuable enough for your dream client to give you their highly protected email address in order to receive it? These are just a few of the questions you should be asking yourself before you put any free offer out into the world. Because if it’s not epic enough, it’s not going to do much for your business and growing your email list. So in this episode, we’re going to take a look at what makes a freebie epic. And how to know if yours passes the test. So stay tuned. Hey there, I’m Shawn Mynar, and this is unstuck entrepreneur. I’m a former nutritionist who turned a struggling stressful nutrition practice into a thriving freedom build online business way work from home and my sweat pants while reaching and helping 1000s of people all at the same time. Now I’m obsessed with showing other heart centered coaches, practitioners and solopreneurs how to build a b
