In today's episode, I'm going to walk you through how to sell using Facebook Messenger marketing.
Whether you use Facebook Messenger, Instagram messenger, Twitter, emails, or any other platform, selling by one-to-one written communications is so hot as a business strategy right now.
It's a little bit hilarious to me that this is so hot right now, because I have been using this strategy in my business since I started in 2013. If you've been following me for a little while, you'll know that one of the most powerful things that I believe you can do in the sales process is be available.
By having that high connection opportunity to discuss your potential offers with your potential clients, you are able to tailor what you recommend to their specific needs, and it sends your conversion rates through the roof.
This is the ultimate in one-to-one selling without needing to jump onto calls with people all the time.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/269
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In today's episode, we're going to discuss the five signs that you are holding yourself back.
These are going to be a little bit out of left field in some cases. I wanted to look for some of those signs where maybe you think there's a good reason for that behaviour, but it actually could also be a sign that you're holding yourself back.
If you are feeling like no matter what you try or no matter what you do at the moment, things just aren't necessarily working or clicking, then this is going to be a really juicy episode for you.
Before we begin today's episode, I want to say that you (my audience) are very self-aware. You're also very good at taking responsibility for your behaviour in your business.
I love working with the audience that I work with, because those people who are naturally drawn to my work and who seem to be part of our community, are people who do have quite a lot of self-awareness about how their mindset and how their behaviours impact on their outcome.
I don't see a lot of blaming in my audience (ie. blaming the system, world, marketing, etc.).
The difference between a question that's not helpful and a question that is helpful, from my perspective, is when the question goes from being: 'Will I or won't I?' to 'How can I?'
A lot of people come to me and they're not just asking me why their business doesn't work, they're saying exactly what they've done that isn't working, what ideas they have of things to do instead, and then they go for it.
The question isn't about whether you'll have a business or not, the question is HOW do you get the business to work? How do you get your marketing to work? How do you jump in and get the right followers?
I love that about this audience. That's why I don't want this particular episode of the podcast to feel like it's condescending or telling you that the problem is your mindset and everything else is going to be totally fine.
Ultimately, I believe it takes a great combination of mindset and energetic practices that will help support you to move forward through this epic personal development journey that is starting a business, as well as some really powerful strategies that are aligned, driven by consent, and that feel like they are connecting with and converting the right people into your paying clients.
That being said, I can also see for some people where we might get fixated that the problem is the strategy, but actually, from an external perspective, I can see people are also making decisions that are holding them back from actually thriving.
That's what I want this episode to be about - looking for those clues, that maybe it's not just a strategy issue, maybe there's also a little bit of a mindset thing showing up here. Or looking at what actions and behaviours could give you a clue that maybe you're holding yourself back, and there's something further to explore. It's not just a strategy issue.
They are the five signs that I'm focused on today. Let's dive into those!
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/268
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In today's Q&A episode, we have a question from Shannon about whether you can have multiple niches.
This is a very consistent and common question that I get asked, so I definitely want to make sure I give you a full explanation of my answer.
Our question today comes from the amazing Shannon from Welcome Lasting Love. You can find her on Instagram at @welcomelastinglove or on her website welcomelastinglove.com.
Shannon says:
"I have a question. I know a strong niche is the most important thing - I have a strong niche and I know what I am doing in my business. However, I am excited about 2 other niches also! Would you suggest I establish myself fully in the first niche before also putting energy into the others?"
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/267
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In today's episode, I'm going to share with you how to brand yourself.
No, I'm not talking about tattoos, but rather how to bring YOU forward in your brand, and brand as yourself because you are the most important asset in your business.
Regardless of whether you are a personal brand (ie. your business name is your name) or not, I think that this is a really important conversation for us to have.
At the end of the day, the most important factor that makes me want to create this podcast episode is that humans are craving connection with other humans. This is especially prominent in our buying experiences - we want to buy from other humans.
Never before have we seen so many advertisements on TV and on social media that dial up the whole human-to-human connection.
Banks want to reassure you that you'll be able to speak to a human, not to a machine. Soooo many businesses are moving away from automated processes and creating that deep human-to-human connection.
Regardless of whether you decide to brand your business as your name or not, YOU are the most important asset in your business. YOU are the human face of your business, the human element in your business, and the human that we (as your audience) can connect to all of the time in your business.
When I say all of the time, I mean that you are the underlying human element of your business - whether you are the person speaking to someone or not on your help desk, or whether you are the person replying to direct messages or not.
Ultimately, YOU are the person who started this business, and YOU are the person behind this business.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/266
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In today's episode, I'm going to share with you how to take your side-hustle to your full time business.
We've got some milestones to look out for, and some strategies to implement. It's going to be super juicy!
If you've got a side-hustle, the big dream for most people is to eventually let go of the job and move into it as your full time business.
When I say full time, I mean your main source of income, not necessarily that you're working 50 hours a week.
Let's remember that you generally don't start a business to make yourself work really hard and be a mean boss to yourself.
Ultimately, for most people with a side-hustle, the dream is to be able to let go of the day job (or whatever else you'd like to call it), and focus on your business as your core income source.
It is such a dream, and it's such an amazing thing to be able to do...
But what are the milestones that you need to achieve to feel like you're ready to make that leap? And how do you get to those milestones faster?
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/265
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In today's episode of the podcast, I'm going to be giving you my top three competitor research tips.
If you've been thinking that you may need to look into some of your competitors, keep an eye on the competition and see what's going on, then this is going to be a great episode for you.
I think my advice might be a little bit unexpected as well...
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/264
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In today's special Spotlight episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast, I'm interviewing the one and only Zach Spuckler about low-ticket offers.
Zach has been a speaker at both of our Heart-Centred Business Conferences in Australia, and he's also been on the podcast several times.
I adore Zach and love that he's so disruptive and such a maverick in the online business world.
In this episode, Zack and I talk about pricing elitism and privilege, what some of the big marketers are forgetting when they say that a $5,000 client is way better than a $500 client, and also a few other ways that we are both being rebels and mavericks in the online business world.
If you are a little bit frustrated with hearing the same message over and over again from every single marketing person, I think you're going to find this interview particularly compelling.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/263
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In today's episode, I'm going to help you get your best return on investment from attending a virtual conference.
I do have a little ulterior motive for sharing this, in particular, this week, because we are just a few days out from the Heart-Centred Virtual Business Conference. Regardless of whether it's the Heart-Centred Conference that you're going to, or any virtual conference or summit, this episode of the podcast is going to help you to maximise the return on investment that you get from putting your time and money into going to a virtual conference.
If you've got some online events that you're going to be attending this year, this is going to be a very helpful episode for you.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/262
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It's time for another Q&A episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast!
Today we're talking about creating multiple income streams and using evergreen funnels.
I'm so excited to talk about this one, it's an amazing question from an amazing lady.
Today's question comes from Romina Cavagnola. You can find her at rominacavagnola.com and on Instagram she's @alchemyofalignment.
Romina's question is:
"I've been wondering how I can go about identifying the elements of my work that can be turned into evergreen courses (I'm a writer and content creation coach) and what other ways I can start to build multiple income streams that are relevant to my work. Thank you!"
You are so welcome Romina - I'm really excited for us to have this conversation.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/261
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"Every womxn can become a bold and powerful voice in her industry if she chooses. It's up to us to claim our space."
- Suz Chadwick
In this Spotlight episode of the podcast, I'm interviewing the amazing Suz Chadwick.
For those of you who attended the 2020 Virtual Business Conference, you will recognise Suz and her amazing voice, as well as her vibrant personality and bold brand.
Suz is a business and branding strategist, and today we're going to talk about building yourself as a speaker.
Suz is definitely one of the people that I look up to as a go-to speaker in the industry. She's always on stage and I absolutely love and adore the advice that she has for us today on how YOU can be seen as a go-to speaker, as well as how you can get started in being a paid speaker.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/260
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Today I'm going to share with you how I create podcasts - from idea all the way through to income generation.
If you've been thinking about starting a podcast or you'd like some tips on how to improve your consistency of getting juicy content out to your audience and making sure that it does its job in terms of income generation, then this is going to be a super helpful episode for you.
In this episode, I'm inviting you to come a little bit behind the scenes and see how this podcast happens.
Not only how it happens and how I get it all out there, but also how it does its job of income generation for my business.
I'm going to dive into:
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/259
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"Connection over perfection." - Emily Osmond
This episode of the Heart-Centred Business podcast is a very special Spotlight interview with the amazing Emily Osmond!
Emily is my go-to guru when it comes to all things Instagram... and she could be yours too! She is one of the speakers at the Heart-Centred Virtual Business Conference that's happening in March 2021, so make sure you go get your ticket.
In this interview, Emily and I talk about all things Instagram, why it can be such a powerful connection tool for your business, and some of the things that you DON'T need to do when it comes to growing your business on Instagram.
Emily also talks about her amazing free webinar coming up, How to turn Instagram into the sales engine for your business. You can sign up at emilyosmond.com/free.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/258
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In today's episode, we're going to answer the question: should I be focused on my short-term goals or my long-term goals?
The answer may be a little different to what you are expecting!
When it comes to growing your business, setting goals and focusing on them, there are so many options for us. It can be quite confusing to know what types of goals to be setting, and what types of goals to be focused on.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/257
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In today's episode, we're going to talk about the four mindset blocks that are slowing down the growth of your business.
Whether you're aware of it or not, chances are your business is being impacted by these mindset blocks!
If you feel like there's an invisible force that might be stopping you from getting the results that you feel like you should be achieving with the level of activity and attention that you're giving your business, then this is going to be a really juicy episode for you.
I'm also going to be sharing with you how you can get one of my most amazing courses to help you combine both mindset and marketing strategy for 80% OFF.
This offer is time-limited so make sure you get it before the 20th of February! All details can be found in the show notes of today's episode.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/256
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In today's episode, I'm going to help you build your email list from scratch.
This is a very consistent question that I get asked about in the online space, so I wanted to break it down into a step-by-step process.
Whether you've got no mailing list whatsoever, or you've been trying to build it for a while but it just doesn't seem to be getting any momentum, this is going to be a really helpful episode for you.
We know that having a mailing list is a very critical element of growing an online business.
It's the asset that you own in terms of audience. You could lose your Facebook audience in the blink of an eye. The platform that you love building your audience on may disappear. But when you have a mailing list, that mailing list is actually an asset that you have in your business.
You want to make sure that forms a core part of your online business strategy.
I love having a mailing list, and I love sending emails out to my mailing list consistently. It's such a high connection opportunity to have a conversation, dive into someone's inbox and give them some really juicy value consistently.
It's the main way that I distribute this podcast every single week. I encourage my mailing list to reply to me and I LOVE getting replies to my emails.
Due to the high level of engagement and the high level of connection that I have with my mailing list, it is still my number one core foundation of any launch or promotion strategy.
Having a mailing list, and particularly having a mailing list that grows over time and that you're consistently nurturing, is going to be a really powerful part of any online business strategy.
If it's something that you want to be focusing on in 2021, what do you need to do in order to build that email list (especially if you're starting from scratch)?
Show notes in full: tashcorbin.com/255
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It's time for another Q&A episode of the podcast! Today I'm answering Andrea's question about whether or not it's possible to niche too narrowly.
Can your niche be too small? Can you niche too far?
If this is something you're worried about or you're still experiencing some niche resistance, this is going to be a super helpful episode for you.
A big thank you to Andrea Jordan for this question for today's podcast episode. You can find out more about Andrea and her amazing services over at learndiscoverbefree.com.
Andrea is a business strategist and systems expert, and can help you make your business run smoother and more easily.
Andrea asks:
"Can you niche too far? Meaning is it possible to restrict your niche so much that your business is no longer sustainable? Are there warning signs that you may have gone too far?"
This is a fabulous question Andrea, and it's definitely something that I've encountered in a lot of my client work, and particularly in the Take Off program.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/254
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In today's episode, I'm going to help you map your unique client attraction process and also see where it may be imbalanced and where it may be letting you down.
If you want to make attracting and converting your ideal clients simpler and easier, this is going to be a super juicy episode just for you.
I don't want to scare you off by using the word 'process' or 'system', but that is exactly what we are going to be working on in today's episode of the podcast.
We can get very overwhelmed by the words 'process' or 'system', but in essence, all this is, is the step by step process through which you bring in and convert your ideal clients into paying customers.
It's a very sexy process for us to be focused on, and hopefully the fact that it's going to help you grow your business is enough for you to overcome any resistance that you might have to implementing systems or processes.
Big newsflash for you here: Regardless of whether you do it as a system or process, you already have a client attraction process. Regardless of whether you call it that, regardless of what you decide goes into it or where you're focusing your energy and attention, if you are online trying to get clients and you're doing things to achieve that, then you already have a client attraction process.
The problem is that if you don't analyse it and look at it strategically, you could potentially be missing elements or focusing your energy and attention on parts of that process that are not the most important priority for you right now.
What we're going to do today is actually break down what a detailed client attraction process might look like.
I want to invite you to get out a pen and paper and take some notes on what activities you do at each stage of this process.
Show notes in full are at: https://tashcorbin.com/253
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In today's episode, we're going to be talking about being totally OVER Facebook groups.
If you're over Facebook groups - if you're done with it and you just can't get it working for you - you are going to find this episode super helpful.
If you've been in Facebook groups quite consistently - you've tried to promote your business, grow an audience, connect with people and get some sales - but you're feeling so frustrated with it - you feel it's too hard, it's too much work and it's not going to happen - I want you to know that you are not alone.
I think every entrepreneur who ever discovers Facebook groups as a potential platform for making sales goes through the process of being really excited, and then maybe finding that it's either too much work or there just aren't enough results in order to justify the work that goes into being known in Facebook groups.
Here's the thing (and it might be a tough thing for you to hear): Generally, if you are having trouble getting a platform to be effective for you to make sales for your business, the problem is not the platform.
Show notes in full are at: https://tashcorbin.com/252
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In today's Q&A episode of the podcast, I'm answering a question from the fabulous Michelle about what the daily, weekly and monthly actions are that you need to tick off when you are starting a business.
This is a great conversation for us to have.
Today's question comes from the amazing Michelle Reid from Michelle Reid Feng Shui. You can find her on Facebook at Michelle Reid Feng Shui.
Michelle asked:
"Hey Tash, I understand there are actions that we need to take each day to work and grow our business. When you first start in business and don't have any experience, what are the key actions to do daily, weekly and monthly?"
What a great question, Michelle.
If you're first starting out in business and you're not particularly experienced or confident in your ability to deliver for your clients, then I would say you need to develop your skillset and experience first.
It might be that your focus when you're first starting out is getting lots and lots of experience working with clients - whether that be paying clients or non-paying clients.
If you're really confident in your ability to deliver but you don't know how to market, then you're probably going to need to learn some of those marketing activities - you're going to need to practise.
If you want to have video as a core part of your marketing strategy but you don't love doing video and you're not very good at it, then you want to practise that more often, because it's going to be part of your ongoing strategy.
It really does depend. However, I do like to have a consistent and balanced approach to both mindset and strategy during the week.
What I'm going to do is give you my example of how to have a good balance between mindset and strategy on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
I'll also share with you how to tailor your daily, weekly and monthly actions to what is important and a priority for your business.
Show notes in full are at: tashcorbin.com/251
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Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/250
In today's episode, I'm going to help you to structure your content so that it does its job properly.
We know that creating content can be a really great way to grow, nurture and convert your audience into paying clients. But if your content is NOT doing its job, then you're just wasting your time.
Let's dive into this episode and get your content doing its job properly!
I've made no secret of my love of the content marketing style of business.
I love creating podcasts and being on social media.
Content marketing is such a great way to create connection, grow your audience, nurture them and convert them into paying clients.
It's a great way of delivering value and information, and helping people. It feels like a really invitation-based model of business as well, because you can lean in with great content, but let your audience come the rest of the way, and be magnetic and attract them into your business.
So how do you structure that content so that it does its job?
Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/249
Today I have a very practical podcast episode for you in which I'm going to tell you how to structure a webinar for great conversion.
There's no ONE size fits all, ONE way to do it, ONE specific structure that works for everyone. However, I'm going to give you some really great starting points so that you can ensure your webinar does all its jobs to maximise conversion.
If you've been following me for more than 15 minutes, you probably already know that I absolutely love and adore webinars. I think they are a brilliant lead magnet, and an amazing opportunity to create a connection with your audience, maximise conversion, really work on your list growth, and get feedback on your offers, your messaging, what people's resistance points are, and more.
I also love webinars because they're so low cost and it's really easy to do in startup. You don't need a website, you don't need a really fancy mailing list platform, and you can use low cost or free tools. When it comes to hosting a webinar, you can use the Zoom Meetings option, which in most cases is under around $20 per month.
Running a webinar is low cost and simple to do, and you don't have to get everything sorted, pre-recorded and edited up in the background beforehand.
These days, when I'm launching my programs and promoting my offers, a webinar still converts way better than any of my other lead magnets.
Generally, my webinars convert anywhere between 4% and 8% of the people who sign up into paying clients of what I'm offering
If the 94% of people who don't convert on the webinar join my mailing list, chances are, they're going to convert on the NEXT webinar or the NEXT launch.
Webinars are sexy and I love them so much.
When it comes to structuring a webinar, we want to ensure that it's doing all of its jobs.
Webinars have multiple jobs in your business and in your content strategy. We want to make sure that we do all of those.
In order for a webinar to maximise reach, it needs to be a topic that is juicy, tangible and practical for your audience.
In most cases, the topic of the webinar speaks to the symptom - what your audience thinks the problem is or thinks the solution is.
For example, if your audience thinks that what they need is more followers on Facebook, and you know that they do need more followers on Facebook but they also need to convert and make sure that they're niched so that they can attract in their ideal audience, you might do a webinar on how to grow your Facebook audience. In the webinar, you're not just delivering how to grow your Facebook audience, you're also delivering on making sure that it converts AND that the growth is the right type of person.
When it comes to structuring your webinar, we need to bridge a gap between what people THINK is the problem and the solution, and what we KNOW is the real transformation that needs to occur for them to get the outcome that they want.
Let's face it, people might think that they need more followers on their Facebook page, but in most cases, they want that extra following for a reason. They want more followers on their Facebook page because they think that's going to solve their issues with the number of sales they're making or their income level. The real transformation that they're looking for is not simply getting more followers on their Facebook page, it's actually something that is a lot deeper.
The TURN process is a four-step process through which we take people from curious to converted.
The TURN process stands for:
Think
Understand
Real need
Next steps
Think is the start of my webinar structure - making sure that we are on the same page about what the person thinks the problem is and what they think the solution is. I deliver on solving that problem and delivering that solution.
In the example of getting Facebook followers on your page, you would use How to get followers on your Facebook page as both the title AND the topic you will be covering in the early stages of the webinar.
Give your people what they want because if you just keep yelling at them that that's not what they need, chances are, their eyes will glaze over and they'll go and work with someone else.
People come to me all the time asking how to get more followers on Facebook. I've tried to explain to them that they don't need more followers, what they do need is high conversion, high connection strategies. But most people will just immediately shut that down and claim that they do in fact need more followers on their Facebook page first.
Instead of telling people that they don't need that, I explain to them how to do it, and then explain to them how to maximise the results in achieving that outcome.
Generally, I have the topic and the early parts of my webinars speaking to what my audience THINKS the problem is and THINKS the solution is, and I deliver on that.
U stands for understand.
Understand is where I help people understand how to solve the problem that they think that they have, but also I'm planting the seed of helping them understand that it goes deeper.
It's not just about getting followers on your Facebook page, there's a thing that you want that to achieve for you - you want followers on your Facebook page because you think that that's going to get you more sales.
Not all followers are created equal. If we're going to get you more followers on your Facebook page, why don't we get you more followers who are high quality, in your niche, ready, willing and able to take action and buy from you? Let's engage with that audience in a way that maximises conversion. Wouldn't that be amazing?
The U stands for understand - understand how to solve what they think the problem is, but also understand that it goes deeper.
If we want the big outcome that we think that that's going to get us, we need to ensure that we understand all the pieces that go into creating that outcome.
The R is where you present in your webinar that if your audience wants the big outcome, it's not just a matter of getting more followers on Facebook (because let's face it, you can buy 1000 followers on your Facebook page for $20 through Fiverr).
The thing is, they don't just want Facebook followers for followers' sake. They want Facebook followers because they want to make more sales, they want an audience and for that audience to be the right audience.
What we do in the R phase of the webinar - what the real transformation is - is we actually present what the combinations of things that go together to achieve that bigger goal are.
If someone wants more Facebook followers because they want to make more sales, then actually we need a combination of strategies here.
We need to:
1. Understand what your niche is really clearly.
2. Grow your Facebook audience through content that speaks to the value proposition of your work, and a message that deeply resonates with that specific audience.
3. Ensure that if we're going to have that Facebook following turn into paying clients, we're presenting them with an offer that is compelling.
4. Find the marketing strategies and techniques that we can use to maximise growth, new audience members, reach to existing audience and their engagement on your Facebook page.
Can you see how by bringing this combination of things together over an extended period of time, we're not just going to achieve extra reach and extra followers on your Facebook page, we're going to achieve more sales, more paying clients and high-quality audience?
You can see how that is the R stage of the webinar because we're not just talking about the surface level thing that people think the problem is or the solution that they need, we're also presenting to them a depth of understanding of what that real transformation is going to take.
The next step from the webinar is for us to work together.
You present your offer on how you can go deeper with that real transformation with your audience, and how you can support them through that process.
You're not just discrediting those needs and going against what they think they need, you're delivering on that AND you're giving them tangible, practical strategies to solve the problem and address the solution that they're looking for.
In the process, you're also helping to open your audience's eyes to the lightbulb moment or that big aha of understanding that in order to get Z, they also need X and Y.
Some people will come to your webinar and only need to get more Facebook followers. They get good conversion and engagement but they just need some practical ways to get better reach.
They leave that webinar really happy - they don't need to buy the next step from you because they're already sorted with the rest of that transformation.
But there is a percentage of people who come along to that webinar and realise what the bigger issue is for them and, if it's the right fit for them, they'll see that working with you further will help them to get where they need to go - not just with growing their Facebook page but also with making sales from it.
It's a really beautiful process that is very value-laden, and you don't have to hold back on the information that you're giving away (due to fear of taking away the value of the paid offer) because the webinar presents information and the next steps is actually embedding the transformation.
It's a beautiful bridging process that not only achieves reach through a great topic that's speaking at the symptom level, it also increases connection and that engagement with your audience.
You're taking them through a really beautiful process, you're meeting them where they are, helping them with what they think they need helo with, and you're also getting it to do its job in terms of conversion and lead generation for working with you further because for the right people, the next steps are exactly the steps that they're looking for.
When I present this as a structure for a webinar, I want to say to you that there is no one perfect webinar structure. There is no one perfect number of testimonials (I don't actually use testimonials in webinars). There is no one perfect webinar title structure, one perfect sequence of things that you say and you have to ask people, and in most cases where people are teaching that one perfect structure, it's just that they've found a structure that works for them and their audience so they think it's going to apply to every person and every audience and every provider. In most cases, that's just not true.
We need to make sure that we craft webinars that really meet our audience where they are, help them achieve that short term goal with the information that they need, and then present what the real transformation is - that deeper piece of the puzzle - and the next logical steps to working with you.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of ways to be able to do that.
I know that it's very tempting to fall into the idea that you have to get people to say 'yes' six times, so you're constantly asking people to give you a 'yes' in the comments.
This is old school neuro-linguistic programming - it's a very masculine-oriented sales strategy.
I get eye-rolly whenever I go to a webinar and I have to continuously type 'yes' in the chatbox before they even get to the content.
Just get to the content as quickly as possible.
What I generally do when I'm asking questions on a webinar, is I ask my audience not to just give me a 'yes', but to tell me where they're at, what they want to get out of the webinar, what their biggest struggle is with the topic and how it shows up for them.
As you continue to deliver webinars, you'll get more practise at asking quality questions and engaging your audience, but don't feel like you need to do the checkbox kind of structure where you're really buying into that masculine structure of setting people up and then swooping in as the hero and saviour with your paid product.
This is a very feminine, connection and value-laden way of structuring a webinar.
Sometimes people are trying to push square pegs of masculine webinar strategies and checkboxes into the round hole of a feminine, value-laden process that we're taking people through, and it just doesn't fit together.
When it comes to growing a webinar and getting your webinars working well, the best advice I have for you is to practise.
Run your webinar... then run it again... then run it again...
You are going to get better at delivering that webinar, understanding where people get stuck, answering people's questions, juggling the chatbox and the slides and remembering what you've got to say, learning how to speak without a script so it doesn't sound so stilted, as well as really mastering, nailing and scaling the webinar promotion piece, because you need to learn how to start getting that webinar appealing to colder and colder audiences as you continue to promote over and over again.
Generally, when I'm working with people in startup, we run the same webinar three months in a row.
The first time is just getting all of those firsts ticked off and running it, giving it a go and seeing how it goes.
The second time is process improvement - how to get more organic leads coming to that webinar, and how to deliver that webinar in a much more structured way where you're feeling confident with it.
Then if it works well the first two times, we start scaling it with some Facebook ads for the third time around.
What you need to do is nail your webinar and scale your webinar to colder and colder audiences.
That is how you get a webinar to do its job effectively.
Remember, when it comes to making money and conversion and sales in your business, the money's in the follow-up.
Don't forget to follow-up your webinar audiences. Too many times I see people create a webinar, do all of the promo, run the webinar, get one or two leads live on the webinar, send out the recording and then people never hear from them again.
Usually I write three emails after I've sent out the recording (sometimes only two) but I do create a really nice follow-up process that ensures that people have the information that they need, maximise the number of people who watch the recording, and maximise the conversion that I get from that webinar.
One thing that I do want to say about webinars, and it's my extra special juicy freebie for you today, is that the best webinars are hyper-specific to your niche. They aren't broad-brush webinars that could be helpful to anyone.
A really hyper niche webinar that speaks to the tangible practical issues that your audience is facing is going to maximise not only the signup rate but also the conversions.
It makes it so much easier for you to structure your webinars as well because you're speaking to a much more refined and narrowed audience.
It is available for you anytime, all you need to do is grab it at tashcorbin.com/niche.
If you have any lightbulb moments or questions following this podcast episode, make sure you come on over to the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group, use #podcastaha, let me know that you've been listening along to episode number 249 and let's continue the conversation over in the community.
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/248
In today's episode, I'm going to help you address the big, horrible issue of what to do when everything just feels too hard and business is overwhelming.
When business is overwhelming, how do you address it?
This is a really helpful episode for preventative means as well as addressing it after it's come up.
Regardless of whether you're in 'its too hard' mode right now, or whether you want to prevent it from coming up in the future, this is going to be a very helpful episode for you.
I don't know if I've ever met an entrepreneur who hasn't experienced burnout, patterns of overworking or a feeling of business being overwhelming.
It can be very easy to decide that having a business is:
Even though it can sometimes feel like business is overwhelming and hard, it doesn't necessarily mean that that's just part and parcel of having your own business. In fact, when we get to spot the signs of burnout, overwhelm, overworking or any of the other signs that things just aren't working appropriately for us, and we address them quickly and effectively, we make our business easier and easier. It becomes more and more of a joy.
One of the big things that I've noticed is that the burnout effect or feeling like your business is overwhelming or too hard is multiplied when you're also not making money.
If you're on social media for two hours a day and it's not working, you're not getting any feedback from people, not getting any connections or messages back from people, then that feels really overwhelming, and that feels like the path to burnout. But if I said to you that in two hours a day on social media, you can make $50,000 a month in sales, would you still feel the same way? Probably not.
When you're not making money from particular activities - especially the marketing and sales parts of your business - that's when that overwhelm is multiplied. That's when that sense of overworking and the feeling of needing to work more and needing to work harder can actually snowball into something bigger than it ever needed to be.
All of that being said, even if it is working, did you start a business to be feeling like you need to spread yourself thin? To feel like you are in a state of overwhelm all the time? Did you start a business to do hard things all of the time? Probably not.
In this episode, I want to share with you my five strategies for dealing with that feeling that business is overwhelming and it's too hard or the signs and symptoms of moving towards burnout or overwhelm.
What I'm going to give you is my five-step strategy for addressing that overworking, preventing the overwhelm and burnout, or bouncing back from it.
Hopefully you'll find this helpful. Let's dive into those five strategies.
If I find myself feeling like I don't have time to do all the things in my business, or I'm feeling like business is overwhelming because of all the things I want to do, my number one priority is ensuring that I deliver to existing clients. Whether that's the clients inside my Take Off group program, my Accelerator or my VIP one-to-one clients, I make sure that delivery comes first.
The reason why I do this is not just because I want to deliver on my promise (which is a values alignment thing for me) but I also know that the fastest way for me to dry up leads and new sales coming in is feeling like I'm under delivering for the people that I've already got in my world. This was particularly prominent for me when I was working mostly with people one-to-one.
If I was feeling like I needed to make more money, my business was getting hard or my cash flow was drying up, the number one thing I made sure I was doing was feeling very confident about what I was delivering to my existing clients.
Whenever I embarked on a fast money target or setting myself a goal to bring in a lot of new clients, step zero - before I even begin that process - is to check in with how I'm feeling about delivery for existing clients.
How are you supposed to show up energetically and from a great emotional platform in going out and telling people that you're really good at what you do and that they should buy from you when you know that you're not putting your current clients first?
They're so intrinsically linked.
If I don't feel like I have the time and energy to do that, then I have no business going out and getting more clients.
I need to make sure I'm really setting myself up with effective client management systems and a great schedule so that I can deliver on the things I've already been paid for or I've already received commitments to be paid for.
That is always step number one for me.
I find it really worrying that more mentors don't speak about that piece first.
I know that there's a big belief out there that once you sell something to someone it's completely their responsibility to get the result. That's just not right.
I share the responsibility.
We are working as a team, we are co-creating that transformation, and if I'm not bringing my best to that relationship, then how on earth can I stand on social media with any sense of values alignment and tell people to work with me because I'm the right fit for them and I can help them. It has to be a shared responsibility.
You shouldn't just be throwing spaghetti at the wall all the time when it comes to marketing and sales in your business. You want to eventually land on a client attraction process.
My five-stage client attraction process is:
For each of those steps of the process, I have one or two strategies maximum that are my core strategies.
If you can't simplify your client attraction process down to a step by step process that you know works and that you know is simplified, how on earth are you supposed to systemise and scale to get that going to larger audiences?
Step two is always to review my client attraction process - simplify it down to the things that I know work and then scale it from there.
In most cases, whenever I'm getting into that sense of overwork or overwhelm, it's because I've been lured into some kind of shiny object that's promising to get me more cold reach. I know that my sales are not directly impacted by cold reach, especially not in the short term.
Cold reach is one of my last priorities when it comes to growing and scaling my business, and getting those clients in the door.
Remember that 20% of your actions and your strategies will get you 80% of your results anyway, so simplify that right down to the highest connection, highest conversion strategies, and just focus on nailing that first.
You are going to feel overworked and burnt out if you think that you need to:
That's not a simplified client attraction process, that is throwing spaghetti at the internet and hoping that some of it sticks.
You want to take responsibility for mapping out what your client attraction process is, and how you can simplify it down to the things that work so that you can scale it.
I get very real with myself about what I'm spending my time on.
Something I will do from time to time is have a week where I note down at 20-minute intervals what I've been doing for the last 20 minutes. It's a time and motion study.
In most cases, I want to be working in my business 15 to 20 hours a week maximum.
If I'm feeling like that's creeping up a little, or I'm avoiding my business and it's actually going down, I will do a little time and motion study for the week just to pay attention. I pay attention to what I'm actually working on, how I feel about what I'm working on, how I feel about my business, and I get real with myself about what I'm actually spending time on.
Most of the time when I'm feeling like my hours are creeping up, it's because I'm distracted by shiny objects and random projects that actually aren't moving my business forward, they just feel like they're fun, fluffy things to keep me busy.
Sometimes I notice that the reason why I've fallen into that trap of doing all of these things that are keeping me busy but not actually getting me results is because of my default mindset - in order to deserve my results, I need to be working really hard.
Every time I get to a new income level, that same thought and feeling pattern rears its head again. It rears its head sometimes in unhelpful thought patterns - pop up thoughts that get in my way - but more often than not, it rears its head through me defaulting into busyness.
By getting real on what you're actually spending your time on, and maybe tracking it and paying attention to it with a little more detail, you'll be able to see whether your business actually requires 60 hours of work from you a week, or whether it's just a need for you to feel busy so that you can earn your results.
Get real with yourself about the time that you're investing in your business.
You need to have someone that you can talk to, ie. a business bestie, mastermind, some form of support network, a mentor or a coach. Preferably someone other than your partner or family member because in many cases, they're going to just try and fix the problem or tell you what to do.
That is not what you want in this instance.
Having someone that you can talk it out with and get some external perspective with can really change that behaviour and can be such a pattern interrupt.
Sometimes you're doing all these things to grow your business because you've worked with 12 different mentors over the last three years and you've accumulated all these must-do's for your business, but are those must-do's still actually relevant to your growth strategy?
I had a new VIP client I was working with just a few weeks ago, and when we did this and reviewed what her client attraction process was, she was still doing four blog posts a week on her website for SEO and keyword optimisation and wanting to try and build a static YouTube channel. But when we actually looked at the time and energy that went into that approach, and what it was actually resulting in in terms of results for her business, it was counterproductive.
What was happening was her audience was struggling to keep up with the quantity of content that she was creating, so not only was it not good for her and was burning her out and overworking her, it also wasn't good for her audience, because they were having to run around the internet trying to find all the new content that she was releasing so consistently.
Even with reducing that down to one video per week, she would still be able to ensure that she's hitting some good keywords, she's SEOing her website and she's still getting more followers on her YouTube channel, but she's not doing it in a way that's completely burning her out.
Putting four videos a week onto Youtube is really for people who want to monetise and grow specifically just with a YouTube audience. It's not the right balance of work in terms of monetising through other channels, like selling VIP services or group programs.
Generally I do recommend getting that perspective from someone who is a mentor or who is experienced in helping people to actually work out what to take off their plate from a marketing perspective.
Someone who's up to date with what's actually going to achieve the results you want to achieve and what's not.
Another example of this is when I had someone that I was working with several months ago now, and she was still using scheduling tools outside of Facebook. She was using a platform where she was doing this huge content plan and pushing things off to six different social media channels, and she had this really complicated content strategy. When we looked at all of those social media channels, all of the work that was going into it and the results that it was getting for her, there just wasn't enough audience growth that was actually resulting in sales quickly.
We switched up some of the work she was doing on that with a high touch, high connection, high conversion Facebook group strategy, and she made more money in the following two weeks from being in Facebook groups and using that high connection, high conversion strategy than she had made in the previous two years with all of this extra work.
Sometimes you can switch out a strategy and still achieve the same results, but often with up to date, more streamlined approaches, you can achieve even better results and avoid having an overwhelming business.
I've got a couple of acronyms here for you with this one.
My approach to any type of marketing strategy, sales strategy and implementing anything in my business that helps me to prevent overthinking, overload and the feeling that business is overwhelming is the DARL principle. We want to DARL it.
You want to:
Decide
Act
Refine
Learn
You may have heard me say before that no great business was built on theory. No great messaging was built on theory, no great course was built on theory, no great webinar was built on theory; no great element of your business and marketing strategy was ever built on theory.
Instead of consistently overthinking it, perfecting it behind the scenes and getting caught in that space, I want you to just DARL it.
We're going to be DARLing all day long.
Decide, act, refine, and learn.
The opposite of DARL is OOPS, which is:
Overthink
Overload
Procrastinate
Shame
The OOPS one is where you get caught up in that cycle of overthinking things and worrying about whether it's perfect or right or good enough. You're looking for someone to tell you and give you the tick that it's okay, instead of just taking that action.
Instead of choosing two great strategies per stage of your client attraction process, you think that the more strategies the better.
You tell yourself that you'll accelerate your results by being on many channels or doing several strategies instead.
All you're doing is overloading yourself and under-delivering in every single one of those things that you've just added to your plate.
You're overthinking, overloading, then you procrastinate because you're so overwhelmed, you get so tired and there's so much to do. Then you get in the shame spiral because you're not being as productive as you should be, you're not doing all the things that you know that you should do and you're not even hitting your basics anymore.
That's when business becomes so overwhelming.
Instead of OOPS - overthink, overload, procrastinate and shame - I want you to DARL - decide, act, refine, and learn.
That's my five-step strategy on what to do when it's too hard and your business is overwhelming. I hope that you found that very helpful.
As always, continue the conversation over in the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs community using #podcastaha, let me know you've been listening along to episode number 248 and we'll continue the conversation there. I'd love to hear if you ever feel as if business is overwhelming and it's all just too hard.
If you would like to get your business on the fast track to results, and you are done with OOPSing all over yourself, I also have a great training for you.
In this training, I help you work out what the things are that you can let go of so that you can get to the money-making part of business faster.
You can get this free training here: tashcorbin.com/fasttrack
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/247
I have a Q&A episode of the podcast for you today, and it's all about where to put your focus when it comes to marketing your business, especially as you're starting out.
It's a brilliant question from a brilliant woman named Kim and I'm super excited to dive into it.
The Q&A question for today's episode comes from the wonderful Kim Hancher. You can find Kim on Instagram at @kimhancher, and also at kimhancher.com.
Kim's question is:
"I just launched in June. Small list, small social following, but growing. Weekly content is a blog. Where should I put my marketing focus? Social media, guest blogging or press coverage in a digital publication? If social media, which format? My ICA is on many of them. I’m a style coach looking for 1:1 clients with a longer-term goal of selling digital courses. Thank you!"
Kim, this is such a juicy question that you have asked because it may actually be that you're focusing your energy and attention in the wrong space.
Fun fact: The highest conversion audience that you could possibly ever focus on is your hottest audience - those people who know you, like you, trust you and feel connected to you.
When it comes to getting clients from online spaces, you are more likely to convert and get those clients - especially when you're first starting out - from spaces where you already have a connection to people, NOT from your cold audiences.
90% of online business owners spend their energy and attention in their marketing on growing their cold audiences, but that activity and focus is less likely to get you clients than simply by focusing on very high connection, high conversion strategies.
Whilst I love that you've committed to doing a weekly blog, and that's a really great foundation of your business, I actually don't think any of the marketing focuses that you talked about would be the right fit for you.
Here's what you need to do:
You may have that information for your business, Kim, but for everyone else listening along as well, when it comes to choosing what your high connection, high conversion marketing strategy will be, you need to know your niche really, really specifically.
The five specific things about your niche that you need to know in order to be able to make those marketing decisions are:
If you cannot answer those five questions about your ICA, or there are slashes, or's or commas involved in your answer to that question, then chances are your niche is not narrow enough. This means that you're going to struggle to make those important marketing decisions, and you will struggle to focus your attention on high connection, high conversion strategies that actually work.
Remember: Your niche is the set of people that you focus on with your marketing activities.
Your niche is not your work, it's not your modality and it's not the service that you offer.
Your niche is a group of people - not the group of people that you COULD help, but the group of people that you focus on when you are marketing.
There's a very big difference.
If you are looking for more help with getting that niche decision really clear, I have a free niche training for you. It's called Nail Your Niche and I would highly recommend that you check it out at tashcorbin.com/niche.
That's part one - you need to make sure you've made very clear decisions in those five points around your niching first.
You need to choose your high connection, high conversion strategy that's going to work most effectively for your audience.
You want to focus on a marketing strategy that allows you to quickly and easily engage members of your audience in a one-to-one conversation.
1. Social media
You can definitely do some high connection, high conversion activities in there (and I'm going to go into more detail in a moment because that's going to be your best option).
2. Guest blogging
Guest blogging is a great way to get people interested in you by association, but it's a very cold audience that you're generating.
If you do a guest blog on someone else's website, what are the chances that someone who finds that guest blog will strike up a one-to-one conversation with you? Pretty slim to nil. Guest blogging is a reach growth strategy, it's a cold audience growth strategy, and it is not suitable if you are in the startup stages of business.
3. Press coverage
Press coverage is even colder.
Take it from me as someone who has been in a bunch of different spaces in the press. The likelihood of me being in the press translating into me getting clients is very, very low. Over the years, of the thousands of people that I've worked with, barely any of them have initially discovered me from a random press coverage.
When it comes to social media, it's not just about building a cold audience on that platform, it's about building high connection, high conversion strategies.
You need to make a decision on one of two platforms: Instagram or Facebook.
I know that there are others, but none of them work for high connection, high conversion strategies the way that Facebook and Instagram do.
You'll need to answer a few questions to make a decision about whether Facebook or Instagram is the right fit for you.
I would suggest with design and style coaching (anything where it's a very visual business) you'll probably find that Instagram is going to be a better fit for you. It's probably more naturally aligned to your strengths, but there's definitely a big market for style coaching on Facebook as well.
Depending on whether your ideal client is in a job or working for themselves, that will also dictate which platform I would recommend.
If it's for people in a job, I'd probably recommend Instagram, whereas if it's people who work for themselves, I'd probably recommend Facebook.
Regardless of whether you choose Facebook or Instagram, your goal is NOT to grow your audience, your goal is to have one-to-one conversations in your DM's.
Make sure that whichever platform you use, you are focusing on high connection, high conversion strategies.
If you decide that Facebook is the channel that you would like to go down the path of exploring, I do also have a free $0 Facebook Marketing Strategy training that you can access at any point at tashcorbin.com/zero.
Hopefully, beautiful Kim, this has answered your question and given you some clarity on where you need to focus your energy and attention moving forward as you grow that amazing style coaching business.
If you would like to continue the conversation, please come on over to the Heart-Centred, Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group, use #podcastaha, let me know you've been listening to episode number 247 and share your lightbulb moments and questions in the community.
Would you like me to answer one of your questions on the podcast? Simply go to tashcorbin.com/question, pop your question in there, and I will answer your question and give you a shoutout on the podcast.
Thank you once again, Kim, for your epic question.
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/246
Today I am imploring you to STOP waiting, STOP perfecting, STOP hiding, and embrace progress over perfection.
Before we dive into this episode, I want to let you know that you do not need to identify as a perfectionist in order for perfectionism to be impacting your results in business.
Whether you identify with the whole 'perfectionism' thing or not, I think this is going to be a really helpful episode.
Whether I'm running free challenges or workshops, working with clients in my group program or in VIP one-to-one sessions, I will invariably come across a time with them where they use the phrase, 'I just need to ...'.
It might be that they want to:
It's important for us to be able to discern whether it's a valid reason or if it's actually perfectionism coming out to play.
One of the biggest and most powerful questions that I ask myself when I am in that space of feeling like I can't do something yet because I need to do something else first, is how can I just get started? What CAN I do now?
It is such a powerful circuit break up because it helps me to understand whether I actually can't do anything right now due to truly needing something else first, or whether I'm just holding myself back and could have already started on my path.
As I said at the start of this podcast episode, you don't need to identify as a perfectionist in order for perfectionism to be messing with you and your business, and stopping you from actually starting to make progress.
What is this perfectionism that can come and play with us?
Whether it's your course that's not ready, your Facebook page, branding or any number of things. This is what can cause you to hold yourself back because there's always something that isn't ready.
When it's never ready, it's never the right time, or you just never feel like it's good enough for you to be able to share it with other people.
I actually asked this question in my 5-Day Client Attraction Challenge a couple of weeks ago. I asked who had ever created an offer, changed the wording, worked on an image for it and then never shared it publicly, and we had sooooo many people putting #guilty and #thatsme in the comments.
It's so fascinating because we know at a logical level that if we did go and share that offer, even if it didn't make any sales, chances are it would have given us traction, it would have given us insight into what people are interested in, and we might have got some questions. But instead, we never shared it so now we don't know and are constantly living in this state of wonder.
I wonder if that would have ever worked? Or what if I had done that back when I first had the idea?
I've got a really juicy example for you. In 2010, my partner Honest Dave had this idea of creating a website around the theme of 'Would you pay $1 to see how many people have paid $1'. He had this super fun idea to create a website with a simple first page and then a second page that had the counter on it that people could access once they paid $1. It was just an idea that was birthed from the curiosity around how many people would pay the dollar, but we just laughed it off as one of those funny ideas (despite the fact that it could have made thousands).
Flash forward to about 2015, we heard about this guy who was doing 'Would you pay a pound to see how many people have paid a pound', and this guy had made MILLIONS from this idea.
But it was that whole idea of perfectionism where it's not quite good enough or it probably won't work so let's not bother.
It's such an interesting one that comes up for us, and I bet you've got some of those stories from your own past as well.
Wishing that you'd jumped into Bitcoin earlier, or that you'd started your business back in 2010 when decided not to start because no one else was really doing it and you didn't have faith in yourself. You might have just released a course or a podcast and you're kicking yourself for not starting it three years ago.
I absolutely have those types of experiences and things for me in my life, not just in relation to business, but everything.
What we want to do is look for where the excuse that we're using or the reason that we're holding ourselves back is a requirement for it to be perfect first, or if it's an unnecessary requirement that we want, such as needing something to be successful before you start trying to make it successful, or needing to have an audience before you try to grow your audience.
I see people do this all the time. They say that they can't run a webinar yet (which will inevitably grow their list) because their list isn't big enough yet. Or that they can't do a podcast to grow their audience because their audience isn't big enough yet.
You're putting these weird parameters on things that you'll never actually be able to achieve.
People say that they just need to decide if it's going to be A or B and THEN they'll be able to do it.
Decision making is something that can actually be really quick and easy if you set yourself the task of making that decision.
What is actually stopping you from sitting down and making those decisions?
It might mean that you need to get some advice from somewhere else or you just need to sit down and try it. This happens a lot with niching, where people often say that they're so afraid to choose the wrong niche that instead, they choose to have no niche at all.
Even if you choose the wrong niche, it will actually allow you to:
If you keep being uncertain and not wanting to choose the wrong thing, you are holding yourself back from actually experiencing the insight that you need in order to find what the right niche is for you.
Sometimes the wrong decision is actually better than no decision because it helps you to make the right decision sooner.
I know some people do their business around moon cycles and stars which is totally fine, but how many times have you felt like you needed to wait for the perfect storm?
Waiting for someone to choose you, waiting for a coach that will tell you it will work, waiting for the right VA that will support you in case customer service inquiries go through the roof and you can't handle it.
There are a lot of ways that perfectionism can show up. It's not necessarily just for those people who wear their perfectionist label.
I am such a half-arser - I am someone who thinks that good enough is good enough. That is the kind of person that I am, yet I'm still hit by perfectionism in those micro-moments and specific projects where there's a fear of something, I'm worried about something, or I'm procrastinating on something, because I let that perfectionism get to me.
That doesn't necessarily mean I identify as someone who's naturally a perfectionist.
I've got another really great example for you. It comes from a retreat that I went on earlier this year.
We were having this conversation, and this beautiful woman was talking about how she wasn't sure whether she should launch something as a course or a membership. She was tossing up whether it would make more money as something that's high priced yet only has a limited amount of people in it, or was a more cost-effective thing that had lots of people in it.
And someone said, 'Well, I think it would actually make more money if it existed'.
It was such an amazing moment that broke the ice and we all burst out laughing because we were all trying to help her resolve this question, and someone else had just said it point-blank exactly how it is.
Yes, it might make more money as a small group versus being a large group, but right now, you've been sitting on this for 18 months and it hasn't made a cent because it hasn't seen the light of day.
I know people who have:
If you don't create the thing and get out of that perfectionist space, you won't ever have anything to change or adjust.
Another one that comes up for me is people who don't launch their business or they don't want to come out to the world and start being an entrepreneur because they don't know how to label themself.
I was having a conversation with someone a few weeks ago, and she said that she's a kinesiologist but she doesn't want to label herself as a kinesiologist.
She hadn't even started her business. She'd done her kinesiology training, but she was also a qualified coach, had studied Qigong, energy healing and other modalities. But the big thing she had done was that she just finished qualifying as a kinesiologist.
She had decided she needed to qualify as a kinesiologist because she had just-one-more-qualification syndrome, which luckily, we were able to put a hold on once she'd gotten a kinesiology qualification.
Previously, the 'I'm not allowed to until' was 'I'm not allowed to until I have a kinesiology qualification because that's an accepted, slightly more mainstream set of energy work that people will actually understand'.
That was what she told herself when she'd signed up for that kinesiology training.
She finished the kinesiology training but then she didn't want to call herself a kinesiologist.
And so again, she'd been holding off on actually starting her business and taking the very basic first step of setting up a Facebook page because she felt like she needed to have the perfect words to explain herself - to label herself.
Instead what we did was we then and there on the call, set up her Facebook page as her name and in the description of what she did, we instead focused on her niche, 'I help women entrepreneurs who are struggling with ... and I use tools such as kinesiology, energy work coaching ...'.
We were able to get her away from this need to find the perfect words or find the perfect explanation, and just instead get started.
Fun fact about that particular client, she created her Facebook page, shared it in the Heart-Centred community, shared it into my Take Off community, which is the program that she's in, and out of those three actions, she got two paying clients simply by just unleashing it onto the world.
Instead of waiting to get the perfect words and finding the exact perfect label, I want you to just take some action.
I also want to leave you with a very powerful statement, and that is that NOTHING in business that is awesome and amazing and life-changing was ever built on theory alone.
You don't build an epic business and audience based on your theories about who that audience might be.
You don't build an epic free webinar by just theorising and posturing and navel-gazing about that webinar over and over again and never sharing that webinar.
The best webinars in my business are the ones that I have done over and over again, and every time I do them, I improve them, upgrade them and refine them.
The Take Off program today looks very different to the Take Off program that I first created and launched.
When I first launched it, I thought it was going to be a complete self-study program with no live calls, and within three weeks, I knew we needed live calls to go with that Take Off program.
Nothing awesome is going to be built on theory in your business. You need to actually get it out in front of people.
A great example of that is this podcast.
This podcast has taken me years to get:
I would never have gotten to this quality of podcast, this level of audience, this quality of content and this consistency if I hadn't just started the podcast, knowing that I probably wasn't going to get it right, and knowing that it probably wasn't going to be that great.
It has been such an epic journey, and now, when I create a new podcast episode, it goes into the inboxes of 10,000+ people.
When I create this podcast episode, there are about 300 subscribers on YouTube who get a notification that this podcast is live. I share it onto my Facebook page and I share it into the Heart-Centred community of over 34,000 people.
A lot of those audiences are the size that they are because of this podcast. If I'd waited for the audience and getting the podcast right, this podcast wouldn't be as good as it is today.
I want you to find a few spaces where you are holding yourself back from just making progress, from feeling and reaping those compound interest effects of doing something over time consistently and refining and adjusting as you go.
I want you to find where you're holding yourself back from doing something because you need it to be perfect, and instead today, I want you to ask yourself the powerful questions: How can I just start? How can I make progress?
Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast.
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts about this episode and any follow-up questions you might have. Come on over to our beautiful Facebook community, Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs, use #podcastaha, let me know that you've been listening to episode number 246 and let's continue the conversation there.
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/245
In today's episode, I'm going to share with you my 10 unconventional business tips for starting out online.
Let's dive into this episode because I have some really juicy unconventional tips for you.
I thought I would do this episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast as a little bit of a self-indulgent moment because I often have so much that I want to say about being in business online and particularly starting a business.
Normally, what I try to do is think about the key questions people ask me or the key challenges that people have and how I can answer those things, but sometimes you don't even know what questions to ask, so this is me giving you all of my best and most unconventional advice for you if you're getting a business started online.
I have 10 hot tips for you and then I have an extra bonus tip at the end of today's episode that I think you'll find very juicy.
This is actually a multi-layered tip.
First of all, don't just listen to me.
I know that in a lot of cases, online marketers, business mentors and people who do similar things to me, will try and get you to commit to just listening and trusting them and to not ask questions.
I am completely the opposite of that - I don't want you to just take my word for it on all things, and I also don't want you to commit to never listening to another marketing or business mentor ever again.
There is a bit of a balance. You don't want to have hundreds of gurus that you're following all at once, but at the same time, I also don't want you to just listen to me and follow what I say and never question it, or only have me in your inbox or as your mentor in your business.
1. Question it
If it doesn't feel right and you don't understand why, don't be afraid to ask questions. If your mentors don't like you asking questions or don't like you questioning things, then get a better mentor. That would be my advice.
2. Have a diverse range of voices that you listen to
We know that we live in a very white-centric world, especially in the online business world and especially when it comes to marketing. I also deeply know that that means we're missing out on some really important insight and diversity in the strategies that we use, and understanding how our work, messaging and presence is impacting people from diverse backgrounds as well.
One of the reasons why I am so vocal about not just listening to me is because I also know that I am a cis-gendered, straight white woman, and you will actually be missing out on some very important insight if I'm the only person that you're listening to.
3. Trust yourself more
If you are anything like me, you have probably spent the last few years, if not longer, being gaslit by people trying to convince you that you don't quite understand, you don't quite know and you can't really trust yourself. In the online marketing and business space especially, this is elevenfold. This is so dialled up because a lot of marketing experts, business experts and sales strategy experts want you to believe that they have the answers, that they know all and that they are the guru. Part of their strategies and the way that they do things can often be planting seeds of doubt in your mind about your own capacity and how much you can trust your own decision making and instincts.
I want you to learn how to trust yourself, listen to yourself and trust yourself more and more as we work together, not less and less.
Again, it's very unconventional because so many hustle-type people out there want you to be really fancy and put yourself on a pedestal above other people.
They will tell you NOT to invite people to private message you, NOT to invite people to email you, and that you are NOT here for individuals so let them jump through the hoops and do things on mass instead. They tell you if people DO email or direct message you, that you should only answer them for one hour a week maximum, that you need to put all these boundaries and fences up and have an autoresponder on saying that you will answer your emails eventually.
Whilst there may be some extra boundaries and fences that you do need to put up as your business grows, for most people in start-up, high-connection conversations and one-to-one conversations is your number one sales strategy.
To be told not to invite people to engage one-to-one and to definitely not answer them if they do cross that barrier is outdated.
It's so short-sighted and for many women in business, it's actually costing you really great growth and really great financial results in your business simply by not engaging in conversation.
We are so amazing at connecting with people, relating to people and being human and vulnerable, and listening and understanding. All of those innate strengths show up even better in one-to-one conversations, even when it's a written conversation.
Instead of blocking all the ways that people can connect with you, why not invite people to connect with you? And when they do, why not actually respond to them?
Whilst I understand that when you're first starting out, you might like to try a range of niches, offers, branding, colours, social media platforms, etc. because you don't really know what your strengths are and it's better to take action than not, you also want to make sure that you're clear with yourself that you're NOT going to be doing everything on every platform for all of the niches with all of the products forever.
When we do engage in experiment and play and throwing some spaghetti at the wall in our strategies, it's through the lens of an experiment, and an experiment is only an experiment when we learn from it. Otherwise, it's just play.
We want to make sure that if you do choose to throw some spaghetti around and see what sticks, you pay attention to what does stick, what doesn't work, why it doesn't work and then you can stop doing it.
You want to make sure that if you do choose to go through a bit of an experimentation phase, that you learn from that experiment, make some decisions, refine your focus and move forward with that refined approach. Otherwise, you are just consistently spreading yourself thinner and thinner, and eventually it will lead to some form of burnout, over-stretching yourself, underpaying yourself or some other challenge that comes from being spread so thin.
WHAT?!?
Especially when you're starting a business, your number one job is not growing your audience and it's definitely not growing your audience at scale because for most people who are in startup, you haven't actually created any proof of concept of your business yet.
The beautiful thing is that instead of growing your audience when you are first starting your business, you can just borrow someone else's.
There are so many ways for you to tap into existing communities and audiences to do all of those other things and basically test and refine the foundations of your business through making sales that you don't need to go and grow your Facebook page followings or grow your Instagram followers to make.
Not all reach is created equal. That cold audience reach, that follower growth, that audience growth in the early stages of business is actually not that valuable to you.
Especially not if you haven't got those foundations sorted.
Those foundations are sorted by making sales, and those sales don't come from cold audience growth, but instead from that high-connection, high-conversion strategy.
That is where you sort your foundations.
There is NO:
Creating and growing an online business is actually a very simple process that has been overcomplicated, over-convoluted and made into feeling like there is some kind of secret formula because that's how fear-based marketers make their sales.
There is no magic formula. The formula for creating and growing a business online is reaching the right people and converting them into paying clients.
That is the formula. There is nothing magic about it and there is nothing secret that you need to learn.
No one has the special magic beans that would create this automatic growth on your business if you had them. There is no such thing.
Instead, what you want to do is build your business on very solid foundations with very simple, effective marketing strategies.
Whilst proliferating the belief that there is a magic formula may make me more money in the long term, ultimately, I am creating a business and teaching online business through the lens of the fact that there is NO magic formula, because that is the honest truth. That is what is aligned with my values.
It might be unconventional for someone to say that there is no magic formula, but I just have to say it because for me that's the truth.
This is another one where it's slightly unconventional.
If you've ever signed up for a launch or freebie that is trying to tell you the EXACT secret formula to business success - and that if you don't sign up then you'll never succeed - chances are, they're also in the process of trying to sell something to you. They're making it feel like it's going to be hard if you don't work with them.
Often the reason why we're making it harder than it needs to be is because of a money mindset issue, (ie we tie hard work to making money, and therefore, the more money we want to make, the harder we have to work so we subconsciously and unconsciously look for ways to make it harder). It can also come down to an industry belief, that if we make it look harder than it is, if we make it seem more complicated, if we make it feel like it's a bigger deal than it actually is, people are more likely to look to us as leaders for help, support, guidance, hand-holding and secret formulas which we can sell to them.
It's not as hard to create and grow an online business as you think it is.
For many people when they come into my VIP work or they come into my Take Off program, one of the first things they realise is that 80% of their to do list is stuff that they don't actually need to be doing. It's just keeping them busy and making it feel hard.
I often get asked what the time investment is if you sign up for the Take Off program, and for most people, the time investment when they join the Take Off program is negative.
I take hours and hours a week of work that they're doing because they think that that's what they need in order to be successful, off of their plates. They think that they need to be in all of the spaces online, but actually, most of that stuff they don't need to be doing.
Whilst there are some hours a week that I would definitely say is involved in doing the Take Off program, in return for that I take all these hours off their plate until they don't need to worry about that right now.
Unconventional, I know.
This one goes against quite a few big industry leaders here, but don't be everywhere.
You don't need to be everywhere.
You don't need to be on 14 social media channels and on the cutting edge of all of them - knowing what they are and how you can show up and be present on them.
If someone's telling you that you really need to be on TikTok because otherwise you're not going to make money, they're usually trying to sell you a course on how to make money on TikTok.
They have a conflict of interest in giving you that advice.
I'm here to tell you that you don't have to be everywhere. I would much rather see you focus on one channel, generally Instagram or Facebook, as your core social media strategy and just focus on that.
I love Facebook and Instagram because they are the two social media platforms where you can have that high-connection, high-conversion strategy, and you don't need to have thousands and thousands of followers in order to be making money.
I have two clients that I've been working with over the last couple of months, and both of them have sold over $10,000 in their services in the last month with under 200 followers on Facebook.
Both of them have under 200 followers on Facebook, and both of them have done $10,000 in the last month.
The reason why they are able to do that is because they are focusing down on high-connection, high-conversion strategies.
In order to make four sales at $2,500, you don't need to have 4,000 followers, you just need to find the right four people. That is it.
You don't need to be everywhere.
1. Old school marketers
They've been around for a long time, and being early adopters in other social media channels really did them well, so therefore they think that that needs to be the rule of thumb from now on.
They think that if you want to grow consistently, you need to be an early adopter on any social media channel that comes out, and they try to convince their followers to do just that.
2. People who are proliferating across multiple platforms
I'm talking about eight to ten platforms. They are the people who also say that you've got to hustle, want it harder, create twenty pieces of content a day and that that's the only way.
They're just making you a giant list of things that you have to do... but that is NOT the reason why you started your business.
You didn't get into this business to be on every social media platform, totally strung out, burnt out, spread thin and having to respond to messages in fifteen places all over the internet.
That's not why you did this.
Focus down on your one core high-connection, high-conversion platform and build from there.
You do not have to get up at 4am to be successful at business.
If you did, I would never have gotten to where I am today.
This morning, I got out of bed at 8:30. Yesterday, I got out of bed at 7:30.
That's not my thing.
You are allowed to build a business that works for you, works with your natural rhythms AND that you don't have to be working 12 hours a day in order to be successful in.
Even some of the biggest advocates for business models that are low time investment, still advocate for doing the hard work early so you don't have to do the hard work later. They still advocate that 12 hour days are just something you have to do sometimes in your business, especially when starting up, and then they tell you that it will get easier and you can get down to 4 hour days LATER.
That's delayed life syndrome all over again and you are teaching your business what it can expect from you in the future.
If it's not your style to wake up at 4am, you don't have to do it.
If you're not someone who loves burning the midnight oil and staying up late, don't do it.
You do not need to do any of these things in order to be successful.
In most cases, the more boundaried you are about the time that you give to your business, the more effective that time is when you do it.
I know, I know, it's so empowering sometimes and it feels so uplifting to be hustling for it, working really hard, doing tough things and making yourself so uncomfortable every single day, but a lot of that hustle mentality is just part of that industry belief system that proliferates over and over again, and honestly, I just don't buy it.
I know for myself throughout my seven years in business now, the times when I've been in hustle mode are the times when I've been the most stressed out, put on the most weight, eaten the worst quality food, stressed myself out so much that I hardly slept, worked so hard, and ultimately, didn't really get me as good a result as when I was just focused, consistent, and boundaried.
If you feel like one of the reasons why you're not as successful as you could be right now is because you're just not motivated enough, you're not hustling enough or you're not working hard enough, I give you permission to throw that reason out the door.
If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend the book Chillpreneur by Denise Duffield-Thomas. It's absolutely gorgeous, written by a beautiful woman for beautiful women just like us, and it really helps to disassemble some of those belief systems that absolutely proliferate in the online entrepreneurial space in particular.
Hustle can take a hike - let's just choose the easy way, the lazy way and the fun way.
ELF - easy, lazy, fun.
I understand that as a service provider in the online marketing and business space, it would be really handy for me to proliferate that belief that in order to really commit to a challenge or a program, you need to invest big money because money is the motivator for you to actually get the result.
It would be really easy for me to say to you that if you want to attract clients that spend big, if you want to earn big, then you need to invest big and role model the behaviour that you want from your clients. But honestly, it's all just buying into that pyramid scheme BS that the online business world would love for you to believe in.
Ultimately, it's a complete fallacy.
Some of the most amazing business owners that I know, built their business on the sniff of an oily rag. They did not invest big and they did not spend big money in order to make great money in their business.
I am one of those people.
The most I've spent on a mastermind was $25,000 and it was one of the worst investments I've ever made.
I've received so much more value and had so way better results from working one-to-one with people. One of my favourite things I ever did was a $2,000 program. Another one that I did was a six month VIP coaching package that was $5,000. I bought a course for $97 that completely helped me with my marketing and building my presence online.
Honestly, this whole belief system that the price tag is equivalent to the result that you get is actually just a fallacy. In a lot of cases, it's a strategy that's used to make you believe that it's more valuable than it is.
In old school marketing terms, we would see people saying that if it's $5,000 or it's $2,000, the people who pay $5,000 are going to be more committed, they'll do more work and they'll get more value out of it because they paid more for it. But this has been used as an excuse by a lot of people who create really half-done masterminds and underdeveloped courses.
I just want you to know that you DO NOT have to spend huge amounts of money in order to make money online.
Similarly, you do not have to make quick decisions to invest if you want to attract quick decision-makers.
It is a completely manipulative tactic that is trying to talk you into making a decision without thinking about it.
I have a rule with my partner, which is a sleep-on-it-for-48-hours rule with any investment of over $1,000.
When I've told certain people that I really love their course and I want them to send me the details but I just need to sleep on it for 48 hours before buying, there are some people who get completely judgemental and manipulative about that. They tell me that they were under the impression that I was a decisive leader in my industry, and that because I'm not making a quick decision, they don't think that it's the right fit for me because if I want to attract quick decision-makers then I need to be a quick decision-maker.
I know that that strategy is simply used as a psychological tactic to convince me to part with my money quickly so that I can't think it through.
Do you really want to work with someone who would prefer to make you NOT think it through? No.
Would I prefer to teach you strategies that are empowering for your audience, and that allow them to think things through and still make an empowered decision to say yes? Absolutely.
Do you want to show up as a marketer who pressures people into buying things through these manipulative tactics? No, you probably don't so you are in the right place if these unconventional strategies and pieces of advice are resonating for you.
The reason why this is my unconventional tip is because there are a lot of marketers, trainers, coaches and mentors out there who have been taught fear-based marketing strategies.
Many of them don't even know that the strategies they're using are fear-based because they just do what they're told.
Some of them do know that the strategies that they use are fear-based but they justify them by telling themself that they'll be thanked later once their client has got the result.
They are built through the lens of gaslighting people and using psychological strategies and tactics to convince people to buy something that may not necessarily be the right fit for them, or that it may not be the right time for them to purchase.
For a lot of people, fear-based sales strategies also have you running around in circles thinking that you need to do 100 different things because you're freaking out about not being successful enough yet.
You need to be able to recognise when something is making you feel really uncomfortable and freaked out about missing out on something before you've even gotten into the juicy content of a webinar, freebie, etc. Being able to recognise that feeling in yourself and spot the fact that they've dolled up your fear before they've presented the answer and swooped in as your saviour, is really freeing.
It gives you permission to identify and disengage from that fear-based strategy.
That fear-based strategy will be used to convince you to sign up for things you don't need to sign up for, keep receiving emails you don't want to keep receiving, buy products and services that you don't actually need to buy, and ultimately spend money that you don't need to be spending to grow your business.
Learning how to spot those fear-based strategies is a really sexy way of avoiding overspending and overwhelming yourself in that startup business journey as well.
Those are my 10 (plus a bonus tip) unconventional business tips for starting online.
1. Don't JUST listen to JUST me
2. Answer and invite emails and direct messages
3. Spaghetti at the wall is okay but it cannot be your strategy forever
4. You should not be focusing on audience growth
5. There is NO magic formula
6. It's easier than you think it is, and it's DEFINITELY easier than you're making it
7. Don't be everywhere
8. Don't get up at 4am if getting up at 4am doesn't come naturally to you
9. Hustle can take a hike
10. You don't need to spend big money to make big money
BONUS TIP: Learn how to spot fear-based marketing strategies
If you would like to work on getting the foundations of your business clear - your niche, value proposition and offer - in a way that feels aligned, I’d love to invite you to come and check out my new Nail Your Niche training.
It is a prerecorded training that you can do at your leisure (and you can also listen to it on double-time so you can get through it nice and quickly).
This will help you to look at those foundations of your business and make sure that you’re very clear on them all.
I've got a big favour to ask you. I want you to share in the Heart-Centred Community, which of these 11 tips did you find the most valuable?
Come on over to the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group, use #podcastaha, let me know you've been listening to episode number 245, and I want to know which of these was most powerful for you and why. Bonus points if you can tell me which one you think is the most unconventional as well.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.