Shownotes can be found at tashcorbin.com/214

In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you how to articulate your unique value proposition in your messaging and marketing.

This is going to be really helpful for those of you who struggle to talk about what you do in a way that has your ideal clients saying "Yes, that's exactly what I need."

So if that's you, jump on in and let's get started with this episode.

It is such a common issue for women entrepreneurs, in particular, to struggle with how they sum themselves up, sum up their business or portray their value quickly and easily.

The term 'unique value proposition' is often thrown around as one of those special secret keys to helping you get your business really thriving and getting your messaging clear. This helps people know very quickly, "Are you for me or not? Should I work with you or not? How do I work with you?"

The thing is that there's not a lot of great advice out there about how you actually do that.

How do you start to really articulate your unique value proposition in a way that's meaningful for your ideal clients? In a way that portrays your value quickly and easily, and helps you build messaging that you can use in your business on all of your different platforms?

I've come up with six tips for you on how you can really get good at articulating that value proposition, and how you can incorporate that into your messaging and marketing.

1. Stop playing the Highlander game.

If you're not familiar with the movie Highlander, what I'm saying with this is that it's very easy to think that your unique value proposition or your messaging in your business should be this one catchy phrase. That it should be this one catchy statement, tagline, or a couple of sentences that you just have to learn off by heart and if you say them over and over and over again, people will start getting it.

But that's actually not really helpful.

If you think about it, there are two ways you could craft that phrase. Either you craft that phrase using really common words and language that people actually understand - but then if you do, you're going to sound like every other person who works in your industry.

Or you could use really unique words. Some people make up their own modalities and they make up all these words that they think have really special meaning, but that may be open to interpretation. So if you use those unique words - I call them 'sparkly words' - then often when you say that statement, the first thing people say is, "What does that mean?" or "I don't quite get it. I don't understand. Is that me?"

And that is the last thing you want when people are first finding out about your business.

So if you play the Highlander game and just keep looking for that one phrase to rule them all, chances are you'll either create a phrase that makes you sound like everyone else that isn't unique, or create a phrase that's unique, but no one understands.

That's why we need to let go of that belief system instead.

2. See your messaging as an ecosystem.

We want to see your messaging as an ecosystem. Your blog posts contribute to that messaging, the posts you put on Facebook contribute to that messaging, the words on your website, the words on your banners, on your Facebook page, all of those words and the posts that you do, are actually all part of the one ecosystem.

So that's why it's really important for you to understand what your unique value proposition is and what your core messaging is, so that when you do post consistently, you know that you're hitting the pieces of your value ecosystem.

Now, inside my Take Off program, we actually build that ecosystem out in a beautiful diagram. We call it our messaging onion, and it shows the different ways that you articulate your value proposition depending on how hot the audience is or how cold the audience is.

We have different layers of the ways that we talk about our business, the value proposition and our messaging.

This ensures that it's connecting with people at the appropriate level for what stage they are in, in terms of the customer journey.

Instead of looking at your messaging as this one thing that you need to just nail and as this one section of words that you can just spew out over and over again, view all of the words that you use in your business - as well as your visuals - as part of your messaging ecosystem. And then when you are clear on what it is you want to say in that ecosystem and where it's appropriate to say it for each person, then it makes it so much easier to be able to speak about your business in a way that makes sense to people.

So remember that messaging is an ecosystem, not Highlander.

3. Make sure you've nailed your niche.

If you're struggling to articulate your unique value proposition and if you're struggling to articulate your messaging, then chances are the issue goes back to your niche.

First and foremost, you need to make sure you've absolutely nailed your niche decisions because they are the things that directly inform your core message and your unique value proposition.

Your value proposition is different to someone who is a time-poor entrepreneur, versus your value proposition compared to someone who's working in a job and is energy-poor - they've got plenty of time, but they just don't have the energy to do anything with it.

So if you think about the way that you're trying to explain your business, chances are that if you're struggling with it, it's because you're trying to speak to everyone.

And we know that when you try to speak to everyone, you end up resonating with no one.

So first and foremost, before you go about changing up any messaging or worrying about whether you're able to articulate your unique value proposition properly, go back to the initial question of what is your niche? And if you cannot answer that effectively, and you don't cover a mix of demographics, psychographics and sensor graphics in that niche statement, then we need to sort that out first.

4. Write down 10 sure signs that someone in your niche needs YOU.

Once you're clear on your niche, then I want you to write down 10 sure signs that someone who's in your niche needs YOU specifically, they need YOUR products and services - be really specific about this.

If they're tired all the time, they might need you or they might need someone else. If they are wanting to make more sales, that might be your job or it might be something else.

They aren't sure signs that they definitely need you, but YOU know when you're clear on your niche, that if you're talking to someone and they're saying all the things that they need - and if that's exactly the thing that you do - that THEY need YOU.

For me personally, I know that when someone says to me, "Oh, I'm not making any sales, and I feel like I've tried webinars and I've tried challenges, and I've tried Facebook ads, and nothing really seems to be getting me that initial momentum in my business." Then that is a sure sign that they need me.

So I want you to write down 10 sure signs that someone needs you, and they need you specifically.

5. Practise and pay attention.

The other thing is that no great messaging was built on theory, no unique value proposition was built on theory.

You may have ideas and theories in your head about what your messaging should be and what your unique value proposition is, but you won't know whether it's resonating with people and whether it works until you actually start using it and practice talking about your business through that lens.

Practise and pay attention to the way that people respond to you talking about your business.

If you are at a networking event, and someone asks you what you do and then seem disinterested by your answer, then you know that it hasn't necessarily hit the mark for them.

By the same token, if you are speaking to someone, and you know that 100% they are your ideal client, and you are talking about your work with them, and they keep saying, "Yeah, but I don't quite understand," and they keep asking questions that indicate to you that they're not getting it, then we need to actually review that messaging.

And the types of questions that people ask you often give you really juicy insights into what it is that you actually need to be saying.

For me, something that I discovered very early in my business was that I could see that the two biggest areas where people needed my help were in niching and messaging. And yet when I talked about niching and messaging in the online business space - and in the spaces where my audience were hanging out - a lot of people weren't really getting it. They would say, "Yeah, I understand about messaging. I reckon I've got it nailed, but I just don't know how to write an offer," and I would be like, "Well, that's actually part of your messaging."

People are actually identifying this as 'crafting offers', so therefore I need to talk about how I help people craft offers.

And if I said things about niching people say, "Oh yeah, I've got a niche, I'm a kinesiologist" and I'd realise that some people think their modality is actually a niche, when your niche is actually the group of people you focus on when you're marketing. So that meant that I needed to understand that I can't say "I help online business owners with niching and messaging," because that doesn't actually articulate the unique value proposition of what I do, and it certainly doesn't articulate it in a way that works for my audience - particularly for cold audiences.

So that's where I need to be really mindful about how I express my value proposition and my messaging, depending on the audience that I'm speaking to.

6. Talk and talk and talk.

My final tip on learning how to articulate your unique value proposition in your messaging and your marketing is to talk and talk and talk.

The more you do Facebook Lives, the more you record videos, the more you type up blog posts, the more you do posts on social media, the more you have sales conversations with potential clients, the more clients you actually work with, the easier and easier it gets for you to start articulating this.

It's really important that we don't create messaging and value proposition statements in our own bubbles based completely on theory.

Whilst we might make assumptions about what people would understand and what they wouldn't understand, or what people want and what people need, honestly, the best way you can actually practice and refine is by refining it with an audience, and by talking about it in as many ways as you can.

So if you've been thinking, 'Yeah, I will do blogging, but I'm gonna wait until I've got my messaging sorted,' then you've actually put them the wrong way around - by blogging, you sort your messaging.

If you've been saying, "Yes, I'm going to do offers into Facebook groups, but I've got to get my messaging sorted first," then you're doing it the wrong way around - start sharing offers so you can refine your messaging.

Now again, I want to reiterate point number three here: You do need to make those niche decisions first.

I also love validating your niche through using things like market research, but as soon as you feel like you understand what your niche is, and you understand what they want and need, then it's time to start practising with an audience.

It's not time to journal, journal, journal and type, type, type, and theorise all the way in the background, and then unleash all of this messaging all at once on your audience, and then not know which bits of it are resonating and which bits aren't or why it's not working if what happens is that you get crickets.

So as much as possible, get out there and talk about it with an audience.

If you do then it's going to give you the most valuable feedback you could ever get in relation to your messaging.

So with that in mind, I have a very special invite for you today and that is for you to come over to the Heart-Centred, Soul-Driven entrepreneurs Facebook community, and using #podcastaha, let me know you've been listening to episode number 214, and I'd love to know first and foremost any lightbulb moments that have happened for you as a result of this podcast episode. I also want to encourage you to start practising talking about your message and your unique value proposition.

So using that #podcastaha, and as long as you let me know it's episode number 214 you've been listening to, I want to invite you to practice talking about your unique value proposition, "Here is my unique value proposition for the work that I do in the online business world," because that is a very easy, very effective way for you to start practising.

And you've got a beautiful audience of 33,000+ women ready to cheer you on and support you in the development of your messaging.

If you’ve been listening along to this, and thinking you’re ready to “fast track” your business, get it off the ground, and build a business model around your strengths, I have a great free resource for you!

It’s called Fast-Track Your Start-Up.

It’s all about building your business and getting money in the door quickly by building a business to your innate strengths.

I’d love for you to go and check that out

Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.

Shownotes can be found at tashcorbin.com/213

n today's episode, I'm going to share with you five ways to increase your business income quickly and easily.

Sound good? Of course it does! Let's get started.

When it comes to increasing your business income, it doesn't have to be hard.

For most of us, the biggest issue that we have around increasing our income quickly and easily is the mindset of 'If I'm going to make more money, I'm going to have to work harder. If I want to get more clients, I have to do more marketing. If I want to have more profits, I have to make more sales.'

So for most of us, there's mindset stuff we need to unpack first and foremost.

We need to embrace this idea that it can be easy, fast, lazy and fun to increase our income in our business and make more money.

But what are some of the strategy options that are available to us?

If we are clear that it's not a mindset issue, we just don't know how we're going to bring more money into our business.

1. Increase your prices.

For so many people, increasing your prices is something that you need to do as quickly as possible.

You're undercharging.

People tell you you're undercharging, and you keep telling yourself:

"No, no, I'm about in line with industry average."

"No, no, people won't pay any more than this for me and for the services that I provide."

"No, no, I just need to get this qualification first, or I just need to do that first or I just need 20 clients first, or I just need this first."

So for a lot of people, increasing your prices is a really good way to start increasing your income and it's quick and easy.

One thing I will say is that giant leaps in prices can sometimes be disconnecting for your audience. So if increasing your prices is something that's important to you and if it's something that you would like to explore, make sure you read about how to increase your prices first because it's a whole strategy in and of itself.

2. Launch and relaunch.

Even if you're just selling VIP services, you can launch them. Even if you are you've got a course and you've already launched it, you can relaunch it. Even if you've got a membership and it gets a few new clients or a few new customers every month - but you want to really bump up your business income - you can relaunch it.

For a lot of people, they don't take a launch mentality with their business.

They don't realise that more and more you can take people through that launch process of getting to know you, getting some quick wins, getting an outcome, and then presenting them with the next logical step of working with you in a different way, in the next program or in working with you as a VIP.

That launch process is really powerful for getting that income, growing your business and growing that business income quickly.

I know myself that when I first launched my Take Off program, I made the epic mistake of not relaunching it pretty quickly afterwards.

If you have already got courses, programs or VIP offers, and you don't have enough clients in those things yet, I would 100% recommend you focus on launching and relaunching what you already have.

Don't build new things - building new things is not one of the five ways to increase your business income quickly and easily.

Building new things is not quick and it's not easy.

But a relaunch of a course can be something really quick and easy, especially if you systemise the way that you do that launch, and you learn and have it all locked in on how you do it.

My launches of the Take Off program are so easy for me now because it is literally two documents, reroll them out different dates and away we go.

It's also so easy for me to facilitate and run that launch. Every time I do, it's $30,000 to $70,000 in my business by just rolling out that relaunch.

So launching and relaunching can be a really quick and easy way to get that extra income in your business and grow your baseline income in your business as well.

Now one of the things I will say about this is that when you first launch, it is going to be harder.

But it does get easier and easier as you go.

Especially, as I said, if you systemise the way that you're launching.

So if you are looking to launch or relaunch something again, I've got a really great freebie on launching your course or program.

Launching and relaunching is something that I specialise in. I think a lot of people overcomplicate it, a lot of people have low conversion type strategies that don't really work for them, and a lot of people just fly by the seat of their pants and they don't necessarily set themselves up to make each launch more and more leisurely. We have #leisurelylaunching in the Ladyposse and it is so much more fun than freaked out, fly by the seat of your pants, burn yourself out, stay up until 3am launching.

Trust me it's so much easier to do a leisurely launch.

3. Follow-ups and calls to action.

For a lot of people, you are missing out on sales.

You're missing out on sales when you're not following up with the people who have said that they're interested, people who've worked with you before, people you've had sales conversations with but it wasn't the right time back then, or if you're just not emailing your list or following up with anyone.

There's a big range of different activities in the way in which I do follow-ups:

There's the one-to-one version of follow-ups, but I also have one-to-many follow-ups.

For example, if someone visits the link to the Take Off sales page, you'll be followed up with ads, so you'll then be retargeted with ads to follow up and say, 'Hey, it looks like you were checking out the Take Off program. Have you got any questions? Let me know.'

So there are some really powerful ways that you can be following up with people not just in the one-to-one space, but also in the one-to-many space and sometimes it's as simple as having a call to action.

How many posts do you put up on your Facebook page where you never tell people what the next step is? Whether the next step is to go and check out a blog or a podcast episode or sign up for a freebie or your mailing list or whether that call to action is, 'And if you want to work together on this, get in touch!'

Putting a call to action on some of your posts on your Facebook page will help you to increase your business income because you're giving people the instructions on what the next step is.

It doesn't always have to be buying from you, it could be getting them on your mailing list, but when you get them on your mailing list, they're getting your regular communications, and then they end up converting into a paying customer down the road.

Those consistent follow-ups and calls to action are the lifeblood of your conversion in your business and so many people skip it, particularly the one-to-one follow-up.

People are so afraid of rejection that they miss out on conversion.

So ask yourself, 'Am I avoiding rejection and in doing so, am I decreasing my conversion rates and therefore, lowering my income in my business?'

4. Scale.

For some people, they know how to run a webinar, get 200 people signed up to it and get a good conversion rate and they roll the same thing out over and over again. But they're not increasing their audience size. They're not increasing their reach, they're not scaling that launch or that freebie or whatever it might be.

There comes a time where you know it's converting, you know you can get a certain amount of reach or results organically, so it's time to start putting money in to get more money out.

Scaling with things like ads or SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or maybe using SEO building platforms such as Pinterest or those sorts of things.

There are multiple ways that you can scale.

It all depends on your target market, your conversion rates and what your budget is.

But looking for ways where you can scale can be really helpful in building up that business income, and they can be some of the quickest and easiest ways because you're paying for it.

So it's quick and it's easy.

It's not costing you time and energy - it's costing you money.

And so maybe you know, 'Well, I can get 200 people to that webinar, organically. And if I put $200 behind it, I can get another hundred people to sign up. So I get 300 people with pretty much the same energy and effort.' - especially if you outsource to an ads manager.

So scaling your reach and scaling your audience is a really easy and quick way to increase business income, especially if you know that conversion is already working - it's people in, people out.

5. Hire a team member.

This is my final tip to increase your business income quickly and easily and that is to hire a team member.

I know for me, the big growth in my business and the big leaps in income have come when I've had a really great working relationship with a team member, and where I've scaled up my team in some way, shape or form. Because that time that I'm freeing up from myself needing to do that work or having to schedule those posts or whatever it might be, I can now invest in my presence and growing my conversion strategies.

I know the more present I am with my audience, the higher conversion my launches are, the higher conversion my sales funnels are, the more people reaching out and asking 'How can I work with you? How can you help me do this?' and therefore the higher that income is in my business.

I've just taken a big leap in my business recently and hired a couple of permanent employee based team members, and I know that that's the next step for me to go to that next level of income in my business.

So there are some really great opportunities for income growth simply by stopping doing the things that you're probably good at doing, you're probably really fast at them, but they're things that could be outsourced to someone else relatively easily.

And that extra time can be invested in you showing up with more presence, being more connected with your audience or looking at other strategies where you can grow your organic reach and grow your conversion in your business as well.

So they're my five strategies for you.

I want to know what your strategy is and what of these do you think is the next step for you?

Come on over to the Heart-Centred, Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group, use #podcastaha, let me know which episode you've been listening to and tell me any light bulbs or questions that you might have as a result of this episode.

If you’ve been listening along to this, and thinking you’re ready to “fast track” your business, get it off the ground, and build a business model around your strengths, I have a great free resource for you!

It’s called Fast-Track Your Start-Up.

It’s all about building your business and getting money in the door quickly by building a business to your innate strengths.

I’d love for you to go and check that out

Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.

Show notes can be found at: tashcorbin.com/212

In today's episode, we are going to explore how to be creative in business without throwing away structure, planning and routines.

Now before you click away at the mere MENTION of structure... I want to show you in this episode how systems, structures and routines are actually the keys to more creativity and freedom in your business.

If you are someone who craves creativity and freedom, I want you to stick with me and listen along, because this is such an important episode for you.

Why do we resist structure and systems?

I see so much resistance in the online business world to the systemised structured parts of being in business. So many people don't want to niche because they want to work with a range of different people and have this creative freedom and difference in their business.

They want their business to be interesting.

This means that niching is going to take away that interest if they really focus down, so it creates this nice resistance. I see people resisting structure in their day because they want to go with their intuition, follow their gut, go with whatever creativity unfolds, and be really flexible.

People often resist systems in their business because they want to do everything bespoke. We want to be really giving to our customers.

We want to treat everyone as individuals.

Creatives can resist adding routine, systems or planning in their business because they want to stay flexible. See how the week unfolds.

But I want to pose this little question to you and plant this small seed today:

What if a lack of structure is actually stifling the freedom and creativity in your business?

Let me explain this one:

Imagine you're sitting down to work on something in your business that requires you to be creative, intuitive and flexible. You've got a couple of hours free in which you can work on this. Maybe you're doing some cost creation, mapping out content ideas, doing some graphic design, some artwork. You're doing something that requires you to be really creative, flexible, expressive, tapped into your intuition and able to go with the flow.

You've only got a couple of hours to get it done.

Imagine the difference between you spending that couple of hours free of any burdens and just totally in the moment. Or that couple of hours being spent with you having a to-do list of 30 things rolling around in your head. Feeling guilty that you haven't done your newsletter this week, pretty sure you haven't followed up on that invoice that was supposed to be paid. Not being 100% sure what your day looks like after this couple of hours, and carrying around a bunch of things in your brain.

So many people live like this every single day in their business - their entire existence is a stress bed of to-do lists and reminders and worries and concerns rolling around in their head.

How creative can you be with that burden on your shoulders?

How creative can you really be if you don't have the freedom of knowing these two hours are actually free time to get creative?

So many people don't ever get to experience true creative, intuitive freedom in their business. Why? Because their business feels like a giant, unending list of things to do. And because they haven't got the structure, systems, processes and plans in place, it haunts them 24/7.

What if we got the boring, repeated parts of your business as effortless as possible?

What if we got your to-do list out of your brain and into a system so you know it's sorted, or will be?

Imagine how much freedom, creativity and intuition you would experience with THAT business...

I've seen a lot of resistance to structure and systems lately. I think it's something that we all experience as entrepreneurs from time to time.

At the Heart-Centred Business Conference in June, systemising was a big theme.

The comments box was pinging with lightbulb moment after lightbulb moment:

"I should totally be systemising all of this stuff in my business.
Why have I not automated that sooner?
Why don't I have a team member yet?
I'm still doing all of these low return activities in my business.
So that's actually why I still can't hit my income goal."

If there's a way you can systemise, structure, or automate something in your business, then think of it as unburdening you as the business owner.

Think of it as unleashing your freedom, your flexibility, your creativity and your intuition.

Because it's no longer something that you're trying to carry around in your brain. You don't need to remember to do it later. You don't experience the burden of guilt that you should be doing something else.

I want to plant the seed of systems thinking, because I know how powerful this transition can be.

One area where you can achieve BIG results from systems is list growth.

Once you are at the point of knowing what your products and services are, knowing how to sell them and knowing who your audience is - it's time to get your list growing on autopilot. I don't have to tell you this, but your list is one of the most important assets in your business.

The faster you need to grow your list, the more expensive that growth becomes.

There's a compound interest effect of nailing ongoing list growth. I want you to experience it!

If you start growing your list on autopilot from the very early stages of your business, it is going to reap beautiful rewards (and cash) for you consistently. It's definitely something I waited far too long in my business journey to get sorted.

If you would like to get your list growth sorted, and have that list growth starting to happen on autopilot, I have a great resource for you and it's totally free.

Want to set yourself up with list growth on autopilot?

Grab my free training here: CLICK ME

Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.

We all know how yucky it feels to be spammed... but are you accidentally a spammer yourself?

In today's episode, we're going to figure it out. You might not even know that you're being spammy, so I want to share my experience of social media etiquette, and how I ensure I don't create a spammy feel. Want to learn more? Watch on below!

What makes for spam on social media?

First and foremost, what is spam?

At its core, spam is unwanted marketing. In most cases, when we think of spam, we think about unwanted emails. The first iterations of spam were all of the unrequested emails promoting products and services straight into our inbox.

When I first started my business, most businesses didn't even ask for permission in order to send you emails. You could actually buy lists of email addresses from companies and just cold spam a bunch of people.

We've come a long way when it comes to protecting our inboxes from unwanted marketing emails and protecting them from spam! We also have a really great filters these days (sometimes they’re even a little too good at their job). But these filters take what looks like spam or unwanted marketing material and puts it into a separate space for us to go and check it out if we want to, without cluttering things up.

Whilst email is so much more protected and looked after these days, we can also be quite spammy on social media. Social media is another space where you can unintentionally be putting your marketing material in front of a bunch of people who didn't ask for it. And that can feel really spammy.

We want to be mindful that on social media channels, we have the appropriate permissions to send people information, and that we're not coming across as spamming the internet with unwanted marketing materials.

How do you know how much is too much? Well, lucky for you, I've got four key things for you to look out for!

1. Be mindful of the space you’re in.

The posts you put on your Facebook page are quite different to promoting your products and services in Facebook groups, and still quite different to reaching out and private messaging someone to tell them about your products and services.

Just be mindful of the permission level you have for promoting your products and services in that space.

For example, on your Facebook business page, it is entirely reasonable for you to promote your products and services quite consistently.

In fact, for most women in business, I would say they under-promote their products and services in that space.  Your Facebook business page is one place where you have a free ticket to promote as you like.

When it comes to understanding what's too much, and what's unsolicited, think about the space.  I like to keep a ratio of five non-promo posts to every one promo post for my audience so that there's a great balance between promoting things and giving tips, advice and information for free. That's the ratio that I like to keep, but you can 100% have just promos on your Facebook page if you want to.  It's your space. It's your decision.

The second space to be mindful of is when you're in other people's Facebook groups.

In most cases, they have guidelines around how often you can promote products and services.  For example, in my Facebook community, the Heart-Centred Soul Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook Community, we have "market day" for promoting paid offers, and on "freebie day" you can promote free offers. We actually have two out of seven days where you are encouraged and asked to promote into that space.

The thing I find a little troubling which can make you look quite spammy without you even realizing, is that on the other five days of the week, a lot of people try to weave a little bit of a sneaky thinly veiled promo for their services right into the theme for the day.  They might say something like “I’m giving myself a shout out because I'm such a good coach,” or whatever it might be.

If you do that too much in these spaces, you need to be mindful of how that makes you seem spammy in the space, right?

But it's really easy for people in those Facebook communities to tell when you're trying to use a selfie post to also sneakily talk about your webinar that's happening next week, or when you're trying to use a genius tip post to also sneakily tell people about your book coming out soon.

Honestly, people have really switched on to notice these types of things. And you might think you're fooling people or tricking the admins and sneaking around the rules of that community. But ultimately, the person you're doing the biggest disservice to is yourself.

You’re also doing a big disservice to your potential clients, because you're likely turning them off. Instead, I would suggest that when you are in those groups, make sure you have a really good balance. People want to connect with other human beings. That's why they are in those groups.

If you’re only there showing up as the perfectly polished person who is constantly trying to mention creating their own healing modality or that they got a $10,000 client or had a $50,000 day, (just hoping to plant a seed for people to be keen on your offer next offer day), then chances are, you're actually missing the whole point of being in that community. You may actually be turning a lot of good quality leads away.

The third space I want to talk about on social media is private messaging.

Here is my hard and fast rule: If you don't have explicit permission to send someone a private message, don't send one. That's as simple as it gets.

I would have I would say there are about 200 to 300 people in my close circle of entrepreneurs I hang out with who would be totally happy to receive a private message from me.

In 99% of those cases, I wouldn't be sending them a promo anyway. But I may reach out to those people and say, hey, I've got a new boot camp and I think you said something about wanting to do it. Message me to send you the details. So I might private message someone who I knew was interested in my stuff and didn't have explicit permission to private message, but have a really strong relationship with.

If I don't know that person, have never met them in real life, or don’t have a strong connection with that person, I would not be private messaging that person with a promo!

This is a really common misconception about social media.  Unfortunately it's a commonly taught, but very dodgy strategy - to befriend as many people as you can on social media. Ugh!

It goes something like this: Start a private message conversation with them not about your products and services, but then try and move the conversation towards your products and services over a period of time.

Honestly, it’s really freaking hard work and most people see through what you're doing anyway.  AND it's not a smart marketing approach, because you're starting a relationship with someone based on deception. It's not fun.

So when it comes to private messaging, I recommend you ask for exclusive permission first.  For example, if someone comments on a Facebook post that you've done, and they say, oh, wow, that sounds really interesting, I'd love to hear more about that. Then say to them, Oh, wonderful, is it okay if I send you a private message with more info.  ASK THEM – it’s totally beautiful for you to do that permission sequence and ask for the permission first.

Now, I want to give you an offline equivalent of what this would be like in terms of how to navigate it because sometimes, online etiquette is really hard because we're not used to it.

If we think about it in an offline way, we know how to navigate that kind of social setting. Think about yourself going to a networking event, right? Let's say Facebook is a giant networking event.

You wouldn't walk into the room and start pulling people aside one by one by saying, Hey did you know I do life coaching and am qualified at the fourth level and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and my packages start from 295, right? You wouldn't start a conversation like that with people in real life.

If you went to a networking event, you wouldn't immediately go and take the microphone off the person running the event to say, “Excuse me, everyone, I just need you all to know I provide VIP health coaching services to help people with overcoming diabetes,” and then every five minutes grab that microphone again to say, “By the way, I just want to remind you in case new people have arrived, I help people with diabetes.”

You don't want to be that person, right??!

So think of social media as a giant networking event and ask yourself - Is it your space? Are you running that event? If you are, you're on your own Facebook business page, and that's your stage, so you get to promote yourself as much as you like.

But at someone else's networking event, i.e. in a Facebook group, it's not your stage to take over all of the time. Just behave appropriately as though you were in a networking group that was someone else's event.

I know that a lot of coaches teach much more aggressive strategies. But I must tell you, after seven years of running my business online, mostly through Facebook, I've been very successful, and have grown my business phenomenally without ever needing to be a spammer in the Facebook space.

2. Be mindful of the balance.

You might think about the ratio of giving versus asking in your social media strategy. If on your social media platforms, you are there thinking, “What can I get? What sales can I make? How much money could I make today? How can I make more money?” - Chances are, you're not going to have that really beautiful balance.

We want to have a balance of showing up and serving and then also asking.  It's the giving and the asking.

When I'm on social media, 80% of the time I'm there to give - doing Facebook Live sharing tips, creating trainings or promos or genius tips or whatever it might be. I'm there just giving.  I'm there helping people with how to create their promo. I might be recommending ways for people to do messaging, or get more followers, or promote themselves.

Whether I'm giving tips and advice, giving space for other people to promote themselves, giving cheer and support, or answering people's questions, 80% of my time on social media is truly social and in the space of giving.  The other 20% of my time on social media is my “ask,” so that might be inviting people to come to my webinar, telling people about my new VIP package, or letting people know about my TakeOff program.

So I have this beautiful balance of 80% giving and 20% asking.  Now I'm not saying 80/20 is the perfect balance for everyone. Everyone is unique.

I know some people who are really successful with a 50/50 approach. I know some people who are really successful with a 95/5 approach so it's totally about what feels comfortable for you.

I would say for most women, they are more on the side of giving too much and asking too little. So just be mindful of that.  Maybe just push yourself to be a little bit more open about how people can work with you. Be mindful of that balance.

When it comes to being mindful of balance, another thing I would suggest is being in fewer spaces.

Many people get out of balance with giving and asking because they're trying to spread themselves too thin over social media. They've got TikTok, they've got Instagram, they've got a Facebook page, and they're in 15 different Facebook groups where they're trying to show up every single day.

When you're trying to be in all those spaces at once, the entrepreneurial brain will default to trying to make sales in a rush all the time.

If you find yourself on social media feeling rushed all of the time, and you're in too many spaces, that is something which can inadvertently tip your balance to be always spamming and asking and never really being truly present giving in that space.

So if you find yourself in that situation, I would recommend thinking about what spaces you can cut out. Can you just be in three Facebook groups? Can you just focus on Facebook and one other social media channel for now?  You don't need to be nailing it in every single space all at once!

In most cases, trying to spread yourself too thin means you nail it nowhere. Be mindful of that balance between giving and asking and maybe just being fewer spaces as well. Instead, show up more fully in the ones that you choose.

3. Be mindful of value.

Think about why other people are actually there in that space.

Most people on social media are there for social things. They are there because they want to see funny cat videos, or keep up to date with what their friends are up to.

Other entrepreneurs are there because they want to be growing their business and being present with their audiences. So don't just think about why you are in this space. Think about why other people are in that space.

When it comes to your Facebook page or your Instagram – ask yourself: Why are people following you? Are they really following you because they want to be first to know about every single product or service that you've got to offer? Or are they following you because they want to get some value or some advice? Maybe they want to be inspired. They want to get to know you as a human being. Consider why people are following you in that space.

Think about Facebook groups. Why are people in those Facebook groups? We don't turn on the TV just to watch the ads, right? The ads are a necessary price we pay for the quality TV programming that we get to watch (and I say that a little jokingly because I don't really love commercial TV, but you get the picture, right?)

Most people aren't going into Facebook groups to see what they can buy. Most people are in those spaces to connect with other people, get some support, see what they can sell, and who they can bring into their own audience.

And the beautiful thing is, we can each get all of our needs met if we are mindful of why everyone else is there. As long as we're not just focusing on our own selfish desire to go in and just spend 10 minutes to get some sales, get some money, withdraw it from the Facebook bank, and then get on with our lives.

So have a think about why other people are there, what value they're looking for from their experience, and how you can add to that experience for them.

I know for myself when I'm in Facebook communities, I'm not just there to sell.  Sure, I love growing my audience and growing my business, but I'm also there to be supported as a human being, and to feel like I'm not alone in this thing. And I'm also there to feel like I can help and support other people.

We're all in this together.  A rising tide lifts all ships.

I want to find some really light-hearted, like-minded women and take me with them, right? I feel like if we all just work together, we're all going to be way more successful.

When I go into spaces in which I'm not able to show up as that whole version of myself, and I'm just constantly being bombarded with a bunch of spam, it's so much less valuable to me. 

When people there are asking questions but don't actually care about the answer, they only care about the number of replies they get to grow their algorithm to get better rates to make more sales - I have to tell you, I don't get value out of that space when I hang out there much. And I don't hang out there as often.

We are responsible as the members of social media, as the members of those Facebook groups, as the people who are in that space - we are responsible for creating the culture, the environment and the value proposition that we also want to experience.

So just think about that and be mindful of that and think about how you might be able to nurture a more connecting experience for people - something that people are going to enjoy way more.

One thing I know 100% for sure is that the more people getting cheered on in social media, getting supportive comments, being asked really meaningful questions, and being told they're doing amazing work, the more often they show up every single day.

If I can be more of a cheering person on social media, I am going to be more of that cheering person, because I know that those people are going to come back next the next day. They will keep coming back for weeks and weeks, and we will grow to be a really beautiful community of women who love each other, support each other and we all succeed together.

I'm not just on social media for what I want to say. I'm also there to listen, to witness other people, and to support other people as well.  I may do that with encouraging words, by buying their products and services, following their Facebook page, signing up for their mailing list, or coming to their webinar.

I try and do as much of that as I can because I know it creates the kind of space I want to be in.

In most cases, if you're conscious of wanting to NOT be a spammer, then in most cases you're likely to not be too spammy. If you're thinking about this and worrying about being too spammy, in most cases, you're not.

Usually it's not the people who worry about it!  It's those who are like, okay, I just need to get in, get out, get my spam done. So I just want to reassure you, that if you have been listening along to this, and you're like, “Oh, I still don't know how much is too much. I think I better tone it down. I don't want to promote my business anymore,” please don’t make that your takeaway from this podcast.

As long as you're mindful of the space, mindful of the balance and mindful of the value of why people are there, then 99.9% of the time, you are totally fine. And in most cases, I need to encourage women to promote their products and services more often, rather than less.

If you are still new to navigating online spaces and promoting your business on social media, and particularly being part of groups, I have a really great resource for you, and it's a free course. It's got four modules, and is really simple, but it's really powerful.

It’s called Heart Centred Group Strategy.

Head on over to the show notes at tashcorbin.com/211, and you'll be able to find the link to the Heart Centred Group Strategy training.

I would highly recommend that you check it out because it gives you some really great strategies on how to maximize the return on investment for your time in being involved in Facebook communities, and also how to understand some of the finer points of etiquette so that you are not showing up as a spammer.

You’ll be less likely to have your posts deleted or have admins kick you out of spaces and those sorts of things. So if you're worried about it, make sure you go and check out the Heart Centred Group Strategy training because it is really helpful, very practical, and goes into a lot of those finer details.

As always, I'd love to know if you’ve got any questions? Have you had any lightbulb moments? Come on over to the Heart-Centred Soul Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook Community, use the #podcastaha and let me know you've been listening to episode 211.

Until next time, beautiful entrepreneur, I cannot wait to see you shine. Big Love from me and I'll see you over on socials. Bye for now!