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Heart-Centred Business Podcast

Welcome to the Heart-Centred Business Podcast - the place to be for fabulous, feminine business. I'm your hostess, Tash Corbin, and together we will build our gorgeous businesses the FUN, EASY and HEART-CENTRED way. Does that sound like you? Let's have some fun!
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Now displaying: November, 2020
Nov 29, 2020

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.

Let's dive on in!

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 ...'.

They're putting something before whatever it is that they want to be doing.

It might be that they want to:

  • Create an online course, but they just need to grow their audience by another thousand people first
  • Get their business out there, but they just need to make sure they have the perfect brand first
  • Do something that's really in their heart's work, but they just need to have more savings behind them

It's always a matter of needing something else in order to be ready for a certain thing.

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.

Progress is so much more powerful than perfection.

What is this perfectionism that can come and play with us?

1. A feeling of not being ready

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.

2. Creating things that never see the light of day

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 was so powerful for us all to see that it is such a common behaviour.

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.

Think about what little amount of energy and attention would have gone into that idea.

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.

Other ways that perfectionism can show up is in making decisions.

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?

The issue is not the decision itself, it's the fear of choosing the wrong thing.

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:

  • Have faster growth
  • Know which niche is the right one for you faster
  • Get more insight
  • Make more money

Very quickly, you'll understand why it's the wrong niche for you and be able to correct it from there.

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.

Then the other one is just waiting - waiting for the stars to align.

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 wouldn't identify myself as a perfectionist at all.

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.

Allow yourself to create something that might not be the right fit.

I know people who have:

  • Launched courses that they then turned into memberships and then back to courses
  • Created memberships that they've then turned into memberships
  • Started high-ticket small group masterminds that they've then transformed into more affordable large group memberships down the track
  • Turned books into courses and courses into books
  • Turned 5-day challenges into self-study courses

You're allowed to change things.

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.

They want to create the exact perfect label.

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.

She had been constantly finding all of these reasons why she wasn't allowed to have a business yet.

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.

Just make progress instead of looking for perfection.

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.

They get better and better every time I do 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.

I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't just started with something.

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:

  • Consistent with
  • Good at speaking to the camera without a script
  • Really good at working out how to offer extra value and having a call to action at the end

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.

If I'd waited for the audience and getting the podcast right, I wouldn't have as many people listening to this podcast as I do 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.

Nov 25, 2020

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.

I think that this is some of the best advice I could possibly give you.

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.

1. Don't JUST listen to JUST me

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.

You don't want to just listen to one person the whole way through your business journey.

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.

There are three key things that I think this relates to:

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.

Again, very unconventional, but I'm the opposite of that.

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.

2. Answer and invite emails and direct messages

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.

We want to be focusing your time and energy on high-connection, high-conversion activities.

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.

It is our feminine strength.

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?

3. Spaghetti at the wall is okay but it cannot be your strategy forever

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.

4. You should not be focusing on audience growth

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.

  • Have you got a niche?
  • Do you understand that niche?
  • Is it the right niche for your business?
  • Have you got your messaging sorted?
  • Are you able to articulate your value proposition effectively?
  • Is your offer written, designed and packaged up appropriately for your audience?
  • Have you sold that offer before?

These are all things that I would be prioritising taking care of before I prioritise audience growth.

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.

You don't need any cold audience growth in the first phase of your business.

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.

5. There is NO magic formula

There is NO:

  • Exact 108 steps for you to create six-figure business success
  • Hidden agenda
  • Special sauce secret thing that no one can tell you unless you pay them US$2,500 or more for it

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.

6. It's easier than you think it is, and it's DEFINITELY easier than you're making it

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.

It's definitely not as hard as you're making it.

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.

It's a huge relief for people because we do tend to make it harder than it needs to be.

Unconventional, I know.

7. Don't be everywhere

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.

Remember: High-connection, high-conversion.

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.

Often, the people who advocate for this strategy are:

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.

If that's true for you, then I give you permission to not be everywhere.

Focus down on your one core high-connection, high-conversion platform and build from there.

8. Don't get up at 4am if getting up at 4am doesn't come naturally to you

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.

I wake up when I wake up, and I do not jump up and get straight into work and eat frogs.

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.

You are allowed to build your business to your strengths, with your rhythms and your patterns.

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.

9. Hustle can take a hike

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.

You can absolutely be successful by getting rid of that hustle mentality.

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.

10. You don't need to spend big money to make big money

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.

I've never joined a $50,000 a year mastermind.

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.

You do not have to invest giant amounts of money in order to be successful in the online world.

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.

They use that as an excuse to charge way more than the product is actually worth.

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.

That is absolute manipulative crap and I don't tolerate it.

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.

BONUS TIP: Learn how to spot fear-based marketing strategies

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.

But ultimately, fear-based marketing strategies are built based on a lack of consent.

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.

When you learn how to spot these fear-based strategies, it is very empowering as a business owner.

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.

To reiterate:

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.

If you want to check that out, you can find it here: tashcorbin.com/niche

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.

Nov 22, 2020

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/244

In today's episode, I'm going to tell you the C words that you need to focus on in business.

Let's dive in!

I have three C words that you need to be focusing on to ensure that your business is actually growing. More specifically, consistently growing over the longer term.

The three C words that I have for you are content, consistency and compound.

The reason why those three words are so important and connected, is because they are the key to the long term consistent growth of your business.

Let's have a look at each of them individually.

1. Content

Content is one of the most critical parts of having an online business.

This is especially true if:

  • It's a service-based business
  • You want to have organic reach and growth of that business
  • You want to have long term growth of your business

Content is how we connect with our audience, connect with our ideal clients, and connect the dots for people between where they think they need to be focusing their energy and attention in order to achieve the goal that we help them with, and where they actually need to be focusing their energy and attention.

Often people misdiagnose what it is that they need to be focused on, and they misdiagnose just how simple and effective it could be for them to get that outcome.

We actually connect with our audience and help them connect the dots through our free content in particular.

It's also how we nurture our audience and move them towards that understanding and lightbulb moment where they realise what it is that they truly need to be focusing on and what support they need.

Our content is how we are found. It makes us searchable. It makes us able to be found in the topic areas where we want to be known in our business.

Our content is how we are shared.

When you share things on social media, most of the time you're not just sharing and telling people to follow someone, you're sharing and saying something specific that people need to check out - ie. an article or podcast episode.

That is how we are shared amongst our audiences. It's also how we convert.

Our content - especially on social media, in our emails and on our website - is how we help people to understand the transformation that we facilitate, make a decision about whether it's the right fit for them or not, and then ultimately make a sale and convert them into paying clients.

Content has a multi-layered multifaceted role in our business for reach, nurturing and conversion.

It's a really critical part of our business.

2. Consistency

The number one thing that consistency drives is trust.

Our trust in others is directly impacted by our ability to predict their behaviour.

If you are completely inconsistent when it comes to creating and sharing content in your business, then it's really difficult for your audience to accurately predict your behaviour.

They begin to wonder how regularly they will get free and interesting content from you.

That consistency also keeps you on people's radar.

I know for myself, I've signed up for a free webinar with people or a free checklist, and then I don't hear from them for another three or four months. When I finally get that email in my inbox from that person, it takes me a minute to work out who they are and why I'm on their mailing list. Sometimes I can't even work it out and I don't know whether it's because I signed up for something, if they've bought my email illegally, or if it's just spam.

Consistency is a really critical factor in creating that relationship of trust.

We know that the drivers of buyer behaviour are that they know you, like you, trust you and feel connected to you.

Your content itself helps people to know who you are and like you, but your consistency is what drives how much people trust you and how connected they feel to you.

If they are getting consistent content from you - and that might be once a week, once every two weeks or even once every month (as long as it's consistent and predictable) - that is what drives trust.

3. Compound

Consistent content has a compound interest effect.

Think about it: the more consistent you are with your content, the more it comes out on a regular basis, the more it's adding to the content on your website, the more it's building up that consistent algorithm on social media, the more reach it gets, the better your SEO, and the more it's creating that dynamic of trust and connection with your audience.

When you have a spurt of content that comes out and then you disappear for three months, when you come back, you're not just having to rebuild your algorithm and your trust in terms of SEO, you're also having to rebuild trust on a human-to-human level because of that unpredictability of your behaviour.

If I haven't heard from you for three months, the idea of buying from you has an extra layer of risk to it. Whether I feel it subconsciously or consciously, I am going to wonder or worry:

  • Is this person going to disappear again?
  • Is this person reliable?
  • If I sign up to work with this person for six months, are they going to disappear for two of those months and I'm going to have to keep chasing them around the internet?

That is why I wanted to connect these three C words for you - content, consistency and compound.

How is it that we achieve that consistency of content for a compound interest effect?

1. Stop aiming for perfect

The more you aim for perfection in your content processes, in what goes into the content, and in whether it's keyworded up properly, the more you have excuses to damage your consistency.

When we let go of the need for it to be perfect and instead focus on that consistency, we actually have a greater impact on our outcomes.

I'm not saying that you should:

  • Put out half-hearted content
  • Put out content that has lots of mistakes and doesn't actually make any sense
  • Make things look really unprofessional

I'm not saying any of that at all.

Different markets have different tolerances for those types of things.

In most cases, our level of expectation for ourselves is well below our markets expectation of us.

I want you to give yourself permission to not get it perfect, to not have all of the SEO parts worked out, to not have to have the perfect camera, the perfect background, the perfect lighting or the perfect copywriting.

Stop aiming for perfect, and just aim to get something of value out consistently.

Chances are, it will be much much more valuable to your audience than that perfect thing that you make them wait three months for before they're allowed to see it.

2. Batch

I love batching content.

I'm recording a couple of podcasts episodes right now in sequence, and that batching process allows me to really tune into times when I'm feeling great, I've got my words, and I can actually string some sentences together effectively.

When I get in the flow of creation, I've got processes that I can use to create a bunch of content.

In this recording session alone, I've recorded three video promos for a freebie that I'm running, this is the third podcast episode that I've put together, and I've also recorded a Facebook Live and had a conversation with my team about a few different things.

This is because I'm really in a good space right now to get that content flowing.

It's no coincidence that I've just been through a couple of days where I've been very customer-focused and very much speaking with my ideal clients. The cogs are ticking and I'm able to put some dots together - I've got some big things that I want to say to my audience.

I'm really in service mode right now, so I'm batching up a bunch of content at the same time.

If you are interested in finding out more about batching, getting that content out on a consistent basis and doing it in a really joyful way, I also want to recommend that you go and check out podcast episode 241: The joy of consistent and strategic content with Claire Riley.

Claire Riley is really the batching queen, so I would highly recommend that you check out that episode here: tashcorbin.com/241

3. Find external support or accountability

Whether that be:

  • Working with a mentor or coach
  • Working with a content person
  • Having a team member
  • Having a posse that you're a part of - whether that be a small group mastermind or some other way of getting that external support and accountability

I highly recommend that you set it up so that someone will notice if you disappear.

That external support makes a big difference to whether or not you embrace done over perfection and whether you embrace consistency over waiting for the perfect storm.

Having some form of external support is a really powerful way to ensure that you do nail that consistency.

In closing, I just want to tell you to stop running around looking for shiny things to fix your business, get you more reach, get you in front of new audiences and convert more effectively if you haven't yet nailed consistency of content.

Consistency of content underpins all the other shiny marketing strategies you could possibly find on the internet, so make sure you've got that very important foundation sorted first.

If you would like to understand how content and your content strategy fits in with getting your business off the ground (particularly in the early stages of online marketing), I have a great free resource for you.

It's called Fast Track Your Startup.

It looks at all the key pieces that you need to get sorted in order to get your business creating consistent, predictable and juicy income.

If you're not yet bringing in an income that really feels like you've hit your baseline consistently, then this is going to be a great training for you.

You can find this FREE training here: tashcorbin.com/fasttrack

As always with every episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast, if you have any lightbulb moments from this episode or follow up questions, make sure you come over to the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs community and share using #podcastaha and the episode number (244).

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

Nov 18, 2020

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/243

In this Q&A episode, I'm answering Jodie's question about how often I set myself a fast money target.

I also have a bit of an out of the box freebie for you today as well so make sure you go and check this one out.

Let's dive on in!

Today's question comes from the fabulous Jodie Thornton. You can find out more about Jodie at jodiethornton.com.

She is a parent coach so make sure you go and check her out.

Jodie asks a brilliant question, which is:

"Hi Tash! How often do you set a fast money target?"

This is a really great question. Even though it's going be a pretty quick episode, there are some great little lessons in this one.

First and foremost: What is a fast money target?

For those of you who are in my audience and have been around for a little while, you probably are familiar with this.

I do have a Fast Money training, and I also have a Fast Money Challenge that I run from time to time that's focused on setting and achieving a stretch income goal in a really short period of time.

I call it Fast Money (it's named after the fast money round on Sale of the Century).

Fast money is for when you want to set a big income goal for a short period of time, and you want to bring in that fast money.

My fast money goals are usually a seven to a ten-day goal. I don't always have a fast money target going at all times at this stage in my business, however, I always have a quarterly income goal, or sometimes I'll set it for a little bit longer (maybe it's a 100-day income goal).

I love setting a goal for the first 100 days of the year, so I'll have a 100-day income goal usually at the start of most years.

That's not necessarily a fast money goal, it's more of an extended period of time.

I would define a fast money goal as something where I'm going for a stretch income goal - maybe it's seven, ten or even fourteen days.

Due to fast money being a short term goal, I only ever really set a fast money goal these days when I'm doing a launch. Maybe I have a launch and in the six days of the cart being open, I set myself a big stretch income goal for what I'm going to bring in at that point in time.

I recently needed to purchase some things - a new phone, Apple Watch and a few other tech tools and toys - so I decided that I was going to go and manifest the money for those in three days.

That was a really fun little challenge that I set for myself and another example of when I would set myself a fast money goal.

The other thing that I use fast money goals for these days is when I see in my cash flow projections that cash flow might be a little bit tight in the coming months, so I do a fast money goal in a short period of time to manifest that income to get me through that poor cash flow period.

That definitely has been something that I've only brought into my business recently. I never used to do cash flow projections, but now that I do those more consistently and I can see what's coming up, I have been doing those fast money targets for myself once every couple of months. It makes it easy for me to see that if I only get my predicted income in for the month, then I may be a bit tight on cash flow and I'd rather have a nice buffer for myself so I end up doing a fast money challenge.

However, all of that being said, when I was in start-up, I actually did a fast money target every single week.

Every single week, I wanted to challenge myself to see how much I could earn for that week.

I would stretch out my goal a little further, I would have a look at what's coming up for the week and what would be a nice juicy stretch for me, and I would set myself a fast money challenge and I would go for it.

Every Sunday morning I'd do a review of the past seven days and then I'd set myself up for the next seven days.

For those people who are interested in my answer to this question because of where they're at in their business and using that to guide with how often they set themselves a fast money target, what I would say is set it for as often as you want.

When I'd set myself a fast money target and stay focused on it for those seven days, my income was always better - whether that be during the seven days or in the following seven days.

For me when I first started my business, that was actually me practising and refining my own manifesting strategy. That's why I did it so consistently.

I might take a week off every now and again or sometimes what I would do is I would start on a Sunday and end on the Saturday, and then the following week, I would just take three or four days off and start on the Wednesday and then do a 10 day fast money target.

It's really up to you.

For me, I'm the kind of person who works really well when I have short term goals, I have deadlines, and I have a process to follow.

That was a really great way for me to prove to myself that I can improve my income each week.

As my business started to grow and my income became a little bit more predictable, I would create my fast money target for the first week of every month.

If I wasn't close to my monthly income goal at the end of the month, I might do a fast money target than as well.

There are lots of opportunities to do fast money targets for yourself and set yourself that short term stretch goal and go for it.

I would say to just pay attention to how it makes you feel, whether it really lights you up, and how well it works for you.

Also for me, the big thing that I got out of doing those fast money challenges back to back was that it really showed me how to notice the difference between being tired and needing to take a break from stretching myself, and resisting the mindset work and actions that I knew would grow my business.

It was so good for me to be able to learn the difference between the two.

I was constantly checking in with myself and asking: Is this my resistance, limiting beliefs and mindset blocks coming up? Or is this just me actually feeling a bit tired, not wanting to go for a stretch this week, and wanting to allow myself a beautiful rest week?

A little bonus tip here, and what really worked for me, was that I recognised when I started doing fast money targets very consistently, that in the week I was due to be menstruating, that was not a great time for me to go for a fast money target.

I found that those weeks were a great time for me to be a bit more reflective and connect in with my goals.

Some of the actions that I wanted to take to get out there and start bringing in that money weren't necessarily aligned with where I was at in my cycle.

I learned about that by doing both Flow Freedom and Your Business Your Flow with Stasha Washburn.

If you don't follow Stasha, I highly recommend her. You can also find her on Facebook HERE.

That was definitely incredible for me and was a big part of me learning: Is this tiredness because it's not the right time? Or is this the right time but I'm in resistance because I actually don't want it to work? Or I don't want to try and then fail and have made people see me publicly fail? Is there some other mindset block coming up for me here?

Nowadays, if I'm going to do one of those short term income targets, the first thing that I check is where I'm going to be in my cycle.

I also make sure to check: What is coming up for me right now in terms of the different phases (because we have those four phases that you need to learn more about from Stasha)?

That has been instrumental in me really learning how to ride along with the ebbs and flows of my energy, and tying that into how I schedule myself and whether I'm in stretch mode or contemplation mode in my business as well.

Jodie I hope that I've answered your question.

If you are interested in finding out more about setting and achieving short term income goals, I do actually have a free training.

It's my Fast Money training.

I highly recommend that you go and check that out here: tashcorbin.com/fastmoney

If you've been listening along to this podcast episode and you'd like to ask me a question, make sure you go to tashcorbin.com/question, pop your question in there and I'll make sure to answer it on the podcast and give you a shoutout.

Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast.

As always, make sure to come on over to the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group, share any aha's or questions you have using #podcastaha and the episode number (243) and I'll see you over there.

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

Nov 15, 2020

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/242

In today's episode, I'm going to share with you sales conversations that do NOT feel gross.

I know for a lot of people, they either try to avoid sales conversations or they do sales conversations but they absolutely hate it.

If that is you, I want you to pay attention to this episode. If you LOVE sales conversations, I still want you to read along because I'm going to help you make them even more effective and successful for you.

The number one thing we need to get clear before I jump into improving your sales conversations, is the agreement that sales conversations are absolutely amazing.

They are awesome for you, they are awesome for your ideal clients, and they are awesome for your business.

Sales conversations are brilliant.

Why is it that we avoid sales conversations or don't like them?

In most cases, it's because we don't know how to do sales conversations effectively, or the way that we are doing sales conversations just feels yucky and so therefore we try to avoid them.

Why do I believe sales conversations are amazing?

They create so much connection. You're having a one to one conversation with someone about what they want, what they need, what's getting in their way, and how YOU might be able to help them achieve their goals.

That is a brilliant opportunity for connection.

Therefore it's one of the most high conversion activities you can do in your business, and it gives you really deep insight into what your audience is thinking, feeling and wanting in your area of expertise.

This is such an amazing insight to assist you in getting your messaging clear, in making sure that you are speaking to the right outcomes with your value proposition, in refining and changing up your packages, and looking at your pricing structure - there are so many benefits to doing consistent and regular sales conversations.

Not only that, you get a chance to practise speaking about your work to new and different people, and you get an opportunity to refine your messaging in your broadcast marketing activities because you're keeping up to date with what your audience is wanting and looking for from you.

We resist those marketing and sales conversations because we don't have a way of doing sales conversations that feels great, or we've got some mindset blocks about being salesy, upsetting someone or being pushy or aggressive with them.

That is why I see so many women trying to avoid sales conversations, and instead making sales only via broadcast methods such as sending emails, sending someone to a sales page, jumping straight into doing group programs instead of selling one to one packages, selling via their social media and making offers into Facebook groups. But they never actually have great quality sales conversations with potential leads.

That means that you are missing out on so much juicy insight for your business as well as conversion and growth.

I learned sales conversations the wrong way.

When I first started my business, I had two coaches that I had worked with who taught me how to do sales conversations. Both of them took that sales conversation training straight out of the bro-marketing book - very aggressive, very manipulative types of sales conversations.

Because of the way that I learned sales conversations, I tried to avoid them as well. I absolutely hated doing them.

Not only did I try to avoid them and hate them when I did them, I also experienced physical symptoms when I actually had some sales conversations.

When I was doing sales conversations, I would get what I called The Rash of Despair. I'd have this rash that would creep up out of my cleavage, take over my neck and then envelop my face. Many times people would ending up asking me if I was okay because I had turned bright red, and I would just brush it off saying that it was hot, but really it was because I was so uncomfortable with the process that I was taking people through.

That led to me going through a significant period of time where I didn't really do sales conversations at all, unless I was doing the upsell at the end of a single session with people.

Even then when I did the upsell at the end of the single session, I mostly made sales by people asking me how we could keep working together and me very briefly stating what the next package was and how much it was.

That was it, that was the extent of my sales conversations.

I'm very lucky, however, that about four or five months into the growth of my business, I realised that sales conversations would be so valuable for me in really refining my messaging and copy because I was struggling to understand how to speak about the value proposition of my work in a way that really converted effectively and at scale.

I decided to reconcile my differences that I had with sales conversations, but also learn how to structure them and do them MY way in a way that felt comfortable for me.

At that point, I threw out the sales conversation structure that I had been taught, and instead, I developed a sales conversation structure that felt really good for me.

I also had a little check-in with myself after every single sales conversation by asking myself:

  • How can I improve this?
  • What bits did I miss?
  • What happened?
  • Why did it happen that way?

I developed something that was going to work really well for me and felt really good.

When you're doing a sales conversation or avoiding a sales conversation, I encourage you to tune into how that feels, and why it feels that way.

I want you to really pay attention to that.

You might find that it comes down to one of three S's:

1. Skill

It might be that you just don't have good sales skills. Sales skills are a bit of a non-negotiable when it comes to being an entrepreneur and having your own business, so is this an opportunity for you to improve your skills in doing sales conversations?

2. Structure

Perhaps you don't have a structure that feels like it works effectively for you, that guides you and your ideal client through that process so that it feels like you're ticking the boxes that you need to tick along the way, and you're getting to the point where you're pitching and feeling confident and comfortable doing that. Sometimes it's a structure issue.

3. Shady

Is it just a shady practise that you've been taught, and it's not aligned with your values and you don't want to do it? That is totally cool as well.

I'm going to go through these three S's with you and give you some advice on how to address these depending on what the combination is for you.

1. Skills

There are two ways for you to grow your skills in sales conversations.

1. Learn sales skills from people that you trust, and whose sales processes you love

Many women in the Take Off program are in there because they want to learn how to sell the way that I sell.

The way that I sell really resonated for them, it felt very comfortable and empowering, and that's what they want to learn in their business as well.

Learn some sales skills from people that you trust.

There are lots and lots of sales mentors out there. The number one piece of advice I would give you is before you sign up to learn selling from any of these people, go through their sales process.

If you are signing up to learn sales conversations with someone, I want you to ask them if you can have a quick chat about working together, and see how they make you feel in that sales process.

Tune in to what's coming up for you when you're being sold to.

Sign up for their newsletter and see the way that they treat you when you are a lead in their business.

You might also like to unsubscribe from their newsletter and see how they treat you when you become someone who's not a lead in their business. I have unsubscribed from some things, and I can tell you, the way that some of their unsubscribe options were worded were absolutely manipulative and really gross. That actually helped me make the decision that I didn't want to stay on that person's list and I wasn't going to go back to them because that was really gross and I didn't like it.

Learn sales skills from people that you trust, and go through their sales process.

Listen to their podcast, get onto their mailing list or follow them on social media and see what happens in that process.

Even just sliding into their DM's or sending them an email and seeing how you are treated will tell you a lot about the types of sales strategies that that person employes, and how they're going to teach you to make sales in your business as well.

2. Practise

You build skills by practising.

You aren't going to jump into doing sales conversations and be brilliant at it from the very start. It's going to take some practise, it's going to take some tweaking and refining and also just learning how to find the words that work for you.

Your words are not going to be the same as my words.

The reason for that is because we have different voices, we speak differently, we have different topic areas that we're helping people with and that is actually a good thing. You want to sink into sales conversations that feel like really comfortable conversations for you, therefore, you're going to need to find your words. That comes with practise.

The first S is building your skills.

2. Structure

I'm going to give you a really simple structure to a sales conversation, and I'm going to explain why each of those elements are part of that sales conversation so that you can see how empowering that structure can be.

For me when I'm doing sales conversations, my basic structure is:

1. Connect with the person

When we start the call, I don't just jump right into whether they're going to buy the program or not, I ask them where in the world they are, and for some information on their business. I want to understand a bit about that person and have some form of connection with them. I just keep that nice and brief, and I make sure in that connection that we have a shared understanding of what we're talking about.

So I'll ask them how they are, I'll talk a bit about my day and whatever's been happening for me, and THEN once we've had a little bit of connecting time, I will clarify exactly what we're there to talk about.

I make sure that we confirm that together as well.

Some people can jump into a sales conversation with you and assume they're going to get a free coaching session first, so I want you to be really clear on the structure of what's going to happen in that call.

You can give people some insight into how it's going to unfold so that everyone's on the same page.

2. Qualify

This is where you learn how to ask really good questions.

Qualifying is the process of working out what that person needs and whether that is something you can actually deliver for them.

This is where a lot of sales conversations let you down, especially when you're learning that aggressive sales strategy where you dial up the pain points.

That strategy isn't about understanding whether it's the right fit for people or not, it's about helping the person to see that it IS the right fit for them regardless.

I approach this very differently. I'm on a journey of discovery with the person that I'm speaking to, I'm not on a journey of discovery of how to sell this thing to that person.

When I'm talking about Take Off with someone, I tell them that I'm not going to pressure them into buying it, and that I just want us to work out whether it's the right fit for them or not.

I genuinely want to do that in that sales conversation because I'm not interested in pitching Take Off to people who it's not going to help.

I'm not interested in selling to people who I don't think are a really good fit for it, and who I'm not going to enjoy the process with, they're not going to enjoy the process, I'm not going to help them get the outcome, and they're not going to get the outcome.

If there are any red flags coming up for me, I want to know about them in the sales conversation.

I don't want to just push all of those down and make the sale at any cost.

I think that that's where some of those more masculine, aggressive, pushy sales conversation structures can make it really difficult for us because they do tend to silence the other person and only get them saying yes to you.

That's not how I do these things.

In the qualifying process, I'm asking really good questions about:

  • What that person wants
  • What else they've tried
  • Why they haven't been able to get that before
  • What worked and didn't work for them
  • What they think is going on

I will often also ask people for a bit of information about their business, what their income level is, what works for them, what they've tried in the past and all of those insights into what's going on for them.

This helps me to get a really clear picture of whether this is just going to be the same as what they've done before, whether there's going to be something different here, and also what stage of business they're at so I can accurately diagnose what their challenge is going to be and how they're going to get the most value for money either from working with me or from getting support from someone else.

That qualifying process really does make up the majority of the sales conversation for me.

3. Confirm

Once we've done that and I feel like we're on the same page and that I really understand what's going on for them, I will have a confirmation section of my sales call.

In that confirmation section, I'm just making sure I've understood accurately what they need and that we're both on the same page.

I will say something like, 'Look, it sounds to me like you've got all of the key pieces in terms of you understanding your niche, you know what your message is, you know what it is that you're offering, but you don't know how to bring all of those together to bring in good quality leads and convert them. Would that be accurate?'

I'm just confirming and giving my expert diagnosis of what I can see, to get insight into whether that diagnosis is accurate.

In that confirmation, I also confirm what it is that they're looking for.

I will say something like 'It sounds to me like if you could get a little bit of hand-holding and direction on ..., and a step by step process for ..., that you'd really feel like you'd be able to get that momentum, achieve your income goals and be able to do it in the 20 hours a week that you've got limited to in terms of how long you can work in your business. Does that sound like I've got it right?'

I'm saying these things and I'm confirming these things just to make sure that we are on the same page.

Another thing that I might confirm (and it's usually a 50/50 as to whether I feel like this is necessary or not) is what the timeframe is.

For example, if your client has a deadline that they need to be making $4,000 a month before they go on maternity leave, then I will confirm that timeframe as well to make sure we're on the same page.

If we haven't discussed timeframes in the qualifying section, I make sure that I ask that question about timeframes.

I ask the questions:

  • What are you thinking in terms of how quickly you need to get this up and running?
  • What income level are you looking for and by when?

If I don't have confidence that we're going to be able to do that, I will be really clear about that.

For example, if someone is looking for a really quick growth trajectory without having any ad spend or team members and they're relying completely on organic strategy, I will confirm that with them and then be upfront with them that I don't think I can help them achieve that goal.

In that confirmation section of the sales conversation, we are being really upfront and honest with each other, we're getting on the same page, and I am confirming the value proposition that this person is looking for, and when they're looking for it by.

It's a really important part of the sales conversation.

4. Offer

Then and only then once I have that confirmation, I know that we're on the same page, we've agreed on some kind of timeframe that would be an appropriate goal that I would be comfortable with and that they would be comfortable with, THEN I make the offer.

I usually make the offer through the lens of a recommendation.

My words are, 'Well here's what I would recommend...'

The reason why I make that recommendation is because I have just put all that energy and effort into understanding the person's business, what they're looking for and what they want, if I then say, 'Well, here's my offer', it actually disconnects from what we've just done.

I make it as a recommendation. Sometimes I'm recommending a program, sometimes I'm recommending VIP, and sometimes I'm recommending that they go work with someone else.

I make those recommendations based on my understanding of that person that I've just got from this sales conversation.

That means that when I do make that offer - when I make that recommendation - I'm very confident that it's the right fit for them. This also means that when I ask them how that sounds, I can be confident and quiet and listen to their response without being really attached to them agreeing that that's what they need.

If that recommendation is not the right fit for them, it's not what they are able to afford, it doesn't fit into their timeframes or they don't have the capacity to do that right now, we can talk about that, but at least I've made that recommendation with confidence.

For people who aren't adding structure to their sales conversation, when they do the pitch of what the offer is, they're doing it blind, they haven't done that qualification, they haven't done that confirmation, and so they're just basically saying what their pitch is without really having that shared understanding that the thing they're pitching is going to help them achieve the goal that they want to achieve and address the challenges that they're facing.

Making that offer, asking and being quiet happens only once I've done the qualifying and the confirmation.

I need to be clear and confident that I'm making the right recommendation for that person.

5. Ask

I give them a simple recommendation - I don't go into all the details of all the inclusions and bonuses, I just say what I recommend, why it would be the right fit for them, and what they'll get from it.

Then I ask the question.

Sometimes I will say the price and the investment upfront, sometimes I'll just confirm that they actually want to do it.

I'm constantly checking how everything sounds to them. I go offer, ask, be quiet. Offer, ask, be quiet. Or recommend, ask, be quiet.

If any objections or challenges come up, I will refine as needed.

6. Close

In the close, I tell them what's going to happen from here.

It's a really simple structure - you've got the connection and introductions, qualify, confirm, offer and ask, and then refine and close.

That simple structure has really helped me, and I've built that based on my experience and practise doing sales conversations that feel really comfy for me.

3. Shady

There are often some things that we are told we need to do in sales conversations that make us feel really gross and that is why we're avoiding them.

In terms of shady, I just want to give you a couple of key tips here.

1. No means no

If someone says 'No, I can't afford that right now', that is not an opportunity for you to then convince them of the value proposition.

If they don't see the value proposition in it through the qualifying and the confirmation process, and when you present the investment, they tell you that it's out of reach for them even with a payment plan, then no means no.

That's something that's really important to me.

I always make sure that I respect the no.

I know that for other sales conversation strategies and teachers, they don't teach that, but for me, that's really important.

It's an issue of consent and rape culture, it's an issue of gaslighting and making women unsure of what their decisions are and making them doubt themselves, so for me, it's very important and it is a matter of principles and values that I respect the no.

2. Do NOT dial-up people's fear or pain in the process

I don't use any sort of manipulation in my sales process.

I will never try to manipulate people into buying my program by presenting them with what the negative consequences of not buying my program would be, and using emotional blackmail to get them into it.

It's none of my business, and I just think it's very manipulative.

It doesn't actually add to that process or empower people in that process in any way.

3. No pressure tactics or false scarcity

I don't:

  • Say there's only one spot available when there's more than one spot available
  • Say they have to sign up in the next 24 hours if they want it, if they don't have to sign up in the next 24 hours
  • Apply any pressure

If someone says that they need to talk to their partner and they'll get back to me, I'll tell them that that's no problem and ask when they would like me to follow up with them.

What I do NOT do is judge them.

I will NOT tell them how I thought they were an independent woman who made empowered financial decisions on their own.

I don't in any way, shape or form, create any pressure, make any false scarcity or make people make a decision there and then on the call, because I don't like doing that, therefore, it's another matter of principle and values from me.

4. Does it feel empowering?

Then the final tactic and the final thing to think about when it comes to the shady stuff is to just ask yourself the question: Is this sales conversation empowering for them? And is this sales conversation empowering for me?

If the answer is no to either of those questions then there's something shady going on, and it's a call for you to look into why that doesn't feel like it's empowering, and how you can change that process.

I know that there's a lot in this podcast episode, but I also know how valuable it is to deal with the skills, structure and shadiness that come up in sales conversations.

If this is something that you realise you haven't actually put any time and energy into learning in terms of growing your business and how to get those foundational skills and learn how to do sales in a way that is empowering for your audience, I would love for you to come and check out my free training.

It's called Fast Track Your Startup.

In this training, I cover the core base-level things you want to take care of in terms of skills, structure and strategy.

Make sure you go and check that out at tashcorbin.com/fasttrack.

I hope that you have found this really valuable.

If you've found it valuable or you've got follow up questions or lightbulb moments you'd like to share, make sure you come on over to the Heart-Centred, Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group, use #podcastaha, let me know you've been listening to podcast episode 242 and let's continue the conversation there.

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

Nov 11, 2020

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/241

"It doesn't have to be this hard. Choose the easy way."  – Claire Riley

This episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast is a special Spotlight series interview with the one and only Claire Riley.

In this episode, Claire and I get down to business talking about the joy of consistent and strategic content in your business.

Claire also shares her AMAZING freebie, Batchie Content Planner. You can download this epic planner here: bit.ly/BatchieContentPlanner.

In this episode, Claire and I discuss:

  • What her business is and how she helps female entrepreneurs
  • What people's biggest resistance is when it comes to creating awesome and consistent content
  • The costs of not getting on top of having consistent content
  • How inconsistencies in your content impact your audience's trust in you
  • The key reason why people resist having the structure around their content that would allow them to have that consistency
  • How structure in your content gives you the freedom to be more creative and interactive
  • Claire's advice when it comes to batching content
  • Why outsourcing content distribution in your business can be so valuable
  • How to get the content to do its job (ie. reach, warming your audience up, getting them onto your mailing list, presenting your off, etc.)
  • The first few steps that YOU need to take to get on top of releasing consistent and strategic content

More about Claire's freebie:

It's called Batchie Content Planner. This 90-day blog and social media content planner will help you to plan content that engages, helps and converts.

You can download this FREE quarterly content planner at bit.ly/BatchieContentPlanner.

Make sure you come and share your questions, comments and light-bulb moments over in the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs community using #podcastaha and the episode number (241).

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

Nov 8, 2020

Show notes in full at tashcorbin.com/240

In today's episode, I'm going to talk about why marketing tactics are NOT your biggest challenge in your business, and how to stop playing at the surface.

If you know me, you'll know that I love me some good questions. I love asking questions on social media, in conversations with people and also on my calls in my group program.

I love asking questions because I love understanding how people are identifying what they need to focus on in their business, what their big challenges are and what they want help with, because that helps me to make sure that my content is really relevant and I'm able to support people with the things that they want help with.

When I ask questions about people's biggest challenge with:

  • Growing their business
  • Making sales
  • Social media
  • Scaling

In probably 9/10 responses, people are identifying their marketing tactics as their biggest challenge.

They'll ask me questions about why they aren't able to fill their webinar, whether they should be running a 5-day challenge or a webinar instead, why they're struggling with sales calls and having people saying they can't afford to work with them, not knowing how to price their online call or how to write an offer copy or sales page.

People are saying that their biggest challenge with growing their business is actually part of their marketing tactics.

I would say it is around 9/10 people that I speak to who would identify a marketing tactic as their biggest challenge.

But with all of my experience in the people that I've helped in this online business space, I can tell you hand on heart for most people, that is not actually their biggest challenge.

They are misdiagnosing their challenge as being something to do with their marketing strategy or their marketing tactics, when in actual fact, they've got a foundations issue in their business.

The foundations that I am referring to are your niche, value proposition and messaging, and your offer.

Those things need to be solid before any marketing strategy or tactic is actually going to work.

What do I mean by these foundations?

1. Your niche

Having a very specific, very tangible niche allows you to:

  • Get hyper-specific with your value proposition and messaging
  • Be really clear on those marketing decisions that you're going to need to make when you do decide on marketing to this particular audience
  • Accelerate your growth in your business faster than any other decision

Remember: If you try to speak to everyone, you end up speaking to no one.

The riches are in the niches.

All of these sayings are common and consistent because they're so true.

The broader your messaging needs to be to accommodate for a broad niche, the less likely it is to deeply resonate with your audience.

The broader your niche is, the less specific you are able to get about the tangible, practical day-to-day experiences that let your ideal client know they have a challenge.

When you are talking about your ideal client, if you are using the word 'or', 'slash' or 'and', then chances are you're not being specific enough, and therefore, it doesn't matter how great your ad copy is, if it's not specific and tangible, it's not going to resonate with people.

It doesn't matter how much money you put into ads, if you are trying to get in front of hundreds of thousands of people and your messaging isn't clear because you're not niched enough, then you're going to be wasting money on those ads - you're going to be building an audience that may not actually be ready to buy from you.

We want to make sure that we've got that niche foundation clear, first and foremost.

2. Value proposition and messaging

Once you've got that hyper-specific niche, then you can create deeply resonant messaging, and articulate your value proposition in a way that really resonates with your audience and your ideal clients.

That is what we want our online messaging to do.

Get really clear on your value propositioning and your messaging ecosystem.

Remember: Your message is not one sentence, and your value proposition is not three bullet points.

Your value proposition and messaging are expressed in an ecosystem.

In the Take Off program, we build a messaging onion. That is how we articulate the value proposition and message across the different audiences in your business in a way that deeply resonates with those audiences.

You want to make sure you get that value proposition and messaging really clear as well.

3. Your offer

Do you have something that people are ready, willing and able to buy? Have you proven that by making sales?

I would be making sure that you can actually make a sale of your offers and packages before you apply any marketing tactics or strategies to them.

You can make sales through connected conversations and reaching out to your existing networks before you ever need to use any of those broadcast marketing strategies to get in front of a cold audience.

That means that you are building based on tangible, practical results and things you've proven rather than just your theories alone.

We know that no great business was built on theory.

Once you've got those three foundations really solid and really clear by making sales, it's then that we start to look at your broadcast marketing tactics.

The next thing I would say is that most people go straight to very high-level broadcast strategies - they go straight to the surface level stuff.

They look at long reach Facebook ads or guest posts on other people's Facebook pages or on other people's blog posts.

They're trying to get in front of as big an audience as possible, so they look at reach and the surface level strategies when it comes to marketing.

But if you focus on your conversion-based marketing activities first - your high touch, high conversion marketing and highly connected reach - rather than broadcast reach, you're then proving that your niche, value proposition and offers work for a warm audience.

Then once you've proven that, you can go out and prove it works for a cold audience.

The colder the audience, the more nurturing and warming up you're going to need before you get that conversion.

If you jump straight from making two sales to broadcasting and growing your reach by thousands of people without any nurturing or any way to warm that audience up, you're going to have a lot of reach and very little conversion.

We want to grow your business and your marketing strategy and tactics in a way that doesn't just jump straight to the surface, it builds that proof through making sales and growing your income as you go.

If this sounds like a really novel way of doing business to you and you've never heard me talking about Lean business before or getting that niche right first, I would love for you to come and check out my Nail Your Niche training.

It is available now for you to watch at any time.

You can register for my free Nail Your Niche training so that you can go through that process of making sure:

  1. You've got that very solid, very clear, hyper-specific niche - I give you the five niche decisions that you need to make
  2. How to apply that in your value proposition and messaging, and applying that into your offers so that you can actually start to make sales

If that sounds like it might be a good fit for you, you can find that training here: tashcorbin.com/niche

As always, if you enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to give it a review wherever you listen to the podcast.

Please come on over to the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group and let's continue the conversation there.

If you've got more questions, want to talk about your niche, want to share a lightbulb moment that came up for you in this podcast episode, just use #podcastaha, let me know you've been listening to episode number 240 and we'll continue the conversation over there.

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

Nov 4, 2020

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/239

Today we have a fantastic listener question in relation to growing and converting your podcast audience.

If you've been thinking about having a podcast or you already have one, this is going to be a great episode for you.

Today's listener question comes in from Lilach Saperstein from All About Audiology. You can find out more about her business at allaboutaudiology.com or on Instagram at @allaboutaudiologypodcast.

Lilach'a question is:

"Hi Tash! My podcast has several different listener segments (parents of children with hearing loss, audiologists and related professionals, and students). Episodes include and address different topics, I bring on varied guests, and provide value to all these different kinds of listeners. Do you have any advice on growing the listenership further, and converting listeners to clients? It has been a steady growth and a wonderful journey of connecting with people around the world, primarily on Instagram. For some context, I have 45 episodes with nearly 20,000 total downloads and over 1000 followers on Instagram. Thanks!"

First and foremost, I want to say an epic congratulations for your consistency as well as growing your listenership already with your podcast.

For so many people, their podcast has the first 12 episodes and then it just disappears, so being able to maintain your listenership as well as your consistency with getting your podcast out there is absolutely amazing.

This question really comes down to a matter of two particular issues:

1. Reach - How do you grow the reach of your existing podcast?

2. Conversion - How do you improve the conversion from a listener into a paying client?

I'm going to cover those two issues separately in this Q&A episode.

First, let's talk about reach.

I want to answer this question not just about your specific situation, but also for anyone who has a podcast.

1. Consistency

Being consistent and predictable, and having episodes come out on the same day every single week is a really big driver of listenership of a podcast.

If people can't accurately predict when that podcast episode is going to come out, it can really impact on your listenership.

When you have over 30 days without a new podcast episode, that can mean that some people who have been subscribed will automatically either be unsubscribed or asked if they still want to commit to that subscription. You might then find that your automatic downloads, whenever you release a new podcast to your subscribers, will significantly drop because you've had too much of a gap in those podcast episodes coming out.

I've been through this and I've done it several times in my journey as a podcaster, where I've struggled with that consistency and ended up having to rebuild my listenership which is a really big struggle.

Keep that consistency up if you want to make sure that you're consistently scaling the reach of your podcast.

2. Ensure that as many episodes as possible are relevant to your listeners

This one is probably where you're going to have some struggles when you have a diverse range of listener segments.

Thankfully, you have a consistent topic and that topic can be very interesting and relevant to all of your listener segments if it's handled effectively.

Say you've got some episodes that are specifically targeted towards:

  • Parents of children with hearing loss
  • Audiologists
  • Professionals
  • Students
  • Related professions

If you're separating those episodes out and making those episodes not relevant to the other listeners, more often than not, then that may impact on your reach and your listenership.

We want to make sure as much as possible that your episodes have relevance for all of your audience segments, and where they don't have relevance for other audience segments, that you're really upfront about that early on in the podcast episode so that you're not wasting anyone's time.

That's going to be a really big one.

If someone's subscribed to your podcast or they've stumbled across it and have listened to three or four episodes, but two of them weren't really relevant to them and it took 10 to 15 minutes of listening before they worked out it wasn't relevant to them, then of course, that's going to really hurt in terms of your reach.

People will listen less and less because they haven't found anything that's relevant to them.

Be upfront at the start of the episode about what the topic is, and if it's not necessarily relevant to all audience members, letting them know who it is relevant for can actually be really helpful.

Even though people may not listen to that episode, you have demonstrated that you value their time and they're more likely to move on to other episodes that are relevant to them.

They are some of the core base-level things when it comes to podcasting and increasing your reach of that podcast.

3. Distribution

This is what's going to significantly impact your reach, as well and growing your listenership.

You want to make sure that you take responsibility for distributing your podcast.

It's wonderful that those podcast platforms:

  • Are easily searchable
  • Have suggestions and recommendations that mean you'll get other listeners that are suggested by the platform
  • Make it easy for people to stumble across you
  • Improve the likelihood that people are going to hear all of your episodes if they subscribe (so make sure that encourage people to subscribe when you do podcast episodes)

But you also need to take responsibility for distribution.

Have a think about ways that you can ensure that every episode of your podcast is distributed as far and wide as possible to relevant audiences.

For example, if you do an email newsletter consistently, you want to make sure that you're highlighting certain podcast episodes or the latest podcast episode.

On your social media channels, especially on Instagram, you want to make it easy for people to know that you have a podcast and how they can get to that podcast. Not just saying that you have a podcast generally, but directing them to a specific podcast episode.

When you talk about your podcast episodes, you want to make sure that you're very specific about the value proposition of that podcast episode and who it's for. Being active on Instagram is a great platform for you to make the most of the opportunity that comes with Instagram stories.

Whenever a new episode is available on your podcast, doing Instagram stories to talk about the topic, get people interested in it, and then let them know there's a podcast episode that dives into it further, is going to be really helpful for growing listenership.

Don't forget to use old episodes in this same way.

If you've got a particular episode that's done very well, make sure that you put it in your social media schedule to consistently bring people back to it because clearly it's something that people have found valuable.

Take responsibility for distribution and re-distribution of podcast episodes because you will see that improves not only your listenership, but also your subscriber rates really quickly.

Other things to remember:

  • You can also use things like having guests (which you already do), as well as guesting on other people's platforms as a way to grow your listenership with relevant audiences.
  • You've got ads that you can use as well - using engagement ads on posts where you're talking about your podcast episodes or using conversion ads where you have podcast episodes that have show notes with a freebie that people can sign up to. There are some really fun ways that you can use ads to expand your listenership, especially if you're using lookalike audiences or your warmest audiences on social media.

They are some ways that you can grow the reach of your podcast.

What I would suggest is to not try 12 things all at once.

Just pick one strategy that you're going to focus on, give it three to four weeks, see how it goes in terms of improving your regular download rates for your episodes, and then decide if you're going to keep doing that, or if you're going to let go of it and try something else.

If you decide to keep it, systemise that and get it working at scale before you start bringing in other strategies.

Too often I see people with podcasts who try a distribution strategy and it works, so then they add another distribution strategy which also works, so then they add another one and so on...

But they've never really systemised, outsourced, or scaled that startegy, so what ends up happening is every time they have a podcast episode to release, they end up needing to do 8 to 12 hours of time in actually doing all that distribution, and that's not scalable for you.

We want to make sure that we do it at scale in a systemised way.

Let's now talk about conversion.

1. Tell people how to take that next step

Too often, I listen to podcast episodes where it's a really fascinating subject and I absolutely love it, but then the call to action is just to go and check out a random freebies page (or there's no call to action whatsoever).

There's no information on how I can find out more or discuss that with you if this is something I want to work on, or even a way to know how I might be able to work with you.

Make sure on your podcast episodes that you have a clear call to action for anyone who's listening along, finds it fascinating and wants to know how they can dive in further.

2. Make sure you're using your podcast to grow and nurture your email list consistently

For most people, the conversion doesn't come straight from podcasts into paying you - although that is something that can happen, so make sure you give people that option. Generally, it's going to be a conversion from podcast onto your mailing list, mailing list into a lead magnet, and lead magnet into buying something from you.

For my Take Off program for example, I know what the most common journey from podcast to Take Off is. Let's say I do a podcast episode on niching, and then I'll have my Nail Your Niche freebie as the call to action on that podcast. They'll jump into that Nail Your Niche freebie, go through the email sequence - nurturing and getting my regular newsletters - and then when I launch the Take Off program the next time, they'll jump into the webinar or the challenge for that launch, and then they'll convert there in a live lead magnet for a that particular launch.

You want to make sure that you are growing that email list, and you're consistently nurturing them. Then you can let your email list know how they can dive deeper with you, work with you, or jump into a launch if you've got a product or service that you are launching.

The other thing I want to quickly touch on here in relation to conversion is the audience belief system that we have that if we can just get our stuff in front of a bigger audience, then it will automatically mean that we are going to get better results and sales in our business.

That's actually not accurate.

How many people (I've definitely had this thought) reading along have had the thought that if you could just get one podcast episode to go viral and have 200,000 people listen to it, then everything will be okay and your business will grow and you'll definitely make sales? Or if only you could just get that one post on social media to be shared by someone famous, then everything would be okay?

Often, when that huge leap in audience does happen, it doesn't translate into more sales, because you haven't identified and taken responsibility for your customer journey - not just through the process of hearing about you and then buying from you in one jump, but also through that nurturing process.

Have you got a really clear nurturing process that people go through that you know works to convert people into paying clients with you? And if you don't, that is something we want to be prioritising so that we can take care of that and make sure the podcast is doing its job.

At the end of the day, the job of your podcast is to grow your reach and audience, but also bring them in on that customer journey.

Thank you so much for this question Lilach, I hope that you have found my answer helpful.

As I said earlier, I didn't give you all of these strategies to go and try all of them at once.

I would recommend looking at:

  • What is one way that you can grow your reach?
  • What is one way that you can grow your conversion?

Focus on those for a consistent period of time and see how they work, and then make a decision about whether you want to stop it or continue it, and whether you're going to bring other strategies into play.

The final note that I want to say about any podcast or any type of strategy in terms of whether it's going to work and whether it's going to reach the right people and convert them into clients, is to make sure that you are really clear on your niche, your value proposition and messaging, and your offer.

Those are the foundations when it comes to any kind of business and marketing strategy.

Very often we can get caught up in how we can get better reach, thinking that that is what is going to grow our business and get those results.

You need to have confidence and clarity on these three core foundations:

  • Niche
  • Value proposition for people and the messaging that expresses that value proposition
  • Offer that you know your audience really loves and that they get the outcome they're looking for from

If you don't, then all of the surface level activities that you do in order to grow your audience, grow the reach of your podcasts and get more listeners, is not necessarily going to result in business growth.

We just want to make sure we've got all of those foundations clear.

If that is something you would like to work on - getting that niche, the value proposition and your offer clear - I'd love to also 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 look at those foundations of your business and just make sure that you're very clear on, for you Lilach, each niche that you're focusing on, what the value proposition is for them, and then what the offer is that that person is actually looking for and how you express and articulate that in a way that has them saying, 'Yes! That's exactly what I need, how do I sign up?'

If you want to check that out, you can find it here: tashcorbin.com/niche

If you have found this episode of the podcast particularly helpful and you'd like to continue the conversation, come on over to the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group, use #podcastaha and let me know you've been listening along to episode number 239.

I'd love to hear from you if you are a podcaster or you've been thinking about podcasting:

  1. Which area are you going to be focusing on more consistently - rates or conversion?
  2. What strategy are you going to be trying out?
  3. What are any follow-up questions or lightbulb moments you'd like to share?

Do you have a question you'd like me to answer here on the podcast? Go to tashcorbin.com/question, pop your question in there and I will answer your question as well as give you a shoutout and a link back to your channels.

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

Nov 1, 2020

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/238

This is not really a marketing topic per se, but running a group of 33,000 women online, I see some things, and this is a conversation that I'd love for us to continue over in the Heart-Centred Soul Driven Entrepreneurs group. It is a pattern and trend that I see happening in lots of different ways and I wanted us to open up this conversation.

The conversation is about dripping with disdain.

A big shout out to Vampire Weekend and their song Oxford Comma for that gorgeous description - dripping with disdain. It's such a powerful and emotive phrase, and I just love it. It's three words put together so perfectly.

Dripping with disdain can be about your industry or your audience, and I thought that this particular podcast episode could be about how by shining a light on some of that disdain that we might have for our industry or our audience, we can start to detox ourselves from the judgement that we might feel towards others.

Let's jump into this episode, it's going to be a bit of a meandering conversation, but I've got eight really powerful examples for you where it might be so helpful to shine a light on where this behaviour - even if it's not outwardly facing, it's just inward thoughts - can show up and how it is actually stopping you from growth in your business.

As you might have picked up from my introduction to this episode, it's not necessarily about fixing something so that your business will grow, or doing a certain thing so that you can get more clients. I do think it's really important for us to pay attention to our thoughts and feelings, especially as they relate to our industry, our audience and potential clients.

For me, that's where the biggest personal development and growth journeys have happened. I know for myself, there are still areas where I can have some pop-up thoughts that aren't necessarily helpful, but I don't ignore them, I pay attention to them.

They show me where I need to be changing my behaviour, showing up more authentically, or sometimes it's highlighting something in my industry or something for my audience that I need to step up, talk about and change.

By ignoring those things, I end up keeping myself small, or just judging quietly and not necessarily having the conversation.

Whereas if I bring those things to the fore, I can address them.

I'm going to start with my points about industry, and then I'm going to talk about audience.

Here are some examples of places, and conversations that I've heard, where people have disdain for their industry.

1. "This entire online business world is a giant pyramid scheme"

Have you:

  • Heard it?
  • Thought it?
  • Said it out loud?
  • Talked about that as a worry with your coach or mentor?

I know that this conversation pops up again and again in the Heart-Centred community and in the Take Off program, and I totally understand where it's coming from, and that some of those concerns that people have are very valid.

I know of coaches who charge $15,000 to teach people how to charge $15,000 to teach people how to charge $15,000...

That is totally a model of business that I've seen.

Has there been any material training or development or mentoring in actually changing people's lives for that $15,000? Or is it just finding more people to charge $15,000 to learn how to charge $15,000? Who knows...

I understand that we can see some of these examples and feel quite judgmental about how that's what the whole industry is in a nutshell and that we're not doing anything different (I've had someone say that to me in a VIP call).

I totally understand why it can be a frustration and a fear.

If it is a giant pyramid scheme, we just can't see it and we're contributing to it, then aren't we culpable in this entire scheme and shouldn't we opt out of it?

The first thing I want to say to that is: It's not all of the industry.

I have worked with so many amazing people who have completely changed my life, not just in the way that I grow my business, but also in the way that I serve my clients and in my life outside of my business.

I absolutely love and adore the training, support and development that I have received from most of the people that I've worked with.

A great way to unhook yourself from this thought, if it's something that keeps popping up for you, is to:

a. Realise that it's not all of it.

b. Look at the ways where you have been helped outside of the way that you make money.

Are there things that you have learned? Are there changes that you have made? Do you show up differently as a result of being in this industry, and therefore, could that change be something beyond being part of the cycle of paying a certain amount to charge a certain amount to teach how to charge that amount?

c. See this as an opportunity.

I know for myself that when people want to work with me, they are working with me because they see that I am not just in that pyramid-type model. They see that a lot of my clients don't teach people how to make money. My clients teach people how to look after their health and wellbeing, how to dial up their intuition, how to fengshui their home to improve their relationships, or how to attract their soulmate.

One of the big things for me when I am working with a mentor or coach is to look at whether their clients do exactly what they do, or if their clients work and impact people's lives in other ways.

There is an opportunity for you to differentiate yourself, simply by the fact that you're not part of that pyramid scheme. You can express your value proposition beyond teaching people exactly what you learned about how to sell something that doesn't actually change people's lives.

You can absolutely opt-out of that.

Whenever I am feeling that it's a giant pyramid scheme and I am judging people for it, in most cases, what it's doing is highlighting for me my fear that maybe I'm in that.

It is just this beautiful reminder to me that I need to be conscious of how I show up online, I need to be conscious of the contribution I'm making to the world, and I want to be 100% confident that my business isn't contributing to a giant pyramid scheme. I ask myself what I need to change, adjust or focus on in order for that to be true.

That's how I deal with it.

2. "The leaders of my industry are horrid"

This one has particularly come up a lot this year with Black Lives Matter, white privilege, a lot of justification of white privilege, white fragility, and all of those things that have really come to the fore, particularly this year, and seeing industry leaders topple.

I've seen many people who I would have seen as leaders in my industry have a very hard and fast fall because they were unwilling to stop, listen, do the self-reflection, pay attention and acknowledge their own internalised racism, systemic racism, white privilege, and white supremacy. It could be very easy to look at those leaders and think about how they are horrible, or they didn't deal with it so you should opt-out altogether.

I think that that's a really big mistake.

What I have also seen, especially this year, is the lifting of amazing voices and the demand at the client level for this to be addressed. People are voting with their wallets.

I have been able to hear from and see so many more amazing black women who run brilliant multimillion-dollar businesses.

I have moved from working with someone who had some problematic responses to Black Lives Matter, and I immediately cancelled my membership in their program and went and joined a different one.

A great example of this and a different way to look at it would if you wanted to sell swimwear and be in the swimwear industry.

The leading brands in your industry do not:

  • Include body diverse models
  • Include racially diverse people
  • Have inclusive sizing, styling or inclusive anything

The leaders in the swimwear industry have mostly white, mostly skinny, mostly very tanned and problematic-from-a-sun-safe-perspective models. So you wanted to sell swimwear, but looking at the leaders in your industry, it would be easy to think that to succeed in that industry you have to do that, and you're not willing to so instead you're going to opt-out.

But that's not actually the case.

You wouldn't opt-out of that industry, you would stand up for what you want to see in that industry and you would have that inclusivity and that diversity as part of your business model.

That would be a point of difference for you, and that would ultimately end up being an advantage for you. Especially as more and more people are no longer willing to tolerate silence on:

  • Black Lives Matter
  • White supremacy
  • White fragility
  • Racism

It's not just in that one space, it's in many, many spaces.

I myself saw that all of the leaders that I could see in my industry were talking about the 4am club. They were talking about hustling, wanting it harder and dialling up people's pain and fear in the sales process, because 'you can totally fix them later when they buy from you'.

I didn't want to do any of that.

But if I had completely opted out of the entire industry because the people that I saw who were leading in that industry had problematic behaviours and beliefs that I didn't agree with, then all of the thousands of women that I've now supported to grow their businesses and market in a way that is completely aligned with their values and doesn't cause the triggering of trauma or dialling up people's pain points in the sales process, all of those thousands of women would have missed out and they'd probably be following the industry leaders and feeling the same as I did seven years ago.

When it comes to looking at your industry, notice where you're feeling that disdain for the leadership, and judgement of the way that other people are behaving. Instead of just expressing that disdain and judgement and doing nothing about it, turn it into something that's actually helpful and useful for your audience.

You will notice that when I talk about the problematic behaviours in terms of sales processes in my business, I don't just throw out disdain and judgement. I instead break it down to 'This specific strategy is not aligned with my values because of this, and this is what it does to people. I'm not willing to do that. So if you aren't willing to do that either, here's what I do. You might like to try to do this way as well'.

I'm not just throwing out criticism and judgement of the leaders in my industry, I am instead focusing on:

  • What behaviours specifically am I not happy with?
  • Why am I not happy with them?
  • What am I doing instead?
  • How could you do that too?

Instead of throwing out the judgement, I'm actually being part of the solution.

You have the opportunity to do that as well.

3. Copycats

I've had many conversations, in particular in the last couple of months, where people are saying that they're not going to put anything out online anymore because every time they do, a couple of days later they see someone else putting the same thing up. They don't think it's fair that someone else is having free content written for them so they just won't create any anymore.

I had someone who I was talking to who had created a program that they'd given a specific name to, and then someone else who they saw as a peer came out with an unbuilt program that she started selling with the exact same name - she'd clearly just copied the name and wanted to get in with it first.

There's a lot of that.

On a Facebook Live earlier this year, I talked about a particular product that I was thinking about doing and a URL that I was thinking about buying, and three days after that, someone else bought that URL and put it instantly up for sale for $5,000.

The URL was something very specific to something that I talked about very clearly. It seems like it could be very likely that someone watched that video and went and bought that domain name, but does that mean I'm not going to do anything? Does that mean I just give up and that the entire industry is full of copycats?

What are you focusing on?

Where are you putting your attention if you're constantly looking to find who is copying you?

What I ended up doing was just completely moving in a different direction with a different name for the same concept.

I felt like it ended up being better anyway, so it's no drama.

I could spend my time and attention getting really upset and angry about that, or I could spend my time and attention on building this program.

You can spend your time and attention looking for people who have copied you, or you can block those people and get on with your life. You can accept that there's a lot of coincidence and we all kind of end up sounding the same when we're talking to the same audiences, or you can just focus on your audience instead of focusing on your peers.

I also think whenever the copycat issue comes up, the judgement stuff comes out huge.

It feels as though it's an affront to you, it's an insult, and you make it mean so many different things.

At the end of the day, I have so much compassion for someone who feels that they need to copy my things and my work, because to me it says that that person is really low in self-esteem, and is really struggling to feel confident in their own content, in coming up with their own concepts and in coming up with their own way of talking about things.

If they're constantly resharing or modelling my work in their work, then sure it's not necessarily an insult and it's very flattering, but also it says more about that person than it does about me.

If I put all my energy and attention on stopping that person, what is the opportunity cost of that?

I don't judge someone who copies me, and I don't judge someone who copies someone else.

I understand what it feels like to feel like you desperately need to create something and you have no idea what to say, and how stuck that can feel. If the thing that gets that person unstuck is regurgitating something that you've done, then power to them, let's all help each other. A rising tide lifts all ships.

When you live in a world where you see that resources are finite, clients are finite, and success is finite, it can be really easy to be upset by that.

I'm not saying that you should let everyone copy everyone and that we should all just all regurgitate the same information. There are legal protections, there are ways that you can address it, but at the end of the day, is it even worth doing some of those things?

I had a conversation with someone who said that she has a girl who follows her, who likes every one of her posts, and then a few days later she does a very similar post on her own page.

And I just said to block her. If something upsets you that much, all you need to do is block that person.

But this person didn't want to block her, and every practical solution that I gave her, she made excuses for why she didn't want to that.

Eventually I just got to the point where I told her that the other option is to stop focusing on this copycat and stop checking whether they're copying her.

I think sometimes we prefer to stay in the space of feeling superior or feeling like we're better than someone than actually addressing the challenge that we think we're facing.

That's all I'll say on that one for now, but I do have a whole episode about copycats that you can find here: tashcorbin.com/185-how-to-deal-with-copycats

4. "The internet's already too noisy and I'm just contributing to this noise"

I think this one can be particularly difficult for people who are new to social media or who struggle with social media.

They say that they don't want to be a part of the noise.

To that I would say, yes, everyone is trying to share their content. We all want to speak to our audiences, but at the end of the day, your audience is going to resonate with your message.

Just because you might feel like it's a busy space to be speaking into, doesn't mean that people aren't sitting there waiting to hear from you.

I know for myself, there have been several times where I felt like no one was talking about the thing I needed people to be talking about on social media. Even when I googled it, I couldn't find anything. Then when I finally found someone who was having that conversation, I was so excited because I really wanted to learn that stuff.

The noise of the internet didn't get in the way, it was just that no one was having that conversation as far as I could find.

I understand the fear that you're just contributing to the noise of the internet, but think about your content and your posts as an oasis for your ideal client.

You don't need to participate in trying to yell over each other.

I've got a great example, of when I went to this amazing market over the weekend and there were all of these stalls (it's been a bit quiet on the market's front because of COVID).

I love just browsing when I go to markets, and I don't need to have conversations with every single person. But in this row of market stalls, many of the stallholders were standing in front of their market stall, and as I walked through this section, I was assaulted by noise and people talking at me trying to get me to come to their stall.

There was this beautiful lady who would have been at least in her sixties, and she had these beautiful handcrafted beads, buttons, jewellery and decorative things, and she was just sitting there quietly behind her stall, and I just naturally made a beeline to her stall.

I didn't want to deal with the noise, so I was so drawn to her.

I was looking at her things while she just sat there quietly and eventually we started talking about why she started creating these things, and we had this amazing conversation. And she wasn't loud.

You don't need to yell over everyone else to be successful online.

You can just be this beautiful oasis of really useful information for your audience - you can be an oasis of calm confidence.

It was the calmly and quietly confident people at that market that I spent the most time engaged with because I didn't want to be yelled at by mostly dudes. I didn't want to know that his beef jerky was the best beef jerky in all of Southland, I didn't need to know how many different flavours of bath bombs that other guy had. Honestly, I didn't need them yelling at me. It was the quiet, calm, confident stallholders that didn't need to get out and pitch to me in desperation that I was really drawn to.

You can show up on the internet in that way as well, but you still need to show up.

Instead of being worried or judgmental about everyone yelling over everyone and the internet being really noisy, work out how you can show up in a way that reflects what you want to show up as, how you want to be seen, and how you want to contribute to what's on the internet.

You don't have to contribute noise, you can contribute calm.

They are the four big judgments I see of the industries that we might belong to.

1. It's a pyramid scheme

2. Leadership

3. Copycats

4. The internet's already too noisy

The other side of this conversation is where I see disdain for people's audience...

1. Getting frustrated with your audience and missing opportunities

This one I really don't get, but I see it come up often.

I have an example from the Heart-Centred community, and this was many, many moons ago. I don't want to get into who it was or anything like that, but it was such a great example for me of not seeing the opportunity with your audience.

Every three or four months, I used to do a post on in the Heart-Centred group asking people what their astrology sign was and what their favourite thing was about being that sign.

There was someone who was a very experienced astrologer who saw this post as being particularly problematic.

There was one time where 700 people had commented on this post, and all the Leo's were teaming up with each other and bonding over being the same sign and sharing what they love about it. All these people were having these amazing conversations - it was one of the most beautiful posts that I've ever done in the group.

One time it really took off and there were all of these comments, and this very experienced astrologer saw people making assumptions about their sign or talking about their astrology in ways that she, as an experienced astrologer for multiple decades, could see were wrong.

Not only did she comment on the post saying that the post was a complete sham, a waste of time, no one knew what they were talking about and that I had posed the question wrong, she also reached out to me and told me to take the post down because it was so problematic and people shouldn't be talking about their astrological signs if they weren't actually informed about what it meant.

Then she went and replied to the comments of people who had talked about their sign and she told them why they were wrong.

Some astrologers had put comments up saying that if someone didn't know what their sign was about then they would happily explain it to them. We had some astrologers adding extra things and adding statements - the astrologers were having a field day and everyone was having a great conversation. I loved it.

Then this person went through and commented and told everyone why they were wrong.

You could choose to see that this conversation about astrology was an affront - which is how she chose to see it - or you could see that this conversation about astrology was an opportunity.

The only difference as to whether you see it as an affront or whether you see it as an opportunity is your perspective.

Your perspective is the only difference.

Not only did I not take that post down (because I loved the conversation that was happening), but whenever that post came up again as a suggestion in my content planning for the group, I haven't done it. I haven't put that post up there the last three times it was suggested.

If this person had seen it as an opportunity and engaged in a really beautiful way without the disdain and without the judgement for their audience (because 90% of people on that post were their ideal client - they were semi-informed about astrology but loved talking about it), then that would have been an amazing opportunity.

Instead of seeing it as an opportunity, they saw it as an affront, shut the conversation down, upset a lot of people in the comments, and now hasn't had the opportunity for that conversation to be reinvigorated in the group since.

That person could have simply seen it as an opportunity, given some clarification about how there's more to it than that and that if anyone wanted to know what it meant for them and their busines, she would love for them to get in touch.

Instead of doing that she just chose to treat the audience with disdain, contempt and judgement.

It is such a shame that that was a missed opportunity.

I know that this is a really extreme example, but I see it pop up all the time, where someone asks a question and they're basically screaming at you that they are your ideal client because they don't quite understand how to ask the question properly, and instead of being met with love and compassion and understanding, they are met with judgement and disdain, and completely put off the whole idea.

This happened to me many years ago when I joined a vegan group. I asked a few questions about veganism, and I was basically told that by asking that question, I was telling them that I'm not a proper vegan and so they wanted me to go away. They didn't say it in a nice tone at all, and it was so bizarre to me because it was full of vegan entrepreneurs who could have helped me with understanding some things about veganism.

Instead I got completely pooped on in asking that question.

I see this come up over and over again, people judging and having disdain for their audience asking questions that indicate they're probably ripe to have a conversation with you about this. They might actually either be really ready to work with you, or just before the tipping point of being ready to work with you.

I just wanted to bring that one up because I think that it can be easiest for us to jump to conclusions about why someone's asked a question or what they're saying or why they're saying it.

But at the end of the day, are you looking at that audience conversation as an affront or as an opportunity?

2. "My audience will waste money on A, B and C when all they need is just a few sessions with me"

There are so many people complaining that their ideal clients won't invest in sessions with them but they will happily throw money down the toilet for the outcome from someone else.

It is so interesting to me that that is met with frustration, because that says to you all that you need to know for your messaging and marketing.

There is something about the other thing that makes it look like it's the right answer for those people. They're willing to invest in that, and when you share your product or service which you think solves the problem even better, they don't buy it.

That's a messaging issue. The key to resolving that messaging issue is in paying attention to and getting curious about where people are investing their money instead.

If you are getting frustrated or judgmental of your audience because they're spending money in the wrong spaces, again, instead of seeing that as insulting, see it as an opportunity for you to really nail your value proposition and address the messaging issue that means they're putting their money into something else other than the work that you are offering.

3. "How dare they"

This one's a really interesting one because I see it pop up in a range of different ways.

I had a friend in a mastermind who ran a free challenge. There were all these people in her pop up group for her free challenge, and when the challenge finished, people were saying that since the group was closing, they should all make their own group and continue to support and help each other.

This person was like "How very dare they".

"How dare they think that they can go off and work on this without me when I have put all of my time and energy into doing this with them in this free challenge. If they wanted extra support and community, they could just buy my program and they would get everything that they need. But instead, they're going to go off and create their own splinter cell of people working on this together for free. How dare they."

It pops up with people who are working with someone, talking to each other, and forming networks with each other.

I actually did a program once where we weren't allowed to talk to the other participants, and when a couple of people got busted who knew each other outside of the work that they've done together, it was like a "how dare you" and they got booted out.

Again, that judgement or that disdain for them was an opportunity. Clearly people want to keep working with each other, and they want to keep talking to each other. They want to keep working on this thing, they feel like there's more for them to do but the group program or whatever is on offer is not the thing for them - they want something else.

People are allowed to get their needs met.

It's totally okay if you want to set the boundaries and say that there can't be any splinter groups - that's your group, your rules, your program, your rules, your business, your rules - but don't judge people simply because they want to keep having that conversation.

If you can facilitate that conversation and keep them in your community to have that conversation then great. But if you're not interested in facilitating that conversation, then they're going to go and have that conversation elsewhere. That's totally legit of them to want to do that.

That's a really interesting one, and for me, it always creates this sense of asking myself how I can meet those needs without changing my boundaries.

There's always a creative solution that I can find.

If you find yourself feeling like "how dare they" about your audience or your clients as well, just pay attention to that one.

4. "If they can't see what they're doing then that's their fault"

"If they can't see how valuable my work is, then I'm not there for them." Or "If they can't prioritise investing in working with me, then I'm not interested in working with them, I don't want to help these people."

I see this particularly in sales conversations:

"If they're not a quick decision maker and they're not willing to pay even the deposit straight away, then I don't want to work with them because they're not a quick decision maker."

"If they aren't willing to invest $6,000 in my program without talking to their partner, then they're not the kind of person that I want to work with because they're not independent."

To this I always say that you just don't know what's going on for other people. How can you know? And is that really how you want to show up in the world?

I don't see this as much in the Heart-Centred community, but I do see this in the online business world and particularly in places where those hardcore pressure sales tactics are used.

"I don't even want them to be in my audience". This one I see a lot with email marketing, "If they're not willing to put up with 17 emails for me in a week when I'm launching something, then they can just F right off" - I see that a lot.

I think that this is a really big one in just paying attention to where you are shirking your responsibility in the process.

If someone doesn't want to receive 17 emails from you in a week and that makes them want to unsubscribe from your list, is it actually a they-have-to-put-up-with-it-or-else kind of scenario?

Someone that I see who does this really well is Denise Duffield-Thomas when she's doing an affiliate launch for a particular program. At the start of that affiliate launch, and in every other email that she sends about that affiliate launch, there's an option of unsubscribing from that launch if they don't want to hear about that program.

That's a really beautiful thing to be able to do without telling someone that they have to receive 17 emails about a launch or else they can just go away and that it's their problem.

It's almost like a combative approach to email marketing and a combative approach to business.

For your audience as well, sometimes they can't see the value of what you are offering. It's not their job to find it - it is not their job to go on a treasure hunt and try and work out whether your product is the right fit for them or not.

You have a shared responsibility.

They need to show up and read some emails, or they need to show up and watch some videos, but you also need to make sure you're taking responsibility for providing enough information in that process that they can make that decision without having to jump through a bunch of hoops in order to find the information that they need.

Similarly, with the if-they-can't-decide-in-24-hours type thing, you don't know what other people are going through.

Even I don't invest in things more than $500 without talking about it with David. The reason why I do that is because we are saving for a house right now, and we have some big priorities for our money. We have some really big financial goals that we're going for.

The process of talking it out with him is really helpful for me as an extrovert, to get really clear on:

  • What is it that I'm looking for?
  • What is the outcome that I think I'll get from it?
  • Will I actually put the time and energy in to get that result from it?

It's really helpful to me to have that conversation.

I also know I'm very susceptible to NLP in the sales process, and all of the trickery and tactics that make me end up having really big buyer's remorse, so I have a rule with myself that if I'm going to invest in anything in my business, I have to sleep on it for 48 hours.

That's just the rule.

To say, "Well I don't care if you have that rule, if you don't buy from me immediately, then you're not my kind of person", that is dripping with disdain. It's full of judgement.

You don't know what is going on for that other person.

Just because they have a different process of assessing whether something is the right fit for them, doesn't mean that they don't deserve to be helped.

That's a really big one for me. I think that in the online business world, there can be a tendency to be very dismissive of people who aren't excited and quick to jump in and willing to take everything that you say at face value and immediately trusting of you.

To me, that's actually a really great quality that I love in my audience.

I love that people take time to consider whether they're going to work with me. I love that people want to talk about it with their partners first because they're going to go fully into it if they do join. And I love giving people time and space to sleep on it, because I love getting time and space to sleep on it myself.

That's one where I've seen a tendency for this judgement and this disdain to creep in. If that's coming up for you, it's something to consider.

They are the four big judgments that I see of our audience.

1. Getting frustrated with your audience and missing opportunities

2. "My audience will waste money on A, B and C when all they need is just a few sessions with me"

3. "How dare they"

4. "If they can't see what they're doing then that's their fault"

With all of these things that we've talked about in this very long episode of the podcast (and thank you for sticking with me if you're still here), my goal is not to tell you not to feel them, think them or say them (some of them please don't say), but that's not the goal of this podcast episode.

For me, the biggest shifts that happen are when I pay attention to my thoughts, and I pay attention to the way that I'm contributing to the conversation in my industry.

I wanted to do this episode through that lens.

Think about all of these things we've talked about today:

  • Your judgments about your industry
  • The disdain that you might have for parts of your industry or certain aspects of how your industry behaves
  • Your disdain and judgement for your clients, potential clients, your audience, people who decide not to buy from you, and people who decide that they're going to look for support in other ways than the way that you have prescribed

When you pay attention to how you think about these things and your contribution to your industry in this space and to the conversations about these things, that can shine a light on why we feel this way.

We get to make a conscious decision about whether we want to continue thinking that way, whether we want to continue behaving that way, and whether we want to continue showing up and contributing to the conversation in that way.

In summary, I hope that you have found this interesting and insightful.

I hope that you found it valuable, and as I said at the start of the episode, I want this to be a conversation.

Please come on over to the Heart-Centred, Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group, use #podcastaha, and tell me that you've been reading episode number 238.

I'd love to know:

  • Where have you felt that you are dripping with disdain?
  • Is it about your audience?
  • Is it about your industry? I
  • Do you have some judgement you want to detox from the way that you show up online, or the way that you feel about your business, your industry or your audience?

I would love for this to be a group conversation because I think there's so much that we can learn from these experiences, as well as so much that we can change about what we see online that we don't agree with.

I know that the Heart-Centred community is a beautiful incubator of new types of thinking for online business. It is a community with new ways of showing up much more feminine, connected, vulnerable, open, and implementing integrity-driven practises in the online business world.

I am so grateful that I get to be part of that conversation - not just lead it but also learn from it.

Come on over to Heart-Centred group and let's continue the conversation.

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

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