Welcome to week two of our "Best Of" series!   This is a series we do at the end of every year to showcase our best episodes covering topics that matter to you most!   Today, we are diving into all things Content + Growth Strategies. This is a great episode to listen to if you want all the best brand strategies and techniques ever shared on this podcast, all in one place!   If you're a leader who is ready to grow your impact and leverage relationships in a whole new way in 2022, we'd love for you to check out SHINE Mastermind. Invitations are only open for a limited time and will close on Jan 31st, 2022.   If you're ready for more brand recognition, greater influence, and opportunities to leverage your abilities on a global scale, apply today. juliesolomon.net/shine
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2021: Best of Content + Growth Strategies

Hi, I’m Julie Solomon, best-selling author of Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable, brand and business coach, and host of The Influencer Podcast! I help you take your inner star quality and crack it open to help you spread and share your message with the world. And this is what I have dedicated my entire career to helping leaders and creators like you tap into their next levels of visibility and impact, so you can be the leader you were born to be. If you're looking for inspiration and actionable advice delivered directly to your earbuds, then get ready for coaching, insights, and transformations to enrich your personal brand and grow your business. Discover why people all over the world have called this podcast their go-to for all things influence, impact, and next level visibility for more than 6 years!

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In today’s very special episode I’m sharing the power of specialization and finding your niche. As we celebrate our podcast’s seventh anniversary, we're not only reflecting on our journey but also on how you can refine your business's focus to make a meaningful impact and increase revenue along your journey.

I'll share the importance of having a clear, valuable offer and aligning it with your audience's desires. I'll talk about the process of crafting this offer, identifying your ideal buyer, and evaluating your sales strategy. Plus, I'll touch on the common challenges many face when selling—like fear, rejection, and worthiness issues—and I'll offer actionable steps to overcome these barriers.

Whether you're struggling with mindset, feeling unworthy, or simply looking for support and accountability, I’ll provide insights on how a community, coaching, and internal transformation can catalyze your growth.

And since it's our anniversary, we’re running an exclusive giveaway! Learn how you can win lifetime access to my program 'Pitch It Perfect' and other incredible prizes simply by engaging with our podcast community.

Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! 

KEY POINTS
00:34 Celebrating the Podcast's Anniversary & Special Giveaway
05:23 Diving Deep into Influence, Building Authority and Strategy
07:12 Solving Common Problems, Niching Down and Specialization
08:06 Introducing the Revenue Growth Lab: A New Support Container
10:19 Specialization vs. Niche: Clarifying the Concepts
14:53 Addressing the 'Meh Offer' Dilemma, Crafting Irresistible Offers
21:40 Overcoming Sales Hurdles, Selling with Ease
27:37 Tackling Imposter Syndrome and Self-Doubt

QUOTABLES:
“Specialized businesses or industries or brands focus on a specific expertise or skill set, like, say, a unique product or service that demands a technical know-how, that is what specialization means. However, niche is different. Niche actually targets a subset of a broader market with distinct customer needs."
— Julie
“It's not just about having an amazing offer. It's about having someone in your world who truly wants what it is that you're selling them and they're willing to invest in it."
— Julie
"It's not about forcing someone to buy something that they don't want or need. Because selling at its core is relationship based. And that's why when we're just selling all the time, we don't even realize that we're selling. Because it is service based. It is relationship based. When we come from that lens, it's about genuinely helping people solve a problem or achieve a goal."
— Julie
"Are you reaching your ideal buyers effectively? Do you have the right funnels and automations and processes and systems set up to do this in a way where you can actually access your sales approach to ensure that it's consistently bringing money in for you and that it also aligns with your offer and your target audience, which maximizes the chances of your success."
— Julie 

RESOURCES:
[WORK WITH ME?] I am creating a new done with you / for you offer to help you strategize and build out your offers for revenue growth! If you’ve been in business for a bit and you’re ready to grow your revenue and brand authority, I’d love for you to take 5 minutes to fill out this form so I can tweak my new experience to meet your needs. And, if it looks like our upcoming case study cohort would be a fit, I’ll have my team reach out to you! 

[FREE] Want the step-by-step roadmap to grow your following, monetize your content, and land paid brand deals? Click here to join my brand new free class! This is perfect for you if you want to turn your social media into a profitable & fun career… even if you’re starting from scratch!

[ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence.

Follow Julie on Instagram!
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How to Claim Niche Authority & Build Your Success

Hello friends! Today we're diving into a powerful discussion that's all about staying true to your passion and leveraging it for growth in the ever-evolving online world.

I'm thrilled to walk you through five transformative steps that I have personally used to resonate with, reengage, and profoundly impact my community. We’ll discuss how these steps can expand your influence, skyrocket your audience, and establish you as a profitable global leader.

I’ll share strategies that will propel you, no matter your following or credentials. We're talking beyond the metrics—engagement, authenticity, and making your thoughts work for you, not against you. I’m also teasing the four common mistakes many make while trying to grow in this space and how to catalyze a shift in your approach with actionable insights to rekindle that initial spark, involve your prospects in creation, and respond to their needs with service and action.

Get ready to shake off the struggle, embrace service-oriented strategies, and welcome a future-focused mindset for unprecedented success. 

Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! 

KEY POINTS:
04:04 Choose future over past for successful decisions.
06:18 Money enables impact and change in the world.
12:20 Influence, awareness, coaching for future business success.
15:19 Focus on purpose, future, consistency and support.
16:25 Influence leads to value and wealth.
19:59 Started with no purpose, strategy, followers, brand.
29:31 Connecting with your community creates meaningful relationships.
33:03 Encouraging engagement, seeking feedback, and building community.
35:23 A key step for growth, revenue and learning.
41:07 Create content aligned with your ideal prospect's passion.
42:51 Engage, reframe, request, respond - grow influence.

QUOTABLES:
“We don't need to be living and making choices and making decisions based on our past. We need to be making choices and decisions based on how we want our future to look like, to feel like in our lives and in our business."
— Julie
"The more that we have of it [money], the more that we can exchange and put more bountiful and abundant energy into the world."
— Julie
“You know, when you are able to relate to your audience or your community or your customer or your coaching clients, it has the potential to make both of you more connected and relatable to one another."
— Julie
“Step one, relate to your prospect. Step two, reengage with your prospect. Step three, reframe their thoughts by asking questions. Step four, request their support. And step five, respond with action in service."
— Julie 

RESOURCES:
[WORK WITH ME?] I am creating a new done with you / for you offer to help you strategize and build out your offers for revenue growth! If you’ve been in business for a bit and you’re ready to grow your revenue and brand authority, I’d love for you to take 5 minutes to fill out this form so I can tweak my new experience to meet your needs. And, if it looks like our upcoming case study cohort would be a fit, I’ll have my team reach out to you! 

[FREE] Are you a content creator ready to take your brand collaborations to new heights? Grab the Brand Deal Playbook and unlock the secrets to securing paid partnerships with confidence. You'll gain free access to pitch templates, essential questions, and expert strategies that will propel your content creator journey to new heights, including immediate and lifetime access!

[FREE] Want the step-by-step roadmap to grow your following, monetize your content, and land paid brand deals? Click here to join my brand new free class! This is perfect for you if you want to turn your social media into a profitable & fun career… even if you’re starting from scratch!

[ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence.

Follow Julie on Instagram!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five Essential Steps to Build Genuine Growth Online

Today we’re thrilled to have Stefanie and Caleb Rouse sharing their incredible shift from teaching to creating a full-time lifestyle brand. Discover how they catapulted their social media reach from 40,000 to a staggering 140,000 followers in just 3 months and made their personal brand a resonating success.

Their secret? A strategic pivot through the "Pitch It Perfect" program, guiding them to confidently monetize their influence and secure lucrative brand deals. Overcoming fears and embracing continuous learning have been pivotal in their journey to not just growing an audience, but truly connecting with and impacting lives.

Stefanie and Caleb's story is one of passion, perseverance, and the power of supportive communities. Expect to be motivated by their candid discussion on the steps they took to triumph over challenges and their advice for anyone eyeing a similar path.

Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! 

KEY POINTS:
14:31 Struggling with fear and negativity, finding happiness.
21:32 Enjoying course, negotiating value, landing major brands.
22:29 Your course empowered us to value ourselves.
25:43 Started getting brand deals, expanding the team's reach.
30:23 Utilizing templates for multiple unexpected opportunities and success.
36:25 Brand deals and impact on legacy.
46:18 Influence one person for a positive impact.

QUOTABLES:
"Even when we didn't have a lot of time, we carved out the time."
— Stefanie
"I would definitely say that your audience is not too small, that you can do it, that it's possible to go out there and secure these deals and to grow your brand. You just have to be willing to put in that work to be able to get there."
— Caleb
 "But it's also two fold, it's nice to get to look back at those memories and really for us, we see our Instagram and our YouTube also, like, as a legacy to really impact people, to really get to share our lives and, we love looking back and how it empowers us to have a voice and then it allows us to connect with so many others and help others as well. So we really see it all, like, as our legacy, our courses, our Instagram, our YouTube and how that can make a difference in the world, you know, little by little."
— Stefanie
"I would definitely say that your audience is not too small, that you can do it, that it's possible to go out there and secure these deals and to grow your brand. You just have to be willing to put in that work to be able to get there."
— Caleb

GUEST RESOURCES:
Stefanie & Caleb Rouse
IG | @calebjasonrouse

RESOURCES:
[WORK WITH ME?] If you’ve been in business for a bit and you’re ready to grow your revenue and brand authority, I’d love for you to take 5 minutes to fill out this form so I can tweak my new program to meet your needs. And, if it looks like our upcoming case study cohort would be a fit, I’ll have my team reach out to you! 

[FREE] Are you a content creator ready to take your brand collaborations to new heights? Grab the Brand Deal Playbook and unlock the secrets to securing paid partnerships with confidence. You'll gain free access to pitch templates, essential questions, and expert strategies that will propel your content creator journey to new heights, including immediate and lifetime access!

[FREE] Want the step-by-step roadmap to grow your following, monetize your content, and land paid brand deals? Click here to join my brand new free class! This is perfect for you if you want to turn your social media into a profitable & fun career… even if you’re starting from scratch!

[ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence.

Follow Julie on Instagram!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Stefanie & Caleb Rouse Tripled Their Business and Landed Brand Deals in Just 3 Months

Ready to land brand deals regardless of how many followers you have? In today’s episode I’m sharing the secrets to successful pitching using the "shine structure", a strategic framework designed to craft winning pitches that prioritize a brand's needs and position you as their ideal partner. 

It's about strategy, and focusing on the RIGHT numbers. By focusing on value and proactive engagement, you can unlock brand partnerships regardless of follower size. I believe in the power of starting where you are and building something extraordinary. 

Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! 

KEY POINTS:
04:20 Small following can lead to faster payments.
08:00 Pitch daily, craft strategy, attract brand deals.
11:34 You’re already pitching in daily life interactions.
15:20 Pitching technique emphasizes shining the focus on others.
19:13 Create compelling pitches by showcasing relevant content.
22:11 Thorough research before pitching leads to success.
24:53 Find a knowledgeable coach for success.
30:16 Seek new perspectives, gain success, share insights.

QUOTABLES:
"I am so passionate about the art form and really the goodness that is pitching, that is putting yourself out there, that is knowing the right way to ask for what you want, to get what you want, and then for people to happily pay you for that."
— Julie
"In your pitch, you take the shine off you and you put the shine on them. You take the focus off of yourself and you put the focus on them."
— Julie
"It is your job to figure out what that is and to make sure that your pitch to them is super compelling and that you're showing them, not just telling them how you're able to do that."
— Julie
"Give yourself permission to learn the right way to pitch, come learn some new strategies, and then start making some money and start getting that freedom and that success and that exposure and that brand recognition that I know that you are craving."
— Julie

RESOURCES:
[WORK WITH ME?] If you’ve been in business for a bit and you’re ready to grow your revenue and brand authority, I’d love for you to take 5 minutes to fill out this form so I can tweak my new program to meet your needs. And, if it looks like our upcoming case study cohort would be a fit, I’ll have my team reach out to you! 

[FREE] Are you a content creator ready to take your brand collaborations to new heights? Grab the Brand Deal Playbook and unlock the secrets to securing paid partnerships with confidence. You'll gain free access to pitch templates, essential questions, and expert strategies that will propel your content creator journey to new heights, including immediate and lifetime access!

[FREE] Want the step-by-step roadmap to grow your following, monetize your content, and land paid brand deals? Click here to join my brand new free class! This is perfect for you if you want to turn your social media into a profitable & fun career… even if you’re starting from scratch!

[ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence.

Follow Julie on Instagram!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Pitch & Land Paid Brand Deals With a Small Following

In today’s very special episode, I’m joined by our dedicated Pitch It Perfect students who share their journey, from handling vague company responses to landing a single $2k brand deal!

We'll discuss strategies like patience and persistence in follow-ups, and how important it is not to take rejections personally. My students bring up the ever-important question of how to strike the right balance between paid partnerships and selling their own services.

Together, we explore the art of engaging an audience, the significance of local reputation, and why it's crucial to remain true to opportunities that excite us.

Tune in as we talk through actionable insights on mindset, content creation, and growing your following. As well as how to transition from free brand features to paid collaborations and setting boundaries for future partnerships. 

Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! 

KEY POINTS:
04:25 Refused a bad deal, now grateful for it.
11:28 Focus on problem-solving to tap into emotions.
14:27 Struggling with abundance and exchange of energy.
17:40 Seek clarification regarding next steps promptly.
21:00 Monetizing social media through collaborations and products.
24:55 Pitching is essential for sales and partnerships.
29:45 Disappointment, focus on change, not others' actions.

QUOTABLES:
“This is showing you that there's always going to be an abundance of opportunity. There's so much. We will never in our lifetime be able to do as much as we would want to do because there's constant new creation coming at us all the time."
— Julie
“It's either a hell yes or a hell no. If it's hell no, I’m moving on. I don't have to think about it."
— Julie
"You kind of have to remind people 17 gazillion thousand billion times about what it is that you have to offer because most of the time they have no idea that it exists."
— Julie

RESOURCES:
[FREE] Are you a content creator ready to take your brand collaborations to new heights? Grab the Brand Deal Playbook and unlock the secrets to securing paid partnerships with confidence. You'll gain free access to pitch templates, essential questions, and expert strategies that will propel your content creator journey to new heights, including immediate and lifetime access!

[FREE] Want the step-by-step roadmap to grow your following, monetize your content, and land paid brand deals? Click here to join my brand new free class! This is perfect for you if you want to turn your social media into a profitable & fun career… even if you’re starting from scratch!

[ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence.

Follow Julie on Instagram!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2021: Best of Content + Growth Strategies

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