CONNECTED & CONFIDENT with Melissa J Scott

Do you find LinkedIn really difficult to monetise, or just a bit boring?!

You need to meet Lucy Bingle, she’s a LinkedIn marketing expert and works with brands on their LinkedIn strategies ensuring they are being noticed for all the right reasons. With over 20 years of marketing experience, she has a sound understanding of how to connect with your audience through the right choice of channels, content and messaging.

Her specialty is connecting brands and individuals with audiences by helping build trust, integrity and thought leadership through LinkedIn marketing.

These are the top six tips Lucy will be sharing in this podcast:

1. Why a small to medium business needs to be on LinkedIn.
2. Planning your connection strategy and gaining followers.
3. Who should be managing the Linkedin strategy in a company.
4. What is essential to be on your page.
5. The difference between a personal page and a company page, and how they are connected.
6. Who in your business needs a Linkedin profile.

“Before you start your connection strategy, I would like to have the other pieces of the puzzle setup. So I like to have everyone's profiles sorted out. I like to have a company page that's actually starting to market. And then, I would like to see people invest time into a clever connection strategy and what I mean by that is, you know your market, you know your audience and this is the opportunity to reach out and connect with those people by sending personalized connection requests where you're really upfront about one-on-one connecting.” - Lucy Bingle, LinkedIn Marketing Expert.

Timestamps:

3:11: For the small business world, why should they be on LinkedIn?

4:37: Who should actually be managing the LinkedIn strategy in a company?

6:35: So should all your people be on LinkedIn? Not just the salespeople?

9:49: So what are your top tips on things that are essential to be on your page?

15:27: What's your strategy around getting people following you on LinkedIn?

If you would like to see more of Lucy, you can find her here:

www.lucybingle.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucybingle/?originalSubdomain=au

And if you would like to get in touch with Melissa, check her out here:

https://melissajscott.com

https://divinecreative.com.au

https://hereticcreative.agency

https://www.connectionmarketing.online

My guest for this podcast is Jacqueline Hellyer. She is a sex therapist and educator, a relationship coach, speaker, author and blogger. An accredited psychosexual therapist, a certified coach with a Master's of Science in sexual health. 

She helps individuals and couples really find themselves not just through sex therapy, but with relationship counseling and coaching as well. Her goal is to help people cultivate love through their sexuality and use it to create greater connection, well-being and meaning in life.

In this Podcast, we will be covering the fundamentals of relationships, sex and well-being and how to properly raise our children with the right distinctions instead of distortions about the reality of sexuality. And the true meaning and methods of Tantra and how to have a deep, meaningful connection with yourself and those with who you have an intimate relationship.

In this interview you will discover:
How to awaken your sexuality and discover what you truly need
How to raise our kids with sex education, not just reproduction education 
The realities of how porn is for entertainment, not education 
How to shake any shame you have around sex and discover there’s more to it than just the physical side
How sex can make us better people and build more rewarding connections 

This expert advice will enable you to take control of your life, get in touch with your body and soul, and allow you to connect with those who matter most to you.

As Jacqueline describes, “Humans are essentially bonding creatures, that's how we function. We have right from the start. We are in small groups, we connect with people. It is so fundamental to our health and well being, emotional, physical, and mental that we have good quality connections with significant people in our lives. That is the essence of being human. We're not solo animals, we need other people.”

TIMESTAMPS:

3:59
One of the ways that we have a quality connection with our most intimate and beloved is through sex.

15:13
When you throw shame and guilt into something that's so fundamental. You screw everybody up.

17:22
We don't give our kids sex education. We give them reproduction education.

25:24
Sexual energy creates life energy. It’s a vital energy that creates life. Not just babies but our own life.

32:48
Tantra essentially is a way of getting more in touch with yourself and developing spiritually.

If you’d like to see more of Jaqueline, you can find her here:
https://www.jacquelinehellyer.com/

And if you’d like to check me out, follow these links:
https://melissajscott.com
https://divinecreative.com.au
https://hereticcreative.agency
https://www.connectionmarketing.online

In this week’s podcast, we interviewed Jayne Lawson. Alongside her husband David and 3 young daughters and nephew, they operate a farm and vineyard called Black Wallaby Wines down near Bendigo in Victoria.

For them, farming is just a way of life and they do it with passion and love. We got Jayne onto the podcast because like most people from the land, she has such an incredible and unique perspective on positivity, resilience, and resourcefulness, and we wanted to share her journey and point of view with people during these interesting times during the COVID business shutdown.

We recognise, that it’s important right now to connect with your community. It is the heart of connecting. Reach out to those around you through technology. We’re able to keep in touch with those we love, and still able to watch those that inspire you. You don’t have to be alone in isolation. I think more than ever this is the time to connect, to go deep within, take a big breath and really assess where your life is right now. And take note to see if you are happy! The world is changing, so it’s a time to wake up and really call upon our resilience and our strength, because we all have it.

No one should take away from you how you’re coping with this period right now. How bad it may be or how challenging this is. You’re allowed to say ‘it's not fair’ and stamp your feet because we are all entitled to feel like that at one point or another. We all will feel like that. But feeling like that and thinking like that isn't changing it, and at some point you need to acknowledge that we're all still here and we really are in this together.

This is the time to ask yourself “So what am I going to do? Am I just going to sit here and feel sorry for myself or am I going to turn around and say ‘Okay, could be worse’ then take a deep breath and move forward from there.”

Spoken like a true farmer’s wife, there is so much we can learn from people that live on the land and face crisis on a regular basis. Flood, locusts, drought, bushfires, cancelled contracts, livestock issues… the challenges are very real when you’re in farming and Jayne shares with us that no matter what, you need to be grateful for the things you have. Gratitude is so important. We need to stop being so busy and look around, take stock and appreciate what and who we have in our lives and make sure that they know it.

These incredibly strange circumstances are bringing out everybody's true colours. While everyone is stuck at home, not distracted by the craziness and business of their everyday lives, they’re forced to take a break and look around at what really matters.

Timestamps

6:15

With the drought we’re still struggling through, there's a lot of politics behind it, there is water available, but it's not accessible.

24:54

In a crisis like Covid-19 it's important that we're still showing that we're taking business seriously...we’re sticking to our word.

33:57

It’s bringing to light about our white privilege, how much we think that we deserve and what we think that we're entitled to.

41:07

People struggle with anxiety. It’s a real condition. They're not making it up. They're not being dramatic.

If you would like to find out more about Jayne, follow this link:

https://www.blackwallabywines.com/
https://www.facebook.com/blackwallabywines/

To get in touch with Melissa, find her here:

https://melissajscott.com
https://divinecreative.com.au
https://hereticcreative.agency

In loving memory of Steve Robson.

It has been 3 years since my husband died of a massive heart attack. No signs, no known warnings, and no goodbyes. Just a sudden and horrendous passing of a magnificent man, husband, father, stepfather, son, brother, colleague and friend.

But this isn't a story about being widowed. I wrote this for anybody that is going through a serious struggle right now and trying to navigate their way back to happiness. It isn't a story about grief or loss. It's about CHOICE. The choices we make, the journey I was led on, and the confronting realities of the stories I have told myself all of my life. The truths I had never faced about myself and the blind faith I had that this was happening for a reason. Because, I truly believe there are no coincidences and life doesn't happen to you, it happens for you. And that something good should come out of something so shit. 

My big learning from Steve dying was to navigate how to do life alone. Sound scary? For me, it was mortifying. To have all your dreams whisked away in an instant and then realise that you were never actually living 100% authentically to your own dreams came as a real surprise to me. Because in actual fact, having been in two long term relationships since the age of 18, I discovered that I didn’t really have my own dreams, my own purpose, and my own identity. Even though I was a financially independent business owner and a free spirit, it floored me when I realised how much I had wrapped my dreams and my happiness up in my husbands’. 

My husband was everything to me, and I floundered for quite a while as you would expect. I felt like the rug had literally been pulled out from under me and I was just in a slow motion free fall with no idea how or where I would land. I was only 45, and had already come out of a horrible divorce 8 years prior so I was no stranger to challenges. I had 3 amazing teenage sons, a house to maintain and a busy life schedule to manage. There was a big time lapse before any life insurance came through and I was up to my eyeballs in personal debt as Steve and I had been living beyond our collective means for years as most families living in Sydney do every day, sustaining 2 families in 2 separate homes. It wasn’t easy, but together we managed. But when he passed, I was truly on my own. 

So I had 2 choices, give myself a couple of weeks to fall apart and then get back on the horse and pull my life together quickly… or let myself collapse, pack up my life, my 3 boys and 2 dogs and head back to my parent’s home in the country to heal in my own time and not face life ‘alone’.

I chose the former, mainly for the sake of my teenage children who didn’t want their lives to change, but I also instinctively did it for me. It was a real pivotal moment for me, and in doing so, I chose to let joy back into my life because I did not want to choose living under a black cloud of depression.

I think this shocked a lot of people. I’m pretty sure I was still very dazed and not operating from a grounded place, but I was determined to feel joy every moment that I could find a reason to. (And that was very hard to do some days when your entire world had been flipped upside and all that you thought was your future has vanished into thin air!) But… I still had my boys. And I still had my independence through my business. So I rebuilt my existence, the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

For the full article read it here
https://melissajscott.com/09-choosing-joy-after-grief/

and please listen in to the podcast.

Melissa
x

https://melissajscott.com
https://divinecreative.com.au
https://hereticcreative.agency

In this episode we have the absolute pleasure of speaking with Suzy Jacobs. Suzy is the driving force behind Activator Academy, an online learning hub for free thinkers and high achievers. She's a successful entrepreneur, an experienced business mentor and coach, and in-demand speaker & MC. 

Suzy has spent more than 20 years working across business and franchise ventures, including leading start-ups and producing global events such as She Business, Athena and Fearless.

Below are some pearls of wisdom from Suzy and myself (of which there are many when you chat with someone like Suzy!). I really encourage you to tune into the show and listen to her speak in person.

We all collectively make the same mistake. We misunderstand our own emotions. We’re scared to engage with our purpose and open our true selves up to the world. We need to source what we’re actually doing here, then take space and silence to really create and align our day with the purpose and the vision we have.

The first thing to do is realise that you’re feeling something. Then go and break that down. You need to unpack each emotion, separate the feeling from the fact, and process them independently.

You need a structure for processing it so at the end of it, you can feel free. Free to make a new choice. Free to do the work that we want to do, we need to follow the process. The best way to get over fear and anxiety is to acknowledge it and feel the emotion. When you do the work, you are able to give it a name and then you own it. 

How we show up in the world is a choice that we get to make. So are we going to allow people to choose for us and be a reaction to those external circumstances? Or do we ignore the noise and look within… There are always days where we feel unattractive or not the best version of ourselves.  Particularly as we get older it's easy to take those external signs and make them mean something! If that's how we view our life, that's what we get. So it’s up to us to choose how we want to show up in the world.

Applying this to your business, the very foundation of building your brand comes from actually knowing who you are. That comes before building a brand around it. It won’t be authentic if you haven’t figured out what you’re all about. We spend too much time looking at what other people are doing and mimicking that because we don’t want to do the work and get to know ourselves.

Don't allow other people to create who you choose to be. You get to choose that.

Timestamps:

7:18 When I get triggered by fear, I go and break that down...separate the feeling from the fact.

12:44 I'm in the branding marketing world too and people can only get the message that they're able to hear

19:43 We have a choice whether we engage or disengage with negative surroundings. You don't have to be nasty about it, you just don't engage anymore.

28:50 Lots of people want you to stay just where you are in life, because that makes them feel comfortable.

40:33 You can only choose in the moment. Your choices are only valid in the second that you make them.

If you would like to follow Suzy Jacobs, find her here:
www.suzyjacobs.com
https://www.suzyjacobs.com/activatoracademy

And to get in touch with Melissa find her websites here:

https://melissajscott.com
https://divinecreative.com.au
https://hereticcreative.agency
https://www.connectionmarketing.online

When your audience leaves your page, course or website, what is it that they will remember? Is there something clear and distinct? Is it the way you approach content with humour? The bright, distinctive orange of your brand colours perhaps? Maybe it’s a show stopping pink mohawk or a catchy brand name! Are you differentiating yourself to your market, or are you being overlooked?

It’s not just the company image that draws an audience, it’s the person behind the brand that does. People are craving connection more and more every day, especially in trying times such as these when we are faced with life altering circumstances. Your audience needs to be able to recognise and trust who they work with, buy from and go to. Personal branding is about integrity, authenticity and genuine connection.

1:32
You speak about courage, trust and Maverick thinking which really I respond to.

7:00
People are now online, and that's all that they are. But you've been really noisy online in a really positive way.

14:07
When you lose a job, do you find that the universe provides opportunities from that afterwards? 

25:10
There's something to be said for how busy we allow ourselves to be, allowing yourself to strip back to the basics is a wonderful thing.

33:50
I think my purpose is to take really boring events and make them memorable.

47:50
Every single day make sure you're connecting with someone, then those connections will start things moving in directions that you want.

To follow Lucy please check her out here:

And if you want to talk to Melissa about a strategy for your personal, check out her websites here or get in touch!

https://melissajscott.com

https://divinecreative.com.au

https://hereticcreative.agency

https://www.connectionmarketing.online

There is a Maya Angelou saying “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them FEEL.”
So let me ask you, how are you making your customers and potential customers feel right now?!

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by leading business owner and Chartered Accountant Sonia Gibson from Accounting Heart, who has created a great community business resource Coronavirus Covid-19 Business Support Group Australia. Talk about respond to what people need right now!! She interviewed me regarding how to market yourself during these changing times when an entire world is in hibernation, and how to find the connection to your audience when they are really hurting and fearful.

Sonia is a local accountant and put this group together with 2 other business women offering real help and information for business owners struggling to understand how they can find financial relief in these times. Right now they have 750 people in their group after 1 week! This is how a true business leader responds to a real need in the business community (her perfect audience!) and then builds incredible leadership and a loyal following by asking for nothing in return, except giving them HELP. Below is the interview, it makes for some pretty great viewing!

I speak about resilience, authentic connection, share stories on how others are doing it, how to be relevant to your audience right now, and how important it is to be a Business LEADER as opposed to a Business Owner. These are incredible times and how we show up today is how we will be remembered for a long time.

We are still existing in this weird limbo state where some businesses are powering ahead, some are completely locked down, and others are struggling through trying to make sense of it all and stay alive while their customer base has just gone to ground! Talk about an opportunity to shine through as a business leader by showing and just being present. Difficult times calls for really positive and realistic leadership, and as a Business Owner, we can really step into the role of become a Business LEADER.

Remember… the greatest memories we will have of this period will be about the heartfelt connections we made with people (and therefore businesses) that really HELPED us. That’s why I have been coming to you for weeks now with daily Facebook Live videos with all sorts of resources and information about online marketing that can really help you get your business to be more nimble, agile and online.

The businesses that REINVENT their services in these times, who COLLABORATE with others to make their reach wider, who CONNECT via their expertise and their desire to help, and then AMPLIFY that message through online tools and reaching each other’s databases and beyond… these are the businesses that will get through these times, and thrive moving forward.

As one of my viewers said recently during a live video “change breeds opportunity”.

And if you want to continue the conversation, this is where you can find us:
https://melissajscott.com
https://divinecreative.com.au
https://hereticcreative.agency
https://www.connectionmarketing.online

MANAGING FEAR, STRESS AND ANXIETY IN CHALLENGING TIMES

Our guest on the CONNECTED Podcast Episode 5 is Karyn Battersby. This is an awesome discussion for business owners, managers, leaders and parents trying to deal with the uncertain times right now with the lockdown caused from COVID-19, and looking for answers in how to manage their emotions and get elevated to a positive mindset.

Karyn Battersby is a Human Behaviour Specialist, Coach and Counsellor. Karyn shares with us some fantastic tips and real life solutions about developing a positive mindset and coming from a place of resilience and self-assurance. Although we speak specifically about the pandemic crisis, this information can be applied to any tough challenges in our life.

One thing that has come up for all of us during this period is just how unprepared business owners have been for such drastic changes in our lives, and being asked to make very tough decisions in regards to our team, our suppliers, and to our value as a service provider as to whether or not we are even deemed as an 'essential service'! Let alone how are we going to afford our rent and mortgage payments!

Challenging times are unsettling and the repercussions can be very overwhelming. Karyn and I discuss many techniques that we use to overcome adversity including how to have a healthy growth mindset, getting above ourselves and our situation to allow us to create an action plan and implement it, and to operate from a place of high self-worth and live by our values.

Karyn can be reached via her Facebook page Karyn Battersby or her upcoming website: www.karynbattersby.com

There is so much gold in this interview, so listen along and please share if there's somebody you know not doing so well.

And if you want to continue the conversation, this is where you can find us:
https://melissajscott.com
https://divinecreative.com.au
https://hereticcreative.agency
https://www.connectionmarketing.online

IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN THE PODCAST:
7:37 What's inside comes out, if you've got your back up against the wall. You know your character is going to be really revealed in these difficult times.

15:37 You need to connect back to yourself, you need to understand what your vision and your mission and your values are, because you're going to be making some tough decisions.

21:40 You're managing your anxiety by taking action. Taking some positive action towards resolving or solving the problem.

31:16 You really have to bring it back to not just a cognitive process, but connecting and feeling. 

44:29 Encouraging people to learn to self regulate, then that allows them to step into that helping space instead of being fearful.

50:12 A good way for business owners to come out of this is coming up with care packages that are more relevant to what their customers need right this minute because it could have just changed.

59:08 After this stress and trauma we can reinvent our businesses and also ourselves, you can have what's called post traumatic growth.

In this episode, James and myself talk about what inspired us to create our new agency, Heretic Creative Agency. In challenging times (note - as I push publish on this podcast the world is in shutdown from the coronora virus), it’s going to take some innovative and alternative thinking to get businesses through this period. 

Heretic caters to the 2%, and we very much believe we are at the front of the wave with this mindset. 

A heretic is a gamechanger, a renegade, a free thinker. The quicker you clearly distinguish who you are, what you stand for, and what you believe in in business and life… the quicker you get the message across. We are aligned with businesses that are being really ballsy and shaking it up by really doing what they want and getting excited about the changes they are making. True change and innovation does not come from being the same as everybody else and fitting in. 

A heretic mindset is a person that is really passionate about what they are doing in their industry. They are part of a revolution about the way things are done in their industry, and in times like these, change is exactly what is needed to see businesses through.

It’s all about connection. People are craving it. There is such an undercurrent of unhappiness and disatisfaction in our Western world. We medicate ourselves with alcohol, food, drugs and holidays. We overdose on excess and when something comes along to destabilise us, we panic and hoard toilet paper! We live through our phones and project these fabulously fake lives… but who is honestly fulfilled by that? Buying more stuff clearly isn’t the answer. And we don’t want to be part of this mindless consumerism.

So the more that a business owner can be the voice of reality in their industry and stand for a clear purpose and provide meaning to what they are doing, then that is when you see a brand take off and people are able to recognise and feel that deeper connection to a common purpose and values.

We want to be the voice for the 2% that are doing amazing things. That’s what we feel our role is, and that’s what we should all be aiming for. To be the voice and to bring our marketing expertise to those companies and those individuals. To get them out there to the broader marketplace and then in turn to get other people thinking, feeling and having the confidence to step up and be more. This is where we specialise, helping you cut through the all the noise and to establish your points of difference and the things that will help you connect with your audience in the most authentic way possible.

Time to talk?

Melissa and James
Heretic Creative Agency

Do you think that your business or personal brand could benefit from a podcast? If you’re looking for a real, raw and authentic expression of yourself, one that connects with your kind of people, one that ensures you are heard and can make an impact… then the answer is a resounding yes!

On the podcast this week is Karly Nimmo, who has five iTunes hit podcasts under her belt, including Karlosophies and Rock Your Mic Right. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about podcasting and if it’s right for you, you cannot miss this episode!

It's now more important than ever that people connect with you on a human to human level. So, people need to see that stuff in order to build a connection with you. 

You can’t go from ‘zero to Oprah’, where you expect to go from nothing to everything overnight! It just does not work that way, so you need to first start by consistently showing up, crafting your message and finding your unique voice, and ensuring you find ways to make it really sustainable for you so you don’t lose interest and it’s always fun for you. When you make it about personal expression and being a real voice for what you stand for… guaranteed that the people who resonate with you with truly listen. And that’s the audience that you want.

3:46
Why someone would want to start a podcast is connection… connecting with other humans.

9:40
I worked in broadcasting I've been a voiceover artist for 15 years, and I've been a podcaster for five. I produce shows for some of Australia's biggest organizations.

17:55
I feel like there's some the magic in podcasting, so you can take people anywhere without having to take them visually anywhere.

30:26
It only takes one power, one influential human being that could completely change your life. Treat every single number with absolute respect.

43:05
To stay connected to my truth so that I'm not being influenced by what I'm seeing out there and then morphing myself into something that I think I should be.

47:00
We are all so unique and we all have our own vibration and our own frequency. The more that we can come into that and share that with the world like it's just such a gift to the planet.

___________________________________________________________

Who is Karly Nimmo?

With five iTunes hit podcasts under her belt, including Karlosophies and Rock Your Mic Right, Karly Nimmo uses her voice and wisdom to guide us back to the truth of who we are so that we can show up and speak up as our fully expressed, most rad selves.

Links to socials:

https://instagram.com/karlosophies
https://facebook.com/karlynimmo

_____________________________________________________________
Want to get to know your host, Melissa J Scott better?
https://melissajscott.com
https://divinecreative.com.au
https://hereticcreative.agency
https://www.connectionmarketing.online

Melissa x