Connections, Coffee & Confidence

Between a shortened attention span and content overwhelm, it's harder than ever to get your message across to your audience. How do you cut through all of the noise? There's a way to increase your conversion rate, to make your brand more beloved, to deliver information and more..all in this episode.

• Humanize your brand (5:11)
• Deliver information(6:15)
• Better conversion rates (6:36)
• Make a journalist's life easier (7:16)
• It's an easy win (9:00)

• https://www.bbc.com/news/health-38896790
• https://apps.prsa.org/StrategiesTactics/Articles/view/12311/1160/Looking_Good_Why_Visual_Content_Has_Become_the_Hea#.YPgzo-hKhPY
• https://www.pwrnewmedia.com/2011/pwr/survey_release/downloads/2011JournoSurveyCharts.pdf
• https://www.janicefogarty.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://www.janicefogarty.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

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✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

Hello and welcome to Connections, Coffee & Confidence with me, Janice. Did you know that the human attention span now lasts about 8 seconds? Maybe you’ve heard that stat and, because I’m me, I researched it and found that the actual research behind it is well, not exactly there. I linked the BBC report on that in the shownotes but I don’t disagree with the sentiment. I do believe in content shock - which is where a person is faced with so much content that it overwhelms them and they can’t focus on any of it. 

So in this world of content overwhelm, how do we break through and get our target audience’s attention? One answer is the topic of today’s episode.

INTRO

Public relations is the art of establishing and managing a reputation, creating and maintaining relationships with various audiences important to continue business, whatever that business may be. In order to do that effectively, we need to communicate with those audiences, we need to know our messaging and then we need to get that messaging out to our audience. When we look at the most basic communications model there is a sender, message and receiver. In this instance, you’re the sender and you know your message. And if you don’t, check out my resource on creating your strategic messaging on janicefogarty.com - I’ll link to it in the shownotes but in short it's a few pages of me walking you through how to create messaging so that you can use your marketing to reach your goals more efficiently - imagine less time worrying over what you want to write in your posts and emails. So go ahead with the download and we’ll carry on safe in the knowledge that you know your message.

Okay, our sender and message are taken care of. Which leaves us with the recipient. 

The recipient who, as we have already sort of established, has a short attention span and is overwhelmed already by the amount of information being shoved at them, either directly or indirectly.

Let me ask you this: Without the other party receiving your message, how do you reach your business goals? How do you increase your reputation, establish your network, increase awareness of your offerings? How do you make your sales? You need to do everything you can to make sure your messages are received, completing that communications cycle. 

(I apologize for the geeky language, talking about communications cycles just doesn’t sound fun outside of my head but PR isn’t fluff, there is a certain amount of theory grounded in research and modelling that provides the basis of what most just feel their way through with a wing and a prayer. I feel like if you understand the theory behind what we do as people who own businesses, trying to change the world, make sales and pay our bills, you’ll have a better appreciation for the amazing things you did do to get the sales you have made.)

The solution I’m going to suggest is slightly ironic when you think that I’m on an audible media and there is research showing that podcasts are more likely to hold someone’s attention all the way through to the end, but that’s another day’s topic. Today’s answer is visual PR. 

Logos, typeface, infographics, pictures, video, the colours you use...these are all ways to visually represent your brand, to portray your business, to get your message across. 

I won’t lie, I’m not one for the visual. I’m not particularly a visual learner, I have trouble making sense of complex graphics and I think my photography instructor passed me in university because he didn’t want to be subjected to my poor projects ever again. I’m a words person. But there is a strong case to be made for placing a concentrated effort on your visual PR - after all, what have I been doing but trying to create reels to grow my audience. Visual. Outside of my comfort zone but important, so I try.

One reason I leave my annoyingly imperfect reels up is that pictures can be personal, they are a way to display your personality. People buy from people and you need to humanize your brand to entice people in; pictures are one way to do that. Pictures work to soften dry facts, they are the feelings of a story. They are a way to connect directly with another person, to explain who you are and to say you are just like them, that you know them, you know who they are and how they feel because you are them or work with them so much you them inside out. That is, if that’s what you want the pictures to say. When you have your strategic messaging decided and mapped out, that messaging will direct your images, making your life easier.

And what if your messaging is technical? What if you have a difficult concept for your audience to grasp or a lot of information to give but you don’t want to contribute to that overwhelm? Or what if you’re super visual and don’t have the words to clearly provide the information and deliver the messaging? That’s where something like an infographic comes in. A well done infographic will do the work for you; as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and that applies especially to infographics. 

And if you really want to have your bases covered, you provide the words with the visuals. The Wharton School of Business did a study on persuasion and I’ve linked my source article from the Public Relations Society of America in the shownotes. This study showed that 50% of people in the study audience had been convinced by a purely verbal presentation. And that 67% were convinced by a verbal presentation with visuals. Imagine if 67% of your asks resulted in an actual sale, wouldn’t that be nice?

An audience of customers or clients isn’t the only one more likely to be swayed by a visual. When we look at those who hold the keys to our getting our messages out through the media, the journalists, they’re another overwhelmed audience of ours. And just like everyone else, if you do your best to make their lives easier they will be grateful. If you take your story and deliver it to them complete with ready-to-go visuals, well to someone who needs to pump out up ten or more stories a day, that actually is a gift. I’m not saying your story about your new office is going to get picked up just because you have a picture of you at your new desk, looking very happy, included with the media release; I’m saying if you have a good story and a picture to match, your odds of getting coverage will be greatly increased. In fact, a study by PWR New Media showed that 77% of journalists are more likely to publish a story with visuals. I’ll link to those results in the shownotes but with these two extra points: first, if you ever wanted an example of how infographics can help you further your point with impact, go check out how PWR New Media delivered the results of their study. Second, that study was done in 2011, before the internet had blown up with social media the way we have today; and journalists were crushed then. Imagine how stressed they are now and imagine how much an easier story to run would mean to them in their busy day? Visuals.

With all of this evidence about how important adding visuals to your strategic communications is, I’d like to add one point. It’s easy. If the evidence points to adding a visual to be a win for you, and it does, and if you have the technology in your hand to do so, why wouldn’t you? Odds are you have a phone capable of taking a picture or two. You have a laptop or tablet that has a camera built in and all of those technology bits can run software such as Canva or whatever that can help you make graphics if you aren’t yet comfortable with pictures of yourself. And if you’re worried about perfection or looking foolish, I remind you to go check out my reels. I have no idea what happened to my captions, they were there when I previewed the reels but hit publish and suddenly they’re scrunched up or off screen or otherwise illegible. Gah. But I can’t let that inner desire for perfection stop me from moving forward and neither can you.

So focus on your messaging, on your strategy. Grab my resource on strategic messaging - Don’t Waste Your Breath - linked in the shownotes, and let your messaging guide you to the pictures and infographics that will help you tell your story. Let your story and visuals combine to sway your target audiences - including the media - to your point of view. And enjoy the process, don’t make it hard on yourself if you aren’t a visual person. Keep in mind the prize of reaching new audiences and your current audiences more effectively and go for it. 

Until next week, my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode evolved from a talk I gave in my fabulous facebook group, Connections, Coffee & Confidence Community, all about networking. It's something many group members had expressed a desire to learn more about and something I find myself getting more involved in after moving to a new province. However, I noticed there are some shifts in perspectives we need to make in order to network more effectively and I cover those in today's episode.

• We need a perspective shift around networking (2:40)
• Formal Networking (5:10)
• Less Formal Networking (6:25)
• Perspective Shift Around Where We Network (7:07)
• Old School Networking (8:10)
• What Fits? (9:10)
• Strike Up a Conversation (10:00)
• A Critical Activity (10:58)
• Make the Uncomfortable, Comfortable(11:58)
• Critical Business Activity (12:47)

• https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/
• https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/how-an-immigration-lawyer-serves-both-her-clients-community
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (https://amzn.to/2UXrc8A) (Please note this is my Amazon affiliate link. If you use it to buy this book or anything else, I will earn a small commission and your price will not be affected. Thank you for your support!)
• https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/im-like-a-facebook-call-centre

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Join me on Pinterest 😀

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

Hey hey and welcome to Connections, Coffee and Confidence. Today’s episode is based off of a talk I gave in my facebook group Connections Coffee and Confidence Community. Like most private groups, I have qualifying questions people must answer before joining the group - it’s for women who own a business and want to network and learn about communications and if that's you, look us up - and many of my members indicate that they want to learn about networking, about making connections. As a side note, I was once told that I would quickly run out of material for a podcast. I find material everywhere and, I don’t think this person took into consideration the most basic ways of making connections and serving an audience - ask what they are interested in, where you can help. Ask the question and you’ll get the answers, it’s up to you to ask and act on the information you receive. So anywho, it felt like a good time to discuss networking as the world is shifting again - from closed up tight to slowly or rapidly opening, depending on where you are and your personal circumstances. Things are changing but what doesn’t change is the need to connect with others so that’s today’s episode.

INTRO

When I asked why people network, I got lots of lovely fuzzy answers like wanting community support, to learn from different people, to find mentors, and I love those ideas. I love how my group members are so open to learning from each other, to having each other’s backs and supporting them through their individual journeys. 

However.

What I concluded from these answers is that we need a perspective shift. As I mentioned, my group is for women business owners. Women who run at least one business. And what does every business need to stay alive? Customers. Not one of my group members said they network to find customers or clients and yet I would say that’s one of my top reasons to network. Perhaps it’s because, at the time of recording, I’ve moved to a completely new province and need to establish myself as a business and an expert, but I would argue that we all need to do this on a regular basis. And whether we realise it or not, we are networking all the time. 

Note that I said I need to establish myself as an expert. Well, that’s also a perspective shift we need. As women, we are eager to learn from each other and support each other but how are we learning when no one sees themselves as ‘the expert’ enough to step up and teach? 

Did that idea land like a lead balloon? When I said that, did it feel uncomfortable or come as a surprise? Because let me tell you, it hit me pretty hard when I realized it. Our group is full of amazing women all over the world who run some pretty phenomenal businesses and not one of them saw networking as an opportunity to show their stuff. And I don’t think that’s special to our group, I’ve linked a great article from The Atlantic called The Confidence Gap in my show notes, it examines this phenomenon much better than I ever could and goes outside of today’s topic of networking - except to say that this is another area where we can use a perspective shift. We are just as expert, often more so, than the experts we see more regularly and flock to learn from.

From a professional and personal perspective, networking and creating community is so integral to our wellbeing, to our growth and sustainability. But how do we do it? How do we do it in a global pandemic? How do we network when we’re scared or unable to leave the house? Or don’t live where our prospective clients or even friends live? It shouldn’t surprise you that I see loads of opportunities for us.

One option is to use a formal networking organization. There are international clubs and groups such as the Lions Club, Rotary International, Women in Business, and more. Do you remember episode 3? It was my first interview on the podcast and It was with Karen Howley, an Immigration lawyer and an Irishwoman living in Alberta. Karen’s a prime example of someone who has used a formal networking organization to her great advantage and if you listen back - it’s linked in the show notes - she’s a member of Business Networking International or BNI as it’s more commonly known

These formal organizations are typically focussed on members getting to know each other and then referring business to each other. Sometimes they are all about providing acts of service for their community, sometimes it’s purely for business. But if you google networking organizations, you’ll be sure to find something close to you that fits your bill. And don’t forget to look locally as well. Sometimes you don’t need to look any further than your local chamber of commerce or whatever your region calls that type of organization. They can be amazing resources for a community’s movers and shakers.

There are also slightly less formal places to look for networking. For example, my own facebook group or I bet many of the groups you’ve joined in the last year or so. While there may be formal questions to answer to ensure you are a good fit for the group, once you’re in there probably isn’t any call for public speaking or attending and participating in Lives or whatever. You’re there to contribute as and when relevant, not on schedule. 

So those places might be obvious to you, after all they often have networking in their title or in their description. But this is where the perspective shift needs to come in.

Many of us have signed up for an online course or done a challenge - free or paid, doesn’t matter - in the last while. And you’ve ended up in some sort of a facebook group as a result. Well, those places might not have networking in the title but they are tailor made for you to keep an eye out and look for opportunities to connect with other members. Same with groups where you participate due to your hobby or interest. Maybe you or your kids are involved in sports or 4-H or you take painting classes. I don’t know. What I do know is that while you’re in those places, you’re connecting with people you have something in common with. It’s up to you to strike up conversations and look for ways to forge relationships, to offer your services or connect the people you meet with others you know. You might be there for fun or because you have to be, but there’s no reason why you can’t intentionally make connections, you just need to be open to it.

While I’m talking about things like community sports, let’s not forget the old school methods of networking such as volunteering. I personally love this option because I tend to be rather shy in many situations but when volunteering, I have a job. And I’m good with doing a job. It means someone is in charge of showing me what I need to do and introducing me to others, and I have a valid reason to approach others and ask questions, strike up a conversation. I often find that the people who volunteer at events are the kind of people who are well known and usually loved in their communities, they’re interested in referring others to like-minded people. In other words, exactly the kind of people you would be lucky in so many ways to know. Plus, I spent many years as an events manager and it feels nice to be involved in events again without the stress and responsibility of running the show. 

Something that’s quite important when it comes to choosing a way to network is to fit the activity within your personality and strengths. If you join a group that is involved in mentoring youth and you hate kids, well, you aren’t likely to be your best self when and if you show up. The most renowned groups tend to have some sort of service activity at their core, BNI’s motto is givers gain - meaning you get the most when you give the most, for example. So look at them and see where the group’s activity, your comfort level and your target market all collide. That’s your sweet spot. That’s where you’ll show up with a happy heart and show your wondrousness to everyone else. It doesn’t have to be all about business but you need to be happy to be involved.  

Now I know I just so casually said a minute ago that it’s up to you to strike up a conversation and look for ways to forge a relationship. Sounds so easy when really, that can be difficult. Once upon a time, we could whip out a business card and hand it over, it would have a little tagline of some sort to explain what you do plus it would have a job title and company name, all the necessary information was there in something concrete for the person to tuck away and remember you by. Let me ask, do you have a business card? Mmmm. Irrespective, I recommend you have an elevator pitch, a way to briefly express what you do in a way that the other person understands and can somewhat remember. In fact, I did a whole episode on it, episode 14, and I’ll link to it in the show notes. 

I love how my group members were so open to networking for personal growth but I really want to challenge them and you to be open to those opportunities to make connections and nurture relationships wherever they may present themselves. Let’s be open to all chances to grow our businesses as, without new clients or customers, we place our business’ success in jeopardy. And when we look at networking as being critical to our business success, it becomes a critical activity for us to undertake.

When I asked my group what stopped them from networking, I got a lot of crickets. I know people saw the question, you know how Facebook shows how many people see a post? Many saw the post but I only had two answers and they boiled down to time. On which I call nonsense. 

Networking can be uncomfortable. Like, really uncomfortable. Hands sweating (never have I ever been so glad of an opportunity to not shake hands with people) and word fumbling and oh please tell me this isn’t just my experience? Well, what has made it easier for me has been a combination of things - practise, being one. Same with everything else, right? When you do something repeatedly, you get better. Malcolm Gladwell talks about needing 10,000 hours to become really good at something in his book Outliers. By no means am I suggesting you go network for that long, but more than once or twice a decade is good.

But I think the main thing that gets us motivated to network and connect is when we recognize and accept it as a critical part of our business because then we simply prioritize it. It becomes something we must do and like everything else we prioritize, we schedule it in and do it. That’s one reason why formal groups are so good, by the way, they have set times and you can schedule it in weeks or even months in advance. Pressure is off for you to organize it. 

When you’re networking online, it’s super easy to lose track of time and purpose but I like Zoe McKeown’s trick. She’s the facebook community manager I interviewed in episode 33, and with a title like that, she’s my go to expert when it comes to managing my time online. She does 30 minutes a day, split between the morning and the afternoon to check in on conversations and people. Efficient and easy to manage, thirty minutes a day.

So when I think about networking, I see opportunities for us as business owners to grow our business, to grow our communities and our sphere of influence. I think it’s time for you to start looking at networking that way, too. You can use the formal or informal route, and I urge you to keep open to opportunities that pop up no matter where they come from. But it’s also up to you to prioritize networking as a vital aspect of your business growth; if we don’t get new clients, we limit our ability to grow our business. And don’t even start me on the amazing benefits for your reputation as a good company, a good person, and an expert in your field. Practise makes perfect and try to have some fun while you’re doing it, ok? 

Now. As I mentioned in the intro, I ask my facebook audience, I regularly ask my email subscribers and now I’ll ask you - if there is something you’re interested in learning more about with regards to strategic communications or business management, please pop me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to help out. Until next week my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• https://play.acast.com/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast
• http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/festivals/
• https://royalsociety.org/people/brian-cox-12855/
• https://www.ted.com/speakers/brene_brown
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pope%27s_Children
• https://www.janicefogarty.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

Recommended Reading:

• I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough" by Brene Brown (https://amzn.to/3nZgzwL)
• Gifts of Imperfection, The: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown (https://amzn.to/3uKDrCs)
• The Generation Game by David McWilliams (https://amzn.to/3yJp578)
• The Pope's Children by David McWilliams - where we meet Breakfast Roll Man - (https://amzn.to/3hZxcpf)

*Please note that these are my Amazon affiliate links and if you use one to purchase the products I recommend or anything else, your price won't change but I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Join me on Pinterest 😀

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

Well hello and welcome to this episode of Connections, Coffee & Confidence with me, Janice Fogarty. Guess what? In the crazy of getting our house on the market and moving across Canada, I completely missed my one year anniversary of this podcast. So now that we’re somewhat settled in Prince Edward Island, I’ll have to figure out how to mark the anniversary in some way. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I’m happy to hear them so you can DM me on Facebook at Connections, Coffee & Confidence and while you’re there, follow the page!

For today though, this will have to to suffice: (Insert celebration sounds)

Today’s episode is about good communicators, what makes them good and how we can use that information to improve our own performance. 

INTRO

When I say ‘good communicator’, who springs to mind? Maybe a teacher or a politician or actor, all professions known for the need to speak effectively and persuasively, to create an understanding or agreement. 

But what about those who you wouldn’t necessarily think of? Those people who have a profession or a hobby or interest that doesn’t usually scream effective communicator? Are there those unicorns out there and can we learn something from them?

Today I want to talk about three different people, all of whom come from professions I don’t normally equate with excellent communication. That’s not to say these are the only excellent communicators in their fields, they are just the ones I’m familiar with. And maybe you are too. What makes them so good? And what can we learn from them that we can bring into our own businesses?

When I listen to podcasts for enjoyment, I love science and economics. Perhaps not what you expect but one of my all time favorite podcasts, the one I haven’t missed an episode of and never get tired of listening to, is hosted by David McWilliams and his friend John Davis, and it’s called The David McWilliams Podcast. Sometimes we just don’t need to be clever, eh? Simple is awesome, and that’s a key to great communicators - they keep it simple. They don’t dazzle with clever phrases or jargon, it’s simple.

So David McWilliams is an economist. Not the typical profession of someone you might consider a great communicator. I mean, I took economics in university and, although the professor was clearly incredibly knowledgeable and highly passionate about the topic, she was not a good communicator.

David McWilliams is different. In fact, his podcast tagline is ‘to make economics easy, uncomplicated and accessible’, which should give you an idea of how important clear communication is to him. I recommend his podcast to everyone I know and everyone who has actually listened has come back to thank me. He’s funny, he’s thoughtful, he has a head full of information that he puts together and explains in a way that holds your attention all the way through. We also own several of his books and I can remember watching him on TV and listening to him when we lived in Ireland, even texting him to correct him for calling Canadian provinces ‘states’ on his morning radio show. (Then dying later when I realized I had made a mistake of my own in the text. I’m sure he doesn’t hold it against me.) 

He also created and runs two festivals - the Dalkey Book Festival and Kilkenomics, both of which take place in Ireland. Now, a book festival is a book festival and I’m not saying this isn’t amazing, George Bernard Shaw was born in Dalkey; James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Flann O’Brien all spent significant time there and Joseph O’Connor, Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan all live there. So if you’re going to host a book festival, it’s a pretty good place to do it. But it’s Kilkenomics that I think is the thing that stands out. Held in Kilkenny, it’s a combination of economics and stand up comedy. Yup, you heard that right. Economics and stand up. Two topics that require a great amount of technical skill to pull off but holy smokes, would you ever have thought to put them together? Imagine the skill involved in pulling that off?

Another example of an excellent communicator is Professor Brian Cox, a physicist and professor of particle physics. Again, not a topic known for attracting or creating excellent communicators but there he is. Named The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science, meaning he works on behalf of the organization to create an awareness and understanding of scientific matters relevant to our lives, he’s known for a series of well, documentary series on science for the BBC or British Broadcasting Corporation. My husband and two of my boys attended a talk he gave in Calgary, Alberta and one of my boys is extremely interested in physics. When he was 10, he came up with a theory about atoms at the centre of black holes we had to send to a fellow of physics because we couldn’t find information on it online. For the record, the fellow confirmed that my son’s theory is currently the fellow’s theory so, inasmuch as he can be right with theoretical physics, he’s right. So he’s into physics and Dr Cox is able to engage and entertain and discuss physics in such a way that a 10 year old and 8 year old were enthralled for hours. Taking notes. That’s a skill.

My third example of an excellent communicator is Brene Brown, clinical social worker and researcher who focuses on courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy. She’s an author whose books I‘ve referenced on the podcast before and will link to in the shownotes and, while I would forgive you for thinking that a clinical social worker, one who focuses on research and compiling data to review and draw conclusions from, would not make fascinating reading you’d be wrong. She’s brilliant.

She has accepted the title of storyteller as evidenced by her TED bio and I’m linking her TED Talks in the shownotes, they are an absolute must watch in my opinion. But as you might gather from her topics, these aren’t really things that people talk about readily and comfortably. Including Brene herself as you’ll learn if you watch her second video. (But I ask you to watch them in order, first first, second second. It’s wonderful to hear her talk about the emotions of her first talk and what she learned between the talks.)

To be able to take these topics of shame and vulnerability and make them relatable, to remove stigma from them, takes significant skill. Are these topics as dry as physics or economics, maybe. Brene Brown approaches her work as a researcher meaning it’s not about the soft and fuzzy but the hard data; what can be proven. That tends to be dry. But as a storyteller, and as a podcaster, she’s moving and insightful and clear.

So those are my three people I chose to look at, an economist, a professor of particle physics, and a clinical social worker. And I don’t mean to be reductionist by using those terms, these people are incredibly diverse in their experiences as people and are so much more than those categories, as we all are, but for the sake of this example that’s what I’m rolling with. Ok, so let’s break down some of what makes each of these three people who, at first glance, really have very little in common aside from being known in their fields.

To start, none of these people take their communications personally. Of course, it might seem easier to do when your subject matter is based on scientifically acquired information but I argue that there’s still a degree of interpretation and of course the method of delivery which make it more personal. But they don’t equate their worth with their work, removing so much of the difficulty in getting started. So many of us feel like what we say represents who we are as people. And, when you watch Brene Bown’s second TED Talk, you’ll hear how her first talk affected her emotionally and mentally but the key thing is that it didn’t stop her. Her overwhelming feelings didn’t stop her from doing it again and again, talking about her work and her findings. On a level it is personal because it’s you and your voice, your words, but it’s not you the human; that’s separate.

And because it’s not personal, these great communicators are able to review their work and revise it publicly as required or as desired. I recently watched a documentary by Professor Cox and he was actually going through old documentaries he had done. Discussing the science of the day and the advances that have been made since. The ability to look back and update your position or stance based on your continued learning earns you trust and respect as a communicator. If you were personally attached to the output, you wouldn't be so quick or open to self-edit meaning your relevance is harmed.

If you search any of these people out, something you’ll note is that they all have a point when they speak or write; they’re strategic in their communications. They don’t just mic up and free flow, they have something they want to discuss and impart upon the audience. David McWilliams is particularly good at this as not only does he have a clearly stated purpose for his podcast but even his Kilkenomics festival can be described in this one liner from his guest Gerry Stembridge and taken from the Kilkenomics website, “Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s about economics, it’s actually about life”. Having this focus helps keep your writing or speaking focused and clear. You aren’t tempted to wander off or, at least, not for long. This focus helps you become known for something which helps you further your credibility and reputation and, if you want help in creating this kind of focus, what I tend to refer to as messaging, you can download my guide to creating your strategic messaging called Don’t Waste Your Breath: Get Your Best Message Across from www.janicefogarty.com. Of course, I’ll link to that in the shownotes.

One thing I've individually referenced has been the ability to engage or hold an audience.  This ability stems in a large part from the passion and insight into their topic. They think about it a lot, they research it, they study it, they enjoy it but they take their information and they think about it. What does the information mean and what does that in turn mean to others? There’s something very appealing to listening to someone who has thought about what they are talking about, not because their paycheque depends on it but because they enjoy it, they enjoy sharing the information and their thoughts and want you to enjoy it too. That kind of passion is gripping and good communicators display that passion naturally; in fact, to try and stifle it mars their communications considerably.

Part of this thinking and analyzing and finding or assigning meaning to the information is the ability to create analogies or relate the information to life. Part of Professor Cox’s remit as The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science is to actually explain science as it is relevant to public policy, in other words, how science impacts our real lives. He creates fantastic youtube videos and tweets them out but also has a podcast where he discusses these things amongst other topics and with different guests. 

Brene Brown relates her work to personal stories. She speaks about her alcoholism and the shame and vulnerability that both caused it and continued it and how she deals with those feelings now versus then. She is able to create highly relatable scenarios, creating audience empathy, so the stories she tells land more impactfully and stick with the recipient. She has thousands upon thousands of individual pieces of data, pulled from real people, so her ability to create sweeping stories that are actually incredibly specific and personal is rare.

And David McWilliams is well known for his analogies or neologisms (such an awesome word to refer to new sayings that haven’t become mainstream yet) including ‘breakfast roll man’. Ok, let me explain. So for those of you outside of Ireland and the UK, a breakfast roll is kind of like a sub or a hoagie but with everything a traditional breakfast would have. And a traditional breakfast is a fairly specific thing consisting of eggs, black and white pudding, bacon or rashers, sometimes beans or mushrooms but usually a sausage or two. These breakfast rolls are very popular with those just coming home or suffering from the night before, usually in the pub, but also with builders or construction workers, people who have to be to work at a really early hour and just want a quick breakfast. If you lived in Ireland in the early to mid aughts, you knew exactly who breakfast roll man was and that was the point. He was a highly recognizable and often relatable figure, just enough removed that you could look at him with a bit of detachment and take the information on board. 

Breakfast Roll Man isn’t just a cute term, it’s a way to impart information with a clear context, providing each audience member the ability to assign personal relevance to the information and thereby comprehend it and retain it more effectively and efficiently. Now whether you understand breakfast roll man or whatever right now isn’t the point because in the time and for the people that term was created, it was spot on. And that’s what matters, it was relevant to the time and the audience.

The analogies, the relation back to real life or the potential for impact on your life, these help a person assign meaning and value to the information provided and, in doing so, retaining more than a dry recitation of the facts would have allowed.

The last point I want to make is one of those back to basics ones - practise. These people communicate as part of their living. They do it over and over, refining and perfecting, tweaking and completely overhauling as they go along. This practise is what makes a capability or an aptitude a real skill. There’s a saying that ‘writer’s write’ - that’s how they get good, they just keep writing. There’s ‘practise makes perfect’ which is applied to pretty much every activity under the sun. And the thing is, is it’s true. If you want to get good at something, you do it until you find your flow and then you wiggle around until you feel your skills developing.

So if you want to be a good communicator, my lessons from these three top communicators are as follows: don’t make it personal, and edit yourself as you learn more. Maya Angelou says, a phenomenal communicator in her own right, says it much better than I, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” Have a point to your communications and if you need help with that, check out my eguide on messaging linked in the shownotes. Don’t stifle your passion, let it flow and enjoy sharing. Make your information relatable, try an analogy or story people can identify with and understand. And practise. More and more and more, just keep going. And if any of these tips stand out to you or you want to share who you think is a fabulous communicator, or if you have an idea on how to celebrate the one year anniversary of Connections, Coffee & Confidence, I’d love to hear from you! I’m on Facebook at Connections, Coffee & Confidence or even Instagram at janiceefogarty. Until next week, my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mentioned in this episode: (Transcript below)

• https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/how-you-can-actually-diy-your-own-pr
• https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Join me on Pinterest 😀

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

Transcript:

Hey hey and welcome to Connections, Coffee & COnfidence with me, Janice Fogarty. Today’s episode is a quick tip so that you can increase your odds of getting publicity exactly when and where you want it. Ready?

INTRO

Publicity is always a great way to boost your reputation, your credibility, and your sales. Sometimes when you go to someone’s website and you see all of the logos of the various places they’ve been featured, well, it can feel impressive and maybe, just maybe you feel that little twinge of really? How can I get my own collection of logos to showcase? Or how can I expand my reach?

Depending on which influencer or businessperson you are snooping, there is a pretty good chance they have had professional help in getting them featured in that media. However, those professionals cost a lot of money to get on your side - and, just to manage your expectations - sometimes getting featured also requires a payment of some kind, depending on the media. For example, you may be required to purchase a certain amount of ad space or you may need to sponsor an event or something similar in order to get a feature. 

This extra outlay isn’t always in our budget and usually isn’t necessary. I firmly believe that you can do your own PR - in fact, episode 44 is called How You can Actually DIY Your Own PR, that’s how much I believe in it! 

There are many layers to getting good public relations and this is a basic fundamental layer - you want to know who you’re talking to.

But, I’m not talking about your ideal client - this tip assumes you know who this is. So if you don’t know who you’re selling to just yet, it’s okay. Keep listening and store this tip away for after you’ve got that figured out.

The audience I’m talking about is the media. Yup. When you know your target audience, you can make some pretty good guesses as to who they are watching, listening to and reading. And if you are unfamiliar with media, well, this tip is going to push you to stretch yourself, and I suggest you get googling. You can also head to www.janicefogarty.com and get my free guide on 10 places to get free publicity, that’ll start you off on the right foot.

Once you have a list of say five to seven media, you need to study them. This should be fun study, not like you have a make or break exam tomorrow study. 

Read what their journalists write, what topics do they cover and how? Is their writing fun? Is it informal and chatty? Is it businesslike? Is it functional advice, like how-to lists or tutorial type? And yes, I say read what their journalists write but obviously you can sub in listen or watch if you are looking at YouTube or listening to podcasts, radio even good old television. 

As an extra tip within a tip - while you’re there, check out the ads that are featured close to the content. If the ads are for things you know your ideal customer likes, or if they are your competition, then you know you’ve hit a great piece of targeted media.

The reason why I’m telling you to do this media study is because if you want to pitch yourself and your business to the media, you need to make sure you aren’t wasting anyone’s time - yours or theirs. You want to match their tone and style when you contact them. 

Journalists and media get thousands upon thousands of phone calls and emails delivered to them, all pitching ideas or services or products. You want yours to stand out and one way to do that is to prove from the outset that you are just like them - and by extension, their audience. 

You want them to feel like you are a natural fit with their audience - and you know you are because you’ve done your research.

Consuming their media will also give you a great idea of how to frame your pitch. When you see what stories they cover and how, you can start to imagine how you’ll fit into similar stories. And that’s what you pitch.

This isn’t a one and done type of thing, though. You need to keep yourself current with trends and journalists and media - new ones are popping up all the time. Why not create a media list of your own? A simple google sheet or even a written list can be handy to have and easy to update as time goes on.  Those things can be bought from agencies for a tidy sum but they are easy, if a bit time consuming to put together yourself. 

So there you have it. In the end, three tips to help you get the publicity you want: take some time and perform a media study, include looking at the ads and stories that are run. And create yourself a media list so when you have your idea for a pitch, you’re ready to go. Oh, and don’t forget to head to my website, janicefogarty.com and get your free guide outlining the ten places to get publicity even when you have no budget. I’ll see you back here my friend, same time, next week. Until then.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tara Chatzakis is a podcaster and business start up coach, she focuses on helping entrepreneurs with visibility and clarity.

• Visibility & Clarity: Strong Foundations (2:18)
• Happy Inspired Motivated: The Podcast (4:38)
• Law of Attraction Practitioner: I still get limiting beliefs (8:15)
• Money Blocks (9:41)
• Seeing Women Understand They Are More (12:49)
• If We All Stood up in Our Power... (13:54)
• Tara's Ideal Client: She's not going to take any crap anymore (15:25)
• The World's Not Big Anymore (18:13)
• How Do I Start Making Money? (19:58)
• How Do I Create The Person I Want To Be? (22:57)
• It's Not Just WooWoo and Crystals: Money is Energy (26:30)
• How to Work with Tara (30:09)

Get in touch with Tara:

• https://www.tarachatzakis.com/
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/tarachatzakis/

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

✔Join me on Pinterest 😀

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔ And join me in Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My tips for a common skill that seems to have become less common in recent years - much to all of our detriment.

• Why listen?: Be loved to bits (4:54)
• Efficiency (6:48)
• Stay Present (8:55)
• Take Notes & Check (9:52)
• Patience! (11:00)
• Take a minute (12:35)
• Body language: It's kind of listening! (14:02)
• Not just for business (14:53)

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

✔Join me on Pinterest 😀

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

Ahhhhh listening. That thing you’re presumably doing right now. But are you really? Or are you driving in traffic, watching for errant drivers who obviously never passed a test and yet are driving a vehicle? Are you waiting for your child to come out of school, one ear on the podcast and the other listening for the school bell so you know to unlock the door. Are you washing dishes and half thinking about your list of things to do tomorrow?

Are you really listening?

I ask because I’ve had the pleasure of working with some new professionals and service providers in the last few weeks and I’ve noticed myself sometimes feeling annoyed, unsatisfied. Because I felt unheard. It left me thinking again about the entirety of the communications cycle where there is a sender, message and recipient; and implied in there is that both parties listen and that’s what I want to delve a bit deeper into today.

INTRO

I recently had to bring our chocolate lab Cocoa into the vet for his shots and a general check up. He’s a good guy for a dog and is very easy to get along with so I didn’t mind if he saw a different vet, I had no worries that he was going to act strange. Sure enough Cocoa loved the poor vet and vet tech to bits before they could start the exam and I was able to stay in the room to distract him so they could do their work.

Afterwards I had a few questions around his allergies that act up whenever we visit my brother who lives a few hours away. It’s a very specific reaction, a specific time frame they last for - basically they appear shortly after we arrive and disappear the day after we’re home. He eats his usual food, essentially everything except the trees and shrubs in the backyard are the same. He’s allergic to something in my brother’s back yard. But we only visit the odd weekend, maybe two or three times a year so it’s never that big of a deal. However, as we’re moving to the other side of the country (in fact I should be somewhere in the middle of the country right now if you’re listening the week this episode is uploaded), we were going to visit my brother one last time the weekend after Cocoa’s appointment. So it was on my mind to ask, after outlining all of the pertinent information, if I can give Cocoa a human anti-histamine just to treat the flare up if he becomes uncomfortable.

I suspect the vet stopped listening after hearing the word allergies because I got a load of questions about his eating and drinking and where he gets his reactions and what they are, how long they last. All questions I had already provided the answers to. I then got a list of expensive injections Cocoa could get that would cover him for months. And this added time to an already longer appointment because my dog had to take his time loving them before letting them examine him; I’m already in a bit of a hurry.

I’m not complaining about the vet, there are explanations for why she questioned me such as she doesn’t know me to know that I am diligent in checking things out to rule out the usual suspects before asking a professional. She’s new and heard me but was running a script that she was trained to use. Maybe her insurance explicitly required her to ask the questions. I don’t know. But maybe she was just not listening. 

So other than frustrating your clients, There are way more other benefits of listening than what I’m going to cover here. But I listed them out and it seemed that they all boiled down to two main areas - relationship and efficiency.

Life is busy and it’s understandable why we might not be concentrating on what others are saying to us but just because it’s understandable does NOT mean it's acceptable. Especially if you’re running a business where you aren’t the only one providing the particular service or product you specialize in. You need to be spectacular at your craft and even then, you might not survive the damage caused to a client or customer relationship if you don’t listen. It’s a fundamental need to be heard and understood and while your client might not understand why they feel dissatisfied, they’ll recognize that they don’t particularly feel awesome after dealing with you and if the opportunity to try someone else comes up, you might be out a paycheque.

On the flip side, if you’re an excellent listener - and we’ll get to that in a moment - your people will love you to bits. They will trust you, they’ll be more forgiving and come back to you and the bonus is that they will tell your friends about you. Your reputation is the most important asset in your business, more so than your equipment, your knowledge and expertise, your location and your pricing. If you don’t have a good reputation, people will only begrudgingly buy from you until they can find an alternative. And in this day and age, there is always an accessible alternative.

So your relationship with your clients and customers is fundamental to your business’s success. And people are more likely to provide you with feedback when you are a listener. The beautiful thing is, is that they may not even be aware that they’re doing it. But if you’re listening, you’ll pick up on what they say or how they act around a product or before or after receiving a service. Those little tidbits lead me to the second main benefit which is efficiency.

When you are listening and paying attention to your clients, you’ll pick up ways that the product or service serves them. When you have a relationship with your customer, you have access to focus group-like feedback without the cost of a professional facilitator. You’ll hear what works perfectly and what you can improve on, and your offering will always be top quality. You’ll be able to cut out the aspects that aren’t working or don’t serve your current client base, thereby becoming more efficient in your processes. If you’re listening. 

And what I really love is that when you’re listening, you hear your customer’s words. Yeah, I know, that sounds redundant but it’s not - so many of us shy away from writing copy because we don’t know what to say. We struggle with our social media, our advertising, going live, writing a blurb for the package, whatever. Because what are we going to say? And yes, I preach messaging and always will but those specific words that you use to convey your messaging - those words are so much more powerful when they are your customer’s own words. They resonate harder, they grab the audience more securely, they make your customer feel like they are seen and heard. Yes, heard. Because they have been. Because you’ve been listening.

So what exactly does it mean to be a good listener? How do you do it, exactly? Because we all listen. Somewhat. Sort of. Listen. We get the gist of what’s being said, we think.

None of the tips here are rocket science, they are common communications skills that I think have slowly started to become uncommon in recent years. It’s time for a revival, my friends, and here are my five tips to become a better listener. 

First, stay present. That means don’t have your phone in your hand, screen up unless you're on zoom or Facetime or whatever. See the human in front of you, even if they are on a screen. Eye contact can be an excellent connector but I know that eye contact is tough. So if that’s completely outside of your comfort zone or your personal capabilities, that’s ok. Use the person’s name as a means to establish a connection, to remind you to stay present. Look in the general direction of their face for a brief moment every few minutes, as you can if you can. It’s easier if you are online to do this, just face them - so few of us actually look into the camera, your customer or client won’t really expect you to make eye contact. But you do need to acknowledge that there is a person you are communicating with

Second, make notes and check your information. I just tell my clients that I’m going to make notes while they talk so they don’t think I’m ignoring them. I process better from written words and often make little notes or symbols to represent ideas or places where further questioning is required. But I’m aware of the perception that I might not be listening so I’m just upfront from the get-go. People with ADHD and other different capabilities actually listen better when doodling or fidgeting - if that’s the case, just be upfront about it. It’s not something to be embarrassed about, just say it as a fact and it will be accepted as a fact, you move on with the consultation sales process or whatever you’re doing. 

Part of staying present is checking to make sure you’ve heard and understood correctly. 

Ask questions and confirm what you think is happening. You can paraphrase and repeat things back, followed by the phrase ‘did I understand that correctly’ or something similar to check. If you haven’t heard correctly, you might not know until you've taken action on that incorrect information - thereby killing any potential for efficiency and improvement. Checking for understanding is vital.

Also vital is patience, my third tip. Sometimes it’s hard to formulate an opinion or find the right words or the person you’re speaking with is dealing with their own mental list of one thousand things that are competing with their ability to have a conversation with you. You need to be patient and let them speak without talking over them, without putting words in their mouth, without sighing or looking at your watch or texting someone - no matter how quickly or discretely you think you can dash one off. I script these episodes because I am a slow talker when I’m thinking and I have reasons for that. One of my boys has overcome a rare speech impediment but still stutters when nervous so he has learned to take his time and not rush when speaking. You don’t know what’s impacting a person’s ability to rattle off information but you can bet your last dollar that they are aware of whatever impediment they have and will notice and be grateful for those who take the time to listen. And if this is you, you know that yourself. Or perhaps more likely, you know what it’s like not to be listened to and you don’t want to make others feel that way. So practise patience. It will be rewarded.

My fourth tip is to take a beat to assimilate the info and respond thoughtfully, you don’t need to snap back a response. If you start speaking as soon as someone has stopped talking, were you really listening? I’m a bury the lead kinda gal, it made my life difficult when writing news stories until I learned the trick of taking my last paragraph and moving it to the intro. But now that I have my own medium - this podcast - you guys are at the mercy of my personal style. If I want to wrap up the podcast with the most important piece of information, that’s quite possibly what I’m going to do. My stats indicate that you listen all the way, that I thankfully don’t lose you, so I feel comfortable rolling with my own way of communicating most of the time. But I digress. Take a minute. Stay present, check what you have heard and understood and that will help you formulate your response. You haven’t done any of that if you have a prepared response ready at the first pause. Plus, when you have given the information provided your attention, and allow your brain an extra beat to process, you might surprise yourself with what you come up with either a follow up question or as advice, or as an idea for your own personal use such as how to better communicate with this customer in the future.

And my fifth and final tip is to watch the non-verbal communication if you can. Is that technically listening? Well sort of, yes. You can still use your ears to pick up the tone of voice or the pace of the speech used. What do they tell you? Do they indicate that you should perhaps take the information with a grain of salt? That the person is quite passionate or not really interested or bothered? You can watch to see if the person is thoughtful in their expression or if they’re distracted and perhaps only providing you with partial information, leaving you an opportunity to ask some questions and dig deeper or come back to the point at a different time. Decoding non-verbal communication can take some skills but it can’t happen at all if you don’t pay attention to it to begin with. 

And these tips for listening and relationship building aren’t just appropriate for business. They apply to your personal life and relationships too. Being heard is a basic human need, not a business requirement. You might find that in business and in your personal life issues that could potentially escalate actually cool or are resolved before even becoming a capital I issue because the frustration or urgency is diminished by virtue of being heard. 

So better listening can lead to an improved relationship and efficiency, and can be achieved through staying present, checking for understanding, being patient then taking a beat or two to process the information, and being aware of body language. When you notice how your clients feel really good about talking to you, when you see them leaving you with a flow of being heard and therefore feeling valued, pop me a note on Instagram @janiceefogarty or why not join my facebook group the Connections, Coffee & Confidence Community so we can celebrate together? Hope to see you soon and until next week, my friend, enjoy the rest of your day.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is an interview with Hazel Urquhart a woman who left school early and went to work in a paintbrush factory to earn money to help out her family, ended up running art therapy workshops and a non-profit organization and now, at an age when people traditionally would have thought of retiring, she has published a book called The Art of You: Self Discovery Through Art. Listen as she discusses the experiences that encouraged her to create her book and as I coach her through some ways to market and further her work.

Trigger Warning: Hazel talks a little bit about her work with organizations for women who dealt with sexual abuse and also briefly discusses a personal experience with a possible suicide. These experiences contributed greatly to the creation of her book and, although I could have deleted them from the interview, they are indicative of the person Hazel is and the journey she took, and I felt her story would have been missing a substantial piece. You can begin listening at 17 minutes if you would like to hear about Hazel’s book and how she put it together, our discussion on ways to market it and what she’s doing next.

Key Points:

• The Beginnings: Paint brushes, volunteering and art groups (3)
• The Department of Human Potential (6:21)
• What Do You Want to Do With Your Life? (8:47)
• The Workshop Years (12)
• The Book and Help from a Local Grant (20:54)
• Ideal Customer & Marketing (24)
• Imposter Syndrome (26:36)
• Validation of Hazel's Work (31:36)
• Officially Going to be a Pensioner: Advice on workshops (38:10)
• A Pretty Determined Woman (42:24)
• Best Advice from a Counsellor (49:20)
• Crafting for Being Sane (55:07)

Buy Hazel's Book, The Art of You: Self Discovery Through Art:

• Amazon.co.uk
• Etsy.com
• [email protected]

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

✔Join me on Pinterest 😀

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔ And join me in Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if we could step back and evaluate our practices for efficiency? (Doesn’t that sound like a fun Friday night?) Seriously though, it’s an exercise we all need to apply once in a while - both personally and professionally - to see what’s working, what we can do differently and what we can stop altogether. I’ve come up with a list of seven items for you to have a think about, to free up some more of that valuable time, energy and money.

Key Points:

• Stop spending on the frills and unnecessary items (2:31)
• Stop doing what you hate or feel you should (5:16)
• Stop second guessing yourself (7:01)
• Stop working for today (9:42.5)
• Stop not taking care of yourself (12:52.5)
• Stop avoiding networking (13:54)
• Stop denying your skills (16:43)

Also mentioned:

• E36:  https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/take-the-weight-off-your-sales-process
• E52: https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/not-living-the-cookie-cutter-life
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (https://amzn.to/3vX5L5s) (Please note that this is my affiliate link and should you choose to buy this book, or anything else using this link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business.)
• Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

✔Join me on Pinterest 😀

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

As female entrepreneurs, we have a lot of stuff going on. Heck, as people, we have a lot of stuff going on. Some days there aren’t enough hours, enough energy and from time to time, enough money to go around.

What if we were able to step back and evaluate our practices for efficiency? (Doesn’t that sound like what you should do with a choice beverage on a Friday night?) Seriously though, it’s an exercise we all need to apply once in a while - both personally and professionally, to see what’s working, what we can do differently and what we can stop altogether. I’ve come up with a list of seven items for you to have a think about, see if they apply to your business or your life, to free up some more of that valuable time, energy and money.

INTRO

This episode came about from a series of conversations I’ve been having with fellow entrepreneurs and a few of my clients. They were all just one-off things I noticed and questioned the validity of in the particular circumstances of those conversations but they stuck with me because they really are universal. And, full disclosure, some of them have cropped up in my personal life and business so I’m including those as well. Ready?

I’ll start with the admission that I’m frugal. I keep an eye on my incomings and outgoings and rarely spend where I don’t need to. It annoys my kids, sometimes my husband, but whatever. This is not to say that I don’t spend where there is value, check out Episode 36 Take the Weight off Your Sales Process where I advocate the idea of creating and explaining value. I believe in spend when you need to, the amount should fit within your budget and the return should offer enough value to justify the spend. I also believe in future-proofing your business. Investing in tools and equipment to enable and support your growth. 

However.

There are things we think we need, or we tell ourselves we need because really, we know we don’t need it but we just want it, or it’s on sale and we might need it and it’s better off to buy it now… you know what I mean. Or it’s the technology. I know I just said you should invest in future-proofing your business but do you need the email service provider that will carry you up to 10,000 subscribers when you only have 50? Do you need to pay for the platform that enables you to have a membership when you have no plans to create one in the next, well, ever but you like having the option? 

I had a woman contact me and want my help creating a website. She wanted to pay my rates for crafting messaging, editing copy, and a referral for a web designer. Which I would have been very happy to do except for two things. First, she couldn’t afford me. We both knew that. I’m not expensive by most standards, I like to remain reasonable, but I am not in her budget. And for that matter, neither is a web designer. But second, and more importantly, she doesn’t need a website right now. If ever. I couldn’t take her money and set her up and still sleep at night knowing she got something that most likely wasn’t going to bring her a reasonable return on the investment and that was going to be more than what she was able to maintain on her own, causing her to have to pay more for web maintenance. 

A website is a lovely thing to have and splash around. But there are other, more cost effective ways to run a business. She’s getting set up with a different system that suits her business and more importantly, that money that she was going to invest is going into equipment upgrades and paying herself a little bit extra. And that’s the bonus of reviewing what you’re paying for. The money you can potentially save can be used to invest in what you actually need or to pay yourself a bit more, even just a bonus would be lovely. Or it can be used to pay someone else which leads me ever so nicely to my second item: doing what you don’t like.

Why are you doing what you don’t like? And sometimes yes, you absolutely have to roll up your sleeves and get dirty up to your elbows. But what about doing things you feel like you should because it’s expected? First, why? Second, who is expecting what from you? If it’s your customer or client, that leads me to third, do you have to be the one who does it? Does it have to be done in the conventional way or can you get creative?

I had a client, bright and sunny and driven and so intelligent. And she wanted to start a blog. But actually she didn’t. When she brought it up her entire body language, right down to her tone of voice, drooped. If there is something in your business you feel you should be doing, well, that word ‘should’ can be your trigger to stop and re-evaluate. Why and says who? If it’s something that you can’t get out of doing or providing, see if there is a way to worm around the practicalities. My client is an amazing speaker. Like, you want to bottle her and pour her into crowds of people. So we worked with her strengths and the answer is to record her thoughts and have a VA transcribe them. If you can’t afford a VA, then perhaps you get busy learning to type quickly; don’t stifle your creativity and don’t hold yourself back over the things you can work around. You need to be aware of the things holding you back and either drop them or work around them. 

The third item on my list is second guessing. We all do it at some point, we all hesitate before hitting publish or post or send. We re-think before we open our mouth to contribute or straight up slam the delete button. It’s normal and sometimes it’s a good thing. A bit of thought before we jump can save ourselves and nobody needs more hassle.

What I'm talking about here is second guessing if your new product is good enough or ready for purchase. If that picture is too dorky to post. If your copy isn’t perfect. If your email sequence is long enough or timed right or including the right messages at the right time. (I can help with that by the way.) Are you ready to talk on a podcast about your business? Should you hire someone on a part time or even full time basis? Should you let someone go? Should you accept that offer to partner or make an offer of your own?

Or worse, if you’ve made a sound decision and last minute start allowing that niggle of fear in the back of your mind to speak more strongly, more loudly. If it is around a significant move or investment, you be the judge of how much weight to give it. If it’s a post or a product or course, hit publish. Do what you need to do to move your business forward, get it in play, give it some time then review what you did. Make your tweaks if necessary and move on. It’ll be okay. Malcolm Gladwell is a brilliant author and one of my favorite books of his is called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. I’ll link to it in the show notes. But he breaks down what happens in the mind in those few seconds before making a decision, what’s knows as the adaptive unconscious: mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from relatively little information. Lots of studies and real world examples, written in a conversational tone and so easy to burn through. I’m a compulsive over-thinker by nature and this book helped me understand what happens behind the scenes in my head and that, combined with the work I’ve done on my own self-confidence has helped me stop second guessing myself so much. If you read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts so pop me an email at [email protected] or tag me on Instagram at janiceefogarty.

The fourth item to re-evaluate is if you’re working for today. Remember a few minutes ago when I brought up future-proofing your business? Well, this is it. I don’t know your business but what I do know is that you don’t plan to work forever. At some point you want to make enough money to keep you in your desired lifestyle without the stress and effort you currently put in. And in order to do that, you need to be actively setting things up in your business to run without you. 

That might feel scary. As entrepreneurs we sometimes feel highly attached to our business, maybe you have a personal brand business and sure, the attachment makes complete sense, but at some point you won’t want to do the same things anymore. And you should prepare for that now. Depending on your revenue and growth, your personal goals, your talents, you should be thinking about what it will take to achieve your future.

Maybe you need to invest in better equipment or technology that will allow you to take your business to the next stage. I’m not saying to go back into that 10,000 email subscriber package, but evaluate if your plans are to grow your list by 1,000 and maybe add in a product that would justify upgrading your programming. Or you want to be able to build more bath bombs, train more dogs, but your current operations aren’t built for that. That’s when you need to upgrade your equipment to enable you to grow.

Many of us don’t want to grow to have a staff of 30 but it would be nice to have someone to run the business side of things will you do what you are so good at, whatever that is that gives your business your sparkle, or you hire someone to do the stuff that sucks the joy from your heart. If you can see yourself hiring a virtual assistant or an online business manager in the near future, you should be thinking about what you do right now that you’ll want them to take over and create a manual, or a standard operating procedure around that. This ensures consistency in your brand, in your operations, and enables someone you hire to immediately start working to your standards and methodology - as long as they can follow your directions. 

If you have a staff already and are looking at handing over the day-to-day operations, it goes without saying you should have a significant amount of standard operating procedures in place but you should also be devising a schedule to ease yourself out, to gradually hand over responsibilities and get your employees used to the idea of taking on more or different responsibilities or reporting to a different person. If you want to sell your business as a growing concern, the ability to hand over a well-trained staff and a set of current standard procedures is an excellent selling feature. 

And, let’s be honest, you’ll need time to adjust to all of this as well. Future proofing your business includes ensuring your graceful exit and transition into a different life. Which nicely segways into taking care of yourself.

Is this new advice? No. But it is important enough to repeat. You are the only one of you. You are valuable, you’re worthy, you’re loved and you’re needed. So please, take care of yourself. Eat. Sleep. Exercise. Read or listen to more podcasts. Have a hobby or something outside of whatever your work is, that’ll give you something to look forward to and help you with creativity, relaxation, and provide you with something to occupy your time while you transition out of your business when the time comes. And know people, be with people, who know who you are, who you enjoy being with, who keep you honest and true and inspire you to be better. That’s advice close to item six.

Networking. I love to connect people. If I know you are doing something and can help someone else out, if I hear of someone looking for someone like you, I will always create the connection where possible. Until it comes to myself. As an introvert, it’s way safer and easier to stay in my bubble. Even online, to just stay in my online bubble. It's so snuggly and delightful in my bubble. But it’s not helping my business. It’s not helping my personal or professional development. So I’ve had to make a decision to network. Sometimes I speak in other groups, on facebook or Zoom; I leave comments cheering random strangers on or answering their questions, helping where I can. When someone introduces me to someone else, I stay open and curious instead of retreating into my head and ducking the intro. And so can you. These are not revolutionary ideas but they can be hard, harder than engaging. But when you don’t engage, you don’t network, you shut yourself off to opportunities, to support, to creative synergy, to extra ideas and income. For the sake of what? Staying safe inside your head? Is it worth it?

I’m going to guess you’re in a few facebook groups. You're welcome to join mine, the Connections, Coffee & Confidence Community, but whatever groups you're in, engage! Same with Instagram or TikTok or Clubhouse, wherever you’re hanging out. Engage. There are networking groups set up across every country and if you can’t find one that suits your needs, start one. You’re an entrepreneur. You create and problem solve, so do it. Maybe you’re in a part of the world that is open by the time you listen to this; and that might make things easier for you to attend in-person events. Easier meaning they are happening, you might still need to push yourself to attend. But I don’t think that online meet ups are ever going to be a thing of the past so hit the old Google and find one that’s of interest to you. Maybe you don’t focus on what exactly you aim to get out of the networking beyond meeting new people; as Heather McGregor said in episode 52, you block the magic when you control the how. Maybe it’s enough for you to decide to meet new people and stay open to possibilities. Try it. The worst thing that can happen is you have a story to tell about the horrible time you tried to network and the cast of characters or events that you encountered.

The last item on my list is a deep one that is holding you back. It’s about not claiming your status. Owning it. You are magnificent at something, somewhere in your heart you know I’m right. But maybe you don’t feel safe admitting it even to yourself let alone proclaiming it to the world. Or maybe you just aren’t sure what it is yet. Or maybe you know and you downplay it. 

We say those things, you know? Oh, I just kinda fell into this thing… I don’t know how it happened but all of a sudden I had to hire an assistant to help out. I’m not really an expert but I get by. Or some version. No more. Stop doing that. If you are doing something and it is working, then that isn’t by chance or magic, you’ve done something and are someone real and deserving of credit. Claim that credit. Feel it in your bones. Write it on your mirror so you see it every day. Make it your screen saver. And knock out using that word ‘just’ to modify your accomplishments. Stand proudly beside what you’ve done. Even if you failed, be proud that you tried and rest in the knowledge that you gained through the experience. 

When you don’t own your expertise, your skills, you close yourself off to external recognition. I’m not saying you need that external recognition for yourself, far from it, but others need it to help them justify their decision to spend their money and time on you. It’s psychology, social proof. If you bat away compliments or acknowledgements, you will teach people to stop giving them to you making your marketing harder.

When you don’t own your success, or you refuse to hold it as truth, you place limits on yourself. If you don’t acknowledge your strengths and skills, you won’t be confident enough to take the beating every entrepreneur inevitably gets. And actually, you won’t be confident enough to actually get into the ring. You limit your possibilities when you don’t claim what you have, who you are.

This can be really hard, particularly for women. I hope that it changes for the coming generations but right now, women are still not really encouraged to own their status. And I can’t imagine the challenges faced by women who are Black, Indigenous or People of Colour, non-binary or identifying as female. There are layers of societal norms that I want to believe are being worn away but right now, we have to take a deep breath and accept our strength, our skill. 

If you struggle to know what you’re good at, ask someone you trust and respect. Hire a coach. Step back and examine what has worked for you and what felt good while you were doing it, does that give you a clue? And do a gut check. When you have an answer, does it sit well in your gut? Not the fear of having to own it and claim it and proclaim it, but in your heart of hearts, is this true and accurate? If it passes the gut test, go with it. Remember it and hold on to the knowledge so you can bypass the fear that will inevitably bubble up in the future. 

So there you have it. In no particular order my list of seven items to re-evaluate to ensure you aren’t wasting time, energy or money, that you aren’t holding yourself back from being the most magnificent version of your entrepreneurial self. Stop paying for what you don’t need. Stop doing what sucks the joy from your heart. Stop second guessing yourself. Stop working for today. Stop not prioritizing self care. Stop avoiding networking. Stop denying your skills and expertise. And once you’ve stopped all of those things, take note of how you feel with your newfound clarity and direction. 

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you next week.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Heather McGregor is a Soul Life Laser Coach, Quantum Flow Practitioner, author, speaker, and the founder of Naturally Present and the CLAIM Program. She guides entrepreneurs and coaches to live an empowered soul-led life, and increase their income in their soul-led business. She believes in magic, energy and flow and will inspire you to do the same.

**My apologies for the minute or two where you can hear one of my boys playing xbox in background!**

Key Points:

• Not Living the Cookie Cutter Life (3:49)
• Student of Life: Modalities & Mentors (5:57)
• Quantum Flow: Clearing Stuck Energy and Recoding Neural Pathways (8:18)
• Laser Coaching: Getting to the Root and Shifting Energy (9:53)
• CLAIM Program: Conscious Living (11:25)
• Freedom as Entrepreneurs (14:15)
• Curiosity and Humor (15:27)
• When We Control the How, We Block the Magic (18:06)
• Permission to Live Your Joy (20:42)
• A Place of Desire: Letting Go of the "So That I Can" (24:37)
• How Do You Stay So Positive? How Do You Still the Mind? (27:54)
• I Wish People Would See Their Own Brilliance (30:10)
• Just Stand Up Again (31:06)
• Learning How to Let Go (32:13)
• It's Always the Breath (35:45)
• Co-Authoring a Book (38:21)
• It's Time to be Bold (42:40)

You can find Heather at: https://naturallypresent.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Heather.McGr

IG: https://www.instagram.com/naturally_present/

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/naturallypresentnetwork

If you are interested in reading Rebirth: 11 Stories of Real Women Who Re-Invented Themselves, Renewed Their Life Force & Rose From The Ashes, the book Heather co-authored, here's my Amazon link* to purchase a copy: https://amzn.to/2TkTeKu

*If you use my link to purchase this book or anything else, I will receive a small commission but it will not affect your price at all. I appreciate your support in keeping this podcast running!

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

My Products:

• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the rise of podcasts comes a new type of PR agency, one focused on matching their clients to the most aligned and strategic podcast opportunities. Brandy Whalen saw this coming as her more traditional clients were enjoying their media exposure and gaining great publicity and feedback; she saw the opportunity and formed Kitcaster with a local podcaster. In this episode, she discusses how podcasting is impacting business and public relations, marketing, as well as where she sees this media form heading.

Key Points:

• Everyone can use podcasts but their goals are different (4:01)
• Podcasting as a brand tool (7:04)
• Alignment: How to get chosen (9:56)
• The future of podcasting: Professionalism (13:42)
• Sophisticated Marketing is on the way (15:10)
• Getting excited about what people are doing (18:12)
• Podcasts & Pandemics (23:47)
• It's not a deal if you don't need it (25:22)
• 60 podcasts and rewards reaped (27:40)
• Advice to guests from an agency professional (31:33)
• How to work with Kitcaster (32:06)
• Really good conversations (33:18)

How to contact Brandy Whalen:

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandy-whalen/
• Kitcaster.com

My products to help you grow your business with confidence and amazing communication:

• How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
• 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)
• Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)

I love Apothekary products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being. I use Seal the Deal every day in my morning smoothie and Chill The F* Out when I need it! (Better Than Botox and You Dew You have been known to hit my smoothies, as well.) By using my referral link, you can get $30US off of your first order --> http://apothekary.refr.cc/janicefogarty

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.