Heart Behind Hustle® Podcast: Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Lifestyle for Impact-Driven Coaches and Experts

Today we're talking with Jenn Scalia, 7 figure entrepreneur, and CEO of Million Dollar Mommy. I've known Jenn for quite some time and it's been incredible to see the shifts she's created for her clients and in her own business. You'll love this episode where we discuss evergreen business models and more.

------ 

1:45 Jenn was working as a social media manager for a large casino when she was suddenly laid off.  She began doing some freelance work but soon decided to shift into life-coaching.  After the first year of her new business she decided to hire her first coach and that helped her to get some clarity on her life.

3:42 Mindset was key for Jenn to get ahead.  She had to believe that she could make a high level of income.

5:22 Jenn considers herself an introvert and for that reason one-on-one work was difficult for her.  Carrying the weight others success started to weigh on her so she moved to workshops instead of one-on-ones.

7:19 Jenn's membership site has been online for two years now.  She decided to switch to a membership site because she was producing so much content she wanted to create a place where people could access it all at once.

9:00 Jenn believes strongly that creating a successful membership site is totally dependent on creating a great experience.  Her site is not just a lot of content.  Instead, she offers an experience that allows people to implement the lessons they have learned. People want to be a member of a community and want to be engaged

11:45  Paid advertising is key to getting people on her email list which she uses multiple times a week.  When it comes to social media she is militant about creating impactful livestreams or blog posts.  Stories are very important when communicating with people - personal stories that have nothing to do with business are much more likely to get shares and likes.

16:15 The support that she has around her is crucial to Jenn's success.  She has an online business manager handling the tech stuff.  She also has a virtual assistant that handles her calls and appointments. She also has an in-person assistant that helps with the business and with childcare.

18:12 Jenn spends two to three hours a day on her mindset work.  For her it's less about the doing and more about the being.

19:58. Jenn's strongest driver at the beginning was to create something for her son.  Now her strongest driver is to help other people to create wealth through business.  Jenn defines freedom as doing the things she wants to do and not doing the things she doesn't want to do.

22:40 Jenn's mindset work focusses on journaling which she considers her visualization.  She writes about every aspect of her life from "what her life should be like" to "what her body should look like".  It's not just about business.  It's her entire life.  She writes from the perspective of someone who has already accomplished her goals. 

26:06 Jenn believes that entrepreneurs making six figures will not be able to grow their business without a proper framework in place.  What got you to six figures is not going to get you multiple six figures.  You have to build a process and a framework that can be built upon.

Jenn has a gift for listeners, a six-figure mindset mini-course that can be found at jennscalia.com/kamilia

I have a story to share with you today, and it's something that has been kind of hard for me to discuss. I wrote a blog post about this topic about a year ago, and I really wanted to talk about this again.

I see a lot of entrepreneurs who are not taking ownership of their business and success. They're not claiming the fact that they're the person that's dictating and determining their success and creating that legacy.

To illustrate this, I wanted to share my own experience. I've dealt with insecurity about this for a while. My marketing coaching company is my business that I have right now, and it's my third business. My first business was a photography business that I started when I was 19. I also started a health blog when I was about 20 or 21, which was profitable for me as well.

To be honest, though, I didn't call these businesses. They were making me money, but I just called them side gigs or ventures - it was a mindset thing for me.

When I started my coaching business, I was not taking it as seriously as I probably could. It's funny because I didn't even realize that I was doing this. I thought I was taking it seriously and was super dedicated to growing my business - which I was, but something was missing.

Of course, I was committed to it, but the piece that was lacking for me was the proper mindset. Let me explain. So, in the first year or so of my business, I was struggling a lot with getting over specific income thresholds. I was still working my 9-5 and continued to do so for about a year and a half before I actually quit.

I was making money from my business, but something I kept coming up against was, how could I possibly support myself with this? I felt that people weren't taking me seriously and this was reflected to me almost every time I went to a conference or networking event. I just didn't feel like I was good enough. I was surrounded by older men and women who did not want to talk to me, and I would think to myself, what am I doing here?

All of these insecurities of not feeling like I was enough would come up. I didn't want to be this buttoned up person, and I was trying so hard to fit in. I was striving to be this person that could feel like I belonged and to be taken seriously. This was such a profound insecurity for me when I started my business, and it was really hard for me to take ownership.

I was blind to the fact that I have control over whether I blow up or choose to retreat and stay in my 9-5 forever. 

I needed to overcome the preconceived notions that I had about what success and being taken seriously looks like. For some reason, I had it in my head that to be respected and have the level of success I wanted, I had to be this buttoned up person. I thought that in order to fit in I had to be very professional, never curse, not have fun hair, and be super conservative. I felt that I needed to say all the right things and continue to impress people with my knowledge - it was just ridiculous.

All of these things as a whole were giving me a lot of insecurity and anxiety; even about meeting people and getting out there in a bigger way. I didn't realize that this was an issue for me until I was working with a particular coach back in 2015, and was trying to get to my first 10k month. Every single month I would be at 6, 7, 8, 9, but I would not be able to break past that 10k; I thought, what is happening here?

What we realized was the fact that I didn't feel worthy of reaching that 10k mark. In my mind, when I reached that mark, it meant I could quit my 9-5 and take myself seriously. This would mean that I could focus on my business and not waiver or stab myself in the back by believing all of these things that I was already struggling with. It was me against me, and that's usually what it is when it comes to mindset blocks.

You're typically the only person that's standing in your own way of breaking through and having the success that you desire.

I know this because I was running a hat selling summer, which is a program all about making as many sales as possible. Some of my clients were struggling with thoughts like, "Well, my clients aren't going to want this," or "I don't think I can do this." Realistically, 95% of this doubtful thinking was just them getting in their own way. They weren't getting out there and doing the work by putting their all into these campaigns and making money.

Instead, they were making excuses for why it would fail.

It is a process of being able to break through barriers and understand that you are the only person that's going to determine what will and will not work in your business.

As soon as you're able to break through these things and pull yourself out of the equation, you're going to be shocked at what you can achieve. A lot of times people are surprised that there's someone new in the market place that within six months is at six figures. How are they able to do this? Well, they most likely already had a solid mindset game in place. It wasn't even an option for them to come against things that were not real.

Your mindset blocks, fears, and doubts are not real; these are things you make up to stay inside your comfort zone.

I am not free of this, and to be honest, I don't think we will ever be free of this altogether. We consistently have to break through and stay aware of the blocks that we are faced with. For me, I needed to make sure that I surrounded myself with people that are successful, and not just in the traditional sense. I needed to find examples of young entrepreneurs - millennial entrepreneurs - that were rocking it and making bank.

I wanted to find people that looked different, that had fun hair, that said whatever they wanted, cursed and weren't the most popular opinion. I needed to find examples of this to prove to myself that my belief was bullshit since there was evidence showing me just that. I wanted to point to the contrary of what I already believed so that I could shift my mindset.

The second part of this process for me was surrounding myself with people that would tell me I was on the right path. I love feedback and really like that reassurance that I'm on the right track. I don't need this as much as I used to, thankfully, since I now rely on my own guidance a lot more. But, when I was at the beginning of breaking through, I needed my coach to tell me that I could do it consistently.

I needed her to remind me that I was an amazing, badass entrepreneur. I had to become that mirror, in a way, that I wanted to see myself in and I wouldn't have been able to do that without a coach. Eventually, I was able to face my fears and go to these events and just rock it. It does start with pretending a little bit; stepping into being that person you desire to become.

I needed to replace those prior beliefs with new, positive ones instead. I had to inject them purposely into my brain and consistently tell myself these things over and over again until they became true. Once you do this for a while, things are actually going to start shifting, and you will begin to reap the rewards.

No one can help you take ownership - you are the only person that can take that control over your own success and business.

You are the only person that can start taking yourself seriously and seeing your business as a company. This is such a huge thing because then you are not just in a business, you are not just a freelancer, you're not just a coach - you actually have a company and are here to leave a legacy.

You are here to make an impact and a difference in the world, and you can only do that when you get out of your own way and continue to move forward powerfully.

No matter what comes up, you're going to move forward because this is bigger than you. It's not just about you wanting to make a few extra bucks. When you're clear about why you're doing something in the first place, you're able to continue in a strong, powerful, rock star kind of way. It's possible for you to break through, too, if you're also struggling with this.

Selena Soo is a business & publicity strategist. She is also the creator of Impacting Millions -- an online program and community for experts, authors, and coaches looking to elevate their brands, reach more people, and change the world. She is a 7-figure business owner, and is passionate about helping mission-driven entrepreneurs grow their revenues and their impact. Her work has been featured on Forbes, Fast Company, Inc, and Business Insider.

--------

0:34 Selena talks about achieving a 5 year milestone of owning and running her own business and reminisces on what she has achieved and overcome in the entrepreneurial game.

1:25 Selena give a rundown on her business and the services she offers for her clients which consist of 3 online programs:

• 1.Impacting Millions: All About Publicity and reaching the mass with your message
• 2.Influence: Networking and building 1-on-1 relationships
• 3.Get Known, Get Clients: How to build your client list.

She also offers a speciality Mastermind with a business partner which is an invite only program for people who are earning at the 7 figure level. She's looking into more options of how she can work with more people in the future.

3:26 Two impactful moments for Selena in her career:

1. When launching her website; testimonials were given earlier on to her by Danielle Laporte and magazine editors which generated some excitement about her when she was new to the market.
2. Her First Group Program: 2014 which lead her to making $150,000 

5:15 Selena starts to unpack the 5 key lessons that she has learned from running a business.

#1 - Client selection : Who you invite into your community and your space. It's all good to hustle, niche and brand – if you are a service provider, coach or consultant it's about your client success. Align yourself with amazing people who inspire you. Be strategic in how you market – you don't want to market to a point where you're attracting negative people to you. She talks about an experience she had with a client which lead her to develop a habit to to be very clear on intention to create the kind of community she wants.

8:24 Kamila talks about the red flags she looks for in sales calls when those who make enquires talk about previous courses and consultations  they have engaged in with other coaches claiming that none of it worked. Be cautious and mindful of the copy that you write.

9:03 #2 Courage brings you freedom.

It's a hard one to master, especially for those who are inclined to be people pleasers.

She talks about a particular experience and ways to deliver this conversation.

Kamila asks whether there have been any negative or unpleasant repercussions as a result of ending a business or working relationship with them?

If it's not working for the coach, it's not working for the client either.  Intense feelings are likely to come up as people are unhappy when being told they can't have something however the feeling of relief comes in after the conversation.

Being a sensitive person, Selena does at times feel nervous about having these conversations with people but once it's done and it's over, she feels better.

14:30 #3 Be careful about what you give

Even though she is someone passionate about going above and beyond to help people , she advices to be mindful about giving.

The most successful people in the world are givers, however that's also the case for the most unsuccessful people in the world too. Be strategic and thoughtful about how you're giving and expending your energy.

It's about working on how to strike the right balance between giving value without giving away too much.

When sharing bonuses, make sure that they are complimentary to you're actual offering, Ideally, they are quick and easy to consume and not too overwhelming to prevent people from actually consuming the actual course content.

21:20 How to manage Visibility while giving away content for free

Selena advises that if the content you put out is relevant to your purpose, it's fine.

One of the most important things is to create emotional connection and you don't necessarily need a lot of content to create that.

From a content perspective, it's really important to share stories, it's important to show people that you are someone who is relatable and gets what they're going through. Once you like someone and you have that emotional connection, others want to be a part of whatever they are offering. Selene prides herself in the fact that she does less to achieve more in business. Because she's giving so much, she has to be careful of where that energy is going.

25:28 Selena's Favorite Marketing Strategy

Easiest marketing strategy because it doesn't take up much time is photos that are taken at dinner parties with people of influence. These are loaded to Facebook and the attendees are tagged. It's a great PR exercise to demonstrate to people to see who you're connected with

27:24 #4 Staying In Your Zone Of Genius

Being overstretched can be an obstacle to being successful. A lot people feel the need to be everywhere and do everything and that slows down their business. Selena believes that one of the reasons to her speed is that she chooses to stay in her zone and not fill it with many things.

31;40 #5 Listen to The Market and Be Ready To Do The Opposite

To become an industry leader, you can't be doing the same as everyone else.

Coaches, Mentors and existing clients told Selena that no one was going to buy the courses she said she was going to create on networking.

She talks about how she anchored self-trust, and started to observe what people wanted, what they connected and cared about and then found the right language to package it

Take peoples advice and suggestions to heart but at the same time, be willing to do the opposite thing. 

35:20 Times where it wasn't what she hoped for

Overall, Selena's products have done well, some haven't gone as well as others. Her program which launched in 2014 doubled in attendees the following year, but halved.

36:55 Networking and Publicity

One of the best things she's done for her business is really choosing

Niche, being collaborative and supported by lots of people

Niching down has been really powerful

38:40 The shift from 6 figures to 7

Selena's shift into jumping into 7 figures of revenue was mainly through the Group Programs she holds. –

39:40 Things to Look Forward To

She wants to place a greater focus on her personal life, even though she loves working hard, she wants  more balance – going on holidays, rest.

42:00 A Special Gift For Our Listeners

Get VIP Access to Media Influencers and Online Stars with Selena's special gift for you – her online video available here:

http://selenasoo.com/vipvideo

Hear the stories of how she built her networks over time.

43:00 More on Selena Soo

http://www.selenasoo.com/impactingmillions

Listen to her podcast interviews to learn more about her

Today we are talking about how to shift yourself out of the space of lack and into the space of abundance. This concept was huge for me over the past year, and I'm so excited to share this with you.

I have an interesting question for you. Are you a giver or are you a taker?

Now before you answer this question, since you're probably already like," Oh, of course, I'm a giver!" I want to bring something to your attention. You might not even realize which one you are leading with because we're often stuck in our ego and don't see that.

I realized that about myself in the last six months. I went through this transformational training, if you will, and realized a lot of things about myself. These were things I didn't want to know necessarily, and I didn't want them to come to the surface. But, I'm glad that they did because they made me see myself and how I was.

I was able to change. Awareness is essential to change, creating a better life, and becoming a better human being in general.

So, are you a giver or are you a taker? Often you might think that you are a giver, right? But, you might be taking more than you realize. What is taking and what does taking mean? It means more than just physically taking things from people, and it doesn't have to be extremely malicious.

I'm talking more about the energy here. The power of giving, which is more of the abundance energy. You're giving selflessly, and you want to support the other person and help them. You are pouring out love and acceptance towards them.

Now, on the other hand, taking is more fear-based. You might be in a self-righteous area when it comes to taking, and you want things to happen your way. You want to feel like you're in control.

Very often you might be taking more than you realize. I'm not trying to call you out here; I'm just saying this to bring some things to your attention.

For example, was there ever a situation where you asked someone a question and wanted them to answer in a specific way, but they didn't? Then you most likely got disappointed since what happened didn't meet your expectations. This scenario happened to me a lot when I was in a relationship. I'll be super up front when I admit; I have not been a very good girlfriend.

I had to go through a lot of transformation to heal properly.

When I was in relationships, I was not the best girlfriend because I was very closed off. I was also controlling and judgmental, mostly of myself. But, if you're judgmental of yourself that's going to seep into the judgment of others, too. I would have conversations with my at-the-time boyfriend and would say things to test him.

This is going to make me sound so stupid, but I would say something just to see how he would react. I wanted to provoke him, and he would respond in one of two ways. The way that I wanted, or the way that I didn't necessarily want him to. Now, I'll be honest; there was no winning in this situation.

If he did the thing that I expected him to do, that meant he responded in a way that wasn't favorable to me. This unfavorable response would prove some fear that I had about myself; some insecurity that I had. If he responded in a way that wasn't in line with what I was expecting to hear, then I was disappointed and would doubt if he meant it.

There was no winning. I was so insecure and in my head. I was not ready for relationships and had a lot of work to do on myself. But, in that situation, I was taking.

It might not even seem like taking at first, but I was taking because I was expecting a situation to turn out in a specific way. I wanted to achieve a particular result as it relates to another person, but we can't control other people. We can only control what we do ourselves.

I was taking from him so that my situation would be either approved or disapproved in some way. I wanted to control the situation, so I was taking. I was taking from him the ability to connect with me, and I put up a wall. This was a recurring theme when I was in my teens and early twenties, and it wasn't until my mid-twenties that I started to change that.

There are a lot of situations where you're taking, and you don't even realize it. Are you trying to control situations and are you expecting a particular thing to occur that isn't in your control? Are you trying to control people and do you want them to respond to you in a certain way? If that's happening, then you're taking because you want things to occur in a way that's going to suit you and not them.

I'm a big fan of self-care and self-love. But, there's a big difference between caring about yourself and doing it because you are insecure and want to take from another person. I have been that insecure person, and insecurity is probably going to always be a part of my life.

With insecurity, there is pure fear-driven taking and so much negativity that creeps into every area of your life.

Because of my insecurities, I was accepting situations and taking things from people but not allowing them to connect with me. I was, therefore, unable to give to them. It wasn't until recently that I was finally starting to open my heart up and be able to give truly. FINALLY.

The amazing thing is that I do believe in karma and always have. Karma is not just when you do harm to someone, and it comes back to bite you in the ass. It works the other way around, too. The more you give, the more you're going to receive because of that positive, open energy.

When you're giving, you're supporting people and helping them without any agenda. You can create more acceptance for yourself, you're able to deal with your problems in an easier way, and you're able to receive. Incredible things that you want to appear in life tend to appear because you're in the space of giving.

I learned something valuable when I was going through a leadership training program, and it created such a big shift for me. When things aren't going great, and you're focusing on everything that's going wrong, get out of your head and go help someone.

Go and seek someone out and give them love, acceptance, and support just for the sake of helping. Do this with no expectation of something in return. Be in the space of giving without asking for anything in exchange. When you do this, you will automatically put yourself back into the space of receiving goodness and abundance.

You're not going to be focusing on your own stuff because you can't be in the space of fear when you're supporting other people. It's not possible to be in both places at the same time since they're two different energies. You are either in the space of lack or the space of abundance. Choose to go and do the giving so you can physically put yourself into the place of abundance.

It's all about the energy and how you perceive what you're doing.

Hopefully, this has given you something to think about. If you ever feel like you don't know how to deal with something, stop yourself for a second. Step outside of yourself and help someone in whatever way you can just for the sake of giving.

You will be in such a better place, and that's something that no one talks about when it comes to entrepreneurship.

(I'll talk to you in the next episode, thanks for listening!)

Today, I wanted to answer a question that I hear very often from current clients, and that is namely, "Kamila, how can I grow my list and get in front of people if I don't want to run Facebook ads?"

That is a totally fair question and probably one that you have asked yourself at one point or another. It's a smart question to ask! You want to be growing your email list and your customer list. So you need to be getting in front of new audiences.

I do recommend using Facebook ads. I do them often, and I do them for clients too. I did that as part of my company for a year and a half. It's been great. We love it, and our clients love it too.

But maybe you're a little bit newer in business, and you don't want to spend thousands of dollars on Facebook ads quite yet. Or maybe you have been using Facebook ads, and you want to supplement that with other ways of getting in front of new audiences. And I think that's awesome too.

Bottom line: you need to get yourself in front of a new audience to grow your list. There are three main ways for you to do that. Well, there's actually many ways for you to do that, but I want to mention three right now.

First, there's organic traffic. Organic traffic is from searching, people mentioning you here and there, and people finding you in some way. SEO is kind of a part of that.  

Then, there's paid traffic. Facebook ads, Twitter ads, Instagram, or whatever. Anything that you're paying money for, specifically and directly, is paid traffic.

Last, there's referral traffic. Referral traffic is what I want to talk about today. Namely, I want to talk about partnerships because that's basically what that is. If you do not have a big list right now, this is the best and fastest way to get in front of a new audience.

This is actually what I did when I was twelve years old. I don't know if you know this story, but when I was twelve, I started a Manga Scanlation website. This was when I was still living in Poland. I had dial-up internet, and I really loved Manga, which is Japanese comics and anime. I was one of two people in this small town who was really into Manga. My Manga mentor was a couple years older than me, and she would go into another town an hour away and would meet up with some other people who were also into Manga. She would bring me back CDs filled with scalations of comics, and I was able to read them on my computer translated into Polish. And it was the best thing ever.

Then, I got dial-up internet and found all of these websites with manga translated into Polish, and I was over the moon about it. And I'm the kind of person that if I see something that I'm excited about, I want do it too, but want to do it better. So, whether or not it was better, I definitely did it, and I was one of the top websites that did provide free scanlations in Polish, and I actually had five volunteer people on my virtual team back in 2002 that were also supporting me and creating these translations and graphics. We were able to get to 40,000 views on that site within four or five months, and we did that through organic and referral traffic.

We didn't have social media back then. There was no Facebook or Twitter. There was none of that. So I did all of this by utilizing referral traffic. And namely that was partnerships.

So, it worked back in 2002, and it still works today. It's something that I use to grow my health blog as well. Referrals were one of the biggest things that I did to grow my traffic for that and get more leads for this. It's something that I love using, even to this day. It's what I recommend for my clients, especially if they don't want to spend a lot of money on a launch, project, campaign.

So think of Maria Forleo's B-school launch. If you have been around the online entrepreneur community, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. Every year, Marie does this huge launch, and she enrolls the biggest names of online entrepreneurship, including everybody who's been through the school, and they all promote B-school. It's amazing that she's been able to enroll partners in this way to support her launch, and she's able to get herself in front of thousands (maybe even millions) of people, mostly brand new people who have never heard of her before. She gets tons of sales this way. She has a multi-seven figure business because she has really learned how to utilize partnerships.

Several months ago, Russell Brunson did the Expert Secrets book launch, and everybody and their mother was promoting that book launch because he did a really amazing partnership launch with affiliates and giving away a Lamborghini and all that good stuff. (Okay I really don't know everything exactly) But that was really incredible too because he was able to get himself in front of tons people. Everybody was talking about it during that short time frame. He must have sold a ton. I can't even imagine how many books he sold.

If you don't know these two people, then there's probably someone else that you've heard about or someone that you already follow. That's a partnership. There are a lot of different ways for you to approach partnerships. You can either do an affiliate promotion, a joint collaboration, or even something else entirely. But the point here is that you are partnering with somebody or you're allowing somebody to share your stuff in front of a new audience. And you can do it whether or you're a seasoned entrepreneur and you just want to get in front of a new audience in addition to running paid traffic sources, or you want to partner with someone and just have a joint effort on promoting each others stuff (or just promoting your stuff and giving them money). There are a lot of different ways of approaching this.

Partnerships are an incredible way for you to grow your lists and your sales.  They're awesome because, first of all, they get you exposed in front of a brand new audience that had no idea who you were before.

And number two, it creates a win-win situation for you and that other person that's promoting you. Very often, they're getting paid commission off of any sales that you're making or you can also make it a favor. So if they promote you now, when they're launching you're going to promote them too.

Another point that's really incredible about partnerships is that it provides social proof. So not only are you getting exposed in front of a brand new audience, but you're also able to use a huge amount of trust by piggy-backing off of the influence of that person. That person that's promoting you to their audience, people that trust them, they're telling them, "Hey, here's this person. You really need to check them out because of x, y, and z."  Well, of course they're going to listen, because they already trust this person.

This is so much more powerful than just showing up on Facebook and spending a thousand dollars. It's gonna be harder to convert those people than a thousand people coming from Frank Kern, for example. His audience trusts him so much. They love him. If he were to promote you, then of course, many of those people would sign up and want to work with you. Because Frank Kern said that you're awesome.

So, I do want to mention a few things before you do create a partnership online:

Make sure you've tested your funnel campaign elements. Make sure that everything is working properly and everything is connected.

Secondly, make sure that you have tested your funnel. Is it actually working with organic traffic? That's really important.

And lastly, are you tracking your success? And how are you doing that? Are you doing it through sales or are you doing it with leads or both? Or traffic? What are you using in order to track your success?

Just be really clear about that, and then you're going to be off to the races, and you're going to be able to get out there in a new way.

Hopefully this helpful. I'm super excited to hear what you think about this episode of Hustle Monday. I hope that you enjoyed this strategy, and if you enjoyed it, let me know. I always like hearing from you, and definitely want to hear more in terms of what resonates for you and how you're able to grow your business using these strategies and tips that I'm sharing with you. 

Caitlin Bacher is a rockstar Facebook groups expert, a host of a group called Social Boss, and she shares her brilliance with us in today's episode, around how to create, manage, and grow successful profitable Facebook communities - for both your free audience AND your paid programs. In recent news, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook groups are going to become a bigger focus on the platform - so this is very timely. If you have a Facebook Group, or want to create one, this is a must-listen.

-----

0:43 Caitlin Bacher is a rock star when it comes to Facebook groups but she wasn't a natural when she first started. In 2015 she transitioned from social media management to consulting and then eventually into course work. 

2:15 After years as social media manager Caitlin grew tired of the work and found that her own social media presence was suffering because of the time commitments to her clients.  She just jumped into the course world and slowly learned how to create a product that was useful for her clients

5:00 Caitlin was able to succeed with her course because she took action rather than worrying too much about what other people were doing.  Her first course wasn't very fancy – mostly text with a few videos.  Despite being rather low-tech people loved the course and it generated great testimonials.

9:45 Before she ever got her first client she started a Facebook group which helped her to develop interest in her product. The group also allowed her to better understand her potential clients and allowed her to tailor the course to those people. 

12:48 Caitlin believes empathy means putting yourself in others shoes in order to understand their needs.  Sensitive people are great sales people because it makes it easier to connect with clients.  Caitlin believes she has always had an innate ability to understand what people really want not unlike method acting. 

16:07 One of the big problems Caitlin sees again and again is people telling clients what they need instead of anticipating their needs.  You have to listen to what they want.  Listening is important. You have to understand what your community wants.  It's not about what you feel like teaching.  If you're spending a ton of time on content that no one wants it can be incredibly dispiriting.

19:23 Caitlin has a community called social boss on Facebook.  It took a while to learn but she eventually realized that she was the leader of the group and had to set the tone.  By creating a positive tone the group is mostly a drama-free zone

21:38 Caitlin has a few admins helping her with the Facebook group.  She mostly spends about 20 minutes a day on the group.  She wants to have her fingers on the pulse of the group.  Her admins are doing the same.  It's surprisingly unstressful.  She is also pretty ruthless about removing people and deleting posts.  It's up to you to set the tone.

25:17 In Caitlin's paid group she is an open book.  People can literally ask her anything about her business and she will tell them.  She won't do the same in the free group because her brain isn't free.  She won't work with you to solve your problem in the free group.  She saves that for her paid students. 

27:16 In her free group she has a daily prompt five days a week – the prompts are just easy questions that foster community.  She also occasionally livestreams into her group a couple times a month.  For her paid group it's a whole other level.  She is much more personally engaged with her members there. 

29:27 Real engagement means real connection.  People can tend to go into autopilot by just producing tons of content.  You have to understand that people are looking for real connection because they are lonely.  If you are able to break down the wall and personally connect you are going to create a vibrant community.

35:05 Caitlin has tried to focus on stepping outside of herself and focus on her student's needs.  She tries to think about how she can help the people in her groups or in her course.  Having financial success can be scary.  During her first year she decided to shut down her course for a while because her level of success was intimidating.  She found a group of online friends she could connect with in order to talk about problems like money blocks.

39:18 What people don't understand about the online world is that it can be really scary to put yourself out there.  People in your real world won't understand your problems so you have to turn to others in your situation.

41:09 She has tried different morning routines in order to up-level herself. Kamila talks about her morning routine and the use of meditation.

43:27 Caitlin talks about the use of journaling in stressful times. 

44:57 We all have a natural ability to connect with others, if you aren't connecting it's because you're holding yourself back. 

45:42 Caitlin has a gift for listeners - a Facebook group roadmap that can be found at caitlinbacher.com/Kamila

Today I'm coming to you with an important strategy tip about creating authentic connections with your tribe. As a leader in your business, it's vital that you connect with your audience.

It's essential that you don't just put out lots of content with no plan. Of course, you hope people are reading what you share or are buying your stuff; the key here is making sure you're connecting with them. When you show up as an authority, and as a thought leader, that connection is crucial.

You want to make sure that you are leading people in a way that is aligned with what your audience needs. If you're presenting them with information that they don't care much about, then it isn't serving them.

We are in business not only to support ourselves but to support our current and prospective clients.

Today's strategy for Hustle Monday is about events. I have been doing a variation of live events since mid to late 2016. My first event was hosting a five-day women's only retreat in Virginia Beach. Ever since that retreat, I was able to see the power of hosting events.

Since then I have done meet ups, a workshop here in San Diego, and a live event in Chicago.

I even hosted a podcast launch party for starting this particular podcast. I really love the authentic connection in being able to have that in-person feeling with my tribe. It's easy for us to get lost in that "Facebook world" where all we see from people are the highlights.

It doesn't matter who you're working with, often a part of their marketing strategy or how they're showing up is talking about their highlights. What they're sharing is their wins, success, and all of the positive things. You're probably doing the same thing; I know I am.

But, our life isn't all unicorns and rainbows ALL of the time.

These live events help open a door into understanding what people need, how they interact, and what's really going on in their business. Even if you are doing sales or connection calls all of the time with prospective clients, it's still challenging to dig deep into their expectations.

In-person interaction makes it so much easier to break down how you can best serve someone's needs. Something that I talk about is the pyramid of connection. On the very top of the pyramid, something that few entrepreneurs apply, is being live and in person with an audience. Hosting live events, whether it's basic networking or luxury retreats, can be extremely helpful for you.

When I was living in New York City, on the Upper East Side a friend of mine hosted a meet-up. She invited some of her tribe members from her Facebook group to join. Some people ordered food and drinks, and we all talked and hung out. She didn't have to prepare anything besides telling this audience that she created where and when to meet her.

Now, there are a couple of things I want you to consider when hosting an event.

#1  Be clear on the objective

Don't host an event just for the sake of doing so. Be really intentional with whatever your reason is. What is the objective? Is it to get sales for a particular program? Is it to show up and see who's in your tribe and connect with them in person? Or, is it something else? That intention is key, so be clear on your objective and the purpose of your event.

#2  Plan how you will show up

Are you planning on showing up as someone who's just there to hang out with people, say hi, and maybe party with them? Or, is your intention to show up as someone that is an authority and an expert who's giving support, advice, and teaching them during this event? Be very clear on your intentions. There is no right or wrong answer.

With a clear goal in mind, it's much easier to determine if your event was a success. There are many variables to look at regarding a successful event. Even if you didn't meet your goal of 100 people attending the event, it could still be a win from different areas when you're looking at key performance indicators.

#3  In-person connection increases leads

Something to keep in mind is that connecting with an audience face to face will increase your chance of sales and enrollments.

#4  Events lead to new opportunities

Depending on the objective and how you're structuring the event, there is also a potential for creating partnerships. Events can create so much opportunity regarding community, deep connection, and fun!

I highly encourage you to start thinking about how you can incorporate live events or meet-ups into your business if it's something you've been considering.

This might not necessarily be what you want to do in your business right now, and that's okay. Just keep in mind that it could be really beneficial for you and doesn't have to be a huge elaborate plan. It could simply be a free meet-up that you do at a bar inviting people from your local network to come and join you.

Let me know what you think about hosting events and how they could potentially benefit you and your business. If you have done an event in the past, I would love to hear how it went and if you had a specific objective before hosting it. Did you achieve what you planned, and were there any benefits or side effects that came as a result of doing this event?

I am super curious to hear how it went for you!

(Thanks for listening to this Hustle Monday episode. Please join me for another episode next week!)

Melissa Casser ahas been in the marketing business for eleven years culminating in the development of her extremely popular Obsessed course. Obsessed is a yearlong course that asks a deceptively simple question: How does a brand gain an obsessed audience?

 https://www.youtube.com/o9dUViV4fDk

Melissa has always been obsessed with obsession.  She has ravenously consumed movies, TV and novels and believes that the best storytelling is in fiction.  One of her pet peeves is when an entrepreneur says they never read fiction.  In Melissa's opinion the best storytelling can be found in a novel or on TV and the brands that develop an obsessive audience are almost always great storytellers.

There are a wide variety of people who purchase Melissa's course.  Some may be just starting out in their career while others may be more established.  But the one thing they all share in common is a lack of creativity in their business.

People fail to connect with their target audience is because they are too often editing their personality for public consumption.  They're too worried about what others may think – especially when they are creating content for the internet.  Getting harsh online feedback is never easy but it is something that you get used to.

Along with her business career, Melissa has also recently become a Hollywood screenwriter.  She began writing seriously three years ago.  Screenwriting is an extremely difficult industry to break into.  You can't get away with shoddy work.  She focussed on producing great writing before she began networking.

Melissa loves Lifetime movies and writing a script for the network was one of her main career goals.  She achieved that by reaching out to every writer, director and producer who has every worked with Lifetime.  She was cautious not to immediately pitch her own work.  Instead, she asked them to talk about their own career journey.  She eventually connected with a long-time Lifetime director who offered her the chance to write a script.

Melissa was able to write that script in just three or four weeks and the project was quickly greenlit.  The whole project from conception to air was just nine months which is incredibly quick in a town where films can sometimes take seven years to develop.  She has since written another Lifetime movie and a television series.

Finding the time to balance all of that work can be tricky.  She tries to batch work together – one big cluster in one sitting.  She goes to her office space three times a week and just writes – no Wi-Fi and no email.  Her screenwriting is very predictable because deadlines are clearly laid out in the contract.  But sometimes the studio might demand last minute changes and that could require staying up all night.  Nevertheless, she makes sure that she never works on the weekend.

Balancing the two competing parts of her career isn't always easy.  For the marketing business she tries to keep things simple – only taking on the the projects she is able to handle.  When things are going good that's easy to handle – balance becomes important during the hard times.

Melissa has had to care for her severely sick pet Shih Tzu.  She can't neglect her business and her screenwriting and she tries to stay emotionally balanced so she doesn't stress the dog out. She also has come to recognize the importance of taking pleasure breaks and focusing on self-care.  When you take care of yourself you are better able to take care of others.

In this Heart Behind Hustle episode of The Kamila Gornia Show, we talk with Emily Utter, business coach, about living your brand and creating freedom with your business structure allowing travel and a freedom based lifestyle.

1:09 Who is Emily Utter?

Emily has a business that you can run from anywhere in the world that allows you to achieve balance so you're not hustling 24/7. A core part of Emily's balance involves organising a business structure that allows her to travel freely and achieve a lifestyle of freedom. We discuss Emily's yearly travels to Burning Man, Thailand and Bali.

2:37 Developing into Herself as an Entrepreneur and Creative

We have a discussion around how there is an innate pressure to present well on social media and online here everything has to be perfect. Emily discusses how she felt that she had to present a certain way – as a calm meditator who wore crystals. Over time, one thing she has learnt that being an entrepreneur has led her to finding out that one of the things that is most important to her is the power of self-expression and that it is ok to have layers and show imperfection. She once did a Facebook live while tired and jetlagged and has cried on there as well. She feels that it's important to own how you feel, who you are and what you want from your business from a place of confidence and security. Once you give yourself permission to own, it flows easily. Otherwise, when we doubt, people feel it. With so much bullshit in the coaching industry, it's refreshing to see authenticity. Living her brand is being authentic and effortless.

8:35 When a Bird Flew Into My Room

At a time when I was doing a Facebook live, a bird flew into my room and Emily found it to be a moment where I was being real and had the freedom to express myself fully without having to worry about how brand relevant it is. 

10:01 Business Structure

At the moment, Emily runs Group Programs and steers away from one on one clients. There are a few select clients who invest at a VIP level which then give them access to her on a one on one level.

The 2 Group Programs she offers are:

1. Adventurous Entrepreneur Mastermind: For newer coaches and healers to build out the foundation and basics of running a business
2. Freedom Tribe: For those with an existing operating business.

We then go on to discuss how Emily manages these group programs and the calls involved in these whilst she is travelling. Emily has a team currently of two support coaches who step in her place should she be unable to be present for the call as at times, internet connections in Bali may not be as strong. She is pushing her focus to building a team with the new projects she has up and coming.

16:55 Support Team Recruitment For Growth & Scale

Sometimes it can be difficult to decide whether hiring a team is the appropriate thing to do for your business. Emily advises to first look at the goals of the business and to hire based on the bigger vision. It's important not to fall into what she calls the "entrepreneurial trap," where nothing is done because we are so worried about it being perfect. Just do. Emily prefers to keep her group numbers capped below 100 as she wants to get to know her clients.

20:45 Sales Rockstar Skill Development

As Sales generally is the livelihood of any business, Emily thinks of sales as an enrolment to begin to see the value or something. IN the beginning, when she started doing sales calls, Emily struggled because she wanted to be liked. When you have that desire for approval, it becomes increasingly difficult to be honest and call people out on their shit. What changed her behaviour was frustration which was a vehicle that allowed her to realise her goal and mission was to really help people. Sales is an entrée to our personal growth where things come up for us from what we see in others.

25:42 The Hustle

Emily has been running her business for four years now and the moment she realised it's success was broken down into two key moments:

1. When she sold out her first mastermind group class.
2. When she realised she was making a six figure income from group classes.

28:00 Most Effective Marketing and Business Strategy In The Last Year

Emily took on live speaking in rooms as conversions are always higher when people have a chance to meet you. She also launched a 6 week Sales Program that creates and drives results. It's always better to give people something that actually works because it builds that credibility and trust.

32:23 Building Business Around Travel

Emily built her business more about lifestyle than about travel. She wanted the freedom to work her own hours and earn a decent living. Some key factors to consider when trying to attain this balance is to build out your schedule and programs in a way that you have that spaciousness and freedom to do what you truly want.

Be aligned with what you want to create and your lifestyle, you will attract people who compliment that

40:58  Special Gift for Listeners

For all our podcast Listeners, Emily is kindly giving us a word for word script for a sales pitch which everyone will get which literally starts from "hello" to "what's your credit card." The words are in order strategically. You can get your copy at" www. emilyutter.com/kamila

Download free scales script

42:18 Connect with Emily Utter

Visit: www.EmilyUtter.com

Or search Emily Utter on Facebook

42:25 Building business around travel

Plan your business model around travel

Build out your schedule and programs in a way that you have that spaciousness

Be aligned with what you want to create and your lifestyle, you will attract people who compliment that

What to expect on The Kamila Gornia Show. All the things entrepreneurship, marketing, business, mindset, and more. Please subscribe so you're ready for our July 7th LAUNCH!