MicroFamous

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I was watching some videos of fun facts, and came across a video about Bob Ross and went down a Bob Ross rabbit hole.

Apparently not much is known, as Bob himself was fairly private, and now his estate keeps things pretty close to the vest, too.

But we know the basics of the story, and for our purposes, there are 3 lessons I pulled out of Bob Ross's story that we can dig into. 

So let's review the story and fill in some details I didn’t know growing up…. 

Bob had a background in the military and apparently took up painting as a way to distance himself from the drill sergeant persona he was forced to project in the military. 

In a quest to further his painting skills he ended up seeking out a mentor, and got good enough to start a small teaching business. He conducted live classes where he would show how to paint in his style, and talked people through the process.

Then he met someone who helped him pitch the concept as a TV show PBS, which said yes and launched the Joy of Painting.

It was very closely modeled on an already successful PBS show from the 70s hosted by his mentor.

So there was a somewhat proven format to base the show on.

His quirky, lovable show started to get traction and found an audience, as we all know.

But Bob didn't launch the show to make money directly off the show.

Behind the scenes, Bob was just looking for ways to promote his teaching business, where he traveled and taught classes and lessons. For anyone in coaching, this is probably starting to sound really familiar.

So the PBS show gave him an audience, which raised demand for his teaching business and built a brand he could leverage in other ways.

He started putting out books and sold a few paintings, but at first the show mainly served as an infomercial for his teaching business.

Eventually he launched a line of branded art supplies, which drove millions in revenue and still drives revenue to his estate. I’ve come across estimates online that say he sold somewhere north of $15 million in merchandise, and died with an estate worth 1.3 million.

So to sum things up: His show was the media vehicle that built his audience, and he monetized through other things sold on the backend.

As introverts, we must protect our energy. Otherwise we don't show up in social situations as our best selves. 

We’re all different, but introverts definitely have a social capacity - a limit on how much energy we have to be social. Because for an introvert, being social draws our energy down, and being alone fills that energy tank back up.

You probably know the feeling when you run out of energy. You’re “done” being social, and you can’t be as engaging, enthusiastic and relaxed in a social setting. 

I call it “hitting the wall.” 

Similar to an endurance athlete who drops to such a low energy level that they need to eat something to refuel, introverts need to step away from social interactions and refuel with some alone time.  

The word “introvert” carries negative baggage for some people, sadly even some introverts have negative baggage with that word.

Why is that?

I think that the negative baggage has a lot to do with our social capacity and lack of boundaries.

When we over-commit, beyond our social capacity, we put ourselves in situations where we “hit the wall” but can’t leave. So we try to power through.

I don’t think that’s a great strategy, so I want to share some ideas for boundaries you can install in your life or business.

Boundaries that allow you to commit to being social without over-committing yourself and being forced to power through.

Back in 2015, I formed my first coaching/training partnership and we launched a podcast to support it.

18 months later we were hosting a standing-room only session at a major industry event. 

I know what it’s like to launch a venture with no name recognition. 

It’s not easy, but thanks to developments in podcasting and online marketing, it’s easier than ever. 

The big challenge for any new coach or consultant is this: What big name people do NOW isn’t what got them there.

We look at them running ads and putting on big events and think that must be why they succeeded. Often the real story is that they’re losing money on their events, losing money on their ads, breaking even on their books or low-priced digital products, and their real money comes from things you can’t see. 

For Gary Vee, it’s VaynerMedia, his agency that sells marketing services to huge companies. 

For Grant Cardone, it’s his sales training for companies and now his real estate investments.

For many coaching companies, their events are lead generators. They break even on the events and only make money on coaching packages sold at the event or shortly after, often through boiler rooms of salespeople using high-pressure tactics.

So before you imitate what you see others doing, I wanted to share a plan that would work for any new coach or consultant, regardless of your name recognition in your space. 

Let’s start with some basic assumptions about you…

• You have a skillset that is both rare and valuable
• You can apply that skillset to solve a big, valuable problem for a particular kind of person
• You have some capital, let's say $5k
• You have an assistant or the ability to hire one

If you have those things in your favor, here’s a controversial opinion: Don’t worry about a website and setting up a bunch of social media accounts. Just get started.

For a website, maybe set up one-page at most, but odds are it may be completely unnecessary.

Same for social media accounts. Things have changed so radically in the last couple years, it now takes a TON of time and effort to build a new account from scratch, especially if you sell in the B2B space.

For both of these, the time and resources you’d invest in building a website, a new social media account (or hiring people to help) is much better invested in actual conversations that will lead to business.

So here’s what I’d recommend to any new coach or consultant if you want to hit the ground running, generate revenue and get profitable as quickly as possible, and set yourself up for a wide range of options in your first year.

In today’s episode, we have a very special conversation with fellow podcaster and introvert, Barry Karch. Barry is a 35+ year real estate veteran, and host of the Real Estate Unsalesperson Podcast. 

On the surface, the world of real estate is dominated by extroverts. People don’t commonly expect introverts to be successful agents, but according to Barry, introverts have the characteristics that make them the best Realtors, and there are more introverted top agents than we’re led to believe.  

Being an introvert isn’t automatically a drawback, it can actually be a strength, and introverts can have a long-lasting career in an industry like real estate if we reframe the way we view our introversion, and set boundaries that allow us to show up as our best selves. 

Barry also shared;

• The hump every new real estate market needs to overcome if they are an introvert
• Why introverts are better at selling without being salesy 
• How to overcome your own internal baggage and negative connotations about being an introvert 
• Introvert traits that make us great real estate agents 

Guest Bio- 

Barry Karch has always considered himself an unlikely Realtor - quiet, introverted, unsalesy, not your prototypical formula for success! Yet, Barry has been a top selling Realtor for 36 years, selling as many as 100 homes per year. He has come to realize that being an introvert in real estate gives him many advantages over his more extroverted colleagues. He has created a podcast called The Real Estate UnSalesperson to encourage and inspire his fellow introverted Realtors and has just launched the UnSalesperson community. His mission is to teach introverts that they have what it takes to succeed in real estate.

Listen to The Real Estate UnSalesperson on your podcast platform of choice. 

To learn more about Barry’s community for introverted Realtors patreon.com/unsalesperson. 

If the purpose of your podcast is to create demand for your coaching/consulting business, doing interview podcasts without some Solo Episodes makes it hard for the audience to get to know you. 

Not having Solo Episodes is like running a church and never doing a Sunday sermon.

Solo episode are where the audience gets to know your POV, belief system, methods and your system, but what do you talk about in these episodes? 

In this episode, I’m going to share how to immediately come up with 5 topics for your Solo Episodes.  

1. Questions from clients
2. Questions from prospects
3. Questions you see asked in Facebook groups
4. Topics from your guest episodes
5. Piggyback Solo Episodes
6. Insights from books
7. Revisit your Point of View - especially your Buying Beliefs

Introverts need more time to recharge. That’s just a fact.

We can try to be someone else.

We can try to convince ourselves that we’re ambiverts.

We can try to work up the energy with Tony Robbins state change methods.

But at the end of the day, none of that is sustainable.

Introverts need alone time to recharge, so it’s even more critical that introverted coaches and consultants learn to manage our energy. 

So what happens when introverts try to run our business like an extrovert? 

Here are 5 signs along with an action you can take right now to break the cycle and build a coaching or consulting business that fits your personality.

Here’s the big idea of this episode: not everyone needs thought leadership to get the growth they want.

If you have a very simple, direct offer that people are already receptive to, and they don’t need to be converted to a new point of view in order to buy, then you may not need a lot of thought leadership.

A perfect example is right in my own home turf of real estate.

We’ve launched a ton of podcasts in the real estate space, but we don’t launch real estate podcasts aimed at the general public. We only work with the coaches and consultants, so the podcast listeners are the agents themselves.

Why is that?

Because I learned that the general public is not looking for podcasts from real estate agents. The agency I came out of years ago launched video blogs for hundreds of top agents across the country. Despite every video being available as a podcast episode, the general public doesn’t know those episodes exist because they’re not looking for them and didn’t take advantage of them when offered that option.

It’s just not the content they’re looking for.

So for most agents and teams, the answer to more growth is simply to put more money into lead generation and conversion. Thought leadership isn’t necessary to scale up.

So where is thought leadership essential, where does it actually move the needle?

Thought leadership is essential in a business where you…

Sell something intangible - like professional services (Marvin Bower has a good quote for this)

Have a message - in other words, you have something to say, not just something to sell. You are mission-driven and have a unique perspective on the world that you are driven to share (Michael Michalowisz mission to end entrepreneurial poverty)

Want to create a following, a tribe or a community around your message - if you can’t help but get “ranty” when you talk about your industry, that’s a sign you are a thought leader (Boss Mom)

Need to change hearts and minds in order to sell - you need converts to your belief system in order to grow your business (Marc Benioff)

Need people to agree with you and take your advice in order to get them results - this applies to basically every business coach and consultant - (Bain consultants embedding themselves at every level of the company to get buy-in)

So how do you use your podcast to change hearts and minds?

Build Trust Through Consistency - Selling something intangible takes trust, which is built by publishing relevant content over long periods of time. You can’t be seen as constantly pivoting, shifting and changing your offer and your target market.

Sharpen the Language of your Message - Look at the language you’re using, test that language against conversations with your ideal clients as well as research. (YouTube search results for “create a podcast” versus “launch a podcast”

Reward Your Tribe with Time and Attention - While I don’t agree with Gary Vee on his approach to social for introverts, when people do choose to reach out to us, we should make every effort to respond and build that connection. Just as pastors mingle with the congregation after their sermon, build your tribe through connection, conversation and community

Get Clear about the Change You Want to Make - Step away from the ego-driven goals of business growth and focus on the people you want to serve. Think deeply about what change you want to make in their lives and in the world as a result of your work. Get down to the root of why you want to make those changes. The more clarity you have,...

1. Your Podcast drives home your C&C Idea 

Your Clear & Compelling Idea is the living, beating heart of your business. It’s the idea that creates demand for your coaching by communicating your value and who benefits the most from that value. 

Take BMW for example. Their Clear & Compelling Idea is the Ultimate Driving Machine.

That Idea sets that brand apart AND speaks deeply to car buyers who care about the driving experience. That Idea also repels those who care more about other things, like Tesla drivers for example. 

Your Clear & Compelling Idea sets your coaching apart from other coaches and attracts the right people while repelling everyone else.

In a perfect world, even the title and tagline of your podcast communicates your Clear & Compelling Idea, so people are exposed to that idea just by coming across your podcast. 

Beyond that, you can use the guests you feature, the solo episodes you record and the success stories you share, all together in a strategic push to communicate your Clear & Compelling Idea. All the content revolves around that one idea and drives it home from a thousand different angles. 

It’s the way you look at the world, and no form of marketing allows people to spend as much time with you as podcasting, so it’s a perfect place to communicate more information and drive home one idea from a variety of different angles.  

2. Podcasting gives you complete control of your message

Unlike being a guest, or doing speaking engagements or other forms of marketing, you are in complete control of every element of your podcast. There’s no one standing between you and your audience. 

Want to deliver some hard truths or unpopular opinions? Your podcast is the perfect place, because you can share your reasoning behind it and not get muzzled or shouted down by people who disagree. 

Want to build credibility and authority? Bring on influential experts in your space and focus on topics that reinforce your message. Dana Malstaff’s Boss Mom podcast is a great example, where she brings on people like Amy Porterfield to share how Amy’s program fits into the Boss Mom approach.

Want to build anticipation for the book you’re launching? Record solo episodes where you read excerpts or entire chapters, like Mark Divine is doing on the Unbeatable Mind podcast. 

Whatever message you want to deliver to your audience at any given time, your podcast gives you complete control to put a message in front of your audience based on the needs of your business at the time.

3. Podcasting is Scalable (Unlike Your Sales Skills)

Relying on your sales skills to grow your coaching business keeps you trapped trading time for dollars. You can only talk to so many people one-on-one.

Could you close more sales if you get more people on the phone? Of course. But how many sales calls do you want to do? Can you double that number and still take all the calls yourself? As any of my clients can tell you, sales calls are great in the first couple of years, and once you’ve done enough, they all start to blend together and you get tired of them. 

Same thing applies to speaking gigs.

Could you get more clients by doing more speaking gigs? Of course. But can you double the number of speaking gigs you do in a year? Most of my clients can’t. Certainly not without putting their family life at major risk.

Yet your podcast can double in listeners, and double again, and again, without zero additional time from you. 

So of course, leverage your skills. But why not put more time into your podcast where you can double your audience without taking up any more of your time?

4. Podcasting creates converts 

When the right people hear a Clear...

We can throw money at our marketing all day long with high-end production and pricey bells and whistles, but Dan Kennedy’s success with a $15,000 infomercial proves that low tech can be wildly effective. 

Once you’ve met the minimum quality expectations, you’re better off investing in your content, getting to know your audience, and adjusting your message accordingly. 

Stop throwing money at the problem, and start being obsessed with the quality of your messaging.

Clubhouse is the latest example of the rise of live audio platforms. As sales and networking forums, they work, but as a marketing medium for introverts, are they sustainable? 

Introverts need leverage in their communication because we don’t have the energy to be our own sales reps, and still deliver a high quality level of service to our clients.  

Live audio doesn’t fit that bill. 

It will never build influence to the same degree, and it will never be eternally discoverable and searchable. Every communication with our audience needs some element of leverage and this is where podcasting wins.