Start-Up Speakeasy

Links found at http://kristyoustalet.com/44

Suzi Istvan (aka: Social Suzi) works new and small business owners craft their brand identity and get their website up and going.

In this episode, we talk about what you should spend time on in the beginning and what to wait on until you gain a little traction in your business.

As soon as you can, ask for help. When you start investing in your biz and stop DIYing things

It helps you to feel more pro, act more pro, and expect more professionalism from your clients.

Suzi’s Start-Up Website Suggestions:

1. What exactly are you selling and who are you selling it to? Make this the focus of your website. If you’re just starting out, don’t feel like it needs to be perfect. Think: What causes results for your clients?

2. Include clear calls to action (CTA)

A rookie mistake is to worry about design and clever wording over clear CTA’s and instructions about where you want them to go and where you want them to click.

The key here is to give people really obvious places to identify that you’re talking to them and entice them to click + move deeper into your site.

Quickie CTA Checklist:

Who you’re working with?

How you help them?

Do they have a clear call to action?

Is it really simple and really clear?

3. Drumroll please... Your Opt-in area!

People don’t just land on a website and ready to buy, you need to build a relationship and let them learn about you and how it would be to work with you before they become a client.

So what does that mean? Capturing their email allows for you to follow up, build a relationship + keep in touch.

A great opt-in offer/freebie can make a world of difference to building your list. No one is craving more emails these days, so you need to give them a reason to subscribe.

Don’t stress about your offer! Keep it simple + ask yourself:

What are your clients coming to you for the most?

What are your people looking for when they work with you?

What do your people need?

Branding in the Beginning

Create a Pinterest board to see what you’re visually drawn to… you probably have a distinct design style that you don’t even realize. When you corral them all on one board, you’re able to see patterns you may not have previously noticed.

Think of Markets as Conversations

What conversations does your business come up in?

Ex: If you’re in the health fitness industry and you focus on getting fit for your wedding, you would likely focus on bridal conversations. Another fitness professional may focus on losing weight after baby and be in the new mommy conversation. See the difference? Same industry and very similar services, but very different conversations.

How do you want your business to come up in conversations?

Who do you want your business to come up with- who else is in your field?

Remember: Narrowing in on dream clients isn’t about excluding or alienating customers, its like giving a big giant YES! to people you want to work with.

Who have you done your best work with? Who do you get the best results for? How do you get in front of those people?

Links found at http://kristyoustalet.com/44

Http://kristyoustalet.com/43

Today’s guest is Farideh who is a musician turned launch strategist launch products and services to entrepreneurs.

First things first, Farideh believes that the only way to find your voice and infuse your personality into your brand is to dive in and start. Think about it this way, its a lot easier to test out a few ideas while your audience is really small, that way you’re not really risking anything and feeling the backlash.

If you hear that advice and it makes you feel completely exposed, you are not alone in having weird resistance around putting words, thoughts and opinions out into the world. Here’s the thing, just by putting your work out there helps to overcome the vulnerability that comes along with putting yourself out there.

Show notes found at: http://kristyoustalet.com/42

Rebecca Tracey helps solopreneurs get clear on what their business actually IS… meaning when you get stuck spinning, she swoops in and helps you get clear on the foundational bits to actually define what you’re doing and to (finally) get moving forward.

In today’s episode, we’re diving into how to get clear on your core message, what is a core message and why you need it in the first place.

Your messaging (should) show up in everything you do. It becomes the common ground between you and potential clients and it describes others what you care about.

How about that for attracting ideal clients?

So, what is messaging? It’s all about the bigger picture of your business and the bigger purpose of why are you doing it + why should anyone care.

...It’s the piece that really helps you stand out and be a little bit different + everything you do should relate to your core message.

No pressure, right?

Becca’s Tip: Don’t obsess with coming up with a message, especially in the beginning. Do the exercise below and narrow in on: ‘What you do’ and ‘Why you do it’ then, let it go a little.

Becca envisions creating your core message to be like a diagram of concentric circles (think- bullseye) working from the outside into the more specific core message sweet spot.

Big picture message:

Why you do what you do. What’s the gist of what you care about?

What’s the soapbox you’ve been on your entire life?

The core of what care about + give a crap about

Becca’s Uncaged Big Picture example: A life of freedom and adventure.

Your point-of-view:

Fill in the blank: The best way to (big picture message) is to (your approach)

It doesn’t have to be something completely unique and it especially won’t seem unique to you because your ‘in it’

What are the three things that you really believe that you take a stand on?

Becca’s Uncaged POV example: running your own online business is the best way to freedom and adventure.

Define the Problem

What problem are you actually solving in your business?

Who in general have this problem.

Center Circle: The How

What are you actually doing for people? Now it’s time to focus on the result.

What’s your role in helping your client get from point A to point B?

Becca’s Bonus Tips:Drop the industry jargon. Talk to them in the way they think their problems are. Use your client’s actual language. Have a conversation with your ideal clients.

Your message should be reflected everywhere… on your website in your social media and in everything you do.

Use your message as an anchor for the direction and core value for your business.

All Show Notes can be found at http://kristyoustalet.com/42

The Start-Up Speakeasy Episode #038Show notes: http://kristyoustalet.com/38Guest: Kendrick Shope

Kendrick Shope has blended years of selling experience in a corporate environment with modern marketing to create an online course named Authentic Selling. Today, she shares some amazing advice on how we can sell our offerings and ourselves without being pushy or sleazy.

Online Biz Myth: as long as you have an online offer, people will buy it.

Kendrick believes that in order to sell your offer to ideal clients, its important to focus on three things:

1. Tell people why you’re here2. Let the know why they should trust you3. They’re time is super valuable + why they should part with it for you (even for a freebie offer)

#1 reason why people don’t buy is: lack of ENGAGEMENT

The best way to overcome the engagement barrier is to have individual conversations with your (potential) audience and talk to as many people for free as you can. This not only helps you understand your clients better than anything else, but naturally circles back to engaging your customers.

At first, it can be intimating to reach out to potential clients, but the rewards quickly become obvious.Here’s what happens:

- You become even more confident in your ability to serve your clients. An ‘I can do this!’ attitude shines through.- The human connection factor kicks in, and a personal touch is an important part of the online sales process.- It opens up an opportunity to follow-up, which is where 50% of all sales are closed

… Which brings us to an incredible sales lesson here- Quick, where’s my highlighter?Let’s think about this for a sec, if 50% of sales happen during the follow-up process, how would following up change your business?

What would 2x the amount of sales bring to you and your business?

Apparently, less than 10% of people follow up with their clients more than two times. If you’re one of the ones in that small pool of service providers taking the time to following up, you’re in a whole other league than your competition.

Chew on that.

Do you see where this is going? Following-up = more money.

I’m convinced, are you?

Now, take action! Kendrick’s Follow-Up Tips:

• Create a simple Excel spreadsheet labeled with four rows: (Name | Date | Last Communication | Notes)
• Color code your leads according to how likely they are to purchase an offer (for example: a hot lead = blue and a warm lead = purple).
• Keep track of when you follow up and continue to check in and engage with your (potential) clients.

Having this list of interested people gives you a set of possible clients that you can always fall back on and check back in with when you need a couple of new clients or add a new offer.

It also gives you a way to establish a relationship + trust with for long term success.

Start-Up Speakeasy Episode #037Guest: Maya Gaddie

Today we’re talking with Maya Gaddie who titles herself a Digital Mentor and Tech match maker. She tell us all about her biz in the beginning of this episode, but this interview isn’t about tech at all really…

After having her own small business for a little over three years, Maya has transitioned her business through various phases of growth.

In this episode, Maya is being completely transparent and taking us behind the scenes of some key points in her business that has shaped what it looks like today.

We dive into how she grew it to be a great balance between what her ideal clients wanted, how she wanted to interact with them and what she wants her business + lifestyle to look like.

Maya provides insight gems sprinkled throughout no matter what stage of business you’re in now.

Some of the key points where Maya tweaked and shaped her current business model was:

• She noticed a disconnect with her biz and the businesses of her customers
• She felt over worked and under paid
• Wanted to work more hands-on with other people (not just crank out client work)
• She realized that she was working with the wrong customers and not in her genius zone

Good points to remember during transition phases:

• She trusted her gut when she made her pivot
• Maya frequently 'checked-in' and reassessed where she was and where she wanted her business to go
• Focused on connecting to other people and other people’s businesses
• "Your main business is something you grow into and shape over time" -Maya Gaddie (Tweet that!)

Maya’s Lessons learned from her first online class:

• Should have done it faster. Find a balance between planning out the course as well as you can, but it will take on another life when people are actually in it. Leave room for adjustments.
• She sold the class before she created it
• This allowed her to make sure that people were interested in buying the class- tested interest
• One-on-one conversations guided her curriculum
• She adjusted the class based on feedback
• She continued to listen to smart suggestions+ implemented thoughtful changes

How to find 10 people to talk to (even if your just starting out)

• Directly contact a handful of people you think would be a perfect fit for your next program.
• Take a look at their website to see what phase they’re in and write them a personal email (or reach out on FB or Linked In) describing the course and that you would be interested in:
• This is what I’m doing
• This is why I think it would be great for you
• Set up a Skype call to jam about what’s going on in your business right now
• A few key questions to ask:I have this product that I’m thinking might be good… what do you think? Is that something you’d be interested in buying? If you bought it today, what would you think would be a price you’d pay for?

Start-Up Speakeasy Episode #36http://kristyoustalet.com/36

I've been talking, brainstorming and strategizing with a lot of the Speakeasy audience lately, especially with the launch of my three month mentorship program. After a bunch of one-on-one conversations with idea-driven and aspiring entrepreneurs, I was shocked at one thing that didn't come up in a single conversation.

In fact, it's something I never thought about in the very early stages of my business and once it hit me- it changed my approach to my business and career forever.

We'll get to what that one tweak is in a minute, but first, let's dive into the three main ways that entrepreneurs jumpstart business ideas:

1. They stumbled across a problem that they had trouble solving. Once they got passed it, they realized that they can help others also overcome this situation.

2. They take a talent or special skill they have and turn it into a business. For instance, as a freelancer or service provider such as a graphic designer.

3. They see a unique opportunity or a whole in the market and decide to fill in the niche.Ex: "Wouldn't it be nice if a bowling alley didn't have to be stinky, dirty and dingy? That each lane has a personal attendant and we serve high-end cocktails..."

These three approaches are absolutely common and a completely legit reasons to start a business… but I'd like to add one tweak.

This one tweak could dramatically shift your business mindset…

4. (Bonus!) You start with one of the previous 3 and once you're in the thick of it- you realize that what you really want is something meaningful.

Something that is truly satisfying, that fits into your ideal lifestyle design. A business that focuses all your projects on serving others in a way that truly touches you.

I'm calling it the "Speakeasy Way". Here's how I see it: I have [what feels like] a trillion biz ideas floating around my head at any given moment. Some are practical. Some are crazy. Some are bigger than I can handle right now. Most are ideas that if I truly devoted enough time + energy into I could make it a decent business idea.

How do I filter what to act on and when to pass? I ask myself if it's in-line with what I have going on now + Do I truly care about this idea?

My theory: It takes a ton of ambition and what seems like endless consistent action over time to build a successful business. Truly caring about what you do and the people you serve is the only thing that stands up to really hard times. When you're crazy busy, somehow broke, seriously burnt out + overwhelmed it's the one thing that keeps you plugging away.

Where you stand on this concept of creating a meaningful business? Is this something you’ve ever thought of? Is this something you’ve ever struggled with?

** I want to hear from you! Let me know in the comments what you think about creating a meaningful business. Head on over to http://kristyoustalet.com/36

Victoria Prozan’s superpower is to help entrepreneurs craft names and taglines to bring the full power of their voice out in their brand. I mean, who hasn’t spent weeks (months?) caught up in the quest for the ‘perfect’ tagline?

She also believes that these names and taglines only scratch the surface of what it takes to fully communicate your brand. In this episode, we’re talking visual communication as a whole…

Victoria combines her experience in design, visual communication and storytelling to build a solid foundation to craft your businesses message.

How to avoid the: Accidental Copy-Cat Syndrome

Be Observant.

When you like something that a leader in your brand has created, take a minute to dissect what you’re seeing and specifically what you find interesting.

For example, maybe you are drawn to the bright colors, movement in the images or even the layout. Rather than copying that exact design, how can you be inspired by something + reinvent what you like about it in a fun way?

Two tips to find your voice + visual branding inspiration:

1. Create a private pinboard (on Pinterest) and look for things outside of your industry that you like. Color palettes, quotes, products and patterns. Look for trends hidden in this collection.

2. Look right under your nose + be inspired by your home. What’s your style? How can you translate that into your visual communication?

Your visual identity of the brand should reinforce what you say

Look at the visual feel of the page from an outside point of view. Try to ignore the words.

We take in so much info visually we make split decisions based on what we see… are you sending mixed messages?

When in doubt: Leave MORE WHITE SPACE.

Give everything on your page room to breathe.

Tip: If you can create a space where people don’t feel so overwhelmed, visitors will stick around and stay a while.

Less is more- the less you have going on the more you can visually direct people where you want them to look.

Everything mentioned in this episode is linked up in the show notes over at http://kristyoustalet.com/35

#podcast #videopodcast

http://youtu.be/48IXMUFBRyE

Vicky Lyashenko from SmallBusinessGal.com shares with us a few really great tips for getting traction and promoting a local small business.