The Kim Doyal Show

Ever had "One of those days?"

Yea, me too. That's what fueled today's episode.

I hit a wall of overwhelm which has made me really step back and take a hard look at where I'm at and WHY I'm feeling so frustrated.

It's time.

Something has to give.

I'm really tired of the message "JUST DO THE WORK!" This clearly strikes a nerve in me, so hear my heart when I tell you that I KNOW this triggers something in me. I'm really tired of the message that the ONLY way to get ahead in your business is to aggressively do the work. Yelling and screaming or going at everything with aggression doesn't work for me.

It's time.

It's time to ONLY do things that work for me.

If I can't take in someone else's message (in this case, "DO THE EFFING WORK!") then it's my responsibility to NOT read those messages. Unfollow those people or hide those posts.

That's MY responsibility.

I know this is a super short post (the written version), but I really want you to listen to this episode.

It's a bit of a tangent but I needed to get this off my chest.

Thanks for listening!

xo

Kim

Today I have Maritza Parra from MaritzaParra.com on the show.

Martiza has been crazy about horses her entire life. Growing up, she spent all her free time with her horse and other horses from the local barn. Once she got to high school, she needed a way to pay for her riding gear, toys for her horse, and lessons with dressage instructors so she got a job at a laundry mat. It wasn't long before she realized she hated it and just couldn't do it anymore. That's when she choreographed her own Dancing Stallion Horse Show with her brother and some of her friends. She choreographed the dances, planned the costumes, and found gigs for them.

Not only was Maritza doing what she loved, she was also getting paid for it! Eventually people in the show started settling down and focusing on growing their families, but such wasn't the case for Maritza and her husband. Her doctor recommended stopping riding so she could have a better chance of conceiving so her business quickly came to a halt. A few years later, Maritza found herself in a divorce... ending up with no business, no husband, and no baby.

Panic set in.

She had to go back and get a job.

Then she realized that she still had a website she had created about horses many years before, which still had a decent sized list. Maritza wrote weekly emails to her list, building her relationship with them.

One day, she thought, "hey, what if I could offer a product to my list?"

She sent them a survey, they told her what they wanted, and she delivered!

That moment shifted her perspective because she found something that gave her the maximum leverage (high results and profits with little effort). She then took this skill and began teaching other people how to maximize their list's effectiveness.

Today we touch on why having a list is so important. More often than not, trying to build one's list is looked at as a negative thing. It shouldn't be...

Questions I Asked Maritza:

Can you share a little bit about your journey before getting here?

Is there a higher conversion when a customer receives a physical note rather than just an insert?

Why is having a list so important?

Why does trying to build a list have such a negative connotation? 

Why are people so hesitant to building a list?

What’s the one thing Martiza thinks people should know about building a list?

What You're Going to Learn:

How Maritza built her list at a young age. 

How Maritza was able to sell $29,000 of product to her list by going back to her business. 

Why everyone should have a list. 

The benefits of building your list the right way.  

Common mistakes made with lead magnets.

How Maritza figured out what her list wants.

Different ways to drive people to sign up for your list

[tweet_box]"List building… it’s a relationship that’s made even better when you use technology to give value and make offers."[/tweet_box]

Where to Connect with Maritza

Website | Facebook | Twitter 

Other Episodes You Might Enjoy

Passion into Profits, My Interview with Tony Teegarden

Don't Be a Buttso and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

Racing Ferrari's, Zappos and Game On!

Kai and I connected through an awesome mutual friend, Mary Lou Kayser (awesome person btw and I will definitely have her on the podcast!

I'm so grateful when people connect with other people they know! You just never know where that connection may lead (for both parties!) - Kai was no exception.

Kai used to work as a director of marketing for a large construction company in Oregon. He managed requests for their proposals and large bids for projects. From there became a front end word press developer, working as an independent consultant by helping people build their websites and solve their marketing problems. He then realized he wanted to help his clients work on a higher value problem that they wanted to solve, such as getting more traffic and help them build relationships online.

Questions I Asked:

Why is there consistently a progression to higher end consultations for front end developers?

What challenges did Kai go through when he began his business?

What common mistakes do people make with their websites?

What is Kai’s “Website X-Ray?”

How does someone drive traffic to their website?

Where does social media sit in relation to SEO?

What are some important steps to take to get a better result with link building?

Things You’ll Learn:

How important it is for consultants to always be looking forward to a new area to drive or deliver value in. 

How to give your client not  only what they want, but also what they need. 

There’s a difference between just being a tool to a client and helping them achieve what they need. 

Why working it’s important to just be the working help, but the partner on a project.

What the best approach to SEO is.

The importance of connecting on site and off site optimization. 

 

[tweet_box]“There’s a difference between asking say, an architect, for a really nice hammer, and asking the architect to help you build the house of your dreams...”  

Kai Davis[/tweet_box]

 

Where to Connect with Kai

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Other Episodes You Might Enjoy

Interview with Troy Dean

Interview with Matt Medeiros

Interview with Brandon Yanofsky

...And Content and Metrics.

In my last solo show I shared with you guys that there were a couple of opportunities for me to collaborate with people. Well... I almost jumped the gun on yet another collaboration with someone else!

I know, I know.

We both got caught up in the moment, sat with it for a few days and when we had our next call both decided that it was a complete distraction and NOT the direction either of us wanted to be heading in.

Which brings me to the  IDEAS part of this episode.

As an entrepreneur we're NEVER lacking ideas... in fact, there's often a plethora of them that tend to be more of a distraction than anything else. The crazy thing is that for me, I allow these distractions in, even though I know in my GUT that I need to stay focused. What I've learned about these distractions lately is that it's more a part of my process than anything else.

And I don't buy into every distraction.

I usually have a few different things going on at any given time.

I've read all the books (The ONE thing, Essentialism, etc.... which btw are GREAT books), but I also know myself and how I operate. I have two VERY clear priorities in my business right now. And then there are a handful of 'side' projects that I have going for me. The difference with the side projects for "me" and the collaboration projects is that I'm not responsible to anyone else for the work that does (or doesn't) get done on these side projects. They're something I play with when I need a break from everything else I'm doing. When I want to 'play' with something that doesn't require me showing up as Kim Doyal. Part of my journey in ALL of this is to genuinely show up as myself, which I love (as scary as that can be). But it can also be a little tiring at times. When you make a conscious decision to put your name and face on things you want to do it in a way that serves your audience AND you. No one can do that 24/7.

So what do you do with all these fantastic ideas?

That's up to you.

You need to figure out what works best for you and run with it.

Here are a few things I do with these ideas:

Here's what I DON'T do:

Shift my priorities so any of my new 'ideas' overtake my focus and before you know it I'm exactly where I was a few months ago.

I see this happen over and over and over again with people.

What they're doing isn't working the way they want (hear producing the income they want) so they jump ship too early. Instead of tweaking and measuring what they're working on, they give up and jump into something else.

There's also that entrepreneurial rush that kicks in when you come up with an idea that lights you up!

And it's pretty addicting.

Which is where the Content and Metrics come in.

Unless you have an unlimited budget for advertising, you're going to have to create content.

[tweet_box]"Unless you have an unlimited budget for advertising, you're going to have to create content."[/tweet_box]

It's not just that 'content is king', like we've all heard over and over again. Content is REQUIRED.

Content isn't just about SEO, indexing and keywords. It's about building relationships and trust in a way that makes people want to do business with you. It's providing value before people hand over their hard earned cash.

Lately I've seen a LOT of discussion around people who aren't going to keep giving things away. Some think the 'free model' doesn't work anymore, do people really care about opt-ing in for your free guide, ebook, cd, audio, course, etc.? I don't have the answer to that (nor do I care to get into a discussion or debate around it. Not because it's not a worthwhile topic, I simply don't have the energy). What I DO know is that people who do content marketing RIGHT are killing it.

Take a look at Dan Norris as an example (founder of WP Curve and author of The 7 Day Startup and newly released Content Machine).

Dan literally is a machine when it comes to content (I'm hoping to have him...

Julie Harris from Julie Harris Design has joined me for today's podcast. Julie is a creative business consultant and brand designer. Before she started her current online job, she had a day job in a bank in Hawaii. Julie didn't know what she wanted to go or what direction to go in. She studied more to do with design and got heavily into social media. She got a degree in marketing and started blogging to share her thoughts.

Julie now has Julie Harris Design which is a digital creative studio that she built herself and it's also an online business platform. She aims to work with bloggers, creators, small business owners, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and individuals who are looking to create a digital platform to share their thoughts, ideas, businesses, wisdom, just to create a space that looks, acts, sounds and feels exactly like they do. Julie also helps her clients better define who they are and what they do. Coming up with strategies to get them be more productive and proactive with their time online. She further helps to reach their target audiences, providing value to their followers, and creating something authentically them that they can maintain and manage and grow within the future.

[tweet_box] "When somebody is investing in your services, make it the most exciting investment it could possibly be so that they're no longer worrying about the financial investment but just excited about the outcome of what they're going to be getting from that investment." - Julie Harris[/tweet_box]

In this podcast we touched on many things including human connection - sending out cards, postcards, or newsletters to clients. Going out of your way to make that personal connection to show they're important to you beyond an email. It doesn't have to be expensive at all, just a simple 'thank you' card. Everyone feels special when they receive something like this!

Questions I Asked Julie:

What brought you here? What were you doing before you launched this?

You were not specifically trained in design at all?

What are you thoughts on businesses evolving as the web does?

What is Julie Harris design all about?

When you were starting your business, what were some of the challenges that you faced when you decided to launch Julie Harris Design?

What You're Going to Learn

The human connection strategy Julie uses when working with her clients on their branding and positioning

Two common mistakes that Julie sees people making, what those mistakes are and how she would fix them

The guidance and/or direction she gives to her clients

Her thoughts on clients wanting the branding to be perfect and using that as an excuse for not launching

Her perspective on her clients fear of showing up uniquely as themselves

Something fun that people may not know about her

[tweet_box]"For anybody who is interested in this development, the resources are there to educate yourself. It's committing the time and diligence to make it happen." - Julie Harris[/tweet_box]

Where to connect with Julie

Julie Harris Design

Connect with Julie on Facebook

Branding by Julie on Pinterest

Julie on Twitter

Other Episodes You Might Enjoy

Interview with Marianne Manthey of Design Your Own Lovely Blog

Interview with Hani Mourra of Simple Podcast Press

When it All Comes Together and Your Still Have Doubts

I had one of those moments today.

When you realize that everything you've been working towards is all coming together.

And not because something specific happened or even something 'BIG' happened.

It's more like a series of small things that simply validate that you're on the right path and somehow, all of the sudden, you just know. 

You've Got This.

And then you wake up the next day and all those doubts, fears and frustrations. Again.

This is what separates the hobbyists from the enterpreneurs.

Do you have the strength and conviction to move through whatever you're feeling? Will you focus on the big picture or feed the fear?

[tweet_box]"Will you focus on the big picture or feed the fear? The choice is yours." - Kim Doyal[/tweet_box]

So You've Made a Decision

Time to shake things up and move in a new direction.

That's what I did this year.

It's been both amazing and scary at the same time.

And I feel this on a daily basis.

I've talked a LOT about the mastermind I'm in over the last year (mainly because it has changed my life and forced me to look at things in a completely different way). One thing I see people doing over and over again in my mastermind is moving in the direction they're being called to. It's not just about what everyone else in the market is doing or what the latest guru is preaching about. They go with their gut, they implement and then they measure what's working. Novel idea, right?

I wouldn't say I've half-assed my business, because I know I've worked really, really hard to get where I am today.

BUT.. I also know that I am STILL playing it small. What do I mean by that?

Let's look at a few things that need to be done in my business:

(By the way, that list is not in any particular order. Just sayin.)

One of the things I've tried to be very consistent with in my business is making sure that the first part of the day is spent on my work (in other words, no client work). This isn't because the client work isn't important, it's because I know myself well enough and the first part of the day is when I'm most creative, which is when I need to create content (or creat anything for that matter). Yet somehow that seems to have gone to hell in a handbasket these last couple of months. As I started writing this I realized why that's happened... and it's really not as big of a deal as I've made it out to be in my head.

I don't know if I've officially mentioned this here or not but a lot of my energy is being put into podcasting. Not just my own podcast, but a new division of my company, INFLUENCE Podcasting. INFLUENCE Podcasting is a done for you service (right now, I have more plans for it). It's for the entrepreneur who has a successful business, wants to start a podcast (because of the value, leads and traffic it generates) but doesn't have the time. They simply record and we do everything else.

I started this venture in February of this year and it's really taking off. We've been working on onboarding, branding, processes, marketing, all of it. And this was after we did a handful of case studies (for free mind you) to get everything set up. And when I say 'we' it really is a team effort. I have an amazing project manager, a couple of editors, a blog post writer, developers and designers.

And that's been going on while keeping The WordPress Chick going.

But something has to give.

First let me say that it's not The WordPress Chick, so no worries there.

In fact, I have big plans for this site and brand. I miss creating videos and content for this site (I haven't stopped, it's just less) and know there are a few things I could implement instantly to kick things up a notch. But I can't do that and everything else I'm doing.

So what's the solution?

I need to give a few things up.

Which doesn't mean they stop altogether, it just means I stop doing them.

One of those things are websites.

Yep,

I’m joined today by Josh Denning from Tropical Entrepreneur. Before Josh moved to Thailand to set up his very own digital agency, he spent the last 12 years in the marketing industry. He worked with a lot of companies and he managed to launch a product himself. Josh took a couple of years off to figure out exactly what he was going to do and moved to Thailand. He found a digital agency there and worked his way up in that job. 18 months ago, he moved away from that business to set up his own, new digital agency. Josh had a great experience doing this as he had previously worked over seas. He also watched training videos and read blog posts about setting up companies in other countries, so he was mentally prepared for this next step.

[tweet_box]"There is no better way to learn than to closely observe what the experts are doing." – Josh Denning[/tweet_box]

We touch on authority in this podcast and Josh did the consulting for Authority Factory. He was reading books such as “Think and Grow Rich” and “See You at the Top” and that started him on a journey to studying authorities. A tip from Josh about authority is that when you're starting off it helps a lot to use your personal authority and pass some of that over to your enterprise.

Questions I Asked Josh

What were you doing before you started Tropical Entrepreneur?

All of the internet marketing you were doing with the product launches, you were doing whilst you had a full time job?

So you got a taste of the freedom that working for yourself really brings you?

What was that like creating your own company in another country?

What is the name of your agency?

Were there any challenges you faced when launching this?

Fill me in on how you came to doing the consulting for Authority Factory? What brought you to that place?

What would you recommend to somebody who wanted to get started in that authority piece and building their brand that way?

Do you have any client stories?

What's the most fun thing for you in getting these people launched with their authority?

What's the time frame on writing a book?

Do you think there is a base foundation? Or what would be the criteria that you look at for somebody who wants to step into the authority marketing piece?

Is there anything fun that you'd like to share that maybe people don't know about you?

[tweet_box]"I think having a team is the key to growth and scalability." - Kim Doyal[/tweet_box]

What You’re Going to Learn

How Josh managed to start his own digital agency in another country

The challenges he faced whilst setting up his digital agency

Some tips on how to build up your authority

A couple of Josh’s amazing client stories and how they got to where they are now

 

[tweet_box]"One of the fastest ways you can accelerate your authority without a shadow of a doubt is starting a podcast and also a book." – Josh Denning[/tweet_box]

Where to connect with Josh

Smart ROI

Authority Factory

Tropical Entrepreneur

Podcast sponsored by:

Today I'm joined with the amazing Marianne Manthey. Marianne is a designer and has her own blog where she shares tips on how to make your site just that little bit better. As well as having design tips on her blog, Marianne also has a book out called:

Blog Beautiful: 50 Tips + Fixes to Make Your Blog Glow!

Marianne started a Facebook page early in 2013 for her blog to share things whilst her blog was being set up. She was doing her Facebook page for six months before her blog launched in July, and she gained 100 followers in this time.

designyourownblog.com's aim is to teach women how to design their own blogs. Also to show people how easy it is to do customizations, learn design, learn more about different styles, ect. Marianne wants to share all of these things with her readers and that's why she created her book. Blog Beautiful has all of her thoughts on design inside. She needed a place to pull all of these thoughts into one and put them in order and work through with people - where to start, what's next.

[tweet_box] "There's a lot of people who want to learn how to do things themselves. They're in the DIY mindset." - @marianney [/tweet_box]

Questions I Asked Marianne

1. What made you really step up before your site was ready?

2. Before we get into the site and the blog, fill everyone in with what you do during the week? 

3. When did you officially launch the blog? 

4. What's the premise behind it? And when you launched it, what was the plan and direction you wanted to take it in?

5. How do you manage all of this? 

6. What were some of the challenges or obstacles that you faced in growing this? Any advice? What would you recommend to somebody? 

7. With the writing, did you use a tool like Scrivener or Evernote?

8. Have you thought about publishing it as a physical? 

9. How long did it take you from concept to sale? 

What You're Going to Learn

[tweet_box]"You don't need to wait for everything to be ready or perfect to get started, you just need to take action." - Kim Doyal  [/tweet_box]

Where you can connect with Marianne

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Podcast sponsored by:

Welcome to 'Kim Snippets' #2

Before I get into this episode of the podcast and my second official 'Kim Snippet', I want to point something out to you guys (which is simply a reminder).

Content is EVERYWHERE and ALL AROUND you ALL THE TIME! (excuse the crazy caps here, but there's a method to my madness, which is emphasis, not shouting per se).

This episode was inspired by something I saw on social media recently and has been something I've thought about often. It's one of those things that once you start thinking about this and REALLY look at the reasoning behind this (assuming of course this resonates with you), you're going to be amazed at how often people do this. AND... you're going to be very conscious that you don't become one of 'those' people.

Let's start with the post I saw on Facebook that inspired today's snippet.

Someone posted a little bit of a 'rant' (and hear my heart, I love a good rant as much as the next person... but remember your rant says a LOT about YOU, not just what you're ranting about) on Facebook about someone who had started a crowd funding campaign to start a blog. The tone of the rant was one of "why should you get crowd funding instead of doing the work? Where's the hustle? The rest of us had to work hard and hustle to get our blogs launched"... a little bit of a "who do you think you are?" slant.

You might be thinking, big deal... someone ranted about something. I get it, really I do.

But let's break this down a bit shall we?

First of all, there was zero context or explanation about the crowd funding campaign referenced. I would be curious to see what the campaign was all about, the reason behind the crowd funding and what the blog topic or niche was that the person was trying to launch. As an example, if the blog was going to be about finding housing for the homeless in the United States (I just read a statistic this morning that there are over 4 million homeless people in the U.S and there are over 18 million homes sitting EMPTY), what would your initial thought be behind the crowdfunding campaign? All of the sudden there's a different feel or vibe to it isn't there?

Mind you... I'm not saying that crowd funding needs to be for non-profit, charity or social change (it's awesome when it is but it's just as awesome when it's for something we don't need and simply want. Case in point - the crowd funding for the Exploding Kittens card game), but you get my point.

Would you like to know what my FIRST reaction to this little rant was?

"Wow. Someone's bitter."

I stated this in a recent guest post over at WP Elevation and it bears repeating here:

[tweet_box]"When you love what you do and get paid what you're worth you don't waste time judging what other people do."[/tweet_box]

When you rant, bitch or vent on social media it speaks VOLUMES about you.

NOT what you're ranting, bitching or venting about.

I'm so, so, so very tired of people using social media to tell the world what they're AGAINST.

Start sharing with the world what your are FOR.

Let's look at the recent passing of gay marriage in the United States (and if you comment about gay marriage one way or the other here it will be deleted. I will NEVER get into a politcal or moral debate with anyone. #justsayin). The difference between people posting their beliefs for LOVE vs. people who posted beliefs for HATE (and this occurred from both sides of this issue) was fascinating.

It makes me think of a quote by Mother Theresa (and I'm paraphrasing here) about the Vietnam war.

She was asked if she would march against the war.

Her answer was No.

But she said she WOULD march FOR peace.

See the difference?

If you believe strongly in something or have an opinion, share the 'for' side, not the 'against'.

It's much more powerful and says SO much more about who you are.

All of this ties directly in with the 'vulnerability movement' that Brene' Brown started a few y...

Podcast sponsored by:

For today's podcast I have Brandon Yanofsky with me! Brandon is building an amazing presence in the WordPress community. He is currently working on My WP Expert and WP Radius.He's in forums, answering questions and helping solve people's problems as much as he possibly can. He also goes to meetups, speaks at events, networks with people and writes guest posts.

Before WP Expert and WP Radius, Brandon's first business was in college and it was a clothing company. He realized he needed a website for his business so he played around with some website builders. Someone recommended WordPress to him and he really liked it! He got the hang of it and started helping others with the site online.

[tweet_box]"Just because one person is doing something or there's a company doing something well, doesn't mean you can't do it in a way that works for you and serves your audience." - Kim Doyal [/tweet_box]

Questions I asked Brandon:

1) Your background? What were you doing before you launched WP Expert? What got you here?

2) Is WP Expert all your running from that site?

3) Is WP Radius a similar support model?

4) What were some of the struggles and challenges you had when stepping into this and starting your own business?

5) How did you go about creating a name of yourself?

6) What are your thoughts on "online business is easy"?

7) What would you recommend to someone to help them find out where their clients are?

8) What are some of your best tips on Lead Generation and list building?

9) What are the top 3 things that you'd tell someone with a WordPress site them they should be doing in order to drive business to their site?

10) What are your thoughts on investing in your (online) business?

11) What are your thoughts on opportunities in the WP base? What do you see are some great business opportunities in WordPress?

12) What is in store for WP expert and WP radius?

13) Is there anything fun about yourself that maybe people don't know?

[tweet_box]"If you have a really good product or service that people want, it basically will sell itself." - Brandon Yanofsky[/tweet_box]

 

Brandon explained how building relationships is key. Find your audience and clients, and reach out to them. Learn about them to understand what they like. Think about what you can give them and what they actually want!

What You're Going to Learn

1) How building relationships play a big part in an online business

2) How creating and sustaining an online business isn't as easy as everyone thinks

3) How to find your audience and customers

4) Some of the best strategies for your website

5) How reading the 4 Hour Work book will help you understand time worth

[tweet_box]"If it makes it cheaper, easier, faster then definitely invest in it."- Brandon Yanofsky[/tweet_box]

Where to connect with Brandon

Website: My WP Expert - WP Radius -  Twitter

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Sidekick for WordPress: My Interview with Ben Fox

Conductor Plugin: My Interview with Matt Medeiros

WordPress Business: My Interview with Troy Dean