Your Dream Business

By Teresa Heath-WareingBusiness Entrepreneurship Marketing

Your Dream Business episodes

June 03, 2024How to Write and Self-Publish a Book for Business Success with Jyotsna Ramachandran
This week on the podcast, I'm interviewing the awesome Jyotsna Ramachandran from Happy Self Publishing, and we are talking all about what a book could do for your business, and how to know if it is the right choice for you.
So if you have ever been curious about becoming an author of a book or if you want to know more about exactly what it would involve, then today's podcast episode is definitely for you!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
How you can write a book, even if writing is not your superpower

Self publishing versus having a publicist and what's better

The costs involved in writing and publishing a book

Jyotsna is a bestselling author, book publisher, TEDx speaker, and is an international Author Success Coach who helps, coaches, trainers, speakers, and experts to build a super profitable author funnel with the help of their book.
She is on a mission to elevate the consciousness of humanity one book at a time by helping visionary leaders convert their messages into bestselling books in the easiest possible way.
So far, Jyotsna has helped over 1000 authors from 35 different countries through her global publishing agency, Happy Self Publishing.
While Jyotsna isn’t working, this mom of 2 kids also loves to dance, cycle, plan her next family staycation and is a passionate advocate for educational rights.
If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Follow Happy Self Publishing on Instagram
Take the Author Archetype Quiz
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript
Teresa: Have you ever dreamed about writing a book, or maybe you fantasized about being an Amazon bestseller? Maybe you wonder what a book could do for you and your business. Well, in this week's podcast, I'm interviewing JR from Happy Self Publishing, and we are going to be talking about how you can become a bestselling author, even if writing isn't your superpower.
We get into what it actually takes to write a book, both time and money investment, and is it really better to have a publisher than to self publish the book yourself. We get into all that on this episode and more.
Welcome back to another episode of your dream business podcast. How are we doing this week? Have you ever dreamed of writing a book? Now, it's crossed my mind a number of times, but most of the time I go, I'm not good enough to write a book, or I'm not very good at writing, so can't write a book.
Now, some of you might know or remember that I was a co author of a book that hit number one in some of the Amazon charts. So I can technically call myself a bestselling author of a book. However, it wasn't my book. It was a co author book where each author had a chapter and writing one chapter felt like a fairly easy thing to do compared to writing an entire book.
And. I've had the questions I'm sure loads of you have had. What the hell would I write about? Why would anybody want to listen to me? Is it really going to do that much for my business? What is the process? I wouldn't even know where to start. That's why I am really glad to have JR on the podcast today.
JR is the CEO and founder of Happy Self Publishing. She's a best selling author, book publisher, TEDx speaker, international author, success coach. And for the past eight years, she has been helping purpose driven authors share their message. grow their business and reach millions of people by publishing a book.
Now, if you're sat here thinking, I don't think this episode's for me, Teresa, I don't want to write a book. I really want to urge you to listen, because like I said, I thought books were not really something that I was going to do. I didn't really understand what it did for your business. I didn't want to self publish because I wanted a publisher, because that sounds like a real credible thing to do.
And this conversation really did open my eyes to the whole thing. Not only about what it can do for my business and my credibility, what it can do for the funnel within my business, and also how can I write a book if I don't think I'm a particularly good writer. And that's something that JR and I talk about and how we get over those things.
She also shares with us the investment in money and time that you might need to put into it. And I'm kind of glad to say that she didn't say I could write a book in like 30 days or something because I just know there's no way that is something I could do. So she gives us a realistic view of what it looks like to write a book, but also kind of gets me really fired up and excited about the thought of what it could do for my business.
So like I said, whether you've ever thought of writing book, whether you dream about it daily, this is a really cool episode to listen to, not only for the book thing, but also her story is really interesting. So definitely, definitely don't skip this one. It's going to be a good one.
Now, if you know someone who is thinking about writing a book or is in the process of starting to write one, then you definitely, definitely, definitely want to point them in the direction of this episode, Because like I said, she taught me lots and has given me loads of information to go on in terms of how I would even get started, where you put your time and effort in, how you market it.
There was so much good stuff in it. So do please share this with someone who you think it could help. Also. I just want to mention, if you haven't yet subscribed to the podcast, please go ahead and do that. And it will make sure that it tells you every time I do an episode, which is every single Monday. So please go ahead and do that.
And thank you so much for spending this time with me. I promise you it's going to be worth every minute. Here is JR. So welcome to the podcast. JR, how are you doing?
Jyotsna: I'm doing great, Teresa. Thank you so much for having me on the show.
Teresa: My pleasure. And I think this is the first time, I think this is the first time I've ever interviewed someone who is in India.
I think. So this is a first. Congratulations. And the thing that you're talking about, is probably a first as well. So this is awesome. I love bringing new things to not only myself, but also to the amazing audience. So let's start by you explain to us what you do and how you got to do the thing that you do.
Jyotsna: Yeah, sure. So I run a publishing agency called Happy Self Publishing where we help Passionate entrepreneurs, coaches, trainers, anybody who has a strong, compelling message to share with the world, we help them to package their idea, their story into a best selling book, irrespective of whether they are a great writer or not.
So that's what we do at Happy Self Publishing. And it all began after my daughter was born, I wanted to run a business that will let me work from home. And I was looking at different options and this idea of book publishing kept coming back to me in the podcast I was listening to, in the blogs that I was reading.
So it kind of was like a divine message. So I learned the whole process of how this whole publishing world, especially in the self publishing side, works. And as a result, it actually inspired me to write my first book called Job Escape Plan. After that book got published, I was a part of an author community in the US and authors over there reached out to me saying, Hey, your book looks pretty professional.
Could you help me get the cover design done? Could you refer me to your editor? Could you just project manage this whole thing for me? So I thought, wow, there are so many authors out there who needed that professional support to take them from their book idea to the finished published book. So I just put my team together and I started Happy Self Publishing. That's how it happened.
Teresa: That's awesome. I love that. And you know what I love even more is that you said they don't have to be a good writer, which is really fascinating because I would guess the one thing that puts most people off writing a book is the fact that they've got to write it and their own view of whether they're a good writer or not. So we'll come to that. Also, I love the, the message that you were getting over and over and over. Had your previous career or previous kind of experience had anything to do with books, publishing, writing, anything?
Jyotsna: Nothing. I don't come from this literary world or editing background.
None of that. I was running a staff recruitment agency when my first daughter was born, and that was great because that was my first business. But it made me, you know, attend meetings all day. I had to be on phone calls all day. And that wasn't, that was not the lifestyle I wanted. The reason I quit my job to become an entrepreneur was so that I can have the kind of lifestyle I wanted.
It was fine when I didn't have a kid, but when this newborn needed all my time and attention, that business did not serve me. And that's why I started looking for other options where I can have. Well, control over the time and the place where I worked from.
Teresa: That's amazing. And I think especially I'm always in awe of people who go into something that they have no experience in because it kind of, you know, what was going through your head at that point?
Not only were you, you know, you'd got a young child, you were starting a business, but starting a business in an industry that, you know, nothing about? Like, was it that you just had faith in it and you just decided to trust in, in the messages that you received? Was it a case of, do you know what? I can work these things out. Was it just, I'm going to go for it.
Jyotsna: It was a mix of everything. Firstly, I wanted that lifestyle where my business could be completely online. And I saw that this business had the potential. There was one step which I forgot to mention, which actually served me. So after I decided that publishing has a lot of potential, I did not straight away write a job escape plan because I had zero confidence in my own writing skills.
But I knew that books that were published on Amazon were selling a lot. So I would just every single week I would find the hot topics which were trending. I would find a ghostwriter from a freelance website, pay them a few hundred dollars and make them write a short ebook. And then I would get a cover designer and an editor and a formatter to put together and I would publish the book under different pen names.
That's how I began. So I did about 50, 50 of those books in six months. So those are the tiny little eBooks and back then they were actually selling and people were buying them just for these like 1 or 2 and yeah, that kind of gave me a lot of side income as royalties. And that also gave me the confidence as to how this whole self publishing thing works.
Then I felt that though I was doing this as a way to earn money, I was not feeling 100 percent fulfilled because I had no idea about these topics. For example, you know, just because how do you use AI to grow your LinkedIn is a hot topic today. I have no idea about it, but I find a writer who also doesn't know anything about it.
They just rely on articles that are published online to put a book together. It does serve the purpose of having everything in one place for the reader, but I felt that I'm not an authority in any of this. That has been, I felt that maybe if I share my own message with the world, I will feel good about it.
That's why I wrote job escape plan to talk about how I managed to quit my job and stop this and how others can also start an online business. I interviewed other famous people in the online space. Seven of them agreed and I interviewed them. So I loved that whole experience. So then that book got published and I got featured.
My book got featured as one of the top 10 start your business books of 2015. That gave me a lot of confidence that I don't have to necessarily be fantastic to be a good author, in terms of writing. And because of that visibility, podcasters started interviewing me and that's how other authors noticed my work and they reached out to me.
And that I felt was, you know, a divine signal because I did not have the plan to start happy self publishing. I was kind of Just going with that ghost written books, but, but because these real authors reached out to me, I felt that when I published job escape plan, I felt amazing because it was my real authentic story.
So I felt I would feel better publishing real stories by real authors rather than these ghost written books. So I just stopped that side of the business and I started focusing on helping authors who came to me for the publishing support.
Teresa: Gosh, who even knew that that's a, that's a business. This is what blows my mind about what, you know, being in my business and speaking to different people is like, I would never have even thought my brain doesn't work like that to think, Hey, I know this could be a business like that just blows my mind.
So let's talk about Your business as it is today, is it just supporting other authors to self publish or are you publishing it for them?
Jyotsna: Yeah, so this is a great question and there is a difference between the two. So we are not a traditional publishing house. A traditional publishing house would decide which book they want to publish based on the marketability of the book, based on the potential the book has to make money.
And they would reject the manuscripts that they don't like. And they would not charge any money to the author for publishing, but they would take away almost of the royalties. The author barely makes 5 to 7 percent as their royalty. So that's the traditional publishing model. Whereas I am a huge advocate of self publishing because it has served me well.
So what we do is we make sure that the whole process is done well. The author doesn't have to try and design their cover on their own using Canva. They can rely on my team to do all of the heavy lifting for them. They can come to us at any stage. If they come to us at the ideation stage, we get on a 90 minute call with them and help them get the confidence if their book idea will work or not, give them the method to create an outline and all of that.
And then they can write the book and then come back to us or they can come to us right at the beginning. I was just telling that you don't need to be a fantastic writer, right? So if they feel that they don't want to be writing the book themselves for various reasons, either they're too busy or maybe English is not their first language or writing is not their superpower.
In that case, we would either, we would give them an angel writer. So this is very different from the ghostwriting I used to do in the past. An angel writer is more like a podcast host. They would ask the right questions chapter by chapter to make sure the author shares everything that's there inside of them.
And the angel writer would go back, listen to the recorded interviews and write the book on behalf of the author without losing their voice and tonality. So that's how angel writing works. The other option is where an author wants to write on their own, but they feel lost. They feel stuck. They want that motivation, guidance, accountability for them.
We provided an author coach. An author coaches like a business coach who would get on calls with them every week to see the progress they have made and provide the guidance. And then the final step is where book is already written. And then some people come to us just for the publishing support. So this is where we do the cover design, the editing, the formatting, distribution on Amazon, editing the audio version of the book, putting it, putting it in multiple formats and even running promotions in Amazon.
So we do all of this and we charge for these services, but then we publish the book using the author's Amazon account. So Amazon has a platform called KDP which stands for Kindle direct publishing. So we Teach them how to create an account inside KDP and we publish the book inside of that. And then the author has complete access, which means the author gets to change the pricing whenever they want.
They can publish the next edition of the book whenever they want. They don't have to rely on anybody's permission to do any of these changes and they get to retain the complete rights and royalties to the book. So that's how self publishing works. So we are basically assisting them to self publish their book.
Teresa: Love it. So, okay, this might be a common misconception and maybe it's a common misconception that I have that I am now bringing to this podcast, but I always thought that if you had a publisher, it was more credible. What are your thoughts on that? Is it a misconception? Is it more credible? What's the two sides of that story?
Jyotsna: Yeah, that's such a great question. So in the past, I would say 10 years ago, people still felt that getting that stamp of approval from a publisher adds more credibility to their brand. Yeah. And I've seen authors who've published their first couple of books with a traditional publishing house. Now they have offers, they have proposals and deals from these publishers, but they don't want to take it up and they want to traditionally, or they want to self publish their book now because they feel that any which way they are, Putting all their effort and money in marketing it themselves.
So why give away the rights and royalties to a traditional publisher? And also traditional publishing is a, again, that industry is huge. There are too many players there. My suggestion to somebody would be if you're getting a deal from one of the big five publishing houses. like the Harper Collins or Penguin, people like that, then you might want to at least read the contract and see if it will work for you.
But if it is some publishing house that you've never heard of, then that's definitely not going to add any value to your personal brand. So you might as well go ahead and self publish it.
Teresa: This is really interesting and it's really changing my mind on this because like I said, I had this thing that, you know, if it wasn't a pub and when I think of a publisher, I think...
44 min
May 27, 20243 Things You Can Do Today To Build Your Confidence
Today’s episode of the podcast is a solo episode where I am sharing with you the 3 easy things that you can do today to boost your confidence.
These steps will help you stop doubting yourself, go after big opportunities, and make your dream life and business a reality.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
The importance of self-integrity in confidence

How to build confidence through small steps and self-compassion

Practical actions to take to become more confident

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Join me at my Atomicon 'Build Your Confidence and Become Unstoppable' workshop
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript
What would you do and how would your business look if you had buckets of confidence? If you could go into every task, every launch, every promotion, every anything, speaking on stages, doing podcast interviews, putting yourself forward, with the utmost of confidence, how could your life change? In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you exactly how to do that, how you can build your confidence muscle.
So that you are no longer held back by self doubt and you don't let those things get in your way. I'm going to be sharing with you three things that you can start to do today to build your self confidence.
Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of Your Dream Business Podcast. How are you doing? If you are new to the podcast, thank you so much for listening. And if you are a returning listener, thank you so much for coming back.
Today I want to talk to you about confidence. It's something that I'm actually doing a presentation on very soon. I'm doing a bit of a workshop on it, and it's something that comes up a lot in everything we do. You see, when I started my business, I knew how to do marketing. That was my thing. I had been to university.
I've got a degree in it. I had worked in lots of businesses. I had marketed almost every possible type of industry you can imagine. And then I started helping small business owners. And I really quickly realized that without some of the mindset tools in place and one of them being confidence. We could have the best strategies in the world.
And at the point I'm recording this, I'm actually doing this for me as much as you lot, because there are points in my business and things that I do where I need more confidence. And you might look at that and think, that seems crazy. You have loads of confidence. You do things that take a lot of confidence, like speaking on stages, putting the podcast out.
putting yourself out there, but it doesn't mean that it's always fine and I'm always confident. But when we have confidence, it is honestly the game changer, because when we let not having confidence stop us, we've got nowhere to go with that. And if we can just have a bit of confidence to go out and do a thing, We can achieve amazing things.
We can earn more money. We can launch the service that we want or the business that we want. We will be more successful. There's no doubt about it. We will put ourselves out there and we can honestly achieve amazing things. If you want to be more confident, or maybe, you know, one of your business friends that actually would benefit from listening to this, I think I would love you to go and share it with them.
Obviously listen first, but make sure you share this episode with them after you've listened, because I think we could all do with some more confidence in our life. So let's talk about confidence. What even is confidence? Confidence often comes down to believing in ourselves, believing that we can do something.
And I think a lot of us think that we should just have it, or it should just come, or maybe it's something you're born with and You're just either confident or you're not. And that is not the case at all. Confidence, like most mindset things, is a muscle that you need to work on and that you need to improve over time.
Confidence can often come down to keeping promises that we make with ourselves and self integrity, which might feel like, okay, you've gone on a bit of a curve ball there, Teresa, but seriously, imagine if you are making some promises to yourself and you say, I'm going to do this today, or I'm going to show up this way and you don't.
That can remove your own self confidence because having the confidence to do something that you set yourself or something that you want to do should be a given. But when we're not doing that and lots of us don't do it and I don't do it, you know, that that self integrity piece Every bit of mindset thing that I do, so many times it comes back to the self integrity, so many times it comes back to, if we can't make and keep promises to ourself, then we're kind of really messing up other things.
So for me, confidence, one part of confidence is Do we keep the promises that we make to ourselves and do we have a level of self integrity? So that's the first thing I want you to think about. When did you last make a promise to yourself and break it? Or when did you last make a promise to yourself and keep it?
And I think I just wanted to kind of slot this in as a bit of a side because although it is connected to confidence, it's not the main area I want to focus on. However, the self integrity piece is so important. Also the other thing that comes in to this whole confidence conversation is the growth mindset versus a fixed mindset.
If you don't believe you can change, if you don't believe that you can improve something, i. e. your confidence, then your brain is going to prove you right. So if you sit there and think, I'll never be confident at this, you will never be confident at it. So that's another thing I want you to think about just as we get into this confidence conversation, how much are you telling yourself and your brain, I can't do this, I'll never have that confidence, I will never be confident enough to do this.
Because the more you keep telling yourself, the more your brain will keep proving you right. So you really need to think about on the very kind of base level of, how can I start to believe that I can be confident or become more confident? Okay, so you might sit there and think, this is easy for you to say, Teresa, you are super confident and everything you probably do now, you don't get nervous about.
That is not the case at all. So first off, I was never like this, like, as I started my business, this was not something that I did. For those of you who know my story, how I started my business, I was very much back up against a wall, had to make some money and I started my business. So it wasn't, there was confidence wasn't even in it at that point.
It was literally a case of, I needed to earn money and survive. However, as I started to put myself out there, that's when the confidence thing started to really play a role in my business and who I was. So just to make you feel a bit happier, if you're sat here thinking, I don't have confidence, or I don't have the confidence you have, Teresa, I want to tell you of a couple of instances when I first started my business.
I remember going to a networking event. It was an all female networking event, and we had to do the 60 second thing. We had to go round the tables. And I, remember sitting there feeling physically sick at the thought of what I was going to say. And actually, I don't know why I'm laughing because it wasn't funny at the time, but I ended up saying something really stupid and didn't come across very well because I was so scared.
Then my very first speaking gig in the States, I was over in Minneapolis. I spoke for Leadpages and there's Speaker before me who was Pat Flynn. And I used to get this thing every time I had something big and important in my world, like a speaking gig, I'd get a sore throat really random. And I'll, you know, could talk about that separately on another time, but I used to get a sore throat.
So I'm running up to doing the speaking gig. I was out there a couple of nights before, and I started getting a sore throat and my throat was really, like my voice didn't sound great. And the morning of the speaking gig. And I'd prepared and I'd worked really hard at it and I'd spoken other places, but nothing as big as this, the morning of the speaking gig, I do a call with my husband on FaceTime or whatever.
And also with my assistant who was back in the UK and both of them separately were freaking out on my behalf because I was freaking out. Like. They genuinely thought it was going to be a disaster. They actually thought I would fall apart or not even get on the stage or it would just go terribly because I was absolutely freaking out.
Like, I don't think I've ever been so scared, ever been so nervous, ever thought I was going to mess something up so royally. Now, just to let you know, up until the point of getting on stage, I genuinely thought I was going to pee my pants. I actually said to, we had a concierge that looked after us, which was amazing.
It was an amazing event. And I actually said to the guy who was looking after me, what if I get on stage and I pee my pants? Like, this is when you're so nervous, just any old rubbish is coming out of your mouth. And he was really sweet, and he was like, well, I guess that's never been done before. And we just kind of laughed about it.
But I genuinely thought I was gonna get on stage and die because it was so terrifying. There was no confidence in there whatsoever. So, when I sit and talk to you about this stuff, this is not coming from a place of, I've got it all sussed, I know what I'm doing, I'm super confident. I have had to work at this as much as anyone else has had to work at it.
And over time, it has increased. And yes, I don't feel like that now. I still get nervous when I speak on stage. And I am very grateful of that because I know I care about it. If I didn't get nervous, if I was so confident that I would just get on stage and it'd be amazing and I don't have to try and I don't have to be nervous, then that falls into arrogance and I don't ever want to be like that.
I still want to be nervous. I still want an element of, I want to do a good job. However, I am confident that I will do my best at doing a good job. So even though the confidence is different, it's not that I'm, don't have confidence. I do have confidence that I'm a good speaker and will do a good job.
However, I'm still nervous that I want to do a good job. Okay. So how do we build this confidence? How do you, if you're sat there listening to this going, yes, Teresa, but I want to start that thing and I'm terrified to do it. I want to, Apply for something. And I'm really scared. How do we actually go ahead and do it?
So one of the first things that we need to not do before we get into the steps of what we can do is we can't rely on others to build our confidence for us. So often this comes a lot when we talk about how successful you think you are, or how good at something you think you are, this often can come down to when someone buys from you, when someone says you're good, when someone does something, you then feel good about it, you then feel confident, you then feel I've got a good product because someone else has said it, or I'm really good at what I do because someone else has said it.
We can't rely on that. Not at all. Because as you well know, if you've been in business for a while, you are not for everyone. And I am not for everyone. And that is okay. So someone is going to look at you and what you do and go, no, I don't like it.
And I think you're terrible. They probably need to do some work on themselves if they're going to say that. But. You can't control what other people are going to say and do. So if you are relying on others for your self confidence, for you to be able to put yourself out there, that is not a great place to start.
So this has got to be something we do inside. This is something we've got to have internally that is not affected by external stuff. Now don't get me wrong. I flipping love it when people tell me they liked my talk or they thought the training I did was brilliant, or they love the podcast. Please come and tell me you love the podcast because I do genuinely love it.
And when you're sat in your office, just talking to yourself, sometimes, you know, it can feel like you're talking to a void. So we love that. And that's awesome. However, if no one came and did that, am I confident that I still do a good job? Yes, I am. If someone came to me and said, I thought your podcast is awful.
Would that then make me lose my confidence? No, it wouldn't. Because all I would think is you're not for me and I'm not for you. And that's okay. There's lots of other podcasts out there. So it's very much about having that confidence internally that, you know, no matter what anybody else says, that actually you will still be fine and still carry on, whether that thing is a good thing or a bad thing.
Okay. So how are we going to become more confident? First thing I want you to try and make 1 percent changes. Often when we do something, we think it needs to be radical. We think that, you know, becoming confident means going from zero to a hundred. And that might not be possible. Now, if it is brilliant, do it.
Let's give it a go. However, for lots of us and for lots of people, that is not possible. You can't just go, I've got no confidence. I'm going to do it. So where can we make the1 percent changes? And if you've been a listener to the podcast, you know, I talk about 1 percent changes a lot with everything. Because Often, when we set ourselves a goal, either to be more confident, to have more integrity, to sell more, to get more people on our email list, and we say, okay, we're at zero today and I want to be at a hundred tomorrow.
Sometimes that is really hard to get. And sometimes that isn't always down to us. Sometimes, you know, that's not always something that we can control, especially when it's a goal or something like that. But what we can control is the 1 percent shifts. And often what happens is. If we set ourself a massive task, so let's say, and this is always such a really good, easy example, but it is a bit flippant, but the whole diet thing is such a great example because it's like day zero, you're terrible.
And you're eating the worst of the worst and your diet's dreadful. And you say, tomorrow, I'm going to be perfect. And tomorrow you try and be perfect. and it's impossible, and your jump from zero to a hundred, and therefore you don't do it, and therefore you beat yourself up and think, well, I can't do it, and I'm rubbish, and I'm awful.
Which sets you back even further than you've started already. So, it almost takes you to like minus ten, and then the next time you try and do it, you might, you know, Push yourself back even further. I hope all this is making sense. So taking 1 percent shifts is a really good way to strengthen any muscle.
So if you want to become more confident about doing something, if you want to speak on a big stage, a 1 percent shift might be to See if you can do a training with a few of your friends or a 1 percent shift might be doing that 60 seconds at a networking event and doing it until you feel good and not like you're going to vomit on the table.
The 1 percent shifts are easy because they're smaller things for you to do. And what happens is when you set that 1 percent and you do it. Your brain goes, look at that, we did it. We're ace. It doesn't matter that it was only 1%. It's just cheering the fact of, well done, you did it. It doesn't know really the difference, and I'm just making this bit up.
I don't have any science to prove it, but it doesn't really know the difference between like this massive goal and the little goal. You either achieve it or you don't. So if you don't achieve it, you end up sometimes beating yourself up. And if you do achieve it, high five yourself. So those 1 percent shifts are really, really important.
And that brings me to two other things that are attached to that. So the first thing is, you need to practice self compassion. So this is kind of like, if that was, you know, tip one, this is tip 1.A. Okay. So you need to practice that self compassion because What happens is, like I said, when you try and do something and you don't do it, or it doesn't happen the way you want it to happen, you can beat yourself up.
And I've said before on the podcast many times about being the scientist, not the judge. So often when we try and do something and we fall on our face, because we will lots of times, and if we're not doing it, we're probably not trying hard enough, then If you do that and you fall on your face and it doesn't work and the judge comes out and goes, well I knew it wouldn't work because you are rubbish and no one wants to buy your thing because you're terrible and it's not going to happen and that dream of you having XYZ is just merely dream and it's never going to come to fruition and you're going to embarrass yourself and it's going to be terrible.
Our brain is so very cruel. So when we let the judge kick in and say those things to us, what does that do for our confidence and our self confidence? literally puts it on the floor. When we practice self compassion, when we practice being kind to ourselves, which honestly, again, there are certain themes that run through everything mindset that I talk about, self integrity and self compassion are so important.
But when we practice that self compassion and we become a scientist and not the judge, so the scientist would go, Okay, that was interesting. And sometimes I say, in fact, I was talking to Louise, who helps me stay accountable. And she basically keeps me on track and make sure I get to get all my work done.
She, I was talking to her and I was saying something, I was like, Hmm, that's interesting. And she's like, I know you don't feel what you're saying. And I'm like, no, I don't always, sometimes I do feel like, Oh, that's so annoying. However, turning the, that's so frustrating, so annoying into that's interesting, really helps because then you start questioning and going, okay, well, that was interesting that that happened.
Why might that be? And then you can have some self compassion for yourself. Okay. Well, you've never done that thing before. That was the first time. So who says you were going to be perfect at it? And actually. Yeah. You know, maybe it wasn't the right time or...
34 min
May 20, 2024Why You Shouldn’t Charge Your Worth and What You Should Do Instead
If you offer a one to one service or are thinking about it, you are going to love today's episode.
Janine Coombes, and I talk all about marketing for one to one services, discussing why maybe you shouldn't niche straight away in your business, and how you can price with confidence.
We also chat about why Janine doesn't buy into the philosophy of charge what you're worth, and how she advises to price with confidence at the level you want.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
Janine's 'Reverse Niching Principle' explained

How to confidently price high-value services

Top tips for selling one to one services, focussing on risk removal and social proof

Janine Coombes is a marketing and sales strategist specialising in service offer positioning, pricing and sales for ambitious coaches and consultants.
She’s a dynamic and engaging speaker who has shared the stage with Deborah Meaden and regularly appears on internationally renowned stages such as Atomicon, MarketEd Live and You Are The Media.
With over 20 years of experience she has an extensive background in business and marketing having worked with big brands like EE, Orange and Europcar as well as hundreds of entrepreneurs and service based business owners.
Her sweet spot is helping coaches and consultants to earn drastically more from their 1:1 services without slogging their guts out or moving to a more complicated business model.
She has a business degree, a post-graduate marketing diploma (CIM Dip). She’s a skilled writer and one of the most creative content creators out there having garnered international attention with her sketch style show The Secret Marketing Show.
If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to iTunes and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Download Janine's '6 steps to charging more with 100% confidence' workbook
Download Janine's 'Coaching Sales JetPack'
Connect with Janine on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript
Teresa: If you offer one to one services or are thinking about it, you are going to love today's episode. My guest and I talk around niching, pricing, and marketing your one to one offer. She shares why you shouldn't niche when you first start, and we discuss how pricing with confidence is key and why she doesn't buy into the charge what you are worth philosophy.
We also look at how you can more one to one clients. And how to successfully get testimonials from those clients you've been working with.
Hello and welcome to this latest episode of Your Dream Business. Thank you so much for taking the time out to listen to learn and to grow, which is something that as business owners, we should be doing all the time.
But I really appreciate that you have chose my podcast. And I know there are a ton of podcasts you can listen to, So I really do appreciate you being here and thank you so much for tuning in. So today we are going to be talking with the lovely Janine Coombes, all about Marketing your one to one service. Now you might be thinking, but Teresa, I don't have a one to one service.
Is this episode not for me? No, not at all. This episode covers so many good key foundations that actually, regardless of the services that you have, I think It's gonna really help lots of you out there. So we talk about pricing with confidence. We talk about niching, we talk about how to get more clients, and also things like how to get testimonials from people, which can be tricky and what to do if you don't have any testimonials.
So there is so much good advice in this podcast that you are not going to want to miss out in. I would even go as far as to say that you should probably share this episode with one of your friends, business buddies, whoever it might be that has a business. And if they are offering one to one services like coaching, then boy, this is for them more than ever.
So please do go ahead and share this with someone who you think it might be useful for. My lovely guest today is Janine Coombes. She is a marketing and sales strategist specializing in service offering, positioning, pricing, and sales for ambitious coaches and consultants. Her dynamic, engaging speaking has meant that she shared the stage with people like Deborah Meaden and regularly appears on internationally renowned stages such as Atomicon, Marketed Live, and You Are The Media.
With over 20 years experience, she has extensive background in business and marketing, having worked with big brands like EE, Orange, and EuropaCar, as well as hundreds of entrepreneurs and service based business owners. Her sweet spot is helping coaches, consultants, earn drastically more money from their one to one services without slogging out their guts or moving to a complicated business model.
So there is so much good stuff that you're going to get from today. I really hope you enjoy it. Without further ado, here's Janine. Janine, welcome to the podcast.
Janine: Thanks for having me.
Teresa: My pleasure. I realized that when I just said that I almost have like a podcast voice. Like I say things a certain way when I start the podcast.
It's very odd, but this is how I talk. It's just, I just noticed how I said that. I was like, Oh, I always say it like that. Anyway, just a little insight for you and the lovely listeners. So Janine, let's start as I always do, which one day I might change this up, but we'll keep with it for now by explaining to my lovely listeners who you are and how you got to do the thing that you do today.
Janine: Right. How? Oh, gosh. I mean, I could talk half an hour on that, but I'll try and keep it short and sweet. Hello, everyone. I'm Janine Coombes, and I help coach shaped people earn more from their one to one work without slogging their guts out. And it came to me, this, this mission of mine, over years. Over the many years of my marketing experience, my marketing career, and then working with service based business owners, like, it revealed itself over the years, and I realized that that's who I was working with.
I was trying to appeal to a broader market, but actually, when I drilled down in it, it's what I did and what I needed for my own business was to get clear on my offerings, my pricing, my positioning, and then do the sales and marketing. And that's what I love helping my clients with. And they do tend to be coach shaped people.
Teresa: Okay. Awesome. So you have a marketing background.
Janine: Yes.
Teresa: And how long have you had your business?
Janine: Just over seven years.
Teresa: So what were you doing before you did your business?
Janine: So my, my original career was in house marketing for service based businesses like was telecoms mainly and broadband. So EE, Orange, spot of national renter car and Europe car.
Yeah. And then I took a break to look after my kids or have my kids and look after them. Yep. And I didn't know whether I'd go back to my marketing career, because I kind of fell out of love with it to an extent, but I just couldn't keep my nose out. So I had some friends who were starting up businesses.
I was like, we don't want to be doing that. I think, you know, like Janine. Go away.
Teresa: I, that is me all over. I literally, this is why I have to be so careful with the services that I offer and how much time I give people because I can't help but go, Oh, I'll tell you what you should do. You should try. Because when you've been in marketing for such a long time, like, It's, it's in you, it's bred in you.
So that's cool. I like that you came from a marketing background. How did you find, I'm only asking this because this is something I struggled with. How did you find marketing yourself as opposed to marketing a service?
Janine: Well, funny you should ask because I thought, well, I'll set up my own business, you know, and at least the marketing will be easy.
Teresa: Yeah. Good luck with that.
Janine: Marketing yourself will be really, really easy.
Teresa: It's a nightmare.
Janine: I think it's been the most painful for me, nailing my own messaging. following through on the advice I give clients is hideous. I thought, you know, it took me a while because I thought I had to know all the answers.
I mean, this is another little knot I got myself into. I thought I had to know all the answers and be faultless. And, People would expect me to be on all the social media platforms, but I held myself up to such a high bar. I think I thought I was a big corporate and I knew my brand didn't need to be on point.
I had to have a perfect website and I needed to be on all the platforms and it was just ridiculous looking back. Absolutely ridiculous.
Teresa: That, you know, it's so funny because you do think, you know, this is the thing I'm an expert at. This is the thing I do with ease. So surely it's just a matter of just doing it for myself.
And it was the hardest thing and still is one of the hardest things like, you know, both you and I are in positions where we work with other people and we help them do their marketing. And yet you and I still need someone else to help us with our stuff because even though we know what to do, it's still not easy doing it.
Janine: Yeah, absolutely.
Teresa: There was like a million things I could talk about with you as, as you guys probably know, listening, when I ask people, either when I asked them to come on or they applied to come on, I get them to fill in a form that gives me like, where can we go with this? What kind of conversation can we have?
And there are like so many options for Janine that I'm like, I almost don't want to pick one. And I want to kind of scoot into each one of them. Cause I think it will, it will help. So let's start with you sharing your reverse niching principle. What do we mean by that? And, and the reason I'm asking this is because selfishly, which actually most of the podcast questions I ask are quite selfish because I like to know for my own business, which surely is one of the perks of having a podcast.
But selfishly, I am currently going through a new, I'm going through a business review and I'm about to do a rebrand and I'm just working on my customer profile questions for myself now and I'm debating moving down the niche type route. So I'm interested to hear your thoughts on niching. So what do you mean by reverse niching principle?
Janine: What I mean by it, so the context, let's start with the context. I think there's so much about niching or niching and the riches are in the niches and people talking about it and I think And people who are just starting out in business, how on earth can you niche? Like, how can you, how can you niche? Like, I can only think of a few people that I've come across who, who have a, like an obvious niche where they obviously should go sharper with their messaging from the get go.
And even after years, like I found my niche pretty much it was last year after like six years. And it was, it was a gradual thing. And what really helped me was thinking about it less about the niching of your whole business. So like top down, but actually thinking about being clear on who you were targeting with each offer, which is why I call reverse, call it reverse niching.
Cause you're not thinking about, okay, Who is my ideal client for my whole business? You're saying, okay, I've got a series of offers. I've got one or two main offers or however many offers you've got could be like 50 courses, but each of those individual offers have an ideal client for each. So that is more important question.
I think is for each of your offers, are you clear on who's going to buy it and why they would buy it? And for each of those offers, The target market or niche, if you wanna call it that. It could be very wide or it could be very small and it doesn't matter. And for me, it was much easier to think, okay, for each of my offers and for a lot of my clients as well, who is your ideal client for each of the offers?
And then what's the theme there? Is there a theme? And then that can be your niche and it's almost bottom up. So you're looking at your offers, and then you're looking upwards and saying, oh, okay, actually my brand as a whole is appealing to these people.
Teresa: So there's a couple of things I want to pick up on that you said there.
The first one is very few people can niche the minute they start. I wholeheartedly agree with that, because at this point, and I've got someone actually in my world that is just starting in the coaching world. So she has a full time job and she's starting the coaching on the side. And the ultimate aim is to move fully into the coaching and stop the job.
And she came on a call the other day and was like, I'm not sure I should niche. I'm not sure how I should do this. I'm not sure what my branding should be targeting. I'm not sure this. And I'm like, at the moment, I just don't think you can because you haven't had enough experience in it. You don't know what you like.
You don't know what you don't like. And like I said, the reason I was selfishly asking this question is because 10 years in, I'm still questioning, should I be niching more? Should I not be niching more? So that was the first thing that I want to say that is brilliant. So if you are listening to this and you are early days in your business, do not be freaking out that you haven't got a niche, because actually I think you need to try so many different things like, and work with that person and go, Oh, I hate that. Don't want to work with those businesses again, work with that person and go, Oh, I love that business in that industry that, and actually I work really easily in that industry. So I think that is first awesome thing to think about.
Also, I love the idea of, and again, selfishly, this is a really good exercise for me to do is am I clear on the different products? Now, being in business for 10 years means I have a ton of stuff, right? A ton of stuff. And yes, I have some core products that I sell, like the membership and the exec club and the group coaching program.
However, like I have a ton of stuff and I'm constantly going, I really should do more with that. I have a whole course on how to build an email list. I barely talk about it. Like I have a whole thing, this, this, this, but actually, Looking at those products individually and going, who would be the perfect customer for that?
Because I think I've got an idea for the overall arching customer. However, there is a disconnect and this is why I'm looking at it. There's a disconnect between who I want my perfect customers to be and the products and services I offer. So actually, starting the other way around and going, what are these aimed at?
Then I can, it's just a different way of looking at it. So I loved that. I really, really loved that. So when you decided on a niche, how do you then get clear on saying, this is how I'm going to go after these people. And I want you to answer the question as well, in terms of like people often fear me included doing a niche because I don't want to put people off.
And I don't want to, because I work with such a wide range of people. I love it. I don't want to suddenly go, Oh no, I can't work with you anymore because that you're not my niche. So what, give me your thoughts on those two very different questions that I've given you once.
Janine: So how do you go after the, but I think that's the easier question. How do you lump it to that niche? I think If you do take this iterative approach and you're like, okay, I like working with these people. I like working with these people less. You kind of get a feel for where they are and where they're hanging out and how to speak to them.
And you know, whether do your book podcast or a blog or whatever. And I mean, a lot of come, a lot of that comes from your own personality and skill set and likes and dislikes. So I'm of the opinion that it should fit you as much, if not more than the client. Like, you know, you could be, there's a florist who does really, really well on LinkedIn, you know, people, a marketing consultant would tell her to be on Instagram.
Yeah. Why, why are you focusing all your time on LinkedIn? She's doing brilliantly there because she likes it. She knows the lay of the land. She knows how it works and because she enjoys it, she does it more. So.
Teresa: Yeah. And I think that's really important as well to say around You've got to want to do the thing that you're, you know, so if, like you said, Instagram isn't your thing, but LinkedIn is, or the other way around.
If you don't want to do a podcast, but you love speaking on stage or you like writing, then it's still got to be in line with you. You can't just go, well, customers would love this in this niche. So I really must go down that route. And actually, I guess for her, she is a big player in a small pond of florist on LinkedIn.
Janine: Yeah. So it's the only person I know. The only florist that, yeah.
Teresa: Yeah. 'cause I would go to Instagram. So the other thing, my brain keeps coming and going. I've got so many questions. I keep writing things down and like I'm not focusing very well 'cause there's so much to talk about. So the one thing I wanted to say was, and the reason I'm looking at my niche, and again I just wanna get your thoughts on this, is when I interviewed Amy Porterfield for the summit, one of the things that Amy said.
Which I thought, I don't have that, is Amy is known for online courses, right? You want to go to Amy? You want an online course? You go to Amy. Like, she has done the same thing for like 15 years, taught the same stuff, showed up in the same places, has completely got her niche that like, like you said, you know, If someone thinks online courses, you think Amy Porterfield, if you're in that world.
And I just didn't have that thing, right? I don't have a thing. And I was talking to Katie Caldwell, who's redoing my brand. And in our preliminary conversation, we're going to have a proper one soon. But I said it, I said it jokingly, but I kind of like, I am fairly serious. And I
47 min
May 13, 2024How to Get on Top Rated Podcasts and Stand Out as a Guest
Today’s episode of the podcast is a solo episode where I am sharing with you how to become a guest on a top rated podcast.
Tune in to hear my checklist of things that are most important to a podcast host, when choosing who they want to interview on their podcast.
If you are ready to accelerate your growth, your audience and your email list this episode is a must listen!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
How to find podcasts to apply for

How to determine if you are a good fit for a podcast

Top tips for a successful pitch

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to iTunes and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Listen back to episode 316, Audience, Audience, Audience: Proven Tactics For How To Grow Yours
Download the checklist for the things you should do if you are hoping to get on someone's podcast
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript
Becoming a guest on a top rated podcast can be a game changer for your credibility, for your business, and most importantly, for your audience growth. Getting in front of someone else's audience is so powerful, but how do you get on those top rated podcasts? How do you stand out from the crowd? Why does that podcast host pick you over someone else?
Well, today, my friend, I am sharing all after years of having people pitch me to come on my podcast. I have pulled together a checklist of things that are the most important to a podcast host that will help you stand out and Be picked as a guest on their podcast. If you are ready to accelerate your growth, your audience, and your email list, this episode is for you.
And if you're sitting there thinking, Teresa, I'm not sure I want to go on someone else's podcast. Then I want you to listen up anyway, because getting in front of someone else's audience is such a powerful strategy to accelerate your audience and your email list growth. And as we know, building your email list is one of the most important things that you can do in your business.
And I'm going to give you the confidence to put yourself forward to go for these amazing opportunities.
Hello and welcome back to this week's episode of Your Dream Business podcast. How are you doing this week? I've been super busy batching a lot of podcast episodes, and in doing that, it means I'm really ahead with my guests, which is awesome in one way, but also I don't like to be as ahead as I am because it sometimes feels like, great, we did an interview that comes out in September.
So it can be a bit frustrating. However, As you can imagine, I get a ton of applications to come on my podcast. I've had my podcast for a long time. This is episode 346, like that is a lot of years. And I've had a load of people on my podcast over that time. And I've also been pitched. Many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times.
And I've seen them all the good, the bad, the damn right awful. Like I was once pitched a subject and a person. Because this person said they were a big fan of the podcast. They listened to it and they noticed I'd never had anybody talking about this particular subject and they wanted to pitch this particular person.
That particular person had come on my podcast and had spoke about that particular subject. And in fact, that person was highlighted on my podcast page of the website. So if they'd just gone and looked at my podcast page, they would have seen I'd already had that guest. So as you can imagine, that was a hard no.
And actually, I think I was obviously not in a great mood that day, because I actually emailed them back and said, I'd do your research if I was you. But the problem is, and I don't normally do that, but the problem is it takes a lot of time as a podcast host who does interviews, finding the right people for your podcast, getting them on, doing the research, all of that stuff, looking through every application takes a ton of time.
However, if you can get on a podcast, it's one of the most effective ways of putting you in front of another person's audience. I have a loyal and amazing group of humans that you are part of that listen to my podcast. So anybody that I put in front of you gets a front row seat at that audience. Like they get to stand on my metaphorical stage while I present them to you.
So getting on other people's podcasts is a great way to become more visible and to build your email list. And actually, if you want to know a bit more about why we need to get visible and some of the tactics that you can use, and this is part of some of that, but I'm going deep in on this subject today, go and check out episode 316 called audience, audience, audience proven tactics for how to grow yours.
So after you've listened to this one and you like the idea of it, go back and listen to that. And I'll give you some more ideas of how you can grow your audience. But like I said, getting on a podcast is a great way to grow your audience. Also, as things go, I find it one of the easiest things I can do. So not necessarily just getting on there, but once I'm on the podcast and being interviewed, being interviewed is awesome.
And I love it because I don't have to put a ton of time into it. I don't have to prep too much. If I talk about the same sort of things, or if they ask me about my business, then it's easy. And I love it. I love having conversations with people. I love answering questions. So this is why today. I am going to share with you how you can pitch and get on amazing podcasts, because I have seen it all.
And like I said, over the years I have worked out what makes an amazing podcast pitch that means I am very likely to say yes. and what makes a dreadful podcast pitch that I won't even get past the first couple of lines of. So today I'm going to take you through a checklist almost of things that you should do if you are hoping to get on someone's podcast.
Now you don't need to panic about writing all these down. If you've got pen and paper, great. If you haven't head over to teresaheathwareing.com/346 and you will find a link to this checklist. So teresaheathwareing.com/346 as in the numbers, not the words, and you will find a link to this checklist.
And I will give you all the things you need in order to go out and get put on amazing podcasts, which can do phenomenal things for you. And. This has been a strategy that I have been working with my group members and my accelerator members for some time. And I have the amazing Emma who has done exactly this strategy, and she has been featured on top 10 podcasts for her industry.
She has grown massively in a short period of time because she was able to get in those podcast episodes and be featured on those podcasts. So this is a proven strategy that we are using in the club, in the membership, in the accelerator program, when I work with people one to one, this is something I walk them through and I wanted to give you some of this good stuff today.
So let's talk about how do we get on these amazing podcasts. So the very first thing you need to do is find them. Now, this is not as difficult as maybe you would think. As easy as going onto Google and searching podcasts for, and whatever your niche is. So if you are a mom in business or your audience are moms in business, then you might want to go and search for podcasts for moms in business If you sell to people who Uh, online business owners, you might want to search podcasts for online business owners.
If you are a coach that only looks after therapists, then you might want to search podcasts for therapists. So you get the gist. It's really simple. Go into Google, do a quick search, and no doubt it will come up with a ton of different podcasts. If you have a podcast, another really good way to do research is ask people when they apply for yours to tell you a couple of podcasts that they've already been on.
And this will basically give you a bank of podcasts that you could also pitch for. So there's lots of different ways, but I just wanted to give you two really quick ones. But like I said, finding them shouldn't be the hard bit. Another really quick one, because I can't help, because now I'm talking about it is that you could also go and look at your competitors and see where they're speaking, what podcasts are they being featured on and again, they are podcasts that you could go on.
So first thing is get yourself a good old list of podcasts that you could approach, but that's the easy bit. The next thing is. You need to do your research. So one of the worst things that I have is when people come to me and say, your podcast is amazing and it's a perfect fit. And they evidently have not even looked at the podcast.
So the things that I want you to do when I say, do your research are. I want you to go and listen to some of their podcast episodes, specifically ones where they interview so that you can get the feel of what's the style of the podcast. Is it formal? Is it chatty? Is it conversational? What particular questions do they ask?
How do they approach it? Who are their customers that they're serving? And you can get a really good feel for it from listening to a couple of episodes. Now I get this takes time, but If you're like me, you listen to podcasts while you're getting ready, while you're driving, while you're cooking dinner, whatever it might be.
So you should hopefully be able to do it while doing something else. But definitely listening to a couple of episodes is going to give you the kind of in, in terms of, Okay. At least you know that you like the sound of that person, that you could definitely have a conversation with them. Because by doing that, you need to make sure that you are a good fit for their podcast because the audience could be perfect for you.
That's one of the next things you need to check. And we'll get to that. However, if you're not a good fit, they're not going to have you on. So, and I mean from lots of different angles and by listening to you'll be able to get the idea. So. If they're particularly conversational, and you good at having a conversation?
If they like to do inspiring stories, do you have an inspiring story? So are you a good fit for them? Do your subjects and your things that you talk about fit well with their podcast? So one of the things I get pitched on all the time is to come on and talk about Amazon. I don't talk about Amazon.
Nothing I do is about Amazon. So why the hell is someone pitching to come and talk about Amazon? Cause I don't do it. So make sure that you are going to be a good fit for them. Then make sure that they have the right audience for you. So who is it that their podcast is trying to attract? Now, sometimes you might look at it and go, okay, well, if I am a nutritionist for children And I pitched to another podcast as Nutritionist for Children.
Their audience is perfect. I'm potentially a really good fit for it. However, you might think I don't want to go on their podcast because they do what I do. First off, don't let this put you off. I've had tons of people on my podcast who do very similar to what I do. Definitely still keep it in the running of places to go.
But what you might want to do is start to think of alternative podcasts that have your audience that aren't necessarily your exact thing that you do. So for instance, if you're a nutritionist for children and someone else has a podcast that's a sleep expert for children, then great, that would be a perfect podcast to go on and it would be the right audience.
So in the early days, if you want to practice and you've not done many podcast interviews, then yeah, you can be a bit more flexible about the audience and, and you know, it might not be the most perfect fit if you just want to have some practice. However, in an ideal world, you want that audience to be the audience that you're trying to reach.
And it definitely, as you're doing this, is a growth strategy. I want you to go and look at what have they talked about before and where could your topic fit in with that? Have they mentioned the thing before but not gone all in on an episode? Have they talked about it from one angle and you come at it from another angle?
Have they not talked about it for a good few months and therefore they might be willing to actually now have someone else back on to talk about that particular thing. As a heads up, if I've had someone who has spoke on a subject recently, I won't have someone else speaking on that same subject for a little while.
So it's not to say that they won't have you on. It's just, they might be more likely to, if they haven't done a podcast on that particular subject, or it might mean that rather going in with that particular idea, you go in with a slightly different idea. And then the last one in terms of research is do you have any connections that you use?
One of the really brilliant strategies, and I would love to say that, you know, I chose it as a brilliant strategy. I don't know, maybe it was a strategy. Maybe I just stumbled across it was when I started interviewing people for my podcast. So bearing in mind, this is. I'm having guests on mine, not me pitching it to others, but the sentiment works the same.
I chose someone to interview and then I looked at their network and decided who else in their network would be a really good interview. So for instance, Amy Porterfield was one of my first interviews and I looked at her network and I went out to Jasmine Starr and she came on. Because when you've got a in, or when you've got a, Hey, I've had so and so on, would you come on?
Or, Oh, I saw that you had such and such person on. they're a good friend of mine, then it just opens that door. I had just this just the other day. So someone contacted me saying, we've both been, or we've both had someone on our podcast and we have a mutual connection and this connection is particularly lovely.
So that instantly had me open up to a conversation with them, got on a call with them, had a chat. We're doing a podcast swap. So. When you have a connection, it can really, really help. So again, another great way to go is looking at that person and then who else do they know that has podcasts and using them.
And you might even want to ask them if they can do an introduction depending on how well you get on with them. So always use those connections if you can. Okay. So you've done your research. We've got all our like stuff laid ready. Now, one thing that you might be thinking at this point is Teresa, that's a ton of stuff to go on one podcast.
Yeah. It is okay. And you're not necessarily going to want to do this to every single podcast interview you try and pitch for. Some, you are just going to be able to look at them, think, yeah, that looks really good and reach them and contact them and ask if they want a podcast guest. Some that you really want to go on, And that have good audiences and good established podcasts.
You probably should go to the extra mile. But like I said, this is a kind of in my world, if people do this work, they are getting very close to a yes before we even have a conversation. So for me, If you really want to get on a podcast, then absolutely, this is kind of the stuff you would do. Okay. So you've done all your research.
What do we actually do when we're going to do the pitch? Well, the first thing that I would suggest is that you follow them on social media. Now, this was actually a conversation that I had with Liz Mosley and cause she also has a podcast. And one of the things that she said really made her laugh was when someone would say, Oh, I'm such a big fan.
And then she would go and see if they followed her on social media and they didn't. And it's like, well, if you're such a big fan, surely you're following me on social media. So go and follow the podcast or the person or whoever it is on social media and interact with them. And I don't mean from a sleazy kind of, you know, just trying to get in front of their face.
I mean, genuinely interact. Like if you liked an episode, what did you like about it? Again, as a podcast host, I flipping love it when people tell me they've listened to it. I love it when they come back and go, Oh, this was brilliant. Like it makes my world. So again, Do that for the podcast you want to go on because why else are we creating all this content other than for people to listen?
Okay. So go and follow them on social media, try and go the extra mile. So what I mean by that is things like give them a review on Apple or Spotify. One of the best people that I had reach out to me included a screenshot of the fact that they'd given me a really lovely review. Also, they were very honest that they had only just found my podcast and they were just starting to listen and it was brilliant.
So again, they didn't try and pretend they'd been a long listener and, you know, but they made it really useful and they gave me a review. So give them a review on Apple or Spotify again, as a podcast host. We love that because the more reviews we get, the better. So go that extra mile and do something like that.
If you share their podcast on social, that's a really nice going the extra mile thing. Then when you do reach out, make it a personal reach out. So I get lots of reach outs from podcast agencies and they're not the worst, like there's some fine podcast agencies that do a good job. However, it is different if the person reaches out personally to me.
And it's much harder to say no to that person. Now, personally, what happens when people reach out to me is I forward it on to Johanne, who is on my team, and I either put yes, no, or maybe, and Johanne has a response in which to send them. And like I said, that no, if I give a no, it can be so many reasons. It might have nothing to do with the person.
So don't let that stop you. It, like I said, it could be that I've just had someone on talking about it. It could be that I don't want to talk about that thing. It could be that. Actually, that's not a good fit right now. Well, that's not where my focus is. There could be so many reasons why I say no to someone.
That is not a reason not to go out and pitch. But like I said, when someone personally reaches out to me, I do feel much more inclined to personally go back to them. So that for me is a really good way to get seen. Okay. Make their job as easy as possible. So again, This is all very much focused on the host, which if you're trying to get on someone's podcast, it's a great place to focus.
So when someone reaches out and says, can I come on your podcast? Or would you have so and so on the podcast? If they don't include...
23 min
May 06, 2024 Peter Grainger on his journey from employee to 7 figure business owner
Have you ever wondered what it takes to go from an employed person with a business idea to a business owner, with a £1 million turnover and products in mainstream supermarkets like Tesco, Waitrose, and Ocado?
Well, CafePod founder, Peter Grainger shares with me the 3 mindset beliefs that he had when he started his business, and how it helped him to grow it to where he is today.
The great news is that these three things are things that you can work on, to start to believe in yourself to grow your own businesses so tune in now and get inspired!
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

🌟 The key skills that are needed to start a business outside of your skills and expertise

🌟 The learning experiences of launching a new business in a competitive industry

🌟 Where to look for investors for a new business venture and how to get them on board

CafePod is a London-based independent coffee company that makes great-tasting coffee to enjoy at home. Their diverse range of exciting blends are available as Nespresso®️ compatible pods, ground coffee and whole bean. CafePod is available to buy from cafepod.com, Amazon, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado.

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to iTunes and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Connect with Peter on LinkedInFollow CafePod on Instagram Follow CafePod on FacebookThe Power of Content Marketing with Marcus Sheridan.

Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or FacebookTranscript
Teresa: Have you ever wondered what it takes to go from an employed person with a business idea to a business owner with a 7 million turnover and products in mainstream supermarkets like Tesco's, Waitrose and Ocado. Well, CafePod founder Peter Grainger shares with me the three mindset beliefs that he had when he started his business and it helped him to grow it to where he is today.

And the great news, these three things are things that we can work on to start to believe ourselves to grow our own businesses.

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the your dream business podcast. So this week I have a really cool interview for you. I'm interviewing Peter Grainger, who is the founder of CafePod. And when they first approached me to say, would I have him on the podcast?

I initially thought how well does this resonate with you guys who are listening to this? As I've interviewed a couple of people recently who have really big businesses and, and different style businesses. It's been really good for me to understand how their brain works and what made them go into businesses that appear really difficult.

Like to suddenly decide to do a coffee brand that is not like, and, and you'll hear in this that he had no experience in this. He didn't work in coffee, he didn't work in like anything entrepreneurial. He literally went from working in the city to starting a business, which was crazy. What I've took from these episodes is.

The mindset they have, the, the thoughts they have when they first go into business and how they approach things. And they have been really motivating to me. So I have really enjoyed bringing some different types of people to the podcast. Peter Grainger is the founder of Cafe Pod, which is a London based independent coffee company that makes great tasting coffee.

I can attest to that because I have had some, and in fact, I had bought some prior to them reaching out. I knew who they were, so that was cool that you can enjoy at home their diverse range of exciting blends are available as Nespresso compatible pods, grind coffee and whole beans. And CafePod is available to buy from cafepod. com, Amazon, Waitrose, Tesco's and Ocado.

So I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Like some really, really good takeaways, really. Keep in mind the way that he, his brain worked and some of the things that were absolute essential for him to go forward with this business idea. I took a lot from it. I'm doing some more work for myself around some of the things that he said.

So yeah, I really hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you do, I would love it if you would share it with someone who is a business buddy, my goal, my aim this year is to really focus on growing my podcast. I've been doing it for a long time and I love it and it is full of value. So the more business people I can get in front of the better.

So if you know someone who is in business and might like a podcast, then please go and share this episode with them. Okay, let's get on with the interview. Here's Peter. I am really pleased to say to welcome to the podcast, Peter Grainger. Peter, how are you doing?

Peter: I'm good. I'm good. Thanks for having me.

Teresa: My pleasure.

So we were chatting before we hit record how I was saying that you, your size business is normally a bit bigger than I would normally interview, but your story was fascinating. And with some of the other interviews I've done recently, I think we could have a really interesting conversation. But I want to start as I do most often with tell people what you do and how you got to do the thing you do.

Peter: Sure. So we are a coffee company. We've started, we started a quite. It probably quite a unique way. So we sell a range of coffee products that people use at home. Predominantly pods that works for the Nespresso system, as well as beans and ground coffee and some of the accompanying equipments, but we really cut our teeth and started the business within the Nespresso compatible pods world.

And that really came about in 2011.

I was working in the city in London, took some time out, I was working a hundred hour weeks. I thought probably not a good idea to do on a long term basis, went to sit on the proverbial rock. And eventually after traveling around for a while, saw somebody who was making their own Nespresso. And I knew nothing about the category, the products.

I mean, I knew as much as coffee as the next person who goes to a cell box or an arrow. And I think more just from my curiosity point of view, I started asking a question, or, you know, like, Oh, the patent that expired, the whole market's opening up. And I was like, Oh, it's that mean how many pods could they possibly sell?

I don't know. Like, is it, is it a beige industry? And it turns out it is a multi billion dollar. And that's just Nespresso. So the actual hog world, it's huge. And that just piqued my interest. And when I got back to London, I got together with friends that we spoke about it. Like any friends would chat about dreams and aspirations of, oh, we should do this and we should do that.

I suppose the difference was that one of the co founders, Brent, is a very action oriented person. And he was just like, right. Enough talk. We're doing this. Simon, we're going to your house tomorrow. We're setting up a company. We're going to open a bank account. This is happening. And that's kind of, so, so the three of us, just to give you some context, you still work together, but none of us knew anything about coffee, manufacturing, branding, supermarkets.

I mean, we literally knew nothing, but when you, there was an opportunity, yeah, it sounded exciting. Everybody likes coffee and that's literally how we started. It's 12, 13 years ago.

Teresa: That is a crazy story. Like so let me just check a couple of things. So you were working, so you'd never owned a business before

Peter: none of us had

Teresa: any experience in owning a business as in like the job you did in the city.

Was it assisting people to set up businesses or something?

Peter: No, no, no, no, no, no. Like, like we all, I mean, I was, I was kind of like a financial analyst, but I used to kind of, I worked in the financial part of it. On the investment firm. And my job was kind of thrown at some challenges and trying to unpick them.

And I kind of, I did bits and pieces of things, but yeah, we were very far. Any of us were very far from real business. We were part of somebody else's business and we never really got to touch the business pieces of that. We, you know, the couple of hundred people who worked for the business. So you would, I mean, we're in our twenties, we're in our twenties, late twenties, so I mean, you know, everything in your twenties, but you realize, you know, nothing

Teresa: on your old stepson. I know, you're so smart.

Peter: Yeah, we literally had, I mean, naivety is probably the biggest thing we had and, and overconfidence, is that .

Teresa: Do you know, I was going to ask, right, because there is something there for you to go. So I'm presuming, I don't know, actually, so let me clarify this. Did you all leave your job to do this? Or did you run it alongside your job?

Peter: So I, I'd gone traveling. I then came back and I had to, we started working on this thing and I then had to find another job when I came back from traveling. So I, so we were all working while we were spending weekends and evenings working on a business plan. All that kind of stuff. So it was, and then I went full time first and then the other two subsequently be kind of came in over a period of six to 12 months.

Maybe when we finally went, right, we need an office, we need. A real business offices. One of the most important things to us though, was that we're like, right, it's our business. We don't want to commute. So we're going to walk to work. That's going to be like the dream. We're living the dream. Yeah. And we all lived in Putney and Southwest London, so we found a space and we're all from Africa as well.

And we'd love to do nothing more than flip flops. So we were like, right, shorts and flip flops walking to work. Yeah. How, how does it, how does it get much better than that?

Teresa: I love it. So I think someone who is much smarter than me and has, you know, qualifications in this could unpick all your brains and go, what was it that kind of made you all go, well, we're just going to do it.

Right. Was there any point where you were like, what if we fail?

Peter: No, I think the best way I can describe it is, is when you kind of connect the dots and you see something, whether it's an opportunity or whatever, or whatever else it is, and you kind of, to you, it's the pathway is clear in your own mind, but now whether that's a make believe pathway or not, in your mind, you believe it should be true.

And you can see it as clear as daylight. You're like, we do this and this will happen and this will happen and this will happen and we will reach here. It can't possibly happen any other way. So in your mind, that is the truth and you then operate according to that principle. So, you know, when we started raising money and people went, you're mad, this is ridiculous.

We were like, how can you even say that? Like it's obvious that this is gonna happen. Yeah.

Teresa: Like, how can you not see it?

Peter: We were like, you loss anyway, and we moved on. We were so clear and committed to that, that it was just, and I think also just the excitement, the opportunity. Like actually why, why can't we do this?

Like, like, it's not. It's not like we didn't know how to code and, and it required us to build a website. We're like, well, we don't know how to code, but this was, I don't know. We just saw it as, yeah, we can do all that stuff.

Teresa: Yeah.

Peter: We're as clever as anybody else.

Teresa: Yeah. I love it.

Peter: Why not?

Teresa: So, so you see this, you know, and, and, and, Obviously, starting with the fact that it was almost like it was put in front of you in one way, you know, you saw it and you're like, okay, this is really interesting.

So you weren't just lying on a beach and going, I know coffee pods, right? Which, you know, where the hell does that come from? So you'd seen this opportunity. Did you know and did you start to raise money from the very beginning or was it a case of, okay, we really want to do this. We've put some money in.

Actually, this isn't going to work without some help.

Peter: So the nature of what we wanted to do, so if we step back, so before the patent expired on, on Nespresso, being able to make your own Nespresso pods. Nobody in the world besides himself was making, so if you want it now, the market opened up a little bit.

So there were one or two people who had started doing it. And, but there was no, there's essentially no factories around. So if you wanted to do it, you physically had to make it yourself. So to do that, you needed manufacturing equipment. So we knew from the get go that We would have to manufacture, we did float the idea of, well, actually we could buy, you know, pods from this person and then resell them and then the classic kind of, you know, textbook, like, oh, we'll just cut out the middleman and we'll do it ourselves.

How hard can it be? And that's why, how, why we decided to do to make it ourselves versus buy from somebody else. And, but the equipment was hundreds of thousands. It was half a million. So we knew that in order to get going, we needed, I mean, we needed to physically have some big something and there was no factory in existence, so we needed that money to even start.

Teresa: Okay. So where did you like, so you decided I need some money. Do you have like super wealthy friends that you then say can you hook me up or did you know straight away that you'd have to go to people you didn't know? And if that was the case, where the hell did you look and how did you find them?

Peter: We used to, you know, in the environment that we used to work in, we knew we worked with some people who, who had some, who made some good money.

The irony is a lot of them were like, Oh, that's definitely, I mean, this is pocket change for them. And they were like, no, no, no, no, no, no. But you wouldn't even notice if the money's gone, actually like, oh, okay, there goes that assumption. So you kind of start off with what you assume to be the easiest path.

And then you realize that that's not quite how things are working. So we put together lists of people and then inevitably you get referrals from them like this is not for me but you could talk to Bob over here and and then We started researching angel networks, and then they would have these nights where you would bring your pitch down and they would invest some of the invite some of their, their members down and you would pitch to them and pass, but maybe you get some people from that and maybe you wouldn't, I mean, we ended up trying every, I mean, literally everything, and it was a brutal process, but it was The people who we call were obvious shoo ins were not.

And that left us short by quite a lot. And then we literally had the cold calling and the searching. And I think that never,a truer word, the phrase. If you want money ask for advice, and if you want advice, ask for money. We had a lot of advice. Let's put it that way.

Teresa: That is a great phrase. Like I love,

Peter: and it's true.

It is true. And it's one of the things that I keep anybody ever asked me about raising money. So if you think somebody is, you want to talk to somebody, don't ask them for the money, ask them for advice, ask them, I'm raising some money. What advice would you give me? And it's just, it works better than people think it does.

Teresa: Yeah, that's really interesting. Also, the fact that you got lots of no's and you said it was a really tough process, like how did you keep going with that? It sounds like there was no point that you went, this is a terrible idea. What the hell are we doing? Or what, or did that happen?

Peter: Oh no, no, no. I mean, it's, it's, we, we just were so bought into the idea and what we could do that it was just, I mean, it was hard.

It was brutal. And, and the machinery that we ended up having to buy was something like it took six to eight months lead time to build it. So as we were raising money, we raised a couple of hundred thousand pounds. And then we went to the people who we commissioned the machine to buy. And we were like, right, we'll put this down as a deposit.

And then we, we, we arranged with them to kind of pay them off through the process. And so it's, we'll be paid off at the end, but we didn't have that. So we basically put pressure on ourselves going, well, we'd put a deposit down now. Now we really need to find the rest of the money.

Teresa: Yeah.

Peter: And in that time we then had to go and talk to, I mean, we have no customer yet.

And this is the other, if I reflect back, it's just ridiculous.

Teresa: Yeah. I love it. When you do this, talk a story to you like, what the hell were we thinking?

Peter: But I mean, it's just, and we also assume that you would just buy a piece of machinery and like a toaster, you just plug it in, put some bread in it, push the button and out pops toast.

And that's how we assumed. You made coffee capsule, which is for the record, not how it works and is super, super, super complicated. And yeah, so, so we kind of learned a lot of the lessons on the fly, but at that time we already bought them. The clock was ticking effectively. So we're like, well, we don't have a choice now.

Teresa: I love that. Like, I think there's that great saying of like, you know, if you want it to work, you burn the boats. Like you put yourself in a position where you have no...
39 min
April 29, 2024Behind the scenes of my Rise Above Summit
Today’s episode of the podcast is a solo episode where I am giving you an honest account of what it was like to run my first ever Virtual Summit.
In the episode I share with you the good, the bad, and the ugly lessons that I learned, and what I will do differently next time!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
My experience of previous summits and what I did differently

What I spent money on and what I did to ensure I covered costs

The statistics on my registration numbers and how many people turned up

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to iTunes and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript
Today, I am taking you behind the scenes of my first ever summit. I'm going to be sharing with you what worked, what didn't, what went absolutely wrong that we didn't plan for, and I don't think could have planned for. I'm also going to be sharing with you my registration rates, my turn up rate, and what it did for my business. I learned so many valuable lessons in this process. And I'm sharing them all with you today.
Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of your dream business podcast. How are you doing this week? I hope you are good. So this week I have decided to share with you all the stuff about my summit, basically the good, the bad, the ugly, the things that went wrong that we did not expect, and whether I'll do it again and what I would do differently.
And whether you're looking at doing a summit or not, I think this is going to be a really interesting look behind the scenes of running something like this at this level. And some of the lessons I learned with the summit actually are going to help me in lots of other areas of my business. And actually something that kind of come up during the summit is now inspiring me to make some changes in the rest of my business.
So I've written some notes. And I'm kind of hopefully going to go through them in order. As you know, if you listen to this podcast regularly, I don't script it. That's just the way I like to do it. I like to be very off the cuff. I like to have an idea of what I'm going to say to you, but I like it to be a conversation.
I like to imagine that you've just said to me, Oh, how did the summit go? And I'm about to tell you how the summit went. So it is very relaxed. It's the style of the podcast. If you're new, welcome. So lovely to have you here. If you are new and you don't subscribe, then I would love it if you took a minute to subscribe to the podcast.
That would be amazing. Okay, let's get cracking. So why did I even do a summit in the first place? Now, this had been on my radar for a really long time. I have been a guest on many summits over the years, and at the moment I seem to be getting a flurry of them. And my experience of them was mixed, but I would say more to the not brilliant end.
And I've spoke openly before now about Fifi Mason and her summit and how that was the best one I'd ever done. She really kind of seemed to get it in her head what she wanted and how to manage it. And it was marketed really well. And it was It was just brilliant, and she was great, it was really well organised, and I loved doing it, but like I said, on the whole, I had had lots of experiences and summits that weren't brilliant.
Even though it'd been on my radar for a while, I just thought, I don't want to do a summit. It seems like a lot of work, if I'm honest, and it was. It's a lot of work and I don't know that it'd be that brilliant. And I am going to be honest and say, I think there was an element of, not imposter syndrome, there was an element of fear.
What if people said no? What if I asked speakers to come onto the summit? Because doing a podcast is different, and I've had some obviously phenomenal names on this podcast, but summits are different. And like I said, I think lots of speakers maybe have the impression that most of them are a bit rubbish.
So, and I say that very fleetingly, they're not rubbish, obviously. So, I decided that I was going to take a bit of a punt and make a decision to do a summit based on one thing only. I attended, what's like this, I attended the Guru Summit, which basically is a summit for email marketing. And I was interested to see what they were talking about, signed up for it.
And it was a really, really good summit. I was only an attendee, but they used a really good system. They did more than just your average kind of interview thing. And they had thousands of people like register for the event. So I was like, That's how you do a summit. And at the event, they had Martha Stewart's keynoting nuts and Amy Portfield, and I, and they were the reasons I signed up.
I wanted to see both of them speak. And so I thought to myself, I'm going to do a summit. I've got to do a summit that has a really good keynote. And as you know, I'm very fortunate that Amy and I are friends. However, one of the things that you probably need to know is that. I don't ask Amy anything from a business point of view.
We don't talk about business. We only ever do social stuff. And we only really ever do that when I'm over in the States, obviously she doesn't travel here to the UK and we, you know, have a really lovely time and I love spending time with her and she's awesome. And obviously I massively admire her from a business point of view, but we tend to keep those really separate.
So we don't talk about business. I don't ask anything of her, you know, so I thought to myself, I'm going to do it. I'm going to ask Amy. And I spoke to my husband and he was like, just ask her, you know, basically use my language back to me. What's the worst that she can say? So I said to the universe, you know, I love a bit of woo.
I said to the universe, okay, I'm going to ask Amy to speak at the summit. And if Amy says yes, I'm doing a summit. If Amy says no, I'm not doing a summit. It's not meant to be. So send her a DM. And I have a text. I have her phone number, but I thought I won't text because that's really personal. I'll send her a DM on Instagram and.
I'll do it that way. So I sent her a DM saying, is there any chance you would do a summit? If so, you know, what would you charge? And all that sort of conversation. Anyway, she didn't see it. And I went to, I was actually doing one of my in person events and I was sat with Becci McEvoy who edits, not edits, who does the show notes podcast and helps me with social media.
And I'm sat with my husband and they were like, have you heard back? And I said, no, she's not seen it. And Paul said to text her. My husband and I don't want to text it. That's really personal. Like I feel like that felt to me as if I was stepping a boundary or overstepping a boundary. And Becci said to me, what would you tell us to do?
Because she's in my executive club. And I said, I'd tell you to text her. And she's like, there you go. So I decided to text her and I sent her a really casual text and said, Amy, I'm not sure if you saw, I sent you a message over on Insta, you know, if you want me to send it again, let me know. And within like 10 minutes, she replied on Insta going, Oh my God, I'm so sorry.
I've just seen this and yes, a hundred percent. I'll speak at your summit. And we talked a bit about how that might look and what it would be. And that was it. Summit was born. So my objective was to add people to my list. That was my main objective. The reason people do summits is because it's a really good way to get new people onto your email list.
Credibility. I wanted people to see me at the level I am. And by pulling in someone like Amy, by putting on an amazing summit, then people would realize my level of credibility. And from a financial point of view, I wanted to break even. I knew I was going to invest a lot into making the summit really good.
And I'll talk about what I invested in a bit. I wanted to break even. That was my objective. If I made money, brilliant, but that wasn't the objective to make money. Now, a couple of things that I went into thinking is On an average summit, and I say average because obviously I've done lots of them, what normally happens is they get between 15, 20, 25 speakers who pre record interviews.
Now, from a speaker point of view, this is awesome. Like, I love nothing more than someone saying, can I interview you? Because I don't have to prep. I don't have to think about what I'm going to say because I do, Kind of do things on the fly anyway. And I know my subject I'm good at what I do. So I have no concerns about someone saying to me, can I interview about this? And I know I'll be able to speak.
And then, and the interviews can last anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes. And then they tend to do the summit over a number of days. It's not live. The videos are released at certain days. Sometimes they have a Facebook group. Sometimes they don't. And I just thought, I don't want to do a summit like that.
Like if I'm going to do a summit, like everything I do, I want it to be the best flipping thing you've ever seen. And there's nothing wrong with doing summits the way that people do them. There are a million reasons why they're great. And believe me, some of the things I did, it would have been much easier to do the summit that way.
And there are some amazing people that teach how to do something this way. One of them being Krista Miller, who is going to be on the podcast very soon because she had a big part of the, to play in this summit. But yeah, so it's not, there's anything wrong with summits that way. I just didn't want to do mine that way.
So my summit was a two day live event. So everything was sent live as in some sessions were live, some were prerecorded. The only reason I had prerecorded sessions was because I wanted particular speakers and they weren't free on the two days that I had booked. I ended up having 38 speakers, which was insane.
And I decided that I didn't just want interviews. In fact, I didn't really want interviews at all other than the keynotes. And I was more than happy. And I wanted to interview them. I wanted different types of sessions. Not only did I want workshop style, that's easy to say, sessions and practical sessions and keynote sessions and Q and A's.
I also wanted some slightly different sessions. So we had yoga on one day, we had meditation, we had tapping. I just wanted, we had like a 10 minute marketing thing. I wanted something a bit different. So like I said, I'd not only had different types of sessions, but I also had different tracks. So when I say tracks, what I mean by that is imagine you're going to an in person conference and it goes, okay, at 10 o'clock in room one, we have this person in room two, we have this person in room three we have this person.
I wanted the online version of that. So at different points, we would have three speakers on at once. So, and like I said, there was an element of prerecorded and recorded, but the sessions were streamed live and you could only attend live. There was a VIP upgrade option, which is very typical for summits.
And this is one of the ways that I knew I'd helped to cover my costs. And In most summits make money and the idea was you would get all the recordings if you signed up for the VIP. So let me explain a bit of the planning. So I decided that, like I said, this wasn't going to be your average summit. It would have been super, super easy.
And like I said, there's nothing wrong with this. This is my own annoying, Want for perfection and amazingness. Like, I could have created a Kajabi landing page that released a video every day and used the systems I had currently got in place, which would have cost me no extra. However, because I wanted to create an online conference.
I wanted it to be more than, than an average summit. And I'm keep getting saying there's nothing wrong with average summit. This is just me. I decided that I was going to have a look at systems that could manage this level of live event and have the option to have tracks because that was really important to have different rooms online.
So I ended up using and paying for a system called Hopin, which is by Ring Central, and I will touch on them some more in a bit, but that was a big investment. That was thousands to have that system. So, That was me really stepping out of my comfort zone and going, okay, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it really well.
And it's going to end up costing me money, but that is going to inspire, drive me forward to try and make money on this summit. I also hired a producer. So I worked with the amazing Lorna Reeves, who you heard in fact, last week. And Lorna helped me manage the event as we talked about last week. That again was a big decision for me to bring someone on at her level.
And again, take it that seriously that I'm having a producer to help me run this event. I had a brand new brand created, a new name, a new website, new logo, new everything. And I worked with Katie from Geek Boutique and Sooz Frear to do copywriting. So I had both of them work with me and they sponsored the event to create all of this new stuff.
And it was stunning. Like, and that was the other thing. Sometimes. Now, design is very, you know, like, what's the word? Subjective. But I have felt that sometimes the design of some of these summits I've done have not been that attractive. Like, they've not been that beautiful. So when it's come to me promoting them, I won't put them on my feed because it doesn't go with everything else.
Like, you know, and I now that sounds ridiculous. Very like high maintenance of me. But how things look are really important to me. So therefore I needed to make sure it was exactly the same. And the other thing that I did that was, I guess a cost was I decided to give away loads of swag. So I bought hoodies, t-shirts, I bought branded seeds.
'cause I love gardening, so why wouldn't I? I had full focus as a sponsor who gave me a load of their stuff. I had a Pellicraft as another sponsor who created the lovely pens that I'm currently writing with right now. So I wanted again, I wanted to bring another element to the summit from a I want to be able to send stuff out for people.
I want them be able to get excited about stuff. So like I said, I tried to bring in a few different things, but also I massively increased the cost of this summit that you wouldn't have to do. If I did a summit again and I decided that I didn't want to do it in the same format, I could do everything with the systems I currently use with ease.
If I wanted to do a more traditional summit in terms of, and really, I guess calling it a summit is, is the wrong thing because summits are very much seen as a pre recorded thing and as a, over a number of days rather than this really was an online conference. So like I said, I ended up spending out quite a bit of money in terms of, oh, the other thing that I spent money out on his ads.
And I'll talk about the marketing in a bit in terms of what we did. So what was good, bad and the ugly? Okay. So some of the things that were brilliant was one, I got to work with Krista Miller who Was brilliant. And I joined her accelerator program and her and I will talk about that in a few weeks when I interview her and it was phenomenal and just helped me no end.
So that was amazing. But again, her and I will talk about that soon. Bringing in those two big keynotes were such a good move. So, and the reason I'm kind of giving this, these kind of Good, bad, and uglies is really if you're going to do anything like this, then it's just some, hopefully some kind of things that will help your life a bit easier, or will tell you what worked really well or not worked really well.
So, the keynotes, they, the other thing, another way that a summit works, sorry, just backtrack a sec, is the reason you get other people on your list, new people on your list is because the idea of a summit is that everyone promotes, all the speakers promote. So one of the things I decided to do Like I've literally had someone ask me to apply for a summit this morning and it says in the application, you must send two solo emails to your list between this day and this day and one newsletter email to your list.
Well, first off, I don't send newsletter emails. Second off, I'm not sending two emails to my list and I'll only send one if I think it's a good fit for my list. And I didn't want to be that prescriptive with my speakers because I hate it. I hate someone telling me I've got to do this stuff. And, and the other thing that I hated from previous summits is they never marketed particularly hard.
And it was like, no, hang on a minute. If you want us to bust our gut and market this event for you, you've got to be doing 10 times more than what we're doing. So for me, they were really key. So the first thing was I didn't ask the speakers to, I asked them nicely if they would, I never insisted that they emailed their lists.
I, I basically said to them, I won't insist, but I want to put on an event so amazing There's no way you won't want to shout it from the rooftops. That was my objective. And I feel like that was a really good move on my part because no one felt pressurized. They all wanted to do it. And lots of them did do it.
And I'll talk to you in a bit about the signups. So, but having those keynotes, was key for them wanting to promote it. Because what I did was when I reached out, I laugh as I say this, but when I reached out and I'm really fortunate, I know a lot of people in this space, in the online space. And, and hopefully I have a really good reputation in this space and I have lots of friends.
So I was able to personally reach out to lots of people that I knew. And I started the email with, or the subject line was, would you like to be on a summit with Amy Porterfield? And obviously, Pretty much 99 percent of people went, yes, please. How do I sign up? So me going to the effort of getting Amy and then also getting Michael, because I had Michael Hyatt as my other keynote, was a game changer in terms of not only attracting people to the summit, but actually getting other speakers to sign up.
Because once you've got a big name like that. People are going to sign up when you're able to say, I've got this person. People are going to say, okay, cool. It must be credible. And that's what I hope when people ask me on a summit is that other people will go, oh, right, cool. She's doing it. Must be credible.
So that was the first thing that was really good. The second thing that was really good was, We designed, we, Katie designed an amazing looking brand. And one of the images I wanted her to create, because when you do a summit, you give out assets to the speakers. So basically a load of images that they can use.
And one of the images that I said I wanted her to create was based on what do I want? If I'm a speaker, what would I want? And what I wanted as a speaker was to be shown next to those...
45 min
April 22, 2024How to run events that build relationships and grow your business
Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Lorna Reeves, where we are talking all about event planning in business.
We cover everything from in person events, online webinars and big summits.
Join us as we share they key things you need to do to get more people to sign up and show up, and how to make sure everything runs smoothly.
And if you don't think running events is for you, this episode will explain why you might want to give them a shot!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
Why events are a powerful tool that all businesses should consider utilising

What you need to think about when running a hybrid event that caters to an online and in person audience

The benefits of events versus webinars for building relationships and delivering content

Lorna Reeves is an award-winning business owner & entrepreneur. MyOhMy Events is dedicated to supporting business owners and companies to create immersive, interactive evens that really pack a punch. Lorna is a force for change, driving representation and a voice for the change in the industry. As a best-selling co-author, public speaker and leader, Lorna’s solution focussed, no-nonsense style ensure her client’s events elevate their brand.
If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to iTunes and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Connect with Lorna on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook
Check out Lorna's free 'Fail Safe Event Planning' course
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript
Teresa: When I say the word event planning, what do you think of? I'm guessing you're thinking of big in person fancy events with fancy food or big massive online events with loads of speakers. What if I told you a webinar could be considered an event? And then what if I told you That there are a few key things that you need to do to make sure that you get maximum signup and attendees and so that your event runs smoothly.
This is what we are talking about in today's episode with the amazing Lorna. And if you think events aren't for you, then this episode will share with you why you should even consider them.
Welcome to this week's episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. How are you doing? This week, I am interviewing the very awesome Lorna Reeves from My Oh My Events. So you will know that I held a summit back in March and I had Lorna from My Oh My Events help me run that summit, which I'm gonna do a podcast next week where I talk you through what went well, what didn't go so well, and what we are going to change about the next event that we do.
But Lorna was the one that helped me manage the entire event, not only before, but also on the day and slotted in almost to my team, which was amazing. Now this episode, we are going to be looking at events and why you should do them and what we class as an event, because the world of online kind of changed everything because suddenly a webinar can become an event.
So I am really pleased that we have her on today, not only because It's good to talk about these things and events. Like I said, you know, they're varying different things, but also I'm really happy to present it to you guys because she was so good and so pivotal in running my online summit. Now, Laura is an award winning business owner and entrepreneur.
My Oh My Events is dedicated to supporting business owners and companies to create immersive interactive events that really pack a punch. Lorna is the force for change in driving representation and the voice of the change for the industry. Now, I don't always read the full on bio, but I'm going to because we didn't talk about this on the podcast and I want to make sure that I put it in.
Lorna was a member of the Met Police, spending over 15 years in forensics. Boom, mind blown. It is everything you imagine, evidence, fingerprints, firearms, and serious investigations. Lorna finished her career as a senior leadership team, managing a team of 160 people, managing the forensic work of 3000 cases annually, contracts, procurement, HR, staff development, communication, and negotiation.
She took these skills and used them in her business. And if you know anything about events, It is the orchestration of managing many, many, many moving parts and being very organized. So I can entirely see why 15 years in forensics helped with her career in events planning. So even if you're not considering doing an event, I think you're still going to get so much from this episode.
Here is the awesome Lorna. Welcome to the podcast, Lorna. Lorna, how are you doing?
Lorna: I am all right, thank you. I'm all right. Good to be here and still buzzing after your awesome summit.
Teresa: Well, thank you. I am still buzzing after my awesome summit. It was brilliant. It was so, so good. And obviously I couldn't have done it without you, which one of the things that, and I didn't mean to jump straight into this, but we will.
But one of the things that Lorna and I talked about is that, and we probably will talk about it in this episode, is that she wasn't who I was looking for, but boy, was I glad I found her. Like, well, she found me really, but I'm just super glad it worked out the way it does. So. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Let's start as we do by you explaining what you do and how you got to do the thing that you do.
Lorna: Well, that's a humongous question. Right at my events is a company and we focus on corporate events and we essentially we 10x corporate events. The events of companies, charities, business owners, we specialize in face to face hybrid online, and we're more about experience, user experience being the top priority.
Lots of people think that events just happen. And quite often good events do happen more by luck than judgment, but great events. there's a science behind them, there's a psychology behind them, there's a method to the madness and the chaos. And we were primarily before COVID and there should be an age for that, like BC should be like.
Teresa: Yeah, absolutely.
Lorna: Before COVID.
Teresa: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Lorna: So 2020 BC, we were at a face to face events company and we'd specialize in cool things like light psychology and color psychology and bringing in sense to embed memory and all those kind of weird and wonderful things that really influence people's behavior and help you construct the best event.
It's not just People sitting in a conference room, watching four hours of content and then leaving again and forgetting it all in six weeks time. It was really about cementing people's knowledge and therefore enhancing a brand or enhancing your particular program or your offering and making people walk away and think that was the best event I've ever been to.
But I can't put my finger on why it just is. And then obviously life after COVID, we ran our first online conference on the 23rd of March, 2020. So the first day that the UK was locked down. And that was mostly born out of panic and necessity. That was a lot of our clients going, how in the hell are we going to run our business now if people can't meet?
Yeah. So we switched. We, I spent. Probably a week awake and learned everything there was to learn about zoom, about hopping, about teams didn't really exist back in 2020. Every platform I could find WebEx was a huge one at the time. Lots of conferences, WebEx. How can we take what we'd been using for a face to face session and make it.
One to many, like one to hundreds and how do we bring in some of the theory from the face to face space into the online world and then it just grew from there really, we just gave away loads of stuff. I spent the first six months just doing tutorials and LinkedIn lives and just saying, I've learned this overnight.
Zoom has released an update. This is how you use it. This is how you might want to keep your business alive for the next year. And we kind of grew from there. And still work on sharing our expertise, sharing everything I've learned, sharing any updates, any new developments, any, how can we make people's experience in the online space or the face to face space next level?
How do you go from boring webinar to epic event?
Teresa: And I think In my experience, so we, we had the in person event thing, which was big, it's in my world anyway, and I came from corporate, and in corporates one of the things I did was some, a bit of events. So we did the in person thing. That was brilliant.
Then we, COVID hit, then everyone went online and it was awesome and everyone did the stuff and everyone was learning really quickly. And, you know, and as someone who'd been online for a long time, it was like, brilliant. Welcome to my world, everyone. But then, We got in this really awkward place and I still don't think we're out of it and I think it'd be good to get your thought on this of some people don't want in person and lots of people are sick of online.
So what the hell do you people want? Because those are your options. So just are you feeling that too?
Lorna: Absolutely. And that we are in this really weird half and half space. And we know because people's employment behavior has changed. We know because people are talking with their feet. If you are not offering flexible or agile working, people don't want to work for your company.
If you're not offering other ways to work, some people don't want to go back to the office and five days a week. And that is transferring into the wilder events as well. And the data in 23. I said that a third of all attendees still want to attend online. So if you are running and solely face to face event and you're charging a hundred quid for a ticket. Yeah, third of all people third of all your potential ticket sales would rather be in the online space. So you potentially are leaving money on the table by not having an online offering. And I think there's multiple facets that have come into that.
There's the, there's Gen Zed, who some of them have never been to a classroom to do their university degrees. Some of them don't have that. And right, they haven't even owned a textbook. They've never owned an actual textbook. So they actually are quite happy to learn in the online space. It works for their psychology.
We're much more open and aware to things like neurodiversities and people's style of learning. And some people learn better in the online space. Some people really get overwhelmed in the face to face interaction space and they just can't deal with it. They especially can't learn while in that space.
And then there's this whole other aspect that some businesses and big corporates stopped spending millions of pounds every year on their travel budget.
Teresa: People suddenly went, Oh my God. We can do this online for like a fraction of the cost.
Lorna: And all of that just falls to our bottom line. So our profits have increased by 20 percent just by cutting a travel budget.
And then there's the commitment to sustainability. Do we want to be flying people across the world to go to an event that they could go to from the office or from home?
Teresa: That's the answer. Yes. But this is the thing, and then someone like me, well, I say someone like me, it's a tricky one, but if there's travel involved, i. e. somewhere, you want to fly me to Dubai to do a session? Yes, thank you. You want to fly me to the States? 100%. Like, Totally. There's the having people in front of you thing, which is a great for a speaker. The feedback's brilliant as in immediate feedback. So you can see what's working and what's not working.
There's nothing that beats meeting people in real life. I don't think. However, On the other side of it, for some events, like when Atomicon went back in person, and I spoke at that event, three days I'm out of the house for, the same when I went to Edinburgh, three days I'm out of the house for, because you've got to go up the day before, you're there all day, you've got to be there the day after, like, suddenly then, from a business owner and a productivity point of view, I'm like, well, I could either do 45 minutes online, or three whole days out of my home.
And like I said, I, I personally quite like that. Like, you know, most of the time I am more than happy to have a trip somewhere because I do work from home all the time, but it's, we were given options. And now I think, Do you ever see it not having to be both?
Lorna: I can't see it. Now that we've kind of gone through this fourth industrial revolution, where people and technology have caught up with this timeless, spaceless ethos, I can see there always being a provision.
We can get some of the biggest names in the world to come and speak at our events. But it only takes them 45 minutes out of the day. It doesn't take them three days out of the day.
Teresa: Exactly. And, and that's the other thing that's interesting. Like, you know, the summit for a great example, if I had asked Michael and Amy to fly into the UK and give me an hour of their time, I know what the answer would have been.
It probably would have been no. Or it would have been, yeah, this is how much it's going to cost you. And it would have cost me tens of thousands without doubt. And understandably, you know, you're flying them in or having away from home. Like, you know, I get it. So therefore the online thing worked perfectly, but then But then there is all the advantages to an in person event.
Lorna: 100%, which is I think where the interesting place of a hybrid event comes in. And I'm a strong believer that a hybrid event shouldn't be flat. It shouldn't be a recording that people dial into and they watch it and they walk away. It has to be interactive. It has to be Produced in such a way that there's a change in camera angle every now and again.
There's a change in slide deck every now and again. Like when you're an experienced presenter, you are taught to keep the background moving, not to rely too heavily on your slides, use them as an aid, maybe move around the stage, do some interaction with the audience. It needs to be exactly the same for the hybrid people.
So they get that changing screen should happen every 45 seconds. Cause that's how short people's attention span.
Teresa: It's crazy. Isn't it?
Lorna: We need to be finding a way that the online people can ask a question, can interact with the room, because the same principles apply that when you involve your senses, when you involve your hands, when you involve both sides of your brain, you're going to retain stuff for longer.
And that goes for in person and the people online. So it really has to be a curated way of building content and sometimes a bit of a speaker education to say, we really want you and we're having this hybrid. This is how your content needs to be structured. Yeah. Don't be afraid to speak to the camera and address the online people.
They love it. It's like calling into your favorite radio station and getting a shout out. It works the same way. When you go, Hey, online people, really great to have you here. Don't forget to drop your questions in. I'd love to answer them. Suddenly everybody goes, Oh, talking to me. That person's talking to me.
I want to get involved.
Teresa: Yeah. Yeah. I love it.
Lorna: So it's, it's, it's all about experience and building the interactivity. Interactivity and immersion is what will get you higher ratings in your feedback, will get you a longer memory half life, so people are more likely to remember your content in 12 weeks time rather than six weeks time, and therefore gives you a longer window to build know, like, and trust or to onboard somebody onto your program or to continue to build that relationship.
You will be in their brain for a lot longer.
Teresa: Yeah. Yeah. So let's go back a bit in the sense of. If someone's listening to this and going, Oh, I don't think I'm ever going to run an event. Probably not something that I'm thinking about doing. Whether it's in person, online, both, whatever. Why are events so good?
Lorna: You can build an event to do whatever you want it to do. And I always say that's the starting point for all events. It's not about the venue, it's not about the tech. What do you want it to do? Is it a marketing event, and it's a product for prospect. Is it an educational piece? Something that you feel really passionate about that you want to impart?
Or is it you're called part of your core product and you want to sell your knowledge for want of a better word. You know, you want to spend a day with people and make their life better. You can build an event to do any one of those things. And it's the fastest way of doing one to many. You don't have to spend hours building an online course.
Online courses are awesome, but this can be an introduction to that. You can make it do so many things, but also it means that somebody gets to spend four hours, six hours, eight hours with you. Imagine how much of your content they would have to consume to get that kind of relationship, to get a potential of asking you personally a question, to actually learn from a person that they've been following in a book for a long time, or they've been following someone on Instagram for an age.
They actually get up close and personal and in the same room. There's a bond building and a relationship building that's second to none when you, when you run an event of some description.
Teresa: What's the difference then between doing a webinar and an event? Like when, where, what's that sliding scale? And when do you go, Oh, this is an event and this is why I should be focusing this way, or is it a webinar or an online training is an event and you need to imagine it like that from the very beginning?
Lorna: I think in some facets, they're very similar. Your user experience comes in all the way through whatever it is that you're, that you're selling your relationship with that person starts the minute they click the button that says, I'm interested in this. So the minute they say, yes, please sign me up, whether it's for a whole day event or whether it's for a pre recorded webinar.
Their interaction with you starts then. So that's the focus on experience and making it easy and...
48 min
April 15, 2024THE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE FOR A SUCCESSFUL QUARTER TWO
Today’s episode of the podcast is a solo episode where I am talking all about the practical steps you need to take to set yourself up for success in quarter two.
I am so excited to share with you the exact process I go through, and some of the key things you will want to think about when doing it for yourself - because trust me when I say that it is absolutely key to the growth and success of your business.

TUNE IN TO FIND OUT:
The practical steps I take to review quarter one

The questions I ask myself to move forward into quarter two

How I review my annual goals to ensure I am still on track

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to iTunes and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Buy a Full Focus Planner
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Your Dream Business podcast. How are you doing this week? I hope you are good. I just want to say a little thank you for tuning in and listening. I really do appreciate it. And just as a quick reminder, if you have not already subscribed to the podcast or reviewed the podcast, I would be so, so grateful if you would do those things.
It really helps not only me by my podcast being heard more, but also helps other people because they get to discover the podcast. So I'd really appreciate that. Okay. So this week, I don't have an interview. I am doing a very quick solo on some practical steps to reviewing your quarter. So at the time you're listening to this, we've not long come into quarter two of the year, and my quarter one was the crazy.
If you've been in my world, you will know that I have done a lot of stuff this year already. So I launched another podcast. I started a beta group program. I've relaunched that program. I have done a massive summit with thousands of people and 38 phenomenal speakers. So I have been like smashing out the work in the first quarter.
So it's a great time for me to review what I've done and also maybe walk you through the steps that I do at the end of every quarter and I do with my executive club members and with my club members. So what I'm going to do is just walk you through the questions that I ask myself and If you've got a piece of paper and a pen, then maybe make a note of these questions and give yourself some time to go through it.
I promised you anything like goal setting, anything like reviewing and looking at where you are is never ever wasted, ever. So the very first question I ask myself when I look at the previous quarter, so first of all, remind yourself what happened in quarter one. So January, February, March, what did you do in those months?
Now, one of the things that I do, which really helps is I have a full focus planner, which we'll put a link to in the show notes. I'm a big fan. They were a sponsor of the summit. So basically Michael Hyatt and a team have put together this amazing planner that I've used for years. And one of the things it does is every week it asks you to celebrate your wins.
So that really helps when it comes to review my quarter, because I can literally just go back to that planner because the planners are in quarters. So I'm starting a new one at the beginning of April and I can just scan through to see what happened in that quarter. Sometimes looking at photos, looking at your calendar, looking at like, you know, if you've got a wall calendar.
Just trying to keep an eye on what happened in that quarter, because you'll be amazed how quickly we can forget things. So the very first question I ask myself is what went well in that quarter? And I list out all the things that went really well for me in quarter one. And this year it was lots of good stuff.
Like I did lots of work, which felt really good. If you've not been a long time listener, then you'll, you might not know that last year, although I showed up every week and I still did everything I needed to do. I was not moving forward with my business as well as I would have liked for many good reasons.
One of them being that I spent 2023 working on getting sober and now I'm working on staying sober. So for me, focusing on what went well is really, really important because we need to celebrate those wins and we need to take some time to realize some of the really cool things that happened and just pat ourselves on the back of them.
So. What were they? What happened in this first quarter? Did you get some really good engagement on social media? Did you build your email list? Did you get asked to speak somewhere? Did you get some new clients? Did you do something phenomenally huge, like start a new product or service? Or did you redo your website, maybe have a rebrand?
What was it that you did? So let's celebrate those wins first. The next question is, what didn't go so well or as I expected? So it's not that we're going what was awful in the first quarter, what didn't quite go as I expected? One of the tools that I have developed over time has been the ability to go, Hmm, that was interesting.
Often when I want to scream, shout, cry, throw myself on the ground because something hasn't gone the way I wanted it to go. But this is the point. It's always trying to acknowledge that, okay, that was interesting, that, why was that the case? So doing the summit, and I'm actually going to do a podcast episode around the summit and how it went and my takeaways and what happened and what was good and what wasn't good and all that sort of thing.
But doing that was such an eye opener in terms of, okay, what has, what is going like happened here. And rather than judging myself by going, well, I could have done that better, and that wasn't very good. And who did I think I was with this thing? I just spent the time going, okay, that's interesting. So now I know I've never done a summit before.
So again, be really gentle with yourself. If this is something you've done for the first time, Your only goal is to learn, is to learn from it. So what did I learn from doing XYZ? What did I learn from being asked to speak at such and such? Where did they find me? How can I replicate that? So what didn't quite go to plan?
And again, it doesn't mean that it was awful. It just maybe didn't go how you thought. Maybe you didn't hit the numbers you wanted. Maybe you didn't sell what you wanted. Maybe you got no's in places. So Just make a note of them. What can you learn from those things? What didn't go so well this quarter?
So the next thing I look at, and the next question I sort of address is, I look at my annual goals. So what goals did I set at the beginning of the year? And were those goals, they should have been broken down into quarters. And therefore, did I achieve the things I wanted to achieve in the first quarter?
Now, one thing I want to remind you of with all of this is none of this is a tool to beat yourself up. None of this is a thing to hit yourself around the head and go, you haven't done well enough. Not at all. The whole aim of doing anything like this is if we don't review things, we don't know where we are and we don't know what we're doing and we don't know how to improve it.
So, Go in with that kind of, you know, scientist head, not the judge and review and think, okay, where am I at? And the thing with the goals could be, you might have started, or maybe you did your goals at the end of last year, with all good intention of something happening and something already has come and knocked you off your feet.
And you've got to now decide, is that thing big enough to change the direction in which you're going and therefore you need to align your goals to match that, or is it something that you need to get back on track and you stick with your goals as they are? So again, this, none of this is set in stone.
It's not like you have to go, Oh, well, these are the goals I set. I've got to do them. So I review my goals. I actually part of the full focus planner is I actually go in and so they make you rewrite your goals every quarter, which is really helpful because it makes you really kind of think about it. A couple of my goals for this year were.
to put the podcast live, the new one, the losing part of me podcast about my getting sober and to do the summit. And both of those things have happened already in the first quarter of this year. So they are off, like they're done. Tick. Well done. Amazing. So now it's a case of, do I need to put something else else in to replace them or am I okay then working on the other goals?
And some of the other goals were weren't worked on at all because I was too busy working on those others. And that's fine because I knew that before I went into that quarter, I knew that in quarter one, the focus was get out the new losing part of me podcast and do the summit. Everything else could wait till quarter two, quarter three, quarter four.
So that's what I mean, like in terms of being flexible and tweaking and changing as need be. So I look at my goals and plan what do I want to achieve in this coming quarter? So we know what went well. We know what didn't go so well. So we've made any tweaks that we need to tweak. Now we need to make our plan.
So we look at the quarter as a whole and we decide what do we want to achieve in that quarter. And one of the things that we do in that is I look at what you've got in your diary. So If you have got trips, if you've got speaking gigs, if you've got a launch, if you've got, you need to look at what's in your diary to see, okay, how much am I going to get done?
Where does my focus need to be? So we kind of do it as a What do I want to happen against what actually might be happening in this next quarter? Again, if you know that quarter three is typically not a great one because there's school holidays and you like to take the school holidays off, I don't, I continue working through, then you might go, okay, I'm going to put a lot into quarter two.
And again, that's the other thing to mention. One of the things we talked about in the summit with Michael Hyatt on his keynote was how do you know when you're hustling to get through or to achieve something. And how do you know when you need to stop? And actually that's just a way of working. And it's in these reviews.
It's in the, you know, my quarter one was super, super busy. I know I can't maintain that level of work for every quarter. And quarter two is now going to focus on different things and is going to slow down a little bit. So again, it's like, okay, do I need to work super hard in quarter one and quarter two?
Because my quarter three and quarter four are never as good, or I don't want to work as hard. For me, I do work throughout the summer. However, I love the summer because I go in my garden. So actually, Working really hard quarter one, quarter two works really, really well for me. It's fine. So the next thing I review is what do I want to keep and what do I want to remove or change?
So what's working for me and what isn't working for me? Is there an area of focus that I was trying to work on that actually needs more focus, or I could probably drop it. This is where I go in. I'm especially doing it this quarter, this year. I'm actually doing a full review of my business. I'm actually reviewing pretty much everything, financial, products, services, lead magnets, emails, podcast.
I'm reviewing everything. everything. And I'm looking at each area and questioning it because sometimes we just keep doing these things and going, well, you know, is it really doing the thing I want it to do? So what do I need to bring with me into this quarter? And what do I need to leave behind? So for instance, one of the things that I might do, and it's kind of on my list, so I probably am going to be focusing on it is how do I grow my podcast more?
That's one of the areas where I need to start focusing. Actually, I might tweak and change what I'm doing and work it up a bit. There might be an area in my business that it's like, actually, I can pull back a little bit from that and I'm going to focus somewhere else. So two questions, really, what do I need to take with me into this quarter and keep doing?
And what can I leave behind? What don't I need to do in this quarter? What can I forget about, leave off my list? Maybe push back until another quarter if need be. And like I said, I'm using this quarter. I wouldn't normally do it at this time of the year. I probably would do it, you know, at an end of a year, but I'm using this quarter to beginning of this quarter to really review my business, where I am, what I'm doing.
what the services I have, what the pricing I have. And I booked out a couple of days in my diary to do this. You know, how am I showing up on social media? Like what are the show notes doing? Like all the various things who is in the team, what are they doing? What money am I paying out? Like everything. So for me, that feels like naturally a really good time to do that now, because I just did those huge things in quarter one and actually, in seeing all the speakers and hearing some of the stuff they were doing has really made me go, Oh, okay.
Maybe I need to tweak and change things. And I probably didn't have the energy to do that while I was doing the summit and the other podcast. Whereas now I feel like I'm giving myself some energy. So. I think the most important thing is, although I've given you these questions and these things to look at, which I do do, and I do with my members and my one to one clients, I think the key thing here is the reviewness of it.
The reviewness, I literally just made that word up. Like the fact that you're reviewing, the fact that you're stopping and slowing enough to review what you've done. That's the key thing of all. So just spending some time And if you need to do it every week or every month or every quarter, or it actually works every four months for you, whatever it might be, just slowing down and reviewing what you're doing to make sure that you're going in the right direction.
Make sure you're looking at the right things. Make sure that you're investing your time in the right places, because it's really easy to start down a path and suddenly be six, 12 months down the line and not be any further on, even though you've been working hard. And this has where I found myself in years before, you know.
Last year, like I said, was a completely different year for me and my business and it showed up on my income and it showed up in other places and on my growth. This year is completely different. And I want to make sure that every minute I'm putting into my business is going to the end goal is what I want is heading me and getting me closer to Antigua, as it were, and I'm not going to Antigua, but we had an amazing speaker in the membership a few years back now, who rode the ocean, basically from like Spain, I think, to Antigua, and was on the water for like, over a month.
It was ridiculous. And one of the things that she talked about in her talk was, is every single action I'm taking getting me closer to Antigua. So, you know, if they had to stop and clean the barnacles off the boat, would that help them move faster in the water, which then would help them get closer to Antigua?
Yes, it was worth doing, you know, doing something else, would that get them close to Antigua? No, it wouldn't make enough difference. Okay, we're not doing it. So that's where I'm trying to focus this year is everything I'm doing, getting me a step closer to where I want to be, and am I putting my time in the right things?
And the only way that we can understand and do that is if we stop and review and look and think and decide and make changes based on that kind of analysis. So I hope this has helped. It's a bit of a short one. Like I said, I am reviewing what I do with the podcast. It's not going away. Don't you worry about that.
But 2023, I just did solos. So far this year, I've done mostly interviews. And I think I'm going to go back to the Either or like, you know, one week, one, one week, another, because that did work for me. And I do think having the solo episodes where I can give you practical information and kind of steps to take is helpful, but obviously as always, tell me, you know, I am doing this for you for the lovely listener who is listening to my voice right now.
I literally sit and talk to myself. In my office for you guys. So if you have thoughts, then I would love to hear them. Also, like I said, I would really appreciate it if you would go and hit subscribe and go and give me a review. Obviously five stars would be amazing. Thank you very much. And if there's someone that you think would find this helpful, another friend in business, please do share this with them or share it on social media and tag me in.
Okay. Have a lovely rest of your week, wherever you are in the week. And I will see you next week. Take care.
18 min
April 08, 2024Releasing Distortions: The Power of Frequency Work for Business Success
Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Karen Cheong, where we have a fascinating conversation about what is blocking you from having your dream business, no matter how hard you're trying.
In this episode we dive into the power of frequency work for personal and professional growth and the importance of freewill in spiritual growth.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
What distortion patterns are and how to release them

How to rise above fear and limiting beliefs to access higher possibilities

Why you might be fearing success and not enjoying it when you achieve it

Karen Cheong is an international transformational speaker, writer, champion for self-empowerment and healer who has worked with thousands of people worldwide.
If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to iTunes and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Connect with Karen on Instagram or YouTube
Check out Karen's website
Access Karen's free online workshop & meditation on how to quiet your mind
Access Karen's ebook, audio book + 15 minute morning meditation to start your day off in the highest frequency resonance (value $55 but free with coupon: DREAMBIZ)
Check out Karen's free vlog/podcast "Mastering Your World Through Frequencies"
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript
Teresa: Hello and welcome back to this week's episode of the your dream business podcast. I hope you've had a great start to your week if you're listening to this on Monday. So today I have a really good guest and I'm very, very much looking forward to today's conversation because I selfishly read. what she could talk about and was like, I want that.
I need that. So today I have Karen Cheong on the podcast. Who's an international transformation speaker, writer, champion for self employment and a healer who has worked on thousands of people worldwide with not on, she might have worked on them. We'll find out. After a health crisis in her early 20s, capitalized on her spiritual journey, she was driven by curiosity to explore the mystic and energetic systems that govern our experience of ourselves and others and life itself.
As always, everybody, I've done a terrible job reading it, but you're not here for that, thank goodness. So please welcome to the podcast, the very lovely Karen. Karen, how are you doing?
Karen: I'm doing great. Thanks for asking, and thank you for having me on your show.
Teresa: I am excited to have you on the show. I hate the reading bit.
Like, I think there must be some deep seated childhood thing of me having to stand in front of a class and read because like, I, I just hate the reading thing. So I apologize if I've done a terrible job, which is why I always start by saying, why don't you tell us who you are and how you got to do what you do today?
And you have a really interesting backstory. So it'd be great to hear it.
Karen: Okay. So, you know, I've owned a number of businesses myself and I'm sort of, I'm the type of person who loves creating things. And so after a short stint in the corporate world, and after having done my law degree, I then started creating my own businesses because I would just get really frustrated with the corporate environment and the structure and what it was that I wasn't allowed to do and why I had to justify everything to everybody all the time in order to get anything done.
So that's not sort of way I am. So I created a, a number of businesses and one of them was that I was a real estate agent in San Francisco with my husband, Chris, we had a team and we were really successful from the outside. Okay. So top producers. You know, tens of millions of dollars in sales, team, whole thing.
And like I said, from the outside, looks really successful. We have clients that love us, mainly referral based business, kind of like your dream business. Yeah. Except I felt like crap because I was always feeling like I didn't have enough. So I was what I call a serial spreadsheet . So I would spreadsheet how much cushion we had before we would have to sell our house and move in with my parents.
Okay. So I don't know why that was the sort of like end horrible scenario.
Teresa: Like immediate lack, like coming from the, the worst thing that could possibly happen is, yeah, I love it.
Karen: It is. Yeah. I have to sell our house and move in with my parents, which is not going to be joyful for anybody. It's like a disaster.
So for me, I was always hounded by this fear of not enough and I would drive my husband and partner with it and I would drive our team with it and I would drive myself hardest with it. So I was always working really long hours. and doing my best and feeling like I wasn't doing enough. And meanwhile, I mean, I'd been on a spiritual journey for like 25 years or something like this.
So I was learning all of these different modalities, you know, so I'd done all the traditional personal development stuff by really well known coaches. So I was like, okay, well, let's help myself along. So let's do the coaching. Let's do all the personal development stuff. And then I learned a whole bunch of different modalities that are more out there, but they were energetic modalities that made sense to me.
And I was like, okay, I'm an implementer. Let's implement it. Right. Because I'm like, does it work? You know, I'm kind of like that type of person who's like a healthy skeptic. I'm like, really? All right. You say you do all this, but does it really work? Right. So I would implement it to see if it did. So I was doing all that stuff.
Having success, but still coming back to this place of scarcity. So one day I was looking around and I think I just asked this question to the universe. I don't know if this ever happens to any of you, but you just are like kind of at your wits end a little bit. And you're and I was looking at other agents who were producing more, meaning they were selling more homes that were more valuable than we were.
And they didn't care about their clients and weren't doing a good job. Not all of them, but some of them. And I was like, how in God's name is that happening?
Teresa: We've all got those people we could think about. I know it. We know it. Yeah.
Karen: You're just like, I kind of hate you. Yeah, even though I kind of want what you have So anyhow Anyway, so I was asking this question.
Why do I keep hitting the ceiling? I hate this freaking ceiling. Like I can feel it there and I'm working my tail off. How do I get past it? So anyway, you know I ended up going to a retreat. It was a meditation retreat, and I did something which I'd never done before. So it was a 12 day retreat, which for anyone who owns your own business, you know, that's like a freaking long ass time.
Yeah, if I'm allowed to swear a little bit, but it's long, right? 12 days away from your business. It's like insanity. Mm hmm. And then when I got there, what I intuitively felt was, Oh, this isn't really, I don't really love the field. It's not that stable. And so I actually didn't go to the retreat. I actually meditated on my own for 12 days.
Which, okay, so I'm of Asian descent, and I'm a very good student, and I sure as heck don't pay for something, and don't attend it, and take good notes, and then implement. Yes. Yes. And that's not happening in my world, you know? So the fact that I intuitively chose to not do that, and then go into my own form of meditation was like mind blowing in itself.
But in that meditation, I'm so glad I followed because that's when I had what I would call my big awakening experience, where I merged with the oneness, lost a sense of myself, and perceived everything as frequencies. I'll talk about what that means in a minute. But when I came back out of that experience, which ended up being nine hours, which I did not plan.
It's not like I was like, today I'm going to wake up and go into a nine hour meditation.
Teresa: I'll see you later.
Karen: Yeah. It wasn't really on my plan for that day. Yeah. But that's what happened. And then when I came back, I really could sense that everything was an illusion and that it was beautiful and was there for us to go from.
And that everything was still frequencies and that I could make change at that level. So that's how I began. And weirdly, through all this coincidence, I happened to be overlapping with a friend who was there for like 12 hours, and she asked me to help her, like literally within 12 hours of me coming out of this meditation.
So I did. And then word spread, and here we are, right? With my company now is, which is Spherical Luminosity.
Teresa: Yeah. Okay. There's a couple of things. First off, the fact that you went, well, the fact that you booked in for 12 day meditation, like retreat, I've done retreats. I did, was it like three or four days on one and three or four days on another 12 days?
I don't know how people do that. And then the fact that you went, no, I'm just going to meditate on my own and for nine hours, like I meditate and I know there's lots of people who are maybe listening to this that have dabbled or tried. I could not meditate for nine hours. Like.
Karen: I didn't think I could either.
Teresa: That's amazing. Like, yeah, I, yeah.
Karen: I think, you know, it's funny because I used to hate meditation. I know that the irony of this, all of this is, quite large, but I used to hate it because what I would do is I would sit in meditation because I was supposed to sit, you know, like I read the books that told you to help you with your focus and help you with your stress, blah, blah, blah.
So I'm like, all right, fine, whatever. I'll do the thing. So I sit down on my little cushion that I bought because clearly
Teresa: you can't meditate without it.
Karen: Gotcha. And I would sit there and supposedly count my breaths. And after about seven breaths, I'd be pissed off because I'm like, I have this huge list of crap that I've got to get done.
And I'm sitting here not doing any of it. It's getting longer.
Teresa: Yeah, I get it. I get it. Honestly, that's amazing. So explain what your business is then, like, yeah, what it is you actually do in the business.
Karen: Yeah. So what I do is something that I call frequency work. And I think to understand it and to understand why it matters to you basically releases these invisible patterns, or what I call distortion patterns that keep you stuck.
So some of your distortion patterns are conscious, like you're aware of where they are. So meaning you feel like you don't have enough, you're probably really clear if that's something for you, that's a distortion pattern. If you don't feel like you're worthy of not working hard all the time, that's also distortion pattern that you may be less aware of.
But these things that I call distortion patterns happen at the frequency level. And once you start to release those, everything changes. And the reason everything changes is because everything happens at the higher vibrational level first to frequency, and then the physical reorganizes around it. So let me just break that down because it's kind of a new concept and it's kind of weird, you know?
Yeah. So everything to me is vibration. We're all light vibrating. Okay, this is not a new concept, right? This has been talked about in science for like decades, right? So the rate of vibration dictates the form of the thing. So if you take water, the molecules are vibrating fast. It's steam. And when those Molecules slow down in vibration, it becomes water, and when the vibrational level slows down even more, it becomes ice or something dense and hard.
So if you take that idea and you extrapolate it all the way out to consciousness which is extraordinarily high in vibration, and that we can't measure yet with our tools. We can kind of measure the byproduct of it in the body, but we can't measure consciousness itself. And if you think about the oneness, pure source, source, the divine, whatever you want to call it, it doesn't really matter to me, that very highly resonating consciousness, From which everything comes and to which everything returns, that is vibrating at an extraordinarily high rate.
And I'm going to call that the oneness, okay, for the, just ease. So for the oneness to experience anything other than itself, meaning it being one. There needs to be a drop in vibrational level or it would just stay oneness forever, infinitely. So when that vibrational level drops, frequencies are created.
And then when that vibrational level drops some more, it creates what we call now energy and then as that slows down even more it creates physical form or matter, or what you think is solid and real in your physical life. Yeah. Okay. So everyone thinks that you have to do certain things in the physical to create change on the spirit level.
It's actually inverse. The things that are higher in resonance, like at frequency level, because it dictates in that cascade what the physical form will look like. If you change things, the frequency level. Yeah, the physical reorganize extraordinarily quickly around it to get to what are distortion patterns.
Okay. And why do I care? And why do I feel like I'm constantly hitting this freaking wall? Yeah. You're probably hitting up against your distortion patterns because they're invisible to you, but they're not invisible to you because you've experienced them. And the thing is, They create every everything including your thoughts like what we think are our thoughts and emotions are actually the physical Embodied experience of that distortion meaning it's your expression of that distortion.
Does that make sense? The distortion exists you're expressing it as thoughts and feelings Okay, so what the heck are distortions and where did they come from? Because I mean I would want to know that. So to me, you choose to have an embodied experience. Now, I realize that might be a stretch for some people because they're like, well, I don't know that I would have chosen this.
Yeah, exactly. Right. Cause it kind of sucks.
Teresa: If, if I could go with like Beyonce or like, what are the, I would have gone for that body experience if I had the choice. But here we are. Yeah, I'm gonna go with this. I'll roll with this one. It's fine.
Karen: Exactly. But you chose to have an embodied experience. Why?
Because, you know, the scientists have been saying for a while that 99. 9999999 percent of everything is quote unquote nothing. And it's not nothing. It means it doesn't have form. 0. 0000001 percent of everything has form or density. So it's a rare thing that we get to experience. I know that it doesn't feel good.
sometimes or a lot of the time, depending on who you are, but you get to have an embodied experience. So when you choose to come into embodiment, because here you are, you actually have to drop in vibrational rate. So again, you are consciousness and you need to have an embodied experience, which is like form, right?
I mean, you have a body. Yeah. So when you, so for me, when I perceive these things, it's like a sphere of pure source energy. Which, by the way, has an individuated rate of vibration, meaning that rate of vibration is what causes you to be you, and me to be me. Okay? So when that sphere of pure source energy, vibrating at its own very unique rate, drops, because it does, in vibration, and comes into embodiment, something forms around it, meaning layers and layers and layers and layers and layers and layers and layers and layers and layers and layers and layers of what look like duct tape form around the sphere. Now, the sphere, there's nothing wrong with the sphere, okay? It's inherently still the sphere, it's pure source energy vibrating at its own unique rate.
But what it forgets is that it's surrounded by pure source energy all around it, and it gets really, really, really heavy, and it starts to vibrate slower because, again, layers of duct tape. Heavy. Yeah. So what are the layers? So the layers are distortion patterns. What do they come from? They come from things like what your ancestors experienced.
Okay, so you're what I would call lineage. So the field of epigenetics is mapping this, right, where they are finding that what your ancestors experienced whether you knew them, know their names, know their faces, they very much impact how your DNA expresses and what choices you make. Okay. So sciences start to mirror what's happening on spirit level.
Then of course we have your cultural distortion patterns. We all have them, but your religious distortion patterns, even if you particularly are not religious, like you didn't grow up in a particularly religious family. Your lineage certainly was, to some degree, at some point, and it's influencing you.
Yeah. And also things like your past lives. So all of these things are distortion patterns, which you bump into, which cause you to feel and to think the way you do. So when you start to release distortion patterns, Which is what I help you do, you start to feel different. And the thing is, you start to feel some people start to feel different first, and then their physical reality changes.
Some people it happens all at once. For me, it's. been the way I feel first, because it was kind of a subtle thing. You know, I started doing frequency work and I knew I didn't feel that much actually the first time I did it at all. It wasn't a felt experience for me, but I just knew somehow that something had changed.
And then I kept doing it because I was like, I know something's changed. I'm just gonna keep doing this. I don't know why, but I'm just going to keep doing it. And then after maybe it was a month, Chris was like, hey, you're not spreadsheeting. Have you noticed that? I'm like, no, didn't notice that, but yeah, it feels so much better.
But you know what I mean? It just kind of became my new normal in a way. Yeah. So that's what I do. I help people to release the distortion patterns that keep them stuck and keep them from experiencing the life that they want to create....
52 min
April 01, 2024Dan Knowlton on Winning Big Brands and Overcoming Business Fears
Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with the very funny and very clever Dan Knowlton, where we chat about all things business, marketing and public speaking.
This episode is not only filled with some really valuable and practical tips and advice, it also has some funny stories and lots of laughs in it too - and I know you will love it!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
Marketing strategies that have worked for Knowlton

Tips and advice for pitching to big brands

Techniques to overcome fear and impostor syndrome in public speaking

Dan is the Co-Founder of Knowlton, a business that he started with his brother back in 2015. Knowlton is a creative video and social media marketing agency based in Kent, UK, and they are on a mission to rid the world of crap marketing!
Knowlton help businesses to generate a trackable ROI from their marketing with their creative social media management and thumb-stopping marketing campaigns. They've generated millions in trackable sales for some of the world’s leading brands like Wahl, Buy Whole Foods Online, Boston Consulting Group, and BBC Storyworks!
If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to iTunes and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Connect with Dan on LinkedIn
Check out the Knowlton website
Watch the Steven Bartlett parody video
Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook
Transcript
Teresa: Hello and Welcome to this week's episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. How are you doing this week? So this week I have. a very dear friend on the podcast and a fellow podcaster. He has his own podcast as well, but his on the whole is a little bit more funnier than mine, which I'm a bit gutted about because I think I'm funny, but no, his is definitely funnier than mine.
So this week I am very, very excited to welcome to the podcast, the very lovely Dan Knowlton. Dan, how are you doing?
Dan: Oh, good. I'm really pleased. I can't believe I've never been on your podcast.
Teresa: Never. I can't believe it. I don't know how.
Dan: Yeah. Yeah. It's good to be here. Nice. Really, really good to be. I don't know how funny our podcast is that you've kind of built it up a bit.
Teresa: Oh, so I was doing my research this morning, right. And I was listening to some of your episodes. Now I do listen to your podcast, but I have to say as a podcaster, I don't know about you, but I am a bit rubbish at listening to other people's podcasts. And also when I do listen to podcasts, I tend to listen to health related podcasts or like I listened to Andrew Huberman, Huberman's lab. Do you listen to that?
Dan: I don't, but I watch his content on TikTok and stuff. Yeah.
Teresa: Love it. He's so good. So yeah, I'm not very good at listening to like businessy type ones, but yeah, so I was listening this morning and there's always a funny story, which generally in our life, there's always funny stories, but you told this one.
Wrecking hilarious story. Oh, of what I listen to. Right. Which I had to, had to ring up. You were talking about Cheese on toast.
Dan: Oh no. I thought you were gonna say it. Oh.
Teresa: Brilliant. Please tell, tell my lovely listeners what the hell happened.
Dan: I'm like this is a business marketing podcast. This is nothing to do with business or marketing.
So I'll very briefly tell the story. We were talking, we did an episode about the biggest mistakes we made in 2023 and you know, how everyone shares the highlight reel. And we were like, so we talked about business mistakes and stuff. And then I just sort of had to share one of the biggest mistakes I made over the Christmas period.
Which was I, I basically like cheese on toast. I've always liked cheese on toast from a kid. And Crystal, my other half had gone out for the day and I had the kids at home and I thought, I'm going to make some cheese on toast. So got the cheese out, got the bread out, you know, and saw this new cheese grater on the side.
I thought, wicked. We've got a cheese grater. I grated the cheese. cook the cheese and toast was delicious. And then the next day I did the same thing. I was so good yesterday. I'm going to do it again. And then to my horror, the next day, Christelle said to me, why is my foot greater in the dishwasher? And I was like, Oh no, it's the grimace thing.
And she used it, the worst bit is she like soaked her feet the, the night before and stuff and really had a good go on her. Oh no.
Teresa: My God. Oh my God. It's too brilliant. And do you know what, like, because I have one of those.
Dan: Oh, do you have one? I didn't know they were a thing.
Teresa: Yeah, Right.
Dan: I didn't know they were a thing.
Teresa: And Paul and I always joke, like anybody would need Parmesan.
Dan: Yeah. I literally ate some Parmesan.
Teresa: Literally disgusting. But yeah, like, I don't, is it just women who have really awful feet? I think men don't have awful feet.
Dan: I don't know. I just don't. Yeah. I don't get why you need to grate your feet. So I didn't even know that was a thing, but apparently it is.
Teresa: It is. It is. But what it was doing in the kitchen, I'm not entirely sure.
Dan: I think like an open plan space. Yeah, that was my thing. Like it was like on the side in the open plan kitchen. So I was just like, Oh, it's been put over there. Like just on the edge.
Teresa: That is brilliant. That is brilliant. Were you sick or were you all right?
Dan: Oh, it's fine. They tasted delicious at the time, but yeah, I also can't believe you've actually done research for this episode. I thought, because we know each other, I thought she's not going to bother doing anything. You've actually.
Teresa: I do. Right. And it's funny because it's almost worse when I know someone because it's almost a case of like, I'm so relaxed about what, like, just chatting, but then actually, is there a reason to us chatting?
Can I just share, right, just so people know the research that Dan did in preparation for this interview. I have an Asana form that people have to fill in, right? And it says on the Asana form, can you please give us examples of questions that would be great to ask you? This is my way of, like, not having to do research.
Dan wrote, These is questions he wants me to ask him. Why are you so charming and incredibly good looking and model? Please can I give you 10, 000 pounds and why are you such an incredible human being? Those are my questions to ask Dan today. So yeah, I needed to do a bit of research.
Dan: Well, I thought it's your podcast. I'm not giving you the questions to ask me. I don't know what you want to ask me.
Teresa: That's helpful. That's really helpful.
Dan: You know me anyway, you know me.
Teresa: We do. We do. So Dan, let's start by you explaining what you do and how you got to do the thing you do.
Dan: What do I do? I am the co founder of Knowlton, which is a creative video and social media marketing agency that I started with my brother back in 2015.
And we, we work with brands to support them to deliver really creative marketing campaigns, mainly on social media that deliver a trackable return on investment. And we've worked with lots of well known brands over the years. We're also like you said, we've got a podcast called business anchors and we love that.
Teresa: Just even the name, like, you know.
Dan: Do you know, do you know, Yeah, because we wanted to call it business anchors, but we knew that it wouldn't, it would get demoted in the algorithm. So we called it business anchors and put an anchor in front of the A and made it like nautical theme. So it looks like a W. So you can imagine the vibe of the podcast.
And anything else I should tell you? Also, speak at events. We've spoken at quite a few events together over the years.
Teresa: Yeah, we have. That's how we met. Except the first time we met, do you remember the first time we met?
Dan: I just remember us really getting on, but I can't remember which event it was at. I'm amazed it's not ingrained in your head.
No, go on. What was it?
Teresa: So, it was at a social day. It was one that was at like Years ago, right? Yeah, yeah. It was like a football ground or a rugby ground or something like that.
Dan: Was it Birmingham?
Teresa: No, I don't think it was. We did the Birmingham one. I did the Birmingham one and that's where I first met Biz Paul, which is ace.
Yeah. And then. There was another one that I think was further down south because obviously you're based down on Margate. Yes. So I think it was further down south, but it wasn't in London, but you were speaking, Andrew and Pete were speaking. It was the first, Victoria Taylor was speaking. It was like the gang. It was the first time I'd ever met any of you.
Yeah. Biz Paul was there again. So it was like, Oh, I know you. We met before. But yeah, and it was quite small, but it was a really good day. And I think Lloyd was there as well. So Dan has a brother called Lloyd, and I think Lloyd is there as well. But, I mean, I don't want to play to your ego, Dan, but I did cause my stepdaughter was with me at the time because she used to work in the business.
Yeah. I did say to her, he's pretty good looking.
Dan: Oh, thanks. Thanks Teresa.
Teresa: It's fine. It's fine. It like.
Dan: The only trouble with whenever, whenever I see an event, we end up just not going to the event and go out and it's like lunch and just chatting. And then we like social media marketing world. Yeah. There was all these sessions on that. We just.
Teresa: We didn't do any.
Dan: That's the only trouble, isn't it?
Teresa: And I think that's the thing and I think that's the shame about when you're a speaker and, and like the speaker, people go to events, that's the only time you get to catch up. And it's like, well, and that's a sucky time to catch up because you're all doing something and you've all got to be there for a reason.
And so it's, it's so lovely to see you. But we don't often, and I always say this like we, the group of us should all just organize something where we all hang out.
Dan: Yeah. I like going, I like going to events where I'm not speaking and just like to them then you can actually catch up, can't you? Rather than just you're in the like speaker zone and you're almost trying to concentrate and make sure you deliver and you're Yeah.
I, I, I struggle to not just think about delivering a good session until I've done it and then I can be like, Ugh, relax after that.
Teresa: Do you, okay. So that's interesting. 'cause I don't like going to events if I'm not speaking. because I love speaking and I just sit there and it's like I have to sit with my hands underneath me so I don't jump up and get on the stage.
Yeah, I really struggle. I really love the speaking side. I get a bit like, Oh no, I want to, I want to be.
Dan: Do you know, do you know an event you should, you should come to this year? The best event that I've ever been to, and we're going back again, it's in Ibiza. Did you see that? It's called Agency Hackers Super Summit.
We spoke last year, we're not speaking this year, but we're going back, we're taking our team and stuff. It's going to be wicked. You should come to that.
Teresa: Unbelievable.
Dan: I keep forgetting we're on a podcast. I'm just trying to catch up with you, but you should come to that event.
Teresa: People don't mind listening to this stuff.
I'm going to write that down. Agency hackers. I mean, I don't have an agency. Well, I did, but I don't anymore.
Dan: It's a lot of like marketing business people and stuff. It's really, it was, yeah, it's an amazing event. You should come.
Teresa: That's awesome. So Dan has this agency now with your brother. Which, so that's one of my first questions about, cause I worked with and supported lots of twos in a business.
You are not one of those people I've worked with or supported with, but how is it having someone who is your brother working with them?
Dan: It's brilliant. This is the question that a lot of people ask and because people relate to anything that I could never work with my brother or my sister, but. I absolutely love it.
And the reason I love it is because we, we, we've learned to really work well together. We're, we're, we've got, we've got completely opposite skills and We went on a walk over there and we're talking about that. It's like, we've got to the point now where every week we have this weekly meeting as part of, we kind of use the entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs operating system to run our business.
So we have these weekly meetings where we look at like, how is everything going? And we keep each other accountable. And when we started doing it at the start of the business, we used to critique each other and take it really personally. So he'd be like, Dan, this week numbers aren't looking as good. Like I saw you did this.
Could you, and like, I take it all personally and it was just rubbish. Now we know each other so well that we can like, we critique each other, but we completely take it on board in a positive way. Like that's such a good suggestion. I'm going to take an action next week. I'm going to schedule that. I'm going to speak to this team member to make sure we do this.
And we've over the years, we've just evolved that relationship. So, and it's also really sad because we spend all of our lives working together. We play squash together multiple times in the evenings. Our families hang out on the weekends. Like you'd think that we should hate each other.
Teresa: Beat up of each other. Yeah.
Dan: Yeah. But I, our, our other halves always take the piss out of us that we like, oh, come on, you've seen each other all week. Do we have to like, see them again? And we're like, yeah, we wanna hang out.
Teresa: That's ace though that is like. That's so good. Do you both have the same vision for the business?
Dan: Yep.
Teresa: That's awesome.
Dan: So we, we sat down in, in 2019, I think it was, we sat down and like discussed that we, I think we went, Lloyd went to a seminar, this guy called James Sinclair, and he speaks about the importance of having an end point. Whether or not you want an end point is like knowing what could that end point be and then work backwards from there.
And that's when we developed our like 10 year 2030 plan together. We were like, what do we want to have? Like, what do we want to get to be within 10 years at 2030? And we both agreed on that and then came up with like a comprehensive plan of each year, how we're going to get to that point. Yeah, I mean, we're totally aligned on where we want to get to.
Teresa: So give me a quick rundown then, like, where do your skills lie and where do his lie?
Dan: So, okay, so he, his official job title is like our CEO. So he does, he manages our team and the projects and that side of things. He is really good at managing people. I'm dog shit at that. He is very empathetic and caring and kind.
I'm not saying I'm not, I'm, I'm very commercially driven and he's very much like people's feelings and things like that, which is lovely. And I, you know, I, I, I'm also like that, but, but I think like if, if it was just him running the business, he'd end up just being a charity and failing because he'd just give everything away.
Yeah. If it was just me, I'd probably be, too commercially driven and people wouldn't like me, so we come together perfectly and it works really great because we always discuss everything. So he's very good at managing people and he's logistics. I'm terrible at logistics. Previous job role I had, I basically had a meltdown because it was a very logistical and my brains and work like that.
So he's very good at thinking about all these projects to deliver. We can do that then we can do this then. So he's very logistical. And I guess on the other side, I am, I feel like I'm a real people person. Love like having chats like this and like, you know, with people and I, my official job title is CMO chief marketing officer, but I handle all of the sales and marketing.
So, and our marketing team as well. So I love sales. I love pitching. I love meeting people, love speaking at events and things like that. Yeah. So I think that that's why I'm, I'm better at sales and that kind of stuff.
Teresa: And you're the, like, I was going to say you're the face, but like, in one way you are, but Lloyd, it is as face front, you know, as, as you are, but you're the one who speaks on stages. You're the one who does podcast interviews. You're the one who, who, like you said, goes out and does the pitching and things and the training, if you have to do, cause you and I both worked for a company in Dubai and did training for that company.
And, you know, so you would be the one that goes and, and does that.
Dan: Yeah. It's kind of evolved over the years though. So it started out. I was very much speaking events. There was just me and Lloyd is behind the scenes. Then Lloyd started being, Lloyd's way more funny than me. Like I'm not funny.
Teresa: Lloyd is hilarious.
Like in a, the driest, most subtle, unassuming way, he is hilarious.
Dan: He's, he spent the last 30 years knowing how to say, whisper one thing in my ear and I'll be in hysterics. So he gets me like in the, on the podcast when we were shooting content, he just knows how to get me. So. He's, he's definitely the funny one.
He started being in more of our content, like our sketch based content. And then we started the podcast together and, but yeah, so it's, it's kind of a combination now, but I'm...
48 min

About Your Dream Business

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Hi! I’m Teresa if you are a business owner who is striving to build a business and life you dream of on your own terms and doing something you love then this is the podcast for you!