Connections, Coffee & Confidence

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of Connections, Coffee and Confidence with me, Janice. I’m coming at you from our new home in Prince Edward Island - if you’ve ever read Anne of Green Gables, you know where I am. My freckles and I are fitting in well. And the new house has a new office which you may have seen if you’ve been on my Facebook or Instagram stories. Windows and everything. If you’re new, you don’t know this is a significant move from my Harry Potter style cubby under the stairs. Happy to be settling into a new home and being able to get into routine. I feel like I have a new lease of life, to be honest. And what’s interesting is that I have had a recurring theme push its way through to me, one that has come from some kind of surprising people. And if it’s coming from them, maybe you are experiencing it too. So let’s talk about it.

INTRO

So what are you waiting for?

Seriously.

Life is passing us by and here we are, waiting for something. My mother would always tell me that Christmas was coming when I was busy thinking something to death and then thinking about it some more. I believe she was implying I was taking too long to make a decision and take action.

Are you waiting for Christmas?

There are perfectly rational and reasonable times when waiting and thinking things through is appropriate. When there are safety concerns, the potential for significant emotional impact on someone else, or large sums of money involved, yes, have a good think.

When it comes to making a pitch to the media, launching a new product or service, paying for an ad on your favorite social media platform or being yourself, that’s different.

This often boils down to fear and fear can come from a variety of places. Usually it can be dealt with by educating yourself on the reality because your perception is clouding your view.

I was recently messaging with someone I really respect, someone I admire in so many ways not least because of her accomplishments. And I was really nervous about asking her to come on the podcast because I was worried about the time she and I had talked and I had goofed the time difference. And it turns out she had completely forgotten the incident. We had a good laugh and she made a comment about Overthinkers Anonymous. And I’m sure if I googled that I’d find that someone has already taken that as a title for a book or a membership or something. Or maybe they’re too busy overthinking it.

But there was a similar mini conversation in my Facebook group where myself and another woman were having a discussion about over analyzing things. Talking ourselves in and talking ourselves right back out of really great ideas and actions.

Does any of this ring true for you?

Do you circle around and around your ideas, looking at them from every angle before deciding to not quite jump but dip your toe in? Do you think about them for so long that when you do decide to take action, you find someone else has started while you had your head down?

When we wait, we miss out. We miss out on opportunities to meet new people, to try new things, to see new places. We miss out on money. And what really gets me is that we miss out on knowing: knowing if we can. Knowing that we can. Because it’s the confidence we get when we’ve tried it and seen just what we’re capable of, that’s usually missing from those of us considering joining Overthinkers Anonymous.

And even if we aren’t successful, that’s fine. The world doesn’t end and we come back from that with a better idea of how to do it next time or if, in fact, we should never do that again.

When we don’t over analyse and simply create a thoughtful plan, leaving to chance the stuff we can easily handle and mapping out the big things, we get the opportunity to test and revise, to rethink and do it again.

We need to do to improve - both the work and ourselves.

An interesting thought is one I heard on another podcast, the David McWilliams podcast which I’ll link to in the show notes. I can’t remember if it was him or his guest who had said it but one of them said that marketing was just a human experiment.

Did you hear that?

It’s just an experiment!

You know how in science class you learned or maybe had the opportunity to do actual experiments? Where in scientific theory, it’s actually based off of not knowing and trying to find out? Where if the experiment doesn’t prove the theory, neither you nor the theory are wrong, the theory just wasn’t proved right. You don’t come into it at all, it’s not you who is right or wrong - it’s the theory that’s being tested.

And when I heard that sentence, marketing is a human experiment, it just felt like so much of the weight had been lifted.

Do you feel it?

It’s an experiment! And we all experiment at those things we’re good at, those things we’re confident about and comfortable with. Maybe you’re like me and very confident in the kitchen; I bet you experiment in there all the time. You know how it goes and if it doesn’t go exactly right the first time, once you’ve taste tested the results you know that you need to dial back the garlic or punch up the balsamic or the lemon was good but next time you’re trying lime because you have a suspicion that’s what’ll knock your taste buds right off your tongue.

Or maybe you know how to experiment with clothing. Or technology. Or compose music or put on make up or one thousand other things. You experiment and if it doesn’t go exactly right, that’s ok. You can fix it.

And what if it was exactly the same with your marketing and PR?

You just tweaked your message and your visuals when the first attempt didn’t land as you wanted.

You just tried it on a different platform or pitched a different journalist?

What if you just tried it? With a plan, like you’re not just diving in headfirst with a blindfold on - you know the basics of what you’re doing and you do it to the best of your ability, but you do it. You try it.

Have you ever noticed how much energy you can put into overthinking? Some people are nervous fidgeters, they expend a lot of energy. I’m more of a sit still while my mind races for hours and hours kind of analyzer. After I had the boys I learned to channel those sessions into sitting in front of the laundry that needs to be folded but still, there is an energy that you’re putting into thinking things into oblivion that you could be using elsewhere.

What if you took even half of that thinking or nervous energy and put it into actually doing what you’re thinking about? Imagine what you could accomplish?

Imagine what you could learn about yourself, about the idea, about your potential audience, about your market, about the practicalities if you took that brain space and put it towards good?

It’s funny because I say I can talk myself out of anything. And I was rolling that idea that marketing is just a human experiment around in my head - ok, I was rolling it around for a while but hey - new province, new house, new school for the kids - there is a lot rolling around inside my head recently! But it made me wonder what would happen if I took my amazing superpower to talk myself out of anything and just flipped it. Just like that. Instead of talking myself out of things, I just talked myself into them. What would that look like?

Think it would be like those books and things you read or hear about where people decide to say yes to everything for six months or a year. But not as extreme. Because I know that when I start overanalyzing my ideas, I’m doing it out of fear. And that fear is based on a perception that I’m not good enough or smart enough or that people won’t like me (please please send me an email or tag me on Instagram if you get that reversed reference, doggone it!)

And I bet you’re the same.

What if we chose to look at it as though it’s just an experiment. We’re just testing something. It has nothing to do with us, it’s a theory we’re testing. No reflection of our worth, it’s a human experiment. What if all of those things you were worrying about were just like my worry of that woman thinking I was a doofus who can’t tell time or understand time zones? What if those fears are just our own perceptions? Not reality.

Would you find it easier to get things started, to get them going, if you were just testing an idea? Because Christmas is coming, no matter what religion or belief set you might have, there is a well known date on most calendars and I bet you have something you’ve been rolling around in your head for the last while.

I guess the big question is - what are you waiting for?

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 Tips to Improve Your Writing Confidence Right Now

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 15:00:15 GMT

One of the things I get asked about the most is confidence in writing, communicating. So I came up with this list of my top 10 tips for gaining that confidence. Pick which one works for you for the project you're working on right now and put it into action!

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on creating your own strategic messaging, based on your business goals. Get this download and learn how to speak clearly and with purpose about your business. (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
Thinking about taking advantage of all the podcasts as opportunities to get your message out? You need my one page download on How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
Wondering how to get incredible PR to grow awareness of your business but can't afford a PR agency? You need 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to the Connections, Coffee and confidence podcast with me, Janice. This might surprise you but one of my earliest dreams was to work at Dairy Queen. And if you aren’t in a country lucky enough to have a Dairy Queen, let me break your heart by telling you what you’re missing. It’s a fast food chain that yes, offers hot food but the real beauty is that they offer treats like blizzards where they take their ice cream (actually ice milk but we aren’t going to split hairs here) and blitz it with candy pieces and flavours of your choice, and dipped ice cream cones, and sundaes and banana splits and my personal favorite the peanut buster parfait - layers of ice cream with hot fudge sauce and peanuts. So when a new DQ opened up in the town I lived in in high school, I took myself down and got a job. Just like that, I fulfilled one of my life’s goals.

Fortunately, I had other goals left to conquer such as becoming a published author. And I’ve been published publicly before, in magazines and newspapers in Canada and Ireland, but not under my own name. Because I usually do for others what you do for your own business, write. You might not think of yourself as a writer, you might shudder in horror or laugh your head off at the idea of you being a writer but trust me when I say, you are a writer.

Off the top of my head, I know you write emails, text messages, social media posts for sure. And you probably write product or service descriptions, maybe a sales page, website or landing page words...you write.

Something that is often asked about when people join my private facebook group is writing - getting confident in writing, knowing what to write about, how to do those things with comfort and ease. Okay, comfort and ease are my words but people ask about writing a lot. And when I talk to them, it’s because they aren’t comfortable, it doesn’t come easy and therefore it’s hard.

So today I am bringing you ten tips on gaining writing confidence. These aren't in a strategic order, you don’t need to start at number one and master it before you move to number two; not at all. You pick what you need as you need it, work on it, try it out. The tip you focus on could well depend on the situation you find yourself in and that’s just right, too.

So I’ll start with this tip I’ll call number one and it’s sort of ironically called get started. The worst thing to do is to stare at that blinking cursor, the one that seems to reappear in a slow laughing rhythm. Put some words down and break that rhythm. Often the first few words are the hardest or the least sensible or the most muddled but they are words and those words lead to more and better words. And that’s what you’re after. So get started.

The second tip is for you to Practise. Keep doing it. You might not feel like writing or rewriting that sales page, and that’s cool. But if you know it’s something that needs to be done, take a practise run at it. You aren’t committing to anything, you’re practising. Take the pressure off the act of writing, just try it out. And if some gold happens to fly from your finger tips well, that’s a bonus. Copy and paste it into the real version of whatever you were practising. You may have expected me to say practise like write the same thing fifteen times. And if that works for you, then do it. I know I write about four or five, sometimes more titles for my episodes. But any more than that and I drive myself crazy. I use a headline analyzer and check the SEO and the readability for each title, pick the one that works the best and roll. But I always have those practise headlines to help me.

Another note about practise is that Seth Godin has written in his blog every day for well over a decade. And he talks about how not every post is solid gold. But it’s practise. And if it works for him to show up and practise every day, there’s probably no harm in us trying it more days than not, eh?

The third tip is do not expect perfection. There’s nothing to kill that creativity, to stifle your ability to access words from your brain, than the pressure of writing and making it super awesome. And awesome on the first go. Ugh. It is better to be done and done well now then to be perfect in, well, you and I know things are never going to be perfect. So do it to the best of your ability and move on.

Fourth is a common piece of advice from me: Have a point. Nothing helps focus your work like, well, having a focus. When you have a goal that you’re working towards, you’ll find it much easier to decide what to say and to say it well. This is where my eguide on messaging can help you - a workbook that walks you from your goals to your messaging and helps you find that focus. I’ll link to it in the shownotes and you can also just go to janicefogarty.com to see for yourself. But when you know what you’re talking about, when you know what the end result will be, that will always help shape what you actually say.

Fifth is to keep in mind who you're talking to. It’s much easier to communicate with someone when you know who they are. Have you ever gone to a party that your friend begged you to go to with them, where you don’t really know anyone other than that one friend? And then you don’t quite know how to speak to people straightaway. But once you’ve had a chance to chitchat a bit, get to know a little bit about the crowd, it’s easier to talk. You know if you’re in a room full of masters degrees, entrepreneurs, stay at home parents, married couples, single parents, employees, friends or colleagues or whoever. Once you know who you’re talking to, you know how to communicate with them. It’s part of being strategic as a communicator, you know who your audience is.

Tip number six for gaining confidence in writing is to ask yourself why the person you’re talking to cares. It’s not the same as what’s your point; this tip is about the audience, the person or people you’re speaking to in your writing. You can think of it as being generous with your intentions, if that makes it easier for you. It’s often easier to write when we hold in our minds what it is the recipient will find value in from your words. It’s not just a sales tactic, it’s helpful in all writing.

Tip number seven is to give it time and space. This is a phrase I’ve borrowed from child psychology but it exactly describes what works for me every single time. This is commonly known as editing but honestly, I struggle to edit my own words. I read it exactly as it’s meant to be read or spoken, I go off of what was in my head versus what’s actually on the page or screen so I miss the goofs; my brain fills in what was supposed to be there so I miss the gaps. I need to give my work time as in, don’t rush the edit to publish, and space as in think of something different, do something else, before I go back to edit so I can do so with a clear brain that may have forgotten the details that were flowing through me, making it easier to catch what I originally missed putting down. Sometimes that’s not possible, I know I’m not the only one who mmmm shall we say doesn’t always plan the best or is stricken with inspiration that you simply must post right this minute which doesn’t allow for time and space editing or life simply happens and you gotta publish now or it becomes less timely and you’ve missed making your impact.

That’s where tip 8 comes in. Say it. So this works in two ways, you pick which suits you. First, whatever you’ve written, whatever for, whoever for, read it out loud - not in your head - out loud! And you’ll catch what you’ve missed, at least most of it. When I was a speechwriter for a government minister, you can bet your last dollar that I not only paid attention to how she spoke, her rhythms and her speaking style, but I also read every speech out loud before handing it over to anyone else. So I caught the things, the awkward phrases that read well on the page but people don’t really speak like that, or the less than perfect word to make that point. Reading it out loud made it, whatever it was, better. Try it.

The second way this works is to say it out loud first, then transcribe it. I like to write. I had someone reach out to me from my past for help and in the third email he commented that he didn’t remember me being so chatty. And that’s because I’m comfortable in my writing. But also because I’m over forty, I'm a mom to three neurodiverse boys, and wife to someone with a strong personality; I’m not the exact same person who he knew all those years ago. Same as you - your experiences shape your voice. So if your voice comes more naturally to you when you speak or sing or whatever verbal exercise works for you, then do that and take what you need for your posts. You might think you’re only good at going live when your communications strength comes from actual verbalization but that’s not re-using your content creation in the most efficient way. Go back over some of your really great lives and pull the quotes or even full paragraphs worth of words and repurpose them into posts. They’ll be brilliant because they’ll capture your best voice and your message and they’ll appeal to those in your audience who prefer to read than listen.

Tip number nine on how to write with more confidence is to personalize it. It might be another way of saying be authentic but it feels less catch-phrase-of-the-moment and more, well, like me. How would you say that to a friend, to your sister, to that co-worker you used to really enjoy chatting and having a laugh with? When you can speak as you would to someone you’re comfortable with? How would you say it then? Can you capture that for your material? Can you relate it to something that has happened to you or worked for you or you’ve seen in others? And sometimes it’s easier to speak about something that happened to us like it happened to someone else and that’s ok, you’ll tell that story in a wonderfully clear way because you have full confidence in the details. And that clarity, those details, make the communications feel good for both you and your audience. When you feel good, you’ll be more confident to do it again.

Last but not least, perhaps the most important tip of all actually, is number ten. Have fun. Seriously. When’s the last time you were just living in that moment, laughing your head off or feeling so full up with contentment, at peace and smiling because that’s where you were meant to be at that moment. Not concerned about if you had the right word, if you looked good, what someone might think. What platform, what time of day, what clothing, what setting, what style of delivery feels really good for you? Do that. Sure you can’t always choose what’s the most fun but you can recapture that feeling of having fun and inject it into whatever you’re doing in the moment. Try saying to yourself straight up and out loud: holy heck, I am having fun! I am frigging loving this. Or however you might speak to yourself in moments of great enjoyment. Your brain will follow along. It wants what’s best for you and if you tell it you are having fun writing copy for your sale page or product descriptions, well it’s all in on the fun and won’t notice that you’re doing work. The better you feel doing that work, the more confident you’ll become in doing it.

So there you have it, my top ten tips for gaining confidence in your writing. And really, I think you can extrapolate these tips to all communications. You want confidence when you communicate. That doesn’t mean you aren’t nervous sometimes or you aren’t scared every once in a while; it means that you do it anyway, and that you just do your best to do better every time you try. So don’t forget if you want help on your messaging, you can download my guide and workbook from my website or you can pop me an email and we can book an appointment to see where I can help. In the meantime, I really want to know which tip stood out to you the most. Write it down and tag me on Instagram at janiceefogarty so I can see! And until next week my friend, have a fan freaking tastic rest of your day.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The How and Why of Your Customer's Journey

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 15:00:24 GMT

Customer retention isn't just about having warm fuzzies because our clients love us (they really love us), it's also about being a savvy business owner because it's much more efficient to retain our customers than to find new ones. But what about those of us who are one & done? Do we still care about loyalty? And how does what we do impact upon our customers, their feelings towards us? Today's topic is all about customer experience - what it means to you, how to track it and when to do it.

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on creating your own strategic messaging, based on your business goals. Get this download and learn how to speak clearly and with purpose about your business. (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
Thinking about taking advantage of all the podcasts as opportunities to get your message out? You need my one page download on How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
Wondering how to get incredible PR to grow awareness of your business but can't afford a PR agency? You need 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of Connections, Coffee and Confidence with me, Janice. This week I’m taking a bit of a departure from the softer side of communications and looking behind the scenes at the theory and strategy behind why we do what we do. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about our customer’s experience and how what we do as business owners impact upon our customer’s interactions with us. Like, obviously what we do has a knock on effect on our customers but have you ever sat down and thought about it? I have and today I’ll share what I think you need to put some attention into in order to reap some deserved rewards.

INTRO

So Customer Experience or CX. That’s a whole sector of an industry that I feel was traditionally more technical in that it was data driven, it was analytical and kind of a problem solving area for a team in typically larger companies. Companies that had high profits, sold high ticket items, who had money they could spend on employing teams of people to look at the way a customer or client interacted with their company. The CX team worked in tandem with the PR team, who ensured the company’s reputation was shining beautifully and the important people were profiled in all the high flying publications, and also the marketing team, who got the people with the wallets through the door.

Ok. That’s a simplistic description but you get the idea of how these things traditionally worked. Maybe you knew this because you worked in this kind of company before. Once upon a time, there were teams of people who specialized in these areas.

And don’t get me wrong, there are still teams and individuals who specialize in this, absolutely. Maybe you specialize in one of these areas and have turned freelance, creating your own business out of your specialty. And if that’s the case then you know better than anyone that nowadays, that trifecta of teams is now just us. You and me. The business owners. Because we’re the ones who design our business, get the clients, fluff our own feathers and sweep the floors, fetch the coffee.

So what do we, as independent business owners, need to know and understand about our customer’s experience or their journey through our business? And what on earth would we do with that information, like, does it actually matter?

That idea of whether knowledge matters or not is an interesting one to me. My first thought is of course it matters. All information about your business matters, don’t be so silly. But there are no absolutes (and yes, the irony is intentional).

Why do we care about our client’s experience with us? Why does it matter? Well, we take that information and see if it tells us about where we are losing clients and their money. That’s important, right? We look at every time we interact with the client and see if it’s effective, if it’s efficient, if the client feels good or empowered or satisfied or however it is we want them to feel at that point. Then we ask ourselves, can we improve?

And that’s the same as asking if it matters. What’s our goal? Because if our goal is to create a long-term relationship with our client or customer, then yes, the information about their experience with us matters.

But what if you look at your business and you sell a one-off item. You are a one and done kind of service. Does customer satisfaction or even loyalty matter? Is it worth your time and effort reviewing the customer journey and evaluating each touch point, nevermind the time and effort to improve it? ANd I guess that’s your decision to make.

If you are a one and done kind of service or product, or if you provide a necessity, you may place a lower value on customer loyalty and retention. If you have no competition, you may place a lower value on those things, too. My word of caution on that is to be mindful because at some point, someone will come along and do what you’re doing. If the deciding factor between using you because they need what you sell but they don’t enjoy working with you or going to someone who is reasonably the same in every way but they are better to deal with, you might find yourself losing market share as time goes by.

And if you’re the one and done, presumably you still count on word of mouth to spread the news of what you do. People talk. And they are more apt to talk about a negative experience so don’t give them a reason!

And, it’s just nice to be nice.

Although the answer to does a customer’s experience or journey with your business matter might seem subjective, if you have any interest in reputation management or if you just care about the people who spend their hard earned money with you, I argue that yeah - it matters.

But how do we look at this to evaluate it? If it matters, we need to be able to look at it objectively and concretely, right?

Where I like to start is to take something you produce for your client or your service and work backwords. Like a brainstorm or a mindmap or flow chart kind of thing. Conversely you can start at the beginning of the journey where someone finds you and map out every touch point or interaction until they reach that same end product. Because that’s the point of the actual mapping - to mark every time you have the potential to impact your customer’s experience.

For example, take my Create Your Social Media Content Strategy masterclass as the final product I want to map out. I plop that as the end product and lis tour all of the ways people can get to that end result. So if someone sees my pin on Pinterest, they can be brought to my website sales page for that masterclass. When they click to purchase, the go through the payment mechanism and then an automated message comes up saying thank you and what to do next. Then they log into the system to work through the masterclass and download the workbook and supporting documents I created and provided. Next is a 4 email sequence that follows to give more information and encouragement at what I deem to be critical points in working through the process. But the journey isn’t done there because that customer then gets placed in my general email list where I email them every week about the newest episode and some extra points of interest about the topic or a story behind the scenes. Each email in the sequence, the pin, the sales page, the automated message after purchase, it’s all part of the customer experience.

But what if you sell a product like an essential oil blend or a bath bomb or a tshirt. The experience shouldn’t be a multi-stepped event because that then becomes friction, it becomes a deterrent to actually getting to the checkout. So I’d argue that in this scenario you’d need to be even more precise and more intentional with how this process flows and impacts your customer journey. Start with someone sees your ad on facebook. They click the button to buy or learn more and are brought to the product page of your website. They then click the buy button and are brought to your online payment system. The payment system completes and they are shown a thank you message and an email is automatically sent to their inbox. Then you package up the item and it gets mailed. Or your drop shipper kicks into gear.

Then you take all of the other ways someone could get into that chain of events, where they enter the sequence, if there are extras that they get. And soon you’ll have a page full of points where you impact upon your customer, it’s your customer journey.

When I do this work, I find that as I am mapping the sequence out, I’m discovering the gaps in service or the places where I could do a better job. I keep a second sheet of paper by my side so I can make note of it or you could just scribble it down right on the map. And maybe you’re a cool cat who uses actual planning software for that kind of thing and if so, hats off to you. My brain kind of freezes up when forced to look at logical sequences on a screen, I’m pen and paper. Sometimes markers. But anywho.

When you see these gaps, when you look at what each email is about - the purpose it serves in the sequence, does everything flow logically and naturally? Is there a step in there that feels like a large jump or are there two steps where there really could just be one? Is each touch point or interaction effective?

Because don’t forget your purpose, your reason for this exercise. What’s the end goal here? Yes to improve the customer journey but why? That answer shapes what you look at, how you value the information you get. If your goal is to increase sales, look and see if you’re losing people at one part of the process. Do you end up with a lot of abandoned carts? Why? Are you getting people to click on your facebook ad but they don’t buy, why? Do they open the email sequence after purchasing the product? If your goal is to increase referrals, are you missing an opportunity to make a referral-worthy impression? Are you adding your personality or personal touch to every step of the way to make it memorable and pleasant? Is there another opportunity to do so?

Again, you need to judge whether this effort is worth it to you. It might take you days and days to go through and plug all of the holes or tighten up processes. And maybe all of the things you can do don’t actually need to be done. You need to still have a balance, to remember that done is better than perfect. I admit, when I opened my masterclass for my facebook group and email list, I did not have all of the emails written. In fact, it was open for sale to the public and actually had some sold to wonderful people who invested (thank you, if that was you, by the way!) and I still did not have all of the emails written. They were planned and outlined but not written edited and in the system. I had to do that and work around the automatic send dates and all sorts of malarkey. Because I was trying to get my kids through an application process for their school, because I had to buy a house and school supplies, sort out a mortgage, buy insurance, because I had a birthday and my parents came to visit as a surprise, because I had done enough to get started and had a plan to finish it up. Because done is better than perfect. Those emails are in now, being delivered and could I have written fifteen emails instead of four? Yes. Yes I could. I could write these purchasers a novel because I love the topic of creating and using strategic messaging to create social media that works for your business. Does anyone need that as part of their masterclass? No. It’s not worth that kind of overwhelm for anyone. So you might see gaps but they might be fine just the way they are.

And if you’re looking at your map and you're thinking about the data and wondering what real people think about the whole thing, wondering how a paying person feels about the journey or experience with your company, well, you can always ask them. Pick out a few of those touchpoints that you’re wondering about and contact your old customers or clients. Or, set up a mechanism to ask your current clients as they go through the process. Find out what they think. It may be that something you feel is clunky or awkward doesn’t raise any issues with them. Or something you think is just bloody brilliant is just bloody weird.

One last idea for you is to look at other processes similar to yours. Or maybe unlike yours. I don’t know how creative a thinker you are! If you look at the different ways and touchpoints that made an impression on you as a customer, try to emulate those. I subscribe to some smashing emails lists - Tarzan Kay is inspirational - and I definitely am influenced by the way she and others whose products or services I’ve purchased have handled me as a customer. I know what I like so why would I expect my customers to be any different?

Irrespective of what your specific goal is, I suggest that the end result will be an improvement in your reputation. I know that going through this process will lead to people being even more happy with doing business with you and happy people do tend to make recommendations. However, in this as in all things, I recommend you be strategic - be mindful of the goal for the specific customer journey and examine those touch points to see if they are creating the customer experience you intended. Look for the gaps or opportunities and evaluate their importance, you don’t fix what ain’t broke, right? This is not an opportunity to procrastinate, this is an opportunity review, evaluate, fix and get back to daily operations, secure in the knowledge that you are doing the best you can to care for your customers like the valued business assets they are.

Thank you for listening today and I’d love to hear what made an impact on you so post your thoughts and tag me on Instagram at janiceefogarty, I’d love to see what you're thinking. And until next week my friend, have a fantastic rest of your day.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What I'm Spending My Points On

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 15:00:43 GMT

The practical aspect of messaging involves being clear, direct, leaving your audience in no uncertain terms as to what they need to know/think/feel/do. But how do you know if you're doing that?

When you are really clear on your goals, you can get really clear on your messaging. That clarity is what enables you to be bold and decisive in the language you use, to be confident in your delivery.

Key Points:

What is clear and direct language? (2:36)
Real life example in action (4:04)
Messaging Delivery Options (7:01)
Tips to Deliver Clear & Direct Messaging (9:04)

Also Mentioned:

https://www.janicefogarty.com/create-your-social-media-content-strategy

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on creating your own strategic messaging, based on your business goals. Get this download and learn how to speak clearly and with purpose about your business. (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
Thinking about taking advantage of all the podcasts as opportunities to get your message out? You need my one page download on How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
Wondering how to get incredible PR to grow awareness of your business but can't afford a PR agency? You need 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to episode 67 of Connections, Coffee & Confidence with me Janice. I’m really happy to have you here for this episode as it’s all about my favorite topic - messaging. The what of ‘what to say’. My geek out material. Because everyone will tell you to find your audience then go talk to them but who is helping you figure out what to say? That’s right, me.

And today we’re going to look at clarity in your messaging.

INTRO

It can be a little scary for us as the communicators, the ones who have to say or write the copy for our social media, our lives, our websites and bios. We not only have to craft those bold declarative sentences, but we must deliver them like we are full of confidence and yet not too cocky because cockiness tends to put people off. And you know, I think this is why I do such a great job for my clients, and why they pay me - and why others pay people like me. It’s so much easier for many of us to make those declarations, those proclamations, when it’s not about us. To make them on behalf of others.

And if you want me to do that for you, awesome possum. Drop me an email and let’s set up a time so I can get to know your goals and your tone and we’ll work out your messaging and all that jazz. But if you want to know how to do it yourself, I have your back on that too.

Let’s talk about how we even get started with that kind of communication? That boldness? What exactly is clear and direct communication?

A lot of it comes down to directive language. That’s when you just say what needs to be said, no fuss, just the required words to impart information, strung together to make a complete decoration for your product or business. Like a string of Christmas lights, all of the words as lightbulbs, none burnt out and just taking up space, causing a dark hole in your messaging. Every bulb doing its job, drawing attention to what you're about.

It seems like it should be so simple, eh? You have something to say so say it. But if it was quite that simple, we wouldn’t see one hundred and fifty words squished into a single graphic with another thousand in the post text. We wouldn’t have emails that run on for so many screen lengths that you scroll to the end for the highlight or just tap the little garbage can to delete.

You wouldn't have podcasters talking about words as christmas bulb lights.

Yeah.

Directive language is clear and concise, it tells you exactly what to expect or what to do next. It answers the question that has been in your mind or on your heart for ages, and you might not have even known about it until there you go - an answer appeared.

I have three boys, two are teens and one is so close he smells like a teen… Actually, he’s really good to shower and wear deodorant, bless him, but he can eat like he’s a teen. So I have apps for the grocery stores I frequent and I check for the weekly specials. One company is Loblaws, which if you’re Canadian, you know as No Frills or Superstore. They also own a massive drugstore chain as well as a clothing line. All of these companies fit very well within my shopping habits as kids eat, they get sick, and bust through their clothes like nobodies business. I love their President’s Choice app. They fussed it up a bit recently with extras, it used to just show the products I’d get loyalty points on if I buy them this week but now they give you the option to check out seasonal recipes or features on new food lines or sales on clothing or information on flu shots or whatever.

They’re being a smart company and using a tool that they have to connect with their audience and expanding that tool to provide extra value to their customers, opening up lines of potential new revenue and brand loyalty. It’s exactly what we need to be doing with the tools we have at our disposal, right? So if you haven’t looked at my Create Your Social Media Content Strategy masterclass yet, and you want to use your social media as a tool for your business growth, I’ll link to that in the shownotes.

In the PC app, there was a headline that said ‘What to Redeem Your Points on in September’. There was a pretty picture of a vibrant yet cushy kind of office living room type of area and I saw things I like, afterall, I’m moving into a new house this month and, while I usually use the points to get money off the grocery bill or clothes for the kids, our stuff is in a steel storage container on the other side of the country and who knows what I might need to tide us over until it arrives, right? Well, I clicked it.

Now. Was the headline cute and creative? No. Was it fun and teasing? No. Did it lure me in with a laugh or urgency or crazy promises and pretty prose? Definitely not.

What to Redeem Your Points on in September. The language is clear, concise and tells me exactly what I’m going to find if I click the link. What I found was a list of seven items that I didn’t know about, that range in price from a fancy new tonic water in case I feel like a fancy G&T (um, yes please) to a super cool new coffee maker - boy it was like they wrote this article for me, eh? There were homewares included as well and was I drawn to every item on the list? No. Was I resentful or surprised with what I got after I clicked the button? No. And will I click the same headline for next month? Probably, if I see it. It didn’t take up too much of my time, it was helpful because I can definitely splurge on some fancy tonic water with my points, and it was clear in what to expect.

All the words I needed to know, none of the fluff to confuse me.

The additional aspect to this link was the image. The picture matched something that is happening in my life, a new home that I’ll have to decorate. We’re going from a home built in the 2000’s to one built in the 1930’s with original features. So it’s fair to say that some of our stuff might stick out like a sore thumb, I might need some things to tie everything together. And did I mention I have an actual office in this new house? Like, an actual home for Connections Coffee & Confidence and janicefogarty.com. With windows. And space for a free standing desk, definitely a bookcase or two and an extra chair. I digress. But my point is messaging isn’t just verbal - the picture touched me as well. It appealed.

When you are really clear on your goals, you can get really clear on your messaging. That clarity is what enables you to be bold and decisive in the language you use, to be confident in your delivery.

When is the last time you clicked a link? I’m not talking about clickbait, although they provide an excellent study in how to lure people in by playing on their interests, hobbies and general human nosiness. But when did you last see a headline and think, oh I need to know that. Or I know exactly what’s going to be in there for me and I need that - or don’t need that. Or you know how social media platforms usually only give you a small preview of a post then you have to click to see the rest of it? When’s the last time you clicked on one of those posts? Why did you follow through? And did you get what you feel you were promised?

I’m willing to bet the language used was clear and direct. There was probably a story of some sort but that story would be linked to the message, it’s a way to pull you into or illustrate the message. And I bet you’ll be more likely to click a link from that person or company again, maybe even subscribe or buy what they sell.

So how do you take what has attracted you to click through or subscribe or buy and use that in your business? How do you adapt it to suit what you sell, your brand, and tell it in your voice? Have a look at what you’ve put out in the past, emails, posts, lives, articles submitted, whatever product you’ve created. And read through the language again with a different perspective.

Humor is great, I’m fond of a laugh myself. But is it confusing the audience and hiding what you need them to know? Are you using jargon? You might know exactly what a land title search is because you’re a real estate lawyer or a realtor or contract to a municipality and deal with those things but does your customer or client know what you’re talking about? Are you scared to say what you have to say? Oh man there is nothing like fear to help us fluff out and hide our message behind soft words and sometimes this is where humor isn’t helpful. Are you communicating just to be seen and heard? That’s ego, often fear, coming to the forefront and if you don’t have a point then you’re not only wasting your energy but you’re burning the goodwill of those who gave you a chance and clicked your link or whatever.

When you go through your old material, do you see any of these confusion causers jumping out at you? Are you using clear and direct language? Do you read or see the piece and know what you’re meant to know, think, feel or do next?

People buy from or do business with people they trust. Trust is developed when the business uses clear language and draws someone in then follows through with what they’ve offered. In my experience, personally with my own business and professionally as a communications strategist, results come from using clear language confidently delivered in your own style. The confidence to do all of that comes from zeroing in on your goals and messaging, those are your starting points.

Thank you so much for listening today. I’ll be back next Monday with a new episode and until then, my friend, I hope you have an absolutely brilliant week. (By the way, that’s clear and direct messaging - I want you to know I drop a new episode every Monday, I value you and and want to see you back. Ok. Bye)

And today we’re going to look at clarity in your messaging.

INTRO

Let’s talk about how we even get started with that kind of communication? That boldness? What exactly is clear and direct communication?

You wouldn't have podcasters talking about words as christmas bulb lights.

Yeah.

Now. Was the headline cute and creative? No. Was it fun and teasing? No. Did it lure me in with a laugh or urgency or crazy promises and pretty prose? Definitely not.

All the words I needed to know, none of the fluff to confuse me.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Use Your Voice to Stand Out

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 15:00:27 GMT

This episode is a bit of a departure from my usual, message-driven, strategic content. This one is more of a musing on how our experiences shape our voice and we use our voice to stand out - no matter how much we might want to just fit in sometimes. How combining our experiences into something new might take courage and boundaries and a leap of faith, but we can do it. A little bit meta as this episode is me stretching my voice, calling on my experiences and using them as stories to illustrate my points, and opening up a bit about my own journey.

Take my half hour masterclass and by the end you'll:

have 30 days worth of strategic content ready to be created,
know how to create your own messaging to ensure each post or live is pushing you towards ticking off your goals,
know my four foundations of creating the visual,
and learn a few extra tips to keep you rocking.

I work you through a live example so you can see exactly what I mean and how the method works in real life, not just theoretically. Go to https://www.janicefogarty.com/create-your-social-media-content-strategy to learn more.

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on creating your own strategic messaging, based on your business goals. Get this download and learn how to speak clearly and with purpose about your business. (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
Thinking about taking advantage of all the podcasts as opportunities to get your message out? You need my one page download on How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
Wondering how to get incredible PR to grow awareness of your business but can't afford a PR agency? You need 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

So this week, as I write, is my birthday week. I’ll be 42 and I find myself fairly reflective, doing lots of thinking. Maybe it’s the age, maybe it’s the amount of change we’ve gone through as a family and that I’ve gone through personally. Today I want to talk you through being different and the urge to fit in.

INTRO

Right at the outset, I want to be clear.

I can only speak to my experience and somewhat that of my family as we can really only know ourselves. And I don’t presume to think we or I have a monopoly on feeling or being different. I know that sometimes there’s a necessity to fit in, there are issues around personal safety for being different. As a mom to children with higher needs, I have some lived experience with this, I can’t imagine dealing with it personally and have no place to address it so I’m not.

What I do want to talk about is how your experiences, your decisions and the resulting consequences, they all make you different on the inside. This episode is a bit of a departure from my usual message driven style and I’ll be curious to know how this lands, please send me an email or post on my Connections Coffee & Confidence Facebook page and let me know what you think.

Alright, let’s get into this.

Well by the time you hear this we’ll be into September. My favorite month and not just because of my birthday. I love the changing colours that are so unique to this part of the world. And you don’t need to @ me on that one, there is science to back up that claim to uniqueness. But I love it. I love the snugglier clothes but there is still enough sunshine and heat for those summer dresses and last trips to the beach before the snow falls. You know what? I even loved school starting. And I was always doubly excited because I used to get school supplies for my birthday sometimes, like little extras. This is the time before you had to have 3 two and a half inch binders, one red, one light blue and one black, and so on. So I was pretty darn happy to have Strawberry Shortcake scribblers and funky erasers and whatnot. Parents wouldn’t buy them for their own kids but they’d splash out on name brands to spice up a birthday gift and I was considered odd because I relished the nice school supplies. We moved a few times while I was growing up so I was not only the new kid but the new kid who liked school supplies.

But you know what? I even still write in my gratitude list that I’m grateful for a really nice pen or new journal. Could be my virgo tendencies, I don’t know.

So in the last ten years, our family has gone through some massive upheavals and changes. We’re not alone in that. We’ve moved continent, crossed Canada twice. Lived with my inlaws and my parents. We’ve had numerous diagnoses that have impacted how we function as a family unit, how we interact with our communities. We’ve rented, bought and sold homes. We’ve been sick, gotten healthy and learned to all live, work and play together 24/7.

All of these experiences and others I won’t bore you with, have shaped me differently to what I had anticipated. And I bet that’s the same for you.

It’s that different aspect that I‘ve been reflecting on.

For example, I speak differently to my parents and brothers, with a different accent and expressions. And different still from where we’ve lived, no matter where that is. I sounded Canadian in Ireland and by the time we left Ireland, I sounded fairly Irish. I’ve lost a bit of it and picked back up some of the Maritime accent but not enough to sound local. Sometimes someone will start to speak to me and there’s this moment after I respond where they try and figure out if I’m local or where I’m from. You can see it on their polite but curious face. I’m different.

Sometimes being different is hard. It makes you tired to the bone and you wish you could just not be different. You wish you could be the same or at least feel the same just for a few moments, just to take the weight off

Unfortunately, that’s not a long term strategy. And as understandable as it may be, it’s not a healthy one either.

Those differences are what shape your voice. You know, that thing that helps you communicate with others. Not just the vibrations that come from your vocal chords but the way you speak, the mannerisms you incorporate, the ways you express yourself. The way you attract or repel people, run your day-to-day relationships and your business.

Your voice defines you as being separate from others who might be perceived as the same by those who see you as part of a larger, blurry group they lump people in your industry into.

And that’s a good thing. Because when it comes to your business, you want to be seen as unique. You want to be remembered for something and ideally something that is comfortable and natural to you.

There are loads and loads of podcasters, if you hadn’t noticed. And many of them are women in what’s termed the marketing and business space. So at first and still now, it’s easier being in such a crowded space because it’s easier to do something scary when I think no one is listening. This could be the same for you when you started your business. You wanted to blend in because it feels safer, more comfortable. You had done something different for you but maybe you’ve done it exactly the same way as everyone else so how are you actually standing out?

You use your voice.

In my early episodes, I felt more stilted. I had only heard wildly successful female podcasters and I couldn’t be them - could I - but I felt the pressure to do it the same way. But my personality is kind of quiet and shy, I’m thoughtful and analytical and I felt like those traits would help me establish credibility with all of the strangers who, frankly, were not listening.

But what makes me me is that I have a dry and often sarcastic sense of humor. I’ve been an immigrant, I’ve done some travelling, I see things from different perspectives and have different ways of expressing myself. And I need to accept that it’s okay for me to be me, to speak like I do and let my observations come out. Because those are what will help me carve out more of a niche and get a bigger following.

Um, hey, what will also help is if you could leave a fabulous five star review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser for me. You’d be surprised at how much of a difference reviews make when people are choosing a new podcast to listen to. Thank you!

Because I need to not sound like Amy Porterfield or Jenna Kutcher, they have those niches quite nicely settled. I need to sound like Janice Fogarty, whatever her accent or approach.

And you need to do the same. Be yourself, I mean. Don’t be me. It’s not as cool as I make it out to be.

Using my voice as a tool to help my podcast grow is one thing but in accepting it coming out in my marketing, in my interviews on other podcasts and or media, where there might be a new or larger audience, is still hard. Because there’s that desire to fit in. That desire to not stand too far out because what if?

What if I make a mistake. What if I do it wrong and it can never be fixed. What if somebody hates me. What if somebody points out I’m wrong and everybody thinks I’m stupid. What if they don’t understand me. What if they judge me and find me lacking.

So going back to Ireland for a moment, they have this delightful habit over there of combining occupations just because that’s the way it’s done. My favorite is visiting a small border town and heading to the local pub for a pint or two. And I ended up sitting on the counter while my husband sat on the freezer because the pub was also a glorified convenience store that sold a selection of groceries. And hardware goods. And was the undertaker.

Of course this was a throwback to the early early years when the pub was the only place that had either the space or the cooler facility to store a body. And the family didn’t have far to go to mourn over their pints. Food and hardware items are required for living life, and every town had a pub so why not lump it all together? And it works so why change it?

You knew the tourists because we were the ones with the quizzical looks. Like, am I really seeing this? Can I really buy pizza pockets here and you’ll heat it up in the microwave while we wait for the Guinness to settle for the rest of the pour? Ok. And the next town we stopped in, years later, that had the same set up, I walked in and didn’t bat an eyelash because of course.

I tell you this because it’s a different approach to business. And your personal experiences and beliefs and skills, they might all come together to nudge you in a different direction than what’s considered the norm - in your field, your friends and family circle, your own head.

Like your voice, it’s hard to accept that initial phase of being deliberately different. It’s hard to just decide to do it and buck the trend until... it’s not. Because you’ve decided and you’re tired of thinking about it and talking about it and writing your lists for and against. You just decide to do it and then it becomes easy. Until you are hit with evidence that you are different, you’re doing it differently, and it’s making other people uncomfortable or question your decision making and it becomes hard again.

That fear, that level of difficulty is sometimes soul sucking. It can hit like a ton of bricks when you thought it was all going great and you were congratulating yourself for all of your awesomeness in backing your own capabilities and decisions.

This is where knowing yourself, your voice, your strengths, and I think most importantly, your limits or boundaries are important. Because if you know who you are and you feel comfortable in your skin, you know you’ll survive the judgement and the fear in the pit of your stomach. Because if you have boundaries, you’ll decide whose opinion matters and disregard the others that pile in.

I belong to a group for female podcasters and what I love in there is that we celebrate the first one star review. Because it’s inevitable that you are not going to be someone’s cup of tea. Someone will have a contrary opinion and they will feel entitled to share it, usually giving you a good taste of their voice, and it’s a sign of growth. When you first start up, your close friends will listen to support you. Maybe your mother. And they aren’t going to roast you publicly. But the danger with growth is that you grow. You get exposed to new people, to different concepts, to new ways of doing things and not all of it will go well.

But we can’t grow without those less-than-stellar experiences. And we must continue to grow. So we have to push ourselves. We decide which risks are worth taking and we take them. We have the power to choose to value our experiences, to be true to them, and use them as gifts. And we have to just... do it, whatever it is, as best as we can.

Because part of the fear is that judgement piece, and we might be able to have those boundaries around whose opinion actually matters to us but rarely do we exclude our own!

I don’t know about you but I am my own worst critic. I will flip flop several times on this episode. Will I publish it? And if I do, will I publicize it as much as I do other episodes? Will I be embarrassed about it in six months time? A year?

Maybe. Because to be honest, I’ve already done things on this podcast that have embarrassed me. I remind myself that I’ve done the best with what I had and what I knew at the time. I fix what I can when I have time and if it causes a big enough shudder when I think about it. But I leave a lot because time soothes my anxiety and people enjoy a journey. We all appreciate watching or listening as someone evolves, as they grow. We grow with them. And it makes us feel less different, to know someone else is squirming through their evolution, even if we’re evolving differently.

Because we do want to fit in. We want to be recognized as a part of a larger something. It’s primal and built into our brains to be a part of the larger group, safety in numbers and all of that. But there’s a mix possible, to having our own voice, our own way of doing things, our own standards and expectations, along with being part of something larger. Even if it’s something we need to create ourselves. I think that mix level ebbs and flows as we go through different periods in our life but we need to find the strength and the confidence to be who we are and adapt that into our business, whatever any of it turns out to be.

I’m not sure how I got here on this topic. It’s not my usual type of podcast. I’m usually rather structured with a point and this one had a loose moral to the story but not my typical fare. I guess I’m experimenting with trying out my own voice, letting my thoughts run. And I’m not sure if I was talking more to you or me throughout this one. Who knows. I know I flip flopped between you and me throughout. I hope you got something out of it. I hope you realize that there are times when we can settle and times we need to push, but through it all we need to be ourselves.

And if you're already clear on who you are, well, thanks for sticking through this whole thing. If you’re ready to start using that voice of yours in your marketing and PR, I invite you to take my masterclass on Creating your social media content strategy. I go through my process for creating messaging and aligned posts for my clients to use in their business facebook pages so you can do the same for you. This content can be repurposed for all of the feeds, the key is the messaging and you know I walk you through that! SO I’ll link to that in the shownotes or you can go to my website for more details, and I thank you again for listening today. I’ll be back next week, a year older, maybe wiser. Until then my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 People Your Business Messaging Must Speak To

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 15:00:01 GMT

Key Points:

The First Primary Audience: Potential Clients or Customers (4:55)
The Second Primary Audience: Past and Current Clients or Customers (6:26)
The Third Audience: Influencers (8:18)

Have you left a rating & review yet? Please take a moment and do so as it helps bring this podcast to other small business owners (and I'd be forever grateful!) If you're listening on Apple Podcasts (formally iTunes) please rate and review there. If you're not an Apple supporter, you can go to Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/connections-coffee-confidence-1788572 Thank you so much for your support!

Take my half hour masterclass and by the end you'll:

have 30 days worth of strategic content ready to be created,
know how to create your own messaging to ensure each post or live is pushing you towards ticking off your goals,
know my four foundations of creating the visual,
and learn a few extra tips to keep you rocking.

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on creating your own strategic messaging, based on your business goals. Get this download and learn how to speak clearly and with purpose about your business. (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
Thinking about taking advantage of all the podcasts as opportunities to get your message out? You need my one page download on How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
Wondering how to get incredible PR to grow awareness of your business but can't afford a PR agency? You need 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Sometimes my kids share something with me that leaves me politely smiling, kind of half laughing because obviously it’s funny - the hilarious gut busting of his brothers tells me I’m meant to laugh but I don’t get it. And sometimes something similar happens with my husband, like when we drove around what we hope will be our kids’ new school. He pointed out the air filtration system. I hadn’t the foggiest notion of what he was talking about, I just saw the big boxy structure attached to the front of the school. But to him, as a project manager who works a lot on new build schools, he knew that meant there was a woodworking shop inside. I’m sure had he been with any of his colleagues, they would have gotten the inference immediately.

I’m not trying to say I’m completely out of touch with my family, although I’m not sure how much more I’m willing to learn about video games to stay really in touch with my boys, but I am drawing attention to the idea that how we talk, how we deliver our messages, needs to be tailored to our audience. When my son tells me about his score in Rocket League, I need him to explain that the number he just said is good as I have no context. And when my husband points out great features in architectural language, I need a bit of a translation. Why? I’m not the person they are usually speaking with. I’m not their usual main audience and therefore they need to be aware of the gaps in my understanding, the language they use, even how they hook me into listening in the first place.

Your business is the same. You have different audiences to speak to but are you paying attention to them and how you talk to them? You might be quite confidently and clearly speaking to your main audience but leaving others politely smiling and worse, skipping on by. Do you know who they are? Today is about audiences.

INTRO

When you think about what you’re going to say in your posts or in your podcast interview or your blog, do you think about who is listening or reading? Do you think about what they know or understand about you, your business, your product or service? And do you think about how the answers to those questions directly impact how you speak to them?

I’m all about messaging. I love dialing in a good key strategic message, and breaking it down into sub messages. And if you were wondering, that didn’t sound any less geeky or cringy in my head but it’s the truth so I’m owning it. But even if you have messaging that is so sharp you could shave your bikini line with it and not worry about bumps, you don’t just create messaging and deploy it. That’s not the end of that process. That’s kind of the beginning middle-ish part. What’s the good of messaging if you don’t think about who’s receiving it?

Let’s remember that your messaging is always linked to your goal. The way you talk about your goal and the way you lead people towards it will depend on who they are, their relationship to you and what you offer. You need to have a good handle on who your different audiences are, what they want and how they can get that from you, and then your messaging can be adapted to suit those people.

There are probably as many ways to break down audiences as there are grey hairs on my head, which... is a lot if you haven’t seen my pic. But the standard variety breakdown encompasses two: primary and secondary. Which I will talk about but you know, I feel like there is a third since most of my audience is selling something - be it their product or their service. I feel like the primary audience can reasonably be broken into two so let’s look at those three audiences and how we need to think about them in order to tailor our messaging appropriately.

The first audience on our agenda for today is the one everyone will talk to you about: potential clients or customers. Those people who you want to come and buy your thing, to buy your service, to book up your calendar’s billable hours. These people are part of the primary audience. When you’re developing a picture of these people, the usual questions apply such as what means something to them? What do they value? A lot of online experts tell you to ask yourself what the customer’s pain point is, what makes them uncomfortable and address that. And yes, that gets results. But I don’t want you to neglect the positive, as well. What excites them, what possibilities entice them, what are they hoping to achieve? Can you take your messaging and use it to speak to their desires and needs? Can you speak to their future ideas, where they see themselves in six months or six years from now - and do it without sounding like you’re doing interview prep?! This group often feels exciting or stressful to develop messaging for because they are somewhat of the unknown - you haven’t necessarily interacted with them yet, and if you have they maybe haven’t engaged back. You probably know more about these people than you think and I encourage you to be excited by the possibilities open to you in the different ways you can develop, tweak and twirl your messaging for this group.

The second audience is the other half of the primary, they’re your current or past clients and customers. The people who have worked with you, bought your thing, followed your advice and enjoyed the experience. This group has had a pretty direct impact on your business as they’ve already given you the money that has allowed you to stay in business until now. These people are great because you probably have so much information about them tucked in your head or on a spreadsheet or intake form that will shape your messaging for them. And there’s research showing that a returning customer is worth a lot to a small to medium sized business. Marketing Tech blog indicates that a returning customer is worth ten times that of their initial purchase and other research shows that up to 61% of a small business’s annual revenue comes from repeat customers.

So basically once someone has been introduced to you, liked the experience, they can often be counted on to continue to support you. And you already have a pretty good idea on how to talk to them because you've done it before... with success. This is brilliant news!

When you’re crafting your messaging for them, think about what brought them to you and what you’ve provided for them. Who were they when they came to you? What were they looking for and how did they feel while they were looking? Or what feeling were they looking to capture by interacting with you? What happened or how did they feel once they got your product or service? And what are they now looking for? Can you bring them on that journey and reach your next goal? You probably have way more information about this group than you initially realize.

The third audience is a little bit less concrete. They are influencers or secondary audiences. These people probably won’t spend the money directly with you, unless you persuade them to do so as a gift or a service for someone they care about or are responsible for. But they carry influence over your primary audiences. In a larger scope they can be celebrities or quasi celebrities. Have you ever bought something because one of the Kardashians or whoever likes and uses it. Or at least used it once for their Instagram feed? (Was that too cynical?)

These people can shape the views of your customers and potential customers. So your job is to think about who can possibly have that kind of influence over your purchasers? If you sell a product such as bath bombs or handmade earrings, and your goal is to sell more, you probably want to go to larger volume outlets rather than one off sales as a goal. So who has influence over store owners or merchandisers? If you’re a professional, who has influence over your primary purchasers? I can almost guarantee that your profession, whatever it is, has people who say they don’t need you. Even when they do. So who has influence over them and their decision making and how do you talk to those people? What can you say to them to get them on your side, to align with you? How do you shape your messaging to open that door to supporting you?

The more you talk to your audience in terms that they understand, the simpler it becomes to get your message across. But what your audience knows and what your message means to them depends on who they are. It’s not their job to interpret what you’re saying to them, to decide if you are providing value to them. That’s your job. And mine. And if you need help with understanding your messaging and how to change it to suit your audiences yet stay aligned with your goals, pop me an email at janice@janicefogarty.com. And if you want to learn more about how I create social media content for my clients that works for them, how I devise their strategic messaging based off of their goals then translate that into actual posts for their social media feeds, then head on to janicefogarty.com/create-your-social-media-strategy for my 30 minute masterclass. Because once you have your messages and you know your audiences, the next step of the process is actually getting those messages to them.

And if you’re wondering, I have a pretty good handle on a weeping tile system to protect foundations. Because with practise and knowing your audience, tailoring your messages for them can become second nature and ensures they know what you need them to know.

Thanks so much for listening and until next week, my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Ways to Forecast Change For Your Business

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 15:00:45 GMT

So this one time we stumbled into a beautiful little village in the mountains in Spain. And then we struggled to find our way back out. You can assume we eventually did because here I am writing and podcasting in English with nary a Spanish accent but what the heck does this have to do with business? I pull it together in this episode, all about where to look to forecast change and how to know if the temporary changes you made to your business to survive Covid are going to be enough.

Key Points:

Snoop the Competition (8:45)
Trend Watch (10:49)
Don't Be The Smartest Person in the Room (11:45)
Get a Mentor: Not a guru! (12:40)
Ask Your Customers (14:02)

Also mentioned in this episode:

Have you left a rating & review yet? Please take a moment and do so as it helps bring this podcast and the information to other small business owners (and I'd be forever grateful!) If you're listening on Apple Podcasts (formally iTunes) please rate and review there. If you're not an Apple supporter, you can go to Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/connections-coffee-confidence-1788572 Thank you so much for your support!

Take my half hour masterclass and by the end you'll:

have 30 days worth of strategic content ready to be created,
know how to create your own messaging to ensure each post or live is pushing you towards ticking off your goals,
know my four foundations of creating the visual,
and learn a few extra tips to keep you rocking.

I work you through a live example so you can see exactly what I mean and how the method works in real life, not just theoretically. Go to https://www.janicefogarty.com/create-your-social-media-content-strategy to learn more.

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on creating your own strategic messaging, based on your business goals. Get this download and learn how to speak clearly and with purpose about your business. (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
Thinking about taking advantage of all the podcasts as opportunities to get your message out? You need my one page download on How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
Wondering how to get incredible PR to grow awareness of your business but can't afford a PR agency? You need 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to today’s episode of Connections, Coffee & Confidence with me, Janice. Growing up, we didn’t do amazing and fancy holidays. Except for that one time there was a big thing at my Dad’s work and he ended up with a ton of credit card points. Those points paid for us to rent a hotel room, one room, for the five of us. But it was next to the pool, which was bat central but whatever, and we thought it was the best thing ever. And it was the first time we got to see Mr. Bean because we were in New Brunswick, Canada’s only bi-lingual province, and the only tv channel we got was French CBC. Mr. Bean, if you’re not familiar, has no talking so it was perfect. Proof you don’t need the perfect holiday to make family memories. But that’s not my point.

I tell you this because now I’m going to tell you a story about this time I went to Spain and I don’t want you to think I don’t still, to this day a good 20 years later, recognize the extreme privilege of international travel. I’m going back to when I lived in Ireland, which is a story for another day, where it’s quite common to pop on a Ryanair flight and jump over to Spain for your holiday.

But this one was a special trip because my now husband and I were going to Spain to meet one of my brothers and his then girlfriend. They had saved up all of their money to do a big backpacking in Europe thing and they were heading to Spain. My husband’s family have a villa so we were going to stay there, spend some time together, exciting because I hadn’t seen him for a year or two at that time and I missed him.

One day we decided to go exploring, up into the mountains. It was gorgeous, as Spain tends to be. And we found ourselves driving through this little tiny village. No idea what it was called. We didn’t know then, either. No idea how we got there, we were literally just driving to see the sights. It was old, it was high up with views to take your breath away - especially me as I’m afraid of heights. Olive and almond trees everywhere. Just beautiful.

But like all things, it needed to end and we had to go home. Except, there were no road signs. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? As we drove around, we noticed that the stunning vista we were loving was really similar to the one we had just seen a few minutes earlier. And pretty soon we realized we actually were seeing the same scenery, on repeat.

We asked ourselves: How many roads can there be to get out of this little village? We really stumbled into this hidden gem of a community, shouldn’t be too hard to stumble our way back out, right? Turns out there were loads of little side roads off the main road, none of the directional signs made any sense to us, and the main road seemed to just do a loop around the village.

So what in the world does this have to do with your business? I’ll pull it together for you after the intro.

INTRO

Now, before I close the Spanish mountain top driving loop for you, I want to have a quick word about the masterclass I just released. If you’re interested in learning more about how to use social media to grow your business, as a tool to effectively reach your business goals; if you need a better strategy than only to batch create when the stars align and your hair is amazing but you’re scrambling for things to say; if you’ve been trying to use social media for your business but just aren’t seeing the results you want; I have something for you. I’ve created a half hour masterclass where I teach you my method for creating strategic messaging and using it in my clients’ social media to move them towards their business goals. I include my four foundations for each post and even walk you through a real Facebook post, breaking it down so you see each element in action. The strategy works for all platforms and businesses, and you finish it not only knowing my exact method but also with 30 strategic post topics, designed by you to push your business forward. There’s more information on my website at janicefogarty.com and I’ll link to it in the shownotes.

Ok, Spain. We were very reluctant to try any of these side roads to who knows where. None of them were looking any more prominent than the others because logically wouldn’t you expect a road to a larger town or a highway to be bigger or somehow special? Fortunately, we weren’t the only ones seeing the same thing on repeat. A very old gentleman noticed we had driven past him a few times already. On the next pass, he was in his truck and ready for us. He tooted his horn and waved for us to follow him. So we did. And he drove us down the same road and a few minutes later pulled over to the right side of the road while indicating left. Then he hopped out and started waving and pointing for us to go left. Which turned out to be the road back to where we needed to be to get to the highway to get home. Bless his heart.

And sometimes we reach this place in our business where we’re driving around and around, thinking everything is just fine. Until we realize it’s not. Until we realize our problem, our challenge. And in business, when we’re following the same path all of the time, it often means we’re missing what else is happening. Sometimes following the same path also means it’s harder for us to get off that beaten track, even if we have someone waving us off in another direction.

Lots of us changed direction when Covid hit, to some degree or another. Some of us went crazy bananas and took this as a chance to do something so different to our norm. Some of us just kind of tweaked what we were doing already or slowed way down while we tried to retain some sort of security.

But the world is still changing and things probably are never going back to the way they were. So the changes or tweaks you made as a temporary measure, they may now look like not enough. They were fine for the interim but time is moving on and you gotta ask: will they stand the test of time?

This is the moment when we really need to start paying attention, gathering information and clues to what might be happening, what new changes might be coming down the road and how we can deal with them. How they might impact or even improve our business. We don’t want to be like the board of Blockbuster and have the CEO tell us we should move to a subscription model, only to dismiss the idea. The joys of being small is that we can continue to make changes as we see fit. The trick is being paying attention and remaining open to the information presented.

But where do we pay attention? Who will be our guru now? And how we can we trust any one guru?

I have five suggestions for us to use to gather reliable information to digest. Five ideas to of places to gather our clues starting with some basic snooping.

First port of call is to look at competitors. Very few of us are doing something unique so odds are there is someone else you can look at. You might even know your competition and this is where you put your relationship skills to use, and ask to meet to discuss. Not only is it so helpful to network with someone who just gets what you do but it’s also helpful to see if someone else’s experiences and practises match your own. With any luck, they are trying something different and you can gauge from each other which is the way forward or even adapt the method even further. But you can also do the step-removed snooping and check out their online presence. Maybe they offer a different package, use different language, whatever and you can have a think about whether they are just targeting a different client and that’s totally cool, but are they targeting a different client because they know something you don’t? Are they targeting mid-size companies because smaller businesses don’t have the funds to pay for your service, for example? A word of caution - don’t get caught up in the they’re doing something different, it must be better oh my God I suck trap. Don’t do it. Maybe something safer to do is to look at similar businesses in the same industry or sector. So if you’re a family lawyer, a professional, you look at other professionals. Be it a real estate law practise or an accountancy firm. If they are somewhat comparable, have a look at how they are operating. Are they moving to operate online? Scaling back their services? Niching more? Why do you think that might be? And is it applicable to your business? If you're a hairdresser, check and see what the personal trainers or nail techs are doing. You want to look for a comparable type of business that has been successful, growing steadily, and is known for being progressive. What are they doing and can you do it too?

Another method that doesn’t require you to leave your chair is to check online research and data resources. There are companies out there whose entire business model is to watch trends, to gather the data and analyse it; many will create sector- or industry-specific forecasts based on the data which you can use to base your decisions from. Now, full reports are usually for purchase but sometimes they are free or the excerpt will give you enough of a clue as to whether you want to purchase or even give you an overview, a feel for how things are predicted to go. Try your professional association if you belong to one or check companies like Bloomberg for these reports. Google it and see what comes up; you never know which PhD or Masters candidate just published their comprehensive review on exactly what you’re looking to learn. Honestly, I’ve been surprised a few times exactly that way.

Speaking of professional organizations and networking, what about networking with your professional organization? Or with community business leaders? You want to find a room, physical or otherwise, where you are not the smartest person. Where people have different experiences, different paths and glean what you can from them. Try Quora or Reddit; blogs, podcasts or the social feeds of industry influencers or thought leaders. Places where the chitchat’s happening. You’re listening for and asking about things they’ve been doing differently, processes they've been changing, things that haven’t been working or seem not to be working like they used to.

And if the idea of talking to lots of people is a bit overwhelming, try a mentor. Many business associations offer a mentoring program and often your local government-led business centres do as well. You can even just approach someone you’ve admired and ask. And it should be a safe ask for you, too, because it’s a flattering thing for most people to be considered mentor material. What you’re looking for is the opportunity to pick the brains of someone who has been there done that and maybe even seen some of the current trends that she knows are just that - a trend. She - or he - might be able to tell you which things remain constant in business, what used to work that is coming back into favour or even see that you are, in fact, knocking it out of the park and be who you need to remind you to celebrate your accomplishments. I had asked earlier who will be your guru and I just want to take a moment and suggest your mentor not be a guru. You need someone who can balance you out, push you forward, and answer your questions. They are not the be all and end all when it comes to information because one person’s experiences are just that - one person’s experiences. So a mentor - not a guru.

And you know what source might be the easiest to tap for information? Your current client base. The people you have already worked with in the past or are working with right now. Have a think about what people have been coming to you with or what they’ve been talking about as you’ve engaged with them. Have a few people been mentioning the same things or asking the same questions? Or just ask them what’s changing in their lives and how you can help make it easier. Have you noticed that one of your services just isn’t really getting much uptake over the last few months or year? Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate based on current trends or just ask a trusted customer, someone you really thought would benefit from that service or product, why they didn’t purchase. Obviously, frame it as a help to you and not scolding for not buying your clearly amazing thing. But ask. Because the information is probably good. And if it involves something you can control or work with, then you know what to do.

But here’s the thing. You’re the boss of your business. You were smart enough to get where you are. You’re smart enough to know to keep scanning the environment for opportunities and threats. So you’re smart enough to take the information you’ve gathered from your sources and evaluate it. To take the time, step back and mull it over. To watch for the signs of change and if you don't understand the signs you see, to look for someone who is willing to help. Not everyone is as lucky as we were to have someone notice you’re lost and wave you in the right direction out of the good of their heart, sometimes you have to ask. Which reminds me of another trip to Spain with my husband where we ended up in a different travel-related challenge that ended up with us climbing and jumping off of an 8 or 9 foot fence to a dusty alley while a busload of passengers yelled to ask where we were going. But that’s another story, for a different time.

If you enjoyed this episode I’d love you to bits and pieces if you could leave a review on itunes, and if you don’t do Apple, you can leave a review on Podchaser; I’ll leave the links in the shownotes.

And until next week my friend, thanks for listening.

I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

But What Do I Talk About?

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 15:00:47 GMT

We're all working on our reputation, whether we know it or not, every day. You can't get around it. But you can be intentional with how you create your reputation and this episode introduces one tip for doing that effectively: storytelling.

Key Points:

Why you want people to talk about you (2:14)
Practical Exercise: Brainstorm Session (4:12)
Stories in Action (6:16)
Social Media Strategy (8:26)

Also mentioned in this episode:

I’m releasing my masterclass on my strategic social media content method on August 18, 2021.

By the time it’s over:

you’ll have 30 days worth of strategic content ready to be created,
you’ll know how to create your own messaging to ensure each post or live is pushing you towards ticking off your goals,
the four foundations of creating the visual,
and a few little tips of my own to keep you rocking.

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on creating your own strategic messaging, based on your business goals. Get this download and learn how to speak clearly and with purpose about your business. (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
Thinking about taking advantage of all the podcasts as opportunities to get your message out? You need my one page download on How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
Wondering how to get incredible PR to grow awareness of your business but can't afford a PR agency? You need 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Well hello and welcome to this episode of Connections, Coffee & Confidence with me, Janice Fogarty. I don’t know if you know this or not, but people talk. They might even talk about you. But what are they saying? Is it what you want them to say? And, more importantly, can you influence what they’re saying?

Essentially what I'm talking about here is reputation management, traditionally something you needed to hire a PR professional to do for you. But these days we’re all creating and managing our own reputations, whether we realize it or not.

So what can you do to start being intentional about it? That’s today’s topic.

INTRO

Reputation management. It’s a massive topic, really detailed and nuanced and so much fun to work through. Unless, of course, you’ve made a massive slip and are in damage control mode. Then it’s less fun. That’s when you’re grateful you had the foresight to establish a good reputation to work to save and it’s probably the time to hire a professional. But for your regular day-to-day, there are some things you can do yourself to get people talking about you and influence what they’re saying.

Let me just check in with you first - are you squirming a bit? Even a little at the idea of having people talk about you? Because I get it. Many of us create logos and brands and put those things out there to represent our business. Many of us do things like talk about our offerings until the cows come home but never talk about ourselves. Because it’s much more comfortable to talk about the things we do because we believe in them, but talk about us? Shock and horror. No thank you!

Allow me to make a case for doing just that.

When you talk about yourself, you naturally draw attention to your services, your business. And usually you can do it without looking like an advertisement. When you talk about yourself you stir up a bit of good old human curiosity, sometimes referred to as nosiness. But we want to encourage that to a degree and in a controlled fashion, we want to draw attention to your business. Talking about yourself also allows you the opportunity to discuss your expertise, again drawing people back to your business. Discussing your services, your capabilities, that’s building and enhancing your reputation. There’s no craziness involved, it’s just talking about you and what you do.

And the nice thing about being an entrepreneur involved in this aspect of the business is actually being the expert - not just in your business but about yourself. There’s no one who knows you like you do.

So essentially what I'm saying is that talking about yourself in your business is good for business. But what does this mean in practical terms? Oh, I love the practical stuff.

Ok. Grab some paper and let’s have a wee brainstorm session. Think about your experiences and your background. Think of the funny things that have happened in your business, that time you attempted to speak to your client in their native language to create relationship and you goofed. Or the time you saved the event by knowing the correct angles to take the pictures that would look amazing but not show the massive red wine spill on the dress. Or the time you got a lovely email from someone about how they love a specific product of yours for the way it makes their child or mother or themselves feel and why you created that product, how the email made you feel, how it inspired you to create a new product line. What about a funny story about what happened while you were studying for your degree or certification? Something that kept you up at night, something you aced, something you discovered you loved. Tell a client story, how you met them, how you help them, why you like working with them. What can you talk about that illustrates your experience and expertise, your personality or character? Write all of those down.

Now have a look at those ideas. Which could you comfortably make public? Obviously, if you were the one who spilled the wine on the dress you had to take the pictures of, that’s not a story you tell. But think about the stories that will really create a connection between you and the person you want to do business with. Which of these stories will appeal to them? Which will paint a picture of you as a person and a business woman?

So great, now you have a few stories to tell that will help increase your reputation. But what do you do with them? Oh, my love, what do you not do with them?! This is the fun part, and you need to start with the things that are fun or else you’ll talk yourself right out of doing them. Start with your favorite story. Your best one. Probably one you’ve told before and gotten a great response to, why not?

Now run with it. Elizabeth Arden once said, “Repetition makes reputation and reputation makes customers.” Oh, and she’s Canadian too, eh. Just a little tidbit for you. But she intuitively knew about creating and managing a reputation, she did a fantastic job of it for herself and her company until she grew her company so large that she took on professional help, of course. So take with her advice, and mine, and run with your stories. Often. On repeat. These are the anecdotes you tell when you speak to the media. The stories that warm up your audience the next time you give a talk or a presentation or webinar. They break the ice on your next podcast interview. These stories go on your website, peppered throughout - wherever relevant - to make your point about a product or yourself. Heck, these stories are prime material for an About Me page if you have one. And if you don’t, here’s the beginnings of one for you.

If you take a step back and look at the stories as a collection, what do they tell you? Is there a theme? A common thread that runs through many of them? Or something that stands out as particularly descriptive or indicative of you, your business? Something that can become or even inspires a motto or a tagline? A tagline that you pepper everywhere. Even on a tshirt, your twitter or Instagram bio?

Which leads us to using social media to humanize your brand, build your reputation. If you’re interested in learning more about how to use social media to grow your business, as a tool to effectively reach your business goals; if you need a better strategy than only to batch create when the stars align and your hair is amazing but you’re scrambling for things to say; if you’ve been trying to use social media for your business but just aren’t seeing the results you want; I have something for you. I’ve created a half hour masterclass where I teach you my method for creating strategic messaging and using it in my clients’ social media to move them towards their business goals. It’s exactly what I do and I include my four foundations for each post and even walk you through a real Facebook post, breaking it down so you see each element in action. The strategy works for all platforms and businesses, and you finish it not only knowing my exact method but also with 30 strategic post topics, designed by you to push your business forward. There’s more information on my website at janicefogarty.com and I’ll link to it in the shownotes.

And you know what? Stories like the ones you’ve brainstormed fit perfectly in this scenario, when you have stories designed to showcase a particular part of your personality, your expertise, your experience, social media can be the perfect place to tell them. Go live. Write a post. Take a picture. And repeat. Because remember Elizabeth Arden, repetition creates reputation and reputation creates customers.

Another brilliant person to quote is Oscar Wilde, the Irish tend to be incredibly quotable, it’s part of their charm. But he once said, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” You can influence whether people are talking about you and your business, and you can have a hand in deciding what they say by putting material out there for them to discuss. Pick what you want them to know, to talk about, and share that wherever you can. If you need help getting this process started, mapping out the strategy, send me an email at janice@janicefogarty.com because this is something I love helping people with. And if you want to learn how to work social media as a tool instead of as a looking glass into everyone else’s life and business, check out my website at janicefogarty.com and get my masterclass. Of course the link will be in the shownotes.

Thank you for spending your precious time with me today. But now I want you to take ten minutes and actually do that brainstorm ok? This stuff here is a quick and easy win and who doesn’t need that today? I’ll talk to you again next week. Until then, my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Ways to Rekindle Your Creativity

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 15:00:59 GMT

What do you do when your creativity takes a hit? When you can't find a spark to nurture, let alone fan into a flame of amazingness? When you can’t think of a single thing to post on FB or Instagram and you are wondering if anyone would notice if you skipped sending an email to your subscribers. Or you think you’ll just re-use last year’s product line for this year’s new season release. Today I have five ideas for regaining your creativity.

I’m releasing a one hour recorded masterclass on my strategic social media content method on August 18, 2021. If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you know that I firmly believe in using social media as a tool to move your business forward and this masterclass lays out exactly how I do it.

By the time it’s over:

you’ll have 30 days worth of strategic content ready to be created,
you’ll know how to create your own messaging to ensure each post or live is pushing you towards ticking off your goals,
the four foundations of creating the visual,
and a few little tips of my own to keep you rocking.

I work you through a live example so you can see exactly what I mean and how the method works in real life, not just theoretically. Go to www.janicefogarty.com to get on the waitlist or better yet, to join my email list - because my email subscribers and facebook group members always get first dibs and special pricing on my offerings.

Key Points:

Do what you love: Even when you don't feel like it (5:06)
Try something totally different (6:16)
Get into nature (8:09)
Get your butt in gear (10:02)
Clear your mind: Focus (11:43)

Also mentioned in this episode:

https://play.acast.com/s/connections-coffee-confidence/its-not-socially-acceptable
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-68632-9
https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/not-living-the-cookie-cutter-life

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on creating your own strategic messaging, based on your business goals. Get this download and learn how to speak clearly and with purpose about your business. (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
Thinking about taking advantage of all the podcasts as opportunities to get your message out? You need my one page download on How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
Wondering how to get incredible PR to grow awareness of your business but can't afford a PR agency? You need 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Connections, Coffee & Confidence podcast with me, Janice. We’re heading into what are known as the dog days of summer. Where the heat has settled in, sapping your energy to do anything but find somewhere to relax and cool off. It certainly takes a toll on your desire to be productive and creative. But no matter what time of year, the inevitable always happens. Your spark, your inspiration, your creativity takes a dip. It might not happen often but when it does, it can be... stressful. As a matter of fact, I find it tends to happen when things are already stressful; nothing like a pile of stress to stifle your enjoyment of, well, pretty much anything.

So what do you do when your creativity takes a hit? When you can't find a spark to nurture, let alone fan into a flame of amazingness? When you can’t think of a single thing to post on your facebook or Instagram and you are wondering if anyone would notice if you skipped sending an email to your subscribers. Or you think you’ll just re-use last year’s product line for this year’s new season release. Today I have five ideas for regaining your creativity.

INTRO

Before I dive in, I want to give you a heads up that I’m releasing a recorded masterclass on my method to create strategic social media content on August 18, 2021. In it, I’ll lay out the exact steps I use to make sure my client’s social media is cohesive and helps them reach their business goals. If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you know that I firmly believe in using social media as a tool to move your business forward and this masterclass lays out exactly how I do it. By the time it’s over, you’ll have 30 days worth of strategic content ready to be created, you’ll know how to create your own messaging to ensure each post or live is pushing you towards ticking off your goals, the four foundations of creating the visual, and a few little tips of my own to keep you rocking. I work you through a live example so you can see exactly what I mean and how the method works in real life, not just theoretically. Go to www.janicefogarty.com to get on the waitlist or better yet, to join my email list - because my email subscribers and facebook group members always get first dibs and special pricing on my offerings. And, it goes without saying, I’ll have all of this information in the show notes for this episode.

So creativity. Everyone has some form of creativity, some of us are lucky enough to get to use ours in our work. And I say ‘lucky enough’ but to be real, it doesn’t feel like such a blessing when you need to create something but your well has run dry. You know what? That’s actually a really good example of when you know your creativity has dried up, you resort to trite sayings such as ‘the well has gone dry’. Not terribly creative although still fitting.

Even when you aren’t using your creativity at work, you want to encourage a certain level of it in your personal life. Creativity helps you with problem solving, with seeing different perspectives, with generating new ideas and new ideas can lead to all kinds of amazing places. Or nowhere, but they’re fun to have and fun is good. Creativity is recognized as a character strength because it’s recognized as contributing to a person’s perceived wisdom. Creativity and innovation are frequently credited as the source of increased positive feelings and hope. It feels like no matter who you are or how you use it, creativity is a terrible thing to lose.

But it happens.

So what do you do to bring yours back to life?

My first suggestion is to do what you love to do, even if you don’t feel like it at the moment. Like to read? Grab a book or a magazine - try for some actual paper in your hands as the tactile experience is more immersive but get some words in front of you. If you like to pet your dog, I’m sure he or she won’t complain. Paint, cook, I bake. Baking is something I need to focus on because I usually go for a new recipe and it takes my mind off of whatever. It’s my safe space and I usually know how to tinker with a recipe a bit to make it my own and that immersive and sensory process lifts whatever’s blocking me. But that’s me. If you’re deep in a funk, you might not feel like you want to do it at that moment, but if it’s something that you really love and you give it a solid chance, often you’ll find your flow and slip into a state of relaxation. And a relaxed mind and heart are creative.

My second suggestion is a bit paradoxical. Try something totally different. You know how they say a change is as good as a rest? Well, here’s your opportunity to try it out. You might surprise yourself with what you find you like or have a hidden talent for. When you try something new, that’s when the potential for increased problem solving and perspective changes come into play. And even if it turned out to be something you really didn’t like and will never do again, it unlocks something inside of you, something that tells you: you are a survivor; you are a ‘keep your feet firmly on the ground’ person, you’re more of a nightclub groover than a ballroom dancer. There’s no wrong thing to come out, barring physical or psychological damage of course but I assume that you’re choosing a safe and legal activity. When you think about the outcome, don’t fixate on the concrete - look at outside of the thing you made or the whatever it was. I guess it’s in the perspective you use to review the experience that opens you up. Were you exhilarated by the physical, is it a clue to try something else active? Were you lost in the process but not the steps themselves? Like, you enjoyed having a series of activities that led you to the end but the things themselves didn’t rock your world - and maybe you can look at trying to incorporate more pastimes that involve a workflow or revisit your own workflow. Worst comes to the worst, you may have met some new people, crossed something off your to-do list, and got a story to tell in your next live or in your email. All is not lost if you have a story. See? It’s in your perspective!

Third on my list is getting into nature. I know it’s not the easiest thing for everyone to do on a grand scale but even if you have a window box or a flower in a pot on your desk - give it some time. I am not ashamed to say I talk to my plants. And my dog but that’s widely accepted, right? There’s research that plants grow bigger when you speak to them but I’m talking about communing with the plants for your benefit; extra flowers or whatever are a bonus. But if you can, get outside and be amongst some trees or water. Try taking off your shoes and standing on the ground, just some bare earth. If you can get to water and have a swim or walk the lake or creek or beach, soak it up. I’d even suggest finding some puddles and having a serious jumping session - guaranteed to make you laugh if nothing else but that still gets you outside. I could go into the whole discussion about earthing but I can’t find great science behind it. The Japanese have forest bathing where they walk in forests and the research shows that the air in the forest positively impacts walkers’ immune systems so there is something to the whole nature thing. And you know what, people tend to feel better after time with nature. So you do what you can with what you have access to. Personally, some of my most creative peaks have come after significant time in nature, be it walking the local beach, camping in the rocky mountains, or just weeding the garden. I’m a firm believer in this one.

Fourth suggestion is to get your butt in gear and move. I don’t care what you do, do something. Walk. That’s free. Do laps around your apartment, your property, the local park, the street in front of your day job, whatever. Go to the gym or get a Zoom trainer. Try Tasiya Haist from episode 24 if you want someone to work with and don’t know where to start, her details are in the shownotes and I’ve linked to the episode so you can get a feel before you approach her. Maybe you pop some music on and dance in the kitchen or living room or your bedroom. Try the gypsy kings or something with a fantastic latin beat to make you shake your booty and feel like a million bucks. Or maybe that’s just my jam. Get whatever shakes the cobwebs out and makes you feel like the most incredible person to grace your stage and hit repeat. Try kickboxing, yoga or pilates, swimming or skydiving. Get a second hand bike and a helmet and see how you go. A recent study and of course that’s linked but forewarned, it’s the actual scientific report not a synopsis, anyway the study showed that physical activity impacted a person’s innovation and creativity. It wasn’t that activity increased someone’s mood and then they were more creative, the innovation is a direct result of the physical activity. So move.

My fifth suggestion is to clear your mind. Or focus it on something. I know, I basically just said two different things there but roll with me, I’m about to get a bit soft and woo here. It’s often difficult for us to be creative when we have so much rolling through our mind. And when’s the last time you cleared your mind? There’s a wealth of information on meditating and journaling but I’m not going to inundate you with any of it. What I am going to do is tell you I journal every day because it helps remind me of what’s important and allows me the opportunity to clear out what isn’t. And I do the pen to paper journaling, completely tactile, and usually with a coffee in hand and before anyone else is up. That gets a bit messy sometimes, like in the summer when my youngest is up at the crack of dawn to cram as much into the day as possible so I hang out with him instead, let him kick my butt at games like Yahtzee or cards. But I know when I’ve been a bit lax in journaling because I struggle to focus, there’s too much happening in my head, so I make the time to do it. When I need the extra help, I find a guided meditation on YouTube and I’m grateful to be on Heather McGregor’s email list - do you remember Heather from episode 52? She provides regular opportunities to meditate with her and those sessions sweep the cobwebs and blocks and allow your flow to percolate back to life. That episode is linked in the shownotes, too. But the guided meditation works for me because it focuses me on what I’m doing instead of just floating through and finding myself mentally writing my grocery list, listening for the washing machine to stop and well whatever else is causing me to lose focus in the moment. But that's me. Find what slows you down, clears your heart and mind, and releases that band from your chest or your head that stops you from expanding and blocks your creativity. It might be in conjunction with physical activity such as yoga or even tai chi, doing double duty on the creativity block breaking. But maybe it’s a solitary action of meditation or journaling or painting, something that provides a focus for your brain, allows you to release the noise. Even just breathing, and Heather walks you through a breathing exercise you can do anywhere anytime to stimulate your flow.

Look, I know there are a thousand different things that you can try out to get yourself in a more creative state. The five I suggest today are to do what you love or do what you’ve never done before; get into nature, get moving, and get clear. These suggestions are kind of contrary to each other in some way. Try this or try the exact opposite. But there are as many options as there are people so check in with your gut, see what it’s telling you and follow it. Because what is consistent is the reported positive benefits of all of these options on your creativity. And that’s what we’re focused on today, flaming your creative spark back into a flame for the betterment of your work and your life. Such a cause is well worth a bit of experimentation, right?

Thanks for listening. I‘ll be back next week so until then my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simple Ways to Show Good Corporate Citizenship

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 15:00:25 GMT

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is something that consumers expect more and more from the businesses they do business with. As small business owners, we are uniquely positioned to make better decisions, take actions that align with our values, and be open about our why. In this episode, I’m talking about how we can continue to both do business and do good, and use that to our advantage without losing our self respect.

Key Points:

What CSR means for small businesses: Consumers want to support businesses that support the same things they do (5:17)
Ways to be a good corporate citizen on a small business budget (6:25)
Being Good for Goodness Sake: Why you should disclose your CSR activities (9:41)
6 Ways to Demonstrate Your CSR Activity Without Being Sleazy (10:28)

Also Referenced:

My Products:

Let's Connect!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram

Transcript:

I was listening to a podcast the other day and the host was talking about bad businesses who just had their PR team put a spin on things and make them look good again. Basically public relations was being touted as a way to wash, rinse and repeat their unethical and sometimes even criminal behaviour.

And I felt my blood begin to simmer.

Because you know what? We’re business owners and we don’t behave like that. We’re much better than that. I think there’s a massive swing underway towards proper corporate governance within the larger businesses, complete with transparency and accountability. It has been underway for a number of years but I feel it’s starting to really trend. Consumer activism is finally beginning to grow into a force that can quickly shape a company’s trajectory and, while it puts pressure on large companies that don’t necessarily have the capability to quickly shift direction or policy, it’s a fantastic opportunity for us smaller businesses to prove our corporate social responsibility.

Stick around, today I’m talking about how we can continue to both do business and do good, and use that to our advantage without losing our self respect.

INTRO

There’s a lot going on in the world today, lots of changes and upheavals and it seems like people are uniting in a way they never have before. I don’t know if it’s because so many of us have been at home alone for so long, slightly distant from the crowds that influence and perpetuate the norms and now we’ve had time to reflect. When we’ve been able to come together, people have united more strongly. I don’t know. I do know that I’m watching the groups of brave people who have put themselves forward to take a stand against wrongs like I haven’t seen before. Movements like Black Lives Matter, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes, and Every Child Matters which recognizes the harm Canada’s residential school system did to Indigenous children's sense of self-esteem and wellbeing, and as an affirmation of their commitment to ensure that everyone around us matters. Coincidentally, both of these organizations were founded in 2013 but seem to have only begun gaining traction on a larger stage in recent years.

I’m not here to get on a soapbox about the things that happen in the world, I’m not in a position to speak to it and I don’t presume to know enough to do the issues those organizations and others represent justice. My point is that there is a social awakening like most of us have never experienced.

And have a look at events current as of writing - Simone Biles, the American gymnast who stepped back from an Olympic team event, prioritizing her mental health. In the spring, she switched sponsors to Athleta because Athleta aligned more with her personal values; now her current sponsors are proving her choices right by standing by her and supporting her decision to prioritize herself as a human. These companies are aware of the change that is happening in the world, they see that we as people are recognizing there are big changes that need to be made in the world and, typically, those with the money are in charge.

In many ways, those with the money are the companies. But they get their money from us. Which ultimately means, we have the money. You know the expression, vote with your feet? Meaning you go where you want to shop, where you feel good supporting the business owners? That’s what is and what has been happening to some degree for years.

So okay, that’s all great that we are now becoming more woke as a society. But those are really big issues and really big companies at play, Athleta is owned by GAP and they aren’t small. What does this mean to us as small business owners?

Well, way back in 2017, Cone Communications did a study which I’ve linked in the shownotes, on corporate social responsibility. Back then, their research showed that 87% of respondents said they’d purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue they cared about and 76% would refuse to purchase a company’s products or services upon learning it supported an issue contrary to their beliefs.

So consumers want to support companies that support the same things they do. We actually have awesome opportunities that those big companies don’t have. We get to choose how, where and when we get to contribute to society. We get to choose what we share and how we do that. And because we’re the boss and we’re small, it doesn’t take much for us to make decisions or change direction. If you’re wondering about some examples of what we can do, well I’m happy to oblige!

You’re on social media, right? Do you have something you believe in? Something that you have experienced or someone you love has gone through? Something that interests you, for whatever reason? Put up a post or go live about it. Not just once or twice, but make it a regular thing. By calling attention to an issue, by drawing a connection between you and something - humanizing it, you are supporting that issue by raising awareness. I post about autism and parenting neurodiverse children. I don’t post every day and I don’t do it on my business profile, but many people have friended me on FB who don’t know me in real life and they get to see those posts. They get to see what I believe in, a piece of me that is personal, and it helps break down the stigma around people on the autism spectrum. It’s within my power to do and it’s within my personal comfort zone, it’s something I believe in so I use social media as my tool to raise awareness. You can, too.

You can sponsor causes or events. As a former community relations manager for a non-profit, I can tell you organizations are very appreciative of sponsorship and donations. Supporting sporting teams and other community-based activities are other great ways to be socially responsible.

You can contribute a portion of a sale to a cause of your choosing. A friend of mine is a bit of a serial entrepreneur and one of the first things she did was take a portion of her profits and sponsor a school in South Africa. Her then husband is South African and education was something very important to her so that was her choice.

You can make more environmental choices about the products you choose to sell or the suppliers you use. Like Carol Foy from Episode 48, Making a Positive Impact Through Aromatherapy. Carol chooses her suppliers based on a set of ethical considerations and contributes to her community in different ways including offering a refill service.

You can create your own code of ethics where you make a commitment to yourself that you will be inclusive, you will be environmentally sustainable, whatever it is that you feel strongly about but maybe haven’t made official.

And don’t forget things like volunteering - you can always devote time to a group or a cause you love. You can take your professional expertise and donate them to people in need, offer a scholarship or discount on your products or services. I’ve pitched a local autism support group and parent organization to media to increase their exposure and to highlight some of the changes the city had made to their community programming, making it more inclusive. It was something easy for me to do with the connections I had in that city and it meant a lot to the families who didn’t know that the supports were available to them in terms of the support group or from the city’s community activities. Win win.

Look. Women are typically known for running ethical and socially responsible businesses. Which is nice, eh? But here’s where you might feel a bit uncomfortable and I want you to hear me out with an open mind, ok?

All of this being good is awesome for the sake of it. But we’re in business and doing good; they aren’t mutually exclusive. If people are more inclined to support businesses that align with their ethics and values, and the research shows they are, and the more support your business gets the more good you can afford to do, well, doesn’t it make sense to let people know about your ethics and values?

So how can you share your values without feeling like you’re in the running for a social responsibility trophy? It can be really easy, I know you’ll find ways to share but here are a few to start you off.

Try something as simple as putting up a post every once in a while. I know I said you can do that to raise awareness of the issue or cause but you can also raise awareness of your own activities. If you’re volunteering somewhere or you sponsor something or donate somewhere, you can pop up a post or do a live and talk about what you’re doing. It can be as plain as saying hey, I was at my local food bank for the afternoon helping out - I really believe that full tummies create happier families and love giving my time to help make this happen. It’s pretty low key, not a heeeyyy look at me kind of thing, just a simple here’s what I value and here’s how I enact my values.

You can place the logo or a little emblem, something to indicate the organization or cause you support in the banner of your Facebook page. No extra commentary needed.

If you have a website, add a page or even just a little bit in your About You page that explains who you support, why and how. The page is an option if you have more information than a simple ‘hey I support so-and-so line’; not a great look when someone clicks to a page thinking there’s going to be a decent amount of information and there’s a solitary line, it doesn’t look as meaningful. But a line or two in your bio is perfect.

If you participate in some way with an event, you’ll often get recognition meaning you don’t need to toot your own horn. There’s usually a reciprocal agreement where you get different levels of recognition for different levels of donation or sponsorship so you could be mentioned in all event advertising, have recognition in the program or signage, or have your logo placed on tshirts or other promotional materials. And obviously if you are the one organizing the event, you get a significant amount of the publicity by virtue of being mentioned every time the event is talked about.

If you successfully pitch yourself to a media outlet, you can possibly find a way to talk about your community involvement. It’s always a nice angle to be able to talk about a cause you support, taking into consideration the purpose of the article and the media involved.

When you volunteer, wear a tshirt with a logo. Have a bumper sticker on your vehicle or on the basket of your bicycle. People will see it and often they file that information away for later use. If they are interested in the cause, they’ll want to know who else is similarly minded. And if they’re interested in the service or product you offer and they see you crossover with their personal values, well, they’ll definitely tuck that information away for future use. They might not even use your services themself but they’ll recommend you to someone else based on the shared value set.

None of this is a sure fire guaranteed way to immediately get more customers and sales. It’s a slow and steady process as most public relations efforts tend to be. But if you feel strongly about an issue or a cause, you should go ahead and support it to the best of your ability right now. And if you’re already doing the good work, there is no reason why you shouldn’t proudly own your values and actions. So while you don’t need to find a cause and devote yourself to it or create a ticker tape parade in your own honor, if you are genuinely passionate about something, share it.

Until next week my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Overcome Content Shock and Increase Sales with One Tweak

Sun, 25 Jul 2021 13:19:28 GMT

Between a shortened attention span and content overwhelm, it's harder than ever to get your message across to your audience. How do you cut through all of the noise? There's a way to increase your conversion rate, to make your brand more beloved, to deliver information and more..all in this episode.

Key Points:

Humanize your brand (5:11)
Deliver information(6:15)
Better conversion rates (6:36)
Make a journalist's life easier (7:16)
It's an easy win (9:00)

Mentioned in This Episode:

My Products:

Let's Connect!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to Connections, Coffee & Confidence with me, Janice. Did you know that the human attention span now lasts about 8 seconds? Maybe you’ve heard that stat and, because I’m me, I researched it and found that the actual research behind it is well, not exactly there. I linked the BBC report on that in the shownotes but I don’t disagree with the sentiment. I do believe in content shock - which is where a person is faced with so much content that it overwhelms them and they can’t focus on any of it.

So in this world of content overwhelm, how do we break through and get our target audience’s attention? One answer is the topic of today’s episode.

INTRO

Public relations is the art of establishing and managing a reputation, creating and maintaining relationships with various audiences important to continue business, whatever that business may be. In order to do that effectively, we need to communicate with those audiences, we need to know our messaging and then we need to get that messaging out to our audience. When we look at the most basic communications model there is a sender, message and receiver. In this instance, you’re the sender and you know your message. And if you don’t, check out my resource on creating your strategic messaging on janicefogarty.com - I’ll link to it in the shownotes but in short it's a few pages of me walking you through how to create messaging so that you can use your marketing to reach your goals more efficiently - imagine less time worrying over what you want to write in your posts and emails. So go ahead with the download and we’ll carry on safe in the knowledge that you know your message.

Okay, our sender and message are taken care of. Which leaves us with the recipient.

The recipient who, as we have already sort of established, has a short attention span and is overwhelmed already by the amount of information being shoved at them, either directly or indirectly.

Let me ask you this: Without the other party receiving your message, how do you reach your business goals? How do you increase your reputation, establish your network, increase awareness of your offerings? How do you make your sales? You need to do everything you can to make sure your messages are received, completing that communications cycle.

(I apologize for the geeky language, talking about communications cycles just doesn’t sound fun outside of my head but PR isn’t fluff, there is a certain amount of theory grounded in research and modelling that provides the basis of what most just feel their way through with a wing and a prayer. I feel like if you understand the theory behind what we do as people who own businesses, trying to change the world, make sales and pay our bills, you’ll have a better appreciation for the amazing things you did do to get the sales you have made.)

The solution I’m going to suggest is slightly ironic when you think that I’m on an audible media and there is research showing that podcasts are more likely to hold someone’s attention all the way through to the end, but that’s another day’s topic. Today’s answer is visual PR.

Logos, typeface, infographics, pictures, video, the colours you use...these are all ways to visually represent your brand, to portray your business, to get your message across.

I won’t lie, I’m not one for the visual. I’m not particularly a visual learner, I have trouble making sense of complex graphics and I think my photography instructor passed me in university because he didn’t want to be subjected to my poor projects ever again. I’m a words person. But there is a strong case to be made for placing a concentrated effort on your visual PR - after all, what have I been doing but trying to create reels to grow my audience. Visual. Outside of my comfort zone but important, so I try.

One reason I leave my annoyingly imperfect reels up is that pictures can be personal, they are a way to display your personality. People buy from people and you need to humanize your brand to entice people in; pictures are one way to do that. Pictures work to soften dry facts, they are the feelings of a story. They are a way to connect directly with another person, to explain who you are and to say you are just like them, that you know them, you know who they are and how they feel because you are them or work with them so much you them inside out. That is, if that’s what you want the pictures to say. When you have your strategic messaging decided and mapped out, that messaging will direct your images, making your life easier.

And what if your messaging is technical? What if you have a difficult concept for your audience to grasp or a lot of information to give but you don’t want to contribute to that overwhelm? Or what if you’re super visual and don’t have the words to clearly provide the information and deliver the messaging? That’s where something like an infographic comes in. A well done infographic will do the work for you; as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and that applies especially to infographics.

And if you really want to have your bases covered, you provide the words with the visuals. The Wharton School of Business did a study on persuasion and I’ve linked my source article from the Public Relations Society of America in the shownotes. This study showed that 50% of people in the study audience had been convinced by a purely verbal presentation. And that 67% were convinced by a verbal presentation with visuals. Imagine if 67% of your asks resulted in an actual sale, wouldn’t that be nice?

An audience of customers or clients isn’t the only one more likely to be swayed by a visual. When we look at those who hold the keys to our getting our messages out through the media, the journalists, they’re another overwhelmed audience of ours. And just like everyone else, if you do your best to make their lives easier they will be grateful. If you take your story and deliver it to them complete with ready-to-go visuals, well to someone who needs to pump out up ten or more stories a day, that actually is a gift. I’m not saying your story about your new office is going to get picked up just because you have a picture of you at your new desk, looking very happy, included with the media release; I’m saying if you have a good story and a picture to match, your odds of getting coverage will be greatly increased. In fact, a study by PWR New Media showed that 77% of journalists are more likely to publish a story with visuals. I’ll link to those results in the shownotes but with these two extra points: first, if you ever wanted an example of how infographics can help you further your point with impact, go check out how PWR New Media delivered the results of their study. Second, that study was done in 2011, before the internet had blown up with social media the way we have today; and journalists were crushed then. Imagine how stressed they are now and imagine how much an easier story to run would mean to them in their busy day? Visuals.

With all of this evidence about how important adding visuals to your strategic communications is, I’d like to add one point. It’s easy. If the evidence points to adding a visual to be a win for you, and it does, and if you have the technology in your hand to do so, why wouldn’t you? Odds are you have a phone capable of taking a picture or two. You have a laptop or tablet that has a camera built in and all of those technology bits can run software such as Canva or whatever that can help you make graphics if you aren’t yet comfortable with pictures of yourself. And if you’re worried about perfection or looking foolish, I remind you to go check out my reels. I have no idea what happened to my captions, they were there when I previewed the reels but hit publish and suddenly they’re scrunched up or off screen or otherwise illegible. Gah. But I can’t let that inner desire for perfection stop me from moving forward and neither can you.

So focus on your messaging, on your strategy. Grab my resource on strategic messaging - Don’t Waste Your Breath - linked in the shownotes, and let your messaging guide you to the pictures and infographics that will help you tell your story. Let your story and visuals combine to sway your target audiences - including the media - to your point of view. And enjoy the process, don’t make it hard on yourself if you aren’t a visual person. Keep in mind the prize of reaching new audiences and your current audiences more effectively and go for it.

Until next week, my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Networking to Grow Your Small Business

Sun, 18 Jul 2021 21:48:23 GMT

This episode evolved from a talk I gave in my fabulous facebook group, Connections, Coffee & Confidence Community, all about networking. It's something many group members had expressed a desire to learn more about and something I find myself getting more involved in after moving to a new province. However, I noticed there are some shifts in perspectives we need to make in order to network more effectively and I cover those in today's episode.

Key Points:

We need a perspective shift around networking (2:40)
Formal Networking (5:10)
Less Formal Networking (6:25)
Perspective Shift Around Where We Network (7:07)
Old School Networking (8:10)
What Fits? (9:10)
Strike Up a Conversation (10:00)
A Critical Activity (10:58)
Make the Uncomfortable, Comfortable(11:58)
Critical Business Activity (12:47)

Also mentioned in this week's episode:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/
https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/how-an-immigration-lawyer-serves-both-her-clients-community
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (https://amzn.to/2UXrc8A) (Please note this is my Amazon affiliate link. If you use it to buy this book or anything else, I will earn a small commission and your price will not be affected. Thank you for your support!)
https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/im-like-a-facebook-call-centre

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript

Hey hey and welcome to Connections, Coffee and Confidence. Today’s episode is based off of a talk I gave in my facebook group Connections Coffee and Confidence Community. Like most private groups, I have qualifying questions people must answer before joining the group - it’s for women who own a business and want to network and learn about communications and if that's you, look us up - and many of my members indicate that they want to learn about networking, about making connections. As a side note, I was once told that I would quickly run out of material for a podcast. I find material everywhere and, I don’t think this person took into consideration the most basic ways of making connections and serving an audience - ask what they are interested in, where you can help. Ask the question and you’ll get the answers, it’s up to you to ask and act on the information you receive. So anywho, it felt like a good time to discuss networking as the world is shifting again - from closed up tight to slowly or rapidly opening, depending on where you are and your personal circumstances. Things are changing but what doesn’t change is the need to connect with others so that’s today’s episode.

INTRO

When I asked why people network, I got lots of lovely fuzzy answers like wanting community support, to learn from different people, to find mentors, and I love those ideas. I love how my group members are so open to learning from each other, to having each other’s backs and supporting them through their individual journeys.

However.

What I concluded from these answers is that we need a perspective shift. As I mentioned, my group is for women business owners. Women who run at least one business. And what does every business need to stay alive? Customers. Not one of my group members said they network to find customers or clients and yet I would say that’s one of my top reasons to network. Perhaps it’s because, at the time of recording, I’ve moved to a completely new province and need to establish myself as a business and an expert, but I would argue that we all need to do this on a regular basis. And whether we realise it or not, we are networking all the time.

Note that I said I need to establish myself as an expert. Well, that’s also a perspective shift we need. As women, we are eager to learn from each other and support each other but how are we learning when no one sees themselves as ‘the expert’ enough to step up and teach?

Did that idea land like a lead balloon? When I said that, did it feel uncomfortable or come as a surprise? Because let me tell you, it hit me pretty hard when I realized it. Our group is full of amazing women all over the world who run some pretty phenomenal businesses and not one of them saw networking as an opportunity to show their stuff. And I don’t think that’s special to our group, I’ve linked a great article from The Atlantic called The Confidence Gap in my show notes, it examines this phenomenon much better than I ever could and goes outside of today’s topic of networking - except to say that this is another area where we can use a perspective shift. We are just as expert, often more so, than the experts we see more regularly and flock to learn from.

From a professional and personal perspective, networking and creating community is so integral to our wellbeing, to our growth and sustainability. But how do we do it? How do we do it in a global pandemic? How do we network when we’re scared or unable to leave the house? Or don’t live where our prospective clients or even friends live? It shouldn’t surprise you that I see loads of opportunities for us.

One option is to use a formal networking organization. There are international clubs and groups such as the Lions Club, Rotary International, Women in Business, and more. Do you remember episode 3? It was my first interview on the podcast and It was with Karen Howley, an Immigration lawyer and an Irishwoman living in Alberta. Karen’s a prime example of someone who has used a formal networking organization to her great advantage and if you listen back - it’s linked in the show notes - she’s a member of Business Networking International or BNI as it’s more commonly known

These formal organizations are typically focussed on members getting to know each other and then referring business to each other. Sometimes they are all about providing acts of service for their community, sometimes it’s purely for business. But if you google networking organizations, you’ll be sure to find something close to you that fits your bill. And don’t forget to look locally as well. Sometimes you don’t need to look any further than your local chamber of commerce or whatever your region calls that type of organization. They can be amazing resources for a community’s movers and shakers.

There are also slightly less formal places to look for networking. For example, my own facebook group or I bet many of the groups you’ve joined in the last year or so. While there may be formal questions to answer to ensure you are a good fit for the group, once you’re in there probably isn’t any call for public speaking or attending and participating in Lives or whatever. You’re there to contribute as and when relevant, not on schedule.

So those places might be obvious to you, after all they often have networking in their title or in their description. But this is where the perspective shift needs to come in.

Many of us have signed up for an online course or done a challenge - free or paid, doesn’t matter - in the last while. And you’ve ended up in some sort of a facebook group as a result. Well, those places might not have networking in the title but they are tailor made for you to keep an eye out and look for opportunities to connect with other members. Same with groups where you participate due to your hobby or interest. Maybe you or your kids are involved in sports or 4-H or you take painting classes. I don’t know. What I do know is that while you’re in those places, you’re connecting with people you have something in common with. It’s up to you to strike up conversations and look for ways to forge relationships, to offer your services or connect the people you meet with others you know. You might be there for fun or because you have to be, but there’s no reason why you can’t intentionally make connections, you just need to be open to it.

While I’m talking about things like community sports, let’s not forget the old school methods of networking such as volunteering. I personally love this option because I tend to be rather shy in many situations but when volunteering, I have a job. And I’m good with doing a job. It means someone is in charge of showing me what I need to do and introducing me to others, and I have a valid reason to approach others and ask questions, strike up a conversation. I often find that the people who volunteer at events are the kind of people who are well known and usually loved in their communities, they’re interested in referring others to like-minded people. In other words, exactly the kind of people you would be lucky in so many ways to know. Plus, I spent many years as an events manager and it feels nice to be involved in events again without the stress and responsibility of running the show.

Something that’s quite important when it comes to choosing a way to network is to fit the activity within your personality and strengths. If you join a group that is involved in mentoring youth and you hate kids, well, you aren’t likely to be your best self when and if you show up. The most renowned groups tend to have some sort of service activity at their core, BNI’s motto is givers gain - meaning you get the most when you give the most, for example. So look at them and see where the group’s activity, your comfort level and your target market all collide. That’s your sweet spot. That’s where you’ll show up with a happy heart and show your wondrousness to everyone else. It doesn’t have to be all about business but you need to be happy to be involved.

Now I know I just so casually said a minute ago that it’s up to you to strike up a conversation and look for ways to forge a relationship. Sounds so easy when really, that can be difficult. Once upon a time, we could whip out a business card and hand it over, it would have a little tagline of some sort to explain what you do plus it would have a job title and company name, all the necessary information was there in something concrete for the person to tuck away and remember you by. Let me ask, do you have a business card? Mmmm. Irrespective, I recommend you have an elevator pitch, a way to briefly express what you do in a way that the other person understands and can somewhat remember. In fact, I did a whole episode on it, episode 14, and I’ll link to it in the show notes.

I love how my group members were so open to networking for personal growth but I really want to challenge them and you to be open to those opportunities to make connections and nurture relationships wherever they may present themselves. Let’s be open to all chances to grow our businesses as, without new clients or customers, we place our business’ success in jeopardy. And when we look at networking as being critical to our business success, it becomes a critical activity for us to undertake.

When I asked my group what stopped them from networking, I got a lot of crickets. I know people saw the question, you know how Facebook shows how many people see a post? Many saw the post but I only had two answers and they boiled down to time. On which I call nonsense.

Networking can be uncomfortable. Like, really uncomfortable. Hands sweating (never have I ever been so glad of an opportunity to not shake hands with people) and word fumbling and oh please tell me this isn’t just my experience? Well, what has made it easier for me has been a combination of things - practise, being one. Same with everything else, right? When you do something repeatedly, you get better. Malcolm Gladwell talks about needing 10,000 hours to become really good at something in his book Outliers. By no means am I suggesting you go network for that long, but more than once or twice a decade is good.

But I think the main thing that gets us motivated to network and connect is when we recognize and accept it as a critical part of our business because then we simply prioritize it. It becomes something we must do and like everything else we prioritize, we schedule it in and do it. That’s one reason why formal groups are so good, by the way, they have set times and you can schedule it in weeks or even months in advance. Pressure is off for you to organize it.

When you’re networking online, it’s super easy to lose track of time and purpose but I like Zoe McKeown’s trick. She’s the facebook community manager I interviewed in episode 33, and with a title like that, she’s my go to expert when it comes to managing my time online. She does 30 minutes a day, split between the morning and the afternoon to check in on conversations and people. Efficient and easy to manage, thirty minutes a day.

So when I think about networking, I see opportunities for us as business owners to grow our business, to grow our communities and our sphere of influence. I think it’s time for you to start looking at networking that way, too. You can use the formal or informal route, and I urge you to keep open to opportunities that pop up no matter where they come from. But it’s also up to you to prioritize networking as a vital aspect of your business growth; if we don’t get new clients, we limit our ability to grow our business. And don’t even start me on the amazing benefits for your reputation as a good company, a good person, and an expert in your field. Practise makes perfect and try to have some fun while you’re doing it, ok?

Now. As I mentioned in the intro, I ask my facebook audience, I regularly ask my email subscribers and now I’ll ask you - if there is something you’re interested in learning more about with regards to strategic communications or business management, please pop me an email at janice@janicefogarty.com. I’d love to help out. Until next week my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An Economist, Physicist and Social Worker

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 15:00:26 GMT

Today’s episode is about good communicators, what makes them good and how we can use that information to improve our own performance. However, I'm not looking at politicians or performers, the people you usually expect to be great communicators; no, I'm looking at an economist, a professor of particle physicist and a clinical social worker. What do they do that we can copy? Simple!

Referenced in this episode:

Recommended Reading:

I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough" by Brene Brown (https://amzn.to/3nZgzwL)
Gifts of Imperfection, The: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown (https://amzn.to/3uKDrCs)
The Generation Game by David McWilliams (https://amzn.to/3yJp578)
The Pope's Children by David McWilliams - where we meet Breakfast Roll Man - (https://amzn.to/3hZxcpf)

*Please note that these are my Amazon affiliate links and if you use one to purchase the products I recommend or anything else, your price won't change but I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Well hello and welcome to this episode of Connections, Coffee & Confidence with me, Janice Fogarty. Guess what? In the crazy of getting our house on the market and moving across Canada, I completely missed my one year anniversary of this podcast. So now that we’re somewhat settled in Prince Edward Island, I’ll have to figure out how to mark the anniversary in some way. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I’m happy to hear them so you can DM me on Facebook at Connections, Coffee & Confidence and while you’re there, follow the page!

For today though, this will have to to suffice: (Insert celebration sounds)

Today’s episode is about good communicators, what makes them good and how we can use that information to improve our own performance.

INTRO

When I say ‘good communicator’, who springs to mind? Maybe a teacher or a politician or actor, all professions known for the need to speak effectively and persuasively, to create an understanding or agreement.

But what about those who you wouldn’t necessarily think of? Those people who have a profession or a hobby or interest that doesn’t usually scream effective communicator? Are there those unicorns out there and can we learn something from them?

Today I want to talk about three different people, all of whom come from professions I don’t normally equate with excellent communication. That’s not to say these are the only excellent communicators in their fields, they are just the ones I’m familiar with. And maybe you are too. What makes them so good? And what can we learn from them that we can bring into our own businesses?

When I listen to podcasts for enjoyment, I love science and economics. Perhaps not what you expect but one of my all time favorite podcasts, the one I haven’t missed an episode of and never get tired of listening to, is hosted by David McWilliams and his friend John Davis, and it’s called The David McWilliams Podcast. Sometimes we just don’t need to be clever, eh? Simple is awesome, and that’s a key to great communicators - they keep it simple. They don’t dazzle with clever phrases or jargon, it’s simple.

So David McWilliams is an economist. Not the typical profession of someone you might consider a great communicator. I mean, I took economics in university and, although the professor was clearly incredibly knowledgeable and highly passionate about the topic, she was not a good communicator.

David McWilliams is different. In fact, his podcast tagline is ‘to make economics easy, uncomplicated and accessible’, which should give you an idea of how important clear communication is to him. I recommend his podcast to everyone I know and everyone who has actually listened has come back to thank me. He’s funny, he’s thoughtful, he has a head full of information that he puts together and explains in a way that holds your attention all the way through. We also own several of his books and I can remember watching him on TV and listening to him when we lived in Ireland, even texting him to correct him for calling Canadian provinces ‘states’ on his morning radio show. (Then dying later when I realized I had made a mistake of my own in the text. I’m sure he doesn’t hold it against me.)

He also created and runs two festivals - the Dalkey Book Festival and Kilkenomics, both of which take place in Ireland. Now, a book festival is a book festival and I’m not saying this isn’t amazing, George Bernard Shaw was born in Dalkey; James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Flann O’Brien all spent significant time there and Joseph O’Connor, Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan all live there. So if you’re going to host a book festival, it’s a pretty good place to do it. But it’s Kilkenomics that I think is the thing that stands out. Held in Kilkenny, it’s a combination of economics and stand up comedy. Yup, you heard that right. Economics and stand up. Two topics that require a great amount of technical skill to pull off but holy smokes, would you ever have thought to put them together? Imagine the skill involved in pulling that off?

Another example of an excellent communicator is Professor Brian Cox, a physicist and professor of particle physics. Again, not a topic known for attracting or creating excellent communicators but there he is. Named The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science, meaning he works on behalf of the organization to create an awareness and understanding of scientific matters relevant to our lives, he’s known for a series of well, documentary series on science for the BBC or British Broadcasting Corporation. My husband and two of my boys attended a talk he gave in Calgary, Alberta and one of my boys is extremely interested in physics. When he was 10, he came up with a theory about atoms at the centre of black holes we had to send to a fellow of physics because we couldn’t find information on it online. For the record, the fellow confirmed that my son’s theory is currently the fellow’s theory so, inasmuch as he can be right with theoretical physics, he’s right. So he’s into physics and Dr Cox is able to engage and entertain and discuss physics in such a way that a 10 year old and 8 year old were enthralled for hours. Taking notes. That’s a skill.

My third example of an excellent communicator is Brene Brown, clinical social worker and researcher who focuses on courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy. She’s an author whose books I‘ve referenced on the podcast before and will link to in the shownotes and, while I would forgive you for thinking that a clinical social worker, one who focuses on research and compiling data to review and draw conclusions from, would not make fascinating reading you’d be wrong. She’s brilliant.

She has accepted the title of storyteller as evidenced by her TED bio and I’m linking her TED Talks in the shownotes, they are an absolute must watch in my opinion. But as you might gather from her topics, these aren’t really things that people talk about readily and comfortably. Including Brene herself as you’ll learn if you watch her second video. (But I ask you to watch them in order, first first, second second. It’s wonderful to hear her talk about the emotions of her first talk and what she learned between the talks.)

To be able to take these topics of shame and vulnerability and make them relatable, to remove stigma from them, takes significant skill. Are these topics as dry as physics or economics, maybe. Brene Brown approaches her work as a researcher meaning it’s not about the soft and fuzzy but the hard data; what can be proven. That tends to be dry. But as a storyteller, and as a podcaster, she’s moving and insightful and clear.

So those are my three people I chose to look at, an economist, a professor of particle physics, and a clinical social worker. And I don’t mean to be reductionist by using those terms, these people are incredibly diverse in their experiences as people and are so much more than those categories, as we all are, but for the sake of this example that’s what I’m rolling with. Ok, so let’s break down some of what makes each of these three people who, at first glance, really have very little in common aside from being known in their fields.

To start, none of these people take their communications personally. Of course, it might seem easier to do when your subject matter is based on scientifically acquired information but I argue that there’s still a degree of interpretation and of course the method of delivery which make it more personal. But they don’t equate their worth with their work, removing so much of the difficulty in getting started. So many of us feel like what we say represents who we are as people. And, when you watch Brene Bown’s second TED Talk, you’ll hear how her first talk affected her emotionally and mentally but the key thing is that it didn’t stop her. Her overwhelming feelings didn’t stop her from doing it again and again, talking about her work and her findings. On a level it is personal because it’s you and your voice, your words, but it’s not you the human; that’s separate.

And because it’s not personal, these great communicators are able to review their work and revise it publicly as required or as desired. I recently watched a documentary by Professor Cox and he was actually going through old documentaries he had done. Discussing the science of the day and the advances that have been made since. The ability to look back and update your position or stance based on your continued learning earns you trust and respect as a communicator. If you were personally attached to the output, you wouldn't be so quick or open to self-edit meaning your relevance is harmed.

If you search any of these people out, something you’ll note is that they all have a point when they speak or write; they’re strategic in their communications. They don’t just mic up and free flow, they have something they want to discuss and impart upon the audience. David McWilliams is particularly good at this as not only does he have a clearly stated purpose for his podcast but even his Kilkenomics festival can be described in this one liner from his guest Gerry Stembridge and taken from the Kilkenomics website, “Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s about economics, it’s actually about life”. Having this focus helps keep your writing or speaking focused and clear. You aren’t tempted to wander off or, at least, not for long. This focus helps you become known for something which helps you further your credibility and reputation and, if you want help in creating this kind of focus, what I tend to refer to as messaging, you can download my guide to creating your strategic messaging called Don’t Waste Your Breath: Get Your Best Message Across from www.janicefogarty.com. Of course, I’ll link to that in the shownotes.

One thing I've individually referenced has been the ability to engage or hold an audience. This ability stems in a large part from the passion and insight into their topic. They think about it a lot, they research it, they study it, they enjoy it but they take their information and they think about it. What does the information mean and what does that in turn mean to others? There’s something very appealing to listening to someone who has thought about what they are talking about, not because their paycheque depends on it but because they enjoy it, they enjoy sharing the information and their thoughts and want you to enjoy it too. That kind of passion is gripping and good communicators display that passion naturally; in fact, to try and stifle it mars their communications considerably.

Part of this thinking and analyzing and finding or assigning meaning to the information is the ability to create analogies or relate the information to life. Part of Professor Cox’s remit as The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science is to actually explain science as it is relevant to public policy, in other words, how science impacts our real lives. He creates fantastic youtube videos and tweets them out but also has a podcast where he discusses these things amongst other topics and with different guests.

Brene Brown relates her work to personal stories. She speaks about her alcoholism and the shame and vulnerability that both caused it and continued it and how she deals with those feelings now versus then. She is able to create highly relatable scenarios, creating audience empathy, so the stories she tells land more impactfully and stick with the recipient. She has thousands upon thousands of individual pieces of data, pulled from real people, so her ability to create sweeping stories that are actually incredibly specific and personal is rare.

And David McWilliams is well known for his analogies or neologisms (such an awesome word to refer to new sayings that haven’t become mainstream yet) including ‘breakfast roll man’. Ok, let me explain. So for those of you outside of Ireland and the UK, a breakfast roll is kind of like a sub or a hoagie but with everything a traditional breakfast would have. And a traditional breakfast is a fairly specific thing consisting of eggs, black and white pudding, bacon or rashers, sometimes beans or mushrooms but usually a sausage or two. These breakfast rolls are very popular with those just coming home or suffering from the night before, usually in the pub, but also with builders or construction workers, people who have to be to work at a really early hour and just want a quick breakfast. If you lived in Ireland in the early to mid aughts, you knew exactly who breakfast roll man was and that was the point. He was a highly recognizable and often relatable figure, just enough removed that you could look at him with a bit of detachment and take the information on board.

Breakfast Roll Man isn’t just a cute term, it’s a way to impart information with a clear context, providing each audience member the ability to assign personal relevance to the information and thereby comprehend it and retain it more effectively and efficiently. Now whether you understand breakfast roll man or whatever right now isn’t the point because in the time and for the people that term was created, it was spot on. And that’s what matters, it was relevant to the time and the audience.

The analogies, the relation back to real life or the potential for impact on your life, these help a person assign meaning and value to the information provided and, in doing so, retaining more than a dry recitation of the facts would have allowed.

The last point I want to make is one of those back to basics ones - practise. These people communicate as part of their living. They do it over and over, refining and perfecting, tweaking and completely overhauling as they go along. This practise is what makes a capability or an aptitude a real skill. There’s a saying that ‘writer’s write’ - that’s how they get good, they just keep writing. There’s ‘practise makes perfect’ which is applied to pretty much every activity under the sun. And the thing is, is it’s true. If you want to get good at something, you do it until you find your flow and then you wiggle around until you feel your skills developing.

So if you want to be a good communicator, my lessons from these three top communicators are as follows: don’t make it personal, and edit yourself as you learn more. Maya Angelou says, a phenomenal communicator in her own right, says it much better than I, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” Have a point to your communications and if you need help with that, check out my eguide on messaging linked in the shownotes. Don’t stifle your passion, let it flow and enjoy sharing. Make your information relatable, try an analogy or story people can identify with and understand. And practise. More and more and more, just keep going. And if any of these tips stand out to you or you want to share who you think is a fabulous communicator, or if you have an idea on how to celebrate the one year anniversary of Connections, Coffee & Confidence, I’d love to hear from you! I’m on Facebook at Connections, Coffee & Confidence or even Instagram at janiceefogarty. Until next week, my friend.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My Quick Tip So That You Can Get Featured

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 15:00:12 GMT

Mentioned in this episode: (Transcript below)

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Let's Connect!

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Hey hey and welcome to Connections, Coffee & COnfidence with me, Janice Fogarty. Today’s episode is a quick tip so that you can increase your odds of getting publicity exactly when and where you want it. Ready?

INTRO

Publicity is always a great way to boost your reputation, your credibility, and your sales. Sometimes when you go to someone’s website and you see all of the logos of the various places they’ve been featured, well, it can feel impressive and maybe, just maybe you feel that little twinge of really? How can I get my own collection of logos to showcase? Or how can I expand my reach?

Depending on which influencer or businessperson you are snooping, there is a pretty good chance they have had professional help in getting them featured in that media. However, those professionals cost a lot of money to get on your side - and, just to manage your expectations - sometimes getting featured also requires a payment of some kind, depending on the media. For example, you may be required to purchase a certain amount of ad space or you may need to sponsor an event or something similar in order to get a feature.

This extra outlay isn’t always in our budget and usually isn’t necessary. I firmly believe that you can do your own PR - in fact, episode 44 is called How You can Actually DIY Your Own PR, that’s how much I believe in it!

There are many layers to getting good public relations and this is a basic fundamental layer - you want to know who you’re talking to.

But, I’m not talking about your ideal client - this tip assumes you know who this is. So if you don’t know who you’re selling to just yet, it’s okay. Keep listening and store this tip away for after you’ve got that figured out.

The audience I’m talking about is the media. Yup. When you know your target audience, you can make some pretty good guesses as to who they are watching, listening to and reading. And if you are unfamiliar with media, well, this tip is going to push you to stretch yourself, and I suggest you get googling. You can also head to www.janicefogarty.com and get my free guide on 10 places to get free publicity, that’ll start you off on the right foot.

Once you have a list of say five to seven media, you need to study them. This should be fun study, not like you have a make or break exam tomorrow study.

Read what their journalists write, what topics do they cover and how? Is their writing fun? Is it informal and chatty? Is it businesslike? Is it functional advice, like how-to lists or tutorial type? And yes, I say read what their journalists write but obviously you can sub in listen or watch if you are looking at YouTube or listening to podcasts, radio even good old television.

As an extra tip within a tip - while you’re there, check out the ads that are featured close to the content. If the ads are for things you know your ideal customer likes, or if they are your competition, then you know you’ve hit a great piece of targeted media.

The reason why I’m telling you to do this media study is because if you want to pitch yourself and your business to the media, you need to make sure you aren’t wasting anyone’s time - yours or theirs. You want to match their tone and style when you contact them.

Journalists and media get thousands upon thousands of phone calls and emails delivered to them, all pitching ideas or services or products. You want yours to stand out and one way to do that is to prove from the outset that you are just like them - and by extension, their audience.

You want them to feel like you are a natural fit with their audience - and you know you are because you’ve done your research.

Consuming their media will also give you a great idea of how to frame your pitch. When you see what stories they cover and how, you can start to imagine how you’ll fit into similar stories. And that’s what you pitch.

This isn’t a one and done type of thing, though. You need to keep yourself current with trends and journalists and media - new ones are popping up all the time. Why not create a media list of your own? A simple google sheet or even a written list can be handy to have and easy to update as time goes on. Those things can be bought from agencies for a tidy sum but they are easy, if a bit time consuming to put together yourself.

So there you have it. In the end, three tips to help you get the publicity you want: take some time and perform a media study, include looking at the ads and stories that are run. And create yourself a media list so when you have your idea for a pitch, you’re ready to go. Oh, and don’t forget to head to my website, janicefogarty.com and get your free guide outlining the ten places to get publicity even when you have no budget. I’ll see you back here my friend, same time, next week. Until then.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tara Chatzakis, Freer of Queens

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 15:00:28 GMT

Tara Chatzakis is a podcaster and business start up coach, she focuses on helping entrepreneurs with visibility and clarity.

Seeing women understand that they... are more powerful than they thought they were; they are more worthy than they thought they were."

Key Points:

Visibility & Clarity: Strong Foundations (2:18)
Happy Inspired Motivated: The Podcast (4:38)
Law of Attraction Practitioner: I still get limiting beliefs (8:15)
Money Blocks (9:41)
Seeing Women Understand They Are More (12:49)
If We All Stood up in Our Power... (13:54)
Tara's Ideal Client: She's not going to take any crap anymore (15:25)
The World's Not Big Anymore (18:13)
How Do I Start Making Money? (19:58)
How Do I Create The Person I Want To Be? (22:57)
It's Not Just WooWoo and Crystals: Money is Energy (26:30)
How to Work with Tara (30:09)

Get in touch with Tara:

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔ And join me in Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five Tips to Become a Better Listener

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 15:00:44 GMT

My tips for a common skill that seems to have become less common in recent years - much to all of our detriment.

Key Points

Why listen?: Be loved to bits (4:54)
Efficiency (6:48)
Stay Present (8:55)
Take Notes & Check (9:52)
Patience! (11:00)
Take a minute (12:35)
Body language: It's kind of listening! (14:02)
Not just for business (14:53)

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

Transcript:

Ahhhhh listening. That thing you’re presumably doing right now. But are you really? Or are you driving in traffic, watching for errant drivers who obviously never passed a test and yet are driving a vehicle? Are you waiting for your child to come out of school, one ear on the podcast and the other listening for the school bell so you know to unlock the door. Are you washing dishes and half thinking about your list of things to do tomorrow?

Are you really listening?

I ask because I’ve had the pleasure of working with some new professionals and service providers in the last few weeks and I’ve noticed myself sometimes feeling annoyed, unsatisfied. Because I felt unheard. It left me thinking again about the entirety of the communications cycle where there is a sender, message and recipient; and implied in there is that both parties listen and that’s what I want to delve a bit deeper into today.

INTRO

I recently had to bring our chocolate lab Cocoa into the vet for his shots and a general check up. He’s a good guy for a dog and is very easy to get along with so I didn’t mind if he saw a different vet, I had no worries that he was going to act strange. Sure enough Cocoa loved the poor vet and vet tech to bits before they could start the exam and I was able to stay in the room to distract him so they could do their work.

Afterwards I had a few questions around his allergies that act up whenever we visit my brother who lives a few hours away. It’s a very specific reaction, a specific time frame they last for - basically they appear shortly after we arrive and disappear the day after we’re home. He eats his usual food, essentially everything except the trees and shrubs in the backyard are the same. He’s allergic to something in my brother’s back yard. But we only visit the odd weekend, maybe two or three times a year so it’s never that big of a deal. However, as we’re moving to the other side of the country (in fact I should be somewhere in the middle of the country right now if you’re listening the week this episode is uploaded), we were going to visit my brother one last time the weekend after Cocoa’s appointment. So it was on my mind to ask, after outlining all of the pertinent information, if I can give Cocoa a human anti-histamine just to treat the flare up if he becomes uncomfortable.

I suspect the vet stopped listening after hearing the word allergies because I got a load of questions about his eating and drinking and where he gets his reactions and what they are, how long they last. All questions I had already provided the answers to. I then got a list of expensive injections Cocoa could get that would cover him for months. And this added time to an already longer appointment because my dog had to take his time loving them before letting them examine him; I’m already in a bit of a hurry.

I’m not complaining about the vet, there are explanations for why she questioned me such as she doesn’t know me to know that I am diligent in checking things out to rule out the usual suspects before asking a professional. She’s new and heard me but was running a script that she was trained to use. Maybe her insurance explicitly required her to ask the questions. I don’t know. But maybe she was just not listening.

So other than frustrating your clients, There are way more other benefits of listening than what I’m going to cover here. But I listed them out and it seemed that they all boiled down to two main areas - relationship and efficiency.

Life is busy and it’s understandable why we might not be concentrating on what others are saying to us but just because it’s understandable does NOT mean it's acceptable. Especially if you’re running a business where you aren’t the only one providing the particular service or product you specialize in. You need to be spectacular at your craft and even then, you might not survive the damage caused to a client or customer relationship if you don’t listen. It’s a fundamental need to be heard and understood and while your client might not understand why they feel dissatisfied, they’ll recognize that they don’t particularly feel awesome after dealing with you and if the opportunity to try someone else comes up, you might be out a paycheque.

On the flip side, if you’re an excellent listener - and we’ll get to that in a moment - your people will love you to bits. They will trust you, they’ll be more forgiving and come back to you and the bonus is that they will tell your friends about you. Your reputation is the most important asset in your business, more so than your equipment, your knowledge and expertise, your location and your pricing. If you don’t have a good reputation, people will only begrudgingly buy from you until they can find an alternative. And in this day and age, there is always an accessible alternative.

So your relationship with your clients and customers is fundamental to your business’s success. And people are more likely to provide you with feedback when you are a listener. The beautiful thing is, is that they may not even be aware that they’re doing it. But if you’re listening, you’ll pick up on what they say or how they act around a product or before or after receiving a service. Those little tidbits lead me to the second main benefit which is efficiency.

When you are listening and paying attention to your clients, you’ll pick up ways that the product or service serves them. When you have a relationship with your customer, you have access to focus group-like feedback without the cost of a professional facilitator. You’ll hear what works perfectly and what you can improve on, and your offering will always be top quality. You’ll be able to cut out the aspects that aren’t working or don’t serve your current client base, thereby becoming more efficient in your processes. If you’re listening.

And what I really love is that when you’re listening, you hear your customer’s words. Yeah, I know, that sounds redundant but it’s not - so many of us shy away from writing copy because we don’t know what to say. We struggle with our social media, our advertising, going live, writing a blurb for the package, whatever. Because what are we going to say? And yes, I preach messaging and always will but those specific words that you use to convey your messaging - those words are so much more powerful when they are your customer’s own words. They resonate harder, they grab the audience more securely, they make your customer feel like they are seen and heard. Yes, heard. Because they have been. Because you’ve been listening.

So what exactly does it mean to be a good listener? How do you do it, exactly? Because we all listen. Somewhat. Sort of. Listen. We get the gist of what’s being said, we think.

None of the tips here are rocket science, they are common communications skills that I think have slowly started to become uncommon in recent years. It’s time for a revival, my friends, and here are my five tips to become a better listener.

First, stay present. That means don’t have your phone in your hand, screen up unless you're on zoom or Facetime or whatever. See the human in front of you, even if they are on a screen. Eye contact can be an excellent connector but I know that eye contact is tough. So if that’s completely outside of your comfort zone or your personal capabilities, that’s ok. Use the person’s name as a means to establish a connection, to remind you to stay present. Look in the general direction of their face for a brief moment every few minutes, as you can if you can. It’s easier if you are online to do this, just face them - so few of us actually look into the camera, your customer or client won’t really expect you to make eye contact. But you do need to acknowledge that there is a person you are communicating with

Second, make notes and check your information. I just tell my clients that I’m going to make notes while they talk so they don’t think I’m ignoring them. I process better from written words and often make little notes or symbols to represent ideas or places where further questioning is required. But I’m aware of the perception that I might not be listening so I’m just upfront from the get-go. People with ADHD and other different capabilities actually listen better when doodling or fidgeting - if that’s the case, just be upfront about it. It’s not something to be embarrassed about, just say it as a fact and it will be accepted as a fact, you move on with the consultation sales process or whatever you’re doing.

Part of staying present is checking to make sure you’ve heard and understood correctly.

Ask questions and confirm what you think is happening. You can paraphrase and repeat things back, followed by the phrase ‘did I understand that correctly’ or something similar to check. If you haven’t heard correctly, you might not know until you've taken action on that incorrect information - thereby killing any potential for efficiency and improvement. Checking for understanding is vital.

Also vital is patience, my third tip. Sometimes it’s hard to formulate an opinion or find the right words or the person you’re speaking with is dealing with their own mental list of one thousand things that are competing with their ability to have a conversation with you. You need to be patient and let them speak without talking over them, without putting words in their mouth, without sighing or looking at your watch or texting someone - no matter how quickly or discretely you think you can dash one off. I script these episodes because I am a slow talker when I’m thinking and I have reasons for that. One of my boys has overcome a rare speech impediment but still stutters when nervous so he has learned to take his time and not rush when speaking. You don’t know what’s impacting a person’s ability to rattle off information but you can bet your last dollar that they are aware of whatever impediment they have and will notice and be grateful for those who take the time to listen. And if this is you, you know that yourself. Or perhaps more likely, you know what it’s like not to be listened to and you don’t want to make others feel that way. So practise patience. It will be rewarded.

My fourth tip is to take a beat to assimilate the info and respond thoughtfully, you don’t need to snap back a response. If you start speaking as soon as someone has stopped talking, were you really listening? I’m a bury the lead kinda gal, it made my life difficult when writing news stories until I learned the trick of taking my last paragraph and moving it to the intro. But now that I have my own medium - this podcast - you guys are at the mercy of my personal style. If I want to wrap up the podcast with the most important piece of information, that’s quite possibly what I’m going to do. My stats indicate that you listen all the way, that I thankfully don’t lose you, so I feel comfortable rolling with my own way of communicating most of the time. But I digress. Take a minute. Stay present, check what you have heard and understood and that will help you formulate your response. You haven’t done any of that if you have a prepared response ready at the first pause. Plus, when you have given the information provided your attention, and allow your brain an extra beat to process, you might surprise yourself with what you come up with either a follow up question or as advice, or as an idea for your own personal use such as how to better communicate with this customer in the future.

And my fifth and final tip is to watch the non-verbal communication if you can. Is that technically listening? Well sort of, yes. You can still use your ears to pick up the tone of voice or the pace of the speech used. What do they tell you? Do they indicate that you should perhaps take the information with a grain of salt? That the person is quite passionate or not really interested or bothered? You can watch to see if the person is thoughtful in their expression or if they’re distracted and perhaps only providing you with partial information, leaving you an opportunity to ask some questions and dig deeper or come back to the point at a different time. Decoding non-verbal communication can take some skills but it can’t happen at all if you don’t pay attention to it to begin with.

And these tips for listening and relationship building aren’t just appropriate for business. They apply to your personal life and relationships too. Being heard is a basic human need, not a business requirement. You might find that in business and in your personal life issues that could potentially escalate actually cool or are resolved before even becoming a capital I issue because the frustration or urgency is diminished by virtue of being heard.

So better listening can lead to an improved relationship and efficiency, and can be achieved through staying present, checking for understanding, being patient then taking a beat or two to process the information, and being aware of body language. When you notice how your clients feel really good about talking to you, when you see them leaving you with a flow of being heard and therefore feeling valued, pop me a note on Instagram @janiceefogarty or why not join my facebook group the Connections, Coffee & Confidence Community so we can celebrate together? Hope to see you soon and until next week, my friend, enjoy the rest of your day.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I Can Only Do Me

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 15:00:56 GMT

This episode is an interview with Hazel Urquhart a woman who left school early and went to work in a paintbrush factory to earn money to help out her family, ended up running art therapy workshops and a non-profit organization and now, at an age when people traditionally would have thought of retiring, she has published a book called The Art of You: Self Discovery Through Art. Listen as she discusses the experiences that encouraged her to create her book and as I coach her through some ways to market and further her work.

Trigger Warning: Hazel talks a little bit about her work with organizations for women who dealt with sexual abuse and also briefly discusses a personal experience with a possible suicide. These experiences contributed greatly to the creation of her book and, although I could have deleted them from the interview, they are indicative of the person Hazel is and the journey she took, and I felt her story would have been missing a substantial piece. You can begin listening at 17 minutes if you would like to hear about Hazel’s book and how she put it together, our discussion on ways to market it and what she’s doing next.

Key Points:

The Beginnings: Paint brushes, volunteering and art groups (3)
The Department of Human Potential (6:21)
What Do You Want to Do With Your Life? (8:47)
The Workshop Years (12)
The Book and Help from a Local Grant (20:54)
Ideal Customer & Marketing (24)
Imposter Syndrome (26:36)
Validation of Hazel's Work (31:36)
Officially Going to be a Pensioner: Advice on workshops (38:10)
A Pretty Determined Woman (42:24)
Best Advice from a Counsellor (49:20)
Crafting for Being Sane (55:07)

Buy Hazel's Book, The Art of You: Self Discovery Through Art:

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

✔ And join me in Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seven Ways to Stop Wasting Time, Energy and Money

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 15:00:51 GMT

What if we could step back and evaluate our practices for efficiency? (Doesn’t that sound like a fun Friday night?) Seriously though, it’s an exercise we all need to apply once in a while - both personally and professionally - to see what’s working, what we can do differently and what we can stop altogether. I’ve come up with a list of seven items for you to have a think about, to free up some more of that valuable time, energy and money.

Key Points:

Stop spending on the frills and unnecessary items (2:31)
Stop doing what you hate or feel you should (5:16)
Stop second guessing yourself (7:01)
Stop working for today (9:42.5)
Stop not taking care of yourself (12:52.5)
Stop avoiding networking (13:54)
Stop denying your skills (16:43)

Also mentioned:

E36: https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/take-the-weight-off-your-sales-process
E52: https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/not-living-the-cookie-cutter-life
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (https://amzn.to/3vX5L5s) (Please note that this is my affiliate link and should you choose to buy this book, or anything else using this link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business.)
Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Heather.McGr

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Transcript:

As female entrepreneurs, we have a lot of stuff going on. Heck, as people, we have a lot of stuff going on. Some days there aren’t enough hours, enough energy and from time to time, enough money to go around.

What if we were able to step back and evaluate our practices for efficiency? (Doesn’t that sound like what you should do with a choice beverage on a Friday night?) Seriously though, it’s an exercise we all need to apply once in a while - both personally and professionally, to see what’s working, what we can do differently and what we can stop altogether. I’ve come up with a list of seven items for you to have a think about, see if they apply to your business or your life, to free up some more of that valuable time, energy and money.

INTRO

This episode came about from a series of conversations I’ve been having with fellow entrepreneurs and a few of my clients. They were all just one-off things I noticed and questioned the validity of in the particular circumstances of those conversations but they stuck with me because they really are universal. And, full disclosure, some of them have cropped up in my personal life and business so I’m including those as well. Ready?

I’ll start with the admission that I’m frugal. I keep an eye on my incomings and outgoings and rarely spend where I don’t need to. It annoys my kids, sometimes my husband, but whatever. This is not to say that I don’t spend where there is value, check out Episode 36 Take the Weight off Your Sales Process where I advocate the idea of creating and explaining value. I believe in spend when you need to, the amount should fit within your budget and the return should offer enough value to justify the spend. I also believe in future-proofing your business. Investing in tools and equipment to enable and support your growth.

However.

There are things we think we need, or we tell ourselves we need because really, we know we don’t need it but we just want it, or it’s on sale and we might need it and it’s better off to buy it now… you know what I mean. Or it’s the technology. I know I just said you should invest in future-proofing your business but do you need the email service provider that will carry you up to 10,000 subscribers when you only have 50? Do you need to pay for the platform that enables you to have a membership when you have no plans to create one in the next, well, ever but you like having the option?

I had a woman contact me and want my help creating a website. She wanted to pay my rates for crafting messaging, editing copy, and a referral for a web designer. Which I would have been very happy to do except for two things. First, she couldn’t afford me. We both knew that. I’m not expensive by most standards, I like to remain reasonable, but I am not in her budget. And for that matter, neither is a web designer. But second, and more importantly, she doesn’t need a website right now. If ever. I couldn’t take her money and set her up and still sleep at night knowing she got something that most likely wasn’t going to bring her a reasonable return on the investment and that was going to be more than what she was able to maintain on her own, causing her to have to pay more for web maintenance.

A website is a lovely thing to have and splash around. But there are other, more cost effective ways to run a business. She’s getting set up with a different system that suits her business and more importantly, that money that she was going to invest is going into equipment upgrades and paying herself a little bit extra. And that’s the bonus of reviewing what you’re paying for. The money you can potentially save can be used to invest in what you actually need or to pay yourself a bit more, even just a bonus would be lovely. Or it can be used to pay someone else which leads me ever so nicely to my second item: doing what you don’t like.

Why are you doing what you don’t like? And sometimes yes, you absolutely have to roll up your sleeves and get dirty up to your elbows. But what about doing things you feel like you should because it’s expected? First, why? Second, who is expecting what from you? If it’s your customer or client, that leads me to third, do you have to be the one who does it? Does it have to be done in the conventional way or can you get creative?

I had a client, bright and sunny and driven and so intelligent. And she wanted to start a blog. But actually she didn’t. When she brought it up her entire body language, right down to her tone of voice, drooped. If there is something in your business you feel you should be doing, well, that word ‘should’ can be your trigger to stop and re-evaluate. Why and says who? If it’s something that you can’t get out of doing or providing, see if there is a way to worm around the practicalities. My client is an amazing speaker. Like, you want to bottle her and pour her into crowds of people. So we worked with her strengths and the answer is to record her thoughts and have a VA transcribe them. If you can’t afford a VA, then perhaps you get busy learning to type quickly; don’t stifle your creativity and don’t hold yourself back over the things you can work around. You need to be aware of the things holding you back and either drop them or work around them.

The third item on my list is second guessing. We all do it at some point, we all hesitate before hitting publish or post or send. We re-think before we open our mouth to contribute or straight up slam the delete button. It’s normal and sometimes it’s a good thing. A bit of thought before we jump can save ourselves and nobody needs more hassle.

What I'm talking about here is second guessing if your new product is good enough or ready for purchase. If that picture is too dorky to post. If your copy isn’t perfect. If your email sequence is long enough or timed right or including the right messages at the right time. (I can help with that by the way.) Are you ready to talk on a podcast about your business? Should you hire someone on a part time or even full time basis? Should you let someone go? Should you accept that offer to partner or make an offer of your own?

Or worse, if you’ve made a sound decision and last minute start allowing that niggle of fear in the back of your mind to speak more strongly, more loudly. If it is around a significant move or investment, you be the judge of how much weight to give it. If it’s a post or a product or course, hit publish. Do what you need to do to move your business forward, get it in play, give it some time then review what you did. Make your tweaks if necessary and move on. It’ll be okay. Malcolm Gladwell is a brilliant author and one of my favorite books of his is called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. I’ll link to it in the show notes. But he breaks down what happens in the mind in those few seconds before making a decision, what’s knows as the adaptive unconscious: mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from relatively little information. Lots of studies and real world examples, written in a conversational tone and so easy to burn through. I’m a compulsive over-thinker by nature and this book helped me understand what happens behind the scenes in my head and that, combined with the work I’ve done on my own self-confidence has helped me stop second guessing myself so much. If you read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts so pop me an email at janice@janicefogarty.com or tag me on Instagram at janiceefogarty.

The fourth item to re-evaluate is if you’re working for today. Remember a few minutes ago when I brought up future-proofing your business? Well, this is it. I don’t know your business but what I do know is that you don’t plan to work forever. At some point you want to make enough money to keep you in your desired lifestyle without the stress and effort you currently put in. And in order to do that, you need to be actively setting things up in your business to run without you.

That might feel scary. As entrepreneurs we sometimes feel highly attached to our business, maybe you have a personal brand business and sure, the attachment makes complete sense, but at some point you won’t want to do the same things anymore. And you should prepare for that now. Depending on your revenue and growth, your personal goals, your talents, you should be thinking about what it will take to achieve your future.

Maybe you need to invest in better equipment or technology that will allow you to take your business to the next stage. I’m not saying to go back into that 10,000 email subscriber package, but evaluate if your plans are to grow your list by 1,000 and maybe add in a product that would justify upgrading your programming. Or you want to be able to build more bath bombs, train more dogs, but your current operations aren’t built for that. That’s when you need to upgrade your equipment to enable you to grow.

Many of us don’t want to grow to have a staff of 30 but it would be nice to have someone to run the business side of things will you do what you are so good at, whatever that is that gives your business your sparkle, or you hire someone to do the stuff that sucks the joy from your heart. If you can see yourself hiring a virtual assistant or an online business manager in the near future, you should be thinking about what you do right now that you’ll want them to take over and create a manual, or a standard operating procedure around that. This ensures consistency in your brand, in your operations, and enables someone you hire to immediately start working to your standards and methodology - as long as they can follow your directions.

If you have a staff already and are looking at handing over the day-to-day operations, it goes without saying you should have a significant amount of standard operating procedures in place but you should also be devising a schedule to ease yourself out, to gradually hand over responsibilities and get your employees used to the idea of taking on more or different responsibilities or reporting to a different person. If you want to sell your business as a growing concern, the ability to hand over a well-trained staff and a set of current standard procedures is an excellent selling feature.

And, let’s be honest, you’ll need time to adjust to all of this as well. Future proofing your business includes ensuring your graceful exit and transition into a different life. Which nicely segways into taking care of yourself.

Is this new advice? No. But it is important enough to repeat. You are the only one of you. You are valuable, you’re worthy, you’re loved and you’re needed. So please, take care of yourself. Eat. Sleep. Exercise. Read or listen to more podcasts. Have a hobby or something outside of whatever your work is, that’ll give you something to look forward to and help you with creativity, relaxation, and provide you with something to occupy your time while you transition out of your business when the time comes. And know people, be with people, who know who you are, who you enjoy being with, who keep you honest and true and inspire you to be better. That’s advice close to item six.

Networking. I love to connect people. If I know you are doing something and can help someone else out, if I hear of someone looking for someone like you, I will always create the connection where possible. Until it comes to myself. As an introvert, it’s way safer and easier to stay in my bubble. Even online, to just stay in my online bubble. It's so snuggly and delightful in my bubble. But it’s not helping my business. It’s not helping my personal or professional development. So I’ve had to make a decision to network. Sometimes I speak in other groups, on facebook or Zoom; I leave comments cheering random strangers on or answering their questions, helping where I can. When someone introduces me to someone else, I stay open and curious instead of retreating into my head and ducking the intro. And so can you. These are not revolutionary ideas but they can be hard, harder than engaging. But when you don’t engage, you don’t network, you shut yourself off to opportunities, to support, to creative synergy, to extra ideas and income. For the sake of what? Staying safe inside your head? Is it worth it?

I’m going to guess you’re in a few facebook groups. You're welcome to join mine, the Connections, Coffee & Confidence Community, but whatever groups you're in, engage! Same with Instagram or TikTok or Clubhouse, wherever you’re hanging out. Engage. There are networking groups set up across every country and if you can’t find one that suits your needs, start one. You’re an entrepreneur. You create and problem solve, so do it. Maybe you’re in a part of the world that is open by the time you listen to this; and that might make things easier for you to attend in-person events. Easier meaning they are happening, you might still need to push yourself to attend. But I don’t think that online meet ups are ever going to be a thing of the past so hit the old Google and find one that’s of interest to you. Maybe you don’t focus on what exactly you aim to get out of the networking beyond meeting new people; as Heather McGregor said in episode 52, you block the magic when you control the how. Maybe it’s enough for you to decide to meet new people and stay open to possibilities. Try it. The worst thing that can happen is you have a story to tell about the horrible time you tried to network and the cast of characters or events that you encountered.

The last item on my list is a deep one that is holding you back. It’s about not claiming your status. Owning it. You are magnificent at something, somewhere in your heart you know I’m right. But maybe you don’t feel safe admitting it even to yourself let alone proclaiming it to the world. Or maybe you just aren’t sure what it is yet. Or maybe you know and you downplay it.

We say those things, you know? Oh, I just kinda fell into this thing… I don’t know how it happened but all of a sudden I had to hire an assistant to help out. I’m not really an expert but I get by. Or some version. No more. Stop doing that. If you are doing something and it is working, then that isn’t by chance or magic, you’ve done something and are someone real and deserving of credit. Claim that credit. Feel it in your bones. Write it on your mirror so you see it every day. Make it your screen saver. And knock out using that word ‘just’ to modify your accomplishments. Stand proudly beside what you’ve done. Even if you failed, be proud that you tried and rest in the knowledge that you gained through the experience.

When you don’t own your expertise, your skills, you close yourself off to external recognition. I’m not saying you need that external recognition for yourself, far from it, but others need it to help them justify their decision to spend their money and time on you. It’s psychology, social proof. If you bat away compliments or acknowledgements, you will teach people to stop giving them to you making your marketing harder.

When you don’t own your success, or you refuse to hold it as truth, you place limits on yourself. If you don’t acknowledge your strengths and skills, you won’t be confident enough to take the beating every entrepreneur inevitably gets. And actually, you won’t be confident enough to actually get into the ring. You limit your possibilities when you don’t claim what you have, who you are.

This can be really hard, particularly for women. I hope that it changes for the coming generations but right now, women are still not really encouraged to own their status. And I can’t imagine the challenges faced by women who are Black, Indigenous or People of Colour, non-binary or identifying as female. There are layers of societal norms that I want to believe are being worn away but right now, we have to take a deep breath and accept our strength, our skill.

If you struggle to know what you’re good at, ask someone you trust and respect. Hire a coach. Step back and examine what has worked for you and what felt good while you were doing it, does that give you a clue? And do a gut check. When you have an answer, does it sit well in your gut? Not the fear of having to own it and claim it and proclaim it, but in your heart of hearts, is this true and accurate? If it passes the gut test, go with it. Remember it and hold on to the knowledge so you can bypass the fear that will inevitably bubble up in the future.

So there you have it. In no particular order my list of seven items to re-evaluate to ensure you aren’t wasting time, energy or money, that you aren’t holding yourself back from being the most magnificent version of your entrepreneurial self. Stop paying for what you don’t need. Stop doing what sucks the joy from your heart. Stop second guessing yourself. Stop working for today. Stop not prioritizing self care. Stop avoiding networking. Stop denying your skills and expertise. And once you’ve stopped all of those things, take note of how you feel with your newfound clarity and direction.

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you next week.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not Living the Cookie Cutter Life

Mon, 31 May 2021 15:00:29 GMT

Heather McGregor is a Soul Life Laser Coach, Quantum Flow Practitioner, author, speaker, and the founder of Naturally Present and the CLAIM Program. She guides entrepreneurs and coaches to live an empowered soul-led life, and increase their income in their soul-led business. She believes in magic, energy and flow and will inspire you to do the same.

**My apologies for the minute or two where you can hear one of my boys playing xbox in background!**

Key Points:

Not Living the Cookie Cutter Life (3:49)
Student of Life: Modalities & Mentors (5:57)
Quantum Flow: Clearing Stuck Energy and Recoding Neural Pathways (8:18)
Laser Coaching: Getting to the Root and Shifting Energy (9:53)
CLAIM Program: Conscious Living (11:25)
Freedom as Entrepreneurs (14:15)
Curiosity and Humor (15:27)
When We Control the How, We Block the Magic (18:06)
Permission to Live Your Joy (20:42)
A Place of Desire: Letting Go of the "So That I Can" (24:37)
How Do You Stay So Positive? How Do You Still the Mind? (27:54)
I Wish People Would See Their Own Brilliance (30:10)
Just Stand Up Again (31:06)
Learning How to Let Go (32:13)
It's Always the Breath (35:45)
Co-Authoring a Book (38:21)
It's Time to be Bold (42:40)

You can find Heather at: https://naturallypresent.com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/naturally_present/

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/naturallypresentnetwork

If you are interested in reading Rebirth: 11 Stories of Real Women Who Re-Invented Themselves, Renewed Their Life Force & Rose From The Ashes, the book Heather co-authored, here's my Amazon link* to purchase a copy: https://amzn.to/2TkTeKu

*If you use my link to purchase this book or anything else, I will receive a small commission but it will not affect your price at all. I appreciate your support in keeping this podcast running!

My Products:

Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chaser of Shiny Things

Mon, 24 May 2021 15:00:15 GMT

With the rise of podcasts comes a new type of PR agency, one focused on matching their clients to the most aligned and strategic podcast opportunities. Brandy Whalen saw this coming as her more traditional clients were enjoying their media exposure and gaining great publicity and feedback; she saw the opportunity and formed Kitcaster with a local podcaster. In this episode, she discusses how podcasting is impacting business and public relations, marketing, as well as where she sees this media form heading.

Key Points:

Everyone can use podcasts but their goals are different (4:01)
Podcasting as a brand tool (7:04)
Alignment: How to get chosen (9:56)
The future of podcasting: Professionalism (13:42)
Sophisticated Marketing is on the way (15:10)
Getting excited about what people are doing (18:12)
Podcasts & Pandemics (23:47)
It's not a deal if you don't need it (25:22)
60 podcasts and rewards reaped (27:40)
Advice to guests from an agency professional (31:33)
How to work with Kitcaster (32:06)
Really good conversations (33:18)

How to contact Brandy Whalen:

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandy-whalen/
Kitcaster.com

My products to help you grow your business with confidence and amazing communication:

How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)
Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)

I love Apothekary products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being. I use Seal the Deal every day in my morning smoothie and Chill The F* Out when I need it! (Better Than Botox and You Dew You have been known to hit my smoothies, as well.) By using my referral link, you can get $30US off of your first order --> http://apothekary.refr.cc/janicefogarty

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest

Mon, 17 May 2021 15:00:34 GMT

Podcasts can be an amazing way to get your message and your business out into the world. What better way to attract clients then let them hear how witty and intelligent and, frankly, how awesome you are to spend time with?

But if podcasts are going to play a big part of your publicity or marketing campaign, do you know how to maximize the potential returns for your efforts? Do you know how to be the kind of guest who a host enthusiastically invites back for more?

Well, now you do.

Key Points:

Request the rules & check your audio (3:05)
Check the language policy (4:57)
Can you get a do over? (5:35)
Listen before you guest (6:52)
Be concise but chat! (7:50)
Recognize a podcast is a tool (8:30)
Be effective - know your messaging (9:10)
Prepare! (9:42)
Ask for the theme or topic (10:44)
Know how people can contact you (12:49)
Promote. Again. And some more. (13:41)

Also Mentioned:

10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)
E19, an interview with Stacey Tompkins, photographer (https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/headshots-philosophy-and-a-mic-drop-moment)
Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)

Transcript:

Well hello and welcome to the fiftieth episode of Connections Coffee and Confidence with me, Janice Fogarty. And if this is your fiftieth or your first episode, I’m thrilled to bits and pieces to have you here with me.

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to research and find some new stats, I do have a fondness for data and there are new numbers from 2020, but all I could find is the old stat that most podcasts never make it past episode fourteen and many don’t make it past one. And that apparently my average download numbers are not considered good.

So, let me say again how much I appreciate you being here and if you could recommend me to a friend that would be brilliant! Thank you.

This week’s episode follows the podcast theme but, true to form, I’m coming at it from a strategic and business minded standpoint. Let’s talk about being a good podcast guest.

INTRO

There are over two million podcasts and roughly 48 million episodes currently floating out there, according to Apple as of April 2021. And I always recommend podcasts as an undervalued opportunity for publicity for your business. (It’s in my freebie about 10 free ways to get publicity, which I’ll link to in the shownotes.) So if I recommend you use a podcast as a way to grow your business, obviously you then need to be a guest. But what do I mean by being a good guest?

It breaks down into two different aspects, one I view as being an actual guest. The person who is going to guest on an episode and provide interesting and informative content to my audience, or any audience but for the sake of simplicity, I’ll speak as if it’s for my show. Trust me, what I am about to talk about are not just my opinions, they have been echoed by a multitude of other podcasters in the various places we hang out.

So as a person who is about to go on a show, you should know there are probably some minimum expectations on you. You should ask if the podcaster has a form with technical requirements, for example. And if they don’t, please ensure that your sound is good. I can almost guarantee that your laptop mic is not going to work in your favour. You no doubt have amazing things to say but you might as well save yourself the effort because no one will be able to hear you. It’s frustrating for the podcaster, it’s frustrating for you when you hear the episode and realize no one can hear you, and it can cause a lot of extra work and sometimes money for the podcaster to equalize the sound; this is an audio form of entertainment, if the sound isn’t great, there really isn’t much else going for it.

Many of us record over Zoom. You have the link, get your audio testing out of the way before the host shows up. Sometimes life happens and you race in to the meeting by the skin of your teeth, I get that, but it’s nice when you have the chance to have the fiddling about finished up. Like I say, it doesn’t always work out that way but it’s better to be calm and not flustered from your tech goofing up.

Oh yeah, be prepared for the tech to goof up. Episode 19 with photographer Stacey Tompkins was a disaster, tech wise. My laptop overheated two or three times, shutting down completely often mid sentence. Stacey was brilliantly patient and kind while I sorted my issues out and that kind of grace puts someone high on the recommendation list when podcasters are talking about guests.

If you know you tend to have a potty mouth, ask what the language policy is. Then stick to it. I swear in real life, sometimes quite creatively. But not on my podcast. Swearing means we need to label our episodes differently before getting them uploaded for distribution and this can sometimes impact the amount of listeners the podcast will be shared with due to algorithms.

You can also ask about the re-do policy. I tell people up front that if they need to rephrase something or need to take a second to think, then to go for it. Lift a hand, be silent for a moment to make the editing easier, and try again. I don’t have a problem because I want my podcast to always be a positive experience for people, and because I do my own editing. However, I’m a bit of a rarity apparently, most people outsource their editing and that means the more editing that needs doing, the more money it costs the podcast to get a finished product. And if you feel like you shouldn’t have said something, a bit of speakers remorse, contact the host ASAP. Do not wait. Unless there is a legal implication of what you said, you will be at the mercy of the host’s good graces. I have a waiver that states I have final say in the edit; my guests all agree to that before they get on my show. It’s pretty standard and a podcast is a time-consuming process so to go back once the podcast is in the editing phase or later, it needs to be a major issue.

I can’t recommend this enough but listen to the podcast before you go on. Check it out. All podcasts have some sort of social media or internet presence. Check out who is listening, what the reviews say, and listen to an episode or two. Or three. If the podcast is a mix of interviews and solo episodes, make sure you listen to at least one interview. There are so many benefits to this tip such as learning the interview style, potential questions and episode flow. These are all tips that will help you prepare to show up as a top notch guest because you’ll be ready for those surprise questions, or if the host always drills questions without chit chat or whatever. And when you see who is listening, what they are saying, you’ll have an idea of what kind of stories or value you should be prepared to bring in order to make yours a well reviewed episode.

And hey, talk. This is not the time for brevity. Be concise, don’t waffle on about nothing relevant or interesting, but chat. Be yourself. If you enjoy telling stories, tell stories that usually get a good laugh or that demonstrate a point you’re trying to make. Use the host’s name, reference the title, those are two things that will score you bonus points with the host and might get you invited back on because you’re showing recognition of the importance of their branding. You’re being generous and generosity always plays well.

The other way I mean being a good guest has to do with using the podcast effectively as a tool. Effectively, not obnoxiously. There is some skill to this and I’m very happy to work with you should you be interested in honing your messaging and delivery before you begin guesting. My contact details are in the shownotes, pop me an email. Alternatively you can download my Don’t Waste Your Breath messaging guide. It walks you through creating your messaging that you can then use for going on a podcast, writing your emails or website copy, or creating social media copy.

Because being effective means having your messaging prepared. You may not be guesting to discuss your business but if you have a business, you could potentially get clients or customers out of your episode. So you want to present yourself as collected and competent. This is the same as any other piece of strategic communications, know your goal going into it. That goal will help you with your messaging, define the stories you tell, and guide how you answer questions you weren’t prepared for.

Going back to my advice about listening to a few episodes before going on, this gives you the chance to get used to the host’s style. You always want to fit their flow as best as you can, it’s their show. But there is a way to do it so you can show yourself off in your best light; this requires preparation especially if the podcaster’s style is different to yours. You need to be able to easily slide your answers into the relevant questions. Really good politicians are masters at this; no matter the question thrown at them, they have their answer. It;s their messaging and they just reuse it to answer everything and get their point across. If something is edited beyond recognition, whatever clip is used will ultimately get their message out for them. It’s a beautiful thing to watch when you know how hard it is to do it! Try and see how you can work on that skill.

Now this tip is a bit controversial, see how it sits with you and use it if it feels right. You can always ask for questions or at least a theme or topic before the interview. If you have pitched yourself to the podcast, you have likely provided a sample of the topic you want to talk about. If you have been invited on, you will probably be told what the topic is. But sometimes the information just isn’t forthcoming. And it’s okay to ask. The controversial part is asking for the questions or suggesting questions of your own. Some podcasters are fussy about questions. Some don’t use them. Some are very protective of the integrity of their podcast and don’t want to feel like they are being influenced as to the topic covered. I always have questions and provide them to my guest when I send them the waiver; they are in the same document. Because I approach each episode with my PR hat on, I want to enable and encourage my guests to promote their business, usually while I pry into how they got started and their communications practises. It’s a mutual relationship, from my perspective; I let you the listener hear how someone else is running their business and they can promote themselves. But I am not the typical host. Most aren’t going to design their questions to elicit specific information to help their guests promote themselves, that onus is mostly on you the guest to do so. If you have something specific that you want to discuss, respectfully request to do so. Explain why it’s of interest to the audience, or how it brings value to the discussion. And if they say no, don’t try and bring it in through the back door during the interview. You can be edited or the episode may never be heard. Just because you are interviewed does not mean the episode will be aired. It’s the podcaster’s show, their decision to upload an episode or not.

My second last tip seems basic but it’s worth repeating. Know how people can get in touch with you. Some people have a linktree or something that provides all of the relevant information and it’s easy enough to say that out but if that’s not you, that’s ok. Know your Twitter or Instagram, Facebook, website, whatever. Decide ahead of time how you want people to contact you and provide that information. It’ll probably go in the shownotes but lots of people never think to go to them so say the important ones out loud for those listening on their phone so they can jump on Google and check you out. If appropriate, offer a freebie or a discount code or something to entice the audience into your world. But be ready to do it when the time arises.

And finally, promote. Promote it on your personal spaces, your business spaces. Promote it when you are interviewed. Promote it when it goes live. Promote it a month later and a few months later. Then feel free to promote it again. When you as a guest promotes your episode, the ripple effect of the benefits are wonderful both for you in terms of added credibility, the opportunity to give potential clients a taste of working with you, the free content for your feeds, and the appreciation of the host who is more likely to invite you back or recommend you to other podcast hosts, but also for the host who benefits from additional exposure and potential new audience members as well as potential new guests. Basically, it’s a good thing to promote your episode more heavily than you think is appropriate.

So there you go. How to be an amazing podcast guest, both as a guest but also as a business person. A podcast is an opportunity to grow your business and your communications skills, skills that are essential for the longevity of your business and transferable to whatever you do in your life. Take advantage of the opportunity! Test out these tips and tag me on Instagram, @janiceefogarty let me know what you’ve tried and how they work for you. Thanks for spending my fiftieth episode with me and I’ll chat with you next week.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Be True to Who You Are Now

Sun, 09 May 2021 15:00:18 GMT

Why is it so hard to communicate like ourself? Things are changing around us which means we, too, are changing. Sometimes out of choice, sometimes out of necessity; sometimes it's conscious and often it's happening without our realizing. But we are changing and when that realization hits, how to do we communicate authentically? Especially when you don't exactly know who you are being authentic to?

Recommended Reading:

I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough" by Brene Brown (https://amzn.to/3nZgzwL)
Gifts of Imperfection, The: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown (https://amzn.to/3uKDrCs)
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (really, anything by Malcolm Gladwell - in this book he looks at how some people do amazing things by following their intuition, what their gut tells them to do before they can blink. It helped me think about just trusting and going with my gut reaction and is just a great read for entertainment, too!) (https://amzn.to/3vTQKkg) <- this link is to the Kindle edition for my American readers/listeners/shoppers

https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

Don't waste your breath and get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you make the right impression, no matter the medium you’re using!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to Connections, Coffee & Confidence. I’m Janice and if you’re a regular listener or if this is your first time, I’m so happy to have you here! But!

This week’s episode is a wee bit different in terms of it’s not an actionable PR or strategic communications talk, it’s more behind the scenes.

Because something that comes up as an avoidance reason when it comes to communicating is that word authenticity. And the feeling that you need to be confident. And I want to dig a little deeper into that today.

INTRO

When I first started thinking about why it is so hard to communicate sometimes, I could hear people’s voices in my head, echoes of meeting with clients, speaking to people in my group, and my own reflections. And it comes back to authenticity. You know, how you’re supposed to feel authentic and yourself in your communications; that’s how you attract people, you draw them in by being your amazing self.

And that’s true. I do believe that and I do practise that as much as I can.

But why is that so hard?

I think that when we’ve been through so much, there will always be an impact on our identity. Our lives never stand still in the regular scheme of things; we are always evolving, learning, changing and adapting. We meet new people, go somewhere different. Read a new book or listen to a different podcast. All of these things, and more, affect the way we think and interact with our world. They can affect the way we think about ourselves and can cause huge changes or a minor deviation from our norm.

And that was before Covid. Maybe you’ve had the rug pulled out from under you and you’ve had to pivot. Maybe you or a loved one has been sick, and I’m truly sorry if that's the case. Everyone’s anxiety has increased and that can make us worry or wonder about things that we’ve never considered before. There’s a lot of new and different in the world, all of it exciting but not always in the positive sense. On the flip side, though, this has spurred many of us to try new things, to take the leap we’ve been thinking about, to consciously change into a different person in an effort to attain more happiness or sense of fulfilment or make a living.

Even when the choice to change has been ours, it still brings with it a change in identity and all that comes with it. And how do you sound authentic when you have no idea who you’re being true to?

I’m a mom of three boys. Twins and singleton. At one point I had three under two and a half and I spent a number of years changing diapers, scheduling feedings, washing clothes and bottles, and not sleeping. I was also living in a different country at that time. I was married. I had been working under a work permit system and so had to take jobs that would allow me to work, they were not all what a university graduate was accustomed to. I went from having a secretary to getting the tea and coffee for the media training clients. It was a lot to deal with, throw in a swift and extreme economic downturn and well, things were tough.

It was a lot of change, external and internal. And I was so busy that it was difficult to take some time and realize what was happening. It was life and I was living it, not thinking about it but vaguely aware that something was missing, something was changing and I wasn’t who I thought I was anymore. And it was unsettling.

So yeah, there were a lot of identity shifts, changes and losses in a short few years and I don’t think I’m alone in having a period like that. There’s no way you have gotten to where you are now, to who you are now, without evolution and some of those evolutions had to have been big.

And here we are, with a business or growing a business or thinking about starting one, and we’re faced with the task of communicating authentically and frequently, consistently. We’re faced with creating a cohesive messaging strategy that will market our business and ourselves and holy old smokes all of that is it intimidating.

Because what you map out for yourself to say doesn’t always flow, it doesn’t always feel right, it doesn’t always feel natural. Because although sometimes we might know what needs to be said, we just haven’t had a chance to wiggle our bums around in our seats and find our comfy spot.

A lot of gurus will tell you to take a stand and put your beliefs out there. You know, attract your similarly minded people. But it is hard to take a stand for what you believe in when you aren’t sure what that is. Or when you have an idea but that’s all it is right now, an idea. Maybe it’s so big that there is a lot of complexity to it, or maybe it’s so different to you that you’re still sorting out your feelings around it. Either way, those are not the paths to clear and consistent communications.

Those are the paths to frustration and when you couple that with feelings of pressure around what you should be doing, how often you should be posting, what you need to look like in your pictures, those are the paths to doubt. Those paths lead you to not enjoy working your business any longer. They lead to pumping things out at a mad rate, but none of it really feels right, or the well drying up because you overthink everything - which often happens when we aren’t clear on things anyway.

And honestly, where I often find myself these days is fixating on the question of energy and desire. As in, do I really have the energy to get involved with this? Do I have the desire, do I feel strong enough to boldly proclaim that I do not believe anyone should ‘celebrate’ world autism day? (For the record, I live in an autism centric home. It’s life. We should celebrate life. We need to generate more awareness, more acceptance, more love for those who operate differently to us but isn’t that true of every single person under the sun? Mark it, but I feel celebrate is an odd choice of word. I celebrate my kids every day. Sometimes not until they have gone to bed and I celebrate that we survived another day but in that respect am I really different to other parents of three boys?) Ok, and this is what I mean. And I don’t have the energy to devote to clarifying my position publicly because I don’t have the time to devote to clarifying my own position to myself. So I tend to stay away, I don’t take a lot of stands.

So what the heck are we supposed to do about this?

I feel like the answer is pretty short and simple. Who are you right now? Be true to that person. What made you smile today? Appreciate that and if you’re stuck on something to throw up on Insta or Facebook, then that’s your story for today. Not everything has to be mind blowingly deep, or hilarious, or a smashing sale post. Take that pressure off of yourself right now.

Nor does it need to be perfect. I mean, have you seen my Instagram? @janiceefogarty go on, follow me for the laugh. Or join my group Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook. I sometimes go live in there and show you how you don’t need to be perfect to show up.

Consistency that counts a lot but that doesn't mean three times a day every day. Unless you have a team and a killer content plan in which case have at ‘er. But I don’t. So I don’t. And that’s ok.

And yeah, consistency of messaging is important but so is being human. We do evolve. If you post about coffee today and tea tomorrow, well, big deal. If you know why you started your business and that has evolved, well that’s ok too. Don’t feel badly about shifting your messaging, it happens all the time. Especially when the world is changing so quickly and you’re a small business; it’s great to be small enough to shift and adapt to what is more meaningful or impactful or possible for you.

When you’re in a state of flux, that’s who you are in that moment. You’re changing and don’t overthink it, it makes everything worse. Complete overthinker here, by the way. I speak from experience. If you haven’t heard the expression ‘sit in the suck’ then welcome, you have now. Because those feelings of discomfort when you’re changing are real. They often suck. But by sitting in that suck and allowing it to work itself out, by taking some time to allow the shifts to happen and to recognize those shifts, to accept them and figure out what they mean to you, you’re actually being true to yourself. So showing up as authentically you means that things change. How you show up, when you show up, maybe even where you show up, will change.

I feel like the confidence we’re sometimes looking for will come when we accept this state of change. When we acknowledge that, right now, we are figuring things out and we are not alone in this stage. And nor will it be the last time we go through it. When you accept all of that, you’ll be showing up authentically and confidently and that is something to celebrate.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Making a Positive Impact Through Aromatherapy

Mon, 03 May 2021 15:00:56 GMT

This interview is with Carol Foy, Clinical Aromatherapist - and yoga instructor. Carol's business has evolved to offer products but her heart is always in providing a service that helps create wellness for her self and her family, her community and - through the ripple effect - the world.

It's just the beauty of the world and wanting to find the more sacred and better connection every way I can in my own life...trying to find that balance in life with a smaller footprint. ~Carol Foy

Key Points:

Help to Create Wellness: Clinical Aromatherapy (2:32)
8 Years in a Yoga Studio (6:48)
Now I don't Know What to Do: Moving On (10:04)
Bumming Around & Surfing: Plans and a change of direction (12:15)
Being Open Minded: A holistic way of living with environmentally friendly products (13:39)
The Chance to Make a Difference: A positive impact on my community (16:55)
Misinformation and Stigma: Making Aromatherapy Accessible (18:11)
Safety Advice: Essential Oils and beyond (20:11)
Bergamot: Carol's Favorite Today (25:17)
Smell as a Sensory Experiece (28:26)
There's Always Been a Desire to Make Things Better (31:10)
Top Questions for an Aromatherapist: Safety, Essential Oils and Kids (33:35)
Not All People Are Your People (36:34)

Also Mentioned in This Episode:

www.theforestandfield.ca
Instagram: @forestandfieldaromatherapy
FB: forest-field-aromatherapy
Carol's top recommendation: The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils by Julia Lawless (**https://amzn.to/3xGvW1v This is my Amazon Affiliate link and if you choose to purchase this book or anything else through it then I will receive a small commission but your price will not change. Thank you for your support!)

https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

Don't waste your breath and get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you make the right impression, no matter the medium you’re using!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five Ways Around Information Overload so You Can Act Now

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 15:00:02 GMT

There is a webinar for every topic - and fifteen emails to go with each one.- available every day. There are probably fifty experts or influencers for every niche. There is more information coming at us every day than we ever dreamed was possible. And we need to be able to accept that we are responsible for taking the information we have already gleaned and putting it into action.

But how?

That's what this week's episode addresses with my five ways around and through that information overload!

Key Points:

Take a Break (2:55)
Find Clarity by Focusing on Your Goals (4:13)
Narrow Your Sphere of Influence (5:27)
Emulate: Find a Template (7:36)
Speak it Out (9:11)
Set a Reminder: Brendon Burchard's Phone Alarm Trick (11:23)

Mentioned in this episode:

Brendon Burchard - High Performance Planner (https://amzn.to/3dQ93ko)*
Brendon Burchard, my favorite book of his - High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way (https://amzn.to/3niLgwq)*
Get on the waitlist for my Cut The Waffle course and learn the shifts necessary to create your own strategic communications plan: https://www.janicefogarty.com/cut-the-waffle-create-your-strategic-communications-plan

*Please note that this is my Amazon affiliate link and if you use it to purchase the products I recommend or anything else, your price won't change but I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.

https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

Don't waste your breath and get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you make the right impression, no matter the medium you’re using!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Clear the Stress of Asking

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 15:00:34 GMT

No stress, just being clear on what you want and asking for it.

Sounds simple, eh?

This episode walks you through how easy it can actually be.

**********

Mentioned in this episode:

Heather McGregor, Soul Life Laser Coach, www.naturallypresent.com/
Heather's FB Group: www.facebook.com/groups/naturallypresentnetwork

**********

Don't waste your breath! Get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you leave the right impression. Use it to help you speak to groups, on podcasts or even to focus your social copy!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Transcript:

Clarity of messaging is so important. And that sounds kind of formal, a bit intimidating maybe, but honestly I don’t mean it to be. When you boil it down, it’s about knowing what you want or need and being able to simply say it.

So while I normally get all PR-ish and strategic when I talk about messaging and the like, today I want to reframe it and have a look at knowing what you want and need, and asking for it. Clearly and simply.

INTRO

Now, in addition to me usually being very clinical - straightforward and I have had someone comment on my use of statistics, I like evidence based stuff, what can I say? This episode is coming from the gut, I promise not to throw numbers at you or reference any studies. Are you feeling relieved?

I feel like oftentimes we are kind of free floating through life, you know? Like, you know you have to make sales to get money to pay your bills and buy a coffee Saturday morning when you go out for a walk. You know you need to post on social media and have something for sale, and talk about it, entice people in. You probably know you have to forge some partnerships, make some connections, collaborate in order to grow but it kinda just stays there in your mind. You know these things are good things but knowing and doing don’t always meet up. And without the doing, you don’t receive.

So how do you fix that?

The starting point for me is the purpose or intention, the need or the want. You can’t go off doing things without a reason, otherwise you’re wasting time and energy. I hate to nail myself down to something like I need to make $500 from this product by the end of the week, that creates pressure and stress; it comes from a place of lack which is never a great place to be, but it’s important to be clear in your mind on what you want so try: I’m paying that bill before it’s due or I’m getting a new client this week. Or it could be as simple as I’m starting a business that helps these particular people with this particular challenge.

That doesn’t feel too scary, does it? Not a ton of pressure on yourself in any of those intentions, right? And note the language is all present tense, it is happening. That also feels nicer because it’s like a foregone conclusion.

So what is it that you intend to accomplish? It might not even be an action, it might be a feeling or desire that you want to imprint on others, but there is an intention there that will guide your actions. You have to be clear on that piece, the intention. If you don't know what you want, how will you know when you’ve got it?

Once you have that intention, and I am trying so hard not to say goal here, the urge to be strategic complete with jargon is huge. But I’ll stick with intention or purpose. Once you have that, it clears up where you’ll look for the opportunities or resources you’ll need. If you want to get really woo, that clarity of intention will allow the universe to come in and fulfill it with you. I say with you because you always have to put some effort in, you need to show that you’re invested and willing to work. So where will you look?

Most people I find are resorting to Facebook, I mean there are a million groups out there - including the Connections Coffee & Confidence Community which you are welcome to join. But you’re more than likely to find a group, a company, an event, a something that suits your purpose on Facebook or it’s sister platform Instagram. Or any other social media. But let’s not forget other options. It could be through volunteering, through the local newspaper, the radio, YouTube or even a podcast. Google what you’re looking for and just see what comes up? There could be a book or a documentary that gives you an idea that sends you down a new path. Like maybe you’re meant to write a book or create a documentary? I don’t know but you are merely looking at the opportunities right now, not ruling anything in or out.

And don’t forget people. I am the one they used to giggle at in my last office because I was known for connecting people with articles, programs, resources, whatever. If I knew you were interested in or needed or were working on something, and I saw a related article for example, I’d email it to you. And there are others like me - you might be one or know one yourself? A connector. People can be a valuable source of opportunities. But I know that sometimes it’s hard to connect in person and that leads me to the next step.

Asking. Ugh. This might actually be the hardest part of the whole process. Asking for what you want. Or even just saying, out loud or in writing, what you are seeking. Does that feel gross for you? Even just the thought of asking for the sale, asking for the referral, asking for the raise if you’re still working for someone else. Saying you want an opportunity, that you want to try, that you are the right person for the job?

I get that, right in my heart. In my gut. To me this is often the hardest and the piece I’ve been working the most on. And there are probably a few reasons this piece is hard but I find that when you strip away the layers, emotions and attachment are revealed at the core.

What if they say no. How would that feel? And chances are that the ickiness of that feeling, even the anticipation of that feeling, is enough to add hesitancy into our ask.

Some of this can be alleviated by remaining in the moment and revising the way we set out our purpose; like I said earlier, not putting the stress of a very finite and absolute expectation on ourselves. Because then there is a very clear idea as to what constitutes failure.

Side note, it’s not a failure. I guarantee it’s not, I don’t even know the circumstances and I can tell you it’s not. It’s a learning experience and as much as you may want to roll your eyes and snort at that sentence, it actually is. And sometimes we need to have a few of those experiences before we can even realize that we’ve survived - and that realization on its own is a massive shift.

But if we are able to detach ourselves from the ask, then the ask is easier to do. I attended a masterclass with Heather McGregor who is an empowerment coach, she works with people around their money mindset but does it from the standpoint of energetic flow. I’ll leave a link to her in the shownotes and if you ever get a chance to do one of her meditations, do it. She’s wonderful. But anyway, she speaks a lot about detaching from your money story, and a lot of your other stories that honestly we all hold on to. Be it that it’s not nice to ask; or well, I told them what I do they can ask me if they need me; or who am I to ask them. Stories.

This is where I like to have my story straight, so to speak. When I was younger, earlier in my career, I would actually write down what I wanted to say or what I needed the other person to think by the time we got off the phone and I would have it in front of me. Talk about clarity of intention and being present in that moment. I didn’t want to waste people’s time by floating through a phone call, I wanted to make sure that when the time in the conversation came for me to fulfill my intention for picking up the phone, I was ready.

And when you’re clear on that intention and have separated your feelings from the ask, the ask is easier.

But what about the answer?

Again, this is where all the other pieces to this flow continue to have a knock on impact. If you haven’t tied yourself to a narrow outcome, if you’ve been open eyed while looking at your opportunities, separated yourself from the question and just asked clearly and simply, well, the answer is what it is. Because you weren’t tied to an outcome, remember. That was one ask and you don’t know what’s coming down the road. You may have planted a seed, you may have asked a connector who won’t say anything to you but might know someone who really would fit your offer. You might be at a dead end with that particular ask and then it’s a learning situation. Whatever it is, it’s ok.

I’m bumping up against a lot of people who are having trouble asking and, on the opposite side of spectrum, those who ask beautifully. Where you truly feel they are just putting it out there and are happy with whatever answer they get, they are comfortable that their intentions will be met. Their purpose fulfilled. I’m working my way down that continuum. And make no mistake, it’s work. But I have seen some really amazing things happen for those people who simply ask and I want that for you.

So the next time you need to ask for something, try being clear on the big picture of what you intend as a result, don’t tie yourself down. Look for the opportunities and when they present themselves, detach the emotion and ask. Then, hit me on Instagram at janiceefogarty and let me know how it went. I’m always in the mood to celebrate people seeing their chance and taking it. Until next week.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Actually a Thing in Communications

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 15:00:02 GMT

Auditing is not just for taxes! It's for communications, too and this episode walks you through the simple steps to audit yourself and explains why you would ever want to do it in the first place.

Key Points:

Why on Earth do a Communications Audit? (1:59)
When is the Right Time to Audit? (2:59)
What's Your Strategy, Your Why? (4:04)
Gather Your Materials (5:08)
Why is Strategic Communications & Public Relations Important to Your Business? (6:19)
Evaluate Your Activities (7:53)
Analyze the Results (8:39)
List and Prioritize Your Changes (9:26)

Also Mentioned:

Get on the waitlist for Cut the Waffle and learn how to talk to your customers to make an impact and be known for your work: https://janicefogarty.podia.com/cut-the-waffle-create-your-strategic-communications-plan

Don't waste your breath and get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you leave the right impression, no matter the medium you’re using!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Today I’m talking about a different type of audit. A communications audit. If you’ve never heard of this, it’s honestly exactly what it sounds like where you audit all of your communications. But why would you do this? And do people really do this? Well because and yes. And for more complete answers, stay tuned…

INTRO

Well an audit just doesn’t sound like it would be fun, does it? But a communications audit, when you are opening yourself up to seeing the awesome things you’ve been doing and shall we say the areas for opportunity, that’s fun! Maybe that’s just me but if there’s a little piece of you that’s cringing inside, guess what? Tell yourself it’s fun, tell yourself you love this stuff to bits, channel your inner me and take an afternoon to do one. It’s easy.

But why, I hear you ask. Why would I sit down and do that when I have five million other things to do? And I understand your potential reluctance but here’s the thing. It’s precisely because you have five million other things that you need to stop for an afternoon and do this. When you take the time to review what is and isn’t working, and analyze why, it’s going to help you improve or even streamline your activities. It’ll make you not only more efficient but also more impactful. And if you don’t think you have enough communications pieces to look at, I beg to differ. You do. I don’t even know you but I know you do. If you have sent an email, tweeted, posted on any of the socials, hit LinkedIn, you have communications to review.

A communications audit is something that should ideally be done on a regular basis. Just like you review your business processes or your spending and earnings, you should review your comms. Sometimes there are natural times in your business when auditing makes sense, such as planning a new launch or looking back at one you’re just wrapping up. Sometimes you need to do one because something isn’t working right, you aren’t seeing the results you think you should or getting the engagement or reactions that you feel you should. Sometimes an audit is built in as part of your communications plan, complete with targets and review date, and that’s just when you previously decided to assess your plan. An audit can help you figure out which tactics and tools are working best for your different audiences and you can then use that information to guide your strategy. And, if you want some help with your communications planning, get on the wait list for my Cut the Waffle program and make wondering what you’re going to say to reach your goals a thing of the past!

Okay, so I know you agree an audit sounds like a smart thing but how does this happen? What do you need to do?

First off, you need to think about your strategy behind the audit. What information are you looking for or what is prompting this? You can do a mini audit, look at the last three months or you can review a campaign, or review everything for the last six to twelve months before you create your new communications plan. If you just need to know why you aren’t getting the take up on a recent sale campaign or offer, there may not be much point to you looking at everything you’ve done in the last eighteen months unless you want to compare against a similar campaign. And, depending on the business you’re in, you may not even be looking at your communications with customers. You may be looking at how you communicate with suppliers or collaborators, employees or members, shareholders or partners. So define your focus for this activity, we’re being efficient not wasting more time!

Second, step is to gather your materials. Make a nice list of all the different ways you communicated about x to y in the agreed upon time frame. Think about this one, because sometimes there’s a different method that you tried twice and forgot about; include it because it might tell you something when you compare it to other methods you’ve been more consistent with. Start a spreadsheet. (Decidedly less fun in my world but a necessary evil.) Log a column of the communications. If you are prolific, like post on IG six times a day, first of all, why? Do you have sales directly from instagram that back up that effort? (An audit would show the data on that, by the way.) Secondly, take a reasonably representative sample. You don’t have the time or energy to go through and evaluate 600 Insta posts, take a sample. What you are looking for here is a way to keep track of what you’ve done so you can analyse it in an orderly fashion.

I know, people talk about communications and PR like it’s so soft and fluffy. This perception makes it seem like it’s not actually that important. It’s nice to have, it’s not a must have. No. Strategic communications and public relations are vital to your business. You do them every day without even realizing it, with no training. Alvin Adams once said that public relations are a key component of any operation in this day of instant communications and rightly inquisitive citizens. He was basically the father of express shipping and he said that in the mid 1800’s. Imagine how true that is today. Because it is strategic, there needs to be numbers and data involved in execution. Sure, sometimes the data is based on the soft fuzzies like feelings, but it’s data nonetheless and useful for planning your future moves.

Ok, side rant over. Get a spreadsheet going.

When you have a list of your relevant communications, take a moment and congratulate yourself on all of that work you had done. So many people fall at the first hurdle, they never promote themselves or their product and go out of business. But not you, you tried and kept at it. So take a minute.

Third thing you want to do is nail down what you’re evaluating and get to work. Did you have goals set up and did these communications activities meet them? Or at least support them? For example: Did you want to increase your email list by 25 per cent? Then how many posts pointed back to your email list? Did you always do it on LinkedIn but never in Facebook? Why? Were those posts where you pointed back to your email list strong calls to action? Clear? Or did you only allude to the fact that you have an email list? Maybe you didn’t care to set up an email list but look back at your goals and see if your communications efforts over the past while helped you reach them.

Fourth is to have a think about what you’re going to do going forward. Some things will have gone brilliantly but it’s a given that nothing was perfect. So how can you change? What can you do differently? Maybe it’s not you, maybe it’s the fact that there is an obstacle in your way that was not in your control. I heard of someone who launched her product on the day of the American presidential swearing in. That’s an obstacle. It had nothing to do with her, her messaging, her offer, but everything to do with something that was happening in the world. And it’s a great lesson for the future.

And the fifth thing you want to do is make a list of the opportunities you’ve just created. The ideas for ways to improve certain things or phase out others. And prioritize it. Get your quick wins in there. Change your call to action on your Instagram posts, you know? Do what is free, what is quick and high five yourself for making such a killer move for your business. You may need some more time to work on other items, you may save spending money on tactics for later, but the awareness of what worked is key. That awareness will continue to subtly shape your communications until you are in a place where you can make bigger moves and that’s a win in itself.

I had a brief conversation with someone in a similar field to me regarding our methods at attracting our clients. We were bumping up against the same issues and she just beat me to the punch, saying that she had had a look at where her customers were coming from, who they are and where they hang out, and realized that her customers weren’t even where she had been spending time posting and trying to attract them. She was able to make a decision, based off the data, and changed her strategy to be more efficient and impactful. I love that, having the knowledge that enables you as the business owner to make a good decision for the benefit of your business. That’s proper management.

No matter what people may tell you or what their instagram and pretty websites might imply, running a business isn’t easy. There are loads of things that you need to be aware of, if only to make a conscious decision to ignore them or pay someone else to do for you. I hope that this episode - heck this podcast - helps you with at least one aspect of it. And if you know someone else who would benefit from this information, I’d be really honored if you shared it with them. Thank you so much and until next week, my friends.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How You Can Actually DIY Your Own PR

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 15:00:35 GMT

This week’s episode is an interview one with a twist. It’s actually a recording of a talk that I gave to the Captivate Share Your Story Facebook Group run by Emanuela Hall.

I was completely in my zone, talking all things PR - messaging, pitching, hooks. stories...and how you can change your approach to thinking about your own business and how you interact with the media so you have a better chance of success.

Podchaser Fundraiser for Meals on Wheels America:

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Emanuela is a speaking and presence coach who provides you with tips, tricks, and strategies that will help you feel more comfortable and confident on stage, on camera, and IRL! If you're ready to own your stage and screen presence, Emanuela is your woman. Find her on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emanuela_speaks/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/captivateshareyourstory
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbif91iQRw1d13h9qwwYxJA/featured

Get on the waitlist for Cut the Waffle and discover how to create your own strategic communications plan so you can grow, be recognized as an authority and attract awesome clients without stressing over wasting your time and energy. https://janicefogarty.podia.com/cut-the-waffle-create-your-strategic-communications-plan

I love Apothekary products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being. I use Seal the Deal every day in my morning smoothie and Chill The F* Out when I need it! (Better Than Botox and You Dew You have been known to hit my smoothies, as well.) By using my referral link, you can get $30US off of your first order --> http://apothekary.refr.cc/janicefogarty

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Answer This Top Client Question Before It's Asked

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 15:00:06 GMT

This episode is about a question your next client might just be asking themselves: Why should I hire you? And as your price point goes up, your certainty that they are asking this goes up, too. So, what's your answer?

This episode will guide you through a number of different ways you can answer this question before it even gets asked.

Key Points:

Get Comfortable with Yourself (3:36)
Messaging & Brand Alignment (6:43)
Publicity: One to many (9:15)
Collaboration (9:45)
Influencers (11:02)

Also Mentioned:

E38 Shopping by Community: An Interview with Abbey Schoenberg of Fancy.com
Get on the waitlist for Cut the Waffle and learn how to talk to your customers to make an impact and be known for your work: https://janicefogarty.podia.com/cut-the-waffle-create-your-strategic-communications-plan

Don't waste your breath! Get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you leave the right impression, no matter the medium you’re using!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discover Which Social Media Platform Suits Your Business Best

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 15:01:01 GMT

I bet you use the social media platform that you personally prefer as your business platform of choice. But have you wondered if it's the best choice? This episode talks about all the main platforms and who's on them, why they are there, and will get you thinking about your next steps.

Key Points:

Facebook: Who knew the 25-34year olds were there?! (2:57)
Instagram: 1B users but 88% are outside of the US (4: )
TikTok: Home of the engaged audience (8:28)
LinkedIn: Home of Shelf Stable info (11:34)
Twitter: If You're Looking for a Male Audience....(13:13)
Clubhouse: Profile Building and Connection Making (14:27)
YouTube: A Lot of People Use YouTube! (15:56)
SnapChat: The American Teen's Platform of Choice (16:50)
SO What Do You Do with All This Data?! (18:29)

Also Mentioned:

E39, Living Pintentionally with Ally Davis
E26, The Info That Changed my Pinterest Strategy
If you'd like to work together: janice@janicefogarty.com
Get on the waitlist for Cut the Waffle and learn how to talk to your customers to make an impact and be known for your work: https://janicefogarty.podia.com/cut-the-waffle-create-your-strategic-communications-plan

I love Apothekary products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being. I use Seal the Deal every day in my morning smoothie and Chill The F* Out when I need it! (Better Than Botox and You Dew You have been known to hit my smoothies, as well.) By using my referral link, you can get $30US off of your first order --> http://apothekary.refr.cc/janicefogarty

Don't waste your breath! Get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you leave the right impression, no matter the medium you’re using!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

26% of Us Want Help with This

Sun, 14 Mar 2021 15:00:00 GMT

Confidence is something we think everybody - other than us - has. The reality is we all question ourselves, our capabilities, how we got to where we are and do we actually deserve to be there. This episode talks about how a lack of confidence shows up and four strategies to deal with it.

Key Points:

5:47 How does a lack of confidence show up in your life?
8:50 What would a man do?
11:05 Noting as a way to deal with lack of confidence
13:28 Act as if: what would future you do?
15:34 A Strategic Communications Plan: Know what you're saying, to who, why and how
18:08 Suck it up, buttercup, and do it anyway

Also mentioned in this episode:

E32, A Vision Check, for gaining clarity
E28, Create a Communications Plan for Your Business
Get on the waitlist for Cut the Waffle and learn how to talk to your customers to make an impact and be known for your work: https://janicefogarty.podia.com/cut-the-waffle-create-your-strategic-communications-plan

https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across

Don't waste your breath and get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you leave the right impression, no matter the medium you’re using!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Noise, Burnout and Capitalizing on Quiet

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 16:00:34 GMT

What you probably don't know about me is that I burnt out a few years ago. Like, that kind of burnout where you take years for your mind and body to recover.

All because I didn't take the time to be quiet.

This episode is a rundown on the three keys reasons to take some quiet time for the benefit of yourself and your business.

Key Points:

Clubhouse thoughts (3:50)
The Impacts of Noise (5:23)
First Benefit of Quiet: Rest (7:19)
I Burnt Out: Don't Be Me (7:50)
Second Benefit of Quiet: (10:05)
Third Benefit of Quiet: Clarity & Focus (12:36)

The products I use to support my body as referred to in episode:

Don't waste your breath and get my new guide to walk you through clarifying your messaging and delivery so that you leave the right impression, no matter the medium you’re using. https://janicefogarty.podia.com/talk-to-get-ahead-getting-your-best-message-across

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Living Pintentionally with Ally Davis

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 16:00:45 GMT

Pinterest is a business tool; it can be your number one traffic generator like it is for one of Ally Davis' clients - who is an Instagram manager.

That says something about the power of Pinterest, doesn't it?

And if you want to learn more about how to use Pinterest, you go directly to the Pinterest Queen and author of Oooh, Pinteresting! Ally Davis.

Ally tells about her need to reshape her career and to refocus her efforts after illness uprooted her life. She is funny, charming and utterly passionate about Pinterest as you'll learn in today's interview.

Key Points:

From Corporate Girl to Pinterest Queen (5:55)
Oooh, Pinteresting!: How the book came about (7:56)
The Book Writing Process: Have a plan! (11:21)
Writing Advice (13:31)
Quirky for the Win! (15:26)
Results: Pinterest can be your number one traffic generator
What Not to Say to a Pinterest Strategist (19:07)
Most Popular Pinterest Questions (20:50)
Pinterest & Data (23:43)
No One is You, That is Your Superpower (29:03)

Also mentioned:

The Info That Changed my Pinterest Strategy, Episode 26

All things Ally Davis:

Get Pintentional, Ally's live course on using Pinterest for your business - opening spring 2021 or get on the waitlist!
Powerful Pinterest Guide
https://ally-davis.mykajabi.com/

Find Ally on

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/allydavis19/
Facebook group: https://bit.ly/thepinterestclub
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allydavis190
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ally_davis19/

📕🛒Oooh, Pinteresting!; Ally Davis, author: https://amzn.to/2NJX39K

(***Please note that this is my Amazon affiliate link and if you use it to purchase, your price will not change but I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support. You can also purchase Ally's book directly from her website https://ally-davis.mykajabi.com/)

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

I love Apothekary products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being. I use Seal the Deal every day in my morning smoothie and Chill The F Out* when I need it! (Better Than Botox and You Dew You have been known to hit my smoothies, as well.) By using my referral link, you can get $30US off of your first order

--> http://apothekary.refr.cc/janicefogarty

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shopping By Community

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 16:00:34 GMT

Do you have questions about being an influencer or working with one? Abbey has insights you want.

Do you have questions about how the world of e-commerce is changing and how to stay abreast of those changes? Abbey has insights you want.

Do you have questions about the best ways to build a customer base that is loyal to your brand? Oh boy, does Abbey ever have the inside scoop on that for you.

With more than 15 years experience in marketing direct-to-consumer brands such as Oakley, Forever 21 and Contiki Holidays, Abbey Schoenberg is a wealth of information when it comes to promoting your brand online. Currently the marketing director at Fancy.com, she was gracious enough to join me for a chat about all things online marketing and I was busy scribbling away when I wasn't just nodding my head in complete understanding and agreement. The strategic and relationship building aspect of this conversation set my heart on fire and I know it'll do the same for you - listening to someone talk about what they just love to do is always engaging!

What customers of yours have said 'I want to come into your life' and how have you rewarded them for that? -- Abbey Schoenberg, Fancy.com

Key Points:

A Constantly Evolving Job & Industry: No room to get comfortable (4:03)
What is a Social E-Commerce Business? (6:56)
How to Move a Brand Forward (12:30)
What a Brand Should Have in Place Before Creating an Influencer Program (16:14)
What to do Before Approaching a Brand to Become an Influencer (18:30)
Managing Relationships on Different Platforms: Four Pieces of the Puzzle (23:33)
The Best Channels for Relationships and Sales (29:15)
Trends in Online Commerce: Personalization and Connection (31:28)
Failure is Just as Important as Success (35:05)

Fancy.com - Handpicked, high-quality home, art and accessory pieces from around the world.

You need your copy of Post with Purpose & Personality! A free guide that answers "what do I post about?!" These prompts point you to using social media in a way that is true to you, your business, and resonates with your clients. Download yours today!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Pieces of Important Work to Start Now

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 16:00:58 GMT

Nobody particularly enjoys all of the work that goes into making our business a success, but it’s easier when we know that what we are focusing on is the important stuff.

But what is important?

Key Points:

Profit over Revenue (3:28)
Content over Waffle (5:33)
Conversions over Dopamine (6:54)
Doing over Learning (9:05)
Planning over Floating (11:40)

Also mentioned in this podcast:

Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Power and Perseverance;Ted.com

You need your copy of Post with Purpose & Personality! A free guide that answers "what do I post about?!" These prompts point you to using social media in a way that is true to you, your business, and resonates with your clients. Download yours today!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Take the Weight Off Your Sales Process

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 16:00:44 GMT

How do you determine if something is good value?

What screams at you oh I have to have this and look at the price or they’re looking for how much for that? Sure, a pair of shoes, that fabulous blazer, the middle best house on the street, they can be fairly easy to put a value on.

What about knowledge? How do you place a value on knowledge? How do you judge a value someone else has placed on it?

Key Points:

Real Life Challenge: Perceived Value (3:17)
Perceived vs Known Value (5:13)
Create Context: Contrast is Key (5:56)
How Do We Judge Value? (6:40)
Take the Weight Off Your Sales Runway (7:28)
Social Proof (8:31)
The Power of an Education (9:28)
The Warm Audience(12:28)
Education is NOT Sales (12:55)
You Win!: The Value of Information (13:41)

You need your copy of Post with Purpose & Personality! A free guide that answers "what do I post about?!" These prompts point you to using social media in a way that is true to you, your business, and resonates with your clients. Download yours today!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Chasing Vitality

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 16:00:37 GMT

Kerry Hales is a Transformational Life Coach and don't let her pretty pink hair and kind face fool you; she enjoys asking the tough questions that help smart people get what they want - become their better self - by asking the hard questions and holding space for the answers.

Key Points:

The Fascination: How do we get there? What do we need to do to figure it out? (3:08)
Nosey & Brave (5:55)
Ask The Question They Don't Want You to Ask (7:20)
The Skill to Hold Space (10:08)
What is a Transformational Life Coach? (11:55)
Savvy People, Rebels and Wasting Time (17:54)
Clarity & Apologies (21:04)
Show Me a Picture of the Cake: Sit down and listen to yourself (27:26)
Deprogramming & Patterns (30:58)
Are You Responsible? (35:00)
Where Do I Start? Journal & Start Now (39:30)
Different Ways to Work With Kerry (46:34)

You'll find Kerry at kerryhales.com/ and to learn more about her various programs - including her free journal prompt guide - specifically check www.kerryhales.com/products-life-coaching/

You need your copy of Post with Purpose & Personality! A free guide to answer your question "what do I post about?!" These five prompts point you to using social media in a way that is true to you, your business, and resonates with your clients. Download yours today!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Some personal development books I recommend:

You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero (https://amzn.to/2NSkWf4)
You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero (https://amzn.to/3pAkRuw)
Badass Habits by Jen Sincero (https://amzn.to/3rabxOk)
The Underdog Advantage by Dean Graziosi (https://amzn.to/3r6CKkS)
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (https://amzn.to/3pDkzCT)
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey (https://amzn.to/3rf7alb)
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (https://amzn.to/3j8OgJF)
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown (https://amzn.to/2Mkz409)

(***Please note that these are my Amazon affiliate links and if you use them to purchase, your price will not change but I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I Gotta Story for You

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 12:15:44 GMT

Is this your year for dipping your toe - or throwing your body - into publicity? Publicity can be an amazing way for your business to reach its goals, especially if you are new, unusual or different. This episode talks about the three things you need to put together to pick your story and get it out there.

If we want people to tell a certain story about us, we need to give them the story to tell.

Key Points:

Publicity: It's Not All Samantha Jones (2:04)
Reach Your Goals: When Publicity is the Strategy of Choice (2:52)
Control the Narrative: It's Not Just for Olivia Pope (3:38)
Advertising vs Publicity (4:27)
Give People a Story To Tell: What Makes a Story (4:41)
Three Steps to Getting Your Story (5:35)
Audience: And Your Secondary Audience (5:44)
Relevance: AKA The Hook (9:23) - also Media Opportunities (13:16)
Messaging (13:58)
Supporting People: Make it Easy for Them to Tell Your Story (15:24.5)

You need your copy of Post with Purpose & Personality! A free guide to answer your question "what do I post about?!" These five prompts point you to using social media in a way that is true to you, your business, and resonates with your clients. Download yours today!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Like a Facebook Call Centre

Mon, 18 Jan 2021 16:00:40 GMT

Have you ever heard of a Facebook Community Manager?

Me neither, until I met Zoe McKeown, Community Manager, through a challenge I participated in. When I found out that there was someone behind the magic of the group, I had to snoop her out to learn more. And when I found out she helps people grow a successful and engaged Facebook group on their own, say no more - I was in.

I felt stuck kind of floundering in the Facebook group I created (Connections, Coffee & Confidence Community - consider this your official invitation!) and Zoe helped me turn it into a growing, happy and safe place for women in business to chat, help each other out and learn a bit more about communications strategies.

If you are growing a Facebook Community or thinking of setting one one, this is an episode you want to listen to, coffee & notebook in hand.

Key Points:

What is a Community Manager? (3:48)
What Does a Community Manager Do? (4:00)
A Secret Job (5:23)
An Intuitive Team: Working Towards a Goal within a Strategy (7:27)
Data & Tracking: Page vs Group, Big vs Small Group (8:49)
Certification and Experience (10:55)
Daily Structure: Avoid the Time Suck (12:45)
Hi, I'm a Facebook Community Manager (16:15)
Facebook Jail (9:16)
#1 Question for a Facebook Community Manager: Her Advice on Growth and Engagement (20:39)
How Do You Become a Facebook Community Manager? (21:15)
Advice for a Non-Traditional Job Seeker/Creator: Life Advice (24:50)
The Online Filter (29:00)
Be Open: A Philosophy (29:59)
Tips for Running a Facebook Group (32:38)
Ads and Organic Growth: Zoe's Approach (37:31)
Ideas, Conversations, Messaging Testing (45:45)

Zoe's Monthly Subscription Facebook Group: Community Champions

Get Zoe's 10 Steps to Facebook Group Success: zoecommunitymanager.co.uk

Zoe's Free Facebook Group: Growing A Successful Facebook Group

Would you like to talk with your target audience so they know, like and trust you? Want to build your reputation? How about stop wasting time and money on waffle-filled posts and ads that look pretty but don't contribute to your bottom line? Join me for a hands-on workshop (Jan 28 and Feb 4) where we will work together to build a strategic communications plan just for your business. You'll leave knowing how to use my communications plan template not just for your business but for individual products, services, launches and special projects. I only have space for 10 people to ensure a personal approach during this workshop so don't delay! -https://janicefogarty.com/products/createyourstrategiccommunicationsplan

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Vision Check

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 16:00:53 GMT

I know you started your business with a vision for what was going to happen, what you were going to do and what you were going to accomplish. But time has rolled on and maybe, just maybe it's time to review your prescription. 👓

If it doesn't reflect you, it doesn't resonate with you, it won't work for you. -Me

Key Points

What a Vision is Not: Selfish, monetary, or based around the size of your office (2:58)
What Does a Vision Include: Time frame, and clear action words (4:53.5)
But What Do You Do with a Vision?: What do you not do? (7:12)
The Challenge as a Leader & CEO (8:26)
My Vision (9:47)

Mentioned in this episode:

Would you like to talk with your target audience so they know, like and trust you? Want to build your reputation? How about stop wasting time and money on waffle-filled posts and ads that look pretty but don't contribute to your bottom line? Join me for a hands-on workshop where we will work together to build a strategic communications plan just for your business. You'll leave knowing how to use my communications plan template not just for your business but for individual products, services, launches and special projects. I only have space for 10 people to ensure a personal approach during this workshop so don't delay - https://janicefogarty.com/products/createyourstrategiccommunicationsplan
Episode 28: Creating a Communications Plan for Your Business

Something not mentioned but recommended is Michael Hyatt's newest book The Vision Driven Leader. (I am now an Amazon Affiliate; if you make a purchase using one of my links, I will receive a small commission but your price will not change. https://amzn.to/3oDNCpK Thank you for your support!)

You need your copy of Post with Purpose & Personality! A free guide to answer your question "what do I post about?!" These five prompts point you to using social media in a way that is true to you, your business, and resonates with your clients. Download yours today!

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 Reasons to Personalize Your Content

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 16:00:31 GMT

You have 8 seconds of someone's attention. Do you make an impact?

(Try that with a smoky Keanu Reeves voice a la Speed, hotshot, see if that gets your attention!)

Probably not if you are filling your feeds with other people's quotes and not taking the time to let the real you show through. So why would you personalize your content when other people's words are so good and so much easier to add to a pretty pic for the 'gram?

Glad you asked - here are four reasons:

Integrity: Open and honest communications generate trust (5:20)
Show Who You Are: Personalize to connect (5:54)
Make a Stand (7:19)
Brand Identity (8:28)
Give Credit Where It's Due: And your audience some credit, too (9:47)
Don't Hide Who You Are (11:23)
Work With Me (12:20)

Would you like to talk with your target audience so they know, like and trust you? Want to build your reputation? How about stop wasting time and money on waffle-filled posts and ads that look pretty but don't contribute to your bottom line?

Join me for a hands-on workshop where we will work together to build a strategic communications plan just for your business. You'll leave knowing how to use my communications plan template not just for your business but for individual products, services, launches and special projects. I only have space for 10 people to ensure a personal approach during this workshop so don't delay - https://janicefogarty.com/products/createyourstrategiccommunicationsplan

Also mentioned in this podcast is Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo (I am now an Amazon Affiliate; if you make a purchase using one of my links, I will receive a small commission but your price will not change. https://amzn.to/3hFPJ9C Thank you for your support!)

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook

✔Let's connect on LinkedIn

✔And Instagram!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Pieces of Advice from Successful Entrepreneurs

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 16:00:01 GMT

This episode is a collation of the advice offered by real life entrepreneurs in action on this podcast.

As I reflected back on 2020, I found myself going back to the words of those who are actively doing what I aim to do - running a successful business. Their words of advice impacted me in my first year podcasting and getting my communications strategist consultancy up and running, and judging by the feedback I've received, they impacted you as well.

Thank you for all of the time you have spent with me over the last few months - or minutes! I am grateful that, of all the things you could do with your time, you have chosen to be with me. I wish you all of the love, health & happiness the world has to offer and much success in 2021 and the years to come.

Episodes and Contact Details:

Karen Howley, Canadian immigration lawyer, CRT Legal. For more information about Karen or to discuss questions on Canadian Immigration, running a business, or networking opportunities, please contact her at info@crtlegal.ca; view her website crtlegal.ca; or follow her on Facebook @CRTlegal.ca Clip from Episode 3
Robin Isenor-Cantfell, studio director at RSI Danceworks and partner at Limelight Productions Inc. Get in touch with Robin and join her community: http://www.rsidanceworks.ca/ http://www.limelightproductionsinc.com/ https://www.facebook.com/rsidanceworks/?ref=br_rs Clip from Episode 17
Stacey Tompkins, photographer, Stacey Tompkins Photography. Find Stacey on Facebook or on Staceytompkinsphotography.com to find out more, view her work, or to get in touch. Clip from Episode 19
Suzy Wraines, habits coach, wraines.com or click here to book a discovery call with her. Clip taken from Episode 23
Tasiya Haist, fitness coach, Your Hope Fitness. Connect with Tasiya by email at Your Hope Fitness; on IG @Tasiya_Haist; and TasiyaHaist on FB.

✔You're invited! Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook