April 1, 2025 • 18 mins
Dr. Annie Cole shares invaluable insights on lead generation and client retention, particularly for solopreneurs. With powerful strategies on funnel navigation, the importance of giving value, and building lasting relationships, listeners will find clear guidance on transforming their approach to business growth.
• Importance of understanding the sales funnel
• Strategies for building brand awareness and engagement
• Dr. Cole's experience with increasing web traffic
• Advantages of diversifying marketing channels
• Significance of repurposing content across platforms
• Value in offering free consultations
• Creating raving fans through exceptional service
• Leveraging referrals for sustainable business growth
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alyssa (00:00):
Giving away value.
It's the foundation ofmarketing sales and keeping
clients happy.
Welcome to Brilliant Ideas, thepodcast that takes you behind
the scenes of some of the mostinspiring digital products
created by solopreneurs justlike you.
I'm your host, alyssa, adigital product strategist who
helps subject matter expertsgrow their business with online
(00:21):
courses, memberships, coachingprograms and eBooks.
If you're a solopreneur withdreams of packaging your
expertise into a profitabledigital product, then this is
the podcast for you.
Expect honest conversations ofhow they started, the obstacles
they overcame, lessons learnedthe hard way, and who face the
same fears, doubts andchallenges you're experiencing,
from unexpected surprises tobreakthrough moments and
(00:42):
everything in between.
Tune in, get inspired and let'sspark your next big, brilliant
idea.
Today's guest, dr Annie Cole,knows this better than anyone.
As the founder of MoneyEssentials for Women, she's here
to share her expertise oncreating businesses that attract
clients and keep them comingback.
If you don't have a steadystream of clients in your
business right now, this episodeis going to help so much.
(01:05):
Welcome to the show, annie.
So happy you're here.
Annie (01:10):
Thank you so much for having me.
Alyssa (01:12):
Of course, and I'm so looking forward to our
conversation, because you arethe go-to resource when it comes
to generating leads and formany businesses, I feel like
getting leads can feel like oneof the most hardest parts of
running a business.
It's honestly exhausting attimes when you're putting
yourself out there, you'retrying different strategies,
spending time on social mediaand even tweaking your website
like a thousand times, and yetthe steady flow of clients is
(01:35):
just it's not happening for youand, honestly, it can really
leave people feeling like whatare they missing?
Or even if they're on the righttrack.
So I know that you've workedwith many business owners who've
been in this exact spot.
So for those listeners who feelstuck when it comes to bringing
in clients, what tips do youhave to help them get kind of
unstuck and start generatingleads more efficiently?
Annie (01:59):
So many, so many tips.
So one thing we were justtalking about.
I run this eight-week programwhere I walk people through how
to generate leads andspecifically helping online
business owners and coaches, andone of the things we just
talked about last night was thisidea of your funnel and where
to focus your efforts, based onwhere you're at in business and
(02:19):
what kind of leads you need togenerate.
So we all want to get leads, weall want to make sales, but
that in itself is not alwaysgoing to lead you in the right
direction.
You need more information.
So if you think about the topof the funnel, that's a brand
new business owner or someonewho has very little exposure
that person needs to build broadawareness.
They want to get in front of asmany eyes as possible.
(02:39):
They want to start buildingconnections.
They just want to start beingseen.
Further down the funnel, let'ssay you have a LinkedIn or an
Instagram profile.
You have followers.
At that point, you want peopleto then start engaging.
So your focus is always stillgoing to be bringing more
awareness, getting more peoplein front of you.
But now you have people engaged, so how do you get them to like
your content, be interested,want to actually have a
(03:01):
conversation with you and checkout your products.
So that engagement piece isreally important in the middle
and then further down, we haveour actual sales process.
So if someone Now they trustyou, they like you, you've built
credibility, you've engagedwith them, the sales process if
you're falling short at thatpoint where people are coming
into your world but not buying,you might have a few things
going on.
So it might be a product issue.
(03:22):
Maybe the product is notactually what people need.
It might be a sales messagingissue.
So either you're not asking forthe sale, your messaging is off
, your landing page isn'tconvincing people to buy, you
don't have testimonials, thingslike that.
So I just like to remind peopleof that, because there's all
these different pieces that youcould be working on.
That could be the gap wheresomeone is not coming into your
(03:43):
world to buy your product.
So we want to get leads but weneed to move them through the
whole thing, not just we findsomeone and we suddenly try to
sell them something.
Alyssa (03:54):
You know I love that.
That's such great advice and Ilove and I think a lot of
listeners right now they're justnodding along thinking about
how they're able to tweak theirown approach.
Yeah, because it is acomplicated.
There's so many complex issuesat every stage of the funnel and
yeah, so I want to kind ofshift gears for a moment,
because I know that you've hadsome pretty impressive wins in
(04:15):
your own business.
You were telling me about yourweb traffic that skyrocketed
from 500 to 5,000, which, by theway, is amazing, thank you and
I can just imagine waking up tothat see, that kind of jump with
website numbers.
It's the kind of thing thatmakes you want to check your
analytics twice because you wantto.
Just, is this actually real?
So I just want to know aboutthat.
(04:36):
What things sparked thatdramatic shift?
Like, was it a specificstrategy?
You implemented a viral moment,because when you're thinking
about the website, that thatwould be the top of the funnel,
that's like awareness.
So what do you think was thatshift in?
Maybe a strategy that youimplemented?
Maybe it was something elseentirely?
Like what?
(04:57):
How did you, why, yeah, explainthat jump that happened?
Annie (05:03):
Sure, I think that, looking back on it, I think
there were actually two thingsthat were happening.
So number one I reached thiskind of critical mass with my
marketing efforts.
So I share this a lot when I'mworking with clients that if you
are marketing on one channel,you are missing out on so many
other opportunities because youdon't know how many other people
might be on a different channel.
(05:24):
And it's actually very easy,for example, to turn a LinkedIn
post into an Instagram post,into a blog post.
You suddenly have three, andthat's just three.
I mean you could go and post iton YouTube and do a million
other things.
So I started really expanding.
At first I just started onInstagram.
I started expanding to post onother channels and then I tapped
(05:45):
into two other things that werehuge.
One was podcast guesting, likewe're doing today.
Second was media features, and Iwill say media features are so
good for web traffic.
So that's when you get yourself, your name and your business
featured in an article at amajor outlet like Forbes or
Business Insider.
Because I'm in the financespace, I got a lot of features
(06:07):
that Nerd Wallet, gobankingrates, things like that and they will
link to your site andespecially if you get big
publicity, you can expect tohave 50,000 people viewing those
articles.
So that level of exposure youthink about that, compared to an
Instagram reel where you'd haveto go viral, maybe get a
million people to view and clickon your link.
(06:29):
This is just the norm of howmany people might come see a CNN
or a CNBC article just becausepeople are scrolling.
Like if you open your phone,you scroll, you're going to see
a bunch of articles by YahooFinance, those kinds of things
every single day.
So I think media features isoften overlooked and people
don't realize how much publicityyou can get and how much
(06:50):
traffic you can generate.
Alyssa (06:52):
Wow, that's really inspiring and it's funny because
the gurus online they mentionedthat we should only be sticking
to one channel, growing thatone channel, and so I think
there was this idea that ifyou're going to be on Instagram,
just stick to Instagram, don'tgo and do TikTok or go YouTube,
(07:12):
or.
But at the same time, I justfeel like more channels make
sense because it's morediversity, more different people
are on different channels.
So you're saying that you know,diversify yourself, which is
different than the norm.
Annie (07:28):
I would say it with a caveat.
So I've actually seen thatadvice too.
I know there's Probably I don'tknow Majority of people will
say stick to one channel.
I've heard a few people say goon multiple channels.
I am definitely in the camp ofreusing content and that's the
caveat.
So do not try to post somethingunique on LinkedIn, something
unique on YouTube and somethingunique on Instagram.
(07:48):
If you do that, then you'reprobably watering down your
message.
You're going to burn yourselfout.
It's not sustainable.
But if you are coming up with aconcentrated, irresistible
message directly for your dreamclient and you just happen to
post that on three differentchannels, of course that's going
to get you more exposure.
That's a no-brainer.
So I think that's what thecaveat is.
(08:09):
You just have to get themessaging right and repurpose,
reuse, do not reinvent the wheel.
One of my colleagues wasactually just telling me last
night that Martha Stewart usedto talk about this and that she
would say I have one idea andthat one idea she would turn
into an apron and a recipe andsomething like she would use it,
(08:29):
and that Oprah also did this.
Every month of the year shewould use the same topics.
So if you looked at January ofone year and January of the next
year.
It was the same topics.
Reuse your content guys.
Post it on multiple channels.
Don't try to be unique everysingle time, especially if it's
the right message.
The right message is going toland, no matter where you post
it.
Oh, I love that advice.
Alyssa (08:48):
I love that Repurposing is so important.
I remember in my early stagesof my business I thought that I
had to create 365 pieces ofcontent on social media because
that's what I guess you know.
I wanted to be unique and havea unique story, and so I had to
be different and what I realizedwas that I burnt out after
about 20 or 30 posts, uh, tryingto schedule it out.
(09:12):
So I was really ambitious backthen.
I was, I thought I was going tobe like you know, at the end of
the year I'm going to have allof this scheduled, and then I
didn't even make it past liketwo months of scheduling.
I was like I'm out, like thisis not sustainable.
And for a lot of, you know, fora lot of our listeners who are
also maybe in their early stagesof their journey, where most
likely they're on a rollercoaster, they're experiencing
(09:34):
kind of the highs and lows oftheir business and income
related as well, I can thinkthat so many of us can relate to
those moments of trial anderror like me, like I will never
do that again.
Repurpose and reuse yes, thatis the main message here, but
there are trying to figure outthe sweet spot of consistent
income.
Now I want to go back to yourearly days.
(09:55):
What were some of the thingsthat you tried when you first
started your business, and thenkind of what worked and what
ended up being those lessonlearned moments, like you know,
like 365 pieces of content.
Annie (10:07):
Yeah, I think a few things I tried early on.
Um, one thing that I rememberlearning in well, I guess I'll
back up I paid to take acoaching course very early on in
my business, specifically tolearn how to master Instagram,
because I had not used Instagrambefore to ever post anything.
I actually am very.
(10:28):
Nowadays.
I'm on all the social mediachannels as a business owner,
but I wasn't really that much.
I wasn't using social media asan individual.
So I took a course.
I learned some specifictechniques on how to engage a
new person every time theyfollowed, how to reach out to
people in the DMs, how to offerpeople freebies and build a
funnel, how to offer tocollaborate with people and do
(10:50):
cold outreach to start to buildconnections.
That course changed my life andI learned and there's lots of
courses out there that willteach you those things.
So focus on whatever area youneed, but that was a game
changer because it justaccelerated my learning.
That would have taken me monthsto a year to learn and then in
the beginning I definitely madea lot of intentional connections
(11:11):
when my audience was small.
So anytime someone followed me,I would reach out to them and
just say welcome to my community.
If there's anything I can helpyou with.
Here's my website, here's all myresources, and I got quite a
few people communicating with methat way, and then, if they
started to show engagement, Iwould ask if they wanted to do a
free consultation, and so I'veheard this a lot.
(11:31):
It can be hard for folks togive things away for free in the
beginning, but I definitely didto try to build up my
experience, so I would give awayfree consultations.
Some of those turned into paidopportunities where they would
either pay for coaching or payfor a course of mine or
something else.
That made a huge difference.
And then I started to get sometestimonials under my belt.
So I would always ask anyonethat worked with me for a
(11:52):
testimonial, and then I usethose on my book that I ended up
publishing, use them on mywebsite, use them on my sales
page, and that's again justgoing to start building your
credibility.
So you're not just showing thatyou're starting from scratch.
Alyssa (12:05):
I love that.
There's so many great lessonsin there, especially, you know,
not being afraid to give awayvalue and free consults.
You know, I think that there isthis, this whole thing about,
oh, we shouldn't be giving awayyou know so much because then
what is left for the paid andit's like, but you're not, when
(12:25):
they're paying for your services, they're getting the premium
experience.
The free consult is really justa preview.
It's, it's like that littleappetizer before they actually
order the big entree, you know,and so, um, don't be afraid of
that, you know, and there's alot of ways that you can give
away value.
It doesn't have to be in a freeconsult, but it could be, you
(12:46):
know, a, you know a lead magnet.
It could be like a low ticketitem just to get them in your
world and I think their you knowtheir audiences will really I
really appreciate that, um, tohave some have some kind of low
ticket item before they actuallygo and purchase bigger packages
and retainers and things likethat.
(13:07):
And so I feel like there's alot of things here that our
listeners can take away fromthis, and everything you kind of
used to share today was sohelpful.
Now it's time for my favoritepart of the show, which is the
brilliant bite of the week.
This is like a.
I love this segment becausethis is the moment where we kind
of leave our listeners with oneactionable takeaway, something
(13:27):
like a piece of advice, even aninspiration to spark their next
brilliant ideas.
So what is one piece of adviceyou'd love to share with our
listeners today?
Annie (13:37):
This one is just coming to me because I just read it in
a book and I've been chewing onit.
If your marketing channels wereto go away tomorrow and you
could not post online anymore,you couldn't have a website, you
truly couldn't do anythingexcept get referrals from your
next client how would you treatthat client?
(13:57):
What would you do with thatclient to make it so amazing and
turn them into a raving fanthat they went out and got you
your next client by word ofmouth?
That, I think, and this was byAlex Hermosi and I can't
remember which one of his books,but I've been reading his lead
and his offers books.
I think that is so, so critical,because oftentimes we're trying
(14:19):
to do all these marketingefforts, we're bringing people
in the door to an offer or aservice that is good.
Like we all are good, we havegood intentions, but is it good
enough that we're buildingraving fans that are going to go
off and actually tell otherpeople about it?
Because you can build a mindblowing business if people are
telling other people about it.
Because you can build a mindblowing business if people are
telling other people about itand I've worked for companies
(14:41):
where that happens and word ofmouth goes wild, so I would
focus on that, and yeah, it'skey.
Alyssa (14:47):
I love that, okay.
So here's the thing is.
So my business I find that mostI would say 90% of my business
is for referrals and word ofmouth.
Most, I would say 90% of mybusiness is for referrals and
word of mouth, like they're, andit's because I've laid the
foundation of, you know, makingconnections.
I mean, this is why part of whyI started Brilliant Ideas is
because I needed to.
(15:09):
I want to talk to people andbuild those connections and
learn about other people andwhat they do, and and not just
hit the cold traffic, becausewhat I find with social media is
it's great, but they're coldtraffic, so it takes them a long
time to like get warmed up tome, my content, my messaging,
and then and then.
But when you actually havereferrals or people who are you
(15:32):
know, they speak about howamazing your service was, the,
the next person it's like theytrust you already and it's so
easy.
It's like, oh, I've already.
It's like you skip that part ofwarming them up because the
person who worked with youpreviously had said your work
was great and then you justsaved all of that time.
(15:54):
So referrals, I think, are thehands down, the best way to
build your business and to havea to really kind of increase not
only just the connections butthe longevity of your business
as well.
So it's not reliant a hundredpercent on your social media.
Annie (16:12):
Yep, it's building again.
It's like how can you do theseefforts, that they work when
you're not working?
And that's why I love marketingfeatures, podcasts, because
they last forever, they'reevergreen.
Create more evergreen content,create lasting impressions in
people and that will build yourbusiness while you're not
working.
Alyssa (16:31):
Yes, I do agree with that as well.
And even like, I actuallyrecently just turned my blog
into a podcast library because Iwas thinking to myself, like,
really Like, it makes sense,right, if I have, if I wanted my
podcast episodes to have, sowhen they go to my podcast
episode, they go right to mywebsite instead of, you know,
like buzzsprout or anything, andI just found that that would
(16:53):
increase my website viewers ormy website visits, and so, um,
thinking about ways toincorporate that.
And and then also, yeah, like,podcast blogs are really good as
well, like I, I mean, it stillsays blog on my website.
I'm not sure what it should becalled a podcast library, but
you know I have to work on thatname.
But other than that, like it'sbeen, you know, it's been really
(17:16):
good.
I've had an increase in websitevisits because I do, you know,
I have a one page for every oneof my episodes and it just helps
so much.
So, yeah, I love it.
And so, um, yeah, I love it, andso I love all of the wisdom
that you shared today, and so,for everyone listening, I hope
you found so much value in thisepisode as I have.
Um, if you are curious to learnmore about Annie's work, or you
(17:37):
want to connect with herdirectly?
All the links are in the shownotes, so make sure to check
them out.
Uh, you won't want to misseverything that she has to offer
, and so thanks so much, uh, forcoming on the show today and
for my listeners tuning in today.
As always, I'm so grateful tohave you as part of my Brilliant
Ideas community, and I willcatch you next time on another
(18:00):
Brilliant Idea.
Annie (18:00):
Thank, you so much, Alyssa.
Alyssa (18:04):
Thanks for tuning into this episode of Brilliant Ideas.
If you love the show, be sureto leave a review and follow me
on Instagram for even moreinsider tips and inspiration.
Ready to bring your next big,brilliant idea to life?
Visit AlyssaVelsercom forresources, guidance and
everything you need to startcreating something amazing.
Giving away value.
It's the foundation ofmarketing sales and keeping
clients happy.
Welcome to Brilliant Ideas, thepodcast that takes you behind
the scenes of some of the mostinspiring digital products
created by solopreneurs justlike you.
I'm your host, alyssa, adigital product strategist who
helps subject matter expertsgrow their business with online
(00:21):
courses, memberships, coachingprograms and eBooks.
If you're a solopreneur withdreams of packaging your
expertise into a profitabledigital product, then this is
the podcast for you.
Expect honest conversations ofhow they started, the obstacles
they overcame, lessons learnedthe hard way, and who face the
same fears, doubts andchallenges you're experiencing,
from unexpected surprises tobreakthrough moments and
(00:42):
everything in between.
Tune in, get inspired and let'sspark your next big, brilliant
idea.
Today's guest, dr Annie Cole,knows this better than anyone.
As the founder of MoneyEssentials for Women, she's here
to share her expertise oncreating businesses that attract
clients and keep them comingback.
If you don't have a steadystream of clients in your
business right now, this episodeis going to help so much.
(01:05):
Welcome to the show, annie.
So happy you're here.
Annie (01:10):
Thank you so much for having me.
Alyssa (01:12):
Of course, and I'm so looking forward to our
conversation, because you arethe go-to resource when it comes
to generating leads and formany businesses, I feel like
getting leads can feel like oneof the most hardest parts of
running a business.
It's honestly exhausting attimes when you're putting
yourself out there, you'retrying different strategies,
spending time on social mediaand even tweaking your website
like a thousand times, and yetthe steady flow of clients is
(01:35):
just it's not happening for youand, honestly, it can really
leave people feeling like whatare they missing?
Or even if they're on the righttrack.
So I know that you've workedwith many business owners who've
been in this exact spot.
So for those listeners who feelstuck when it comes to bringing
in clients, what tips do youhave to help them get kind of
unstuck and start generatingleads more efficiently?
Annie (01:59):
So many, so many tips.
So one thing we were justtalking about.
I run this eight-week programwhere I walk people through how
to generate leads andspecifically helping online
business owners and coaches, andone of the things we just
talked about last night was thisidea of your funnel and where
to focus your efforts, based onwhere you're at in business and
(02:19):
what kind of leads you need togenerate.
So we all want to get leads, weall want to make sales, but
that in itself is not alwaysgoing to lead you in the right
direction.
You need more information.
So if you think about the topof the funnel, that's a brand
new business owner or someonewho has very little exposure
that person needs to build broadawareness.
They want to get in front of asmany eyes as possible.
(02:39):
They want to start buildingconnections.
They just want to start beingseen.
Further down the funnel, let'ssay you have a LinkedIn or an
Instagram profile.
You have followers.
At that point, you want peopleto then start engaging.
So your focus is always stillgoing to be bringing more
awareness, getting more peoplein front of you.
But now you have people engaged, so how do you get them to like
your content, be interested,want to actually have a
(03:01):
conversation with you and checkout your products.
So that engagement piece isreally important in the middle
and then further down, we haveour actual sales process.
So if someone Now they trustyou, they like you, you've built
credibility, you've engagedwith them, the sales process if
you're falling short at thatpoint where people are coming
into your world but not buying,you might have a few things
going on.
So it might be a product issue.
(03:22):
Maybe the product is notactually what people need.
It might be a sales messagingissue.
So either you're not asking forthe sale, your messaging is off
, your landing page isn'tconvincing people to buy, you
don't have testimonials, thingslike that.
So I just like to remind peopleof that, because there's all
these different pieces that youcould be working on.
That could be the gap wheresomeone is not coming into your
(03:43):
world to buy your product.
So we want to get leads but weneed to move them through the
whole thing, not just we findsomeone and we suddenly try to
sell them something.
Alyssa (03:54):
You know I love that.
That's such great advice and Ilove and I think a lot of
listeners right now they're justnodding along thinking about
how they're able to tweak theirown approach.
Yeah, because it is acomplicated.
There's so many complex issuesat every stage of the funnel and
yeah, so I want to kind ofshift gears for a moment,
because I know that you've hadsome pretty impressive wins in
(04:15):
your own business.
You were telling me about yourweb traffic that skyrocketed
from 500 to 5,000, which, by theway, is amazing, thank you and
I can just imagine waking up tothat see, that kind of jump with
website numbers.
It's the kind of thing thatmakes you want to check your
analytics twice because you wantto.
Just, is this actually real?
So I just want to know aboutthat.
(04:36):
What things sparked thatdramatic shift?
Like, was it a specificstrategy?
You implemented a viral moment,because when you're thinking
about the website, that thatwould be the top of the funnel,
that's like awareness.
So what do you think was thatshift in?
Maybe a strategy that youimplemented?
Maybe it was something elseentirely?
Like what?
(04:57):
How did you, why, yeah, explainthat jump that happened?
Annie (05:03):
Sure, I think that, looking back on it, I think
there were actually two thingsthat were happening.
So number one I reached thiskind of critical mass with my
marketing efforts.
So I share this a lot when I'mworking with clients that if you
are marketing on one channel,you are missing out on so many
other opportunities because youdon't know how many other people
might be on a different channel.
(05:24):
And it's actually very easy,for example, to turn a LinkedIn
post into an Instagram post,into a blog post.
You suddenly have three, andthat's just three.
I mean you could go and post iton YouTube and do a million
other things.
So I started really expanding.
At first I just started onInstagram.
I started expanding to post onother channels and then I tapped
(05:45):
into two other things that werehuge.
One was podcast guesting, likewe're doing today.
Second was media features, and Iwill say media features are so
good for web traffic.
So that's when you get yourself, your name and your business
featured in an article at amajor outlet like Forbes or
Business Insider.
Because I'm in the financespace, I got a lot of features
(06:07):
that Nerd Wallet, gobankingrates, things like that and they will
link to your site andespecially if you get big
publicity, you can expect tohave 50,000 people viewing those
articles.
So that level of exposure youthink about that, compared to an
Instagram reel where you'd haveto go viral, maybe get a
million people to view and clickon your link.
(06:29):
This is just the norm of howmany people might come see a CNN
or a CNBC article just becausepeople are scrolling.
Like if you open your phone,you scroll, you're going to see
a bunch of articles by YahooFinance, those kinds of things
every single day.
So I think media features isoften overlooked and people
don't realize how much publicityyou can get and how much
(06:50):
traffic you can generate.
Alyssa (06:52):
Wow, that's really inspiring and it's funny because
the gurus online they mentionedthat we should only be sticking
to one channel, growing thatone channel, and so I think
there was this idea that ifyou're going to be on Instagram,
just stick to Instagram, don'tgo and do TikTok or go YouTube,
(07:12):
or.
But at the same time, I justfeel like more channels make
sense because it's morediversity, more different people
are on different channels.
So you're saying that you know,diversify yourself, which is
different than the norm.
Annie (07:28):
I would say it with a caveat.
So I've actually seen thatadvice too.
I know there's Probably I don'tknow Majority of people will
say stick to one channel.
I've heard a few people say goon multiple channels.
I am definitely in the camp ofreusing content and that's the
caveat.
So do not try to post somethingunique on LinkedIn, something
unique on YouTube and somethingunique on Instagram.
(07:48):
If you do that, then you'reprobably watering down your
message.
You're going to burn yourselfout.
It's not sustainable.
But if you are coming up with aconcentrated, irresistible
message directly for your dreamclient and you just happen to
post that on three differentchannels, of course that's going
to get you more exposure.
That's a no-brainer.
So I think that's what thecaveat is.
(08:09):
You just have to get themessaging right and repurpose,
reuse, do not reinvent the wheel.
One of my colleagues wasactually just telling me last
night that Martha Stewart usedto talk about this and that she
would say I have one idea andthat one idea she would turn
into an apron and a recipe andsomething like she would use it,
(08:29):
and that Oprah also did this.
Every month of the year shewould use the same topics.
So if you looked at January ofone year and January of the next
year.
It was the same topics.
Reuse your content guys.
Post it on multiple channels.
Don't try to be unique everysingle time, especially if it's
the right message.
The right message is going toland, no matter where you post
it.
Oh, I love that advice.
Alyssa (08:48):
I love that Repurposing is so important.
I remember in my early stagesof my business I thought that I
had to create 365 pieces ofcontent on social media because
that's what I guess you know.
I wanted to be unique and havea unique story, and so I had to
be different and what I realizedwas that I burnt out after
about 20 or 30 posts, uh, tryingto schedule it out.
(09:12):
So I was really ambitious backthen.
I was, I thought I was going tobe like you know, at the end of
the year I'm going to have allof this scheduled, and then I
didn't even make it past liketwo months of scheduling.
I was like I'm out, like thisis not sustainable.
And for a lot of, you know, fora lot of our listeners who are
also maybe in their early stagesof their journey, where most
likely they're on a rollercoaster, they're experiencing
(09:34):
kind of the highs and lows oftheir business and income
related as well, I can thinkthat so many of us can relate to
those moments of trial anderror like me, like I will never
do that again.
Repurpose and reuse yes, thatis the main message here, but
there are trying to figure outthe sweet spot of consistent
income.
Now I want to go back to yourearly days.
(09:55):
What were some of the thingsthat you tried when you first
started your business, and thenkind of what worked and what
ended up being those lessonlearned moments, like you know,
like 365 pieces of content.
Annie (10:07):
Yeah, I think a few things I tried early on.
Um, one thing that I rememberlearning in well, I guess I'll
back up I paid to take acoaching course very early on in
my business, specifically tolearn how to master Instagram,
because I had not used Instagrambefore to ever post anything.
I actually am very.
(10:28):
Nowadays.
I'm on all the social mediachannels as a business owner,
but I wasn't really that much.
I wasn't using social media asan individual.
So I took a course.
I learned some specifictechniques on how to engage a
new person every time theyfollowed, how to reach out to
people in the DMs, how to offerpeople freebies and build a
funnel, how to offer tocollaborate with people and do
(10:50):
cold outreach to start to buildconnections.
That course changed my life andI learned and there's lots of
courses out there that willteach you those things.
So focus on whatever area youneed, but that was a game
changer because it justaccelerated my learning.
That would have taken me monthsto a year to learn and then in
the beginning I definitely madea lot of intentional connections
(11:11):
when my audience was small.
So anytime someone followed me,I would reach out to them and
just say welcome to my community.
If there's anything I can helpyou with.
Here's my website, here's all myresources, and I got quite a
few people communicating with methat way, and then, if they
started to show engagement, Iwould ask if they wanted to do a
free consultation, and so I'veheard this a lot.
(11:31):
It can be hard for folks togive things away for free in the
beginning, but I definitely didto try to build up my
experience, so I would give awayfree consultations.
Some of those turned into paidopportunities where they would
either pay for coaching or payfor a course of mine or
something else.
That made a huge difference.
And then I started to get sometestimonials under my belt.
So I would always ask anyonethat worked with me for a
(11:52):
testimonial, and then I usethose on my book that I ended up
publishing, use them on mywebsite, use them on my sales
page, and that's again justgoing to start building your
credibility.
So you're not just showing thatyou're starting from scratch.
Alyssa (12:05):
I love that.
There's so many great lessonsin there, especially, you know,
not being afraid to give awayvalue and free consults.
You know, I think that there isthis, this whole thing about,
oh, we shouldn't be giving awayyou know so much because then
what is left for the paid andit's like, but you're not, when
(12:25):
they're paying for your services, they're getting the premium
experience.
The free consult is really justa preview.
It's, it's like that littleappetizer before they actually
order the big entree, you know,and so, um, don't be afraid of
that, you know, and there's alot of ways that you can give
away value.
It doesn't have to be in a freeconsult, but it could be, you
(12:46):
know, a, you know a lead magnet.
It could be like a low ticketitem just to get them in your
world and I think their you knowtheir audiences will really I
really appreciate that, um, tohave some have some kind of low
ticket item before they actuallygo and purchase bigger packages
and retainers and things likethat.
(13:07):
And so I feel like there's alot of things here that our
listeners can take away fromthis, and everything you kind of
used to share today was sohelpful.
Now it's time for my favoritepart of the show, which is the
brilliant bite of the week.
This is like a.
I love this segment becausethis is the moment where we kind
of leave our listeners with oneactionable takeaway, something
(13:27):
like a piece of advice, even aninspiration to spark their next
brilliant ideas.
So what is one piece of adviceyou'd love to share with our
listeners today?
Annie (13:37):
This one is just coming to me because I just read it in
a book and I've been chewing onit.
If your marketing channels wereto go away tomorrow and you
could not post online anymore,you couldn't have a website, you
truly couldn't do anythingexcept get referrals from your
next client how would you treatthat client?
(13:57):
What would you do with thatclient to make it so amazing and
turn them into a raving fanthat they went out and got you
your next client by word ofmouth?
That, I think, and this was byAlex Hermosi and I can't
remember which one of his books,but I've been reading his lead
and his offers books.
I think that is so, so critical,because oftentimes we're trying
(14:19):
to do all these marketingefforts, we're bringing people
in the door to an offer or aservice that is good.
Like we all are good, we havegood intentions, but is it good
enough that we're buildingraving fans that are going to go
off and actually tell otherpeople about it?
Because you can build a mindblowing business if people are
telling other people about it.
Because you can build a mindblowing business if people are
telling other people about itand I've worked for companies
(14:41):
where that happens and word ofmouth goes wild, so I would
focus on that, and yeah, it'skey.
Alyssa (14:47):
I love that, okay.
So here's the thing is.
So my business I find that mostI would say 90% of my business
is for referrals and word ofmouth.
Most, I would say 90% of mybusiness is for referrals and
word of mouth, like they're, andit's because I've laid the
foundation of, you know, makingconnections.
I mean, this is why part of whyI started Brilliant Ideas is
because I needed to.
(15:09):
I want to talk to people andbuild those connections and
learn about other people andwhat they do, and and not just
hit the cold traffic, becausewhat I find with social media is
it's great, but they're coldtraffic, so it takes them a long
time to like get warmed up tome, my content, my messaging,
and then and then.
But when you actually havereferrals or people who are you
(15:32):
know, they speak about howamazing your service was, the,
the next person it's like theytrust you already and it's so
easy.
It's like, oh, I've already.
It's like you skip that part ofwarming them up because the
person who worked with youpreviously had said your work
was great and then you justsaved all of that time.
(15:54):
So referrals, I think, are thehands down, the best way to
build your business and to havea to really kind of increase not
only just the connections butthe longevity of your business
as well.
So it's not reliant a hundredpercent on your social media.
Annie (16:12):
Yep, it's building again.
It's like how can you do theseefforts, that they work when
you're not working?
And that's why I love marketingfeatures, podcasts, because
they last forever, they'reevergreen.
Create more evergreen content,create lasting impressions in
people and that will build yourbusiness while you're not
working.
Alyssa (16:31):
Yes, I do agree with that as well.
And even like, I actuallyrecently just turned my blog
into a podcast library because Iwas thinking to myself, like,
really Like, it makes sense,right, if I have, if I wanted my
podcast episodes to have, sowhen they go to my podcast
episode, they go right to mywebsite instead of, you know,
like buzzsprout or anything, andI just found that that would
(16:53):
increase my website viewers ormy website visits, and so, um,
thinking about ways toincorporate that.
And and then also, yeah, like,podcast blogs are really good as
well, like I, I mean, it stillsays blog on my website.
I'm not sure what it should becalled a podcast library, but
you know I have to work on thatname.
But other than that, like it'sbeen, you know, it's been really
(17:16):
good.
I've had an increase in websitevisits because I do, you know,
I have a one page for every oneof my episodes and it just helps
so much.
So, yeah, I love it.
And so, um, yeah, I love it, andso I love all of the wisdom
that you shared today, and so,for everyone listening, I hope
you found so much value in thisepisode as I have.
Um, if you are curious to learnmore about Annie's work, or you
(17:37):
want to connect with herdirectly?
All the links are in the shownotes, so make sure to check
them out.
Uh, you won't want to misseverything that she has to offer
, and so thanks so much, uh, forcoming on the show today and
for my listeners tuning in today.
As always, I'm so grateful tohave you as part of my Brilliant
Ideas community, and I willcatch you next time on another
(18:00):
Brilliant Idea.
Annie (18:00):
Thank, you so much, Alyssa.
Alyssa (18:04):
Thanks for tuning into this episode of Brilliant Ideas.
If you love the show, be sureto leave a review and follow me
on Instagram for even moreinsider tips and inspiration.
Ready to bring your next big,brilliant idea to life?
Visit AlyssaVelsercom forresources, guidance and
everything you need to startcreating something amazing.
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