October 24, 2023 • 44 mins
A couple of weeks ago I put up an instagram post about the reality that many established online business owners are currently experiencing some of the most challenging months of their career right now, at the end of 2023.
I got a significant response to this post, so we are here to have an expanded conversation on the topic. And my hope is that you walk away from this with a a fresh perspective on how to approach problem solving in your business, and the understanding that this is actually a ripe opportunity for growth that, if approached creatively, could set us up for success in this changing landscape.
In this episode we talk about:
4:00 : What I am observing as a business coach with an established network of online business owners, and the current struggles faced by online business owners in 2023.
7:33 : Why I think it’s happening and how I’m personally choosing to respond
25:47 : Some of the discourse that has become commonplace in the business development world that is not helpful for this moment
39:00 What to focus on in Q4 of 2023 to successfully take advantage of this current growth opportunity
Links mentioned in this episode:
Being Boss Episode 357: THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF ONLINE BUSINESS WITH ERICA COURDAE & TASHA L. HARRISON
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brooke Monaghan (00:00):
I think that if we don't start to really see
them for what they are, we aregoing to find ourselves
participating in this littlemicro economy of the online
business development world in away where we all get gaslit and
then this small group of peopleat the top make a shitload of
money.
Hi friends, welcome to a soloepisode of Make your Business
(00:30):
Work For you.
This was not planned.
I did not plan on doing a soloepisode, especially this early,
but if you've been listening tothe past few episodes, then you
know that life has been life-inghard over here and I had to put
off a couple of recordings, andso that means that, as I was
planning for the next week'sepisode, I was like I'm about to
run out of recorded interviews.
(00:52):
You know what?
Here's a conversation that Ireally know we need to have.
This is coming off of somethingthat I posted on Instagram as
of the time of recording this.
I posted this last week.
I got a big response to it.
A lot of people thanked me forposting it, and I actually had a
lot more to say on it, so Ithought let's have the
conversation here.
Here's the thing I have manyclients who are running their
(01:14):
own businesses.
I also have a lot of friendswho run their own businesses and
I have my own experience, andwhat I'm seeing right now is
that a lot of establishedbusiness owners are having some
of the most challenging monthsof their entire business career
right now, at the end of 2023.
When I posted this on Instagram,there was a big response.
People were feeling like I wasfinally talking about something
(01:36):
that they had wanted to.
They thought that they werealone on it, or maybe were
talking about it in these smallsettings with friends of theirs,
but weren't hearing it on thislarger scale.
By the way, I'm not the firstperson to talk about this.
There's an episode of BeingBoss that I reference in this
episode.
I'll link to it in the shownotes.
This was from June, where theyposted an episode about.
(01:59):
It was called the end of thegolden age of the online
business world, or somethinglike that.
So it's not just us.
So here's what's going tohappen in this conversation.
I'm going to talk a bit aboutwhat's happening right now just
the truth of the situation, whyI think it's happening and how
I'm personally choosing torespond to this and the smartest
ways that I think we canrespond right now, some of the
(02:21):
discourse that has becomecommonplace in the business
development world that Ipersonally find even more
unhelpful right now andpotentially harmful right now
than before.
So I want to point this out sothat we can see it for what it
is.
And then, just a takeaway,something that, if nothing else,
I want you to remember asyou're working on your business
in Q4 2023, something that Ifeel like we can put our focus
(02:43):
on to move forward differently.
One thing I do want to tell youis that the doors to Fruition
Growth Network are going to beopening very soon, and the
lineup of events for Novemberhas been established and
announced.
It is available on the websiteat join fruition.
com.
The first one is going to be onFriday, November 3rd.
(03:06):
We're going to be doing acoworking.
We also are going to be doing anetworking for people who hate
networking in November, andTristan Katz will also be
teaching a workshop on creatingeffective, meaningful content,
which is going to really tieinto an episode that you heard a
couple of episodes ago withTristan.
So if you want to put that intoplace, come and join us.
(03:28):
All of those events are justthe free events.
There's also things that I'mdoing with coaching groups in
Fruition, but you can find outabout that if you go to
joinfruition.
com.
But the ones I just mentioned,they're all free, so you should
come and hang out with us.
Go to joinfruition.
com, you can get on the waitlist and you'll be the first to
hear when doors open and I hopeto see you there.
(03:57):
So here's what I'm seeing rightnow, and I'm recording this in
the middle of October 2023.
And what I'm talking about here, by the way, is anecdotal.
This is from clients who I'vebeen working with, clients who
I've been working with for years, my own business, colleagues of
mine who I regularly am talkingwith about their businesses and
(04:22):
most of us are in some kind ofeither we're offering online
programming or some kind ofservice, usually in the
consulting field.
Now here's what I'm seeing.
First of all, sales are toughright now for lots of people,
registrations are feeling lowand it's challenging for a lot
(04:47):
of people to bring in consistent, decent, like recurring revenue
.
Number two things that wereworking before to get
registrations or to get peopleonto email lists or to even just
get engagement.
It are not really working theway that they used to.
There used to be things that wecould rely on as standard
(05:11):
practice for launching a thing,putting out some kind of online
training that really are notgetting the same kinds of
results as before.
The third thing is people arereally tired and frustrated.
So I'm seeing a lot of peoplewho are kind of like, all right,
like this has been going on fora while at this point.
I'm trying so many things, I'mnot seeing the results that I
(05:33):
was once seeing, and so I'msuper frustrated.
I like don't know how to getmyself motivated again.
And this is not something thatI am only noticing, like it's
just me in my corner of theInternet or with me and my
friends.
(05:54):
On June 6th, Being Boss which isa pretty large podcast kind of
in the same field put out anepisode titled the end of the
golden age of online business.
That podcast was running foryears and they talked in that
episode about how challengingthings are right now, even as
(06:15):
like a pretty big, establishedbusiness with lots of people in
their audience, lots of peoplewatching, and you know it's.
It's also something that when Iput out some content on this
recently, I got a pretty bigresponse to, and so I know that
this is not something that onlyI am noticing.
It's something that people arestarting to talk about, and I
(06:38):
think that we need to understandthat there's not -- We are
disincentivized to talk aboutthis right, because you're going
to see these conversations inplaces where the person who's
hosting the conversation issupposed to be some kind of
authority on business, right?
People who are just runningtheir businesses and don't have
(06:59):
a place in educating people onbusiness are not really going to
be the ones hosting theseconversations.
So we have to understand thatthere is a reason for people to
not talk about this, and thatreason is if you talk about,
does it make you look likeyou're struggling and thus are
not a source of information onthis or not to be trusted on
this right?
(07:20):
So, whatever we're hearingpeople talk about, I think we
should actually dial that up afew notches and that's probably
a better indication of what'sreally happening.
So here's some theories on whyI think this is happening.
This is by no means acomprehensive list.
These are actually four thingsthat I posted on Instagram and I
(07:40):
got a big response to.
I want to talk about them a bitmore here because I think that
it's worth remembering and, yeah, it's not a comprehensive list,
it's just some of the thingsthat I happen to be seeing that
I think we need to take note of,and I'm going to also tell you
a bit about how I'm choosing torespond to each of these things.
The first thing is that, justas you are feeling overwhelmed
(08:01):
or burnt out or like you'rehaving a hard time focusing,
your audience is having thatsame experience.
To me, it makes total sensethat people are not really
paying that much attention toour marketing.
Right now, right as of the timethat I'm recording this, we're
coming off of, like what?
Almost two weeks of seeingconstant imagery and updates of
(08:28):
the conflict happening in Israeland Palestine.
We are it's horrifying, right.
So, on top of everything thatwe were already dealing with,
it's like ever since 2020.
You know, we keep talking aboutthe fact that it feels like the
hits just keep coming right.
It's not like one thing happensand we're all devastated and
(08:51):
then we move on and we recoverand we get back to normal.
It is now normal for us to beconstantly bombarded with pretty
devastating world events, andto me, it just, of course,
people are paying attention tothat stuff and not really quite
as engaged in marketing,especially marketing in our
(09:12):
field.
Right, it's one thing when theads that you're seeing are for a
quick thing that you can buy,that are going to make you feel
good.
It's one thing when you'reseeing ads for cool t shirts or
when you're seeing ads for likeI don't know, like something
that you can just like, grab andit's going to ship to you and
it's going to give you adopamine hit, and then you move
(09:34):
on.
We are talking about in theonline business space.
We're oftentimes talking aboutthings like trainings programs,
where we're going to give peopleinformation and they're going
to have to learn a thing andthen apply it.
This is, these are, this ismarketing for stuff that is not
just going to give people aquick like hit of dopamine.
(09:55):
Right, we're making a big askand so, yeah, people are burnt
out, they're exhausted and theirattention spans are pretty low.
To me, the way that I'm choosingto respond to this is I think
that this is an invitation forus to just be more real, to be
more human, to focus on beingmore connected with each other
(10:16):
on, like, a more human level.
So, instead of trying to push asale right where in your
marketing you might have, orwhat I'm starting to do right in
my marketing, I might havebefore always been focused on
okay, I'm leading up to sellingthis thing, right, and I really
want to try to make sure thatall of my content is focused on
this thing and pushing the sale.
Now, am I still gonna make surethat my content is aligned with
(10:38):
what I'm selling?
Yes, I am, because, at the endof the day, I'm not working for
free, right, like even recordingthis podcast.
Right, this is under thefruition umbrella because,
ultimately, I'm promoting workon here that is going to that,
ultimately, is like how I paymyself and pay to live.
So, I'm still gonna make surethat my content is aligned, but,
(10:59):
rather than focusing on tryingto push people toward a sale,
I'm really making sure and thisis something I did before too
but I think that we need to beeven more focused on it now,
really really thinking aboutwhat people need to hear from me
today as, like, the number onething.
Right, as I said before, we aredid we are?
There is an incentive to nottalk about how hard things are
(11:23):
right now.
Right, does me talking abouthow challenging it is to grow a
business at the end of 2023 putme in a great position to sell
you a membership to a communityspace for you to grow your
business?
I'm not sure.
Do I know that we need to havea real conversation about this
(11:47):
and, at the end of the day, thisis ultimately going to build
trust with me, with you, thelisteners, because you can see
that I'm talking about what wereally need to talk about and
not just the things that make melook good.
Yeah, I believe.
I believe that's true.
I think that if I can be asource of conversations that are
gonna make people feel seen andfeel like they are in a better
(12:08):
place than they were before theyfound me, that is a.
That is the kind of thing thatI want to be focusing on as a
foundation for a moresustainable business, especially
right now, when traditionalmarketing is just not going to
do it right.
Instead of pitching things rightnow, right, I am focusing much
more on building relationships.
(12:29):
I am and this is somethingagain, I've been doing this.
It's not like this is brand newfor me, but it's something that
I am putting even more effortinto.
I am really just not sendingmany pitches right now Any
honestly, I can't think of asidefrom grant applications.
I cannot think of a pitch thatI sent recently, because instead
(12:53):
, what I'm doing is I'm likethinking about who are the
people who I want to know, whoare the people that I want to
have relationships with, and I'mfocusing more on just
connecting with those people andknowing that in the future,
when opportunities come up, themore people I know, who know
about my work and who trust meand who are in those rooms To
put my name out there, the moreopportunities I'm gonna have.
(13:13):
Right, if I know a person welland they have some kind of
opportunity coming up, it's muchmore likely they're gonna ask
me if I have a relationship withthem.
So I'm saying that, not to saylike that's the, that is the
only reason for doing it, butjust that it's also strategic.
Right, it's not like we have tochoose between one or the other
(13:34):
, and instead of trying to, youknow I am having a lot of
conversations with clients rightnow who are trying to figure
out how do I Get in front of abigger audience, and I don't
think that this is a bad thingto be thinking about.
But I also keep saying topeople like what about the
people who are already in youraudience, though, what about the
(13:56):
people who you had calls with,who said they wanted to work
with you and then you didn'thear from them again?
What about the people who arein your orbit, who you just
haven't connected with in awhile?
Those are the people who Iwould be focusing on
reconnecting with right.
I would be and I am.
Instead of thinking about likehow do I create like a real
that's gonna get, you know, ahundred thousand views, I would
(14:18):
be thinking instead about like,who are the people?
You know, what's a list of like20 people who are in my orbit,
who I just haven't connectedwith in a while, who I can reach
out to.
You know, I think that now is atime for us to really be
focusing on like Actualrelationships and connection,
especially given that you knowwhat people might see your real,
(14:40):
but are they seeing it becausethey're doom scrolling or are
they seeing it because they'reactually interested in what you
have to say?
You know what I mean.
I just think actualrelationships are like where
it's at, and being as human aspossible is where it's at right
now.
The second thing that I know ishappening is people are on to
the standard marketing bullshit,and you know this is true, like
(15:03):
if you are listening to this,you already know.
You know, the moment that yousee an ad for something that
what it really is is them tryingto get you into some like free
or low-cost things so they canfollow up with a bunch of emails
.
You get sucked into theirmarketing funnel.
Whatever people have seen it,people have been burned by
hollow promises.
(15:24):
People have been burned bybeing convinced to join a
program or something and thengetting in there and realizing
that there's really not thatmuch in there to help them, or
that it's all stuff that theyalready knew before, or that the
person isn't really qualifiedto help them.
People have tried so much atthis point and are skeptical as
(15:45):
Fuck if you try to tell themthat you have some kind of
secret that no one else has.
There was a time where peoplewere waiting to find the person
who had the secret.
Now, if you tell people thatyou have the secret, they do not
believe you.
This is the reality of wherewe're at to me.
I love this for us.
I think this is great newsbecause If you're listening to
(16:06):
this, I think that you willprobably are in that bucket of
people who never enjoyed thatkind of marketing right.
Those proven kind of marketingTactics probably always felt a
little bit gross.
The big promises Probablyalways felt a little bit gross
and dishonest right.
So I see this as permission tojust like break all of the
marketing rules, like anythingthat's that you're doing, just
(16:27):
because someone said that youhave to do it.
Or someone said, well, you haveto do this because it works.
If it's not actively workingfor you, I say throw it in the
trash, like immediately, becauseif it is not working and it
feels like shit, there is noreason to keep doing it.
At least before we were in asituation where it was like,
well, yeah, it works, but itfeels like crap, it doesn't even
(16:50):
work anymore.
So I'm like great, like this islike permission, right Now.
The third thing I'm gonna sayis I think and this is something
that was pointed out to me by aprevious coach of mine Whose
name is Lena West, months ago,and then I came to it again
recently and after I wrote itdown, I was like, oh, this is
(17:13):
what Lena was talking about afew months ago.
People are right now are not inlike dream about what's possible
mode.
They are in survival mode.
People right now are tighteningbudgets.
They're trying to do more withless.
They're trying to conserve,they're trying to be smarter
with what they have.
They're trying to take thingsoff of their plate.
(17:33):
Right, people right now are notclamoring to add more to their
schedules, and this has mecurious about how I can shift my
offers to either fit a moreaccessible price point or To, if
I am gonna really charge forsomething, to really take
significant burden off of people.
So this is one of the reasonswhy in my group coaching program
(17:55):
, I had a group coaching programthat was running for years
called the rule breakers crew,with fruition opening.
I have kind of changed that abit and it is now called fruit,
and this is like a small groupof people who are my core
clients.
We meet in a group setting andwe do much more intensive group
coaching than any of the othergroup coaching programs I've
(18:17):
ever done.
But one of the things that I'mnow including in that is
actually Advertising like youare gonna start hearing ads on
this podcast for my clients, andthe reason that I am doing that
is because, first of all, Ionly want people in that space
who I really, really believe inand who I believe in enough that
(18:38):
I would push their work, and soit's a great like.
When I first came up with thatidea, I Was like, oh, what an
amazing way for me to make surethat I am actually Like putting
my money where my mouth is whenI say I only work with people in
this setting that I reallybelieve in.
You know what I mean.
Like to me, that's a way toback that up.
(19:00):
But also, to this point of likeeither making things really
accessible or taking somethingsignificant off of people's
plates, I'm seeing people inthat space looking for
opportunities to get in front ofa new audience, right.
I'm seeing people in that spacethinking about, like what are
the ways that I get in front ofnew people?
And so, like Plot putting theirwork on my podcast is one way
(19:24):
that I can not just say like I'mgonna teach you how to navigate
this thing, but also say likeI'm gonna give you like a
tangible thing, right.
In addition to that, anotherexample would be something like
if you are, if you typicallyteach a thing, and you just have
like a DIY kind of thing likemaybe you have a course or maybe
(19:48):
you just do consulting.
Is there some opportunity foryou to do a done for you version
of that or a done with youversion of that?
If you're gonna charge forsomething like, make it so that
it is going to at least take asignificant amount of work off
of people's plates, becauseright now, people are just there
I'm I, at least.
I'm seeing a lot less.
(20:10):
You teach me and I'll go aheadand implement it.
And instead, like this is sucha burden, I need someone who is
going to do this with me andhelp me get shit done like right
now.
Right, and I think that so.
So there's a couple of waysthat we can think about this,
right.
So, like I just said, insteadof thinking about like you, I
(20:31):
teach and you implement, I wouldbe thinking more about like
what if you didn't have to dothis thing that's such a burden
for you all on your own right?
That would be the way that Iwould be thinking about offers
and marketing.
Way that I am thinking aboutoffers and marketing right now.
I also would be thinking aboutlike instead of things like.
Imagine if your life were likeradically different, right,
because that was a way that wewere all taught to market like a
(20:53):
few years ago, we were taughtto do this like blue sky kind of
thing, where it was likeimagine a world where you are,
you know, a Millionaire and youonly have to work three hours a
week.
I mean, listen, are some peoplestill gonna like Be into that?
Sure, I guess.
I think most people are gonnabe pretty fucking skeptical and
I think that most people aremore in the.
(21:14):
You're gonna have a better timerelating to them and building
trust with them if, instead ofthinking about Imagine how
different things could be,you're thinking about like I see
you and where you are right nowand I can help you, and here
are the ways that I can help you, and like I really understand
what you're going through, I'dbe thinking much more about that
(21:36):
.
I am thinking much more aboutthat right now.
I think the days of you know,imagine this radically different
version of your life Right noware kind of on pause for most
people.
The fourth thing that I do thinkis happening right now is this
is a time for creative solutions, because so much of what you're
(22:00):
taught, so many of the bestpractices, are just not doing it
anymore and many of us areAbsolutely out of creative
energy right Before you Jumpinto this like, oh my gosh, I
need to fix this, this isn'tworking, I need to figure this
out.
It is really important that youcheck in with yourself on how
(22:22):
much creative energy youactually have available to fix
this, because the thing is,anxiety Does not create new
solutions.
Anxiety creates familiarity.
Anxiety is a fear of theunknown.
So when you are fueled byanxiety, what you're going to do
(22:45):
is you're gonna double down onthings that you've already done
before and you're gonna try torecreate familiar situations,
right?
So, while I totally understandhow annoying it is for someone
to tell you that you need toslow down when you're like no,
no, no, look at my bank account,I cannot slow down.
I get that.
And also, if you keep pushingyourself, despite the fact that
(23:09):
you are like totally depletedand fried and running on empty,
you are going to be soFabulously unproductive.
I cannot even tell you like, ifyou are giving into the I need
to figure this out kind ofanxious loop, probably what's
(23:32):
gonna happen is you are going togo back to things that you've
already done before that havenot worked, and pour a whole
bunch of extra energy into them,as opposed to and this is one
of the things that I said inthis post that I put up like you
could spend the next hour doingthe same shit that you've been
doing because you don't knowwhat else to do, which is what
you're gonna do if you're likefried, or you could take a nap.
You're gonna be like fried oryou could take a nap and at
(23:56):
least have a shot of a freshidea when you wake up, because
you actually have some amount ofbrain power to figure this
thing out.
So if you are convinced thatyou cannot slow down, but the
data is showing you that thethings that you are doing are
not working, that is like atelltale sign that you really
(24:17):
need to slow down, like you needa nap.
Bad, because that is not evensolid reasoning, right, so it's
a time for creative solutions.
It's not the time to doubledown on shit.
Right now is not the time tosay, oh well, this shit was
really working in 2020.
So I'm just going to do more ofthat, or oh, but I was working
so hard in 2020 and 2020 wassuch a good year, I guess I'm
(24:39):
not working enough.
No, no, no, things are different.
We need to come at this in amore creative way, and the best
way to do that is you are goingto have to do what you need to
do to resource yourself.
You're going to have to do whatyou need to do to manage your
mental health.
You are going to have to takelike prioritizing your capacity
(25:03):
and like well-being and creativeenergy, like you're going to
have to take maintaining thatreally seriously right now.
And I think that when we, likeI was saying before, like when
we focus on what do peoplereally need to hear from me
today and how can I make, likego back and actually create a
connection with these people orreach back out to these people
or nurture this relationshipwith people and have real
(25:23):
conversations, that's going togive you some information that
can then allow you to like useyour creative energy to solve it
.
But this is not the kind ofthing that is going to be solved
by just isolating yourself andworking harder in a vacuum.
It's just not so.
A few things that I reallywould like for us to just point
(25:46):
out are really unhelpful rightnow, because we're going to see
it come up.
It always fucking comes up.
It is just so common and it'sso tired, and I just want to say
it and, like, put it out therethat like none of this stuff is
going to be helping us right nowin the situation that we're in.
So the first thing is, thebusiness development world and
(26:08):
the coaching world will tell youthat literally every problem
that you were facing is becauseof your mindset.
Why, why is it going to keeptelling you that?
Because it makes it so mucheasier to just keep selling the
same shit than it is to come upwith a new solution.
Those of us who are in thisindustry right now coaches,
(26:30):
service providers in thebusiness development industry,
social media managers, marketingprofessionals like those of us
who are in this industry we havea obligation to get way more
fucking creative, to just tellpeople that it's their headspace
.
And this is, by the way, whyfruition is happening, because a
(26:53):
few months ago, I saw thishappening and I was like, oh, I
need to stop just telling peoplehow to navigate this and come
up with some actual solutions tothis fucking problem.
But for people who don't want tocome up with new solutions and
who want to just keep sellingthe same thing, it really the
best way to do that is toconvince you that it's all
(27:13):
because of your mindset, and thething is that if you are
currently feeling this likenothing is working-ness of 2023,
you are not making it up.
This is not because of yourvibes you're not low vibe and
it's not because you're thinkingsmall.
I do think that managing yourmindset is absolutely critical
right now, but anyone who'ssaying that a mindset shift
(27:35):
alone is going to do it is goingto somehow change the situation
.
That, to me, is gaslighting,and it's probably gaslighting
for profit, to be honest, and Idon't even believe in laziness,
but the best word that I cancome up with for that is lazy.
So that's the first thing I'mgoing to say.
This is not a mindset issue asfar as I'm concerned.
(27:55):
Now, forever, right, thebusiness, the online business
world and the coaching worldhave wanted to tell us that if
we aren't making money, it'sbecause we are undercharging.
And right now, I think it'sgotten really fucking out of
hand.
I think it's gotten very out ofhand, my friends, this idea
(28:18):
that if you're not making money,you need to just raise your
prices.
It wasn't helpful before, butit's a special thing.
It wasn't helpful before, butit's especially unhelpful now.
Here's the thing Can you chargea lot, absolutely.
Are there people who will pay it?
Absolutely, 100% there are.
You can charge way more thanyou are currently telling
(28:41):
yourself.
You can charge, almostguaranteed.
Do you have to charge more foryour work than you did as an
hourly employee?
Yes, let me tell you, my friend, if you are still taking your
hourly rate for like aconsulting call and comparing it
to what you made at your dayjob and somehow think that
that's a fair comparison, it isnot, because at your day job you
(29:04):
get paid for all of your work,and in your job, where you work
for yourself, you only get paidfor what you can bill your
clients.
And what you get paid frombilling your clients has to
cover you for all of the otheractivities taking place in your
business.
In a normal business, thatwould be coming in as top line
sales and then it would bedistributed out across a whole
(29:26):
bunch of people on an hourlybasis.
That's essentially what'shappening in your business.
So you cannot compare yourhourly rate now to your hourly
rate when you are working.
A job Period Okay, and if yourideal client cannot afford your
work, you have a major problemon your hands.
I'm not saying that to freak youout or make you feel bad about
(29:49):
anything.
I'm just saying, like this ideathat you can just raise your
prices, that everyone's solutionis to just raise their prices,
not if your ideal client can'tfucking afford it.
It's not the solution.
Okay, if they can't afford it,then you need to come up with a
different solution, and that'sgoing to come down to your
business model, right?
So this is not to say that youhave to raise or lower your
(30:11):
prices.
It's not to say that you can'tsell high ticket services.
You definitely can.
It's just to say that thisfantasy that every one of us out
here in the online businessworld should be charging tens of
thousands of dollars for ourwork and just like rolling
around in a bathtub of cash,like it is so 2019 and it's also
gaslighting it just doesn't.
(30:33):
That's not the way that itworks.
You need to look at yourbusiness model and you need to
decide how you're going tocreate high ticket offers for an
ideal client who can pay forthem, which means how you're
going to get yourself in frontof and create relationships with
, those people who can pay forthem.
Right?
And affordable, accessibleoffers for ideal clients who
(30:59):
can't.
So, if you have an audience ofpeople who cannot afford high
ticket services and you need tomake an immediate sale.
My friend, charging a bunch ofmoney for a thing is not going
to do it, because you've got togo and create the relationships
with, and get in front of thepeople who can afford that
before you're going to be ableto put out that high ticket
offer right?
Now.
(31:19):
What I will say is if you havebeen doing this for a long time
and you've never sold somethinghigh ticket and you have a
relatively big audience, there'sprobably some people in your
audience who could pay for itand you just don't even know
that because you've never soldthe high ticket thing.
Right, and there's just somepeople chilling out there who
will say yes to it, but, like asan ongoing solution.
Right, you're going to need toform more of those relationships
before you can do that.
(31:39):
So if your ideal client issomebody who can pay a bunch of
money for a thing and you don'thave those people in your
audience right now, right, youneed to go and find them.
But if your ideal client issomebody who cannot afford that,
then you do.
This advice of just way raisingyour prices does not apply to
(32:02):
you.
So I'm saying this again, notbecause I want to make you feel
bad, but because if you've heardthe advice like, oh, just raise
your prices, you need to becharging more.
You're not charging enough andyou're like, wait a second, but
no one can afford that.
Sometimes that can be a mindsetthing if you're telling
yourself like there's no wayanyone would ever afford that,
(32:23):
so I'm not even going to try.
But also you might be right.
So I just want to tell you, youknow your business better than
anybody else does and like thisis it's going to be, you're
going to need to be morecreative than just raising your
prices right?
Now one of the reasons why youwill see when Fruition Growth
Network, when the doors to thisopen, you're going to see that,
(32:46):
like, my prices are pretty lowfor this.
One of the tiers, there's aprogram: Training Camp.
I used to call it Transcend YourDichotomy Training Camp.
I used to sell that programalone for $1,500.
You can now access that programfor $20 to $30 a month.
Now, Brooke from 2020 would belike hi, Brooke from 2023, what
(33:08):
the fuck are you doing?
Like let's not.
Can we not just give everythingaway?
And I get it.
And also, I'm looking around atthe people who I really wanna
help and I'm noticing, like, forthe people who I really want to
help, I need to make thingsaccessible and affordable.
And that means that it's on meto get more people.
(33:28):
I once had a business model thatwas a handful of people paying
me a good amount on a recurringbasis.
I'm maintaining some of that,but also to serve this huge
group of people who I reallywanna serve, that's gonna have
to be lots of people at a lowerprice.
You know what I mean.
So there is such a thing asovercharging.
(33:48):
This is what I'm saying, likeyou're gonna know it, because
you're not getting clients atthose rates.
And if someone wants to tellyou like, oh, that's all just
because of your mindset, itprobably actually has a lot more
to do with who you're puttingthose offers in front of and who
your ideal clients actually areand whether or not your pricing
(34:10):
actually makes sense for yourclients.
And, as a side note, this iswhy I have gotten pretty fed up
with some of the coachingprograms that I'm seeing,
because to me it just makes nosense to charge people who
aren't even making any money yetlike thousands of dollars you
know, five, $10,000 when youhaven't even made any money yet.
I'm like that pricing does notmake sense and I think that
(34:32):
we're approaching the end ofthis fantasy.
The third thing in the discoursein the online business world,
the coaching world, that Ireally wanna draw our attention
to right now being in survivalmode, where you are like looking
at your situation and you'rerealizing all right, here's
(34:52):
where we are.
There's not as much moneycoming in, or everything is more
expensive.
Groceries are twice asexpensive as they were before
Holy shit, by the way.
Or maybe you have, like youknow, new expenses that have
been added.
Like maybe your kids are likein daycare now, or something
like that, I don't know right,whatever the situation is.
(35:13):
Being in survival mode whereyou're just like I am holding
shit together right now, right,that is not the same thing as
scarcity.
Do not make yourself wrong forbeing in a very real, actually
challenging situation.
Scarcity mindset is a mindsetthat is built around the belief
that there is never enough.
(35:34):
Right, an abundance mindsetsays that there's more than
enough for all of us.
You hear people come back tothis all the time, because
scarcity is like this thing thatyou know.
Being in a scarcity mindset islike super not fucking helpful.
Ask me how I know.
And also, it's again one ofthose things that's easier to
(35:55):
blame than the actual situationthat many of us have found
ourselves in.
Right, dealing with the realityof your current situation by
adjusting your budget ordeciding not to push a
particular offer, that's adecision that can come from
either a scarcity or anabundance mindset, and it's
probably informed by a wholebunch of other realities that
(36:15):
simply just are.
They just are the reality thatyou are living in right now, and
that is fine.
You know your situation betterthan anybody else, right?
Don't make yourself wrong forjust having to make some like
real, human fucking decisionsright now.
It is really important to allowyourself to see the facts of
(36:35):
your current situation and makedecisions accordingly, and if
that means that right now is formaintenance and bare minimum
and not for going all in on somebig, huge like new thing, don't
let anyone make you wrong forthat.
So these are things that arereally present in the business
development world, in thecoaching world, and I think that
(36:57):
if we don't start to really seethem for what they are, we are
gonna find ourselvesparticipating in this little
like micro economy of the onlinebusiness development world in a
way, where we all get gaslitand then this small group of
people at the top make ashitload of money.
So I am personally reallykeeping a lookout right now for
(37:22):
who's making a shift to meet themoment that we're in and who is
continuing to teach the sameshit that worked for them in
2019.
Because those are gonna be thepeople who will use this
discourse to pull you into theirbullshit, and most of that is
gonna be stuff that doesn'treally replicate, it doesn't
meet the moment that we're inright now.
(37:43):
It's not up to date.
I'm really like I really trynot to cast like broad
generalizations about people'sintentions or whatever, but what
I will say is that people whohave had these really big
businesses for a long time andare a major influence on what we
(38:05):
have been told is the right wayto run a business, or whatever.
Those people if they are stillteaching "This is what allowed
me to grow my business to amillion dollars, and that growth
happened in like 2019, 2020,I'm really not interested,
because the fact is, thelandscape is just so different
(38:26):
that, like I don't want to learnyour outdated strategies, right
?
And so I think some of thosepeople are adjusting and saying,
okay, it's my job not just toteach what I did in 2020, it's
my job to help these people getthat result now.
So how can I shift things?
I think other people are notmaking that shift and, to get
out of not making that shift,they're explaining away why it
(38:49):
isn't working by using thesekinds of things that are going
to make you blame yourself andtell you that you're wrong.
So, finally, here's what I wantto leave you with.
Something I want you toremember, a takeaway from today.
As you hear all of this, youknow that you're not alone and
you go into your business andyou're like, okay, what do I do
now?
(39:09):
Right, because I just heard awhole bunch of reasons that
things aren't working.
Well, first of all, I mean goback and listen to, or you can
go on Instagram, too, and I havea carousel up with a breakdown
of this and it gives you kind ofthose different ways of
responding to these four thingsthat I see happening.
But the other thing is that Ireally want you to remember and
(39:29):
I said this before, I'm going toreiterate.
Anxiety does not create newideas.
Anxiety seeks familiarity.
The function of anxiety is toget you back in a situation that
feels familiar and like you canpredict the outcome.
So it's not just your mindsetright, and it's not all in your
head, and I stand by all of that.
And you cannot make businessdecisions from a place of
(39:53):
anxiety, because it will keepyou in the same patterns and the
same cycles.
It will have you doubling downon the same things that have not
worked well for you in the past.
So right now, here is the workfor all of us.
We need to figure out whatworks for us to regulate our
nervous systems, to remindourselves that we are physically
(40:15):
safe.
We need to figure out ways thatwe can get some distance from
our situation so that we cankind of interrupt this "I just
need to figure this out.
I just need to figure this out.
I just need to figure this outlike anxious kind of thought
spiral.
We've got to take some deepbreaths and manage our anxiety
before we make decisions Because, like I said before, creative
(40:38):
solutions are where it is atright now and that kind of
spiraling is only going to drainyour creative energy and lead
you back to the same kinds ofdecisions you've made before.
Right so anxiety is totallyunderstandable at a time like
this and it also isn't helpful,right so it's time for creative
(41:02):
solutions.
So I'm not saying it's easy,but I am saying that it is your
job and it is my job to manageour mental health right now so
that we can conserve creativeenergy, because that might be
the one resource that we havethe most control over right now.
And what I'm going to tell youis this: the people who are able
(41:23):
to do that right now andrespond creatively at a time
like this are going to be theones who are going to see
massive gain, and I trulybelieve that.
I think that we are in asituation right now where we've
got a choice on how we respond.
I think that it's totallyunderstandable that some people
(41:43):
are just kind of shutting thingsdown, deciding to stop doing
things because they're just notas lucrative anymore.
And I also think that for thoseof us who kind of stick this
out and can figure out how tonot get too caught up in the
anxiety but see the reality ofthe situation that we're in and
see the people who we're here toserve and get really creative
(42:06):
about how to meet those peopleand serve those people right now
, there's actually a hugeadvantage for those of us who
can manage to do that.
It's not going to be easy.
Some of us are going to have aneasier time doing it than
others, just because ofcircumstances that none of us
have any fucking control over.
And what you can control is whatyou can control.
That's all we can focus on.
(42:26):
I am personally, and I wouldadvise that you too, focus on
keeping myself out of thatanxious thought spiral as much
as possible and trying to findways to resource myself,
replenish my creative energy,get some distance from the
situation and come back tothings when I'm fresh.
On the days when you cannotmanage to do that, do the stuff
that doesn't require strategicdecision making.
(42:48):
Do the admin, the client, work,right.
Don't give into that spiral ondates when you're going to make
strategic decisions.
Keep going.
Forward momentum.
You're going to figure thingsout as you move.
Some things aren't going towork.
You're going to learn from it.
I promise you that you are.
One foot in front of the otheris sometimes all that we can
(43:09):
manage, and keep doing whatyou're doing.
Your work is important.
You're important.
I see you.
I think that if we don't start to really see
them for what they are, we aregoing to find ourselves
participating in this littlemicro economy of the online
business development world in away where we all get gaslit and
then this small group of peopleat the top make a shitload of
money.
Hi friends, welcome to a soloepisode of Make your Business
(00:30):
Work For you.
This was not planned.
I did not plan on doing a soloepisode, especially this early,
but if you've been listening tothe past few episodes, then you
know that life has been life-inghard over here and I had to put
off a couple of recordings, andso that means that, as I was
planning for the next week'sepisode, I was like I'm about to
run out of recorded interviews.
(00:52):
You know what?
Here's a conversation that Ireally know we need to have.
This is coming off of somethingthat I posted on Instagram as
of the time of recording this.
I posted this last week.
I got a big response to it.
A lot of people thanked me forposting it, and I actually had a
lot more to say on it, so Ithought let's have the
conversation here.
Here's the thing I have manyclients who are running their
(01:14):
own businesses.
I also have a lot of friendswho run their own businesses and
I have my own experience, andwhat I'm seeing right now is
that a lot of establishedbusiness owners are having some
of the most challenging monthsof their entire business career
right now, at the end of 2023.
When I posted this on Instagram,there was a big response.
People were feeling like I wasfinally talking about something
(01:36):
that they had wanted to.
They thought that they werealone on it, or maybe were
talking about it in these smallsettings with friends of theirs,
but weren't hearing it on thislarger scale.
By the way, I'm not the firstperson to talk about this.
There's an episode of BeingBoss that I reference in this
episode.
I'll link to it in the shownotes.
This was from June, where theyposted an episode about.
(01:59):
It was called the end of thegolden age of the online
business world, or somethinglike that.
So it's not just us.
So here's what's going tohappen in this conversation.
I'm going to talk a bit aboutwhat's happening right now just
the truth of the situation, whyI think it's happening and how
I'm personally choosing torespond to this and the smartest
ways that I think we canrespond right now, some of the
(02:21):
discourse that has becomecommonplace in the business
development world that Ipersonally find even more
unhelpful right now andpotentially harmful right now
than before.
So I want to point this out sothat we can see it for what it
is.
And then, just a takeaway,something that, if nothing else,
I want you to remember asyou're working on your business
in Q4 2023, something that Ifeel like we can put our focus
(02:43):
on to move forward differently.
One thing I do want to tell youis that the doors to Fruition
Growth Network are going to beopening very soon, and the
lineup of events for Novemberhas been established and
announced.
It is available on the websiteat join fruition.
com.
The first one is going to be onFriday, November 3rd.
(03:06):
We're going to be doing acoworking.
We also are going to be doing anetworking for people who hate
networking in November, andTristan Katz will also be
teaching a workshop on creatingeffective, meaningful content,
which is going to really tieinto an episode that you heard a
couple of episodes ago withTristan.
So if you want to put that intoplace, come and join us.
(03:28):
All of those events are justthe free events.
There's also things that I'mdoing with coaching groups in
Fruition, but you can find outabout that if you go to
joinfruition.
com.
But the ones I just mentioned,they're all free, so you should
come and hang out with us.
Go to joinfruition.
com, you can get on the waitlist and you'll be the first to
hear when doors open and I hopeto see you there.
(03:57):
So here's what I'm seeing rightnow, and I'm recording this in
the middle of October 2023.
And what I'm talking about here, by the way, is anecdotal.
This is from clients who I'vebeen working with, clients who
I've been working with for years, my own business, colleagues of
mine who I regularly am talkingwith about their businesses and
(04:22):
most of us are in some kind ofeither we're offering online
programming or some kind ofservice, usually in the
consulting field.
Now here's what I'm seeing.
First of all, sales are toughright now for lots of people,
registrations are feeling lowand it's challenging for a lot
(04:47):
of people to bring in consistent, decent, like recurring revenue
.
Number two things that wereworking before to get
registrations or to get peopleonto email lists or to even just
get engagement.
It are not really working theway that they used to.
There used to be things that wecould rely on as standard
(05:11):
practice for launching a thing,putting out some kind of online
training that really are notgetting the same kinds of
results as before.
The third thing is people arereally tired and frustrated.
So I'm seeing a lot of peoplewho are kind of like, all right,
like this has been going on fora while at this point.
I'm trying so many things, I'mnot seeing the results that I
(05:33):
was once seeing, and so I'msuper frustrated.
I like don't know how to getmyself motivated again.
And this is not something thatI am only noticing, like it's
just me in my corner of theInternet or with me and my
friends.
(05:54):
On June 6th, Being Boss which isa pretty large podcast kind of
in the same field put out anepisode titled the end of the
golden age of online business.
That podcast was running foryears and they talked in that
episode about how challengingthings are right now, even as
(06:15):
like a pretty big, establishedbusiness with lots of people in
their audience, lots of peoplewatching, and you know it's.
It's also something that when Iput out some content on this
recently, I got a pretty bigresponse to, and so I know that
this is not something that onlyI am noticing.
It's something that people arestarting to talk about, and I
(06:38):
think that we need to understandthat there's not -- We are
disincentivized to talk aboutthis right, because you're going
to see these conversations inplaces where the person who's
hosting the conversation issupposed to be some kind of
authority on business, right?
People who are just runningtheir businesses and don't have
(06:59):
a place in educating people onbusiness are not really going to
be the ones hosting theseconversations.
So we have to understand thatthere is a reason for people to
not talk about this, and thatreason is if you talk about,
does it make you look likeyou're struggling and thus are
not a source of information onthis or not to be trusted on
this right?
(07:20):
So, whatever we're hearingpeople talk about, I think we
should actually dial that up afew notches and that's probably
a better indication of what'sreally happening.
So here's some theories on whyI think this is happening.
This is by no means acomprehensive list.
These are actually four thingsthat I posted on Instagram and I
(07:40):
got a big response to.
I want to talk about them a bitmore here because I think that
it's worth remembering and, yeah, it's not a comprehensive list,
it's just some of the thingsthat I happen to be seeing that
I think we need to take note of,and I'm going to also tell you
a bit about how I'm choosing torespond to each of these things.
The first thing is that, justas you are feeling overwhelmed
(08:01):
or burnt out or like you'rehaving a hard time focusing,
your audience is having thatsame experience.
To me, it makes total sensethat people are not really
paying that much attention toour marketing.
Right now, right as of the timethat I'm recording this, we're
coming off of, like what?
Almost two weeks of seeingconstant imagery and updates of
(08:28):
the conflict happening in Israeland Palestine.
We are it's horrifying, right.
So, on top of everything thatwe were already dealing with,
it's like ever since 2020.
You know, we keep talking aboutthe fact that it feels like the
hits just keep coming right.
It's not like one thing happensand we're all devastated and
(08:51):
then we move on and we recoverand we get back to normal.
It is now normal for us to beconstantly bombarded with pretty
devastating world events, andto me, it just, of course,
people are paying attention tothat stuff and not really quite
as engaged in marketing,especially marketing in our
(09:12):
field.
Right, it's one thing when theads that you're seeing are for a
quick thing that you can buy,that are going to make you feel
good.
It's one thing when you'reseeing ads for cool t shirts or
when you're seeing ads for likeI don't know, like something
that you can just like, grab andit's going to ship to you and
it's going to give you adopamine hit, and then you move
(09:34):
on.
We are talking about in theonline business space.
We're oftentimes talking aboutthings like trainings programs,
where we're going to give peopleinformation and they're going
to have to learn a thing andthen apply it.
This is, these are, this ismarketing for stuff that is not
just going to give people aquick like hit of dopamine.
(09:55):
Right, we're making a big askand so, yeah, people are burnt
out, they're exhausted and theirattention spans are pretty low.
To me, the way that I'm choosingto respond to this is I think
that this is an invitation forus to just be more real, to be
more human, to focus on beingmore connected with each other
(10:16):
on, like, a more human level.
So, instead of trying to push asale right where in your
marketing you might have, orwhat I'm starting to do right in
my marketing, I might havebefore always been focused on
okay, I'm leading up to sellingthis thing, right, and I really
want to try to make sure thatall of my content is focused on
this thing and pushing the sale.
Now, am I still gonna make surethat my content is aligned with
(10:38):
what I'm selling?
Yes, I am, because, at the endof the day, I'm not working for
free, right, like even recordingthis podcast.
Right, this is under thefruition umbrella because,
ultimately, I'm promoting workon here that is going to that,
ultimately, is like how I paymyself and pay to live.
So, I'm still gonna make surethat my content is aligned, but,
(10:59):
rather than focusing on tryingto push people toward a sale,
I'm really making sure and thisis something I did before too
but I think that we need to beeven more focused on it now,
really really thinking aboutwhat people need to hear from me
today as, like, the number onething.
Right, as I said before, we aredid we are?
There is an incentive to nottalk about how hard things are
(11:23):
right now.
Right, does me talking abouthow challenging it is to grow a
business at the end of 2023 putme in a great position to sell
you a membership to a communityspace for you to grow your
business?
I'm not sure.
Do I know that we need to havea real conversation about this
(11:47):
and, at the end of the day, thisis ultimately going to build
trust with me, with you, thelisteners, because you can see
that I'm talking about what wereally need to talk about and
not just the things that make melook good.
Yeah, I believe.
I believe that's true.
I think that if I can be asource of conversations that are
gonna make people feel seen andfeel like they are in a better
(12:08):
place than they were before theyfound me, that is a.
That is the kind of thing thatI want to be focusing on as a
foundation for a moresustainable business, especially
right now, when traditionalmarketing is just not going to
do it right.
Instead of pitching things rightnow, right, I am focusing much
more on building relationships.
(12:29):
I am and this is somethingagain, I've been doing this.
It's not like this is brand newfor me, but it's something that
I am putting even more effortinto.
I am really just not sendingmany pitches right now Any
honestly, I can't think of asidefrom grant applications.
I cannot think of a pitch thatI sent recently, because instead
(12:53):
, what I'm doing is I'm likethinking about who are the
people who I want to know, whoare the people that I want to
have relationships with, and I'mfocusing more on just
connecting with those people andknowing that in the future,
when opportunities come up, themore people I know, who know
about my work and who trust meand who are in those rooms To
put my name out there, the moreopportunities I'm gonna have.
(13:13):
Right, if I know a person welland they have some kind of
opportunity coming up, it's muchmore likely they're gonna ask
me if I have a relationship withthem.
So I'm saying that, not to saylike that's the, that is the
only reason for doing it, butjust that it's also strategic.
Right, it's not like we have tochoose between one or the other
(13:34):
, and instead of trying to, youknow I am having a lot of
conversations with clients rightnow who are trying to figure
out how do I Get in front of abigger audience, and I don't
think that this is a bad thingto be thinking about.
But I also keep saying topeople like what about the
people who are already in youraudience, though, what about the
(13:56):
people who you had calls with,who said they wanted to work
with you and then you didn'thear from them again?
What about the people who arein your orbit, who you just
haven't connected with in awhile?
Those are the people who Iwould be focusing on
reconnecting with right.
I would be and I am.
Instead of thinking about likehow do I create like a real
that's gonna get, you know, ahundred thousand views, I would
(14:18):
be thinking instead about like,who are the people?
You know, what's a list of like20 people who are in my orbit,
who I just haven't connectedwith in a while, who I can reach
out to.
You know, I think that now is atime for us to really be
focusing on like Actualrelationships and connection,
especially given that you knowwhat people might see your real,
(14:40):
but are they seeing it becausethey're doom scrolling or are
they seeing it because they'reactually interested in what you
have to say?
You know what I mean.
I just think actualrelationships are like where
it's at, and being as human aspossible is where it's at right
now.
The second thing that I know ishappening is people are on to
the standard marketing bullshit,and you know this is true, like
(15:03):
if you are listening to this,you already know.
You know, the moment that yousee an ad for something that
what it really is is them tryingto get you into some like free
or low-cost things so they canfollow up with a bunch of emails
.
You get sucked into theirmarketing funnel.
Whatever people have seen it,people have been burned by
hollow promises.
(15:24):
People have been burned bybeing convinced to join a
program or something and thengetting in there and realizing
that there's really not thatmuch in there to help them, or
that it's all stuff that theyalready knew before, or that the
person isn't really qualifiedto help them.
People have tried so much atthis point and are skeptical as
(15:45):
Fuck if you try to tell themthat you have some kind of
secret that no one else has.
There was a time where peoplewere waiting to find the person
who had the secret.
Now, if you tell people thatyou have the secret, they do not
believe you.
This is the reality of wherewe're at to me.
I love this for us.
I think this is great newsbecause If you're listening to
(16:06):
this, I think that you willprobably are in that bucket of
people who never enjoyed thatkind of marketing right.
Those proven kind of marketingTactics probably always felt a
little bit gross.
The big promises Probablyalways felt a little bit gross
and dishonest right.
So I see this as permission tojust like break all of the
marketing rules, like anythingthat's that you're doing, just
(16:27):
because someone said that youhave to do it.
Or someone said, well, you haveto do this because it works.
If it's not actively workingfor you, I say throw it in the
trash, like immediately, becauseif it is not working and it
feels like shit, there is noreason to keep doing it.
At least before we were in asituation where it was like,
well, yeah, it works, but itfeels like crap, it doesn't even
(16:50):
work anymore.
So I'm like great, like this islike permission, right Now.
The third thing I'm gonna sayis I think and this is something
that was pointed out to me by aprevious coach of mine Whose
name is Lena West, months ago,and then I came to it again
recently and after I wrote itdown, I was like, oh, this is
(17:13):
what Lena was talking about afew months ago.
People are right now are not inlike dream about what's possible
mode.
They are in survival mode.
People right now are tighteningbudgets.
They're trying to do more withless.
They're trying to conserve,they're trying to be smarter
with what they have.
They're trying to take thingsoff of their plate.
(17:33):
Right, people right now are notclamoring to add more to their
schedules, and this has mecurious about how I can shift my
offers to either fit a moreaccessible price point or To, if
I am gonna really charge forsomething, to really take
significant burden off of people.
So this is one of the reasonswhy in my group coaching program
(17:55):
, I had a group coaching programthat was running for years
called the rule breakers crew,with fruition opening.
I have kind of changed that abit and it is now called fruit,
and this is like a small groupof people who are my core
clients.
We meet in a group setting andwe do much more intensive group
coaching than any of the othergroup coaching programs I've
(18:17):
ever done.
But one of the things that I'mnow including in that is
actually Advertising like youare gonna start hearing ads on
this podcast for my clients, andthe reason that I am doing that
is because, first of all, Ionly want people in that space
who I really, really believe inand who I believe in enough that
(18:38):
I would push their work, and soit's a great like.
When I first came up with thatidea, I Was like, oh, what an
amazing way for me to make surethat I am actually Like putting
my money where my mouth is whenI say I only work with people in
this setting that I reallybelieve in.
You know what I mean.
Like to me, that's a way toback that up.
(19:00):
But also, to this point of likeeither making things really
accessible or taking somethingsignificant off of people's
plates, I'm seeing people inthat space looking for
opportunities to get in front ofa new audience, right.
I'm seeing people in that spacethinking about, like what are
the ways that I get in front ofnew people?
And so, like Plot putting theirwork on my podcast is one way
(19:24):
that I can not just say like I'mgonna teach you how to navigate
this thing, but also say likeI'm gonna give you like a
tangible thing, right.
In addition to that, anotherexample would be something like
if you are, if you typicallyteach a thing, and you just have
like a DIY kind of thing likemaybe you have a course or maybe
(19:48):
you just do consulting.
Is there some opportunity foryou to do a done for you version
of that or a done with youversion of that?
If you're gonna charge forsomething like, make it so that
it is going to at least take asignificant amount of work off
of people's plates, becauseright now, people are just there
I'm I, at least.
I'm seeing a lot less.
(20:10):
You teach me and I'll go aheadand implement it.
And instead, like this is sucha burden, I need someone who is
going to do this with me andhelp me get shit done like right
now.
Right, and I think that so.
So there's a couple of waysthat we can think about this,
right.
So, like I just said, insteadof thinking about like you, I
(20:31):
teach and you implement, I wouldbe thinking more about like
what if you didn't have to dothis thing that's such a burden
for you all on your own right?
That would be the way that Iwould be thinking about offers
and marketing.
Way that I am thinking aboutoffers and marketing right now.
I also would be thinking aboutlike instead of things like.
Imagine if your life were likeradically different, right,
because that was a way that wewere all taught to market like a
(20:53):
few years ago, we were taughtto do this like blue sky kind of
thing, where it was likeimagine a world where you are,
you know, a Millionaire and youonly have to work three hours a
week.
I mean, listen, are some peoplestill gonna like Be into that?
Sure, I guess.
I think most people are gonnabe pretty fucking skeptical and
I think that most people aremore in the.
(21:14):
You're gonna have a better timerelating to them and building
trust with them if, instead ofthinking about Imagine how
different things could be,you're thinking about like I see
you and where you are right nowand I can help you, and here
are the ways that I can help you, and like I really understand
what you're going through, I'dbe thinking much more about that
(21:36):
.
I am thinking much more aboutthat right now.
I think the days of you know,imagine this radically different
version of your life Right noware kind of on pause for most
people.
The fourth thing that I do thinkis happening right now is this
is a time for creative solutions, because so much of what you're
(22:00):
taught, so many of the bestpractices, are just not doing it
anymore and many of us areAbsolutely out of creative
energy right Before you Jumpinto this like, oh my gosh, I
need to fix this, this isn'tworking, I need to figure this
out.
It is really important that youcheck in with yourself on how
(22:22):
much creative energy youactually have available to fix
this, because the thing is,anxiety Does not create new
solutions.
Anxiety creates familiarity.
Anxiety is a fear of theunknown.
So when you are fueled byanxiety, what you're going to do
(22:45):
is you're gonna double down onthings that you've already done
before and you're gonna try torecreate familiar situations,
right?
So, while I totally understandhow annoying it is for someone
to tell you that you need toslow down when you're like no,
no, no, look at my bank account,I cannot slow down.
I get that.
And also, if you keep pushingyourself, despite the fact that
(23:09):
you are like totally depletedand fried and running on empty,
you are going to be soFabulously unproductive.
I cannot even tell you like, ifyou are giving into the I need
to figure this out kind ofanxious loop, probably what's
(23:32):
gonna happen is you are going togo back to things that you've
already done before that havenot worked, and pour a whole
bunch of extra energy into them,as opposed to and this is one
of the things that I said inthis post that I put up like you
could spend the next hour doingthe same shit that you've been
doing because you don't knowwhat else to do, which is what
you're gonna do if you're likefried, or you could take a nap.
You're gonna be like fried oryou could take a nap and at
(23:56):
least have a shot of a freshidea when you wake up, because
you actually have some amount ofbrain power to figure this
thing out.
So if you are convinced thatyou cannot slow down, but the
data is showing you that thethings that you are doing are
not working, that is like atelltale sign that you really
(24:17):
need to slow down, like you needa nap.
Bad, because that is not evensolid reasoning, right, so it's
a time for creative solutions.
It's not the time to doubledown on shit.
Right now is not the time tosay, oh well, this shit was
really working in 2020.
So I'm just going to do more ofthat, or oh, but I was working
so hard in 2020 and 2020 wassuch a good year, I guess I'm
(24:39):
not working enough.
No, no, no, things are different.
We need to come at this in amore creative way, and the best
way to do that is you are goingto have to do what you need to
do to resource yourself.
You're going to have to do whatyou need to do to manage your
mental health.
You are going to have to takelike prioritizing your capacity
(25:03):
and like well-being and creativeenergy, like you're going to
have to take maintaining thatreally seriously right now.
And I think that when we, likeI was saying before, like when
we focus on what do peoplereally need to hear from me
today and how can I make, likego back and actually create a
connection with these people orreach back out to these people
or nurture this relationshipwith people and have real
(25:23):
conversations, that's going togive you some information that
can then allow you to like useyour creative energy to solve it
.
But this is not the kind ofthing that is going to be solved
by just isolating yourself andworking harder in a vacuum.
It's just not so.
A few things that I reallywould like for us to just point
(25:46):
out are really unhelpful rightnow, because we're going to see
it come up.
It always fucking comes up.
It is just so common and it'sso tired, and I just want to say
it and, like, put it out therethat like none of this stuff is
going to be helping us right nowin the situation that we're in.
So the first thing is, thebusiness development world and
(26:08):
the coaching world will tell youthat literally every problem
that you were facing is becauseof your mindset.
Why, why is it going to keeptelling you that?
Because it makes it so mucheasier to just keep selling the
same shit than it is to come upwith a new solution.
Those of us who are in thisindustry right now coaches,
(26:30):
service providers in thebusiness development industry,
social media managers, marketingprofessionals like those of us
who are in this industry we havea obligation to get way more
fucking creative, to just tellpeople that it's their headspace
.
And this is, by the way, whyfruition is happening, because a
(26:53):
few months ago, I saw thishappening and I was like, oh, I
need to stop just telling peoplehow to navigate this and come
up with some actual solutions tothis fucking problem.
But for people who don't want tocome up with new solutions and
who want to just keep sellingthe same thing, it really the
best way to do that is toconvince you that it's all
(27:13):
because of your mindset, and thething is that if you are
currently feeling this likenothing is working-ness of 2023,
you are not making it up.
This is not because of yourvibes you're not low vibe and
it's not because you're thinkingsmall.
I do think that managing yourmindset is absolutely critical
right now, but anyone who'ssaying that a mindset shift
(27:35):
alone is going to do it is goingto somehow change the situation
.
That, to me, is gaslighting,and it's probably gaslighting
for profit, to be honest, and Idon't even believe in laziness,
but the best word that I cancome up with for that is lazy.
So that's the first thing I'mgoing to say.
This is not a mindset issue asfar as I'm concerned.
(27:55):
Now, forever, right, thebusiness, the online business
world and the coaching worldhave wanted to tell us that if
we aren't making money, it'sbecause we are undercharging.
And right now, I think it'sgotten really fucking out of
hand.
I think it's gotten very out ofhand, my friends, this idea
(28:18):
that if you're not making money,you need to just raise your
prices.
It wasn't helpful before, butit's a special thing.
It wasn't helpful before, butit's especially unhelpful now.
Here's the thing Can you chargea lot, absolutely.
Are there people who will pay it?
Absolutely, 100% there are.
You can charge way more thanyou are currently telling
(28:41):
yourself.
You can charge, almostguaranteed.
Do you have to charge more foryour work than you did as an
hourly employee?
Yes, let me tell you, my friend, if you are still taking your
hourly rate for like aconsulting call and comparing it
to what you made at your dayjob and somehow think that
that's a fair comparison, it isnot, because at your day job you
(29:04):
get paid for all of your work,and in your job, where you work
for yourself, you only get paidfor what you can bill your
clients.
And what you get paid frombilling your clients has to
cover you for all of the otheractivities taking place in your
business.
In a normal business, thatwould be coming in as top line
sales and then it would bedistributed out across a whole
(29:26):
bunch of people on an hourlybasis.
That's essentially what'shappening in your business.
So you cannot compare yourhourly rate now to your hourly
rate when you are working.
A job Period Okay, and if yourideal client cannot afford your
work, you have a major problemon your hands.
I'm not saying that to freak youout or make you feel bad about
(29:49):
anything.
I'm just saying, like this ideathat you can just raise your
prices, that everyone's solutionis to just raise their prices,
not if your ideal client can'tfucking afford it.
It's not the solution.
Okay, if they can't afford it,then you need to come up with a
different solution, and that'sgoing to come down to your
business model, right?
So this is not to say that youhave to raise or lower your
(30:11):
prices.
It's not to say that you can'tsell high ticket services.
You definitely can.
It's just to say that thisfantasy that every one of us out
here in the online businessworld should be charging tens of
thousands of dollars for ourwork and just like rolling
around in a bathtub of cash,like it is so 2019 and it's also
gaslighting it just doesn't.
(30:33):
That's not the way that itworks.
You need to look at yourbusiness model and you need to
decide how you're going tocreate high ticket offers for an
ideal client who can pay forthem, which means how you're
going to get yourself in frontof and create relationships with
, those people who can pay forthem.
Right?
And affordable, accessibleoffers for ideal clients who
(30:59):
can't.
So, if you have an audience ofpeople who cannot afford high
ticket services and you need tomake an immediate sale.
My friend, charging a bunch ofmoney for a thing is not going
to do it, because you've got togo and create the relationships
with, and get in front of thepeople who can afford that
before you're going to be ableto put out that high ticket
offer right?
Now.
(31:19):
What I will say is if you havebeen doing this for a long time
and you've never sold somethinghigh ticket and you have a
relatively big audience, there'sprobably some people in your
audience who could pay for itand you just don't even know
that because you've never soldthe high ticket thing.
Right, and there's just somepeople chilling out there who
will say yes to it, but, like asan ongoing solution.
Right, you're going to need toform more of those relationships
before you can do that.
(31:39):
So if your ideal client issomebody who can pay a bunch of
money for a thing and you don'thave those people in your
audience right now, right, youneed to go and find them.
But if your ideal client issomebody who cannot afford that,
then you do.
This advice of just way raisingyour prices does not apply to
(32:02):
you.
So I'm saying this again, notbecause I want to make you feel
bad, but because if you've heardthe advice like, oh, just raise
your prices, you need to becharging more.
You're not charging enough andyou're like, wait a second, but
no one can afford that.
Sometimes that can be a mindsetthing if you're telling
yourself like there's no wayanyone would ever afford that,
(32:23):
so I'm not even going to try.
But also you might be right.
So I just want to tell you, youknow your business better than
anybody else does and like thisis it's going to be, you're
going to need to be morecreative than just raising your
prices right?
Now one of the reasons why youwill see when Fruition Growth
Network, when the doors to thisopen, you're going to see that,
(32:46):
like, my prices are pretty lowfor this.
One of the tiers, there's aprogram: Training Camp.
I used to call it Transcend YourDichotomy Training Camp.
I used to sell that programalone for $1,500.
You can now access that programfor $20 to $30 a month.
Now, Brooke from 2020 would belike hi, Brooke from 2023, what
(33:08):
the fuck are you doing?
Like let's not.
Can we not just give everythingaway?
And I get it.
And also, I'm looking around atthe people who I really wanna
help and I'm noticing, like, forthe people who I really want to
help, I need to make thingsaccessible and affordable.
And that means that it's on meto get more people.
(33:28):
I once had a business model thatwas a handful of people paying
me a good amount on a recurringbasis.
I'm maintaining some of that,but also to serve this huge
group of people who I reallywanna serve, that's gonna have
to be lots of people at a lowerprice.
You know what I mean.
So there is such a thing asovercharging.
(33:48):
This is what I'm saying, likeyou're gonna know it, because
you're not getting clients atthose rates.
And if someone wants to tellyou like, oh, that's all just
because of your mindset, itprobably actually has a lot more
to do with who you're puttingthose offers in front of and who
your ideal clients actually areand whether or not your pricing
(34:10):
actually makes sense for yourclients.
And, as a side note, this iswhy I have gotten pretty fed up
with some of the coachingprograms that I'm seeing,
because to me it just makes nosense to charge people who
aren't even making any money yetlike thousands of dollars you
know, five, $10,000 when youhaven't even made any money yet.
I'm like that pricing does notmake sense and I think that
(34:32):
we're approaching the end ofthis fantasy.
The third thing in the discoursein the online business world,
the coaching world, that Ireally wanna draw our attention
to right now being in survivalmode, where you are like looking
at your situation and you'rerealizing all right, here's
(34:52):
where we are.
There's not as much moneycoming in, or everything is more
expensive.
Groceries are twice asexpensive as they were before
Holy shit, by the way.
Or maybe you have, like youknow, new expenses that have
been added.
Like maybe your kids are likein daycare now, or something
like that, I don't know right,whatever the situation is.
(35:13):
Being in survival mode whereyou're just like I am holding
shit together right now, right,that is not the same thing as
scarcity.
Do not make yourself wrong forbeing in a very real, actually
challenging situation.
Scarcity mindset is a mindsetthat is built around the belief
that there is never enough.
(35:34):
Right, an abundance mindsetsays that there's more than
enough for all of us.
You hear people come back tothis all the time, because
scarcity is like this thing thatyou know.
Being in a scarcity mindset islike super not fucking helpful.
Ask me how I know.
And also, it's again one ofthose things that's easier to
(35:55):
blame than the actual situationthat many of us have found
ourselves in.
Right, dealing with the realityof your current situation by
adjusting your budget ordeciding not to push a
particular offer, that's adecision that can come from
either a scarcity or anabundance mindset, and it's
probably informed by a wholebunch of other realities that
(36:15):
simply just are.
They just are the reality thatyou are living in right now, and
that is fine.
You know your situation betterthan anybody else, right?
Don't make yourself wrong forjust having to make some like
real, human fucking decisionsright now.
It is really important to allowyourself to see the facts of
(36:35):
your current situation and makedecisions accordingly, and if
that means that right now is formaintenance and bare minimum
and not for going all in on somebig, huge like new thing, don't
let anyone make you wrong forthat.
So these are things that arereally present in the business
development world, in thecoaching world, and I think that
(36:57):
if we don't start to really seethem for what they are, we are
gonna find ourselvesparticipating in this little
like micro economy of the onlinebusiness development world in a
way, where we all get gaslitand then this small group of
people at the top make ashitload of money.
So I am personally reallykeeping a lookout right now for
(37:22):
who's making a shift to meet themoment that we're in and who is
continuing to teach the sameshit that worked for them in
2019.
Because those are gonna be thepeople who will use this
discourse to pull you into theirbullshit, and most of that is
gonna be stuff that doesn'treally replicate, it doesn't
meet the moment that we're inright now.
(37:43):
It's not up to date.
I'm really like I really trynot to cast like broad
generalizations about people'sintentions or whatever, but what
I will say is that people whohave had these really big
businesses for a long time andare a major influence on what we
(38:05):
have been told is the right wayto run a business, or whatever.
Those people if they are stillteaching "This is what allowed
me to grow my business to amillion dollars, and that growth
happened in like 2019, 2020,I'm really not interested,
because the fact is, thelandscape is just so different
(38:26):
that, like I don't want to learnyour outdated strategies, right
?
And so I think some of thosepeople are adjusting and saying,
okay, it's my job not just toteach what I did in 2020, it's
my job to help these people getthat result now.
So how can I shift things?
I think other people are notmaking that shift and, to get
out of not making that shift,they're explaining away why it
(38:49):
isn't working by using thesekinds of things that are going
to make you blame yourself andtell you that you're wrong.
So, finally, here's what I wantto leave you with.
Something I want you toremember, a takeaway from today.
As you hear all of this, youknow that you're not alone and
you go into your business andyou're like, okay, what do I do
now?
(39:09):
Right, because I just heard awhole bunch of reasons that
things aren't working.
Well, first of all, I mean goback and listen to, or you can
go on Instagram, too, and I havea carousel up with a breakdown
of this and it gives you kind ofthose different ways of
responding to these four thingsthat I see happening.
But the other thing is that Ireally want you to remember and
(39:29):
I said this before, I'm going toreiterate.
Anxiety does not create newideas.
Anxiety seeks familiarity.
The function of anxiety is toget you back in a situation that
feels familiar and like you canpredict the outcome.
So it's not just your mindsetright, and it's not all in your
head, and I stand by all of that.
And you cannot make businessdecisions from a place of
(39:53):
anxiety, because it will keepyou in the same patterns and the
same cycles.
It will have you doubling downon the same things that have not
worked well for you in the past.
So right now, here is the workfor all of us.
We need to figure out whatworks for us to regulate our
nervous systems, to remindourselves that we are physically
(40:15):
safe.
We need to figure out ways thatwe can get some distance from
our situation so that we cankind of interrupt this "I just
need to figure this out.
I just need to figure this out.
I just need to figure this outlike anxious kind of thought
spiral.
We've got to take some deepbreaths and manage our anxiety
before we make decisions Because, like I said before, creative
(40:38):
solutions are where it is atright now and that kind of
spiraling is only going to drainyour creative energy and lead
you back to the same kinds ofdecisions you've made before.
Right so anxiety is totallyunderstandable at a time like
this and it also isn't helpful,right so it's time for creative
(41:02):
solutions.
So I'm not saying it's easy,but I am saying that it is your
job and it is my job to manageour mental health right now so
that we can conserve creativeenergy, because that might be
the one resource that we havethe most control over right now.
And what I'm going to tell youis this: the people who are able
(41:23):
to do that right now andrespond creatively at a time
like this are going to be theones who are going to see
massive gain, and I trulybelieve that.
I think that we are in asituation right now where we've
got a choice on how we respond.
I think that it's totallyunderstandable that some people
(41:43):
are just kind of shutting thingsdown, deciding to stop doing
things because they're just notas lucrative anymore.
And I also think that for thoseof us who kind of stick this
out and can figure out how tonot get too caught up in the
anxiety but see the reality ofthe situation that we're in and
see the people who we're here toserve and get really creative
(42:06):
about how to meet those peopleand serve those people right now
, there's actually a hugeadvantage for those of us who
can manage to do that.
It's not going to be easy.
Some of us are going to have aneasier time doing it than
others, just because ofcircumstances that none of us
have any fucking control over.
And what you can control is whatyou can control.
That's all we can focus on.
(42:26):
I am personally, and I wouldadvise that you too, focus on
keeping myself out of thatanxious thought spiral as much
as possible and trying to findways to resource myself,
replenish my creative energy,get some distance from the
situation and come back tothings when I'm fresh.
On the days when you cannotmanage to do that, do the stuff
that doesn't require strategicdecision making.
(42:48):
Do the admin, the client, work,right.
Don't give into that spiral ondates when you're going to make
strategic decisions.
Keep going.
Forward momentum.
You're going to figure thingsout as you move.
Some things aren't going towork.
You're going to learn from it.
I promise you that you are.
One foot in front of the otheris sometimes all that we can
(43:09):
manage, and keep doing whatyou're doing.
Your work is important.
You're important.
I see you.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!