November 3, 2024 • 30 mins
What if you could transform your marketing strategy with the power of storytelling and achieve a 42% higher return on sales? We're thrilled to welcome Shannon Hernandez, an inspiring entrepreneur who transitioned from teaching eighth-grade students in Spanish Harlem to founding Joyful Business Revolution, a thriving marketing consultancy. Shannon shares her journey and reveals her secrets to mastery in mission-driven email marketing, emphasizing the importance of owning your communication channels. Discover how authentic human connections in business can be preserved and enhanced through compelling, story-driven emails that surpass the fleeting impact of social media.
Throughout our conversation, Shannon and I dive into the creation of cohesive email marketing strategies, the art of mapping out a year of promotions, and using storytelling as a tool for engagement and conversion. We also explore the unique concept of affordable mastermind retreats in stunning locales like Mexico, Italy, and Fiji, blending business growth with the joy of travel. Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just starting out, Shannon's insights on leveraging personal strengths and maintaining a balance between professional success and personal fulfillment are invaluable. Tune in to learn how the Content Personality Club can help you harness your natural abilities and elevate your marketing game.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, welcome back.
This is Julie Baranek, host ofthe 7 Figure Builder Show, and
I'm here today with my friend,shannon Hernandez.
Hey, shannon, hello, so nice tosee you you as well and I'm so
excited to have you here today.
Shannon, you are all about joyand life and your business.
I know you are the expert inthe content personality wheel,
(00:21):
which I can't wait to dig in andhear more about, and the
founder of Joyful BusinessRevolution, a business growth
strategy and consulting company.
You work with people all aroundthe world with your
mission-driven marketing andcreative email marketing
campaigns, which newsflashemail's not dead, so we're going
to talk about that too.
(00:41):
You've been featured on CBS,abc, fox, nbc.
25 years experience so muchthat you bring to the table.
But tell us a little bit aboutwhat it is behind your passion
and what brought you to whereyou are today.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Oh my gosh, what a loaded question.
Well, my whole passion in lifethere's two teaching and joy.
Like being a great trainer andteacher and helping spread joy,
and that's really been mymission for years and years.
Um, I used to be a teacher.
(01:16):
I taught eighth grade inSpanish Harlem, new York city,
and, um, it was never a dullmoment in Spanish Harlem, as you
can imagine.
But the thing that I realizedafter I left teaching and I
started this business, I reallyleft teaching.
(01:38):
I didn't even bring teachingover to the business until
probably year four, when Irealized there was such a void
missing and in really what I'mput on this earth to do, and so
I transformed this company intoa marketing, training and
consultancy company.
And now I'm back in my full joybecause I get to teach in many
(02:02):
communities every month,including my own.
So that's kind of like a funbridge from the past to now.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, no, I love that and it's funny.
I started as a nurse and thentransitioned over and it's funny
how that kind of that teachingtraining piece I did a lot of it
with my patients and it'ssomething you miss and then it
comes out in the business world.
So I love when those dotsconnect.
So that's really cool.
Yeah, so tell us a bit aboutthe world of email.
(02:31):
I know a lot of people, like Ialluded to feel like email is
dead.
But I know it's not, you knowit's not.
But tell us you know what youfound.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah.
Well, one of the reasons I loveworking with business owners on
their email strategy is becausewe really teach story-driven,
mission-driven emails, whichy'all.
It is not hard to stand outwith a competition in your
inboxes if you do it a differentway, right.
(03:03):
And so, just naturally, beingthat story-driven, that mission
driven business owner and CEO,if we can get you or your team
telling those kinds of storiesand emails, people are going to
be begging for your emails andthen for your services.
That's like one of the reasonsthat that I really love it.
(03:26):
It's yeah, if we do it likeeveryone else does, it not gonna
, you know, move the needle.
But, as we like to say here atjoyful business revolution,
different is better, yeah, sowe're always helping people with
messaging and storytelling howto be that compelling human
being, because, at the end ofthe day, humans buy from humans.
It doesn't matter what kind ofbusiness that you're in, but
(03:47):
especially in the consulting and, you know, expert based space,
that is more true than ever.
So email has a 42% higher returnon sales than social media and
when you really think about thatand I want everyone to think
(04:09):
about that, right, you can spendyour time and energy coming up
with reels and clips andwhatever happens all on social.
It goes away very fast, right,and it's still time, energy and
money spent whether you'repaying for ads or you're doing
it yourself versus writing avery genuine, well crafted email
(04:31):
once a week, and I like toreally give people a barometer
to kind of go from.
It's like it's 60% of yoursales calls and your sales are
not coming from email.
There's improvement to do.
Right, if we can get it closerto 90, I'm even happier.
But one of the things that thatI really want to tell people,
(04:51):
because email is not dead.
When you see email is dead, Iwant you to follow that
breadcrumb trail because whatthey're usually doing is selling
you like a flash in the panInstagram strategy something
crazy.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
You know, yeah, and you know it's funny, this is
very timely for me.
I was, on a random note, mowingmy lawn I think it was
yesterday and I was literallydriving.
Like that's my mindless timewhen I just have to do circles.
I like solve the world problems.
I write, write like mymarketing plans, like I just
(05:27):
think right, and I love it.
And my husband laughs at mebecause you know, I just have
this big grin as I'm writing onmy lawnmower.
But funny enough, and I'm notmaking this up, I was literally
thinking about my emailcampaigns and I was thinking
through my head as I'm writingaround the yard, what are the
email campaigns that have fromother people that have stood out
to me and why do they stand outto me?
(05:50):
And I was kind of combingthrough them in my head and what
I came to was they were thestorytelling ones, right, which
we all know is critical.
But I was literally, you know,piecing this together in my head
of how to incorporate that intomy marketing.
And, yeah, as I'm riding aroundon my lawnmower, I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I love that so much and I agree, sometimes it's that
very thing of unplugging andjust letting your mind go where
you get your best reflections,insight and ideas.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, totally.
And the other piece with thatis which I know you know, but
important for people to rememberis when you're using email,
you're using a something thatyou own right, like with social
media.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that and why it's so
important?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I do want to talk about that.
We continue to get people justlike people listening to this
podcast established businessowners who, for one reason or
another, either they're moreheavily on social or they've
always been on social Nowthey're starting to think about
email.
I have no judgment where youare in the process, but the
(06:59):
people coming to us within thelast year their accounts are
just getting taken down likeright and left and many of them
they're not even violatinganything right but invisible
algorithm Absolutely.
And the, the platforms now havebots doing the review and you
can never get ahold of anyone.
(07:20):
And it's really sad that youknow they built a six or seven
figure business on the power ofsocial but they don't have those
contacts in their email and sonow they're essentially having
to start completely over fromscratch.
And that for me like I am aseven figure business owner,
done it all organic, have neverpaid for ads, rely heavily on my
(07:44):
email to do the marketing so Ican go live the life I want to
live off of social.
That alone for me, knowing thatif my social media account
disappeared I would still have aseven figure business, it
should be enough for anyonelistening to the show to be like
(08:07):
putting on the brakes.
Let me go see if this emailmarketing is actually working
for me, and I don't say that tolike make people worried or
scared, but it's the truth, likewe have seen so many people,
they've lost their LinkedIn,they've lost their Instagram,
they've lost their Facebook andI feel bad for them when they
come and they haven't put thetime and energy into the one
(08:27):
thing they can own, which is thecontacts on their email list.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah, I mean, how quickly do we see people?
Their account gets hacked andthey lose overnight all of their
access, everything they'vebuilt?
You know you could havethousands upon thousands of
contacts in your Facebook or any.
You know social media, andyou've literally got nothing the
next day.
So I agree with you a hundredpercent and ultimately the goal
(08:50):
of social media, if you're usingthat, should be to feed your
email, absolutely.
The list is where you need tobe putting the energy.
However, you're driving peopleto it, Yep.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
We could talk about this for three weeks to it.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yep, oh my gosh, we could talk about this for three
weeks.
I love it.
The other thing I just want tosay um, and I think this is
really important.
I mean, we've all watched overthe last few years some of the
biggest coaching names burnoutum, closed doors, um, no
judgment on whatever went wenton in their world, um, however,
it is not uncommon that I amtaking 19 and 20 days off at a
(09:30):
time to do things that reallymatter to me.
I've got, I'm getting ready tohike 80 miles of Camino across
Spain, and I can do that becauseI can write and my VA can
preload the emails while I'mgone and they're still doing the
work.
(09:50):
And then I don't have to putthis journey on social media.
I might, if I choose to I don'tknow yet Right but I don't have
to worry about the marketingand the sales while I'm gone,
and to me, that is awell-balanced, mindful business.
You can be present Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Imagine that, yeah, oh no, I love that and you're
absolutely right and to yourpoint.
You can cue them up and you canbe wherever the heck you want
to be and it's working on yourbehalf, which I totally geek out
in automation.
So that's like my sweet spot.
So I love that Absolutely.
So I want to dive a little bitinto the how in the creating of
(10:36):
the storytelling emails or thestrategy that you have.
Like, a lot of us have blockersof what do I talk about?
There's everything fromSeinfeld emails that you should
come up with to every topicunder the sun.
So what would you recommend forpeople with that?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, well, I think the very first thing is for
everyone to think that at leasthow I read emails, so I'm on
people's emails, right.
What I do is I sit down on aSaturday or Sunday and I pick up
my phone while I have my coffeeand.
I go to like Julie's emails andI type in her name and I read up
(11:16):
from the order they came inOkay, it tells a story of what's
happening, right, whether ornot you do it that way or not,
that's how I want you to thinkabout building emails that build
the story over time.
And I think what generallyhappens is people are like, oh,
I got to send an email and theysit down and they rush one out
(11:39):
and we can feel that on theother side it's not story driven
, right.
And so the very first thing wereally help our clients do is to
think through like the wholeyear of what promotions are
happening, when are thosehappening, and then chunking out
(11:59):
themes for campaigns, foremails, and that way it's all
tied together.
Your campaign themes match theheart and soul of the offer or
the event or the retreat orwhatever it is that you're
offering, and it's just seamless, but it tells that story.
There's like a through line,through it, all Right.
(12:19):
So that would be the very firstthing that I would say.
The second thing would be to Imean, this can go so deep, julie
, but like we have a resourcethat's that's super fun that I
can actually give the link tohere, but it's a 65 story ideas
(12:41):
for your email and it'sliterally like 65 things.
You can close your eyes andpick one and you can relate it
to anything going on, but it'sbased in a story and sometimes
that's what we need is theprompt to like get the creative
juices flowing.
It's very different to pick aprompt than it is to like stare
at your blank Google doc andthink about what the heck you're
(13:02):
going to say, right?
So that's a really goodresource.
And then the other thing I'd sayis every month, in our content
personality club which we'lltalk about the content
personality in a moment we arehelping people with the
messaging frameworks that makeemail work and convert Right.
(13:22):
So there is a big difference,and anyone who's reached six or
seven figures will know this.
There is a difference between astory email and a story email
that is messaged for conversion,and there's not a huge
difference, but the positioningof what you're saying and how
you're saying it is important.
(13:44):
And so every month, we'rehelping our business owners with
the frameworks and they'replugging in the content so they
have the frameworks forconversion.
And I think all of these thingsare important because you can't
just expect to get a downloadof 65 story ideas if you don't
understand the psychology ofmessaging of what's going to
(14:05):
make the conversion.
And then the bigger picture isyou haven't thought about where
does this fit in to your overallstrategy for, like, the year of
driving sales and revenue right?
These are the things I lovegeeking out and talking to
people about at six and sevenfigures, because we have to
think differently to getdifferent results at this stage,
and so it's more of a cohesivecampaign and a story that's
(14:30):
ongoing than a one-off email.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
And then there's somethingdriving it and also somewhere
you're driving people to hate,rather than just an interruption
in the middle of my day.
Yeah, and I know you've got aton of things going on, but tell
us a bit about the contentpersonality club, and I know
you've got some other mastermindthings going on.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah Well, the content personality club is our
email marketing and mentorshipmessaging mentorship program.
The content personality wasborn about eight years ago.
Actually, it's been our numberone lead magnet for four years.
Tens of thousands of peoplehave determined what's their
natural way to market theirbusiness, and it does a lot for
(15:17):
anyone who takes the quiz,because we're all bombarded with
these messages.
You should have a podcast, youneed to do video, got to do
reels Well, where's your blog?
Or using LinkedIn newsletters Imean, it could go on and on,
right.
And so if you're not sure whereyour natural strength is, then
you could be pulled into allthese directions.
(15:39):
And so, with an eight questionquiz, people can find out what
is their strength that converts,and that's the difference.
Right, it's the strength or theenergy you bring to that
particular type of marketingthat converts to offers and
clients and new business.
A great, you know there's fivecontent personalities live in
(16:00):
person, audio visual, video andwritten and I always love to
tell the story.
I'm an author.
I can write till the cows comehome.
People love my writing, but mywriting is not what converts to
clients, because I'm a live inperson content personality,
right, so I use writing onsocial to get them to my email
(16:22):
list.
I use written in email to tella great story, but where do I
sell?
In a training, because that iswhere my energy converts.
And so if people don't knowwhat their dominant content
personality is, that would bethe first place to start,
because you could be spending alot of time on, let's say, an
audio version or a podcast,which is great for maybe getting
(16:47):
people to your list.
But if you don't convert viaaudio, we have to switch your
marketing to the conversionpiece, right, and so, anyway,
that's called the contentpersonality wheel and that's the
work we do in the contentpersonality club.
Awesome, um, the retreats, whichare interesting.
I'm glad you asked about this.
(17:07):
I had an experience, um, in maythat really upset me, and I
went to Austin.
I went to an event, and whathappened at this event?
First of all, there was apromise to the event, which we
all know.
If we run events, you shouldhave a promise to your event of
what people are going to walkaway with, right?
(17:28):
The promise was never fulfilled, it was never stated again
after the first five minutes andthe event, for all intents and
purposes, was a shit show ofpeople being paraded across the
stage in 10 minute increments,giving you quote unquote
strategy not going to fly withme.
Right, there was no strategy.
(17:51):
It was more like little firehoses of content coming at you
for three days.
I later learned these peoplewere chosen because they had
paid 50 K to be in a mastermindand they were all there to
promote each other.
I was that one similar, yeah,yes, this happens a lot right,
(18:12):
Because more than you think yeahA lot and you're like why am I
here?
Yeah, exactly, it was likedisjointed.
Anyway, I came home and Ithought about that for a long
time, julie, and this is whereme, equal, and equal to you and
(18:48):
whoever else comes we're equal,we're business owners, we're
equal.
We're in it together.
You're an expert at what you do.
I'm an expert at what I do.
Why aren't we getting togetherfor a week in Mexico and doing a
culinary vacation with amastermind retreat Like this,
was the question that kept goingthrough my head.
Yeah, and it was a beautifulquestion that has now turned
(19:10):
into a culinary mastermind inMexico, september 2025, a yoga
in Italy retreat mastermindretreat in May of 2026.
I'm getting ready to put Fijimastermind retreat and sign the
contract for fall of 2026.
(19:33):
Wow, and I'm excited, andthey're selling, and so this
tells me a couple things.
People do want to get togetherwith other smart people and grow
their business, and we don'thave to pay $50,000 to do that.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Right.
So this was the fire for me.
I'm glad I went to that eventbecause it was the fire that
propelled this next iterationforward.
And we're really calling inpeople who are already experts.
They're kind, they know thatall we need is a few other key
people who can send us referralsthat they if we just knew what
(20:11):
each other did and we understandit better.
And they want to travel, and tome that's like building a
business in joy for me.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
I love that, I love that Absolutely.
And you get to all growtogether and help each other
succeed and bring joy to boththe experience and to each other
.
So I think that's amazing.
And you know, out of painpoints is usually where
something really beautifulhappens, right?
So it is good that you went tothat event and were totally
(20:40):
disgusted and said this can bedone a better way.
Yeah, absolutely, I love that.
And also back to your contentwheel, which I think is really
powerful.
It's funny.
I I struggle a lot to write.
You know, like I sit down atthe paper like a lot of people
and I'm like okay, now what?
Right, like you need somethingto spark that juice.
And what I found is, personally, what has worked well for me is
(21:05):
, again, when I'm in thosemindless points like driving is
my key one that I do much betterwith audio, go figure, right.
But if I have a topic,especially like taking emails,
for example and you might thinkthis is awful, so I'm open to
your thoughts, but I will justverbalize it into a transcriber,
so I don't have to type it, ofcourse, but then I can take that
(21:26):
and then tweak it, but it's myvoice and my authentic thoughts
and it's been really helpful forme, especially when I have
those brain blocks, that I canjust speak something and have
the words and then I can workwith that.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, no, I think it's brilliant and you're.
You are like the perfectexample of nine years ago of
somebody I had a conversationwith and she called me on the
phone and she said because wedidn't have Zoom back.
Then she said will you help mewrite a book or get an outline
for a business book?
I'm like, why?
And she's like well, I signedup for this program and now
(22:09):
we're in month nine and we'reliterally being flown to
California and getting locked inour room for three days and I
got to come out with amanuscript.
I'm like do you even want towrite a book?
And she started stopping no, Idon't want to write a book, this
is torture.
And I'm like all right, Icouldn't sleep that night.
I hung up that phone and Icouldn't sleep that night.
(22:29):
That was the night that contentpersonality wheel was born.
And I called her up two dayslater and I said to her I
developed a tool and I want youto be the first person to test
it.
And she came back as audio andthat made so much sense to me of
why she was dreading this book.
(22:51):
She wanted a book, but sittingdown to write the book was just
not going to be her avenue ofwriting the book.
Yeah, so I told her, will youplease take your phone and start
dictating your book?
And she had wanted a book,julie, for like seven years.
In six months she had a book.
And so that's the power ofunderstanding where your natural
(23:15):
strength lies.
And so I'm glad, clearly you'reprobably an audio person right
and you are using your tools todictate it, to make it less
painful we call that joy-fueledmarketing and to get your
message out to the world.
So I say, keep it up.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Awesome, yeah, and I think it's critical to your
content wheel of what are yourstrengths, because I didn't know
for the longest time that likebefore I had a podcast.
I'm like never in a millionyears and growing up my parents
laugh because I didn't talk,like I was a podcast.
I'm like never in a millionyears and growing up my parents
laughed because I didn't talk,like I was very quiet, I was
very, you know, just very quietgrowing up, and so now I don't
(23:52):
shut up.
Once you find those strengthsand you can unlock them, you can
impact a lot of people's livesthat way.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah.
So I'm curious you'veaccomplished a ton in your
business and personally,professionally, but how do you
define success?
What does that look like foryou?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Spaciousness on my calendar.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It doesn't mean nothing, it's not a common
answer, but it's my answer andit's how I determine the year we
grew to to a million dollarbrand.
I had 197 days off that year.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So it's always like can I top it?
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Right, there you go.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
It's a fun puzzle, but also to me.
Um, I'm naturally an introvert.
I can't have a lot of input allthe time.
Like doing zoom meetings backto back, like forget it, like is
just not my definition of joy.
For some people that would beand that's okay.
But when I started thinkingabout the success of my business
(24:59):
or how I define success, intohow much spaciousness I have in
my calendar, because I like todo things like go to the Camino
for 20 days and and hike acrossSpain or go take an art workshop
for a week, um, naturally whathappened is I would plot all the
time off first.
The work will get done or it'sjust not that important, like
(25:23):
that's, that's it Right.
So you know, I don't wantanyone to think like I'm not
working over here, but when youplot your spaciousness in your
calendar first, if that's avalue, you will figure out the
rest of the stuff If you don'tbreak your own boundaries.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, no, I love that , I absolutely love that.
And I think often we plan thespaciousness and then we fill it
in Absolutely.
So what do you?
What do you?
I mean, it sounds like you havetrips and all that, but what do
you recommend for that?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, well, I think it's just first you have to.
I treat my spaciousness as itsown client.
That's what had to happen,right?
So this afternoon, for example,I'm out of the office at two
and I am going.
It's in my calendar and it saystwo to nine.
(26:15):
I'm taking a special art classthis evening, awesome.
So it's in there and I'm going.
I'm going to honor it.
But I had to learn to treat mytime off as its own client and
not just like a nice have forShannon.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Right, yeah, I love that, and I'm curious if you had
the attention of the wholeworld for five minutes, what
would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Just five minutes.
I could probably do this infive seconds.
Find your strength in marketing.
Use it in your email marketing.
You will have joy and morerevenue in your business than
you ever knew what to do with.
Quit flying all over doing allthe things and having shiny
(27:02):
squirrel syndrome.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Do less.
Easier said than done.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Yeah, I know no, and it's a good reminder.
We all need that reminder.
And do more with less right, Doless things Awesome.
But where can people find youafter your art class?
Where can they find you online?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yes, joyfulbusinessrevolutioncom.
If you want to take the quiz,you can go to
joyfulbusinessrevolutioncom.
If you want to take the quiz,you can go to
joyfulbusinessrevolutioncombackslash quiz.
And if you want to pick up the65 story prompts, it's
joyfulbusinessrevolutioncombackslash 65 ideas.
(27:43):
I think I'm going to look it upright now.
All right, cool.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
We'll include the link below so everybody can come
check it out.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, 65 story ideas.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Okay, got it Perfect, awesome, Well, thank you, yeah,
definitely, definitely checkout those links and we'll have
them below for everybody, and Iappreciate you being on, shannon
.
This has been amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah, absolutely, and if you found value in this
episode, please do share it.
That's how people find us, andyou can find me at
sevenfigurebuildercom and I willsee you on the next episode.
Well, welcome back.
This is Julie Baranek, host ofthe 7 Figure Builder Show, and
I'm here today with my friend,shannon Hernandez.
Hey, shannon, hello, so nice tosee you you as well and I'm so
excited to have you here today.
Shannon, you are all about joyand life and your business.
I know you are the expert inthe content personality wheel,
(00:21):
which I can't wait to dig in andhear more about, and the
founder of Joyful BusinessRevolution, a business growth
strategy and consulting company.
You work with people all aroundthe world with your
mission-driven marketing andcreative email marketing
campaigns, which newsflashemail's not dead, so we're going
to talk about that too.
(00:41):
You've been featured on CBS,abc, fox, nbc.
25 years experience so muchthat you bring to the table.
But tell us a little bit aboutwhat it is behind your passion
and what brought you to whereyou are today.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Oh my gosh, what a loaded question.
Well, my whole passion in lifethere's two teaching and joy.
Like being a great trainer andteacher and helping spread joy,
and that's really been mymission for years and years.
Um, I used to be a teacher.
(01:16):
I taught eighth grade inSpanish Harlem, new York city,
and, um, it was never a dullmoment in Spanish Harlem, as you
can imagine.
But the thing that I realizedafter I left teaching and I
started this business, I reallyleft teaching.
(01:38):
I didn't even bring teachingover to the business until
probably year four, when Irealized there was such a void
missing and in really what I'mput on this earth to do, and so
I transformed this company intoa marketing, training and
consultancy company.
And now I'm back in my full joybecause I get to teach in many
(02:02):
communities every month,including my own.
So that's kind of like a funbridge from the past to now.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, no, I love that and it's funny.
I started as a nurse and thentransitioned over and it's funny
how that kind of that teachingtraining piece I did a lot of it
with my patients and it'ssomething you miss and then it
comes out in the business world.
So I love when those dotsconnect.
So that's really cool.
Yeah, so tell us a bit aboutthe world of email.
(02:31):
I know a lot of people, like Ialluded to feel like email is
dead.
But I know it's not, you knowit's not.
But tell us you know what youfound.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah.
Well, one of the reasons I loveworking with business owners on
their email strategy is becausewe really teach story-driven,
mission-driven emails, whichy'all.
It is not hard to stand outwith a competition in your
inboxes if you do it a differentway, right.
(03:03):
And so, just naturally, beingthat story-driven, that mission
driven business owner and CEO,if we can get you or your team
telling those kinds of storiesand emails, people are going to
be begging for your emails andthen for your services.
That's like one of the reasonsthat that I really love it.
(03:26):
It's yeah, if we do it likeeveryone else does, it not gonna
, you know, move the needle.
But, as we like to say here atjoyful business revolution,
different is better, yeah, sowe're always helping people with
messaging and storytelling howto be that compelling human
being, because, at the end ofthe day, humans buy from humans.
It doesn't matter what kind ofbusiness that you're in, but
(03:47):
especially in the consulting and, you know, expert based space,
that is more true than ever.
So email has a 42% higher returnon sales than social media and
when you really think about thatand I want everyone to think
(04:09):
about that, right, you can spendyour time and energy coming up
with reels and clips andwhatever happens all on social.
It goes away very fast, right,and it's still time, energy and
money spent whether you'repaying for ads or you're doing
it yourself versus writing avery genuine, well crafted email
(04:31):
once a week, and I like toreally give people a barometer
to kind of go from.
It's like it's 60% of yoursales calls and your sales are
not coming from email.
There's improvement to do.
Right, if we can get it closerto 90, I'm even happier.
But one of the things that thatI really want to tell people,
(04:51):
because email is not dead.
When you see email is dead, Iwant you to follow that
breadcrumb trail because whatthey're usually doing is selling
you like a flash in the panInstagram strategy something
crazy.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
You know, yeah, and you know it's funny, this is
very timely for me.
I was, on a random note, mowingmy lawn I think it was
yesterday and I was literallydriving.
Like that's my mindless timewhen I just have to do circles.
I like solve the world problems.
I write, write like mymarketing plans, like I just
(05:27):
think right, and I love it.
And my husband laughs at mebecause you know, I just have
this big grin as I'm writing onmy lawnmower.
But funny enough, and I'm notmaking this up, I was literally
thinking about my emailcampaigns and I was thinking
through my head as I'm writingaround the yard, what are the
email campaigns that have fromother people that have stood out
to me and why do they stand outto me?
(05:50):
And I was kind of combingthrough them in my head and what
I came to was they were thestorytelling ones, right, which
we all know is critical.
But I was literally, you know,piecing this together in my head
of how to incorporate that intomy marketing.
And, yeah, as I'm riding aroundon my lawnmower, I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I love that so much and I agree, sometimes it's that
very thing of unplugging andjust letting your mind go where
you get your best reflections,insight and ideas.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, totally.
And the other piece with thatis which I know you know, but
important for people to rememberis when you're using email,
you're using a something thatyou own right, like with social
media.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that and why it's so
important?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I do want to talk about that.
We continue to get people justlike people listening to this
podcast established businessowners who, for one reason or
another, either they're moreheavily on social or they've
always been on social Nowthey're starting to think about
email.
I have no judgment where youare in the process, but the
(06:59):
people coming to us within thelast year their accounts are
just getting taken down likeright and left and many of them
they're not even violatinganything right but invisible
algorithm Absolutely.
And the, the platforms now havebots doing the review and you
can never get ahold of anyone.
(07:20):
And it's really sad that youknow they built a six or seven
figure business on the power ofsocial but they don't have those
contacts in their email and sonow they're essentially having
to start completely over fromscratch.
And that for me like I am aseven figure business owner,
done it all organic, have neverpaid for ads, rely heavily on my
(07:44):
email to do the marketing so Ican go live the life I want to
live off of social.
That alone for me, knowing thatif my social media account
disappeared I would still have aseven figure business, it
should be enough for anyonelistening to the show to be like
(08:07):
putting on the brakes.
Let me go see if this emailmarketing is actually working
for me, and I don't say that tolike make people worried or
scared, but it's the truth, likewe have seen so many people,
they've lost their LinkedIn,they've lost their Instagram,
they've lost their Facebook andI feel bad for them when they
come and they haven't put thetime and energy into the one
(08:27):
thing they can own, which is thecontacts on their email list.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah, I mean, how quickly do we see people?
Their account gets hacked andthey lose overnight all of their
access, everything they'vebuilt?
You know you could havethousands upon thousands of
contacts in your Facebook or any.
You know social media, andyou've literally got nothing the
next day.
So I agree with you a hundredpercent and ultimately the goal
(08:50):
of social media, if you're usingthat, should be to feed your
email, absolutely.
The list is where you need tobe putting the energy.
However, you're driving peopleto it, Yep.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
We could talk about this for three weeks to it.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yep, oh my gosh, we could talk about this for three
weeks.
I love it.
The other thing I just want tosay um, and I think this is
really important.
I mean, we've all watched overthe last few years some of the
biggest coaching names burnoutum, closed doors, um, no
judgment on whatever went wenton in their world, um, however,
it is not uncommon that I amtaking 19 and 20 days off at a
(09:30):
time to do things that reallymatter to me.
I've got, I'm getting ready tohike 80 miles of Camino across
Spain, and I can do that becauseI can write and my VA can
preload the emails while I'mgone and they're still doing the
work.
(09:50):
And then I don't have to putthis journey on social media.
I might, if I choose to I don'tknow yet Right but I don't have
to worry about the marketingand the sales while I'm gone,
and to me, that is awell-balanced, mindful business.
You can be present Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Imagine that, yeah, oh no, I love that and you're
absolutely right and to yourpoint.
You can cue them up and you canbe wherever the heck you want
to be and it's working on yourbehalf, which I totally geek out
in automation.
So that's like my sweet spot.
So I love that Absolutely.
So I want to dive a little bitinto the how in the creating of
(10:36):
the storytelling emails or thestrategy that you have.
Like, a lot of us have blockersof what do I talk about?
There's everything fromSeinfeld emails that you should
come up with to every topicunder the sun.
So what would you recommend forpeople with that?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, well, I think the very first thing is for
everyone to think that at leasthow I read emails, so I'm on
people's emails, right.
What I do is I sit down on aSaturday or Sunday and I pick up
my phone while I have my coffeeand.
I go to like Julie's emails andI type in her name and I read up
(11:16):
from the order they came inOkay, it tells a story of what's
happening, right, whether ornot you do it that way or not,
that's how I want you to thinkabout building emails that build
the story over time.
And I think what generallyhappens is people are like, oh,
I got to send an email and theysit down and they rush one out
(11:39):
and we can feel that on theother side it's not story driven
, right.
And so the very first thing wereally help our clients do is to
think through like the wholeyear of what promotions are
happening, when are thosehappening, and then chunking out
(11:59):
themes for campaigns, foremails, and that way it's all
tied together.
Your campaign themes match theheart and soul of the offer or
the event or the retreat orwhatever it is that you're
offering, and it's just seamless, but it tells that story.
There's like a through line,through it, all Right.
(12:19):
So that would be the very firstthing that I would say.
The second thing would be to Imean, this can go so deep, julie
, but like we have a resourcethat's that's super fun that I
can actually give the link tohere, but it's a 65 story ideas
(12:41):
for your email and it'sliterally like 65 things.
You can close your eyes andpick one and you can relate it
to anything going on, but it'sbased in a story and sometimes
that's what we need is theprompt to like get the creative
juices flowing.
It's very different to pick aprompt than it is to like stare
at your blank Google doc andthink about what the heck you're
(13:02):
going to say, right?
So that's a really goodresource.
And then the other thing I'd sayis every month, in our content
personality club which we'lltalk about the content
personality in a moment we arehelping people with the
messaging frameworks that makeemail work and convert Right.
(13:22):
So there is a big difference,and anyone who's reached six or
seven figures will know this.
There is a difference between astory email and a story email
that is messaged for conversion,and there's not a huge
difference, but the positioningof what you're saying and how
you're saying it is important.
(13:44):
And so every month, we'rehelping our business owners with
the frameworks and they'replugging in the content so they
have the frameworks forconversion.
And I think all of these thingsare important because you can't
just expect to get a downloadof 65 story ideas if you don't
understand the psychology ofmessaging of what's going to
(14:05):
make the conversion.
And then the bigger picture isyou haven't thought about where
does this fit in to your overallstrategy for, like, the year of
driving sales and revenue right?
These are the things I lovegeeking out and talking to
people about at six and sevenfigures, because we have to
think differently to getdifferent results at this stage,
and so it's more of a cohesivecampaign and a story that's
(14:30):
ongoing than a one-off email.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
And then there's somethingdriving it and also somewhere
you're driving people to hate,rather than just an interruption
in the middle of my day.
Yeah, and I know you've got aton of things going on, but tell
us a bit about the contentpersonality club, and I know
you've got some other mastermindthings going on.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah Well, the content personality club is our
email marketing and mentorshipmessaging mentorship program.
The content personality wasborn about eight years ago.
Actually, it's been our numberone lead magnet for four years.
Tens of thousands of peoplehave determined what's their
natural way to market theirbusiness, and it does a lot for
(15:17):
anyone who takes the quiz,because we're all bombarded with
these messages.
You should have a podcast, youneed to do video, got to do
reels Well, where's your blog?
Or using LinkedIn newsletters Imean, it could go on and on,
right.
And so if you're not sure whereyour natural strength is, then
you could be pulled into allthese directions.
(15:39):
And so, with an eight questionquiz, people can find out what
is their strength that converts,and that's the difference.
Right, it's the strength or theenergy you bring to that
particular type of marketingthat converts to offers and
clients and new business.
A great, you know there's fivecontent personalities live in
(16:00):
person, audio visual, video andwritten and I always love to
tell the story.
I'm an author.
I can write till the cows comehome.
People love my writing, but mywriting is not what converts to
clients, because I'm a live inperson content personality,
right, so I use writing onsocial to get them to my email
(16:22):
list.
I use written in email to tella great story, but where do I
sell?
In a training, because that iswhere my energy converts.
And so if people don't knowwhat their dominant content
personality is, that would bethe first place to start,
because you could be spending alot of time on, let's say, an
audio version or a podcast,which is great for maybe getting
(16:47):
people to your list.
But if you don't convert viaaudio, we have to switch your
marketing to the conversionpiece, right, and so, anyway,
that's called the contentpersonality wheel and that's the
work we do in the contentpersonality club.
Awesome, um, the retreats, whichare interesting.
I'm glad you asked about this.
(17:07):
I had an experience, um, in maythat really upset me, and I
went to Austin.
I went to an event, and whathappened at this event?
First of all, there was apromise to the event, which we
all know.
If we run events, you shouldhave a promise to your event of
what people are going to walkaway with, right?
(17:28):
The promise was never fulfilled, it was never stated again
after the first five minutes andthe event, for all intents and
purposes, was a shit show ofpeople being paraded across the
stage in 10 minute increments,giving you quote unquote
strategy not going to fly withme.
Right, there was no strategy.
(17:51):
It was more like little firehoses of content coming at you
for three days.
I later learned these peoplewere chosen because they had
paid 50 K to be in a mastermindand they were all there to
promote each other.
I was that one similar, yeah,yes, this happens a lot right,
(18:12):
Because more than you think yeahA lot and you're like why am I
here?
Yeah, exactly, it was likedisjointed.
Anyway, I came home and Ithought about that for a long
time, julie, and this is whereme, equal, and equal to you and
(18:48):
whoever else comes we're equal,we're business owners, we're
equal.
We're in it together.
You're an expert at what you do.
I'm an expert at what I do.
Why aren't we getting togetherfor a week in Mexico and doing a
culinary vacation with amastermind retreat Like this,
was the question that kept goingthrough my head.
Yeah, and it was a beautifulquestion that has now turned
(19:10):
into a culinary mastermind inMexico, september 2025, a yoga
in Italy retreat mastermindretreat in May of 2026.
I'm getting ready to put Fijimastermind retreat and sign the
contract for fall of 2026.
(19:33):
Wow, and I'm excited, andthey're selling, and so this
tells me a couple things.
People do want to get togetherwith other smart people and grow
their business, and we don'thave to pay $50,000 to do that.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Right.
So this was the fire for me.
I'm glad I went to that eventbecause it was the fire that
propelled this next iterationforward.
And we're really calling inpeople who are already experts.
They're kind, they know thatall we need is a few other key
people who can send us referralsthat they if we just knew what
(20:11):
each other did and we understandit better.
And they want to travel, and tome that's like building a
business in joy for me.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
I love that, I love that Absolutely.
And you get to all growtogether and help each other
succeed and bring joy to boththe experience and to each other
.
So I think that's amazing.
And you know, out of painpoints is usually where
something really beautifulhappens, right?
So it is good that you went tothat event and were totally
(20:40):
disgusted and said this can bedone a better way.
Yeah, absolutely, I love that.
And also back to your contentwheel, which I think is really
powerful.
It's funny.
I I struggle a lot to write.
You know, like I sit down atthe paper like a lot of people
and I'm like okay, now what?
Right, like you need somethingto spark that juice.
And what I found is, personally, what has worked well for me is
(21:05):
, again, when I'm in thosemindless points like driving is
my key one that I do much betterwith audio, go figure, right.
But if I have a topic,especially like taking emails,
for example and you might thinkthis is awful, so I'm open to
your thoughts, but I will justverbalize it into a transcriber,
so I don't have to type it, ofcourse, but then I can take that
(21:26):
and then tweak it, but it's myvoice and my authentic thoughts
and it's been really helpful forme, especially when I have
those brain blocks, that I canjust speak something and have
the words and then I can workwith that.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, no, I think it's brilliant and you're.
You are like the perfectexample of nine years ago of
somebody I had a conversationwith and she called me on the
phone and she said because wedidn't have Zoom back.
Then she said will you help mewrite a book or get an outline
for a business book?
I'm like, why?
And she's like well, I signedup for this program and now
(22:09):
we're in month nine and we'reliterally being flown to
California and getting locked inour room for three days and I
got to come out with amanuscript.
I'm like do you even want towrite a book?
And she started stopping no, Idon't want to write a book, this
is torture.
And I'm like all right, Icouldn't sleep that night.
I hung up that phone and Icouldn't sleep that night.
(22:29):
That was the night that contentpersonality wheel was born.
And I called her up two dayslater and I said to her I
developed a tool and I want youto be the first person to test
it.
And she came back as audio andthat made so much sense to me of
why she was dreading this book.
(22:51):
She wanted a book, but sittingdown to write the book was just
not going to be her avenue ofwriting the book.
Yeah, so I told her, will youplease take your phone and start
dictating your book?
And she had wanted a book,julie, for like seven years.
In six months she had a book.
And so that's the power ofunderstanding where your natural
(23:15):
strength lies.
And so I'm glad, clearly you'reprobably an audio person right
and you are using your tools todictate it, to make it less
painful we call that joy-fueledmarketing and to get your
message out to the world.
So I say, keep it up.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Awesome, yeah, and I think it's critical to your
content wheel of what are yourstrengths, because I didn't know
for the longest time that likebefore I had a podcast.
I'm like never in a millionyears and growing up my parents
laugh because I didn't talk,like I was a podcast.
I'm like never in a millionyears and growing up my parents
laughed because I didn't talk,like I was very quiet, I was
very, you know, just very quietgrowing up, and so now I don't
(23:52):
shut up.
Once you find those strengthsand you can unlock them, you can
impact a lot of people's livesthat way.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah.
So I'm curious you'veaccomplished a ton in your
business and personally,professionally, but how do you
define success?
What does that look like foryou?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Spaciousness on my calendar.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It doesn't mean nothing, it's not a common
answer, but it's my answer andit's how I determine the year we
grew to to a million dollarbrand.
I had 197 days off that year.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So it's always like can I top it?
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Right, there you go.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
It's a fun puzzle, but also to me.
Um, I'm naturally an introvert.
I can't have a lot of input allthe time.
Like doing zoom meetings backto back, like forget it, like is
just not my definition of joy.
For some people that would beand that's okay.
But when I started thinkingabout the success of my business
(24:59):
or how I define success, intohow much spaciousness I have in
my calendar, because I like todo things like go to the Camino
for 20 days and and hike acrossSpain or go take an art workshop
for a week, um, naturally whathappened is I would plot all the
time off first.
The work will get done or it'sjust not that important, like
(25:23):
that's, that's it Right.
So you know, I don't wantanyone to think like I'm not
working over here, but when youplot your spaciousness in your
calendar first, if that's avalue, you will figure out the
rest of the stuff If you don'tbreak your own boundaries.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, no, I love that , I absolutely love that.
And I think often we plan thespaciousness and then we fill it
in Absolutely.
So what do you?
What do you?
I mean, it sounds like you havetrips and all that, but what do
you recommend for that?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, well, I think it's just first you have to.
I treat my spaciousness as itsown client.
That's what had to happen,right?
So this afternoon, for example,I'm out of the office at two
and I am going.
It's in my calendar and it saystwo to nine.
(26:15):
I'm taking a special art classthis evening, awesome.
So it's in there and I'm going.
I'm going to honor it.
But I had to learn to treat mytime off as its own client and
not just like a nice have forShannon.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Right, yeah, I love that, and I'm curious if you had
the attention of the wholeworld for five minutes, what
would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Just five minutes.
I could probably do this infive seconds.
Find your strength in marketing.
Use it in your email marketing.
You will have joy and morerevenue in your business than
you ever knew what to do with.
Quit flying all over doing allthe things and having shiny
(27:02):
squirrel syndrome.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Do less.
Easier said than done.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Yeah, I know no, and it's a good reminder.
We all need that reminder.
And do more with less right, Doless things Awesome.
But where can people find youafter your art class?
Where can they find you online?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yes, joyfulbusinessrevolutioncom.
If you want to take the quiz,you can go to
joyfulbusinessrevolutioncom.
If you want to take the quiz,you can go to
joyfulbusinessrevolutioncombackslash quiz.
And if you want to pick up the65 story prompts, it's
joyfulbusinessrevolutioncombackslash 65 ideas.
(27:43):
I think I'm going to look it upright now.
All right, cool.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
We'll include the link below so everybody can come
check it out.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, 65 story ideas.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Okay, got it Perfect, awesome, Well, thank you, yeah,
definitely, definitely checkout those links and we'll have
them below for everybody, and Iappreciate you being on, shannon
.
This has been amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah, absolutely, and if you found value in this
episode, please do share it.
That's how people find us, andyou can find me at
sevenfigurebuildercom and I willsee you on the next episode.
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