#Smallbizchat Podcast Live streaming It’s a monthly video interview show where small business owners get their questions answered.
#Smallbizchat’s focus is to end small business failure by helping participants succeed as your own boss.
Please join us live on me every third Wednesday of the month from 8-9 pm ET. SmallBizLady Facebook pageYouTube channel and live stream Twitter.
M. Shannon Hernandez is about that life and that joy. She is the founder of Joyful Business Revolution ™, a business growth strategy and work with brick and mortar or online service-based business owners. Shannon and her team specialize in exciting business growth solutions and organic marketing that help clients grow engaged audiences and community relationships, resulting in more happiness, more revenue and more time. She is especially known around the world for her Content Personality® Wheel. Shannon has appeared on CBS, ABC, FOX and NBC. She has over 25 years of award-winning curriculum design, working with both the NFL and the US Military. She is a head coach and teacher. As she teaches, she is spreading joy and funding projects that impact the world and its people. For more information: https://joyfulbusinessrevolution.com/
SmallBizLady: Why does my marketing feel so difficult?
M. Shannon Hernandez: I hear this question a lot. There are typically two things that make consistent marketing difficult.
First, your message is weak. Cloudy. inconsistent. You’re not “proven” to be successful–but you’re just publishing content and hoping for different results. It’s so frustrating and frustrating!
It is very important that your message is focused on the WHO, WHAT and WIN.
- World Health Organization: Who are you trying to reach? Whatever answer you give me, I guarantee we’ll be able to make a little phone call. This is called niching. You may have heard, the fortune is in trouble? This is absolutely true! If you’re talking to everyone, you’re not talking to anyone.
- what What is your target customer’s most pressing problem? Note: This is not their problem as you think. Or you know their problem. This is what they think is their problem. As professionals, we know that their problems are often not what they think they are.
New clients often say to my colleagues and I, “I need more clients.” That seems to be their problem. Now, we know that there are many factors that contribute to the low number of customers. First, they usually don’t have enough space. Second, customers don’t know how to communicate what they think their problem is. So, instead of speaking the customer’s language, they approach marketing by speaking what they think their ideal customers need.
- Win. What’s the fastest win you can give your new customer? They have a problem; You have a solution. Don’t cloud the waters here. Give them a win and continue to build a relationship with them! They will believe you and sing your praises!
Second, I bet you’re doing too many things like you’re in too much space. Did you know you can simplify everything by understanding your Content Personality®? This is your natural way of communicating and marketing. Your Content Personality® type will also give you a clue as to which social media platform is best for you.
SmallBizLady: How can I simplify everything in marketing so that it pays off—and I can get my life back?
M. Shannon Hernandez: We teach you a very simple 3-step process to grow your business:
- Learn how to use your Content Identity® to get your message across. This includes choosing a social media platform that matches your Content Personality® and developing deep relationships with your community.
- Make your email marketing work for you! Long-term thinking business owners know that owning their own contact data is a true measure of sustainability, and that means making growing your email list part of your quarterly plan.
- Use your blog to publish long-form content that provides insight and demonstrates your expertise. Your blog is a huge part of your SEO and business success.
SmallBizLady: What is mission-driven marketing—and why is it more important in business now than ever?
M. Shannon Hernandez: Mission-driven marketing relies on creative campaigns, which help you grow an engaged audience and build deeper community relationships. We define targeted audiences as prospects who align with your message and want to be a part of your community! Most of the time you like what you stand for And You have a problem to solve.
This type of marketing is rare – and it can help you stand out. As you design creative, multimedia campaigns, experiences, and events, these touchpoints allow your community to go deeper with you on what’s important to your mission and your work in the world.
These multi-week campaigns help build and deepen lasting relationships, capturing the hearts and minds of your community and your mission and what you stand for. Creative, mission-driven campaigns re-engage your list/community, often shorten the buying cycle, and center causes that are important to you and your mission.
Financial planning for small business owners
Curtis May has been a financial planner for over 35 years. He is the creator and owner of Practical Wealth Advisors (PWA) and host of the Practical Wealth Show podcast. His financial planning firm’s primary focus is helping individuals and families around the world become financially independent following age-old principles of wealth creation. While long-term planning is important, he believes that everyone has current financial needs. His unique program helps clients find money they didn’t know they were missing and apply it to a wealth-building strategy that meets their long-term goals and current lifestyle needs. Curtis teaches people that their number one financial asset is their knowledge. The more they know, the less risk they take and the more likely they are to succeed over time. For more information: https://www.practicalwealthsolutions.net/
SmallBizLady: Why is traditional financial planning advice not good for small business owners?
Curtis May: Traditional financial planning advice teaches you to send money away from your business and the things you know, own and control. Risking money in hopes that the stock market will go up.
SmallBizLady: What is the best retirement plan for small businesses?
Curtis May: I don’t like any of them. All are government based schemes. We don’t teach people to retire. We want them to be free of money. Financial independence is the option of not being able to work because you have a secure income from business assets or assets that match your income. So it’s a different focus than knowing whether to put money into a SEP, IRA, or solo 401k. All that bad financial planning is for regular people, not business owners.
SmallBizLady: Why is liquidity key for small business owners?
Curtis May: You need access to capital to invest in your number one property. And your number one asset is your business. If you put $1 into your business and your business earns $2, that’s a 100% return. Therefore, I advise my clients to maintain liquidity so that they can use and control their capital. If you have the ability to buy or build cash-flow assets, you will always strive to protect your business. Covid proved this, my business owners were very cash strapped, and they must have more money both personally and business-wise than they think they should. So we teach people to have 6 to 12 months of fluid.
High-touch sales in a high-tech world
Phil Gerbyshak is a sales expert, keynote speaker and author with over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing roles. Throughout his career, Phil has worked with a variety of companies including BNP Paribas, BambooHR, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Strong Investments, Robert W. Bard and many others. Phil has a deep understanding of sales strategies and techniques, working in sales as a sales consultant and sales coach to achieve adoption and higher online income. High touch selling focuses on building strong relationships with customers and providing personalized service, understanding the importance of technology in modern selling. For more information: www.philgerbyshak.com
SmallBizlady: Isn’t high-touch selling in a high-tech world contradictory? Shouldn’t you be one or the other?
Phil Gerbyshak: is not. They are actually compliments. Use technology to create high touch and deep meaning.
SmallBizlady: Don’t I need to send 100s of messages a day, post a ton to social media every day, and send an email newsletter every day?
Phil Gerbyshak: Not at all. It’s about quality over quantity. By laser-focusing on who you can best serve and what problems you solve, and why they want or want to work with you — and why they don’t — you can focus your communications on those people who buy from you and the most. It can be purchased from you.
SmallBizlady: You coach and teach service on sales. How can you make money in today’s high-tech world?
Phil Gerbyshak: If you’re not a person of any use, you’re not going to make any sales. You have to show and be of value to the people you want to serve every day, and then make an offer. Even if all you do is send out coupons and ask people to buy something, you still have to educate or entertain. View all App Sumo emails. They are all about buying low cost software. But their emails are interesting. They are participating. They are educational. And they sell. You can do it too, you just don’t have to do it every day.
Did you find these interviews helpful? Please tell me how they helped and then share them.
Want to be a guest on #Smallbizchat Live?
If you’re a small business owner, author, or subject matter expert, we’d love to have you as a guest on #Smallbizchat LIVE. Enter your name, title, Twitter handle, bio, website, title, and 3 questions and answers in paragraph form to demonstrate your knowledge. To be a guest of your material on #Smallbizchat Click here.
