Art of Growth, New Economy
Last week, I sat down with my friend, colleague, and partner Brigitte Lyons. Brigitte is a PR & media strategist for micro businesses who believes in changing the face of the media today. I send every one of my clients to her for easy-to-execute tips at the least and personal service at the most.
Since Brigitte has teamed up with me to help teach the next two rounds of 10ThousandFeet, I wanted to introduce her to you a little more personally. So we sat down and had the kind of conversation (aided by some great questions from readers) we generally have over a couple glasses of wine.
It’s geeky. It’s fun. And, yes, it’s really real. You can watch the video above, or download an audio-only version below. And scroll down to catch highlights from the conversation.
Click here to download the audio-only version. (right-click then “save as”)
This is an absolutely sales-pitch-free conversation. That said, if you’re compelled to check out
10ThousandFeet, I don’t blame you.
How does storytelling contribute to our bottom lines? (2:00)
“The stories we tell create the conditions our businesses are operating in.” — @brigittelyons http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
“Storytelling in business goes well beyond marketing.” — @taragentile http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
How do you launch a new product with energy & authenticity? (6:04)
“Allow yourself to nerd out about what makes you excited about your product.” — @brigittelyons http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
Wherein I get vulnerable about telling stories about my clients (7:16)
How do you build a relationship with people when ultimately you have an agenda to sell them something? (10:00)
“Everyone wants you to express an interest in the things that they are passionate about.” — @brigittelyons http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
“Just because you have something to gain in a relationship doesn’t mean you have an agenda.” — @taragentile http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
“Trust yourself as a whole person to bring what is most valuable to every relationship.” — @taragentile http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
What are your criteria for who you bring on to your team, who will be your mentors, and who you will partner with? (19:05)
“Vibe is so important.” — @brigittelyons http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
What are the top 3 things you can do to promote a new offering? (23:29)
“Give people the opportunity to say ‘yes’ to you.” — @taragentile http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
“Your inclination is ‘how can I help this person?’ not ‘how can I get out of this?'” — @brigittelyons http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
“Don’t assume that because the sales opportunity is over, that all opportunities are over.” — @taragentile http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
“Always assume people are interested.” — @brigittelyons http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
What are our predictions for future online business trends? (32:31)
“Businesses are starting to reorganize themselves to create value instead of just making a splash on the online stage.” — @taragentile Tweet it.
“Online businesses are following the wider trend of being more intentional.” — @brigittelyons http://bit.ly/P7eOsb Tweet it.
New Economy
How many times do I need to read about the ills of capitalism? The ickiness of marketing? The yuck factor of sales?
Capitalism has been exploited for all sorts of purposes that are yucky. But capitalism itself–at its core–is a force for good. Capitalism is a source of prosperity for both the consumer and the producer.
Fundamentally, capitalism is beautiful.
In his new book, Conscious Capitalism, John Mackey describes how business is in large part responsible for much of the great strides we’ve made in the last 200 years. Despite many of the problems that rampant cronyism has created–even in the recent past and ongoing today–it’s the soul of business that keeps us moving forward as a society. You and I are not subsistence farmers under the thumb of a feudal lord. Nor are we forced to follow in the career steps of our parents or beholden to a system of guilds.
We’re self-determined.
To that end, it’s the fact that business is based on the “voluntary exchange of value” that gives business its moral footing.
Whether as a producer or as a consumer, no one is forced to do anything. While it’s true that others utilize manipulation, prey on fear, or exploit weakness, it’s still choice that reigns in business.
We live in an age of information parity, as Dan Pink writes in To Sell is Human. More than ever, consumers have choice and agency when determining what to buy.
But how do they choose?
It’s easy to believe that all your customers think about is how much less they have when they’re doing business with you. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Your customers are thinking about how much more they have.
That means the fundamental beauty of capitalism translates into a source of ease for you & your business.
Business-done-well results in two parties having more than they started with. Your customer values what you’ve delivered to her more than the money she spent on it. You value the financial gain more than the time or energy you spent delivering the product or service.
It’s a beautiful exchange. And completely voluntary. Ease-full.
“That’s great,” you say. “But how does this actually help me succeed?”
It gives you a new frame through which to view your business:
- What does my customer value more than money?
- What is she already looking for?
- What transaction would leave him feeling richer?
When you’re focused on that kind of value and communicating with your customer on her terms, you’re focused on the beauty of the exchange, the ease of the connection, the meaning of the transaction.
Art of Growth
This week, I’m sharing the stories & mini case studies of some of the alumna of 10ThousandFeet. Grab some inspiration, see how others are making their businesses thrive, and then go out and make big things happen!
Amanda Farough, Founder & Creative Director of violetminded Media
I started working with Tara in the spring of 2012, right before I found out that I was pregnant with my second child. At the time, I was overworked, underpaid, and exhausted. I knew that something needed to change but I was too stuck in my own head to see what that was.
After several sessions alternating between angst and stuck-itude… I started to make Big Changes. I started to actually utilize my team, instead of whining about having to train them. I doubled my pricing (again) while communicating the value of my work in a much more effective (and enticing) way.
Tara showed me that I didn’t have to compromise my core values in order to make serious bank; I could show up the way I’ve always shown up in business (with el-oh-vee-ee) but do it with a more discerning eye.
When Tara and I came to the end of our coaching sessions, I’ll admit that I got a bit panicky–what would I do without my heroine in shining business armour? But then she announced her mastermind group–10ThousandFeet–and I was absolutely ecstatic! Not only would I continue to glean the best bits of Tara’s knowledge (and there is a lot of it), I would be able to connect with many other like-minded small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Throughout my time at 10KFeet, the evolution of my business kept unfolding and changing at an incredible rate. What usually took me months was happening in the course of a few weeks. I was revamping systems, developing offers (and a new business), building my team, all while creating the most beautiful websites of my design career. Clarity of purpose will do that.
The clarity and depth offered in 10KFeet is something that I’ve yet to see anywhere else. Tara’s singular in her mastery of digital business and her leadership is something that I aspire to on a daily basis.
If you’re ready to make a Big Change in your business, 10KFeet will be everything that you hoped for and more. It was for me.
Amanda took what had been a solo-entrepreneur style business and created a whole new concept: the digital artisan collective. violetminded Media is now capable of serving and attracting a different type of clientele that allows Amanda to change her role–better utilizing her own strengths–while supporting the work of 10 other people (and their businesses).
While New Economy growth is often not about size or scope, it is about innovating new ways of making an impact. violetminded Media is doing just that.
Megan Eckman from StudioMME
10ThousandFeet allowed me to take a big step back (or up) from my business and realize what my customers were silently demanding and what I could create with minimal effort.
It had been staring me in the face for months. People would comment on Facebook how much they loved my embroidery patterns and I thanked them. It wasn’t until Tara helped me look at the bigger picture that I realized how much they wanted these patterns, something that only I can offer them.
Almost immediately I knew I could create an embroidery-of-the-month club which would mean one email’s worth of work for me, monthly patterns for club members, and lots of income.
It took me half an hour to write a sign-up form and share it with my fans. The launch that followed two weeks later had the greatest conversion rate ever for my business! That month my total income outstripped my December sales from the year before and I had added over 50 new people to my mailing list. This success allowed me to make the move to working fully for myself starting August 1st! I hadn’t imagined working for myself for another year but thanks to 10ThousandFeet, I am nearing that special day.
Side note from Tara: This special day terrifies me. Megan also is my behind-the-scenes, lady-in-charge for my business and Kick Start Labs.
Thanks to the successful launch of my club, and Tara’s process, I now know how to get in touch with my customers and figure out what they want before they know they want it. I’m setting up steps now to make this club grow continually. The workload for me won’t change but my revenue will grow exponentially.
Megan continues to attract commissions that are more aligned with her own passions and artistic style, including working on a project drawing nanosatellites for a NASA engineer creating a funding proposal. Check her our at StudioMME.
Art of Growth, New Economy
This week, I’m sharing case studies from participants in 10ThousandFeet. They’ll be highlighting small changes they made that resulted in big returns for their businesses.
Being a part of the 10ThousandFeet mastermind has entirely changed the way I see, approach and operate my business.
By stepping out of the day to day ‘trenches’ to take a larger and more reflective view of the type of business I really want to run, (and the life I want to go with it), I have been able to make an accumulation of small changes with big impact.
One of these changes is getting the most deeply clear I’ve ever been about the exact client I want to work with. And I’ve done those ‘ideal client’ exercises before! I learned that to really thrive in my business I need to be attracting not just who I can work with, but who I want to work with, and have the courage to turn down people who are not fully in that want space for me. Getting clear about just this one thing has seen me change my web copy, blog topics, newsletter and general approach to client attraction.
The result?
…a deep and growing waiting list of women who before we even start to work together, I know are going to bring as much inspiration to me as I hopefully will to them, and at a higher rate too, that is seeing me work less for more.
I have solid and exciting plans that are going to see Beautiful You have a larger scale impact, touching the lives of thousands more women in the next 2-5 years. My business is dramatically moving away from the ‘time-for-money’ business model that has previously made me feel trapped and over-worked.
10ThousandFeet has allowed me to soar above my business with a bigger, bolder and more beautiful approach to the business and life I want to live. The view from above feels and is amazing and I don’t plan to come back down into those trenches ever again.
Julie Parker
Life and Business Coach
Beautiful You
Art of Growth, Customer Perspective Process
At some point in starting your business, you were instructed to consider what your “target market” is. You might have thought about your right people or your ideal clients. You might have even constructed a customer avatar.
You welcome everyone who might match your target market in at the opening of your sales funnel. That could be the home page of your website, an event, or the opt-in for your email list. Then you create filters through content and offers that narrows the scope of the customers you are dealing with at the core of your business.
That’s all solid advice.
And… I think there’s a better way. Our brains don’t do generalizations well. And generalizations are exactly what you need to conceive of the wide end of your funnel in the traditional approach.
When we generalize, we miss a lot of details. Those details are often the secret to unlocking a new level of creativity and effectiveness in product development, messaging, and sales.
To boot, your customers don’t want to align with generalizations. They want to feel like what your business has created was made especially for them. While mass solutions may have had traction in the industrial era, the social era demands a new level of attention to detail and specialization.
So how do you ensure that you capture those details?
In a traditional sales funnel, the details are all at the bottom. They’re processed later. And they’re rarely designed into the business as a whole.
What if you flipped it?
What if you started with the narrow end? What if you started with a single customer, user, client?
By beginning with a real person who has real needs that your skills, talents, and passion make you uniquely equipped to serve or create for, you don’t miss the details. You see her experience, you understand her process, you discover both acute and deep needs.
Once you’ve worked the narrow end of the funnel–by the way, funnel here is just a visual, I like to think of sales cycles more than funnels–by examining several individuals, ahem, individually, you can work to attract more clients just like them. Instead of needing to weed out the not-quite-right clients, you’re actively building a business based on the perfect individuals.
Of course, there will always be people who are interested in the value you offer who aren’t “just right,” but they won’t be your concern. You’ll be focused on the multitudes who found your business because you took the time to get the details right one person at a time.
Your business will be building towards scale based on specificity and precise service instead of just casting a wider net and hoping to get lucky.
What does this mean for you today?
You and your business have a treasure trove of information at your fingertips. The work you’ve been doing with individual clients and customers translates into a wealth of insight that can lead to identifying the products that truly scale.
This is exactly the process we undergo in The Customer Perspective Process. I’m leading a virtual boot camp May 20-23. Here’s what Amanda Blake, founder of embright, had to say about the last session:
“…blows the familiar ‘ideal customer’ approach out of the water. The CPP boot camp immediately revolutionized the way I approach product development, marketing, and even writing my book. It also makes me more of the kind of business owner I want to be: friendly, empathetic, and connected.”
The Customer Perspective Process boot camp is offered through Kick Start Labs, my microbusiness community & accelerator. Click here to learn more.
