Podcasts about so heather

In today's episode the Dominique gives her review of Beautaniq's Blush Serum and fills us in on a fashion blog she discovered called "So Heather". Plus, the ladies take a look at some of the newest celebrity gossip that has been making the rounds. All that and more in today's episode of the Beauty Pop Podcast.Check out our Instagram page to see the products we discuss during the podcast.Instagram: @BeautyPopPodYou can email the podcast at: BeautyPopPod@gmail.comTwitter: @BeautyPopPodVictoria's Twitter: @OnAirVictoriaVictoria's Instagram: @OnAirVictoriaTheme music by Laddie KeelanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s the middle of April and that means this year we have had 16 Mondays and 16 Fridays. We have wrapped up winter and rolled into Spring. Heather has covered 657 miles, and has 1,363 to go.So Heather has a question for Chryssy: "What are you doing New Year’s Eve???"This episode is about checking in for a moment to see if 2021 is going the way you want it to. Are you steering the ship or just along for the ride? Are you living in a way that will have you feeling satisfied on the last day of it? It is never too late to start, so get going!And while we're on the subject, Heather is curious to know if Chryssy has a bucket list. We talk about what is in our buckets, share listener feedback, and speculate on whether their friend Alan can make Heather's bucket list wish come true.And what about your "rhymes with bucket" list? In the Grab Bag we talk about what we and our listeners are OVER worrying about!Sources:https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/life-leisure/2017/aarp-travel-bucket-lists.doi.10.26419%252Fres.00151.001.pdfhttps://www.provisionliving.com/news/survey-reveals-whats-americas-bucket-list See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The gals are excited to read about a reference to Tallahassee in David Sedaris' book, Calypso, which we will be discussing in mid-February. Se get reading! And speaking of upcoming episodes, send your questions about staying fit after 40, because Heather will soon host a show about the research study on that subject she has recently been a test rat for. In a GOALS update, Chryssy and Heather both want to make sure that any challenge they take on is an opportunity to learn about themselves and "level up." So Heather was curious to know about the sugar cravings she has noticed during Dry January. You can read the article they discuss here: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-cutting-alcohol-makes-you-crave-sugary-food-2018-2And in the Grab Bag, Heather wonders... speaking of going overboard with things, what makes a TV show binge-worthy? And, how can we make our lives binge-worthy? How can we make our habits - and the pursuit of our goals - binge-worthy? https://comicyears.com/tv-shows/what-makes-tv-shows-binge-worthy/#:~:text=It%20became%20known%20as%20binge,consume%20it%20all%20at%20onceUntil next time... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

So Heather and Chrysanthemum Cliff recorded an episode in September and then...forgot to post it. But we found it, dusted it off and now November is TWICE as merry!Holiday Ring Doorbell FaceplatesChristmas Pop SocketsChristmas Masks

Heather Dimitt-Fletcher with Kolibri Associates has been with the nonprofit world for a really long time. She recently broke out on her own to consult with nonprofits and support them in all aspects of developing and growing their organizations. A few months ago, I asked some groups on Facebook about good ideas for online fundraising events, and Heather replied immediately with, "Events are not a marketing plan." and I thought, "Well, of course not!" After hearing the same sentiment again and again from nonprofit consultants, I felt like maybe, just maybe, some nonprofits do think events are their marketing & development plan. So Heather is going to debunk this myth for us and give us her take on why we need a marketing plan to back up our events and fundraising efforts! Interview Outline & Takeaways Events have a time and purpose, but they shouldn’t be your only source of development and marketing. Events are very time intensive for staff and volunteers - they cost $35-50 for every $1 you raise, and that doesn’t always include the staff and volunteer time. Annual campaigns are often $35 or less and major gifts or capital campaigns can be even less. Events are a great public facing piece — they may need to be part of your marketing plan, but they can’t be the only way your org is seen by the public. All your plans should intercoordinate. Others ways to raise money are: Grant writing Contract for services Annual campaigns Letter writing campaigns (end and mid year) research is showing a good time to sent out letters may actually be April or May right after people send out their taxes Capitol campaigns Major gifts Choosing the right one for you depends on many factors: If you’re a good writer Who your board is connected with How well your marketing is working Your board, volunteers and other people in your community are all advocates and part of your marketing and will help you meet people who are willing to make an investment in your organization You need to determine which events are for fundraising and which are there for marketing. Marketing events are more like “Friend raising events” and they’re all about communicating with people. 5Ks are often an example of this type events, some make good money but some don’t. The difference between a fundraising plan and development plan: Your development plan outlines where your funding will come from. It has a strategy for how you’ll do it and who will do it.

*Disclaimer: This episode was recorded before Covid-19 took hold of the world, so we just ask for your grace if you find any comments insensitive given the current climate.*This week we were asked by Heather Hoffman to chat about ourselves. So Heather and others in our community came up with some questions and we threw some curveball ones in for good measure! So along with our daily podcast at the moment, you are sure to learn more about us than you might care to know ;-)In this episode we share;● What inspires us;● Our favourite podcasts we love to listen to;● Who we follow on Social Media;● What books we read;● What our guilty pleasures are;● And so so so so much more...We hope from this conversation we all learn something and puts a smile on your face!Things mentioned in this episode and other helpful links:● Too Peas in a Podcast● The Squiz Podcast● Chat 10 look 3 Podcast● A Podcast of Ones Own● With All Due Respect Podcast● Typology Podcast● Slow Your Home Podcast● Mamia Out Loud● Better than Yesterday● ABC Conversations● Casefile Podcast● The West Wing Weekly Podcast● Outlander● Brene Brown● The Enneagram● Suits● The Good Place● Vera● Midsomers's Murders● The Block● Surviver●

Learn More About The Content Discussed...No Boss Talk: https://nobosstalk.comThe Camp Elevate Facebook Group: hereBeth's Instagram: @bethholdengravesBeth's website: https://www.bethholdengraves.comProfit HER Way Course: https://www.bethholdengraves.com/profitKeynotes discussed:I'm going to share with you, so a lot of ways that it's influenced my business. Just thinking something's not working, jumping from thing to thing, when actually right before us is our success. (03:02)Let's not beat ourselves up for what didn't happen in 2019,and let's look with gratitude and with love with what did happen in 2019. (06:48)He said to me once, and this really hit me, it's never enough, and that my friends is one of the most painful memories that I have. (14:21)How do you keep that in your life and then decide if that's important to you? (19:11)You are going to grow a five year plan. You are ultimately responsible for that success. (27:18)When Did It Air...December 09, 2019Episode Transcript...Beth:Welcome to ‘You’re Not the Boss of Me’. If you are determined to break glass ceilings and build it your way, this show is for you. I’m your host Beth Graves and I am obsessed with helping you to not just dream it, but make the plan, connect the dots and create what you crave. Are you ready? Let’s get started.Hey, Hey, Hey and welcome back to ‘You’re Not the Boss of Me’. You guys. We are just around the corner with this episode from Christmas, from the holiday season, the hustle and bustle of December, and also from the massive amounts of marketing that show you about the brand new weight loss program, the mastermind, the newest and greatest marketing techniques. So today I'm going to share with you, before we get to the end of this episode, some of my takeaways and some of the best advice that I've received from people that have made over $1 million in their online or network marketing business, about the shiny object syndrome, the persistence and sticking with something just long enough to have success. I know that you may have fallen prey, like many of you, I still go to the grocery store. I love grocery shopping. It's something that I love. I love to go in the produce section.I'm not a great cook, many of you know that, and I love to go to the grocery store. So one of the pieces, when I look at my schedule and before the end of the year, we're going to be talking, make sure you tune in next week because this is our focus about your 24 hour plan. About your 12 month plan, choosing words and themes and all of those good things for how you can have a focus and an emphasis for the coming year in 2020, how we reflect on 2019. We're going to be doing a lot of that on the podcast over the next few weeks, but also over in camp elevate. So before we kick off the podcast today, if I haven't met you yet, my name is Beth Graves. I had this idea while standing at the gym, what if I started having this podcast because I love having conversations with women?I love it. The interaction that comes from these conversations I've met over the last, I think we launched this podcast, I'm going to say six weeks ago. And I can't even tell you how grateful I am for you, our loyal listeners, for the shares. Because of your share, I've had women reach out to me and just tell me about a shift, a shift that they've had in their life. And so I'm going to have a little share contest with you all today if you're listening, and I would love for you to share this with someone that's on your mind, who comes to mind that you know who really wants to have success in their business, is tired of juggling, of having the sacrifice of, of not being totally present in their marriage with their children or they're missing out on the girls' night because they think they've got to hustle and grind, or they're just feeling an unsupportive circle. And let them know, I thought of you today and I want to send this your way. I want to share with you a review, because one of the things that, and this is where this podcast is going today, we're going to talk about the shiny object syndrome and picking up the women's world magazine at the counter, and how that influences your business.And I'm going to share with you a lot of ways that it's influenced my business. Just thinking something's not working, jumping from thing to thing, when actually right before us is our success. And you have it right now, right before you, even if 2019 didn't have the numbers that you thought you would see in your business, or maybe it did, you have with you at this minute the answer to how things are going to shift for you in 2020. And sometimes it's just leaning into yourself, trusting yourself, putting on your blinders. But there are a couple of things that I'm going to point out that I hope can help you today. So a big, big piece of staying on the train for whatever you're doing, okay? We know and we hear it all the time. You're only as great as those five people that you surround yourself with.So in today's episode, I want you to think about an area of your life in 2019 that may have not gone to what you expected. Was it? I'm going to be in the best shape of my life. Was it? I'm going to hit blah bidy, blah bidy rank, and make multiple six figures. Was it? I'm finally going to launch that coaching business, or maybe grow a Facebook community, or maybe you had thought I'm going to go out and provide service or tithe more, or maybe it was growing your marriage. As you reflect on 2019 I encourage you to not beat yourself up. I do this a lot in the fitness category, in my health category. To say, Oh gosh, look, it's so and so, look what she did in 2019. Well, honestly, I'm going to look at 2019 for my health and say I'm in the best health of my life.Well, maybe not the best health of my life. I don't know. I can't compare. I don't have the metrics, but I'm going to say, what have I done for my health and I'm going to list those things. Had the mammogram, I've gone to my wellness visits, I've cut out for the most part, refined sugar. For the most part, I've cut out diet soda. I stayed with my nutritional supplement routine every single day and have a healthy gut. So instead as you look at 2019, and we're going to talk about shiny object syndrome and how we get off track, and we're going to do more of this next episode. And we're also doing a ton of this over at Camp Elevate, which is our free Facebook community, of taking a look at your business, what you're doing for pleasure, for the things that just give you joy, what you're doing with your family and each member of your family, the relationships, what we're doing for our health, and what we're doing for our spiritual and for like our, our brain and our spiritual, our how we raise our vibration and how we take care of that?Just like we do our physical health. So when you look at those areas in 2019 instead of being like, Oh my gosh, I suck, totally suck. My business sucks. I didn't do anything right. It gave up. I can't even watch these people that are having success. No, no, no, not allowed. You are not allowed to beat yourself up. You need to say, how does love look? So let's just cut out all the crap of the goals that we didn't meet, because I do it to myself too. And just ask yourself this question. How does love look in this situation? You my friend, are listening to this podcast today, that means that you are engaged in making yourself better. That you thought, I'm gonna listen to this chick and I'm gonna see if today I can walk away with some ideas. So let's make a pact with ourselves.Let's not beat ourselves up for what didn't happen in 2019, and let's look with gratitude and with love with what did happen in 2019. Because we don't know if we hadn't done maybe the three or four things, what could have happened, which may have be an outcome that was much less desired than the outcome that you have. So I want to share with you something, one of the biggest pieces of life, right, of success. Making sure that you are not engaging, that you're making a pact with yourself. So we know people give up too early. People don't do the 1%. We know those things. And we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about how we quit before we're ready to have success. Because when we just process that, when we just think about it in a little bit different way, with a little bit different angle, you're going to start to notice, okay, this fits me.So I want you to really today, think about who's in your circle. We hear it all the time. If you surround yourself with people that have a high vibration, that have high energy, I have friends that have higher vibration and are totally freaking amazing humans, but every time I'm with them I feel like I totally suck. So here's an example of something I used to do. You guys think about this, about times of your life. I have times of my life when I was fit enough to put on a bikini and walk across down the beach, and really have low percentage of body fat look great. I did the work okay? It did the work, this was years ago and I still didn't have the ability to love myself enough because I wasn't working on the other parts, which were the visualization, the self love, the breathing exercises, the ways that we stop negative self talk.Can you guys relate to this? So one of the things that I would do, this is a little tiny thing, is I have a friend, and many of you may know her. If you're listening, and her name is Heather. I was a young mom and I met Heather and I would go to Heather's house and Heather always, it always smelled beautiful. She's got this beautiful ability to put a stack of books on a shelf and make it just look like, I don't know, that Martha Stewart had been to her house yesterday. If you want to follow her on Instagram, it's @HW Interiors. When Heather was looking at shifting, when their life was shifting, and her husband was in a career transition from polo, she decided to take what she loved and turn it into a career. And I'm going to share about that.But the point of this part of the story is, whenever I was around Heather, I felt, and still do, I feel empowered. I feel a walk away. She's engaged, she looks at you. She's never uses negative words. She's not that bitching person that's like, did you see this? Did you see that? She just always has kind and nice and good things to say. And she always is. She's just has this beautiful spiritual foundation. And I always used to laugh and say I'm going to, I have to become friends with her, because I got to find something that's wrong. And I found that Heather, no matter what her circumstance, she never was out of gratitude for it. So when Heather was, when they were having a career transition in their family, as many of us have done, getting the tuition for school paid for, it was really, really important because one of the cool things about where our kids went to school was, if you have a parent that drives the bus, it was half tuition. And she said to me, I was just starting in Network Marketing and she didn't understand the vision that I had, and knowing what I could do with it because you know, she had watched me start a million businesses that basically were like two time wonders, right?Because I quit too early. I didn't invest in the circle of people that would give me success. I didn't stay the plan. I didn't do the daily work and I didn't have the mindset to keep myself in check when I started to have doubts, but this time was different. She didn't know that. She was just like, Hey, you know what? Grab a bus position. Well, I run over gas tanks pulling campers, so there's like no way I could drive a bus. And most people that went from a pretty cushy life and then driving the bus for their kids would turn that into a like, Oh my gosh, can you believe I have to take my CDL? Can you believe I have to drive this bus? Can you believe this? Oh my gosh, this totally sucks. Nope, not Heather. She even drove the bus with grace, and with optimism.She puts some essential oils on the seats on the cold Florida mornings. There might be a little blanket. She made her bus the best freaking bus in the world because every child that got on that bus, she said to me this, she said, I have the opportunity in 15 minutes, 20 minutes in 30 minutes to be that voice that helps them to go out and do great things. And how cool it that I have the opportunity to have half tuition. She's now a very, very successful interior designer. Her book is sold out. It is hard to even get a consult with her. And she had started that business back when she was doing the bus, but that was what she needed to do to get off the ground. She even does Network Marketing as a small piece of residual income each month, because she loves the product and she loves saying this.Not everybody who has an interior design vision wants to start that big business. But I can suggest this product, I can suggest the business to people and support them in their entrepreneurial journey. So my point with Heather is this, I used to go to Heather's house and I would be like, Oh my gosh, it's amazing. She of course has this beautiful ability, beautiful ability to make the surrounding, and she also has like no clutter. She loves clean. And then I would walk back in my house, this is back when the kids were little and I would be a total witch. I would walk in and the laundry room, it would be a mess. There would be, we lived on a farm like you know, some dust on the floor. Not like we didn't have a, you know, a farm house. When I say there's dirt on the floor from the farm, we'd walk in and out. And I would walk in and I would be critical because, we were spending money on horses and going to horse shows, and living in an RV in the summers, and like really a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful life that we had grown around.Something that we loved, and I was living out of gratitude at the time. I've had this conversation with my husband where I have apologized because I was so into that moment of, I'd walk in and let the little things get under my skin, like the laundry on the floor. Shifting that in 2020, and shifting that, what shifted in my life was not comparing to Heather's house, it was perfect, but taking notes and saying, how do I want my environment to be? How can I make small changes? So this happens. But walking in and saying, Oh my gosh, isn't it incredibly amazing that my husband threw in a load of laundry, just because he didn't do it the way I wanted him to do it, that the clean laundry was on the floor? Or isn't this an incredible and beautiful existence that I have on this farm?And he said to me once, and this really hit me, it's never enough, and that my friends is one of the most painful memories that I have. I get teary eyed thinking of it because how in the world did I allow myself to finally get the things, things that most people are praying for? And you have those in your life right now. You do. I promise you you do. How did I allow myself to stop seeing the blessings of the small things? Because the little complaints, the little ways that we compare, the moments that you walk in and you snap, of course a lot of things can be going on of course, but when those thoughts become negative, your vibration, your energy, just being with you doesn't feel great. And how is that affecting the one that you've chosen to marry or your partner or your children?So I ask you this, who's getting the best view and how are you showing up? So when I would surround myself with Heather, I looked and when I started to evolve I decided, and this is the thing, you can't just grab a book and say, and this is about consistency, but it's also again about the 1%, it's about being able to have a consistent way that when you find yourself going on that spiral, how do you get yourself back in check? How do you say stop? And I say that out loud. When I find myself having, I walk in my garage, you guys my garage in 2020 I'm putting it out there. It's going to be, there's going to be a workout area. It is going to feel like, and I'm telling you guys, Heather had, when I met her, her garage, I still see the vision she had...like this woman, I want you to go over there and follow her on Instagram.I don't think she's listening to this podcast yet. So, Hey Heather! This podcast was not going to be a story of Heather, but it's turning into it and I'm loving it. So Heather had this tree in her garage, for you young moms, I've got to get Heather to put up a picture. I'll put up a picture on Facebook. She took spray styrofoam, it was up against the wall. And in Florida we don't have basements. So some people turn their garages into playrooms for their kids because they need that space. And that's what she had done. And anyway, sprays styrofoam and there were like silk little leaves and things that you could touch that would, that would make little noises. I mean, talk about comparisonitis. I'm this new mom in South Florida meeting new friends, and she's 10 years younger than me. So I was like, I had my babies a little bit later.And because you know, that was my blessing, was I had all this time instead of looking at the journey of, there's a lot that happened for me to have, especially Donnie, that's another episode. But instead of thinking about that blessing. So you know, I'm like, here I am in South Florida, she's 29 I'm 39 I have this one year old baby and I'm, this is a side note you guys, you'll laugh. I went to a kickboxing class, I had just had a baby and I'm there with someone 10 years younger than me. And here we go, comparing ourselves to others. How about Hey, I met kickboxing and I have this, this great new friend. I'm not going to compare the fact that I'm wearing like five sports bras and I am completely like not perky kickboxing girl. So anyway, I digress. So when you are making this decision, it's the small things that are going to allow that vision to happen.And we know how this works. So first of all, this story of Heather started with, surround yourself with people that uplift you and inspire you. But if you start to feel that every time I'm with them, I walk away and I can't stop myself from thinking I'm not enough. It's okay to either work on some mindset, work on some shifts, or during that season to maybe not spend time because it's not a healthy thing for you. Or, have that conversation. Like I could've said to Heather, every time I walk into my house X, Y, and Z. Well, you know what, Heather had routines and rituals in place that we're very structured about how that house was. She had invested in extra help. She does a thing where like she buys some, I'm sure, she buys something new, something goes out. And one time I said to her, and here's the thing Heather, I'm like overwhelmed with my closet and as a good friend would, she and Lisa came over in the beginning of their business.They had extra days and yep, call in the troops so they knew how to organize and clean a closet, edit, make me get rid of the Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. And we laughed so hard. That is still one of my favorite days of those friend memories. So surround yourself with people, and if they have a super talent that you don't have and you're looking to make a shift, ask for help. All right, ask for help. How do you do that? How do you keep that in your life and then decide if that's important to you. Decide, I'm going to adopt a routine and ritual in my life and I'm going to stick with it for longer than two minutes. So most of us have the shiny object syndrome when it comes to a successful business idea. Even in Network Marketing business, an online business, we think, okay, I'm going to do all these things.I'm going to launch this and then it's going to be amazing. And when I don't have success, I'm going to blame the actual diet or the actual business plan or the actual strategy. So how does this connect to what my house looked like and felt like when I would walk in? Well, I didn't know at that time. I didn't understand. I was always a pretty high vibe person and I always used running and exercise as a way to get my head in the right place. I understood the idea of needing to be on the tennis court, but I didn't have the full picture of how important it was for me to not have negative self talk, not be in a state of gratitude for longterm. How that affects a relationship and affected when I would say things like, in that moment of, nothing seems to ever satisfy you or make you happy, and that was a total reflection of me not doing the work consistently.Yeah, and you look back and I think when was I the best? When I consistently practiced Yoga, when my friend Maryanne, you guys, if you're in Camp Elevate, you heard about Maryanne and the Lululemon's story. That was a really fun story. She got me going to Yoga and I didn't realize I did that for three and a half years before Yoga, it was just Vinyasa Yoga, was just taking off. But my mindset and my gratitude and all of those pieces were in place because I had that practice and I didn't know yet. I was evolving as an entrepreneur, evolving and what I like to call a, you know, a present mindful human. I didn't understand that, that practice, that consistency when I left it, because we came to Florida and I couldn't find a studio, and I didn't stick with it. I jumped into something new, I jumped over to CrossFit.I didn't stick with it long enough. So finding those practices that you can commit to in 2020 that you say, I am not just a one time wonder. I watched this happen all the time in Network Marketing. Someone will come into a business and the leave, and for some people it's not a fit, but they'll leave and they'll say, well it didn't work. But the people that stay with a business over time, and maybe their race, or their their climb, or their focus. It wasn't like mine was, which I had massive amounts of action very early in my business because I really, really had vision for hitting that topper and give the company multiple six figures in the seven figure Mark. But what about those people that over five years consistently show up to the business and have two to three conversations a day and consistently show up once a week to learn more about how to grow their business?But they make that commitment. They show up, they show up, they show up, they show up. How about this? Have any of you started a gratitude journal and then you do it for three or four days? You put it aside because you say, I'm still feeling like I'm in a negative spiral. It's not working. I listened to that podcast with Danelle, it's Networking. It's because you haven't gone far enough. You haven't created the habits and the rituals yet. I do it all the time. So how about those people that you run into and you see them and they've had this miraculous physical transformation and you've lost and gained? You know, like I'm saying you, because every time I say you it relates to me as well, the same 12 and a half pounds, or you're still at the same point, but you've tried 16 different things and you're sitting there and I'm going to talk about seeing, you know, I'm at the grocery store, I see the women's world magazine.I still will buy a magazine. I'm still tempted. And the number one Keto tip for women that helped Tina lose 341 pounds without surgery. So do you go from saying, I'm going to give up eating sugar for 92 days, like sugary treats? I'm going to replace that with Greek yogurt and I'm going to perhaps stop eating after seven, and up my water and move my body 30 minutes and committing to that for let's say 222 days? Or I've done this. You go, Oh my gosh. Well, if Tina lost her 341 pounds, I'm gonna spend $2 and 25 cents for this magazine that literally I could Google everything in it, and I'm going to jump ship, I'm going to do this. And then we do it for a few days and we get, it doesn't work because it's too restrictive. So, off we go to something new. So let's do this for 2020 let's decide that we're going to commit.All right, so just do the thing. Why does Weight Watchers work for some people? Why does Keto work for some people? Because those are the people that show up that decide that it's not just a two week plan. So being successful in business, most people will say it's a five year plan. Many of you have told me I started a podcast and they didn't have the downloads. Well, you didn't stay with it long enough. I'm not going to be, well, I can. Let's do it. Download today. Share this out. Remember we're having a share chain with this podcast. I have vision. I can have this podcast look like Rise, right? With Rachel Hollis. So, but it's a five year plan and then sticking to it, and I'm talking. So here are the things that need to happen is decide that you're persistent. I'm persistent, I stay with things.But before we know what we have to stay with, you got to know what we want. What's the plan? So as you go into 2020 and as you look at 2019 for me, it's so clear when I am at a high level of connection with my husband, with my kids, with my friends, I'd have to work on that. I have to not complain when I walk in the door. I have to look and say, what a beautiful life we've built. You know what? I'm going to have my garage. I have this vision for it. It's never going to be perfect. But what a beautiful thing that I've got that I'm going to be able to put a Peloton in my garage. I'm not getting the Peloton until I have the garage ready. That's like my reward. So have a plan that says this could take time.And that's okay because the journey is a beautiful piece. So every time you're taking a step, think about, gosh, I went for, you know, go for a run. How about if I had continued with that Yoga practice? I continued to say, you know what? I'm going to continue to do this Yoga practice to practice over time. I would now be in my Yoga mode for 19 years, and I think about, I wish I had, but then I'm like, okay, so how do I move forward with that? I want to have flexibility. I want to have that time. I love Shavasana. I love how I feel. I love the connection. So 2020 how does that look? It might not be seven days a week, an hour and a half in Yasa it might be, but if I want that instead of looking back with regret, I think about what could have happened if for 19 years I had continued that practice.So we have to really take an assessment and look, and that comes through journaling and I'm telling you, it's about love. It's about grace. Because instead of saying, Oh, I suck. I didn't keep with that Yoga practice. I could be so flexible, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm going to talk about, look at all of the things that when I didn't, my dog is snoring in the background. You guys, hello Yogi. Look at all of the things that I was able to do during that time. I made room for tennis in my life and the women that I've met in tennis, I've got to say, okay, I made room for a big, vibrant, healthy business. I made room for all of the things in the community of Camp Elevate, so that's just a sidetrack, so have a long term plan. Know that you are going to grow a five year plan.You are ultimately responsible for that success. Yes, you can have people in your circle that allow you to have the accountability meeting, your friend Abra at Yoga, having the accountability. Maybe you're in a free Facebook group. Maybe you have a great leadership group. Maybe you decide to put a mastermind together, but ultimately, if I'm going to record this podcast, it's my responsibility. Jody, who's an amazing podcast coach, and I'm going to share all of her things out with you and how you can connect with her. If you want to have a podcast or even like, she's a business strategist around podcasts and teaching women to rise in their confidence. But what I want you to think about is this, is ultimately I'm up. It's five in the morning. This was supposed to be to Jody last night. I'm up recording because ultimately if I want to commit to five years of content in a podcast, I've got to get her the goods, but I have to have a team to do it because I know myself, in my strength finder, and we're going to do the Strength Finder assessment over in Camp Elevate with all of the details of putting this out.It wouldn't happen. So I decided this is the team that's in place to help me with the podcast. How that would look in terms of financially, in terms of making sure the routines and rituals in place so that I produce the content because my five year plan is that my Profit Her Way program will continue. There's an alarm and you can tell it's morning cause you can hear the alarm going off and I'm just going to leave those things so that you can hear, Oh my goodness, it's still going up. That's okay. So that you can hear what happens in my house cause it's now time for people to start waking up there. The alarm is off. To have a podcast when you're at home and knowing I'm not going to be perfect. This is going to have great editing. You're gonna hear great things.Yeah. So knowing that it is a five year plan, understanding that the ultimate success is up to me. But you have to have a team, right? You have to have a team celebrating the wins. Like last night I celebrated. We've had so many downloads and so many reviews. Can I ask again? Sometimes I feel like when I ask you to share, I'm like, share my podcast, share my thing, and then when I get the messages, please DM me. Please put this up in your stories that tell me that. That helped me make a shift in my business that that interview that you did helped me so much. That note makes me know that the community is looking for us. Okay, how do we handle those setbacks when we ourself dipping? What do you have in place for those setbacks? So for me, when Stephanie Brett doesn't hear from me for very long, because she's my community for my health and wellness with Bridgette, and when she doesn't hear from me, she'll say, what?You know, let me know how I can help you. Because we were doing the same workouts at the gym from afar. We're also working on, you know, getting rid of some of the toxins and I have, you know, that I can show up vulnerably and not feel judged and always say, how does love feel? Those are the things that you need to have in your business. And your relationships in that support network, but knowing what do you do when you feel that, yep, that support network and also you guys having integrity in your business and in your life and how you approach things when you go by a no. Most of you have read the Four Agreements and when you lead your life with saying, I'm absolutely positively not going to be, I'm going into this negative spiral, into this judgmental spiral, for other people. And when you feel yourself doing that, pulling yourself out of it and having routines and rituals in place that keep you on track to have those successful dreams.What happens is this, people look and say, Oh, I'm going to go over and maybe they'll say, I'm going to work with Beth in her mastermind this year. I'm going to make that investment this year and three or four things happen and you can't show up, or you try a few things, and I've done this, like I've worked with coaches, I've worked with mentors, I've worked with programs. If I, and I always think, if I would have consistently put out the content, Jody told me you guys, five years ago. I connected with Jody and she was helping me with a different way that I was putting out content and it didn't fit my vibe. It didn't fit what I wanted to do with building women up, and I love the camp environment, and events, and working in masterminds, and the way that I'm doing it now, and I love how I've built my Network Marketing business alongside of it. A lot of that comes from just making that decision.And she had talked about podcasting and I was like, I didn't even know podcasting. I didn't research it. It wasn't a fit for me at the time. And I said to her last night, gosh, what if we had started this podcast five years ago? Because every time I have an episode, you guys, I make some incredible connections. Whether they're just new friends, new people, I'm inspiring new people that are saying, I want to work with you and your mastermind, or I want to come to Camp Elevate, or I want to take a look at working with you in Network Marketing, whatever it is. Or the other thing is I am a master connector. And so I know that when I connect people, so I've helped a lot of people start podcasts by connecting them to Jody. Not because it's something for me, but it's when I can connect someone, uplift, inspire, guess what happens?All is good in the world. All is well in the world. All is beautiful in the world, because when somebody else is succeeding, when we raise someone else up and we celebrate another woman, we have done the trickle effect. So over in Camp Elevate, we're doing so much of this, and it's a free group. And Robyn Benson, I met her, because I decided while I was on a lifestyle getaway that I had earned, and I was going to the beach and I was doing a workout, and there I met Robin and we've been friends, and she's great. She's just a great camper over in Camp Elevate because of her energy. And I want to read to you today what she wrote about being Camp Elevate, and want to ask you to join us in that community, so that as we go through the end of the year, my focus in 2020 in that group are going to be the things that we talked about to do those celebrations, to find out what are the ways that things need to shift in your life so you can have gratitude, not let the little things bother you.What are some of what we'll be doing? A lot of strategy for business and what feels right and aligned with your business. Because if it's not a strategy, like podcasting is so right for me for content, it feels right and aligned. I love it. But what I was doing before didn't feel aligned. I didn't like it. I was doing like trying to do some YouTube content around just teaching strategy and I'm totally not just a strategy chick and it didn't feel right. So I stopped. I mean if I would've continued, I would have grown a following and there are people that do that and I would have grown content, it would have grown my business. So we're going to do that in Camp Elevate. If you really, really, really want to dial it in and you really want to focus on that and you're like, I am ready for a mentor or a coach, I'm going to tell you to reach out to me, either DM me on Instagram or go to BethHoldenGraves.com/profit.Because inside of my mastermind community we are going to like really, really, really put these things into place. So in Camp Elevate, this is what Robin said, and I just want to thank her because, you guys, if you're around me for 10 seconds, you know that I cry in 10 seconds. But I just had tears when she wrote this and she said; "While talking with a good friend today who was another woman entrepreneur, I realized how much my attitude about myself and my vibration has improved and elevated since coming to camp. Sometimes we don't realize how far we have come, when the progress is baby steps. Just like today's episode. Thank you Beth. And all of the amazing camp counselors who have shared wisdom and tips and also all of you campers providing the encouragement in this community. This is truly a special group of humans."How amazing is that? And with that, I want to invite you to come on over. It's the CampElevateGroup.com. You'll go right into the Facebook group and, but let me know you're coming in, let me know, Hey, I want to come in. Because nobody likes to come to camp and not know where the cabin is, right? So we've got a lot of things planned for 2020 inside of the free group. The connections that I wanna make with you of some of the most awesome and amazing guides and people that will be on this podcast with me. We're going to do an in person summer camp. We've got the Profit Her Way mastermind. But most importantly, I want you to look at 2020 as your opportunity to find what feels aligned, to have gratitude, to have the highest energy and excitement vibration around what it is that you're doing, but most importantly finding what works for you and then sticking it out.Like we can't jump from thing to thing and think that we're ever going to have success. So if cold messaging with with a script doesn't feel right for you, we know we need to build our business in a way that we have more conversations. Maybe you're going to create a wellness in person event that happens once a month where you bring women together. Maybe that's what your plan will be to meet and talk to new people. But we have to think about how does that feel? How does that look? How does it feel in your life? So just like my closet that needed to have a transformation, I had to call in my friends who are so good at editing, getting rid of clutter, folding things, all of those pieces. Yeah. Just like when I knew I needed some help in an area, in an area that wasn't my high vibe.Big strength. That's what we do together in Camp Elevate. We connect, we inspire, we encourage, we show up. So show up for yourself and as you look at the areas of 2019 think about all of the pieces that happened on the journey along the way. Even if the ultimate goal that you had thought would happen, think about the journey and have gratitude for that journey. I thank you so much for being with me today. Next week we are going to really dive into some of those ways that we can reflect, and some of those ways that we can move forward with the theme for the year. Not just necessarily, I'm not like a, my personality type and my level of how I process isn't always like a black and white goal, but a theme, an area of how I want things to look in 2020, and we are going to do that together.So with that I want to share with you. Yeah. Okay, a final quote that I think is really going to help you as you move forward. Well, it's not a quote, it's basically it's, I saw it on Instagram and it was on somebody's site. Her name is Mally Roncal, M. A. L L. Y. R. O. N. C. A. L. she has a great, I get inspired every time I go to her Instagram and it's kinda long, but I want to read it to you. "To protect my energy. It is okay to change my mind to protect my energy. It is okay to cancel an appointment to protect my energy. It is okay to take a day off to protect my energy. It is okay to not answer that call to protect my energy. It is okay to not share myself to protect my energy. It is okay to do nothing, to protect my energy. It is okay to be alone, to protect my energy. It is okay to sleep in, to protect my energy. It is okay to speak up to protect my energy. It is okay to move on to protect my energy. It is okay to let go, to protect my energy. It is okay to change." Amen.So with that, you guys go out there and crush it today. Please share this out with someone. You think that you know that as you close, your eyes really needs to have you say, Hey, I got you. I got you, I got you, boo. All right, I'll chat with you guys all next Monday when the next episode drops, I'm looking to interview Santa Claus. So if you have a connection with him, let me know because I want to get him on the podcast.Thanks so much for hanging out with me today and ‘You’re Not the Boss of Me’. I’m hoping that you’ve found one thing that you will do today that will allow you to move forward to that big, audacious goal. And I have a favor to ask of you, and that is leaving me a five-star review over in iTunes. Every single week I read your reviews. I love hearing what you have to say, and it allows me to bring you more, to get more people to interview that are doing the thing, breaking the glass ceilings, creating what they crave, and helping you with your game plan. So leave me a five-star review, and when you do, I enter you to win the, ‘You’re Not the Boss of Me’ swag, so make sure you leave it and we’ll reach out to you if you’re the winner. Thanks so much for hanging with me today and we’ll chat with you soon.

Some people love being in front of a camera. But most of us don't. This episode of The 4 am Report talks about why you should consider making your face part of your marketing plan. If you're a small biz owner or an entrepreneur, your face is very much tied to your brand. And often one of your best marketing tools.  In this episode of The 4 am Report, we talk to Heather Davidson-Meyn, owner of Fun Love Photography, about why personalized custom images can make your brand stand out from the competition. We're not telling you to ditch the stock photography, charts, graphs and other important design elements you use in your marketing. But we are very certain that you're missing a great opportunity to showcase some personality and make a more lasting impression people will remember.   We speak from experience: Exhibit A: And… Exhibit B: Past images used to promote our material. Long story short: They worked and we got noticed. Here's an excerpt from the transcript: Susan: So Heather, let's talk that out a little bit. A key factor that stops many of us as small businesses from putting our faces on our marketing material is mindset. So, from your experience working with many small business owners, why is this? Why are they so hesitant to put themselves sort of front and center in their marketing? Heather: Well, there's a couple of places the hesitation comes from. First of all, not knowing. Not knowing the "how" and the "what," exactly. What images do you need to create, and how do you create them? Where do you go? When do you do it? How do you represent yourself? Secondly, is the whole thing about feeling vulnerable and unsure and not feeling camera ready, whether it be your hair and makeup, your wardrobe, or bigger things like feeling like you need to lose ten pounds. Susan: Yeah, I can certainly understand all of those factors. My own journey has been at first I was like, "I'm certainly not getting on video." And then we did video, which was highly produced in which it was shot ahead of time, and we were lit perfectly, and that kind of stuff. And then now we've gotten to a place where we're quite comfortable hopping onto a Facebook Live or a LinkedIn Live, and just doing that from a video perspective. And we applied the same sort of thing obviously to our shops, as well, that we've taken along the way. And I can certainly speak to the fact that getting a hold of your head space and your mindset was a big part of that. Heather: Yeah, for sure. Will: I wanted to talk about going beyond just the head shot. Of course. Yes, head shots are great. There's a purpose for them, but let's remember the one thing that makes you and your marketing stand out is that it comes from you. So you are part of that UVP. So Heather, if marketers and small business owners are out there listening, getting kind of inspired by what we're talking about and considering investing in some interesting photography to accompany their marketing. Can you give us some ideas to help get creative juices flowing? Heather: Yeah, for sure. I start the planning process with every single one of my clients with five main images in mind. Not all will apply to everyone, but they're all important to consider. So first of all, there's you. Who are you? That that could be your basic head shot. What do you look like? Can you be recognized on the street? The second one is you doing what you do. So this is just a representation of you doing what you do. If you're a maker, if you're making something; if you're a consultant, this is working with people, reading up on the latest books that apply to your field. Third is you with your products. So again, this is more intuitive for someone who's making products. Maybe you're a seamstress, you're sewing clothes, then you have product, or you're writing books. You're an author, you with your books. And sometimes it's more challenging if you're a consultant helping people with services. It's more difficult to represent, but we can still definitely show you in a way that shows what you produce. Fourth is you working with clients. Now, as I said, not everything applies to everyone. You may not actually work one-on one-with clients, but it's still important to show that you can relate to people, and it helps people to see you working with people, so that they feel like they can relate to you as well. And then finally, you being you. So, this is a little bit more personal and not necessarily completely tied to your business, but it helps people relate to you as a person. And that's a lot of what this is all about. Showing your face, showing who you are, and giving something for the people out there on the internet who are seeing your photos on your website. Something for them to relate to. So, if you love taking walks, or you're an outdoors sort of person, or maybe you love drinking coffee, or doing yoga, or whatever it is you do, it's important to put that out there as well. Now, a lot of people might struggle with envisioning how to turn these ideas into images, but a great photographer will guide you along the process, taking the time to learn about who you are, what you do, what you represent, and who the target client is that you're actually trying to reach, and helping you represent that visually. Susan: Thank you, Heather. That's such a great framework of what people should be looking to shoot on a small business level, and we like to keep our episodes focused to a specific audience, but sometimes the lessons that we're talking about apply for a spectrum of people. About Heather: Heather is an internationally renowned portrait artist who uses the camera to create images that show the beauty of a person, both inside and out. She photographs families (because who doesn't want to work with children and pets), as well as small business owners looking to elevate their brand presence with custom and personalized images. Connect Website Facebook: @funlovephotography Instagram: @funlovephotography and @your_brand_photography *** Still can't sleep? We would also love to know what's keeping you up at night! Email us your problems - your issue might be featured in our next episode! Any of these problems *speak* to you? Click here to subscribe in iTunes to hear about more things that haunt us or to keep an eye out for any of your problems. We might find a solution for you (or at least share your pain too!) We have more episodes with great tips, jokes and conversations - don't miss it!  If you get a chance, leave a review on iTunes so that others can find this podcast too! Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” We'd love to hear what your favourite part of this episode is in the comments below. Thank you!

Tips based on what I've learned about blogging after two years with Heather Morneau I think one of the biggest blogging myths is the fact that some people think that you need to have an entire novel in your mind and you need to sit down and write pages upon pages. "You're still doing it, you're still losing it. How do you do it?" The more people asked, the more that there was a journey there and I thought, you know, maybe that is we share this with people, it would inspire or help other people. What the plan was simply was to break it down into bite size pieces. Other times I sit down and I'll start several different posts, but I find the more I force it, the worse the post ends up and I just trash it. Well, there's a lot of half-truths. There's a lot of lies. There's a lot of sponsored information. So you think you're reading about dairy for example, and then you realize the page you've been fascinated with is actually sponsored. There's a little bit of interaction on Facebook whereas I get more likes on Instagram, but it's the interaction that happens on Facebook. Make sure that what you're writing about is something you're passionate about. But the most important thing is to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and get it started. People know that. Well, people can tell that with your writing as well. They can tell when you're fake. I think people are really ready to get some honest information. I think I feel like people are ready for authenticity. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ WHAT I'VE LEARNED AFTER TWO YEARS OF BLOGGING [just click to tweet] WHAT I'VE LEARNED AFTER TWO YEARS OF BLOGGING One of the biggest blogging myths is that people think that you need to sit down and write pages upon pages. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I think one of the biggest blogging myths is the fact that some people think that you need to have an entire novel in your mind and you need to sit down and write pages upon pages. Doug Morneau: Well, welcome back. Let's listen to another episode of Real Marketing Real Fast. Today in the studio, I've got joining my beautiful wife, Heather Morneau and now Heather reluctantly agreed to join me in the podcast episode. Actually not that reluctant. So Heather is a mom, a wife, an aunt. She's the co-founder of a company called q4fit.com a health and wellness website and she's a grandma as well. In her spare time, she is an Olympic weight lifter, so she's lifting weights now and she is a Crossfit fanatic, so she's in the Crossfit box with me at least a couple times a week. As a kid, she was an active teenager, but as most people can relate after school ends, so do most of the activity. She went through her life in her twenties and started having babies and stay at home mom and had some unwanted pounds to start to show up. Her struggle with weight and weight loss has been a part of her life's journey. Years later I became quite sick and nearly died of double pneumonia. That kind of triggered for both of us, a realization that we needed to be healthy if we wanted to be around to see our kids get married and have grandkids or see our grandkids be around as well. So in the fall of 2011 after dealing with a very sick husband, she decided to start documenting her health journey and writing a blog. Two-and-a-half years later, she's been blogging now once or twice a week and just sharing that journey. So I've asked her to join us on the podcast today just to share a little bit of insight of what it's like to be a blogger, how to get set up, how to relieve some of that stress and strain of writing and some of the myths around that. So I'd like to welcome Heather to the Real Marketing Real Fast podcast today. Well, welcome, Heather. I'm super excited to have you on the Real Marketing Real Fast podcast today. Heather Morneau: No, I'm really happy to be here. Doug Morneau: So was there anything I left out in the introductio...

The Senior Living Sales and Marketing Podcast Episode 3 features an interview with Heather Deveaux freelance writer discussing the importance of content in todays sales and marketing. Heather loves helping clients who need specialized content for websites, blogs, or other writing needs. Heather’s unique ability to create content that conveys your message to customers will result in more value, more authority, and more sales. Heather can be reached at www.heatherdeveaux.com and see her new project The Freelance Writing School at www.thefreelancewritingschool.com You can find out more about Roy Barker at www.roybarker.com,www.seniorlivingsalesandmarketing.com  and listen to his other podcast at www.thebusinessofbusinesspodcast.com. The podcast is also available for download on iTunes, GooglePlay, and Stitcher. Search Roy Barker or The Senior Living Sales and Marketing Podcast. Below find the full transcript of the interview.   Roy Barker:                        Good afternoon and welcome to episode three of the Senior Living Sales and Marketing Podcast. I'm your host Roy Barker. As a reminder, you can find our, this podcast is now on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play, so please do a search, download it, and rate it, and that'll make it easier for others to find the podcast. You can also sign up for our newsletter at www. [00:00:30] seniorlivingsalesandmarketing.com, and you can check out more about me at roybarker.com. You can reach me at roy@roybarker.com. Be glad to talk to you about sales and marketing, or employee retention. Topics that you may have for your particular community.                                              I wanna introduce our guest today. Heather Deveaux is a freelance writer, and what I [00:01:00] wanted to touch on is content, and basically, how creating content can help in the sales and marketing. Especially in our industry where, it's so very important where you're gonna be moving a family member or a loved one, that a lot of the prospects really check out communities a lot on the internet. And so having content out there is not only a great [00:01:30] way to help them find out about your community, but it's also a great way to start building a relationship with them.                                              So Heather, thanks a lot for being with us, and welcome to the show. Heather Deveaux:            Thanks, Roy, I'm glad to be here. Roy Barker:                        And if you don't mind, just start out by telling us just a little bit about yourself and what you do, and then we can jump right into it. Heather Deveaux:            Sure, so as you said, my name is Heather Deveaux, and I am a freelance writer. [00:02:00] I live in Canada actually, on the east coast of Canada, and I've been freelancing full time now for about a year. And before that, my experiences were in adult education and higher ed, and I worked a lot in college settings with adult learners who were re-training to re-enter the workforce, and before that I did a short stint as a secretary, like an administrative [00:02:30] assistant. And I have a military background as well, so it's a pretty diverse, and it allows me to write on all kinds of different things, and that's what makes my job so much fun. Roy Barker:                        Great, great, and just for full disclosure, Heather does help me with a lot of writing. She's a great editor. She makes sure to get all my, "Fixing toos and y'all's," out of there so it sounds much more professional. She does great work and, at the end of the show, we can tell everybody how they can reach [00:03:00] out and get ahold of you, but you also have kind of an exciting other, it's a sister project, but tell us a little bit about what you've got going on. Heather Deveaux:            Yeah, so it's called the Freelance Writing School, and this is, it's happening right now, like it is a live project now, I've been documenting it, sort of on YouTube and I've started a podcast as well, to sort of document how I'm building this project up. But I've [00:03:30] started accepting registrations for the school, and this weekend I'm launching the online version of the school, and so the project is designed to teach people, as I said, my background is in adult education. So the project is designed to teach people how to start and run a freelance writing business of their own. And this is something that I've been literally dreaming of most of my adult life.                                              It's always been my dream to have a school, to teach people how to [00:04:00] sort of make their own way in the world, and I've always done that through other schools that people owned, and now I'm in the process of developing my own. And so, I always say I'm so excited about it, and as a writer, I should have a better word than excited that I say over, and over, and over again, but it really is something that's really close to my heart and I truly am excited about it, and thank you for asking. So I'm happy to have the chance to talk about it whenever I can. Roy Barker:                        Yeah, yeah and that's very good, [00:04:30] because unlike myself, I'm more analytical and numbers focused, even though I love to write. I run into a lot of issues, so I think it's great that you're gonna be able to help and mentor people to be better writers. I myself, I will usually either think I have a great topic and a lot to say, and I get five sentences out and don't know where to go from there. Or, the other thing is, have a great topic and vere off, and end up [00:05:00] down the rabbit hole that doesn't have a lot to do with where I was going, so that I think a school to help people like me to be able to go through and focus, and know the steps that I need to take as a non-writer, to be able to get my message across, I think that'll be great, so I'm excited about that.                                              And like I said, at the end I'll let you give the websites and podcast where people can find you, but for now I want to kind of jump into, writing [00:05:30] as a sales and marketing tool, and some of the, start off I guess with the basics. Some of the types of content, I know that you've got the easy ones, the blogs and the articles, but what are some other types of content that you use or that you help your clients use, as a sales and marketing tool? Heather Deveaux:            Right, so that's a great question, and the thing that I would start off by saying is that, [00:06:00] I'm a writer but, content takes many different forms. So this podcast is an excellent example of how to do some sales and marketing around your business. It happens to be about sales and marketing but, this is a prime example of the kind of content that you can use to spread the word about your products and services. So the other great thing that is about podcasts, is that you can have a script or a transcript that goes along with it, which [00:06:30] becomes immediately valuable in a text form, which is a second type of content.                                              From that, you can use excerpts from your transcript and from your podcast, which you could use to promote on social media, which would be a third type of content. You can create graphics, which have quotes related to your podcast or your transcript about your podcast, which can be a fourth type of content, and we could just keep going down. There's rabbit holes we could crawl into all day [00:07:00] long here. But basically content itself is, just anything that you're putting out into the world, to promote your products and services. And although you tend to think that, and when I say you I mean everybody, although we tend to think that content is written, it is much more than that. And ironically, we're sort of moving in this direction of visual and audio, you know video is very popular right now. But content comes into play with that stuff when you're talking [00:07:30] about your SEO, your Meta Tags, your description, that sort of thing.                                              That all has to kind of come into play, and so the different types of content for sales and marketing are very vast. You know you've got your email marketing list that you would send out to people. These campaigns run anywhere from one email, and up to the most that I have seen yet is 100 emails. I recently had a client contact me and ask for 100 emails. Roy Barker:                        Wow. Heather Deveaux:            And that was ... yeah that was incredible. I [00:08:00] was like, "Okay!" That's amazing, I'll clear my calendar for a month I guess, but it's amazing how much content people want, and how much we have to share, and I think that, that's something that's important to point out, is that many people who own businesses struggle with how much content they should put out. Where are they gonna get this content, and often the content is simple a story about your day, a post about something that's going on, a quick [00:08:30] picture with some hashtags about something that you did during the day in your business. It could be a blog, it could be a podcast, it could be a video upload.                                              It could be anything, so there's really interesting stuff happening with content now, and as a writer, it's both exciting, and it's a little bit scary, because as the market moves away from writing, it becomes, my job becomes more difficult because I need [00:09:00] to find ways to keep injecting written content into that audio, into that video, into that image. And so that just adds one more element of challenge, but people still, they love to read a blog, they love to read an article, and at the end of the day, that's sort of the meat and the potatoes. It still remains, people still know they still need a blog. They still wanna put evergreen articles out there.                                              And one of the most interesting things [00:09:30] that's happening with content right now is, with the rise of digital currency, cryptocurrency, blockchain, very highly technical products, they're relying heavily on text content to spread their message. So they, these companies have 18, 20 page reports, which are called white papers, and these are like academic reports without the academia. So, you know you're in college [00:10:00] or university, and you write a report and you have to cite all of your references with footnotes and things like that, now these are giant documents with links to other URLs, and other articles, or other white papers. And so they read like a newspaper, they're very simple to read and understand, but they're chock full of gold mine content that is designed to market their digital products.                                              So, their currency, their cryptocurrency, their [00:10:30] digital coins, blockchain, platforms, things like that, and so I'm very interested right now in how a very technical heavy industry is relying on text to spread their message. And these companies are doing massive blogs, massive articles. They're always putting out written content. They have huge email marketing campaigns. These white papers are massive, and they're [00:11:00] doing a lot of in person content sharing as well. So these companies will go to pitch competitions, and they will go to investor summits, and they'll go to conferences and they'll talk to large groups of people, but that is also a form of content. So there's really, I could talk all day about it, so where content is, and where it's going, and how much there is. There's a lot. Roy Barker:                        Well, a couple points that you bring up, first off I was just gonna [00:11:30] touch on the video, that I read an article not long ago, that said that YouTube is basically the unmentioned search engine, and they said that it's actually probably the largest, if not maybe the second largest right behind Google. But the article was just making the point that we don't realize how many searches run through YouTube every day, which is one thing. But when we talk about content, [00:12:00] we kind of went at both spectrums about the shorter, personal messages, versus the longer, evergreen paper.                                              And I find myself falling into that trap a lot, that I feel like I need to have a very structured longer piece, and sometimes I forego posting because I don't embrace the shorter pieces, which are good and a lot of people [00:12:30] like that. And I think it's, I guess it's kind of finding your own way, but I think it's a good point to make that sometimes, or my opinion is, that sometimes we get too formalized and we try to have this structured piece of paper where, sometimes it's just that shorter, more personal clip about ourself or about our business, that's what attracts people's attention as well. Heather Deveaux:            It is certainly. [00:13:00] Right now that is very true, and I'm seeing a lot of people on social media. They're using social media as a way to ... it's almost like they're commercials. If you watch TV, I don't know if you have cable, but if you watch TV and you watch five minutes of a show and then a commercial comes on, and then years ago, it used to be that you'd have to look in the catalog, or you'd have to pick up the phone and call [00:13:30] a 1-800 number to buy that product. And now you're on the internet and you're looking for something, and then you see this commercial of sorts with some kind of advertisement, or somebody posted something about their business, and then you click on it and you end up there right away.                                              It's so instant, but what's interesting is that, it's such a disruption of thought as well, that we're, it's almost like your content has to be so cool and crisp that people need [00:14:00] to know exactly what it is they're clicking on, or you're gonna lose them. And so it's tricky because people will, you know people who post pictures of their food all day long, like this is what I'm eating, this is what I'm ... I get the information part of it. But, unless you're sharing a recipe or, you're sending them back to a website where they can get that recipe, or they can read a blog about what you ate today, [00:14:30] or what you did for exercise, or what movie you watched, unless there's some kind of followup to it, that little snippet of information could be lost in all of the masses and masses of information that are out there.                                              So I think what's happening is, people are really struggling with those shorter pieces, because they don't see how they can tie it back into the bigger pieces, and I struggle with this myself because, [00:15:00] I do a lot of blogging, I do a lot of podcasts. I like to read and write and apply my knowledge that way. But sometimes that stuff is so personal to me, that I struggle with, "Geez, what can I tell someone about this?" Without sounding like a fool, you know like this isn't gonna apply to you, this is only applying to me. And so I think that's where you'll see people jump on social media, and they wanna share a moment of their lives, but it has to be done, especially [00:15:30] for sales and marketing, it has to be done in a way that is genuine, and is authentic, and it speaks to your audience.                                              So if you're a social media marketer for example, people want to see your work. They want to see the kind of things that you're working on, and they wanna get to know you as a person. And that is done through those minutes and those moments of, "Hey, here I am at a co-working space, I'm working on this project. Send me an email if you're interested in working [00:16:00] with me on a similar project." So it's just about connecting those dots, and bringing them back to the rest of the content. And I sort of see that as now, I think, social media is the turkey dinner. It's here it is, very quick, all of that information. This is who I am, this is what I'm all about, and then you go back to the blog for dessert. So, it's because dessert is the best part, you know? So that turkey dinner is great, but [00:16:30] I'm exhausted from it. You get tired from that. The cost and consumption of the little snippets of information, sometimes you wanna just sit with a blog and consume it. You wanna just enjoy the apple pie, you know? Roy Barker:                        Right, and it has become a very noisy world out there. I'm very visual, so I enjoy the pictures and the videos, but one thing I've noticed, I use LinkedIn quite a bit, is that everybody seems to be doing it, and [00:17:00] now I've got to a point where I just generally scroll through, because it's not something that's really gaining my attention. Where a lot of times it's the written word, where you see what's written, and it catches your attention. Makes you wanna click and follow, whereas the video, sometimes you have to sit there and listen to them, for a little bit before you can decide if this is something that you really wanna consume the entire thing.                                              So, I feel like [00:17:30] even with videos, we still have to have some good text that's wrapped around it, to get to the point and get people's attention. Because, we're being pulled in so many directions, and like you said, the instant gratification. I'm the world's worst about, I'll be listening to a podcast and they have a guy that's just written a good book, and I have pulled over on the side of the interstate to whip out my Amazon app and order that book immediately, while [00:18:00] I'm thinking about it. So but there is a lot going on out there so being able grab that attention, and make people want to know more.                                              And that's the thing I think too, it's like I said earlier, it's kind of finding your direction, your audience, how do you connect to them, and I think we have to ... sometimes I get a little hung up in thinking that you have to [00:18:30] connect with the masses with this one message, and I'll get your opinion on that. I don't think that's necessarily true. I think if you have something authentic and of value to say, if you just can reach one or five people, then your mission will be accomplished because, they're obviously in need of whatever you're putting out there. Heather Deveaux:            Yeah, absolutely. And I agree with what you're saying. [00:19:00] The struggle is really, you want, no matter how many experts tell you that everybody is not your customer, you don't believe it. You say to yourself, there are seven billion people in the world, I could reach those seven billion people. I think that's just the fault of being an entrepreneur, is that you want to help as many people as you can, you want to impact as many people as you can, but at the end of the day, you're not. The fraction of the market that you're gonna get is [00:19:30] minuscule, compared to the size of the market. And so it becomes a matter of, if those four, five, six people, even if it's four, five, six hundred people, are interacting with your content on a regular basis, it's interesting to understand how that impacts them, and the fact that they keep coming back.                                              I always wonder, what is it about the blog, what is it about the podcast, what is it about the video? [00:20:00] Do you visit all three, do you visit all five, do you visit one? Are you only on social media, because everybody interacts with the stuff differently, and it's part of the reason why, for a while, everyone was like, "You need to have a blog." Then for a while, everyone was saying, "Oh, you need to be on video." Then for a while, everyone was saying, "No, no, no, now you need to have a podcast." And then there are people who are sort of doing all of it, but they're engaging different audiences at every point.                                              [00:20:30] But what's interesting is, how you go into LinkedIn, and I do this, this is why I'm saying it, 'cause it's proved very effective for me in promoting my freelance writing business. I'll go into LinkedIn, and I'll share my podcast, and then I'll share some YouTube videos. But then I'll share a blog, and then I'll share on Instagram, I'll share some pictures. And then I'll do [00:21:00] some snippets of my podcast in my Instagram story. So there's just breadcrumbs all over the internet, and I don't know a lot about social media marketing and analytics, so it's hard for me to understand the kind of impact that's having, except for the actual numbers I could see.                                              But what I do know is that, that is working to reach people who aren't on LinkedIn, people who don't listen to podcasts, are never [00:21:30] going to hear my voice. They're gonna read my blog, but they might never see my YouTube videos. They might never see me on Instagram, might never see me on Twitter, but it's all there if people want it. And that's where the different types of content really come into play. I just started doing Facebook Lives this week, which were very scary for me. I've never done anything like that before, but that's a completely different type of content, for a completely different audience again. [00:22:00] And what you sort of need to find out is, you kind of have to dabble in all of it.                                              And I used to read articles about how marketing experts would say, "You have to pick and choose, and you have to trial and error," and I would sort of roll my eyes at that and say, "No, no, no, just do Facebook, just do Twitter," and now I'm seeing a real bit uptake across different platforms, and I'm realizing that, that is true. It is true [00:22:30] that you need to touch many points, you need to have lots of different content, and you need to sort of publish a lot. And I have this habit of, I publish towards the end of the week because I'm preparing it all week, and then by the time Thursday and Friday rolls around, I'm ready to publish. But Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday I'm not publishing anything, so I'm losing all of that opportunity to reach my audience, who has come to recognize or expect [00:23:00] that I publish the end of the week, but I'm missing all of that opportunity the rest of the week to engage with them as well.                                              So there's a lot that goes into it. It's not just the type of content, how much content, how often and where at. You kind of have to have all of it. And that's where people get burnt out, and they just say, "Oh to heck with it. I'm gonna hire a marketer." Roy Barker:                        Yeah, because if you think about it, all the different things that we try to do, I mean you actually [00:23:30] write for clients to make a living, to bring money into your business. But you could probably spend 80 hours a week just marketing for yourself, never touching any client work, and it's a struggle to balance that, too. There's so many things out there, just like myself, that I want to do and I need to do, but there's just so many hours in the day, and I think that's where it gets back to what you were saying about, you [00:24:00] testing with your audiences to see where the ... it's not only engagement as far as likes, but where the true engagement where maybe you can have a dialog with somebody, or maybe even, them reach out to you to do some work, or ask you a few more questions, before they actually do.                                              But I think another thing we can touch on a little bit here will be the consistency, because I think what, [00:24:30] in the unfortunate world we live in with instant gratification, and I will say that I'm guilty of this as well is that, you know we put out a Facebook post or LinkedIn post, we put a Blog out there, put a podcast out there and then we set back and look and if we don't have 10000 visitors, or listeners, or likes or comments, we think well that's not working, and I don't [00:25:00] think that's the truth. I know this is more on the analytical side but I feel like that, sometimes you reach people but they don't necessarily reach out to engage with you.                                              Sometimes it may take three or four posts, or videos, or podcasts before, you know they will sign up for a newsletter, or reach out to you because they just don't have a need, or they're wanting more information, trying to [00:25:30] really see where you're coming from, which it takes a lot of consistency doing that over and over, whatever you choose to do, wherever you're having some success whether it's a podcast, releasing a Blog and then people become used to seeing more information, and I think they become more comfortable with you at some point. Heather Deveaux:            I think so too, and I think it's important to talk a little bit [00:26:00] about the expectations of your audience. That if people are coming to this podcast, and it's titled sales and marketing, that they want to hear about sales and marketing. And if what they're hearing about is not answering their questions, then that leaves them in a place of struggle, and then that sort of leaves them wondering, "Well what else is there?" And [00:26:30] I recently read a book that was about recognizing trigger events in sales opportunities, and you talk about you post something, and you might have to post this five or six times in different formats, or the same post all the time, you just post it, post it, post it. You run an ad for a week, whatever that looks like.                                              But I think it goes beyond, that people just don't need you yet, but you always have [00:27:00] to be present in some form because they will need you and if you're the first one in line when they recognize, "Oh my goodness, I need help with sales and marketing," and you're the top of mind, they're going to reach out to you. But as a business owner, it's also our responsibility to make sure that we're staying top-of-mind, so if you've got that email marketing list, then you should be using it, and there's a lot of business owners that I talk to [00:27:30] that say, they only do those first four or five emails, and then it's sort of trails off. And then they think, "Oh well those people know I'm here, they'll come find me. I've got them on my email list."                                              But if you are not engaging that email list, you're not constantly reminding them that you're there, then those are lost opportunities. And so when I get a call about I need a hundred emails, to me that says this guy is going for a full- [00:28:00] on engagement, like he wants a year's worth of emails to keep his clients, to keep his audience engaged. He wants to stay top of mind, he wants to remind them of all the great things that his company's offering, and he's doing it in a way that creates the least resistance. Email's very easy, it's very actionable, there's many touch points in an email that you can gain someone's attention and get them to take an action. And so I think [00:28:30] that, that's really interesting that we sort of focus on, we need to put out content, we need to put out content, but it needs to be content that is, there has to be language that speaks to your audience. It has to be actionable, it has to be all the time.                                              Like consistency? You're right, it needs to be super consistent, and consistency is, it's important to point out, that doesn't mean every single day. It might just be every [00:29:00] Wednesday afternoon, but if your clients and your audience know that every Wednesday afternoon, you're posting a podcast, then they can rely on that. If you're posting every day at two o'clock, then they can rely on that. And it's that consistency. Consistency doesn't have to be in your fact, all the time, but it has to be that you're there enough to become top of mind.                                              So, the idea behind a trigger event is that, as a business owner you recognize in [00:29:30] somebody's business, "Hey you've just had a change in a position," or, "Hey you've just lost a customer," or, "You've just gotten a new customer." You sort of come back top of mind and say, "Has this happened in your business?" For example, if for sales and marketing, "Hey, have you lost any accounts recently, here are three things you can do to find a new account." So just speaking to the problems that they might have, always offering helpful information, and being consistent is really [00:30:00] important. Roy Barker:                        Right, right, and you can look at it with expert advice. There may five experts that are all really good in their field and, I myself, maybe I don't choose expert number five because I really haven't, I don't not choose him because I haven't seen anything, but like you're saying, if expert number three is emailing and posting, and then I wake up today [00:30:30] I'm like, "Oh gosh, I really need this service." Well number three is on my mind because I've just seen his post, or his content recently, and so I think that, that it gets back to sometimes we don't not choose somebody because we don't think they're good, we just don't pick them because we haven't heard from them or haven't seen anything lately, and so they're not at the forefront of our mind.                                              And kind [00:31:00] of touching on this a little bit, another statistic that I read the other day was saying that, we've kind of come to a flip point with content that, used to everybody believed that you had to, that volume was the best. And you could sacrifice a little bit of quality in order to have a high volume of just blowing stuff out, and I think the tables have turned. I'll get your opinion on this. That now, basically it [00:31:30] pays off more to really work on the quality of the content, and then promote it, and they're saying spend probably 20% of your time on the content itself and getting it right. But then you want to spend 80% of your time actually promoting it across all channels, different ways, like you said.                                              It could be a video clip, it could be snippets through a LinkedIn [00:32:00] post, and if you really stop and think about LinkedIn and Facebook, and the algorithms that they run nowadays, and depending upon how many connections you have, if you've got a thousand connections and you've got a hundred of those people that are constantly posting, if you put something on your, if something pops up on your wall, it's not gonna live there very long before it kind of rolls off [00:32:30] and rolls out. So if I don't log into my account, just at the right time to see what you just posted, I may miss it. Not because it's not there, not because it wasn't good, not because I don't like you or look for you, but just because of the opportunity at that particular time. Heather Deveaux:            It's very true, and recently I posted something on my Instagram account, and then couldn't find it. Like it had disappeared [00:33:00] in the feed, and that has happened to me on LinkedIn as well, where I posted something and it's there, and then the next time I go on it's not there. I don't know if the internet eats it or what happens to it, but you're right there's just so much activity that, it's almost like sometimes what I'll do is I'll go in and I'll edit that post, and then it will show up again. And like I said, I don't claim to know a whole lot about social media. I can write content for days [00:33:30] but, when it comes to analytics and how the algorithms work, sometimes I just think that someone is sitting in a corner watching us on TV, laughing at us trying to figure out how this stuff out, because it's just, it's exhausting. When you post something and then you lose it, like it's your post, you know? Roy Barker:                        Right. Heather Deveaux:            And the internet just eats it off. And so, I said this to people before, but I've recently read that you need to be posting on [00:34:00] social media, in some cases, 30 or 40 times a day, and that just boggles my mind, because they don't think people have jobs? Where are they getting the time to post on social media 30 or 40 times a day, and of course, that's automation, and automation is tricky, because the whole point of content these days, getting back to your comment about quality versus quantity, [00:34:30] you can achieve quantity easily. You can pay for it, very simply. You can pay someone to do it, you can buy likes on the internet, you can buy followers, you can buy templates, you can post them, you can schedule them. All of that, money can buy all of that.                                              But, quality is something, it's very personal to a business. And one of the things that I do with my clients is, I really try hard to capture their voice, [00:35:00] because it's no good if it's my voice. And if they're posting things about their business, and sales and marketing for example, if they wanna talk about sales and marketing, it has to come from them. So one of the things that I do with people, is they'll often send me a draft, and I'll clean it up for them, and I'll send it back to them. But when they ask me to write from scratch, I have to spend a great deal of time with them on the phone, or via email, to make sure that the message is clear, because [00:35:30] if it's my voice, then I'm selling them. But I'm not selling them, my client is selling them.                                              So your quality comes from a place of authenticity, and that's why engagement is so important, because your engagement shows your audience who you are. And if you're relying on automation, you know automation can just destroy your business if you're not doing it in a way that keeps people coming back. If they're just seeing it and moving on, does that count as [00:36:00] engagement? So like if they have two or three comments on a post, or two or three comments on a blog post to say, "Hey, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, this is really helpful to me. I'm gonna implement this in my business," that's quality. And the two are very different, and it's hard to achieve quantity and quality. And the way that- Roy Barker:                        And we also have to discern between [00:36:30] vanity and true engagement, because sometimes we can, in my opinion, we can have a shallower post and people may like it, that doesn't mean that they called you and want to do business. Where if you take the time to write a quality, in depth piece, where you might lead them down the path of what the root of the problem you're trying to solve for them is, then they are much more likely [00:37:00] to engage, either through an email or a phone call, to want to learn more about how you can help them specifically, that's in my opinion. Heather Deveaux:            Oh, I agree 100%, absolutely. And you know there's a dark place on the internet where it is about vanity, and people, that's actually their job. They get paid to be seen, and they get paid to promote, and they get paid to pose. But for the rest of us who are just trying to build our businesses, and [00:37:30] to share our knowledge with the world, those, you know we have a few comments. We don't have hundreds of comments, but we have a few comments. Those few comments, they mean more than a thousand likes ever could, because it means you've talked to someone in a way, and it means that they stopped, like you said, they stopped, they've taken the time to write to you, and that is the thing that a lot of people overlook, is they see all these comments and if they're not engaging back with the comments, that is a lost opportunity.                                              [00:38:00] And in your posting, one of the things I see people do very frequently is, they'll invite a conversation. And they'll post something, and this is becoming very popular, they'll do polls, or they'll have a quiz, or they'll do would you ever, or just questions like that, and it really does drive engagement. And it just let's you know that, yes people are listening. People are paying attention, they're tuning in. [00:38:30] They care about what you're talking about, but it's hard to do that with automation. Those things have to come from a real person, because you can't just put a poll out, and then never go back and look at the results, you know? Roy Barker:                        Right, exactly. Heather Deveaux:            So it requires a lot of personal time, professional time, and the human element of it has to be present, and that's where the quality comes from. Roy Barker:                        Yeah and we can talk about that in the aspect of sales, [00:39:00] that followup is huge in sales, that it's not very likely I'm gonna reach out to you or you reach out to me, we're gonna have a conversation, and I'm gonna sell you on the initial call, or email, or however we connected. But if you have some thoughtful followup, that's where you generally close most of your business, and I think we can say that's true in marketing, and in content, is that there is some articles I see that, they get [00:39:30] a lot of comments, but nobody ever reaches back out to try to continue that conversation, and I feel like those are missed opportunities. Heather Deveaux:            Yeah I think so too, and like I said earlier, it is the business owner's job to always maintain top of mind status, and you should never take for granted that, "Look I flipped this out there in the world, people know it's there." People forget all the time. We're so busy, you know like you said, [00:40:00] you pull over on the side of the road to order a book. Do you turn the podcast back on, or do you hit the radio button and you go about your day? We're just in the moment creatures, and if you're not doing your part as a business owner, to keep that sales and marketing line open all the time, then it's unfortunate because there's a lot of opportunity on the internet and off the internet, to engage with content, and to engage with your audience, and to engage with your clients.                                              [00:40:30] I think we're just all trying to figure it out, like the more you do it, the more comfortable you become with it, and the more authentic it will be, and then I think it just happens. I think your business grows organically, if you're being you, you're being true to your business, you're sharing in a genuine way, you're being helpful, and content does that. It builds that trust, it builds that authority, and it lets people know that, when was the last time you visited a website and did you say [00:41:00] to yourself, "Is this still a business?" Has that happened to you recently? You go on a website and it could be from 2003 and you have no idea if this is still an operational business. Roy Barker:                        Exactly. Exactly, and that's one thing that I've heard is that, and it doesn't have to be daily. In some instances, I don't think it has to be weekly, but I do feel like that you've got to have this message that changed, because that's exactly what I will do. I will look at a blog and [00:41:30] it's dated 2003, and that makes you wonder, are they even is business? Was that the last thought that they have, they're not keeping up or innovating. It just makes you wonder about what's going on, and sometimes it can make you wonder about the followup that, what kind of job will they do for you if you do hire them? Are they gonna focus all their energy on making sure that you're a client, and then they tail off and, [00:42:00] that's the kind of service that you get because there is no follow through.                                              So it can raise a lot of questions, and I guess another, something else I wouldn't wanna talk about, is there seems to be two distinct divides in the theory of content. There are some of the older, and they are probably older in age as well from back in the pre-internet days, that feel that everything that [00:42:30] is written should be very technical. It should be very sales oriented, and it should just be basically an advertisement, sell, sell, sell, consistently. I take a little bit different approach, but I wanna kind of get you to talk about the types of content, and we don't wanna get personal, like I was driving in this morning, had a big fight with the wife on the phone, [00:43:00] and ran into a car.                                              I mean I know that is not the kind of personal details that we want to put out there, but in my opinion we have to have a good mix of the sale, what we do, what our product is, I would love to help you, reach out to me, versus, in my day, this is what, maybe this is an interesting thing that happened to my day. Maybe I like sailing or maybe [00:43:30] I love dogs, so I may have some posts about that. Then the other thing is, also promoting others, like if I read a good podcast, or listen to a good podcast, there are times that I will go out, find their links, and promote it. Because I want other people that may be listening to me, [00:44:00] to have the opportunity to listen to this other expert, depending on what subject it is. You know it doesn't really matter, but if it's good I will spread it.                                              So I guess where I try to find a happy medium is, some self promotion versus, some personal based details, versus promoting others. And then also having other experts, just like yourself. I mean I could have gotten on this podcast, or written a blog and [00:44:30] droned on and on, just about my thoughts and theories behind sales, which they may or may not be good. They may or may not be right for everybody, so also having experts either come on, or write, or highlighting experts information in your posts, so. I know that was a long, drawn out question, but those are just some of the examples of ways that we can put content out there. What are your [00:45:00] thoughts on that? Heather Deveaux:            Yeah I agree with you about the personal side of it versus the professional side, in that you sort of have to sprinkle it in a little bit everywhere, and I think that's where authenticity comes into play. And if you're really passionate about what you're doing and you really believe in it, and you've got a good background in it, and you can call to top of mind something that will help somebody just by talking to them, and you come from a place of helpfulness, [00:45:30] then I think that personality and your personal life will start to come through. You wanna share little bits about yourself and what you're doing, but also it's always from the perspective of, "Listen, I'm a business person, you're a business person," or, "You're someone I can help, I'm just like you. I'm a regular person, here's how I can help you. This is all I'm offering, it's just help."                                              And when you come from a place of helpfulness, [00:46:00] people relax. People, the idea of being sold to, is still such a bad taste in people's mouths that, when you're just talking to them, you're like, "Hey, I have this idea, I have this product, I have this solution," they settle down a little bit and they relax into the conversation. And so, you can strike that balance, and this is where I think social media comes into a great play to help people build their businesses that way, is that the trends now is [00:46:30] to show, you sprinkle in that little bit of personal side. So that's where things like Instagram and Facebook come into play, because they're very accessible, they're very recognizable to people, and the barrier to entry is very low. Anybody and everybody can be on the internet.                                              Whereas if you're doing something more technical, like if you're publishing a blog, or if you're publishing a white paper that is for a specific audiences, and maybe that is where you're doing your selling, you're doing your call to action. You're looking for engagement [00:47:00] in a very specific way, but there's no reason why you can't say to people, "I hope you have a great weekend," at the end of your blog post. And that, it's just personal enough that you're like, "I know this read like it was a painful technical piece, but I'm a person, I'm writing it, and I care about the people reading it, so I hope you have a great weekend." And I think that the more you share [00:47:30] of yourself, whether that's a video of yourself, or it's a live Facebook, or it's a blog, or whatever, the more you share of yourself, the more people realize that you're not just some salesperson.                                              And I bought a car two years ago, and the gentleman who sold me the car calls me every quarter. Every three months he picks up the phone, and he calls me, and he asks me how do I like my car. [00:48:00] Am I having any problems with it, is there anything he can do, please stop in and see me next time I'm having an oil change. And that's the conversation he has with me, every three months. I've been driving a long time and I've never had a car salesman or a woman call me ever again, after I bought the car. And this guy just calls. He calls at Christmas, he calls at Easter, and he just calls to say, "Hey, I really appreciate that you bought this car from me two years ago, I hope things are going [00:48:30] well," and what he means is, "I hope you'll think of me the next time you buy a car," and you better believe, I'm gonna think of this guy when I go to buy a car. Because he's doing it right. He's doing it exactly right. Roy Barker:                        Or even more importantly, referrals. Because how cheap is that? How cheap of an advertisement or marketing for him, is that phone call to you, and me and you are having a conversation. I tell you, "Well my car just died," and you're like, "Oh my gosh, I could put you on to [00:49:00] this guy." So, to me referrals are the very best source, and I think this is another parallel sales and marketing is that, in sales the general theory is that, while you get a product for your money, you generally buy the salesperson or sales entity, in which you're purchasing this because you have trust in them, you [00:49:30] like them. And it's the same for me in the marketing side, in that I tend to read more and listen more to more podcasts of people who I like, and feel somewhat of a connection.                                              Like you said earlier, I feel like they're a normal person. So people that, if you compliment them or their story and they take the time to respond to you, to me that means a lot. It means [00:50:00] they really care, they're not just putting stuff out there, hoping that they get somebody to call them, just to make a sale and be done, and move on. Is that they're really invested in this process, they want to build a relationship, get to know you, and then help you solve the problem. Because that's the other thing too, whatever we're marketing, whatever we're writing about, is not gonna solve everybody's problem. We have to actually ask a lot of lead in and followup questions to [00:50:30] determine, is this gonna be a right fit, which all starts with this conversation and engagement. Heather Deveaux:            Absolutely, and you're right about the relationship side of things. My experience is that, when I work with clients, the writing is such a small part, and it's ironic because that's what people pay me to do, but there's so much lead up to that, and there's so much engagement of, "How can I help?" And that is what really [00:51:00] goes the distance, is that people remember that you're there, whether they wanna talk about the weather, or whether they wanna talk about their next marketing piece, it's knowing that they've got someone on their side.                                              So I go back to my car salesman, I know if my car doesn't start tomorrow, I can call him and he's gonna have my back. And that's all people want, is they want to know that you're not just trying to make a buck, and that's where education, inspiration, [00:51:30] information, and relevance comes into content. And that's, tying it into sales and marketing, it's all about solutions. And I say solutions because, people aren't even talking about the word problems anymore. People have moved away from, "We're not here to solve your problems, like we have solutions. We're starting with the solution." And it's such an interesting shift, because for a long time, business was about, " [00:52:00] You've got a problem, let us help." Now it's about, "We just wanna help."                                              Whatever you got, if we're sales and marketing people, but you need some help with social media, if we can't do it, we're gonna connect you to someone who can help you with social media, because people come from a place of helpfulness. And I find that the more you offer to do for people, the more you get back in return, ten fold. And whether that you offer to write some content, or you offer to have a conversation [00:52:30] with someone about their social media, or you wanna coach them on marketing, if it comes from a place of, "Look, we've spent an hour talking about this, let me just try and help you," then people are more open to that. And when they get the sense that you're going to look after them, as a sales and marketing expert, I think that's all you really need.                                              People need to feel like they can trust you. They want to know that you're in your corner. That this is not something [00:53:00] that they know enough about themselves, or they're not comfortable with in doing themselves, and they're paying, first and foremost for the trust, that they can trust you. And that, I think that's really important, and it all comes back into, that's your content piece, that's your sales piece, that's your marketing piece. That all stems from a place of being genuine, being authentic, and being helpful. Roy Barker:                        Right, right, and it's so important that, [00:53:30] I guess we take that helpfulness route, that we sometimes even, as a salesperson, saying no is actually the way to build a relationship, and to further that into actually getting a sale later, instead of trying to take on a project or a task that you don't feel that you're equipped to do, or that's not in your expertise. [00:54:00] I think there's a lot of respect from a client, or a potential client, when you say, "You know I would love to do that, but just not what my expertise is in, but I've got five referrals here that I can help you find the right person." I think that goes a long way. Heather Deveaux:            For sure, it does, because it builds a level of trust they you're not taking them for a ride. And this recently happened to me. I had a client that wanted some graphic design word done, with the content that I was writing, [00:54:30] and I laughed and said, "Do you just mean make the words bigger and more colorful?" You don't wanna pay me any amount of money to do graphic design. I don't even pretend to know anything about it. I could write words for you all day long, but don't make me put pictures in this content. Roy Barker:                        Oh my God, it's funny you say that, because I've had that experience before. Somebody says, "I'm gonna make you a really nice graphic to go with this," and [00:55:00] it's like five letters that are bolded or maybe in a different color. Heather Deveaux:            Yeah, did I make that? It might have been me. Roy Barker:                        No, no, well Heather- Heather Deveaux:            Yeah, but it's true, and it's important to say to somebody, "Look, that's not my wheelhouse." And you've gotta, we've all gotta arsenal of people we can call on to say, look, I'm gonna refer you to Joe, or Bob, or whatever, and he's gonna look after you. And then they remember that [00:55:30] you did that, and that is important. Roy Barker:                        Right, right. Well Heather, I've taken a lot of your time today. I certainly do appreciate all the great information. The other thing I, we don't really have time to get in today, but I do want to have you back again. Because as we talk a lot about all these different channels, the different messages, long messages, short messages, curating others, putting information out there, having guests, [00:56:00] the other topic that comes up I think will be a next transition into, is creating some kind of a calendar, or a schedule ahead of time, so you know what you wanna do, and kind of can see these gaps that may or may not be, need to be filled in.                                               So, what I'd like to do when we get through talking here, we can set up a time to, talk about the scheduling part and the follow through to try to help people, [00:56:30] because it can be daunting. I mean just sitting here thinking about, I've got a podcast to record, I've got to post it, I've got a blog I wanna put out, I've got 12 Facebook posts, and then sometimes, you can just get to a point, like you said, it's just easier to go have a beer and not have to worry about this.                                              Anyway, what I'd like to do is invite you back. We can talk about the scheduling and the follow through, and how we can make all that happen. Heather Deveaux:            Sounds [00:57:00] great. Roy Barker:                        So if you don't mind, go ahead and tell everybody about how they can reach out and get ahold of you. Heather Deveaux:            Sure, so the easiest way to reach me is through my website, and that's triple w.heatherdeveaux.com. And it's H-E-A-T-H-E-R-D-E-V-E-A-U-X.com. And if people want to learn more about my workshops, they can check out the freelancewritingtool.com. Roy Barker:                        Okay, [00:57:30] well again, we wanna thank Heather for being a great guest, always providing great information for us. Also, I wanna thank you for being a listener of the Senior Living Sales and Marketing Podcast. Don't forget to go to iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher, download, rate, and also share with your friends. We'd like to get this out to as many listeners as possible. You can also find us at www.seniorlivingsalesandmarketing. Sign [00:58:00] up for our newsletter. That way we can notify you whenever a new podcast come out. Again, my name is Roy Barker. If you'd like to find out more about me and the advisory consulting services for the senior living industry that I provide, you can reach me at roy@roybarker.com. Thanks a lot and have a great afternoon.  

On doing this show for 4 months, Heather Lounsbury, L.Ac. realized that her listeners don't know enough about her, what she treats, and how she supports her patients in improving their health. So Heather has asked her friend and founder of Invisible Fitness J.J. Flizanes to interview her. Find out more about Heather and call in with questions for simple tools to live a healthier life. www.livenaturallivewell.com