How to cut through the noise of the online world

Hi. Jo Casey here again from the Meaningful Business Academy and jocasey.com. Today I want to cut through some of the noise, and hopefully give you a streamlined view of what it really takes to make it work in a meaningful business, whether that be as a coach, or as a holistic practitioner, or a healer, or a consultant, or a freelancer, because the industry, the online industry particularly, is still very new. There are a lot of people out there selling the one way to do things. You’ll have probably noticed, if you’ve been around for even more than a few minutes, that there seems to be a lot of conflicting one ways of doing things. The clue is kind of in the question that there isn’t one way. There isn’t one way, because if there was, then everybody would be able to buy the blueprint and sign up for the course, and then would be an instant success, and that’s not how it works.

The reason it doesn’t work that way is because we are selling something that is fairly intangible. We’re selling healing, and health, and well-being, and feeling better in the world, and the market is always changing. There is some relief to be had in that, because it means you can stop waiting for the one way to do it. Let me say that again, “You can stop waiting for the one way to do it.” There is no one way. There is no right way. There is no guaranteed way. You will make mistakes. You will try some things and they won’t work, and that is the way it is.

The reason I’m sharing this is, because there’s a lot of shiny stuff out there. A lot of shiny people with very white teeth saying how easy it is to make a business work online, and it’s just not true. It’s not easy, but it is totally doable. The problem occurs when those people who are saying, “It’s really, really easy. Just buy my thing,” or you know, “Just follow my 10-step program, or my blueprint, or whatever.” Then when you do that, and it still doesn’t work, you end up taking away this big feeling of failure and like there’s something wrong with you because it didn’t work. I want to free you from that.

I’m someone who’s bought a lot of courses in the past. I’ve taken a lot of trainings. I’ve tried a lot of different things, as have most entrepreneurs that you will speak to. Believe me, if there was one way, we’d have found it. You know what? You don’t want one way, otherwise that’d be like buying a franchise of a Subway or something. You don’t want that. You want to create a business that is unique as you are and your clients are. That’s great news. You can do that. It means that you can be creative, and you can be 100% authentic and in integrity, and you can be 100% you with this.

There are some truisms. There are some things that you can start doing off the bat that will build up and have an impact in the number of clients that you get, the number of interested parties, the number of inquiries that you have. It doesn’t matter whether are spending thousands of dollars on Facebook ads, or whether you are on the latest social media platform that’s come out. There are some truisms that never go away.

The first one is, show up and be SEEN. It sounds really obvious but, tell people what it is you do, and how you can help them. Talk about who you help, how you help them, and what you can help them with, to everybody you meet. You know, to Auntie [Bunder 00:04:09], to your dentist, to the people in the shop. Tell the people who know you already and already know how amazing you are. Keep telling people. Most coaches and consultants and healers find that their first paying clients come by word of mouth through people they know, friends, or friends of friends, or ex-colleagues. So don’t be shy about telling people what it is that you do and how you can help them.

Be authentic. Be yourself. You don’t have to be someone you’re not. You don’t have to have a particular haircut. You don’t need to wear a particular suit. You don’t need to get fancy head shots done, where you’re kind of looking over the shoulder like that, in that posed way. You don’t have to. You can can show up as you. In fact, the more you show up as you, the more you will resonate with the right people.

The third thing is, be consistent. Keep going. Keep telling people who you are, what you can do, who you help, what you can help them with. You know you don’t have to be everywhere at once. You don’t have to be Tweeting out 17 times a day. Start simple. Just think, “Okay. I’m going to talk to four people this week. I’m going to say ‘hi’ to one person each day on social media. I’m going to put together a flyer and tell people at my local community center what it is that I’m up to and offer to do taster sessions.” There are lots of things that you can do. In fact, there are 31 meaningful marketing techniques that I put together. They’re totally non-icky. You may have that already. Don’t worry if you don’t. I put it in the notes there.

But be consistent. Show up regularly. Own your expertise. Own your brilliance and keep telling people. That is at its essence marketing and promotion. Yes, we’ll get into more advanced ways of doing things. Yes, we’ll get into how you can increase your results, but for now, if you remember nothing else, it’s show up, tell people what it is you do, who you help, what you help them with, be authentically you, don’t try and pretend to be somebody that you’re not, and do it consistently, do it regularly.

That’s all there is to it. Doesn’t that feel like such a relief? You can do it in a conversational way. You can do it as a human, and you can do it as you, because that’s who people are going to be hiring. That’s who people need to connect with. I hope this was helpful. I will speak to you very soon.