Gift biz unwrapped episode 170.
Speaker:One of the reasons I like sharing this story is I
Speaker:really felt like I was very alone in that decision.
Speaker:I had so many people around me supporting me,
Speaker:but I also had people telling me I wasn't doing it
Speaker:right? Attention.
Speaker:Gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue And thank you so much for taking part of
Speaker:your day and joining us on the podcast.
Speaker:Once you're done listening,
Speaker:if you'd like even more gift of biz motivation,
Speaker:I'd like to invite you to join our private Facebook group
Speaker:called gift biz breeze,
Speaker:pursuing your business should be fun,
Speaker:exciting, and rewarding,
Speaker:not stressful and scary.
Speaker:When you join the breeze,
Speaker:it's like sitting in the park with friends who bring you
Speaker:all the support and the answers that you need,
Speaker:and that you've been looking for.
Speaker:You'll have access to a group of amazing creators,
Speaker:along with tools and resources to help grow your business.
Speaker:You don't need to do this alone to join the group.
Speaker:Just jump over to gift biz,
Speaker:breeze.com. I have to admit that,
Speaker:although I've wanted Bobby on this show for a long time,
Speaker:I wanted her to talk about social media.
Speaker:And when she decided she wanted to switch this up and
Speaker:really direct the conversation in different way,
Speaker:I wasn't so sure how I felt about it.
Speaker:And now I am.
Speaker:Oh, so glad we did.
Speaker:What happens when tragedy strikes and you have a business to
Speaker:run, how do you handle things?
Speaker:How do you make it all work out?
Speaker:That's what Bobby was so open and willing to share with
Speaker:us today.
Speaker:And I can't wait for you to hear from her.
Speaker:So with that,
Speaker:let me introduce you to Bobby Baney.
Speaker:Bobby is the president of think big go local,
Speaker:a digital marketing agency headquartered in the Chicago land area.
Speaker:They focus on entrepreneurs and have worked with over 300 clients,
Speaker:spanning dozens of different industries.
Speaker:They specialize in small business messages to get in front of
Speaker:their clients,
Speaker:ideal customer growing their businesses.
Speaker:And bottom line three years ago,
Speaker:Bobby lost her 25 year old son in a motorcycle accident.
Speaker:She is now passionate about turning emotion into productivity and sharing
Speaker:a message of strength and resiliency.
Speaker:And I have to tell you give business listeners.
Speaker:She is the one who came to me and said,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I think this is a message that can help a lot
Speaker:of people.
Speaker:And she is graciously going to be sharing that story with
Speaker:us today.
Speaker:But before we get into all of that,
Speaker:Bobby, welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Sue. I'm so honored to be here.
Speaker:So as you know,
Speaker:I like to start off the show in a little bit
Speaker:of a different way.
Speaker:And that is by having you describe yourself through a motivational
Speaker:candle. If you were to give me a color,
Speaker:like I don't already know what it's going to be,
Speaker:right, Bobby,
Speaker:if you are going to give me a color and a
Speaker:quote that is a motivational candle that represents you.
Speaker:Describe to us what it will look like.
Speaker:My motivational candle would obviously be bright.
Speaker:Yay, Surprise,
Speaker:surprise. And my quote,
Speaker:that would be on my candle,
Speaker:which is a quote that I look at almost every day
Speaker:is be strong when you are weak,
Speaker:be brave when you are scared,
Speaker:be humble when you are victorious and be bad every day.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Fabulous. Who wrote that quote?
Speaker:Do you know what?
Speaker:I actually don't know who wrote that quote?
Speaker:I've seen it all over the place and I'm not sure
Speaker:who wrote it.
Speaker:Oh, that's funny.
Speaker:Well, it's unknown,
Speaker:but it totally works with you.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:So take us back in time.
Speaker:First of all,
Speaker:I love the name.
Speaker:Think big,
Speaker:go local.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Perfect name for social media for sure.
Speaker:But I know there was a history before that.
Speaker:So give us a little bit of a feel of how
Speaker:you've gotten to where you are today.
Speaker:Absolutely. So I came from a corporate background and was working
Speaker:in that arena at the time that social media started to
Speaker:really become a thing.
Speaker:I was an executive marketing director and a pretty large nonprofit
Speaker:in the Chicago area.
Speaker:And they,
Speaker:as many other corporations did thought it was kind of a
Speaker:fad that this wasn't a place they wanted to invest time,
Speaker:invest money,
Speaker:even just to kind of see what it was going to
Speaker:all turn out to be,
Speaker:which was really frustrating to me because I just saw very
Speaker:early on how powerful at that time it was really Facebook
Speaker:and Twitter were what was out there.
Speaker:My space was there,
Speaker:but it was so different from what people were doing in
Speaker:that corporate environment.
Speaker:And so I just started to do some little side hustles.
Speaker:I was raising three kids on my own at the time,
Speaker:really needed that corporate income.
Speaker:That was pretty important to get them to where they needed
Speaker:to be.
Speaker:But I started doing social media for friends and for a
Speaker:family business that we had just trying to learn a little
Speaker:bit about it and I'm not going to lie.
Speaker:I was stalking my daughter.
Speaker:She had just gone off to college.
Speaker:So that was kinda made it interesting.
Speaker:And I learned pretty quickly that that was a really bad
Speaker:idea, but I was kind of all in,
Speaker:at an early stage.
Speaker:So Was it that you understood that this could be something
Speaker:big? What was it that you were about social media at
Speaker:that time that perked your eyes open and said,
Speaker:okay, well,
Speaker:I'm going to pay attention to this and then do some
Speaker:testing and figure it out.
Speaker:But nonprofit that I was working in actually served children and
Speaker:adolescents. And at that particular time,
Speaker:the larger group that was in Facebook was really that adolescent
Speaker:age kids in high school kids in college.
Speaker:So I was really fortunate to be in a market where
Speaker:we were serving adolescents and we had group homes for teenagers
Speaker:and boys that were transitioning from living in a group home
Speaker:environment to living independently.
Speaker:So this space and Facebook really,
Speaker:really spoke to this particular audience.
Speaker:And because I was watching this younger generation interacting and watching
Speaker:the things that were going on in college,
Speaker:it was just really ideal at the time for the audience
Speaker:that I was trying to attract really interesting,
Speaker:how it's changed so much over time,
Speaker:but when you're witnessing those conversations in real time and seeing
Speaker:how connected people were becoming,
Speaker:it was really hard to not pay attention and not to
Speaker:see the potential.
Speaker:Heck if I could connect with a boyfriend from kindergarten in
Speaker:this space who couldn't I connect with,
Speaker:if I was really trying to reach out and target an
Speaker:audience. So that was interesting to me.
Speaker:Yeah. And I just want to stop here for one second.
Speaker:And lot of us,
Speaker:this is a perfect demonstration of how smaller businesses.
Speaker:Now you didn't have a business yet,
Speaker:but you saw an opportunity there.
Speaker:And the bigger organizations just don't jump on things like this.
Speaker:And that's one of the benefits of smaller businesses is we
Speaker:can be so nimble and so quick to adapt to situations
Speaker:that we're seeing that can be really beneficial.
Speaker:And this is one of the ways that small business can
Speaker:get ahead of big business just by being able to move
Speaker:much quicker.
Speaker:So you didn't have your business yet,
Speaker:but you saw the opportunity.
Speaker:So continue on Bobby.
Speaker:Yeah. So I saw that opportunity and you're so right.
Speaker:And so I started incorporating it into small businesses for friends,
Speaker:for our family business and just was seeing those results.
Speaker:And of course Facebook was so different back then starting up
Speaker:a page per se was genuinely personal.
Speaker:They didn't have business pages at the time.
Speaker:And so the interaction was just so stimulating and motivating.
Speaker:So were you seeing Results in just new connections,
Speaker:so new prospects for people,
Speaker:or were you actually seeing new sales for these businesses as
Speaker:you were getting going Prospects leads and sales because it was
Speaker:so much easier back then to get good organic reach.
Speaker:Like everybody was a community in that space and to mirror
Speaker:what you said,
Speaker:why this really is so important is can you imagine having
Speaker:started your business page back then versus starting it right now,
Speaker:how challenging it is and for business owners to understand that
Speaker:ability they have to get in on something early and really
Speaker:kind of bring their TRIBE with them and create that audience.
Speaker:And sometimes it's probably not going to work.
Speaker:There's going to be platforms that come and go,
Speaker:but we don't have to wait through the corporate red tape
Speaker:and for someone else to be convinced that it might be
Speaker:worthy of the investment.
Speaker:And that was interesting to me too,
Speaker:that here's this young opportunity.
Speaker:I don't know if it's a fad,
Speaker:maybe Facebook would have gone away.
Speaker:I really had no way to know,
Speaker:but I did know when I was in that space,
Speaker:that people were connecting and having conversations and making recommendations for
Speaker:other people to come and see what you were doing or
Speaker:sharing your content with someone that might need your services.
Speaker:So it was just a really amazing opportunity,
Speaker:especially in that time.
Speaker:Yeah. And the only investment really was time because it doesn't
Speaker:cost anything.
Speaker:So I had been Working in the social media space for
Speaker:a couple of years,
Speaker:starting to really see some results and seeing things start to
Speaker:change and become a little bit more business focused.
Speaker:And I really knew this is what I wanted to do.
Speaker:I was kinda tired of the corporate environment.
Speaker:It really never was me.
Speaker:It just was my way to provide for my family.
Speaker:So as they grew and when my youngest went off to
Speaker:college, I decided at that point in my life,
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:This is what I want to do.
Speaker:I know I have value to give,
Speaker:I know that small businesses need to learn how to leverage
Speaker:these platforms in order to grow,
Speaker:because it was becoming increasingly obvious that they were not going
Speaker:to be going anywhere soon.
Speaker:And that this was going to become a really important part
Speaker:of any business's marketing mix.
Speaker:So I just made this crazy decision when my youngest was
Speaker:supporting herself at college.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what? If I fall on my face,
Speaker:now nobody suffers.
Speaker:But me,
Speaker:this is the time to go all in because at the
Speaker:time I was working full time and doing this on the
Speaker:side, and I knew that I really couldn't grow it to
Speaker:what I wanted it to be.
Speaker:If I didn't give it my full attention.
Speaker:So I went into work,
Speaker:I quit my job.
Speaker:And I just started sitting in coffee shops,
Speaker:talking to people,
Speaker:bringing on new clients,
Speaker:managing their social media.
Speaker:And that was really where things started to just start to
Speaker:pick up What learnings do you have from that?
Speaker:That's pretty bold move.
Speaker:Bobby. Is there any advice you'd have for somebody here and
Speaker:just listening to your story at first while you're talking,
Speaker:I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker:all right.
Speaker:Well, you proved the idea because you were starting to see,
Speaker:and it sounds like you might've had some clients somewhat lined
Speaker:up already.
Speaker:So you kind of knew what the potential could be.
Speaker:You didn't just jump and start fresh.
Speaker:You had research,
Speaker:you'd proven already that there was interest in what you were
Speaker:doing, but what advice would you have for someone who is
Speaker:maybe in your spot today,
Speaker:they see something that they really want to get going.
Speaker:They are looking at cutting the cord with corporate,
Speaker:but they haven't it yet.
Speaker:Yeah. That's such a great question because boy was,
Speaker:I lucky it could have really gone badly for me,
Speaker:but one of the pieces of advice I would say is
Speaker:I learned within probably the first two weeks,
Speaker:how important it was for me to avoid distractions.
Speaker:That was one of the toughest things was to come from
Speaker:sitting in an environment where you knew you had to be
Speaker:there. People expected you to be there to all of a
Speaker:sudden, have so much freedom to do things the way that
Speaker:you wanted to.
Speaker:And I learned very quickly that people felt like that meant
Speaker:I wasn't working.
Speaker:And maybe sometimes I felt like,
Speaker:Oh, I'm home today.
Speaker:And to really block that time,
Speaker:I had to learn to set daily goals and just to
Speaker:do everything I could to avoid the distractions so that I
Speaker:was giving as much focus to this business.
Speaker:As I would give,
Speaker:when I knew someone was kind of watching you in that
Speaker:corporate environment,
Speaker:I don't know that you could be successful without really giving
Speaker:just as much as you gave in that environment.
Speaker:And that was a tough shift to make.
Speaker:I think it's really tough going from corporate to having all
Speaker:that freedom to work when you want,
Speaker:where you want.
Speaker:I thought it was going to be a lot easier than
Speaker:it actually was.
Speaker:And so that would be my advice,
Speaker:Setting those goals and just making sure that you are,
Speaker:you're kind of your own watchdog at that point,
Speaker:making sure that you're not saying,
Speaker:Oh, you know,
Speaker:I'll start tomorrow because I want to take a day off.
Speaker:I deserve it getting down to business right away,
Speaker:Exactly. Getting to business right away,
Speaker:like knowing how many clients do I need to attract this
Speaker:month? How many do I need to attract this week?
Speaker:And what do I need to do to make that happen?
Speaker:Because at the end of the month,
Speaker:I still had bills to pay.
Speaker:Like we all do.
Speaker:So we've gotta be kind to yourself and,
Speaker:and you've got to schedule time to be away from your
Speaker:desk and all of those things,
Speaker:but you really had to structure it like a business from
Speaker:the get-go in order to reach those goals and make it
Speaker:happen. Another thought comes to mind based on the conversation and
Speaker:the comments that you had that people thought,
Speaker:well, maybe you're not really working because now you're out of
Speaker:the house.
Speaker:Right. Right.
Speaker:What type of adjustments did you make to actually set up
Speaker:your business so that it was professional out of the house?
Speaker:I had worked in the house for awhile and I found
Speaker:that to be distracting.
Speaker:So I started working immediately just set up shop in a
Speaker:local coffee shop where I kind of had my own little
Speaker:space and would just put my headphones on and just grind
Speaker:at it all day long.
Speaker:For me,
Speaker:that was what I needed to do to avoid those distractions
Speaker:was to just not be in the home environment.
Speaker:I didn't start this because I wanted to have a home
Speaker:office. I started it because I wanted to have a successful
Speaker:business. So for me,
Speaker:that meant getting out of the house,
Speaker:avoiding the cute little dogs,
Speaker:wanting to come over and play in the laundry.
Speaker:And all of the other things that are waiting for you
Speaker:in the house,
Speaker:I had to separate those two things that helped me stay
Speaker:business focused and avoid all the other distractions that were screaming
Speaker:at me all day.
Speaker:The other thing I really liked that you said is you
Speaker:already had a vision for something more than that.
Speaker:Your coffee shop seat,
Speaker:if you will,
Speaker:was kind of an interim to where you are today.
Speaker:So you already had the vision of,
Speaker:it was going to be out of the house.
Speaker:It was going to be an office space or whatever.
Speaker:And you started working yourself there right from day one.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Where Are you today to give everybody the whole picture here?
Speaker:Well, today we have a beautiful office out in McHenry County.
Speaker:We have a training facility here in our office,
Speaker:as we had talked about before.
Speaker:I'm incredibly passionate about small business so much.
Speaker:So we made a decision in our business that we would
Speaker:only serve small business owners almost three years ago.
Speaker:Now I brought on a business partner.
Speaker:I really couldn't sustain the growth on my own.
Speaker:And I also started to see that there were other services
Speaker:I needed to make sure my clients had set up properly
Speaker:in order to make the social media management count like really
Speaker:great websites and excellent landing pages in places where they could
Speaker:convert this audience and these relationships into paying customers.
Speaker:So when I brought on a partner,
Speaker:we opened an office so that we could work together,
Speaker:that we had conference space to meet with clients.
Speaker:And we made the decision at that point that we knew
Speaker:not everybody could afford our services.
Speaker:And so we opened a training facility so that we could
Speaker:teach small business owners how to leverage these platforms.
Speaker:And in turn,
Speaker:as they became more successful,
Speaker:it actually became a really great source of new clients for
Speaker:us because when people realize how to do it well,
Speaker:and they attracted their tribe and they got too busy,
Speaker:a lot of them came back and said,
Speaker:now we really need you to manage this for us.
Speaker:So it really turned out to be a great addition to
Speaker:the services that we offered.
Speaker:And my partner is absolutely fantastic.
Speaker:And that's really helped us to be able to go out
Speaker:and sell more,
Speaker:to have more credibility,
Speaker:more authority.
Speaker:And we're pretty happy with where we're at right now.
Speaker:All of this happened because you kept your eye on the
Speaker:needs of the customer.
Speaker:Absolutely. You didn't even know that training was going to be
Speaker:in the mix or building websites or landing pages or anything
Speaker:Had no clue,
Speaker:But you found it because you were watching what your customers
Speaker:experience and then what they needed next.
Speaker:Exactly. And I will say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we had mentioned this earlier that I did have a very
Speaker:life-changing events take place through the midst of all of this.
Speaker:That really made me dive into this even deeper than I
Speaker:had been in the beginning.
Speaker:So in the intro you had mentioned,
Speaker:my son passed away almost four years ago.
Speaker:And at that time I was working in the coffee shop.
Speaker:Still didn't have the office yet.
Speaker:And you get that phone call that there'd been an accident.
Speaker:I hope nobody can actually relate.
Speaker:It really was a terrible time.
Speaker:However, I knew very quickly after that,
Speaker:I gave myself about four days and thought,
Speaker:okay, I have a decision to make right now because it
Speaker:would be so easy to fall apart.
Speaker:I didn't have a partner yet.
Speaker:I was doing this on my own.
Speaker:I had clients.
Speaker:I was responsible to,
Speaker:even though I know every one of them would have said
Speaker:take all the time that you need,
Speaker:that. Wasn't who I was.
Speaker:And I had to make that decision.
Speaker:Do you go all in,
Speaker:can you keep on doing this?
Speaker:Can you get up and focus and keep making this happen?
Speaker:Or are you not going to be able to follow the
Speaker:structure by yourself anymore?
Speaker:And I really thought hard about it and thought,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:This is my opportunity to take this emotion and to continue
Speaker:to nurture something.
Speaker:And literally I walk into my office every day and I
Speaker:think about my son and think,
Speaker:I don't think I'd be here in this particular space.
Speaker:Having seen this level of success without having realized that I
Speaker:could take something really terrible that happened in life and turn
Speaker:it into an opportunity to grow something else and give credit
Speaker:to that terrible time in my life.
Speaker:And to say,
Speaker:Billy, we did this together.
Speaker:You were a part of giving me an opportunity to nurture
Speaker:something else and to put my energy into something that could
Speaker:help other people that could help me,
Speaker:that could make a difference in my community.
Speaker:And that was the choice that I allowed myself to make.
Speaker:And it was actually kind of tough to do that.
Speaker:There was almost as you're still going to work and people
Speaker:are kind of looking at you,
Speaker:like, what are you doing?
Speaker:Like, shouldn't you be at home crying?
Speaker:Shouldn't this have devastated you.
Speaker:It was kind of tough to just go back out there
Speaker:and say,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:no, this is what I'm going to do.
Speaker:I'm going to work harder and I'm going to share this
Speaker:success. And I'm going to just take all of this sad
Speaker:emotion and say,
Speaker:it's okay.
Speaker:I can internalize that and turn it into something else.
Speaker:And that was really big turning point.
Speaker:And it brought my partner into my world.
Speaker:We'd started working on projects together and I worked too hard.
Speaker:There was no doubt.
Speaker:I poured everything into this business for awhile.
Speaker:It's incredible.
Speaker:What happens when you put everything into a business that you
Speaker:have? Not that I would say I recommend going all in
Speaker:for everybody because it does also get pretty exhausting at some
Speaker:point. But yeah,
Speaker:that was really a pivotal time and really kind of led
Speaker:us to where we're at today.
Speaker:Just as much as all the other business decisions that we
Speaker:had made.
Speaker:So listening to your story,
Speaker:there's so much strength behind your voice.
Speaker:And I love that.
Speaker:And you and I know Bobby,
Speaker:and I'm now sharing it with GIF as listeners,
Speaker:we talked about this and you were saying,
Speaker:yes, I want to share my story about Billy,
Speaker:because I think it can help so many people.
Speaker:And my response to you was I know that a lot
Speaker:of people who are listening right now have gone through,
Speaker:or are going through very difficult times,
Speaker:whether it's a child or a parent or themselves with illnesses,
Speaker:that stuff comes out of left field and you're not expecting
Speaker:it. And then you're at a point it's like,
Speaker:what do you do?
Speaker:And you with your story first,
Speaker:thank you so much for sharing.
Speaker:And on behalf,
Speaker:all of us,
Speaker:we're very sorry about Billy.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:of course.
Speaker:But I'm curious if there's any other information by way of
Speaker:just thinking back of how you could make that decision to
Speaker:help our listeners.
Speaker:You were at a crossroads and you knew that,
Speaker:how did you make the decision to go right?
Speaker:Instead of left?
Speaker:I think that it maybe was just in my DNA.
Speaker:I don't know why I made that decision.
Speaker:It was just literally saying to me,
Speaker:this is the right thing for you to do.
Speaker:One of the reasons I like sharing this story is I
Speaker:really felt like I was very alone in that decision.
Speaker:I had so many people around me supporting me,
Speaker:but I also had people telling me I wasn't doing it
Speaker:right. That I was putting too much into work that I
Speaker:needed to grieve in a different way.
Speaker:And in all honesty,
Speaker:I went and I talked with a counselor and I talked
Speaker:through how I was feeling and what I wanted to do,
Speaker:because I kind of felt like I needed a little validation
Speaker:that there isn't a right or a wrong way to do
Speaker:this and that I get to own that and make my
Speaker:own decisions.
Speaker:So I did seek out some help in talking through it
Speaker:because there was a lot of conflicts.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there's a lot of conflicts in general,
Speaker:between family and friends,
Speaker:when there's tragedy,
Speaker:that strikes right in between marriages and things like that.
Speaker:And I want to share this story because I do feel
Speaker:like people sometimes feel really alone,
Speaker:especially when you own a business.
Speaker:And if you're an entrepreneur,
Speaker:you don't have a large staff and it's really you making
Speaker:this happen day after day,
Speaker:is that feeling of nobody gets that.
Speaker:I don't get to stay home and take a grievance,
Speaker:leave for a couple of weeks or get my benefits while
Speaker:I'm sitting home and grieving in this corporation will allow me
Speaker:to do that.
Speaker:It's really hard as a small business owner to take that
Speaker:time, because it's just not a luxury that most small business
Speaker:owners are afforded in my situation.
Speaker:I didn't have a spouse to help subsidize,
Speaker:and my goodness he would have been just as in the
Speaker:same terrible state of grieving as well.
Speaker:I just think it's really hard on small businesses and that
Speaker:I want people to know that really they're not alone and
Speaker:there's not a right or a wrong way to do it.
Speaker:And if you can find that strength and find the ability
Speaker:to say all the love I had for this particular person
Speaker:or this particular situation,
Speaker:I can take into loving myself and loving what I'm building
Speaker:and realizing a goal because you get to actually give credit
Speaker:to that situation for that happening.
Speaker:If that's what you want to do.
Speaker:And I don't feel like enough people really know what do
Speaker:I do now in that situation,
Speaker:how do I move forward?
Speaker:People are watching at the same time and is terrible as
Speaker:it is.
Speaker:They're often judging and telling you what's the right way to
Speaker:do this.
Speaker:And I would hope that maybe through hearing this podcast,
Speaker:that people can kind of break that if they ever get
Speaker:in that situation and say,
Speaker:I get to make these decisions.
Speaker:And I get to nurture the,
Speaker:that matter to me and move forward,
Speaker:Right? And nobody can judge the way you do it to
Speaker:your point.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:no one can tell you there's a right way or a
Speaker:wrong way to grieve.
Speaker:Exactly. And it's tough because people wanted me to be there
Speaker:for them through that time.
Speaker:And I was really just being in my business in that
Speaker:moment. That was where I needed to be.
Speaker:And it was tough for a while until I really saw
Speaker:what I was building and started to see the benefits of
Speaker:having done all of that nurturing in the business and working
Speaker:so hard on it and staying really focused.
Speaker:And I literally had to say to friends in the coffee
Speaker:shop, I switched coffee shops actually.
Speaker:So that I didn't know anybody new coffee shop to be
Speaker:able to say,
Speaker:I need to focus.
Speaker:And I don't want everybody to come and say,
Speaker:they're sorry,
Speaker:even though I know they are.
Speaker:And I know that comes from such a genuine place of
Speaker:love. I needed to take those distractions out.
Speaker:So once again,
Speaker:I was making a shift to be able to stay focused.
Speaker:So from the coffee shop,
Speaker:I'd spent time in,
Speaker:I had to move literally over to another town where I
Speaker:didn't know as many people and go in and say,
Speaker:this is what I'm going to do.
Speaker:And I'm going to focus on it and I'm going to
Speaker:do it without distractions to the best of my ability,
Speaker:which was a little bit of a struggle for a little
Speaker:bit too,
Speaker:but you just kept at it and kept looking at the
Speaker:changes and the impact that it was making on the business.
Speaker:And that became my motivation.
Speaker:Do you have any advice for like we were just talking
Speaker:about, you never know when something like this is going to
Speaker:strike and you certainly weren't expecting what happened.
Speaker:Is there any advice,
Speaker:is there anything you can think we could do for our
Speaker:businesses that if something like that happens,
Speaker:things can carry on for a little while without you,
Speaker:if you did,
Speaker:if you were feeling Bobby,
Speaker:like I need to take a few days off,
Speaker:but my customer's social media posts still need to go out.
Speaker:Like you have contracts with people on they're expecting things.
Speaker:And of course they would understand I get that.
Speaker:But is there anything hindsight you could have prepared for,
Speaker:to give yourself some space?
Speaker:Yeah. You know,
Speaker:actually, that's such a great question because as I train our
Speaker:new social media managers,
Speaker:when they come into our business,
Speaker:now, one of the things we talk about in the early
Speaker:stages of our training is that things do happen.
Speaker:They happen to all of us.
Speaker:They might be little things.
Speaker:They might be bad days.
Speaker:They might be big things.
Speaker:So that was a really good lesson in staying ahead of
Speaker:the curve,
Speaker:in having things done,
Speaker:things that needed to be done tomorrow.
Speaker:I wanted to have done.
Speaker:I now have done a week in advance so that you
Speaker:do give yourself that time.
Speaker:So even if it's just having it drawn out and having
Speaker:a roadmap that maybe makes it easier to follow for us,
Speaker:it could be actual creating content and having it scheduled a
Speaker:week ahead of time so that we know,
Speaker:but something does come up that we've got that little bit
Speaker:of buffer space tough for small businesses.
Speaker:Sometimes it really is tough and everybody's model is so different,
Speaker:but just keeping in mind that boy,
Speaker:what happens if I get sick tomorrow and I just can't
Speaker:make it in.
Speaker:Am I prepared for that?
Speaker:Is there a roadmap that I could hand to someone else?
Speaker:Is there someone else I trust are you bringing people into
Speaker:your business that could help you and pick up and go
Speaker:on? Are you cross training people that might be working alongside
Speaker:of you?
Speaker:So if something happens to one of you,
Speaker:the other one can pick up where you left off.
Speaker:It is important to not always easy for entrepreneurs,
Speaker:but definitely something to always keep in mind,
Speaker:because in all honesty,
Speaker:it's just a way to be kind to yourself when you
Speaker:need it and not have that pressure Even could be something
Speaker:as wonderful as a huge opportunity with a new client comes
Speaker:in that you have to 100% focus on.
Speaker:So you need to hand off some of your other things
Speaker:to someone else.
Speaker:So you can focus and not have an opportunity just fall
Speaker:to the wayside because you just couldn't give it the attention
Speaker:it needed.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:I mean your whole discussion here about having backup systems or
Speaker:bench strength cross-training I think is what you were calling.
Speaker:It is something that you can pre structure in your business.
Speaker:So that's something I would encourage everybody to think about is
Speaker:do you have other people who could jump in,
Speaker:think about it now when things are calmer,
Speaker:there's nothing going on about what would you do in a
Speaker:situation? Because after you have something come up,
Speaker:it's too late,
Speaker:you're not going to be able to get something put together
Speaker:to be able to accommodate a situation.
Speaker:The other thing,
Speaker:I'm sure Bobby,
Speaker:you have systems,
Speaker:you have something set up within your business.
Speaker:So there's some type of structure that someone could follow.
Speaker:If you weren't around to be able to direct somebody how
Speaker:to do something.
Speaker:Oh yes,
Speaker:absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:We have systems for each one of our clients.
Speaker:They all might differ a little bit,
Speaker:but all drawn out.
Speaker:It's all in writing what their content looks like is all
Speaker:in writing.
Speaker:So that absolutely somebody could come in and pick up the
Speaker:pieces and make those things happen on any given day.
Speaker:Wonderful. Any final comments on this portion,
Speaker:in terms of any other advice,
Speaker:suggestions, anything else that you experienced that you weren't expecting?
Speaker:I didn't know what to expect.
Speaker:It was also unexpected,
Speaker:right? I would say to anyone that would be going through
Speaker:tragedy is really to be kind to yourself.
Speaker:There will be so many people around you being kind to
Speaker:you. There truly are people genuinely care and want to be
Speaker:there. And I guess was surprising to me is how much
Speaker:I actually wanted that to go away kind of quickly isn't
Speaker:that sounds terrible.
Speaker:But I mean,
Speaker:I literally had to say to people,
Speaker:thank you,
Speaker:please. Not here.
Speaker:Like when I'm sitting in this space,
Speaker:when I'm working,
Speaker:I need to focus.
Speaker:And I had to literally ask people,
Speaker:could we not talk about it?
Speaker:Could you not approach me about that?
Speaker:Or literally say,
Speaker:thank you,
Speaker:but I'm here today because I need to work.
Speaker:And I appreciate it.
Speaker:And just to give yourself that power to say,
Speaker:I appreciate those sentiments,
Speaker:but I'm going to focus on this.
Speaker:I feel like even in those moments,
Speaker:we all feel like we have to take care of other
Speaker:people. And so remember you get to take care of yourself
Speaker:and ask for the things that you need to get to
Speaker:that place.
Speaker:You are trying to go and to find that inner strength
Speaker:as you get to ask for that and make that happen.
Speaker:Yeah. I think it's also good for that person.
Speaker:Cause I think if someone hadn't seen you and they walked
Speaker:up, they can't just say hi and not acknowledge that they
Speaker:know that something happened,
Speaker:but for you then to be able to say back to
Speaker:them, you're kind of directing them how you would like things
Speaker:handled. Cause most people don't know.
Speaker:Right. Thanks.
Speaker:No, it's a terrible position to be in.
Speaker:They really don't know.
Speaker:Yeah. And so you just helping direct them,
Speaker:I think puts them at ease too.
Speaker:So they know that you've acknowledged.
Speaker:Right. And then they know that that for the time being
Speaker:anyway, Exactly.
Speaker:Like just being honest,
Speaker:like really,
Speaker:it's just kind of an exercise and honesty is to be
Speaker:able to say,
Speaker:thank you.
Speaker:And then this is how I'm feeling right now.
Speaker:Or this is my strategy to get through this and putting
Speaker:it out there a lot of times,
Speaker:I don't think we feel like we can do that.
Speaker:And Yeah.
Speaker:And I think also knowing how you manage through things like
Speaker:that, we also had a tragedy in our family this year
Speaker:and I know the way I handle things is I draw
Speaker:inwards. Most of my friends already know that I'm going to
Speaker:be silent for awhile.
Speaker:I'm okay.
Speaker:But that's my way.
Speaker:And I think sometimes you need to communicate that to people
Speaker:too. Look,
Speaker:I'm fine.
Speaker:You're just not going to hear from me for a little
Speaker:while. Explain the situation and how you handle things and people
Speaker:respect that.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:That's exactly it.
Speaker:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So now I want to move on a little bit because
Speaker:you're such a specialist.
Speaker:I can not take this opportunity and hear from you a
Speaker:little bit more about social media today and suggestions or advice
Speaker:you have on how to manage social media accounts because,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:Bobby, over this last month,
Speaker:things have changed drastically Facebook yet again,
Speaker:new changes on the way and some challenges for that platform
Speaker:too. Obviously,
Speaker:what are your suggestions on how you manage social media today?
Speaker:Bobby's going to give us her expert advice right after a
Speaker:word from our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible.
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Speaker:Yeah, it is Really been a whirlwind couple of months for
Speaker:sure. And as I've looked around and looked at what's working,
Speaker:but I'm also really looking at what these platforms are doing
Speaker:and what they're saying.
Speaker:And I think that what's happening now more than has happened
Speaker:in social media before is that they are creating opportunities for
Speaker:us to really deepen the relationships that we've been talking about,
Speaker:creating in social media for years.
Speaker:I think everybody at this point hopefully understands that social media
Speaker:isn't necessarily the selling tool.
Speaker:It's the relationship building tool and to build relationships,
Speaker:we have to be our authentic selves and we need to
Speaker:be that so that we attract the people that want to
Speaker:work with us.
Speaker:And when I see platforms like Instagram,
Speaker:when they launched stories so cool,
Speaker:you can take people along with you on your journey.
Speaker:You didn't have to have that picture.
Speaker:Perfect polished photo to go on your timeline all the time.
Speaker:You had the opportunity to just be in that moment,
Speaker:crazy hair,
Speaker:makeup, no makeup,
Speaker:whatever it might be.
Speaker:The people who are watching you,
Speaker:they feel that authentic real you.
Speaker:Now I've looked now Facebook has stories on business pages.
Speaker:Facebook has personal stories.
Speaker:You can now do stories in groups and everyone in the
Speaker:group can contribute to the group stories.
Speaker:I think it's pretty hard to ignore at this point that
Speaker:this is what people want to consume that people want to
Speaker:see. What are you actually doing in the moment?
Speaker:Not what's all this polished stuff that you're putting up because
Speaker:that's all really very easy to kind of hide behind in
Speaker:a sense we need to give value.
Speaker:And when we give value over and over again in that
Speaker:space, people are attracted to that,
Speaker:but they might be attracted to that piece of content or
Speaker:that piece of value and not necessarily feeling like they're part
Speaker:of your actual TRIBE.
Speaker:And so at this stage,
Speaker:in the game today,
Speaker:we're putting a lot more focus on trying to understand and
Speaker:test what's working in these story platforms.
Speaker:How many people are watching them?
Speaker:How do we get them to engage and give us feedback
Speaker:in stories and that as well as live streaming,
Speaker:same kind of concept Facebook still giving a lot of credibility
Speaker:to live streams.
Speaker:We're not seeing as many people jump on while you're live,
Speaker:but so many people jumping on in that replay.
Speaker:So it is still being pushed up in the algorithm and
Speaker:getting a whole lot more attention than other content.
Speaker:So my real focus right now,
Speaker:and my advice to people right now is to really start
Speaker:embracing those platforms.
Speaker:Because if Facebook really sticks to what they're saying,
Speaker:we're going to have a really hard time getting our content
Speaker:seen. We need to start thinking in terms of creating groups
Speaker:really attracting the right people and then finding out how do
Speaker:we be that authentic self what's,
Speaker:that gift we have that attracts people to us that we
Speaker:can share in these story platforms,
Speaker:because those are being placed at the top of the newsfeeds
Speaker:in the middle of the newsfeeds on the side of your
Speaker:Facebook. I mean,
Speaker:really, if you just look at the platform,
Speaker:you see,
Speaker:wow, this is,
Speaker:and they run from one into another.
Speaker:So you have this opportunity for people to be watching this
Speaker:whole series and to be in it.
Speaker:So that's really what we're focusing on right now is really
Speaker:understanding those.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. Two questions for you on all of this.
Speaker:If somebody has not been using,
Speaker:let's just go with Instagram for now.
Speaker:Okay. So for Instagram you have the opportunity to post and
Speaker:it go on your account,
Speaker:right? And it stays,
Speaker:or there's an opportunity to do stories,
Speaker:which are in the moment,
Speaker:just like you're saying some real raw and authentic.
Speaker:They don't have to be picture perfect.
Speaker:Right? If someone is strapped for time just getting on to
Speaker:Instagram, is it okay if they don't post photos and just
Speaker:start with stories and go there first?
Speaker:I think they could.
Speaker:I think that they should post at least nine photos only
Speaker:because if someone goes from your story to follow you,
Speaker:you want to at least be able to show them just
Speaker:what you're about.
Speaker:You want them to be able to take that glance and
Speaker:understand what your business is about,
Speaker:what you're about and what your brand looks like.
Speaker:So you could certainly dive right into stories,
Speaker:but I would make a focus to at least get enough
Speaker:content in there that people would jump over.
Speaker:See it feel a connection to you and then immediately become
Speaker:a follower.
Speaker:And you could do that over time.
Speaker:You could do stories first,
Speaker:get the feel.
Speaker:If you haven't,
Speaker:if you're brand new,
Speaker:there may not be a ton of people watching your stories
Speaker:yet because you're still building your tribe.
Speaker:So it's a great time to get comfortable with the platform
Speaker:and learn it while you don't have a huge audience.
Speaker:So I think you could definitely do that,
Speaker:but keep the focus still on,
Speaker:just getting something up there to let people know what you're
Speaker:about. So it's just not a blank account.
Speaker:If someone goes and looks Exactly.
Speaker:Cause our goal is to build a following,
Speaker:right. To build an audience.
Speaker:So we want to make sure that we're able to do
Speaker:that when they do.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:And another question,
Speaker:I think a lot of people here are on Facebook.
Speaker:I've tried to make sure that everyone understands you need a
Speaker:business page.
Speaker:If you're on Facebook,
Speaker:if you're using Facebook don't and I have to say this
Speaker:every time,
Speaker:Bobby. So I just have to say it again is don't
Speaker:make yourself a personal account with your business name.
Speaker:It's going to get you in trouble,
Speaker:but we're going to make the assumption that everyone is doing
Speaker:on Facebook now.
Speaker:So I think many people now are doing Facebook stories.
Speaker:What do you say about the difference?
Speaker:If someone felt time-wise they needed to choose between Facebook stories
Speaker:or Instagram stories?
Speaker:Well, here's the beautiful thing from a business perspective is you
Speaker:don't really have to choose.
Speaker:You can go into your Instagram settings and do your stories
Speaker:and Instagram,
Speaker:and they will actually go over to your business page.
Speaker:So you really don't have to make a choice between the
Speaker:two. Now a lot of it really kind of depends on
Speaker:what audience do you have in each space and maybe what
Speaker:you do in those different spaces.
Speaker:And that might change your strategy a little bit.
Speaker:If you really talk specific to a Facebook audience,
Speaker:you might want to organically create those stories in Facebook.
Speaker:But if you talk in generalities and you're not specifically talking
Speaker:about an Instagram platform or a Facebook platform,
Speaker:it would save a lot of time for most small business
Speaker:owners to be able to maybe originate them in Instagram and
Speaker:let them go over to Facebook where people can watch them
Speaker:on your business page.
Speaker:Perfect. And it doesn't go the other way,
Speaker:Instagram to Facebook,
Speaker:but not go the other way.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:Great, excellent input there.
Speaker:So stories,
Speaker:if you want both of your audiences to see on Instagram
Speaker:and Facebook originated in Instagram stories and then connected up so
Speaker:that it shows Facebook.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yes.
Speaker:Perfect. All right.
Speaker:So I'm really hoping you have a really fun answer to
Speaker:this. Bobby,
Speaker:are you ready?
Speaker:Okay. Do you Have some type of a fun,
Speaker:special, exciting app or some source that you're using that maybe
Speaker:we don't know about for our social media?
Speaker:Well, so this isn't I can,
Speaker:I do too.
Speaker:Cause I found a new app.
Speaker:I love well,
Speaker:of course.
Speaker:Okay, good.
Speaker:First I think if you haven't been using Canva,
Speaker:if you're creating social media content,
Speaker:I am on there all the time,
Speaker:just such a fantastic resource.
Speaker:They now have a new feature where you can make animated
Speaker:gifts, which is a great way to get your content to
Speaker:pop out a little bit in the newsfeed.
Speaker:So I think that's just like for me,
Speaker:that's just one of those foundational programs that are going to
Speaker:really level up your social media.
Speaker:But I just recently found an app that I am enjoying
Speaker:so much.
Speaker:It's called
And what it does is it allows you to bring in
Speaker:a piece of content,
Speaker:a photo or a video and add these really,
Speaker:really cool elements like flames and glitter and snow and all
Speaker:kinds of things to them.
Speaker:Because again,
Speaker:with the limited reach that we're getting in social media,
Speaker:our content has got to get better in order to get
Speaker:noticed. And this app really lets you put in just these
Speaker:little bits of movement that just grab people's eyes and I've
Speaker:had so many people reach out and go,
Speaker:what app did you make that with?
Speaker:So people are noticing it and knowing that there's a trick
Speaker:to it.
Speaker:So I wanted to mention that one because I'm getting a
Speaker:lot of feedback on the post that I use it for.
Speaker:So really great way to make things jumped right off of
Speaker:that. Newsfeed Love that.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:my eyes opened wide when you said snow.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:And I'll tell you it's I think it's free.
Speaker:There are paid upgrades within the app,
Speaker:but I bought them all.
Speaker:They're also worth it because that movement just grabs people's attention,
Speaker:which is why we're seeing gifs everywhere is we're getting tired
Speaker:of the still photos and we're looking for something else that
Speaker:excites us and stimulates our brain in a new way.
Speaker:And this app really does Beautiful and give biz listeners.
Speaker:This is also a way if you're not comfortable in front
Speaker:of the camera to add some movement to your images,
Speaker:just regular images,
Speaker:whether they're still images,
Speaker:whether it's something that you've made a picture of from the
Speaker:office, whatever it is.
Speaker:But to add a little bit of movement,
Speaker:just like Bobby saying,
Speaker:it grabs the attention.
Speaker:So it could be a step closer to going live if
Speaker:you're still nervous and concerned about that.
Speaker:Absolutely wonderful.
Speaker:Well, Bobby,
Speaker:at this point,
Speaker:I would like to invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or goal of almost unreachable Heights that
Speaker:you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box Box?
Speaker:When I opened my box,
Speaker:there is a beautiful envelope in there.
Speaker:And in the envelope when I opened it up is an
Speaker:invitation to speak at a national or international social media conference.
Speaker:That is a big goal of mine right now.
Speaker:And if that gift was in that box,
Speaker:I'd be doing the happy dance all over the place.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:And you're already training.
Speaker:So it's just a natural for you to get on bigger
Speaker:and bigger stages.
Speaker:I sure hope so.
Speaker:That's where we're heading.
Speaker:Amen. Yay.
Speaker:You're going to circle back and let us know.
Speaker:Right? Absolutely wonderful.
Speaker:Where can our listeners get in touch with you?
Speaker:You can follow us on every social media platform we have
Speaker:at think big go local in Twitter,
Speaker:Instagram, Facebook,
Speaker:just about everywhere.
Speaker:I love direct messages from people and I encourage more people
Speaker:to start connecting in those platforms,
Speaker:using direct messages and don't be shy.
Speaker:Use audio,
Speaker:use some video,
Speaker:take a picture.
Speaker:I'd love to meet you that way.
Speaker:And I'm always open to answering any questions people have.
Speaker:You can always find me by email at Bobby it's B
Speaker:O bbi@thinkbiggolocal.com.
Speaker:And if social media is your thing,
Speaker:and you're looking as a small business owner to just have
Speaker:a place where you can grab some information as new things
Speaker:arise, we've got a Facebook group on our think big go
Speaker:local page called Bobby,
Speaker:be social media clambake and I'd love to have anybody joined
Speaker:in there.
Speaker:That's just looking for some small business advice so you can
Speaker:do what you're good at and have a place where people
Speaker:can say,
Speaker:Hey, by the way,
Speaker:this changed and you should know about it.
Speaker:Keep on working Beautiful.
Speaker:And you're the one to provide that information to us.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Bobby. Thank you so much.
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:really appreciate opening your heart,
Speaker:telling us your story.
Speaker:I think that's going to help.
Speaker:So, so many people who are in a situation like this
Speaker:and I encourage all of you give business and ours to
Speaker:make preparations just so that although nothing is ever going to
Speaker:happen, you're ready.
Speaker:At least partially if something does.
Speaker:So a very,
Speaker:very valuable message.
Speaker:Bobby. I super appreciate that.
Speaker:And of course then all your tips and tricks with social
Speaker:media. I hope people can put them into play.
Speaker:We all need to help each other.
Speaker:It's a tough game out there.
Speaker:Yes it is.
Speaker:Thanks again so much for coming on today.
Speaker:Thank You.
Speaker:So I appreciate the opportunity.
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