Simplifying Success: Tips for Streamlining Your Business and Thriving in the Online Space

Artwork for podcast Thriving Woman Project

Episode 14 • 7th February 2024 • Thriving Woman Project • Wendy Griffith

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Thriving Woman Project podcast, hosted by myself, Wendy Griffith. This is the podcast for women who want to level up and thrive in all areas of your life, health, and business. Join us as we cover a range of topics, all inspiring you to thrive and not just survive. We are here to work on the project of you, because I believe the best gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy and thriving you. It's time to thrive. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Thriving Woman Project podcast, episode 14 of season four. And I am delighted to have the queen of all things digital marketing with us today. The one, the only, Carly Mahan and personal girl crush of mine, literally the most beautiful human inside and out. Actually, I think what I love about you is your brain. Oh, thanks. I like that. I'll take that. You've got a big, beautiful, nerdy brain just like me for all things marketing, funnels, geeky stuff like that. So, welcome.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, thanks for having me. I'm excited. When you said you wanted me to, you said, we come on and we can talk all things funnels and nerdy stuff. I'm like, yeah, that is literally my dream, my dream time to spend with someone all over it.

SPEAKER_00:

excited for what you're going to share today because I know you're going to bring so much value to our community. And I can't wait to pick your big juicy brain. And so yeah, let's click on let's get straight into it. So just give our listeners like a little bit of a snapshot of who you are, what you do, and how you help online entrepreneurs.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. So much to share.

SPEAKER_00:

You have to tell everybody like how you got your start because I mean, when you when you see Carly, if you're watching this on YouTube, you'll be like, okay, I can see that I can see she looks like a dancer, but you've got to tell the full, you know, kicking your legs about.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, cool. So I did start out as a dancer. That was like always the goal. That was always the plan. There was never a plan B just from the age of like, two, I thought I'm going to be a dancer and that's going to be it. And I did have a really successful career, which I'm really proud of now. At the time, I always felt like I wasn't really achieving enough, but now I look back and reflect, I think, oh, I did good. I'm proud of that. So I did shows in the West End and all around the world and arena tours and stuff like that. And then I ended up getting injured. I went to an audition, pulled all the ligaments in my foot, and then instantly my career was over. And at the time, if you had told me a few years before that, that that was gonna happen to me, I would have just panicked and thought, God, what else am I gonna do? What else can I do? But at the time, I felt like it was really just like the universe pushing me in a direction and saying like, come on, Carly. Because I'd had that little niggling feeling, for quite a while that this wasn't fitting anymore. It wasn't feeling aligned. I wasn't feeling fulfilled. And I felt like that was the universe being like, all right, you're not going to take the jump. I'll help you out. And I feel like that happens so much, doesn't it? You've got to listen to that voice. When there is that voice in you that's saying, come on, this isn't feeling good. Maybe someone listening to this has that voice about the job that you're in right now or the path that you're following right now. And there's this voice and you know it's there, but you don't want to listen to it. Something is going to happen to jolt you in that way. So I then ended up doing like random jobs. I worked for Apple as a business specialist. I set up a clothing company where I would just make clothes for people. I did a taxi driving service. I taught myself how to sew and I set up a company called Carly Can Make That. and I just made all this like random stuff, anything that you wanted then I would make it for you but turns out that is like the opposite of passive income because I could only make so many A-line skirts. Yeah, it was real labor-intensive and I just didn't price myself properly at all. I was working for like, it's literally like I was in a sweatshop, it was like £1.50 an hour just churning out these A-line skirts and And I realized that wasn't going to work. And then I ended up stumbling into network marketing, which is where we met through the company that I used to work with. And I loved it. You know, I loved the idea that I could have control of my life and I could decide how much I wanted to earn. And I really felt like the skills I'd learned in dancing helped me a lot in that. Like, you know, in any kind of business, a huge part of business success is being OK with people saying no and you know getting knocked back up and getting knocked and getting back up again and I felt like that was a skill that I'd really mastered in my dance career because dancing is a savage industry and yeah and I ended up having like great success with that. I was with that company for 10 years and got to the very top level of that company and then I just started to like look into other ways of like digital marketing and I was learning about this whole big world of digital marketing and digital products and how you can create all of this stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

And I think that's such an important thing for everybody listening because often people think if they do start a business, that's it for life, like you're not going to switch it up. And I know for me, starting a network marketing business, that was like a training ground. And everything, as you say, that all that for you, the resilience building with dancing, et cetera. And so like you, because we were always on that very similar path, we were looking at like, oh, this online world is really blowing up. Like there's real potential here. Like I want a piece of this action. Like you're watching the greats like Amy Porterfield and, you know, like kind of Jenna Kutcher, all those people start blowing it up online. And you're like, actually, why can't I do that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, totally. That's the thing, the network marketing business was so perfect for me where I was at that point because I knew nothing about business and that industry and that business really taught me so much about entrepreneurship and marketing myself and all of those kind of things and really working by myself. I remember when I first left my job And I went all in with my business and I was like, I'm gonna have so much time. And then honestly, it took me about three years to figure out how to use the time that I had in a productive way. That was a real learning curve. And yeah, and then I just started looking into the world of like digital marketing stuff, really loved it, decided that I wanted to get really creative. I am really creative anyway. So dived into that, started creating online courses, realized the power of them, realized, God, there are so many people with incredible skills, in their head or things that they've learned in their job, which they think is a really boring, mundane skill. But someone over the other side is desperate to learn that skill and would pay good money to know what is inside that person's head. So I kind of got obsessed with helping people package their skills and their knowledge and their expertise into products that they could sell and essentially, you know, commercialize their knowledge. And that's what I dived into. I then ended up, had an incredible opportunity to become the CEO of a company called Girls Building Empires, which is a huge community. It's like 2.3 million female entrepreneurs, you know, all wanting to get into this space and learn, you know, online marketing and stuff like that. And then, so I did that for about a year. I decided to step away from that for reasons which we can get into in a minute. And then now, I have just launched my own software company. So, my own actual platform. As you do. As you do. I've like taken my nerd, I've realized over the few years that I'm actually not very cool. I'm a major nerd. I'm like as nerdy as you are.

SPEAKER_00:

You have totally out-nerded me, like 100%. You were the nerd for us.

SPEAKER_01:

Ah, well, I'll take it, you know, I'm a proud, very happy nerd. And so yeah, so I've launched this software now, which is now like an all-in-one marketing platform, which kind of just cancels out all of the other platforms that I was using to build my business, put it into one. And this is what I'm really helping people with now and really creating, you know, massive businesses without having to have this whole massive setup and this huge team and all of that. So that is a nutshell overview.

SPEAKER_00:

It's such a whirlwind because I know there's so much within that. But just something I just wanted to pick out of that is that you're talking about like streamlining it, de-stressing it, making it all sort of fit together. And I think that's, I mean, that's one of the biggest stumbling blocks I see with women getting into the online space is the tech. And so, I mean, that's what I help women with, with the Thriving Biz Club, really demystifying and saying, right, you don't need all these millions of things, and these are the simple steps that you need to follow. Because I do get quite frustrated, and I know you do as well, with like all this guff online about, oh, earn six figures while you sleep, you don't have to do anything rubbish. that sells people this false dream of like, oh, I can just launch a course and it's fine. But you need the basics. You need a list. You need an audience. You need to do the basics. And that's very much what I help people with. And then further along the journey, you obviously help people in your coaching with more, you know, building out those funnels and really getting those to work strictly and scale. And yeah, which reasons we'll get onto right now, like why you chose to do that. But I love that about your technology because That again is the biggest stumbling block for people is how do I set this all up? And another thing I just wanted to touch on because we've both been a victim to this is when you start to get that business success and you get in that trap of like more, more, more, hustle, hustle, hustle. grow my team, have people like, at one stage, I know you had a big team, I had a big team. And I was like, this is not cool. I'm not enjoying it. I feel like I was a manager, not like this free entrepreneur. So tell me a little bit more about that, like that journey for you switching from that hustle mindset. I think we all have to go there, don't we? We all have to do it for a time and then we burn out and then we realize it's not the way.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, for sure. And that's the thing, like, you know, I've reached burnout. way too many times than I like to admit. I really thought that I learned my lesson years ago, because as a dancer, you just go, go, go, go, go. Even if your leg is half falling off, even if you've got major injury, you're still going on. That phrase, the show must go on, is so true. There really is no main reason why you shouldn't get back up and get on stage. You've got a job to do. And that's what I brought into my business. So whenever I was doing my network marketing business, I was just always pushing through, like even when I had my kids, I've got two kids now, Frankie's four, Margo's two, and with both of them, I like snapped straight back into it after I had them, you know, straight on the phone, straight hustling, and I never really stopped and took any time out. And so when I, it kind of came all to a head when I took on the role in Girls Building Empires, that was like, There were so many elements of that. First of all, being the CEO of such a big group of people, I lost my identity because I really felt like I had to be a CEO, you know, like suddenly that title just made me feel like, oh God, I need to step up and I need to, you know, be a CEO type. So I started like not showing up as myself. I wouldn't swear, even though I swear probably every third word, which my mom isn't proud of, but you know, my language is not the best. I started not showing my stupid, you know, funny side. I was very serious. I was very business. And I just started like really showing up as someone that was not authentic to me because I felt like I had to live up to this title, you know, this role that I was now in. We can all relate, definitely. Yeah, totally. And then coupled with that, you know, when you have an Instagram account which has 2.3 million followers, you do not want to lose followers. Like that is, the people, as a little backstory, it was actually like investors bought that account for a crazy amount of money, like a crazy amount of money. So obviously me then taking that on, I need to make sure that that asset that they bought is going to continue to be profitable and is going to continue to hold its value. So what comes with that is a huge amount of pressure to be posting all the time, churning out all this content, you know, go, go, go, go, go on social media. And I now realize that that doesn't serve me at all. Like that way of life, that way of running a business, that way of showing up online is just not me. And it really was not aligned with how I like to run my business. So long story short, when I was in that role, went to Barbados, went on this dream, like, you know, away for almost a month. with my family in this beautiful place and I've never been so stressed. I was ill for 10 days of it, literally couldn't get out of bed. I had rashes coming up on my body. Yeah, it was so bad and I just had got to a point where my body was screaming at me like, you know, as I said, I was having physical responses to stress in my body and I was having stomach cramps and, you know, rashes and everything like that. And kind of reached a point where I was like, I don't like who I am right now at all. Like, I am so stressed. I'm shouting at my partner. I'm not a good mom to my kids because I'm just like so anxious. They make the slightest noise and I'm shouting at them. And I realized that that was just not what I wanted. So I decided to step away from that. which again was a really big decision because you know, the first thing that comes to your mind is everyone's going to think I failed. You know, everyone's going to think that I wasn't cut out for it, that maybe I'm not that good at digital marketing, or maybe I'm not that good of entrepreneur, blah, blah, blah. And then I just thought, you know what? I don't care. Whatever they think of me, I know I'm great at what I do, but I know this is the wrong fit for me. So decided to take that jump and leave, which was the best decision ever. And really kind of why it did so much for me was just It really empowered me to know that I'm in control of this ship. You know what I mean? I'm steering my life and I have the courage to step away from things that aren't serving me anymore. But then what came with that was almost starting again. I'd put everything that I'd built on hold up until that point. I literally scrapped it all, went all in with that. Whenever I'd do anything, I'd go all in. And yeah, just literally started again, but then it's intense, isn't it? But then I had the opportunity to say, right, I now know exactly what I don't want to do. I know what doesn't light me up. I know how I don't want to do it. I know that I don't want this massive team because I had this huge team of people and Just that was a whole job role in itself. And I was like, you know what, I'm going to go by myself, no team, take it back, old school entrepreneur style Carly. And honestly, I've never been happier. And it's given me so much freedom, like over Christmas, I took six weeks off social media entirely. And in the whole 12 years I've been in business, it was epic.

SPEAKER_00:

I can't remember the longest time I hadn't done that. And fully enough, I'm coming up to a big holiday that I've been planning to take for a little while now. I'm going back to South Africa to see my family. It's been three years. And so this trip really means a lot to me. And I was like, I'm not feeling the pressure to post anything work-wise because I've been consistently churning out content for like five years now. So like, it's fine. I'm not worried about that. But I was like oh I might just like post what I'm doing on my holiday on social media and I thought oh could the challenge be just to not, just to completely get a break, come off it and then I can share later like if I want to.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the thing, like, you know, at first you're thinking, oh my God, my whole business is going to crumble. And, you know, what I teach a lot is systems and automations and passive income and stuff like that. And I was like, you have to show that this works now. You know, like you have to, you can't say it only works if you're consistently showing up at the same time, because then that's, you're not proving your method. So I thought, what if I do just literally step back, let my content do the work, let the content that I've been putting out for years do the work. And yeah, and it was the best thing ever. It gave me so much space. I literally found myself again, which sounds so like cliche, but I really found myself. I really listened to what I like.

SPEAKER_00:

And I think so many times, women, mums especially, like working mums, I'd say, like, I don't know about you, but I'm just like, I just need a mental health break. I just need to like not make decisions and just, be. But also in that, it can be so uncomfortable, can't it? Because you're like, oh, what is this? I mean, recently I've resigned from some volunteer projects and I've moved my business around to fit my lifestyle like yours. And yeah, it's quite uncomfortable to begin with because you're like, oh, I'm not crazy busy anymore. And then you're like, oh, is that bad? Does that mean my business is going to drop? And it's always the opposite, though, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

And that's because, you know, this was a real realization to me that I tied my worth to how busy I was. I was like, if I'm literally flat out and I'm crawling into bed at night, then I'm going to be worthy of this success. Then I could be like, yes, that's the only way that I'm going to put up a wound. Yeah, exactly. You have to like literally blood, sweat and tears. And then I thought, what if it's not like that? And what I've really done over the last year, I've had a major focus on like, getting rid of all stress, anything that causes me stress I don't do but then also just really getting comfortable with simplicity and we were talking about this before but you know like our brains are very simple in the sense that we always want to be doing stuff, always want to be creating stuff and then I've really had to train myself to be okay with the simple things. So this is what I teach now. I teach one, one power funnel. That's what I'm going to teach you how to do. I teach you how to do, you know, simple things, simple automations. How can we get what you want to get in the simplest way with the least amount of steps and the least amount of stress? And it's uncomfortable for someone that is, you know, a recovering workaholic. I still find myself trying to, you know, make things more complex than they need to be.

SPEAKER_00:

I find myself trying to break things or overcomplicate things because I feel like then I deserve the success more. It's a really weird psychology. It's something that no one ever tells you about when you become an entrepreneur, that tension of like value you attach to. Yeah. And I would say like I've definitely even though I have a business that suits my lifestyle, I would, I would definitely say that at times I've dipped into that workaholic camp where it's really hard to switch off because there's always one more thing and, you know, one more thing. And I think there's a lot of that in the network marketing industry that just do one more thing, just, you know, send one more message like hustle, hustle, hustle. And yeah, for me, it's, it's about building a lifestyle. you know that prioritizes important things like stress management like you were saying. So just because I'm like so nosy and I know some like some people probably be like wanting to ask this question too. So when you say like you've removed stresses from your life, tell me, can you tell us like a couple of the stresses?

SPEAKER_01:

So these are all like, these are going to be different for different people. And I think the most important thing is first of all, tuning in and recognizing what causes you stress. Like they're stupid things for me. But when I realized them, I was like, oh, that really does not put me in a good state. For example, in the morning, my partner is a like, get up and go. He wants to get up, get all the lights on, get going. And I'm like, don't do it. And he used to come in to the bedroom, turn the light on, like I was in some kind of concentration camp, and then like, just get us out. And I'd be like, no. So I sat him down. I was like, Kurt, you like to get up early. I don't, I don't mind getting up early, but I want a slow start. So like, I want slow, I want the light. Yeah, I want the lights to come on slowly. I wanna sit for two minutes and just drink my cup of tea. And so my morning starts out, I don't have a miracle morning routine. I don't like sit and meditate and do all of that. Like sometimes I'll sit and read if I've got time to do it. But the most important thing in the morning is that it's slow. So if he starts rushing me, I'm like, no, we're not gonna do this. have a little moment by myself in bed with my cup of tea, reading or on my phone or doing something like that. So that's a real key thing. I've also planned in a slow morning with the kids and I don't know if you can feel the same but it feels like so much you have to plan everything all the time with kids, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

The activity, are we going to get to Jolly Jumpers at 10 o'clock and then I'd be like panicking.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. So nothing starts with the kids until after 11 because they actually like to get up, play with their toys, have a little roam around. I like to do that as well. So we don't start anything until after 11. With your toys, your software. Yeah, I know. I'm like, I want to play with my software toys. So slow start like that. Definitely prioritizing sleep has been massive. So I have my Oura Ring, which has been really cool to really track my sleep and get into a good rhythm and it started to show me now that I'm on a really good sleep rhythm. Not that I'm like, you know, going to bed, bang on, you know, 10 o'clock every night and I'm like, it's not like that. I have two kids, like, you know, it is wild, but I'm just really prioritizing the sleep and really tracking my sleep because I realize that has a big impact. You know, cutting down on my, I don't book anything in the evenings, so I now have no calls.

SPEAKER_00:

I used to find it such a stressful thing. No one was even asking me, it's like, if I do anything, I had something last night, I went to an event and it was like, ooh, going out at night, this feels really, but even that I was like, do I really want to do this?

SPEAKER_01:

That's the thing though, like, you know, I was booking in loads of coaching calls on, like, a Tuesday evening or something like that and it caused so much stress because I was trying to get the kids down to sleep. I was trying to get them to sleep on my timeline and it's just like, you know, they're not sleeping. So I was like, this is ridiculous. I found myself always, like, trying to reschedule and cancel and move and stuff like that and I was like, nah, nothing goes in now in the evenings. and now my partner works really late so I get the kids down to bed and then I can have a long bath, I can sit and do some work if I want to, I can binge all seasons of Love Island and it is literally a dream. You're such a, you're a Coco Popsaholic and a Love Island fiend. I've never had Coco Pops and Crap Telly but you know it helps me switch off but then so this is just stupid things right so this is going to be different for everyone else.

SPEAKER_00:

But they're not. They might seem silly and superficial but they're not because ultimately self-care isn't about spa days and bubble baths, it's about what is going to help nurture you in your life. And if that's what you need to do to feel whole, then you do it. Because again, I feel a little bit like in the entrepreneurial world for a time, there was this whole, right, got to get up at 5am, you got to like, stand on your head, read a book, do the whole thing, then you need to like hustle, hustle, hustle, work, work, work. I just completely switched off from all of that. I was like, no, you can't tell me what to do. Not that anyone was telling me what to do, but you know what I mean? You put that pressure on yourself and everyone's so different.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, even when I told Kurt and I said, you know, I'm on a slow morning, he was like, yeah, but he started listening to Ed Milett's podcast and now he thinks that he is Ed Milett. He wants to give me all of his wisdom. He was like, well, when you listen to these podcasts, they all say that you should get up early and you should, you know, be doing all of your stuff. And I say, well, that's fine. We're different. And like, I have to just tune into what makes me happy, what doesn't cause me stress. What does cause me stress? And that's it. And so that's the most important thing, first of all, is like tuning into yourself and what lights you up and blocking out all of the noise of everyone else and what you should be doing. I talk a lot about the word should and the fact that we just should all over ourselves, which is just, you know, as soon as you find yourself saying I should do this or someone said I should do this, then that's when you know that you're setting yourself up for failure. So should just does not enter my vocabulary anymore. And I just really don't do anything that I don't want to do. And it's not easy, you know, and I do say no a lot, especially to like a lot of people. You know, if people say, hey, what are you doing? Do you want to catch up and have a coffee? And I'm like, No, not that I don't want to, not that I don't want to see people because I do see the people that I feel really light me up. But if I, if I come away from a conversation with someone and I do not feel better about myself, my goals, my vision, or just my energy in general, I just don't put myself in that position anymore. Much to my partner's dismay, sometimes he's like, babe, you do need to like be a bit more flexible, probably like with some of the girlfriends of his friends.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm like, well, I just don't want to do it. I'm like literally a nodding dog because I am the same as you. Do you feel overwhelmed or just a bit stuck with how to market your online business? Maybe you've dabbled a bit or you followed various advice you've gleaned online, but something is still not clicking for you. If you're feeling unsure about how to reach your ideal clients so that you can serve and help them like you were called to do, then you may want to check out my Thriving Biz Club. This is my program for wellness business owners who are destined to grow a thriving online business. In it, we cover topics like branding and speaking to your ideal customer, selling on social media, creating your first automated funnel, and nurturing your growing online audience through email marketing. But what makes this extra special is the community and accountability that comes with it. Join us for ongoing support with our monthly coaching and co-working sessions, as well as our WhatsApp community where we share for accountability and take inspiration from others. We also become your personal cheerleaders in business. The Thriving Biz Club is the program I've created that I wish I'd had when I first started my business over a decade ago. To learn more, go to the link in the show notes of this episode, because you deserve to create a healthy, sustainable, and thriving online business without the stress and hustle. Maybe this is going to sound a little bit like big headed, but like, if you are in a position where you have influence, and, you know, people like want a piece of you, you know, they want your time, your energy, your thoughts, all that kind of thing. We are both people that people are attracted to and they come to for advice and all that kind of thing. But it's so funny the boundaries you put in place because I would never, I mean, if I really needed to ask you a technical question, I would message you. But also, I respect the fact that I'm not paying for your services. I can't just come to you and be like, Hey, Carly, give me some free advice that you took years and investment to learn. Like it never ceases to amaze me how much people, if you allow them, will take advantage of your energy. And if you find yourself sapped in that energy, I'm constantly by the same, and you know, I love people, I do, but I'm very introverted in the sense of like, once I'm around a lot of people, I need to recuperate and I need to build up my skills again. So for me, I'm just so conscious of that nowadays and just not allowing people to just have so much access to me. It's like, yeah, like I'll be friendly to you and I'll chat to you and see you on the school run or whatever. I give my time very cautiously to people.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I was saying, but you know, this is why a lot of my kind of my platform, my software came about because I've been working with my clients and I really genuinely do want to help everyone. I feel like I just want to fix everyone's problem. As soon as someone comes up to me and they're like, I'm thinking of doing this. I'm like, yes, okay, let's do it. And I get really into it. And I was finding myself just giving way too much and just doing so much stuff for free. And I was like, this is crazy, but I don't want to stop. These people that want to learn what I know, I don't want to stop and I don't want to have to charge them hundreds of thousands of pounds in order to get it. So what I did was that with my membership clients and stuff like that, I'd be teaching them what to do and then they just get stuck at the tech and they'd be like, I just don't know how to do this bit. And really what I wanted to do was I wanted to go into their account, open it up and build it for them. But obviously that costs a huge amount of money. So then that's what kind of got me thinking of like, what if I could create a platform where I could do this stuff for them, where I could build this stuff out, these things that I use in my business all the time. And when someone opens up an account on my platform, I could just immediately put it in their account. It's already built for them. So that's what I did. So with my platform, I have my 10 core funnels that I use. I have my challenge funnel, my lead magnet funnel, my course funnel, my one-to-one coaching funnel. And when someone joins, they have all of those funnels, all of the automations, all of the emails, everything already built out in their platform. And then I thought the tech side of stuff, like I hate it when I can't get a tech question answered. So that's why I've heavily invested in the support aspect of it. So I get 24-7 live support with actual people. They can get on a Zoom call with someone. They can share their screen. They can say, where do I click? What do I do here? and there's actual people to help them. So even though I personally have like set my own boundaries, I didn't want to stop the support. I didn't want to stop being able to help people and just be like, well, I've got these boundaries now. So, you know, you can figure it out. And that's why this, yeah, this platform was such a huge piece of, you know, stepping in so that I could still help them so much more. I think there's a couple of things. It's like,

SPEAKER_00:

Systems and automation give you more flow and give you more time. People don't necessarily sit down and invest the time to do those things because they think they don't have time. But ultimately, by setting that up, you create time. So it is that investment. And I'm sure you'll agree with me on that, like it does. But then it's also working out like what's actually going to help you, not what you think you should have in your business. And that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I had a client come to me the other day. She said, Oh, I've just got on the platform. So excited. I'm going to start building out my website. I was like, babe, don't build out your website. If you don't have anything to sell right now, you're not making money and this is just a really expensive hobby. This is an expense for you. So before you jump into a website, before you jump into all this other stuff that you see other people doing, think about the fastest route to you making some money and that is Building out an email list, so getting a lead magnet out there and having something to sell, whether that's a one-to-one coaching offer, a mini course, a tripwire offer, whatever, you have to have something to sell. So how can you get something and get it in the hands of people as quick as possible? So that's what I would say if anyone's listening and you're like, oh.

SPEAKER_00:

No, and this is a website. Get a funnel. Exactly. This is just so why I set up the biz club because I was like, this, these are the basics people like when exactly when someone's like, I need to do a website, I need to write a course. I'm like, okay, who's going to buy this course because you don't have an email list. Even when you have an email list, you're already going to convert it like one to 2% of that list. So talk me through the numbers here. And they're like, well, I'm going to, I'm going to charge like 50 pounds. And I'm like, okay, so how many, of those do you need to sell to actually make it worth your while? And walking people through the numbers of this and they're like, oh, oh. And it's so interesting though, cause you got your start. And I think for anyone who is listening and it's like, okay, so what do I, like, what would I create a lead magnet on? Like, what would I even say? And my advice, and I'd love to hear yours, is always to think about the person that you were three to five years ago and like what you were maybe struggling with and what would help you and also give a quick, Fix, transformation, a quick hit, because I know obviously one of your first courses that you launched, I'm such a fan girl, I know this, was your podcasting course, because you started a podcast and I bet you people were coming to you going, Kali, how do you start a podcast? And you were like, right, I can just keep telling people this information for free, or I could create a low ticket item, pause price, I think it was like 97 quid or something, where people could buy it and learn how to start a podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's it. I always say like if someone is coming to you and saying, can I just pick your brains about something or I was just thinking about this and it made me think of you. If anyone ever says that, if any, you know, if a couple of people come to you and saying I thought of you, then that's when you know that you're onto something there. And as I said, it could be the most boring thing. I mean, there's a woman that's just, you know, she's made so much money teaching how to do Excel spreadsheets. That's my worst nightmare. I've got no idea about Excel spreadsheets, but I would definitely pay someone.

SPEAKER_00:

I think she's my Excel expert in my business.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, nice, nice. But that's the thing I think, you know, if something, you always want to think if something comes naturally to you that other people seem to struggle with, that's a really great thing to do. And even if you think it's common knowledge, it's so not common knowledge to other people. And exactly like that, that lead magnet is like, just teach someone the first step, you know, or even like a checklist or something where they can give all this information away for free, like just give them enough.

SPEAKER_00:

that they can go away and actually implement that because like you'll know this like the stats around courses and people doing stuff like it's terrible like people completing things so actually the shorter and the quicker you can get someone to a transformation and a deliverable the better.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah for sure and the thing is like people will second guess themselves and think, Oh God, I just, I'm not an expert on this though. I don't know everything about that. I didn't know everything about launching a podcast, but I could definitely teach someone how to launch a podcast. You know, there's still so much more I could learn about digital marketing. You don't need to be an absolute pro in it. But I think most of the time, to be honest, the content that you should be creating, if you're wanting to sell a course, you're wanting to get a lead magnet out there, you're wanting to build your email list. It's not even so much about trying to show that you're the expert. It's really just about trying to show your ideal client, you just want to highlight that they have a problem and that there is a solution to it. Most of the time, people aren't even aware that A, they have this problem and B, that there is a solution to it. So for example, the whole world doesn't know about digital courses. So it's my job to go out there and show them that The way they're working in their job right now, you know, working however many hours a week and getting paid very little is not the right way. And there's another way of doing it. You know, they're not leveraging their time. They're not, there's a cap on their income. So really most of my job is not about trying to sell a course. It's not trying to do anything other than just highlight that this is a problem for some people and that there is a different way of doing things. I love that.

SPEAKER_00:

That is so powerful. If anything today, take that advice away. And that's exactly that. I think a lot of people will get into that old school way of marketing where they're like, And this is what I've done. And this is what I've created. And this is what I'm great. And it's like, nobody cares. Use stories in your acting. Tell people stories. Yes, take them on a journey. Like this is where I was, this is where I am now. But I always teach my acronym P.A.S. Problem, Agitate, Solution. So what is the problem someone's facing? I don't know how to launch a podcast. I want to, but I don't know where to start. Like agitate that a bit. You know, have you always wanted to like, have your own chat show, whatever, you know, and it's that kind of like tease out the problem for them. But you want to start a podcast, you've got a great message to share, but you don't know how to set up all the tech or what you need to do that. Brilliant. Like, here's the solution.

SPEAKER_01:

And there's a whole layer of awareness that happens before before they even get to the point where they realize they want to start a podcast. There's a whole layer of awareness of like, I'm posting all the time on social media and nothing is happening. You know, like no one is coming to me and asking me for coaching or no one is doing this. So the layer of awareness there is showing that actually maybe social media isn't the right route for you to get new clients. maybe it's podcasting. And podcasting is a great way of moving someone along the buying journey a lot quicker, because they know I can trust you so much quicker. So maybe a podcast is an option. So, you know, sometimes just going straight in with the, this is your problem, this is how I'm going to fix you. And, you know, a lot of this awareness phase, I do exactly like you just said, in a lot of like storytelling, because sometimes someone doesn't want to read a piece of content where it's like, you've got this problem, this is what you're doing wrong, blah, blah, blah. A lot of the time if they read a story, about, say for example, me and how I got to that revelation myself and how I got to that point. They then start to relate and think, oh yeah, that's me actually. I can totally relate to them. And then it's them that's come up with the discovery that they now want to start a podcast. It just lands a little bit better. Storytelling is so powerful and I use this a lot

SPEAKER_00:

I was actually saying this morning to a client, funnily enough, and I thought it was so good I had to share. It was like, if you think about Jesus Christ and you might be like, oh no, where's she going with this? Don't worry, I'm not going to whip out my Bible here. But one of the fundamentals, whether or not you believe in Jesus or whatever, like historians, there's no doubt he walked this earth 2,000 years ago. But one of the key ways, bear in mind there was no social media back then. One of the key ways he got his message out to people and created this Christian movement was through parables and sharing stories. And he would use the different stories of the wise man and building your house on the rock and the sand. And even if you're not a Christian, you probably remember those stories from school, don't you? Because those stories were shared and they stick in your mind because they take you on a journey. They illustrate the whole one about the seeds and the weeds and rooting your... And so for me, I was just like, Storytelling, if you take anything away from today, is just, is the way. Take people on the journey, speak to them in analogy, speak to them in terms that they can understand. Don't try and impress them with all your expertise and your knowledge. And that's what you've always been amazing about, Carly, is that you've always shown up really authentically. You've been very vulnerable when you've needed to be. And when I say being authentic and vulnerable, I don't mean like vomiting all your personal junk all over people, which is what people think it means. But it's actually being really real with people and saying, I sucked when I first sent my first email. Totally, that's the thing I think I sucked.

SPEAKER_01:

When you get into this expert space, and I use the fingers because you're not really an expert. What are they called again? I want to call it an umlaut, but it's not. No, apostrophes. Oh yeah, that's it. I felt like Joey then in Friends, you know, and he's like, you're using it wrong. When you get into this expert space, you suddenly feel like you have to constantly show like you know everything. And I think sometimes the most powerful thing is when you do show that you don't know everything, because then someone can relate and they'd be like, look, she's clearly further ahead than I am, but she also makes mistakes. So maybe there's hope for me because I also make mistakes as well.

SPEAKER_00:

And your emails are so good with this. When I see your email come in my inbox, I'm like, yay, what juicy story is Carly going to share with me today? And it's always the most random stuff. Literally, you take a bowl of Cocoa Puffs and you turn it into the most fascinating business lesson.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you know what? I always write those. This is one of my de-stresses. On a Saturday morning, I put the kids in creche and I used to like just sit and do all my work at that time, just doing anything to avoid working out. But I put them in the creche at the gym and then I go to the spa now and I give myself an hour spa session and I always lay on the hotbed and that's where I write my Sunday papers. And it's just like, yeah, a lesson from the week and sometimes I don't even really know where it's going. But I think really when you're just speaking your truth and you're not worried about how it's going to land or how this is going to make you look or how people are going to perceive this. If you actually just say genuinely how you're feeling, it will always land in the right way with the person that needs to hear it. There will be some people that read my emails that they don't connect with, but you know, I get a handful of people that do email back and they're like, Oh my God, that's exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you so much. And that's who you're doing it for, you know? And if you're trying to always show up, like you've got it figured out and everything like that, what's the point? Who are you helping there? you're only serving your own ego and really people are just going to switch off anyway because they're like real people.

SPEAKER_00:

And then it comes down to this whole like transactional selling versus like actually value selling and I think ultimately like nobody wants to be sold to but people want to buy stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

So people will only buy from someone that they relate to, I think, and they connect with or even if they don't necessarily relate as in like, you know, you've got the same story, but they just connect with and they think I like you as a person, actually. And there's nothing more powerful for that likeability factor than just really showing a true self and saying, look, this is who I really am.

SPEAKER_00:

And then that's, you know, like podcasting video. And so you've been having some great success over on YouTube. So you're not really like churning out loads of content on social media, IG or anything like that, but you're really focused on YouTube. So tell us quickly a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm just playing the long game to be honest. I feel like Instagram and Facebook and stuff like that, of course there's a place for it and you do need to have a presence on there. So how I treat my Instagram and my Facebook now is more so like a... I treat that like my website really because I know that if someone's going to come and check me out, they're probably going to go over to my Instagram, check out my profile, see what I'm all about, especially with my new software as well. They're going to just check, see what it does, and then they're going to go on further from that. So my Instagram, I just kind of play it like that. I'm not really playing the algorithm game. not trying to keep up with all of that. But then the YouTube is just so, it's a long game, like a video that I put out, even now, like videos that I put out years ago, I'm having people click on those links now and then going on to purchase something. And so I know that the content I'm creating on there is much more valuable, I can get way deep into a single topic in a 16-minute video or an 8-minute video much more than I can in a 30-second Instagram video where I'm just really trying to grab someone's attention. It's clickbait. I'm putting headlines up just to get them to stop and watch. Whereas with this, I can really get into the nitty-gritty and I can impact them in that video. Then the reciprocity factor of that is like, oh, she just gave away so much in that 8-minute video. I want to work with her, you know, and I'm just finding that the route from someone finding me, first of all, to wanting to work with me and pay a lot of money to work with me is going so much quicker once they're going through my YouTube videos. And as I said, I feel like I'm putting my time and my energy into like this investment bank, you know, like this content is going to show up for years and years and years to come, you know, it's not always going to be relevant. It keeps working for you. You know, YouTube is a search engine. So if someone searches something, you know, my YouTube video is going to come up, but my Instagram story is not going to come up. So I just feel like if I'm going to put the effort of creating content, you know, and being a content creator as such, how can I get, you know, the maximum reward for that effort? Yeah, exactly. And how can I make sure that this work that I'm doing today is going to still keep paying me five years on? And I really feel like YouTube is the way for that. I feel like people are over the short, you know, the short stuff, they now just really want to learn. All of my tech tutorials for my platform, they're all going on YouTube publicly, everyone can see them. It's amazing for SEO, but then also people can just, you know, get so much more from it.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my goodness. So the way forward, I'm encouraging so many of my clients to consider the SEO platforms like your Pinterest, YouTube, and, you know, podcasting and blogs to an extent, like as long as you're indexing them properly and making sure that they're there, that, you know, sometimes I'll be sitting there in a week and I'll be like, Oh, I don't know what to write this week. And then I'll like go back through my old blogs or go back through my old podcast. And I'm like, Oh, that was such a good topic. That got so much. And then I'll whip that bad boy out and just repurpose it and just reshare it. And that's the power of creating that digital bank of content. So if you're like starting from scratch and you're like, well, where do I start? And you're just starting out, like think about some key questions that you can answer through your content that will really help your audience. um of where maybe you were three to five years ago and start there and and start building that bank of content that you can share with people and because people are like you know we're the same like I'm sure when a new season of something drops I'm like all over it I'm like watching it I know you're the same with Love Island but it's like people like to binge so if they come across your channel it's great that they can binge all your episodes and you know that you've got there and really get to know you. And as you say, you take those exposures from like, this is going to take years, condensing it right down.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, totally. And it's just, you know, if people are going to jump in and work with you, they want to know that you're the real deal. And I feel like when on Instagram, someone can hype themselves up so much, but when you're sitting and watching nine hours of someone, because you just binge them all day, You can't really hide, you know what I mean? You either know your stuff or you don't, and you either like them or you don't. So yeah, I enjoy the content much better. Again, that's a personal thing though. I really don't like being on my apps all the time. I don't like being on my phone all the time. I don't like being in social media all the time. So that for me is a conscious decision of how can I still market my business and still market myself and make an impact by not being on those apps. It just happens that YouTube is also an amazing strategy, but I think if Instagram is what you love, then go all in with that. But Just really tune in to what lights you up, what gets you excited about creating content, what gets you excited to show up, where you feel like you're able to show up the best, and that's the right way to go, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Amazing. Amazing. So much value. Thank you so much, Carly. Just tell me, like before we sign off here, what would be like your three top tips for listeners in this community that help you to thrive in all areas like of your life, health and business. So not just business stuff, but like maybe a top tip for each, maybe life, health, business.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. So business, my top tip is to focus and play the long game. kind of like two in one but focus on one thing like as we kind of touched on before don't try and make everything so complex don't try and do a million things at once just do one thing and then go all the way with that one thing like really Test it, really run it, really get every ounce out of that opportunity before you move on to the next thing. And that's when you're really going to know whether it's working or not. Don't try and do a million things at once. So focus is a really massive thing. In terms of health and everything like that, really focusing on your stress, as I touched on, and just being okay with letting go of the things that you feel like you should do. you know, it's okay to prioritize yourself. It's okay to even prioritize yourself above your kids, which I know might sound crazy, but you have to, and especially your stress levels. If something majorly stresses you out and you're like, this is just not, this doesn't fit with me, then that's fine. And then what was the other one? It was business, health, and what? Eat Coco Pops. Yeah. I mean, that's another thing. It's all balance, isn't it? There's things that I do that are probably not healthy, but you know, for a short period of time, it makes me happy. Cocoa Pops is definitely one of those, but sometimes I'll put in chocolate protein shake and then I feel better about myself. Love it.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's the best health tip you've ever been given. Put protein in your Cocoa Pops.

SPEAKER_01:

Follow me for more health tips, guys. You will live a thriving life with my recipes.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my golly, that's amazing. Right. So you have got this amazing software that is launched now. And so tell us, like, how can we get our hands on that? There will be a link obviously in the show notes for that. And yes, that's something that I'm really excited to be getting stuck into myself and using all the power of that tool. It's definitely, I would say, like the next, like on that next step. So obviously, make sure that you have the basics in place. like that you are getting the essentials down. And obviously myself, Carly, we can help you with that. But then obviously, as you're looking to create your signature offerings and move forward, like that would be amazing. So how can we get our hands on that? And also, like, where's the best place to find you? I think we know YouTube now.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, YouTube is great. My podcast is made for more podcast. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

You've got so many. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I'm there. Yeah, my platform is called madeformore.ai. It's made for more AI, but the website is madeformore.ai. And that's because it's hugely powered by AI. We've got like an AI social media content creator. So as I said, if you don't want to be on the app, but you still want to be creating content, It's amazing. Creates it all for you, schedules it, puts it all out. All of your leads come from all of your other platforms like your Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, all comes into one inbox on your phone. So you don't even have to go into the apps if you don't want to and you can keep on top of all of your leads. But yeah, so made for more AI, it basically replaces Kajabi, ClickFunnels, Canon Lead, DocuSign, Typeform, Zapier, you know, all of that good fun stuff. So if you're feeling like you want to get into this and do it properly, but you don't want to have a million subscriptions, you don't want to try and have like a degree in tech. Um, then yeah, it's perfect for you.

SPEAKER_00:

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for all the value that you shared today. Like this has been one of our longer episodes. I normally like to keep them shorter, but at the same time, like so much value in what you share. And I know like the listeners are going to get so much from what you've shared today and just take it as such an inspiration because I love that you're so authentic in your journey. sharing the struggles, the burnout, and just like how you've managed to shape your business into something that suits your lifestyle. And we all need that Kylie glow. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see like, that's what you get to look like if you follow what Kylie teaches you.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, now she's got a new ring light. That's actually what it is. So you can all get that glow for £39.99 on Amazon.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much, Kylie. Thank you, my love. Thank you for joining me for today's episode. If you've got value from this, please won't you take two seconds to take a screenshot and share a pic of this episode on your socials? Extra points if you'd like to rate and review this podcast on your preferred platform so that we can share the love with more women wanting to thrive in their lives. Do be sure to visit my website, wendygriffith.co.uk, to get all my free resources to support you on your thriving journey. Until next time, God bless, take care of yourself, and keep thriving.

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