Gift biz unwrapped episode 235 finding out a way to turn
Speaker:one time customers into repeat customers is absolutely essential.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters,
Speaker: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 packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there Sue,
Speaker:and I'm so happy that you're joining me here today.
Speaker:Before we get into the show,
Speaker:I have a question for you.
Speaker:How'd your day go yesterday?
Speaker:Maybe a crazy question.
Speaker:I know and yes,
Speaker:you heard me right?
Speaker:If you were to rate yesterday,
Speaker:how much did you get done?
Speaker:How far did you advance toward your goal or maybe in
Speaker:your mind you're saying what goal?
Speaker:Many of you have told me you aren't sure whether what
Speaker:you're doing is the right thing for your business.
Speaker:You're confused that you may be focusing on the wrong things
Speaker:and wasting time and money and you compare yourself to others
Speaker:and feel like you're just not keeping up.
Speaker:Sound familiar?
Speaker:Maybe you find that you're busy all day long,
Speaker:but when you finish up,
Speaker:you haven't accomplished much of anything at all.
Speaker:I've been there too until I started working with what I
Speaker:now call the power of purpose.
Speaker:I made a free video for you that explains how to
Speaker:boost your productivity and get results using the power of your
Speaker:purpose. Isn't it time to make all the effort that you
Speaker:put into your business and your life do for you what
Speaker:you've intended.
Speaker:Now full disclosure,
Speaker:this video does lead into showing you my brand new inspired
Speaker:daily planner.
Speaker:But listen,
Speaker:you don't need the inspired planner to get all the advantages
Speaker:out of the power of purpose that I show you in
Speaker:this video.
Speaker:So if you're interested in discovering a new way to work
Speaker:through your days,
Speaker:so your time is intentional and your results are real,
Speaker:I encourage you to go over and watch this video and
Speaker:you can find it.
Speaker:It. Gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash.
Speaker:Planner. That's gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash.
Speaker:Planner. I'm excited to bring you today's show because it addresses
Speaker:two important topics with some interesting twists on how to grow
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:So I want you to keep an open mind and put
Speaker:your innovative,
Speaker:creative thinking cap on while we talk.
Speaker:First, we're going to hit on the most important moment in
Speaker:your customer's journey.
Speaker:Now you may think that's the point of purchase.
Speaker:You know the transition between someone being a Looker and turning
Speaker:into a customer because they've now exchanged money and giving you
Speaker:dollars for your product,
Speaker:but that's not it.
Speaker:You'll find out where the most important juncture is and how
Speaker:you can capitalize on it.
Speaker:Secondly, we'll talk about how to extend your moneymaking opportunities.
Speaker:Now for all of us,
Speaker:gifters, bakers,
Speaker:crafters and makers,
Speaker:let's face it,
Speaker:when you sell more,
Speaker:you've just given yourself or your team more work because you
Speaker:have to make more product and fill all the orders.
Speaker:But what if there was an easier way to scale your
Speaker:business that still relate to your product but doesn't increase production
Speaker:or sales fulfillment time.
Speaker:Sound good?
Speaker:Have I peaked your interest?
Speaker:Then let's dive into the show.
Speaker:Today's guest is Marisa Murgatroyd,
Speaker:the founder of live your message and creator of the experience
Speaker:product masterclass where she helps people who teach online programs get
Speaker:better results for their students faster.
Speaker:Marissa launched her career as an artist who built a mid
Speaker:seven figure online business despite being told that she had no
Speaker:marketable skills.
Speaker:Since then,
Speaker:she's shown over 5,000
Speaker:students how to succeed online and she's here today to share
Speaker:a few secrets with us.
Speaker:Marissa, welcome to the gift ms on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:I'm so stoked to be here because my roots are as
Speaker:an artist and so there's a huge part of my past
Speaker:and my heart with your audience.
Speaker:I love it and you know what?
Speaker:It's a really perfect fit because this is a concept that
Speaker:I've really been wanting to approach with everybody.
Speaker:And you've entered into the picture.
Speaker:So I know we're going to get into some great conversation,
Speaker:but I have to stick with tradition and I always start
Speaker:off by having you share with our listeners a little bit
Speaker:more about yourself by describing a motivational candle that would match
Speaker:you and your personality.
Speaker:So if you were to describe a candle by color and
Speaker:quote, what would it look like?
Speaker:Mm, love that.
Speaker:So I have to go with the traditional white candle,
Speaker:and I know it sounds boring,
Speaker:but white is all the colors of the spectrum combined.
Speaker:And our house is very modern.
Speaker:There's a lot of whites,
Speaker:blacks, grays,
Speaker:and then splashes of turquoise.
Speaker:So I could say that's good for a turquoise candle,
Speaker:but I'd want to go for white because it's able to
Speaker:accentuate everything else in this space.
Speaker:And I would probably,
Speaker:instead of going for color,
Speaker:going for an incredible smell,
Speaker:I love citrus,
Speaker:Japanese, citrus,
Speaker:like a yuzu sense.
Speaker:So it's a little bit exhilarating and fresh to go with
Speaker:the white candle.
Speaker:And I would say the quote on the candle is my
Speaker:all time favorite quote by Zig Ziglar,
Speaker:who's the late,
Speaker:great motivational speaker.
Speaker:And it's a core value and philosophy behind my business as
Speaker:well. And also behind what we'll be talking about today.
Speaker:And that is you can have everything you want in life
Speaker:if you'll just help enough other people get what they want.
Speaker:And it's so interesting because it's easy as a business owner
Speaker:to lead with what you want to give and what you
Speaker:want to sell,
Speaker:but when you start to shift your perspective to what people
Speaker:want to receive and what's going to really support them in
Speaker:getting what they want in life,
Speaker:I think it changes the game of business in a very
Speaker:unique way.
Speaker:I think that can really resonate with everybody here too.
Speaker:Because just by nature of the fact that we're creators and
Speaker:makers, that's giving right,
Speaker:giving of yourself and your talents and your creative skills to
Speaker:others. So falls right in line.
Speaker:I'd love it.
Speaker:It's perfect.
Speaker:Excellent. So I'm really curious,
Speaker:I'd love for you to share how you got your start
Speaker:and specifically an artist.
Speaker:So that peaks my curiosity.
Speaker:Share with us.
Speaker:Yeah, well,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:my first career was as a documentary filmmaker.
Speaker:So I graduated from art school.
Speaker:I went to the Royal college of art in London with
Speaker:a degree in communication,
Speaker:art and design.
Speaker:And I got back to LA and started exploring film.
Speaker:And I was seven years as a documentary film maker and
Speaker:producer and it was working for someone else.
Speaker:So I was actually a hired gun.
Speaker:So I was a hired producer,
Speaker:hired director,
Speaker:and I loved the work,
Speaker:but I didn't always love the job and I definitely didn't
Speaker:always love the boss.
Speaker:And one day I was up against a deadline to just
Speaker:finish a project and get it into production,
Speaker:DVD production,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:So I was working in my office on my laptop boss
Speaker:walks in about one o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker:I'd already been there for maybe four hours.
Speaker:It says,
Speaker:Oh, I forgot my power cable,
Speaker:can I have yours?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, no,
Speaker:I kind of needed,
Speaker:my computer wasn't plugged in and we're up against this deadline
Speaker:to get the film to DVD production.
Speaker:And she proceeded to say,
Speaker:well Merissa that laptop you're working on,
Speaker:I own that laptop and that power cord,
Speaker:I own that too.
Speaker:So give me the power.
Speaker:No. Yes.
Speaker:And the funny thing was is we had an office full
Speaker:of production assistants.
Speaker:She could have asked somebody else,
Speaker:but in that moment she needed my power cable.
Speaker:Even if it would have thrown the entire project off that
Speaker:box. Did she know the situation?
Speaker:She knew the situation,
Speaker:But she wanted my power cord in that particular moment in
Speaker:what she didn't say.
Speaker:But she might as well have said as Merissa I own
Speaker:you. And I had this realization that I'd spent the last
Speaker:three years working with her,
Speaker:building her business,
Speaker:building her bottom line,
Speaker:building her profitability.
Speaker:And at the end of the day I was taking home
Speaker:a thousand bucks a week and that was it.
Speaker:If I didn't work,
Speaker:I didn't get paid.
Speaker:And I just started to realize,
Speaker:what am I doing?
Speaker:I've got so much skills and so much creativity,
Speaker:why am I giving it to this person who doesn't necessarily
Speaker:appreciate it?
Speaker:And that started me down a spiral of asking what could
Speaker:I do?
Speaker:And to be honest,
Speaker:as an artist,
Speaker:I did not have a good answer.
Speaker:The only thing I could come up with is I know
Speaker:how to make things look good and good and tell a
Speaker:damn good story,
Speaker:but who's going to pay me for that?
Speaker:And as an artist who is used to kind of scrounging
Speaker:around to make a living at big,
Speaker:kind of undervalued and under appreciated,
Speaker:I didn't realize that those skills of making things look good,
Speaker:sound good,
Speaker:and telling good stories was the basis of all business and
Speaker:marketing. So sometimes you just don't know what you don't know
Speaker:and the same skills that you've been developing over a lifetime
Speaker:can be used in an entirely different context and have a
Speaker:lot more value than where you're currently using them.
Speaker:And that's what I discovered and that kind of set me
Speaker:down my path to start building an online business.
Speaker:Did you ever think what your life would be like if
Speaker:that moment wouldn't have happened?
Speaker:No. Sometimes you've got to be grateful for the
Agreed. I love that because so often it's a moment in
Speaker:time that just flips the switch and opens your mind to
Speaker:different things just like you're describing.
Speaker:Absolutely. I am so grateful for that moment.
Speaker:And so grateful for many of the other tough lessons.
Speaker:Probably not in the moment though.
Speaker:No. Like probably not right at that time,
Speaker:no. But retrospectively,
Speaker:yes, yes,
Speaker:yes. So what happened next?
Speaker:Well, what happened is I just started to ask myself,
Speaker:well, where else could I work?
Speaker:And I just started to think that maybe somewhere at the
Speaker:intersection of the internet and entrepreneurship,
Speaker:and that's about all the clarity that I had.
Speaker:I didn't know that this whole online education world existed.
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:I didn't know what I could do.
Speaker:So I actually started down the path of creating a branding
Speaker:and web design agency and we still have that branding and
Speaker:web design agency,
Speaker:which was a great use of my creative and my artistic
Speaker:skills. And from there I started to realize that what I'd
Speaker:done, other people want to know how to do.
Speaker:And I started teaching people how to do what I was
Speaker:doing in my business.
Speaker:And that side started to grow and grow and grow and
Speaker:grow. And at first I thought,
Speaker:well, who would want to learn from me?
Speaker:And it was so interesting.
Speaker:Kids, I have so much value to share and I didn't
Speaker:even realize who would want to learn from me.
Speaker:But like a lot of people who get started teaching other
Speaker:people, all I knew was what I knew as an expert
Speaker:and I didn't understand how to be a good facilitator,
Speaker:how to get the same results for somebody else that I
Speaker:may have been able to get for myself.
Speaker:And so I remember creating my very first online program and
Speaker:pouring everything that I had into that program.
Speaker:And then watching people get stuck and get frustrated and a
Speaker:lot of them give up.
Speaker:And what I didn't know at the time is that it's
Speaker:a dirty secret of the online education world that up to
Speaker:97% of people who buy products don't consume those products and
Speaker:get the results that were promised.
Speaker:And I remember going to a friend,
Speaker:a colleague,
Speaker:and saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:is this normal for people to not finish?
Speaker:And she told me,
Speaker:well, maybe some people just aren't meant to succeed.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:ouch. That doesn't feel right.
Speaker:I believe that everybody is meant to be successful if they
Speaker:have the right circumstances,
Speaker:the right training,
Speaker:the right tools that they need to be a success.
Speaker:And so from that point on,
Speaker:I got really obsessed with figuring out how do I create
Speaker:a game people can win?
Speaker:How can I stack the odds in favor of my students,
Speaker:clients, and customers so they can get huge results and get
Speaker:so excited about their life goals as excited about their life
Speaker:goals as they are about safe surfing,
Speaker:Facebook or Instagram,
Speaker:and excited about busting through their challenges too,
Speaker:and getting what they actually want.
Speaker:Yeah. I have so many questions for you right here.
Speaker:I'm trying to decide which way I'm going to go,
Speaker:but first,
Speaker:there's so many online courses now just as you're talking about,
Speaker:and you're right,
Speaker:I mean I see this all the time.
Speaker:A lot of people will buy courses,
Speaker:a lot of them don't complete them,
Speaker:which I think is where you're going and so your skill
Speaker:is how do you make them interesting,
Speaker:exciting, fascinating,
Speaker:and produce the result that they initially bought the course for.
Speaker:Right? We're going to get into that,
Speaker:but that is a way of positioning what you do.
Speaker:Unlike I've heard before,
Speaker:so I just want to clarify first that I'm on the
Speaker:right track,
Speaker:right? Yes,
Speaker:you are on the right track and I did want to
Speaker:say that the a series of principles can also be used
Speaker:to engage people around physical products,
Speaker:especially if you're selling something that's not just a one off.
Speaker:If you're selling something where you want people to come back
Speaker:and buy from you,
Speaker:the same customers over and over and over again,
Speaker:then it can be super helpful or useful to engage people
Speaker:around them.
Speaker:Or if you really depend on referrals for ongoing business and
Speaker:you want people to engage and kind of fall in love
Speaker:with the product in you so they refer you and kind
Speaker:of do your marketing for you.
Speaker:So if you want one of those two things,
Speaker:even with the physical product business,
Speaker:then this can be super helpful even if you have no
Speaker:intention of creating an online course or program.
Speaker:Okay. So let's take both these paths.
Speaker:Normally I'd get to a fork in the road and choose
Speaker:one or the other,
Speaker:but they're both so important.
Speaker:So I'm hoping we can cover both of these and let's
Speaker:start with how you get people to continue engaging with you
Speaker:buying your product over time.
Speaker:Yeah, so part of it is what happens after they buy.
Speaker:So a lot of people think that the most important moment
Speaker:in your relationship with a customer is a moment that they
Speaker:buy. And I actually believe that it's the moment after they
Speaker:buy. What do they do immediately with your product?
Speaker:So how could you have instructions,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:that come with your product that might be fun and might
Speaker:be engaging or maybe even rewarding consumption and engagement.
Speaker:So for example,
Speaker:let's say you sell jam,
Speaker:right? And just making that up.
Speaker:It could be all kinds of things,
Speaker:but let's say you sell jam.
Speaker:Most people are just going to go home and maybe they'll
Speaker:use the jam at some point.
Speaker:Maybe it'll sit in the pantry for awhile.
Speaker:There's nothing else that really happens in that transaction.
Speaker:But what if you sell the jam and then you basically
Speaker:let people know that you have a creative jam contest.
Speaker:So you know if they can go home within a week
Speaker:and do something really unique or creative or use the gym
Speaker:and innovative way,
Speaker:do you feature your monthly winners and you're going to kind
Speaker:of reward them by sending them a free month of jam,
Speaker:for example.
Speaker:Right? So you have all these people going home and then
Speaker:doing really creative things with the gym and sending you pictures
Speaker:that you can post on Instagram and they're inventing new recipes
Speaker:and submitting new recipes and maybe they're naming whatever their creation
Speaker:is. All of a sudden you have all this user contributed
Speaker:content around the jam that you just gave them.
Speaker:So what I like to say,
Speaker:or the exercise I like to encourage people to think about
Speaker:is what happens in the hour or the day after they
Speaker:buy? How can you get them so excited to go home
Speaker:and use your product or do something with your product or
Speaker:share your product with a friend that's going to start them
Speaker:on a very different journey with your product than if you
Speaker:just hand them the jam and a bag and say,
Speaker:Nope, here you go.
Speaker:Thanks. Right?
Speaker:Yeah. What I'm thinking is it gives people a deeper experience
Speaker:and a deeper connection to your product because even if your
Speaker:jam is delicious and they use it,
Speaker:that additional experience is going to keep them top of mind
Speaker:and more integrated in,
Speaker:and I love your example.
Speaker:I know you just pulled it off the top of your
Speaker:head, but it's brilliant because showing winners,
Speaker:everybody likes to be shown and called out by name and
Speaker:possibly face and recipe or whatever it is and I was
Speaker:just thinking that these ideas have legs because if there are
Speaker:different recipes that are posted that could be merged into like
Speaker:a pamphlet that goes along with the jams.
Speaker:I mean there could be a million extensions of just that
Speaker:one idea.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Like I can see you,
Speaker:obviously your Instagram account would be full of this.
Speaker:You could create the artwork for your booth where you have
Speaker:all the pictures of these are my customers,
Speaker:my audience,
Speaker:this is how they're using the jam.
Speaker:These are their creative recipes.
Speaker:You could be having an email list where you get them
Speaker:on a list and you send them the monthly recipe of
Speaker:choice too.
Speaker:That's all user contributed content.
Speaker:So they get these ongoing recipes that may include jams that
Speaker:they haven't even bought yet,
Speaker:so that they're going to want to buy so they can
Speaker:try this new recipe.
Speaker:So there's a lot of different things that you could do
Speaker:to encourage consumption of the jam and have people want to
Speaker:keep buying from you no matter how delicious the jam is.
Speaker:Sometimes they're just like,
Speaker:Oh, they just happen to see you at that particular fair
Speaker:and buy it as a one off,
Speaker:but there's no reason for them to seek you out again.
Speaker:Right. Well,
Speaker:and I would also say just since you brought that point
Speaker:up, you also want it to be the type of situation
Speaker:where you're not leaving it in their hands to seek you
Speaker:out. You have some type of a connection with them.
Speaker:Yes. You have to tell them exactly what the next step
Speaker:is. And that's a key to experience escalation because one of
Speaker:the principles is,
Speaker:well there's 10 principles to experience.
Speaker:Escalation are things you want to do and 10 things you
Speaker:don't want to do.
Speaker:But one of the principles relates to bird's eye view,
Speaker:which you're actually showing them the path from mission to mission
Speaker:accomplished. So say the path for in this case mission is
Speaker:basically an outcome.
Speaker:What's someone going to be able to do,
Speaker:be, feel,
Speaker:have, overcome or achieve through using your product?
Speaker:And mission accomplished is what happens when they cross and realize
Speaker:that state and you want it to be so clear and
Speaker:so specific that you could film someone crossing the finish line.
Speaker:So say the mission accomplished here on the jam is super
Speaker:simple. There's three things you can do with this gym.
Speaker:One, as you let it sit in the pantry collecting dust.
Speaker:Two is you put it on bread,
Speaker:right? Like most people do with Jim three and this is
Speaker:really exciting,
Speaker:is that you create something unique with this gym.
Speaker:You create a new recipe,
Speaker:you use it on something that you never thought of using
Speaker:it before.
Speaker:And you share that with the community because we want to
Speaker:reward you for your creativity and feature your recipe feature your
Speaker:jam creation alongside of ours.
Speaker:So I really wanted to invite you to get creative and
Speaker:to do something really unique and to take this jam out
Speaker:of the jar and do something super special with it.
Speaker:So you're actually telling people what the mission is,
Speaker:right, is to use this gym in a unique way.
Speaker:You're telling them the exact next step.
Speaker:So my challenge to you is to sometime in the next
Speaker:seven days,
Speaker:use this in a really fresh and unique way and either
Speaker:uploaded on Instagram and tag me at whatever,
Speaker:or just send it over to me and I'm going to
Speaker:put you in the drawing or a contest to win sort
Speaker:of jam creation of the month,
Speaker:right in the soil.
Speaker:If you want it your picture,
Speaker:your story is going to go out to my entire audience
Speaker:of Jim connoisseurs.
Speaker:So it just changes things all of a sudden.
Speaker:Yeah, totally deepens the connection for sure.
Speaker:Right? It's also creating what I call a feedback loop,
Speaker:which is one of the principles and leveraging community,
Speaker:which is another principle.
Speaker:Will you share with us another example?
Speaker:Yeah, so let me actually give you an example of my
Speaker:friend Shelley brander,
Speaker:who's also started out as a maker.
Speaker:And Shelley created a online summit called knit stars and knit
Speaker:stars features every single year.
Speaker:Some of the top people in the knitting industry to share
Speaker:some of their creations and things like that.
Speaker:So Shelly went from being a knitter to someone who actually
Speaker:has a seven figure business around teaching other people how to
Speaker:knit. And a lot of the people she features,
Speaker:it's not even herself.
Speaker:It's really bringing the entire knitting community together around some of
Speaker:the knitting creations.
Speaker:So that's an example of every year.
Speaker:She creates this really unique online adventure,
Speaker:like an online adventure for people in the knitting community.
Speaker:And usually knitting is hyper-local,
Speaker:right? It's one of those things where you have a knitting
Speaker:circle maybe or the girlfriend that you like to knit with
Speaker:and you're not tapped into this global audience of other people
Speaker:who are knitting.
Speaker:So this is an example of really leveraging community in a
Speaker:much bigger way and bringing a group of makers together who
Speaker:aren't normally made together.
Speaker:And it's also about kind of monetizing your knitting creations.
Speaker:So she's got a very clear mission for that summit and
Speaker:some of the followup products and things that she does in
Speaker:terms of helping people become a nit star,
Speaker:just like the guests that she's featuring.
Speaker:How do you go from being a knitter at home for
Speaker:fun to really becoming a nit star?
Speaker:So that would be an example of creating like a mission
Speaker:around what it is that you do.
Speaker:Okay. So in Shelley's situation,
Speaker:so she was a knitter.
Speaker:Was she also selling her knitted products or yarn or anything
Speaker:like that?
Speaker:Did you have a business First as a product?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:she was a crafter and a lot of different ways.
Speaker:I'm not sure specifically if she was selling knitting or not,
Speaker:but she's kind of a,
Speaker:was a hardcore crafter.
Speaker:So she went into the education side of things,
Speaker:really teaching other people how to build their niche businesses and
Speaker:knit patterns and that kind of thing.
Speaker:Okay, so this is a perfect segue.
Speaker:Now we're going to go back and go down the other
Speaker:fork of the road.
Speaker:Okay. And I think this is something that's going to be
Speaker:really different to here for some of our listeners,
Speaker:and that is they've always been so busy making product,
Speaker:selling it at craft shows,
Speaker:maybe wholesale,
Speaker:but it's all around the income is coming around selling product,
Speaker:selling something tangible in exchange for money.
Speaker:And you and I both see an opportunity and some of
Speaker:our listeners understand this as well,
Speaker:but I want to get everyone on the same page here,
Speaker:that there's an extension of your product creation that can be
Speaker:monetized and that is teaching people who are interested.
Speaker:Maybe a portion of them are your customers.
Speaker:A portion of them might not be.
Speaker:They're interested in knowing the skill that you know through,
Speaker:just like you're showing with this example Merissa of Shelley through
Speaker:some type of online training.
Speaker:So let's get into that a little bit.
Speaker:Can you expand on what I was just laying out?
Speaker:We'll hear Marissa's thoughts on this.
Speaker:Right after a quick word from our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in
Speaker:seconds. Visit the ribbon,
Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Yeah, so there's so many different things that you can teach
Speaker:when it comes to crafting.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:one of my coaches,
Speaker:a coach on our team,
Speaker:Don Crowder,
Speaker:actually supported his entire mortgage for a decade by selling patterns
Speaker:and they were sewing patterns.
Speaker:I can't remember what it was sewing patterns for.
Speaker:It was for some kind of toy that was really big
Speaker:in the eighties and it was some kind of thing that
Speaker:they sold patterns for and he literally paid for his entire
Speaker:mortgage for a decade selling these particular patterns.
Speaker:And so whatever it is that you do,
Speaker:whether you're on the peak of a trend,
Speaker:which is something that a lot of people want to be
Speaker:learning how to do,
Speaker:like a new kind of jewelry or a new kind of
Speaker:knitting or a new kind of sewing or new kind of
Speaker:woodworking, whatever it is,
Speaker:or on the business end of teaching people how to say
Speaker:really master Etsy or YouTube or Instagram for crafters specifically,
Speaker:like going into that niche if you've done one of these
Speaker:things well,
Speaker:or even how to rock craft fairs,
Speaker:right? And kind of set up your booth so you know
Speaker:the exact positioning to have,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a how to get the most sales,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:how to get the most followup sales.
Speaker:So there are all these skills related to becoming a professional
Speaker:crafter. And this is becoming a really big industry for so
Speaker:many people,
Speaker:a lot of up and coming generations,
Speaker:love crafting and love crafting as a way of life,
Speaker:as a way of generating their full on income.
Speaker:So there's all of these skills that you,
Speaker:that you don't even realize you have,
Speaker:that you've needed to not just create your craft,
Speaker:but to actually turn it into a business.
Speaker:And that's something that's so many people,
Speaker:thousands, tens of thousands of people want to do.
Speaker:So if you figured out how to do something unique and
Speaker:you can basically teach other people how to do that,
Speaker:then there's a way for you to diversify your revenue stream
Speaker:and be able to make money,
Speaker:not just from the physical product that you're selling,
Speaker:but from teaching people to do what you've done.
Speaker:Such huge opportunity.
Speaker:I completely agree with you,
Speaker:but I do know that there are a couple of Jackson's
Speaker:that would come up and one would be,
Speaker:it's been done before.
Speaker:People have shown how to start at T sites before or
Speaker:show how to exhibit when set up your craft show booth.
Speaker:So since it's already been done before,
Speaker:I can't do that.
Speaker:Every single thing that I can think of for myself has
Speaker:already been done.
Speaker:Well. It hasn't almost every kind of jewelry been done.
Speaker:Every kind of jam been done,
Speaker:every kind of candle been done,
Speaker:every kind of soap and done.
Speaker:When you really think about it,
Speaker:it's the same thing.
Speaker:So what's going to make your program,
Speaker:your course,
Speaker:your online education,
Speaker:unique, indifferent.
Speaker:It's the same thing as being a maker.
Speaker:You're just applying your creativity to a different context.
Speaker:So what I teach my specialty of teaching people how to
Speaker:create online programs,
Speaker:there's a lot of other people who are doing it,
Speaker:but I created a really unique methodology for creating programs that
Speaker:kept people hooked on taking action and getting results and ultimately
Speaker:wanting to buy from you over and over again by combining
Speaker:things that someone else has not combined before.
Speaker:I combined gamification,
Speaker:I combined adult learning theory.
Speaker:I combined good old fashioned curriculum design into this really unique
Speaker:cocktail that meant I was teaching people how to create products
Speaker:that have really different way than other people were.
Speaker:So just like you would apply your creativity to making a
Speaker:unique version of the candle or the soap or whatever it
Speaker:is that you make,
Speaker:you would do the same thing with online education.
Speaker:So the topic and the result might be the same but
Speaker:first off,
Speaker:and I'll say a lot of people who would buy from
Speaker:you are probably current customers so they know you and already
Speaker:love you so you have a connection with them already and
Speaker:then combining something so that it sounds to me Merissa it's
Speaker:the experience that they would go through by taking your course
Speaker:that's unique.
Speaker:It can be a unique experience.
Speaker:It can also be a unique way that you bring together
Speaker:community. It can also be a unique methodology,
Speaker:something that you do that's different.
Speaker:A technique that you may have invented and there's a lot
Speaker:of creative techniques that you might invent that other people don't
Speaker:know how to do.
Speaker:I mean my friend Ryan Laveck tells the story of,
Speaker:I think it was Scrabble necklaces,
Speaker:so for a while,
Speaker:Scrabble necklaces,
Speaker:whether you use the Scrabble tiles,
Speaker:you cover them with different patterns and textures and make necklaces
Speaker:out of them.
Speaker:His wife was noticing this was a giant trend and they
Speaker:actually found someone who had just a crappy book teaching other
Speaker:people how to make Scrabble tile necklaces.
Speaker:Who is making something like thousands of dollars a month,
Speaker:five grand a month or something from a single PDF ebook
Speaker:teaching people this one crafting technique that was just happened to
Speaker:be trending at the time and they said,
Speaker:well, her stuff isn't even very good.
Speaker:Why don't I do the same thing and just teach people
Speaker:how to do it better with videos and things like that.
Speaker:So they did and they actually made some really good money
Speaker:for about a year on this particular thing while this kind
Speaker:of crafting was trending.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Talk a little bit about gamification.
Speaker:Yeah, so the idea behind applying gamification and a lot of
Speaker:people hear gamification and think it's not relevant to me because
Speaker:my product,
Speaker:it's not fun or whatever it happens to be,
Speaker:but it's really about applying game theory and game principles to
Speaker:non-game activities.
Speaker:And I've got clients who've gotten boring businesses such as financial
Speaker:planning, for example,
Speaker:or even businesses that are about trauma recovery that have been
Speaker:able to leverage gamification and the tools that I teach,
Speaker:which go way beyond gamification.
Speaker:Just for the record.
Speaker:It's really what I call experience escalation.
Speaker:And that's one aspect of it.
Speaker:Here's the thing,
Speaker:if someone's going to get excited about a game or win
Speaker:a game,
Speaker:they've got to know what winning looks like.
Speaker:So you've got to actually have a winning state,
Speaker:which is what I call the mission accomplished.
Speaker:So you've got to get super clear on what winning looks
Speaker:like and what people are actually going to do,
Speaker:be feel,
Speaker:have overcome or achieve through your program.
Speaker:And then you show them the path from getting to accepting
Speaker:the mission to crossing the finish line of mission accomplished.
Speaker:And the gamification comes in by making sure that people feel
Speaker:like they're winning every single time they interact or engage with
Speaker:you. So for example,
Speaker:one of the things that I do,
Speaker:which is a little bit unique,
Speaker:is that every single time I offer any kind of training
Speaker:on anything,
Speaker:there's an action for someone to take,
Speaker:right? Instead of doing a lot of just generic information that
Speaker:gets people stuck in their head,
Speaker:I'm always giving them something actionable.
Speaker:So what's the action that they're going to take every single
Speaker:time they engage with me.
Speaker:So they might be able to check off watching a training,
Speaker:but they get like double the points for taking that action.
Speaker:So simply doing that and also understanding how do you structure
Speaker:actions to create unstoppable momentum.
Speaker:So usually I don't drop people in the deep end of
Speaker:the pool with the most boring stuff or the most challenging
Speaker:stuff. I ramp them up with very small,
Speaker:simple actions with small rewards to larger and larger and more
Speaker:complex actions and larger and larger rewards.
Speaker:So for example,
Speaker:when someone signs up for our experience product masterclass program,
Speaker:rather than having them go in their inbox and get a
Speaker:logging code and then log onto the membership site and then
Speaker:try to find their way to the membership site right there
Speaker:in the confirmation page before they even have to go to
Speaker:their inbox.
Speaker:I get them started on their very first training in that
Speaker:training's like about 19 minutes long.
Speaker:I call it the show me the money video.
Speaker:They very quickly when,
Speaker:which is they figure out their minimum,
Speaker:their target and their stretch goals for how much money they
Speaker:want to make from their product in the next 12 weeks
Speaker:of the program and I give them formulas for how to
Speaker:set the goals based on being someone brand new to business,
Speaker:someone who's made some money and someone who's made a significant
Speaker:amount of money before,
Speaker:so instantly they already have a vision for how much money
Speaker:they want to create and generate in that time period of
Speaker:the program.
Speaker:I think Andy,
Speaker:that it's achievable to them because if you're giving them that
Speaker:really small Win right in the beginning,
Speaker:traction's gotten started,
Speaker:right? They're moving forward.
Speaker:Even if it's just the littlest step and I'd say they're
Speaker:more committed already to the program.
Speaker:Absolutely. They've already got momentum.
Speaker:Very few programs give them that instant momentum and that was
Speaker:kind of what I was talking about with some of the
Speaker:other crafting examples there is building that instant momentum.
Speaker:As soon as they buy that has them want to go
Speaker:and start consuming the product,
Speaker:or if it's online,
Speaker:you get them into consumption right away.
Speaker:Right, Right.
Speaker:Let me get back to the objections real quick for a
Speaker:second. So the first one was,
Speaker:it's already been done before and I think we've taken care
Speaker:of that beautifully.
Speaker:The second one is,
Speaker:I don't want to share with anybody how I make my
Speaker:candles because I'm going to get copied.
Speaker:Yeah, well the truth is you're probably gonna get copied anyway.
Speaker:And the other truth is,
Speaker:is that there are something like eight or 9 billion people
Speaker:in the world right now,
Speaker:right? And if you're selling something that's handmade,
Speaker:you probably only able to sell it to your local market
Speaker:or a regional market.
Speaker:And so there's so many people around the world who are
Speaker:never going to be able to buy your candles just because
Speaker:you don't have the production capacity,
Speaker:you don't have the marketing capacity on your candles.
Speaker:So sharing that recipe and if you able to make an
Speaker:extra, let's just say $2,000
Speaker:a month,
Speaker:let's just do something kind of reasonable and you made an
Speaker:extra $24,000
Speaker:a year and you helped other people create their candle business,
Speaker:it wouldn't necessarily impact yours because you were going to have
Speaker:a different way of different fairs that you're at and a
Speaker:different web presence and a different way of marketing and selling
Speaker:what you do,
Speaker:but you have this whole other income and revenue stream coming
Speaker:in. So I tend to look at things from a perspective
Speaker:of abundance versus scarcity.
Speaker:Oh absolutely.
Speaker:Love that.
Speaker:You said that.
Speaker:I'm also thinking that if people start to see how intricate
Speaker:some of the products are that we make,
Speaker:yeah, they might get all the steps.
Speaker:They might try it once and then say,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:This is not something I want to do.
Speaker:I love the result.
Speaker:I love the product,
Speaker:but I don't want to do this.
Speaker:And that further invests them into your product because they know
Speaker:how hard it is to make.
Speaker:So then they just come back and purchase from you anyway.
Speaker:So one or the other scenarios could happen.
Speaker:Absolutely. It could absolutely happen.
Speaker:Yup. Such great information.
Speaker:I'm going to ask you for one more tidbit.
Speaker:We've been talking about how you get people to buy over
Speaker:time. Can you share with us one more example of how
Speaker:that happens?
Speaker:We talked about the moment after they buy and what's the
Speaker:next step,
Speaker:but give us one more goodie.
Speaker:Yeah. So I like to really think about your product is
Speaker:your product does a certain thing.
Speaker:Ideally, if you're thinking about it as a trip or a
Speaker:journey, maybe the first product that you sell can get someone
Speaker:from LA to Joshua tree,
Speaker:right? And your next product might get them from Joshua tree
Speaker:to Ohio.
Speaker:So if you think about it as every product that you
Speaker:create, it's doing something for somebody,
Speaker:whether it's solving a problem or it's a delivering an experience
Speaker:or it's delivering an outcome.
Speaker:And once they have that,
Speaker:they may have a new,
Speaker:bigger problem or a new,
Speaker:bigger outcome that they want.
Speaker:So you can keep selling products to people when they have
Speaker:an ongoing need for what you do.
Speaker:So if you want to think about your products in terms
Speaker:of both a,
Speaker:how do you get people to engage right away so they're
Speaker:going to want to buy again.
Speaker:How do they know that they're winning the game?
Speaker:And then also showing them that there's a next step.
Speaker:Ideally you have more than one product in your line,
Speaker:so you might have a bigger product down the road for
Speaker:them to invest in beyond the very first product.
Speaker:So sometimes when they hit the mission accomplished,
Speaker:for example with the jam example,
Speaker:if we go back there,
Speaker:how can you show them that now there's a new bigger
Speaker:opportunity. So say they bought the jam and they hit mission
Speaker:accomplished and they submitted did something really,
Speaker:really creative with their gym.
Speaker:Now maybe the next offer is a jam of the month
Speaker:club in the jam of the month club is not just
Speaker:sending them the jam,
Speaker:but it's sending them creative recipes for that jam every single
Speaker:month. So,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:one of my friends at a tea company called Zenas gypsy
Speaker:tea, she sold the company and the company kind of went
Speaker:downhill after it was sold.
Speaker:But now she's created a brand new kind of team membership
Speaker:program where she takes a transformational leader of thought leader and
Speaker:she features them and she designs a specialty around them.
Speaker:And so they get the tea and it's beautifully packaged and
Speaker:they also get this inspirational message from this thought leader.
Speaker:And so they're getting this package every month where it's combining
Speaker:personal development in tea.
Speaker:So instead of just doing a onetime tea purchase,
Speaker:she's getting them this ongoing kind of experience where they're getting
Speaker:these different kinds of teas and they're getting exposures to different
Speaker:thought leaders in the field of personal development and messages from
Speaker:them. And it comes with a complimentary training as well.
Speaker:So she's actually fusing online education with her tea product and
Speaker:it's doing super well.
Speaker:This is so great because we also,
Speaker:often when we're posting things and we're talking about our business,
Speaker:it's so often just the focus on the product and we
Speaker:all know we're not supposed to be just promoting our product
Speaker:all the time.
Speaker:Online promotion of your product should maybe be about 20% of
Speaker:the whole and what you're talking about,
Speaker:Marissa, are great examples of how you can educate them,
Speaker:share experiences when you're involved in an audience,
Speaker:all of these different types of messages that you can put
Speaker:out, whether it's newsletters,
Speaker:social media posts,
Speaker:whatever it might be that still gets eyes on your product,
Speaker:but in a direct way that remains valuable to your customer.
Speaker:Absolutely, and by partnering with all these thought leaders they might
Speaker:want to share to their audience about being the featured tea
Speaker:of the month too,
Speaker:right? Yeah,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:There's just a lot of different ways to think about your
Speaker:product new and different,
Speaker:like new contexts,
Speaker:different contexts,
Speaker:ways to understand that you can go beyond one off sales
Speaker:and really look at the customer journey with you and what
Speaker:does that look like?
Speaker:Right? Because the truth is,
Speaker:is that it takes a lot more work to get someone
Speaker:to buy from you for the first time than it does
Speaker:to get someone to buy from you for the second or
Speaker:third time.
Speaker:And the most successful businesses have very active repeat customer audiences.
Speaker:And so if you want to kind of take your business
Speaker:to the next level,
Speaker:finding out a way to turn one time customers into repeat
Speaker:customers is absolutely essential because it cuts down your marketing budget,
Speaker:it cuts down all kinds of costs,
Speaker:and allows you to focus more on just creating great product.
Speaker:Absolutely. And it's so much easier to,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:if you just think of one customer coming through,
Speaker:they come in the front door,
Speaker:they walk out the back door,
Speaker:they're gone.
Speaker:And you have to keep bringing in more people from the
Speaker:front door.
Speaker:Why not shut that back door?
Speaker:Have people stay,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:some people might leave over time,
Speaker:but that's another way to make your business grow.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so online courses,
Speaker:and I know that you are the expert.
Speaker:You teach how to do online courses.
Speaker:If someone's starting to think about this,
Speaker:what questions should they ask themselves to decide if it's a
Speaker:right fit or where should their thought pattern go next with
Speaker:this? Yeah,
Speaker:I think really the question is what can you help someone
Speaker:do? What problem can you solve for them?
Speaker:Or what outcome can you deliver for them?
Speaker:Which is something that they really want.
Speaker:And so I actually teach creating what I call mission-based products,
Speaker:which is products that allow people to overcome a specific problem
Speaker:or get a specific result.
Speaker:And I give a very specific template for doing that.
Speaker:I call it the mission possible template and I actually borrowed
Speaker:it from the mission impossible movies and it goes like this,
Speaker:your mission should you choose to accept it is blank.
Speaker:And using that template gets you out of the head of
Speaker:what you want to offer and into the shoes of your
Speaker:audience of what do they want to receive.
Speaker:So, for example,
Speaker:with our experience product master class,
Speaker:your mission should you choose to accept it is to design
Speaker:market and make $2,000
Speaker:or a whole lot more from an experience product in 12
Speaker:weeks or less.
Speaker:So it's very,
Speaker:very specific what someone's going to do and how they're going
Speaker:to benefit.
Speaker:So I recommend starting with can you create a mission that
Speaker:other people will want to say yes to?
Speaker:And if the answer is yes,
Speaker:then you've got something.
Speaker:Is there a way to test that mission before you fully
Speaker:commit to it?
Speaker:Absolutely. Run it by a bunch of people and see if
Speaker:they're interested in it.
Speaker:And maybe not all your friends because they're just going to
Speaker:tell you what you want to hear.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:Yeah, so I would run it by people like even at
Speaker:say if you're out there at a craft fair,
Speaker:run it by your buyers,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:that would be a great place to start.
Speaker:I call this a chatter box campaign that you actually try
Speaker:to sell it before you fully make the program.
Speaker:It doesn't mean you haven't thought about it,
Speaker:you haven't planned it.
Speaker:It just means you're testing the market to see if someone's
Speaker:actually gonna pull out their wallet and want to buy before
Speaker:you commit a massive amount of time and energy on the
Speaker:program. And this is all part of your experience product masterclass,
Speaker:correct? Yes,
Speaker:it is.
okay. Do you want to talk a little bit,
Speaker:you were just sharing The first part of it already,
Speaker:but do you want to expand on that for everybody?
Speaker:Sure thing.
Speaker:So really what I do is I help you understand the
Speaker:knowledge and the expertise that you have buried inside of you
Speaker:from a lifetime of being in this world and doing the
Speaker:things that you do.
Speaker:And how do you translate that into a product that whether
Speaker:it's one person engaging with,
Speaker:there are a few people or a whole lot of people
Speaker:that you have this other revenue stream that you're able to
Speaker:sell something else.
Speaker:Whether you want to apply these principles to what you're doing
Speaker:already to your physical products,
Speaker:or whether you want to create an online education or course
Speaker:or training program around it.
Speaker:Whether you want to coach and mentor people privately to become
Speaker:crafters or whatever it happens to be,
Speaker:there's a lot of different ways that you can leverage your
Speaker:experience beyond what you're actually selling.
Speaker:So that's what I teach people how to do soup to
Speaker:nuts from choosing the idea and the topic all the way
Speaker:to creating whatever the offer is to launching it into the
Speaker:world, marketing it and making the money and then delivering on
Speaker:it. And so I teach that with the emphasis on creating
Speaker:a unique experience that's going to really engage your customer.
Speaker:So they're going to want to keep coming back to you
Speaker:and buying more and more and more.
Speaker:Wonderful. And if someone who's listening here is interested,
Speaker:where would they go to find more?
Speaker:Yeah. Well first of all,
Speaker:I created a kind of a checklist that includes all 10
Speaker:core principles of experience,
Speaker:escalation, or how do you get people hooked on your products?
Speaker:In a good way and have them want to come back.
Speaker:So the 10 principles you want to stack into your products.
Speaker:If you want to create that excitement and you want to
Speaker:create that experience escalation,
Speaker:I call it the viral product checklist and also the 10
Speaker:principles that you want to avoid.
Speaker:If you don't want to send them like have your product
Speaker:sit in the pantry or on the shelf or have people
Speaker:ignore them,
Speaker:overlook them,
Speaker:give up midway through and I put that up at live,
Speaker:your message.com
Speaker:forward slash gift biz live your message.com
Speaker:forward slash gift biz.
Speaker:If you go there,
Speaker:you can download that for free.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Thank you so much for that.
Speaker:I know a lot of our listeners are going to be
Speaker:doing that download for sure and then that will lead into
Speaker:an extend into more information from you,
Speaker:correct? Absolutely,
Speaker:yes. Perfect.
Speaker:So such great information.
Speaker:I really appreciate all that you've shared with us.
Speaker:I think you've triggered some new thought patterns for some people
Speaker:here and some new potential and opportunity that exists around their
Speaker:product for growth of their business.
Speaker:What's coming up in the future for you?
Speaker:What do you see coming out like 12 months or past
Speaker:that for you?
Speaker:Well, my main commitment is to reinvent online education around the
Speaker:world. So engagement and results become the norm and not the
Speaker:exception. And so I'm motivated to grow my business to the
Speaker:next level and build an eight figure company because I know
Speaker:that when I have the resources and reach,
Speaker:I can really help to reinvent this industry in a much
Speaker:bigger way.
Speaker:And my vision is,
Speaker:it kind of comes out to how I started dabbling in
Speaker:this. Like in the summer of 2016 I was watching these
Speaker:videos when Pokemon go came and I was watching videos of
Speaker:grown adults literally double parking their cars in the street in
Speaker:New York city to jump out and go chase after this
Speaker:little virtual rare Pokemon that spawned spontaneously in central park.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:what in the world is going on?
Speaker:And I just had this vision of it.
Speaker:I get people that excited about their life goals and overcoming
Speaker:their challenge and achieving their biggest dreams in life,
Speaker:that they would double park their cars and just run through
Speaker:the streets.
Speaker:And that's kind of the mission that I've been on ever
Speaker:since. And so I'm motivated to grow my company and so
Speaker:I can help more people do that.
Speaker:Whether they're just wanting to apply this to their own life
Speaker:goals or help other people achieve their as,
Speaker:because I think when people are on track in life and
Speaker:getting what they want and fulfilling their biggest hopes and dreams
Speaker:and expectations,
Speaker:I think that'll change the world.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know what I've heard from you that kind
Speaker:of is an underlying tone throughout our whole conversation is the
Speaker:goal to not just get a product out,
Speaker:but to make sure that people see results,
Speaker:but with it is this positive energy and element of fun.
Speaker:This can be work.
Speaker:I think we can agree to that,
Speaker:but it can be a lot of fun in the process
Speaker:too. And then on the very backend when you're seeing results,
Speaker:it just wraps it all up into just this perfect experience.
Speaker:Yes, for sure.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I so appreciate your being on today sharing these golden gems
Speaker:with us and the checklist.
Speaker:I am going to make sure that a lot of people
Speaker:come and download that because it's going to be really valuable
Speaker:to them,
Speaker:so thanks again.
Speaker:I really appreciate your time today.
Speaker:Absolutely. It was fun.
Speaker:Marissa has just given us a lot of ideas for how
Speaker:to accentuate the customer journey and in return insure repeat business
Speaker:versus one-off sales.
Speaker:I encourage you to go back and listen again with pen
Speaker:and paper in hand and then take just one of these
Speaker:concepts or your version,
Speaker:your twist of it and incorporate it into your business.
Speaker:What if even a quarter of your current business resulted in
Speaker:a repeat purchase?
Speaker:What would that do for your numbers?
Speaker:Think about it.
Speaker:Okay. Moving on.
Speaker:We are right now headed into the middle of October and
Speaker:the holiday season is definitely upon us.
Speaker:With that comes huge potential to capture new customers.
Speaker:The best way to grab attention online is with the quality
Speaker:of your photography.
Speaker:Taking pictures that attract attention will help you sell your product
Speaker:and that is the topic up next week.
Speaker:I can't wait for us to be together again then.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:After you listened to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:Apple podcasts.
Speaker:That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they go
Speaker:live and thank you to those of you who have already
Speaker:left a rating and review.
Speaker:By subscribing,
Speaker:rating, and reviewing you help to increase the visibility of gift
Speaker:biz on wrapped.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward to help others