0:00:02 - (Samantha): Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of building the abundant woman. I have Amy with us today. She is your organic marketing mentor. She's going to help you how to grow your marketing without Google or Facebook ads. So I know you guys are going to want to listen in while she provides tons of value. And I'll ask all the questions that we all have for when we're sitting in front of somebody who says they know how to do marketing. I will ask all those great questions for you. So, Amy, we're so glad you're here. Tell us all about you.

0:00:33 - (Amy): Hey, thanks for having me, Samantha. So I am Amy Hager, the organic marketing mentor at the Joyful business revolution. And again, we really believe that you are your best messenger and your best marketer. And we've just kind of find out that joyful way that aligns with your energy and your expertise so that you can get in front of the people that you want to be working with and support those clients that you're really, really great at supporting. So it's amazing there's people have so many gifts to give in this world. I just am somehow lucky that I got the marketing and messaging gift.

0:01:08 - (Amy): And, um, and so don't make yourself wrong if you're feeling like it's not working right, because it is, it isn't your gift. I have to hire other people to help me with things that are not my gift.

0:01:20 - (Samantha): Right.

0:01:21 - (Amy): Um, and so I really deeply root a lot of the marketing and messaging that we create and story. Cause I do believe that when you're able to connect with somebody through story, you're building that, like, love and trust factor even quicker. And marketing really is here to create conversation. And a lot of times, people go into presentation mode in marketing so organically. I think we can stop that all together.

0:01:51 - (Samantha): Awesome. Well, that's usually always one of the first things is people want to tell you exactly what they do all the time, and it's like a giant poster they're just walking around with. So as, like, say, this person, this mom who's getting, you know, she's ready to start a business from home, just, she's home with her kids and things like that. Or even the woman who's just like, I really would rather be at home enjoying my space or being able to travel when and wherever I want to.

0:02:22 - (Samantha): What would your first thing to her like? What would that be like? What was that shift for you that you started seeing like, was a really great need for, especially women who were just starting businesses.

0:02:33 - (Amy): Yeah. So I think the one thing that when we start businesses is we're usually leaving something else, whether it's our kids are grown up and, you know, we want to re enter or enter the workforce or we're leaving, like, the corporate career that just drained our souls. And I think the number one mistake I see women do is they create businesses that are more like prisons. And so there is this dream, right, that you can travel, you can be at home, you can do these things, but then there's this internal struggle of, oh, my gosh, I didn't do enough of my business today.

0:03:04 - (Amy): And so when we really work with women who are starting out, it's finding what the right flow is for them. And when I say for them, I mean, like, a single person, what works well for me, is it gonna work well for you and probably won't work well for the next person person. But it's being able to be guided to putting together that business puzzle that's your puzzle and with your pieces. And so a lot of women will be like, I'm a great morning person as soon as I get those kids out the door.

0:03:34 - (Amy): That's where my prime time of getting things done are, and making sure that we build a strategy that allows that structure, but also flexibility, so that you can build that business and you can be in flow when you're meeting with clients and marketing and doing all the things that need to be done and doing it in the way that is aligned with your energy. For the right part of the day. For the right part of the week. For the right part of the month, too.

0:04:03 - (Samantha): Yeah.

0:04:04 - (Amy): And so I think what really came clear to me is I used to be an association, like nonprofit executive director, and I had a lot of autonomy to where I could pick my hours. I could decide when and how I should be doing things. A lot of times I scheduled meetings based off of my energy, because I'm like, I'm the ones got to execute this sucker.

0:04:29 - (Samantha): Right, exactly.

0:04:30 - (Amy): And so that really taught me early on that when I can show up at the best time and best space for me, that's where I'm going to be the best for my audience. And when I bridged into this gap of entrepreneurship, into this industry of entrepreneurship, I should say that's definitely one of my biggest, biggest criteria is to make sure that I'm working in the space and flow that works well with me. And I have a business partner, and we flow very, very differently. Like, I'm going to be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday on Zoom, usually from nine to 4430.

0:05:04 - (Amy): And I love it. It doesn't drain me. On the weekends, though. I'm not touching this thing, and you're not going to catch me usually on social media. Flip side. She loves touching the business a little bit every single day.

0:05:17 - (Samantha): Yeah.

0:05:17 - (Amy): And so, you know, she'll work for a couple hours on Saturday, work for a couple hours on Sunday. And so I always know when I come back Monday, there's going to be things that she's worked on that I'm going to have to take over and execute my part on. And so I've built that into my calendar and my flow. But, you know, there's some times that my husband works a normal job and, you know, he has to be at work at a certain time and he'll leave the house, and I'm like, you know, I'm just not there yet. I'm going to stay in bed, and I'm going to cuddle my cats and watch the Today show for the next 30 minutes because I've built that ease and flow into my morning knowing that if I had to just jump out of bed and go for it, I wouldn't be showing up in my full self.

0:05:58 - (Samantha): Yeah. And I totally agree with that because, um, so I have two kids, and my oldest is five, and so I homeschool her. And so usually it's like, in my day, I get. I'm one of those everyday kind of people.

0:06:14 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:06:14 - (Samantha): Is like, I just want to do it for a little bit every day. Um, just because it gives me that, like, sense of, like, routine. Um, because I'm not a strict scheduler. Like, if I notice that my daughter's having a rough morning, I'm gonna, like, let her go and get her energy out and, like, go do that, and then we'll come back to school. Like, that's the beauty of our lives, is like, that, you know, we've created it to be this way.

0:06:38 - (Samantha): But I think for, you know, what you're talking about is people don't really, they don't know how to, like, create those parameters.

0:06:47 - (Amy): Right.

0:06:48 - (Samantha): And, you know, for me especially, is, like, I wanted to grow a business. Like, I. I'm actually in the middle of a business pivot, so this is probably, like, everything people are going to hear from me for the last couple episodes. It's just going to be like, there's so much change going on in my life right now. And, you know, I sat down with my business coach, and she's like, I think this is great. I think you have, like, the, you know, the mentality to like, lead and do this, but it's going to take a lot more time.

0:07:14 - (Samantha): She was like, do you want this business or do you want something you can work on one to 2 hours and like, you know, have, have the life with your children? Because I'm one of those, I love to be very, like, connected to my life. You know, I still do the laundry. I still do, like, I love to bake sourdough bread. I love spending time outside with my kids. Like, I'm very connected to my family as where I can automate everything in my business.

0:07:41 - (Samantha): And so it's like shifting to teaching. Like, you know, that's what I'm shifting to. Teaching is like, here's how you can automate your life.

0:07:50 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:07:51 - (Samantha): Or automate your business so you can enjoy your life.

0:07:54 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:07:55 - (Samantha): And I think that's a, like, talk about, like, I would love to hear your opinions on, like, when you're marketing shifts from something that you work on a lot to something that you start to work on a little. Like, talk about that trend. Is that something that you have to really transition that you do so it's.

0:08:15 - (Amy): Not a light switch and it doesn't always stay the same. Marketing, your marketing and messaging is going to evolve as you do and you have those human experiences. Right. And also as you have more interactions with clients, what I will say is once you have your business running and you're getting referrals in repeat business, that's when you're really actually ready to start marketing the business. And a lot of people think that right out of the bat, they need to market market.

0:08:44 - (Amy): They need to buy ads, they need all these things. You don't have a viable product, actually. You know, you have a viable product and you know that you're great at what you're doing when you get referrals and repeat business.

0:08:56 - (Samantha): Yeah.

0:08:57 - (Amy): And so once you're able to really figure that out, that's when we have to turn on our listening ear to make sure that we're utilizing the words that these people are saying to us so that we can start creating the messaging to attract people we don't know to start working with us. And so I think that when you've gone through that journey and then figuring out that messaging, once that is figured out, I say 90 day it, any messaging and any strategy, give it a 90 day shot when it comes to your marketing.

0:09:28 - (Amy): And if it's working, then replicate that. And that's where that automation piece kind of comes into play. You can automate more of the things because they've worked. And a lot of times people will be like, I feel like I'm just saying the same thing over and over and over again. Well, you are, because I say, create a brilliantly boring business. And when you greet, when you have that brilliantly boring business, meaning your messaging and your marketing is working, meaning you're attracting ideal clients and having thoughtful sales conversations, I call them soulful sales conversations.

0:10:03 - (Amy): And working with clients that you really, really love to get them the transformation results that you're very good at helping people find. You're going to think your business is boring because that's the human mind, right? And so when you're like, oh, I have a boring business. Go, go do a hobby, go outside with the kids or go do something else, don't screw up the business. Because that's what we always see is someone's like, oh, this is going really smooth. I think I should add something to it.

0:10:31 - (Amy): No, not if it's working for you.

0:10:33 - (Samantha): Exactly.

0:10:34 - (Amy): Growing and scaling a business is all personal, too. If I have a business that's bringing $1,000 a month in and that's all I need in my life and in my business, and that's all I need it to do, then that is wonderful. If someone I'm talking to needs a ten or twelve k a month business because they are the one who's supporting the majority of the bills and finances in their family. All right, we're going to figure out how to build that business for them to achieve that.

0:11:00 - (Amy): But a lot of times we hear, oh, you know, six figure, seven figure, eight figure businesses. Yeah, you do have different problems at those different levels. But do you even want to be at that level? Do you need to be at that level?

0:11:16 - (Samantha): I think that's a, I think that's such a true point. Um, because I think there are especially a lot of women I work with is like, we have this business because, like, we want this business. It's not a necessity.

0:11:31 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:11:32 - (Samantha): And so there's this, like, conflict of like, well, we want this successful business because, like, it's something we're passionate about and all those things. But I think sometimes it's really hard for us to get out of that mindset of like, I'm not going to starve to death next week if this doesn't work.

0:11:52 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:11:53 - (Samantha): And so it's like, that's where, you know, for them, it's like, I just want it to be like, where it's, you know, it's going really well. I always think of Jessica and she laughs because I tell her I used her story all the time because I love it. She has, you know, she makes multiple six figures in her esthetician business, but she has to, like, literally manually, like, do the thing, do all the things. And she's like, I just want it to. Where people are just, like, booking on my schedule. I don't have to think about it.

0:12:24 - (Samantha): And so now we're in the process of, like, automating her, like, putting in all of those automations into play, because now it's like we've, we've got the, the business. It's doing well. It's like she goes, I just want to not have to think who's going to be on my schedule in six months, right? And I think that's, you know, for me, is like, right now, as I'm pivoting, is like, I've done this for one person, but I've also done it for, like, our chiropractic office and, like, set up all our automations through there. And, like, I've done this in every business I've worked in. I'm like, how do I make this as easy as automated so I don't even have to think about this ever again?

0:13:04 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:13:05 - (Samantha): And. But I don't. It's like you feel like, because you've only done it, like, once or twice, you're like, how do you help people get out of that mindset of when they're, like, new to something and feel like they can feel authentic in what they do? Like.

0:13:21 - (Amy): Right. And I think it does come down to, I'm not gonna lie, it comes down to messaging and marketing it, and it comes down to you being able to explain how you help without actually explaining how you help. So we always say, you know, businesses are like boats. The boat is going to take you from island of stuck to island of success. When you are talking about your boat, a lot of times what we end up talking about is, you know, the snacks on the boat, the drinks on the boat, the seats, the towels, the size of the boat, sometimes the color of the boat. Maybe we'll talk about the motor of the boat.

0:14:04 - (Amy): That's not actually going to sell somebody anything, though.

0:14:06 - (Samantha): Yeah.

0:14:07 - (Amy): You start talking about the boat ride from the island of suck to the island of success and how there's going to be sun. We're going to pass the new little babies that have been born because it's baby gee season. We're going to go around this curve, and there's a beautiful area that we can anchor out at and swim, swim because the water is super clear. Painting that picture of the experience is what's really going to change.

0:14:33 - (Amy): And so when you can articulate the experience that you're going to create to guide people from island of stuck to island of success, that will always help you feel more confident when you're bringing on new clients. And I think if you've done it twice, you can walk through both of those experiences to kind of figure out how you're going to phrase it and how you're going to say it. But let's say it's something kind of brand new. You've done it ish in other ways, but because of how you can see the world, you're able to see a more streamlined way of actually executing on this. Yeah, you can articulate that so that someone can say, yes, you're going to be so much more confident, even if you've never done it again or ever done it like in this way before.

0:15:21 - (Samantha): Yeah, and I think that's a huge, like, the people I work with or that listen into this, you know, that's, that's their thing is like, maybe they are a ten year veteran in a corporate job and they're like, I have figured out how to make this happen and I've done it over and over and over again, but I've like, now I'm trying to take that skill and, like, leave with it. And I think that's where they get lost a lot of times because they basically have always had somebody coming in, but they don't know how to actually, like, explain what they do.

0:15:55 - (Amy): Exactly. And I think the other, besides not knowing how to explain what they do, like, the actual words that you say or that you write or that you create, it's the vehicle of how you're delivering the message, too. And so a lot of people get wrapped up in, oh, people absorb content differently. There's people who absorb video, visual, audio, written, or live in person interaction differently. I need to market to all five of those types of people.

0:16:26 - (Amy): And we really find when people are trying to market to all fives, the way that you communicate that it starts being draining. You start doubting yourself because you're not attracting as many people as you're putting the effort into. And so I love flipping that on its head. And we actually have a quiz for this. It's called the content personality quiz. You can google this, but when you start creating from the one way that is the most energetically aligned with you and you use that as your vehicle, so it's either written, it's visual, it's video, it's audio. Or live in person.

0:17:00 - (Amy): When you start delivering your messaging in that one way and let the rest go, it's amazing to see who you end up attracting into your business and how much more aligned they are. And so I'm a live in person person. So is my business partner. 90% of our clients are live in person people.

0:17:21 - (Samantha): Yeah.

0:17:21 - (Amy): And that is a okay. Like, we jive so well, we're able to really help move them. We did realize, though, if we were the founders of the content personality and there's five of them, we do still need to figure out how to speak to all five of them. And so we brought people on our team in those different content personality types to fill those gaps. And so when I've seen people either stop doing all five or go from one that they thought they were good at because they like it, a lot of people like writing, and they're probably good at writing, but writing is not usually the way that you energetically connect with people the most.

0:18:00 - (Samantha): Yeah.

0:18:00 - (Amy): And so that's what we really want to do. We want to make sure that you're creating from that place to get people into those conversations. And, you know, when you're alive in person person, it's that that interaction, whether it's here on Zoom or physically in the same. It's like the energy that you're getting off from the other person is giving you good energy, and you're aligning a video person. They don't need anyone else in the room to be able to explain things really, really well.

0:18:29 - (Amy): It's really just their essence of showing up that will help people. An audio person is going to be that person that you get on the phone when you're super upset about your cable bill going up again. And that person on the other end calms your nerves and makes everything in the world okay, even if you're paying more money for it. The written person really moves people with their written words. I was just with a lady and her girlfriends, and it was so cute because one, the lady, she's a written content personality type, had sent them all this text message that was just super sweet.

0:19:05 - (Amy): And she's like, I ended up forwarding that to my family and saying, my friend Cindy says it best. This is what I think about you. And so, you know that written is your best way to communicate. When other people are actually using your written words and giving you credit for it. And then your visual content personality type, you need something visual with you to explain things. And so maybe it's photos. Maybe it's an infograph. Maybe it's a PowerPoint slide.

0:19:29 - (Amy): Or you need something visual happening to create. So you could be painting your wall if you need to write a book, if you've committed to it and you're a visual person and having that visual activity, or if you've ever doodled in the margins of your paper when you're taking notes, probably a visual content personality type. So when you can double down on what your innate strength and innate gift is and let the rest go, I think that's the best advice I can give anybody out there who is starting a business is. Be okay with having strengths and weaknesses, and really let your strengths be strengths and let the weaknesses go. We don't need to improve upon them.

0:20:10 - (Samantha): I think that's so true. And I've heard that a lot of times is like. Is like, you can always hire out your weaknesses.

0:20:16 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:20:17 - (Samantha): You can't hire your strengths.

0:20:19 - (Amy): Right.

0:20:20 - (Samantha): And so it's like, what was it? It's like, if my kid makes a b in math, but they're like, a tennis superstar is like, I'm going to buy them tennis lessons. I'm not going to get them a tutor.

0:20:33 - (Amy): Right.

0:20:34 - (Samantha): And it's like, because obviously, like, the better that we are at our strengths, and, you know, and I talk about that all the time, like, because when I get on a podcast or something like that is like, I get clients, like, right and left.

0:20:48 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:20:48 - (Samantha): I mean, I had my first five figure month because of a podcast episode that I was on, and it, like, wasn't even hard to close people from that because they had just listened to me. And every person I've, like, sat down and talked to him, like, hey, this is how you do it.

0:21:04 - (Amy): Right?

0:21:05 - (Samantha): But, man, putting that into seven to ten second Instagram reels.

0:21:10 - (Amy): Yeah.

0:21:10 - (Samantha): It's, like, not my jam. No, not my thing. But I can't, like, you know, at the same time. But you're like, I'm trying to get clients. So it's like, what are you. Because not. Not everybody in the world is gonna let you be on their podcast, right? So it's like, so what do you. You know, so realizing those things, it's like, every time I've been on a podcast episode, I get clients.

0:21:34 - (Amy): Right? Well, and here's the other thing. When you think about this, like, how many clients do you actually need every month? A couple would be great, probably, right? You don't need hundreds of them.

0:21:43 - (Samantha): Literally. I have done the math, and it's like, two clients a month.

0:21:48 - (Amy): Exactly. And so, when you think about getting those two clients, where are your best marketing messaging efforts actually working? And for you, it's podcasts. So if you could get on three to four podcasts a month and not worry about Instagram, just let your Instagram live the way it is. And maybe if you feel inspired and crazy, you want to go down it, then sure, have at it. But double down on what you know that's actually working.

0:22:13 - (Amy): And when you set that intention for your strategy, the rest becomes a lot easier. But again, a lot of times, we're told we have to show up in multiple places, multiple platforms. You don't. I double down on Facebook and do. I don't mind, like, LinkedIn and, yeah, I don't mind Instagram, but I'm really great at Facebook. That's where I can show up every day. And I guarantee you your clients are on every single social media, YouTube, podcast platform out there.

0:22:45 - (Amy): And when you think about it, you only need two a month. When you can connect deeply with those two to three because you show up so well on podcasts, why wouldn't you do that over and over again instead of forcing yourself to go over and put it into that one sentence snippet in Instagram?

0:23:04 - (Samantha): It's a struggle bus. It's a struggle bus. I'm like, if I could just, like, go in and, like, into a room of 500 people and be like, hey, I've already, like, done all of this for you. All you have to do is, like, go watch this step by step. And people did that. Like, I would. I'm like, give me a room. Yeah, because I'm gonna get in my rooms.

0:23:29 - (Amy): I would be finding rooms to get myself into. And, I mean, I'm. I'm the same way. Like, you know, again, I love Facebook. I love being there. I will go live very easily. But I also know where I really, really connect deeply with people and where my sales come from. Our podcasts, our summits, our stages, our conferences. And so, you know, I travel two weeks out of the year, but I've built my two weeks every single month, but I've built my business to be that way.

0:23:58 - (Samantha): Yeah.

0:23:58 - (Amy): And, you know, I've had. I have my home life structured that way so that I can be gone two weeks every single month. And that's what really, really lights me up. So when you really think about where you show up, how you connect deeply with people, don't make yourself wrong for it. Go for those and let the rest go.

0:24:18 - (Samantha): Yeah. I love that. All right, Amy. Well, where can everybody find you Facebook.

0:24:26 - (Amy): Yeah. So for those of you listening, it's Amy, a M Y Hager, H A G E R. I'm on Facebook sipping a glass of wine. So come join me there. And our website is the joyful business revolution. And we do offer workshops and ways that you can kind of come and experience and learn a little bit more. And if you're sitting here and you're like, I'm so curious about my content personality type Google content personality quiz, or.

0:24:53 - (Samantha): I'm literally going to do this, we get off. I'm going to do it.

0:24:56 - (Amy): Just. I'm so curious. I think you're probably a live in person person. But, you know, we want to make sure that we take the quiz because again, sometimes our passions come up when we're trying to decide this for ourselves. So I've taken the decision process and made it really super easy for you. And it's a six question quiz.

0:25:15 - (Samantha): We can all do this. Every one of us can do this.

0:25:18 - (Amy): 30 seconds, I promise.

0:25:19 - (Samantha): Well, Amy, thank you so much. I know this is not the last conversation I'm having with you, for sure, but I just know that, like, everyone when they hear this is like, I think it's going to make, it's going to make it so much easier. Instead of trying to force our, you know, our round self, round self into a square peg, it's like just not, we're not going to do those things anymore. And so I think that's the huge step here is that we just need to align what aligns with us.

0:25:49 - (Samantha): Because like you said, not everything's going to work for everybody. I mean, even you and I, even though we like to show up live, we like to talk, we like to have communication. I have two small children. You have no children. It's going to look very different. And I've really told people, I'm like, quit trying to compare yourself to, like, if you're a mom, quit trying to do things that people that don't have children, like, are doing because their life looks extremely different.

0:26:15 - (Samantha): Or if you're a homeschool mom and you're kid and you're comparing yourself to somebody whose kids, like, their kids go to school all day long, compare yourself to those people because it's just not going to work for you. It will work. And there are tons of people out there that can, like, share this love in this place of where you're at, but quit trying to copy the people that don't work for you.

0:26:41 - (Amy): You be you.

0:26:42 - (Samantha): Yeah, I love that. So, all right.

0:26:46 - (Amy): Amy.

0:26:46 - (Samantha): Well, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for your insightful. Like, I think this is going to help a lot of people make some, you know, some changes, some good, solid moves in their business from here. And I hope you guys enjoyed the episode, and we will see you next time. Bye.