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Holy cannoli, I've got big news to share with you today.

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Listen closely if you're way past due for legally legitimizing your online
business, because this is for you.

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I'm hosting my very first live workshop of the year on Tuesday, February 15th,
and Wednesday, February 16th at 1:00 PM Eastern, 10:00 AM Pacific, to teach you
how to

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get legally legit and make this your best business year yet.

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And I want you to sign up and join me there.

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The workshop is called Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online
Business, and I'll also answer your questions during the live legal Q&A at the
end of the workshop.

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During the one hour workshop, you'll learn how to form your business properly
to be personally protected, what your website needs to be legally legit, how to
properly work with people online, how to keep

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copycats away from your content, and the number one mindset shift that you've
got to make to legitimize and grow your business this year.

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I'll teach you all that, plus you'll get access to my legal knowledge during the
Q&A at the end of my free one hour live legal workshop.

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Just head to samvanderwielen.com/oyt-live-workshop, drop your email address and
name, and I'll send you the link to join us live on February 15th or

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16th at 1:00 PM Eastern, 10:00 AM Pacific for the live workshop and legal Q&A
with me.

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If you can't make it live, sign up anyway, because I'll make sure you get the
replay.

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I'll even be giving away some exciting prizes during the workshop, things like
mics, cameras, Starbucks gift cards, and so much more for those who show up
live, so make sure that you mark it on your

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calendar and clear your appointments after you sign up just so you can join us
live.

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This is the best live event for you if you're ready to legally legitimize your
business, so head to samvanderwielen.com/oyt-live-workshop and sign up to

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attend the live Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business
workshop and Q&A on February 15th or 16th now.

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So, over five years ago, when I set out to start my online legal business, I had
no idea that it would end up being what it is today.

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And I am so glad that it is, but I had no clue what I was doing.

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And I am always like thinking back about when I started, and things that I did,
and things I would never do again, but also, what I learned from that and what I
would pass on to other people.

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And that sparked an idea to create today's episode, teaching you all about what
I would do differently if I started my business today.

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And I'm hoping to pass on a lot of the nuggets and the experiences that I've
gone through over the last five or six years in helping you to maybe be a little
bit kinder to yourself

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to do things more on your terms, and to pay attention and put more of your time
and energy into the things in your business that are going to pay dividends over
time.

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And I'm definitely going to share with you those things that I don't think are
helping you at all, so I can't wait to get into this week's episode.

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I thought that this was a really fun one to record, and I hope that you'll like
it too.

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But before we get into today's episode, I want to share the review of the week
with you.

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So, Britt Stocks left a review of On Your Terms on Apple podcast, saying, "Not
sure how I started following Sam, but I'm so glad that I did.

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I love how her podcasts are bite-size, easily digestible lessons, not only
helping with the legal aspects of business, but also the day-to-day planning, as
well as mindset advice.

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I just set my intentions for 2022 today and included her freebie business
planning for 2022 worksheet, and I now feel so clear on my intentions and
actionable items to make this the

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best year yet for my business.

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Thanks, Sam." Well, thank you, Britt.

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Thanks so much for leaving a review of On Your Terms.

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And if you leave a review in Apple Podcasts of my show, On Your Terms, you'll
be entered to win a 25-dollar Starbucks gift card.

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All you have to do is leave a review on Apple, take a screenshot of it, DM me
that screenshot on Instagram, so I know who you are or who left the review, and
we'll pick a new winner every

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single month. So, be sure to submit your review on Apple Podcasts now.

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You might even get a future shoutout on an episode.

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With that, let's get into this week's episode.

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I always feel sort of funny filming any content related to like what mistakes I
made, what I would do differently, like all that kind of stuff, because I do so
wholeheartedly

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believe that all of these things are so necessary that we go through, whether
it's in our business, in our life, whatever.

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I had some of the darkest days that I can remember as an attorney.

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Like when I was an attorney, I was so miserable.

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I felt so trapped and like I was never going to get out.

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And I had no Plan B, because like being a lawyer was Plan A, and there was only
Plan A, and it started, and it ended there.

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And I never thought about what I would do next.

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And so, I found myself in this situation where I was super miserable.

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I realized I had made a huge mistake in the sense that it wasn't the right fit
for me, right?

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Like being a lawyer, going through that education, going to law school, it's
turned out to be a huge blessing and like it was an incredible education.

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I was so fortunate to get to go and I learned so much.

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And obviously, I'm using those skills and that knowledge now.

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But like in general, being a lawyer, corporate lawyer no less, was like not the
right fit for me.

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And I've talked about this many times, I was like very much in victim mode and
all that kind of stuff.

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And my mom, who is like the kind of mom that's not going to like sit there and
rub your back as you cry, I think a lot of us have those kinds of moms, but
hopefully, I'm not alone.

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But I remember, at the time, I would come home, or I would meet her for dinner,
or something, and I would be like crying, and I'd be so upset about, "I hate
being a lawyer.

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I hate being a lawyer. I hate the law firm.

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I hate everything that I do.

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I hate all of this. I hate that.

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I hate suits."

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I ended up throwing the suits.

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And she would look at me, and she would just say, "Good, this is good for you.

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You need this. This is going to be the fuel that you need." And I was like,
"What?

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Like what a-", I was like, "I just want you to tell me how awful this is".

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Usually, when you're in like a really bad place, you just want somebody to be
like, "That sucks".

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And at the time, I was really mad.

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I remember I was really upset that like she didn't get it, and she didn't see
how victimey I was, and how like much of a victim I was in this situation, and
all that, but then as time went on, and especially once I

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left, I was like, "I totally see what she means".

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Like this was all a part of the experience that I needed.

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I needed to go through that and I needed to be miserable in order to be hungry
enough to do it differently, right?

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And it really built me up.

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And I don't think we have to go through like horrible experiences or abusive
experiences in order to like make positive change, but I didn't intend to go,
like I

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didn't know that it was going to be like that, it just ended up being like
that, and it was really bad, and it is what it is.

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And that experience, I think, really helped shape who I am as a person, who I
am as a business person, what kind of

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business I ended up building, just so many things, right?

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And so, I think so many times in life and in business, we go through things
because they're a necessary step to going wherever we want to go, even when

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we don't know it at the time.

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So, I just wanted to share that with you because I don't ever want someone to
feel like they're silly or stupid for having gone through these periods, some of
these periods

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that we're going to talk about today about some of the things that people do
when they're starting their businesses and some of the things that are kind of
silly or a waste of time.

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It's like you don't know that when you're in it.

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And I really, truly believe that like you have to do that, sometimes, to learn,
like, "Oh, that didn't work".

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I am just a huge believer in life and in business in general of the Goldilocks
approach.

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Like if anything else, I feel like that's the thing I think about every day, is
like Goldilocks to me is experimental.

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It means like whittling down, figuring out what works for you, maybe some
thing's too big, too hot, too cold for somebody else, but it's perfect for you.

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And so, I just think it's like such a great analogy.

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But in order to do that, like in the Goldilocks example, she had to try all the
different kinds of porridge in order to understand which one was right, right?

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So, I do believe that we make these "mistakes" in business, and they are part
of something.

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However, when we can collapse time, when we can learn things, sometimes, that
can help to push us in a different direction to pivot, right?

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And I remember listening to other people when I was starting out my online
business, and I would hear other people share some tidbit of advice, and I'd be
like, "Oh, that's why that thing's not working

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for me". So, I'm glad that you've tried whatever you've tried, but maybe
something in this episode will just illuminate like an idea for you to do
something a little bit different.

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So, with that being said, I think we've all been there.

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We've all done the like downloading all the things, right?

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How many of us have 9,000 freebies, and PDFs, and videos, webinars, and all
kinds of things in our inbox that we either never used, or just weren't

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that helpful, or we signed up for and never followed through on?

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We might have even like signed up for courses that we didn't really need or
weren't that helpful, or signing up for courses almost out of a place of
desperation, or like searching for something.

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Like maybe I need Pinterest, but I also have to learn about YouTube, but this
person's teaching me about Instagram, but this one's a Canva course, and this
one's an Asada course, like I remember

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being in that place, where we were like going all over the place.

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Some people do this with certifications, right?

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Like keep layering on education as a means of not only delaying some things,
but feeling maybe like they won't be taken seriously enough, or people will
judge them, or

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find them out for not knowing every single thing in the whole universe, so they
keep gathering all these certifications or something.

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And some people spend their time consuming a bit too much of social media, me
included.

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So, I have a couple of tips today that I put together for you on things I would
do differently if I were doing it all over again, or if I was building my
business,

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if I was more in the beginning stages of business now, this is what I
personally would spend my time focusing on.

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I'm really hoping that this episode just helps you cut through the noise a
little bit, and also gives you some inspiration and ideas of like maybe some
things that you've been trying, and trying to

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figure out how to make it work, but it's not the right fit for you.

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Hopefully, today, you will figure out what is the right fit for you and what
you should do instead.

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So, the very first thing that I would do differently if I started my business
now versus in 2016 is that I would follow and

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consume way less, and I would create and lead more.

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I wish I would have seen creating my own stuff as a means of practice, right?

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So, I think that a lot of times, people will think like if you start an
Instagram account and you don't have 80 million followers like off the bat, they
think like—I don't know what they think

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, they think they have to keep engaging more, like I have to keep following
people or write on people's—like I have to comment on people's posts, or I have
to do this or that, the other thing.

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And I don't think that they see that that's like a beautiful opportunity and a 
time to actually just create as a means of practicing, practicing

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creating, practicing Reels, or writing captions, or shooting videos, shooting
photos, whatever it is, and just like getting used to it,

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right? I think like anybody who's built a pretty successful online business
will typically say that if you go back and look at their early content, it's not
very good, right?

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And they might be just saying that, but I think what they're really saying is
like it's not the same level of maybe professionalism or like high tech, high
production value as what they

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would do now, right?

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But the point is that they did it at some point, and then they got to the high
production, high whatever when you see them, right?

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When you see famous online business people putting out content, you're seeing
stuff that's taken years and probably tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars 
over time

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of building up a business that can afford to do those kinds of things, but
they're often the first ones to tell you like if you would go back and look at
their other content, it's not great, or it's like funny-looking

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graphics or cheesy stuff, or it's kind of blurry, or it's not bright enough, or
they were using Canva and doing it for free.

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So, I think that it's important for you to see posting on social media and
wherever else, whether it's like writing emails to your list, or posting in your
blog, or creating YouTube videos,

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as practice. And it's an opportunity to get really comfortable with creating,
and with learning how to become a leader, learning how to basically like grow
and

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strengthen your own voice, as opposed to just consuming and relying on
everybody else's, right?

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So, we tend to, in the beginning, just follow a bunch of other people, engage
with their content, and all you're doing is giving your energy to their content,
and not putting your

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energy into learning how to create your own, and learning how to become a
leader in your own space.

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And I don't care.

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Don't even tell me for one second, "Oh, but there are so many other people
doing what I'm doing", and yadda, yadda, yadda.

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If that's true and it probably is true, but like if that's true, then is going
around to a bunch of other people's Instagram accounts and commenting on there
going to help

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you, or is it time for you to just jump into the pool, right?

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It doesn't matter that you're a few years behind somebody else.

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I have seen all kinds of wacky stuff happen in this industry over the last
five, six years, it does not matter.

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You have to jump in the pool at some point, and it is better for you to jump in
the pool, and start swimming and learning your own than like standing on the
sidelines and watching everybody

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else. So, I want you to get in there.

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I want you to create more than you consume.

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I want you to learn to become a leader, and see this all as a means of
practice, and see it as like kind of getting your "bad content" out of the way.

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With every single post, with every single email, you're going to learn, you're
going to get better, you're going to start seeing what works, right?

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The beautiful part of posting more, especially in the beginning when you're
kind of getting your feet under you, is that you get data.

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And with that data, you can make a lot of informed decisions, right?

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So, if you start posting, and you see, wow, every time I post about this, or
every time I post in this way, or phrase things this way, I get way more
engagement than when I post about this,

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or I see that like Reels do well for me, or I see that this does well for me, 
you will start to learn.

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The other thing is that you're going to start learning what you actually like
doing, right?

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So, if you start showing up in different places and you start seeing like what
kind of community might exist there for your type of work, you might see that
you like or don't like showing up there.

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And that's going to be really important feedback that we'll talk about a little
bit later in this episode.

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Okay. So, the second thing that I would do if I were starting over or doing
things differently from the start is to focus on fewer platforms, both social
media platforms and marketing

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platforms. In general, finding the one that I actually like and that I could
show up on consistently, and then going deeper and more consistent with it.

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So, what the heck am I talking about?

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Well, I remember when I started my business, I was like, okay, Facebook was the

primary platform at the time.

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In 2016, Facebook was king.

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I don't even think there were Instagram Stories yet.

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Maybe they rolled out like right afterwards.

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And Instagram is still very much just a photo-sharing platform, but Facebook was
where we were sharing like educational content.

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We were doing Facebook Lives.

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We had Facebook Groups. We had a lot more going on, on Facebook.

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So, I was in Facebook because I felt like that was the primary platform.

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I was on Instagram because that was the one I liked and thought was fun.

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And then, I thought YouTube and podcasts were just really intimidating, so I
decided not to go anywhere near it.

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And I've never liked Twitter, so I just never had Twitter.

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There was no TikTok or anything like that, by the way.

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So, I remember like just having this kind of spaghetti at the wall approach, 
doing a lot of consumption just like I just talked about, and starting to get my
feet under me by

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focusing on these platforms.

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And if I was doing it over again, I wish I would have put more of my energy and
effort into being on a platform earlier and a marketing channel earlier,

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that two things, one, that I would have liked, because then I would show up
better and more often, and I'll talk about that in a sec, but also,

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one, that would have built up basically a library, a bank of content that was
searchable, that was more SEO-driven, or that gave me the

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opportunity to create it into an SEO-driven piece of content, like a podcast
that you can turn into a blog post, or a YouTube episode that is searchable, but
also that you could turn into a blog post.

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So, I wish I would have focused on something like that more from the start, and
then just picked a social media channel to engage with my audience, to build a
community,

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to get to know people, but then also, obviously, to share when I had like a new
episode, or a new post, or whatever.

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I think when I started my business, it was very popular to have a lot of our
content live on the social media platforms themselves, like you would write the
Instagram caption like a blog post or

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the Facebook post like a big blog post.

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And instead, I wish that content would have just like lived on my site or become
a video.

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And I remember everybody talking at that time about like podcasting is going to
be huge and video's going to be the future, and I was like, "Well, I don't know.

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We'll see. It's trendy." And obviously, that is what happened, that was right,
and they still are.

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Video is king.

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Podcasts have exploded, right?

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And I wish I would have tried some of these things a little bit earlier, because
I actually, even for somebody who's like very self-deprecating and pretty
self-conscious,

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I don't love being on video, because I never think I look great enough, or I'm
worried about what people are going to say, or whatever, but ultimately, I don't
really care, and I don't mind at

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all about like actually being on video.

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Like I feel very comfortable.

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I would even go so far as to say confident in the sense of what I'm talking
about, right?

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And so, I'm not afraid of public speaking or anything like that.

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And then, I really wish I would have tried podcasting, because it's been super,
super fun.

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I've been running On Your Terms since July and I've really enjoyed doing it.

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And what's so important about enjoying those things is that when you enjoy
something, it will come through in your content and you will stick to

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something, right?

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So, just a couple of weeks ago, when it was like the Christmas, New Year's
break, I took a couple of weeks off, and things were quiet, and we had a couple
of like snowy, rainy days, and I was just like,

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I really missed podcasting.

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Like I really look forward to it.

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So, I went off and I recorded like three episodes one day when I was just
sitting around.

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It was like a cold day, I cozied up, I recorded my episodes, because I actually
look forward to it.

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And so, that batching then took a huge weight off my shoulders for the first
couple of weeks of January when I came back.

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And so, I think when you really focus on creating content on a platform that you
actually love, you're going to show up.

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It's going to come through in your work, right?

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I've gotten more engagement from this podcast than any blog post or anything
that I've ever written.

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And then, I think like you're going to build up that snowball like effect of
community, listenership, viewership, whatever, a little bit faster, because of
all those things.

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Because if you're going to be more consistent, and when you do show up, you're
going to be a bit better, more energized in your content, that's going to
attract the audience that you really want.

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So, I would encourage, just like I encourage any time I do like an extra
training or something for my customers, I'm always talking about like, where can
the hub of your content live?

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Not on Instagram, not on TikTok, not on Facebook, I'm talking YouTube, podcasts,
or blog, right?

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And if you could only pick one of those three, which one would you pick?

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Youtube, podcast, or blog, which one would you pick?

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Right? And then, if and when possible, the best case scenario is that you pick
YouTube or podcast and you turn it into one of the others, right?

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So, you record a YouTube video, which you then have transcribed through like
Rev, for example, and you get a transcript, and you have somebody clean it up or
you clean it up, and you turn it

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into a blog post with very like SEO-optimized headings and keywords, and you
allow people to actually find this content who are already searching for it on
Google

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anyway, right?

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That's what I wish.

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Like I know that it's so tantalizing to be like, "But the latest TikTok trend,
or this dance, or this Reel, or this filter on stories, or this, or that, or the
sticker.

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Now, people are doing collabs and lives", and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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It's very enticing because it's loud.

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It's what's going on around you all the time, and it's really easy to get drawn
into feeling like those are the things that deserve the bulk of your attention
when

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if I could do things differently and if I could pass anything on to you, it's
that the more that you can focus your time, energy, and attention on these, what
I call

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the big three, of the YouTube, podcast, or blogs, that you will be paid
dividends like over, and over, and over again, well beyond what

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you could ever get from an Instagram post.

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Now, don't get me wrong, Instagram's a lot of fun.

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It's a place where we get to actually know people we can show different parts
of our personality.

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I just don't want your content living there.

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You're going to be working your ass off like basically sprinting uphill, right?

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It's like sprinting uphill against like 50 mile an hour winds.

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That's what it feels like. And then, it's like you're also sprinting uphill with
50 mile an hour winds, and the road keeps like dropping from under you and
shifting under your feet.

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That's what Instagram feels like, right?

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We can't control it. We don't own it.

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Yadda, yadda, yadda. You've heard all those things before.

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But what's most important about what people are saying when they say that is
that your content needs to live somewhere else, needs to have a home.

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I want your content to work for you, not against you.

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I don't want you to be posting your best Instagram post ever and seven people
see it.

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I want you to create a high quality piece of content, whether that's a podcast,
a YouTube episode, or a blog post that people can be

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finding for years to come.

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And keep in mind, when I started my business, I started with a core 10 blog
posts, like I wrote 10 blog posts that I heavily like researched and optimized,
and I made sure the titles were

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good, and the headings were good, and all of this kind of stuff.

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I had no website traffic, right?

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I just started my business. I started my website myself.

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I started this business from scratch and I put these 10 blog posts up.

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And in the beginning, they actually were responsible for gathering like the
first little handful of customers and subscribers that I got.

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And five, six years later, those blog posts are still pulling in leads every
single day, right?

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And of course, since then, I've written a billion more pieces of content, and
created more videos and more podcast episodes, and all of these kinds of things
that are also pulling people in every

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day. And so, that stuff, over time, it just stacks, and stacks, and stacks.

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So, I know, I just want to share that because some people will say to me like,
"Well, what's the point of doing this blog post or this YouTube video when I
only have 50 subscribers now, I only have 50 followers now?"

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It's like, yeah, now, but that the point is if you're taking an SEO-driven,
evergreen content-driven strategy, meaning that your content will be helpful to
people down the line, and pull

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people into a freebie that will always make sense and will always be helpful, 
then it doesn't matter how many you have now, the point is to like get this
brick layering going and just build this thing brick

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by brick by brick. And one day, you'll be like me, you'll be looking back six
years later, and you'll be like, "Whoa, that dinky little blog post that I wrote
that wasn't even any good is pulling in leads every

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single day and people are purchasing from it.

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That's wild." So, yeah, you might not feel like it now, but it will.

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Okay. The third thing is that I would focus more on educational content that
establishes you as an expert versus the sexier things that you might be seeing
online.

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So, I often think about like if I was starting my business now, I feel like it
would be even harder than when I actually started back in 2016, because I feel
like right now, there are a lot of distractions for

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you of very flashy forms of content that aren't necessarily helpful for
building your business.

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So, I could see it being really enticing to like build a platform on TikTok, or
to do lots of different like Reels or these like catchy little, I don't know,
trendy things on Instagram,

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and I think that that stuff is a helpful part of your strategy, I just don't
like when people make it their strategy.

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Like I wouldn't build my business off of Reels like exclusively without
creating that content that I was just talking about.

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Because years from now, those Reels aren't helpful anymore, Reels aren't even a
thing, or they've just fallen to the complete bottom of the Reel shelf, then
you're

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not getting anything for that content.

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So, it's going to be like a great hit right now, but I'm just worried about you
putting all your eggs in that basket, you're not really like building up that
brick-by-brick

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strategy. And what I'm interested in for you is you putting in the work now, 
it's kind of like investing, right?

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It's like putting in the money now and letting it grow over time.

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Collect that interest over time instead of just tossing it all out the window.

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So, don't get me wrong, I think Reels can be a great strategy.

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I have a whole podcast episode about easy Reels tips and the way that I would
do Reels, which is in a way where they could live over time, because I do have
Reels now that are like

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eight months old that are still pulling in leads at this point, and that's
really cool.

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So, if I were you and I was going to do something like Reels or TikToks, I would
do them on things that are a bit more evergreen and that are constantly pointing
people

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to your top of funnel, or to your freebie, to your opt in, whatever it is, so
that these things are actually working for you.

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And every once in a while, it's fun just to do a fun one, or like a behind the
scenes one, or allow your audience to get to know you, but I really think if I
could do this all over again, I would

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focus less on the kitschy stuff and just do more of the like solid,
foundational, like let's build this thing kind of content.

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So, the next thing I would have done differently is not to worry nearly as much
about using like the perfect tech tool or platform, or making sure that I'm
using the "right platform", like the one

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that everybody else is using or something like that.

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And I'm talking like, whether it's whatever you use for your email service
provider, what you use to house your courses, sell your products for
productivity.

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If you're like Team Asada or Team ClickUp, it doesn't really matter.

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And I just talked about this in Episode 27 last week, I'll leave the link below,
but I talked about all my favorite tech tools and which ones I've actually
ditched.

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But I talked about in that episode the fact that like I think people just put
way too much time and energy into like picking the perfect tech tool or platform
for them, and I think

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that you can waste a lot of time in the early stages of your business.

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I also think it's funny, like in the earlier stages of our business, it's not
nearly as consequential to change platforms.

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Like if you decide to try out Asana now, and like a year from now, you decide
you want to do ClickUp, if your business isn't gigantic, like it'll be fine, you
can transfer it over.

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There are people you can hire to transfer it over.

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There are softwares that you can use to transfer these things over, and things
you can just like download and re-upload.

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So, it's not super consequential.

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Like it's actually a bigger deal once your business gets further down the line.

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Like when I moved my courses from Teachable to Kajabi, it was like this whole
big thing, and we had to hire people to help, and we, for months, dealt with
certain like login issues, and

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people not knowing where things were, and all that kind of stuff.

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It was much more consequential at that point.

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But I remember in the beginning being like, "Oh, should I use Teachable or
should I use Thinkific", or I don't even remember what else existed at that
time, but I was like looking all around, I just remember being

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like, "Screw it, I'm going with Teachable".

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And I'm so glad that I did because I just got started.

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No one bought or didn't buy my course because it was on Teachable, just like no
one buys or doesn't buy my course now because it's on Kajabi, because nobody
even knows what it's on until they get inside,

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right? And even once they're inside it, I bet you most people wouldn't even be
able to tell you what kind of platform it's on.

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So, focus more on the actual content of your offerings, or your products, or
the content on social media or whatever, then the platform or the tools that
you're going to use.

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And if something doesn't work for you, you're not married to it, just back out
and try something new.

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I would commit to things for like at least 90 days so that you're not hopping
around, because the like start up and restart up costs can be kind of high, but
I think as long as you've kind of tried

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something and you've tried to make it your own, then it's really no big deal, 
you can switch down the line.

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So, the next thing I would do differently if I was starting over again is such a
big one for me.

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I really wish that I wouldn't have wasted so much time worrying that I must be
doing something wrong, because I didn't see other people doing it the way that I
was doing it, or I saw people doing it

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differently and assumed that they were right, right?

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So, I remember pretty early on kind of coming to this conclusion about like, I
want to focus on SEO content and I want to focus on really writing evergreen
content that's

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going to be drawing my ideal client for years to come, and this was like an
idea that I had that, by the way, it's not like a novel idea in business in
general, it's just that

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I didn't see a lot of people around me doing that.

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I primarily was surrounded by coaches and other online creatives who were using
social media to build audiences, and to talk about how many followers they had
and how much money

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they were making, and to be on Facebook, and like building a Facebook Group,
and how many people they had in their Facebook Group.

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And I remember thinking like I just felt so bad that I didn't have—I probably
had like a few hundred Instagram followers at the time, and my business was
starting to like

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get up to six figures. I had only like a few hundred Instagram followers.

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Like it really didn't take much time.

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And I remember thinking like, how is this happening to me, because this person 
who's talking about making a lot of money or doing really well in her business,
like she has tons and tons of followers?

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And I think looking back on it, I wish I could just like release some of that
confusion, and judgment, and whatever of like, just do your thing, like keep
your blinders on,

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keep your head down, keep going, do your own thing.

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Just because somebody else is or isn't doing something doesn't make it the right
way, and it definitely doesn't make it the right way for you.

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So, it might be the right way for them, it might be the right way for their
business, they might be completely full of shit, by the way, and not be doing
nearly as well as they tell you, they could be doing amazing, too,

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who the hell knows? So, the point is like I just wouldn't listen to it.

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And if something's working for you and you like it, go for it.

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Don't worry about the fact that like you don't see any other people doing it
that way.

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In fact, I think looking back on it, if I could like pass myself a little
message back in 2016, I'd be like, "Hey, Sam, the fact that you don't see other
people doing it this way, that's

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going to be your like secret sauce", right?

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"You're ahead of the pack.

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You're doing this SEO stuff.

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You're doing this, you're doing that.

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That's working for you and your business."

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It's not that you're better than anybody else or that the other people are wrong
, it's just that it's working for you.

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And I think all of this has to come from a place of you knowing your customers
best.

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When you really feel confident about the person that you are meant to work
with, the person that you want to help, the person that you like see yourself
having

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the best relationship and results with, you will know what's best for them, and
it will allow you to start tuning out a lot of the rest of like, you should be
doing this, you should be doing that, you should be doing it this

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way, because you'll be able to say like, "Uh-uh, not my customer, my customer
likes this", right?

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And so, I remember a lot of people telling me back in the day when I wanted to
start a podcast, people were like, "No one would ever listen to a legal
podcast".

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And I was like, "Hmm.

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Okay. Two things. One, my customer most often is the kind of person who likes
to know a little bit about most things", right?

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"They like to do things the right way.

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They are a little bit freaked out that they could potentially not be doing
something the right way.

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And they're also the kind of person that doesn't just hand things off."

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I always say to my friends like, "They're not my mother who like hands things
off to other people is", like, "Just tell me when it's done", right?

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That's not you guys.

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That's not my ideal client.

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My ideal client is usually the kind of person who's like, "I need to understand
this a little bit, because that level of understanding is going to make me feel
confident".

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You don't need to become a lawyer or anything, but you need to at least
understand like, why do I need an LLC?

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Why do I need these website policies?

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How exactly do I use this contract to protect myself?

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Once you know that stuff, I think that my ideal client feels so empowered that
she can go on and build her business, right?

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And she can get back to the stuff that she wants to be focused on, which is not
contracts.

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And so, when I thought of it from that perspective and I thought about how my
ideal client is the kind of person that likes to know that stuff, then having a
podcast with like bite-size

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legal tips and just trying to get down to like brass tacks is not that crazy,
because I understand that he or she is the kind of person who wants to hear this
stuff.

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And so, I have to, sometimes, just keep that in mind and like block out all of
the like, "Well, no one's going to want to listen to that.

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Well, if you're going to talk about that, well, then you should also talk about
this." I'm like, "No, my ideal clients can be okay with this, that's going to be
okay with the way that I talk about it", and all of that kind of stuff, right?

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And I also understand that my people like to like walk, or they travel, or
they're like out with their kids.

330
00:33:00,450 --> 00:33:04,620
And so, they want to have content in a way that's easily digestible and on the
go.

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And so many of you have shared with me that that's how you listen to the
podcast.

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So, that's just an example of how like you really have to come at this from a
perspective of knowing who your client is and what would be best for them.

333
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How do they consume content?

334
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How do they want to hear things?

335
00:33:20,730 --> 00:33:29,140
And with what you're talking about, the kind of content you're talking about and
the way that you're presenting it, what's the best medium for you to do that?

336
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:38,470
Like if I was trying to teach people how to cook, I wouldn't have a podcast,
necessarily, maybe I would to talk about like cooking tips and things like that
, but you bet your butt, I would have like a YouTube channel.

337
00:33:38,470 --> 00:33:44,970
And when I was on Reels or on Instagram, they'd be clips from those that would
be showing people, because it's so visual, so people need to see it.

338
00:33:45,090 --> 00:33:54,720
So, I often think about like not only is it about what platform you like, and
where your clients hang out, and all that kind of stuff, but it's also like,
what is the medium in which this

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content will be most impactful?

340
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How do they need to see it, or hear it, or experience it?

341
00:34:00,340 --> 00:34:05,170
That's something to think about when you're deciding all of this.

342
00:34:05,170 --> 00:34:14,860
Okay. Last but not least, and you have to tell me if this is you, too, but I
remember wasting a lot of time, wasting time thinking that there was some
mystical secret or magic bullet that I

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must be missing that was going to make this all easier, and that was going to
make my business really successful.

344
00:34:21,250 --> 00:34:28,840
And I would often blame like the lack of this magic bullet, the lack of this
little piece of information that I must be missing, like how are they doing
that?

345
00:34:28,990 --> 00:34:36,160
I don't understand. I thought that because I was missing that, that was why I
wasn't "doing well", right?

346
00:34:36,190 --> 00:34:41,140
Looking back on it, I realized like, "Wow, I was doing well, like things were
building".

347
00:34:42,010 --> 00:34:43,420
That's all you can ask for.

348
00:34:43,450 --> 00:34:45,190
I was making mistakes and learning.

349
00:34:45,190 --> 00:34:46,390
I was making connections.

350
00:34:46,390 --> 00:34:53,530
I was building genuine connections, and audience, and a community with my
audience and with my customers.

351
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,560
I was creating and improving my products.

352
00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,670
And I was, yeah, just like getting better every time.

353
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:01,360
That's all you can really ask for.

354
00:35:01,390 --> 00:35:03,580
And there's nothing that you're missing.

355
00:35:03,580 --> 00:35:04,830
You're not missing anything.

356
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:10,210
I think a lot of the marketing that you're getting is always this like—it's so
much to do with it, actually.

357
00:35:10,210 --> 00:35:18,490
Like I can't tell you how many times I purchased courses, or purchased, I don't
know, guides or sessions with people thinking like, "This is it, this is the
answer.

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00:35:18,910 --> 00:35:25,000
Once this person, once I get access to this person's course, everything's just
going to flow from there."

359
00:35:25,180 --> 00:35:34,600
And you can probably agree or tell me if you've like ever experienced this,
because I hear this so often from friends, and clients, and all that kind of
stuff, that,

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oftentimes, when you buy somebody's course that's about those kind of magic
bullety-type of things like, "Oh, this lady has a secret to Pinterest, or
YouTube, or Instagram", or

361
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:50,200
whatever, every time, people say the same thing, "I got in and it was just so
obvious.

362
00:35:51,070 --> 00:35:53,260
Everything she said was so obvious."

363
00:35:53,260 --> 00:35:54,970
That's what everybody says, right?

364
00:35:55,270 --> 00:36:04,300
And so, there could be a lot to that and why people say that, but I think a big
part of it is that there was a part of you that was hoping that there was going
to be that magic bullet in there.

365
00:36:04,510 --> 00:36:09,970
And when you realize that you already have access to so much of this
information, it's disappointing, right?

366
00:36:10,090 --> 00:36:19,930
And I think that certain people can package information in a certain way, and
tell you certain things, and give you like tips, and shortcuts, and collapse
time for you, and that's all so,

367
00:36:19,930 --> 00:36:21,490
so helpful, right?

368
00:36:21,580 --> 00:36:31,540
But nobody has a magic bullet, because so much of building your own online
business is just practicing getting better at content

369
00:36:31,540 --> 00:36:33,340
, being a better marketer.

370
00:36:33,370 --> 00:36:40,630
I've spent my entire day today filming three YouTube videos in a podcast
episode, like I'm a full-time content marketer, content creator.

371
00:36:40,660 --> 00:36:44,380
So, you have to get good at creating content, that is your job, right?

372
00:36:44,380 --> 00:36:47,470
And that content has to speak to your ideal client.

373
00:36:49,420 --> 00:36:51,570
It has to speak to their pain points.

374
00:36:51,580 --> 00:36:55,180
You have to speak to what they're going through and where they want to go.

375
00:36:55,180 --> 00:36:58,780
And your offer has to make sense for what they want, right?

376
00:36:58,840 --> 00:36:59,920
It has to make sense.

377
00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:01,270
It has to be valuable.

378
00:37:01,270 --> 00:37:05,300
And I don't mean in the pieces that you include like 10 calls and three PDFs.

379
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,830
I mean, in the transformational benefits, right?

380
00:37:07,830 --> 00:37:09,160
It has to be helpful.

381
00:37:09,190 --> 00:37:13,150
People have to understand why this is for them, why now.

382
00:37:13,150 --> 00:37:14,550
You have to overcome their objections.

383
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:24,460
That's what business is all about, is about being a real human and letting 
certain parts of your life down, the walls down around your life, so that people
feel connected to you

384
00:37:24,490 --> 00:37:34,050
truly being genuine and not being like vulnerable for vulnerabilities sake, but
actually being genuine, and open, and honest, actually doing a good job.

385
00:37:34,050 --> 00:37:35,160
That is so much of it.

386
00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,230
It's like creating good products that actually help people.

387
00:37:38,470 --> 00:37:48,430
I can't tell you how helpful it has been to have created a product that actually
is just a really good product that people enjoy and get a lot out of, because
that has paid me back a million times over, because

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00:37:48,430 --> 00:37:55,930
people tell other people about the product, or they share about it, or they
feel more excited about it, because they experience good results from it.

389
00:37:56,050 --> 00:38:03,250
And the more you can create that kind of experience for your people, the more
that that snowball effect is going to happen for you, too.

390
00:38:03,730 --> 00:38:05,050
There is no magic bullet.

391
00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:06,390
No one's coming to save us.

392
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:11,340
No one's going to give us any sort of plan or shortcut.

393
00:38:11,350 --> 00:38:18,760
Everything that is happening to you is happening for you in the long run, and
it's all a really important part of the process.

394
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:23,110
I think the biggest key is just figuring out what was I meant to learn from
that.

395
00:38:23,590 --> 00:38:25,660
What am I to take away from that?

396
00:38:25,690 --> 00:38:28,630
What is the data telling me about what I'm doing?

397
00:38:28,630 --> 00:38:31,500
And what can I take away from that and do differently, double down on?

398
00:38:31,500 --> 00:38:32,530
All that kind of stuff.

399
00:38:33,420 --> 00:38:37,800
That's what I would lean more into if I was doing things differently, if I was
starting over.

400
00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:41,170
And I would not beat myself up for having experienced any of these things.

401
00:38:41,190 --> 00:38:50,280
I wouldn't shame myself for feeling like I was far behind, or like there were
other people who are already doing it, and doing it better, bigger, more money,
whatever

402
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,970
. I would say like, "You're on your way.

403
00:38:54,240 --> 00:38:55,410
Your time will come."

404
00:38:55,650 --> 00:38:58,300
And by the way, what do you really want?

405
00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:00,860
Because you don't need to want what she's having, right?

406
00:39:00,870 --> 00:39:02,410
You can want what you want.

407
00:39:02,410 --> 00:39:11,550
And you have to be clear about that, because otherwise, you're going to spend
your whole time here building your business, chasing after what other people
have, only to find out that it might not be what you want anyway.

408
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:18,090
You might not want her life, and you probably don't even know what her life
looks like, because she's definitely not sharing about it openly.

409
00:39:18,330 --> 00:39:19,430
Because nobody is.

410
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:21,390
No, we're not all sharing our worst moments.

411
00:39:21,390 --> 00:39:22,860
I'm not. You're not. Nobody is.

412
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:25,530
So, just keep that in mind.

413
00:39:25,530 --> 00:39:32,910
I hope that something in this episode sparked a little idea for you or made you
feel better in some way about building your business.

414
00:39:32,910 --> 00:39:35,940
I would love, love, love for you to send me a DM on Instagram.

415
00:39:35,940 --> 00:39:37,560
Let me know what that was for you.

416
00:39:37,860 --> 00:39:39,240
What was your number one takeaway?

417
00:39:39,270 --> 00:39:41,610
Just send me a DM on Instagram @SamVanderWielen.

418
00:39:42,450 --> 00:39:46,290
And until then, I will see you next week on On Your Terms.

419
00:39:49,580 --> 00:39:52,410
Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms podcast.

420
00:39:52,410 --> 00:39:57,020
Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen
to podcasts.

421
00:39:57,050 --> 00:40:04,030
You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more
at samvanderwielen.com/podcast.

422
00:40:04,070 --> 00:40:13,070
You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free
legal workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business at
samvanderwielen.com.

423
00:40:13,070 --> 00:40:18,560
And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram @SamVanderWielen,
and send me a DM to say hi.

424
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:35,300
Just remember that although I am an attorney, I am not your attorney, and I am
not offering you legal advice in today's episode.

425
00:40:35,300 --> 00:40:40,050
This episode and all of my episodes are informational and educational only.

426
00:40:40,050 --> 00:40:44,310
It is not a substitute for seeking out your own advice from your own lawyer.

427
00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:51,300
And please keep in mind that I can't offer you legal advice, I don't ever offer
any legal services, but I think I offer some pretty good information.

©

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00:40:51,300 --> 00:40:51,930
2022 Sam Vander Wielen LLC | All Rights Reserved | Any use of this intellectual 
property owned by Sam Vander Wielen LLC may not be used in connection with the 
sale or distribution of any content (free or paid, written or verbal), product,

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00:40:51,930 --> 00:40:52,150
and/or service by you without prior written consent from Sam Vander Wielen LLC.