13 ⎸ How to Use Email Marketing in Your Bookkeeping Business

In this interview episode, I talk with Liz Wilcox, an RV Blogger turned Email Marketing Super Star. She’s helping us understand how to use email marketing in our bookkeeping business, breaking down some of the mistakes people make, simplifying the process of getting started, and we also talk about how often we (bookkeepers + accountants) should be emailing. 

Sign up for Liz’s Email Marketing Membership

Connect with Liz:

Instagram: instagram.com/thelizwilcox

Her website: lizwilcox.com

*Disclaimer* Some links are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you purchase.  I only recommend products & services I wholeheartedly recommend.

Thanks for listening. For more information about the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:

Visit our website: ambitiousbookkeeper.com

Follow the Blog: ambitiousbookkeeper.com/blog

Connect on Instagram: instagram.com/ambitiousbookkeeper

Connect on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/SerenaShoup

Connect of Facebook:Facebook.com/serenashoupcpa

Transcript

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Liz: 0:00

as a service provider, as a bookkeeper, I don't think you need to be emailing once a week. As you would listen to more podcasts, you'll probably hear that advice a lot. But I think in this post COVID world, We're burnt out as business owners, we are spending all our time online. We are doing our calls online and there's, you know, gone are the days of like, oh, let's just meet for lunch. It's like, well, let's just hop on a zoom call or, you know, if you've got WhatsApp or telegram or box or, oh, send me a voice we're on our phones and our computers all day long.

Serena: 0:31

Welcome back to the ambitious bookkeeper podcast. This week's episode is another interview I did with miss Liz Wilcox. She's here to talk about how to get started with using email marketing in your bookkeeping business. I'm super excited about it. We're going to talk about what an email list is and why it's important for all businesses. Some simple ways to get people on your email list, the framework that Liz recommends using setting up welcome sequences, she talks about the biggest mistakes people make in their email newsletters and how often you should be emailing your list and what to put in your emails. We covered so much in this short 40 minute interview. I'm super excited to bring it to you. So, let me introduce Liz to you. And we will get going. Liz is an email strategist, helping bloggers build online relationships, package up their magic and turn it into emails that people want to read. And most importantly purchase from in a span of three years, Liz founded, grew and sold a successful blog since selling the blog. She's helped her clients master their sales by leveraging the power of strategic emails. Offline liz lives in Florida, loves to run and is a walking nineties, pop culture encyclopedia. All right. Without further ado here is Liz. well welcome Liz to the ambitious bookkeeper podcast. I'm super excited to have you here. Like one of our other guests that I had on, we met in the same cohort of the speaking, program that we were in. And so it's been really awesome to be able to have all you lovely ladies on the same podcast together or separately or whatever. So I brought you on today because you are. Email marketing genius. And I think that bookkeepers and accountants can really benefit from, uh, incorporating email marketing into their businesses. And we're going to talk about that today. So with that, I would love if you introduced yourself.

Liz: 2:32

Sure what is up? I am so excited. I am not a bookkeeper, but I am ambitious. So this is perfect. I'm so excited. And like Serena said, yeah, we met in this, what she doesn't say, or maybe she hasn't mentioned. Is, we did this speaking thing together. It was like a group program, but it was right at the start of the pandemic. And so everyone was showing up to every call. It was like nothing else going on. And so we formed this, I think that's really like unique online friendship and like kind of, I don't know, like a cheerleading squad where I know I'm still checking in with everybody. So that's a side note. Um, so basically what I do. When people, you know, you listen to podcasts like this, you go to webinars on how to build your business and people say, oh, get, get, get yourself an email list and get people on an email list. And then you can sell them whatever, or book your services, get them on a call with you. But then, you know, you go to sign up for an email service provider or you sit down to run email and you think, oh my gosh, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what to write. And you feel kind of stupid. Well, I help eliminate all that. I have a three-step framework that is super simple. I always tell people I'm a two-step chick. If it takes three steps, I'm out. And so I want to make sure that everyone knows email marketing is for them, and it really can be.

Serena: 4:01

Awesome. Well, thank you, Liz. How did you get started with email marketing? Well, I know your story, but I would love for you to share with our listeners, um, how you, how you got in.

Liz: 4:12

Sure. So first I just want to mention if you are new to business and you're just starting, you know, you see the email marketing, you start Googling a lot of other marketers out there. They normally start off as copywriters. You know, they're really good at writing. Uh, you get people like Serena to hire you and you, you know, write the emails for the launch. You write the social media, copy the Facebook ads, stuff like that. And then you realize, Hey, I'm really good at this. I could do it. So that's how a lot of email marketers get their start. I actually got my start as an RV travel blogger, and I was doing all the things for myself. I was, you know, like I just said, writing the blogs, writing the emails, uh, listening to podcasts like this. And I just kept hearing, you know, the money's in the list, get an email list, get an email list. And I said, well, mama didn't raise no fool. I'm going to get an email list. If these people say, this is where the money is. I need the money. So this is where I'm going. And I started the email list. I launched a few products. Um, I wasn't a service-based provider like you are. Um, but launch some products, did some things. And I realized that I was really good at selling through email. People were really engaged. Uh, they would open my emails and then when I would sell them something they would buy and I thought, Hey, this is awesome. And. You know, my big claim to fame is I decided I was going to launch a course. And so I got a waitlist going, you know, that's something where you say, Hey, are you interested in this, you know, click here and I'll add you to the list to be informed, something like that. And I did that. I had 141 people, uh, that were interested and by the end of cart, close day, by the end. Where I said, Hey, no more sales. I'm cutting this thing off. Uh, I had made 141 sales, so I started telling that story. I know you can't see Serena's face, but her eyebrows touched your hair line. I started telling you I started spreading the news as Sinatra would say, and I had all these copywriter friends and there's no, my gosh, that's crazy. And you know, like how did you do it? How did you do it? And I realized that people like that were asking me, maybe this is something I need to go all in. And so I ended up selling that RV travel blog. I went full time into, um, the email marketing and copywriting thing. Cause I just found that because I had to sort of figure out my own way of doing things. You know, I wasn't this copywriter who had seen behind the scenes and was following all the rules. I had actually developed my own framework. That was pretty darn simple. Like I was living in an RV. You know, with a toddler, she didn't care about me writing emails or trying to sell something or book a call, you know? So I had to write these emails really quick. And so I've, you know, I figured out a way to do that and I really, really wanted to spread the word. So that's how I got into

Serena: 7:12

it. That's so funny. Like I've heard your story probably a hundred times. Maybe not that that often. But it's still is like really fun to hear every time. So, um, hopefully that's inspiring to people., one thing that I think we don't realize when we go into business, as you, you kind of touched on the copywriting and there's people that are actual copywriters and that kind of stuff is that. You don't realize how much you actually do have to write when you start a business, especially online, whether you're trying to start to do some like content marketing and do a blog, or even if you're doing a podcast, it's still requires a lot of writing. Um, especially if you're like me and I don't usually do much off the cuff. I actually like pretty much brain dump all my ideas onto paper, and then I record the podcast. So, um, yeah, it's really interesting to hear you say that. You didn't really, you kind of had, you kind of got there the same, same avenue of like, oh, it's, this is just a whole lot of writing and I'm really good at it. So, so yeah. And side note, if you are on my email list, you actually have gotten a lot of. I guess, um, a lot of the value that I provide is through using Liz's email templates. So we'll talk about it kind of at the end, but she has an email marketing membership and I'm part of it. Um, and it really helps get you going on what to write and, and helping you out with that. So, anyway, let's talk about. How someone can actually get started with an email list. I think this is a good segue, especially as a bookkeeper or a service provider, , and what you would recommend, starting with.

Liz: 9:00

Yeah. So I started this new email list with the email marketing, of course now, um, a lot of my income, I think almost half nowadays is from digital products. But at first I knew I wanted to start off as a service provider. I'm sure Serena's told you, you know, that's where you can make, you know, you can just quickly get clients, you know, start building up a business for yourself. And so that's what I was going to do with copywriting. And honestly, how I started mine. New business was I just, I bought convert kit. That's an email, email service provider. If you're completely unfamiliar, that's just where, uh, you know, if you've ever,, went on Pinterest and search recipes and you got, you know, a free cookbook,, you filled out a form basically convert kit or something like it, an email. A service provider, that's where they store the emails. So you can log in and you can see who filled out that form. And of course , it gets much more robust than that, but basically it's where you can see who filled out the form where,, people like Serena email you from. So I picked out my email service provider. I made a quick page that said something like, Hey, I'm really good at email. Do you want to know what I know? Sign up here. Very simple. The same way you could say. Okay. I'm a bookkeeper. Do you need one, you know, sign up here and let's discuss or,, whatever, you can start very simply. So I created that page. Then I went over to good old Facebook. Uh, thanks mark Zuckerberg. I went over to Facebook in my personal profile. Very simply. I just wrote, Hey friends, , Something about, , the success I've seen with email marketing and how I'm a good writer. If you are interested in tips like this sign up, I didn't have, I'm sure you've Googled it or you can Google it now, , you can see, oh, create a freebie or a lead magnet or something like that. I literally just said like, get on my list and I'm going to give you my tips for copywriting. And marketing. And so the same way you could say, you know, get on my list and I'm going to give you tips for keeping your books or, uh, you know, how to, whatever, whenever you think your biggest strength is within the bookkeeping, uh, spectrum there. And then just see what happens. Right. I know personally, I had a lot of social proof. People had seen me build two businesses beforehand. So of course I got quite a bit of people, but if this is something new, You also might do several posts like, Hey, uh, I just, I'm going to share this tip on bookkeeping. If you own a business and you need to know about X sign up here, you can do it several times and you can do it right from your personal page or your Instagram, whatever social media you use the most. I also recommend, uh, I think, and Serena, you might be able to talk more about this. Um, A lot of business owners live is LinkedIn. So you might start a LinkedIn profile and start blasting it out there. Here's my tips for keeping your books. Here's my tips for X, you know, however you want to phrase it. And as you build your list just continuously, even if you're 10 years down the road, you got a hundred thousand people on your list. Always just ask people, Hey, do you want to join my list? You know, on Instagram? I think I do it at least once a month. Hey, if you're watching these stories, are you on my list? You know, let me know. And I'll add you also, um, you know, you can ask the people on your list as you get those first. Let's say you just get five people and these are, you know, friends from church or, you know, the gym or whatever, right. It's like, oh, well I know my husband has a business. Uh, he needs a bookkeeper. I'm going to recommend him ask that person. Do you know, anybody else send them my, you know, send them this email forward, this email on, uh, the biggest thing you can do for yourself and building your list is to just keep asking people to join the list don't ever. Uh, it's not anyone else's job, but yours to build your list. You can't rely on. Facebook ads or other partnerships or anything like that. Uh, the same way, if, um, you know, you published a book, it's your job to market it. It's your job to market your email list. So you can also, you know, dot, dot, dot, uh, once you gather up enough tips or you come up, you know, you Google how to create a freebie, how to create a lead magnet. Maybe you look at Serena's and some other people that are doing something similar, you say, oh yeah, I've got. You know, I can, I could create a checklist on, you know, five things. Every online entrepreneurs should be tracking, uh, you know, monetarily, I don't, I'm clearly not a bookkeeper here, but I'm trying,

Serena: 13:56

you're doing great.

Liz: 13:58

Good, good. That's the copywriter in me trying to use the voice here. So, um, you know, you can create that freebie and then you can give it away. Lead magnet. It used to be called way back when an ethical bribe. Right. And that's what it is. It's like, Hey, give me your email address and I'll give you something in return. So I, you know, I really, honestly, I could challenge you right now. You could hit pause on this podcast and think of, you know, what's a checklist you could create. What's a really super simple ebook, um, that you could write that maybe will only take you a few days or. I'm trying to think. I what's a, what's like a spreadsheet that you use for your clients. Uh, , that you could templatize that you could say, Hey, everyone can use this, something like that, you know, take a couple minutes, pause the podcast, write it out. And then, you know, go to your calendar, block off an hour and go create it. You can use Canva, uh, , I don't know much about spreadsheets clearly. I'm sure. Excel. I think that's the name of it, right?

Serena: 15:05

Yeah. Excel or Google sheets. A lot of people are creating stuff in

Liz: 15:09

Google sheets and Google sheets. That was the other one. I clearly have an ambitious bookkeeper. I am not one to hear. Yeah. Yeah. And so. Um, you know, and just go from there also some more list-building tips at you can get into community, you know, I'm sure Serena has a bunch of resources on this. Probably a podcast episode on,, picking who you're going to target, who you want your clients to be, and, you know, go into Facebook. Where are those people hanging out? Go in. Provide that don't just go in there and start, Hey, I got a checklist. Hey, let's Wilcox told me to give you this spreadsheet about a big thing. You know, I'm a millionaire now. Um, no provide value, become the expert in that group. Like, oh, you you've got a bookkeeping question. I know, you know, I'm going to tag Serena. I'm going to tag Christina. Tag, Lance, whatever, you know, and just be that person. Oh, anytime someone has a finance question, a bookkeeping question, whatever your thing is, be that person, that way you become, you know, the go-to in that group. And if you I'd say, pick two, three groups like that, and you know, you're going to have solid signups for sure.

Serena: 16:30

Yeah. Yeah. That's also a great way to figure out what you need to want to, um, have on your, have in your emails, right. In the newsletters, which we haven't really talked about, that part of it, but figuring out what kind of content to provide being in those groups and finding, looking at what people are struggling with around bookkeeping or finances, or even just general business stuff. Most of it usually does tie back to money in some way. So that's going to be your like idea bank, basically for the things you're going to be emailing about. So let's get into, uh, how to start providing value in email and what your approach is because I love your approach. It's very unique. I'm one of those people that doesn't like a lot of fluff. I'm very straightforward in my emails. They're pretty short and sweet. Um, and most of my podcasts are two other than the, the, the interviews, but, uh, Everyone has their different approach in their style, but I love yours. So can you please talk about it?

Liz: 17:29

Sure. First, I just want to say like, can we all give Serena and applause for that segue? She did that so well, like I was like, oh, dang, suddenly we're talking about this. And that was. Like y'all need to leave her a review because she is a really good interviewer. I almost 50 podcast interviews in 2021. And holy crap, that was, I was wondering how we were going to segue and you just did it. So that's awesome. I love, I love that. I love that idea bank going into groups, asking those questions, things like that. Um, when you do. Right. Your emails. Well, first I want to say, you've got to have a way to welcome these people into your email list. I mentioned my three-part framework. So first you've got a follower, right? Somebody finds you in that Facebook group, or you started Instagram and you're building it up there with hashtags or whatever, the stress. I'm not an Instagram person. Um, I'm telling you a lot of things I'm not in this podcast. But anyway, then you get them on your list. I just gave you a couple ideas for that. And then what I want you to do is turn them into a fall or a friend because people buy from people they trust and that's when you can turn them into a customer. So it's follower friend, customer. And so the best way to do that, Is, you know, you've got to start the friendship some how, and so I want you to craft a welcome sequence and basically that's just three, four emails where you're setting expectations for what is gonna go down. And basically the biggest thing I want you to know about the sequence. You can get one that I've already written, but basically you have to tell them you are a business. Of course, you know, you're going to give tips. You're going to. You know, share updates about your life and business, but they have to know upfront that you are a business. The biggest mistake I see people making when they try to, uh, you know, either, you know, if they're starting a blog or they're starting this service provider thing like you're doing is they don't explicitly say, Hey, I'm going to offer you. You know, something that's paid, right? And so somewhere in that welcome sequence, you want to say, I'm going to offer you free and paid resources or in your case, you know, free and paid services. Right. And that way it just kind of flips a switch in the back of their head that says, oh, Hey, Sabrina. Charges for the stuff she does. Okay. If they don't like it, they're going to unsubscribe it'll sting the first few months, but eventually you won't even see it. I promise. Um, just like most things, right. And so then once you have that established, like, Hey, I'm a business I'm going to offer you free and paid services. Right. I'm going to give you tips. I'm going to give you tricks. All, all those things that I promised you when you signed up, but I'm a business. I have a stomach. My kids have stomachs too. Like I need to feed them. Right. You know, they're clawing at the door right now. Okay. Um, and so that way it's so easy to segue into this newsletter and as a service provider, as a bookkeeper, I don't think you need to be emailing once a week. I do. You know, as you would listen to more podcasts, you'll probably hear that advice a lot. But I think in this post COVID world, We're burnt out as business owners, we are spending all our time online. We are doing our calls online and there's, you know, gone are the days of like, oh, let's just meet for lunch. It's like, well, let's just hop on a zoom call or, you know, uh, if you've got WhatsApp or telegram or box or, oh, send me a voice we're on our phones and our computers all day long. And so you have to realize what kind of customer or client that you're talking to and think about their level of. I dunno, can I say, give a damn about their inbox? And so, you know, if they're feeling very burnt out, you know, if you are, if you're targeting solo, preneur, online marketers that are single moms, you know, they might not want to hear from a bookkeeper every single week, you know, maybe every other week or once a month, when you curate something. But anyway, that's something I want you to put your critical thinking cap on. And also I want to, you know, asterisk here, you might not get it right the first time it might be too little or too much. The first time don't be afraid of that. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. We're all going to do it. Okay. So within the newsletter itself, when you're sending things out, I want you to provide value. I don't know. What you have to know is people don't care about you. They care about what you can do for them. And so when you write an email through that lens, it's going to make it a little easier. And hopefully that takes the pressure off because as you look more into email marketing, you're probably going to hear advice. Tell more stories. And I think that advice is dusty. It's all old it's stinking. It's, it's not for every single business to be telling stories. Like I said, if you're targeting, you know, uh, Business owners that only have a team of like one to three. They don't want to read stories. They want results. They just need the help. So get in and get out. I will say this though. The reason why you hear a lot about storytelling is because. We're humans. Serena started this podcast. Liz, tell me your story. How'd you get into this. It is true. Stories do connect and humans are natural storytellers. We want to tell our stories, but you don't need to tell the traditional story where it's, you know, like beginning, middle end, your 10th grade. English teachers, you know, on your shoulder telling you like, no, you can't introduce that. You didn't put it in the first page. I send someone

Serena: 23:35

else's a little traumatized by high school English as well.

Liz: 23:39

It's not practical. We can just say that. That should be the name of the episode. It's just not practical. Um, but you can, you can tell a story or what I like to call it. I'd like to call it a personal update. So people buy from people. They trust. That is true. That's how you go from friend to customer. So you do have to make that personal connection, but you don't have to do it through this traditional storytelling model. You can give a personal update. And what I mean from that is like, imagine you're calling. Your best buddy up. You just want to tell them that, you know, the 41st season of survivor is coming up in through in three weeks, but you also, you don't have a lot of time, like the kids knocking on the door, but you just don't want to forget. Right. That's. Picture that as an email. And so, you know, Hey Serena, I don't have a lot of time. Uh, the kid is scratching at the door and I just did a podcast episode, but I don't want you to forget like put it in your calendar now on September 21st, blah, blah, blah. I swear. I don't work for CVS. I just love survivor. Um, and so that is the entire newsletter, right. You know, I gave my personal update. I'm feeling stressed because I've got a lot going on. I mentioned the kid and I mentioned the podcast now, you know, two things that I did today, or, you know, two things about my life. I do podcast. And I have a kid, without me telling you a story about that. I just, I just stated it and a personal update should not be more than two to three sentences unless you truly have something. So freaking interesting that you're like, I need to tell the world, like I just saw Justin Timberlake. And he kissed me on the cheek. Holy crap. You know, but chances are your life. Isn't that interesting. No offense. I still love you and I hope you still love me. So just give a personal update the same way you would on the phone before you get into what you actually want to talk about. So then you give the personal update. Yeah. And then just segue into, Hey, I've got a new blog post. I've got a new tracker for you. I found this awesome. You know, take talk real that really breaks down. Google sheets works, you know, whatever. Right. And by segway, I mean, put your caps lock on and literally just write the word anyway, dot, dot, dot, and then talk about what it is you really want to talk about. And I think that's what, um, Serena and I, we have in common. We've got kids we're working hard, you know, we're easily distracting. Our kids easily try to distract us. Right. And so that's why I developed that framework where I was like, I'm just going to give a personal update and I'm just done, you know, anyway, what I really want to talk about is my new blog posts, my new, uh, you know, webinar, my new whatever. Right. But it really, really works. If you don't have time to. Write a story. Chances are your ideal client. Doesn't have time to read it. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, but you know, you still need to make that human connection because, you know, look at giant corporations like Coca Cola, there's a reason why Coca-Cola makes, uh, Makes commercials about black lives matter, you know, whatever side of the fence you're on with social justice. There's a reason why companies are talking about it because the consumer is demanding it. We want to know that we are buying from something that has, you know, a soul, so to speak. And so when you make those just quick personal connections, You can build that trust very quickly, very easily. Um, I always say if you're taking more than 20 minutes to write your newsletter, you're doing it right. Yeah.

Serena: 27:31

I, uh, especially in our industry, it's so important to be able to build that trust and that you're not going to get a client that doesn't trust you because you're literally going to be handling their numbers and their money. So it's really important to start establishing that trust. And this is a really great way to do that too, to make those connections. And that's another thing as a people. Expect bookkeepers to be like human, for some reason, bookkeepers and accountants, get this really bad rap that like we have no personality or we're like very cut and dry. And I'm sure there's some of those out there. But if, if you. Show yourself as a human being. It's going to be so much easier to make those connections and build that trust. And then you're off to the races. So, uh, I, I love your framework. Like I said, I mentioned, um, earlier I'm part of your. Email marketing membership, which is super duper affordable, by the way. It's amazing. Um, so we're going to drop a link to that in the show notes. So if you're wanting to get started with email marketing, Liz has been building this out since, when did you start

Liz: 28:41

it? I started it in February, 2021.

Serena: 28:45

Okay. So quite a few months worth of content that's already built out in there. She's got educational videos every, and I honestly full transparency. I don't log in to go search for things. I wait for your weekly email that comes to me that says, here's your weekly email for this week? And if I need one, that's the one that I use unless I have something really specific going on, then I might go back into the archive and see. Maybe this one will work better for what I have going on this week, but most often I just pull from whatever you emailed us that week to say. And then I build my email around that. And sometimes it's just what I need and in regards to, um, inspiration. So sometimes I'll read your email and I'll, I'll start, it'll just spark an idea. And then I will have written my own email in under 20 minutes. I don't spend more than 15 to 20 minutes on my emails either. And, uh, so whether I use your exact formula from that email or your exact, um, Whatever you call it the template or whatever. Yeah. So you have the templates, you have examples. Whether I, whether I follow that template to a T or if that template just sparks an idea in me either way, it's a win, because then I've gotten my email, right. And let's jump back real quick to what you said about you don't think it needs to be a weekly email and I am, and my listeners are probably like, what are you talking about? Serena? You email us every week, but you're a different audience than bookkeeping clients. I don't email my bookkeeping prospects or my bookkeeping email list every week we do it about once a month. So, uh, that works for. The cycle of accounting. We usually email right at the beginning of the month saying, here's the deadlines you need to watch out for or tax deadlines that are coming up. Here's a little checklist to get you going on, reviewing your numbers for the week. Oh. And by the way, if you want help with. We meet with our clients, monthly book, a call, if you're interested in signing up for monthly bookkeeping, and then we always make an invite, we always make an invite to work with us. And then we also send the same, pretty much the same email to our actual clients. But without the. Are you interested in working with us because they're already working with us, but instead they get a link to book their monthly call. So pretty much the same email, just repurposed. And yeah, like I said, it's only once a month and I think that's perfect for that, for that audience or industry.

Liz: 31:18

Yeah, I totally agree. I think so for me as an email marketer, There are a million of me. We're all trying to get your attention. I do it within sync pollsters, and jiffs, uh, you know, everybody's got their style, but I think with bookkeeping, um, you know, it's a little different people think of it as, uh, you know, they come at it from a different perspective. And like I said, you know, maybe they don't buy every single time. You know, Serena's like, bookcall. Right. But just being able to stay top of mind, like that being consistent, how you go from, you know, follower to friend, you share in a relatable way, you stay top of mind and you're consistent. And so consistency means once a month. And like I said, with that welcome sequence, you're going to tell them I'm going to email you once a month. I'm going to email you. You know, on the 15th and the first, and this is what's going to be inside. And that's where you say, , I'm going to, , keep you updated on, uh, the latest tax data I'm going to, , blah, blah, blah, whatever also free and paid resources. That's when, , when they see the book, a call or the invitation, uh, , for something that you're selling. Oh yeah. She said she was going to do that. Um, and also. That's very relatable content. That's what they need. Right. And if you just add that little personal update, it gives you that personal touch where it's like, yeah, this is a bookkeeper. This is a financial, like very business. You know, you can't see me, but I'm like tightening my tie thing, but it's like, oh, this is a person. And I love that. Serena said that because my bookkeeper, I actually met. At an RV rally. And I was like, oh, you're a bookkeeper. I'm starting this new business. Oh my gosh, please help me. And she's one of my favorite people, even when I have to get on the phone with her and she's like, I don't know what's going on, but here's the numbers, you know? And I'm nervous. Like I still, I mean, I tell her all the time, she's my favorite person and it's because. Is real, you know, it like literally a real person to me, she's not just this person that runs numbers. I know her kids she's taken me to dinner. She was, she lives in an RV, of course. And she drove, she drove and took me out to dinner one night. Um, and also just to keep up with that personal touch and having that personal touch, whether it's in your email marketing or somewhere else, um, after a year of working with her. Well, I think if you were an actual employee, I would give you a raise. Like I, you know, my numbers, how much of a raise can I afford? Like, I, I literally told her, I said, I love you. Like, you're great. And she has a newsletter. She's got a Facebook group. And you know, that way, even if. reading every single word or whatever. Um, she's top of mind to me. Right. And that's how you turn that follower into a friend. You've got to stay top of mind. And so her sharing those resources once a month, just like Serena is doing for her potential clients keeps her top of mind. Um, you know, she didn't do any of that. Who's to say, you know, I might have tried to go for a cheaper option or, you know, shopped around by now, but no, She's my ride or die.

Serena: 34:40

That's so awesome that you guys met at, uh, an RV thing. Was that while you were in your RV business or you're doing your RV blog?

Liz: 34:48

Yes. So funny that, uh, just a side note, her husband was on my email list for my RV travel blog and he said, oh, Are you coming to this? You know, cause I would always say, Hey, I'm coming to this rally. If you want to meet up whatever, that's the beauty of a travel blog. And he said, oh my gosh, I love your emails. I've got to meet you. And when I met them, uh, he introduced his wife to me, Angelica. This is the email lady. And that was before I was even doing emails. He said her emails, I actually read them, you know? So that was really fun.

Serena: 35:24

That's so cool. One of the things that I tell people to do is once they've, if they've figured out what type of industry they want to work at or work with rather is to start going to. The places that those people are going to be. So that also includes Facebook groups, but an RV rally, like who would have thought like that. She probably had no idea that she would land a client there, but it works. It

Liz: 35:50

totally, it totally does. And she, you know, On my email list for my email marketing. Yeah. I love that advice. That's just, you know, a little off thing, but I know if I can get myself in a room and hopefully with this post pandemic thing, it happens more and more. I know that I can find my people, right. If I can just get in front of people. Yeah. That's a great place to network and find. Yeah,

Serena: 36:16

well, this has been awesome. I am so grateful that you came on the podcast. And if anyone is interested in getting started with email marketing, I highly highly recommend joining Liz's email marketing membership. That's exactly what it's called. We love straight-forward around here. You confuse you lose. So. Definitely get into that. It's $9 a month, right at the time of this.

Liz: 36:46

Disclaimer, everyone always says that, but honestly, I have no plans to raise the price. I, this is just a personal note. When I started my business, I had absolutely no money, um, for anything I. I really struggled, trying to find good resources and spending all my precious time on Googling stuff. And I just felt like when I started my business, I didn't want to be a gatekeeper. And I truly believe like email is for everyone. It's for every business, you can find a way to make it work. And it's very simple. You know, I've really tried to boil it down. Um, and I'm just on a mission to make sure everyone uses email marketing. So I wanted to set it at a price that was really accessible, no matter where you're starting. So $9 a month. At the time of this recording, I have over 400 people. Everyone I get on a phone call with is, oh my gosh, nationalists, raise the price. Are you kidding me? And I'm like, I just love serving as many people as possible. It's something that's super fun for me. It doesn't overwhelm me. Um, so yeah, $9 a month. If you get in and you say all of this isn't for me, um, I'm not ready for email marketing yet, or I don't like the style or whatever. Uh, just email me cancel. I'll never charge you again for nine bucks a month. I say, why not give it a go? Yeah, it's it's, that's my pitch, by the way. Why not give it a go?

Serena: 38:16

Yeah, it is so worth it. I highly encourage you to go in there and check out all the resources she has and, um, it'll help you get started. It, it really does take the overwhelm and the scariness out of it. And I love that it's $9 a month because. And it's, and it comes right to my inbox. Like I don't have to log in anywhere to find anything. And it's literally right there every week, I think on the same day that I, I usually sit down to write my email too. So it's perfect timing for me. I see it come in my inbox and I'm like, oh yes, I need to write my email this week. I'm just going to look at the template and go. And the convenience factor is amazing. Cause I don't have to, like I said, I don't have to log in anywhere special. It's just a link out to a Google doc and. It's great. So

Liz: 39:04

thank you. I can afford $9 a month. There's no login. You just get it.

Serena: 39:09

Yeah, you don't. Sometimes you don't need to complicate things and have all the fancy bells and whistles and, and it works. So with that, thank you again for coming on the podcast. Follow Liz on Instagram at the wa Liz Wilcox, right? That's your handle? We'll link it below. Are you active anywhere else or just pretty much.

Liz: 39:30

Um, Instagram is where I spend most of my days.

Serena: 39:34

Okay. Yeah. And it's funny, cause you said you don't know how to do Instagram, but you're always on stories. I don't even know if you posted,

Liz: 39:41

I don't, I don't post them. I just post a story when I'm feeling froggy and usually it's about in-sync and then it's like, oh yeah, I'm an email, a blogger. Here's some email too. Yeah. I

Serena: 39:55

always love your stories.

Liz: 39:56

So that's a great pitch too, right? Yeah.

Serena: 40:01

Awesome. Well, thank you, Liz. And we will talk to you soon. See you guys on the next episode,