Expert Roundtable: Visibility, Impact and Marketing Success [401]

Are you ready to be schooled on the game-changing strategies of social media marketing, Facebook ad strategy, and email marketing? Then you won't want to miss our enlightening conversation with the incredible Megan Flanagan, Kelly Sturtevant, and Lynley Hipps. We delve deep into the world of visibility and impact, challenging the misconception that using ads is a cheat move and highlighting its role as a clever business strategy to fast-track growth and outreach.

We also dissect the importance of video content and its growing necessity in the modern business landscape. From ethical concerns to the perils of 'bro marketing', we leave no stone unturned in analyzing the online business environment. We also touch on the serious issue of plagiarism and the importance of due diligence before signing up for courses or programs.

Connect with Megan
More about Megan:  Megan Flanagan is the owner of 609 Media, a Social Media Marketing Company. As an experienced, award-winning social media strategist and consultant, her work is focused on increasing Customer Engagement, Brand Awareness, and Lead Generation through organic strategies on Social Platforms.

Connect with Kelly
More about Kelly: Kelly Sturtevant is a Facebook Ads Specialist and Business Growth Strategist who specializes in digital marketing strategies to help Entrepreneurs and business owners grow their online presence, generate leads and attract their ideal customer to their products or services.

Connect with Lynley
More about Lynley: Lynley Hipps is an email marketer, copywriter, grammar nerd, and all-around lover of words.  Her passion is helping her clients share their world-changing offers through relationship-building email marketing programs to which their audience immediately connects and responds.

OMNI - Become Known, In Demand, and Confidently Visible
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OMNI is your group coaching experience where you learn how to create visibility that works harder than you do. A strategic blueprint to become discoverable on the feed, search and AI. https://thevisibleceo.com/omni 

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Transcript

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Visibility and Impact

Crissy Conner 0:00

Welcome back to the Visibility Impact Show . This is our 400th and one episode . We are celebrating big this entire week and today we have some very special guests and yes , that was plural . I normally only have one guest at a time , but these three amazing humans are very important to me . I just spent a week with them in Palm Springs , so it only makes sense to bring them on the show and give you just a little peek at why I'm so obsessed with all three of them . So I'm going to let them do their intros .

Megan Flanagan 0:35

So , ladies , if you want to take it away , Sure , my name is Megan Flanagan , if you don't know me , I am the owner of 609 Media , which is a social media marketing company . We focus on increasing customer engagement , brand awareness and lead generation , predominantly through organic strategies . And I also in 2020 , founded Mindset Momentum , which is a coaching incubator , and it's specifically for female entrepreneurs , where we focus on sales , business and mindset . Prior to my starting my social media marketing company , I worked at QVC for over 11 years buying products and creating growth strategies for this multi-billion dollar omnichannel retailer . So that's a little bit about me .

Kelly Sturtevant 1:29

My name is Kelly Sturtevant . I'm a Facebook ad strategist and I work with seven and eight figure entrepreneurs as their ads manager , and then I teach social media managers how to run ads for themselves or for clients so that they can up level their skill sets as well , and I am kind of the all-around expert when it comes to meta advertising in general . It's the only platform I work on and have been running ads for a little over four years for clients and teaching for the last two , and I love helping business owners and social media managers learn the skill , learn to be empowered with the skill and to be able to get the most out of their ad spend when it doesn't require thousands and thousands of dollars to make success happen on the platform . So that's a little bit about me .

Lynley Hipps 2:24

I'm Lynley Hipps and my business is L-Squared Digital Media , where we focus mostly on email marketing , from the strategy to the copy , to the tech . I also do copywriting and coaching as well , and I like Kelly , I really enjoy helping small business owners learn how to manage their own email marketing , because so many of us get kind of in that stuck place so what am I supposed to talk about to my email list , and so I enjoy working with folks to help them figure out what on earth they're going to talk about to market their businesses to their audiences .

Crissy Conner 3:05

So we have like a really good expert round table today , so I am excited about all the conversations that are going to happen . So let's just dive in and get started and we're just going to go straight for it . And my first question and we can answer in the order that we introduce ourselves what does visibility and impact mean to you ? And this can be things that you do or you've seen your clients succeed through , really because you guys have so much expertise . Like let's talk about it all .

Megan Flanagan 3:39

So funny . You should start with me and I will proudly proclaim myself the least visible of the four of us . But I've got clients that are on QVC and in 200 million homes . So I glean a lot from my working at QVC and knowing how people should sell online or , I'm sorry , not how they should do it . I think everybody should have their own way of doing things , but I know the successful way of selling online . I've seen it repeated time and time again . So , working at QVC , I can share that with people who have never sold online my clients that come to me .

Megan Flanagan 4:22

Part of putting together social media packages for people is telling them to get visible . It's everything I've heard out of your mouth , chrissy , since I've met you telling people to get visible and how to do that , and so getting visible for me , when I have clients that come to me and we're putting together social media packages , it really is finding that space where they're most comfortable and where their clients are . So it's twofold . Everybody , of course , is knocking on the door and they're like I want to do TikTok and it's like really Well , let's look at the whole strategy and dive deeper . So it's like I said for me it's finding out where your customer is and then where you're comfortable , and that is , I think , a great formula for making the most impact .

Kelly Sturtevant 5:13

For me , visibility really comes from being able to combine organic and paid marketing , as someone who runs paid campaigns for myself and for clients . Ads work amazingly well , but they only work when you have an organic social presence already , kind of go , or you're paying a lot of money to do it . Ads are nothing more than being visible . You need to get in front of people in order to be able to sell them to whatever products and services you're doing . So being able to utilize visibility both on an organic level and then with paid ad spend behind it , it's really just a way to kind of catapult the growth trajectory and to get there a lot faster .

Kelly Sturtevant 6:01

And I always preface with any brand , whether you are a mom and pop shop working locally or you're a big conglomerate online or whatnot people don't know who you are unless you're visible . And we've all heard the phrase before that people only buy from people , and it's true . We don't buy from businesses , we buy from people . So if people don't know who you are , it's really hard to continue that no-likes and trust and to get people to continue down , whatever your value ladder is , in order to make those sets .

Crissy Conner 6:35

And I want to like let's talk about this just for a second , because I do think that some people think that ads is cheating . However , people still have a choice . Am I going to click on this ad ? Am I going to resonate with this person ? So what would you say to somebody that says that's cheating ?

Kelly Sturtevant 7:01

I don't know the big rulebook in business that says you're cheating if you're running ads . I mean sure , Sure , If you have money and you want to spend it to get visible . I guess I could be considered cheating in the grand scheme of things . But why wouldn't you cheat ? Why wouldn't you cheat ? The whole goal of business is to be successful , and if running any kind of paid marketing campaign is what makes you successful , that just means you have more money to spend in order to get visible . And we all know I mean we've been on platforms , for I mean , some of them have been on Facebook since almost since the inception you have to pay to play on a lot of the platforms . You can't get organic reach very quickly , so you're either paying with money or you're paying with time , and either way . If it's cheating paying with time , great . If it's cheating paying with money , hey , sign me up , I'm all for that .

Lynley Hipps 7:59

As I was listening to Kelly and Megan talking

Visibility and Email Marketing Strategies

Lynley Hipps 8:02

. Of course , as I've heard for years from you , Chrissy , what strikes me as maybe not funny , ha ha , but funny interesting is that we tend to be very focused on ourselves around visibility , like us getting visible and all of the emotion and discomfort that that can bring up for so many of us . But what I think is is , I guess , just a different angle on it . I mean , that's what I do in my copywriter , so we figure out different angles . Visibility is really not about you and it's about your product or service or whatever it is you offer , and so we tend to get so caught up in the personal side of it that it gets overwhelming and scary .

Lynley Hipps 8:49

But if we can focus on the people on the other end , the people who are watching and not just the people , but the people who need us , who are actually looking for what we have and the knowledge that we've accumulated and the expertise that we can share , I think it makes for me anyway , it makes visibility a little bit easier when I know it's not about me .

Lynley Hipps 9:12

It's not about me and what my hair looks like and if I have any makeup on although I did stop and put makeup on because I'm still , you know , yes , I'm vain , I don't care who knows it , but really it's a over the last five excuse me , five years that I've been in business , like I've had to really change the way that I think about visibility , and that has changed the way I think about impact as well , because it's the whole . You know , just because you build it doesn't mean anybody's gonna come . You really gotta tell them about it , and that you do that through , you know , getting visible through organic or paid strategies , which I don't think is cheating at all , by the way .

Crissy Conner 9:56

So what's your take on visibility when it comes to email , since we were just talking about that and that's your expertise ?

Lynley Hipps 10:03

So it's so funny . I was on a call earlier just a few minutes ago and a lady said I mean , you know , nobody ever looks at their email . And I was just like , oh , oh , really I don't think that's true because I know personally I check my email more than I check just about any platform other than Facebook , just because that's kind of where my natural home is , but email . Really the funny thing about email is that it's probably not where you're going to be the most . It is not a traffic driver like a lot of these the social platforms are . If you get visible on social , you want to bring them into your email list and so it's really visibility is more of a traffic driver to get them there .

Lynley Hipps 10:55

And then when you start growing a list and you start engaging with your list , then it's not as much about visibility as it is about that relationship and it's almost like visibility may be . It's kind of like when you see somebody cute walking down the street and you're like , oh hey , that's visibility . When you actually start like you ask them out on a date , that's where you start getting into a relationship and but you've got to have the first to have the second , like you , probably not gonna . Well , I don't know . Online dating maybe now you do go on dates without meeting people but without visibility . But really visibility is absolutely essential to email marketing because otherwise how are they going to know you exist ? So I don't think there are things that I don't think you can separate them , but I do think that the visibility tends to come first , so that you can focus on that relationship building as part of your email strategy .

Crissy Conner 11:51

I love that . So one of the things that I love saying is that there are many ways of getting visible . There is not just one way , so I'd love to know whatever each of your favorite ways for you or your clients to get visible .

Megan Flanagan 12:05

I mean I just the default right now is video . It's short form video and that's it , and I don't mind doing short form video at all . I don't seem to make the time , but you know I signed up for this little Instastories program and we'll see what happens , but it is something that I absolutely preach to my clients all the time . The biggest impact they make is through short form video . In fact , one of my clients right now , four o'clock every Monday , she goes live and literally just talks to her customer and it's one of our . You know we replay the video over and over again all week and you know it gets thousands and thousands of views each time we play it .

Megan Flanagan 12:49

And the other thing with that is people will say well , she goes live once you know there's your impact . No , like , there's a reason why you replay things . You're not going to hit her 600,000 person audience with one hit of a live video , like we were replay it 14 times a week and it gets viewership . So I guess , tied in there . You know the short form video is my favorite , but don't just want to done it Like replay your stuff , you know , get it out there .

Crissy Conner 13:21

So today's your question . Yeah , you did .

Kelly Sturtevant 13:26

Tell . I mean , we all know video right now is the number one driver for all visibility online and all of the platforms have made that very clear in the last year with the growth of TikTok , with Instagram Reels , with YouTube Shorts , that less than 60 second video is the fastest way to do it . And we know attention spans in general people's attention spans have dropped significantly to three seconds . If you can't get their attention they're gone , and video is the easiest way to build that no like and trust factor .

Kelly Sturtevant 14:02

I also find and similar with what Lindy said in terms of being able to build the visibility and then be able to nurture . Once you get people there , really being able to provide that value in written form is something that allows that long-term growth and stability in the business . So I think , in terms of the 15 second reel to get people to kind of figure out who you are , what you offer and all that is great , but ultimately we want to have deeper , darker conversations with them on that written level in form of for a lot of us , in terms of email or long form content on the platforms going forward . So why are we strive for ? How is the fastest way that I can use video to begin that building trust factor . And then how can I really provide that nurturing in long form content ?

Lynley Hipps 15:02

And I would say you do a fantastic job at that , kelly , because I still am like really trying to get myself up to your email game level , because I still , you know your emails are fantastic and I think one of the challenges and I don't think this is any different than any other medium but you know there are always going to be people who are more comfortable posting the video than writing . There are going to be people who there are going to be plenty of folks who would rather write than post a video . What I've noticed is that a lot of people out there are still hanging on to this limiting belief that , oh well , I wasn't a good writer in high school , so I can't write emails , or I can't write social content . And it breaks my heart as a former English teacher , because those two approaches to writing are completely different and I think we get all up in our heads about , you know , opening that blank doc and you know , starting to type an email , but for so many people , flipping on that camera and hitting that red record button is just as scary , but at the same time , there are people who think nothing of hitting that record button and all of that content can be repurposed into written content .

Lynley Hipps 16:34

I have a challenge , as you all you three know very well that I have a really hard time recording short form content that is less than a minute long , because I like to talk , and that has really been a challenge for me . But what I have learned is that giving myself well , okay , I didn't give myself this limitation TikTok gave me this limitation actually made me , whereas I've got nothing but time and space when writing , I have 60 very precious seconds . How am I going to use them ? And it really forces me to make sure that I'm very clear in what I'm saying , that I have a plan I can't just ramble on . And it helps me remember to keep things at a bite-size kind of level , because email marketing , just like paid ads , just like social content , just like anything in marketing , it can be overwhelming and it's easy for us to just throw up our hands and say , oh , I can't do this .

Lynley Hipps 17:40

But at the same time , we can't just beat people over the head with all of this information . We really need to break it down into those little chunks and if I can tell you , in less than 60 seconds , three ways that you can make your email stand out in the inbox . I hope that is going to be valuable information . You Kelly mentioned earlier being able to really share value with folks . Whether it's paid or organic , really it doesn't matter because , like she said , it's either time or money . You got more of one go with that one , but really focusing on not just getting visible like getting out there and just running your mouth about whatever , but really focusing on what your message is and what you want people to get out of it . It's been really one of the biggest things in short form video that I have had to learn the hard way by rerecording the same video multiple times because I can't stop talking .

Crissy Conner 18:41

I have a tough question for you , and that is if somebody comes in the scene right now a new CEO , new entrepreneur and they want to run a business in 2023 and never get on video , what are their chances of succeeding ?

Lynley Hipps 18:55

Well , I mean , it depends . That's always our cop out answer . But you know , in my opinion , is it possible to grow a business without video ? Yeah , I think it's possible . Is it going to grow quickly ? Probably not . And is it going to grow in a way that is sustainable for you as the business owner ? I guess it depends on you as the business owner , but there are plenty of small businesses , both brick and mortar , service-based businesses , who aren't doing video , who are successful . It depends on what you define as successful , and that's different for all of us . I wish I could say yes or no , but it really is a . It depends , and it really depends on what kind of business you want to run .

Using Video in Business Matters

Kelly Sturtevant 19:51

I will piggyback off of that and say , yes , you actually do need video , and I think that businesses that aren't using video are doing a disservice to themselves by not showing up at the level they need to show up . Now . Kasey Woodlingley said there are businesses where maybe they can be as successful without video , but I always look at it as why would you spend this amount of time doing the same thing that you can do in this amount of time ? If I can do something in six months instead of three years , why wouldn't I do it in six months ? And that's what not doing video is is kind of hindering businesses from getting behind , and I think that if more businesses were open and really honest with themselves about not only what trajectory they're looking to grow their business , but how fast they want those results , that that's the fastest way to get there is by doing video .

Kelly Sturtevant 20:57

And when I speak to clients and people in the industry afterwards and like I can't get things to grow or I'm struggling with XYZ going on , that's usually the first question you ask , because are you visible ? And they're like I don't know what that means . And then you say you need to be on video . They're like oh no , I can't do that . Well , how badly do you want your business to succeed ? Really is what the answer comes down to . And yes , as Lindy said , you can absolutely grow business without video . But why the hell would you want to do everything possible to make that success happen in a much shorter timeframe by adding video .

Crissy Conner 21:35

Megan , you have anything to add .

Megan Flanagan 21:39

I'm going to say emphatically yes . And again I will lean into my QVC history . I mean , qvc started in 1986 , way before the internet blew up and it was selling on television and everybody thought it was crazy Little known fact . My senior year in college , at Immaculata , it was right next door to QVC and our fashion design and merchandising class took a tour of this revolutionary new retailer and I remember walking in the halls and them talking about what they were doing and I had basically grown up selling in retail since I was 14 , since I was allowed to work legally and I looked around and I was like I'm going to work here someday .

Megan Flanagan 22:27

Fast forward 20 years later . I was working there , but I knew that it was a new way of selling . I knew it was a new way of reaching people you couldn't reach and kind of doing something new . And here we are it's 2023 , and it's still the way to do things . I mean , everybody is selling through video and if the CEO doesn't want to sell through video , that's a red flag . I probably would wonder what their marketing strategy is In this day and age . It's near impossible to think of . There are strategies out there that may not include video , but why ? Why Video makes it easier , like Kelly said , to fast forward that no one trusts . Create that parasocial relationship with people and really grow your business . So that's my two cents .

Crissy Conner 23:31

OK , we're going to move on away from visibility and impact for a minute . You still may have to do visibility and impact , but you can decide . So I would love to know we are in so many spaces online and we see so many things happening online . What are the things that absolutely drive you freaking bonkers in the online space that you see happening and you see business owners doing ?

Megan Flanagan 23:54

Theft , bro marketing . And if you don't know what bro marketing is and you've just listened to this , it'll pop up on your screen and it looks like a guy in front of a rented Ferrari or a McLaren or some sort of rented vehicle that they want to portray that they've made all this money and this is their lifestyle , when in fact they're probably sleeping on a mattress in a one bedroom place and it's on the floor . It's not even on a bed frame . There's a lot of that going on out there and it's disheartening and it's kind of disgusting . People get duped .

Megan Flanagan 24:33

I don't , as a coach of female entrepreneurs . It kills me and breaks my heart . Every time I see people signing up for programs where I know the person has not gotten people results . I know that they're flashing that they've gotten people to 10K months or a million dollar years and it in fact has not happened and people continue to sign up for programs and spend money that there's , like I said , female entrepreneurs that really want a better and different life and to them I just say do your due diligence , ask any good coach . We'll be happy to share results or testimonies or things like that . But yeah , that I think those are my top three things . I could go on , but there's a lot out there .

Kelly Sturtevant 25:24

Yeah , I think whoever is teaching the model to friend people and then instantly start DMing in my inbox about your amazing offer or your services or whatnot ? Like , don't get me wrong . I think cold calling people can be done very well and I think that there is a level of hunger for business owners that sometimes you have no choice but to cold call Like that's how businesses are made or broken is by doing that . But whoever is teaching this model of in genuine connection , just simply to say hey , thanks for connecting . By the way , I have this amazing blah , blah , blah . Like you know , hard pass , hard pass . Like maybe try whining me first getting to know who I am , knowing what my business is . I like I can't tell you how many times I get a DM from someone and they're like I have XYZ services , I think it'd be great for you . And like , did you even look at my profile ? Because none of that is what I need or have or it's not even into my business . So I hate that model 100% hate that model . I hate .

Online Business Challenges and Ethical Concerns

Kelly Sturtevant 26:40

And I mean we're in this kind of space online where , like , nothing is sacred anymore . People , you see something online and you either believe it's 100% true or you believe that it's your content now and you can do whatever you want with it . So people are , like , constantly stealing someone else's words . They're signing up for programs and then taking it copy for copy . If you ever come across these types of creators or businesses or whatnot , like , please don't buy stolen programs from people . It's people who've created things , have done it from their own time , their own experience , their own expertise , and you're essentially stealing from directly from them , and let alone it's not yours . Why are you doing that ?

Kelly Sturtevant 27:30

So that , and then this ability to , for especially digital marketers that are in the space or whatnot this cancel culture mentality of not only those that have successful businesses and who either have made missteps or have struggled mentally or have had burnouts or whatever have we've all kind of experienced those things but the ones that take advantage of those people in those situations and to point fingers back in in terms of oh , I knew you weren't sane , or I knew you were a fraud , or I knew you couldn't do blah , blah , blah , blah , blah .

Kelly Sturtevant 28:13

Like we're all in it to try to make a living . We're trying to do it as honestly and ethically and as purposefully as we can , but there's always going to be people out there who want to take advantage of those relationships , who want to take advantage of kind souls and good hearts that maybe not necessarily see those flags that pop up . So , yeah , there's a lot of , there's a lot of A-holes in the space that you kind of have to really put your blinders up to for your own business in terms of not going down those pathways , but to know that there are out there and you really need to do due diligence when it comes to whether you're signing up for programs , whether you're signing up for mentorship , whether you're buying a course or anything like . Talk to real people who have done whatever it is that you're looking at doing and make sure that it makes sense for you and your business and not just because someone had a program off the back of a truck and wants to sell it to you for dirt cheap .

Megan Flanagan 29:08

So or the back of a Ferrari . Yeah , exactly .

Lynley Hipps 29:15

And you know , kel , I think you guys are obviously both exactly right and one of the things that I think we as content creators and , as course , creators that I think a lot of times we're I think having those testimonials and those reviews available ahead of time is so important . But that kind of stuff , especially nowadays with AI , that kind of stuff can easily be faked , and so like actually considering having you know somebody who has been through your program , be , you know , an ambassador for you , you know , be willing to talk to people , because I know and this is y'all may remember this but years ago I had a client who put my name in like in the clear on his sales page and I literally got 20 calls or DMs from people asking about his program .

Lynley Hipps 30:16

And I'm like I have no idea . I've never taken the program but because my name was the only one that wasn't blurred out , everybody wanted to ask me about it . People want I think a lot of people do want that , but as course , creators and membership scientists we're not making that available . So , really thinking about how we can support those people who really do wanna do their due diligence , you know , and they really do wanna know what kinds of results we get . I think it's something that's kind of been off my radar until you guys started talking about it . But I would say there are probably two things that really grind my gears , if you will , and one of them and I know all of you will appreciate this and it didn't really even happen to me , but you know Kelly spent how many years two years amassing a really substantial following on TikTok and all of a sudden it's gone .

Lynley Hipps 31:21

Apple can make iOS changes and completely derail our businesses . You know , facebook can shut down an ad account and we're totally up a creep , and I think it's this attitude that I perceive . Now it's not like I've been on the phone with Mark Zuckerberg talking about this , but it's this idea of we want businesses to pay us to advertise on our platforms , but we're not gonna do anything to make it easier for them to build their businesses on our platforms , we're gonna make it harder . So it's kind of like you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't . And even though , knock on wood , it's not specifically happened to me , but you know , even things like with email marketing , you know , apple iOS 15's updates means I can't get accurate metrics to give to my clients on their open rates .

Lynley Hipps 32:15

Well , is that a big problem ? Well , it is , when that's what they expect , and the fact that I can't deliver it is through no fault of my own , but it kind of undermines my ability to serve them and let them know that what we are working on , what they are investing in , both in me and in growing and building their email lists , and all of that it kind of undermines all of that . And so I think one of the things that I think , I think one of my biggest frustrations is the ability for other companies to come in and literally pull the rug out from under you when you are just trying to do what you need to do to have a successful business . I think that's probably my biggest one right now .

Crissy Conner 32:59

I love that . Those were all really , really good .

Advice for Entrepreneurs

Crissy Conner 33:03

So my next question for everyone is what is your best overall advice ? Doesn't have to do with what we're talking about today or what your expertise is or it can . What is your best overall advice for entrepreneurs ?

Lynley Hipps 33:17

Build your email list . Y'all didn't say that one coming , did you ?

Crissy Conner 33:24

Well , you did just talk about people losing their platforms , and they do own their email list , so that makes sense . I'm just saying .

Megan Flanagan 33:32

I would say invest in yourself , do not be . I think one of the hardest things I did for myself when I first started down this journey of starting my business was investing in myself , investing in my learning and not stopping . And just because you hit a certain milestone doesn't mean you stop learning . You should be constantly looking for who is that next teacher , mentor , coach that you want to learn from , who is doing what you want to do ? And then how can you get in close proximity to them ? And if they're good , they'll have free knowledge out there all day long , they'll have under $50 price points for you and then they'll have very close proximity , which will be high ticket .

Megan Flanagan 34:20

So if it's somebody you start getting traction with , you can get more of them . But you have to start investing in yourself as a business owner and an entrepreneur , and in doing that , you'll also create a community around you , which is absolutely what you need . Like the four of us have created with this bond , we have to help each other grow our business and scale it for the rest of our lives . So yeah , investing in yourself Don't compare your chapter one to someone's chapter 20 .

Kelly Sturtevant 35:01

It is so easy , especially in this day and age with the online space , and how easy we can find people and businesses and creators , and all that is that everyone starts from ground zero when they begin and if you're looking up chain to people in your industry who are doing it before you , you have to always remember that they have the blood , sweat and tears that have already gone into that business ahead of you . So you have to be able to just really disassociate , in that sense that you are not a success or a failure based on your level of experience of someone who is 20 chapters ahead of you and really honing in that there are . None of anything we're all doing in this world is not original . Not one of us has an original idea or thought or business or anything like that , but we have our own way of showing up in originality . I mean , there is a billion and one people who can teach you how to run Facebook ads , but they can't teach it the way I teach it . They can't teach email marketing the way Linda does it . They can't teach video the way you do . They can't teach mindset like Megan does .

Kelly Sturtevant 36:19

So really , really stepping in to that space or whatever space you're in as you and not someone else , is probably the biggest thing going forward . We're all human beings , we're all authentic and unique and individual . And I mean , if you don't like cursing and swearing during trainings , I'm not your gal , that's plain and simple . But there's other people out there who can do that . So really really understanding that you are unique , you are yourself and you don't do anything unique in terms of what your business is , but your voice is unique and you need to really be that to your audience .

Crissy Conner 37:04

Linnley , do you have anything to add besides email list ?

Lynley Hipps 37:06

What else is there ? Okay , I just wanted to make sure . I just wanted to make sure . No , I mean , it really is . It feels like a big step because there's the tech and then there's the once I get it built and running , what on earth do I say All of that stuff ? The truth is that Facebook didn't buy Instagram back in 2014 because of the technology . Facebook had the people to create that technology . It bought Instagram because of its customer list .

Lynley Hipps 37:42

That's what your email list is . It is literally the value of your business , and when businesses buy other businesses , that's why they buy them . So it's easy to go . I'll do that later . I'll do that later , but if you can just get started and get into a very simple habit of emailing your list weekly , literally , email has one of the highest ROI's in all of all marketing channels , depending on who you ask anywhere between 38 and 4,400% . Meaning , for every dollar you put in , you will get around $40 out , which is pretty darn good return , but not if you're not doing it . So really , building your email list is about making money , and if you're not in business to make money , good for you , but the rest of us are .

Crissy Conner 38:36

I love that . Okay , I'm going to put everybody on the spot right now . I would love for you to tell my audience what exciting thing you have coming up or that you're offering in the next 30 to 45 days .

Lynley Hipps 38:52

I do kind of feel like you're putting us on the spot as if you didn't know that we all have stuff coming out in the next 45 days Go ahead .

Crissy Conner 39:02

Take the floor , lennie .

Lynley Hipps 39:04

Well , I will be glad to Thank you so much , chrissy . So I am gearing up to launch my eLab membership , which is going to be really an accountability group and community specifically designed around getting your weekly emails written . Look , I'm just like everybody else . I sit down on a Monday morning and go , oh crap , when am I going to tell my list today ? And I think we all struggle with that , at least until we get into a really good routine , and I know that I benefit from having time carved out to accomplish certain tasks , and that's what this membership is really , just for me .

Lynley Hipps 39:47

Y'all can come along for a while too . It's an opportunity for us to get together and not do the same thing , but do the thing that we're doing together , and I'm really excited about it because it's been one in the back of my head for about six months now and because you guys are really good at this . You kicked my butt in the year last week and I will be launching it next Wednesday , which is August the second , and you can come to my lead magnet and minutes workshop and hear all about it . Information is anywhere I am on social media , which is just at Lindley Hips I'm the only one pretty easy to find . But I'm super excited about my eLab membership and getting folks really geared up and ready and excited about email marketing because it has so much potential If we can just get over that mindset bump of having to write stuff every week .

Crissy Conner 40:44

I'm so excited for you .

Megan Flanagan 40:46

So I'll jump in , because Lindley Lindley mentioned the secret word , mindset . So I also have a community that I am going public with . There's been a lot of mindset coaching over the past five years that I've done for probably hundreds of people now and it's been very quietly done in the background and it's something that I see everybody needs and I know mindset is a buzzword . I've been preaching Mindset growth for the past seven years and if you don't know what it is , pick up Dr Carol Dweck's book on the growth mindset . She is the grandmother of mindset and the one that kind of brought the phrase to what it is .

Megan Flanagan 41:31

A Lot of people are throwing it around today like a buzzword . It's not a buzzword . It really does when you can control how you think , what your attitude is and what your behavior is on a certain level . I am in no way shape or form a doctor or psychologist , but there are certain tools that you can learn behaviors , tricks with your brains , writing prompts and basically it is the simplest way to say . It's a muscle you have to exercise , exercise every day and whatever you're struggling with doing , mindset can help you overcome it changing your way of thinking , just working on how you think and you know who's who's going to run the day . Is it the voice in your head telling you you're not good enough , or is it you know me being your partner and helping you fight back against those voices with tools we have ? So , mindset and momentum , community is opening up .

Megan Flanagan 42:31

Call it coaching , call it mentorship , call it teaching , because , like I spoke about earlier , about Investing and constantly learning , one of the things that I hone in on is brain science , behavior , mindset and learning so many different things about how to form good habits and and things like that . So , like I said , I've been sharing it in the private coaching business for a long time and now I want to create a community that more people can come into . So somebody is like , oh my gosh , I'm afraid to do email . Well , you can come visit me for a few months , we'll get you all set and then you can join Linley's community and get on those emails , because You'll , you'll find me in her community , oh , by the way , um , so that is what's coming in the next 60 days .

Kelly Sturtevant 43:17

Um , I Am in the process of a brand new product which is going to teach just me , social media manager , small business owners , the entire walkthrough process of lead generation ads . So we know , as as businesses , that being able to generate leads is our bread and butter , whether it's organic or paid . We need to know how to drive that through . So , obviously , in a paid marketing aspect , I there's a lot of ways you can generate leads for that . So we're gonna we're gonna have a an entire little Course designed that will help you navigate what that looks like in the ads manager and get those set up for your own successes or your client successes going forward . And that should be on the radar , hopefully by the end of August and and ready to go . So be sure you're following me on all my socials , which is at kelstert event , except for tick tock , which is at kel dot sturd event , because they're a bunch of mm-hmm .

Crissy Conner 44:19

Yes , thank you , and that's all she has to say about that . My friends , okay , so I'm gonna drop links in the show notes . You'll be able to connect with all of these amazing ladies and Even get on their email lists so that you can be the first to be notified when these things drop . Because I know they're all brilliant and like , seriously , I , if I could just have like 1% of every single single one of their knowledge , I would like be the bomb . So just saying that , okay , is there anything that you guys want to leave my audience with before we go ?

Megan Flanagan 44:55

yes , um , I just want to congratulate you on 400 episodes and your consistency and you are such , you have been such an example to me of somebody who's out there doing it , fighting kind of the fight against everything and Bringing people along the way and the people you get to serve and the people you get to support . You are one of the most genuine people on the internet out there . So if anybody is questioning doing anything with Chrissy or Linley or Kelly , but Chrissy , just thank you for all you do . Um , you're just , you're incredible and you are seriously one of a kind , and if anybody has the opportunity to work with you , I'd say go for it . So thank you .

Crissy Conner 45:43

Thank you .

Kelly Sturtevant 45:45

And in case you didn't know , uh , chrissy makes a hell of a jello shot and they're worth . They're worth , they're weight and gold , especially after a pool day . So True story .

Megan Flanagan 46:00

Thank you .

Crissy Conner 46:01

Thank you and they and they got you feeling really good on the last day .

Lynley Hipps 46:04

I heard Totally , did Totally did we miss all the fun , chrissy ? Well , and , and and I'll just close with again , like Megan said , I mean , 400 episodes is amazing , but it they happened because you made a decision that they were gonna happen and I have . You know , we've known each other for a long time now and it has never failed to . I'm impressed doesn't even seem like the right word , but that's all I got , that's all I'm gonna have .

Lynley Hipps 46:37

So , how you are , when you have an idea , you don't do like most of us and sit on it and him and hall and think about all the things that could go wrong

Expressing Gratitude and Encouragement

Lynley Hipps 46:48

. You go , let's test it out and you put it out there and you see , and you have encouraged us to do the same thing and I just I'm grateful for your kicking the pants that I need because I am still working on that , uh , that visibility aspect in my own business and , um , yeah , like uh Megan said earlier , you know , uh , I think you have this , this an insta story , um , uh , program starting today I think it was the day that we're recording . So you know , uh , it could be a great opportunity for somebody to get to know you and at a , at a very reasonable introductory rate , and to kick some ass on uh , on insta stories which I have not yet managed to perfect , so I'm excited about it . So thank you for being you , thank you for having all of us on , thank you for last week and a wonderful and hysterically funny time .

Crissy Conner 47:48

Well , thank you guys for being on the 400th and one episode . We couldn't get together to make it 400 . So we're 401 , which is the next best thing , and I'm so excited for my audience to hear this episode and learn so much and have so many takeaways . So , thank you guys . I love you more than you know and make sure you connect with each of these Brilliant women because they are going to bring it in . Whatever you decide , in whatever capacity you decide to work with them . I know how much value they're going to bring to your life because I know what they've brought to mind . So , thank you all , thank you .