EP44: From Classroom to Clicks: An Email Marketing Masterclass with Elaine Jardon

Get ready for a no-nonsense dive into the world of email marketing with the ever-delightful Elaine Jardon. 

Having swapped out her teacher's hat for an entrepreneur's cap, Elaine delivers the lessons of the day with the kind of no-nonsense truth-telling former teachers are really good at.

Elaine isn't just another voice in the crowd. She's breaking the mold with her fresh take on email marketing tactics. She understands that speaking your client’s language and maintaining solid relationships are the real game-changers in business. Listen in as she unpacks the secrets to nailing the frequency of your emails and the art of keeping your content spot-on for your audience.

And it gets better. Elaine brings lessons from her teaching days to the table, showing us how straight-shooting feedback can make all the difference. Her Standout Intro Generator isn't just a tool; it's your new best friend for writing emails that get read. 

So, if you're ready for strategies that cut through the fluff and advice that sticks, listen in this week and get your email ish sorted.

Guest Bio: 
Elaine Jardon is a website marketing expert and email marketing strategist for standout service providers. She works with small businesses to clarify and simplify their messaging so more website visitors become leads and more leads become clients.

Connect with Elaine:
elainejardon.com
@thejardongroup on all the socials
Download her Standout Intro Generator: elainejardon.com/intro

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to the Business Blasphemy podcast, where we question the sacred truths of the online business space and the reverence with which they're held. I'm your Sarah Khan , speaker, strategic consultant and BS busting badass. Join me each week as we challenge the norms, trends and overall bullshit status quo of entrepreneurship to uncover what it really takes to build the business that you want to build in a way that honors you, your life and your vision for what's possible, and maybe piss off a few gurus along the way. So if you're ready to commit Business Blast for Me, let's do it. Hello, hello, blast femurs.

Speaker 1: 0:38

I'm very pleased to welcome one of my favorite humans on the show today, elaine Jardin of the Jardin Group. Elaine Jardon is a website marketing expert and email marketing strategist for standout service providers. She works with small businesses to clarify and simplify their messaging so more website visitors become leads and more leads become clients. Elaine and I have worked together in the past, both as colleagues and as service providers to each other, and I got to tell you she knows her stuff, particularly when it comes to email marketing, when it comes to talking to your ideal client. I really, really hope you get a lot of value from this conversation here. She is Elaine Jardon.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Hi Elaine hey.

Speaker 1: 1:21

Sarah, how are you? I'm excited to have you here. Oh my gosh, I've been waiting for this, Okay. So context Elaine Jardin is here. We're going to talk about stuff. Elaine and I go way, way back. I will let her tell you her story, but she is like my go-to when I'm basically panicking about anything. That's what it's going to come down to. The first question that I always ask everyone is Elaine, tell me a little bit about your origin story, how you came to be here as an entrepreneur doing what you're doing.

Speaker 2: 1:55

Sure, so I am a former teacher. 2020 happened and we were sent home and I realized very quickly that I did not want to teach anyone virtually and, to be honest, most kids don't want to learn virtually either. So then I started trying to figure out what my second act was going to be. What am I going to do with myself? So I binged a ton of podcasts about how to start your own business and I kept hearing ads for this software called DubSato, which I had never heard about. So I went to the source of all truth, facebook, and I looked it up and I said, oh, people pay people to set this up. I have a lot of hubris. I bet I can do that. So I watched every tutorial DubSato ever made and I said, okay, this is what I do now and that's what I did for my very first year in business. It was all I did and I got really, really niched into that, which was amazing.

Speaker 2: 2:53

But the problem was I had these clients I loved, but once their DubSato was set up, they didn't need anything else from me anymore because it was done.

Speaker 2: 3:03

So then that launched me into a big market research push. I did like 20 or 25 market research calls with my former DubSato clients to kind of be like what's next, what are you doing? And I kept hearing, oh my gosh, I'm so ready to get out of implementation, or I want to sell my digital product, or I want to launch a group program. And so I was like the thing that you need to do those things is an audience, and my favorite way to build an audience is email marketing. And also, too, a lot of clients had come to me for their DubSato because then I would write their emails and their proposals for them, and they liked that. So, anyway, that got me into the email marketing vein, which is where I spend most of my time now. With its natural extension, then it doesn't matter how good the email is, if what we click to is trash on your website, it's not going to be good. So now I also like to write websites too, and that's where I am now and I love that.

Speaker 1: 3:59

And we actually met through the whole DubSato thing, right, we did, yeah, yeah. And what I loved about working with Elaine was just how quickly you were able to capture my voice, like my writing style and then just like my quirky sort of way of communicating, and I just I loved that and I've never actually worked with anyone who's been able to do that as well. Total aside, did you know? So I love DubSato's social media because they are really, really on man. They chewed me out the other day because apparently it's DubSato and not DubSato and I've been calling it DubSato for years and they didn't chew me out. Let's be completely honest. They asked a question and I was like it's DubSato, who in the world is calling it DubSato? That's stupid. And they were like we are. And I was like oops.

Speaker 2: 4:47

I love it. Well, I thought it was just a quirky thing that Cameron who, if you've ever seen a training video of theirs it's always Cameron talking he always pronounces it DubSato and I was like, oh, that's just how he.

Speaker 1: 4:59

It's just how he is actually DubSado.

Speaker 1: 5:01

I was like oh okay, I have to retrain my brain now, but I really do love the platform and I love that you've moved into email, because I think that's one of the challenges that a lot of us have had as service providers is like, when you are a project oriented service provider, how do you continue to keep people in your ecosystem? Because I think, like me, you like working with people, that you can develop longer term relationships with right, because that's really where you start to see quote unquote the magic happen. But that's that's the truth, right. So when you move into email marketing because I remember the transition, I remember talking to you about it when you decided to go into email marketing what was it like? What was it specifically that drew you to that and not something else, like you said, writing websites or being a copywriter? Like? What was it about email marketing specifically?

Speaker 2: 5:55

I think there's real magic that happens in the inbox, like there's a lot of great things that have happened in my business, but nothing feels as good as getting a reply to a marketing email Right, and being like oh, like what I said, like really landed with somebody, and I think it's that feedback that I really like, and then also that you can show up like just in time for someone with, like you know, something that's funny or something that's helpful or something that's useful and like make it a little bit better. It doesn't feel as much like screaming into the void, at least for me, as some other approaches do so then OK.

Speaker 1: 6:36

So you say, at least for you, we've all gotten emails that are just shit, right, like there's. There's garbage emails out there. I have a couple of questions, and some of them may be controversial, but we're going to go through, we're going to ask them anyway. First question why do you think there are so many shit emails out there? What are people getting? Quote, unquote, wrong, and I realize wrong is a very subjective term. But from your perspective like because I've read your emails, I've read lots of other people's emails your emails are genuinely entertaining. They are always chock full of you know, information and value. So what are you? How are you doing it differently? How are your emails showing up and landing and like getting replies from people, versus what the vast majority of other people are doing?

Speaker 2: 7:23

Yeah, I think there are two key things to keep in mind, and the first one is that I'm always writing to one person and I have that person like it's a real person, but like that's who I'm writing my emails to is to one specific person, and if it's not going to be valuable or interesting or funny to like this particular former client of mine, then I don't send it, because that person is such a dream boat. I want to attract more of them. So there's that, I think. Also, what can happen is and this happens on websites too is that, like, we all want to show our expertise and what we do and all of that, but as readers, like we don't care about that.

Speaker 2: 8:06

The service provider isn't the hero, the reader is the hero, and so sometimes it's easy to send things that are missing, that like so what? Like it's fine to talk about yourself, but then you have to cross over that bridge to the like. So here's why that matters to you, because otherwise, as the reader, you open the email and you're like this is my issue with newsletters. Sometimes you know it's like this is what's going on in my life and I'm like OK, but like who cares, why are you sending this to me. I saw your story yesterday and, like you know, so I think there's just like that piece that's missing sometimes is like this so what? Yeah, feel free to talk about yourself, but you have to make it relevant to the reader. Yeah, I have to.

Speaker 1: 8:43

I recommend you do. Well, I mean, I think you've hit it on the head and it's you've shifted my perspective around it too, because, like for me, I have been so resistant to sending emails, and you know this because we did a VIP day and you were like Sarah, send more emails. I think that that is probably the hardest part for a lot of people, right, like we're. It's really easy to talk about what you're doing and why it's important to you and why you think it's important in general, but I don't think a lot of people actually sit down and say here's why it's important to you, my dream client. It takes a lot of work, like there's still marketing that has to go into your marketing emails, right, right.

Speaker 1: 9:20

And how do you feel? How do you feel, then, like going off of this? What do you feel like is the best cadence for sending emails? Because I have been on the receiving end I'm sure all of all of us have of someone who sends like once a month emails, someone who sends once a week or even by monthly, but then you've also got that person who sends like a daily fucking email, and I love all of you who do that, and please don't put me on your list because I will not read them. What is? Is there like a golden sort of?

Speaker 2: 9:54

number. I don't know that there's a golden number, and I think what holds people back a lot in email marketing is their own personal preference. So, while you may be someone who doesn't want to receive a daily email and I respect that I would be very curious to know the person who's sending the daily email. What is their conversion rate looking like? Because my guess is they are able to compress their customer journey because they're getting more touch points. Let's say it's going to take 10 touch points before this person converts. If they're sending it one email a day every day for 10 days, they're going to see that right there.

Speaker 2: 10:28

But if you're somebody who emails once a month and it takes 10 touch points, you're looking at almost a year before you see any traction. So I think like some of the cadence and like look at target. Sometimes target emails me three times a day. Oh really, yes. And so I think it's important to like get familiar with what's working for your people, because that's what you want to do, as opposed to like what you want in your own inbox, because you're not your own ideal client usually.

Speaker 1: 10:59

Oh my gosh. Ok, you know what that's rude. I am not my own ideal client, but I kind of am.

Speaker 2: 11:09

Maybe you are Right, but like I'm not my own ideal client, right, right, like I know that, so I'm like, ok, I just need to look at, like the person who is and like what do they want?

Speaker 1: 11:19

I think that's that is such great advice, and I know that there are coaches out there who say you are your own ideal client and on a certain level I do agree with that and also you really can't be. I kind of feel like on some, on some level, not all that's kind of lazy Nishing, don't you think like I'm just gonna? It works in some cases, but I don't think it works across the board, particularly maybe with, like, email marketing.

Speaker 2: 11:46

Yeah, well, here's why I don't think it works Like. Do you struggle with the same thing your ideal client struggles with? If yes, how are you providing the service that solves their problem? If you haven't solved it yet, oh, See you know what I mean, not now.

Speaker 2: 11:59

You could be a step ahead of them or you could have Specialized niche knowledge, that does that, sure. But you know, if you are exactly your ideal client, I don't see. Maybe I could be wrong, but I don't see how you're gonna get the results that that person wants now. It also depends on how broad you are. Yeah, my broad ideal client is a small business owner. Well, yes, I too am also a small business owner, but that's like so broad it barely counts as an ideal client, right? We need to like get that tightened up a little bit. Very fair.

Speaker 1: 12:33

Yeah, okay, I love that you touched on data, because I think I mean not specific numbers, but I think that that's something that we tend to forget. Right, the idea that when you're looking at Email marketing, it really has to come down to conversion rate. Right, so how often are people clicking to open your emails and read them? How often are they clicking the links in the emails? What would you say is your best practice in terms? I mean, I've looked at, I've done the research on, like what numbers are Average and blah, blah, blah, but like, for you, what do you feel like is a good open rate and then Actually getting people to click on the links inside an email? What?

Speaker 2: 13:09

does that, thanks. So this is also gonna sound like a cop out, but I don't mean for it to, but, like you, have to compare you to you because, okay, this is one of my little soapboxes Okay, people will tell me they have an 80 or 90 percent open rate. That's crazy. But then their list size is 30 and it's 30 people that they've personally Invited to their list, right. Well then that makes sense, why the open rate looks that way. So then if you have those people and they're typically opening, let's say, at 80%, and you send something and they open at 50, like that's a red flag to me. But I can't compare that person to somebody who has, you know, a hundred thousand people on their list and their open rates around 20. Well, that's actually pretty competitive for the size that they're looking at, right.

Speaker 2: 13:55

So I would say, like you kind of have to compare Yourself to yourself with both things. Personally, I like to see an open rate over 30% and a click rate around one, preferably higher. But I think sometimes it, depending on the size of your list in your business, like those numbers come from like Enterprise level email marketers. So when you're a small business or a solopreneur, you know you can be like 30%, like I can do that in my sleep and it's like, yeah, but you're, you know, talking to. So it's a little bit nuanced. But I would say like compare, like get to know your own baseline and then see if you can like push it up.

Speaker 1: 14:33

Right, and what do you find people click on In emails like where are we sending people? What's a good practice?

Speaker 2: 14:40

Hmm, I always want people to know what's on the other side of the button, so I don't care where you send them, as long as they know where they're going. So are they going to your YouTube video? Are they going to your website? Are they going to a sales page? They should just have a very clear idea of what's on the other side.

Speaker 1: 14:56

Okay, so, when you look at email marketing in general, what do you feel? Like people tend to get wrong. Okay, and this is a very subjective, but in terms of best practice, or in terms of you know, they're shooting themselves in the foot because they're not utilizing this incredible method to reach people in the best way.

Speaker 2: 15:19

Okay, Personalization is the number one mistake. I or missed opportunity. I would say. A lot of people believe that as long as they include the subscribers name, they have successfully personalized the email. Hmm, that is not true. Like that's a good, like first level, but with I'm gonna talk about convert kid because I spend most of my time in convert kit.

Speaker 2: 15:42

But use whatever platform you like, at minimum you should be able to send different messages to people based on different criteria, such as past client versus current client versus Never been a client. Those people, let's say you're selling your, you know it's a promo email for your service. You should be talking to those three groups differently. You don't want to tell a past client to come by the service of yours that they already bought, unless there's some compelling reason you know. So that's one way to personalize. You can even get fancier in convert kit using their, their conditional logic, which is called liquid. That will send different Content blocks in the email to people based on what they've done.

Speaker 2: 16:22

So let's say you've downloaded my email marketing planner, then I can display a message to you that's like you know, blah, blah, blah body of the email. Here's what to send your list and I can say hey, sarah, go to page three of your download. But somebody who hasn't downloaded it. I can be like, hey, elaine, to download your copy, click here and then go to page three. Like that's personalization to me, right? Like, hey, I pay attention to you and I don't always get it right, but I try really hard to make sure I'm sending you things that show that I'm invested in the relationship at scale, but I am invested in the relationship.

Speaker 1: 16:58

I love that and that is like, yeah, that's something a lot of people don't think, particularly if you're a solo printer. You don't have, you know, a team or even just the VA supporting you in that kind of thing. So how would you Suggest, or what's your recommendation, for somebody who is like a one person show and it's like, yeah, okay. So I will be completely honest. Like I do my absolute best to cover all my bases. I'm a solo printer, I don't have a team member, I don't have any support and like, I edit my own podcast, I write all my own emails, I respond to my own emails. How do you suggest somebody who doesn't have that support gets to that level of like, being able to personalize, being able to like. Where do you? Let's start here. How do you start with email marketing and by building, like the best foundation for it. What should people be focusing on? And then we'll maybe talk about like, if you've already gotten existing email marketing system set up, like, how can we tweak it to get better results?

Speaker 2: 17:57

Sure, so when you're starting, it's important to get tags on your people, and tags are just like little labels that go on their file folder. So at minimum, if I was just starting and you can do this now with your list at minimum I would go through and put a tag on everybody that's a former client and everybody who's a current client, because those groups are my big priorities, those we all know it's easier to keep a client or bring a client back than convert somebody new. So, like, those people are my priority people. So I wanna make sure I know how to like pull them out. Then you can get more sophisticated, you know, by adding information about, like, if they downloaded a lead magnet, which one? If they purchased a product from you, what you can tag them by location, you know. So, let's say, I'm having a live in person event in Kansas City. As much as I love you, sarah, I'm not gonna send you an email about it because you're probably not gonna fly in, you know. So, like, really, it's getting that tagging strategy in place.

Speaker 2: 18:59

And if you're new to tags, I always like to give a three word tag. So it's an action, it's a thing, and then it's details. So I might say, downloaded planner email marketing foundation, you know, for anybody who like downloads that free guide. Or I might say, you know, purchased workshop October 24th, if I was Sarah Kahn, for example. But that's how I structure my tags, so I can kind of see, like, what people have done and separate them out. Now, if your list is humongous, you can also, or if it's tiny, you can also invite people to tag themselves so you can send out an email. You know it's like hey, I wanna make sure I'm sending stuff that's relevant to you. Click on one of these to tell me which best describes you, and then they click on the option, the tag gets applied by the email service provider and then you're done.

Speaker 1: 19:49

I love it. So you wrote something in the form that everybody fills out when they come to be a guest on the show, and I wanna talk about this. It doesn't need to be complicated to be effective. We can simplify without dumbing down. Yeah, tell me what you mean by that.

Speaker 2: 20:08

Yeah, I think there's a lot of hype around like do you have a funnel, do you have a low ticket offer? And like a trip wire, and like not that those things are bad, but like it is okay to take a step back from that and be like no, maybe you don't even start with a freebie, maybe you're just dipping your toe into email marketing. You know, what I want you to do is reach out to your former clients and be like hey, I'm starting an email list. This is the kind of stuff I'm gonna be talking about. I would love to have you join it. Would you like me to add? You Start there.

Speaker 2: 20:41

Right, it's simple. Like it doesn't always have to be the flashiest and the most automated and the most. Like it's showing up as human is really important. And then also like communicating clearly. I sent an email last week that was very divisive to my email list. That was about if you're not hearing back from a client, you need to ask a clear question to get a clear answer. Don't say like just checking in, nobody knows how to respond to that, they're not gonna give you any information.

Speaker 1: 21:10

I saw that and people got upset Really.

Speaker 2: 21:14

People either loved it or they hated it and I'm like well, my ideal client is somebody who is direct even when it's hard, so those are the people that I wanna like keep around. But that was a really simple email, very straightforward. But you know, it got the effect I wanted, which is like are you in, Are you out?

Speaker 1: 21:31

I don't know what kind of feedback were you getting from people who were like this is garbage.

Speaker 2: 21:36

Yeah, they're like no, that's too aggressive, like you're in your masculine energy, like that kind of thing, and I'm like I mean, I'm not an expert in energies at all so like that may be a very valid criticism, but it's also how I see the world. So if you don't like that, then you're right. Like you should unsubscribe and you should remove yourself, because I'm not gonna change. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:01

Oh, I love that.

Speaker 2: 22:01

I love that change and that's okay, like we both know now that like that's not aligned.

Speaker 1: 22:07

I think that that's something that you and I are both really similar on. Is this idea of it's not aggressive, it's just straightforward, right? It's just sort of like you and I, I think, and I think that it's important for people to really get clear on what their own communication style is Right, and I think that this works in email marketing as well, because you wanna be able to communicate in a way that is authentically you, yes, and you and I are not flowery, beat around the bush, you know, write paragraphs and paragraphs and hope someone can infer what we're talking about. Right? It's very direct. Here you go, and I think that we really need to move away from directness being associated with aggression, because they're not the same thing, and really, with the amount of email people get, I personally would like you to just cut to the chase, please, right, tell me what you want, be able to act on it or not, and then we can move on together. That makes sense, and you've said as well, like talk to people, like people which I think we tend to forget.

Speaker 1: 23:09

I know, personally, I get in my head a lot about what am I gonna say in this email, how do I talk, and when you and I were doing our VIP day and you said very clearly just talk to them like you would talk to anybody. And I love the idea of talking to one specific person, right as somebody who has avoided for a long time niching down to a specific ICA and for those of you who don't know what an ICA is, it's an ideal client avatar. But like you know, joan, who wears yoga pants and drinks Starbucks on a Thursday, like I've never gone that granular with my ICA and people have said you should. I'm like no, I don't want to. But I like the idea of doing something like that for email, because it's easier to have a conversation with somebody that you know you're having a conversation with, versus, like you said, speaking into ether.

Speaker 2: 23:55

Yeah, exactly, and I think too. Just a side note about ideal client Ideal client doesn't mean I only work with this person, and if you don't fit it exactly like you can't come in here Like we're talking ideal in your dreamiest of dreamy lands, who would you be working with?

Speaker 2: 24:16

And there are gonna be other people who aren't exactly that, who are still amazing and you can still choose to work with them. I think sometimes people feel too restricted by ideal client. But like it's so much easier for me every time I sit down to just write to this one person. Like it's so much easier.

Speaker 1: 24:33

Yeah, I like that. There's one other comment that you made that I really wanna touch on. It doesn't really have to do with email marketing, but it has to do with our shared experience as teachers. You said here a lot of teachers think they can quote unquote just teach. But teachers have tons of skills. Yes, that was under the question. Tell me what business norms or status quo, bs you challenge through the work you do. So tell me a little bit more about that. Why was that the first thing you wrote? What has your experience been around that?

Speaker 2: 25:04

So many of my teacher friends feel stuck right now. They feel stuck they are teaching right now is extremely difficult. I'm talking like K-12, public ed, right, so it's really hard. And when I tell them I'm like, hey, you don't have to do this, you could at minimum go to a different school, but even more you could like leave the field altogether, they're like oh, no, like I'm just a teacher, like this is it. And I'm like it's not it. Like it's not it.

Speaker 2: 25:36

I'm sorry, if you can manage all of just the relationships of teaching students, colleagues, admin, parents, community members if you can even just manage those relationships, like that's already a marketable skill and that doesn't even count. Like you know the marketing you have to do to get people invested in lessons. It doesn't count in the behavior management, it doesn't count in your admin skills. Like there are so many things teachers can do. But time and time again, when I'm like you have a choice, they're like no, I don't, that breaks my heart.

Speaker 2: 26:10

Yeah, and I was that person, right. Who's like oh, I'm a teacher. I am, I am a teacher. That is my full identity. And now that I'm not, that, I'm like oh, my gosh, that used to be all I thought about all I talked about, all I dreamed about, all I shopped for was just like teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher. Now that I don't have that, I feel like I'm in this process almost of like discovery of like what do I like to do in my free time, cause it doesn't have to be planning for tomorrow. Don't worry about this kid, like I can just yeah.

Speaker 1: 26:40

Yeah, oh God, that resonates so hard. I mean, I never taught K to 12, unless you count my practicum teaching, in which I did grade three, which was, oh wow, grade six and seven they will break your soul and you will. You know it's horrible. And then I did high school and that's all during practicum teaching. But I taught university and college when I actually became a teacher.

Speaker 1: 27:04

And I feel this so much because, even though the relationships are different, because they're all technically adults, the problems were still just like they were, so challenging.

Speaker 1: 27:16

You know, now we're dealing with things like, oh God, I'm okay, this is I'm gonna put a little bit of a content warning here for people but you know, like unwanted pregnancies and you know abusive relationships and like the level of management that you were doing of your relationship with people and health.

Speaker 1: 27:36

You almost it almost becomes pastoral care, right, like you're almost now counseling as well, and I think that that is it's heartbreaking when because I know I've been there like teachers, feel like cause we're told that by society, right, you're just a teacher, right. Especially, I mean, oh gosh, like I can go down a super, super big rabbit hole with this, but from a cultural perspective, being part of a culture that you know. Really everyone has to aspire to be a doctor or an engineer or a computer scientist, and oh, you're just a teacher. And it's almost like they're patting you on the head and saying, oh, you're just a teacher, like you couldn't be anything better. And it's like, bitch, your son, who's a lawyer, had a pretty damn good teacher and your daughter, who's an engineer, probably had a really good teacher. So it's really frustrating.

Speaker 2: 28:25

I felt that head pat when you said it. I have felt that head pat, yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:31

Yeah. So if you're out there and you're a teacher and you're listening to this, elaine and I are both excellent resources to go to. If you're thinking about, like, what else can I do? Because, trust me, you've got more marketable and transferable skills than most people, because you probably wear 37 different hats, versus somebody who's coming from, you know, straight out of corporate, who maybe has three Completely agree. Absolutely, that's fantastic. Can I add in one more message to the teachers.

Speaker 2: 28:56

Because I'm sure there are tons of teachers subscribed to your podcast. I would also say teachers, it's okay to just work your contract Blasphemous Elaine. It's okay to just work your contract. And this is something I've had to like unlearn in my business. Right Is I'm like no, I don't have. No, this is what we agreed to, that's what I'm gonna do, and if there's a change in scope, we can discuss how long that will take and what that will cost. But no, like no. So, teachers, just don't work outside your contract if you can, or at least try to cut like 10 hours off your work week. I know sometimes like 40 hours is just not enough, so maybe allow yourself 50, but like stop doing 60, 70, 80 hour weeks.

Speaker 1: 29:39

Can we just pause there for a second and just acknowledge the fact that teachers are expected to be okay, working 50 fucking hours a week, I know, at a minimum, when, like no one else, I remember you know, oh, you get summers off. No, no, I'm planning for next year in the summer. I don't get summers off. Christmas is not a Christmas break, like. I have to plan for January and for a new semester and, yeah, it's okay. You know what? I'm gonna market this episode specifically to teacher. I think they need to hear it. I mean, entrepreneurship is not for everybody, but I love the idea of both entrepreneurs and teachers hearing that because it is such an important message. Right, like work, your contract. The number of entrepreneurs that come to me and are like I don't understand why. You know I signed up to do this but I end up doing so much more and there's nothing wrong with you.

Speaker 1: 30:35

We have particularly people who are teachers or who are in entrepreneurship as service people. We have a service heart, we want to help, we want people to be successful and we just naturally gravity towards doing more things because I can do them, so I wouldn't. I do them. And the idea of no, that's not in scope or no, it's not in my contract. It feels almost selfish to do that. So we are both sitting here telling you please stop thinking that, like working, your contract is all you are required to do and all you are obligated to do, and anything above and beyond that should be compensated. Because it's like your time, your energy, your emotional resource is not infinite and I think if more people understood that, there would be far less A people leaving the profession and, b, just far less instances of burnout.

Speaker 1: 31:28

Because we've all met the teacher who you know. You meet them at a parent teacher night or whatever, and you're like I don't know why the hell that person is a teacher, because they obviously hate their job. Let me tell you right now, they did not start off that way. No, they didn't. You all did it to them. So give your teachers some grace. I was actually thinking of that this morning because my little one, she's in first grade right now and I was like the teaching team that they have supporting these kids, like I was already thinking about, like what can I get them for Christmas? Like all four of them, that would be just valuable and meaningful and just help them to know that they are appreciated. And then I remembered myself personally. There was nothing more meaningful than just getting a random email that said thank you for everything that you do. Like you are appreciated.

Speaker 2: 32:16

Yes.

Speaker 1: 32:17

So if you're not a teacher and you're listening to this and you have a child who is in school, can you please take a moment and just send your teacher an email and just say thanks, hope you're having a good day, because they truly are the unseen and unsung heroes of the world and I will fight you on that.

Speaker 2: 32:37

Do you mind if I continue on this tangent? I'm a little bit longer. Okay, so I got a Facebook message on Saturday from a student that I taught 12 years ago. Oh, wow, 12 years ago. He was like hey, I hope this isn't weird. You were in my dream last night, I don't know why. Anyway, I'm sorry that I didn't take advantage of what I should have, like when I was in your class. You know, you were one of my best teachers and I was just like that meant I felt so seen, right, because like this is a kid I had, like when he was a high school junior. Like no high school Well, there's a few, but most high school juniors are not that into whatever's happening in the classroom, right, they're into themselves and their friends and their life and their drama and their drama and like, yeah, as they should be their teenagers. But I was just like I don't know, it was really. It really made my day, just to like get the thank you note.

Speaker 1: 33:29

It's always nice to know that your kids for lack of a better term have actually grown up and gone on to you. Know they get it now Right Again. Like not all of them get it right away, but eventually they get it. I had a student in my last year of teaching, actually, unfortunately, which was not my choice, but I ran one of the business programs at the college and I had a student who would come in every day and just piss around Like, just you know, would sit in the lecture hall and just not pay attention and goof off and blah, blah, blah, and then he would hand his work in and I'd be like, oh my gosh, like you are so smart.

Speaker 1: 34:08

And I remember we had one on one meetings sort of midway through the semester and they were all independent and so he wasn't around. His goofy friends and all of those guys I knew like they're not going to make it through the first year, they're going to drop out or they're going to whatever, and I said that to him. I was just really like straight to his face. I said, look, you are a smart kid and you have so much freaking potential and you need to make better friend choices, thinking to myself like I just had a baby.

Speaker 1: 34:36

So I was like in super mom mode and he was going to be totally rejecting of it and say that I was being weird and like whatever. But he looked at me and he was like oh, and like he didn't say anything the rest of the meeting. He walked away, blah, blah, blah. And he came to me at the end of the semester and he was like I really took your advice to heart. I'm not hanging out with those guys anymore. I've tried to get a new set of friends and I promise you I'm going to do better and I haven't taught for a few years now. But I heard the other day that he's now graduating and he's moving into medicine.

Speaker 1: 35:11

Oh my, God this goofball kid who was like I don't know what I'm going to do. Business is easy I'm going to be a market, like he's going to be a doctor. Bless his heart. And I was just like my job is done.

Speaker 2: 35:22

Exactly. Yep, yep, we can hang it up now.

Speaker 1: 35:26

Absolutely, I'm done. That's it. This is the last one. Kidding, kidding, kidding. I mean, okay, elaine, this was such a great conversation and, like you, you're just like your straight shooter. I love that. Please, please, please, tell people where they can find you and where they can download this phenomenal resource of yours.

Speaker 2: 35:46

Yeah, so I am at the Jardin Group everywhere, but the resource is my standout intro generator. So this is kind of where I take on the I help statement and we all need to be able to explain what we do simply. But the typical I help statement misses the part where it's relevant to the other person and that's why a lot of times we kind of check out right when somebody's like oh, I help you, like, here we go. So when you download the standout intro generator, there are some prompts that you answer in a Google sheet. You hit enter and go over to the second sheet and you're going to get five custom intros ready for you. So that's at Elaine Jardin dot com slash intro. I'm sure you'll drop a link for it as well, yeah, but if you do it, I'd love to see, like, of the intros that are generated for you, which one feels the best Amazing.

Speaker 1: 36:39

And yes, please do reply, because Elaine does respond to all of her emails personally.

Speaker 2: 36:43

I do, and I love it so much.

Speaker 1: 36:47

Elaine, thank you so much for being here. I am going to have to have you back. I'll talk to you about it after the show. I have a thing brewing, so if you're listening out there, there's a thing brewing and I'm bringing on all of my favorite experts. I will share more later on, but, elaine, thank you for being here today. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a blast. And remember my friends. As always, you can have success without the BS. You just have to be willing to see it. Bye, that's it for this week. Thanks for listening to the Business Blast for Me podcast. We'll be back next week with a new episode, but in the meantime, help us to throw out by subscribing and, if you're feeling extra sassy rating this podcast, and don't forget to share the podcast with others. Head over to businessblastfamilpodcastcom to connect with us and learn more. Thanks for listening and remember you can have success without the BS.