Ep 123: Should you GO LIVE?! Listen to this first

Join LET'S GO GIRLS, my space for daily audio trainings, lessons, strategy and more here.

Join us inside the TRENDSETTER UNIVERSITY here.

Follow the Ali Dee on TikTok and Instagram @ali.dee.ceo

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Favor

0:00

What up? Welcome to The Ali D Show. Sometimes I can't believe we've already recorded and published over 100 episodes of this podcast, and so many of you, and come into my DMs, you tell me how much you love it, you tell me how many times you listen to episodes, and you let them sink in, and that is exactly what this is for. This podcast is for you. It's for you to get more knowledgeable on what it takes to grow your boutique or your brand. It's for you to have more tools in your tool belt. That is what I live for. It is so fun. And if you are a fan of this podcast, which, listen, if you're listening, you're probably a fan, right? Here's what I would love for you to do. Take a second today and rate the podcast. Give me some love. Hopefully, it's five stars. This is how we can get this podcast to grow and reach more people in our industry that just need information. You all are incredible, amazing, very competent business owners. You just need more information, and not information that's filtered through weird TikTok and Instagram people who are just trying to get you to watch them, and, you know, have their, their views go up, so they'll tell you anything. This is, like, real, legit information. I've sold millions of dollars worth of product. I know exactly how to teach my clients how to do this, and it's exactly what I wanna help you with. So rate the podcast if you like it, and I love hearing from you guys. And if there's ever an episode that you wanna request, just hit me up in the DMs, ali.d.ceo on Instagram. I am, um, more than willing to get your DMs. I absolutely love hearing from you, so thank you so much to those of you that reach out on a regular basis and tell me how much you love the episodes. I live for it. I so much appreciate it.

Why Going Live Works

1:44

Okay, so today Today what we're gonna talk about is going live. Should you go live? We're gonna talk about that. I'm gonna give you some pointers, and hopefully this is going to help you if you've been considering going live or maybe you've gone live a few times and you're like, "Eh, I don't really know what I'm doing. This feels weird." This is gonna kind of get you on the right track so when you do go live, you have a plan, and a plan that you can actually implement, okay? So the first question that I wanna go over is should you go live? I get this question all the time. "Should I be going live? Should I try going live?" So my generic blanket answer is yes. Going live will always help you, and it helps you in so many ways. Not only is it gonna help you understand how to sell your products and connect with your customers, it's gonna help you build trust way faster with your customers. Because when people see you live talking to them, they immediately will connect with you on a deeper level. This is literally proven. This is not just me throwing this out there and, like, trying to make you do something you don't wanna do. When you're live, there is more of a human connection built, a deeper connection built than if they just see your content. So what lives can do is it's a way to get them through the sales process, the sales journey faster. It's kind of like a rocket ship to get them to buy from you. That's how I want you to look at lives, okay? It's not something that's meant to be, you know, um, like a burden or overwhelming. I want you to look at it as a way where you get to talk to your people on a more emotional, human, real level instead of trying to fit something into a seven-second reel or a post on Instagram. This is why lives can be extremely beneficial to you and your business. They build the trust factor way faster than anything else on the planet. So that's what I wanna first say about going lives, okay?

When Going Live Does Not Fit

3:34

The other thing I wanna mention is Going live is not for everybody. So you may be in a season of life right now where you absolutely cannot go live. I went through this when I had my kiddos and they were young. Going live, even though I love it, it's super easy for me, I could do it in my sleep, just realistically, there was very little time that I actually had, and I just did not have time to go live. I didn't let it mean something about me. I didn't let me f- let me freak out about it. I didn't get in some type of emotional wreck about I'm not going live. I don't know how to go live. Like, I just couldn't do it. It was just in a time in my life where I wasn't able to actually go live. This may be you right now. Maybe you have a full-time job, and you have a lot going on. You have the kiddos at night, and, like... Listen, going live is not for everybody. But I will say, if you can do it, and maybe just put a little more effort into it, it could be wildly beneficial to you and your business. Okay? Again, it just creates that trust so much faster, and I wanna encourage you to try it even if you haven't done it yet. I really want you to think about could you try it, okay? And here's some tips and pointers that I'm gonna get into to help m- actually make this happen for

Ditch The QVC Mindset

4:45

you. So the first thing I wanna mention is when people think about going live, what do you think about? You probably think of some boutique or brand you watch that does this massive thing. Like, it's very QVC vibes. They're standing up there. Maybe you're thinking of TikTok Lives. It's very fast-paced. It's a lot of energy. They're pushing s- like s- selling really, really hard. It feels very, like, loud and almost chaotic, right? That is how most people think, "When I go live, I have to be like that," 'cause that's what most people are doing. Here's what I wanna tell you. The, the honest truth. You do not have to show up in lives and be Miss QVC, okay? You do not. You can show up and have a lot of success with your lives showing up in a way that feels way more natural and real to you So this is a huge realization that so many of my clients have. You do not have to go live and be loud. You do not have to go live and have music blaring in the background. You do not have to have the perfect set. Nothing has... N- you don't have to have everything, like, you know, behind you that's, like, immaculate with, like, these li- like, huge signs and lights and draperies and plants and, like, all this stuff, okay? You do not have to have plastic plants to go live behind you, okay? Do I need to repeat that? I repeat. You know what I'm saying, though. You know the vibes, okay? You don't have to do that. You can literally have a live that feels way more simple, and I have clients that do this that freaking crush it. Literally, I have clients that will go live from a guest room, and there's product everywhere. It's messy. They're sitting down at their desk, and they're just talking about their products, and they sell like crazy. So there is a world where you can go live where it feels very comfortable for you, and it feels natural for you, where you're not standing up there giving a freaking TED Talk and a presentation about your products. Maybe for you this looks like being in your guest room or being in your office or in your warehouse, and maybe you sit down, and maybe you have some products behind you. Maybe you show your items that are on your desk. Maybe you stand up, show a few, then sit back down, talk to your people, read the comments, engage, interact. And it doesn't have to be so big, loud, and boisterous. You don't have to talk a million miles an hour. You don't have to yell into the camera to get attention. I'm telling you, this is a big mind block that you must get over. Your lives can be how you want to do them, okay? So I'm letting you release the idea that it has to be anything else or anything more than that, that you have to be this, like, crazy wild personality out there that's just, like, doing everything you can to try to get attention. That's not what has to happen for you. Another thing I wanna mention about lives, okay?

Set Realistic Live Sale Expectations

7:47

Lives in the beginning, I wanna set your expectations. Do not expect to have sales from your lives in the beginning. So many business owners will get discouraged because they go live maybe a few times, and they get no sales from it. And you're like, "Oh, I guess going live doesn't work for me." That's not how this works. You need to go live over and over and over and over again. It may take you two months of going live without getting a sale until you start building up a customer base that's used to you, that trusts you. It takes time for people to feel nurtured. It takes time for people to want to buy from you. The ROI in going live, meaning your return on investment in your time, is not necessarily going to be sales right away. It's going to be what I talked about earlier, which was building camaraderie, building that bridge, building that excitement around your products and your business and your brand, making that connection with your customers. That is the ROI that I want you to be thinking about when you're going live. So get out of your head that you're just gonna go live, and you're gonna get sales, and everything's gonna be hunky dory, and it's gonna be absolutely perfect in the beginning. No. I need you to give your per- self permission for this to take a long time. I need you to give yourself permission for this to be a skill that you learn. Do not expect perfection. Do not expect a zillion sales. All I want you to do is just go live on repeat and give yourself some time to get used to this. Give yourself some time to actually have people be familiar with you and grow with you, okay? That's what I want you to do. That's what's really important After that, a couple months of doing this, and it's different for everybody, right? Maybe some people takes a couple months, some people take shorter, some people it takes longer. You have to be okay with whatever that looks like for you. That's the bottom line. I just ha- I just had my son try to break in on my podcast recording here, so I had to give him the old mom snap. You guys ever do that? Like, when your kids do something wrong, you're like, snap, snap. They know what that means. Yeah, so I just had to give him the snap, snap and tell him to exit-aroo out the door. So that's my, my, my, my TED Talk on your expectations for going live, because this actually will really, really relieve a lot of the pressure that you're gonna feel around going live and thinking that, like, you're gonna have to get all these sales for this to happen, 'cause that's just not the way it works, okay?

Trendsetter University Live Cheat Sheet

10:14

I actually, um... It was so funny. I just dropped inside Trendsetter University, if you're in TU, the best place on the planet for boutiques and brands that wanna grow and scale. Why are you not inside if you're not inside yet? I just dropped in a going live cheat sheet that, um, I want you to go look at. So if you're inside Trendsetter University, go open the going live cheat sheet. I talk about all my best tips. I talk about exactly what you need to talk about when you go live. I give you a structure to use when you're going live so you have zero questions. So go in there and look at that document if you haven't already. And if you're not in Trendsetter University and you need to get inside, you- there- you sh- I'm telling you, there's so many incredible tools in there that you will need to scale this thing to seven figures and beyond. Get in there. S- like, stop second-guessing yourself. You can do it. I know a lot of you are scared to join because you're like, "I don't know if I can do this." I'm telling you, you can do it. Literally, I have clients that come in that have very zero, low skills, sales confidence, and getting inside this program really, really makes a huge difference for them. So it will do it for you as well Okay, so should you go live?

Build Momentum With Repeats

11:21

Remember we talked about your lifestyle. It... Does it fit your lifestyle now? My recommendation is yes for everybody, but that's just a good question to kind of, uh, you know, answer before you even get into any of this. The vibes of your live. Do you have to be the QVC lady? The answer is no. You can create your live to look like what you want it to look like. And by the way, don't you wanna stand out? If everybody's just yelling and screaming at the camera, and they all have the same plants behind them, like how are you ever gonna stand out, right? The whole important thing with your live is that you just connect with your customers. That's it. Take away all the other stuff that you think has to happen for you to be able to go live and be successful. Again, remember I have clients across all the board that do all different types of lives. Some of them it's really fun and engaging and entertaining. Some of them, it's literally them just sitting at their desk talking about their products. Both have incredible sales. So it's what works for you. Okay? The next thing is remembering the expectations around your live. Don't think that you're gonna go live and get a million sales when you're just starting. You gotta have... do it on repeat. And what it does is it builds this momentum, like a snowball effect, where you start going live, and the next time you go live, you have the people that watched before and you have new people. And the next time you go live, you have the people watched it before, the people that watched the next one, and then the new people for this one, and it just continues to build and build and build and build, okay? And it's the most amazing, incredible thing, and I just don't want you to have too much drama about it. The last thing I wanna give you is an actionable

Start With A Hook On Facebook

12:43

tip. If you are getting ready to go live for your first time, here's what I want you to do. This is like one thing I want you to focus on because, uh, i- it's, it's too much for me to try to tell you, like all the little nitty-gritty. Again, it's... I have the, a document that really outlines that well in Trendsetter University, but for the purposes of this podcast, and for the purposes of you actually going live and doing the thing and not getting into your head and not doing it, I wanna give you one of my best tips, or at least an important tip, okay? I have a lot of good tips around here. Oh my God, I'm so funny. Okay. So I want you to think about this. Do not lollygag when you start your live So many people, when they're starting lives, and they're new to it, and they don't get it, and, and don't understand how it works, is they'll just, they'll hit the live button, and then they're like, "Okay. Hey, everybody, looks like we're live. I'm gonna hang out. We're gonna wait for some people to join us," blah, blah, blah, blah. Maybe you're walking around. You're pretending to look busy 'cause you're waiting for people to, quote, unquote, "join live." This is not good, my friend. When you start a live, you wanna be sharp, okay? You wanna get into it right away about what your live is going to be about and why your customers should care. So this is where I say you need to start your live with a hook, okay? Start your live with a hook. By the way, real quick, I wanna mention all... Everything I'm talking about is going live on Facebook. It'll work on TikTok too, but most of you need to go live on Facebook first, okay? You've got maybe some kind of following on Facebook. Facebook is great with starting to go live. This is where I want you to go live first for the first time if you haven't gone live yet, okay? Facebook. Let me just make that little, that little note 'cause I know right now some of you are going, "Where am I gonna go live? Should I go live on Instagram? Should I go live on Facebook? Should I go live on TikTok?" Go live on Facebook first, okay? So back to my, my hook. You need to start your lives with a hook. Specifically, what value will they get from watching your live? And this is where that, that connection between what your customers actually want and then crafting a live around that. So for example, this may be something like, "In today's live, I'm gonna show you five products" or let me... Hold on. Let me start it over. "In today's live, I'm gonna show you five pieces of jewelry that you can pack for your beach vacation that I know you're going on in the next couple of months," okay? This would work if you know that your customers go on beach vacations in the summertime, okay? Or it could be something like, "I'm gonna show you the, my top five things you need to own in your closet if you want to own the boardroom every Monday morning," okay? This is going back to my corporate baddie that I like to reference, right? So you just wanna think about connecting with your ideal customer in the hook, okay? It's very important. It also helps the algorithm know who to push it to and all the things, but for your case, it's helping you get that messaging clearer and clearer to your audience. Maybe it's something like, "Here's the top five..." Or, "In today's live," you can always start, "In today's live, I'm gonna show you the top five candles that I would recommend if you want your home smelling like the lobby of the most expensive hotels in the world." Okay? That's gonna pique your customer's interest if your customer wants her house to smell like a rich person lives there. Okay? And it's gonna be... Again, these are different for everybody. This is where you guys have to know your own messaging. You cannot copy what I'm saying and use it for your customer if they don't care about going to the beach, or if they don't work in a corporate environment, or if they don't care about their house smelling clean and like a Ritz Carlton. You have to think about what does your customer care about. Here, uh, today I'm gonna show you my top five outfits for my moms that are super busy and have 10 minutes to get ready in the morning. Okay? Again, another way to show and introduce your products. Then I have, uh, maybe I'll make another episode on it so I don't overwhelm you, but I have inside my, my Going Live Cheat Sheet, I have an outline of exactly what you should say about each product and how you should say it. So I'll say like, "You start with this. You know, you start with your, um, your, your why, and you talk about why they should care." And like I have a whole thing that I teach you in there. Again, if you're into you, go get it so you don't have any questions about this. But going live should not feel intimidating. I know it does. Ugh. I, like, I don't even wanna say that. It should not feel intimidating, 'cause I know it feels intimidating to you. I hear it all the time from my clients. That's literally why I'm creating this episode. So- Recapping.

Ten Minutes Weekly And A Challenge

17:28

Going live is something you can do. It's really important to your business if you can fit it in, especially in the early stages, especially if you're still trying to figure out how to get consistent sales. Why? Again, because it builds the trust factor faster than anything else on the planet. Okay? You don't have to go live for a long time. Go live for 10 minutes. This doesn't have to be, "I'm going live for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes." Just go live for 10 minutes at first. Go live once a week for 10 minutes. Get yourself used to it. I have a client right now, she went live for the first time last week, hated it, was so scared, all intimidated, all the things. She went live again this week. Loved it. She just had to get that first one under her belt, and now she's like, "Oh my God, this is gonna be so fun." I already told her, I said, "I know you are meant for this." There's certain people where I'm like, "I know you, your personality, and your customer base, when you start doing this, like forget about it, it's going to be insane." And then she had a customer buy $800 worth of products from her. So this is how powerful they can be. Again, it's great for you as the business owner to get more and more comfortable with being in front of your customers, learning the messaging, speaking their language in a way that's gonna feel more natural. And then also it's great for your customers because they get to connect with you on a deeper level, and it's gonna happen way, way, way faster. Okay? So that's the scoop on going live. Should you go live? Hopefully, after this podcast, you have a clear answer. And if the answer is yes, here's what I wanna challenge you to do. I wanna challenge you to go live within the next three days. Don't put it off. Ten minutes, that's all I'm telling you. Go 10 minutes live today. Maybe you're in the vibe, and you're like, "Yeah." Maybe you're listening to this in the morning, and you're like, "Yes, okay, awesome, I'm ready." Go live. Maybe it's tomorrow, maybe it's the next day, but don't let more than three days go by. If your answer was yes, you want to try it, I don't care how scared you are right now, I don't care how nervous or intimidated you are, you have... Now you have the basics. You know what to do. Execute, okay? Go live. Take a chance on yourself. You got this, okay? Ah! I'm so excited for you. Once you go live, I need you to get in my DMs and go, "Ali, I listened to your podcast about going live. I went live. I was so scared, but it wasn't that bad, and I love it now, and now I'm gonna make a zillion dollars going live every single week." Right? That's what I wanna hear from you, 'cause again, you got this.

Join Trendsetter University And Closing

19:53

Also, of course, be sure if you feel drawn to actually have a very actionable step-by-step plan, A to Z, everything you need to do to grow your boutique or your brand, I wanna encourage you guys, I highly recommend you get inside Trendsetter University. This is where not only do you get the portal of trainings, everything in that I'm talking about, I've g- I've got a going live cheat sheet in there. I've got incredible extra trainings in there that are so freaking good, you guys, that my clients just are obsessed with, that they can pull from. I have content prompts. I have content tips. I mean, that's in addition to the entire 20-week course. That's literally my rise, shine, sell, scale method, my seven-figure formula, A to Z, exactly everything about messaging, about customers, about email marketing, about content, about branding. Like, it's all in there. But then I always add extra fun stuff that I put in the bonus trainings. Anytime something comes up, like, and, and there's questions about it, I'm like, "Ooh, I'm gonna add a little, like, bonus cheat sheet on that, or a worksheet on that, or some tips and hacks and all the things." So all that's inside Trendsetter University. In addition to that, though, that's not all, right? That's not all. You also get six months of support with me. Every single week, we have a Q&A on Thursdays inside Trendsetter University, where you can ask me questions. If you have gotten stuck anywhere along the way, you will get your answer. It's the best ever. Not only that, we also have Zoom calls every single month, which are the best things on the planet, where I coach you live on Zoom. You ask me questions. I give you answers. It is super-duper fun. This community is amazing. If you need a space where you feel like, "I really wanna know how to do this. I wanna learn how to, I wanna learn how to grow. I wanna learn how to scale. I'm tired of being a lone wolf. I'm tired of just duct-taping together random advice on the internet," go join Trendsetter University. The website is imatrendsetter.com. Of course, you could go to any of my socials and get it there as well. There's a link under the podcast here as well, but it's just imatrendsetter.com. I can't wait to see you inside and welcome you inside. It is just the best place on the planet. Okay, love you.