Hey there. Welcome to the JoyLad Business Podcast. I'm your host, Tina Joy Cochran. I am thrilled that you're here. Sometimes growing a business can ruin your work life balance and make you feel like you have to be someone you're not, but it doesn't have to be that way. Business should incorporate your faith and honor the creative rural lifestyle you cherish. That's why I created this podcast to be your personal business coach in your pocket. Here you'll find. Practical tips, insightful interviews, and easy to follow training all crafted to fit seamlessly into your busy life. Whether you're driving, creating, or taking a walk, I'll be right there with you. Now let's dive into this episode and start turning your dreams into reality. I can't wait to share this journey with you. Hey, it's Tina Joy Cochran. I'm so glad that you're here. I am sharing more from our Joy Led Marketing mini course with you today. Enjoy this sneak peek and take a few minutes to focus on you. Hey, welcome back. How did it go? Those four questions could be difficult, right? But it's worth the time and effort. So I hope that you took some time to really dig in there and remember, you know, it doesn't matter what you pick initially because it's going to change and evolve over time. But the idea is to start getting into the habit and start getting stronger and stronger and being able to pick. those decisions to pick the answers to those, those questions and be able to get clarity all the time. The reason this joy led journey even exists is because No matter whether I was doing weight loss coaching when I first started or whether I was doing life coaching or whether I was doing business coaching, what happened over and over again was when people were getting stuck and they weren't getting where they wanted to go and they weren't making progress, it was one of these three areas, whether either it was clarity, they hadn't decided they wanted to be in business at all, or they hadn't decided what they were selling. And so. They were getting completely tangled in the actions of what they were supposed to do because they didn't have enough information because they hadn't made a decision in the first place. Or they weren't confident. And this is what we're going to talk about today. This is what we're going to talk about in this section is confidence comes from knowing what you're going to do next. Having the tools that are available that work for you. Understanding what you're supposed to do next and having the support and structure to be able to actually get those things done. So sometimes that was where people got stuck was in that confidence. It was okay. I know what I'm supposed what I want to do. I just don't know how to get there or I just don't know how to use the tools or I don't know what tools are available in order to get there. I don't know what actions I need to take. So once we got to the place where they were clear on what they were doing, and we built the structure, let's think about it and go back to our original analogy of going on a trip. If you are going on a trip to Australia and you live where I live in the middle of the United States. Well, then you probably need to get comfortable with the fact that you have to fly a plane, fly on a plane, right? You're not going to want to take six months to take a boat or something. Either way, you're going to have to figure out the vehicle to get there. Makes sense. And that's what confidence is all about is what are the tools that we need in order to be able to build marketing, business operations and personal growth. Yeah, that's part of it, too. In order to move forward after we get done with confidence, we'll come back to, we'll talk about the next step, which is commitment. We're going to talk about that in the next lesson. So where are we right now on our joy led journey? We've decided what we want for our business and for our lifestyle. So now that we know what we want, let's look at confidence. What do we need to build to get there? Let's start first and foremost with what does marketing actually mean? I am not an affiliate for this, but if you are a reader, this is a book that I think you'll absolutely love. The one page marketing plan by Allen Dibb. It is a. Great book that cuts through a lot of the chaos around sales and marketing. And it's one of my core resources that I use for everything that I do. And he has a great analogy. So I'm just going to read from his book on page 15 when he's talks about what is marketing. Here's the simplest, most jargon free definition of marketing you're ever likely to come across. You ready? If a circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying circus coming to the showground Saturday, that's If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flowerbed and local newspaper writes a story about it, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, That's public relations. If the town's citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions, and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus. That's sales. And if you planned the whole thing, that's marketing. It's as simple as that. Marketing is the strategy you use for getting your ideal target market to know you. Like you and trust you enough to become a customer. So I could use a lot of jargon, but I hope that analogy kind of puts it all in place for you. Marketing is essentially the big umbrella for all the things that we have to figure out, that we have to build, and that we have to do in order to turn people who don't know who we are into paying customers. Make sense? You've heard me use the words tactics. You've heard that we use the word strategies. What do I mean? What is the difference between a tactic and a strategy? A strategy is the big picture. Strategy is what we did in the last section. When we started looking at the big picture of why are we in business? What are we going to sell? Who are we going to be selling it to? That's the stuff that gives us The lenses on what kind of a business that we're creating now, tactics are the steps, the tools, the actions that you need to take. Most marketing workshops, most marketing challenges teach tactics and they sell tools. And what happens is we think because we are a business owner and because we're in business, we need to buy all the tools. and have all the things. And I'll tell you, we waste a ton of money that way, because we haven't done the strategy first. So you get a bonus point right now because you're working on strategy and you're here to do that. But let's talk some tactics. To do marketing, you need three things. You need a presence. You need a place where we can find you. Now, Some of you will say, great, I have a brick and mortar store. That is a place where we can find you. Some of you will say, Oh, I I'm at the farmer's market every week. That is a place where we can find you. However, I would submit that regardless of whether you have a brick and mortar store or you are at the farmer's market every week, or you have a shop in your front yard, you need to have an online presence. What is the first place we go to when we are looking for something? We pick up our handy dandy little phones and we start surfing, whether it's Facebook, Google, whatever we're looking for, we come here first when we are looking. So you want to have an online presence, place online where we can find you. What is the next thing that you need for marketing? We need connection. We need a way to talk to each other. Once I find you, once you find me, how do we talk to each other? If you are setting up a booth at a farmer's market and people come up to your booth and you never speak to them and they look at your stuff and they pick your stuff up and they hand and they stand there and you never engage with them at all, chances are the transaction never happens, right? You have to have a way to talk to each other. Well, we need more than just one way to talk to people when they show up in person. So we're going to talk about that more. And the last thing that you need is sales. You need a way for the customer to buy. And what I mean by that is you need the infrastructure, the business processes, am I take, do I take credit cards? How do I keep track of my inventory for purposes of this challenge? We're not going to spend a lot of time on how do customers actually buy from you? What are the nuts and bolts of that and what do you need as a business owner in order for people to be actually be able to give you money? Here's why. One reason is because in our 16 week workshop, we spend a whole section on that. And that's part of the business plan and the business operations that you need. And. I want you to be able to get a jumpstart on marketing this course is about marketing. So we want to leave that for the moment. The other reason why we're leaving it for the moment is most people that I work with, they've already got a handle on how do I exchange money? How do I give you my stuff? And you give me money because they've done it already. They're not coming here because they don't know how to do that. If you've ever done a garage sale, you've done sales. They want to know, how do I find the people? How do I find the customer so that I can sell more make sense. So for purposes of this lesson. I want you to be aware that you need sales. You need a way for the customers to buy, but we're not gonna dive deep into that. We're gonna stay focused on connection and presence. All right, so let's talk online presence. If you are going to have an online presence, which you should have an online presence, so should be a way for find use for us to find you. There are three things that you need. You need a domain, essentially. You need an address. A home on the internet. Etsy is not your home on the internet. That's Etsy's home on the internet. When you set up an Etsy store or you set up a store on eBay, essentially think of it like a online event, an online craft show. It's not your home. It's their home. And you're just there visiting. So when the first thing we want to do is we want to own the name of our business. So for example, golden heartland is the name of my business. I own the domain golden heartland. com. So do you own the name of your business? And if you don't, this is the first place to start to build your online presence. Because if I buy something from Etsy, am I going to tell my friends I bought it from your store, or am I going to tell them I bought it from Etsy? Make sense. Next thing you want is a business email. Please, please, please, please, please. Do not continue to use. Your business name at gmail. com. What that says is it's a hobby, not a business. If you want to be a business, let's get a business email so that I am emailing you at your business. Again, you're building that professional business presence. And the last thing you need is a website. Now the website can be as simple as a one page that directs people to your Etsy store. These are the three things that you, that you need to build an online presence next. Let's talk connection. Connection is how are you going to talk to these people? How are you going to talk to the people that you meet? When they aren't in front of you, first and foremost, direct contact. That is a tactic you can use for your marketing. And that is a one on one conversation, one person to one person. Now it could be in person, face to face, it could be through email. Another way to build connection is through an email list. Now I am a huge proponent for built, you must, you must, you must, you must, you must have an email list. Why? Because I want you to be able to talk to your people. Remember we're gathering our people I want you to be able to talk to them and have them talk back to you in a way that you own it. Let's talk social. Social media is another way that you can talk to people. But remember, Similar to having a store on Etsy or having a store on eBay. It's somebody else's house. It's somebody else's place that you're talking to people. Does social media work as a platform and as a way to connect with people? Absolutely. But it shouldn't be the only way that you connect with people. You want to connect with people and then bring them into your own house. So think about social media, like you're out in a, out in public at a party email is I am sending you a private invitation to come to my house. Direct contact is you're in my house and we're talking. Does that make sense? The last way to connect would be through events, whether they're in person or online events. And wow, a lot of people that I work with, this is how we start our business. This is how we've been running our business for years. And this is why we're tired of our business. So I'm going to take a minute here to just take a second on talk to you about those events that you're scheduling all the time. Ask yourself this question. If my business grew to the level that I figured out in the last session, would I still want to do the weekend events or the three day events or the one day events? Get clear on whether or not you really enjoy doing those events. Or you just think they're the only way that you can get the word out about your business. Because I promise you it's not the only way. So if you're getting tired of doing events, you are in the right place. And let's talk more about different things that you can do. Okay, so this sounds wonderful, Tina, but now you have completely overwhelmed us. And we have a problem. Because we are stuck. It's okay. I get it. So let me help. There's one thing about marketing that is the most effective one. So when you're a little overwhelmed and thinking, I can't do all of this, it's okay. These are the things that you are going to need to build a full program for right now. What we need to think about is what you will do because you see the most effective way to do marketing is what you will do. Marketing is about showing up and being there over and over and over so that you're who those people. That God has already prepared for you, that you can connect with them and you can talk with them. But we don't tend to do it. It isn't sometimes that we don't know what to do. It's that we just don't do it. And why don't we do it? Can we be honest for a minute? We don't do it because we're afraid. Sometimes we're afraid of failure, but sometimes we're afraid of success too. If you make handmade items, and you know that you have a limit to how many things you can make in a given time frame, You might be afraid that if you get too bold, too loud, too much marketing, too many people knowing what you do, that you won't be able to keep up. That's a fear of success. Here's what fear looks like. Here's what it sounds like when, when it shows up in your business. And if you are saying these things in your head, if you were saying these things out loud, ask yourself, am I stopping my business from growing? Am I hiding? What is really behind this? Here's what it sounds like. It sounds like I don't have time. I love what you're saying, Tina. It makes really good sense, but I just don't have time to do any of that. So I'm just going to keep on going and I'm going to keep on, you know, being at the farmer's market. I'm going to keep on doing craft shows. I'm going to just basically, I'm going to show them my store and I hope people will come because I don't have time to do all this marketing stuff. This is too hard and I don't have time. Well, that's really fair, isn't it? You will make time for the things that matter. We all have 24 hours in a day. It's what you choose to do with it. Here's the other one that, sounds like fear. fear sounds like I don't have money. Very often, one of the things that you can do for marketing cost less than what you're paying already for marketing that doesn't work., particularly in the area of events, if you are. Tina, I can't, don't have time because I am booked at events every weekend for the next six weeks. Tina, I don't have money to spend on a domain and an email address and a website or coaching or any of that. Ask yourself, what are you spending your money on? What are you spending your time on? Because sometimes it's not a matter of additional time or additional money. It's a matter of shifting time and shifting money. Here's the last one that shows up as fear. I don't know how, I don't know how to do it. Nobody will help me. I can't. You don't have to be in that place. This is what we're here for. There are lots of resources available, both free and paid, that can help you get there. Because remember, the most effective marketing is the marketing that you will do. It doesn't matter if it works for somebody else if you won't do it. So what is the marketing that you will do? Because the real reason we get stuck with marketing is that we don't want to do it. And then we lie and make up excuses that keep us stuck. So here comes another Tina ism. Your business only grows to the level that you do. See, to get to that most effective marketings, we need to sometimes do some personal growth on ourselves. We need to step out of our own way. We need to own up to some things maybe we've been not wanting to face and embrace the idea. That we're a business owner. And as such, that means there are certain tools that we have to do. There are certain skills that we have to learn. Think about this. When you first started with whatever it is that you are offering, if you are a knitter and when you first started knitting and maybe a long time ago, but were you good at it? No, you weren't necessarily good at it. Did you buy tools? In order to do it. Yes. Do you buy tools and supplies all the time? Yes. As we are creatives, a lot of us are creatives and as us as creatives, we spend a lot of time, energy and money. Being able to create the things that we want to create marketing is the same way it can be incredibly creative and it can match just who you are, but you have to be willing to put the time and the effort into it. And I promise if you do it this way, where you start with clarity on what you're doing, the motivation for doing it starts to expand. Because you're looking for somebody you're looking for your Sarah and I need to tools that I can find it I need to know how to talk to her and it starts to become a lot more fun actually So what do you do if you're stuck if right now? I have made you want to click off and go I am NOT doing this business stuff I'm going back to that why question, but maybe it's a hobby What do you do if you're stuck? Well, number one, let's go back to clarity and decide where in your business isn't, is it not clear? Because if you're stuck, it might be because you haven't made some decisions yet. Maybe you're stuck because you haven't made a decision about what you're going to sell or how big you want to be. Just make those decisions. Something to start with. Remember, it doesn't matter what you pick, just that you pick. Number two to do what you can do if you get stuck is get help. This is why I'm a coach. This is why we have a community because we're not supposed to go this on this alone. This is why I do this course. This is why I offer free challenges. This is why I do my podcast episode because I'm trying very hard. to give you support and understanding that you don't have to be the person you think you have to be. You can be fully who you are. You can embrace God as your partner. And this marketing stuff can fall into a place in a way that fits you and fills you with joy. What's the third thing that you can do if you're stuck right now? Pray, journal. Here's a secret. Give yourself permission to quit. Didn't think I was going to say that, did you? You thought I was going to say, suck it up, get out of your comfort zone, push harder, give yourself permission to quit. Here's what sometimes happens. If you give yourself permission to quit part of you, the part that really wants to do this, that's not afraid. We'll stand up and say, no, no, no, no, no, no. We can't quit. That's the part you want to bring out. So if you say, you know what, I could just close this whole thing down and make it a hobby and just give stuff away. If you do that, and part of you rises up. And says, but I don't want to do that. Hold on to that person. That's the person that you want to grab ahold of. You want to pray with that. You want to journal about, because that is your joy, led business owner inside saying, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want to quit. You don't have to, but you have permission to. And last, if you're stuck, just take one small step. If this lesson has overwhelmed you, don't worry. You don't have to do it all at once right now. We're just learning. what pieces we need so that in the next lesson we can put a plan in place of, okay, I realize I don't have a business domain. I don't even know what it means to have a business domain or how to get it. That's okay. Part of our marketing plan is going to be to figure that out. And that's what we'll talk about in the next lesson. Because building a business takes time, and you won't do it perfectly at first, probably ever, but the process is worth it. And once you make friends with marketing, stop fighting marketing. If you want to be a business owner, you got to make friends with it. Just like if you want to be a knitter, you got to make friends with knitting needles. Just like if you want to be a sculptor, you got to make friends with clay. If that's what you're sculpting with, if you want to be a YouTuber, if you want to, you got to make friends with the camera and videos, right? Make friends with marketing. If you want to be in business, marketing is part of the deal. When you do that, you will discover that the confidence. to do the things that scare you right now. Let me pray. And let's talk about the homework. Okay. Lord, you are good. You are kind. It is so fun to be in a place and in a time where there are so many tools available for us to reach and find those people that you have already placed in the world for us. Maybe not even from leaving our house that you Really, truly are not asking us to build a business that sucks the life out of us. You're not asking us to build something that drains us. You're asking us to build something that pours into us and that brings us closer to you and that lifts us up. And that's what we want, Lord. And we are willing to learn what we need to learn and build what we need to build because of you in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, guys. Here comes homework. You ready for some homework? The homework question is do you have an online presence and if so Where can we find you and question number two, what tactics will you use to market your business of those things that we talked about? Direct contact email lists social media events What tactics are you going to use you will find as we travel this journey together? And I don't always do it perfectly either. So let's go ahead, take some time, process through all of this. Ask yourself, what do you want to do about that online presence? What tactics do you want to use? Don't worry if you don't know how to do them, just what you want to do because your business will grow as you grow and we're going to get you there. See you in the next lesson. I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek at the Joy LED marketing mini course. Check out Joy led marketing.com and see what's happening with our free challenge. You might be able to get the entire course for free. Check it out today@joyledmarketing.com. You've been listening to the joy led business podcast. I'm your host, Tina Joy Cochran. Thanks for sharing part of your day with me. You don't have to walk this business journey alone. Discover others just like you at GoldenHeartland. com. Business coaching community for creative rural women. Faith. Go there to learn more and get free gifts I designed just for you. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this episode with someone who could use a bit more joy today. Remember, your business success matters to me and to God. Being joy led will get you there. Can't wait to meet you at Golden Heartland.