15: Is your brand authentic? Let's find out.

Today's episode is all about content marketing, brand authenticity and how to stand out from the rest in your marketing as a newish* service based entrepreneur. Today we have on Emily Sereno, who is a brand strategist and the founder of the Servicepreneur Network and she helps entrepreneurs build, market, and scale their service based businesses by her passions of branding and content marketing. She helps people translate their expertise into marketable topics that attract, engage and convert high value clients.

Today we are going to jump over the learning curve and give you the exact steps you need to overcome any challenges in your business in content marketing and branding and how communicate your business branding.

Connect with Emily:
Servicepreneur Network
The Servicepreneuer podcast

Chapters:
01:49 Foundations for New Service-Based Business Owners

04:15 Creating Your Content Pillars for Content Marketing Strategy 

18:59 Documenting Your Expertise as a Servicepreneuer 

24:10 Avoiding the Done-For-You Trap: Scams to watch out for as a Servicepreneur 

26:57 Leveraging Analytics for Content Creation and Content Marketing 

27:07 Owning Your Unique Voice and Brand as a Serviceprenuer 

28:16 Taking Action and Embracing Your POV as a Serviceprenuer 

29:16 Differentiating Yourself in the Market as a Serviceprenuer 

30:51 Creating Spicy and Engaging Content as a Serviceprenuer 

32:58 The Chat GPT Debate: Why as Brand Strategists we hate Chat GPT

36:32 Building Trust and Authenticity as a Service Based Business

44:58 Consistency in Sales and Marketing as a Service Based Business

49:47 Foundations and Marketing Strategies for Serviceprenuers

51:55 Programs and Community for Servicepreneurs

Feeling the pull to have more of me in your world?

DM me on Instagram: @mywritehandwoman

Work on Your Messaging or Copy with Me: The Website

Find Your Brand Messaging Superpower: Take the Quiz

Sign Up for the Exact Factor Sprint

Transcript

Emily: [00:00:00] if you are not talking about your unique viewpoint about your services or about the things in your business, there is someone who is struggling right now who needs you.

Lucy: Hey there, Lucy here. You are listening to The Bold Founder where we inspire you to go bigger in your messaging, marketing mindset and moves while finding a joyful middle ground between intense hustle and easy flow. Today is a nod to the newbies. If you are someone who is looking to start your service based business or you're someone who has a service based business who wants to return to foundations because your marketing, your content, your messaging just isn't.

Lucy: Working. Today is going to be the episode and I have the coolest guest. Her name is Emily and she is a brand strategist and the founder of the Servicepreneur Network. So her complete specialty is in service based businesses. She helps entrepreneurs build, market, and scale their service based businesses.

Lucy: Businesses and she is passionate about all things, branding and content marketing. She [00:01:00] helps people translate their expertise into marketable topics that attract, engage and convert high value clients. She believes that building a service based business is hard, but inside the network, it doesn't have to be.

Lucy: Her online community is an incubator for success, providing the tool strategies and connections, Servicepreneurs, what a mouthful, needs to build powerful, profitable brands. She's also the host of her own podcast, the Servicepreneur Podcast. So if you love what she has to say today, definitely go over there to hear more of because she is here to shorten your learning curve, giving you the exact steps you need to overcome any challenges in your business.

Lucy: So we're going to dive right into the episode. It's a very actionable one. We're going to be talking about exactly what it is you need to thrive when you are communicating your. business. So settle on in and let's do it.

Lucy: So I want to hop right in and talk to newer service based business owners because so many newer [00:02:00] business owners, they just are so nervous to get out there. They feel like there's so much that's just not working for them. Maybe they worked in corporate and now they want to get out there. They want to build their brand.

Lucy: And Emily, I'm so happy to have you here because you're literally a pro at this and that's why you're here. So welcome. 

Emily: Thank you. I'm so excited to chat with you, Lucy. I love your podcast and I'm so excited to chat with your audience more about getting started in content and all the things that help them as they are building the foundations for their brand and their business.

Lucy: I love that you said that word foundations, because let's start there. Let's pretend I am starting a service based business and This is my first time ever putting myself out there. Maybe my LinkedIn, the last time I posted, I was like, please to announce I've been promoted to X role. And now I'm actually using LinkedIn or Instagram or any of those channels.

Lucy: Channel doesn't really matter to start talking about my business. And I'm sweating every time I go up there and do that because I'm not a [00:03:00] hundred percent sure what I do. So what would be like baby, tiny infant step one that you would tell someone who's thinking about starting a service based business.

Emily: I love that question. And so I want to caveat my answer with one of the things that I think a lot of people assume when they're getting started that actually isn't the best place to start. So a lot of people will be like, I need to build a social media, Instagram account. I need to have a LinkedIn account.

Emily: I need to build all of these different platforms, but that's actually not first place to start where I always like to start with service based business owners is having them answer the question, What do I actually have to say, right? Because we all know at this point that there's, you should build an email list, that you should be on social media, that you should do all these things.

Emily: That's not the problem. The problem is like, people struggle with what do I talk about? I don't know what I should be talking about in my business. And so, I always start at this foundation of what are all the [00:04:00] topics I can speak about to promote my business. And I'd love to kind of walk you through my process for that if you're, if you're open to it.

Lucy: of course. We are an actionable podcast, so as much as you want to give, we're All right. We will proudly listen. 

Emily: Okay. Perfect. Perfect. So I have a formula for what I build is the topic map. And essentially what that is, is it's taking all of your expertise in your brain and you're translating that to the marketable topics that you can use across your entire business.

Emily: And as a service based business owner, it's really difficult to, to take all of that knowledge, all of your skill sets, all of your expertise, and know how to use that to promote your services. Because unlike a physical product, we don't usually have something that we can show that a customer could look at and be like, I understand how that fits into my life.

Emily: And we're not necessarily an influencer content creator, although we have to create content where we are promoting our lifestyle and we're [00:05:00] talking about experiences or things that we buy in our community is looking to us to be more like me where they want to buy the things that I buy service based business owner.

Emily: Has to showcase that they're truthful. They're credible that they are the expert so that somebody is going to want to pay them money in exchange for the result or transformation that that person can provide. And so starting and leading into credibility is really huge. I have a firm belief that you need to have a foundation of content pillars.

Emily: Now, a lot of people talk about content pillars. I do them a little bit differently than saying like, Hey, it needs to be, you've got to have a how to channel. You have to have a, entertaining type of pillar. I believe that when you're first getting started, the fastest way to showcase your area of expertise and, Articulate the value that you provide is aligning your pillars with your services.

Emily: So typically as a service preneur, you're going to want to start with three to five [00:06:00] different pillars that are essentially the services that you offer in your business. And those are going to be the groundwork for everything that you build from there, because. If you're going to be talking about your business on social media, if you're going to be sending out emails, if you're going to be creating resources to build that email list, you want it all to be cohesive.

Emily: And so having those tie back to your services is the easiest way to do that. So that people. Very quickly can understand who you are, what you do, and the value that they can get from you. 

Lucy: That is so brilliant. And something I've never thought of is tying content to your offers. It's actually wild how no one is talking about that.

Lucy: So can you kind of take us through what that would look like? let's say someone had, I mean, we can even use one of my offers as an example. So I have. An offer on verbal strategy where I create like a written branding document for someone. So how would you kind of take that with [00:07:00] this content pillar from the someone who's maybe not problem aware to someone who is problem aware, like what would that look like in that flow?

Emily: Yeah, so your pillar would then be your verbal strategy, right? And then the next layer of that, and I want your listeners to kind of picture an Excel spreadsheet. And I'd be happy to share screenshots of this afterwards for people who might not love Excel as much as I do. Oh, we're pretty happy Excel. I love it.

Emily: Oh, we are. We are. And it can feel overwhelming. Um, usually if you have somebody guiding you through it, it'll, it'll help. It makes it a little bit easier. Um, but essentially you start with that pillar of that verbal strategy and then you shift to categories. And when I say categories, it is the highest level topics that fall under verbal strategy that you offer.

Emily: So that could be something like, Your process that you bring somebody through or it could be something around like what is a verbal strategy and you can talk about all the [00:08:00] things within that or it could be like, what are the steps or the offers within that or the micro tasks that you deliver within that larger service offering.

Emily: And then once you establish your categories, then you actually get to the topics, right? A lot of people will jump and be like, Oh, I could talk about this. I could talk about that. I could talk about that. You're getting to the last part, but I always like to start at that category component in the middle is that umbrella.

Emily: So the highest level topic that you could be talking about where all those other talking points can then layer underneath, because it just Keeps things organized a little bit more as you're getting started as a, as a new business owner. It can be really hard when you're like, have all the ideas. And then you're like, okay, how do I act on them?

Emily: What do I do? So being able to kind of categorize them kind of from the highest level, then take it down a notch and then get into the nitty gritty details of like, okay, this is what my email content will be. This is what my free resource is going to [00:09:00] be about. This is going to be my social media content.

Emily: It just makes for a smoother Smoother flow, essentially. So talk to me a little bit about your verbal strategy and like, what goes into that offer? And then I can kind of talk through like, okay, this is a category topic or an actual talking point topic. 

Lucy: I love this because it's actually a new offer too.

Lucy: So it's a fun, like fresh kind of messy one, which I think would Be similar to someone who maybe doesn't have a fully baked thing that they're offering. Um, so essentially when you have a brand, as I'm sure most people know, you have your logo, your fonts, your colors, but oftentimes you don't get a deliverable that tells you your entire written brand and all of the ways that your company speaks.

Lucy: So that's what this offer is, is it's giving them their mission statement, their one liner, their differentiators, their problem articulation, their brand voice, all of those things that go into having a successful. So the output or the deliverable is very similar to a visual brand where you get your entire identity and in slides and you can [00:10:00] hold on to that and give it to your team, but it's the verbal side instead of the visual side.

Emily: Okay, so, one of the things that you had called out there is, you work, you said, mission, vision, value statement, that's part of the written brand, and you help your clients with?

Lucy: Mm hmm. 

Emily: Okay, so that would be a category level topic, right? And so mission vision values could be the highest level category of a talking point that you could use when you want to share information and promote your verbal strategy. So within that, your category level is your mission vision values. And then you start thinking about the topics that fall underneath that.

Emily: And this is where you can talk about like, You know, the importance of creating a mission. How do you build your business around the values? How do you make sure your client experience is reflecting of the values that you're, you're creating in your business? So it's where you're taking that highest level, um, subject matter, and then coming up with all of the conversation points around that subject matter [00:11:00] that you can then use now, something like, do I need a mission statement?

Emily: That could be something that you're creating to offset the person that's like, I don't need that. I'm the new business owner. It's a waste of my time. I'm not far enough along in my business. Okay. Well, that actually would be a beneficial component to establish as a foundation for your, for your branding, and then use that to guide the decisions that you're making.

Emily: As you move forward in creating offers and how do you want to engage with your clients and what are the boundaries that you're putting in place? So it's essentially going through each of those things, creating those categories, and then starting to build out the topics. Now, it's not sexy, right? Like I literally just did one for a client and it's like, it's not sexy.

Emily: Ooh. I absolutely love that, because, and it really isn't, but here's the beauty of it. When you go through that exercise and you do that for every service that you have, it makes it so much easier when you get to the point of like, okay, I need to build [00:12:00] my marketing plan. Now you can be thinking about, okay, I know that I need to create something to get people on my email list.

Emily: Now you've got this massive spreadsheet. With all the different topics that you could ever talk about in your business, which could be promotional content. It could be hot takes. It could be educational. It could be all of these different ways that you can engage with your ideal client. And now it's just like pick and choose what makes the most sense.

Emily: You can be like, okay, I have this conversation around. Do I need a verbal strategy? You could then say, okay, I know that that is something that like, I need to educate my ideal client on. Well, what if you created like a quiz or a checklist, or how important is, verbal strategy? Find out what you're missing in your business.

Emily: Now you can take a simple topic on an Excel spreadsheet and turn it into something that is going to help further [00:13:00] communicate and articulate what you offer. You're sharing information with your, audience on this new offering that you have, this new service that they could get from you, and they're learning something too, and you're capturing their email.

Emily: Take that same strategy and now apply it to like, I have a podcast. Now I want to turn my podcast into a business generator for me or a credibility builder for me. I have all these topics that I could turn into podcasts episodes. I have all this content that I could turn into my social media strategy. I could take all of this and turn it into emails.

Emily: So I really, really would say if your listener is just getting started. Focusing on what you can talk about and translating your expertise into marketable topics is the best place that you could ever start because it's very overwhelming when you're doing something for the first time, right? We get into business doing the thing that we love and then we realize like, oh, I wear all the hats.

Emily: I [00:14:00] have to do the marketing. I have to figure out the business stuff. I have to figure out my finances. I got to make sure I'm protected legally. All these different components, right? And when you can kind of take the mental load off, what do I talk about off the table? It sets you up for so much more success than when you're trying to do it on the fly.

Emily: Like I saw a quote that was like, the most time consuming social media strategy is the one that you do every day. And I was like, this is the exact same thing, right? It's like, if you build all of the topics you could ever talk about now, it's like, all right, you've got your, like, a la carte of all the things, what do you want to use?

Emily: And then the beauty piece of it, Lucy, is like, then they could go work with somebody like you. And now a lot of that work is done and then you can take that, that strategy and be like, okay, let me put it into the things that you do successfully. They could take it to a, a website designer who could use that.

Emily: And they're more equipped to be as successful and stir up the gate because they've done this grunt work first. 

Lucy: I love that you say that [00:15:00] because I feel like sometimes we're not. unapologetic enough with our ideal client. the one piece of the puzzle that I didn't mention, and I think I'm going to tie this into why this is so important for newbies is people who invest in verbal strategy are not complete newbies.

Lucy: They're actually people who know the answers to their mission, to their differentiators, to their problem. They just can't communicate it. And I feel like. As a service based business owner, who's, I assume good at something because you need to offer something you're good at. It's really hard to strip it down and talk about the foundations because we often talk to the people who are already solution aware and already like on our vibe on our wavelength.

Lucy: So. What would you tell someone who's maybe struggling to A, figure out what they're an expert at, but B, communicate their expertise in a way that doesn't go over the heads of the people who might ultimately buy from them? 

Emily: Ooh. Such a great [00:16:00] question. And I, you know, expertise and confidence, I feel like go hand in hand.

Emily: And it's a lot of things that I think new service preneurs struggle with because they know how to do this thing and they do it really well. But then when you add in all the other aspects of like running a business to it, it's really easy to have your confidence knocked down a peg or two. And so one of the things that I talk a lot about with my clients, I have seen a lot of people that were like, I had a really successful corporate career and now I'm making the leap into entrepreneurship.

Emily: Or they came up through the ranks of working underneath somebody in a business and they're like, now I'm ready to go off on my own. Or they went to school for the thing. They got the degree for the thing. And now they're ready to like launch their business. And I think that there is this constant. battle of seeing what everybody else is doing and then immediately applying it to what we believe we know and what we're good at.

Emily: And so one [00:17:00] of the pieces of advice that I always, share is like put blinders up and stop thinking about everybody else and look at how far you've come. Obviously you know that you're good enough in something to turn it into a business or you've been successful. Maybe you went through an experience.

Emily: And you learned something and you built the skill set that you needed to come out the other side. And now you want to coach other people to do the same thing. You have to lean into everything that has gotten you to this point. All of the skill sets that you gained, the knowledge that you've learned, the failures that you went through, you know, hindsight's 20 20.

Emily: stay in that hindsight and think about all of those things and then use those to inform where you go next and what you want to put out there. But I will say one of the things that's really hard is We're in our business. Our business is us, right? And so it's really difficult to go from, okay, I'm in the day to day, right?

Emily: I'm working with this client. I'm doing this work for them to then [00:18:00] take a step back and realize like, Oh, all of the things that I'm doing in my business. Now are things that I can start talking about to showcase my expertise. And so it's really hard to like pause when you're like, okay, I'm writing this content.

Emily: I'm doing this. I'm coaching this client. I'm doing this over here. But if you can take moments to kind of document the things that you're doing and maybe turn that into your framework or to create something or just have that list of all the things that you're doing, that's a really good place to start.

Emily: And again, that framework of. Pillars, categories, topics allows them to kind of blow through that. But if you're, if you focus on that documentation piece, that's a really good way for people to be like, Oh my gosh, I do know what I'm talking about. I do have a lot of information to share. So I think that's a really good place for people who are struggling to use their expertise to their advantage when they're kind of building that marketing strategy.

Lucy: I love that you [00:19:00] said document because I feel like create content. I just get this image of like a hamster wheel of I'm always like, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? What am I going to create? But once you start documenting, even recording your sales calls, seeing the things that you're saying on repeat, or just, you know, if you're working, like look at all the different things you're working on, can you talk about a project It just becomes so much more manageable.

Lucy: And people always ask me, like, how do you put out so much content? It's just, I mean, one, I have a social media manager and I'm a big believer in be open about the help you're getting. And, but two is, you know, it's just like an extension of my business. It doesn't feel like I'm creating anything. I'm already working like a six, eight hour day.

Lucy: I might as well just talk about some of it. 

Emily: Yeah. And I think being comfortable, Getting on camera or starting to write that content that showcases what you're doing is so important. And it's not going to be easy at first. Like, I remember getting started. I was like, what am I doing? Like, I came from marketing.

Emily: Now [00:20:00] I'm doing it for myself. And I was like, frustrated all the time. But it's like, I have this, mindset of perfect and progress. And people are like, well, don't you want to like, work towards perfection. I look at it a little bit differently where like, I get overwhelmed if I do too many things.

Emily: Or if I'm trying to do too many new things. So if there is somebody who's just getting started in content, you know, what is something that, lights you up the most and what are the things that you know, that you can talk about that your ideal client cares about that you can then use to drive revenue into your business, but it has to be in a fun and exciting way.

Emily: That's going to make you stay consistent with, because. If you're someone who's new and you're like, I need to be on three different social media channels. I need an email list. I need to be sending those things weekly. I need to do all these different things. That's a lot. And now factor in the admin work of running your business.

Emily: And then the actual client work that you're doing, you're probably doing some sort of networking, like that makes you super busy. And so, [00:21:00] I am always of the mindset of like, I'm going to do one thing and I'm going to perfect that to where it's muscle memory. It's easy for me to do. I don't have to stress and worry about it.

Emily: And then I'm going to graduate to like the next style, right? Like as an example, on my podcast, I was doing, my reels were just like two people myself and my guests on the screen, I would clip those post them. And then I got to a point where I was like, okay, let me test, like. Cutting back and forth to people as they're speaking.

Emily: I started small. Got comfortable and confident doing that. And then I tried something new. And for me, that was the best way for me to like, one, celebrate the little wins to get comfortable in it. It's not perfect. It's still not perfect, but it allows me to not get like defeated, which I feel like is really easy when you're like a new business owner.

Emily: Right. And you're trying to like figure all the things out. But if there's something that is easy for you to [00:22:00] do, start small. And then continue to build on that. And then, ultimately, you'll get to a point where, like, you can hire people who can make your life easier. Or you'll have a level of sophistication when you're marketing your business that it comes more naturally.

Emily: You can do all the things. But I do think that there's this, misconception that, like, we have to do everything and we have to be perfect right out the gate. And then the reality is, is, like, it's not going to happen that way, you know? 

Lucy: And it's so true. And I love that you said little things and experiment and just try new things because it's almost like you're taking the heavy out of it and just try things like, like no business has ever burned because of a poorly edited Instagram reel.

Emily: Right. And it's so funny you say that because I have to like, let go a little bit and I have to laugh because like words are my jam, right? Like from a branding and marketing perspective, like I'm in messaging positioning in the words game. Creative is not my strong suit. And I haven't outsourced that yet.

Emily: So I'm just, I'm just going with it. And I have to remind myself that like, if it's not perfect, [00:23:00] no one's going to use that as a make or break if they want to work with me or not. They're going to be thinking, yeah, Is the information that she's sharing valuable to me? Do I feel like this person is credible and she knows what she's talking about?

Emily: Do I like her delivery style? Does she look like somebody that I'm going to jive with? They're not going to be wondering if like, oh I forgot to capitalize a letter on my real cover that I made. That I'm stressing about because it's not quote unquote perfect, but no one's thinking about those things. And I think it's, it's really hard to not take ourselves too seriously.

Emily: But if there is a way to like break that mindset, do it because the gains on the other side of that, I promise are so much better when you're getting started that the win of doing the thing is more important than how perfect the thing is that you did. 

Lucy: It's so true. It's, we're paying so much attention to ourselves and we're just like, Oh my gosh, [00:24:00] how could I have put two twos in a row and it's really okay.

Lucy: But this is actually a really great segue because I, I think I want to talk about something. And it is just the prevalence, especially for new business owners, I almost think it's a little bit predatory of just you haven't hit 10 K yet. here's my exact formula for getting there. And before we, we launched into this, which is, um, I don't know the direction I could go.

Lucy: It could be a rant fest. It could be actionable. I'm ready. I'm honestly, as curious as our listeners are. I think it's really interesting that we're both going to come out this kind of spicy conversation from really different angles, because Emily is just the person, if you are new and you are still new, And you don't know how to talk about your business.

Lucy: And you want someone to kind of walk the path with you as you figure things out. And then I'm more on the aggressive doer side where I'm like, okay, you know what you do? Cool. Let's cut through the noise on the internet and make tons of sales. So after you kind of work with Emily to define all of that stuff, then you would kind of come over to my world and we would write your website.

Lucy: We [00:25:00] would put it in a verbal brief if you wanted that. But honestly, I do more of the actual writing. So when people see your assets, they're just like, wait, That's so clever. I need to be in this person's world immediately. So I'm so excited to dig into this conversation from two different sides and talk about how a new service based business owner can kind of, like you said, put those blinders on, not look at person's secret formula or those chat GPT prompts, or, you know, these are the templates you need to use if you want to blow up your business.

Lucy: And let's talk to the new service based business owner about what they can feasibly do to cut through the noise, be authentic in their content and stay true to their actual brand instead of following any of these shiny paths. 

Emily: Yeah. Ooh, I cannot wait to dig into this with you. Okay, so I believe that the done for you content calendar, Mad Libs style marketing offers that are across the internet right now are not doing you any good.

Emily: To [00:26:00] position yourself differently from your competitors in the space. And as a service based business owner, like there are a dime, a dozen of me, there's a dime, a dozen of you, Lucy, there's a dime, a dozen of everybody who might be in. But if you are trying to find your ideal client, you have to be different.

Emily: Now, I will say that there is one caveat for the person who might be listening in that's like, well, crap. I. I did buy that, that done for you calendar that I just have to like put my information in. I will say if you're just getting started, that's okay. I don't condone it. However, if you're already using something like that, you're taking action.

Emily: So do not get discouraged because you decided to invest in something that like a lot of people probably have too and they're probably using the same prompts and they're probably putting the same type of content out. The difference is you're using that to get comfortable on those marketing channels and that's okay to begin with.

Emily: Now the hope is like, you learned something from [00:27:00] that. You jumped into the analytics to see what type of content works best for you. You got comfortable going through the motions of creating content. So it's not all bad, but I am a firm believer that you have to truly own your business, own your voice, own your unique viewpoints, and use those to create your own branding, your own community, your own opportunity to people who are craving the things that you're talking about.

Emily: And so you're not trying to kind of have like a rinse and repeat of all these people saying like, here's the behind the scenes look of my business and it's everybody doing the same thing sitting behind their computer, right? But like that doesn't offer any value to anybody. Like we all do that.

Emily: But if you can be thinking about what are the things that my audience cares about? What are the challenges that they face? What are the things that I could be talking about that's going to resonate with them and make them be like, Ooh, she gets me. Those are the things that you need to be [00:28:00] thinking about.

Emily: Because otherwise, like, what's the point? What's the point of wasting your time marketing if you're not going to be focused on creating an authentic brand and having a unique viewpoint, a unique service, a unique way of doing something to help them get the result that you want them to pay you for, right?

Lucy: when it comes to taking action, I always say like the worst thing you can do is just keep all your ideas to yourself. So if you're using a template and you're putting a post out that would have never been put out and you know, any, anything can sign a client.

Lucy: I've put out the weirdest reels and sometimes it signs a client and I'm like, wow, okay, cool. so just getting yourself out there is always a good idea. Assuming you're not hurting your brand by saying something that's not aligned, but that's a different conversation. But also getting into the point of.

Lucy: Your unique point of view. I think often we're so scared as a newbie to rock the boat. I know I was, and I felt the need to show up in this buttoned up metaphorical way where I was just talking about this is what copywriting is and you should hire a copywriter, but [00:29:00] it's so Boring. And I'll let you kind of talk about the foundations of defining what is your POV and then I can kind of talk about how do you actually get that out there in a way that's so spicy, so fun that your ideal client is just like, engineer level magnet, rocket shipping over to you.

Emily: I think one of the things that people struggle with is, well, I don't have anything unique to say. Right. They're like, well, this person's doing the exact same thing I do. And they're talking about it. Why would somebody want to listen to me talking about the same thing or read the same, read the same information?

Emily: And so like, first and foremost, you're different people. You have different ways of sharing that information. You've got different personalities. You've got different quirks. Like somebody might come out super aggressive with their, The exact same information that I might say, and I'm going to be a little bit more like, collected, guide you down the path.

Emily: And so you have to kind of be like, forget what everybody else is talking about and only focus on the things that matter. So if you've gone through the work of putting all of those topics [00:30:00] on paper and the things that you can talk about and all of the things that you have knowledge and are an expert on, on paper, It is something where you have to kind of be like, somebody else is probably going to talk about this thing too.

Emily: Everybody talks about pillars. Everybody talks about pillars. But I still have to talk about it because it is a part of my business. Now, if you're sitting there and you're like, Where is my unique viewpoint? Or how do I do things differently? I think one of the places to start is to map out what do your services look like, and what is unique to you.

Emily: So if you're literally going start to finish, and you're putting those things on paper, regardless if somebody else does it the same way, that's still unique to you, and you can highlight how you do things, how you do things differently, how you do things better. The opportunities you're giving your clients by working with you.

Emily: All of those things are going to create that one to one connection. But if you're sitting there and you're like, I want something spicier. I want to know, like, how do I differentiate myself more and how do I be comfortable putting, hot [00:31:00] takes out and into the world? One of the things that I.

Emily: do is I consume a lot of information, right? I'm on social media platforms. I'm reading a lot of, books and I'm doing different things just to stay up to date on marketing. I also get fed a lot of information of people that are trying to do marketing to me. And so what I like to do, and this is going to, it's a little woo woo.

Emily: I'm so into it, but it is, I always think about. How does something make me feel when I consume that piece of content? So if someone is telling me something and I'm like, I do not agree with that whatsoever. I then go to my topic map, and I put it on my list, and I have a hot takes category of all the things that I'm like, these are the things that I think differently about, these are the things that is gonna upset some people, this is things that like, get me angry or fired up inside, that I need [00:32:00] to get out of my body, and I'm gonna use that through my voice, if it's on my podcast, or on a reel that I'm creating, or it's gonna be content that I'm sharing with my community in some way.

Emily: And so that's a really good place to start, is the first part of that is like, what do you do differently in your business? What are those unique differentiators that is going to set you apart? But then if you're looking for something that's more like in the moment, does somebody say something that pisses you off?

Emily: Does somebody say something that you fundamentally disagree with? Does somebody say something that you're like, that is not going to help anybody. And I think for service based business owners in particular, like we get into business because we like helping other people. We want to see other people succeed.

Emily: It's the nature of us as givers and working from a service standpoint. And so oftentimes those feelings can come up. I know for me, it's like, when I see those calendars, pisses me off, because, or if another example is a chat GPT prompt, right? Oh my god, chat 

Lucy: GPT, [00:33:00] copywriter's worst nightmare. Let's, 

Emily: get into that, right?

Emily: let's go down that path for a second, if you're okay with that, Lucy, like, But I'm of the mindset that chat GPT is not teaching you anything.

Emily: It's the quick fix. It's the shortcut. I come from the perspective in my business of give a man a fish. He eats for a day, teach a man to fish. He eats for a lifetime.

Emily: So give a man a fish is chat GPT, right? Eventually you're going to run out of prompts. To put in there or ideas or everything, but you're not learning the fundamentals of your business, your messaging, your positioning. When you teach Amanda Fish. I'm giving you the foundation, the framework, the way to think differently in your brain about your brand so that at any point in time, you know how everything come back, connects back to the foundation of your business.

Emily: Right. And I think that's something where I saw that and I saw that quote and I was like, I got to talk about this. This is a hot take for me, right? You're not going to learn this way. [00:34:00] And so I write that down and I put that in my content strategy. And so those are the things like that get you fired up.

Emily: That is an easy way for you to get comfortable because it's coming from a place of wanting to help people. Which, again, is why we got into business in the first place. 

Lucy: Yeah, and I love that you said, like, looking at content, seeing how it makes you feel, and then coming up with the opposite take if you don't agree with it.

Lucy: Because that is so similar to what I tell people to do, is create a list of myths in your industry. Create a list of what people are saying that you Just don't agree with. we'll take the spotlight off my business, but to give someone tangible example, let's say they are a coach and they do health coaching mindset work, redefining relationship with your So let's say industry advice is first you gotta Count macros, have a quick win, and then you can focus on creating like a better relationship with your body.

Lucy: I don't even know if that's the industry advice. I actually think that's probably terrible advice, but you know, I'm not in the [00:35:00] industry, so let's pretend that's the advice. And you come at it of no, you should never weigh your food. that's a hard boundary in your business. that's the take is ditch the scale, smash the scale.

Lucy: Like that's where your language is coming from. And then as you can see, I said it in such a concise three word way. How can you take the things you don't agree with? And how can you really compress it into a tiny little sentence that starts on a verb that drives action, that makes people feel something?

Lucy: It's really impactful. Boom, you have a headline. Now, this is used on your website. Now, this is used in your pitches. And you can really reuse that same sentence and it becomes a part of your brand. 

Emily: I love that. And that's, exactly right. what are the ways that you can counter someone's belief or supposed belief or what they're getting fed from the universe at large and something that maybe they, they, they don't want to believe.

Emily: Think that they believe but now there's somebody coming in and they're like, oh, I don't have to think that way Oh, I want to focus on building that relationship with my body But like the thought of weighing my [00:36:00] food and having such an emphasis on that doesn't work for me now the person that's like communicating that Has has connected with that person on an emotional level that they probably wouldn't have if they came out and they were like, Oh, I'm too scared to talk about that.

Emily: Like everybody in the industry goes this direction. I don't, but I'm not at a place where I'm like comfortable with that yet. I would argue the more you share that type of content, the More aggressively your community is going to connect with you. They're going to engage with you. They're going to want to work with you on a larger capacity Because you're showing that it's okay to feel or believe or do the things that they want to be doing But they haven't found anyone doing it yet Like one of the things that I just, I believe so passionately is if you are not talking about your unique viewpoint about your services or about the things in your business, there is someone who is struggling right now who needs you.

Emily: And so if [00:37:00] you have this like lack of confidence or this fear of showing up in your business in a certain way, that person is never going to know that they could get help from you and they can never spend their money with you. And I think As a service based business owner, like tapping into the people that you can't help because you've got this fear or this lack of confidence, if you can focus all of your time and attention on like the end client of yours and how you can reach the masses through your marketing efforts and the different things that you're doing in your business, it kind of allows you to like Jump over the fear a little bit and get confidence because you're so, you know, focused on your mission and the things that you want to do and the reason you got into business in the first place to help and serve your clients.

Emily: And 

Lucy: yeah, it really is coming from that place of service because as a service based business owner, you are serving your ideal client. And I think if you're so scared [00:38:00] to put your message out just from like a practical standpoint, I encourage you to put out two versions of it, put out the mild industry standard version.

Lucy: And obviously I want to caveat that if you're going to do this, everything you put out has to be brand aligned. I don't believe in just saying what people are saying because that's what people are saying if you don't agree with it. And I also, on the flip side, don't agree with being provocative for the sake of being provocative.

Lucy: Because then you're just going to turn people off and like, for what? Yep. So let's say you agree with this point of view, and there's a way to communicate it that's very mild, and there's a way to communicate it that's more spicy. Post both, and see who gets you your ideal client. Because sometimes I think we need to prove to ourselves that when we speak directly and we speak our mind, good things come to us.

Lucy: And when we water down our message, our inbox is and no one is inquiring. So I think Do that experiment with yourself and then you'll be able to slowly get over the fear when you realize wait I'm, not only pulling in my [00:39:00] ideal client I'm pulling in people who are referring me to my ideal client and i'm pulling in strategic partners who are Collabing with me and making business so much more fun 

Emily: Yeah, one of the things that I always try to communicate is you can have a lot of thought leadership content, which is just educational content that showcases your expertise, your unique viewpoints, all the things.

Emily: But you have to make sure that it's not too academic or too dry because the way that we engage today from a marketing standpoint is way different than it was a couple years ago, five years ago, even, you know, yesterday. And so people want to buy from people. And the unique advantage for us is that They are buying from people, right?

Emily: If you're listening to this and you like my vibe, you're working with me, right? They're working with you, Lucy. And so how can you show up as a person, but also as your business at the same time, which can be difficult, right? And [00:40:00] it's a little bit of an identity crisis at some points, but to be able to be comfortable, like being open and honest and have a little personality and just showcase what makes you so unique and special, like, you know, People want that.

Emily: They don't want a cookie cutter version. They don't want somebody who is so stiff and professional and they, those little differences, those subtle nuances that make you who you are, are the things that are going to attract people. So if you're sitting here and you're like, I'm angry every time I open my phone and I see somebody talking about something that I fundamentally disagree with, But you're not putting that out into the world while you're losing out on potential revenue and you're losing out on helping people.

Emily: But if you were to put something out there that's aligned with your brand, that makes sense coming from you, that's going to help you continue to grow your business, to build, to scale, to grow that community that you're wanting. And it sometimes has to come with like messy execution. Right. And like being comfortable [00:41:00] being like, well, this is not maybe my best work, but it's who I am.

Emily: Right. And I think if you can use that as a driver, you will be surprised at how many people are like, wow, that was refreshing. Or, ooh, she's like me, I want to work with her. Like, there's so much that comes from just like showing up and not feeling like you have to have this perfect, polished, professional, image.

Emily: Across your different channels, 

Lucy: especially if you're starting out. I think the way I was able to grow my copywriting business so quickly is because of that rawness. And I was really open about like, this is where I came from. This is who I am. This is my style. And honestly, in my trajectory, I'm much more professional now than I was in the beginning.

Lucy: And I think when we try and over professional ourselves right out of the gate of our service based business, you can just kind of almost. the insecurity. But if you're just real about the part that you're like, signed our first client today, we're so excited to get started on her [00:42:00] project. We can't wait to show you the results, follow along if you want to see it or asking people like, would you be willing to support my new business forward this account to someone?

Lucy: If I had a take that you agree with, or tell me your favorite posts that I've put out, having that humility in your messaging when you're starting out is so beautiful to watch. 

Emily: Yeah, and we don't all have the answers, right? Like I'm still pivoting in some of the things I've been in business a year now officially just crossed over and like I'm still figuring things out I'm still fine tuning.

Emily: How do I want to show up in my business? I'm sure you have moments where you're like does this make sense for where I am today or where I want to go or You know, some people are like, I want to burn it all down. I have been there too. Let's be honest here. but I think that if you can not take yourself too seriously and just kind of see where things take you when you're just getting started, you're going to find your groove.

Emily: You're going to find your people and just be patient a little bit because you might start out doing something and being like, ah, I'm feeling a lot of resistance. [00:43:00] And that might be internal resistance of like, this doesn't feel aligned for me or I'm not showing my entire personality. You can make changes.

Emily: So be comfortable with those pivots early on because they happen often. It's okay that they happen. And with every shift that you're making or every new thing you're trying is going to get you. To the better version of your brand of your image of how you're putting yourself out there. So, I feel like the, like, give yourself some grace is a phrase that is often overused right now, but there's a reason for it.

Emily: It's because if you kind of can allow yourself to just have some fun with it, you know, stay true to yourself, but also like push yourself a little bit. I think that when you're just getting started, it's a lot of trial and error. And if you're okay with that, if you're not a perfectionist. It can make things so much clearer for you once you hit your stride and you're continuing to progress and build and fine tune what, your [00:44:00] business looks like, what your services are, all of it.

Lucy: And people love process content and people love seeing you I think we've all been on that account that just maybe there was someone running it who is just proprietary formula did X, X and X and like, yes, that can maybe work if you're targeting a corporation or your target, like it's all about your ideal clientele.

Lucy: And you also don't want to sell yourself short. If you had a career in corporate, like, of course, that's going to pour into your expertise and you're not starting at zero. So don't pretend you're starting at zero because you want to command the rates you deserve, right out of the get go. But it's that humanness, I think that's huge.

Lucy: I think people will put in their content sometimes, but not put in their sales copy because they're like, now it's time to close the sale. Like it's time to stop being a human. And it's like, no, like you are welcome in the entire process of your business and your messaging. 

Emily: Ooh. Okay. Now I need to ask you a question.

Emily: Like, how are you seeing that shift? Like when you see sales copy, that's [00:45:00] like, More professional than their day to day like to me that's a disconnect and you lose trust with me But I'm so curious for you. Like how easy is it for you to like recognize that and do you work with your clients to make sure that their voice shows up in their sales copy too?

Lucy: Oh, 100%. There's so many people who've mastered the Instagram game. I think, you know, especially the coaches who kind of came onto the scene in 2021, 2022, like when, marketing your coaching business on Instagram was the thing they mastered it and they showed up and they really just had hot takes and they showed up on stories and I feel like I really knew them and I connected with them.

Lucy: And then I would go to their sales page and it would be like, imagine you live in a business that X, X and X. And I'm just like, What? I mean, yeah, I guess it paints a picture. It shows me the transformation, but it's just so stiff. And I'm just like, this is not you. Or maybe this is you and your Instagram's fake.

Lucy: But the point is something's not you. And I think when you have this really big demarcation, it's like, [00:46:00] You're going to attract people in with your sales copy that get to the program. And they're like, why is that person dropping F bombs? Because they've read this corporate page. And then now you're terrifying them when you're actually teaching them.

Lucy: it's a matter of keeping things consistent. And the nice thing is it's a pretty easy fix. It's just, I feel like sometimes, you know, the fixes you hire a copywriter and we use your Instagram to create sales copy, that's aligned with that. Which in turn is aligned with how you actually teach. But.

Lucy: When you don't have that, it not only like messes with your credibility, but it creates this stuffiness in the part that matters most, the sale. Someone is choosing to give you money. So wouldn't you rather they give money to the actual you instead of this like weird stuffy sales you. So I always say like sales is not the time to put on the power suit.

Lucy: Sales is actually the time to really ease in and relax into who you are because you're also making sure that you're drawing in someone who's the right fit. Because if someone likes an Instagram post, that's not necessarily right for them. I don't care. It was two seconds of their thumb muscles, [00:47:00] but I do not want someone spending money or making a decision off of something that's not authentic to what I'm actually able to provide.

Emily: Ooh. Okay. I love how you said the sales process is not the time to put on the power suit. Like I. Could not agree with you more on that, Lucy. Like, I feel like if you were putting the right foundations, if you're showing up as your true self, if you're building your business the way that you want to be building it, if you're engaging with your audience, if you're listening to what they have to say, and then you're leveraging that in your marketing across all the different aspects of it, by the time you get to that sale, it's a no brainer, right?

Emily: And so if you kind of had this consistency in how you're showing up in your, in your branding. And then you flip it, they're gonna be like, oh wait, that's not what I was expecting. And then all of the doubt of like, okay, well what am I getting? Is she gonna be like this when I work with her?

Emily: is that a representation of what I'm gonna get? the distrust factor, I feel like, especially right now, and I don't know if you feel this, is [00:48:00] at an all time high. And, If you are constantly trying to be like somebody else or do things like everybody else, as opposed to like what's true to you, you're probably not going to be as successful because people are going to see right through it.

Lucy: your buyers are so empowered. They know what they want. They know what they need. They're smart. You know, especially if you're selling B2B, like, Business owners are smart. Like there's no need to manipulate anyone into anything or use any sort of tactics. So I think that's such a good point that you made.

Lucy: And before this episode, one of the things you said is we are in a guilty until proven innocent era. And that's probably why people are having a slightly harder time. Making sales where they used to maybe be able to be like, look, I did this to this client. And then three people are in their inbox being like, can you do that to me?

Lucy: But now it's like, no, I kind of want to follow you for a year and make sure you put your money where your mouth is and you consistently create things that are in line with my values. And then I'll hire you when I'm ready. [00:49:00] 

Emily: Yeah, a hundred percent. And it's so true because there are so many people that have come to me and been like, you know, I got burned by somebody who promised something to me and then they couldn't deliver, or I didn't get what I was expecting or the things that were on that sales page didn't match up with the things that I received in that engagement with them.

Emily: Or, I bought this course thinking I was going to make all this money. And then I didn't, or it wasn't, the services or the programs or whatever it is in their business, it left them, disappointed And so one of the things that I'm constantly thinking about is, okay.

Emily: Like you said, that sales cycle is longer. People want to build that trust factor. And one of the ways that they can do it is through showcasing your expertise. So to like come back all the way to the beginning of like, where do you start? Well, what can you talk about? What are you an expert in? What are your skill sets?

Emily: What are the details of your business? Like how can you showcase so much [00:50:00] information so that somebody without even working with you knows what you're an expert in, they know what they're going to get from working with you, they know your style, and it gets to the point where like that trust factor becomes so high that they're constantly seeing good information, they're learning from you, they're getting on and seeing you show your face and talk with them, you're, you're doing all the things that are kind of chipping away at that ultimate trust.

Emily: To the point where they hit purchase and they're like, yep, I'm ready. And so being able to do all of those things and focus on like, what do I have to offer is such a great place to start before you get stressed out about the marketing channels or what you should be doing or shouldn't be doing. It's such a great foundation because everything builds on that.

Emily: And then there's never any question about is this person good at what they do and can help me do it. 

Lucy: I love that. Oh, that's such a good mic [00:51:00] drop moment to like close out this episode. And honestly, even as an experienced business owner, it's been like enlightening to go back to the foundation.

Lucy: So I can only imagine how our newbies are feeling, just feeling so much more empowered, hopefully to go out there. And again, like, like we said, kind of in the middle of the episode, it is a systematic process. Foundations are not sexy. They are not glitzy, glamorous marketing. It's actually like, Lighting that candle and going deep into like what you actually say and how can you actually say that?

Lucy: So I would love for people to have just that breakdown of how they can work with you if you want to tell them where You live online because I seriously think every newbie should Work with you and not waste their time and have someone who can walk that walk with them because it's hard to start something and there's so many people who want to take your attention and I love that you put the attention back onto the business owner instead of something that's outside or a methodology that's not necessarily customized to that person.

Emily: Yeah, absolutely. And one thing I will say is I work with new [00:52:00] servicepreneurs who are like really starting to build out their business and they're looking for that great foundation. But I also work with, who are a couple of years in, I've got a client who's eight years into their business, but has never really prioritized marketing.

Emily: So if you're listening in and you're like, well, I'm not really a newbie. I've been in business forever. If you've been doing scrappy marketing or if you've just been getting by or you've been consuming the information and it's not really working for you like you can go back to foundations at any point in time.

Emily: It doesn't just only have to happen at the onset and like I still do it and I'm like, Okay, does this make sense for me? So, just like a quick note if you're listening in and you're like, Well, I've already launched my business, but I never did that thing. Like there's always time to go back to that. I imagine it's the same thing for you, Lucy and your business.

Emily: When people are ready to prioritize marketing and branding and content, like there is never a timeframe in business when you can't work with somebody on the business foundations. But, within my business, I work with [00:53:00] people in two different capacities. So I do have one on one programs. If you're sitting here and you're like, I would love to have a topic map, but I do not want to spend the time doing that.

Emily: I have a done for you content blueprint program where I bring people in, we map everything out, and then we actually build their marketing plans for them to kind of have a lay of the land of all the things that they need to do so they don't have to stress about their marketing. So there's that program.

Emily: I also do, marketing coaching. So if somebody is coming in and they're like, I'm not ready to hire somebody yet, but I need somebody who's like in my corner, making sure I'm not doing things wrong, I do one to one coaching programs where I come in and just give them the clarity they need to align their business strategy with their marketing efforts too.

Emily: So that's the second way. and then I just launched a community for servicepreneurs called the servicepreneur network, which I'm super excited about because. There are so many people that claim to be marketing strategists. There's so much contradictory information out there and service based businesses are different.

Emily: So I wanted to create a platform in a community where you could come in and you [00:54:00] could get the marketing support from me through workshops and trainings. You could connect with other servicepreneurs who are maybe a couple steps ahead of you and can answer questions that you've had. Or things that you're struggling with that you can pop into a chat and say, Hey, I'm, I'm trying to figure this out in my email.

Emily: Could somebody, you know, give me any support here? there's a podcast corner. So if you're ready to launch your podcast tour and get on podcasts, if you have a podcast and you're trying to find guests, if you're trying to do, events and you're trying to find speakers, there's the opportunity for that.

Emily: I dropped monthly resources so that you've got templates that you can use and it's a lead generator too. So we do a lot in the way of elevator pitch practices where you can come in and talk about your business. You can use it as a way to find new clients. You can get referrals for services that you need.

Emily: And generally looking at it as a incubator for servicepreneur success. So if you're trying to really like, Take your business to the next level. join us in there. You can go to the servicepro. network. com and there's more information [00:55:00] there. but it's essentially to help you build, market, and scale your service based business.

Lucy: I love that. I will get that link in the show notes. So anyone who feels called can go do that. notes. So anyone What an episode. If you had any aha moments and you really need her help to define those aspects of what you do, how you can communicate it, how you can show up as an expert without being stuffy, give Definitely head on over and see all of the different things that she has to offer. And if you are at the point where you're thinking, well, I think I know what I do and I think I know where my expertise is, but man, do I need it to sound punchy, then definitely head over to my link and let's write your website.

Lucy: Let's create that written branding doc that can actually put these things into words that you can start using and cut through the noise in your industry because things are saturated. So it is on you as a service provider. Based business owner to create that really hyper-focused, clear strategy and then also execute it in a way that makes people wanna sit up and listen.

Lucy: [00:56:00] So until next time, go work on that service-based business. I hope you can explode it and grow it and do that thing that you're so passionate about. That's what I love about service-based businesses, is they're based in passion. And I'll see you next time.