Service Based Business Society Podcast

Season 1
Episode 21
Title:The Little Black Book That Changed My Life... And I Haven't Even Read It Yet

Hello and welcome to the service based business society podcast. I'm your host, Tiffany and Bochum. Our weekly episodes, we will dive into everything you need to know about scaling your service based business without losing sleep. With my experience in creating over seven figures per month, and a passion for marketing, finance and automation, this show will provide tangible tips and techniques for scaling your business. Let's get started.

Welcome back to another episode, guys, today, we are going to chat about the little black book that changed my life. And no, it has nothing to do with dating. But I had a seriously life changing moment at a business event last week. And it really all comes down to this book that sells for $997. And it changed my life. And I haven't even read it yet. So let's dive in. And you know, it's the last episode of our do series. Today we will be touching on some of the SEO pieces wrapping them up, we have to talk about the little black. Last week, I went to a conference and the conference is about 45 minutes from my house. And my goodness, if it was not a day I am running out the door to get their time is in short supply packing every single thing into the moment, I had started my meetings at 6am in the morning so that I could be done in time for the afternoon. In order to be off well I walk out the door ready to go. And I realized that my car which hasn't really left the driveway has not been washed, so I took my son to camp. So we were up and down a gravel locking road five days in a row and my car was completely indistinguishable.

I'm like, Okay, first things first, we have to be in the car. So already, I'm feeling like that little bit rushed. And it wasn't really until I got to the conference. And I walked in and I realized I hadn't done this kind of thing in a while we're one, I don't really leave the house anymore. You know, I work from home for the most part. And you know, COVID has changed so much. I used to do things like conferences, travel all the time for work. And now I just really haven't stayed home. And so this is a local conference, here I am and I'm about to walk in. And I just really had this moment of insecurity. And it really, you know, just reminded me that when we're not doing things all the time, you know, like, if we're not flexing a muscle, you really lose it, it takes a lot to build. And it's easy to lose, you know, it's the same thing for Fitness. It's the same thing for you know, your competence, muscle, whatever it is, you know, however you describe it, but it is. And so I head into this event, you know, just a little bit of background history on the event. So this was a Dan Locke event, he's a high ticket closing high ticket closer, it's a coaching program, basically, this is a three hour event. And, you know, Dan Locke is from my local area, he's from Vancouver. And so you know, I was super excited to be at this conference. However, Tails is not really my thing. And so you know, if you have been listening to podcasts for a while, you realize that sales is really this piece that I've kind of struggled with, in my business, not generating sales, may I make, I've made all of my sales target, but I don't, it doesn't feel good to me, I feel uncomfortable in selling. And I really have tried to lean into it and work on it. And so I continue to lean into it and work on it. Now really, I just have never done it. I've always been, you know, the introverted nerd who really was totally fine working with computers instead of humans. And so you know, when you have your own business, ultimately, there is this piece of information that needs to occur in order to sell yourself, your business and your services. It's not something that really comes naturally to me. And so, you know, I continue to hang out with the marketers and you know, do the masterminds and attend the events and read the books and I really tried to just like immerse myself in this area, but isn't as comfortable for me often talk about the comfort zone, and how you know, we need to be really pushing up against the edge of the comfort zone or getting out of the comfort zone. And I have really tried to embrace being uncomfortable and I've almost gotten used to being uncomfortable. That was until the event I come in running almost late sitting down and the event is basically at these it's almost kind of like a wedding reception where you have like eight to 10 people sit in are seated around a round table and so I get brought to my seat and I'm right on the aisle and everyone at the table is silent while the other tables around everyone's kind of like chit chatting doing their thing, but not our table. It is silent and in the back of my mind. I'm like oh no. Am I going to have to break this? I didn't break this island because I was like, oh my goodness, it was that initial moment of like, oh, like this twinge of not even like self doubt.

You know, I guess maybe it is self doubt in just saying, you know, what are you doing here? This is a marketing type event, most of these people, you know, sell really high ticket services and at this moment have a little bit of insecurity. I guess you could say " I am thinking, what am I? What am I doing here? And why is it so quiet so anyways, we carry on when the event gets going, and Dan is on fire incredibly. He's bringing incredible value. And you know, I'm I'm really enjoying the conference, and any doubt of why I was there, should I be there completely washed away, you know, I furiously taking notes, and just really enjoying everything that was going on, until Dawn comes up the aisle holding this book, the little black, and he is explaining that this book sells for $997. And at first I thought that's crazy, who buys a book for almost $1,000.

Then I had flashbacks to university. And I was like, okay, so I have bought some pretty expensive books in my day. And really, it's about the content. So this is kind of going on in the back of my mind. But he's explaining that, you know, when he wanted to sell this book, his publicist thought he was crazy. Because no one buys a $997 book. And turns out people do buy the $997 book because of the content that's inside. And the only other place you can get this content is through other programs, which are significantly more expensive. You know, lesson number one value here is relative. So we carry on, and he's walking and talking about this book, and he walks up to me, and he says, so you know, here comes Sally self-doubt. And she's back. And she's like, Oh, my gosh, he said, Stand up, he's talking to you. And I'm like, Oh, my goodness. So I stood up. Now, Dan is not very tall. And I am tall. And so right away, I already feel kind of like that, oh, boy just kind of felt taller and awkward. And he says hold the book. Now here I am holding this $997 black book. And he says, Tell me about this book. Oh, my goodness, well, let's just talk about the two different little voices going on. So number one is, you know, Sally self doubt. And she's like, if you can sell him this book, you can't sell anything. What are you even doing here, you don't know what to say. And the other part of me is thinking, Oh, my goodness, you have to say something, everyone is looking at you.

You can't say anything. And so I took a deep breath, knowing that I really didn't even know where to start on selling the $997 book, knowing that the reason I was at the event was because my sales skills, were not going to sell that $997 book, because that's not really, you know, to date, when I look at, you know, the relationships with my best clients and connections I've made and whatnot, it's ultimately, you know, there's a problem and the solution. And I bring forth the solution, you know, we talk about, you know, within our agency, optimizing operations, saving time, boosting profits, all of these types of things. So people, clients, businesses come with a problem and I present a solution. This is very different from standing in front of a group of people, everybody watching you, and using some kind of sales. Anyway, I will spare you the details on how terrible it was. But say a few things, not the right thing after you know, and the gentleman who went after me, he did a much better job. And ultimately, what it came back to was he asked way more questions. I didn't ask anything. And so you know, even just talking it through, it really makes me think, Okay, well, we don't know what problem we're solving. We don't know if the book even solves the problem. If we don't ask the question. Now, I have held this book in my hands and I've handed the book back. I did it Dan, very nicely said it was a good attempt. And he carried on through the event. He called on several other people but of course, I was the first one so it was really unexpected, totally catching me off guard. But you know, so many lessons learned here and number one, it is being willing to be uncomfortable and feel like you're making an idiot of yourself. I don't even know what the alternative was to speak at that moment. But you know, I connected with Sam at that moment, I held the book. And you know, the short version is you know, I ended up connecting with Dan after the event and ended up with a copy of the book signed.

And, you know, I'm working through some of these pieces. He has another event in Vancouver in September, so I'm going to be attending that event as well. And so Overall, you know, this moment of holding the book and really realizing that it was such an uncomfortable moment, so many positive things came of it. And so, you know, it only further exemplifies that being uncomfortable is where the positive things happen. And realistically, you know, if you keep doing the things in your comfort zone, you're gonna keep feeling that same result, I ended up chatting with a few different people about this moment, and how much it just really had changed things for me. And, you know, what it really highlighted for me is how many situations how many times you know, there's lots of people that feel this moment of, Oh, my goodness, should I even be here. And the answer to that is, if you want to be you should be there. And you know, that being willing to show up for yourself, even if you fall on your face, because to be honest, reflecting back now, in the moment thinking I did not, I didn't do a very good job selling the book. But at that moment,

I took the first step. And what it did do was open up some additional opportunities for me now to be able to lean into this skill and improve something that I really want to be better at. And you know, I'm excited about this journey and excited about the progression. So here, it's sitting on my desk, and it's ready, I have been wanting to dive in. And it's you know, this last week before summer is up. And so it's just been absolutely super busy. I've really tried not to start a new book before finishing off an old book, working through the end of the last book, and this little black book, it sits on my desk. And it really just is this reminder of and being uncomfortable and being willing to be uncomfortable. And so, you know, I encourage you to continue to push through discomfort, continue to do new things and things that you never would think that you would do. I was recently chatting to someone on LinkedIn that I hadn't connected with in a long time. And they were shocked that I had a podcast, I said, you know, I keep seeing these little clips and things from your podcast. And you know, I have to say that I'm really surprised. And I said, Well, why is that and they said, I never would have imagined you doing a podcast, you know, you're very quiet and whatnot. And so there was, you know, this discussion of, you know, being willing to show up and, and I said, interestingly enough, the podcast is one of my favorite pieces of my business, I look forward to every week, I have met and connected with some incredible entrepreneurs, and been able to share guest episodes with them and even work with and refer them to my clients, my clients to them, you know, myself as well, really creating this incredible network. And one of the parts that, you know, I really wanted to be different when I left, you know, the corporate space and wanted to start my own business was this focus on community over competition, and really embracing the fact that everyone has their own strengths. So you know, as much as the podcast may be seemed a little bit surprising at first, it truly does support the bigger objective, which, as you know, is one of my big things, what is the objective, you know, I wanted to share this story with you, it's a little bit vulnerable, you know, talking about my insecurity, and also kind of pushing through those moments, and even, you know, the challenges and whatnot that I that I work through on some of these selling pieces, you know, it's it's not necessarily what comes naturally to me. And ultimately, you know, you can only as a business owner, you can only offer your very best sale your very best, whatever that is, if you can sell it to someone, every person is doing some sales. You know, even as I was learning at this conference, you know, if you have kids you're selling, if you have a partner, you know, a spouse, perhaps you're selling, if you don't have a partner you're selling, if you have a team, you know, you're all of these different pieces, you are still, you know, using and sales, you know, it feels a bit like a dirty word, it has this connotation of like used car salesman, but ultimately everyone is selling and so it's breaking through those that word and going after it one to share. Hopefully you see some value in my story. And we'll keep you posted on the event that is coming up and as well on the book. So the book, if you want to look it up, it's called the closers black Book,

Second Edition, and it is by Dan Locke. He is an entrepreneur based out of Vancouver and, you know, has a huge social media following very successful. And so I encourage you to so we're gonna continue on from here and we're gonna chat and lean in, you know, to few more SEO and, you know, really five tangible tips implement that you can benefit your business SEO, and so we can carry on and this will be the conclusion of our SEO series, this will be the conclusion of our summer SEO series, because, you know, this is our last episode of the summer, and then we are kicking off into September. And it's ultimately this, you know, we touched on it last week where there's this new energy, there's lots on the go and really time to use that energy, the willingness to be uncomfortable, and everything that you've thought of and learned, and, you know, it's now it's time to really dive in implement action that items and will be focused on, you know, budgeting, OKRs KPIs, you know, I feel like, that's a little bit of alphabet soup, but you know, our objectives, our key performance indicators, we will be doing, you know, talking about some budget stuff, and planning as we wrap up the end of the year. So, you know, stay tuned for some of these bigger corporate, you know, corporate planning type, so stay tuned for, you know, this direction, as we shape up towards the end of the year. So, we're gonna, you know, wrap up today with five tangible tip for our SEO. And this, of course, builds on our first two, SEO, over the last several weeks, you know, number one, we really want to talk and think about what is the same, and that we see it over and over again, where, you know, we've got a business named one thing in one place, and then you've got, you know, a slightly different version on Facebook, and a slightly different version on the Google My Business Profile and a slightly different version. And I mean, exactly the same. If you think about it from a, you know, data computer perspective, when it you know, it kind of comes back to that I always laugh because, you know, I think back to Sesame Street, and you know, one of these things is not like the other, it's important that we're matching exact, you do not want to be adding additional, you know, what's called keyword stuffing, especially places like your Google My Business profile name, this is not, you know, acceptable. It's against Google's Terms of Service. And you can get reported for adding additional keywords. So if you said for your Google My Business Profile, you know, it's Bob's mechanic shop, that's your your name, and you said, you know, Bob's mechanic shop, Volkswagen service in Denver, that's against Google's terms and conditions, and you know, can cause you some significant concerns for your business. It's also not great for SEO, you want to make sure that your phone number, this includes on, you know, what I would consider those more, you know, be list sites that are great for, you know, backlinks and citations and whatnot, things like, you know, Yelp and Mapquest and all of these different options, you want to make sure your phone number, your email, your address is the same. If you move your business, you need to update your address everywhere you change your phone number, you don't want to have anything that is confusing, you want to make sure that all of your records are the same. And so that means that if you have a business that is, you know, on Smith Street, that you know, you're writing Smith Street the same way you know, if you have a business that is and company, you know, don't use the end symbol sometimes and the full word others, you want it to be the same, but that is tangible.

Tip number one, making sure that everywhere your information is it is one cohesive and triple Tip number two, so we're going to talk a little bit about and knowing where we want to use keywords and where we want to really be focused more on that authentic depending on your brand, depending on what you have going on. Sometimes, you know, some of the content you put out is truly more about you know, your potential audience or your current audience furthering the relationship. These are people that already know about your existence. And now this is helping progress those people through the customer journey. This is very different from people who don't know you exist and are potentially looking for a business just like yours on Google, maybe they have a problem and you are presenting a solution. So you want to use a good balance of both and so doing all content that speaks only to your current clientele doesn't really help grow your business and only doing content that is really keyword focused comes across as feeling. And I don't you know, maybe cold is not the right word, but it comes across as just you know, in that people enjoy the story. People enjoy connecting with a person and a story and a journey. And so you know, making sure you have the appropriate blend of content that also comes down to the appropriate blend of content in terms of are your social media posts speaking to you know, different groups,

If you have multiple ideal clients, are you speaking to each of those clients at different times? You know, or are you giving a good blend of educational content, entertaining content, and you know those direct promotional type pieces of code On time, you don't want to be only selling, you know, I was recently at this the fair and they have a, it's kind of like a home exhibit, you know, it's the kind of place where you buy the mop, you get the set of knives and if you buy now you get the cloth and you order the next place and they've got the steam mop. And then my goodness, so many massage chairs, and you don't want to feel you are running the you know, all the content all the time that it's like by now get those knives for free. You know, it doesn't have any kind of loyalty or relationship. And so we want to make sure that we're creating this good blend of content offering value, or also being entertaining, we are, you know, asking for the sale, don't be afraid to ask for the sale, you know, it can all be purely entertainment and educational. But it comes back to that blend. So you know, tangible Tip number two is make sure you have a blend and that you are hitting all of your objectives with the content that you're putting out online. Tangible. Tip number three, when it comes to building domain authority, backlinks, you know, all of these different types of things, there are so many different ways you are an SEO professional or you are you know connected to someone who can assist you with this, this is an area where I really recommend outsourcing. Those who are experts in this area can produce results so much faster, you can do lots of research online to figure out how and where you can get, you know, different citations and different backlinks and all of these different pieces for your SEO to really drive up that domain authority. But at the end of the day, someone who is reduced in this area will be significantly more. So you know, don't be afraid to source additional support for specific areas and be mindful that your time is not free. And if you are doing some of these pieces yourself, you are taking time away from other parts of your business. Okay, tangible

Tip number four. So I recently had, you know, a client and we were working through some website changes and, you know, some pages got taken down off the site, they were replaced with some new pages. And, you know, when it comes to SEO, we always talk about it's the long game. And, you know, so those pages that got taken down the the effect that that had on the you know, SEO reports was immediate, and the other new pages hadn't started to index yet not ideal, but all part of this process of you know, making some adjustments to the website, of course, the report has lots of red, red everywhere, lots of this is down, that's down, this is down, you know, but you have to take a step back and think, you know, logically and say,

Okay, we know that we've made some big shifts and changes, we can see the effect that that has had. But we also know that, you know, all these other businesses that we're competing with, they haven't all made so many changes that you know, it's going to be, you know, we went from top three to, you know, down in the 80s. Overnight, you know that that is a direct, you know, correlation with these changes that you're making. So don't panic, wait for, you know, new pages to index and really realize that, that SEO is a gradual process for the most part. And, you know, panicking really doesn't serve any purpose. And, you know, continuing to refresh SEO reports and those types of things. It can only add additional stress, yes, you should be looking at these reports. But it's kind of really like, you know, the, I guess controversial, and I'm not the expert to weigh in. But you know, should you weigh yourself every day, is there benefit to standing on the bathroom scale every morning, the same thing with SEO reports? Ultimately, this is something that you can be looking at weekly, even monthly. And really reviewing what's working and what's not. But keep in mind anytime you're making those big shifts, removing whole pages, moving things, you know, in this particular instance, we were moving a website from one platform to another, you know, these kinds of things can have an effect, but know that you just need to keep your eye on the end objective and realize it's all part of them. And our last tangible tip for our SEO series really talks about knowing the place of SEO in your marketing structure and cutting back to what is the end objective of the bit, what is the marketing supporting? And how does SEO serve you know, it's if you want clients tomorrow, SEO is not going to be the way you're going to get there. SEO is a long game. It's something that you want to be investing in. It's also not for everyone. If you are primarily an online business, SEO might not be necessarily as important for you. Social media may be more important for you.

That's all the time we have for today guys, and that is the conclusion of our SEO seminar series and next week, we'll be back with another special guest going to the service based business society Facebook community. Make sure you head on over to Facebook and we can continue the conversation. Be sure to also follow the show by going to any podcast app and searching surface based business society. Click subscribe Click the fifth star and leave us a written review Have a great week and we will see you soon