How to Attract Clients and Stand Out While Living Out Your Mission as a Mom Entrepreneur from the Nothing for Granted Podcast with Guest Host Sloan Echavarria - Best Of Friends Series #193
What does your “It Mom” Era look like?
What do you believe in your It Mom era? How do you carry yourself? How do you trust yourself?
Meet Sloan Echavarria, also known as Sloan the Beast. As a modern entrepreneur, Latina Video creator, and Mom of 4, Sloan helps busy mom CEOs create their unique work/life balance as they curate a life they are obsessed with- without compromises! She is unapologetically herself, and I’m so proud to call her my friend. We’ve been podcast buddies for the last 2 years, although her YouTube channel, Sloan the Beast, is currently the best place to find her.
In this episode, I’m taking a sharp left turn from the norm and talking about running a business as a mom. Sloan and I chat about entrepreneur struggles, balancing motherhood, business, and living out your mission.
Today is a glimpse into the mind of Business Coach Patricia! While this episode is from 2021, we talked about a wealth of business knowledge that is still relevant today.
This is a live episode from on her podcast, Nothing for Granted, where Sloan helps women and minority owned business find funding for their dreams:
Are you struggling with how to market yourself without sounding sticky and salesy? Do you wish you could figure out the secret to standing out as a professional in a “vanilla ice cream” industry?
Host of the Motherhood in ADHD podcast, Patricia Sung joins me on Fishbowl Live! Together we discuss how marketing yourself properly affects pricing, how to create content, business timelines, and so much more.
Be sure to subscribe to the Nothing for Granted podcast, as well as Sloan the Beast YouTube channel.
Sloan’s website: https://www.buffaloambitionco.com/
Sloan’s instagram: @sloanthebeast
Find our episode details here.
While I’m slowing down for the summer, making space for more family time and accounting for our emergency construction project, I simply couldn’t leave you hanging for the next few weeks. And my ADHD brain didn’t want to do another vanilla Best Of series… Cue Lightbulb!
Welcome to the Best Of Friends Series, where you are meeting a few of my favorite friends in the podcast community. I’m sharing interviews that I have done on other friends’ podcasts. Not only do you get a new episode, I hope that you’ll find a few shows to add to your podcast queue. There’s a wide variety of topics coming your way, so keep an eye out for a new friend each week of the summer.
ready to get away?
Our annual ADHD Moms Luxury Weekend Retreat is coming up October 6-8, 2023 in Houston, Texas! You're officially invited :)
“Gift yourself the opportunity to meet like-minded people (literally), make instant friendships, and the space to finally be yourself.” –ADHD Mama T.H.
I’ll take care of all the details - you simply show up and enjoy.
Put it on your calendar now. Because you deserve to take care of yourself too.
Grab your all-inclusive ticket here: https://www.patriciasung.com/adhd-mom-retreat
Patricia Sung 00:02
Are you overwhelmed by motherhood and barely keeping your head above water? Are you confused and frustrated by how all the other moms make it look so easy. You can figure out how to manage the chaos in your mind, your home, or your family. I get your mama, parenting with ADHD is hard. Here is your permission slip to let go of the Pinterest worthy visions of organization and structure fit for everyone else. Let's do life like our brains do life creatively, lovingly, and with all our might. When we embrace who we are and how our brains work, we can figure out how to live our lives successfully, and in turn, lead our families well, at the end of the day, we just want to be good moms. but spoiler alert, you are already a great mom. ADHD does not mean you're doomed to be a hot mess. Mama, you can rewrite your story from shame spiral to success story. And I'll be right here beside you to cheer you on. Welcome to motherhood in ADHD. Hey there successful mama, it's your friend Patricia Sung. Welcome to our summer best of series. Now over the summer, I'm going to be taking a break to slow down a little bit hanging out more with my kids. I'm also managing and like why am I seeing slowing down there is no slowing down. I just have to reshift priorities here, hanging out my kids dealing with all of the construction project that's been going on. It has been a lot this spring. And I realized like I gotta let up this summer, in order to be able to do all the things, shifting some stuff around. So it's like how do I still deliver great content, but also like, not just do the same old, same old because Hello, ADHD. So here's what we're doing, I am going to be sharing some friends with you. So while I will sprinkle in a couple of episodes from my own podcast, I chose some of the ones that were like the most popular downloads in the last few months. But I think that they are the most popular downloaded episodes because they cover a lot of the like basic things that we need to know about our ADHD. And we could use a little reminder sometimes of just the basic things. But I'm more excited about introducing you to some of my friends, I have asked several of my podcasting friends to share the interview that I did on their podcast, so that you can get to know not only you still get to hear from me about ADHD and whatever they're like podcast is focusing on but that I want you to be able to meet some other really great podcast host. Most of these are women most of these are moms who are doing great things in the world. And I love what they're doing. I want to support them. And I want you to have really great podcasts in your feed that are they're supporting you and showing you who you can be and like bringing more light and wonderfulness and fun to your summer as you are doing your mom thing and trying to juggle all the things. So welcome to the best of series. And let's dive into today's episode. Now this episode is quite the deviation from the norm you don't normally get business coach Patricia. But that's what you got today. And even though this episode is from 2021 It has a wealth of business knowledge in here. And bear with me because this is a live episode. So you got all of the liveness right in there. Today's episode is with my friend who goes by Sloane The Beast salon and I have been friends for at least two years. We started out as like podcast buddies. And I am literally every day amazed by her. She's like one of my mom heroes. One of my favorite parts about her is that she truly walks in integrity with what she believes. And so I have watched her from this starting point. So like here is like back in the day. Her original podcast was called nothing for granted. And she was helping female entrepreneurs find grants and funds to support their businesses. This conversation we did on fishbowl which was a popular app at the time, kind of in the like clubhouse era. And I have watched her go from there to like the whole time having her YouTube channel and now leaning into what she calls her it mom era and shifting her focus to support female entrepreneurs who are drowning in that juggling between motherhood and business. So you can find Sloane on YouTube her channels called salon the beast, she makes relatable content encouragement tips on how you can enter your in mom era and I cannot wait for you to meet her because she is a modern entrepreneur. Are Latina video creator and a mama for that helps busy moms CEOs create the unique work life balance that you want so that you can create the life that you are obsessed with without any compromises. So, I will have all of Sloan's links linked here in the show notes so you can go follow her and enjoy our conversation about how to attract clients and stand out when you're in a dry industry.
Sloan Echavarria 05:27
My name is Eliana, I am the owner of buffalo ambition cow. I am a grant writer and host of the nothing for granted podcast where I teach grant writers how to leave their nine to five jobs and launch their own business with a kingdom focused mentality. Today you are joining us for how to attract clients and stand out in a dry industry. Today I'm talking with Patricia Sung, and there's no way that I can do her justice. I'm going to let Patricia take the floor here and introduce yourself,
Patricia Sung 05:56
Hey there, I'm Patricia Sung, I host the motherhood in ADHD podcast. And I help moms who have ADHD themselves, get their lives together, learn how to be productive, I talk about parenting and also Science Base education about ADHD so that we can spread awareness that it is not a mental illness nor disorder. But it is just a different way of thinking. And I want to change the paradigm so that it's not looked at as a deficit, as the name does, say, attention deficit disorder, but instead is, as long as you're working with your brain, you can do amazing things and still be successful, while you're taking time to assess the obstacles that you have, given the type of brain that you have. So I teach classes for moms to get their lives together. And I just love sharing about ADHD and making it a little bit more of a positive spin on things. So I've been hosting my pockets for about two and a half years now when I just started teaching classes in the last seven, eight months. And prior to that I was in education, banking.
Sloan Echavarria 07:00
Very, very cool. I think it's super important to open up a space to have those conversations right just about how ADHD, it is so scientific, right? And there is so many different elements that come into play when it comes to motherhood, especially when you're running a business, right? There's so many moving pieces, that it's important to have someone to turn to that understand where moms with ADHD are coming from. And so I think that the work that you're doing is super duper important. And I personally am a huge fan of yours, Patricia. Today we're gonna be talking about dry industries, how do you attract clients? How do you market yourself? And ultimately, how do you convert your messaging? Right? Can you tell us a little bit about how you would define a dry industry?
Patricia Sung 07:45
I mean, it really simple terms. It's an industry where people aren't like, who when they hear about it. So there's so many areas where you know, when you hear about an item, you're immediately excited and thrilled to jump in and learn about it. But most of the world is not like that most of the industries that make the world go round are dry industries, where when you first hear them, it's like, well, you know what, banking doesn't sound that interesting, or accounting or HR or law, like to a lot of people those feel like, so anything, that's when you hear it, you're not immediately excited about it, to me is a dry industry.
Sloan Echavarria 08:22
I love that response. Like I mentioned, I'm a grant writer, and I always like to tell people, it's not first date conversation, like, you don't go into a first date and say, hey, yeah, I'm a grant writer, and that's, you know, supposed to be a turnout? Of course not. And so that's kind of what I think of whenever I think of a dry industry, like what are industries that most people are put off by? And it can be really hard in this digital era, right to figure out how do I stand out from the crowd? How do I make my job and my business? Attractive, relatable? How can I make this profitable? And so tell me, how do you create messaging that converts?
Patricia Sung 09:07
So I like to focus on the transformation that people are getting afterwards. No one is buying the item to have the item. When you're in a dry industry. No one is looking at, for example, say someone who's a financial planner and being like, wow, you know what sounds really great. I wish I could talk about savings and stuff like that. Just wow, that's my that's, oh my goodness, like, let's get into that. No, those are industries where what you're selling is the transformation that they're going to have afterwards. The lifestyle that they're going for the goals that they're pushing for. What you're selling is the end result, not the actual product because like when it comes to mental health, that's something that a lot of people don't want to talk about. People aren't going to be out posting on social media 99% of the time. Come and say, Hey, I have this mental health issue, let me post about healing share this podcast like that's not where, where I'm going to drive my audience because that can be something that people aren't comfortable with or something that people are scared to speak about. So I'm not going to have the kind of like as much word of mouth, as you might get, like, say if you're a travel agent, because that's a lot more glamorous than mental health. So what I always focus on is, when I talk to people, it's not about like, for example, the class that I'm working on right now is about productivity and planning your calendar and your To Do lists. Like, that's not exciting stuff. Nobody's like, wow, to do lists, that sounds great. No, what I'm pushing is look at the lifestyle that you can have when you know how to be productive, the peace and the calm that you can have in your day when you understand how it is that you organize your to do list. So when I'm looking at how am I going to frame what I'm doing, it's not about talking about planners, it's about what is the feeling that you're going to have after this? What is the result?
Sloan Echavarria 11:10
That was such a good explanation. Because in the course that we took together, you really drilled into my mind service, not sales. And for me, who is terrified of the word sales, I'm not a salesperson at all I hate, I feel like I hate being sold to and I heard this phrase one time, if you hate being sold to then get out of business because everything is. And when you told me no service, not sales that totally transformed the way that I market, my services and my business. And I think that pivoting that mindset and really thinking about the end result and reverse engineering that in your marketing in your messaging is just such an easy way to really start presenting the product or the services that you offer. Yeah, for sure.
Patricia Sung 12:00
I love reverse engineering. That's something that I do a lot of, when I look at where do I want to my mom has to be at the end of my course. That is where I want to go. So I love reverse engineering and walking backwards of like, okay, well, then how am I going to get them there step by step. A little bit at a time. Oh, see, I do have ADHD. So I forgot the other thing. Can you remind me what the other thing is? You said?
Sloan Echavarria 12:27
I'm sorry? How do you come up with your content that converts? And can you walk me through that process? Especially when you're talking about things like productivity planners and calendars or banking, you know, again, things that are not exactly very exciting, because here we're talking about how to attract clients, and stand out in a dry industry.
Patricia Sung 12:49
So we start with what is the problem that's keeping them up at night? Pondering while they're sitting in traffic? What is it that they want to fix? So that's where I start. So for example, in with like, my productivity class, what is it that I can do for her to solve that problem? And then the content said, Okay, well, if she's sitting up at night, feeling like she's not a great mom, what can
Sloan Echavarria 13:16
Patricia, I think I lost you there. So I'm going to kind of pick up from there because I do something very, very similar, where I write out all of my list of issues, concerns, fears that my client may have as a grant writer, and then I actually keep a journal, and I call it my Business Journal. And in this business journal, I pretty much write down everything that I may have faced when I was in their place a year ago, two years ago, six months ago. And when I'm having difficulties creating content, either long form content, like podcasts, or short form content, such as social media posts, I just go back to my journal when I feel stuck. And I go back to those moments and those journal entries where, you know, man, I can't believe I was ridiculous enough to think that I could start a business what was I thinking? There's no way I can do this. These are things that my client thinks about as well, you know, where am I going to come up with the money to book or outsource this branding photographer, you know, these are things that kept me up at night and probably keep up my client at night. And so I use that journal as a tool not just to decompress but also as a tool to create content that's going to connect and be relatable to my specific aspiring freelance grant writer. Is your process a little similar to that?
Patricia Sung 14:38
Sorry, it is thunderstorm in Texas and lightning hit our house today and took out our internet about an hour before this meeting. And so I'm running on a hotspot and a lot of prayer right now. I think I'm fixed but we'll see if it holds out.
Sloan Echavarria 14:53
No worries we left off at do you create content based off of do you do something similar to me where like I keep a journal Journal and refer to that journal often when I have to create contact or I'm stuck or do you just brainstorm as you go,
Patricia Sung 15:07
I have a ridiculously large number of years that I keep in I use Evernote most of the time. But I keep any idea that comes to me goes into that brainstorm, I have that brainstorm, list running literally all the time. Because as you're going through life, like if you truly are in an industry where you know what it is that, like you were called to be like, This is what really drives you and your mission and your calling and your interest, you will find ideas everywhere you go every part of your life, when you're interacting with other people, you will see the connection between what you're doing, and how you can relate that back to how you're supposed to be serving others. And when you just keep that log, when it comes time to write an email to your clients or to come up with a podcast topic or a presentation, you have all these ideas to pull from. And you can find the one that makes sense for the situation that you are in. But I would say I have no less than 75 ideas on that list at any given time.
Sloan Echavarria 16:10
That is gold, honestly, because I know that content creation is one of the biggest pain points for a lot of creators out there. So the fact that you have 75 at any given time, that's incredible. I do want to talk a little bit about some of the issues that I have seen are not issues, just some of the difficulties, I would say that I have seen with other people in dry industries like grant writing, like finance, like law, and it's where people that are very transactional. So before transitioning full time into buffalo ambition, CO, which is my business, I worked in a corporate 500 company, I was an executive liaison. And for three years, all of my coaches would go like this, I'm Indiana, we need to work on your empathy skills. And it was like drilled into me that I just had to be far more empathetic, I had to be far more relatable, I had to be more understanding. And it's because we're so transactional, we see the problem, we see the solution, and we just want to get it done. And I've noticed over time as an entrepreneur, that empathy plays such a huge part in your marketing and the way that you create your messaging because a lot of people like we mentioned previously, they don't like sales. There's a lot of people that don't like personal branding, because it quote unquote, requires them to share their own story. And not everyone is comfortable with that. So what advice would you have for someone in an industry like this, who is very transactional, and doesn't want to share their story?
Patricia Sung 17:45
I am definitely an introvert. And if you're into the Enneagram, I'm an Enneagram. One. So I'm a very black and white thinker, like I have trouble with the middle ground, and I am a very transactional person. So understand. And it is something that I have to work really hard to be aware of that, like I'm the kind of person who when I send a text message, I don't say like, Hey, good morning, how's it going? My text message is I need you to do this, or what can you help me with on this? Or how can we do that, like, I skipped over the fluffy part. And that upsets some people. So I understand it's something that I have to be very aware of, what I try to focus on for me is that connection is where you build relationships, people can go and find whatever it is that you offer from a bazillion people in the world. I mean, the world is full of people, there's many options out there, what they're looking for is someone that they feel connected to, that they feel they can trust. So even when you're in an industry that's not like a warm, fuzzies kind of industry, people are still working with people, your clients are still humans. And that connection is where you will drive business. That's why people refer word of mouth is because they felt special. No one's referring the transactional. They refer things where people went above and beyond and they feel like that person knows them and cares about them. So that's something I have to keep in the forefront of my mind. Because I am a very transactional person as well. And depending on your personality, there's different ways that you can do that. Like for example, in my podcast, I try really hard to be open and vulnerable with folks about what my struggles are. Because that allows other people to be open with me when you're building that relationship. Somebody has to be vulnerable first. And if it's not going to be you, you're looking to that other person who says Well, I'm just gonna wait for them to be vulnerable because I don't want to be vulnerable and then no one gets anywhere. So it really is like the onus is on us to make that first step in to show that we're human and that we have, you know, faults or struggles or whatever it is that you can create that connection with the person so for me It's about being vulnerable first and being willing to share the struggles so that other people will feel more comfortable around me. Mama, are you ready to get away, You are cordially invited to this year's annual retreat are successful as a mother luxury weekend getaway retreat conference amazingness. That is happening this October. This is a chance for you to get away and take a break and truly rest for you to learn about your brain in a way that makes sense for you. And most importantly, know that you are not alone and have a real life community of moms who get you we are staying at a beautiful four star hotel. This is an all inclusive event, which means I will handle everything for you. Once you arrive, I take care of your hotel, I take care of your meals that you neither cook dinner cleaned up, nor cut anybody else's food up that you truly get to have a weekend where you take care of you because you deserve rest, you deserve to be taken care of. And I'm going to do that for you at this retreat. So I invite you to go ahead and grab your ticket at https://www.patriciasung.com/adhd-mom-retreat again, that's https://www.patriciasung.com/adhd-mom-retreat grab your ticket, and let's hang out in person, I cannot wait to meet you.
Sloan Echavarria 21:24
That's so good. And I 100% agree with that I have no problem sharing my struggles, my life, what my process is, I actually I want to share this with you guys. Because I think it's important and really ties into what we're talking about here. In my social media, I had posted a photo of myself and two out of four of my kids. And literally within an hour I had someone write to me, they say, Hey, I just saw this photo of you and your children, I want to book a consultation with you. Because if you can do it with two kids, if you can launch your business, and juggle marriage, motherhood, I'm a full time university student and business, I can do this too. And she said, I've been following you for a while. But it wasn't until this one photo that I realized you're for me. And sometimes that's all it takes is just a moment for you to open up. Now, if you are super introverted, and you say I don't want to share my story, I'm not comfortable sharing my struggles and what I've been through totally fine. There's other options out there, you can share the story of a client. And this is a tactic that I have seen other grant writers use and have had high success rates with that in terms of conversions, right, so you can share the story of a client and their transformation. When it comes to content creation. There's really a couple of pillars here. And one of them is of course, education, inspiration, motivation. And then just lifestyle is what I like to say, are the main pillars there and what I personally focus on, and when you share a transformation story, if it's not yours, let it be somebody else's, at least they see what their life can look like, if and when they book with you. I wanted to kind of go back on something that you had mentioned, and it's connections where you build relationships. Okay, so we're talking about content creation. And there's really two forms of content creation, and it's long form content and short form content. How would you break those down for people that are just getting started, let's say as a solopreneur, where they're trying to navigate Okay, where do I need to be? Where do I create this content? Do I have to show up on all the clubhouses and all the Instagrams and all the things.
Patricia Sung 23:33
So long form content is where you're putting significantly more work into. And that's something like YouTube videos, or podcasts or more in depth email, where you're really packing some serious information in and then your short form content, or the little things like your social media posts, and a quick email where you're giving, like really just like one tidbit. And what I like to do is start with the long form, and then pull pieces out of it to create the short form because as a business owner, you only have so much time in a day, and you can easily get sucked into doing all of the things. So what I like to do is start with my podcast habit for the week, and then pull out a few tidbits, like a quote for social media, or one of the key points for the email that goes out. And then that way you're not doing like creation on every single item you're pulling from that main section. And then where to start is that you want to start with what makes sense for you and your customers. So one, what do you like to do like, if you're not into social media, don't do social media. If you pick something that you don't enjoy, it's just going to be pulling teeth. And as a business owner, you don't really have time to waste on things that you don't enjoy doing. We only have so much energy and we are the driving factor of the business. So if we're using way too much energy to do something we don't enjoy, that means you don't have the energy to do What you do enjoy and need to be doing. So just like let that go that does not need to be a required skill is do the thing that you enjoy doing. If you prefer Instagram or Facebook be there. If you prefer to be on tick tock or whatever it is, you don't want to be on video, then don't be on video, pick the thing that feels comfortable for you. But also with the caveat of you need to be where your audience is. So looking at the generational age range that you're looking at, where do those people hang out, you do want to make sure that it makes sense for the audience that you're working with. Because what you might do in your own personal life may not make sense to where you'd be hanging out in a business sense. For example, if you're marketing to millennials, you probably don't want to hang out on Facebook as your primary option, you want to make sure that that matches, so starting where you're comfortable, and where it's not going to be a hassle for you where you're going to enjoy it, and then to where your audience is going to be spending their time.
Sloan Echavarria 25:55
That's so good. I 100% agree with you. Once again, you and I are both we're moms and we have our businesses, so we juggle all the things right. And so that was one determining factor for me was really looking at my family dynamics and determining, okay, how much time do I really have to dedicate to my marketing? Realistically speaking, while I love video, as a mom of four, I don't have the time to get dressed and look awesome, get great lighting, and sit in front of my video for 30 minutes educating on the topic of you know, grant writing, or entrepreneurship or whatever it is, and then sit down for another hour and edit, and then keywords and SEO and all the things that come along with that, right. But I can sit here for 1520 minutes with my mic in my closet office. And I can record really quickly edit post, and we're good to go. So I think it's important to really look at your lifestyle, as strange as that is to say and determine okay, what is realistically within the realms of what my time allows and what my energy allows, because I'm huge on not just using your resources in terms of time and money wisely and efficiently. Because time is the only resource that we're never going to get back. Right. So Patricia, how would you say that you know that this is working, that your personal branding strategy is actually working for you. It's efficient for you? How do you determine either in terms of stats, or just in general, that this is the right strategy?
Patricia Sung 27:31
Well, it does involve a lot of trial and error. I think that's one of the frustrating parts about being an entrepreneur is that it does involve a lot of well, let me see how this works. Let me give it a try. And that resilience is quite valuable when it comes to running your own business, because you're never going to know if it works for you until you try it. I'd like to say it's a little more organized than just throwing spaghetti at the wall, but a lot of trial and error and seeing what works. But the statistics that I look at mostly are my podcast growth. So I try to look at the curve of how it's growing. are we increasing episode after episode is that, you know, from a numbers standpoint, that matters, obviously conversions into my classes, whether or not you know, there's people signing up for them, that is a good indicator of whether things are working, but also from a heart issue. Like I need to feel good about what's working, I need to feel like it makes sense for me, for my family. You know, I'm also a working mom, I have two kids. And it has to make sense for what my lifestyle is in this season. And like what my output looks like in the summertime is different than what it's going to look like in the school year. And that's okay being accepting of the fact that we don't have to be machines. We're not robots, we don't have to do the exact same thing every day or every week or every month, we're allowed to be humans and roll with it and have ebbs and flows. But that does this make sense? Does it feel good from a heart perspective, and this shouldn't be drag out awful, because I think everyone in here can say they've been in a job where it was rough. Every time you get up, you're not happy to go to work, and you're dreading when the Monday rolls around. So knowing that it makes sense for you and where you want to be that is not something that you can necessarily quantify, like I can podcast ads or conversions into a class. But if it doesn't feel good, then you know, what are we doing here?
Sloan Echavarria 29:29
And how long would you say it took you to get to a point where you feel comfortable with the social media platforms that you're on with the long form content that you chose? When did you say okay, yeah, this is working. This makes sense?
Patricia Sung 29:43
That's a good question. I've been doing the podcast for two and a half years now. And I feel like I knew it was working within the first six months. I've been working on classes now for I think about seven months, maybe eight months. And I think it's a little too early to say for sure I feel really good about it right now. But I think as things get underway, like I mean, most of the time was spent in product development and getting everything ready. So the class has only been live for about a month. So at this point, I wouldn't put a judgment on it. Since it's only a month out. I think that's something that a lot of times as entrepreneurs we do is that we put all this work in, and there's not that immediate gratification. And we do have to wait a little bit of time to see if something really works before we change things. Because a lot of times when we are entrepreneurs, we're used to being flexible and doing things on the fly. And we don't give something enough time to really see the results before were like, Okay, this didn't work. Let's change it. It's like, well, you know, we need to give it a little more time. So since my class has only been out there for about a month, I would say it's hard to say just yet that's really there. But what would you say to that? I'm curious as to your answer.
Sloan Echavarria 30:51
So a lot of my clients, I would say, 98% of my clients actually come from Instagram, which to me was crazy. When I closed out my last quarter, and I was at under not even 120 followers, Patricia, and my company within that quarter had generated $4,000. And I said, That's How was that possible? I don't have all these followers. And then I had to remind myself, it's not about the followers. It's about converting, when you have, like you mentioned this relationship that you have been building and nurturing with your loyal following base, they're going to know like, and trust you I business one on one and spend money with you. And that took me Yeah, about the same six months, six months to get to that point. And now with the podcast, little by little, I've seen clients start trickling in, Hey, I heard this podcast episode. And that really resonated with me, I'd love to lock in a consultation or whatever the case is. And so I anticipate within the next six months now that I have implemented different strategies off the course that you and I took together, I do anticipate within the next six months to really start seeing a pretty sweet ROI.
Patricia Sung 32:02
I think a lot of times, as you're talking, what I was thinking is as entrepreneurs, sometimes we're just really hard on ourselves, and giving ourselves that grace to know that we don't have to figure it out right away, it doesn't have to be perfect. The first time that we need to just start we have to put one foot in front of the other and let it play out and give it some time is that there's so many times where I get all frustrated about how like, why don't have more of this or that or you know, whether it's more followers or more customers, whatever it is, but yet when I turn around, I say, Well, this class has only been live for one month, Patricia, are you expecting something unrealistic to have happened in one month, but we is because it's our baby. We're like what I put everything into. And we, of course, we want it to be successful. But we do need to give it time to play out.
Sloan Echavarria 32:54
I also think it's transactional brain behind it all. Like, we know that we're fixing somebody's problem. And we don't understand like, why isn't this generating more money? For me at least that, and I probably speak for myself on that where I launched something and I'm like, Why isn't this generating me $10,000? Well, like, like you mentioned, Patricia, it takes time. I want to use this as a segue into going back to the title of this episode. And it's how to attract clients and stand out in a dry industry. And you'll notice that a title that how to attract clients, we're not chasing clients. I don't like using the strategy of sending out a million cold emails, that strategy just didn't work for me. Can you tell me a little bit about your experience with attracting versus chasing clientele?
Patricia Sung 33:43
I am definitely not a chaser. I spent a lot of time in sales when I was in banking. And it was difficult to sell because my heart wasn't in it. I didn't fully believe in what I was selling. And, for example, like, I'm trying to think back when I first started in banking, the banks had just started offering credit cards themselves. So this dates me I know, but we were, you know, just starting out with the bank credit card. And I am a fabulous salesperson when I turned it on, but I felt like empty and hollow inside because here I am selling credit cards to people and I can see their bank account history. And I'm like, oh dear, you do not need a credit card when you need as a financial advisor. But that was my job. So I did it. And that like feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me like this is not the right way to go about things. So now what the way that I look at it is truly from that attraction standpoint is that I take care of my clients as I would want to be treated and I'm there to let them know like I have this solution for you. I think it's great for you. Let me tell you about how wonderful it is, but I'm not going to push it on anyone Because I don't want the type of customer who feels like they've been like duped or coerced into what I'm doing, because that is going to create more issues for me on the back end of you know, refunds and dissatisfied customers, like, that's not going to do me any good. Like, yes, you got money in the door, but long term that's not building a business. So selling is serving like, this is what I can do for you. This is how I can help you, here are the benefits of what this product will give you. But I'm not here to convince you that it's the right thing for you. Because one, I don't know, you will have to tell you what you need or don't need. But I can tell you what I offer and how I know that it would help the right person. And those right people will hear the message and they will come as long as you're talking about it as much as you can. I think that's where people who are introverts and are scared of selling where we can fall down is that we're too afraid to talk about it. And if you're not letting people know what you do, then how can they come get it from you if they don't even know it exists?
Sloan Echavarria 36:05
That reminds me of a statistic that I read recently about how you have to repeat the same thing about seven times the same services, same product about seven times before someone actually makes the purchase and commits to that service. And I've tried to implement that now. Because I'm like seven times I get mad when I have to repeat things to my kids twice. Yeah, like what you want me to do this seven times. But I think it's so important that like you mentioned, we open up that space to be selective as service providers. As to who we work with, I think that attracting your clients versus chasing your clients enables you to say, You know what, I don't want to work with everybody. And maybe that can sound you know, however it sounds, but that's just the reality. I don't want to work with clients that are going to haggle my prices, or give me an excuse when it's time for them to do the work. I want clients that are going to show up, I want clients that want to be challenged and don't mind kind of that slight kick in the butt that, that I give during my consultations, you know, there are people that know what to expect. And that's kind of how I like to explain marketing, right? It's setting up that expectations for your clients as to what experience they're going to get once they lock in a service with you. There's no surprises, there's no surprises as to how you speak, there's no surprises as to how you look right? Because you're showing up in your most true and authentic self every time that you're on socials, every time that you're on YouTube, creating your educational content or wherever it is that you're showing up. I think that it's super important when you're attracting clients to just be mindful that now you've made it a two way street, where it's you're choosing them and they're choosing you versus when you're chasing clients. You're saying I choose you, but you're not necessarily being open to okay, do that. What if they don't want me right? And that's where a lot of those limiting beliefs and hits your confidence takes place.
Patricia Sung 38:09
Oh, for sure. When you were saying that what it made me think about was like this is the reason I love podcasts. And this long form content so much is because this is the chance for people to get to know you and feel like they can trust you because they have listened to you for however many minutes week after week. And then you're going to get the kind of client who wants to work with you because they feel like they know you already like I think all of us can imagine somebody like a whether you listen to podcasts or like you watch a certain YouTube or you follow somebody on Instagram, and you feel like you know them far better than you actually do. Because you've never actually met the person in real life. You've only seen them on your phone. And that connection and like it brings the right kind of clients for you. Because they're not walking in the door being like, Oh, well, I That's a surprise. I can't believe you said that. Because if they've listened to your podcast or your YouTube or followed you on any of the social medias for a significant amount of time they know who you are, what you stand for the way that you teach the way that you work, and that's going to bring you such higher quality and better matched clientele.
Sloan Echavarria 39:20
I also think that it creates a space for a warmer market and warmer audience because as service providers in a dry industry like CPAs like lawyers where the pricing is often higher than let's say a graphic designer or you know a model or a travel agent like you have previously mentioned. You know, these are services that are a lot of fun to talk about and so easy when it comes to personal branding, but when you create an entire personal brand, right as a for example, myself as a grant writer and my pricings are premium pricing, right but this person has been following me they already know like demand Then what to expect, but the experience is going to be, they're more open to what my price is, they're more open to being able to pay that, you know, a lot of people say, well, they can't afford it. Money's an issue. Money's never an issue because people will come up with the money to buy a jet ski, but for whatever reason, it's an issue when it's time for them to invest in their business. I'm so
Patricia Sung 40:25
sorry, that made me laugh with the Jetski.
Sloan Echavarria 40:27
I live in Florida, everything ties back to saltwater life. So I think that yes,
Patricia Sung 40:34
we're sure that
Sloan Echavarria 40:36
you do you get warm, it's a warm lead. Exactly. And when it comes to your bottom line, I feel like personal branding has totally changed the game for those of us that are in industries that aren't so much fun. And it really has made it so much easier when it comes to selling and presenting your prices.
Patricia Sung 40:55
Yeah, for sure. Because if you're willing to invest serious money with somebody, you want to know that that's the right person for you. So usually, when we're looking for somebody who has a premium price, and in something you know, more dry, like if you're looking for a lawyer, or you're looking for someone helping you with personal finances, usually where people will go is through word of mouth, because they know that they can trust someone else that they know, like, there's that referral point. So in doing these long form content, so you're basically overcoming the hurdle of word of mouth by coming from your mouth via the internet. To me, it's just amazing that we can reach not just the people who are in our lives, but literally across the world. There's people listening to my podcast everywhere from like Pakistan, to New Zealand, it's like every corner of the earth, how is it that I in Houston can reach somebody that far. But that's the beauty of creating the long form content is that you can reach so many more people and how not just in you know, your single town you can grow so far beyond that.
Sloan Echavarria 41:59
Oh, yeah. And even more than that, just taking it a step further. And do that in a way where you are true to yourself, where you don't have to change who you are, what your beliefs are what you stand for, you can stand in that truth, and sell your services and attract the people that are meant for you. That to me blows my mind. The majority of my clients are international clients. And I love the fact that I can speak to so many different religions and so many different beliefs. And we all have this common ground, right? But the fact that I can show up on my podcast on my social media without having to worry about what will people think of me, that's the beauty. That's how you attract clients and standout is personal branding is sharing your unique story in a way that only you can, and how that translates into your bottom line. Profit really is the magic of personal.
Patricia Sung 42:53
And I I for some reason, I'm like, I feel like I need to say this, somebody here needs to hear this is that when you are sharing yourself in a way, like for example, in YouTube or a podcast, it you are sharing that meant for the audience that you are trying to reach. I was just helping a friend earlier this week, who, whose business took a pretty hard hit and COVID. And we were talking about ways that she could just kind of rebrand and work on her marketing and everything. And she was telling me how some of her family had been kind of harsh about her website. And I asked her point blank, she works with moms of newborns. And I was like, do these people have a baby? She's like, No, they don't have any kids. And I was like, then their opinion doesn't matter. If they're not your customer, then it doesn't matter what you're doing is not for them, you will always find people who have something to say about it. I mean, my husband loves to say opinions are like buttholes, everybody's got one of them, they usually stink. So like if you're asking the people in your circle for feedback, they may not be the right people to ask for feedback. If they are not your ideal customer. Don't ask them find someone either. If you don't have any in your direct circle, or someone who's you know, just outside of your circle, for example, you know, if you are looking to work with moms of newborns, and you don't have anyone in your circle that has a newborn, who do you know, who might know somebody with a newborn and ask them if they have two minutes to ask a question, like remind yourself that when you're out there attracting the people that are for you, that means you should also be repelling the people that are not for you. The woman that I was hoping like if her niece who doesn't have kids doesn't like her website, that's probably a good thing because she's not the Korean. It doesn't matter what her opinion is, because she's not the person you're going after. So remind yourself that there's always going to be somebody who has something to say and you're out there to attract the people that are for you. Not the other 99% of the world that might be listening. I don't know if you've run into that Eliana so good. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I've
Sloan Echavarria 44:52
had consultations with people that are pretty big contracts. And as I'm going through their initial intake it very clear that we're not in alignment. And I'm like, Yeah, of course, we're not, you know, based off of my messaging that I'm not for you. And I know based off of my research of the organization that I'm not for them, so we play the roles or whatever. But at the end of it, nothing happens, because we're not meant for each other. So it's exactly your 100%. Right, Patricia, you're attracting certain clients, but you're also repelling the ones that are not for you. And that's totally okay. There's nothing wrong with that. But that's exactly what you want. You want to work on projects that excite you with people whose missions and causes you truly believe in and you want to help, you know, whether it's scale their business, whether it's even start their business, whatever it is that you do, you want to work with people that, like you mentioned, make you excited to get up in the morning and get started on their case.
Patricia Sung 45:51
And I mean, the beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you get to control your business, like you are in charge, and you get to work with the people that you want to work with. That's one of the best perks about it. So while it is hard when people, you know, unfollow you, or leave a bad review on your podcast, or, you know, whatever negative feedback you get, that's also a good thing that says that you stand for something, and that you're being clear in your message. Because if everybody loves your message, then you're not standing for anything, and you're not sticking out from the crowd. I know some people love a vanilla ice cream. But as an entrepreneur, your job isn't to be a vanilla ice cream. Anybody can go and get your service from some big box company. They're the vanilla that works for everybody. The reason people choose to work with an entrepreneur one on one is because they want that tailored attention. They want that tailored experience they want the rocky road or the moose tracks, or you know, Cherry Garcia, they're not looking for vanilla, so we should be attracting and we should be repelling which you know is a little hard on the self esteem sometimes. But that is our goal is inadvertently is it we shouldn't be pushing some people
Sloan Echavarria 47:01
away. Awesome. Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen, you can find me at the nothing for granted podcast on Apple, Spotify or any other audio platform. I teach all about grant writing and teach grant writers how to leave their nine to five jobs and launch their own business with a keen focus mentality. So they can get out of being and feeling undervalued working with organizations that are understaffed, and they can transition into a life of freedom and purpose. And so you can also check me out on Instagram that's buffalo ambition CO we appreciate you taking the time, and we hope that you have a wonderful evening. Thank you so much once again.
Patricia Sung 47:42
Thanks so much Eliana and thanks for listening. For more resources, classes and community head over to my website motherhood in adhd.com