Hello, love. I am back now. Today I’m gonna be getting a little honest with you, about some things that have been going on for me in the last month, and things I’m seeing I don’t have any more patients to tolerate. So, that’s what we’re gonna do on today’s episode. And we’re actually gonna talk a little bit about the fact that, there hasn’t been a new episode of the show since July, and it’s August 28th. It’s the last Tuesday of August, and this is the only episode coming out this month. Because I wanted to test something.
I wanted to kind of give you a case study that you saw the whole way through, to prove a point. To illuminate some, honestly, some bullshit, that you’re likely gonna hear marketing around from other people in the next couple of months. Because we’re going into launch season. So instead of the prelaunch season, trying to sell you on 847 ways that I’m the only option to help you. I went the other way. And I’m gonna tell you why today. So, let’s just jump into this thing. Does that sound good?
I, about mid-July decided to take August off from consistent content. That meant that I did no podcast episodes. I released no podcasts episodes. And that also meant that I kind of did Hit the Mic TV, when it made sense for me. That meant I had a bit more space, which was wildly necessary. Because here’s one of the things you may not know. I also moved in July. We moved into a new house, and I moved into a new office, and there was a lot of change in my regular life, a lot of stuff going on. And so it made sense to hold this experiment now.
And the reason I wanted to have this experiment is that, so oftentimes I see people trudging through the idea that they have to create more content. I see people drudging through, getting something up for the sake of it being done. I didn’t want that to be the way I was modeling, or teaching my community to do things. So you’ve seen sort of inconsistent stuff going up on Instagram. You’ve seen some behind the scenes stuff happening on Instagram. You have seen fairly consistent stuff going on, on Twitter because guess what guys? It’s 99% automated. You’ve seen semi-consistent stuff happening on Facebook, and that’s it.
I mean, that really has been the whole show. The only thing I kept consistently was my weekly email. Every Tuesday I sent an email with a link to a past podcast episode, or a Hit the Mic TV, if I had done one, and occasionally both. And here’s the deal. Are you ready for this? I just checked my download numbers again, and there’s a week left in August when I’m recording this, and my numbers of downloads exceeded July. My traffic on my website is currently exceeding July. My conversions are about the same as July. My email list growth is about the same as July.
I didn’t run any ads, I got a little inconsistent with my schedule, and I didn’t create any more content. Seriously. It is not always about what else you can create. It is not always about what more can you do. Sometimes it’s gonna be about doing something, and sometimes literally anything, with what you already have.
Why I Stopped Creating Content in August
So often, we get stuck in this idea that if we just launched a podcast, or the YouTube channel, or supplement our blog posts with Facebook lives, then we’ll start getting traffic. Then we’ll start leveraging our audience. Then our audience will grow that. Then our emails will grow.
If we just create another opt-in, if we just create something else, if we just launch another product. This will be the thing that flips a switch and everybody jumps in. That’s not what it’s about. What it’s really about is consistently showing up, and being a value point that moves your community from problem to solution. Now, that doesn’t mean giving them the whole solution every time you talked to them, that would be like drinking from a fire hose. That’s not helpful for anybody, right? But what it does mean is focusing on quality and not quantity.
Focusing on putting out something worth paying attention to, worth consumption time. Whenever you put out a piece of content, you’re making an ask. You are asking someone to give up their time, to provide you with their attention. Now, I don’t know about you, but my attention is limited. My time is limited. If I’m gonna give my attention to something, I want it to be something really great. But if I’m honest about what I’ve been putting out, I didn’t know that I could put out really great content in August. So I opted not to.
But I didn’t stop promoting the really great content I had done before. I didn’t stop, when I felt called to giving a behind the scenes look, or a value point, or tip, or advice or whatever on Instagram stories, or in my grid. I didn’t stop having conversations with people on Facebook. I didn’t stop showing up as a resource. I just didn’t create anything else. I didn’t hide away in my office, and slave away at a broadcast medium in hopes that it would be good enough to steal your attention for a few minutes.
My Marketing Challenge For You
So, I really am challenging you to look at what you’re putting out in the last four months of this year. That’s why this episode is happening now. I’m literally recording this the day before it goes up, which I never do. But I needed you guys to hear this message. Because as soon as September starts, as soon as next week, we’re gonna be inundated with marketing messages around, what you need to do more of right now to make the most of 2018. Or, and here are the ones that really get me, to get ready for 2019.
I want you to look at those marketing messages, not at, “What am I doing that’s not enough?” But instead, I want you to look at it as, “Am I doing the most I can do with, what I have right now? Am I doing top-notch quality work with the resources I have at hand?” Before you decide to launch that IGTV series, or a podcast, or a new opt-in funnel, or whatever else it is. I want you to take a real honest look at the tools you’ve already created, and see if you’re maximizing them.
How can you repurpose your content?
That may mean doing little things. It may mean adding a transcript to your podcast, or your videos. So people who want to read it can read it. That way you’re not having to create a blog post, and a video and a podcast every week. Look at how you can repurpose one type of content, into all media forms. So that it becomes consumable by the people in your audience, who prefer to consume content in different ways. Look at your options now, and see what you can tweak and improve.
Maybe it’s not that your front end opt-in offer sucks. Maybe it’s that your funnel is just losing people, because all you’re sending is a, “Okay, here’s your download.” Email. And you’ve never made an offer. Well, that’s probably why it’s not converting. Instead of thinking you need to scrap everything you’re doing, instead of thinking you have to add something else to your already cluttered schedule, look at what you’re already doing. Are you making the most of it? All right?
It’s certainly what I’m doing, and it’s certainly what I want to be talking about in the last four months of this year, is this idea that it’s not about doing everything. It’s not about doing more. It’s not about consuming more. It’s not about buying more. It’s instead, about maximizing what you have. All the time, when I book a new strategy client, and we’re onboarding them and I’m going through their stuff, I always start with an initial audit. We do this with our VIP Day clients. We do this with our strategy clients. We do this with our agency clients. I did this with my coaching clients. I always start with an audit.
I go through and I look at what they’ve got. And I get on the phone call, and we’re talking and I go, “So tell me a little bit about what you’re thinking.” They’re like, “Oh, I think I’m gonna launch my podcast. I was thinking about it for years, but I really want to keep my weekly emails. Maybe I’ll bump that up to twice a week, or maybe I’ll add these other networks, or maybe I’ll add whatever.” And I go, “Do you know how, what you have right now is working? When’s the last time you checked your analytics?” “Oh, well, no. But so-and-so is doing such-and-such, and they’re seeing a lot of success.””How do you know? Have you seen their analytics?” “No, but I can see it.”
You don’t know what’s creating that. You don’t know what’s going into something. I don’t care how well you go into creep mode, and sort of scope out, either your competition or just other people in other industries doing really cool things. But you don’t have a complete picture. What you do have a complete picture of, is what you’re doing, So take advantage of that. Look at that information, and see what it’s doing. All right.
That’s really what I want your action item to be. I want you to look at what you’ve got, make the most of what you’ve got, maximize your results in what you’re already doing. Test and tweak what already exists, Instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and just adding something new. Don’t fall prey to the marketing, and the ad campaigns that are all about teaching you to do this new magic bullet. This new magic thing that’s going to change the game. That’s gonna guarantee you six figures because they always do. Instead, look for resources, and coaches and programs that are gonna help you do more with what you already have.
Then, before you make your purchase decision, and this includes anything with me. This is not like, “Oh, buy from me.” This includes literally everything from me, too. Before you do that, look at, “How can I maximize what I’ve already got.” I’ll be honest, I did this in August. Because I have a terrible habit. Whenever I have a really great month, or whenever I start getting just really great growth in my business, like for example, this year we’ve been able to … we will very likely double what we did last year. We’ve already exceeded what we did last year. We will likely double it.
As I went through my expenses this month, because once a quarter I try to go through things, I realized that I’ve spent a ton on courses this year. Which is interesting, because up until this year, I’ve not really bought a lot of courses. I’ve also bought a lot of stuff on AppSumo, that I’ve never used. That I’ve never taken advantage of. I realized that I was trying to make myself feel like I was qualified or prepared for growth that was already happening. Because I took my eye off of what I was doing.
I took my eye off of my own numbers, my own stats, my own information, my own picture, which is the only picture I have all the details to. And started looking at, “Well, to do XYZ, I need to do ABC. When in reality I was already doing XB, XYZ. I was already exceeding the goals I had set for myself. I just wasn’t taking the time to look at that information. I was looking outside, I say this not because I want it to be like, “I’m doing so great, and I figured this out.”
Why am I sharing this?
I’m saying this because, I want you to know because this doesn’t get talked about enough, that we all fall prey to it from time to time. We all get caught up in this idea that, if I just do what they’re doing, then I’ll be successful. When in reality we may be a lot more successful than we think. They may be a lot less successful than we think. And if we want to really have the impact that we’ve set out to have, if we really want to have the growth, we’ve set out. If we really want the results we put on our goal sheet at the beginning of the quarter, or the beginning of the year, however you do your goals, then you absolutely, 1000%, have to be maximizing what you’re already doing, before you build on it.
You have to shore up your foundation first. Then you add to that foundation. Then you add the next level of your house. Okay? All right. So, that is this episode. I feel like this was a strange episode for me, because I tried to be a little less ranty, and a little more like this is how you do ABC. I want to shift that a bit. I want to talk more about this. I want to have these kinds of conversations with you, because I think they’re important.
I want to give a shout out to my friend and client, Tara Newman, who has a podcast called The Bold Leadership Revolution. You should absolutely check it out. But, she’s done such an amazing job of stepping into being really honest with her audience and being really clear about what’s real online, and what’s not. And she’s really challenged me to, whether she’s fully aware of it or not, step into the fact that I’m a business owner. I’m an entrepreneur. I’m not an online business owner. I’m not an online entrepreneur.
I do business online. I do most of my business online, but that doesn’t mean I’m some sort of special, not totally real business. And, I am no longer tolerating people who are, I’m no longer putting up with this idea that, all you need is a landing page and a Facebook ad, and you can teach somebody to make six figures a year. In not tolerating it, I’m gonna speak out against it a bit more. I wanna thank Tara for that inspiration, and that permission, because it was killer.
If you haven’t yet checked out Tara Newman’s, The BRAVE Society, I’m actually a founding member. It’s one of the few things, I am buying into right now. In fact, last week I went through and canceled literally every other membership. I’m working with her, and I’m gonna be working with a coach one-on-one, as I move through the end of this year. Specifically around the branding for The Stacey Harris, Hit the Mic Backstage, and the yet to be named agency. But that’s it. That’s it for me.
I’m not adding more stuff. I’m focusing on, what am I trying to do right now? Where does that lead for my big picture goals? Who do I need on my team to do that” And so that means expanding my actual in-house team, which is growing. And if you are a social media manager, and you want to know more about that growing team, send an email. Because we, we are currently accepting applications.
But also it means, as always, working on my own personal development as a leader. And stepping into that role as … maybe owning that role, not stepped into it, but owning that role of CEO in my companies. So yeah, I’m excited. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did head over to iTunes and leave a review, I would greatly, greatly appreciate it. This is for 412. I’d like to see a ton more reviews there, because I’d like this to be impacting a new generation of entrepreneurs. And to do that, I need you. And so I would appreciate a review. I’d appreciate you sharing this with somebody, who you think it will resonate with. And drop me a message, and say, “Hey” on Facebook or, or whatever.
Also, I’m gonna give you one more call to action here. I would highly recommend joining me this Thursday for Hit the Mic TV. live over on Facebook.com/thestaceyharris. Because, I’ve got the incredible, my biz BFF, Brandy Lawson, of FieryFX, the boutique digital marketing agency. She’s fantastic. We’re gonna be talking a little bit about why it may not be a new website that you need. So, kind of continuing this conversation on … A lot of times we see people, we own similar businesses. We do slightly different things, but we own similar businesses, and a lot of times clients will come to us and they’re like, “So I need a new website.” And we’re like, “Why do you need a new website? Do you know what your website’s doing now?”
So, we’re gonna talk about really figuring out, do you need a new website or do you need something else? Is it about your marketing, is about your funnels? Is it about the technology that’s involved? Is there some optimization to what you currently have, that we can do instead of throwing it all out and starting again. Or, if yes, legitimately you need a new website. Do we have the tools together so that we can make intelligent choices, informed choices, data-driven decisions on what comes next? All right?
All right. That’s it. This was a long one. I’m done now. I will see you Thursday for Hit the Mic TV Live. Again, I want to hear from you, so drop me a message on Facebook or Instagram or carrier pigeon. Don’t, please don’t send me birds. Smoke signals would be better than birds. I’ll talk to you guys next week. Have a good one. Bye.
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