Final Check In with Students
Tara McMullin
Lesson Info
27. Final Check In with Students
Lessons
Your Business, Your Way is the Only Way
45:03 2Make Your Business Fascinating
39:50 3Create Your Guiding Principles
35:37 4Analyze the Market
36:52 5Find Your Unfair Advantage
29:28 6Enter the Conversation
46:51 7Fill Your Customers Need: Case Study with Sue Bryce
39:18Know Your Conditions for Connection: Case Study with Alex Blumberg
34:13 9Insert Your Unique Point of View
26:40 10Create Unique Content
31:20 11Identify Your Vision
37:58 12Elicit the Right Responses
36:19 13Define Your Key Performance Indicators
47:57 14Track Your Key Performance Indicators
14:50 15Declare Your Chief Initiative
54:01 16Make Your Website Stand Out
1:02:57 17Write a Stand-Out Business Bio
51:42 18Sell Products That Stand-Out: Case Study with Chase Jarvis
46:39 19Build a Compelling Communiity
42:50 20Create Your Digital Sales and Marketing Plan
38:09 21Check In with Students
40:26 22Creating Email that Stands out & Sells with Julie Gora from MailChimp
55:09 23Stand Out on Social Media
1:02:17 24Build a Distinctive Blog
37:51 25Sell Yourself
40:24 26Go Forth & Conquer
20:58 27Final Check In with Students
32:13Lesson Info
Final Check In with Students
He and welcome welcome to the finale lesson of stand out business I am so excited to be here with you checking in on this last day and I'm joined by the studio audience members I'm sure they look very familiar to you we were just all commenting that we cannot believe it's been five weeks already since we were together in san francisco and, you know, banging out all of all of those learning at all of this content and all of these hall moments, so we're going to check in with each of them in just a little bit to find out what changes they've made in their business and what results they're starting to see already with the work that we've done, but I just have to say that I could not be more proud of all of you who have been making those changes yourself seeing results already and thank you, thank you, thank you for touching base with me on twitter on facebook on instagram. All of the places where you've been talking back to me and letting me know what what has really been resonating with ...
you, where you've seen dots connect that you haven't connected before and of course all of the great results that are coming from that whether it's making more money already connecting with more customers, seeing more traction from your marketing, I have heard it all and each and every one of them just completely lights me up now I don't I don't want to keep these ladies waiting I know that they are really excited to share with you what they've been up to in their businesses over the last five weeks we're going to start with ashley johnson hey ashley hey hey so first of all remind us who you are, what you do and where we can find you on the internet and then I'd love to hear about one big ah ha moment you had during the five weeks. All right, so I'm after johnson of a business strategy er you could find me and ashley de johnson dot com we could also find me on facebook, twitter and instagram at ashley deejay and it's just you know, as she spelled funny the way I spell it d j a y yeah, and so what was that big of a moment that you had over the course of the the boot camp? Oh, goodness my big aha moment wass realizing that my constant it necessarily need to focus on astrology like I didn't need to say, oh, this is what venus does or this is what whatever does like people not really concerned about that they're concerned about their business and so just kind of flipping the concept of, you know, okay, I need to talk about business and then use astrology as the tool to relay that, though that completely reframed the way I think about my cards and and everything. Awesome. I love that I was actually just having a conversation with a client last night about how, you know, we we often times focus on what we want to teach her what we want to share and that's, not the focus that's going to get you the most traction, and that help you stand stand out the most is when you really think about the problems of your customer or what's most important to me, them that's going to allow you to create that message that really connects, and then once you create that message that really connects you can you can teach them whatever you want to teach them, because it will be within this context that really stands out to them. So what change have you made in your business because of this realization? And what are some of the results that you've seen from it so far? Um, I started what I've been doing, like a weekly wisdom email that I sent out to subscribers, I'm just kind of giving them, you know, this is what's happening, and this is, you know, how it affects your business, so not being so eager to like define all the terms that I use all the time because people aren't really going to look him up and they really don't care these run okay, what does this mean for me in my business so focusing more of that content on okay, this is a time for you to promote you should you know, be talking to clients this week you should be promoting your clients this week or you should you should balance your checkbook this week you know, just less of the you know, astrological jargon and more of just actionable items for people are not noticed that you know, people hit me up and they say, you know, oh god, you know, thank you for the you know, weekly wisdom has been helping me so much, you know, or they'll contact me on social media and say, you know where this is going on this going on and I'm right on target, you know, I was thinking about, you know, I don't know clearing off my desk and thanks for telling me that I needed to do that so thiss actionable items it's really changed the way have you putting out my content wonderful and getting that talk back to is just so helpful, you know, as you continue to create content, but then as you go to develop more offers as well, you know when people are talking back that you've got a much better base of information to create offers from to make a pitch from to make sure that your sales message really matters so that's awesome any other results um I also realized I'm good on camera yeah well tell us about hanging out that you did yeah I did and I'm this happy hour hang out there's a hashtag for it and I recently did that where I read my friend's chart she actually has a block as well so it was kind of really beneficial thing but I read her chart we talked like our we had wine because you know I think what exercise it was but I said that I wanted a client and russians to feel like a good glass of wine was a girlfriend and so that's what we did for the hangout we just sat there drinking why I'm boozing it up and just a time and it really came out really well and I actually have a potential client because of that because she watched it and she was like, okay, I have to get a reading from you no that definitely you know, just let me know like okay video is the way to go nice we talked so much about authenticity in branding and digital business and and in micro business in general and authenticity doesn't have to be hard like you don't have to you don't have toe overthink authenticity if you want your client interactions to feel like a glass of wine with a good girlfriend, then by george, make them a glass of wine with a good girlfriend. That's. Awesome. Ashley, thank you so much for sharing. And thank you so much for being a part of the boot camp. Thank you for creating it in being the awesome instructor you are. Thank you, let's. Next, let's, go to melissa and melissa again. Tell us who you are and where we can find you online. And then what about one big aha moment was for you. Okay, I'm melissa din witty, and you confined me online at melissa did what he dot com ah, and I am an artist and creativity instigator on a mission to empower people to do their creative thing, share their work, because that is how they're going to change the world, and my biggest haha was really the whole concept that was repeated over and over and over again, better isn't better different is better, and the concept of my unfair advantage. And after the hot seat that I had with you, I asked my people, what do you guys see that makes me stand out, and it was so illuminating, because I finally got it like, oh, yeah, it's, not just that I'm a working artist and that I'm in the trenches with everybody and that I'm transparent about the messy side of the process and where things are hard it's also that I'm not like so many creativity instigators out there sort of silly and whimsical it's pragmatic, I offer people pragmatic riel like scientific based tips for how to become more productive and get past all the crap that gets in their way. I soak up re sources and ideas and theories and books and apply them to living a creative life and cheryl, that information with people plus I have the technical in sales and marketing and all that that we've in that's not my primary thing, but I leave that in, and so that sets me apart as well. And the big change that this course led to is a complete and utter overhaul of my website from the ground up incorporating my art, the latest art that I that I'm making in a really graphic way, and giving my personality in there getting my unfair advantage and they're using the customer perspective map to completely overhaul my about paige and the responses that I've been getting are like, oh my god, I totally I you know, I totally resonate with this this is me, this is me you're talking about, this is nate, which is exactly, of course what I want right? And then also the one of the hot seats that I had with you made me realize oh yeah, I really I'm starting a podcast so I was already was already was planning on that which hopefully will be starting next month but I'm also bringing back something that I did a long time ago, which is a monthly life call which I love video, so I'll be doing it on video here in my studio you can see this tibia to answer people's questions and give little mini coaching and, you know, borrow my brain for an hour, so it's been pleaded wonderful so what you think I want to point out a couple things I want to point out? First of all you've you've been talking in the different standup is communities about how you know that unfair, unfair advantage hot seat was really pivotal for you, but at the same time it wasn't we didn't land on the right thing and in that because these things sometimes take time, right? They sometimes need teo teo kind of bubble a little bit and just do it right. And so what you did was actually go back to your clients and asked them, how do you see me what's different about me than everyone else? And I think you know that that is so important and I'm so glad that you went back I got not only validation, but got an extra level of information that was actually able to empower you to read it, you know, completely redesign your sight. Another thing that I wanted to point out is that I think it's not just your process, that's, pragmatic, but it's also your vision that's pragmatic as well. And and I think kind of you seem to start starting to be owning that even maura's well, is that it's not just about getting creative, but it's about getting creative with a purpose so that you can change the world so that you can make sure that your impact in your community and your family at work is as impactful is that it can be? And so I I love that balance of pragmatism in your business is well, and then you're starting work on a new program, right? Yeah, I'm running a pilot program right now, yeah to get people and it again it's, that pragmatic side it's like the thing that once you've done all the inner work there's still procrastination like you're still procrastinating, you're still not getting your thing, your big dreams, your big goals, you're still not making them happen, so let's go get you to make them happen, and so it's like it's, kind of like an intensive boot camp, too. Where I work alongside you like we check in and we say this is what I'm going to work on for this next half hour this next two hours or whatever the time is we go off in work and there's built in deadlines and accountability to get people to do their thing. You know, I also love your example because not only did you use this use this boot camp on sort of a meta level in your business, but you've also used it on a very kind of in a in a cute way like right now, this is how I'm going to make some revenue right now. This is how I'm going to get one of my new ideas out there. This is how I'm gonna help you with one of those problems. That's top of your mind's on guy that's one of the things that I love about this content to is that there are so many different ways you can apply it from the top level of your business all the way down to the tiny small pieces that make up what really is the foundation of a successful business. So melissa, thank you so much for giving us so many wonderful examples and first sharing all of your wonderful results with us oh you're so welcome taryn thank you this has just been a phenomenal like peak experience for my year, so thank you oh, thank you alright, I am going to check in with producer michael and see what questions we've got here. Francesca asked a great question about yesterday's lesson, which was on anthem building if you didn't see yesterday's lesson definitely tune in because this one seems to be another really stand out lesson for people building an anthem is all about creating a two line tagline for a two word tagline for how your personality adds value at its highest level it's another part of the fascination advantage system and francesca asks, can the handsome change in time I might have found mine, but what if it doesn't resonate say, in a year from now in a year's time francesca absolutely your anthem khun change I think ideally we want something that can grow with you just the way your archetype is designed to grow with you. The whole system is designed to be aspirational on that ties into who you are at your highest value, but I think as your understanding of who you are as your understanding of how of who you are kind of evolves to be similar to the way other people see you absolutely your anthem can change and evolve, so start with where you are now play with that and then check in maybe and maybe set yourself a check in check in three months from now check in six months from now and say, is this anthem still serving me or have I learned something new about who I am, how other people see me and how I add value to the world and if things have changed update that anthem a little bit get your thesaurus out think about the way that you provide solutions or the way that you khun contribute and create value on if that's if that's changed by all means change it I think I update my bio probably about once every six months or so on dh you know, so it might not be the implement self that's changing for me but it is still the understanding of who it is that I'm serving how I'm creating value where I'm creating value, how I'm creating value and I just update that every so often so that it's getting ever more clear and concise and impactful to the people that I really want to serve so that's that's such a great question uh let's see um virginia asked doesn't matter ifyou're anthem is the same as someone else's if that other person isn't in the same business as you are no e would say you know it doesn't matter if it's the same I think ideally if you've identified if you've identified an anthem that someone else is also identified another great time to get the thesaurus out and see if there's maybe a word that's maur you that focuses more on your difference moron you're unfair advantage more on your unique point of view, how you do things, how you do what you do differently, but that said, I mean, the anthem is designed. It isn't designed to hold everything for you, it's it's designed to be a lens through which you see your business yourself, the way you show up in the world in general, and so absolutely one anthem could be applied in different ways depending on the person and the business. So I don't think it's certainly not a deal breaker, but I do think that it's an opportunity to say, could I make this a little bit better? Because I make this a little bit more me and your thesaurus is your best friend, and I still see someone somewhere post about the visual thesaurus that's available online and that's actually a tool that we use down in orlando at sally's sally hugs heads training and she loves the visual thesaurus. So if you haven't checked that out goto visual, this rs dot com it's a really interesting way to see how words play together and how you can take what's in your head and get it actually into words on the page. Oh, another good question, this one is an anonymous one how do you feel about listening degrees in a bio I feel very good about listing degrees in a bio, but I've got some guidelines for that, and I know this is a question that a lot of other people have this well, your degree's, your certifications, the fancy letters you have after your name in some industries and with some customer base is there are more important than in other industries and other customer basis if you got them and your customers care about them, use them to your advantage. However, your degree is not a value proposition, and it doesn't describe your customer, so it goes further down in your bio. For instance, in my bio I list, you know, a bunch of media mentioned so any time, you know, I'm being interviewed somewhere or any time, you know, like a site, like creative life puts my bio up there's a whole bunch of media mentions at the end, villas are, in essence, my degrees in business, that's company, forbes and, you know, that's pretty good. Those are my little studio mba is so I would want you to do exactly the same thing. Make sure the top part of your bio that initial impression is focused on value as it pertains to your customer and who your customer is, how you're serving them, how you serve them differently, and then list those qualifications at the end of your bio it'll just you know kind of sure everything up and make people feel more comfortable but don't lead with them on dh kind of on the flip side of that if you don't have degrees if you don't have certifications if you don't have qualifications for your work the best first thing you can do is talk about the results you get or have gotten for clients in the past the more specific you khun b about those results the mohr impact they have the more credibility they lend you as a business owner a service provider so just think about those think about those results the same way you would think about degrees or certifications all right keep those questions coming over in the chat room michael of carry them over to me and I will do my best to answer as many as I can but for now I think we should check in with patrice hey patrice hey uh hey so tell us who you are where we could find you online and then what that ah ha moment was that you had during bill to stand out business my name is patrice perkins of creative genius law and I am a small business and intellectual property attorney for creative entrepreneurs innovators and change agents my biggest ah ha moment there was so many but the biggest was the lesson on conditions where connection yeah, I discovered that I really enjoy the one on one close intimate um interaction with not only my clients but with other people and that's really where I shine and it was difficult to kind of figure out how before our course it was difficult to figure out how to kind of translate that one line and that's where I really think it helped me so one of the things that I did was I offered onto my existing list just a laser legal strategy call, which was a twenty minute call where people could ask one question for me on dh we would get on the phone for twenty minutes and so that was actually something that I had in the works just before the lesson. The difference was that before I would have been scared about giving too much giving my entire brain away, I really went ah lian with these people that I got from the line and ali in in terms of I didn't limit them toe one question I didn't worry about, you know, whether I would give too much information if that would prevent them from them needing me. I just really gave them on and focused on making as much impact as I could make in this one on one environment on dh you want my news? Yeah sleep teo saw that results in and forty five hundred dollars in sales and not only that it was from two of those people that I have caused with so forty five hundred seals and so that wonderful that's what you are and more leads coming down the pike with that then as well, absolutely so that's something that I'll definitely we've into my regular process and so now I mean, I don't have that fear there, and I see that it's just really an opportunity for me to shine in the way that I shined best and really connecting give make an impact with people yeah, just to clear by so you're you're basically on ly offering these laser strategy calls, you know, every so often right it's not is it is a common the action that's always on your site no it's not on this side it's something that will be available elites of people on my email list and I'm thinking once a quarter night off here yeah, I love that approach for you because it's so sustainable having that called to action constantly on your site could be really draining for you on did actually might lead teo, you know, kind of not optimizing your conditions for connection but because you can focus on it once a quarter or, you know, maybe just whenever you want onboard some new clients even that's such a great way to handle that and I think it allows you to bring mohr of your full self and more of your full expertise to those calls, which is only going to make them resonate even more that's. Amazing, absolutely. The trees they use so much in thanks for being a part of the course. Thank you for everything that you share with us here. I'm sure you've changed several lives, so thank you. All right, keep those questions coming. I'd love to answer more of your bill to stand out business questions, but let's, go to our last studio audience member and that's. Tiffany. Tiffany, welcome. Thanks for joining us. Hi. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. So tell us again who you are, where we can find you online and what that big ah ha moment was for you. Yes, I'm tiffany whips. You can find me at tiffany and studio. Stop calm. And my all hall moment was that my jewelry is really all about connection connection to my women, but then also my women's connection to themselves and their beauty, which has led to a programme called how you connect, which is going to help connect creative entrepreneurs with mentors and education people, I'm very excited. Yeah, as soon as I heard about it, I was like, you must come on the call and talk about it, we he's as I am still in the developmental stages of this but but I've been working with some of the great resource is that I've obtained in my business and mentorship has been so important to me working with you working with creative live education so I just I don't I believe you know you need to build a business with community awesome till what can you tell us a little bit more about what you have in mind for the project yes I'm I want I have a sign up she on my website actually if you click on my first live show image to get a little bit more information what do you think it's tiffany and studios dot com and I want to connect you know struggling creative entrepreneurs with mentors in their fields through one on one interaction but also through an online community and threw in person events awesome I I'm so proud of you and I'm happy for you you so happy yeah I'm so happy for the way this idea clearly lights you up and you know I think that that's that is one wonderful side effect of building a standup business is that when your business is based on all the things we've been talking about over the last five weeks it doesn't just get you more results it doesn't just make you more money it doesn't just get more people's attention it makes you light up two when you can corporate's the things that are unique to you and you can incorporate the things that are most important to you what your values are your unique brand of joy or guiding principles your vision yes that that stuff just energizes you and motivates you and you know lets you glow if lowing as a business owner as an entrepreneur as a visionary I mean that's just one more elements of your standout style as well and so I am just so excited were you to see that and I'm most so excited for everyone else that's on the call that's clearly glowing along you and and we've seen we've seen some of that glow on twitter and on facebook and instagram a swell so thank you for representing that and for for just being a part of this course oh thank you so much terror really I feel like all the puzzle pieces have fit together and that is so thanks to you it's amazing thank you thank you so just checking in to see if we've got any final questions oh paintings by k e gilmore asks for those without a budget to hire help how should we address necessary business tasks that are not in our fascination advantage yeah thing is no one after a bad question they're all really really good questions so the first of all I want to challenge you on the budget for hiring just because you don't have the money right now doesn't mean that you can't create a budget for hiring and the fact of the matter is that hiring often brings in additional revenue because when you are freed up to do the work that you do at your highest value you're able to generate more revenue so you'll never find the budget to hire help if you don't move over to that mindset where hiring people isn't an expense it's away you generate revenue so that's the first thing I want to say about that because that's a common misconception or a common mindset that people have so how do you address necessary business tests that are not in your fascination advantage? First of all, I think often there's a way around things, so whether that is ah you know social you know not having time to do social media fine with which one platform what one platform can you use or maybe you don't have time to create content marketing? How can you take an existing task that you do and make a do double duty so that you can create content marketing from it? So that's a big one? But where can you do double duty and your business to get mohr of the necessary things done on another one is work around whatever you can buy, so focusing in on what is most impactful on then? I think the third thing is just systematize I can't overestimate the importance of creating systems in your business that make things easier for you. So, whether that's triaging email or on boarding new clients or taking commissions, whatever it might be, create a system. Create a procedure for that I like using ever note for that there's, another program call the sauna that's completely free that's, a project management tool that you can also use for that. Those were the two ones that I tend to recommend, although there are many options out there, and the other good part about systematize ing the procedures for your business is that when you do, I feel like you can go and hire help. Those procedures exist, and so instead of paying someone to waste time or tio not use their time effectively, you can say this is the procedure for my business. All you need to do is check these boxes to do the work, and that means hiring help becomes much cheaper as well, much more leveraged for you as a business owner. So great question. And I really appreciate you thinking about it in terms of your fascination advantage as well. Um, thie oh, oh, yes, I think this will probably be the last question that I tackled today and that's from donna, donna asks, can I offer any advice for those those of you who have several different topics in your business idea, how can we leave them together? Or do we focus on just one thing at a time? So I wish there was a solid answer for this, but I'm going to give you two, two perspectives. Sometimes people think there's more than one idea in their business. But what's really going on is a particular belief or a particular deception, or just a particular pattern that is actually bringing everything in your business together. If you find yourself working with the same people, but on a couple of different things that's, what's going on there on what you want to find out what that underlying belief or misconception or pattern is so that you can focus your business on that and say, this is what we address, this is the problem that we fix, and when you do it in these three different ways that's, that's one way to do it, however, and this might be disappointing for some people most of the time. It's a problem of focus and that if you want to be successful, if you want to win at ah your business, if you want to create a success that you have in mind for yourself, focused is the fastest way to do that and when you focus your you're saying two things you're saying yes to the thing that you see getting you to the success that you want and you are saying no two things that may serve you and interest you but just aren't the right time for and I truly believe that more people need to be saying no in their businesses and that the quickest way to a yes is through a hell of a lot of noes I know this is scary, I know that it can be painful and I feel for you on that and I know that you will find joy and fulfillment in focusing as well and so it's just breaking through that discomfort with saying no and moving on from some of the things that aren't going to get you there at least for now to get what you really want out of your business. So donna, I hope that helps, so uh, yeah, well, I think that's all we have for you today so that I'm going to say good bye and say thank you to all of you thank you to you for wonderful women here on the on the on the hang out with me, but also thank you to everyone who has tuned in throughout this program we wouldn't be here without you, I wouldn't be here without you and I'm so thankful for your support for your cheerleading. And most importantly, I am so thankful for the changes that you've made in your business that are going to take you to that next step. Get you to that next goal that you have. I'm so thankful, and I'm so proud of us. Well, eh? So stay tuned. And, ah, we will show you the finale of build a standout business. Thanks so much. Bye!
Class Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Amy Lamp
I can't say enough good things about this course. Tara provided so many new ways for me to think about my approach to the business I'm building -- from branding and personality, to vision and goals. The sessions are very methodical and focused, with actionable steps that help us move in the direction we WANT to move, not the direction that others say we should. And that's my favorite part of this bootcamp: that the key to a stand-out business lives within each of our unique styles. The sections on Fascination Language were pivotal for me. They got my brain energized about all of the ways I can use my natural approach as an advantage, as opposed to feeling held back by things that drain me. I was also impressed with the questions from the audience, how smart and relevant they were, and how astute Tara's responses were. If you missed the live broadcast of this bootcamp, the cost to purchase is well worth it.
a Creativelive Student
This course has totally transformed my way of thinking 'business' & relating it to & using my unique qualities as a person to help my business stand out...never saw this link before, thanks Tara! What Tara has done with this course is help me become my own business coach by helping me to recognize my vision; my uniqueness & how I'm going to bring these together to make a successful & profitable business. I would recommend it a 100 times over :-) Thanks Tara & Thanks Creativelive...you ar e helping to create star businesses! :-)
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At first I was tuning in to watch live from my computer at work but I kept missing nuggets (because I was at work obviously) so I just bought the entire course. I have been doing the exercises at my pace and I love it. I had done my Fascination Advantage test before but didn't know how to incorporate them into my business. I am Mystique and Prestige. I thought I had to be loud and showy as a photographer which does not suite my style. After finding out that Sue Bryce has a Prestige and Mystique advantage (which truly made my day) I now see how I can make those advantages work for me. Tara has taught me so much already. I finally feel confident in my choice to not do wedding, family or boudoir photography. For a long time I felt like those were the only options. But I know now that I can do whatever I want as long as I fill a need and I have a good business model. But most of all I feel focused and confident about the choices I am making as a photographer. This is a feeling I've never felt after taking any other workshops or reading any other self-help books. I am a Tara Gentile fan for life.