The Simple, Easy, Ugly, Random Challenge

"If it’s not complicated and difficult and pretty and consistent then I can’t post it."

I just got off the phone with a client who said this to me.

And I had to immediately write it down.

Because I think SO many people have this thought about social media.

We want eveeeerything to be perfect from the get-go.

And it PARALYSES us.

What if instead, creating content could be simple and easy and ugly and random?

If you've been avoiding posting about your project, business or passion, I challenge you to just post something simple and easy and ugly and random today.

Because it’s SO much better than posting nothing at all.

#SimpleEasyUglyRandomChallenge

Scheduling Growth

Recently I’ve been evaluating my work a lot more.

Not just coaching sessions, but consultations, marketing, admin – my whole business.

I’ve been asking: What was good about the way I did that? What would I change for next time?

AND THEN – and this bit is key – I actually schedule time into my calendar to make the changes or practice doing it differently.

Because it’s one thing to say “Next time I’ll do it differently” and it’s another to actively do it.

Selling is a Gift In Itself

I’m a coach and I sell coaching. 

It’s how I keep 99% of my content, like my blog, my videos and my Facebook group, totally free.

Selling is one of the ways I give.

• It’s helpful to the people who get their problem solved by paying me.

• It’s helpful to the people who benefit from my free content.

• It’s helpful to the people who I can buy from because I was paid.

Selling is a beautiful thing.

And yet we’ve all been conditioned to believe charging money for our gifts is too salesy and we should give our time, knowledge, services, and products away for free.

Imagine if your local supermarket closed down from fear of being too salesy.

“We bought all this food but we just felt so bad about selling stuff that we just shutdown the store.”

What? No! Sell me some food please!

Thank goodness people sell things.

Thank goodness for advertisements.

Thank goodness for our free will to choose whether we want to buy or not.

People want you to sell them the solution to their problem.

Selling is a gift in itself.

Go and give it to someone.

The Points System (aka: How to Think About Selling)

When I was at University, I participated in a lot of street activism for the environment.

I had to sell an idea.

But for every dozen people I spoke to, maybe one of them would truly seem like they were going to make a change.

I felt extremely discouraged and like the planet was doomed – until the event organizer told me about The Points System.

The Points System is the concept that as a person goes about their daily life, they accumulate “points”.

Zero points = They don’t care about the environment at all.

100 points = They make a drastic change to their life (stop buying fast fashion/cut out animal products/start biking to work).

Maybe they saw a Netflix documentary last year about the damage in our oceans, and that gave them 20 points.

Maybe they saw trash lying on the beach and it added 15 points.

Maybe they had a conversation with me at the event, and it added another 10 points.

Usually, the person would leave our event, seemingly unchanged on the outside.

But inside, the points were adding up.

I realised it wasn’t my job to give them 100 points in a single conversation.

I just had to offer them as many extra points as I could.

It’s the same with selling as a creative, artist, or entrepreneur.

It’s rare to sell something in a single conversation or social media post.

Your audience needs to connect with you over and over again to rack up 100 points.

Each time you talk with someone, you’re adding points.

Each time you make an offer, you’re adding points.

Each time you show up to add value, you’re adding points.

Entrepreneurs sometimes tell me:

• “I went to one networking event and no one was interested.”

• “I spoke on clubhouse for 10 minutes and no one even followed me.”

• “I made an offer on Instagram and all I heard was crickets!”

And they stop connecting with people and selling.

Because what's the use if no one is buying?

But someone could be on 99 points right now.

They could be ONE offer away, ONE conversation away, ONE point away from hiring you.

If you truly believed that someone was just ONE action away, how would you show up today?

Surround Yourself With People Who Are Crushing the Game

Surround yourself with people who are crushing the game.

It will take your brain from impossible > possible > probable > inevitable.

If 10k months feel impossible, surround yourself with people who are doing them.

If publishing your book feels impossible, surround yourself with people who are already publishing their 5th one.

If becoming an actor feels impossible, surround yourself with paid actors.

Seek them out.

Do whatever it takes to get in the room with the people who are where you want to be.

You will become one of them.

You Don’t Need Social Media to Run A Business

You don’t need social media to run your business.

Social media is just another way of connecting.

You can also connect offline.

The same principles apply.

Connect with people.

Add actual real value to their life.

Share how you can help them.

Don’t love social media? Totally okay!

Use the principles at a supermarket or train station instead.

Your Website Won't Make You Money

Your website is two things: a brochure and credit card processor.

It will not make you money.

Thinking it will make you money is like expecting an eftpos card machine to bring you customers.

YOU make the money. The website is an accessory.

My website was up for an entire year before I made a single dollar in my business, but I spent that entire year thinking that having a website would automatically bring success.

Once I stopped depending on external things to make me money: websites, funnels, social media, and started depending on adding value to people’s lives and solving problems, things started to change.

Create a website if you want one. Just remember that you’re the boss.

You ARE a Thought Leader

Don’t deny the world of your genius because you didn’t come up with every idea from scratch.

It’s the combination of the genius you’ve absorbed from a bunch of different people, mixed with your own life experience, that makes YOU the creator someone loves to follow.

Your brain is a SUPERBABY of all the people you’ve been influenced by.

Tony Robbins X Oprah X Stacey Boehman X Elizabeth Gilbert X my Year 12 French Teacher = my superbaby brain.

So instead of thinking I don’t have anything valuable or new to say, I'm like Y’ALL BETTER STRAP IN TIGHT BECAUSE YOU’VE NEVER HEARD IT LIKE THIS BEFORE.

It should go without saying that plagiarism is never a vibe, but you can totally credit the original creator for their rightful intellectual property that inspired your musing AND still be a thought leader.

Actually, that's how thought leaders are created – by sharing YOUR particular mixture of superbaby genius with the world.

Why you should be in it for the money

When you’re in it for the money, you’re in it to have choices.

You’re in it to have healthcare.

You’re in it to support your family.

You’re in it to give back to your community.

You’re in it to be independent.

You’re in it to donate.

You’re in it to create employment for others.

You’re in it to make an impact.

You’re in it to vote with your dollar.

Being in it for the money IS being in it for the right reasons.

Because money creates more opportunities to help the world.

When we say we don’t care about the money, we create a ripple effect that puts all the buying power in the hands of people who don’t give a damn.

The kind of loving, generous people who say they’re not in it for the money are the exact people we NEED to be in it for the money.

Because we need more money in the hands of the good guys.

Let’s be in it for the money so we can create the world we actually want to live in.

(Can we get some more money in the hands of the Malala’s and the Greta’s of this world please?)

What To Do if You’re Worried About Running Out of Clients

One of my clients said this to me today: “What if I’m running out of clients? What if they've already all hired me?”

So we broke it down in an exercise that I fully recommend you do if you’re having these thoughts:

1. How many people are there in your orbit right now, that could contact you TODAY and say they’re ready to work with you? She said “at least 5.”

2. How many people could be about to find out about you through a friend/a recommendation/a referral? 100.

3. How many people will you connect with in the next month? 50.

4. How many people in your city have the problem you solve? (Quick google search: 14,000 in her city).

5. How many people on your continent have the problem you solve? (Quick google search: 40 million)

6. How many of those 40 million people would be prepared to pay you to help them? At least a million.

7. How many clients do you need in a year again? 24.

Y’all. There are SO many people who want to buy from you.

There is literally an abundance of people on this planet, and those people just keep making more people.

All you have to do today is meet ONE.