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There are so many things to consider when marketing your business, like selling to your audience, what social media platform your audience hangs out on, or the pain points that they are facing. Still, one super-powerful thing, especially for introverted entrepreneurs, is to show up as your authentic self. When you put yourself on the back burner to focus on marketing strategies or methods that don’t work out for you, it doesn’t allow your strengths to shine. As you begin using your strengths as an introverted entrepreneur, you can tap into marketing strategies that will be most effective while bringing your audience to you. Ready to see actual results in your business?
Our guest on the podcast today is Online Business Coach Lindsay Hanson. She has helped dozens of women to leave their unfulfilling corporate jobs and turn their passions into authentic & impactful online businesses. Now, she’s here to share her journey and help women worldwide know that a 9-5 isn’t the only path to success.
In this episode, Lindsay and I dive into:
- How she went from unfulfilled accountant to online business coach for women who want to ditch their miserable corporate jobs
- The number one way to get quicker results when starting your business
- How to know if Tik-Tok is the marketing platform for you as an introvert
- Sales tips that won’t leave you feeling salesy or pushy with your audience
- …and much more
How an Unfulfilled Accountant Leaves Her Corporate Job to Become an Online Business Coach
What a journey it has been for Lindsay. She started her career as an accountant back in 2017. She majored in accounting in college, got her masters in accounting, and got her CPA license. She quickly realized that she hated her work and felt miserable at her corporate 9-5 job. She couldn’t stay on that same path for the next 40 years. That was her quarter-life crisis moment that happened over the first year of her career. After that first year, she decided to go another route, and she figured out that fitness coaching was what she was going to do. Fitness was her passion, as she had been on her fitness journey for years, so she wanted to help others achieve their fitness goals. Lindsay was at the point where she was making workout plans for friends and family anyway, so she enrolled in a six-month self-study program to get her personal training certification. She did this while still at her full-time job to get her plan together before she left. She finally quit her unfulfilling job in December 2018. She launched her first program as an online fitness coach the following month. She signed on five clients in her first month and then three more the next month.
Since then, her business has evolved into business coaching, freelance marketing work, and podcast hosting. She started her freelance work about a year ago as a social media manager for a few clients, and then she started her podcast, Quit Your Job, Sis, at the beginning of 2020. This journey has led her to start her own online business and coach women on how to leave their unfulfilling corporate jobs to pursue their own online businesses.
How to Get Results Quicker When Starting Your Business
Something that Lindsay did to move her business forward right from the beginning was hiring a business coach. She believes that if she hadn’t done that, there is no telling how long it would have taken her to get clients. There are several benefits of hiring a business coach from the start. First, it can help you stay grounded and focused on what matters. It can be very tempting to go down the rabbit hole of doing everything at the beginning of your business and overwhelming yourself with things that will not move the needle forward. For example, new coaches or service providers think that they need a website from the get-go, but that is wasting your time in the beginning because no one knows who you are right now, anyway.
You should be focusing on getting on social media, building your network, finding your ideal clients, learning more about them, and creating content to draw them in. The direction that you get with having a business coach and staying focused on things that will bring clients to you is super helpful. It is also great to have that person as a sounding board when you are having a bad day, being in your head, and when the self-doubt comes up strong. It is so valuable to have a business coach with you, especially on your business journey.
Is Tik-Tok The Marketing Platform For You as an Introvert
Now that Tik-Tok is around, Lindsay isn’t on the Instagram train anymore. She says Instagram annoys her because it’s so much harder to edit reels on there than it is to create Tik-Toks, and it freezes all of the time. On Tik-Tok, Lindsay says it is effortless to create content, edit it, post it, and the reach she is getting is so much greater than what it was on Instagram. Of course, there are pros and cons, but Tik-Tok is where she feels like she can show up most authentically.
How do you know if Tik-Tok is the answer for you as an introvert? There is a possibility that it may not be for you, but for all of the reasons Lindsay mentioned, along with being very comfortable on video for the past few years, she thinks it is a great platform. If you’re just starting your business and freaked out by video, you probably shouldn’t jump on Tik-Tok. You could start on Instagram, Facebook, or even LinkedIn, depending on what your business is. You might see many people doing their dance trends and then adding text to those videos, but you don’t have to get on Tik-Tok and do that if that’s not your thing.
One thing that could be good for you if you don’t like showing up on camera, as an introvert, is you can use trending sounds, put them in your video, overlay some tips on the screen to go along with the music and point to the different tips on the screen. You may have already seen videos like this, and you don’t have to say anything. You barely even have to do anything because you are just sitting there pointing to text on the screen. That could be an excellent way to ease into it if you’re nervous to sit there and talk on video. It could be a good transition into video content for you and get you more reach.
Helpful Sales Tips That Don’t Leave You Feeling Salesy or Pushy
Lindsay’s biggest tip for selling is that selling is about listening and understanding your clients’ needs and struggles. When you can speak to those pain points, speak to what they want, what they are struggling to achieve, and why they haven’t gotten there, that’s really what will get their attention. Selling isn’t about showcasing your program and adding the link for people to sign up. It can be very subtle, and it can just be you sharing a personal story from your life that you know your ideal client is going to relate to. This helps your audience see that you have been through the same thing and understand the pain point they are struggling with. This may then prompt them to chat further and apply to work with you. In Lindsay’s eyes, she doesn’t feel like she is selling all of the time, but at the same time, she is because, with every post she makes, every story that she shares is speaking to her ideal client and connecting with them on a deeper level. Aside from explicitly promoting her program, she doesn’t ever feel like she is selling. That is the beauty of finding your voice, knowing your target audience, and selling organically so that it doesn’t feel like selling.
Many entrepreneurs struggle with either never talking about their offers and what they do, or that is all they do. It is super important to find the balance between the two. The sales and marketing strategies you use should be the ones that feel authentic because they will be the most effective for you.
The Most Effective Marketing Strategy That Allows You to Be Your Authentic Self
The most effective marketing strategy will be finding whatever platform allows you to feel safe enough to be yourself. That is the key for an introverted entrepreneur. People can feel your energy across the screen, so it is essential to be authentic.
When Lindsay first started, the platform she felt most safe on was Instagram. It was the only platform she knew how to use, so that was the one she chose. Over time, she has tried different platforms, and in the different seasons in her business, she has gravitated towards other platforms. Right now, she really loves Tik-Tok, so she would encourage you to try different platforms and get on video because it may just be your initial fear that is holding you back as an introvert. Being an introvert isn’t that you don’t like interacting with other people; it’s just that you don’t like small talk. So finding whatever platform or method that is for you is the key. It will be different for everyone, but wherever you feel like you can show up and truly be yourself is the marketing strategy that works most effectively for you.
What You Need to Know When Struggling to Find Clients
Do you find yourself struggling to find clients? You need to know a few things to help them come to you. Number one, get clear on your ideal client if you haven’t already. Find out what their pain points are and what they are struggling with.
- What is going through their mind daily?
- What is it that they want and need?
You can do that by talking to your audience or conducting market research. You can call and tell them that you aren’t selling anything but that you just really want to know if they fit these criteria, whatever that may be. That’s a perfect way to do it. You can also conduct literal market research. One of Lindsay’s favorite tools is Pinterest to do this and just type keywords your ideal client might be searching for. See what suggested searches populate because that’s what people are searching for, and then look at the content that other people have posted to Pinterest. It will show you the most popular content in your niche right now. That’s an excellent way to get insight into what your ideal client might be searching for, and then you can turn those ideas into your content ideas and use it to create your program.
Another excellent tool for this is Answer The Public, a free tool that you can type those keywords into, and it will tell you the questions that people are asking. For example, let’s say you’re a fitness coach and help women lose weight. You might search, how to lose fat into Answer The Public, and it will tell you the questions people are searching for concerning that topic. It is a really good way to get to know their pain points.
You can start creating content around those pain points using their language. The language that people use while searching for something is enormous. People will feel like you are literally inside their heads. Create content, speak to what their pain points are, get clear on who your ideal client is, and then along with that, think about where they are hanging out. The disconnect might be in whatever platform you’re using. Whatever the platform your ideal clients are on, make sure you are showing up. Get clear and specific on who you’re talking to and their pain points, and then start making content to address them and tell them how your program helps solve those.
Lindsay gave so many gems on marketing your business and showing up authentically for your audience and clients. She shared how she went from unfulfilled accountant to online business coach for women who want to ditch their miserable corporate jobs, the best way to get quick results when starting your business, how to know if Tik-Tok is the marketing platform for you as an introvert, sales tips that won’t leave you feeling salesy or pushy with your audience, and the most effective marketing strategy that allows you to be authentically yourself, and what you need to know when struggling to find clients.
What was your greatest takeaway from all of Lindsay’s unique gems in this episode today?
a breakdown of this episode
[1:43] How Lindsay went from unfulfilled accountant to online business coach, helping women ditch their corporate 9-5 jobs
[5:43] The most significant contributor to Lindsay’s success from the beginning of her business
[7:46] Tik-Tok, its pros and cons, and figuring out if you should be using this marketing method as an introvert in your business
[14:47] tips on selling as an introvert that won’t leave you feeling salesy, pushy, or sleazy
[18:35] Effectively using marketing strategies that allow you to show up as your authentic self
[21:52] What you need to know if you are struggling to find clients in your business
If you enjoyed this episode, I invite you to take a screenshot and tag me on your Instagram stories @introvertcoach and tell me your biggest takeaway!
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