 I heard a piece of advice at the beginning of my career that has guided me ever since. The advice came from an experienced entrepreneur named Paul Hawken. He has since become a climate change activist and has written several wonderful books about that and he was doing a book signing years ago and I was in line to get my book signed and I actually don't remember what he said to me but I remember what he said to the person in front of me when they had asked him for some career advice. I think they were saying should I work at this company or this one and he said go where you're respected and it was so simple and so profound and ever since then I have thought about that and of course I have applied it to marketing and sales as well. So how does this apply? Well a lot of marketing and sales feels to me like an act of convincing persuasion, charming people into doing what you want them to do, buying what you want them to buy and that's sort of the opposite of go where you're respected. In marketing and sales it's almost like we're being taught to make people respect us, do things so that they see how credible we are and how professional and how expert we are and how much worth spending money with us is. So go where you're respected. If you instead of trying to sell to somebody who you imagine to be holding their arms and critical or doubtful about the value you can provide then naturally you'll want to try to persuade and charm, convince, etc. But if instead you were selling quote unquote to somebody who is already leaning in and before you even open your mouth or before they even open your website or before they even consider your product they're already leaning in and saying oh I've heard about you, oh I've seen you somewhere and I'm just wanting to confirm you know essentially this is what they're thinking I'm wanting to confirm whether this service or product is right for me. And so if that's the case then you don't have to persuade or convince or charm or attract or do anything that isn't already you showing up with your heart of caring and with your true desire to serve the person in front of you. And if that was the case then you just show up and you just answer questions essentially you might have to describe what you understand the product to be or the service that you provide but they're already leaning in and they're already interested and they just want to make sure that it really is a good match. So how do we create the conditions for this to happen where before we open our mouth to sell something the person in front of us is already interested is already trusts us. How do we create those conditions. So let me give you four overall steps essentially I'm going to give you the four overall steps to authentic marketing. Step number one is to create authentic content and to do it on a consistent basis. Why is the step number one because you don't really know you you aren't as clear about your message and about your point of view and about your audience as you as you could be would you agree you could probably get clear about your message about your niche about your calling and purpose and about the people you're meant to serve you could probably get clear on that don't you agree. The way to get clearer about that is to create authentic content you see it's not to journal you know in the comfort and privacy of your home it's not to work with a coach sure those things can help but none of that gives you market validation right which is what you need to have the right match between the talents and the strengths that naturally come to you matched with what the world is hungry for and the only way to know that is by putting things out there again and again and again and again and then noticing whether which things are being really resonant with people or which things people are silent about when you put them out even though even though you might be really excited they're silent about it because it doesn't match what they're looking for what they're hungry for. So the way to clarity is through creating not the other way around too many people have this misconception that they have to get all their ducks in a row they have to get clear on their message on their point of view on their niche on their audience they had all has to be totally clear or at least very clear or somewhat clear before they can put out their first piece of content before they can write their first article or make their first video or post their first podcast episode or whatever may be. I have an opposite view on that I say life is about exploration and business also authentic business is about exploration the willingness to say hey I of course you know what your interests are I mean you already have some things that you're passionate about that some things you could just talk about with someone who is interested for probably hours at a time or there might be some things that you've already studied that you're really curious about you're really interested in some of you already are working with clients obviously you may have programs and things so you at some level you already know what you're interested in right obviously so you just talk about what you're interested in on the internet you do it on Facebook on Instagram on YouTube on medium on LinkedIn on Twitter TikTok wherever you enjoy being on online create authentic content consistently because that's how you discover your calling more and more it's not a one time thing I am still discovering my now that I've been creating content consistently for the last seven years I've been in business since 2009 but I didn't get wise about creating authentic content until 2015 I wish I knew earlier so those of you who are at the beginning of your business congratulations on finding this message I wish I knew way earlier so starting in 2015 was when I got I realized I just started exploring and testing ideas on the web and like wow by creating consistently no matter how I feel that day no matter how I feel that day I had a challenge to myself to create I had a 100 video day challenge for myself no one I didn't join a program didn't join a challenge I just challenged myself I said all right I'm going to create 100 days of video just two minutes three minutes five minutes seven minutes whatever I didn't care about the length I just cared about being consistent with doing it and I took the weekends off so it took longer than 100 days but I've made 100 before I we evaluated my rhythm so that gave me so much clarity because by talking hey I'm I think about this I thought this was a good point hey this I think it's really important to say in the world hey I'm really passionate about this thing and what I understand about it is this and this and that by doing that I got the practice of expressing myself number one and I got over my shyness and my self-consciousness because before that I was really really shy on video I it was impossible for me to be on video I just couldn't I didn't you know I those of you know my story know that I made my first video actually in 2009 and I was so embarrassed with how I looked and how I sounded that I didn't make another video until 2014 and then in 2015 was when I started being consistent at it but now you can't get me off video as you can see I haven't changed I didn't get I didn't get facial reconstruction surgery or my voice didn't change it's still all the same my confidence changed that's the only thing that's different my self consciousness is gone and how because I practiced I forced myself to put published videos on the internet publicly for the whole world to see for a hundred days and I said took the weekends off it's fine so create authentic content consistently is how you gain the skills of authentic expression that then allow you to really grow an authentic audience so that's step number two now step into number one dedicate yourself to creating authentic content consistently step number two is to learn how to distribute that content to more people that you would love to reach because yes you might have a YouTube channel right and you put stuff up there you're like how come I have zero views on all my videos or I have two views or I have 12 views because I posted that YouTube video to my Facebook profile and a few friends went and watched it step two like I said is to learn to distribute your content especially your best content I mean you know what's the best well when you start creating you probably you'll probably feel discouraged unless you create somewhere where you at least get a little bit of feedback most people don't have the discipline to create without any feedback for a hundred days but you are more likely to do it consistently if you put it somewhere where you at least get like one like every now and then right get one like every now and then like keeps you going right so most for most of you that's on your Facebook profile your Facebook profile where Facebook friends are or your Instagram account one of those two places usually is where we can get some love from our friends and our family and our cousins and our colleagues and our classmates and you know people that were connected to you as friends so yeah post your stuff there but then notice which of the things you post there gets more engagement and like oh when I talk about this it really goes people really you know find it valuable find it helpful etc and learn to distribute that stuff to more of the people you want to reach now how do you know who you want to reach well you'll you'll start to notice the comments that come through when you post and you're like oh yeah that's the kind of person that I would want more readers like that okay and then you uh you know what the favorite my favorite way of distributing content is through ads you know I run Facebook ads Instagram ads LinkedIn ads often uh all the time I mean I always have some several ads running and those ads are just putting content out there most of those ads don't sell anything don't even link to my website most of those ads just say here's some a message here's here's a way of thinking here's a story uh that might teach you something that might uplift you help you shift your mind towards a more helpful perspective about the kinds of things I talk about so learn to distribute your content of course I have a Facebook ads course Instagram course LinkedIn course so if you're interested you can learn from me about that but I don't care where you learn it from YouTube has plenty of free videos about this kind of stuff so learn to distribute your content whether it's through paid ads my favorite way or through collaborations I also enjoy doing it collaborations are where you get together with somebody else who has a network or an audience doesn't have to but it should be around the same size so right now you have 300 Facebook friends right somewhere around there most of most Facebook friends have around most Facebook people have around 300 Facebook friends somewhere on there and then you get together with someone else who has 300 Facebook friends or plus or minus 100 means hey can we interview each other and then you interview each other and post it on your Facebook profile so that you you help promote that person's message and they help promote yours to their audience the simplest way to collaborate so that's one of my favorite ways to distribute content that's a second step the third step is to talk to your biggest fans so as you start to post content out there distribute content you'll start noticing some people consistently like your posts or comments on your posts look at their profiles now if they're not like your your family or or your friends who are just supporting you but they don't really understand what you do but if it's somebody who you think oh this could be a client like this this type of person could become one of my clients or customers talk with that those people reach out to them and say thank you so much for your support of my content and i wonder it would you be willing to have a brief conversation with me i'm trying to i'm doing i'm doing a research project where i'm trying to better understand the people in my audience and kind of what they're looking for and that kind of stuff you you talk with them get them on the phone or if they're willing to just message with you over instagram dm or however you message ask them hey um i'm wondering have you ever like i'm just curious what what kinds of services or products you have ever bought within this realm the kind of stuff i talk about have you you know bought any life coaching or therapy or online courses or books and what kinds of topics and this is confidential conversation yeah can you tell them that so you you you just talk with your big biggest fans to discover what kinds of products they're spending money on what kinds of services they're spending money on because the money they're spending could be your income i mean not necessarily that person but people like that they're they're they are they are a representative of people like them and when you discover what kinds of product services they're spending money on that gives you a clue into what kinds of product services you could provide whether it's those those topics or those formats formats meaning is it a book is it a coaching program is it a online course is it a retreat blah blah blah topics are like oh it was a retreat about this it was a book about that the topics and formats you'll learn through the conversations what they're spending money on and you could kind of take from that and create your own product or service or package or program that is more aligned with the kinds of stuff they tend to spend money on that's the secret of marketing is to sell what people are already buying secret of marketing if you sell what people are already spending money on you're far more likely to make money if you sell something that no one that the person you're the people you're selling to has never they've never bought anything like this you're going to have to persuade and convince and say well please try this out you never bought anything like but please give this a try and you have to beg and but if they've already spent money on stuff and you're just selling your version of it they're like oh i like you i've been reading your content and i'll buy your version of it i'll buy your coaching because i bought coaching before i'll buy your book because i bought books on this topic i'll buy your your um online course because i bought i've i've done on i've done online courses and i'm i like you so i'll try yours you see i know one day you will have such a true warm audience as you keep doing these steps you have such a true and warm audience where you could sell something they've never bought before and because now they've trusted you for years they're willing to give you a shot it's like no i've never bought life coaching before i've never bought any kind of coaching or therapy before but because i've been following you for months now or years and i've benefited so much from your content i like you a lot so i'm just going to go for i'm going to spend the five hundred dollars to try out this thing called coaching or therapy and everything you see then you could be the one who kind of gets them you know that experience and then now they're they're in the market so to speak but first you you sell what people that you can reach already are buying or they've bought before and you'll be much more successful in your marketing so the fourth step as i promised four steps here first steps create authentic content consistently second step learn to distribute that content through ads or collaborations third step is to talk with your fans find out where their money is going in relation to your general area of expertise and then fourth step is to occasionally announce your services or your products or your programs i call this the gentle launch not the kind of launch that you're going to learn from other marketers that tell you that you know send these 18 emails for your launch or whatever no i send two emails for every launch two and yet i gratefully do more sales than most people who send 18 emails why because i follow the steps that i've told you i've built a warm and true audience over months and years that now consistently buy from me when i just whisper you know and i want you to get there too and you can get there before all these steps right so i hope this is helpful go where you're respected because when when you are in front of an audience that you respect all you need to do is whisper and they would love to work with you they'd love to sign up for whatever you're recommending in part because you understand them because you've talked to them and you know what they're looking for what they're spending money on what they're still yearning for so i hope this is helpful remember to go where you're respected and i wish you joyful productivity as you work on these steps thanks so much for joining me