058 carol mcmanus using linkedin and time management to grow your busisness by EntrepreneursRadioShow

THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

EPISODE #58: CAROL MCMANUS On Episode 58 of ―Diamonds in Your Own Backyard: The Entrepreneurs Radio show,‖ Travis and Sandra are going to be chatting with Carol McManus, more popularly known as the LinkedIn Lady, who, after separating with the corporate world, built her own six-figure-valued business, only on the first year, through effective use of social media marketing. Carol will be discussing how different social media platforms vary in marketing leverages for different business scenarios. Listen in as she tells us some stories and lessons from her broad social marketing coaching experience.

Carol McManus – Using LinkedIN and time management to grow your business Travis:

Hey, it‘s Travis Lane Jenkins.

Sandra:

And this is Sandra Champlain.

Travis: Sandra.

Welcome to Episode Number 58 of the Entrepreneur‘s Radio Show. Hello,

Sandra:

Hello, Travis.

Travis:

How are you, my dear?

Sandra:

I‘m great. I‘m great.

Travis: Wonderful. Hey, real quick, let‘s talk about who we‘re talking to and about today so that everybody can get kind of a quick feel. So our guest is Carol McManus. I guess I should ask your permission. Are you okay with that, transitioning so quickly? Sandra:

Yes, transition away.

Travis:

Okay. I mean, yes, I don‘t want to run away from you there.

Sandra:

I know.

Travis: Tell us about Carol. Carol‘s a sharpy. I‘ll give you little background from my perspective. Carol speaks to audiences worldwide on how to use LinkedIn effectively and consults with

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THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

entrepreneurs and small businesses on building a strategy to support their business. So that‘s basically what her background is, but more importantly what do we dig into in the show, Sandra? Sandra:

Well, we dig… dug—sorry, digged…into the sixth top realms of social market…

Travis:

Social media, right?

Sandra:

Yes. I‘m just so excited to be here with you, Travis that I can‘t even speak.

Travis:

Oh, that‘s sweet.

Sandra: I tell you, just the moments we spend together on the show are priceless. But, anyways, we delve right into the six big social media, the big ones, you know: the Google+, the LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and, I‘m forgetting one, Facebook, and the importance of all of them in the different businesses that we all have as entrepreneurs—some might need to spend some more time in one than the others—so to find out which you might want to concentrate on predominantly, how they work and how to best create relationships to get results for ourselves and our businesses, even the bottom dollar, for social media. Travis: Right. Yes. And what I found interesting is—and I think it‘s a topic that is been needing to be discussed for some time—not all platforms of social media are needed. It really depends on which type of business you‘re in. So whether you‘re a business-to-business or you‘re a business-toconsumer type business, that affects your strategy. She goes into that really on an in-depth level, and she draws some parallels. She gives some examples of how we should do it in a couple of different types of businesses, and then we‘ll also talk about the top five things you should be doing, then the top five things that you should not be doing with social media, right? Sandra: Yes, and I love how she said 17 minutes a day to a 6-figure income. I thought, ―Wow. I mean, she really built for herself—just building relationships with people. I tell you, you‘ll hear in the interview: relationships is where it‘s at, whether on your personal life or in social media. Travis: Right. So it‘s a great episode. Now before we get started, I always like to remind you to stay with us until the very end if you can. I‘d like to share a little inspiration with you, and we‘ll also reveal who we‘re going to connect you within the next episode, right, Sandra? Sandra:

Right.

Travis: One quick reminder: if you enjoy these free podcast that we create for you, we‘d really appreciate it if you‘d go to diyob.com, which is really just a shortcut, and it stands for diamondsinyourownbackyard.com–diyob.com. Click on the iTunes icon, and then post a comment and

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THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

rate the show. That would help us reach and instruct more great entrepreneurs just like yourself with each and every guest that we bring on. I‘m having a hard time talking today, too. Sandra:

I know. That‘s what I do to you.

Travis:

Yes, right.

Sandra:

It‘s wonderful, wonderful.

Travis:

So are you ready?

Sandra:

Yes, let‘s bring on Carol McManus.

Travis:

Let‘s do it. Okay, so without further ado, welcome to the show, Carol.

Carol: Sandra:

Well, thank you so much, Travis. It‘s delightful to be here. And, Sandra, thank you also. Yes, we‘re very happy to have you here.

Travis: Yes, we‘re super excited. Hey, before we get into what you teach, would you mind, we like to kind of get a feel for the back-story of what brought you to today. Carol: What brought me to today: well, anyone who has heard me speak knows that I refer to myself as a recovering corporate executive, and what I mean by that is I was in a very disciplined, very corporate world for a lot of years. Wonderful career. Don‘t regret a moment of it. But the time came when I really realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my working career doing things for myself and following my passions, which are coaching and consulting and I love doing leadership development training. So I had the opportunity to take a downsized package in late 2007, November of 2007. And I launched my own business in January of 2008, sort of stepped off the end of the diving board and trust that there is water in the pool. Travis:

Right.

Carol: But the story of how social media came into that really is kind of an ironic story because like most entrepreneurs starting off, I didn‘t have a big marketing budget, wasn‘t really sure of how I was going to market myself, and I wanted to get out of not just the company I‘ve been with, but the industry that I‘d been in, and the only way to that, obviously, was online and to do it inexpensively. A friend said, ―Carol, you need to be on social media.‖ And I said, ―Yes, okay, how do you spell that?‖ That wasn‘t far from the truth because I wasn‘t using social media, but I trusted him. I went out and opened profiles. I started playing around with it.

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In 2008, there wasn‘t a lot of guidance from a business perspective on how to use social media except in the Internet marketing community, but for traditional businesses it was still very much learn as you go. Travis:

Right.

Carol: Fast forward at the end of the first year, I had built my business, specifically, from leads from social media into a six-figure number. Sandra:

Wow.

Carol: That made me a believer. In the second year, I continued that strategy and started socializing it with my groups here in Southwestern Connecticut that I was part of my networking groups and realized there was just this voracious appetite of businesses wanting to know how to use social media. It just took my business in the direction of helping businesses, from a consultant standpoint, on other areas of business but specifically in the area of marketing in social media. Travis: When you say social media are you talking specifically of LinkedIn or other platforms beyond LinkedIn? Carol: I consult on all areas of social media because I do believe each of them has a different purpose, a different personality, and depending on your business and your target market, Facebook maybe the most important for you; Google+ may be the most important; Pinterest may be the most important. It varies. The reason I became branded as the LinkedIn Lady is because so many of them, my clients, were professionals or businesses in the B-to-B, business-to-business market. That‘s where my success came from because I want to get in front of decision-makers. Travis:

Right.

Carol: And the majority of my leads, then and today, still come from LinkedIn. I really can consider LinkedIn to be—I call it the hidden jewel in the social media crown. Heaven knows, they are hugely important, but there are other places where you need and should be to help grow your business and grow your brand. Travis: Yes, and LinkedIn‘s actually quite confusing also. It‘s not very intuitive to use. So now just for qualification, just to make sure that everybody understands, and we‘ve said this before, B-to-B is business to business and B-to-C is business to consumer, just for clarity. So the LinkedIn allows you to speak directly to businesses and more importantly to CEOs or presidents or founders of businesses. Carol: Yes, and I say decision-makers because it could be different people at different levels in the organization, but they are in general the people who are going to write the check. Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‘s Radio Show

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Travis:

Right.

Carol: But if you‘re in the business-to-consumer space, Facebook is probably going to be your most important tool because that‘s where consumers are hanging out. So it really, really depends on who you are and who you want to connect with online. To me, the magic is when you tie them all together, when you have a symphony going on of being in different platforms and really focus on building relationships. Travis: Yes, exactly. Let me clarify one thing. So initially when you started your business, it was a consulting business—is that correct? Carol: Travis:

Yes, yes. Okay.

Carol: Ywait4success—it‘s a coaching, consulting and leadership development business. I still have that business and still support that business. I just don‘t promote it or put as much outward focus on it. It‘s sort of is on auto-drive right now because of the LinkedIn Lady and the social media piece taking over such a huge piece of my attention. Travis: Right. Well, you know, to build a business to six figures in the first year of your efforts with social media is pretty dang impressive, so congratulations on that. Carol: You know, Travis, I need to add something to that, too. That was with no pitching, no promoting, no sales letters, opt-in boxes, squeeze pages, all those things that the Internet marketers teach you to do. It was really built around connecting with people, building relationships and trust, sharing information and knowledge, and paying it forward by introducing people to other people, and using the same networking skills we use in life and just translating them and transferring them to the virtual world. Sandra:

Wow.

Carol: To me, that‘s where a lot of people miss the boat. They try to turn social media into a sales platform prematurely. I‘m not saying you can‘t pitch and promote on social media, but if you start there, you‘re going to be, I feel, very unsuccessful. Travis: Yes, I agree with you. We had a guy on that made a great statement that really stuck with me. He said, ―If you spoke to people in person the way that you do through advertising, they‘d punch you in the face.‖ Carol: Travis:

That‘s a good line. I like that one. It‘s very crude, but it‘s great into the point. So that was 2007-2008?

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Carol:

2008, right.

Travis: Carol:

Does that still work? Yes.

Travis:

What you did then?

Carol: If anything, more so than ever because we have all collectively grown with social media now. It has become very, very important. In fact, I would use the word ―essential‖ to anyone in business today. You can‘t ignore it. You could ignore it in 2008 and still get by, but today if you don‘t have some type of a footprint and an activity on social media, you‘re missing a huge opportunity. In fact, you may be really hurting your business because we all know people are out there talking about you, whether you‘re in the conversation or not, and so if you can become part of the conversation, it can only help your business. Travis: Right. Well, one of the things that I‘ve noticed over the years… I‘ve been selfemployed for 22, 23 years, and there was a time there were probably 5 different sources, if you get really creative, five different sources that could bring you potential clients, right? And now depending on the industry that you‘re in, there‘s anywhere from 30 to 50 different sources that could bring you prospects. Do you agree with that? Carol: I totally agree with that. That‘s where I think small businesses, in particular, or even medium-sized businesses who don‘t have the resources of the big multi-multi-million dollar companies get very frustrated because they don‘t know which direction to go and they don‘t know where to put their energies, whether it‘s just time or whether it‘s actual hard financial investment. When you spreading your marketing dollars thin, you end up with nothing, so it really is important to have a solid strategy and know what it is that you‘re trying to accomplish and put your efforts in the places that are going to matter. You don‘t need to do all 30, or at least not in the same proportion or ration, Travis: Carol:

Or monetize one. Yes.

Travis: Monetize one, and then rinse and repeat. It‘s not that simple, but get one up and running, and let it start giving you a return and then use that residual to find your next or find someone like yourself that knows the proper progression or platforms because, like you said, depending on the business, it really depends who your client is, how you access them, as to which platform you should focus on: first, second, third, fourth, fifth. You agree with that? Carol: Totally. And that‘s why I get frustrated when everybody defaults to Facebook just because it‘s the biggest and the baddest. It is not, necessarily. Just let me give you a quick example: I Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‘s Radio Show

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actually did some consulting for a very high-level marketing firm working with product placement and product packaging design, products that if you walked into any grocery store or drugstore, you would recognize these products. So we‘re not talking a small marketing company. We‘re talking of a big company. They had hired a social media person to come in and help them. The first thing this person did was draw up a Facebook page, and they couldn‘t figure out why they weren‘t getting results. And it was, like, because you‘re in the completely wrong place. Nobody is looking for your type of marketing company or your services on Facebook. It was an utter waste of time. Whereas we built a strategy for them around LinkedIn, and magic started to happen because they got instant, instant results because they were in the right playground. Travis:

Right. And…

Sandra:

What kind… Sorry, Travis

Travis:

No, go ahead.

Sandra: What kinds of businesses are more suitable to LinkedIn or Facebook? I mean, what happens with me, Carol, is I don‘t know enough about all of them or any of them and I find myself without a strategy, just trying to do some posts here and few connections here, and then whatever the heck. Pinterest is, it‘s like, okay, there‘s something there, but I don‘t know what it is, and people are saying you got to post there. So without a strategy, I‘m not sure what to do. Is there any way to clarify who needs to be doing what? I know that‘s a broad question. Where would you get started? Carol: Well, no, it‘s a great question. First of all, the first compliment is at least you are there doing something. So you have a voice out there on social media, but is it going to get you the results that you want? That‘s where the question comes in. So if I was just right… I have a diagram that I show that puts the social media strategy in the middle with what I call the six big players right now, which of course are LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogging–excuse me, not blogging—YouTube, Pinterest and Google+. And I put YouTube in there because video is such an important part of a true full-blown social media strategy, even though by definition it‘s not a social media site. The goal is to use those sites to drive people to what I call the real estate that you own, which is going to be your website or your blog. One of the big mistakes that people make is that they try to build their whole business presence around a Facebook page or a LinkedIn profile or a LinkedIn company page or a Twitter account, and the problem is you don‘t own those sites. Every time a change gets made or a format is made or a new rule gets put into place or Mark Zuckerberg decides to change the privacy settings yet again, you are hampered.

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Whereas if you use it as a place to connect and follow and interact and engage with people, with the goal always to drive that place, usually online, to your website or blog, or in the case of a bricks-andmortar business, it might be across the threshold of your door, but that‘s where the strategy begins. Each has its place. A LinkedIn profile is about you. It‘s your personal DNA. It‘s your biography. A Facebook page is about your brand and letting people know about your business and what you do and why you‘re better than the average bear. Twitter is about reaching the niche market that‘s having conversations around the subject that you want to have conversations around and become part of that conversation. YouTube gives voice. Pinterest gives you the opportunity to create and link images because we‘re all image-hungry today and image-driven, so anybody who has a business that can be expressed in images, Pinterest becomes important, particularly in retailing and home design, not exclusively, but that‘s definitely their sweet spot, and the food industry. And then, of course, Google+, which is I call the Rocky Balboa of social media, because everybody had ripped them off less than a year ago, and they are coming back very strong and very important for a lot of reasons: one, because of some of their features; and two, simply because it‘s called Google+. And guess what your rankings and your visibility are going to be influenced by how you use Google+. So when you have the harmony of just those six going on, and you interact with them—and you may spend 20 percent of your time on Google+, and 60 percent of your time on Facebook, and 5 percent of your time in LinkedIn—again, it varies with different people—but if you have it all going on, then you‘re going to get the results that you want, and having a real plan is what matters. Yes. Hey, Carol, let‘s do an illustration, just kind of…

Travis: Carol:

Okay.

Travis: We‘re free-styling this conversation here, so let‘s do a B-to-C and a B-to-B in two different industries. So a B-to-B would be—like our show is a business-to-business, right? Carol:

Correct.

Travis: And then Sandra‘s book is a business-to-consumer. Sandra has a book that says, ―We Don‘t Die: A Skeptic‘s Discovery of Life After Death,‖ so that‘s a business-to-consumer product, if you will. Maybe you could do two minutes on each of those, how you‘d break that down. Because I think when you take an actual specific topic and break it down, then people can see it‘s more of an illustrative discussion where they can parallel it to their business. That makes sense? Carol: Travis:

Absolutely, sure. Okay, great.

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Carol: Let‘s start with Sandra‘s book because the book is absolutely for the direct consumer, and I would see the two critical platforms for Sandra to be on to be Twitter and Facebook, with a very strong profile about her. I used the word ―biography‖ very specifically on LinkedIn, because it‘s the place where they can go check you out and who you are and what you‘ve done and how interesting you are, in ways that we usually don‘t express on our websites, which is very skewed to what we‘re doing now. So you‘ve got that as your background, but in terms of your communication, you‘re going to have a strong Facebook page that‘s really going to speak to that audience, not promoting the book necessarily, but talking about this whole subject: the philosophies of death and how people feel about it, and giving a forum and a place for people to post and contribute to the conversation and express themselves. You draw them into it through little tidbits of interest that you put out on Twitter with always the link driving them, in this case, back to one of two places: either to your Facebook page or to your website or place where they can get the book, and you‘d want to vary that, but you also want to use hashtags, Sandra, in Twitter so that you are going to attract people who are interested in having conversations about death and dying and skepticism and probably whatever other keywords. Sandra:

Grief. Yes.

Carol: Grief, yes. And there are people looking to find out what people are talking about. Once they discover you, they follow you. Once they follow you, they‘ll follow the breadcrumbs that you give them. So that would be my quick answer for you. As far as the radio show is concerned, what are you looking for, Travis? Are you looking for advertisers? Are you looking for guests? Are you looking for listeners? What would be your goal for the show? Travis: Listeners. We want to teach and instruct as many entrepreneurs. We want to move the entrepreneurial pursuit as far forward as possible. Carol: Okay, then in your case, I think the two critical places are—well, I‘m going to say three. I‘m not going to be able to do it in two. Because I do think having a strong presence on Twitter, as much as I suggested to Sandra, pretty much in today‘s world, serves everybody because it puts that conversation out there about that you‘re doing, who you are and helping people discover the radio show, as listeners and maybe potential guests but more heavily on the listener. You use the words— again, the keywords like: ―entrepreneur,‖ like ―business solutions,‖ whatever really suits either the theme of a particular show or the overall theme of the show. But the other two components that I think are going to be most important for you are truly going to be LinkedIn and Google+. Google+ is where the entrepreneurs are hanging out. That‘s the space that they have gravitated to. It‘s not quite as rigid or formal as LinkedIn, and it‘s not as playful and informal and—let‘s be honest—silly as Facebook can be sometimes. A lot of entrepreneurs shy away from Facebook. If they‘re there, they‘re there because they have to be there, and they usually delegate it to somebody because they don‘t have the patience

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for it. Google+ is where you can have some meaningful conversations and create Circles of people who want to have conversations about entrepreneurial issues, and you can parse that down into Circles where you talk about, you know, entrepreneurs in franchises, entrepreneurs in the restaurant business, entrepreneurs in Internet sales, entrepreneurs in the authorship/publishing world—that list is endless— and communicate with them that way. That would be my quick strategy without going deeper. There‘s usually a lot more questions that I ask, but that gives you an idea of what I think the approach needs to be. Travis:

Yes. And the LinkedIn—how about the LinkedIn piece?

Carol: Well, the LinkedIn piece on that one is twofold. I think number one, it‘s obviously, again, yourself having a strong profile about who Travis Jenkins is, but the other piece of it is joining and probably even creating groups but most importantly joining groups of other entrepreneurs who are having meaningful discussions and becoming part of that discussion. You post in a group; you know someone says, ―I got my company to a two-million-dollar point. I‘m really stuck. I‘m looking for that next breakthrough. I don‘t know what to do.‖ Well, maybe you have some experience on that that you can share from an entrepreneurial standpoint, saying, ―What we find is, is that when companies reach that point, it‘s usually a matter of resources you need to look at. Do you have the right people on the bus? Do you have the right physical plans? Do you have enough financing capital to move forward, and what would be your next big goal? And then you can contribute some cool information to people, but then you put a LinkedIn and say, ―Hey, we had a show on this recently. You might want to listen to it.‖ And you begin to nurture people back to, ―Hey, there‘s a voice here,‖ more than just this threaded discussion, and I ought to go check out The Entrepreneur‘s Radio Show. Travis: Right, right. I completely agree with you. Thank you for that. I think talking it through, the strategy for specific businesses, kind of puts handles on the topic and people can start thinking, ―Okay, so that‘s how I would apply it to my business.‖ I know, for me, that‘s how I think. When I see someone applying it to business A, and they‘re doing it this way, that way, then I think, ―Well, wait a minute, my business can interchange with that business.‖ Great illustration there. I hired a company that is known for just really—really a team of people that are known for just being killer at this stuff, and were going down these paths that you‘re talking about now: growing the show. Originally the show was named ―Diamonds in Your Own Backyard,‖ which is from the story of ―Acres and Acres of Diamonds.‖ Basically, just so that everybody knows, it‘s where a guy heard about this incredible wealth, and he had this successful family and business and couldn‘t shake the dream of this incredible wealth, ended up selling his property, travelling across the world to find these diamonds, and ultimately that he died in the process, and the diamonds were found on his property. I have a bit of journey in my own life like that where I‘d went through a phase and built this gigantic business and then lost everything and really thought it was the end of my life, when actually it was the beginning of my life,

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the beginning of the newest and most important phase of my life, which is moving the entrepreneurial pursuit forward, teaching people what they need to know to grow their business and make a bigger impact because I believe it‘s entrepreneurs like me, you, Sandra, and everybody listening, did really drive the majority of inspiration of tax, of taxes, tax-base jobs, you name it. Right? Carol: I could not agree more. I think that the entrepreneurs are… I have said throughout this whole recession and economic downturn that it was entrepreneurs that were going to put this country back on track, and it‘s pretty much proving to be the case because so many people, either voluntarily or involuntarily, left the corporate world and realized that they really had to make a major change in their life. There are so many wonderful unbelievably successful stories of budding entrepreneurs out there that are role models, many more than the three of us on this show, but there are also many, many more who would like to do it and simply don‘t know how and need someone to help guide the way. So your show is part of that gift that you‘re giving the world, to help people know on how to become an entrepreneur and be successful and what are the strategic things you need to do, what are the pitfalls you want to stay away from. Travis:

Right.

Carol:

And there are a few.

Travis: Carol:

Yes, just a few. There‘s a few.

Travis: Yes, and you need a nudge. Those people need a nudge. This is almost terrible to admit it, but I try to surround myself with entrepreneurs, and if I‘m around anyone that‘s not an entrepreneur, I don‘t want to have very much in common with them. I don‘t understand their mentality, their attitude or anything. Carol: Yes. Well… And it works the other way. I had someone approach me recently about putting together an entrepreneur in the corporate workplace program. I knew going in, or I felt—I shouldn‘t say I knew—I felt going in that this was going to be a clash of culture, cultural philosophy. But I went in, I talked to them. I did my due diligence, chatted. But by the time I got to talking to the senior management team, it was very clear to me that they didn‘t want entrepreneurs in the company. What they wanted was the buzzword, the benefit of the buzzword, but they wanted conformity. They didn‘t want the spontaneity. They didn‘t want people rocking the boat. They didn‘t want people constantly testing new things and coming up with new ideas. What they wanted was good strong productivity, loyalty and adherence to the company objectives and missions, which, by the way, is not a bad thing. It‘s just a different way of doing business. You‘re right. It‘s like the clash of the titans. Travis:

All antonyms to entrepreneur.

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Carol:

Yes, yes, you got it.

Travis: The exact opposite. I‘ve got an assistant that handles some of my post, and one week she posted TGIF, you know, thank God, it‘s Friday. Carol:

Right.

Travis:

And I called her and I said, ―Entrepreneurs, we don‘t think like that.‖

Sandra:

No, there are no Fridays.

Travis: Take that post down. She goes, ―Oh, I‘m sorry.‖ I said, ―Yes.‖ You know, Fridays, Mondays, it doesn‘t matter to me. Sandra:

No.

Travis:

I‘m not counting the days to the end of the week. That‘s just a mentality.

Take us back a little bit, one of the things we moved through kind of quickly, and hopefully you don‘t mind me digging in this a little bit more, is initially—you don‘t need to give us specific numbers—but so, initially, you built your business to a six-figure in the first year. Were you able to multiply that by two, by four, by five, by ten over time? Carol:

I‘ve doubled it. I‘ve doubled it the second year and doubled it again the third year.

Travis:

Nice, nice

Sandra:

Wow.

Carol: And it was all… I‘d really have to emphasize here because I want your listeners to really, really get this: it was all built on relationships and paying it forward and really building the… Well, let me do a sidestep here. There‘s a thing we teach in sales training that I taught years ago for a long time, basically, that the people need to know you before they like you, like you before they trust you do, and trust you before they do business with you. The mistake that most people in many companies make on social media is that they jump straight to the business: ―Let me tell you about my business. Let me tell you what I do. Why I‘m the best coach, why I‘m the best consultant, why you should buy my widget,‖ and they skip the know, like and trust, which any salesman worth their salt knows takes time. Depending on the business and the price point, it could take a week; it could take a month; it could take several years to build a relationship to the point where you‘re going to get the sale. So I believe very, very strongly that social media, regardless of platform, it can be used very effectively to accomplish the know, like and trust. People get to know you by how you present yourself and how

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much information you share. They get to like you by the way you engage and communicate and talk with them and be yourself, be your natural authentic self. And they get to trust you through watching how other people interact with you and through social proof, which comes in the form of recommendations and endorsements and those types of things. So you‘ve already—when you‘re ready to talk about your business, because of all the behaviors that you‘ve put on the table up to that point, the know, like and trust—it‘s a home run. They‘re ready to sign on the dotted line. So the business becomes so much easier. Using myself as the example, I worked very, very hard on building a solid profile, getting the recommendations, and then doing the right things in the groups. I‘m talking specifically now about LinkedIn. But I also paid attention to my network. I would always, when someone sent me an invitation to connect, I would always immediately, after I accepted, send a note back saying, ―Thanks so much. Happy to have you in my network. Please let me know how I can support you and your business.‖ And if I can, Travis, let me give a quick war story of how this worked. Travis:

Yes, please do.

Carol: When I first left my corporate job, I was pretty well-known in the industry and I had several recruiters reach out to me saying, ―Oh, my God. Never thought you‘d leave. What are you looking for? How can we help you?‖ And I said, ―Honestly and truly, I‘m not looking for a job. I‘m going out on my own, but I‘d be happy to be connected with you because I know a lot of people and maybe I can help you,‖ and that was really my sincere intent. And I laughingly say underneath that is, ―Well, if this entrepreneur thing didn‘t work, I might have needed them six months down the road,‖ so let‘s keep them close. Well, what happened—this was about a year, year-and-a-half into it, and I think it was early 2009—I had gotten a… I posted on my update on LinkedIn that I was going to be in California doing a management training program for Coldwell Banker, and that was the company that I have been with for a number of years. One of these recruiters—and you could see her do the palm-against-theforehead—she sent the in mail to me, she said, ―My God, Carol, I should have thought of you. We desperately need a CFO. We‘re looking for a CFO for a large independent real estate company in Southern California. Do you know anybody?‖ I said, ―I don‘t, but I know who does, and that‘s Phil. He used to be their CFO. He‘s now moved on. He‘s with another company up in Seattle, but he was there for a lot of years. Let me introduce the two of you on LinkedIn, which I did. We were now knee-deep in the recession. Phil knew three people: he knew two who had already been riffed, either because their company‘s closed or because they were consolidated, and one who was sort of hanging by a thread. So three people got in front of this recruiter that she did not know about and they didn‘t know about this job. One of them actually got the job. I felt really good about that. I got nice thank you notes from everybody.

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Sandra:

Yes, sure.

Carol: But that‘s not the footnote to the story. The footnote to the story is about four months after that, the phone rang in my office and this person said to me, ―You don‘t know me, but I‘m…‖ She told me the company she was with, and she says, ―We are so deeply grateful for what you did to help Teresa. It was a major homerun. The employer was thrilled. The employee is thrilled. But that‘s not why I am calling today. We have a conference.‖ This is a large, a national recruiting company or—yes, they were having a conference in Orlando. She said, ―We‘re bringing in all our recruiters. Could we have you come in to teach them how to use LinkedIn more effectively?‖ And I got a five-figure speaking engagement from that. Travis:

Not too shabby.

Carol: And I didn‘t pitch for it. I didn‘t promote it. Never would have known. In my profile, it said that I had spoken to audiences as small as 4 and as large as 7,000 or 77,000, I think is what I say. So she knew that that was a skill set. She knew that I know how to use LinkedIn. And because I had paid it forward with no expectation of anything coming back, I got a very, very significant engagement from that. That‘s the kind of magic that can happen when you take the focus off yourself and your own unselfish interests and worry about how what you‘re doing can serve other people. And you have to trust it a little bit. You have to trust that it is going to be there for you. Travis: Well, and that strategy‘s really been around for ages, and somehow it‘s just gotten lost in the shuffle. To me, in my own humble observation, it seems like through the development of the Internet, people feel like that the communication rules changed when they really never changed. The Internet is just another modality of communication. It does not change how you talk or treat human beings. So just being a good person and helping people out is brilliant. How do you think that got lost in the mix? Any feelings on that? Carol: Well, yes, I do. Actually, I agree with everything you just said, and then let me tag on to it. I think it‘s the fact that the people that are out there speaking and advocating and promoting social media for business—it started with the Internet marketers, and we all know they are very aggressive, very hardcore, very, you know, ―Give me your e-mail address. I‘ll give you this free download and then you‘re going to be on my list forever and I‘m constantly going to be up selling you.‖ So we all know that formula, and it‘s okay. It works, and, heaven knows, I bought things through the persuasion of a sales letter. But when you look at social media as part of marketing, and it is, marketing, by definition, has always been a push message. It was a one-way communication. If you ran a TV ad, a radio ad, had a billboard on the interstate highway, did a direct mail campaign or ran it out on the local paper, it was a Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‘s Radio Show

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one-way push message of, ―Here‘s me. Here‘s my business. Here‘s the special. Here‘s the sale we‘re having today. Here‘s the new product we‘re offering,‖ and it was always a one-way communication. When people moved their marketing philosophy into social media, many of them have and still have missed the fact that it‘s no longer a one-way conversation. It‘s a two-way conversation. And the consumer is in charge. You are no longer fully in charge of the message. You need to be part of the conversation, but you‘re not in charge of the message or where the message goes. Once you get that, then the magic begins to happen, when you realize it‘s as though your very best customer had walked into the store at a not very busy time and you grabbed the coffee from the back room and said, ―Hey, let‘s sit and chat. Tell me what you‘re thinking.‖ And a smart businessperson would say, ―You‘ve business with me for a long time, why do you continue to go back? What do you like about doing business with my company? Why? What would you like to see me do that I‘m not doing?‖ Those are the kinds of things that a good businessperson does. Well, damn it, do it online, too. Have those conversations with your actual and perspective customers. Travis: I think I also sense all of us spend so much time in front of our screen, I think one of the side-effects is taken personal communications to an impersonal level. Because a lot of us, we‘re really programmed to know how to communicate and treat people properly face to face, but when people can hide behind the screen, and they‘ve got to type those things out to illustrate that respect and that care and that concern, it seems to desensitize them on a level at the same time. Carol: Yes, that‘s an interesting observation. I agree with you, but here would be my counterpoint to that: even though your message, when it goes out into cyberspace, when you put that little fairy dust out there, it is a one-to-many message. However, when it lands, when somebody comments back on your post on Facebook or re-tweets what you tweeted about or offers to connect with you or comment on a discussion thread on LinkedIn or becomes part of your circle in Google+ or re-pins something you put on Pinterest, the fact of the matter is we‘ve got to remind ourselves that‘s one single human being on their computer, their iPad, their ‗Droid, whatever device they‘re using, who just had a personal interaction with you. You may not be face to face, eyeball to eyeball, but it‘s still one human being connecting with another human being. It‘s an entirely different dynamic. Travis:

Sandra, can we get an amen?

Sandra: I‘m just excited listening to this and mapping it on to me. Carol, I got an e-mail yesterday from a woman who downloaded my Kindle book off Amazon, and in the back of my book is, ―If you‘d like to write back to me, here‘s my e-mail address.‖ Well, she did. Well, she never expected a response. She wrote to me this morning that she was in tears that the author wrote back, and how special. Why I‘m bringing this up is that when we‘re on social media, it does feel like one voice to millions or whoever‘s looking at the post, but it really is a person-to-person conversation, and how special it was for this woman to feel like she was special that I wrote back to her. I mean, it‘s the same

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thing with every time we communicate with anybody on social media. People can feel when they‘re special. They can feel when you‘re actually listening to them and responding to their words like you actually care, and to take the time to actually care, and that‘s building the relationships. So, for me, just getting this e-mail from the reader told me that even if it‘s an e-mail or it‘s a conversation via social media, to care, to listen, and that sounds like what you‘re saying is the basis of starting a relationship. Carol:

Yes.

Sandra: And down the road, who knows how my words might help someone in their life or who they know or what? But it makes perfect sense that the relationships can build and lead to business and all that good stuff. And it doesn‘t take a lot to care. Carol: Yes, it is such a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing that with your listeners because it is really what it‘s all about. You made a human connection you made. That‘s just amazing. It‘s a perfect example of what I‘m talking about. I believe that social media simply has become a wonderful tool for human beings to reach out to other human beings all over the globe. That‘s the magnitude of this and where I think it becomes daunting for people. But it‘s still, somebody has got to have their fingers on the keyboard some place in order to connect with you, and that‘s what you got to remember. Travis: I think the lesson—and this is something that I see a lot of people make a mistake on and I‘ve been guilty of it early on when I first started writing—is so I know my message is going to many, many people, and so I would speak in a way that it was obvious that I was speaking to many. And that‘s a big no-no because only one person at a time can read that message. I felt like that‘s one of the things that you were pointing out there. I think it‘s worth illustrating or digging down a little deeper. When you have that conversation, write it as if you‘re speaking to that person right in front of you and remove all of these words that include large groups of people or persons because it makes it impersonal and it eliminates that connection between that you and that person reading. Carol: Yes. And I do think that‘s an art form. You‘re right. It‘s very easy to give that big overarching marketing message, and it feels robotic to people. It feels insincere. It feels automated, as opposed to conversational. Maybe the simple word, Travis, is just ―conversational.‖ Travis:

Yes.

Carol: The more conversational you can be and authentic to how you express in normal life in your writing is where that authenticity comes through. It is magical. People can see it. They can feel it. They inhale it. Then they‘re going to respond back—as opposed to what I call the clinical way of expressing yourself on social media. Travis:

Great point, great point.

Sandra:

Carol…

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Travis: We‘ve been trying to do it with the show. We want to speak to that one person. We view this as me, Sandra and you, and then sitting together, although there‘s a large group of people. I didn‘t mean to step on you there, Sandra. Go ahead, dear. Sandra: You have big feet, and you do it all the time. Now I think I forgot what I was going to say. No, I remember. So I‘m looking at the six big social media sites, and I‘m thinking, ―How in the world am I going to have time for that,‖ because I don‘t—first of all, I don‘t know them all that well. Pinterest, I‘m not too sure of. LinkedIn is kind of fuzzy, Google+–we had a great guest talking about Google+, but I still haven‘t take it right on. But I haven‘t set the time to learn them, and now it seems overwhelming. How do I squeeze in six social media sites a day? Do you have any tips for how much time we need to be spending in social media? Carol: Well, you know what‘s really funny about that, and I‘m so glad you asked that question because time is the number one objection and time happens to be my number one hot button. When I started all of this back in 2008, I truly wasn‘t taking it seriously because I didn‘t yet know how it was going to serve my business. What I did was, I would in the morning—you know, everybody has a different way of starting their day. For me, it was go through pile on my desk, create my to-do list, make sure my inbox and my voice mail was cleared out, and I added social media into that and I would spend somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes a day. I just chipped away at it. I did a little bit everyday, but here‘s the secret, Sandra: I did it five days a week. This became part of my habitual pattern. Now I don‘t still, today, do a lot of social media on the weekend because for me in the way my business is structured, that really is family time for me. I‘m not tethered to my iPhone tweeting all the time. But I did this every day. So as I built this training program of how I‘m going to teach people to do this, I just took the average of that 15 to 20 minutes and I said, ―You could build up a six-figure business on 17 minutes a day.‖ Now I will tell you I have doubled that expectation because times are very, very different in 2013. Sandra: Carol: Sandra:

I like that. Yes, yes. Sure.

Carol: I‘ll tell you what the inspiration was for that in a minute. But in 2008, when I launched, 17 minutes a day was enough. Because it has become exponentially so much more important, I don‘t think anyone can get away with less than what I‘m going to say now is 34 minutes devoted to social media. You may spend one day entirely on LinkedIn, or you may break it down. This goes back to knowing where you‘re going to get your best return. It might be two minutes on LinkedIn, two minutes on Google+, five minutes on Twitter and the balance on Facebook. Again, the ratios are going to change, and they‘ll change from day to day, but it‘s the discipline of doing it on a regular basis. It‘s more important to do it consistently that it is to do a whole lot. Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‘s Radio Show

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Some people want to do all their social media two hours on Sunday afternoon while they‘re watching the game or watching golf on TV, and that will not work because you‘re not actively engaged. I happen to not like a lot of the management tools because people become too dependent on them and they lose the personal interaction. I use them for certain things. If I want push out blog posts or I want to push out certain inspirational quotes or notes about my radio show, that‘s fine to automate, but you still have to be personally engaged and pay attention to the conversation. Where the 34 minutes came from—I have to say actually was inspired by the Super Bowl when they had the 34-minute blackout, and it just happened to coincidentally be two times my 17 minutes. I wrote a blog post, and I actually did a radio show around this, about how 34 minutes can change the game and what would you do with the 34 minutes that could change your life. I used the whole story about how it completely changed the momentum of the game, that San Francisco got their heads together. They re-grouped completely. Everybody had written them off by that point. But even with turn-pass and that next touchdown, they still didn‘t lose it. Now they didn‘t win the game, but it absolutely changed the momentum and the outcome. So my message to people is: if you can devote 34 minutes a day 5 days a week, it will transform your business. And I stick by my guns. Sandra:

I like that.

Travis: Easy to remember. Hey, now this may conflict with some of the advice, or not necessarily conflict, but this may include some of the advice that you‘ve already given: what would be the top five things that you think people should do to get social media working for them? Maybe that‘s one of the elements. Then what are the five things that people are normally doing wrong? Carol: Wow, okay, let me think about this. Let‘s start with the obvious one. When you hear about a social media site—you listen to a radio show; you read it in a blog post; someone mentions it— and it‘s like, ―Hell, I‘ve never heard about Pinterest. What‘s Pinterest,‖ go out and grab your name. Set up a basic profile. Grab your name. And if it‘s appropriate for a business site, grab your business‘ name. Reason being is you don‘t know when these sites are birthed and people start the buzz talking about them, you don‘t know that it‘s going to be the next Facebook a couple of years down the road or how important it could be to you. If somebody else claims your name or claims your business name, it‘s gone forever. That is the absolute must-do. Just set up a basic profile, and redirect people to where you are currently active. So if it‘s your Facebook page, just say, ―The best place to connect with me is to like my Facebook page. Here‘s the link,‖ so at least you have a presence. That would b number one. Number two is really ‗sit down with a qualified social media strategist‘—to do a one-, two-hour consultation is not prohibitively expensive—and get somebody who knows what they‘re doing and understands business and marketing, not social media and not how to put a Facebook page together, not the technical side of it or the mechanical side of it. Talk with someone who can help you sort out identifying where your target audience is, how you want to express and grow your business, and where

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you should be putting your efforts, which goes back to Sandra‘s question. That will then guide you as to where you put your time. That would be number two. Number three is absolutely ‗make a time commitment‘. At the beginning, I really strongly recommend to people that they try to do it themselves at least for a while, even if it‘s only a short while. That could be 30 days. That could be 60 days. Reason being: you have to establish your voice and your momentum and your comfort level before you delegate it, and that means whether you delegate it to somebody that works for you or outsource it to somebody else, because social media is all about you and your personality. Again, the emphasis is on the word ―social‖ not on ―media‖. If you hire somebody just because you want to get it off your plate prematurely, you haven‘t experienced it to know how you want it to serve you and how it will serve you or should serve you so that you can guide that person. Travis: Carol: Travis:

Great one. That would be among the top to-dos. I know that‘s not five yet. Well, that‘s fine.

Carol: Let me jump over to some of the don‘ts, and I‘ll build right on the one that I was talking about. When you delegate, you can delegate; don‘t educate. You have to pay attention. There‘s a lot of examples out there of people who have outsourced their social media, trusting that, ―You know more than I do. I want you to go tweet for me and build up my Facebook page and get me more LinkedIn connections,‖ and then they don‘t pay any attention to it, and all of a sudden disaster hits because they have people upset with them. They get shut down because they‘ve broken the rules. You really have to pay attention to how you‘re expressing yourself. Another don‘t is to step away from it and lose interest. Customer service has pretty much moved to the Internet, particularly on Twitter. I mentioned very briefly earlier on the show that your customers are there talking about you, with or without you, so you better know what they‘re saying. If they‘re saying good things, that‘s great. You can reinforce it. You can thank them. You can give them praise. You can do all sorts of wonderful things. If they‘re critical, you want to acknowledge it openly. Respond to it quickly in real time, and that usually means within at least a 24-hour period. For most of us, it doesn‘t have to be instantaneous like the expectation on a text message. But be open about it and say, ―I‘m so sorry you had this experience. Please definitely reach out to me. Here is my number.‖ It‘s okay to take it offline for solution, but you want the world to know that you care about the people that you are serving. There‘s numerous examples of companies that haven‘t done that. The big one I mentioned earlier is posting or promoting and pushing and selling your services prematurely and too frequently. I was just at a conference speaking with Guy Kawasaki, who of course is one of the big voices in this space, and Guy has a one-in-twenty rule. He says, ―I don‘t care what platform you‘re on. You shouldn‘t be talking about yourself and your business more than one time in 20 Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‘s Radio Show

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tweets, 20 Facebook updates or wall posts, 20 updates on LinkedIn,‖ and I thought what a marvelous, marvelous rule of thumb. Keep the focus on the people you‘re talking to, serve them, and then you‘ve earned the right to talk about yourself. That would be another one. An obvious one is don‘t post anything like—I always say, ―Don‘t post anything your mother wouldn‘t approve of or you wouldn‘t want see on the front page of the ‗New York Times.‘‖ Sandra:

Yes.

Carol: Stupidity gets a lot of people in trouble on social media because they feel, because it is this big space that you can go and rants. Well, you can, but that can cost you a job. That can cost you a customer. That can cost you credibility and a whole lot of things. So that‘s not five and five, but that‘s something. Travis: You did a pretty good job. I‘d like for you to have that last conversation with my son that‘s 27 years old: ―Watch what you‘re saying on the Internet, on Facebook, son.‖ Sandra:

I know.

Travis:

And he‘s got a great job.

Carol: Well, I know. It is generational, Travis, because the youthful generation, the gen Ys and the younger, the gen Zs that are coming along or the millennial‘s, as we like to call them, have no privacy filters. They think everything is and should be and can be shared on social media. And in fact it can, but they don‘t have the life experience to realize what the consequence of that‘s going to be. So they think us oldsters are pretty stick in the mud and we don‘t get it, but the truth of matter is I don‘t see our world and our society changing that much. I‘m actually working a lot with youth now, even in high school, about how they can craft three places, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, to help them build a biography throughout high school that will help them in the college admissions process. I also have a virtual program that I‘m going to be introducing targeted to college students in terms of their conduct because they‘re going to be looking to land that first job or get into graduate school. And for colleges‘ admissions officers, because I talked to many of them, and employers, they‘re all… Travis: Carol:

Oops. The final thumbs up, thumbs down.

Travis: You cut out. Hold on. Carol, you cut out there. I didn‘t mean to interrupt you, dear, but you said they‘re all doing what? Carol: Travis:

What they‘re doing is looking at social media as sort of like the final decision maker. Okay.

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Carol: So whether you‘re going to get into the college of your choice, whether or not you‘re going to get the job, they‘re going to see what your online behavior has been. If you‘re looking for a new job, and you‘ve been on Facebook dissing your current employer, guess what? Travis:

Right.

Sandra:

Yes.

Carol: Or if you‘ve been on Twitter on rants using inappropriate language or tagging inappropriate photos, that‘s going to get you right out the door. Travis: Yes, exactly. Great point. There‘s so much great information here. You‘re just a wealth of information here that we could almost do an entire another show. Now time, we‘re getting short on time, so we need to transition to the lightning round. Are you ready for that? Carol:

I am ready for the lightning round. You go for it.

Travis:

Sandra, are you ready?

Sandra:

I love when you bring up the lightning round.

Travis:

You have your seatbelt on?

Sandra: It feels like a game show, when I‘m on the edge of my seat like, ―What‘s he going to do?‖ Yes, you‘re the best, Travis. You‘re so much fun. Travis:

All right.

Sandra:

Hit it.

Travis: Okay. So, Carol, I have permission to proceed forward, so the first question is: what book or program made an impact on you related to business that you‘d recommend and why? Carol: I love, love, love the question, Travis. I‘m not going to recommend a program because I‘ve invested in many and I‘ve been to many programs, live programs versus the audio or the CD-type programs, and I think that is sort of an endless list, each having a different purpose. Travis:

Right.

Carol: But there are two books that definitely, for any in the modern world of business—they have to do with marketing and social—one is ―Socialnomics‖ by Erik Qualman, which really talks about, in very, very clear terms, how the social world has changed and how there really is economic impact on our business. That was sort of a stunner for me in putting it into the real business perspective and not just playing with friends and family and sharing photos on Facebook. Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‘s Radio Show

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But the other one, which probably, having a marketing background, had equally, if not more important to me, was a book by David Meerman Scott called ―New Rules of Marketing and PR.‖ I bet I‘ve read that book three times and I‘ve referred to it many, many more times. I‘ve actually had conversations with David. It really takes anyone who is struggling with their habits of traditional marketing and PR into how it works in the new world. It‘s not all about the Internet. It‘s about the blend of where marketing and PR has gone. So for your business listeners and your entrepreneurs out there, that one in particular: ―New Rules of Marketing and PR.‖ He actually has another book that‘s quite fun about what marketers can learn from the Grateful Dead, which is worth a read also. Travis: Excellent suggestions. I haven‘t read either or none of those three books, so thank you for those suggestions. What is one of your favorite tools or pieces of technology that you‘ve recently discovered, if any, that you‘d recommend to other business owners and why? Carol: Wow. I review and I try so many new tools just because of how I serve my clients, and I think you‘re probably going to expect a social media answer from me, like what‘s the management tool you use, you recommend. That‘s not what I‘m going to answer. I‘ve just discovered, recently, because I am plagued with problems with and paranoia about passwords. I probably, like most people, love the idea of defaulting to a single password because it‘s easy to remember, and of course we all know that‘s the worst possible thing you can do online because once hacked, they have it. I discovered an app called oneSafe, oneSafe. Now I have to say it‘s only for Mac right now—so iPad, iPhone, Mac—and they also have a oneSafe for photos, which I have not used, but I do have it on my Mac, on my iPad and on my iPhone. It manages your passwords, your Internet accounts, your bank accounts, specific numbers, confidential documents, and it is very, very safe, very easy to use, very, to set up, and I‘m just like a huge, huge fan of oneSafe. Travis: Uhm….Interesting. I‘m going to have to check that out. What famous quote would best summarize your belief or attitude in business? Carol: Wow. This is the bonus round. You‘re all over the place. There‘s one that I used for many, many years, even when I was still in the corporate world—because I was working with many of that. Most of that was on the real estate industry, working with both sales people and brokers and managers. And it‘s an industry that people are very, very hard to move, very hard to change. They‘ve been doing the same thing the same way for a long time. So my favorite quote was a quote by Albert Einstein, which is: “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.” And some people attribute that to Anthony Robbins. It wasn‘t Anthony Robbins‘ quote. It was Albert Einstein‘s quote, and it says so much. And I have to think that it would really speak to entrepreneurs because for people that are struggling with why aren‘t things working, and the first thing I tell people to look at is are you doing what you did last week, last month, last year? Because if you‘re still doing the same thing and it‘s not working, then change what you‘re doing.

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Travis:

Right. Great advice.

Sandra:

Great.

Travis:

Great quote. How do people connect with you?

Carol: All they have to do is go to linkedinlady.com. That‘s probably be the easiest. Go to my website. You can obviously find me in LinkedIn. LinkedInLady is my page on Facebook, and linkedinlady is my handle on Twitter. So I try to make it as easy and convenient for people as possible. Very clever. We‘re going to…

Travis: Carol:

Any of those, whatever your posting is, is fine to connect with me.

Travis: We‘re going to share all of your links, so if you don‘t mind, we‘ll just post all of them up there on the show notes, okay? Carol:

That‘s fabulous. I would appreciate that.

Travis: I have enjoyed spending time with you, and you‘re absolutely brilliant. I really appreciate the value that you brought to our listeners today and to us. Thanks a ton for hanging out with us. Carol: Hey, it‘s my pleasure. Thank you, Travis. Thank you, Sandra. This was great, great fun, and I hope it does bring some value to your listeners. Sandra:

Yes.

Travis:

Yes. Can you hang out for a few more minutes?

Carol:

I certainly can.

End of Interview Travis: Okay. Hey, I want to remind you: you can find all of the links to the books and the resources that we mentioned in the show in the show notes. So just go to diyob.com and that stands for what, Sandra? Sandra:

Diamonds in Your Own Backyard.

Travis: other on our toes.

Carol, I like to make sure that Sandra‘s listening, so we do things to keep each

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Sandra:

Yes, on my toes. Yes, dear.

Travis: Anyways, while you are there, enter your name and we‘ll send you the ―2013 Business Owner‘s Guide to a Profitable Million-Dollar Business.‖ It‘s basically a candid behind-thescenes look at what you need to know to grow your business to incredible levels of success. What I tell you on the guide is critical to your success, and no one‘s really talking about many of these issues because either it‘s not in their best interest financially or they just don‘t know. In the guide, we‘ll cover the six misconceptions that are costing you a fortune, the five skills that will determine the success of your business over the next 18 months, right, Sandra? Sandra:

Right.

Travis: And lots more information for taking your business to the next level. All of this is free just for becoming part of our group here with Sandra and I. I want to close the show by reminding you that, whether you know it or not, no matter where you‘re at as an entrepreneur, whether you‘re just beginning or you‘ve built this huge business or anywhere in between, you‘re an inspiration to those around you to go after their dreams, too. So keep it up. Our inspirational quote today comes from Robert H. Schuller, and the quote reads: “Problems are not stop signs. They’re guidelines.” In the next episode, we‘re going to connect you with the brilliant Jay Baer. One of the reasons why I say he is brilliant is I‘ve known him for a while and his blog has been named the number one content marketing blog in the world by Content Marketing Institute. So, as always, there‘ll be lots of great stuff for growing your business. Sandra, do you have anything you want to add, dear? Sandra: Yes. I, just for myself, for Carol and our guest, and you, Travis, if you have your calendar there or if you have the time yourself, plot out that 34 minutes and take some time today or as soon as you can to get on social media. Take an action you normally wouldn‘t take. Get involved in the conversation with a new person and start building that relationship like Carol talked with us today about. I mean, it‘ll make a huge difference and sometimes the hardest step is the first step. So I‘m in, and I‘ll start today if you guys will as well. Travis: Yes. I agree with you. All of the advice that Carol gave today was absolutely brilliant, although I want to highlight one thing: sit down, whether it‘s with Carol or anyone, and get some professional advice on what you should be doing for you because driving—I‘ll try to phrase it in an analogy—driving ten miles the wrong direction is a complete waste of time. Sit down with someone that understands business and let them tell you, ―This is what you should focus on, and then this, and then this,‖ and that will make a huge difference. That way, you‘re not putting your time and effort in the things that won‘t pay off. That was an excellent advice.

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THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

Basically, that‘s all we have for this show. This is Travis Lane Jenkins signing off for now. To your incredible success… Sandra:

And Sandra Champlain signing off. Have a great day, and thanks for listening.

Travis:

That‘s right. Take care.

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THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

How We Can Help You We know that finding someone that you can trust online today is hard and that so many ―so called gurus‖ are self-‐appointed and have never really even done what they teach you to do. That‘s exactly why we created the Double Your Profits Business Accelerator. This is an exclusive offer for our fans at a fraction of its normal cost. Here's what to expect. We'll Schedule a 'One on One' private session, where we'll take the time to dive deep into your business and tell you what is missing, so that you can have your best year ever! We'll do this by performing a S.W.O.T. Analysis. This tells us your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats within your business. This will be an eye opener for YOU, for several reasons, however some of the most common reasons are. As the 'Business Owner' it‘s difficult to see the big picture of your own business because you‘re in the middle of a daily management. And you are too emotionally involved to completely impartial. This is a common problem for EVERY business owner. It doesn‘t matter if you are a one-man army, or an army of 150, the problem is still the same.

Travis Lane Jenkins Business Mentor-Turn Around Specialist Radio Host of The Entrepreneurs Radio Show “Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs That Grow Your Business"

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