the bossbabe podcast - 221. 4 Changes You Should Make To Your Business In This Economy

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

If you follow the news – and even if you don’t – you’ve seen and heard an uptick in economic related chatter lately. It’s everywhere, but what does it mean and how should we react? Whether it’s gas prices, inflation or interest rates, something is afoot. As you’ve no doubt learned from your own work, and from past guests, the best way to handle unexpected challenges and changes is to prepare for them as best we can.  But how can we prepare for something we can’t see? Danielle recently had the pleasure of attending a mastermind session where she participated in conversations with some of the world’s best business leaders from Tony Robbins to Dean Graziosi, Jenna Kutcher and Russell Brunson. What shook out was a list of actions that they, and anyone, can take to weather unpredictable future market conditions. Don’t worry, Danielle saved you a seat! She soaked up the room’s overflowing wisdom and delivered an invaluable wrap-up to Société members + recorded her presentation!  Get your notepads out for this super actionable episode on the way to hardening your business, and business model, for the forecasted changes to come. Highlights: What the world’s best business leaders do during economic uncertainty. How to anticipate your customers’ needs and speak to them in your marketing. Why some businesses grow during economic uncertainty + how you can ensure you’re one of them. The best advice Danielle received from Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, Jenna Kutcher and Russell Brunson. Links: The Société – Join our private, online community of female entrepreneurs where you can connect, build and grow. Listen: Tony Robbins Helps You Define Success Listen: Life With Meaning + Purpose: A Conversation With Tony Robbins Listen: Uncovering Your Millionaire Success Habits with Dean Graziosi Listen: Dean Graziosi On the Exact Steps to Making Your First $250K as an Entrepreneur Listen: 10x Your Online Sales With This One Technique With ClickFunnels Founder Russell Brunson Follow: bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Danielle Canty: @daniellecanty Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie YouTube: bossbabe: subscribe

Welcome to the Boss Babe Podcast, the place where we share with you the real behind the scenes of building successful businesses, achieving peak performance and learning how to balance it all. I'm Danielle Canty, co-founder and president of Boss Babe and your host for this week's episode. Except really, I am your host, but it's just me. Normally you'll hear me interviewing people on here. But today, I actually wanted to bring you behind the scenes of one of our latest society calls. The society is, a lot of you might know, is our membership for female entrepreneurs. And we really help women build wealth for themselves and understand either how to start their business or how to scale their business. That is what we are there for. And when we do calls in the society,

we do one every single week. We do not hold back, you guys. And so on this very special call, I was actually revealing everything that I'd learned from my mastermind that I recently went on, which was led by Tony Robbins. You know him. He needs no introduction. Dean Graziosi, Jenna Kutcher, and Russell Brunson. We were all there together with a number of other leaders in the space. And on the first day, we each had to teach something. So we had to teach a marketing skill that was doing well and performing well in our business. So I thought, you know what, I want to share this with the society. So I jumped on a call and I've recorded it for you guys and

I'm sharing it here. I kept everyone else on mute for the first part and then we did a Q&A straight after which you have to be in the society to actually listen to. But I'm going to share with you the first part so you can really understand what is happening in the economic climate, what you can do about it and how you can be prepared heading in to Q3, Q4 of this year and heading into 2023. My role is to set you guys up for success. I keep nothing back. I want to be sharing everything with you. So this will be part one. And we'll be doing part two a little bit as a deeper dive more into webinars and funnels and higher strategy marketing, which will be coming very soon. So like I said, I've asked previously, if you love this episode,

please give us a review. It really means so much to us. I always want to make sure this is tangible, you are learning things, and you are inspired as well. And I really, really appreciate all the reviews that have come in so far. I read them every single time. And thank you for those of you who've done it. And thank you for those of you who are going to grab your phones right now and leave me one in there. So let's dive into the episode. Welcome to the Society Call, our Boss Babe Q&A today. And I'm really, really excited to be here because I am coming with pages and pages of notes for you guys. Notes that I took when I was with some of the greatest leaders in our industry, some of the greatest leaders in marketing, those who really understand what is happening

and are anticipating what is going to be happening over the next several months and years with our economy. So first of all, I'm so, so grateful to have this experience, but I really believe in taking people with you. And so if you follow me on my stories at Danielle Canty, I know you will have seen that I was accompanied by some amazing leaders. And I want to be sharing the behind the scenes of what that looks like. I was giving you a behind the scenes tour of Tony Robbins' studio. And I also want to be giving you behind the scenes information of things that were shared within a room of just 20 of us. You are literally getting

backstage passes by being within the society. That's why I'm providing this information here. So, so good to see so many of you on this call, smiling back at me and looking amazing. So let's grab a notepad and pen. I know you're going to want to make a ton of notes. And I want to make sure this is really, really actionable for you. And then we'll be doing a Q&A at the end. And you can ask me specific questions about your businesses so that I can help you. So first things first, a lot of the conversation whilst we were together was about the economic climate and how right now things are changing. And we've been in this season of growth. Obviously, we had COVID, which is kind of like a bit of a blip in the economy,

but they did a lot of stimulus work and ultimately the economy has been growing. However, a lot of economists, which I am not one, are talking about things getting more turbulent and whether we need to be thinking ahead as to whether a recession is coming or not. We don't know from the date that I'm recording this. But either way, we can definitely anticipate there's going to be some changes with interest rates going upwards. We want to be preparing ourselves

to anticipate this versus being reactive. And this is one thing that Tony was saying with his time with us about anticipation is the ultimate power in business. And we saw this previously with COVID. We were really like, okay, let's anticipate the needs of our customers during this time. And that's why we created a resource called Pivot Don't Pause. And so that was about pivoting what you were doing and not pausing what you were doing. So as we head into this, we really want to be thinking, what are our customers going to be anticipating and how

can we get ahead of that? So one of the things that he was saying was like, in his opinion, the biggest protection against economic instability or recessions, however you want to label it, is number one, you're earning power. So really emphasizing the importance to double down on your skill sets and maximize your talents. Because if you are the best at something in your industry, you can outcharge a recession. People are still going to be buying things and paying for things. So how can you make sure you are the person they want to be giving their money to? How are you the person that gets to set their own price? And it's about scaling up. So really investing in yourself, really investing in the skill sets. If you know you have weaknesses,

plugging those holes. And if you know that you're already really good at something, how do you niche down? How do you really make sure you are known for that thing? And people really come to you. So number one, biggest protection, earning power, and making sure you're putting yourself in a position where you're an expert. Second of all, is a company that doesn't require heavy capital investment. You were saying that if you are in a company that maybe has to buy a lot of machinery or has to do a huge amount of upfront inventory, things like that, it's gonna be more challenging.

But if you're an online business, or if you're a consultant, or if you have a branding company, or if you have white labeling products, these companies that you can start or grow that don't have a heavy capital investment on relying on raising money are in a really, really good position

during an economic downturn or economic shift because they can pivot and they can make sure they are tweaking things and they can cost cut much more easily. So if you do have those types of businesses, hold on to them or maybe even consider starting one. But if not, really, really focusing

on how you can skill up during this time. A couple of other points that we discussed with regards to having a business already is you really need to find a way to give your customers more than anyone else and focus on anticipating their needs. So not just always waiting for your customers to ask you things, but putting yourself in the minds of your customer, which we'll come to in a little bit, and really thinking about, okay, how can I anticipate their needs? And some of you might also need to be having that honest conversation with yourself around, okay, do I have the right clients or the wrong clients? Do I need to pivot?

Who is my ideal client at this time? Are they the right one? And just really considering that and pondering that and think about, okay, is my business a utility or is it a convenience? And I'm not saying you need to go and change your business because, oh, hang on a minute, I don't feel like it's a utility. It is more of a convenience. But actually considering how you can make it more needed. Is it better messaging around that?

Is it really speaking to people's problems and the problems that we anticipate they're going to be having? Like really looking at your messaging is going to be important. So on the subject of messaging, a few other things that we really they're going to be having. Like really looking at your messaging is going to be important. So on the subject of messaging, a few other things that we really, really discussed and how you'll need to be pivoting your business

as we head into different times is it sounds simple, but a lot of people actually forget to put their selves in the shoes of the average person, let's say in America, or the UK, or wherever your customers are. We think that, oh yeah, we think our businesses or ourselves are the center of the earth, and everything revolves around us. And that's really not true. And when you start thinking about, okay, what does the average American care about right now?

Well, what have they been talking about recently? We could probably say they've been talking about gas prices. They've been talking about real estate prices going up. They've been talking about interest rates going up. They've been talking about cost of healthcare. All of these things. So really asking yourself whenever you are listening to this, even later on in this year, what are people talking about? Because when you know what's on people's minds, you can really shift your messaging to support where they're at. You need to meet your customers where they're at. And for a meet your customers where they're at. And for a long time, we've been living in this aspirational market. Like,

Oh, this is wonderful. I want to be that. Really dreaming. And we're probably going to be shifting a little bit more towards a safety messaging and how can we support people during this time. So the messaging angles and the feeling of the messaging is very, very different. And so we talk about safety and messaging. How do you serve the people where they are at? What are the problems that they are actually having? A really good thing to think about is don't sell a product, you sell a solution for a problem. So always coming back to what is the problem that I have? What is the problem that my audience has? How do I solve it? Focus on those things. Don't focus on the product. That's a big thing I see a lot of people making. And there won't be room for those mistakes as we shift into like this next season. Let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform, Kajabi.

You know, I've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run so much smoother and with way less complexity, which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place. So it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment, all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business, you know, get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and

making things as smooth as possible. I definitely recommend Kajabi to all of my clients and students so if you're listening and haven't checked out Kajabi yet now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial go to kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial that's kajabi.com slash boss babe I mentioned this one earlier but really position yourself as a utility not a convenience and this doesn't necessarily mean like changing the packaging. So changing the actual product completely. It's more about changing the messaging around that. And maybe adding things in to the product that would make it more of a utility and not a convenience. So how can you be something that people don't click off? They're like,

hang on a minute, when I'm looking to cost cut, that's the thing that I'm not cost cutting because I need that. It adds value to my life. It's a utility and it's not a convenience. And another thing I would say is if you have a product-based business, when you're thinking about being a utility, this is a question I'm seeing actually just in the chat. I'm going to answer this now. Someone's saying like, okay, I have a planter business that doesn't really feel like a utility. How can I make sure this business survives during this time? Well, one thing you can also really consider doing is actually adding on complementary products to what you already have. So you increase the cart value or you increase the lifetime value of that person or that paying

client. So let's say you're selling planters, right? Well, there could be... Let's think if someone's getting a planter, quite often, I'm notorious for killing my plants. So I always buy with my planters, the water droplet things that add the water over a period of time. Those work great for me. So what are the accompanying and complementary products that increase the cart value that ultimately are going to mean that if the cost of gaining new customers increases, you can afford that because you've raised your cart value from $100 to $150 by adding these extra add-ins that people want and they're still shipped in the same packaging, etc. So the added costs are really minimal, but you've already increased the cart value. So really thinking about what is the low-hanging fruit in your business and how you

can make sure that you are capitalizing on this when those sales do come in. Another key piece is really ensuring your brand has credibility. I cannot stress enough how important it is to make sure that if you are getting good results, if you have good testimonials, you showcase them. If your company has been featured in various magazines, share that. That actually means something to consumers because it builds trust. You get two types of buyers, an emotional buyer who's like, Oh my goodness, I want it. I'm going to purchase it right away. And then you get the logical buyer who's going to be thinking about things a little bit more. Those testimonies, those reviews, those reassurances help those logical buyers move past any resistance that they do have. There's several steps to this.

In fact, I could probably do another podcast on this at another time about how to get logical buyers to buy. But that's one of the key things. It's just really showing your credibility, showing the results, and making sure that there's less hesitation for people to buy. Also, if you have reviews, put them on there. If you're on Trustpilot or you've been on Amazon, you've got so many star reviews, add those on there as well. Awards. Does your company have any awards? If you are creating products and that product has been awarded, again, make sure that is showcased and really obviously seen. And when I talk about being obviously seen, this is actually something that a lot of people forget to do. They think what they do is really obvious. They put sales pages out and they're like, Oh my goodness, it's obvious

what I do. It's obvious that I've got these awards. It's obvious that my product is really this good or it's obvious that my clients are needing these problems. Don't assume. I would always go and ask someone who is your ideal client, but they're not necessarily in your audience or your team. So let's say one of my friends, she is an entrepreneur. She's starting out in her business. She is my ideal client. She doesn't work in my business. She's actually a lawyer. I will quite often go and say to her, Hey, can you look over the sales page? Let me know if there's anything that's like not clear in there. And sometimes she'll be like,

I don't understand. What is this word? And I'm like, oh, we're utilizing words like conversion. And that's actually not something that she understands. She's like, what is that? So I need to choose a different word

that speaks to where she is at. So doing exercises like this are really, really powerful to make sure your marketing is on point. And like I said, when we're heading into times where things are a little bit more uncertain, we have to just dial in everything that we are doing and make it really, really better. So going over things, what I would really recommend everyone after listening to this podcast does is actually goes over their current marketing.

Go and get someone to look through it. Go and look at your sales pages. Take this checklist that I just gave you and ask yourself these questions. Is it obvious? Am I speaking to where the mindset is right now? What am I actually marketing? Are there ways that I can increase the cart value? Are there things that I can show credibility to decrease those logical buyers perhaps stepping away. Focus on these aspects of your business. They don't even need to be like huge tweaks. They can be little things that you do that really, really make a difference. And when there was less money circulating, you want to be making sure that we all have to be better to ensure that we get some of that money. All right. So just think about that

as you're heading into your marketing launches and selling your product on a daily basis. But I want to finish off this podcast. Sometimes it can be like, oh, this is a little bit of a bleak one. No, it's just a real one. And this is the real behind the scenes of building businesses. And so I never want to hold back from you guys and what conversations are being had. Because like I started off with this podcast saying, it's better to be prepared and anticipate things versus being caught off guard and reactive. So I just want to make sure everyone who listens is in the best position to prosper in the coming years. And I think these are some good key fundamentals that you can be making. I hope you loved this episode. I then went into a society Q&A call off the back of this,

asking people questions on what was going to really help them in their businesses. So if you do have any questions and you want specific help on your businesses, make sure you're in the society. It's our membership for female entrepreneurs to connect, build and grow. And this is really where Natalie and I, well, Natalie when she's back from having a baby, share so many insights

and things that we're learning as well as we have mindset coaches in there. We have guest experts like Payal who grew ClassPass, Jamie Kern-Lima who grew It Cosmetics, Maria Menounos. We have these incredible experts

teaching these incredible things to really set you up for success because we always believe that if you're going to learn from someone, you should learn from someone who is where you want to go. And so just really encouraging you all to make sure during this time you are investing in yourselves and you are skilling up and you are growing the business. So I'm going to put the link in the show notes, but you can also find it at bossbabe.com forward slash membership if you want to join us in there. If you enjoyed this episode, we would love it if you subscribed and left us a review. Let us know what you enjoyed, what your main takeaways were, and who you'd like to see appear on the show. As a special thanks, we'll send you a copy of our Boss Babe 25. Now this is an awesome resource. It's the 25 essential things that you need for personal and professional growth. We've included

everything from must-have products, to books, to rituals. This guide literally covers it all, and I know you're going to love it. So if you want your copy, simply leave us a review and then send a screenshot of your review to podcast at bossbabe.com.