[social_warfare]
SHOW NOTES
This is something I’ve been saying for years – but I recently realized, I’m still learning this lesson, too.
My husband and I started a business together before this one. And I was the brain behind going digital… until my own company blew up, and I had to drop my role in our first company.
At that point we realized, the *spark* my husband has (and needs to cultivate) is within his one-on-one personal training sessions… not online.
And I had been pushing and pushing for him to bring the company online, because that’s what works for me! That’s what creates greater profitability! That’s what creates bigger impact!
But that’s not what he’s here to do.
So, today’s episode is a reminder for everyone…
DO NOT try to mold yourself into something you were never meant to become.
Stretch yourself, yes. Get out of your comfort zone, yes.
But don’t forget who you are! Don’t drop everything you’re doing (everything you want to do) because so-and-so is doing something else that’s working “better.”
(Maybe it’s working “better” for them, because it’s authentic to who they are + what their brand is here to do.)
And remember that there’s no “one way” to build a business (if anyone tells you differently, they’re wrong).
As you listen to this 20-minute episode, I encourage you to take a step back and think,
“What’s AUTHENTIC to me and my audience? Am I doing what someone else told me to do… just because? How can I build my success on who I am?”
And if you’re willing to share, head over to Instagram (@emilyhirsh) to comment on my latest post!
P.S. This is a really, really important message that’s often overlooked in the quickness of online marketing – so if you love what you hear, share this episode with your best business friends! (Tag me on Instagram if you do!)
Key Points:
[2:15] I realized, I was trying to mold his business into what worked for my business…
[5:44] But building his brand this way was the exact thing holding him back
[7:19] How often have you tried to “fit the mold” of success, because so-and-so says it’s the only way?
[8:58] There’s no ONE way to build your business
[10:45] Here’s what happens when you push back against the templates…
[12:19] Stop listening to what people are telling you to do!
[14:35] Get out of your comfort zone… but don’t lose yourself
[17:19] If anyone says, “This is the only way,” know they’re WRONG
Subscribe To & Review The Hirsh Marketing Underground Podcast
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Hirsh Marketing Underground Podcast! If this podcast has added value and helped you in your business journey, please head over to iTunes, subscribe to the show, and leave us an honest review. Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will also help us reach even more amazing entrepreneurs just like you.
Episode Transcripts:
Emily Hirsh: Hello, and welcome back to the podcast everyone. Hope you guys are having an amazing week, an amazing day, and just crushing it, and taking care of yourselves. I don’t know, having fun while you do it. So, I actually thought of this episode as I was falling asleep. Does anyone else do that? I always think of really important things as I’m falling asleep, and I have to, often, pull my phone out, put it into a note. I don’t know why, but it’s like my brain… it’s actually really fascinating. There’s some days where I have like five or six things, and I’m falling asleep, and I’m like, “Oh, and then that, and then that.” And so the other day I had a couple of podcast ideas come to me, and this was one of them, and it’s kind of cool how I thought of it and the correlation that I have with it.
But basically what I want to talk about today is, how important it is to not mold yourself into strategies that don’t represent you and your brand… strategies or just, really anything in business. Don’t do things that don’t feel like your brand or you. And I feel like this is a message that needs to be said. What inspired me to think about this was actually a personal story. I’ll give you just a tiny bit of background, because I think that this is what kind of triggered this thought for me. My husband, he also has a business, and so we actually started an online business together before my business. It was, he teaches kettlebells, so if anyone knows what those are, they are like round, metal balls with a handle that you work out with. Love them, best workout ever. He teaches kettlebell training. He’s done it for 15 years. That’s actually how we met, he was the kettlebell instructor at my gym, so many years ago.
And so, he teaches kettlebells, and he’s always done in-person training. And so when I met him, he was a personal trainer. Then he met me, and we kind of fell into this… not right when he met me, but within a couple of years, we fell into this online business world. And of course, the entrepreneur in me, I was like, “Well, this is way more efficient. We have to do online, because you’re trading dollars for hours, and we’ve got to build this business.” And so we created this whole amazing membership site. It’s still up today. We have hundreds of members, and they pay for access to his workouts and his lessons. It’s called Kettlebell Movement.
And so we started that, but the problem is, at first I did the marketing and all the backend of the business, but then my business really started to take off three years ago. And [my] focus, you know, I’m so big on focus, so I had to be like, “I can’t do this. I can’t really help in your business at all anymore.” And he never was super inspired by the online business, because he couldn’t meet the people, work with the people one-on-one, and he’d been a personal trainer for 15 plus years. And so now, when we moved to Austin, he’s like, “I really want to work with people one-on-one again.” And I was like, “Ugh.” I actually was really resistant to it, because I was like, “I want to travel! [I want the time freedom!]” I don’t like being tied down in a city because of a job… or not a job, but like a business. If he has clients, when he leaves [the city], then he can’t take the clients.
And I like to be able to [leave]. We’ve gone on six-week trips to Europe, and I like to have that freedom to just be like, “Let’s go for two weeks to California in the summer.” And so I was super resistant to it. I was like, “No. It’s pointless, and [this is] so much better. I’ll just make the money. You don’t have to do this.” What we did was, we built on our property, we have a separate building, and so we turned that into a studio. It’s our gym now, which I’m super grateful for, because I love working out in that gym, and now he’s taking some clients. He only takes a max of like, eight to 10 sessions a week, so he’s not taking a lot because he’s very involved with our kids and supporting me in that way, too. But, I was reflecting as I was falling asleep on how much happier he is when he has these clients, and when he gets to do this in-person work and really use his hands, meet people one-on-one, train people. And that’s what fulfills him, and he’s amazing at it.
Truly, I’m definitely biased, but also would say this even if like we literally weren’t together, like this is one of the things that attracted me [to him] when I first met him was, he’s so good at what he does. He is one of the best… personal trainer doesn’t even say it, because he’s way more than that, way more knowledgeable than that. He’s been through years and years of certifications, and he understands the body better than anybody I’ve ever met. He’s really good at it, and I was reflecting like, “Wow, you really need to be doing this. This is your gift. This is what you need to be doing in the world to bring to other people…” because he changes lives! Their posture gets better, they get healthier.
I was trying for so long to fit him into this mold of, “This is how you should run a business. It should be online, because it’s so much more profitable!” And it is more profitable than trading dollars for hours. I wasn’t wrong with that statement, but that’s not him. That’s not what fulfills him. That’s not his calling. That’s not what he knows how to do. And so it was like a struggle during that whole time of trying to keep growing that business. And so the thought that I had was how often in business we see something that somebody else is doing, and we’re like, “Wow, that’s really profitable, or that is successful, that’s working really well.” And we just try to mold ourselves to it, and we try to mold our brand to it.
One of the pieces of advice I’ve always given clients, when it was me doing strategy calls, or when I talk to an entrepreneur, any time that I am talking to someone and I hear someone say like, “Maybe I should just do this, because I either saw somebody do it and was successful, or my friend did it and it worked for them, or I was inspired by it.” But they don’t feel like it’s them or their brand, and then they still want to do it.
Every single time you do that, in any situation, it won’t work. If you’re stepping outside… I don’t want to say comfort zone, because you do have to step outside of your comfort zone. But if you’re stepping outside of what feels like you and your brand and what you’re capable of doing or what you’re… You don’t want to stay in your comfort zone, so I don’t want to say that, because going on video and doing webinars, those will make you uncomfortable, but you kind of have to push yourself to do that. But then if you have fun doing it after, or you’re like, “This is me. I really connect with people this way.” Then you know you’re on the right track.
But some examples of what I hear people really do is, they will take webinar templates and scripts and then they will just plug in their information and go present that webinar. And it never converts, because it’s not them. And that’s the message that I wanted to say here, that I was inspired from seeing, “Wow, the way I do things, and the way I run a business, and my idea of how you should create a business is definitely […] not the only way to do it. If somebody is trying to replicate what I’m doing, but it’s going against everything that they want to do, really, or that they feel comfortable doing or confident doing, then it’s probably not the right route for them, and that’s okay.”
And so, in marketing and growing a business for a lot of my following, the way this will show up is [in] using other people’s templates and strategies and thinking, “Oh, because they did it, I need to mold my business to that.” I’ve had a lot of clients be like, “Well, I don’t want to do the perfect webinar template, and I don’t want to do the stack at the end. It just doesn’t feel like me to be that salesy.” And that’s okay. I don’t think people say that enough. What you hear back instead is like, “Well, it works. It might be salesy, but it works.” But it’s never going to work if you’re super uncomfortable doing it, and you’re just nervous and you don’t seem like yourself. Your audience will notice when you do stuff like that.
Or let’s say everybody says, “You have to do podcasts.” But you’re like, “But I hate podcasts, and I can’t think of topics to talk about. I would rather do video. I’d rather get on live video and just connect with my audience,” or whatever. Do that, then! There is not one way to market and create a successful business, and if you’re following a template, and you’re following somebody else’s success, you have to mold it to you. You have to, or it won’t work. And so, I think this is really important, because a lot of times what you get back is… The biggest times I hear this is in selling or forcing urgency or cutting out like, nurturing for an audience, because somebody told them, “You have to be more salesy, you have to be more direct, you have to have urgency.”
Yes, all of those things are important. And oftentimes we do kind of undercut ourselves and not sell as directly as we could, but it has to feel authentic to you. It has to feel right to you. It has to be something you believe in, and it has to be something where you can at least get to the place where you’re confident doing it. If my husband continued for three, four years doing his business… He was never comfortable getting on video. He did not want to do that. But he did it, and he can do it, and he’s pushing himself outside of his comfort zone, and he’s making good videos. But his brand will never blow up doing that, because it’s not him. He could go three years just kind of moving along like this, but his business won’t, that business will not blow up and grow.
But if he finds something that’s like, working with one-on-one with clients, that he’s passionate about, he’s determined for it, he loves it… at the end of the day, who cares if it doesn’t necessarily make as much money per hour for him, if he’s more fulfilled. But actually in the end, he’s going to be more successful doing that, because it feels authentic to him.
And so anything you do in your business, whether it’s a marketing strategy, or messaging, or how you set up a webinar, or even what you sell. Sometimes people choose products that they should sell based on what other people have told them. I’ve seen people create a $997 course, because everybody was doing that, and they’re like, “Well, I guess I have to, too.” But is that really what’s going to serve your audience? Is that really what feels authentic to your brand and your audience and what you have to offer? And if it’s not, don’t do it. Take a step back, and think about what is authentic to your brand. What is [authentic] for your audience, for your offer? And really remember why we’re here. That’s what it comes down to. Why did we even create this business that you’re running? Why are you even here? Because it starts, always, with a passion, and if it didn’t, it’s not going to work. That’s the blunt truth.
There has to be passion and drive that goes beyond money for a business to work. I mean, for me, my business is my passion. It’s my purpose outside of being a mom. I love it. I love working. I try to explain this to my team in the best way, I’m like, “You guys don’t understand, when I work on a Saturday morning, it’s one of my favorite parts of my week sometimes, because I get four hours of uninterrupted time at a coffee shop to do what I love!” My business goes beyond money.
And so, whenever you choose: strategy, what to sell, even what business to have and who to target and who to market… it can’t be because you’re just like, “Oh, somebody did it, and they were successful.” I’ve also seen people who were like, “I saw a bunch of people be successful targeting agency owners or VAs or whatever.” Actually I just heard someone say, “I started targeting agency owners with my product, because I saw that it was working for a lot of other people, and I knew that I could do it, too.” No, that’s not why you create a business! If you are going to go target that group, it’s because you have expertise and passion in serving that group, not because you saw other people make money, and so you just decided to do that, too. That will never work. That will never grow past a certain point, because it’s lacking that investment in your own passion and what feels authentic to you and your brand.
Whether it’s a marketing strategy, a product you’re selling, a service you’re offering, an audience you’re targeting, messaging that you’re going to deliver, a webinar that you’re doing, content that you’re creating… all of it has to feel authentic to you, get you excited… It can make you nervous, because trust me, there’s times when I go speak on a big stage, and I’m uncomfortable and nervous. That’s normal. That’s good. Push yourself outside of that comfort zone. But at the end, I’m on an adrenaline high, because I love it, because I’m in my zone, because I’m speaking to the people and the entrepreneurs I love, because I’m getting to lead. I’m getting goosebumps, because that’s what I’m here for.
I feel like in my business, in my company, I’m in a place where I’m supposed to be, and I’m authentic. Everything we put out, everything I do, it’s me. And if you don’t have that, you have to reevaluate and make sure that you’re not molding yourself to a coach, a colleague, somebody you’re looking up to’s business just because you think that is the path. There is no one path! There’s multiple ways to get an end result. And the most important piece is that you’re doing the thing that feels most authentic to you and that lights you up and gets you excited and gives you that deeper purpose, because that is one of the biggest keys to success, is that you have that passion. Because when you have that passion, when everything falls apart and you have a bad week and [you’re feeling] like, “I want to quit this,” that passion is what keeps you going, not money.
The passion of, when things are good, things are amazing, and I’m leading, and I’m in my zone of genius, and I’m doing it, that’s what keeps you going, because running a business is the hardest thing ever, like so hard. There are weeks when I’m like, “I am done. I don’t want to keep doing this.” But the passion and the purpose that I feel in the position that I am in, is what keeps me going, not the money. I can go find money in a different way. Making money is not that hard. If you solve a problem, you can make money. But living a life where you’re inspired and doing what you’re here to do, that is what we should all be going after.
Thanks for listening today, guys. Hopefully that wasn’t too preachy, but I do think that we lose track of this in the digital marketing world. I see it a lot, especially in… I love Russell, but especially in the Clickfunnels Community, because it’s positioned as very easy, and that you can go create a funnel, and it’s very easy. While creating a funnel might be easy, creating a successful business is not. A lot of times people funnel hack or follow other people and just kind of replicate what they’re doing, because they think that’s the path to success. And so I want to make sure that all of you are never in a position where a coach or somebody told you, “You have to do it this exact templated way.”
If you ever get that, it’s wrong. You don’t. You can take foundational strategies like the webinar, or the microwebinar, or a challenge, or whatever, and then you can make it your own, and you can make it authentic to you and your brand. And when you do that, it will have more power than anything else.
Thanks for listening today guys. If you want to work with an amazing marketing team who really… like this is one of our core, core values, is that any client coming in, we really make sure that their strategies are authentic to their brand but also to their audience, and that the offers are in alignment, all of it. We will push back if we think something is missing there, because my team knows.
This is a core value of mine, not because I just believe in it, but because it works. Because this is a key to success. If you want to work with a team who really values that, you can go to HelpMyStrategy.com and apply to work with Team Hirsh. Thanks so much for tuning in today, guys, and I’ll see you next time.