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Emily Hirsh:

Now the problem comes in when somebody who has no audience is new in business, like under two years, doesn’t have a huge email list. Hasn’t really massively sold their offer and proven the positioning and messaging around it that seize the seven figure launch and believes they can go replicate that. And it won’t, it won’t require much work.

You are listening to the Not for Lazy Marketers podcast, episode number 442.

Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the podcast. I decided to do something fun today, something a little bit different, shake it up, try something new. You know, as a content creator, you put a ton of content out there all the time. You guys know if you do it. And I feel like I’m constantly doing content. I love it. And I also feel like because everybody else is so busy, you don’t always see everything obviously that I put out or that other people that you follow put out, or you might forget about it. You might forget a great episode or a great video. And so I think it’s worth it, it just sometimes takes some of your top pieces of content and put them out there again. Right? They do that with books, they rewrite books and they re-release ’em and they hit the number one bestseller again.

So I was like, why not try that? So this is our number one downloaded episode this year. And it’s also an episode that I got a lot of messages about. It also was a part of a bigger series that I did. And so I think there’s a chance that when I do series, sometimes it’s hard to get all the content because I do it for like five days in a row and there’s a lot of content. And so I wanted to replay this episode because it’s come up in conversation in the last couple of weeks, a few times. And again, it’s our number one downloaded episode. So I hope you enjoy it. And I’ll talk to you guys next time. 

All right, in today’s final episode of the series, I’m going to talk about the lies the  industry is telling you. And I know this series is all about getting your marketing in  momentum, and I think one of the biggest things that sometimes holds people back  from being able to do that is the absolute overwhelm and bombardment that you feel  from everybody trying to tell you what you should be doing, what they’re doing,  comparing yourself to them, and really just the constant noise. I try to tune out as  much noise as I can myself, even though I’m in digital marketing. I think that it is a  very noisy place as a business owner, where you’re constantly comparing, and the  reality is, you don’t have the behind-the-scenes intel on really any business. I mean,  unless you have a connection to see it. And so I can tell you, after being a part of hundreds of businesses and launches and  strategies, in the behind-the-scenes, I can tell you that so much of what you see on  the front-end is like the tip of the iceberg of the full story, and I have been in so  many situations where there was an image being portrayed on the front-end, and I  get into the back-end and it’s like, it does not match. 

  Now, I want to say something too here. Every single business, even the best  businesses out there, have problems. If you’re growing as a business, you have  struggles, and sometimes those struggles show up in your marketing, in your lead  generation, in your overall business growth, in your profitability. Sometimes those  numbers show up in your delivery, in the quality of your delivery, because you’ve  grown so much. And so first of all, let’s remove this idea that if you don’t have this  perfect business, you are failing, because I can guarantee you 100% the only business  that has no problems is one that’s not growing, because if you’re growing and you  are participating in this online industry, you have problems, you are struggling, and  you’re having to pivot and adapt and make decisions and move quickly, so I first want  to say that. 

Second, there is a lot of people, especially in the online space, who portray this  image that so much of what they’re doing is easy and effortless and so successful,  and then every time I have seen that on the front-end, literally without fail, I have  seen the back-end, and it is not at all true, and that’s one of the problems with the  online industry, honestly, is the lack of transparency being portrayed, and so it’s one  of the reasons I like to be so transparent, to normalize that for other business  owners who are like, “Why is it just me? Why am I struggling?” Or “Why is this not  easy for me?” 

 So I want to talk through some of the biggest lies that the industry is portraying and  telling you so that you really can understand you’re not failing, and you need to put  one foot in front of the other and stop paying attention to all the noise, and just get it done and grow your business, and follow everything else I’ve said this week to  grow your business, so let’s talk about those. I have five total lies that I want to talk  about. 

Number one lie that’s being told to you is that success is really easy and really fast,  and the reason this is such a big thing being taught to you is because easy and fast  success is really attractive. If you see that, even if you are subconsciously doing this,  if you see a version of success where it’s like, “Grow your business” or “Achieve this  result really quickly and really easily,” that’s really attractive to you. So a lot of  online businesses have capitalized on that, because it’s attractive and because it  works in their marketing. Now here’s the thing, here is the difference. I believe in making success with  marketing as easy and fast as possible, but also being realistic, and so my goal, when  I look at our offers and the way that we support businesses, is I do ask myself, “How  do I make achieving marketing success for our customers as easy as possible and as  fast as possible?” But fast is still like three to six months. It’s not like, “Okay, come  work with us, and next week, you’re going to have a million dollars,” or even on a  smaller scale than that, “Next week, your ads are going to be working.” It’s like, you  have to go through the process. 

And so when people put results out there and they’re like, “How I did X, Y, Z,” like fill  in the blank, “How I got this amazing return on ad spend, how I grew my business to  a million dollars, how I 10x’d my results, how I did this, how I did this for clients,” it’s  looking on the surface like it’s fast, but it’s not. And what you’re not seeing is the  months, potentially years, that went into that success that ultimately got them to  that big result. So the biggest thing you can do for yourself is don’t go into business and a  marketing strategy and an execution state of mind where you are expecting things to  be really fast, because if you’re expecting things to be really fast or really easy, and  not have to put in a lot of effort, or that it’s going to start getting momentum really  quickly, what you’re doing is you’re going into a with a lack of grit and a lack of  preparedness to do whatever it takes to get the success. Because the second it starts  to be slow or hard, you’re going to want to quit, and you can’t set yourself up for  that, because the key to success is that grit. It’s the commitment that you will not  quit, no matter what, until it’s successful. 

So that’s the first lie being told to you, and I can tell you that every single business  I’ve seen behind the scenes, the success that they have achieved didn’t come  overnight, obviously, but didn’t come in a week, a month, and in a lot of times, a  year, and that is the normal way, and the only reason that they’re successful is  because they had that grit, because they didn’t stop until they were successful, and I  promise you, if you go into your marketing and your business growth with the  attitude of “I will be successful, I will make this work, it’s not a matter of if, it’s  when,” you will be successful. But if you go into it thinking this… With these  contingencies of like, “This has to be successful in this X amount of time, or I’m  quitting,” you might as well not even go into it. You might as well just not start. 

The second lie that’s being told to you is that a seven-figure launch doesn’t require a  lot of work, and I see this out there with people like… Sometimes even six-figure  launches, where they’re promoting “How to have a seven-figure launch,” or “I had a  seven-figure launch, I had all this success and it was so easy.” Here’s the thing. Whenever you see somebody’s success, I want you to pause and think about the  following things. How long have they been in business? How big of a warm audience  do they have? Do they have a big list? Do they have a big following? Do they have a  big audience of people consuming their content? And have they sold their offer  before? Because those things matter so much. There are people in this industry who have been around for 10, 15 years, they have  built followers of true believers who will do anything they say. They could put out  something that’s like this crappy product that’s going to do this, and people would  literally buy it if they got access or it just is from that person, and you know what?  

That’s great for them, they deserve that, here’s why. Now, I don’t think it’s ethical to  sell something that’s a crappy product, but when you work for years and years and  years to build a following of people who believe in your brand and trust you and will  buy anything you put out, those are considered true believers, that doesn’t happen  overnight, but once you get there, success is a lot easier. And so when people tell me, “Oh, I had this success and I was able to sell this,  my seven-figure launch,” 95% of the time, the reason why is because they have a huge warm  audience. They have a huge warm audience, they have a huge email list, they’ve done  the work of nurturing and building relationships with that list and maintaining those  relationships, and now they’re reaping the benefits of that. 

 Now, the problem comes in when somebody who has no audience, is new in business,  like under two years, doesn’t have a huge email list, hasn’t really massively sold their  offer and proven the positioning and messaging around it, sees that, sees the seven figure launch, and believes they can go replicate that, and it won’t require much  work if they follow that formula. What you’re missing is the time that went into the  before of that launch. And so a seven-figure launch isn’t even about the launch itself,  it’s about everything you’ve done leading up to that point. And is it possible?  Absolutely, but we know that people take seven to 10 touch points before they buy  with you, so if you’re expecting to have a massive launch, but you haven’t done the  work, potentially years of work in building your audience and your list and your  business and your credibility and your authority and your trust, it’s not going to  work, you have to do that first, and all of that is what feeds the launch. 

The next one is a lie that a business owner portrays that they’re not failing  or struggling in any way. I kind of hinted at this one at the beginning, but every  single business owner who’s growing is also struggling and is also failing, and if  they’re not, they’re not growing. And sometimes we talk about failure like, “We  refuse to fail,” and sometimes I even say that, and I think that I refuse to fail in a big  way, like having my business fail, that’s not a possibility, I’ll always pivot, it will always  be successful. But on micro things, I will try things that don’t work. I will have a month in business  that is not good, and I’ve been very transparent about that over the last year,  especially like middle of 2021, I, quote, “Failed,” and had a terrible month, and  everybody is experiencing this, and I know because I am fortunate enough to have  very good connections and friendships in businesses who are way bigger than mine,  and CEOs who are dealing with way bigger scale issues than I’ve ever dealt with, and  even them, even on that large of a scale, they are still failing, they’re still trying  things that don’t work, they’re still stressed out about things, and they still have  struggle and frustrations, and actually the saying of “More money, more problems” is  kind of true. 

 The more success and money you make, the more problems you have, that is… It’s  been true for me, and it’s been true for a lot of my friends that I’ve watched. And so  if you are buying into this notion that “As soon as I achieve this success,” or “As soon  as I achieve this goal” or “I get to this place” or “I hire this team member, everything  will be great,” you have to drop that. And this is something I teach my team, and I  have to teach myself all the time, because of course, we want to aim for that place,  and it’s a lot easier to tell ourselves, “All I have to do is get to that end result. I just  have to cross that finish line, and everything’s going to be better,” and we… It’s not  true. You have to make it okay today, and you have to be willing to fail and willing to push  through the struggle in order to get to the success, but what even is success?  Because the finish line just continues to move, right? You’re never going to get  somewhere and just be like, “Well, I’m done, I made it.” It’s not even about the finish  line, it’s about getting there and the process of getting there, and then you move the  goalpost, right? So if you’re looking at people that you are inspired by, or you follow,  or you’re trying to replicate or create the success they have in your own life, do not  buy into the idea because you’re seeing their highlight reel on social media that  they’re not failing or struggling, and that you are, and so you’re doing it wrong. And  don’t buy into the idea that you should be trying to eliminate that in your life. You  should be trying to move through that and grow through that, but not eliminate it. 

The next lie that is being told to you in the industry is a more recent one, and it is  that they have not had to pivot in the last year. So this one is really important,  because I have seen way too many businesses hinder their success because they’re  saying things like, “Well, my offer worked before,” or “This funnel worked before,” or  “In my best month in business, which was two and a half years ago, or two years ago,  I was able to do this,” and they’re trying to replicate that success without making any  big pivots, and I don’t understand this mentality, but I understand why people get  here, because they’re in denial about the fact that they have to pivot. Every business who has experienced growth, myself included, in the last year, has  had to make pivots. I don’t know a single one that hasn’t, and when you look at any  business that you know, especially in the online industry, but since this… Really I’d  say the last two years, since the start of COVID, that hasn’t pivoted, I can’t find one,  right, doing the exact same thing, and that is a big part of business that I’ve learned  over the years, is the ability to pivot and the ability to adapt. Because society, your  audience, like the world, online platforms, all those things, it’s constantly changing.  Big changes are constantly happening. So if you’re not pivoting and you’re not adapting to those changes at the speed that  you need to, which has only increased, you’re falling behind. And I don’t say that to  be overwhelming or exhaust you, I say that so that you don’t go into denial, and I’ve  seen a lot of businesses who are like, “Well, this worked for us before,” and they’re  clinging onto that, and they’re refusing to make big shifts and pivots, whether that’s  a big pivot and change to their offer. It’s recognizing that maybe what their original  offer they created in their business is no longer what their audience wants or needs.  Or a big pivot to their strategy or to their business structure, to their messaging, or  to their ideal customer.   

I know a lot of people who have had to make really big changes, myself included. The  only reason that I have seen tremendous growth in the last four months in my  business is because I was fully willing and completely open to the pivots I had to  make and the changes I had to make, and not in denial saying, “Well, it worked  before.” As soon as I recognized, and I wish I recognized it sooner, as soon as I  recognized things have changed forever, we need to change with it, and we need to  listen to our audience, which if you follow me, you know the details of that story, as  soon as I got there, I made big changes, and that is what flipped it, that’s what  turned the dial back to success for me. So every business I know, the really successful ones, the ones that have grown in  the last year, have had to make big pivots, and like I said, that could be completely  changing their offer, their ideal customer, their strategy. And I’m not saying you have  to do that, because I’m all about focus, but if you’re in a situation where you’ve tried  everything and you are trying to get something to work, and it’s like pushing  something up a muddy hill, whatever the analogies are of how hard things are, what  is it, a peg in a square hole, or something? If that’s what it feels like, maybe it’s time to take a step back and look at the bigger  picture and ask yourself, “Do I need to make a bigger pivot?” Because that’s very  normal in business, to have to do that, and the faster you adapt and you accept that, and the faster you make the changes and then refine those changes, the faster you’re  going to get on the path to success. 

Okay. The final lie that’s being told to you, I talk about this one a lot, but had to  throw it in here, because it’s one of the most important, is that there is a magic  formula, a magic blueprint, or a template that if you find, you’ll be successful, and so  many people are out there looking for that, or buying that, into that idea, and I have  such a big issue with this, because there are many people out there in the online  space teaching or selling their magic formula or their blueprint or their template that  worked for their business, and the problem is that doesn’t exist. No massively successful business has been built from following a template, because if  that were true, then there would be millions of successful businesses, right? If it was  that easy. It’s not. There are core foundational marketing principles that are always  going to be true, things like it is about the customer journey, it’s about the  connection, doing something like a webinar, having that experience, creating an epic  experience for your audience and for your leads. Those things are never going to  change, but all of those have to be customized and innovative, and create something  that is specifically made for the audience you’re targeting, which is unique to every  other business, and the offer that you’re selling, which is also unique. 

  And so the reason why templates and formulas and blueprints don’t work is because  they’re created for a specific audience and a specific offer, and so people then go to  replicate that with different audiences and different offers, and they’re not going to  work. And so the true key with your marketing is learning how to think like a marketer, is learning how to consider your audience and your leads, and consider the  experience you need to create for them and the messaging you need to have for them  in order to move them into becoming a buyer. 

And so I know it’s attractive to think about replicating a formula, or finding that  template that’s finally going to work and bring you success, because that is…  Obviously sounds a lot easier, but the true magic comes in when you’re willing to go  deeper and to customize the experience and strategy you’re creating and the  messaging you’re creating. And I was just having a conversation with somebody on  our pick my brain session in Market Like a Pro, and she was telling me… She’s doing an amazing job, she just joined our program, but she was in a different program. She’s  been trying to get her marketing and her webinar working for almost a year now, and  she hasn’t given up, and I was so inspired by that. So I was talking to her, and we got to talking about her core messaging problem,  which was, in my mind, the positioning of her webinar. And I said, “What’s the promise of your webinar?” And she realized at that point, there really was no  promise, and she’s like, “I’ve just been following the template taught to me in this  other program that I was in.” And she’s like, “It just feels like fluff, but I thought it  must work, because other people are seeing success with it, and the program creator  is seeing success with it.” And I was like, “The second you feel like something you’re doing is out of alignment  with you, with your brand, with your values, with your connection with your  audience, the second you feel like something is fluffy or it’s not valuable, or it’s not  who you are, do not do it, because it will never work.” And she just had a massive,  massive breakthrough on that call, because she’s like, “I knew this the whole time,  but I was trying to follow this template, and I was sticking to the template because I  was being told this was going to work.” And so coming into our program, instead of  giving a template, I’m teaching her how to think, I’m teaching her how to connect  with her audience in the way that she already knows how, but has been hindered by  trying to follow these blueprints and templates. I feel so passionate about this,  because it makes such a big difference in people’s marketing. 

So those are the lies being told to you by the industry. I love talking about this stuff  and breaking this down for you guys. 

If you want support, and if you’ve listened to this series and you’re like, “I want this  level, these systems, these processes, this level of support in my business,” we have  two ways that we can help you, which is our done-with-you program that has all the  support with our coaches, with myself, that is guiding you into this customized  

marketing strategy and executing it and hitting all your goals, and our promise in  that program is that we’ll 2x where you are right now in 90 days. Wherever you are right  now, we will 2x it. 

We also have our complete done-for-you agency, which is where we do everything,  copy, design, strategy, ads, all of it, I have an entire team. You can go to  helpmystrategy.com and we will help you pick out what path is best for you based on  your business and where you’re at. Thank you so much, you guys, for being a part of this series, for sending me messages about how much you liked it, for sharing it. I  appreciate all of you, and I’ll see you next week. 

Thanks for listening to the Not For Lazy Marketers Podcast. If you loved this episode  and want deeper support with your marketing, head over to helpmystrategy.com to  see how Hirsh Marketing can help take your marketing to the next level, no matter  where you’re at today. We help our clients scale faster than ever, find hidden leaks  in their funnel, experiment with new, creative marketing strategies, and help their  business explode and be more profitable than they ever dreamed possible. Head over  to helpmystrategy.com and see if you qualify for a free strategy audit with team  Hirsh.

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