Hint of Hustle with Heather Sager
You probably don't need someone to tell you to work harder, you’re good at that. Really good.
But somewhere along the way, success started feeling like it was costing you something. Your relationships. Your health. That version of yourself you LIKE. You started wondering if there's a way to win in business without putting everything else on the back burner.
I'm Heather Sager, former corporate executive turned high performance coach specializing in communication. I've spent 23+ years on stages and inside thousands of businesses learning that the entrepreneurs who are truly crushing it are the ones who got really honest about redefining their success and built accordingly.
Each week we get into exactly that, business, marketing, personal growth… the 5 star reviews paint the picture: it’s like grabbing a drink with that ridiculously wise biz friend who has you laughing one minute, scribbling notes the next, and always leaves you fired up to take action.
Welcome to Hint of Hustle where ambitious leaders win at work and thrive in life. Let’s dive in!
Hint of Hustle with Heather Sager
49. The Power of Simple Launching with Liz Wilcox
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I’m joined this week by copywriter and launch strategist Liz Wilcox who shares insights on writing newsletters faster (and with less pressure) and a simple marketing framework to help eliminate overwhelm when launching. We also talk openly about money and sales, two topics that could block you from successful launches, but the real show factor comes in the moment she challenges the common writing tip: write your newsletters like talking to a friend.
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This is your permission. It is okay to have a pointless newsletter. It is okay to just say hi. It is okay to use the subject line a quick hello and literally just say, 'Hey, I don't know what to say, but Liz from Finding Your It Factor told me I need to email you. So here I am , I'll see you next week.'. You know, like it's okay . That shows how much of a person you are, right? That shows that you're not this guru with 20 people on their team, that everything is so seamless. You know, it just shows that you're this person trying to make it work, the same way that person that opens the email is. That builds that friendship, that builds that trust more than any amazing Facebook ad or, you know, copywriter or whatever could ever do for you is writing simple newsletters like that, that say, Hey, thinking about you. I don't really have much to say, but you know, I'm still here still trying to build this business.
Just having that authenticity stands out above so many people. That people are going to remember that. They're gonna be like, 'Whoa, that lady just said hi. So like, she literally didn't want anything. She didn't even give me a link to click like, Whoa, she's really in it to win it.' It's gonna , it's just gonna change your business.
Speaker 2Have you ever wondered how some people just seem to have a way with words? They have this spark that lights you up when you're near them, they have the It factor. And while most people think it's something that only a few are born with, I believe that you can find it so it can become your superpower to grow your business. It's about you bringing your brand to life by becoming a magnetic communicator in person and on camera, showing up with confidence, authenticity, and inspiration. So are you ready to become magnetic? I thought so. I'm Heather Sager and I'd like to welcome you to Finding Your It Factor.
HeatherWell, Hey friend, welcome back to a another week. Oh my goodness! I have to tell you, little bit down to the wire this week recording, you are getting this episode, let's see , on Wednesday is typically when these drop it . It's the Monday before and I am so well rested. I just wanted to give you a quick update. A few weeks ago, I talked to you about the phone breakup challenge. Quick update, my husband and I and our two boys. We just completed a complete screen-free weekend like no phones, no TVs, no tablets, no any kind of digital device for ,it was actually more than two days. We shut down everything at about 9 o'clock on Friday night and did not touch our phones until well after kids bedtime last night. But I actually didn't even touch mine till this morning. I have to tell you all my gosh, I didn't miss it for even a second. We even went out of the house without phones like the idea of not being able to look at maps was kind of invigorating. We went on an adventure. We went hiking and a trail near our house and we couldn't order Starbucks through the app so we went to an actual like classic coffee shop down the street. I had to wear a mask to go inside, but you know, I'm still into adventure adventure, adventure. That's actually our family's word of the year is adventure and Holy cow has 2020 pin that maybe not the adventure we all signed up for. I think two things, one, I think sometimes life's going to deal with crap. And if we choose to look at it from the lens of an adventure, you start seeing things in a little bit of a different way. There's a challenge for you as you head into whatever venture you're facing this week. But also, I just want to encourage you. This might be a really good time to do a digital detox and just revisit how much you are consuming from your phone. Just a little reminder, give yourself some space that if you're finding yourself in a rut and you need some creativity juices, it's not going to come from other people. It's going to come from inside yourself, so give yourself some space and be aware how much you're consuming versus creating. And just a quick update, it was just an incredible weekend, incredible weekend and I highly highly recommend it . I will link back to the episode where I talked about how to break up with your phone based off the book I read here recently. I'll link it to the show notes that I think you're going to like it. You know, what you're also gonna like is today's episode with my friend, Liz Wilcox. She's a great friend. I met Liz over a year ago, about a year and a half ago when we were together inside a program, ironically about email marketing, which is one of the things we're going to talk about today. Instantly, I knew Liz was the kind of person I wanted to have in my life. She was spunky. She is spunky. She is completely and totally herself. She's vibrant. She's unafraid of taking risks and try new things. And right away, I knew I wanted to be like her, like her in the sense where she just went into everything in our business fully. She didn't hesitate. She launched offers. She tried things. She sent emails. She didn't over-complicate things. She just did it and learned from it and kept moving. I thought, man, I want to be like that. I want to be the kind of person who just launches things, put them out in the universe and then re-groups versus the person I was being in that moment, which was too scared to put out my first freebie. Stuck in the, 'Oh man, it's not perfect yet. So I can't put it out or,' 'Oh man, I can't hire a designer and it's not perfect.' Just hemming and haw over this precious thing that I was creating, coming up with all these excuses, but really all I needed to do was put it out there. Later, so Liz, she ended up joining my program, Speak Up to Level Up earlier this year. I ended up hiring Liz to come into my business to help me re-write my on-boarding and welcome sequence from my freebies that are now out. She's just an incredible person. I love the way her brain works, her business that she had when I first met her. She had a business as an RV blogger was so specific. It was funding her dream of traveling around the country with her husband and daughter in their RV. I mean, man, it's incredible life. She decided that the thing she really loved doing was helping other people with their writing because for her, it came naturally. And so now she's actually a full time launch strategist and copywriter, and she was able to sell her other business, which is an incredible thing. You don't hear a lot of that in the online space, but I tell you all of this because two reasons, one, you're going to love my conversation with Liz. It's an interview, but also just a conversation between two kickass business owners that I think we all need a little bit more friendships in this online space. I hope that these kinds of interviews, where I bring on people that I know love and respect, I hope that you feel like you're just having a cup of coffee with us, shooting the shit, talking about what this thing called business is, and that we all struggle and go through things. These conversations are meant to not only be educational information, give you a little bit of something to work with, but also to remind you that you're not alone in this, that we're all people trying to figure it out as we go. And I think these real unfiltered unedited conversations help remind us that we're all in this together. We're all just doing the best that we can. And I hope that you know, that you're part of an incredible group of people here in Finding Your It Factor community, where we don't show up as this mask, pretending that we're perfect. We show up as we are. We show up real and raw and imperfectly trying to figure out how to do the things, but not all the things but trying to do what's right for us and our businesses and our lives. I just want to, if you're new around here, welcome you to this conversation, welcome you to our community and let you know that we're cheering for you. And we hope that you're cheering for the other incredible business owners in this community too, so welcome. Welcome. You'll love the conversation with Liz. I told you there was two reasons for it. I can't remember the second one, a story of my life with my memory these days, but this is just such a good episode that we're going to dive right in. But hey, before we dive into this interview today and just a heads up, this one was such a good conversation. I let the mic just keep going, so this is a longer interview. If you need to take it in two doses, go for it, but it's worth every single moment down to the very last question I asked Liz, so stick around. Hey, but before we dive into that, I know we've been talking a little bit lately around this idea of digital businesses. Now, many of you who listen to this show have online businesses, whether you're a service provider or a coach or a course creator, you would know the importance of how I feel about diversifying your revenue in your business. I'm also extremely passionate about making sure that you have some sort of digital product or course in your business, because that is the thing that's going to allow you to scale and create freedom for you to do what you want in your life. No, I am not a subscriber to the idea that all the sudden one digital course or one offer is going to make you a millionaire. I think that's just kind of crazy thinking. It's possible, but right, but that first thing that you build does not mean you're guaranteed to this crazy level of success, which is why I say diversify and have options in your business, different ways that you can serve your clients on different levels. I do think everyone should have some kind of digital offer. My background in adult learning says that I think an online course or a mini-course is a really, really great way to get started in that. Now today with Liz, we talk about how you can simplify this idea of launching an idea. She talks about her first ebook she created, but I also want you to encourage exploring the idea of a digital course. I mentioned it a few episodes back talking about different revenue streams in your business, but you might be asking, you know, I don't even know where to get started. What would that even look like? It's my idea or my business even qualified for digital course? Friend. I have something today that's going to help you with that. My dear mentor, Amy Porterfield, she is getting ready to launch her program. Coming up here in just, I don't know, less than two months. And with that, she is the queen on launching and has a ton of incredible resources available for you. I want to encourage you just open this week is her quiz allowing you to determine what kind of digital course might work for your business, specifically, it's the, what's your personal path to creating a profitable digital course. It's a two minute quiz where you can find out which type of course would be a good fit for you based on your experience, expertise and where you are currently in your business. I wanna encourage you to take two minutes today. Take this quiz to see where you are and if a digital course is the right fit for you, you can explore with us together over the next 30 days. She's doing a bootcamp that will allow you to explore what it might look like to create a digital course for your business. Now, friend, you know, I've talked about it before. If you're on my newsletter, if you're not, this might be new to you, but I am an affiliate for Digital Course Academy. As that program starts rolling out here in September, I'm going to be talking about it quite a bit, but regardless, whether or not you join Digital Course Academy or joined through me, I really want to give you a rally cry right now. It's time for you to start thinking about a scalable digital solution in your business. I think a digital course can be an incredible pathway for you. We've been talking about that a lot here over the next few weeks. I know for me it, 100% was the motivator for me with my business. I knew I wanted to have a digital course based business. Super, super important. I talk all about that back in episode 47. I'll link it to the show notes around the different streams that I have in revenue. I encourage you to go check out that digital course. You can find it over, excuse me, that digital quiz. You can find it over heathersager . com/quiz, where you can get my direct link to get over to that incredible quiz. I encourage you to go check it out, but don't wait too long. Take it two minutes, and then let's go ahead and jump right in it to my interview with the incredible vibrant and vivacious, Liz Wilcox. Welcome back to another episode. I'm super excited to have my friend Liz here today. Liz, welcome to the show.
Liz WilcoxHey, Finding Your It Factor. I'm so excited.
HeatherOh, you are so excited. I'm excited. This has been around for a while . I've known Liz now. I don't know about a year and a half. We've met together. Talk a little bit this about this in the intro , but we met together in a mastermind in a program and then had the honor of not only having Liz in my program, but also I've had the opportunity of working with Liz and her working on some email in my business. There's so many things we could talk about today. We're going to go on a lot of different places, but first let's just talk a little bit about you, my dear, because I find you to be one of the most interesting and vibrant personalities that I know primarily due to your love of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and N'Sync. If I just stole that from you, it's my show.
Liz WilcoxHey, I love talking about my myself, so thanks for asking. Today, I'm not wearing my fresh prince. You can't see me probably, but I'm wearing this really super glittery outfit but yeah, I'm Liz and I love email marketing. I used to be a blogger and I turned into a copywriter and launch strategist.
HeatherOkay, one of the things I want to hit on right away, because this happened when you and I were in a program together. You have like morphed and transformed like a butterfly. I describe you in different ways, sparkly, vibrant, butterfly like. I love watching you take something that you really, really were naturally good at and turn it into a business. The idea of launching and copywriting , will you talk a little bit about your business and your background and how you landed, where you are?
Liz WilcoxYeah, so I mentioned it a little bit before I heard chompers in the background, but I used to be a blogger, right. I wanted to travel the world in an RV and I wasn't making money at the time. I was a stay at home mom. I just decided like, Hey, how can I make money online? You know, you start Googling or whatever and everybody and their mother comes up in the Google search as you know, how to start a blog and make your first thousand dollars a month or whatever. Because I wanted to RV, I was like a thousand dollars a month that could get us to the grand Canyon and back, type of thing. You know, RV-ing can be pretty cheap. And so as you know, I see all these other people doing it. I can definitely do that and I started blogging. The first thing people said , you know, listening to podcasts like this was, s tart an email list. If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to start an email list. Get a freebie going, build that relationship and build a digital product. I started my email list right away. I knew, you know, it wasn't like I was blogging as a hobby. It was purely business. I started my email list. I built my first digital product within seven months and it just went from there and that was about four years ago. In that, I've evolved. I've built or developed with partners seven different digital products. Well, gosh, I think like 10 now. I sold that blog. I realized kind of like you said, my natural ability is just to be that personality, just to put products out there. I didn't really like blogging, you know, putting out all that free content. I have a child at home. I was living in an RV. I was traveling. I just did that. One thing, the simplest thing, the email marketing type of thing for me and was able to build the business. Then I sold that blog and just went right into what I love the most and when I was really naturally good at , writing emails, building relationships , yeah.
HeatherAnd helping people launch like I. One of the things, the reason why I like hearing your story around like, Oh, just one day I want to travel. Let me just get in an RV and blog. Like it is so hilarious, like, but I think it's such a great example of when you have an idea, there's so many people that have these different ideas to start businesses. Like I love that yours was stemmed out of something that you wanted to do and the business part was the, like the moneymaker necessity. Also talk a little bit about, I think this is going to sound kind of weird. I think a lot of times when we're newer in business, for anybody listening, who is thinking about starting a business or newer in business, I think a lot of times people get very close to their ideas where they hold them as like this really precious thing that they think their idea that they start with is going to be the thing that they do forever and ever. I love like your story of how your business has evolved, how you built multiple businesses. It just shows that you morph . Did you start out with the idea of thinking like, Oh, I'm gonna always have a blog or were you like intentional that that was a stepping stone to something bigger?
Liz WilcoxYeah, so what I'm holding close to my chest, like you just said, you have this idea and you hold it so close. Sometimes it's like the little kid that gets there first, like puppy dog, and it turns out the dog hates you because you can't stop squeezing it because you love it so much, not speaking from experience there. My idea, and this might sound wild or whatever, I just wanted to make money. That's my idea, right. I wanted to travel. I wanted that freedom and flexibility to work from home and that's my big idea. So if you are thinking like, 'Oh, this is my idea, and it's kind of scary to release it into the world.' Whether it's your blog or you want to start freelancing in some sort of way, whatever it is, like I invite you to think even bigger. What's your like biggest idea and for me it was that making money online. I'm always super firm on that. I want to make money online. I want to support my family in that way and I'm flexible on the details, like it could be a blog, it could be a freelance client, it could be a digital product, or it could be this digital product. I'm very flexible on the details, but I'm really firm in my vision that I'm going to be making money online. Does that make sense?
HeatherIt totally does and if you're comfortable sharing. You have a really captivating story around this and I think it's one of those things that the money thing is really important, like that was really clear for you, but it's kind of bigger than that, rght? Is there a deeper, like a deeper reason behind it?
Liz WilcoxYeah, so I think I've told Heather this, and this is why might not be what you're scratching at. I started when I was in college, I grew up really poor and just the ability to make my own cash is like, it's just so freeing and it feels so safe and secure. When I was in college, I worked in the gig economy a lot. Is that what you were looking for? Okay. Yeah, so I got on Craigslist and the very first time that I made my first like $40, it was this gig, you know, I got on my phone, I was scrolling. I had just lost my job, working at a gas station and I was devastated. I'd worked there for three years. I was 21 that was basically my whole life, right. I got online. I saw this thing where this lady was g oing t o pay cash for cleaning her house. She wanted it vacuum, to deep clean. She had this dog that shed a lot and you know, she had money to burn, I guess, in my head, right. I drove out there and when the job was done, she asked me how much the job was worth to me and I needed that $40. I can't remember what it was, but it was like if I had $40, I'd have enough gas and enough to buy a little Caesar's pizza to make it to the next week, right. When she handed me those $20 bills, I mean, she opened up her wallet. Picture it, folks. She opened up her wallet and, you know, I could see all the twenties. I could have charged a $140 and she would've given it to me. Just in that moment, I realized this is much more simple than I'm making it. I don't have to work at a gas station that doesn't appreciate me. You know, and can go on to the next, you know, within like that, right. I can make my own money and I have that power and so that's always been kind of a driving force.
HeatherYes. Yes. That is the story that I remember it so clearly when you told that story inside one of our practice sessions in the program, and I remember thinking that is a story that you are going to tell on so many stages. You're going to get so many people have that moment when they're like, it's the moment in your life when you realize that you have all the skills you need and you can make money. It's just a choice, whether or not you're going to accept it.
Liz WilcoxRight. All you have to do is ask for the money, right? If you're launching something, all you have to do is ask for the sale. That's the difference between, you know, those people that are clutching to their chest, their idea, right, and the people just out there. I know we've all been there. You look at someone's Facebook ad and you think, Oh, I could do it so much better than them, or, you know, I can't believe they are internet famous quote-unquote. But the only difference is, you know, they're asking for the sale. They're running that ad or they're emailing you or, you know, whatever it is they're asking for it. And yeah, think about, you know, the first dollar you made online or you made by yourself at the lemonade stand when you were 10 years old, whatever that is like. Let that drive you to, you know, figure out your digital product or whatever it is that you're doing.
HeatherYeah. I love, I love that as like the underlining mantras that you have, you just need that idea. You need that driving thing. I also love the fact that we can talk about money and it doesn't have to be this like, 'Oh, like, Oh, she makes f unny. ' Or 'Ooh,' like the people who are out for quote-unquote making money or like terrible evil people.
I think there's a lot more conversations going on now online where people are talking about money in a healthy way. That's one reason I really liked this industry because it's an outward thing we talk about. But did you ever have any challenges? I know I'm going in a little bit of a, I'm going down a little bit of path here, but I'm always been curious, like, did you have any of that struggle around making money or talking about money? Was there a weirdness when you first started after that two $20 bill moment out of the wallet or have you groomed into it?
Liz WilcoxYeah, so when I was working the gig economy, surfing Craigslist all day long. I actually, sometimes I just have to kick my own butt because , you know, you might look at me and you think, Oh gosh, she's so comfortable talking about money. But when I was in college and I was young, you know, I was still making this money for myself, but it was so , so awkward.
I worked for this doctor for three years and about, I don't know, about a year into our working relationship. I was his nanny and he was a single dad. I told him I had to get a second job. I'm going to take this job. I'm not going to be available on the weekends anymore. I texted him and he calls me right up and he's like, we need to talk on Tuesday when you come. You know, when you come to my house and he said, Liz, like name your price. I'm a single dad. I'm a doctor. A nd I mean, he owned his own private practice. He worked in the local ER, he was the director of hospice, like he did a lot and he needed someone that was dependable. Even then I didn't realize my value. Even then I low ball that I was like, Oh, well, you know, I went home and I got out my piece of paper and I was like, how much money, kind of like the $40. I need $40 to make it to the next week. I gave him that very minimal price and he gladly paid it every week, you know , for two more years. By the end of it, I was still starving. It wasn't until I got online and I saw, you know, those Amy Porterfield's and whoever else talking about their millions of dollars and you know, but not in a nasty way.
Speaker 1It was just like, I can do this and you can do it too and that's how I've always been with my mindset. You know, helping friends in that way. I was like, Oh, that applies to money too. Now I have, I have no problem asking for the sale, like I talked about a little bit earlier because I've been there and maybe not in the online space, but when I was working in the gig economy being so afraid to ask for it, you know, just asking for the minimum and then going home and eating. I think I mentioned it eating Little Caesar's for an entire week.
I did that. I mean, in my college years when I was in my internship and I couldn't, you know , pick up those side gigs. I Was literally starving. I lost like 30 pounds . When I got online and I realized like, Oh wow, I'm really providing a service. My stuff is good and I've worked really hard. This idea that I've been clutching to my chest is actually pretty fun and awesome. I have no problem asking for $5 for $10 for 100, 200 hundred, whatever the price was because I'd been through that. If you're listening and you're thinking , well, okay, that's easy for her. She clearly has unblocked her money or whatever, but I'm still feeling scared, like, think about that value you're giving. I could have charged that doctor, whatever. Right. You know, he would have paid it because I was providing such a service. I always think of it like, will they pay McDonald's employees to give you a french fries, like that's a job? Like what I'm giving is so much more valuable than french fries, so I deserve to get paid. Does that make sense?
HeatherTotally makes sense and all I can think about for a second as Little Caesars , because kid you not, my husband and I had a full conversation this weekend about Little Caesars and about how, like, what was it like 20 years ago of how wonderful Little Caesars was like, it was like very wonderful childhood memory for me. And then we were talking about how like now Little Caesars is maybe not the destination for us.
Liz WilcoxIt might be for your kids.
HeatherThat's a funny thing, but yeah. There's so many good things in that. Thank you for allowing me to go down this road, talking about money ' cause I think , I think this idea of what we're talking about today, when it comes to launching and this idea of simple launching, which we're going to get into, I think this idea of making money, there is a limitation for anyone who ventures into making money online if they have these blocks around asking people to buy their things.
I know personally for me, I didn't realize I had these blocks. For me, I moved it in the online space. I was making great money before I started online. I had this successful job. I had money. It wasn't an issue for us and which scared the pants off my husband, when I told him I was going to leave my job.
Speaker 3I had other blocks, like I have blocks around just putting my free stuff out there, like terrified that people are going to look at it, and not download it or not like it. Anything we put out online, we have to be aware of our willingness to ask for people to download it, or buy it, or whatever that looks like and I think that's a conversation that people don't talk about enough. I'm just curious, did you have any of that when you put stuff out or you were like, hell, here I go.
Liz WilcoxYeah, I think the biggest thing that has worked for me , especially, in the beginning is I was just so blissfully ignorant. I mean, I talk about listening to Amy's podcast . You are listening to this podcast right now. I didn't do any of that. I follow a very low information diet. I didn't even know you could sell courses on blogging, or that there were Facebook groups on blogging, or that I should even be afraid to charge because what I was reading was, you know, charge what you're worth or, you know, don't just charge $2, whatever, whatever.
I just took that advice at face value because, you know, I was reading these articles about, 'I made a hundred thousand dollars in 18 hours,' or whatever, you know, ridiculous headlines, you know? But I didn't know, it's a ridiculous headline because nobody talks about how it took 18 months, 24 months to get there, right. They just talk about like that one webinar. I was just taking it at face value and I had done so much inner work that I had the mindset that if they can do it, I can do it too. If you're in that place and you're like, I can't ask because I'm not worth it or whatever, whenever. Think about the McDonald's guy that demands his paycheck every week and you know, just think about how much value you're giving and just stop reading stuff. You know, I encourage you to finish this podcast and maybe listen to the next episode, but you know, you don't need to go to every webinar. You don't need to read every blog post. You don't need to be asking. I see so many posts on Facebook when they get their logo and they're in Facebook groups and they're like, which one looks better? This blue one or the green one. You don't need that. You just need to put it out there. And that's, that's the simplest thing you can do is just do it. I think that I was thinking this in the shower, Heather and I were talking about how we both took a shower before that . I'm thinking about what is it about like my success? And I think that universe, God, whoever you're calling out to rewards people that just do things that don't spend too much time thinking about it. You know, obviously be strategic. Create something of value and then just put it out there. Don't, you know, follow 10 gurus. Follow Heather, that's all you need. You know, you don't need everybody.
HeatherI agree with this so much. I think that's the mistake so many fall into when they step into the online space and realize there's this whole new world here. There's all these people with these really, Oh, I hate to say it, but I'm going to say it, really complicated systems that show you just how far you have to go in a beautiful way with the opportunity. But also with the like, Oh my gosh, I am gonna throw out some terms that might be overwhelming, but like, I need a funnel. I need a freebie, I need a video series. I need a challenge. I need a membership. I needed this. I needed that. And it's like all the lists where you feel like, Oh my gosh, it's never going to stop just for me to quote-unquote, be a pro, and that's just not true.
Let's talk about the idea of what led you into really owning your, like your focus now of this idea of simple launching, simplified business, simple, simple. I'm assuming that's because you were frustrated or annoyed with the complicated.
Liz WilcoxI'll be honest with you. I didn't even hear about Amy Porterfield or I keep mentioning her 'cause I know you like her a lot. Honestly, I just don't follow a lot of people like Tim Ferris , those types of people, I didn't even hear about them. I didn't know who Marie Forleo was until 2019 and I started my business in 2016. I have no idea who these people were.
You know, number one, like if you know who they are, don't follow that strategy. That makes no sense, but I'm just following that low information diet. But also I just, you know, I knew number one, that I needed a digital product to have a business. I needed something to sell and so let's talk about the first thing I sold. I'm hoping in telling you this, it will give you the confidence to put out whatever it is that you have, because I guarantee it's a better idea. I guarantee it. Number one, I started an RV blog before I had even traveled one mile in an RV. I was trying to gather, you know, how c ould I be an expert in something that I don't know anything about? You know, and how can I keep this blog interesting when I'm not moving, you know. I can't be that Instagram hero or whatever. I can only write about things that are happening, but I knew that I was good at storytelling and people liked to laugh from me. I knew that because I asked them, right, just like you ask for a sale, you can ask people for your product ideas and that just keeps it even more simple. I created this book. It was with a bunch of friends. It was a collection of funny RVs stories. I just asked people for the sale. Like I said, I had been building my list. I think I had about 300 people on the email list. By this time, I was about seven months in. I was pretty, you know, known quote-unquote, like in a bigger Facebook group because I knew that's where my people were and I needed to build my email list, so I was shamelessly spamming I'm sure. On my Facebook group, I had a couple hundred friends. I was making new friends in that industry and I just started putting out, Hey, I've got this idea for this book. What do you think? Oh yeah, that sounds funny. Okay. I had read that you should pre-sell it right. Never create something if you don't have that dollar first. I was like, okay, it's going to be $20. Ridiculous for an ebook g uys, but I'll give it to you for $10 right now. I didn't have Stripe. I never even heard of Thrive cart, none of that. But I knew back the day, sometimes my friends would pay me on PayPal. I logged into my PayPal account. I hadn't logged in. You know, it was dusty. It had spider webs all over it. I logged into PayPal and I gave them my email address and people were paying me. I think I made seven pre-sales. There's nothing like making money off this idea you have that isn't created yet. In my head, I was like, I'm already a millionaire and I just made $70. These people don't even know I haven't even created this yet. You know, like, why would they give me the money, right and also nothing motivates you to create something like collecting the cash for it. I made this and I just kept talking about it. Every time I finished a chapter, I posted a screenshot. Every time I made a sale, I said, 'Holy crap, somebody bought my book,' and I was genuinely, I wasn't doing it, and I was genuinely humbled and like I just said, I can't believe it like I was in awe of what was happening. It was so simple. Every time I talked about it, someone would ask me about it. I w asn't like, you know, a trained sa lesman, but I was just so excited about my idea and I genuinely thought it was hilarious, and so I was genuinely asking people to buy it. I forgot your original question, but I know I just took that enthusiasm and I took that success. I ended up making about $7,000 in three months off a $ 1 0 eb ook that I did n't wr i te.
Speaker 1I wrote one chapter and my friends wrote the other ones, you know 'cause, Oh, it was about being simple. How did I get to simple? Like I mentioned, I'm living in this RV. I'm living in like 300 square feet, number one.
Number two, I didn't even have internet. Before I started my business, I was very, I mean, I still am very like anti-social media, anti-technology. I didn't even have a Facebook, nothing, not Snapchat. You know, My Space was debunked by them, like I have nothing. You know, I'm just trying to build this business. I'm trying to make my dream of traveling come true, but I only had so much time. I also had a child. She was like a year and a half. We were renovating our RV while we lived in it. Think about that for a second. Pause. Think about it. It was a disaster and my husband worked 50 hours a week in the military. I had no choice other than to keep it simple. I had no choice other than to not sit and read, you know, blog posts and listened to podcasts all day. I just had to go for it. As I just told that story, like the simplest thing I could of was to drive to the library, take a screenshot of the chapter and talk about how excited I was. That was the simplest thing. The simplest thing was to email my list every Sunday afternoon, right? And Sunday nights, I know my husband is not working Sunday. I know he's going to let me go to the laundry room and try to get on that internet. I created this book and Canva. It costs me $0 to make this book.
Speaker 1I had no other choice than to keep it simple. If you, you know, you're listening, you're thinking like, Oh my gosh, I have no time to do all these strategies, and run ads, and learn them and all this other things. I find the only thing that you need to launch a product is hype is to just talk about it.
You don't create it in silence. You create it with your community. And whether that's, if you don't have an email list, that could just be on your Facebook page or your Instagram and it doesn't even have to be your business page. I know, technically you're not supposed to promote your self on Facebook, but if you're genuinely talking about it. you know, you're not spamming. People, are going to be excited for you. They're going to rally around you. I mean, I've had people buy products of mine that are never going to use them or follow me just because, you know, I built that community. I'm talking about my stuff and then get excited about it. Does that make sense?
HeatherIt makes so much sense. I think that idea around hype, that idea around enthusiasm or excitement around what you're doing. I mean, if you're not excited about it, other people most definitely are not going to be. One of the questions I've gotten actually a few times over the last couple months, I get messages from people. They send me questions about certain things. The other day, this gal had asked me about she was launching her podcast and she wanted to know, Hey, I noticed, this is a very specific example.
But she was like, Hey, I noticed that your podcast intro was much different than what all the quote-unquote experts say to do. Yours is 12 minutes versus the, like the three minutes and like, can you talk a little bit , like what your strategy was? And in my head I'm like, literally, I don't ever remember my podcast intro like the very first episode I did the teaser, the trailer. I had to think for a second. I was like, huh, two things come up. One, exactly what you said. I did not follow any expert's formula around how to do it. I was just like, let me get on the mic and just talk about what I envisioned the show to be. Honestly, all it was was like, I needed to get something out so that my podcast can get triggered by iTunes and get accepted so I can actually launch. The reason I brought that up is what we were talking about was she was waiting to start talking about our podcast until she had a trailer out. I was like, no, no, no, no big mistake.
Liz WilcoxI'm shaking my head right now.
HeatherYeah, I talked about my podcast for months before it came out into the world. I put myself on the hook so that I actually would have to do it, but like asking my audience about the name, about the cover art, about the episode topics, like always talking about it so that people would be interested when it came out. But also that it was actually what they wanted. So like hype , hype , hype , maybe like don't hide your stuff before launching talk about it. Don't be surprised when nobody wants it.
Liz WilcoxYeah, that's why I literally, this morning I was scrolling Facebook and I saw someone asking a group like a couple of years ago, the golden rule was, don't talk about your digital product until like two weeks before you're going to launch because you'll lose momentum.
I even got into a little tiff with one of my business partners. I own a different business about when to start talking about something we're launching this month. I believe it's never too early. Even if you don't, even if it's just an idea in your head. With this first product, it was me asking people, why do you follow me? Like, you know , I'm an RV blogger, but I don't actually RV. I don't know what I'm doing. Sometimes I'm talking about my kids. Sometimes I'm talking about, you know, running. You know, why do you follow me?
Speaker 1And they said, you're really good at storytelling and you're funny, so I created a book, like a collection of funny stories and I just kept talking about it. And even my course, well, it's not my course anymore. Actually, all of these products I'm talking about, I actually sold. You know, just put that in your back pocket . If you don't want to talk about this anymore, you don't have to, but it's still valuable.
Anyway , this course I talked about it for, I think almost four months and it was just this, Hey, would you be interested? And I had 131 people on my email list. You guys sit down. This is like crazy. I had 131 people say yes, I would be interested in that type of resource. On cart close day, I had 131 sales. I talked about this thing and it's crazy. Now I don't believe it's the same 131 people. I'm not that good. I'm good but I'm not that good , but it's just because I kept talking about it. It wasn't like I put out that survey, click this link of your interest in, and then when it was ready, I was like, Hey, it's coming out next week. Congrats. You know, it was, Hey, what do you think? Should it be a course? Should it be a book? Oh, of course. Awesome. We're creating this course, you know, etc, etc, all the way up to, holy crap, this is launching tomorrow. Thank you so much for being a part of it. You know, really, I recommend Jeff Walker's book, Launch. I follow that strategy. It's very simple and it's basically all the things I've just said, you know, just asking your audience and keeping them involved. You don't just ask them to buy it, you know, ask them to be excited about it with you.
HeatherI love that. Ask them to be excited about it with you. I think that's a really great invitation to, do not be so alone on it and also not be like having this big buildup where you're going to be let down when nobody talks to you during your launch, like you already have people with you. Okay. Let's talk about, you have a framework that is super simple, that people can adopt for whatever they're doing. If they're thinking digital course, they're thinking ebook, they're thinking a mini-pocket product, whatever you want to call it. Talk to us a little bit about your three part process.
Liz WilcoxYeah, thanks for asking. Everything, like I said, I don't, I don't have a lot of time even to this day. Now I'm working full time, but right now, as we speak, I am on this 5-week adventure with my daughter and my sister in an RV. We're traveling around. I've since moved out of the RV, but I can't sit still, if you can tell from this interview.
I just like to keep things so simple. Like I said, I chose email marketing as my one thing I was going to do every week, no matter what. And, can you hear that? Sorry, do you hear anything in the background? See, folk, I can't deal with distractions, so I need to keep it simple.
HeatherIt's ironic that you're talking about like a shiny object situation and you are a shiny object right now.
Liz WilcoxI'm flexing right now y'all. Basically, my three step framework in turning people into customers, turning your idea into a business is first you have a follower, then you have a friend and then you have a customer. I've found, I do this through email marketing, first you have followers. Somebody likes you on Facebook or Instagram.
They subscribe to your, you know, your freebie and then you turn them into a friend and you do this through a very simple, welcome sequence. You're warming them up. Hey, my name's Heather, this is what I love to talk about. These are my funny side notes. If you don't like it, I don't know what to tell you. This is what I'm going to promote. Even if you don't have, you know, a product like Speak Up to Level Up or something, but you know, you want to turn it into a business the way that I did, you still need that warm up . You need to turn them into a friend and I'm not talking about, I see so many people, write an email like you're talking to your best friend. I think that is a terrible advice. This person just met you. They don't want to be your best friend. They don't want to compliment your shiny jacket. Like their, you know, they just want their freebie and they want out of their , or they want their low-cost product or whatever it is, and it's your job to kind of get to know them. I think of, when I say friend, I don't think of this person that, you know, you're going to call up and you're going to go out to eat when restaurants finally open. I think of this person that it's someone that you kind of , you used to know, maybe you went to high school or you went to college and you had a couple of classes or you were in the same dorm together and you just recently reconnected with and they are passionate about the same thing you are. So if you're a crochet blogger, like, Oh my gosh, you love crocheting too . I never knew, let's reconnect . I'm going to email you tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after or whatever. Oh, you like public speaking? That's my passion. You know, sign up for my list. That type of person, right. Does that make sense?
HeatherYeah. Well, you and I've talked about this before. I am super turned off when people are so like assumptive in their emails, like we're best friends or that I remember every piece of content they put out into the world. Like remember two years ago when I talked about this in my blog, I'm like, no, famous lady on the internet. I do not remember because..
Liz WilcoxI just met you six weeks ago. Yeah, and even some people say like, court your list , but I don't even like that 'cause that, like the dating thing, it's like, no, it's not like that because you are a business and you do want them to buy, but you do want that friendly, like 'this person is familiar with me. We're going to talk about this one thing that we're both super jazzed about and I'm going to help them get better at it' type of friend, and then you turn them into a customer. So follower, friend, customer.
Because you've done a good job at creating this friendship, getting to know them, etc, etc, through sort of like weekly emails and updates. It's easy to ask for that sale. They know you, you know them. You know, it just makes sense. Especially, all the things we talked about, asking your people, what kind of product they want? Do they want a course or a guide? Do they want a masterclass or what? It becomes so easy to turn them into a customer because people buy from people they trust. If you're in their inbox regularly, you're giving them valuable information. You're updating them like a friend, not a best friend or somebody they're dating where it's like a little too much, they're going to trust you to buy the product.
HeatherLet's talk a little bit about, okay. So you're talking about this idea that what we work them through is online we build out our followers and the goal is to help them become friends in a platonic way, and then we moved them into customers . Let's dive in a little bit of deeper on that. Do you have some cautions or some tips for people as they're thinking through that? 'Cause they're like, okay , this framework makes sens, but like what are some of the specific things that they should be watching out for, where maybe it can get a little too complicated, where you would recommend that they simplify or some tips to keep it simple?
Liz WilcoxYeah, so I think a lot, again, if you're following a lot of gurus, whatever, they're going to tell you. You know, you make a sale up front, etc, but if you don't have anything to sell or you don't have that low-cost product or, you know, you don't know what to sell in your welcome sequence, it's totally okay not to sell.
What I do in one of my emails, one of my welcome emails and I recommend to a lot of people that just kind of, it sets the bar like this is a business, even if you don't have a business yet, even if you're not sure of what the product is. If you just say, I offer you free and paid products, they're going to know, and that's going to set you up for success. I see a lot of, especially this happens a lot with YouTubers where they put out a bunch of free content for a couple years, and then they build a course and they lose half their following because they're considered e backers .
Speaker 1But if you just set that expectation upfront that like, yeah, we're going to be friends, but you know, this is also my business. It's very simple. Just say, I will offer you free and paid products, literally. Write that down. I will offer you free and paid products. That just whether or not, you know, they skimmed it or they read that sentence word for word. When you finally do offer up that product later, whether you built out this fancy evergreen funnel, or you're just launching something, that's going to cost $10 for the very first time in a few months, they're going to know. It's not going to be a surprise.
My first blog, it was in the RV space and not a lot of people make money there. I mean, other than from like ads and things. They don't make a lot of money through digital products. And they say, I can't sell to these people. Think about it, these people don't even want to pay for electricity. I'm in my RV right now. I'm staying for free at my friend's house. I'm like , I'm not paying for water. That's outrageous, like what year is it? That's the kind of level of cheap. If you're thinking my people aren't used to buying, you know, I'm a business to consumer. If you just set that up from the very beginning, that second or third email, and you say, Hey, you know, I've put out a weekly newsletter. I really liked to wear shiny jackets and by the way, I've give out free and paid products, like that's just going to help make that transition so much easier for when you do offer that first product, so they're just not, the shock value is gone. Does that make sense?
HeatherIt totally does it . I think about like, let's say somebody is listening to their coach and they're thinking about also offering digital products. It might be as simple as I do private coaching, and group coaching and digital products. Like for me, I said that for a long time before I had my technical digital course. I didn't have a digital course up until, I don't know, a few months ago. It was always coaching programs.
So it's the just saying the scope of what you plan to be offering in the future that gives people the ability to understand how they should, this is gonna sound weird, but like put you in a box like are you YouTuber, or are you a coach? Like, I don't want people just to think I'm a coach 'cause I don't do very much one-on-one coaching anymore. I only take a couple of clients every quarter. I want people to start seeing me more as a scalable, like digital course creator. I just say, I think that delineation, where do you recommend that they mentioned that?
Liz WilcoxI usually recommend, and I can put this in a freebie. I didn't even think about that. Just if, I have a really simple, like four part welcome sequence, so four days like, Hey, here's your freebie, Hey, you know, etc. etc, and I have that on the third day. That's an email I called newsletter expectations because you know, especially, if you're giving away a freebie. They just want that freebie, but how do we get them coming back? How do you not have to scrub your list every 30 days?
Because you know, you're getting all these freebie snatchers and that's through this welcome sequence that tells people and this email specifically that tells people like, Hey, this is what I'm about. I love public speaking. I love teaching people about virtual stages, whatever it is. And I'm going to send you, I do a podcast every Wednesday. I'm going to send you an email every Thursday afternoon, and I'm going to offer you free and paid advice. Or, you know, I'm going to, I only take one-on-one clients once a year or, you know , whatever the expectation you want them to have about you. You can put it there and you can always change it. Oh, I don't want to write on Sunday nights anymore. I want to do Tuesdays, just go back in Convertkit or whatever and change the day, but that just gives them the expectation that they are going to be getting more emails from you and also that you are reliable, right? Like I'm sure we've all signed up for those people and then a month later we get that email. Oh, I'm so sorry. My dog died. I didn't email you for 30 days. Like Heather said earlier, like, who are you? Why are you talking about your deceased dog? You know? And, but that tells them like, I'm consistent. This is what is going to happen. And like it or not, human behavior responds very well to instruction. You just tell them what's going to happen next and they will say, Oh, it's Sunday, that lady said she was going to email me. Check that out, you know, and it fills out automatic trust and starts turning them into a friend even sooner so that you can offer a product sooner rather than later.
HeatherYes. Okay, that is so true. I love that you brought up that idea around like the apology emails around, sorry, I ghosted you.
Liz WilcoxI'm rolling my eyes so hard right now.
HeatherI am a firm believer. There is a time and place for things that you need to acknowledge and apologize for. One of the most important things that I've realized about myself as a consumer in the last 12 months is I will unsubscribe from someone who apologizes way too much, like if I have every 30 email is an apology, it's just not, it's just not my jam. I don't know, like don't apologize for ghosting me. I didn't notice anyways, like I don't know.
Liz WilcoxNumber one, it all goes back like, I'm not your best friend, lke we can be friend , but you know, I don't need to know every personal aspect. And chances are like, people are busy and their inboxes are flooded, they probably didn't notice and so, you know, just go with it.
It's like when you, you know, if you are at a picnic, a barbecue, remember those and you fell down and nobody noticed you wouldn't come up and say, Hey, I just fell down. That really hurt . You know, or you wouldn't want to bring attention to it, so think of that the next time you accidentally miss a week or whatever, like, just keep on going, right. The show must go on type of thing.
HeatherWell, I think that interesting thing to consider, as you say that, think about why you're sending the email. Like, I just had that moment of it , of going like I , so I would be the person that would walk over and start laughing and be like, Oh my God, I just fell up the stairs. But I would do that because I knew it would make other people laugh. It's like a little klutzy Heather, like, so that's just like a random example here.
But like in the email things, I think oftentimes when we're focused on like, Oh no, we'd ghosted them. We've let our audience down, like really those emails are about saving face and they're an ego thing for the writer. It's not really the best thing that your audience needs. Like they just want to know how to become a better speaker, or how to fix their funnel, or how to make a handbag out of straw, whatever it is.
Liz WilcoxAmen, preach it.
HeatherThat's what they want, so if you need to say something, make it in passing, but don't make that the point of the email. Give them something that's going to help them not help your ego.
Liz WilcoxYeah, and I think with newsletters, we get so caught up in getting it right. And you know, like, what do I say to my friend? That's not my best friend. You know, I can kind of hear the narrative right now. Like, Oh no, is this too much or too little. Like for me and I hear all of these, you know, I listen to these podcasts about emails and I subscribe to a lot of like wonderful, amazing storytellers, and that's not me. That's too complicated to come up with a story once a week on Sunday, when my daughter is asking me, you know, if she can have a third bowl of ice cream, the answer is no, Chelsea. I'm trying to write .
For me, it's because I'm looking at this person as just a friend, you know, that we have a similar passion. I can keep it more laid back unless I'm trying to sell this $2,000 program, that's brand new and I need to craft these amazing stories, I look at my newsletter as just an update. I'm just updating people. I'm keeping myself top of mind. Hey, remember, we're friends. You know, like if you meet a friend at a conference and you really want to keep connected with them. You might DM them on Saturday night when you're scrolling Instagram before bed. Hey, I saw this and thought of you. You know, that type of behavior, so think of your newsletter like that. Like, what's something I can share with this person, these people , that's going to keep them interested in our topic together. Going to, you know, make them associate it with me, right. Just give them an update, so instead of writing the story about, well, I went, I'm on this, I can't even think of one right now. I'm just not that good instead I would just say, Hey Heather, this week I started my five week road trip where I Michigan. By the way, I saw this link about email marketing. I thought you would like it. Peace out. I mean, my last that's it. And that just keeps me top of mind, like, Whoa , you know, this lady just emailed me, Oh, sweet. You know, I didn't have to spend 20 minutes reading her story only to be like, wondering why she sent me that or whatever. My last email I was traveling and those subject line was a quick hello. And I said, Hey, I've been really tired. I'm traveling. I just want to let you know, I'm thinking about you and your business. I hope you take some time to rest like I am doing tonight with this short email, XO , Liz. Just keeping yourself top of mind. I think of it more, don't think you have to craft these amazing stories. Heather, you're so good at the story thing like every time I read your email, I'm like, wow, but don't think you have to do that, especially if you're tired, if the kids are screaming about ice cream. As we record this, we're in a pandemic. You might not have time to think about what I'm going to write, but you do have time to just say like, Hey, this week, you know, I did XYZ. Here's a link, and it doesn't even have to be to your own blog posts or anything. You know, it can be to whatever. Or, you know, here's three things I learned this week or here's a video I watched, you know, 'cause chances are you've done that and you can just pass it along. It doesn't have to be your content. That's my little side note about newsletters.
HeatherI love your side note and it's actually really funny that you bring this piece up because this is something that I've been grappling with a lot lately is it does take me a while to write my newsletters because I do the story, point, and then direct to my podcast every week. If you guys are on my list, you know that. I'm a storyteller . It's a thing though.
But like two things to consider that I've been working with lately is one, it takes time to tell stories and as somebody who teaches people, how to tell stories, I want to be the example of that. But yeah, so that's important to me. But what I've been playing with lately is twofold. One, recognizing that the people who are reading your email are not always the same as you and might not always love the long approach, so mixing it up with those shorter emails actually is going to help you better connect with different people on your list, so the brevity is important. But also what you just said is I think, so what I've been exploring lately is like, what would it look like for me not to do a long email every single week. The idea of it has been like, Whoa , that would be so wonderful and so now I'm trying to figure out all the creative ways to try something different, but I'm in the middle of this right now. I've going, Hey, what would it look like if I did one great story every month and then the other ones were shorter emails to take the burden off of me to write, but also to keep things lighter for my audience. This is a very real time thing that I'm working through right now.
Speaker 3I think it is important for people to hear, b ecause I hear from people all the time, especially on my list of going, I don't know how to write stories or how the hell do you like come up with this? Or it puts this, for lack of a better term, burden on us thinking that the bar is set, and if we don't meet it, we're crap. Therefore, we just don't do.
And that's not a good place to live, like you shouldn't be living there in a creative space in your business. You just need to start putting stuff out, which was your whole point to begin with.
Liz WilcoxRight, and I think the biggest objection I get from people when I say, Oh, just keep it simple, email your list , you know, and then just ask for the sale. Oh, well, emailing my list is not simple, Liz. That's actually, you know, I have to sit down. It has to be quiet. You know, the planets must be aligned. It's gotta be a full moon. I gotta drink my, you know, my crystals have to be charged, whatever is, right.
But really, if you just think of it , instead of telling a story, just give an update on your life or whatever you've learned, then it becomes so much more simple. And think about it, you know, with your friend that you met at a conference, you're both into the thing. What would you like DM her on Instagram at night? Like, Hey, yeah, how are you doing? Okay, yeah. I went and I went and swam and like here on this week, like that. It can be just one sentence. An update doesn't have to be, you know, Monday through Friday, like I need that report on my desk.
HeatherDear diary, Monday at 8:00 AM. I had a green smoothie.
Liz WilcoxRight. In general, like I've recently gotten into green smoothies. Oh, by the way I watched this video, I really liked it. Check it out. You know, it can literally be like three sentences sort of newsletter and chances are, once you start the update, you'll know how to kind of segue way into whatever it is, you know, you want to share.
Sometimes like, this is your permission. It is okay to have a pointless newsletter. It is okay to just say hi. It is okay to use the subject line a quick hello and literally just say, Hey, I don't know what to say, but Liz, from Finding Your It Factor told me I need to email you, so here I am. I'll see you next week. You know, like it's okay . That shows how much of a person you are, right? That shows that you're not this guru with 20 people on their team that everything is so seamless. You know, it just shows that you're this person trying to make it work, the same way in that person that opens the email is, and that builds that friendship, that builds that trust more than any amazing Facebook ad or, you know, copywriter or whatever could ever do for you is writing simple newsletters like that, that say, Hey, thinking about you. I don't really have much to say, but you know, I'm still here, still trying to build this business. Just having that authenticity is stands out above so many people. That people are going to remember that. They're going to be like, Whoa, that lady just said hi. She literally didn't want anything. She didn't even give me a link to click like, Whoa, she's really in it to win it. It's gonna , it's just gonna change your business. When you finally launched that product or you relaunch it 'cause it failed last time, people are going to remember that. That's going to make you stand out so much.
HeatherYeah . I love that you said that so let me give you permission, knowing full well that nobody needs permission for it, but sometimes we do. We just need to be like, Oh, I can do that. Yeah, you can. And I also think like the other thing to add to that is it's okay to have one week, maybe you have the stellar storytelling email and the next you don't, like you don't have to have this, the exact same format, every single email, every single time, like try different things.
That's what I'm going to be doing is trying different things. Trying the shorter ones, doing the longer ones like ebbing and flowing, trying things out, but just honoring the fact that you make a promise to show up, so you need to, but that doesn't mean you need to put a big burden on yourself to take it half a week to write an email.
Liz WilcoxAmen. Just keep it simple. The simplest thing you can do is often the best thing. I've had even very close, like biz besties. I hate that word, whatever. Like I've had people tell me when I told them about my launch plans that tell me like that's unrealistic. And I'm like, you don't understand. This is going to happen. Just because of all the things that I've said, you know, I just put myself out there. I was as authentic as I could be and I just kept it very simple.
People will find that so refreshing and it will stand out more than any other marketing strategy in the whole world and it will make your launch successful like have I ever had a six figure launch? No, but I am a one woman show. You know, I want to keep it simple. I like, I actually don't mind launching, so I'd rather do, you know, a few that made that were fun and felt authentic, than try to do all the things and spend, you know, half of my profits. I'm not going to do that. If you just keep it simple, you know , ask your people wherever they are, you know about your product and you keep showing it off. By the time you ask for the sale, like they're going to click that button and they're going to buy because they know what the product is and they know who you are. You know, nothing sells like trust. I'll leave it at that.
HeatherAgreed, agreed. What's fun. As we wrap it up here, what's one of the unexpected benefits that you've found in your life or your business by sticking with this simple, like the simplistic approach.
Liz WilcoxWell, I am getting gray hair, but I don't think it's from my launch strategies. I find launching enjoyable. I really do. I've sat in masterminds in like really high ticket conferences and I have seen my peers crying and you know, I've seen them ride the emotional roller coaster and even business partners that we create the same product and we launch it altogether. I have seen like people break from launching and for me, I love launching.
There's a reason why I've created, I mean, I've created three digital products in the last six months. For this new copywriting and launch strategy business, and not once have I like sweat it, if that makes sense. The biggest benefit to keeping it simple and just, you know, just using what comes naturally to me, talking about things, emailing my list is my peace of mind. Like I do launch debriefs and I'm like, Oh yeah, I rocked it. Even if I made, you know, if I made $300 or, you know, 20,000, I go away feeling good. I go away with being able to spend time with my daughter. I go away with knowing that I did my best and I'm not comparing myself to anyone else, and that peace of mind is worth everything. It's worth even not having those six, seven figure launches because I'm happy with me and I love launching. I don't know any, I've never met anyone else that says I love launching. I literally love it. Nothing brings me more joy than to create a product and bring it to the people that I know need it. I think it's only because I keep it simple and I don't, you know, I'm like a horse with blinders on. I'm not worried about what so-and-so saying in their webinar, that all my friends attended, like I'm just doing, you know, the bare minimum, according to other people and it's working and that's worth everything in the world.
HeatherYeah, like I love the according to other people. I think that's one of those things is you have to figure out there's a common term, minimal viable product. I think minimal viable launch is something to consider is there is different things we can do.
I've had this conversation with my husband this last weekend around like, huh, what would it look like for me for the next year? Instead of having my goal to reach a, there's big revenue number that I'm after thinking that that's like this badge of honor, that when you get there. But I'm like, what would it look like if I change the finish line? And he's like, what are you talking about? I'm thinking about, we're now going to be doing schooling at home with our new kindergarten this fall. And now you're , you don't want just sweating or sweat launching, but now like , think about like, Oh, just in learning.
Speaker 3But what I've been talking about is like, huh, maybe it's not about hitting this really big number, but it's the keeping your sanity while still growing. Keeping your sanity, having the presence at home without breaking your butt, trying to do all the things, but figuring out like, what's that groove you can find in your own launching, and your own revenue, and your own workflow, that feels good that you feel like you're growing, but you're not chasing somebody else's path, like how do you forge your own? I think this whole thing is around that.
As we start closing it up on there , you know, the name of the show is Finding Your It Factor. And I'm always curious how people see themselves. If you had to put a pin in what you would call your It factor, what would it be?
Liz WilcoxI am ballsy. I just go for it and I don't care to even think about what other people think.
HeatherI love that about you.
Liz WilcoxWell, it's blissfully ignorant, I would say
HeatherBlissfully ignorant. I think it's a good thing. I like the idea of blinders on stay in your own lane and just rock it. Like I think that's, what's really important because I think it's so easy for us to get caught up in launching or building a business in somebody else's shadow and constantly stay in the shadow because we're comparing, like get outta there and shine the light on your own business, on your own self, as cheesy as that sounds, but just like rocket in your own light, and don't worry about what other people are doing. It could be a lot more fun.
Liz WilcoxAnd it is a lot more fun.
HeatherSure is. Okay. You've mentioned some awesome resources today. I mentioned in the intro that one of the things that I've loved working with you is you helped me with this, that this idea of helping onboard my new people with my new welcome sequence, that's coming out into the world, nurturing people, joining my email list .
By the way, guys, if you were not on my email list, make sure you jump in on the show notes and you will experience a wonderful, welcoming onboarding sequence written by Liz herself.
Liz WilcoxLiterally, I just want to interrupt. It's my favorite thing I've ever written. I love that. I was like, why didn't I think of this earlier? I mean, if I do say so myself, I think it's awesome. So get on the list if you're not on 'cause it's really fun . It's a fun welcome sequence.
HeatherI like to think so and I think what you did an exceptional job, making sure that it was still true to me using my words, my things, but you helped me make sure that we were achieving the right goals if you will, throughout that onboarding sequence, so it's really wonderful.
I'm sure some people are gonna have some questions wondering like how could we be simple too? How can we work with Liz? Tell them where they can find you and also some ways that maybe they can try out your resources.
Liz WilcoxYeah, sure, so my website is lizwilcox .com . We can link that in the show notes and also a link to, I have a freebie it's called my mega swipe file, real creative. I know. It's just got that four part welcome sequence I was talking about. Just keep it really simple. Heather's is much more complicated. But this one, if you don't have a powerful welcome sequence, this is perfect.
It also comes with three newsletters, different newsletters that I've written that I think will be really beneficial and they are examples of business to consumer. I think a lot of people sign up for B2B stuff and it's really kind of hard to, you know , see how you can fit it into yours if you're not like some life coach or whatever. I actually, I think I have a video walkthrough of them as well. Oh no, that's in my pay product . Sorry, I swear that wasn't like some cheesy segue way.
HeatherAnyway, she has free and paid products.
Liz WilcoxWrite this down. It also comes with 52 subject lines that for me have worked with over a 40% open rate for every single one of them.
HeatherOkay. It's crazy to me that's all in your freebie. I know you have, so I know we joked about it, but you do have some paid offers that are phenomenal and very, very affordable pricing. I'm g oing t o link to all this stuff in the show notes. Guys, the email thing, I get a lot of questions around email. It can be a little overwhelming. Subject lines a re overwhelming. G rab the swipe files 'cause I think it's a great place to get you s tarted to make them your own and then try some of these things out we're talking about today. I t's just keeping it simple.
In the spirit of that, as we bring it home in our very casual and fun bestie conversation. I know a biz besties, life besties. One day, you're going to teach me how to RV besties, just making fun of the fact that you hate the word bestie 'cause I'm kind of with you there. Any parting thoughts or words of encouragement for the audience to say , think about this idea of simplifying their business?
Liz WilcoxWell, in the words of N'Sync, do your thing. I hadn't mentioned N'Sync the whole interview. It's so hard. Just do your thing. You know, if you are whatever you're naturally good at, just put it out there, talk about it. If you are afraid to do that, you know, you're holding it close to your chest. Remember, like they even pay McDonald's people to make your french fries. So whatever you are doing, you deserve to get paid for that too.
HeatherAmen to that. Oh, I love this. I loved having you on today. Thank you so much for being here. I think , you know, guys, these kinds of conversations here, I tell you on the show, I like to bring people, not only that I enjoy hanging out with, but people that I work with and have conversations or just open conversations as I would with Liz and I having a zoom session, just chatting about life and business.
Speaker 3These conversations sometimes mildly unstructured and yeah. You know what I mean. Very casual, but I hope this gives you a little bit of a behind the scenes peek around what it's like to have a really good group of mentors, group of friends, people that you can talk about in business.
If you haven't already make sure that you're surrounding yourself with people that you can talk to these things, about these things with, because I think that's part of the not getting caught up in the shiny object, getting caught up in all the bad hype, around having to do all the complicated things. Find people that are going to help you on your journey. I think Liz is one of them. Be sure you're following on Instagram. Make sure you send her a message and give her a shout out of how amazing this interview went. Liz, thanks so much.
Liz WilcoxOh yeah, thank you so much.
HeatherAll right , guys, we'll see you next week. Same time, same place.
Speaker 2Guys, thanks so much for listening to Finding Your It Factor. And hey, if you have a talk coming up, you have to check out my free resource. It's called Nail Your Next Talk. 10 must ask questions before taking the stage so you can show up as an authority and turn that talk into future business. These are the questions that I use myself to prepare for my life talks, and they're going to help you ask the right questions of the person who booked you for the event. So the meeting planner or the client, and it's going to help you serve your audience to the best way possible. It's going to help you anticipate potential tech or 80 snags. Turn the Q&A time into a strategic place for content and make this speaking opportunity, a lead generator for your business. So go get it. What are you waiting for? It's over at heathersager.com/10Questions
