I want to talk to you about donuts!
I admit it sounds like a weird thing to want to discuss – but who doesn't love those soft, hollow-centred, pillows of yumminess???
To be honest, it's not actually how delicious they are that I want to talk about…
I want to tell you about what I learned by observing a donut franchise that frequents the park near me.
You see this donut company has a pretty well-nutted out niche. They are vegan, gluten and nut free, and they are totally delicious.
They first showed up last year, when I was a gluten-free vegan. So, I was extremely excited to be able to partake of their doughy goodness on a Sunday morning walk.
So, you can imagine my disappointment when after a couple of weeks of OMG donuts to look forward to, they weren't there.
Every weekend turned into every second weekend, which transformed to every second Sunday, and now I have no freakin' idea whether they are going to be there or not.
They decided after just a few weeks at the park, that it just wasn't working. There weren't enough people to make it worthwhile.
Meanwhile, there are A LOT of people who religiously show up to that park on the weekend, and a whole heap more who would make the extra effort to come, if OMG donuts were a drawcard for them.
The problem is that they never took the time to build their audience.
They were not consistent in showing up for long enough to let more and more people know they were there.
They were not dependable, so now they do not have a dependable customer base at that destination.
Always, always, always, successfully building a business that requires a captivated audience comes back to being consistent.
Let's look at another example – that of a real estate agent.
If you look at any truly successful estate agent, you will see someone who showed up time and time again.
Rain, hail or shine, they were there. Door knocking, pamphlet dropping, meeting people. Handing out their cards, and generally becoming known as the real estate agent for that area.
It could take years for someone to want to sell their house, so they have to put in those years of effort to be the person who has developed the know, like and trust so that they can consistently have houses on their books.
Dentists, Lawyers, Accountants…
They don't build big businesses overnight.
And yet for some reason, when we get to the online space, we expect to be able to be an overnight success.
We look at those people that appear to be, and we don't realise the years of hard work they put in to get to where they are right now.
We try something for a few weeks and when we aren't earning 6 figures yet, we decided it is stupid and that we need a different tactic.
When in reality, what we need is a long-term strategy which sees us showing up for long enough, with enough value, that we are the person that is thought of when our dream client finally decides they need help.
Let's take my podcast as an example.
Last week 13 people downloaded it the day the episode was released.
Now I could look at that number 13 and be totally dispirited. I could stamp my feet and decided that it is stupid and a total waste of my precious time.
OR…
I could be totally amazed that a whole 13 people were keen enough to hear what I had to say that they downloaded the latest episode as soon as it was released…
I could rejoice that I know that none of them are actually my mother trying to make me feel better (because unlike when she buys my books, she wouldn't know how to get my podcast)…
And I could plan to keep giving those 13 people incredible value so that that number grows and grows and grows…
UNTIL…
I AM THAT OVERNIGHT SUCCESS that everyone is talking about.
Okay, so I think we can agree, that there is no such thing as an overnight success, and that if we want to make it to the top that consistency is key.
So, how can you be consistent when you are first starting out?
Well, my advice is to start small and build.
Don't overwhelm yourself with every tactic known to man. You'll be like one of those guys at the circus with the spinning plates, except one by one the plates will come crashing down.
Choose one thing you are going to be consistent at, and then do that until it is easy for you to do. Then add the next thing.
Looks for ways you can repurpose content.
For example, this email will become a video, the audio of which will be used to create my podcast. It will also become quote cards, and that video will be posted on YouTube, as well as chopped up into mini videos for use on the other social media platforms.
Now, if writing is your strength, start there. Create a blog, write an email, create one thing and then look at ways you can turn that into many things.
If video is your jam, commit to a live video every day. Or do one large video, get the transcript for that and turn it into a blog, an email, or quote cards.
Can you see how this works?
You don't need to be creating everything from scratch. You can choose a theme and run with that for a week.
And then, once you have a few months of content that you created, you can start to post parts of it again.
The one thing you need to remember throughout all of this, is who it is that you help, and exactly how you help them.
Speak to them, give them value, and don't forget to give them calls to action.
Start small, then build up the layers of your activity. Create a system that you can hand off to someone else to do for you.
Now, if this all sounds amazing, but you don't know where to start, I have a gift for you.
You see, for a short time only, I'm offering my course, The Simple Social Media Strategy FOR FREE.
And all you need to do to get it is to follow this link and enter your email address to activate your membership site access.
https://www.donnajoyusher.com/free-ssms
I'd love to hear what you think about it.
In Your Corner
Donna Joy
