So sometimes - we just want to STOP. 

 

Let's talk about what happens when we want to take a break from content creation - and why you need to think about the very necessary strategy of stepping OFF the content DREADMILL!

 

If you'd like to connect with Claudia, be sure to check out  Bridge2MORE!

Watch The Full Interview! 

 

Full Transcript 

Jen Liddy

Hello, hello. 

We are always hearing from our clients and the people that we talk to, and actually, we talk to each other about it a lot - overwhelm. There is an overwhelm in marketing that almost can't be escaped until you address it. You go to sleep; you're thinking about your marketing. You wake up, you're thinking about your marketing. You go take lunch; you think I should be marketing. All of the things that you're doing aren't really working for you.

So you're like, why am I bothering with this? That leads you to overwhelm and burnout and that is what Claudia and I are here today to talk about. How do we get out of the marketing overwhelm? 

So thanks, Claudia, for being here.

Claudia Schalkx

Thank you for inviting me again.

Jen Liddy

I always love talking with you. We do our week. We almost do every week our no marketing B.S. chit chat. So we're glad that we can bring this information to you because we really want to talk to people about, you know, the realities of marketing and not the B.S.

So, OK, let's talk about marketing time. 

What do you see in your people?

Claudia Schalkx

Well, what I see is ninety-five percent of the people I talk to are overwhelmed by needing to market their business and running it at the same time. 

So that creates a lot of overwhelm. 

And it's no wonder because every time you open Facebook, you have this waterfall of ads telling you to buy this product or that product that's supposed to help you to do things faster. Or how to make a six-figure business while sipping Pina Coladas in a hammock traveling the Caribbean.

The thing that strikes me is why do we fall into the trap of buying these things, and we have limited time and limited resources as entrepreneurs. So what pushes us is looking for ways to cut the time to market. 

We need to get results very quickly, so that is a good thing. But because if you can do things in a short span of time, great. But that kind of has a downside that we tend to overcomplicate things either because we buy too many solutions and then we are short on money because we bought solutions. And one of the examples is Absolom, or for instance, they have a solution for everything, you know, and you can buy it at nothing. Very good software. But do you use it? Do you really take the time to set it up? Do you really take the time to start it?

So that is one of the reasons for the overload. 

Definitely, it's a big thing in the overwhelm. 

And then the other thing I see is that we tend to have too many offerings, like too many services, too many products.

And I would recommend that you start with the rule of one.

One service, one problem, one client. 

Get that in order to get that up and running, have it, you know that it's running smoothly and then add other things, but try to keep it simple, because the moment you start to add other things, it becomes more complicated. It requires more of your time, and you are stretched too far. So one way the question that I get from my clients when I tell them you have to simplify.

Go to the rule of one is that they say, one, they get bored because they will be doing only one thing, and then how do I satisfy the various needs of my clients? Because, well, what you have to do is you create your signature system, and in your signature system, you must probably encompass everything you do for your clients. 

So, for instance, I do buy personas. I help you with your message. I help you with your signature system.

They are all part of my signature system, and I can do them alone or in a package. But it's always the same thing. It's always that. And if I do change something, I change it in one place. I don't change it in 20 different places.

Jen Liddy

So I keep hearing that there is one thing that you could change in your signature system that you could offer? And then what's one thing you could change in your offer that would satisfy your need to do something different or to meet a bigger need in your order?

Claudia Schalkx

For instance, my signature system is a nine-step process, right? And I have milestones in my process. One of the processes is buyer persona - your client profile. I can offer it inside my signature system or as a standalone product, but it's one thing. I can also combine it with creating your message and with creating your signature system, so it's a package of three elements, but it's always inside my signature system. So what I do is I have one whole product.

So if I change the description or the things that I give, I only have to do it inside my signature system. I don't have to do it all over the place.

Jen Liddy

So you're not recreating the wheel all the time? So once you have that pathway, I know that the signature system is kind of like a pathway. You start here, you get here, and these are the steps along the way. Actually, Claudia and I did mine last week. So you're just saying, like, OK, if I just want to offer one thing, I could offer the first three steps of my signature system.

Claudia Schalkx

Yes, exactly.

Jen Liddy

And so that is one way to reduce overwhelm because I actually did this myself. You and I had a conversation last week where I was like, oh, people want this and people want this and people want this. And I just feel like I'm completely paralyzed because I don't know how to offer all of those things. And I don't want to offer all of those things except to offer all of those things.

Claudia Schalkx

You have to keep it simple. 

You know, you have to keep it manageable and stop thinking that if you don't have many things to offer you, you will get bored. Inside the signature keeping inside the example of the signature system, you can have clients that are pretty advanced or pretty fast in learning or have their act together, and you have clients that are starting to your case. For instance, you have people who have created a lot of content, and they don't know what to do with that content, how to repurpose it, how not to create content constantly. And in the same line, you have people who start with content, and they may want to do it in the right way from the beginning, right? So you're helping both with content. 

What is going to change is the tools you're going to use with a beginner and with the advanced. It's always the same product. What you do is you adapt the tool you use. So stop thinking in terms of tools, assessment, that kind of stuff, and think in terms of milestones. What is what you want to achieve with your client?

Because in that way, you remain flexible, and you can incorporate your ways of helping your client without limiting yourself. It's always the same thing, and you give yourself the room to be creative, right? And at the same time, you're helping people who need help with support, with content, but you can adopt the same product and guarantee the same results, just varying the tool. But in the conversation, you don't focus on the two; you focus on the mindset of the right way.

Jen Liddy

You know, I think until we get out of this responding or reacting mode, that marketing will continue to feel overwhelming. For example, I'm going to be in a Facebook group because somebody told me that being in a free Facebook group and offering my services is a way to or offering my knowledge is a way to market myself. So you spend a lot of time in these groups, and you just feel like you're constantly giving and giving and giving and responding or reacting to what people are doing in there.

That feels like a huge waste of time because those people don't always want help, or they're not ready to hire help. And so that's a place where I see people wasting time but also reacting to people who aren't necessarily interested in becoming their customers. 

What are your thoughts on this kind of time-wasting by reacting to something that's external to us?

Claudia Schalkx

Well, what I think you first need to have is to have your business goals very defined. 

This is what I want to do and make it measurable. I want to have five new clients by the end of September, for instance, make and then reverse engineer it. What do I need to find those five clients? OK, I need this ability. I need an offer. I need systems in place to attract this.

So you'll see where you have to put your effort. And then in that concept, you go and check, OK, is this a good group or isn't this a good group? And, you know, you should use those groups more to test the things you say and how you bring it, et cetera, et cetera. More than joining those groups to sell your stuff, people don't realize it is the level of the conversation that affects your expectations.

You know, and selling in groups requires it's a long-term game.

Jen Liddy

OK, that was one of the things I wanted to address in terms of overwhelm. And so what we keep saying is if you don't have your foundations in place, if you don't know what you're trying to do, goal wise, if you don't have your system, the thing that you sell like all of this is just going to feel like you're constantly just spinning and spinning and spinning. So one of those things is to get out of thinking you're selling to a group. 

You can be of service but that doesn't mean you have to spend all of your time there, giving and giving and giving. So I just want to shift people to that action. The other thing is you mentioned this at the beginning of our call is this overwhelm of information. Like how many courses are you buying? How many people are you listening to? How many podcasts are you listening to? I think following too many people is kind of harmful when it comes to marketing.

What are your thoughts on that?

Claudia Schalkx

What I do when I take a course is that I go on an information diet. 

So I stop looking around. I stop considering things that are similar because that plants the seed of doubt and the seed of destruction. When I start working with my coach, I enter an information diet. I like that. So I go very focused.

And, you know, I do searches just in case of things I don't understand or want examples or the kind of stuff, but it's a very concrete search. It's a very concrete look for information, but if I buy a course and I don't start it in the first month from the time I bought it, then I don't buy it.

I punish myself by not buying any other thing until I have done my course. You know, and the punishment, it's a tough punishment, feels awful because I end up eating.

Jen Liddy 

I actually bought a course and had my virtual assistant take it because it's a course I don't need to take, but I need search engine optimization. I need all my SEO optimized. And so I bought it for my virtual assistant. And that was such an amazing gift to be able to buy it and give it to her and have her implement it. But I've done the same thing where I've bought courses because you're being bombarded all the time, and marketers are so good at nailing your pain points and promising you something.

But if you don't have the time to start with, how are you going to have the time to finish this course?

Claudia Schalkx

And then the other thing is how specialized is the course?

For instance, Facebook Ads, to give you an example. Doing a course on Facebook ads can have two objectives; one is to better understand Facebook advertising so that you can engage in a conversation with somebody who's going to run them for you and understand who you are hiring and what can you get, OK? And that you can get out from the Internet without paying, of course.

The other thing is that you intend to run your ads yourself, and you do, of course, then you need to understand that Facebook has changed its platform every three months or every month and a half. The moment you have this platform, you understood this platform, they changed it, and now you are starting from scratch. So that's very specific, specific knowledge. You need to ask yourself, do I really need that specific knowledge, or do I need the understanding of the tool?

For instance, I do search engine optimization for some of my clients. And I teach them to most of them; I teach them to do it yourself, search engine optimization because actually search engine optimization begins before you start to write the first lines of your content. So you really need to understand, as a content creator, what search engine optimization is in the very basics.

But I don't give them a course on statistics and Google analytics and all that stuff. And Google Analytics is also one of those tools that is so complete that it's very difficult to understand. So ask yourself, are you really going to use all the insights? Many of these tools are ready for professionals or statisticians that make this hard, so question yourself, do I really need it? You know, and even more so, if this product did not exist, how would I solve what I'm trying to solve?

Jen Liddy

I know a lot of people are at the beginning stages, but if you really think about the time that you spend in these Facebook groups trying to make connections with people, the money that you spend on the courses that just sit on your laptop? How much time and money have you wasted getting nowhere? And then you still have the oppressive heaviness of I'm overwhelmed by marketing. 

So Claudia and I always talk about how to get out of overwhelm. Please choose one audience, one thing to offer, one place to be. 

You don't have to be in all the places. 

We say that over and over again. You don't have to be in all the places. And I know that there's this idea of doing more and more and more marketing. 

It's just so heavy on us. 

And what it causes is for us to shut down. And that is the last thing that we want for people.

Claudia Schalkx

Yeah, going back to the one platform, which is one of the wisest pieces of advice you can give. 

Then again, you know, nowadays, you can start a business without a website, you don't necessarily need the website as a first step, but the thing is, many of these platforms can disappear. Yes, they can change the rules, and all the time and effort you put in there might be lost. So in your marketing strategy, you have to see social media as a way of generating traffic to your website.

And see your website as your digital office. 

It's most probably the first thing people will check before they search for more information about you, check your offerings, read more blogs, that is your website. So if social media disappears or, for instance, I remember there were many people doing marketing through WhatsApp. Then people started to worry about the privacy in WhatsApp, and that is now today, at least for the US, not for Europe, because of the GDP.

But in the US where each state has different privacy regulations. WhatsApp, a lot of people left because of the privacy regulations, and they moved over to Telegram. So if you created everything on WhatsApp, you lost your stuff. You're running the risk of losing what's keeping you in contact with your client. So ideally, use social media to move people to your website, use it as a support to generate traffic to your website, but make sure that your website is done as if it is your digital office, where you welcome people.

Like, if you would go to a real office, your first check, you're in the right place, the right street, the correct building number, and then you enter your welcomed you, et cetera, et cetera. The website has the same function. So, yes, use social media if you don't have the money to start your website. And essentially, when you start, so many things can change. So a website is not necessarily your first investment.

Neither is a logo, a study of social media, and then move on to a platform you own.

Jen Liddy

Yes, these are all great reminders. 

The number one way to get out of overwhelm is to stop doing all the things. And I think people are doing all the things. And so we just want to say today, I think the last point we want to make is to give yourself permission to back off from one thing. So if you're in a bunch of Facebook groups and you feel like you're not getting any traction or you're not making any relationships, you're not adding value in a way, and that's not adding value to you. 

That's not a great place for you to be if you are spending all of your time on Reel's because rules are the hottest thing, but you hate doing Reel's, then don't do that anymore. If you are buying course after course and promising yourself you're going to do these courses and that will solve your problem, it won't. 

It's just adding to the invisible weight. 

So if what you can do is really clear who you're speaking to, what they need to hear from you, and then get on the right platform where those people will be and speak to them in a way that they need to be spoken to and drive them to your one offer.

That is the simplest way that we can suggest to you to get out of marketing overwhelm.

Claudia Schalkx

If you don't know how to do it or you have this urge to buy, of course, spend that money better in a coach. Somebody will sit with you and take their time to understand your business, to see what you have done so far, and to help you to sort things out because, you know, buying more courses and buying more stuff is just only going to complicate it.

Jen Liddy

I love that. 

If you're going to spend money, hire somebody to actually take you through and clear everything up for you and actually or do it for you. Yes, I love that message. Thanks, Claudia. 

How can people get in touch with you if they are ready to do their signature system and they want to know what to offer and who is my buying persona?

Claudia Schalkx

Well, usually, they don't doubt who their buying persona is. 

Jen Liddy

That is always true, you know what I was thinking like, oh, how do my clients talk versus how I think they talk? I think they say, I don't know my audience, but they always say, oh, I know my audience. I just don't know how to market myself.

Claudia Schalkx

The thing is, we work on a lot of assumptions, and that is a big thing. And that comes because many of us created our business based on our own experience. So we see ourselves as our clients. And that's not the case. So, yes, I am when they say I know my client, they are thinking of themselves, but very few people know themselves very well. So you don't know your client. The thing is, there's no shame in it.

There's no shame. 

The thing you're maybe not your client, that might be the case, but one thing that the buying persona gives you allows you to see your business from the eyes of your client. And that is the perspective that we many times miss how or how our clients see our business and not how we see our clients. But we need the other side, see how people see our business. They can reach me at my site or my email, and that is https://bridge2more.com/ 

Jen Liddy

If you want to find out the holes in your marketing, what you're doing that you can stop doing, get on a call with Claudia. Her first call is free, and she gives away a lot of interesting information in that first call that you're going to just be like, oh, and from there, you'll just feel so much more relief.

So I highly recommend you talking with her.