We Are In a Trust Recession. Critical Things to Focus on Now with Kelly Roach

Hey Friend!

We are currently in a trust recession. What is a trust recession? It’s when the level of trust between service providers, business owners, financial institutions, the government, customers, and consumers has fallen. It’s important to understand the mindset and the buyer climate right now. What is working to grow leads and to enhance your conversion to make more sales right now as we walk through these uncertain times and trust recession? What strategic things should you focus on right now in your business?

My friend, Kelly Roach, understands how to navigate a trust recession. She started her entrepreneurial journey twelve years ago as a business growth strategist and built her company to eight figures with zero debt or outside funding. She helps business owners build scalable sales systems, market, and launch productive teams. As her brand grew, she built a lot of subsidiary companies. Everything Kelly does is with a heart to help entrepreneurs grow and succeed. She is an 11-time international best-selling author. She has a top podcast and won awards for the best in business.

Kelly knows there are different types of support that you as an entrepreneur need to grow a great business that stands the test of time, especially in a trust recession. She understands your desire to put your faith and family at the forefront of everything you do in your online business.

She shares seven critical things to focus on right now so you can build and grow your business, podcast, coaching, and courses successfully through this trust recession.

FOCUS TIP #1 IN A TRUST RECESSION: GET CLEAR ON YOUR BUSINESS

Stef: Let’s begin by sharing how you got clarity on what your business was going to be. I imagine you didn’t just have an idea, launched it, and immediately it was successful. What were some tangible things that helped you to scale it?

Kelly: I was a senior vice president for a Fortune 500 firm with a team of about one hundred people. I was running seventeen locations. I still worked my full-time job while I began my business. My husband and I wanted to prioritize our daughter and have her home with us as we grew the business. So I built my business in the pockets of time I had available such as an hour before work, on my lunch break, and an hour or two after work. I needed to replace an executive salary, so I kept asking myself, How will this work? How will I ever get out of this situation and take the business full-time?

There are three things that I did right when I started my business that I would recommend to anyone who wants to build a successful business.

1. I joined a coaching program before I had my first client.
2. I started building my team, and
3. I started running ads.

Whether you are in the early stage of building a business or are several years in, those three things: mentorship, team, and advertising, will accelerate your path and help you leap instead of stair step. These three things are timeless.

FOCUS TIP #2 IN A TRUST RECESSION: USE TIME WISELY

Kelly: Inside the coaching program I joined, after two years, I realized that my business was growing bigger and faster than everyone working full time in their business. I realized that entrepreneurship is a game of intent, not a game of endless hours. Because I only had small pockets of time to grow my business, I was super intentional with the time I had. Others could have looked at the little time I had as a weakness, but I realized that it was a strength.

Because time was precious to me, mentorship, a team, and advertising bought me an acceleration of time. I spent money to gain time, my most valuable commodity.

Learn more about time management by listening to this episode:

Behind The Business – TIME MANAGEMENT – How I Create Balance, Prioritize, and STILL Grow My Online Business

FOCUS TIP #3 IN A TRUST RECESSION: DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS

Kelly: Nothing good comes out of comparing yourself to other people. Almost all fads and trends that everyone says you must do or you will be left behind are a complete waste of time. I came from nothing, was unknown, and had no network but have grown to a leadership position in my market. I did not have an online presence when I started my business nor did I use social media to grow it. Do your own thing and you will be shocked at how much faster and further your business will grow because you are not constantly going down rabbit holes that rarely amount to anything.

Stef: You are speaking my language. I tell my students and podcast listeners to stop chasing the latest shiny thing.

FOCUS TIP #4 IN A TRUST RECESSION: FIND THE MONEY TO LAUNCH YOUR BUSINESS

Stef: Of the three things you recommend to anyone who wants to build a successful business, you joined a coaching program before you had your first client. I agree. You said you started hiring a team. I agree. What do you tell them if they say they don’t have money to hire a team or to invest in a coaching program?

Kelly: Everything costs time or money. If someone says they don’t have money, they have to find the money. I stayed in my job until I was making over seven figures in my business. As my business grew, I reinvested my revenue into the growth of the business. If you don’t have the money, you need a side job. Or you need to sell more in your business, market more, and refine your skills so that you make more money. Entrepreneurship is bootstrapping.

Invest in the things that give you exposure and visibility to take your business to the next level.

FOCUS TIP #5 IN A TRUST RECESSION: ADVERTISE

Stef: Then you said you started running ads. I tell my new podcasting students that ads are a gamble when getting started on an offer they haven’t validated. What do you tell people who are new in business about advertising?

Kelly: If you do not know who your ideal customer is or do not know what your offer is, running ads will not help you. If the fundamentals of business are clear in that you know who your avatar is, what your offer is, and you know how to serve people, advertising will work.

Advertising takes people who have never heard your name and have no idea who you are and introduces you to them. It costs almost nothing, $1 or $5 a day, to run branding ads for your podcast, coaching, or course. This exposure is invaluable as your ideal client will then find you on social, opt into a lead magnet, or join your email list. There’s nothing more valuable than building an engaged email list because that’s the only thing you truly own.

In my early days of business, it came down to time versus money because I had a newborn. I could spend time going out and personally introducing myself one by one to people or spend $5 a day for new people to learn about my podcast and my business. Brand building is invaluable.  

People buy based on top-of-mind awareness. They buy from one of the last three people that have the solution that they want. So, putting your podcast, business, and course in front of people keeps you top-of-mind and more likely for them to buy from you. Retargeting ads work for this top-of-mind approach.

In this trust recession, long-form is the most important thing. Short-form content attracts attention but people rarely buy from consuming short-form content. Besides, you can attract attention with your ads and not need to be on social 24/7. When consumers binge your long-form content, it builds relationship and trust. When it comes to long-form content, I think nothing is better than podcasting.

FOCUS TIP #6 IN A TRUST RECESSION: KEEP FAMILY FIRST

Stef: You value a family-first model for growing your business. So often when getting started in business, we lose sight of why we’re building our business. We lean into the hustle and start following online influencers who tell us to work more and do more. When I deleted social media completely as I grew my company, I wanted to prove to people that it didn’t work to grow a business on social. I found my family in the place where I laid down social. I was able to get back to serving them, partnering with them, and seeing my kids clearly for the first time in a long time. I’d love to know what you want to share about a family-first focus.

Kelly: The bottom line is that there’s only a handful of people in the world that you’re truly irreplaceable to and those are the people at home. Your market, clients, or anyone related to your business cannot replace your family. It’s the people at home that are irreplaceable.

As you build a business, the demands and problems and everyday comings and goings of the business will always feel urgent and important. Your energy, focus, and time will always be demanded, but you have to fight against that. You have to fight every single day to keep what matters most first.

Unfortunately, many of the most influential voices in the online space are not married, or married but have no children, or on their second marriage. Be discerning about who you model. If you have children and are learning from someone who isn’t prioritizing their children or even has children, you will feel like a failure all the time. You will feel you need to work all the time as if you can never shut down or step away from your business. That’s because being present for your family isn’t what’s being modelled for you.

The reason I kept my job for so long was because the most important decision of our life was for my husband to be home with our daughter. Then we followed that up this year by deciding to homeschool her. My husband homeschools with her on Mondays and Wednesdays and I have Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Fridays, we are together as a family.

Everything comes back to running your race to be able to be happy and to be an entrepreneur. Be on your own journey not comparing yourself to others. Be highly discerning in who you listen to and take instruction from. Know what your values are and choose behaviors that keep your focus on where it needs to be. That’s prioritizing well in your family and business.

FOCUS TIP #7 IN A TRUST RECESSION: SET YOUR OWN GOALS

Kelly: As you grow your business, be careful that you set goals that are actually your goals. Many business owners are unhappy with their businesses, even resentful because they are building a business like their mentor or someone they heard on the Internet is building or something they saw on Instagram. Before long, they are miserable saying, I don’t want to be stuck all day every day running this business. All because they weren’t setting and pursuing their own goals. It was someone else’s life they were living.

Stef: There’s so much value in this conversation. I love your encouragement to put what’s most important in the first place. Our phones should not have first place. It’s proven that we are addicted, constantly looking for the next dopamine hit. No matter how intentional I am, all of a sudden, it’s back in my hand. How did it get there? The last thing I want my children’s core memories to be of me is with a phone in my face. It’s so good, Kelly, that you evaluate those things that capture your attention and put them away or leave them alone.

I appreciate your reminder that goals in your business should be your goals. I ask myself and encourage my students to ask, What do you really want your life to look like?

And lastly, those that you’re investing time, money, and coaching into and the people you’re surrounding yourself with, is that the life you want to lead? Don’t chase what everyone else tells you equals success. Decide what success is for you, your family, and your business.

FOCUS TIP #8 IN A TRUST RECESSION: BUILD YOUR BRAND BY PODCASTING

Stef: Let’s talk brand building. You said podcasting is one of your most important brand-building tools. How has podcasting helped you create successful multiple companies?

Kelly: Podcasting is everything for brand building. The podcast is critical to everything that I’ve created and everything that I’ve done. My show, the Kelly Roach Show, and being on other people’s podcasts are two ways I built my brand. I have been podcasting for seven years now, and I believe I haven’t missed a week. I have over a thousand episodes. The vast majority of people who have been my high-ticket buyers have listened to the podcast. Many of them found me when I was a guest on someone else’s show, followed me back to my show, and then became a customer.

Podcasting is even more important in today’s trust recession. People choose to consume nine, twelve, or even fifteen hours of your content before they make a buying decision.

I think podcasting should be the centerpiece of anyone’s marketing strategy. If it isn’t, they will overexert and overextend themselves in a lot of other ways. It will take a lot of their time to try to accomplish the same thing that could have been accomplished with a podcast.

Stef: Yes, I can attest to that when I look at metrics and data. They are 100% listeners of my podcast. That’s where authenticity, connection, and belief is fostered which then turns them into a client.

How amazing are these seven critical focus tips from Kelly Roach to help build and grow your business, podcast, coaching, and courses successfully through this trust recession? If you are looking for coaching mentorship to help you grow your podcast, start coaching, or create an online course, I invite you to my 6-month online podcast coaching mastermind called Podcast to Profit. You’ll learn how to get clear on who your ideal customer is and what to offer inside your coaching and online course. Learn to build a brand without being on social 24/7 so that you keep your faith and family at the forefront of everything you do in your online business.

I pray this blesses you!

Xo,

Stef

APPLE PODCAST | SPOTIFY

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It will teach you how to explode your audience without the social media hustle, make consistent sales using a podcast, and plan, record, and launch a podcast with ease!

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