Because Business is Personal

Unlocking Empathic Marketing and Your Soul Print with Shane Johnston

• Mike Caldwell • Season 1 • Episode 3

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What a remarkable journey it has been, navigating the intricate world of empathic marketing with the marketing whisperer himself, Shane Johnson. In our light-hearted yet insightful discussion, we unlock the vast potential of empathy in building stronger business relationships, boosting sales, and creating a lasting impact. As Shane fondly reminisces about his love for mountain biking, gardening and spending time in nature, we realize how these personal facets subtly weave into his tenacious marketing strategies.

Shane's metamorphosis from a brick-and-mortar business owner to a seasoned media buying professional, emphasizes his expertise in the field. He brilliantly unravels the hedgehog concept, highlighting the importance of being known for and excelling in one aspect of your business. We also delve into how building personal connections and understanding your audience can create meaningful customer experiences. Our conversation takes an interesting turn as Shane introduces the concept of 'Soul Print.' He underscores the significance of work-life balance and shares groundbreaking techniques like bio-hacking and flow hacking that can skyrocket us past our limitations to achieve our goals.

As we round up our enlightening session with Shane Johnson, we venture into the future of marketing, exploring the world of digital business cards. Shane's thoughts on empathic marketing, his dedication towards creating an enjoyable customer experience and his commitment to effectively utilizing AI tools for collective growth are not just stimulating but an eye-opener for all of us. Through this enriching conversation, we've gleaned invaluable insights and practical advice that will undoubtedly benefit entrepreneurs and business owners alike. So, tune in, absorb, and let's revolutionize the way we perceive marketing.

To learn more about Shane and connect with him to help grow your business, please visit: https://www.bolderfuture.com/

 Don't miss the opportunity to claim your free copy of my international bestseller, 'Empathic Marketing.' If you're eager to fast-track your journey to the business of your dreams, book a 30-minute Gap Analysis call. Don't forget to use the coupon code "Podcast" for a 50% discount. And yes, I'm offering a unique 200% guarantee on this Analysis. Visit https://www.becausebusinessispersonal.com/ to get your book or schedule a session today.

Eager to harness the power of Empathic Marketing to propel your business growth? Get your hands on my #1 Amazon Best Selling book, 'Empathic Marketing,' or book a '30-Minute Gap Analysis' session directly from my website: www.becausebusinessispersonal.com.

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Speaker 1:

Hey, welcome to the Because Business is Personal podcast, the podcast where empathy meets marketing strategy. I'm your host, mike Caldwell, but I'm also known as the marketing medic. Now, the reason for that is because, before becoming a marketing strategist, I actually worked as a paramedic for 12 years, and it was during that time that I realized how important it was to truly understand the problems your patient was facing before you started providing treatment. And it's this same understanding, the same empathy, is just as crucial when it comes to understanding our prospects and making sales, and that's why, in each episode, we'll dissect the art of empathic marketing, exploring how top professionals infuse empathy into their strategies to build stronger relationships, boost their sales and make a lasting impact. So buckle up and prepare to turn up the dial on your marketing effectiveness.

Speaker 1:

As we gear up to dive deeper into the realm of empathic marketing, I'd like to share a couple of special offers with you. First, you can get a free copy of my international bestselling book Empathic Marketing. You only need to cover the cost of shipping. Reading this will provide you with a much more in-depth understanding of the empathy-based marketing approach that we explore in this show. Next, I'm offering a 50% discount on a transformative 30-minute gap analysis session with me. Reading this session will identify the hurdles in your marketing efforts and together will develop an actionable roadmap aimed at winning you more clients and making you more sales. Just visit my website, wwwbecausebusinessispersonalcom to grab your book or use coupon code podcast to take advantage of my gap analysis offer. So why wait? Let's start turbocharging your marketing strategy today. Now let's get started with our episode. Hey, welcome everybody to my first Because Business Is Personal podcast, and joining me today is Shane Johnson, so welcome Shane.

Speaker 2:

Hey, Mike, I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be your first Papa you've been having the cherry. Papa, you've been having the cherry for a long time, right, it's been many years.

Speaker 1:

So I thought a good way to start all of my podcasts would be to share a couple of jokes, just to get some lightness and some levity. So I've got a couple of zingers for you. Are you ready?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, I love me. Hey, wait a minute. Are we allowed to do some kind of hot off color but sexual innuendo stuff? Sure, that's what she said. I mean, I know you have that sense of humor and so do I.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, those are the best. Okay, so mine is kind of along those lines. What's brown and sticky?

Speaker 2:

Oh, I don't want to know what A stick. Oh geez, that's what you're hoping for. The response All right, oh geez, Exactly.

Speaker 1:

Those are the best dad jokes though. Right, Exactly.

Speaker 2:

Well, I listen to every once in a while to this not a podcast, but I don't know. I probably hear it on TikTok or Reels or something like that as I'm scrolling through, but it's called we got the chocolates. Have you ever heard that one? No, it's a bunch of Australia. I don't know if they're comedians or what they are, but they're funny as hell and they have this little sort of a contest where they do these one liner dad joke kind of stuff and they have to try and make each other laugh, okay, and so the cameras on both of them and they're like you can see, sometimes they're just like holding it back, anyway. So I checked that out and I have to admit I stole a couple of their jokes. So here's one that got pretty good laugh on their thing. So what does a robot do after he has sex?

Speaker 1:

Oh, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

He nuts and bolts. Okay, that was my. That's what she said. Joke, I got a clean one for you too, okay. So I went to the zoo the other day and all I saw was a dog. It was a shitsuit.

Speaker 1:

Oh, it took me a second.

Speaker 2:

That's a growner. That was a cringe worthy joke. All right.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we both have warp sets of humorous. Yes, we've established that, all right, so now let's. This is because business is personal, so let's get to know you personally a little bit, so I can imagine you didn't have to work. Okay, you didn't have to work and you weren't allowed to work. What would you? What would you do with your time?

Speaker 2:

Oh, wow, I have lots of hobbies and I love not working and I also love putting you know fun things into work. So I like to mix that up. But, wow, I would do so many things. I have lots of things that I love. I love to mountain bike, I love to be out on the trails. Anywhere where there is forest and lake is my happy place where there's peace and quiet, so I probably spent a lot of time there. I like to garden. I know it's kind of cliche. I'm an old gen X slash, almost boomer, some older gen X and yeah, I love the garden. I got lots of veggies growing in my garden already. We've already been eating veggies out of the garden for a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1:

Oh wow, you've harvested it already, cause so far those people are listening. We're in Canada and it's May here, so not a lot of stuff has had the chance to grow outside yet.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so the last frost date was basically this weekend, the May long weekend, may two four weekend we call it in Canada and so I had stuff planted out there for, I guess, three weeks, mostly cruciferous kind of veggies, but I had some other stuff too, so I did lose some tomatoes, even though I was covering stuff at night. But yeah, that's enough, probably talk about gardens, I'm sure yeah, there we go.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I'd be doing lots of that kind of stuff for sure, traveling all over the place. I'd like to see new places, things like that All right so same.

Speaker 1:

Shane Johnson is a mountain biking gardener. That's what we know about. Shane Never been described that way before but okay, your business card, remember business cards.

Speaker 2:

I have a business card right here. I'll just tell you about it later. Okay, business card. Though, it's the new business card, the QR code.

Speaker 1:

All right. So let's hop into business. So tell us that's a great segue. So tell us a little bit about your business and what problem you solve. Who do you serve and what sets you apart from the competition.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, lots of questions there. Well, my company's name is Boulder Future Marketing and I do mostly media buying, but I guess I'm the marketing whisperer you'd call it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so not everybody knows what media buying is. What does that mean?

Speaker 2:

Well, you pay some other platform to be able to put your stuff on their platform. So that could be something like well, I usually start with Google ads, google search, because there's intent, so somebody's searching for your service. We're going to show up with an ad and hopefully they're going to click on it and come and check out your stuff and maybe sign up, learn a little bit more from you and maybe even buy something from you. And Facebook, instagram, tiktok, you name it you can advertise on any platform that has eyeballs, basically. So I buy media on those platforms to send targeted visitors to the companies that I serve.

Speaker 2:

Okay, and so what problem does that solve? It gets them customers. Okay, hopefully you've done a good job of. I mean, I'm sending the buyer, I'm sending a person who has intent, because they've shown some level of interest. Other platforms have different ways of doing that, but I'm trying to send them somewhat targeted interested parties that have shown through past behaviors, because your digital footprint is being tracked typically, and so I'm sending those kind of people over to your website, to your landing page, to your social media platforms, to your videos, whatever the case might be, and then I encourage my clients and I teach and guide and advise them how to create content that's going to attract people that would be most likely to want to do business with them and then that attracts them in a way that serves them first, before they become a customer.

Speaker 1:

Okay, is there one particular niche that you work with, or are you cross industry? How does that work? I?

Speaker 2:

Used to do a lot of online product launches for coaches, authors and people who have, you know, an online digital platform, but I kind of got burnt out doing that.

Speaker 2:

I did that for several years and launched a lot of multi-million dollar products and, but I wasn't really enjoying it that much.

Speaker 2:

So I've gone back to where my heart is, which is local Business owners a lot of bricks and mortar kind of business owners too which is where I made my start. Two decades ago I had a local bricks and mortar retail business and it started out as a, as a franchise, but three months into it we found out my franchise guy was committing fraud and and so he got charged and he was gone and I had to figure out how to do marketing advertising on my own. And so, yeah, I have I have empathy and compassion for, you know, the entrepreneurial struggle for the local small business owner that's trying to, you know, do everything, basically and Do their own marketing and advertising too. So I've gone back to doing that. I have a number of clients that are doing that and I believe it or not. I have a podcast client to oh cool, a guy who teaches people how to do, how to launch their podcast, and he has an Operational service to look after the match of the fact too.

Speaker 1:

All right, so and so what sets you apart from other media buyers? I?

Speaker 2:

Think that the main thing is that, because I I spent a lot of time building businesses myself and having my own, you know, bricks and mortar business, where you know my operational overhead sometimes was, you know, six digit figures per month, so I had to really figure out how to advertise. And I, my location was in a, a destination location. I wasn't in like a pre premier, you know Retail kind of location where you're getting walkthrough kind of traffic. So I really had to figure out that, you know, advertising component. And, sorry, what was the original question?

Speaker 1:

What's that, you, apart from the competition?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah. So because of that, I just have this ability to, I guess, guide and teach people how to you know how to find what it is that's going to give them preeminence, which is, you know, serving your customer, giving them something they need to help them achieve their desired goal, before you're asking for you know them to become a customer, or before you're asking for money in exchange. And so that level of empathy and compassion I feel is built into everything I that I do, and I learned that many, long, long time ago, when I still worked in the corporate world. Actually, I was given a book by a senior vice president called From good to great, by Jim Collins. I don't know if you've read that. Yeah, it's an oldie but a goodie, and there's lots of learnings in that book, but I think one of the biggest things that I took away from it was a thing called the hedgehog concept, and the hedgehog concept is basically what are you going to dig in on? What's the number one thing that you're going to dig in on with your business, or even if you're working for a company, what is it that you're going to be known as? What are you going to be become a good at that helps other people, and for me, that was using that empathy and compassion as a you know, a guiding light, so to speak, and creating a really cool, cool customer experience and giving them something that they wouldn't get anywhere else. So what does that mean? Well, I'll give you an example of the business.

Speaker 2:

The first business that I owned, the bricks and mortar one, was a pool and hot tub and pool tables, was home recreational kind of stuff at a six thousand square foot store with all of these fun things in it. And one thing that I learned quickly about that industry was that the pool Dealers they love to build pools but they really didn't give good after Aftermarket service. You know, once they built your pool and took the money, bye, bye they're gone. So they, you know, something goes wrong with your pool or hot tub. They just didn't give. You know, you, I heard nightmares, stories of people trying to call for service and just never getting an answer. So I built my store with a that preeminent factor and I understood, just because I'm empathetic, that that's a struggle. And if I could, you know, flip, if I could, if I can Zag while everyone else is digging or whatever that that saying is, then I could kind of flip that paradigm on its head and I wanted to make sure that I gave really good service. So, without really knowing what to do or really being able to afford it, I hired a service manager and trained them on how to fix all this stuff and I put up a proper Service area in my store so you could walk in the store. There's a big sign with a you know, this is the service desk. And my service manager was there and I had three guys that worked for him and you could call us anytime, day or night and those guys would answer and they'd schedule and within 20 we had this thing where our hedgehog concept was we were going to answer every call right away, even if they leave a message that within 24 hours we're going to be at least able to have a conversation with them to Figure out what's wrong and help them out. And we got a real reputation for looking after people after the fact. And we didn't make that much money on it. Um, I that wasn't the real moneymaker, but because of that I sold a lot of products because people knew we would look after them after the fact. So that's really kind of that whole concept of the hedgehog concept is.

Speaker 2:

I brought it right through to my online marketing world too, and so it's gotten to the point now where people and this is where you're, you know you're the relationship component of business is personal, I think, really comes in into play, and that is that my customers become almost friends, or a lot of times, they do become friends. I had a customer call me on the weekend. This was our long weekend. Customer calls me. I'm like, oh no, what's going on? And I'm checking my ads to make sure everything's going.

Speaker 2:

I'm thinking something's gone wrong. No, no, he was just calling me because he was at his dad's place. His dad had a hot tub in the new home that he just bought and he wanted to know how to get it running and do the water balance. I'm like, okay, I know how to do that. You know like they're, they become friends. They're either calling they're calling me on the weekend, hey, no, I want to talk about work, I want to talk about this. So I think that's, you know, like we said at the beginning of the session, the relationship component and the personal aspect. To me, that's everything. You know. We're all people here trying to eke out a living on this beautiful earth, so why not help each other? Very cool.

Speaker 1:

All right, I've got a list of questions here. You actually answered the next one, so we can just skip to. Especially as a media buyer, how much time do you spend learning to understand your audience before launching a marketing campaign?

Speaker 2:

Yeah it's, this is a big thing and a lot of marketing kind of people like marketers we as marketers, we kind of tend to have this tendency to ruin everything right, and I feel like a lot of the marketing and advertising pure marketing organizations kind of tend to do this a little too clinically, like they will say, okay, what is your avatar? Kind of thing. Oh, it's a 45 year old male, he wears khaki pants and a golf shirt and he's, you know, invested so much money in the stock markets.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's pretty dry and boring, right. So again, a long time ago, when I still worked in the corporate world, I started I didn't call it this at the time but I ended up developing a little process called the. I call the empathy exercise. Really, yeah, and thoughts like literally and the empathy exercise, and I really kind of. I mean I started it in the corporate world but it really honed it when I had that pool and hot tub company and I realized that most pool and hot tub organizations weren't really looking after people and that's like pre sales, during the sale and post sale. It was a horrid industry. I think it's gotten a lot better now, but at the time this is a couple of decades ago it just wasn't good. And so I decided I was going to figure out something that I could do with my marketing advertising to change that. You know, that empathy factor. And I didn't start it with that intention, but I just wanted to kind of figure out what do I do to help these people and do it in a way that I can grow at the same time. And so I just said, okay, I got to feel what these guys are feeling and I just went out shopping. I spent two or three days and I just drove around to every dealer I could find in the whole place and I started taking notes and I realized it was probably north of 90% of these dealers. They would hire sales reps and the sales rep would come out with slicked hair in a suit. Why are you wearing a suit? You're selling a hot tub in a pool, you don't need to wear a suit. And they stunk of cheap cologne and like just the used car salesman kind of scenario and I, a lot of times I would walk out of their store feeling like I needed to take a shower because it was dirty.

Speaker 2:

The tricks that they would try and pull and so like. One example was they would say you know, if you buy from us this weekend, then you don't have to pay the tax, which is actually some. That's illegal. You can't even do that. You have to pay the sales tax here in Canada, unfortunately. But they would say, hey, I'll save you some money. And then, once they found out which model you were interested in, they go okay, hang on a second, let me just go in the back and check if we've got any inventory stock of that. And the guy would take off for 10 minutes and come back. You know the old adage. I talked to my manager we have only one left, so I'll tell you what if you want to put a $500 deposit on it, I will put your name on it and reserve it for you until you can talk to your wife and organize your finances, and then they would never give the 500 bucks back.

Speaker 2:

And so, as I started going around and visiting and basically secret shopping is basically what it was I made a whole list of the nasty tricks that they would pull to trick you into purchasing these things. And then I said, okay, well, how can I? You know, how can I? So I started talking to people that would come into my store about these nasty tricks, so that they would know, because they're not just shot. When you're shopping for a big ticket item, you know it's $10,000 to $20,000 for a nice hot tub I know they're not going to just shop me, they're going to look around. So I'd start telling them, like, look out for this. These are the signs that they're probably not going to look after you and you're going to get ripped off.

Speaker 2:

And that eventually led to me writing a little ebook. Okay, this is back in, like the early 2000s, so you books weren't really a thing back then. And so I wrote this little ebook and I titled it the seven nasty tricks that pool dealers will try and use to trick you into buying and they'll rip you off. And I went to my head of website at the time, but it's, you know, static brochure kind of website. So I went to my web developer and said is there any way you can put a form on here that people can sign up and download this thing? And he's like geez, you know, I think I can do that, let me check into it for you. And so like a week goes by, I call him up Did you figure this out? Yet he goes yeah, I figured it out, but it's pretty complex. I go, okay, well, I need to get this done. So how much would you charge me? And he goes $5,000. So you can imagine what like $5,000, what that's crazy, you know. Like $5,000 put. Basically, now I know that's an opt-in form, well, I can make one in like two minutes now, but back then I didn't know about that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2:

So what I ended up doing was and I wasn't doing any online advertising, this is the early 2000s. So I put an ad in the paper, like I usually did, which an ad in the paper for a decent size would cost me between $1,500 and $2,000. $3,000 if I wanted a full page at, and that's 20 some odd years ago. So I put an ad in the paper and said you know, it was that basically that same headline. And I said if you want to get this book, email me. And I made a special email with my website domain on it. But it was a special email, so I knew only those emails would go to that inbox and I said just send me an email and I'll reply back. And so I was literally manually replying back, putting an attachment with this PDF in place and like I would spend the first couple of hours of every day just replying to all these people.

Speaker 2:

I didn't realize there was such this, this high demand for For people that wanted this thing. And then they were literally printing it out and I would have people come into my store and go we're Shane. And they were like putting their arm around me, one buddy Like this is the best thing ever. And they I can see they've got this crumpled up notes with like highlighted sections and notes Are written on it and I got a lot of sales out of it, because you know I help people well.

Speaker 2:

Why you know, long story short. Why did that happen? Because I figured out who my buyer was and I figured out what problems were they experiencing in the buying process, because the buying cycle was a long one. But what was happening was they go through this long buying cycle and then the Purchase would stagnate. They wouldn't even purchase because they became so confused. So I said how can I help them make a buy, a wise buying decision, where they feel like they're getting they're in good hands?

Speaker 2:

So, long story short, yeah, it's very important to you know, figure out who the people are that you serve and what you know. What experiences are they going through just in going through the buying process? Sometimes it can be a Struggle and it's frustrating, so I always start there and so now bring that to the online world. So, even if it's a physical bricks and mortar kind of business, they still have online presence and and so I do the same thing there and I will often go and, if I can, I'll make purchases myself. I'll go through the buying process and check out the competition and and I'll Outline a list of what do I like about the experience, of what don't I like, and I make sure that we Model the things that I did like and take away the things that I didn't like when we create the marketing and advertising for my clients.

Speaker 1:

Huh, I Think we've all heard of funnel hacking before, and so you're kind of doing that, but at a much, much higher level.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean it goes a lot deeper than that. Because it's that empathy thing, right it's. It's understanding exactly how your Perspective customer is feeling, like literally how they're feeling. Because I would go through the process and it's like, okay, now I understand, now I can feel, you know it's. It's more than just Looking at something and going, okay, well, we'll just model this and we'll hack this and pull it over here. I don't believe in that kind of stuff. I think that that Hacking, that funnel hacking, modeling process is just doing ours, our industry, a disservice and it's creating bad reputation for good marketers too. Right, because I mean you're stealing stuff and you don't even know really if that's the stuff that's working. You're just stealing stuff and putting it up quick so you can say you're a professional agency. Well, that's not a professional agency.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think what you're doing is more like funnel exploring than funnel hacking and Like, say, instead of just going through and saying, oh, this guy started with a free and then a $7 than a $27 and a $97, I'm just gonna hack his process, you're going through the process, seeing what you like, what you don't like, what feels authentic, what feels sleazy, and You're fixing all the problems along the way so that the buyer has a better experience.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and really I'm doing it because I want to get a really good sense of how that person is feeling so that I can Guide and advise my customer. Okay, here's the kind of content you should create that helps your prospect Before you get the sale. So it's way beyond funnel hacking, because it's it's doing it with that preeminence factor. It's like how do you help serve them First, like don't be looking for the thing that you want, for example, like don't be looking for the thing that you want first, be looking for what is it that they're experiencing? And how can you help them maybe get a few steps towards their desired goal Before you, you know, ask for their credit card.

Speaker 1:

Very cool. Um, let's see. Can you tell us how your personal values influenced the way you do business?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, um, I've literally actually created a funny. You say that because I was just doing something I. I use a lot of AI tools now, um, not as a crutch, but more as a way to expedite what I do. So I've taken a lot of my processes and built them as models into the AI tools, and one AI tool that I use is called jasper jasper dot AI, and I really like it's a more expensive model. I know everyone's using chat GPT and I do use chat GPT too. I have paid version of it as well, with a number of different plugins that I use for specific things.

Speaker 2:

But I like jasper because I can create longer form content with it and they have this really cool functionality called brand voice, and what that allows you to do is you can upload documents and or you can just cut and paste Up to, I think, 1500 characters, so what? So, like 300 or 400 words, you can upload that into jasper and then, when you create new content or create new stuff, you can use your brand voice plugged into it. So the idea there is most you know most AI tools. They're Modeling it based on the internet, because it scanned the internet up to 2021, although that's going to be more advanced soon with GPT for coming out and and whatnot.

Speaker 2:

But so I've literally taken my, my, my documentation, which I created a long time ago for my mission, and what I stand for, and my values, and all my personal values and identity and my, the things that I do in my personal life. I've woven that into my business as well. So I've plugged that into jasper so that anytime I write, jasper is not only using what it knows about the internet, but it's learning what I have said is personal to me and it's using that as a second brain. And so I'm just looking at my I had my document up because I was uploading it my, my number one thing that I stand for in terms of values is empathy and compassion. It's the number one thing on my business mission. Here, too, you know number one right there. So it's empathy and compassion, and this was created like 10 years ago. Uh, responsible and ethical business practices. So you can see where this is going right. Like I don't believe in this funnel hacking world kind of stuff. Like don't, that's robbing from people, it's taking their money and not being responsible about it.

Speaker 2:

Um, another one is to surprise and delight Clients and members. Well, I like to do that in my personal life too. People come over here and I cook for them. I pull stuff out of my garden, making stuff fresh. I want people to have that experience right. So I want to surprise and delight people. Um, I do that in my, in my own life and I pull that into my business life too.

Speaker 2:

Um, a big increased customer value to me that's a strong thing. Exponential strategic growth, um, increasing our collective game to a whole new level. So to me, it's not about them getting more business or me getting more businesses. How do we raise both of ourselves up, not just in terms of uh, monetarily, but just all that other stuff that goes with it? Like, are we here to just make money or are we here to have fun in life too, and to build relationships and, you know, feel good when we wake up in the morning. To me, that's what it's all about. So building those assets that help us all grow together. And you know the the old cliche that all boats rise with the uh with the tide. To me, that's everything, as a matter of fact, built into my mission here. I'll tell you what it is because I feel really strongly about I do a lot of um, like funnel hacking stuff.

Speaker 2:

Um, by the way, on the personal side, I have Done 1,587 straight days of doing whim hum half method. Oh, wow, you know, like. So like cold shower, cold Dunk routine and a little bit of meditation and some breathing. I've done 1,587 days straight of doing that. So I love these little funnel hacking things, but I like it. I like to do it in a way that's not like um, you know the, the entrepreneurial grind kind of thing, like work, your 18 hours a day, kind of uh lifestyle.

Speaker 2:

I, I like to do um Biohacking that allows you to have fun and to lighten up the load and feel like things are just coming naturally and you don't have to work as many hours when things, when you're, when you're feeling good and you are more creative, and when you're more creative you're more productive. When you're more productive you don't have to work so many hours. And to me, this whole concept of working eight hours a day or in the entrepreneurial world you know the, the, the grinder world working even more, to me that's just not, that's not life. So I love this book that I read quite a few years ago called the rise of superman, by steven kotler. Have you ever read that one? I've not read that one? Oh, you got to read it. So in it.

Speaker 2:

So he's a flowhacker too, but he does it. You know, he came from the adventure sports world, like he was a writer for I don't know outside magazine or something. So he spent a lot of time figuring out how athletes do this. But then he worked out that there's a routine that they go through that can be used in any aspect of your life. And so he said, one of the big components of it there's several, but one of the big components which I love is that he and he dedicated a whole chapter to it, called the we of flow, where he discusses the power of your social group to build momentum together, and in it there's this excerpt that truly, I think, identifies, I think, what you and I both stand for, and I'm gonna read it to you.

Speaker 2:

It says more acceleration comes from the social support that the solidarity of a group provides. Finding flow isn't easy, and finding it repeatedly is tough or still. The struggle phase can drag endlessly on and the urge to give up grows stronger as the last memory of flow grows dimmer and dimmer. But the collective momentum fights hard against individual inertia and when one member is in struggle, probably another one is in flow and using that state to do something amazing and amazing energizes. I'm getting like goosebumps just reading it. I can feel that.

Speaker 1:

Amazing energies.

Speaker 2:

So, whether it's the cooperative excitement or the competitive jealousy, one person's triumph becomes another's motivation, and that creates a flywheel effect that allows the group itself to gain momentum. And to me that's life right there.

Speaker 1:

Huh, that's pretty cool, but how would you apply that in your business world?

Speaker 2:

Well, for me, I have my little coaching group, so I have other entrepreneurs that I help do this, and I have a kind of a little side product that I use to help people that are in that struggle phase. Let's face it, as entrepreneurs you're not always on top of your game, right? You're not always 100%. So what do you do during the struggle phase to help get through that? And so I have this little coaching product that's called the Perfect Day Soul Print, and so I teach entrepreneurs how to figure out what is their Perfect Day.

Speaker 2:

What's your Soul Print? You know what speaks to you, what makes you wanna wake up every day and do what you do, but still have enough energy that, at the end of the day, you can do the fun things that you wanna do in life too. So you're kind of balancing. It's that old work, lifestyle balance kind of aspect. So I teach people how to do that and I have little kind of like anecdotal flow hacking or bio hacking kind of things to get yourself back into a creative momentum and push past that struggle phase which we all hit, without feeling like you're grinding, like I don't believe, just because you're in that struggle phase doesn't mean you get up every day and work your 18 hours and grind through it. Grinding through it isn't gonna get you there, because the answers don't come from an analytical process up here. They come from your heart.

Speaker 2:

And so the only way to get down into the real answers that reside in your heart, in your Soul, your Soul Print, is to relax and enjoy, and the answer is gonna come to you Like, how many times have you been struggling with something? And you, wow, let's create the pros and cons list and analyze all the data and let's make a decision. And we'll wait each one. And you can't get there through analyzing like that. I used to be that person. I was always very analytical and, yeah, I like I mean, I run ads. So, yeah, you do have to have some analytical detail, but the true answer is in life. The big, the answers to the biggest questions don't come from the analysis in your brain. They come from your heart, and the only way to do that is slow things down. Sometimes you gotta go slow to go fast.

Speaker 1:

All right, this might I don't know if you, if you have the answer, if you have already answered this question by what you just said but, like just giving everything we discussed today, what's one piece of advice or key takeaway that you'd like to leave our listeners with, Like what's one thing that can start implementing today that's actually gonna move the needle.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, yeah, it's a good question because I'll take probably one of the. I mean, there's so many things I teach in the Soul Print, the Perfect Day, soul Print coaching course, but one of the big key things is and this is something that I didn't come up with myself I learned from a guy named James Clear who wrote the book Atomic Habits, and I'm a little ADHD and I sometimes go down this path and this path and I got like 10 things and then it's like, okay, wait a minute, slow down, go slow to go fast. And I always remember this. One thing that he said is and that is the best way to achieve your goal is not to set the goal at all. He meant, yeah, set the goal, but the best way to achieve it sorry, the second best way to achieve it is to establish a routine, just a simple routine every day. And so he said, if you're having trouble doing that in whatever it is you're trying to achieve, maybe like big goalish, okay, so think smaller. He said so if you just think small, like if you just do 1% more each day by the end of the year, and that's just one little thing each day, so you might be having an off day and you get up and go ah, screw it, I don't feel like doing anything. Just do one little thing because 1% better each day. If you do the math on it, the exponential math, it literally works out to 37 and a half times better by the end of the year. All you gotta do is 1%. Don't try to tackle 10 things. I don't believe in making a list, a task list of to-do items each day. I wake up each day and I have one thing that I know I wanna accomplish. If I get into flow and I feel good, maybe I'll do some more. But there's a one thing that I wanna accomplish each day and that will get me 37 and a half times better by the end of the day.

Speaker 2:

And so what he said was if you wanna actually make that even better, then instead of establishing just the daily routine, the daily process that you're doing, think about who the person is that you wanna become. So that's identity-based stuff. So instead of saying like, if you wanna lose some weight, instead of making a goal, I'm going to lose 30 pounds by you know x-date, instead of doing that, just say I'm gonna wake up every day and I'm gonna do 10 minutes of yoga, small daily routine, 1% better each day, and even on the days where you don't feel like doing that. So maybe you don't feel like doing yoga today, so just say, make it smaller still. Say, I'm gonna just put on my workout clothes, I'm gonna put on my shorts and I'm gonna go downstairs. Ah well, I got my workout clothes on, so I might as well just do a little bit of yoga. I won't do a lot of yoga, I'll just do two moves.

Speaker 2:

And so then one little thing after another gets you. It's like you're connecting different routines, different habits, and you build a system of these and they link together. And so what happens is your brain has this weird way of linking. And so when you do that for I think it's 66 days to automaticity, something I learned from Robin Sharma, a client that I had.

Speaker 2:

He said it takes 66 days on average for a person to wear a habit, wear a sorry wear, something that you're doing systematically and you're making yourself do it kind of thing. It becomes a habit. And so then, after you've done it for at least 66 days, it's like you just do it. It's automatic 66 days to automaticity. And so if you just do a little thing and then start linking the little things, they become big. So now, instead of trying to race and do the entrepreneurial hammer everything, I try to just get up and do one little thing and then those little things start to link together and before you know it those little things become something big. It's like the race between the hair and the turtle, kind of thing.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So to summarize that like, instead of trying to go from zero to a hundred tomorrow, like just small steps sort of thing, yeah, burn yourself out trying to go to a hundred every day.

Speaker 2:

You know, you just do. Even people like Gary Vee, who used to preach that. He's starting to change If you see some of his content that he's putting out. He's getting a little older. He's probably getting burnt out himself, right? So he's starting to say hey, you don't always have to grind.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I have not heard him say that. I'm not a big Gary Vee follower.

Speaker 2:

I'm not really either, because that's sort of he's sort of my antithesis.

Speaker 1:

Right, yeah, me too.

Speaker 2:

You know I'm anti grinder, yeah yeah, it never used to be, though. I was always a grinder too, and then I realized it makes you sick, it makes you tired, it makes you grumpy, it makes you all the things you don't want to be Right.

Speaker 1:

Very cool. Thanks, dave, if people wanted to get in touch with you. For any way, do you have anything you can offer them?

Speaker 2:

or yeah, if you want to do a, I do a free 20 minute marketing consult. So usually, typically within 20 minutes, I can kind of like I have this good, this capability, I guess, of trying to look at what you do as a business and give you a flavor of how can you turn that around, how can you turn that upside down and do some of these things that I've been talking about and making it a good experience for you and the people you're trying to attract. So if you want to do that, just go to Shanemarketing Shane and you can sign up for one of my free 20 minute marketing assessments.

Speaker 2:

Oh cool, let's take a look at what you're doing in your marketing and see if we can turn it around.

Speaker 1:

This is my first podcast. I don't know how it exactly works, but I think somewhere there's going to be a description of this podcast and I'll put that link in the description.

Speaker 2:

Sounds cool. By the way, I was going to tell you about these little digital cards.

Speaker 2:

So I think probably a lot of people have heard about them Not that many are using them, I find, but this is one of the things I do to surprise and delight my customers. So, after I typically say, if you're going to do, if I'm going to do, media buying for you, you have to sign up for at least 90 days, because it takes 90 days to dial everything in and try and get the messaging right. The first 30 days is just we're testing stuff to see what works, and so if you stick through and this is all based on one of my values, which is to surprise and delight, but it's also to try and encourage you to stick through past the three month period too and HubSpot did a survey, I think back in 2020 or 21, and they said the average marketing agency, or sort of the average customer of a marketing agency, only stays for three and a half months and they're gone. Well, that's not a very good stick rate, is it no? Three and a half months, you're just getting going, and so I want to increase that.

Speaker 2:

So my average is seven to eight months. So still like to get to a year, but anyway. So to surprise and delight them, I give everyone a free digital business card. So all you do is you tap that on your phone and it pops up with this little thing. I don't know if viewers are going to be able to see this, but you'll see it. You can see it's got my digital business card on there, oh cool, and you can tap to call or save my contact information. So I give all my customers one of those after they've been with me for three months. That's good, unadvertised bonus.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So they get it in a little card saying thank you, and they don't expect it. They don't know it's coming.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, awesome.

Speaker 2:

So yeah.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I just have one more question for you, regarding you've read my book Empathic Marketing? I sure have, and do you think that's a book most business owners, entrepreneurs, should read?

Speaker 2:

No question. I mean like I mean to get into some of the hardcore marketing kind of aspects that you you teach a really good system in there. I think I said that in my review to you that a lot of the stuff you teach in there are things that we would, you know, services that we perform for as an agency for a customer. I don't know if you're still doing that work, but I do. And but if if they're not hiring somebody to do it, or even if they are hiring somebody to do it, you should really read this book so they understand the process that we're going through. It's pretty in depth and it takes into consideration that personal, emotional, empathy driven stuff. But you've got to, you've built a system around that that lends itself to the marketing and how you attract people in the marketing world as well. So I think, whether you're creating your own marketing or you're hiring somebody to do it for you, definitely read Mike's book, no question.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what I used to for, like, if you're hiring somebody else, when I used to teach repelling, so you know, going down the side of a cliff, face on a rope, I would teach people how to do that. I would tie everything up and and then they would just come over and get ready to go off the edge. I'm like don't you want to check my knots, like stuff that's going? It's like, oh well, you're the expert. I'm like we all make mistakes, right?

Speaker 1:

And so I always encourage and so I always show like I was there to teach them how to repel not how to set up a repel, but I'm like your life is in my hands right now, right, and your marketing dollars might be in my hand. So it's a good idea to have an understanding of the foundation of marketing and like and repelling, like, just make sure I that not looks weird. Are you sure that's right? You know? Just yeah, it's good to have an understanding before you trust somebody.

Speaker 2:

I mean the best customers are the ones who come to you through learning some of the stuff that you're teaching it right. And I have a presentation that I did for my SoulPrint growth entrepreneurs and just about you know content marketing, so I truly believe that preeminence thing which I learned from J Abraham, by the way. You know learn how to help people and give them something first. Well, so I have this presentation that I give to prospective new customers and before they, before I allow them to hire me, before I allow them to give me a single send, even if they're saying, okay, just send me the bill and I'll pay it I want you to watch this. It's a 50 minute presentation and because the best customers are the ones who get it, who understand, and who not just understand but who have the same kind of values as you do. And so what you have in your book, you're teaching that kind of stuff, right? So if you're showing them that and they like it and they want to do that, they become the best customers and they stick around the longest, too, right?

Speaker 2:

I find the ones where I get as a referral and they come in and all they're thinking about is, you know, like, and here's a, here's a warning flag to anyone who's thinking about this on both sides of the equation. But if somebody, if somebody, comes to me and says, yeah, I've hired six other agencies, so what's your like? How are you going to change things? Nope, we're not a good match. If you've hired six other agencies and you haven't had any luck, think you better look at the comment denominator. Right, yeah, yeah, it's not. You know, it's not me, it's you Kind of thing.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Well, thanks again, shane. It was great. Thank you for popping my cherry on this first podcast, because business is personal. I think you spoke very well to that end and, yeah, it's great having you on.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I hope that's going to help some of your audience and I wish you much luck with your new podcast. All right, thanks, shane, talk soon. Talk to you soon.

Speaker 1:

And that is a wrap for this episode of Because Business is Personal. Thanks for joining us and don't forget to take advantage of my two special offers. First, you can get a free copy of my best-selling book, empathic Marketing. You just pay for the shipping. Or you can have 50% discount on my GAP analysis session with the coupon code podcast. Just head over to wwwBecauseBusinessIsPersonalcom or check the show notes for details. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please don't forget to follow, subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast with others who might benefit. Your support means the world to us, so stay tuned for our next episode, where we'll continue to delve into the intersection of empathy and marketing strategy. Remember, because Business is Indeed Personal, every connection counts. Until next time, see you then.