AMY PORTERFIELD: “By constantly pushing myself to make the content better, I'm growing tremendously. I'm keeping that muscle really strong. It sounds so simple, like choosing one thing that I continue to dive into, but for me, content creation brings me a lot of joy, which means it's a win-win. So I choose one area that I still hold onto in terms of content creation, and it's all my webinars.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the time to focus on growing my small-but-mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started.
AMY: So, I have a little homework for you. I want you to head to your favorite podcast-listening platform; search for the podcast Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary; and start listening. Success Story is a new podcast obsession for me; and it features Q&A sessions with successful business leaders; keynote presentations; and conversations on sales, marketing, business, and entrepreneurship. Scott recently spoke with a guest about the importance of socially conscious entrepreneurship, and I love that conversation. This is such an important topic right now, so be sure to check out that specific episode, for sure. You can listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts.
Well, hey, there. Welcome back to Online Marketing Made Easy.
Quick check in. How are you doing? I'm doing pretty good. It's halfway through May, and May is a crazy month for me. Super busy. We're rerecording the entire Digital Course Academy program. If you are an alum, you will get the entire new recording. We're making it better, adding new modern marketing strategies. Really excited about the new program. So if you've never join me in Digital Course Academy, it's coming out in September. So we've been doing that in May. And then, I'm going on a sabbatical in June. I'm very nervous. I'm literally taking the entire month of June off. We have a lake house here in Nashville. I've never had a lake house before. It's been remodeled over the last year, so I haven't really even gotten to enjoy it yet. So Hobie and I are going to spend the entire month of June at the lake house, and I'm very excited. Very nervous because there's a lot of work to get done before I leave, but we'll see. We'll see how it goes.
So anyway, we're halfway through May. We're in the thick of spring, and I must say I am loving being in a city with four distinct seasons. I never thought I would say that, but it is pretty cool. If you live in a place where there's winter, I know you can relate to that feeling of that first warm, sunny day coming out of winter. In California, it was seventy every day. Like, I didn't even understand what season we were in. But it could be forty degrees, but people are outside, and everyone's happy, and the positive energy is, like, so obvious. So even if it’s not seventy degrees, I can actually enjoy the weather now. And funny enough, in California, you never look—at least Southern California—you don't look at a weather app. I look at a weather app every single day in Nashville. It just feels like a different world here.
I once saw this funny meme, and if you live in a place of seasons, you'll get this. But it showed a person bundled up and said something along the lines of “Someone on the first forty-degree day of fall.” And then it showed the same person in shorts and a tank top, and it said, “Someone on the first forty-degree day of spring.” I’m like, yeah, that's perfect. It doesn't matter. You just get excited.
So in the spirit of spring, new seasons, new growth, I thought it would be nice to share four things that I do to make sure that I continue to grow even when I'm feeling super busy or overwhelmed. Because let's be real: it is so easy as an entrepreneur to get caught up in meeting goals and everyday operations that you forget about a very important person and that person is you. I've definitely been there, and if I can tell you one thing from experience, it's that taking the time to invest in your growth is super important if you want to live up to your potential as a business owner. I know, I know. You're probably thinking, “But Amy, I'm in the weeds as it is. I just don't have time for other stuff.” Or maybe your business is doing so well that you think you don't need to invest in your growth because you're already knocking it out of the park. But here's the kicker: as your business grows, you need to grow, too. Let that sink in for a minute. As your business grows, you need to grow as well. There's no possible way for your business to continue to grow if you aren't growing as well. Just trust me on this one. Taking the time and making the extra effort in your own development is going to pay dividends in the end.
So are you ready to hear how I do this, how I make sure that I'm always growing? Well, if you've been with me for a while, you most likely know my history with Tony Robbins and know that I come from a content background. So because of this, I find that if I want to continue to grow in my business, I need to keep my hands in part of the content creation. Does this mean I micromanage? No way. What it means is that by still challenging myself to create content, even though I have a content team, I'm forced to stay on my toes, get in the trenches, and get creative. Yeah, I do this. So even after thirteen years of having my business and building out an absolutely amazing team, I still create a lot of my own content, especially my webinar content.
Sounds almost counterintuitive, right? You're probably thinking that you should let go of more as you continue to grow. And yes, there is a lot of value in that. I have let go of a lot of things. I've talked about that on the podcast before. But hear me out on this one. Webinars are so important to my business in terms of how I convert people into customers. I need to know that content to my core and be able to talk about it on a really deep level. When I'm live on a webinar, I need that content to be in my bones, in a way that's very real to me, almost like part of who I am.
And so one of the things that I do to keep growing in my business and keep challenging myself is to make my webinars better and more powerful. And then, of course, I get to teach that content to my students, which connects me to them even further. So by constantly pushing myself to make the content better, I'm growing tremendously. I'm keeping that muscle really strong. It sounds so simple, like choosing one thing that I continue to dive into, but for me, content creation brings me a lot of joy, which means it's a win-win. So I choose one area that I still hold onto in terms of content creation, and it's all my webinars.
Now, the second thing that I do to keep growing alongside my business is paying very close attention to what other people are doing. Now, hold on here. Don't get me wrong, I'm very careful not to compare myself, because we both know that can really work against you. Instead, I study their strategy. So Tony Robbins talks about how the quickest and most effective way to be successful in anything is by modeling or finding someone who is the very best at something, learning what they do and how they do it, and then doing that same thing.
So a great example of this is how I studied Jamie Kern Lima, the founder of IT Cosmetics, who used to sell her products on infomercials. Now, if you don't know Jamie, this is a woman who knows how to sell her product, to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. Years ago, when I was watching one of her infomercials, I noticed that she seamlessly talks about her cosmetics the way I wanted to talk about my own programs on webinars and Facebook Lives. So what did I do? I studied the way she spoke about her product—the words she used, the way she repeated herself—and then applied her techniques to my own platforms.
I actually recorded a whole episode on my podcast about how Jamie talks about her products like a pro and how you can, too. I'll link to it in the show notes. It kind of was one of my favorites, and I think that you'd get a lot of value from it. So just so you know, it's episode 259. So you can go to amyporterfield.com/259. It's called “Seven Secrets to Talking about Your Product like a Pro.”
Okay. The third thing that I do to keep growing is working with a coach during the times that I want to see massive growth in my business. I've had business coaches on and off throughout my career, each during a different season. And I’ve always had Corinne—Corinne Crabtree is a coach that I've had forever and ever, and she really started out as a weight-loss coach for me, and we worked on my emotional eating and some challenges I was having with not losing weight, and we worked on that, and we have for years and years, and I still work with her. But we also talk a lot about business because she's an entrepreneur. So business stuff comes up, which then makes me get off my game with eating healthy and all that stuff. So, like, the two are very much related.
But I also have been in the market for a business coach for some very specific things that I want to launch in my business. And so I'm at a stage right now that I am going to actually hire a business coach that I'm going to work with one on one. It's been a while since I've done that, but I want to work with a business coach that knows memberships and physical products and, of course, courses and certification and team building and diversity on the team and building an audience. Like, someone who's been in it before. So I'm absolutely in conversations with some potential people, looking forward to that. But I think it's my next evolution of growth is to work with a really high-end business coach and take things to the next level.
Now, this is going to cost me, and it's not something that I would have been able to do, let's say, ten years ago. So I'm not saying at all that you need to hire a one-on-one business coach. This is, like, thirteen years into my business, but I feel like I'm at a place that, yeah, this feels right, so I'm going to start kind of pursuing that and looking into that.
If you do hire a coach, please, please, please only hire a coach that, one, has done something that you want to do, and number two, has a major track record for doing big things and making big things happen. Like, you have to know firsthand that they're able to deliver the goods. So very, very important.
So I don't know where I’ll land with that, but I am exploring it. I've been talking to a few people. I've been reaching out to some of my friends to say, like, “Who do you know?” So I think I've landed on a few really great people, just have to make that final decision.
Okay. So moving on to the fourth thing I do to continue growing, and that is making an investment in my emotional health. As I get older, I'm realizing just how important it is to heal the parts of me that I feel are broken or that need extra care. Speaking to a therapist, doing EMDR therapy, something I really believe in, are two things that I do to take care of my mindset. And by growing in that area, I'm way more capable of growing my business. I can handle the hard stuff better. I can think more clearly and with focus. I feel more confident. So I'm all about therapy and different ways to get the type of therapy you need. I'm all for it.
And actually, I'm also really a big advocate of reading. I'm sure that you read a lot as well. Most entrepreneurs do. But okay. So when I say read, let's be honest, I am an Audible girl. I love every single day to listen to either a book or a podcast. So if it's a book, it's on Audible, typically around strengthening my mental health, improving my well-being, or something business related. So if I'm going to pick up a book, I mean, in the summer, I always do the summer, like, romance, fun reads. But on a daily basis, when I'm working every day, if I go on a walk with Scout, it’s usually one of those business-related or well-being-related books or podcasts. So those are really important to me.
And one of the books that I'm reading right now is How to Do the Work. I'm actually all the way, almost all the way through it. Dr. Nicole LePera wrote it, and it is fantastic. And I actually do have the physical book because I interviewed her on my podcast, but I also have her in my earbuds for a lot of my downtime. So that's a book I'm loving.
So those are the four things that I do to continue growing. They might be a little different than you might have thought they were, but they actually are really important to me. And maybe one of the ideas will spark some inspiration for you as well. Because remember, if your business is growing and you as a human being, you are not growing, your business will not continue to grow. It takes you to show up for that as well. And that's why it's so important to make time for yourself.
So grab your notebook or journal, write down maybe a list of three to five things that you think will help you to continue to grow, and make it a goal to actually engage in those things. Maybe challenge yourself. Maybe tell a friend, “Look, keep me accountable. I want to be doing these things.” It really makes a difference.
And when you do them, pay attention to how you feel about doing each of them. Do they motivate you? Do they bring you happiness? Do they make you more productive, more focused? Do they get the creative juices flowing? Because that's the goal of all of this. Really, at the end of the day, we want to feel a certain way. I want to feel vibrant. I want to feel alive. I want to feel focused. I want to feel clear. And these growth exercises that I partake in allow me to feel all of those things. Maybe not all at once, maybe not every day, but on a pretty consistent basis.
All right. I hope you love this Shorty episode and found value in it. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. And if you'd be so kind, please do share this episode with a friend. Someone might really find it valuable.
All right. So I will talk to you on Thursday for more entrepreneurial goodness, same time, same place. Bye for now.
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