Famira Green

[00:05:23] What’s gonna work best for you to be able to have the impact that you desire to have with your business. So I didn’t get a lot of. Pushback. Good to it. So that definitely helped. And I find that even with my clients, ’cause now what happens, fast forward all these years, oftentimes what we go through is not for us, it’s for other people.

[00:05:45] A lot of women that come to me that work with me, they’re in the middle of some type of pivot or some type of, transformation that has taken place where they’re like, I’ve built this brand, and I’m like, but I don’t wanna leave all these people, but I know I’m being [00:06:00] called to do a deeper work.

[00:06:01] And I’m very much equipped to have that conversation with them now, and not just have the conversation, but to help them to

[00:06:10] Audra: move forward. Navigate through it. Yeah. That’s awesome. I think a lot of people go through that. I don’t think that it’s such a, maybe it’s just not talked about enough.

[00:06:20] Where we feel like we’ve put in all this energy and driven it. How can we turn around now? Sometimes it’s not turning around, sometimes it’s just taking a different road. So I’ll give you a kind of a quick, my version of that. So I’m an air sign, so of course we just blew it out. Let’s go find something else.

[00:06:40] But 2009 I started my agency. Same kind of thing. Worked with all the clients I did not love, but I was cutting my teeth. Social media was just getting going, so there wasn’t a whole lot of people really serving that space. Social media went on to web design, went on to s e o, and fast forward [00:07:00] 14 years, I’ve done it all, but around 20 16, 20 17, I wasn’t loving it.

[00:07:05] I’m fortunate enough that I’ve done really well and I can charge a lot for my services, but it’s, sometimes it’s just not about the money. I felt like I had, at any given point, 15 or 20 very expensive demanding bosses owning an agency. And I’m like, why are you calling me to change the font on this landing page?

[00:07:25] That’s what, you have teams for. And many business owners, when you get to that revenue where they’re paying you 20,000 or $40,000 they wanna deal with you. They don’t wanna deal with your designer or your developer. And I was like, I don’t want 20 bosses. I’m not enjoying this. So I started volunteering, so backed off the services a little bit, kept the clients that I wanted to and started volunteering back with startups.

[00:07:52] And I’m like, let me just see what these guys are about. I love the desire and the ideas and the, play to your [00:08:00] strengths. So I’m really good at strategy. I’m really good at seeing things that other people don’t see and then simplifying stuff. Things that people feel are super complicated, especially when it comes to building a business.

[00:08:10] Most times it’s not, somebody’s already laid the groundwork, the blueprint’s there. It’s just a matter of breaking it down in a way that, a client can understand it. And then I was like, okay, wait a minute. So before I completely, closed the doors on this agency, what do I love about it and what do I hate about it?

[00:08:28] And I took some time to say, okay, these are the things that I’ve really enjoyed. These are the things I don’t wanna do anymore and I’m not going to. And that has allowed me to get to a place where, the zindo and company marketplace. I like all that stuff. I don’t wanna deliver the services, I don’t wanna do it on retainer where I’m doing it monthly.

[00:08:48] I want to be able to help you get it all set up, put you on automation, and build your systems and let you have your staff take it over. Exactly. And that’s where it’s working for me. Luckily [00:09:00] AI came around. Yes. And that super jazzed me up. Yes. I am. So too where now it makes marketing completely different.

[00:09:09] So it’s not just rinse and repeat. 14 years is the same thing. It’s a lot. Yes. But adding AI in makes it a little bit more interesting again. Yeah.

[00:09:18] Famira: It’s been making it fun. I love it. I love AI as well. Because a lot of the work that I do is around content strategy. Good. When, when helping them to build their communities and stuff like that.

[00:09:30] So part of the work that I do is around content creation when helping women to build these communities. And so AI has been an amazing aspect of that because a lot of my clients suffer from overthink.

[00:09:45] Yeah. Okay. And so they’re, because they are experts in what they do and a lot of them teach things where there’s so many different angles they could talk about it from. So when it comes to creating content, they easily, they get [00:10:00] overwhelmed and they’re overthinking it. And so AI has really helped with that.

[00:10:04] That’s awesome. To like narrow things down and and showing them how to actually get their voice out of the AI as well. Good. ’cause I’m really big on brand voice and stuff like that. So that has definitely helped. I’m like, I wish they had that back when I was in my messy middle.

[00:10:24] You’re

[00:10:24] Audra: not kidding.

[00:10:25] Famira: Have it now. I wish it was. It definitely would’ve helped transition a lot of things for me a lot quicker. But,

[00:10:34] Audra: Some of us, some we had to start somewhere. With people like us, we had to pave the way. today, people that are in marketing or branding or pr, they have no idea what it’s taken to get our industry where it is now.

[00:10:46] Uhhuh. Oh yeah. Yeah, so much work, so much manual work, and part of the challenge of honing that skill as a marketer. Most business owners don’t wanna become marketers, right? They want [00:11:00] to sell whatever their widget is, but unfortunately, I tell my clients and my students all the time, you have to learn enough to get it going, to get to revenue and then hire out.

[00:11:11] But until, if you can’t explain how it’s supposed to be done, hiring people typically will not get you great results, right? It

[00:11:21] Famira: just won’t. And then you’ll be mad at them when it’s, and then you’re mad at them because you couldn’t explain it. It’s one thing to have a job description.

[00:11:29] Yeah. To pull off the internet. It’s something totally different to onboard somebody into your business.

[00:11:35] Audra: So where are you headed now with the community work you’re doing?

[00:11:38] Famira: With the work that I am doing now, I have shifted in regards to a business model for myself. Okay. I, at one time wanted an agency, but then decided against it for all the reasons that you’re talking about.

[00:11:49] I just said,

[00:11:52] Audra: have you ever wanna be discouraged? Call me. So

[00:11:56] Famira: I have moved to the membership, Okay. To more of a [00:12:00] membership based. Okay. Business profile. So I, and I’m loving that, right? Because it allows me to really show up as a talent the way I desire to share my expertise and pour into people without having to work with a whole bunch of people individually.

[00:12:18] Yeah. I’m able to have, have that bigger impact in that way. So I’m loving doing that. I do still work with a couple people one-on-one, just because I just like to still get in the trenches with people, but it’s very limited. How many people I work with one-on-one per year.

[00:12:34] So that’s how I’ve shifted that. Okay. I used to do a lot of group programs and like masterminds, but even that, it was just like, okay. I like it, I like intimate settings, but I’m more, I’m a teacher I I like to teach, I like to do the hands-on stuff with people.

[00:12:51] And so memberships work really well for me. Good for my personalities type and how I show up. And and it makes it something that’s scalable, [00:13:00] for me, for my own goals. Yeah. With my business and stuff as well. So I have a couple now. I probably will gonna create a couple more honestly.

[00:13:07] Because I just I enjoy it. So that’s what everything has shifted to for me.

[00:13:12] Audra: Good. So what do you tell your clients that come to you that are at different stages? So you, I imagine you have some that are just starting, some that are trying to grow and scale. What kind of advice do you give them?

[00:13:26] Or do you see some kind of common pattern showing up with them when it comes to this stuff that everybody’s struggling with?

[00:13:33] Famira: I feel like the thing about it is that, whether you’re new or not, that. I love this concept of this podcast is because everyone’s gonna reach some type of mess.

[00:13:42] Some type of messy middle and oftentimes you’re gonna reach it more than once. And that’s the thing I try to tell people who are, have been in business longer, is that just I had that one. That’s just the one I talked about. But there’s been others along the way That was the biggest one.

[00:13:58] Catalyst wise. But there’s still [00:14:00] been some other small, messy middles, as, as I continued and as I did make the shifts and, it’s just part of the journey. I think a lot of times as entrepreneurs we can get so tunnel visioned on the destination that we forget that there’s a journey that is happening and there’s different things that you need to see along the way of this journey too. That you’re meant to pick up, and to take sometimes to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. And see what the journey looks like, but not to always get so down on yourself just because. It didn’t go well, right? Just because it worked three times and then now it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s gonna work this fourth time, right?

[00:14:44] Because it’s new people, it’s new things happening in the industry, right? Different things like that. And you have to be willing to adjust. I see that so many entrepreneurs. One, don’t really trust themselves. So they’re always looking for

[00:15:00] someone else to give them the answer.

[00:15:02] So they, whether that’s them spending a whole bunch of money, and I’m not saying we don’t need support. I’m a whole coach. We, I’m saying like it’s about support, but also support with boundaries. You need to be able to still trust yourself. ’cause me as the coach, yes, I’m on the outside looking in, but if I’m telling you something that doesn’t really resonate with you on a soul level, you need to be able to say that.

[00:15:25] And then we can make adjustments accordingly. But I think so many times entrepreneurs don’t at every level because it’s a new level that they’re stepping into, forget to trust themselves. Yeah you got this calling for a reason. You’re the one doing this work for a reason.

[00:15:42] You have to trust that you’re prepared for it. And that you know what you’re feeling and your intuition and. Your skills and all those things are not going to fail you. You have to, trust that, that. Muscle memory essentially in a way is there. Regardless of what level you’re at.[00:16:00]

[00:16:00] And the only way to get to the other side of the mess is through

[00:16:04] Audra: it. Yeah. I say that all the time. The other way through it is through it. So get to work. I’ve had a lot of people over the years, I’ve had the role of a coach, but I’ve never called myself a coach. I see myself more as a guide.

[00:16:18] Yeah. Yeah. I’m there to guide you. It’s your path. It’s your journey. You gotta make the decisions. I’ll give you a high five, I’ll give you a hug. I’ll kick you in the butt if you need it, whatever it is. But I’m more of just a guide. I’m just like, no, I’m just along your path. I’ll give you some direction, but it’s really up to you and it’s your journey.

[00:16:38] The reason I took that stance was many years ago when I first started and I started upskilling, right? I started getting really good at what I was doing as an agency. I would build bigger and faster and more complex setups for people, and they would pay me a ton of money, and then I would leave and I would train a couple of their staff to manage it [00:17:00] after I left.

[00:17:01] And then I would talk to ’em six months later and I’m like, man, how’s it going? And they’re like, oh, we haven’t touched it since you left. I’m like, what? What do you mean you haven’t touched it? You train those two people and they moved on and we didn’t have anybody else. So we just went back to the old way, and I had that happen a couple times and I was like, you know what?

[00:17:20] I’m building for me because I think that’s what they want, but that’s not the right way to go about this. I gotta stop trying to drive here and I have to build them something that works for them at their skillset. And once I wrapped my head around that, then I didn’t have it happen anymore.

[00:17:37] Then I went in and said, oh, okay, wait. So you know, I’m gonna set up email marketing. They don’t really have somebody in house. It can’t be complex. So I needed to set up templates and systems and automation and build everything for them. So all they had to do is swap out content. And then it was irrelevant who took on the job.

[00:17:55] But it took me crashing and burning a few times. And I felt like I let them [00:18:00] down. My intention was the right direction, but it wasn’t gonna serve them. And I was like, okay, I gotta go back to this is their journey. I can’t make them catch up to where I’m at. Exactly. Yeah.

[00:18:12] And so when it comes to coaching, yes, we want to bring our people along quicker, faster. I wanna get them there without run them running outta money or running outta passion. But at the same time, I can’t make them. Get there. It’s their journey and they have to figure it out.

[00:18:29] Famira: Yeah. And it is so true.

[00:18:31] Like one of the things my clients know is they can’t come to me and say, what should I do? Or what am I supposed to do? I don’t do shoulds and supposed to, it is your business. You should supposed to do whatever you want to. You tell me what you wanna do and I will help you to make that happen.

[00:18:46] Create a

[00:18:46] Audra: plan. Yeah. Create a plan for it. Yeah. Good. That

[00:18:49] Famira: strategy and what that looks like. But I can’t dictate to you what community looks like for you. I’m such a avid antico cutter type of [00:19:00] stuff because it’s like everybody, you’re in an individual, your community is unique.

[00:19:04] The people that are in your space, because even if I’m a part of two communities, the way I show up in those communities are completely different. So I have, I. A similar demographic as someone else, that the way those people show up in your community is gonna be the same way that they show up in theirs.

[00:19:23] It’s not. So you have to understand,

what you are bringing to the table, what that looks like, what works for your personality, for you to show up and what that fosters in, people that come in contact with you, because that is going to dictate how they respond within your community. And then we have to build something on that.

[00:19:43] But I can’t tell you what that looks like, right? That’s you, that’s part of your journey, that’s part of your work, right? And so I totally agree. I definitely resonate with the whole guide thing. I think that I just use coach because that’s what it says. [00:20:00] But but definitely I definitely resonate more with a guide and definitely use that type of language honestly, actually in a lot of my work because that’s what it is.

[00:20:10] I’m just here to. To fill in the blanks. Fill in the gaps for you. It is really this, your plan this, it’s

[00:20:16] Audra: your plan. I wanna offer the billboards. So you’re on your journey, right? Just stop putting what you need in the billboard and keep going to the next destination.

[00:20:27] There’s a common pattern that I’ve been having in the podcast. It seems that we’re, we do things really out of order. We’ve got an expertise. We wanna launch a community or a product or some kind of coaching program, and then we run out, we build it. So we get all this technology, we build

it, but then we can’t figure out why we can’t sell it.

[00:20:48] And a big takeback needs to be

the other way around. Olden days. That process worked. Because there was little to no competition. It wasn’t where we’re at today, [00:21:00] but we almost need to slow down. I got an expertise. Let me find my voice and my audience right? Then fill in the blank with the rest of it.

[00:21:12] Is it gonna be a product, a course, a coaching program, a whatever? But let that be the second stage of it. But that first part needs to be, I know who I am and how I’m going to show up, and these are the people that I wanna work with or I wanna serve.

[00:21:28] Famira: That’s exactly what I do.

[00:21:30] Audra: Yeah, good. Because that’s exactly the work that I do.

[00:21:34] ’cause that’s a challenge. Yeah, it’s an error. I wanna say like nine outta 10 people I’ve spoken to now, they may be past that now. They may have been able to work through it and stay long enough to figure it out, but wasted or not wasted spent so much time going to the end and trying to re-engineer it, to almost have to scrap it and then come over here and start over again.

[00:21:59] Yep. [00:22:00]

[00:22:00] Famira: Yeah. And that’s part of the

reason too, that I do the work. How I do it now is because that was always. What I wanted to do. So that was that whole aspect of why I was like, this business is not going how I wanted to, because I always understood the importance of relationship and connecting and and having that type of thing, collaborations and all of those things. Being clear on what I wanted to say, but then I came into the space and all the experts was like you need this stuff, right? And me being new and entrepreneurship, I’m like they have, the following, they have the money.

[00:22:40] Like all these things. I stepped outta what I already knew and started doing it that way. And like I said, yes, I created success, but I didn’t have the same levels of relationships that I wanted. And that’s why I think that it’s so imperative to me that I’m telling people Trust yourself. Yeah. Because had I [00:23:00] trusted myself, This story would look a lot different.

[00:23:04] You know what I’m saying? Like now, but I always look at nothing is for grant for granted or for happenstance. It happened the way it happened and I got a lot of more experience and understanding about what that looks like. Now that I’m able to pour into clients and utilize, however, it would have saved me lots of steps.

[00:23:25] Had I done that, had I done it the way I naturally was inclined. ’cause my educational background is counseling okay. The first thing you do as a counselor is build rapport, right?

[00:23:36] Audra: So why should I do that? I’m an expert, I’m gonna go to the end. So

[00:23:40] Famira: it’s so it was a natural thing for me, so like even when I showed up on, I started online in 2013. And, at that time it was at, things had started skyrocketing. A lot of people were scaling, had big names. So when I came into the scene in this iteration of entrepreneurship, ’cause I’m a serial entrepreneur [00:24:00] from way back, but for this particular business in 2013 nobody was inviting me to anything.

[00:24:06] I was new. They didn’t know who I was, it was like, okay, you, that sounds cute.so I started building my own like summits and, different things like that where I was like I’ll just build my own platform. And I was inviting people to come speak.

[00:24:19] I was doing Video podcasts similar to this way back then, different things like that. And a whole lot of people was just like, how are you trying to like collaborate with these people? You gonna introduce people to somebody else and they’re gonna go work with them?

[00:24:32] And so it was a lot of talking, yeah. Out of building that rapport and doing what I knew to do, to focus on the program, the money and that aspect. And so the money did come in, but it wasn’t sustainable for me because it wasn’t in alignment with who I was. And so that’s why, I love that you’re even like doing these type of podcasts for people to be able to come back and say, [00:25:00] listen this, learn from my story.

[00:25:04] Especially for those that are listening that are new. You don’t have to start over. you’re in a prime. You’re

[00:25:10] Audra: at the perfect spot.

[00:25:11] Famira: Yeah. To listen to all these stories and not do the things that we all did. And started out. So building community is really where it’s at, and I feel like it’s just gonna become more of that as time goes on.

[00:25:23] You see a shifting happening in the marketplace. Where a lot of that guru leadership that was taking place before is falling away. And people are looking to be a part of genuine, authentic communities that they can really get on board with, even when they are trying to learn how to do a thing.

[00:25:42] They want to be a part of a space. Where they feel heard, understood, they feel valued, that they feel like more than a dollar sign. In a program, right? They feel more than a number. Excuse me. They want to feel more like they are a member of something bigger than themselves.[00:26:00]

[00:26:00] Even if they’re learning copywriting, even if they’re learning content creation, right? It’s about why do they wanna do those things? Why do they need to learn those things? And so as experts, we need to be in a space of understanding these people’s why, yeah. I work with a lot of trailblazers, so a lot of the women that I work with are, yes, they’re in industries that’s been around for a long while, but their viewpoint of that industry is very innovative.

[00:26:27] It’s very nice looking to take things in different directions. So I know for me, one of the things that my community provides is a place where, I’m not gonna tell you’re crazy. I’m not gonna tell you that it’s a crazy idea, right? Or try to discourage you into being realistic. No, you were given the vision for a reason.

[00:26:45] And I create a community that lets you come in there and say the wildest things and the community is gonna rally around you and be like, oh yeah, you girl, you should do that, and we’re gonna go out here and get it done. And then everybody that called you crazy [00:27:00] before gonna be looking at you like, oh my God, I can’t believe you really did that, right?

[00:27:03] Because I understand the importance of that, right? That’s not something you’re gonna get from every community, but that’s what you get in mind. And I understand that. And I’m able to stand, 10 toes down in that because I understand myself and my own voice. And I came back to what was working, what was the beginning, right?

[00:27:21] And and able to take it deeper.

[00:27:24] Audra: That’s awesome. You made a valid point about our industry as far as business owners and online has definitely shifted, I wanna say five, seven years ago, pre Covid people just wanted to buy into a program. So it was just a group thing, but people were still very independent in that group.

[00:27:43] I bought into mastermind.com when they first came out. But there really was no community or anything other than a Facebook group. But it, it was very horizontal, meaning your interactions were like networking events. Hey, how are you? What do you do? [00:28:00] Oh, okay, great. Nice to meet you.

[00:28:01] And then you don’t ever talk to that person again. I think communities as a whole, we have evolved to something different. We want depth now. Yeah. I don’t wanna just know that you do marketing for a living. I wanna know how long you’ve been doing it. Do you have kids? What do you love doing when it’s off time?

[00:28:18] What are you struggling with? What is fun for you? What is, how does your family support you? Where are you challenged at? I wanna go much deeper. That’s, again, like you, the whole reason I built zindolabs. I don’t wanna have surface conversations anymore. I, if there’s only 10 people in there where we can have a actual real human conversation that helps somebody, then 10 people’s fine.

[00:28:42] But I would rather do that than have a thousand people in there that I know nothing about. It’s useless. and it works for a lot of people, don’t get me wrong. But that’s not where I’m at this point in my life, in my career. I’m building legacy. I’m building things that are gonna outlive me.

[00:28:57] And there’s so much more [00:29:00] to it. And So many businesses are failing and they don’t need to. It’s just, it blows my mind when some of these people that I talk to where they’re stuck now again, we all get stuck, but people like you and me, original people, we had to go through those challenges.

[00:29:17] Otherwise, how do we people help other people avoid them? Somebody actually has to go through it, it’s like a 25 year old life coach. What the heck are you gonna tell me in your first 25 years on this planet? Unless you’re life for somebody that’s 50. Unless you’re life coaching

[00:29:34] Famira: for some teenagers.

[00:29:36] Audra: Yeah, exactly. But that, that’s a super important thing. Yeah. As we evolve with ai, I think the focus needs to be not on all this other stuff. Use AI to your advantage, to automate, to clean up, to help you with brainstorming or imagination. There’s no longer a bottleneck. I. As far as getting [00:30:00] content produced before there was, yeah.

[00:30:02] ’causewhat I typically would hear with people is I know what my widget is. I don’t know how to turn that into social media or a blog post, or an interview. There’s no excuse. Now all you have to do is tell this machine about your product and it will make you sound like a Emmy Award winner.

[00:30:21] We need to use that to our advantage because we need to spend less time doing that stuff and more time focused on building relationships. Yep. Yeah,

[00:30:32] Famira: because, they’ve said for a long time the revenues and the relationships, but I feel like I. Somewhere along the line with online, we got away from that because online definitely made it a lot easier.

[00:30:45] Because before online when you had to actually go to networking events and you had to go to all these in-person things, yeah, you definitely had to build that relationship. And so because online made the whole world feel a lot closer, I feel like people [00:31:00] got away from that and now we’re after the pandemic.

[00:31:04] You’re starting to see a return to that because so many people were isolated by themselves. And so now it’s I still may not necessarily wanna go out into the outside world, but I still want to have relationship with people that I’m connected with. And so now you see that showing up online, and I think that you’re just gonna continue to see that. So I tell my community that, if you don’t have a true community, you’re not gonna have a business. The years to come. Because people are tired. It’s so much noise. It’s so much noise.

[00:31:37] Audra: Yeah.

[00:31:39] Famira: It’s. Literally, a hundred people are saying the same thing.

[00:31:43] So what I have so many options on who I can spend my money with. I’m gonna spend my money with the person that makes me feel a part of something. Like where I can feel connected and I can feel like, again, I’m understood [00:32:00] and they get me, that’s one of the biggest things when people start interacting even with my clients, they all come back to me and they’re like, Famira, my, my community is oh my gosh you totally get me.

[00:32:12] I feel like you was reading my diary.

[00:32:15] Audra: That’s

[00:32:15] Famira: awesome. Know Were you on the wall when me and my best friend was talking? These are the type of comic listening

[00:32:20] Audra: in like Facebook, right? Like that

[00:32:23] Famira: my client forgetting is because you’re building that relationship and you, it makes you as a business owner understand.

[00:32:31] Who you’re marketing to at a deeper level. And so when you’re able to market from something that’s deeper than surface, it makes selling easier too, like it makes, people wanting to buy from you so much easier. Just yeah, I can come to people and be like, yeah, you wanna grow your community by X amount of numbers and a certain amount of time.

[00:32:53] Yeah. People will buy it and they’d be like, that’s what I’m trying to do. But when I can tell them, do you wanna be connected to a [00:33:00] community? That you get them and they get you and it feels like home, even in your own business, like that’s very different experience.

[00:33:08] Audra: Very different experience

[00:33:10] I know as AI evolves more and more just to close that being that human connection is gonna be super important. Yeah. Yeah. Say there’s 10 experts that can teach you email marketing the. Content of teaching you email marketing is irrelevant. You need to learn it. So what, any one of those 10 can give you a viable way that will work, right?

[00:33:34] You need to base your decision on what that person is for you and what that relationship is that engagement is gonna be. And that’s gonna be more of a deciding factor going forward than it’s ever been before.

[00:33:49] Famira: Yeah. And that’s why I tell people, I love ai, but you see a lot of resistance to it, a lot of pushback.

[00:33:54] And I’m just telling people like, listen, it’s not going nowhere.

[00:33:56] Audra: I don’t

[00:33:56] Famira: care how many they make about AI taking over the [00:34:00] world. It is not. People still gonna use it, so it’s not going anywhere. So instead of bucking against it or being afraid of it again, like you’re saying, be the human that makes it work, right?

[00:34:15] Like for your industry, that can create the speed and the Innovation aspects of the ai, but couple it with that relationship piece where people listen to me about AI because they trust me, not because of the ai. They know that I’m a nerd and I’m into all the new technology and all the new gadgets.

[00:34:39] I’m always testing stuff out and and they know that I’m going to share with them the things that are, At the, that have been tested where a lot of people have been using it and they were getting the results. ’cause I’m part of those communities, right? And so then they come to me and they’re like, okay, there’s a thousand AI programs now, right?

[00:34:58] Which one do I need? Okay, [00:35:00] here’s 10, right? This one, let’s start with that. And here’s my fav, my top three that I love, and use this for this and I’ll show you how to do it. And it’s okay. And it could slowly come into that. So like you’re saying that human aspect of utilizing that technology is gonna be super important.

[00:35:18] Yeah.

[00:35:19] Audra: Alright so let’s shift a little bit. What are some of the biggest challenges you’re seeing in with, within your communities right now from them as a business owner

[00:35:30] Famira: side? Yeah, so I think

[00:35:33] Some of the biggest challenges that I’m seeing with entrepreneurs right now is one, social media is still, is like morphing again. You have all these other new ones that are coming out. Instagram just came out with threads, which is basically Facebook from 20 years ago. Like all these different things.

[00:35:53] Twitter, right? Yeah. Twitter, you see all these different Like reiterations of if you really paying attention of a lot [00:36:00] of business, going back to the basics in a lot of ways. Oh, isn’t that awesome? But just with this new level of understanding that we have. And so I feel like a lot of my clients and a lot of people in my community that I’m seeing, they’re just like, okay, where, what am I doing?

[00:36:17] Do, am I staying where I’m staying or am I going over to something new? How do I need to shift in the way in which I’m showing up so that I don’t end up being one of those businesses that are going out of business? In that aspect. And one of the biggest things that I’m finding out very ironically in some ways since we’ve been talking about community, is that a lot of people don’t understand the difference between having an audience and having a community.

[00:36:42] Oh, okay. And. When I say that a audience is, they’re coming to watch, right? Like when you think about audience, a audience in a movie theater, audience at a game, they’re there to watch and be entertained. So they’re not [00:37:00] engaging. They may say, yay, hey, but it is not converting. So a lot of people are starting to see that now because they’ve gotten good at social media marketing or at, email marketing or whatever.

[00:37:15] But they have an email list full of audience members or a social media full of audience member. It’s not translating into dollar signs. And that’s because you actually don’t have a community. and a lot of entrepreneurs that are coming into my space that they’re having this aha moment of this whole time I thought I had a community and I actually don’t.

[00:37:38] I have a audience.

[00:37:40] Audra: Wow. That’s great. That is a great way to distinguish the difference. That’s probably the main point to take away from this conversation that we’ve had. If you guys are start out there, folks listening. If you’re out there and you’re getting people engaging and you’re building it, that’s great.

[00:37:57] That is a first step. But like [00:38:00] Famira is just saying pay attention to it. Is it friends and family? Is it people from your church? Is it people from your local community? Everybody’s cheering you on. Are they ever actually gonna take out their credit card and pay you? Now, it’s not that you stop engaging with those people.

[00:38:17] ’cause again, they’re your cheerleaders, they’re your support group. But you do need to pivot your strategy a little bit to try to start attracting people that are your ideal customer. Yeah, that’s a great point.

[00:38:29] Famira: Yeah. And also understanding that, for those people that have been in business for a while, you have evolved.

[00:38:35] So your brand should be evolving as well. And so what also I see is a lot of people, they’ve evolved as a person, but all of their strategy and their techniques are still aligned with who they were five years ago. It’s like you’re Oh, great point. You’re not even that same person anymore. And so now you can’t figure out why this strategy that had worked for so long is no longer working [00:39:00] well, you’re not even the same person.

[00:39:02] The people that are a part of your community aren’t even the same person. We went through a whole pandemic, like you have evolved. You have

[00:39:09] Audra: shifted. Yeah. Whereas if you wanted to or not, you didn’t. Yeah.

[00:39:13] Famira: And so are you aware of how you have shifted and what that needs to look like in your business and how you now present your business, to the marketplace? Because you’re still having these outdated conversations that people aren’t trying to have anymore

[00:39:35] Audra: so why do you think they’re doing that out of fear or they’re just not cognizant that it’s even happening? I. I

[00:39:41] Famira: think it’s a little bit of both. Okay. I think that it, that it starts out as them not realizing it and they’re just witnessing, like this is not converting the way it was once converting.

[00:39:51] And a lot of times entrepreneurs, they don’t, because we’ve been taught to plow ahead, they don’t take the time to figure out what’s going on. They just be like, okay, [00:40:00] it’s not converting. Like you need to, I need to double down. I need to go, I need to go,harder on this.

[00:40:06] And it’s like your level of harder is not why this is not working. So I think that it’s getting them to do that first step of wait a minute. You need to take a step back and see why this strategy actually isn’t working. And then in that’s when they discover, I. Okay. Am I’m not even talking to the same person anymore.

[00:40:27] A lot of times my ideal client has shifted who I actually desire to work with has shifted. I need to be talking to a different version of them. So it may be the same person. Yeah. But, but they may be in a different place in their journey now. So you need to be talking to where they’re at now, not who they were three years ago.

[00:40:46] And so then they can begin to see those things. And then once they see it, that’s when the fear kicks in because it’s like this has worked this whole time and this is how I made my money, the shift that I’m supposed [00:41:00] to be making to like, go deeper. I’m scared that it’s going to leave everybody behind.

[00:41:06] And the reality is a lot of times, I tell my clients straight up, you’re gonna experience a dip first. Yeah. Before it comes back up. Because. All adjustments and pivots. That’s the part people don’t wanna talk about.

[00:41:20] Audra: They wanted to, no, they just wanted to keep doing this up up.

[00:41:23] Famira: Because you made the adjustment. Oh, now I’m gonna skyrocket. No. A lot of times it does dip because, You, you’re changing it out, right? Yeah. These other people that no longer resonate who are just there taking up space as a audience, they start to exit, right? But it leaves room for you to call in the people that actually are interested and connected to where you’re at and what you’re doing now.

[00:41:49] And then you. See the skyrocket happen, right? You start to get some

[00:41:52] Audra: momentum again,

[00:41:53] Famira: but you have to not be so fearful in that moment of that [00:42:00] shift that it makes you run back to what you were doing before that wasn’t really working again,

[00:42:06] Audra: what is it the devil, versus the devil you don’t know.

[00:42:09] It’s change is hard, especially when you get a little bit of momentum and something starts working. You’re like, I figured it out. I don’t want it to move. Stop. Stop. We gotta stay right here. Don’t do anything different. Wear lucky socks. Always wear the same socks every time you launch or, yep.

[00:42:23] But, I would say the big takeaway from all this is we’re going through some big transition here. Ai, where it’s going to flush out where it’s evolving to in the next 10 years is gonna be huge for business owners. I don’t know that it’s all good. I don’t know that it’s all bad, but what I would suggest is stay.

[00:42:44] Vigilant around it and be flexible. You’ve gotta be flexible right now. If you’ve got a good product or a good service in the market and you’re committed to running your business and serving your clients, you gotta be open to what we’re gonna evolve to, right? If so, if you [00:43:00] went back to me to the 2009 Audra and said, we’re gonna have automation tools and we’re gonna have AI and we’re gonna have this and that.

[00:43:07] Just in this, my short amount of time,

[00:43:10] I’ve probably gone through five generations of marketing. For me, it was all direct response. Social media just started. We used to physically mail stuff. There were lumpy packages. The whole Dan Kennedy generation I came up with. And if you ask marketers today, I guarantee the majority of ’em don’t even know who Dan Kennedy is.

[00:43:32] Maybe more now that Russell’s brought him back, but or partnered with him. But before that, nobody, this generation doesn’t know anything about Dan Kennedy and the style and the grandfather of who’s created all this amazing marketing. But I would just say, it’s time to be flexible.

[00:43:48] It’s time to say, let’s try some stuff. Some of it’ll work, some of it won’t work. Maybe we’ll find a new audience. Maybe it’s time to pivot from the audience that we’ve had. Where do we,

[00:44:00] and to go back to the beginning of this conversation, where do we want the business to go? And until you make that decision, how do you decide what route you’re gonna take?

[00:44:09] That’s like saying, I wanna take a trip. I’m like, okay, where are you going? I don’t know, Texas, New York, maybe Alabama. Until you decide where you’re going, nobody can give you a map. Or directions.

[00:44:22] Famira: Exactly. Exactly. And you don’t want to end up driving three hours in the wrong direction because you didn’t decide where you wanted to go.

[00:44:32] Audra: Yeah, exactly. Exactly it. All right. So as we start to wrap this up, what would be a last piece of advice you would give clients that are trying to push through this middle right now?

[00:44:45] Famira: Keep going. Okay. Keep going. I know that oftentimes it’s so easy to get frustrated and in the frustration feel like maybe the idea that I had wasn’t as good as I thought.

[00:44:57] Or to even start questioning [00:45:00] your expertise or your calling. And, I work a lot with service-based businesses, but even for product-based businesses, it’s the products that you’re deciding to bring to the marketplace. When you start getting frustrated, it’s easy to start questioning all of that.

[00:45:14] And in that questioning, you end up sitting still. You don’t wanna get to a place where you’re sitting still and you create this, the stagnation around you. It just makes it harder, right? Like even if you have to just take one step at a time, at least you’re still moving forward and you don’t completely stop your momentum.

[00:45:36] So just keep going. I promise you it’s an, it’s the other side. There is another

[00:45:41] Audra: side,

[00:45:42] Famira: even on the days when it feel like, listen. Where is it at? Because I’ve been there, and the reality is, you have moments when you cry. You have moments when you punch in the air, when you know if you’re a cusser, you’re ready to cuss people out.

[00:45:56] Like all these things happen. We’re human right? There’s human reactions to

[00:46:00] what’s going on. But I promise you there is a other side. But you have to just keep going and not give up on your dreams. Don’t give up on yourself and know that you have a viable place in your industry, in the work that you’re doing.

[00:46:16] It’s just up to you to have the determination to keep making it happen. Very good.

[00:46:22] Audra: I would add to that and patience, right? Humble man. It will humble you like you’ve never thought that you could ever get to. You think I’m at the bottom. There’s nothing else that can happen and something else happens and I think it just, take away from all this, it’s normal.

[00:46:40] This really is normal if you’re going through it right now. Don’t shy away from it. Thank you. Embrace it and just say, the only way through it is through it. And you know what I hear all the time, this is normal and I’m just gonna push through because something like you just said, something will show itself.

[00:46:57] Something will say, oh, [00:47:00] if I just add this to my product, I can sell it to this market because this market has just told me they wanna buy it. Or, oh, I hadn’t thought of using my product or my service. This way it will show itself the tough thing to get going again is that momentum. ’cause I’ve let that happen a couple times where I just.

[00:47:19] Kind of stopped and I was just done. I was burnt and I could not push anymore. And trying to get that momentum again is twice the work. And if I would’ve just kept baby stepping it, step sideways, step left, something to keep it going, it would not have been so challenging to get it going again. So I completely support that, even if it’s just little tiny steps until something else shows up.

[00:47:45] But standing in place, locked in a bedroom. Nobody’s gonna find you. It’s not, so it’s never gonna show itself. All right, Fera, thank you so much for being here. This has been awesome. Lots of great nuggets that people will be able to take [00:48:00] away and apply to their business right away.

[00:48:02] Thank you

[00:48:02] Famira: so much for having me. I always tell everyone that let me come on their platforms, that I appreciate you and thank you. I never take it for granted. You sharing me with your community because community is sacred space. And so anytime I’m invited in, I don’t take that lightly.

[00:48:19] So thank you so much for having me. I’ve enjoyed our conversation today. It’s been really great.

[00:48:25] Audra: Awesome. Alright guys. You heard it? Until next time, keep moving through the middle.