In today’s episode, Diane discusses bulletproofing your business with special guest Kyndra Holley, founder of Peace Love and Low Carb, international bestselling author, and entrepreneur. This is part two of a two-part series.

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Welcome to Driven; a show about business, life, and wellness from two confident, curious women who are pulling back the curtain on what it’s like being an entrepreneur. Each week, join hosts Diane Sanfilippo and Cassy Joy Garcia talk about being your best, showing up for your dreams, and kicking self-doubt to the curb.

Diane is a business whisperer, best-selling author, and plant-hobbyist based in San Francisco. Cassy Joy is the founder of www.FedandFit.com, best-selling author, and casserole enthusiast. She calls San Antonio, Texas, home.

Diane Sanfilippo: In today’s episode, I’m here with special guest, Kendra Holly; founder of Peace, Love, and Low carb; international best-selling author and entrepreneur. And we’re going to talk about bullet-proofing your business.

Topics:

1. What’s on my plate [1:16]
2. Staying true to your anchor [7:33]
3. Real life pivoting examples [15:07]
4. Transitioning to online business [27:34]
5. Tip of the week: learn something [38:54]

1.  What’s on my plate [1:16]

Diane Sanfilippo: What’s on My Plate. In this segment, we talk about what’s happening in our businesses, and in our lives for the week. And this week, it is just me. We’re continuing my conversation with Kendra Holly, so this is going to be part two. And you’ve just got me to share what’s on my plate this week.

But, what is on my plate? First of all, Balanced Bites spices, we have a two-phase refill pack plan. And I know that sounds a little crazy, but there’s a lot of pivoting that goes on as a business owner. And one of the pivots is that I had planned to release only a specific type of refill pack. They would be more ecofriendly, and I would have that kind of out to you guys sooner than later. But with everything that’s going on in the world, and the delays, and all of that, I’ve been able to get the new blends that are coming out kind of on track, and those will be coming soon. But the refill packs, I was not able to get those in the same timeline.

So, I’ve got something that’s launching, and if you’re listening to this upon launch of this episode, you will see we do have these bundles now where people can get two bags that are each around 1 ounce; empty both of them into the jars, the new jars, and that’s going to refill one of the jars. If you have the older, large jars, four bags are going to refill that.

Anyway, I don’t need to give you every detail of that right now, but it’s been really interesting, and just as a business owner, something to keep in mind is that sometimes things come up. Your plan gets a little bit derailed. And whether it has to do with things that are typical in the phases of business, or something like a world-wide pandemic, you have to be able to roll with the punches. And I do think that’s a little bit of what we were talking about in these episodes about bullet-proofing your business. I think resilience is really important, and being able to pivot and just have options.

Think creatively, and say; ok, if I can’t execute on plan A right now, what’s plan B? Can I make a phase 2? {laughs} Plan A, phase 1, phase 2. But can I make a phase 2, and get to where I want to be? And that’s really challenging for me, because I always have a vision of where I want to be. Like; I can see Z. I can’t always see B through Y. I can see where I’m at; point A; I can see Z, and I can’t always see in between. So that’s really interesting for me. And that’s been on my plate recently.

So that’s probably the biggest thing. The other thing is; I know I talked about this last week. But Balanced Bites meals, I got the next round of samples for what we will get launched some time this summer as part of our summer menu. So you’ll be seeing some newness there. And I may cycle back some previous dishes that we had on the menu. We haven’t had a chance to do that yet, and that’s been part of the plan all along. That we wouldn’t just constantly introduced new things, or just keep certain things. We would bring back some favorites that were on the menu that phased out and they would come back.

So what I have to do to plan that is look at the current; we’ve got 10 seasonal items right now and five that are kind of favorites or we call classics. And I have to kind of map out what are all the different kinds of proteins, what are the different flavor profiles that we have. What are people loving the most. And I have to plan; which 15 items will be on the menu for the next season? And there’s a lot that goes into that. Because I really try to take into account, as well; do I have at least three or four nightshade free options. Most of our dishes are dairy free, but do I have a box that looks great as a keto box? That kind of thing.

So there are a lot of different considerations that go into it. But I’m really excited. And that’s going to be really fun. So you can stay tuned for that.

And the last update I’ve got as far as what’s on my plate right now is, I just signed up for Marie Forleo’s Copy Cure. Now, {laughs} I’m not really a joiner. I don’t really sign up for a lot of online programs. I just; it’s not my thing. I think they’re awesome, obviously. I’ve created several online programs. I know Cassy has a couple of programs she’s created over the years, and I think they’re fantastic. They’re a wonderful way to educate and provide community. But I just hadn’t done anything like this before.

So I was listening to a live; an Instagram live where Marie, and I think her business partner or teaching partner’s name is Laura. They were talking a little bit about copy, and it just hit me at the right moment. Because we’re in a space now with Balanced Bites where we’ve taken the branding to a really great new place visually, and I think you guys are seeing that if you’re following what we’re doing with the food brand. But, I have felt for a while like there’s a missing piece in terms of the way that we talk to our customers throughout the lifecycle of the customer.

So, whether you’re just signing up and you have a new account. Whether you’re joining our email list and becoming a BB insider. Whether you’re getting an order confirmation email, or a shipment confirmation email. Or any kind of interaction along those lines; there are just so many different places and so many different ways that we communicate with our customers, or potential customers, and it just hit me at the right time. I was like; you know what, I need to sit down and look at the way that I am literally talking to our customer every step of the way so that she feels like she’s in the right place. And I’m saying she because even though, of course, we do have different customers of all different genders; whatever anybody identifies as. But primarily women are shopping with us.

So anyway, really interesting and I’m excited about that. So three kind of big things going on. And that’s really it for now. So I’m excited for you guys to kind of roll back into part two of my conversation with Kendra. And I guess that’s it. I hope you love it. And she’ll be back on the show, I’m sure, at some point in the future. So be sure you leave your comments. And if you have more questions for Kendra or myself, you can always leave them over on Instagram @TheDrivenPodcast.

2. Staying true to your anchor [7:33]

Diane Sanfilippo: So one other thing that you mentioned that I wrote down; I take lots of notes. Because I’ve seen this happen too; this is something that I was sort of falling into a little bit. I was getting to a point where I felt like I didn’t want to talk about certain things. I mean, we’ve all been through it as bloggers, influencers, authors, content creators. Everybody I know has gotten to a point where they’re like; I’m tired of talking about the thing I’ve been talking about for a decade. But then we usually kind of get over it, too, because we realize the reason we talked about it so long is we were really passionate about it. But sometimes we just hit this point of; I don’t know. It’s some kind of inflection point of; I feel like I’ve said it all, and I’m saying it to the same people. And for what? It just gets to this moment, right?

But, what you said was this; don’t forget what launched you. It’s kind of this anchoring type of content. And I’ve seen this happen with a few people. I’ve definitely seen it happen with one non; I don’t know, unrelated to our kind of circle, friend who has a certain type of content that really was what launched the business. And what this person’s truly known for. But has a whole other passion, and it’s related in terms of helping people and supporting people, just in a totally different way from what they want to do now. And I’m like; listen. I get it, that you want to go from A to Z right now. But if you still need to earn money, and you don’t want to lose all of these people that have been with you all this time, dropping that 100%, I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do.

And I’ve gone through it. I had at least a year where I was like; I don’t feel like talking about food. You know? And then I’m like; of course I feel like talking about food. I always feel like talking about food. But I had to shed it for a minute, and then see that that actually didn’t work that well for me, and it wasn’t really even as much fun. Because food is still a huge part of my life, and that’s why I was talking about food from the beginning. Is that I love it and it is such a huge thing for me.

But I just don’t want to get into too many specifics. I don’t want to out this friend who kind of had this business. I don’t know what they’re doing now, but I know that also, if you’re in a position financially where abandoning the thing that got you where you are, even if you’re feeling a little detached from it, I think it’s so important to rediscover your spark and remember that you’re constantly still talking to people who came along with you.

For me, the spark is gratitude. The spark is; thank you for staying with me through all of this. And you and I are the same in all this; we’re resistant to so many things. We’re like; you can’t tell me what to do. I’m going to do what I want to do. And I get that. For this friend, I’m like; I get it that you feel that’s holding you back and you have this other thing you want to talk about. But if you just abandon that, I don’t know how many people can come with you tomorrow. And if you’re ok with it only being 5 people, not 50,000 people, then that’s one thing.

But I feel like I always err on the side of avoiding major financial risk. I just think having financial security is really important. We’ve talked about this privately. It’s important to both of us. We’re both Enneagram 8s. I don’t know if it’s just a thing with Enneagram 8s in general. We’re very security-oriented people. I just don’t take a lot of risks with my money at this point. It’s just not what I want to do. And for me, that also means not taking huge risks that are sort of unfounded with my business.

And that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow your heart and do what you want to do, because I’m all about waking up feeling passionate every day. But I think there’s an important distinction between just abandoning what launched you in that anchor, and evolving it. I think evolving it is really important, because you have to stay connected to it. You have to feel strongly about what you’re doing. But I do think that people who don’t create a path for themselves to evolve will grow resentful unnecessarily too quickly, and then they want to just push that old thing aside.

I’m speaking from experience, too, because I just was so over it. You know? I didn’t feel like answer questions about cooking fats for a certain period of time. It was like; I’m so tired of talking about this. And then I just kind of looped back around on it. I was like; actually, I’m not tired of talking about it. It’s fine. Realizing that those are new people all the time, and just being really grateful for what it is.

Anyway, that was kind of a tangent. But I do see that as being a huge part of business owners, especially people who have an online presence, who have built something over time and want to evolve what they’re doing. It’s important to kind of remember that anchor, and remember not to just cut the anchor, right?

Kyndra Holley: So I think the important part to remember is; you have to transition. It’s ok to have new passions. My content has changed so much over the last decade. But I’ve introduced slowly, and still stuck true to what I did; that anchor thing that launched me. It’s always going to be a part of my business. It doesn’t mean I can’t grow and change. But you have to transition. You can’t just do it all overnight. You can’t just say; ok, I did this for 10 years, now I’m going to do this and everyone is going to come with me.

Because, to you it’s your business; it’s your livelihood, it’s your everything, it’s your passion. It’s like the difference of doing something that feels soul sucking or rewarding. But to other people, it feels like bait and switch. Like; I would get so mad when people would say; I came here for the food, I don’t want to hear about skincare. And I would be like; well I’m going to talk about whatever I want. Because I’m a human. You can’t put coins in me and request content. I’m not an on-demand service.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well, it’s not like Balanced Bites, my food company, is suddenly selling something else. You know what I mean? It’s this interesting realm of, as a person, with a focus and a business. And that’s what you’re saying. I’m a whole person; yeah, I talked about this thing but now I’m going to talk about this too, because this is part of what I do.

Kyndra Holley: And you know, as this pertains to social media. This is something we’ve talked about at great length, too. I think people forget that they can just unfollow at any time. And also, don’t announce your departure.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Kyndra Holley: You know what I mean?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yes. This is not an airport.

Kyndra Holley: You get to opt into what you see, so the content that you surround yourself. It’s like; free will. If you don’t like it, unfollow. And so, people are allowed to adapt, and they’re allowed to change. But there should be a transition, and it should be done smart. If you spent 10 years building a business; I keep saying 10 years because I’m 10 years into mine.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Kyndra Holley: But if you spent 10 years building a business, you can’t forget all the hard work and literal blood, sweat, and tears that go into it.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like; you can. But just don’t expect the revenue to be the same. Right? That’s my thing. if somebody isn’t concerned about the money, or they’re very secure. It’s like; you know what? You’ve just had it, and you need to pivot, and you need to change what you’re doing then go ahead and change it. But I think, to your point, just not forgetting that anchor is really important and finding a way to transition. If that’s something you’re going to do.

3. Real life pivoting examples [15:07]

Diane Sanfilippo: Let’s bring it back to this idea of; what if, in this time. Obviously we’re talking about how to pivot your business and kind of being bulletproof; what if your main thing gets shut down? I have a couple of examples here of real-life between my nail technician/nail artist, and a woman who I know who has a business where she was teaching a lot of plant classes, like succulent classes.

And actually I spoke with both of them within the first couple of weeks of quarantine, we had these; don’t message me everyone because I don’t do this as a thing. but these are women are just part of my life, and I got on the phone with them and just kind of coaching them through some stuff. But my nail artist, she had put together a kit to help people remove their gels. Because she was like; I guess everybody needs to take their gels off, and nobody was ready for that. It’s not like we’re all sitting at home with the six things you need. Some people might have a file, or one thing, right? Apparently I had acetone in the garage because my husband was using it for some kind of hardware project. And that really helped take some things off.

So she pivoted and created some things that people could purchase online. She has a cuticle oil, and people can buy that. Now it’s interesting; she actually pivoted from just selling her time and services to selling a physical thing. and to your point; how will that perpetuate? I think it’s going to perpetuate. And she will discover new ways to have products that sell without her time. And I had been talking to her about that for the last however long I’d been getting my nails done. Because of course, I sit down to get my nails done and I’m like; let’s talk about your business. {laughs} How can we maximize your business, Astacia?

I love her. She’s so sweet. I have the best nail artist; the last two women that I’ve connected with for nail art, and it’s one of my favorite relationships. But she’s such an awesome person. And this has been such a; it’s such a blessing, not not having the work, but the forced moment to say; how can I pivot, and how can I look at this as something that maintains beyond this?

And then with the woman, Jennifer, who owns Westwind Succulents, we talked about her setting up her shop so that she could mail things. I’m like; I would mail order succulents. They survive a lot. Right? So they could survive three days in the mail. They can survive in a brown bag in my dining room for a couple of weeks while I’m figuring out {laughs} how to plant them.

But I was like; I would totally buy a kit. And I would love a video, and I think she’s working on that now, of how to build a succulent wreath. Great; make a video, sell the kit, let me click and buy it. How many people are home right now by themselves, with their partner, their spouse, their kids, whoever. What a fun project, right? What are the things that people are doing now? We’re doing our own nails. We’re tending to plants. We’re baking. {laughs} We’re doing all these things. We’re gardening, whatever else.

So finding these new ways to pivot a business or to grow it; to me it’s really exciting. I know it’s really scary. A lot of people are not in great financial positions, and I’m definitely not ignoring that. But I see all this opportunity of; now everyone can look at where their vulnerabilities were in their business, and I love that a spotlight is being put on that. Since I don’t know the right words. To see; what can we do; how can we pivot?

So, what are some things that you’re seeing out there, of ways that businesses are pivoting, and things that you think might be interesting for them to keep doing?

Kyndra Holley: So, you know, this whole thing has made me really wish that I had stock in Zoom early on. {laughs} Because everything has gone virtual, right? And I’ve seen a lot of cool things online, like people doing online classes, or tutorials. Like, my best friend is a yoga instructor. Well, obviously their studio is closed. So they’ve taken all of their classes virtual. And it still is just fun. It’s silly and it’s fun.

But a lot of people; if I think of places that I’ve bought gift certificates for, before they changed the laws, companies wanted to sell gift certificates because half the time people won’t use them. Right? Because, like the day they were supposed to redeem it, it was rainy. Or I just didn’t feel like it. A lot of people have been craving more things that they can do at home; the things that normally take them out of their house. Granted, when this is over everyone is going to want to leave their house and not go back in for a while. But, a lot of things has just been taking things virtually.

But some of my favorite things I’ve been seeing in my own local community. And a lot of it has been people taking what was a brick and mortar business and doing it food truck style; taking it on the road. Saying; I’ll be parked here and setting up different ways of no contact delivery methods. Or kind of going back to older models of delivering; kind of like getting your milk and bread delivered to your porch. Doing things like that.

Someone; I commented yesterday in one of the groups that somebody who has a coffee stand that is kind of known for her cold brew, she’s delivering it to doors. So I’m like; I have a whole bunch of cold brew, but I want to support her. I’m going to buy it because she’s adapting. She’s doing these really cool things.

And then a lot of it; Washington actually changed their liquor laws in light of this; a lot of people have. So I’m seeing a lot of restaurants being like; come and get all the makings for your quaran-tini. So it’s like your mixer, and your shot, and all of this stuff. And just fun takeout ideas. And just care packages or subscription-based services. Like, there is a company that’s local to me in the next city over, and they’re a rock, and crystal and gem shop; they do subscription boxes. So it’s just really been fun to watch people figure it out.

And like you’re saying; how they can create something tangible when before it was just themselves or a service that they offered. Now they have a product as a result.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think that’s awesome. I think there’s two things that people will expand; one, it’s forcing the service-based folks to find a product, and find something that they can ship and get to people or deliver or whatever it is. And the second part is; those brick and mortar businesses, they’re realizing; hey, we could have had an online presence. We could have reached a lot more people. And even if it’s imperfect in the beginning. And even if shipping is a little more expensive right now than it will be in the future, a lot of us are willing to stay with them. There are a lot of businesses that were like; hey, can you ship? {laughs} Can you get it to us.

Farm boxes; meat that’s direct to consumer. That’s something that I’ve definitely seen a huge increase in that. Obviously selling frozen meals, I’ve seen a huge increase in that and having people realize the value of having that available and having that on hand. I think that one of the cool things about this for a lot of local farms is realizing; hey, they need to figure it out. Get yourself online. Even if you’re going to ship within a certain range, semi-locally, you’re going to reach more people than you would have reached who just were driving up and picking up their stuff.

A little shoutout to Five Mary’s Farms. Mary Heffernan from Five Mary’s Farms; she also runs an entrepreneur group; M5 Entrepreneurs is what it’s called. And she teaches all different kinds of entrepreneurs how to have an online business and grow it and ship and do all of that. But very specifically, as well, if you do have a local business that is food oriented, that is a farm or a ranch, what have you, she’s obviously working very closely with that type of entrepreneur too to help them figure out how to do this. How to have a presence online. How to share what you’re doing. She’s a born entrepreneur too; we’ve talked a lot over the years with just…

I mean, I just remember the first time I had any kind of contact with them. They had sent me a box, and I was like; what is Five Mary’s? Why are there Five Mary’s? The whole name was confusing to me, and that was my first introduction. I’m like; why are they sending me this? It was just such a funny introduction and it ended up being just a nice; well we’ve actually met in person, but a nice relationship that develops amongst entrepreneurs. We all have this common thread and we like to chat about business.

Anyway, long story short. If you are in that business, or you know someone who is. If you’ve got a local farm who you’re like; they could really use some help. Heck. Maybe some of you go in and help sponsor them to get a scholarship to do this online program and learn how to get their business going in a bigger way. I love that, because decentralizing a lot of our food supply in that way I think is really smart, because we can all access things more locally.

Kyndra Holley: You know, one thing I was just thinking of that kind of ties in every single thing that we just talked about in this whole call is; when this is all over. When I think of the things that are local to me, how things have changed. And how businesses are trying to adapt. An example I can think of is, last weekend; we have a room that we were going to be renovating, and we had all the contractors come out for bids. And then everything happened with COVID19, so obviously we can’t have those people in our house. We finally just decided; we can do the painting ourselves. Let’s do the painting.

So we called in everything that we needed to Sherwin Williams. They brought out their credit card swiper to the parking lot. They brought the paint out. That’s not a service that they normally offer, but that is a service that would make me go to them over someone else after this is over.

So, when I talk about, not forgetting what made you successful, but also being flexible and adaptable, and then trying out new things and seeing what works. A lot of these businesses are going to do the opposite of what we’re talking about. They’re going to go back to what they’ve always known and what they’ve always done. And these things that were working, they’re going to stop doing them. So the businesses that stick with that; let’s say this is something that Sherwin Williams kept offering forever. Tell us what you need, we’ll bring it to your car. You don’t even have to get out to swipe your card; I would go there 10 out of 10 times. Because I don’t want to go in and go paint shopping.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Kyndra Holley: I don’t want someone showing me swatches. Just bring the paint to my car. This is the color gray I want. Just give me all the gray. So, there’s a good lesson here too of being flexible, being adaptable, and saying; ok, I didn’t want to do this, it was uncomfortable, but it worked. So let’s stick with it. Because the companies that just revert back to their old ways, they could continue to struggle versus the companies that are like; hey this is something we maybe should have been doing all the time because our competitors aren’t.

Diane Sanfilippo: Right. And especially with this whole Corona virus. I mean, there’s talk of it being a wave, and then calming down, and then kind of coming back. And it could be something where we need to shelter in place again at some point. And I’m not getting into any of that information on this show. But who knows, right? I would hope that people would take it as a lesson and learn what’s working, and keep doing that. And not just look at it as like; ok, that’s over. Because that opens up this huge avenue of being able to reach people in a different way.

I love that it’s helping people to utilize the internet in a whole new way for a lot of companies, or businesses, or individuals who were just kind of stuck in a real brick and mortar mindset. We have a national, right now, sometimes global. But a national customer base. Which, is a whole other topic for another day, and it’s one of those things that I think is really interesting about living wherever you live, and the fact that if you have an internet based business, it’s like; you don’t work locally. The cost of living and your income are not really tied together. But I think it’s an interesting topic to get some of these businesses that are local to expand nationally. Especially when they might have something to offer that’s really unique.

Another example is New Cascadia, it’s a gluten free bakery. 100% gluten free bakery in Portland. They’re not shipping their donuts yet, which is really upsetting me. So if somebody is listening, figure that out. But it’s because they’re fried, and the next day something fried is not that great. Fine. But they do ship their breads, and I’ve been ordering them. And they’re phenomenal. It’s probably my favorite gluten free bread, ever. So you guys can take that recommendation. I’m going to work on a gluten free bread blog post, because people are asking.

But, you know, they had been shipping beforehand, but definitely ramping up reminding people about that and really leaning into that. Because their brick and mortar business is still there for things like pick up. But why not open yourself up to be able to do business as far as you can in the country when that option is there, and it is something that people are looking for.

4. Transitioning to online business [27:34]

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. So the last thing I want to touch on is more specific to people who might be in the health coaching business, or might be running a network marketing business through the internet now, when maybe before they were doing a lot of in person stuff. And I know that with health coaching, that’s something that I can speak to a little bit more, perhaps. Because your background is not as a health coach. But I know that we probably have a lot of people listening who are involved in both of those types of businesses.

So maybe you can speak a little bit to folks who are in network marketing who didn’t have most of their business online before. Maybe they were in people’s homes, or talking to people in real life and doing a lot of that. What are a couple of tips for them to pivot and be able to utilize the internet a lot more, and keep their business going?

Kyndra Holley: I think there are multiple levels to this. Because I’ve had people say; I’m interested in a business opportunity. But, I don’t have a platform like you do. I just have 200 followers that are my friends and family. Ok, well I’ve watched people with far smaller platforms than me crush me in my network marketing businesses. Because they’re just being themselves. They’re showing up. They’re sharing in a way that is very genuine and organic. They’re leading with their lives and who they are first, and kind of the product second.

So people say; ok, I’m going to start, let’s say Beautycounter. I’m going to start a Beautycounter Instagram and every post is going to be about products. Well, then all you’re doing is selling a product. You’re not telling about why you’re passionate about the product. I just tell people; share yourselves. If you’re comfortable with it, share yourselves. And, if you feel weird, segment it from your family and friends. Start a separate Facebook. Start a separate Instagram. But you can just build this amazing momentum just by sharing the things you love.

But my number on piece of advice there would be; if you want to build a business with Beautycounter, share something else besides Beautycounter. You don’t have to have every post be about it. Everybody is doing that. That was one of my gripes before I ever got into the business side. You’ll remember this specifically; I’m like, yay, I get it. Counterman launched. And it’s because every single food blogger I follow told me today. You know?

But they’re also giving something else. They’re talking about other things. So my advice would just be kind of your goal would be the business first, but share the products second and share everything else that makes you you, and why you’re excited about it. Why you’re passionate about chemical free living. How it’s changed your life. Is it better for your kids? Is it better for your pets? Just share as much as you’re comfortable sharing, but not solely every post is products. Don’t always be selling something.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. That’s a big part of the advice that I always give, too. First of all, people think having a big following means that you’re talking to somehow people who are different. They have this thought that talking to 10,000 people is really different than talking to 100 people. I’m like; these are the same people. We’re all people.

Kyndra Holley: There’s just more of them.

Diane Sanfilippo: There’s just more of them. Which, for better or worse. And we all want to see someone else’s face cream. I can’t explain the phenomenon of; we want to watch what other people eat. We’re all naturally oddly voyeuristic. We like to watch what other people do. Why does anyone think shows like Cribs and the Real World and all these others. {laughs} I’m dating myself. What are the new ones? {laughs} Cribs and the Real World. Neither of those are still on. {laughing}

Kyndra Holley: You’re like; I saw this episode of Pimp My Ride. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: {Laughing} Of Cribs. “This is where the magic happens.”

Kyndra Holley: This is where the magic happens.

Diane Sanfilippo: Even Real Housewives, it’s a little farfetched, but we like to see into people’s lives. And social media is no different. And just because someone might be a “influencer”; in fact, your friends want to see what you do. If they’re your friend, they trust you, and I think a lot of people get really hung up on feeling like; oh, I don’t want to be salesy. I’m like; then don’t. Don’t ask people to buy things all the time Just share about the things that are in your life. They can share about plants. They can share about anything. And I think that’s something that people need to kind of keep in mind.

Kyndra Holley: The thing I always try to remind people of, also, is that you only feel icky about it because you know there’s money on the line. You give free recommendations of things that you love every single day. If I bought these really awesome grass-fed hot dogs; I’d be like, oh my god, Diane, have you tried these hot dogs? They’re so good. They didn’t pay me to say that. If you watch a movie and you love it, and you’re like; have you seen this movie? It’s going to win so many awards you have to see this movie. Ok, they’re not paying you. You only feel weird when people say; I don’t want to sell. I’m not good at sales.

You’re selling every day. You just feel weird because you can earn an income off of this particular thing you want to talk about. And it shouldn’t be any different. You told me yesterday about the running shoes that you love; well that’s great. Nike didn’t pay you to do that. I always tell people to remember that distinction. You’re recommending products every day. Products, services.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. This is a whole other episode we could probably do. I think there’s partially money mindset issues that people have. And partially people are trying to talk about things that they don’t personally have enough experience with. And then that’s when it becomes salesy. I’m like; this is why you need to try the product. So you know what you’re talking about. Or just stick to the ones that you use. There are so many products I don’t talk about, because they’re not the ones I use. I talk about the ones I use, and then maybe I’ll point someone to something that’s different. But yeah, I think there’s a lot behind that, too.

For those of you who may be listening who are health coaches; I just want to say the health coaching business is a hard one. 365 days a year. I think it’s really challenging to reach people and to find your audience online. Most of the time, I tend to recommend that people who are health coaches put in effort locally. So now, of course, everyone is needing to do this stuff online. But I don’t know how many people are really seeking a health coach right now. I think that there might be some; some people are struggling and they want that coach and they want someone to be accountable to. They want help. But I do think this wave of being in a moment of grief and stress and all of that is; I just don’t know that people are prioritizing that.

So my big message to people who might be in the business of health coaching is, to go back to what we were talking about earlier, and diversify your business and let this be a wakeup call that; yes, if you are meant to be working with people one on one or in small groups or whatever it is, still do that. Don’t abandon that. I think there’s so much value in that. It’s really important to be able to help people in that way. People will always need other people’s help. That’s not something that will ever go away.

But at the same time, you don’t want to be in the business of constantly trading your time for dollars. I’ve always talked about both of these things in parallel, where I’m like; you need to build your business with real people in the real world and real life. Because that’s how; all these people you see on the internet in the last however long who seemed to pop onto Instagram and have an instant following; it didn’t just grow organically. It’s like suddenly there’s all these people. No, no. They had actually done things in the real world, and then those people came and followed them online. Different from what you built where you had a consistent blog over a decade, and that following kind of built.

It’s like; I remember, I think Marie Forleo, when she finally joined Instagram. She had had this business; she’d been doing seminars in real life and had built this thing up. Of course, it is online a lot. But anyway, long story short, I want this to be the wakeup call those people who had been trying to build their business solely with one on one. Had been trying to build a business with their health coaching that that really can’t be the only thing that you’ve got to offer. And this is where diversifying to offer something like; whether it’s essential oils, or Beautycounter, or skincare. Maybe you finally do start your blog, and sign up for some affiliate programs. Companies like Branch Basics; I think they have an affiliate program. Maybe that’s something that people are interested in.

Different companies that can feed into the type of work you want to be doing that can support your income, and have these different arms. And I think that’s something that we were talking about earlier too, Kyndra. You have a lot of diversification in your business where it’s like; yes, your blog is huge and there’s a lot of traffic and you’re able to generate revenue from the blog itself. But that’s not the only thing. and that’s the thing that really makes a business more bulletproof, is having these different arms of the business.

Kyndra Holley: Yeah, I would add on even to the health coaching thing to say that if it is within your skillset or within your means to use this time or any time when you feel like your business might not be thriving to create your own products and services. Whether it’s an eBook. Whether it’s a course that you could run your clients through. Having something that is your own, even if it’s digital, can really help sustain your business.

And then, like you’re saying, blogging. We could do a whole other episode about building SEO and how people can find you when they didn’t even know who you are. But I would say if you have it in you, you have the skillset to create something that sets you apart and that you can actually put out into the world that is really helpful, too.

Diane Sanfilippo: 100%. I mean, that’s something that, when I started my blog back whenever I did. It was a decade ago, too. That is actually the route that I went. Instead of being a good blogger and consistently blogging and monetizing the blog itself. And you don’t have to do either or. You can do both of these things. But I do think a lot of health coaches would do well, like you’re saying. Yes, they can blog consistently and they can perhaps put some ads on their website and generate revenue through that, or affiliate programs or whatever.

But having something that whatever your area of expertise is that you want to sell something. whether it’s an eBook, a program, etc. I mean, the 21-Day Sugar Detox was an eBook for a long time before it was ever published, and before it became an online program or any of those other things. And that was how I generated a ton of money for myself, in the very beginning. I remember when it was making $400 a month. I remember when it was making $400 a week. And then growing and growing and growing. And the $400 a week thing, I remember at the time; that was paying my rent. My rent at the time was $1200. And I was like; sweet. This eBook is paying my rent. I mean, it blew my mind. You don’t even realize what the potential is.

But you do have to sit down and focus and get that content out and into a digestible format for people. You’re hitting the nail on the head. A lot of people don’t carve out the time for it. So right now, this is the time. And then, go ugly early. Put it out there. You can refine it later, but you just have to get something started. So I think that’s great advice, too.

5. Tip of the week: learn something [38:54]

Diane Sanfilippo: In this segment we give you one tip you can take action on this week to move your business or life forward. And I’m going to let Kyndra give us a tip this week.

Kyndra Holley: So I’m going to go back to earlier in our recording, and I’m going to go back to that education and that learning piece. And I’m going to say; whether you’re just starting out a business. Whether you’re struggling in light of COVID19. Whether you’re thriving. I would challenge you to pick something this week; whether it’s passion based. Whether it is a master class you can take that directly pertains to your business. I would just say; focus on education and se what doors it can open for you, and how it can enhance a business that’s already thriving. How it can bring a business back to life that might be struggling. I would just challenge you to find one thing that you’ve been passionate about, or that you’ve been curious about, and go learn it. And then see what that does for your business, long-term.

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s it for Driven this week. If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe in Apple podcast, on Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @TheDrivenPodcast. Kyndra is @PeaceLoveandLowCarb and I am @DianeSanfilippo.

Tune in next week for another new episode. We’ll see you then.