BMP217 Holly Worton ~ Why It Takes Time to Build a Platform and Get Visible (& How to Supercharge It)

Today’s Guest

Table of Contents

I’m back again, with another solo episode! This week I talk about why it takes time to build a platform and get visible in a big way. I talk about getting visible, getting noticed, and being consistent…and why it’s so important to start NOW. I also talk about how you can supercharge (is that actually a word?) the process and speed things up…IF you are ready, willing, and able to do the scary stuff. I also talk about what that scary stuff entails, should you be willing to venture outside your comfort zone!

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What You’ll Learn

Why it takes time to build a platform and get visible in a big way, despite what the marketing gurus tell you
How you can supercharge your visibility (hint: it requires doing the scary stuff)
The questions you need to ask yourself to ensure that you’re willing to do what it takes
What you can do to build your platform even if your business isn’t actually your #1 priority
How you can take action today to boost your platform and your visibility

Things I Discussed

Connect With Holly

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Transcript

The transcript for this episode can also be downloaded here (no opt-in required).

Holly: Hello and welcome to the Business Mindset Podcast, episode 217. This is your host Holly Worton, and I am back with another solo episode. Today I am going to talk about something that we are not talking about enough: the fact that it takes time to build a platform; the fact that it takes to build a business; it takes time to leverage your visibility; it takes time to build a business that is bringing in a steady stream of clients.

Now, there are ways to supercharge that; and I am also going to talk about that, because I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, but I think it is important to recognise that overnight success is not overnight success, it is often the result of someone showing up consistently, getting visible on a regular basis, on a consistent basis, building a platform and then all of a sudden it is going to hit the tipping point and then boom, we all know who they are. So that’s what we are going to talk about.

And, before we get into today’s episode, I want to mention a couple of podcasts that I have recently been a guest on. Not so recently, this is going back to a couple of months ago, I was a guest on my friend Cara Wilde’s podcast: The Way of the Sensitive when I was the first person in her Interview Your Guide series, so that was really exciting; and you may have seen this already on my website if you haven’t I will share the link on the ShowNotes for this episode and you can find it there. She has a great podcast, so if you are the kind of person who considers themselves to be sensitive, that’s not a a dirty word, that’s not a bad thing, and that’s something that I have taken years to come to terms with. I am sensitive, I always have been, and when I was a kid people used to say that to me: “don’t be so sensitive”. And I just grew up thinking that was a bad thing, but it is not; being sensitive can open you up to new levels of intuition, and empathy, that make you a great coach, or make you great at whatever business it is that you do. So, I highly recommend Cara’s website, so again link is in the ShowNotes.

About that time I was also interviewed by Shelby’s Forysthia who was recently a guest on the podcast, and we talked about grief – and you may have seen her talking recently on the podcast, about how to overcome or how to move forward from grief in business, that was episode 214. Back in July I was a guest on her podcast talking about grief, and I told aspects of my story that I don’t normally talk about; and I have gotten really, really, good feedback from this episode, so I highly recommend that you check it out. That episode is a good way of seeing just how far I have come, not just in my business, but in my life, who I am and what I am doing. I go back and I tap into some really dark places in my past. And so that will give you a good idea of just how far I have come, which I think is really useful if you are on this business journey and thinking: where am I in comparison to other people? Because a lot of times I play that comparison game too. I really kind of get down on me about how disappointed I am in myself in comparison to where some of my colleagues are; and then I hear myself telling stories, like the stories that I told on Shelby’s podcast, and I remind myself of just how far I have come and I also remind myself of the fact that my business hasn’t always been the number one priority. I have had a lot of healing to do over the last few years and that to be honest has been the number one priority, because I think healing the stuff, that you hear about it in that podcast episode, has been the foundation of me rebuilding my business and my life over the last few years. So, I couldn’t be where I am today in my business without being the healing work that I have had to do. So, that’s it for where I have been hanging out on other peoples podcasts.

So, let’s talk about today’s topic: it take times to build a platform and it takes time to build a business. Like I said, I don’t want to sound like ‘Debbie Downer’ with this, but the reality is a lot of people are believing all those people who say that you can build a six-figure business in six months, and you can do everything super-fast. Yes, some people can, and some people have, but it is not the experience for most people, and why is that? I think one of the number one reasons why people don’t build their business as quickly, as they like, is that they are still really struggling with the visibility thing. Now, this week in my business I have been focussed on the Redefining Visibility: Seven-Day Adventure where I have been working with people to figure out how they want to be visible in their own way. So, not following the gurus, not following what people say you should do, but rather your own personal blueprint that you have put together based on what you want and what works for you; because I really think that the secret of visibility is not just being consistent but being unique and being your unique self. And, that is something that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with, and I think that is another one of the big differences between the people who get out there and start generating a steady stream of clients quickly, and apparently easily, and the people who struggle; it is because they don’t have a problem getting out there and getting visible. And so, if you do have a problem with visibility, that is something else that, you know, is going to make you take longer and it is going to require work.

So, before I get into this a little bit more, I wanted to say that the reason I decided to do this episode, today, was that it was inspired by a story that a business friend of mine, Debbie, sent me. She sent me an email about it, and she posted in my Facebook group: about how she met up with someone in her local area who used the same technique that we use: PsychK; and they ad met up to do practice day and somehow they started talking about me, and my Facebook group; and the guy say: “Oh wait, Holly Worton, I watch her YouTube channel.” And, she thought that was so funny, that two of them knew me through different avenues, and she said: “well I think you must be famous now!” And that really made me laugh, because that to me is one of the great signs of the fact that I am showing up and being visible consistently, and in a unique way, and over the years – because I have had different incarnations of my business, for the last six years, almost seven years, since the beginning of 2011. And while yes, I have had kind of rebooted my business over those years, and I actually had to start fresh with my social media platforms, I have been doing videos on this particular YouTube channel for probably the last three years. And while I am not necessarily consistent on that channel, I have been getting out there, and I know I have gotten clients from there. It is clear that that effort is paying off but again it is consistent, sort of, effort over the last few years. So, it takes time to get visible, it takes time to get noticed, and you have got to be consistent, or reasonably consistent, but you have got to show up on a regular basis.

If you have been following this podcast for any length of time you may notice that I have been doing this every week for the past four years now: 217 weeks. Actually, the podcast, as I have said before, is the only thing that I have really been consistent with for a long time. The videos have been kind of on and off and blogging is on and off, but this is the thing that I have been consistent with. So, that’s why it is so important to start early with this stuff. Start now. Don’t put it off until tomorrow, don’t put it off until you are perfect, or until you have your next Diploma, or certificate, or whatever. Get started now. And that is one of the things that I did in my coaching business; before I even trained as a coach, when I was just starting to think about getting started in coaching, I started my website and I started a blog. I just started blogging about personal-development-related-stuff and then I blogged all my way through my first coaching certificate, and then the main coaching I did and my NLP, and I blogged before I knew I had a niche, before I knew what the niche was, I blogged, I blogged, I blogged. Not everyday, but I was getting out there, I was getting consistent; that blog got noticed – this was back when I was blogging on WordPress.com and I don’t know if WordPress still has this, but they used to have this thing called Freshly Pressed, where they would pick what they considered to be an interesting blog post from their community and featured it on their website. So, I had this blog post called: 10 Ways to Focus – I don’t know what it was, I don’t even remember now! It was like the Top 10 Ways to Reduce Distractions and Get Things Done, or something like that… And this is probably the biggest blog post on my blog because it got so many views in like a 24-hour period, it was amazing. And that was where I got my first followers to my blog, and to my business, and that is how I met people that I am still following and connected with and following online. So, that’s why you have got to start now; you have got to start before you think you are ready, you have got to start, because you are good enough. If you want to do a podcast: you can speak, you know how to speak you can just get a microphone and speak. If you want to do videos, same thing, all you need is a microphone, or your phone and you can speak. If you can write, I am sure you know how to write: you don’t have to be a perfect writer, you can just start a blog.

And the way that you get good at these things, is by doing it. My podcast today, episode 217, is not what it was with episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, episode 4, episode 5. I have improved as a podcaster, I have improved as an interviewer; this podcast has gotten better over the last 217 episodes. My writing has gotten better, over the last I don’t know how many blog posts I have done…wait a second, let’s check, let’s stop, so you know. So, I have got 716 blog posts on my blog and that includes the 217 podcast episodes. And that also includes blog posts that I have done for my previous businesses, Tribal Publishing, and Socially Holistic; but so removing those 217 that’s about 500 blog posts and that doesn’t include the, I don’t know how many, blog posts I wrote in the years before I started my business, which were about 4. So, I started blogging in 2006, started my main, this website now in 2011, so I was blogging for about five years there, just personal stuff. So, that’s where you need to start, so you can get good at it through doing it, don’t wait to be perfect before you start, because the way you are going to get good at it is by doing it. And no one expects you to be perfect.

So, I was recently running, as I mentioned, the Re-defining Visibility Challenge, and that – haha I called it a challenge, when I was calling it an adventure before – basically it is seven days of exploring how you want to redefine visibility and show up as you. And that visibility adventure, and challenge if you like, was not perfect, it didn’t go perfectly. And I actually posted something about this in the Facebook group about how I really liked that it was imperfect. So, despite the fact that I blocked out time in my schedule to check in in the morning, check-in in the afternoon, there were things that came up. I was out of the office on more than one of those seven days, but sometimes I didn’t get to respond to people until really late, that was not what I planned. The internet went out at my house, I had to do the video from my phone, rather than from my computer with my beautiful backdrop, that wasn’t perfect. On one of the days I forgot to connect my microphone properly, which meant that I spoke for five minutes during a live video and no one could hear me until finally someone turned up and said: ah something is wrong because I can’t hear you – not perfect! I stumbled over my words.. nothing about that was perfect, it was the best I could do, it was great – I am still getting great feedback for it – but it wasn’t perfect. So, get rid of any perfectionism stuff that you may have, because you are not going to be perfect, nothing you do is going to be perfect. So, just do the best you can, make it good enough, and you will show up and improve over time; so, that’s why you have got to start now, today, start now.

Now, like I said, I don’t want to be really negative with this, the reality is that you need to show up, you need to be consistent, you need to be unique, you need to get over your perfection stuff and it takes time.

So, what are some of the things that I see the bigger names doing, the people who seem to have super charged their visibility in building their platform. I think those people have made their business a number one priority: they have made it happen because they had to make it happen, or they wanted to make it happen or they were determined to make it happen. But I am going to guess that if you are struggling with your business, you have not made your business a number one priority, number one over all else, over whatever else you have going on in your life. If you are going to supercharge your business it has got to be number one, I think. Other things you can do is do the big scary stuff, so send out individual emails to people, inviting them to look at your website, to look at your stuff, to work with you, to have a session with you, to please recommend you to other people if they have friends who might be interested in what you are doing: sending out those individual emails. When you are just getting started, sending emails to everyone you know: family and friends. A lot of people aren’t going to do that because it feels icky, if feels scary. It triggers your visibility crap, but that’s one way to supercharge. Once you have got an email list – and another thing you can do is to send individual emails to each person on your list, personalised if possible, if you have connected with these people online and you know them. Lots of people aren’t going to do that because it takes time, it is scary, but that’s another way that you can supercharge your business and your visibility.

Joint ventures: a lot of people that you see online, who have supposedly or apparently had overnight success, have done it by doing joint ventures with business friends who have much bigger lists. So, they have done an affiliate thing launching an online program, or their services, or whatever; giving an affiliate payout to people who have a bigger list, and are willing to promote them to the list. That is a really easy way of supercharging your business and your visibility. I know more than one person who has built their business on the back of doing joint ventures with people. Now again, lots of people don’t do that because that’s scary: you have got to reach out to people, and you might get rejected, but rejection is a part of business and if you are not willing to be rejected then you are probably not going to be able to step up there in the bigger ways that you need to in order to build your business in a big way. You have got to be willing to get in front of big groups: whether it is speaking, whether it is Facebook groups, whether it is doing webinars; you have got to be willing to get in front of bigger groups of people and that includes, like we said with the joint ventures, delivering a big webinar to someone else’s bigger audience.

There are so many other things you can do to supercharge your visibility, but it all boils down to doing the scary stuff. Identifying the big stuff that is going to get you out there, get you being visibility and doing the scary stuff. And so, this all boils down to: are you willing to do what it takes to get visible, to build your business? Not everyone is and that’s why so many people struggle to build a business, and they take so much time to build it up. Now, one interview that I keep pointing out lately was an interview that was done with Marie Forleo – it is on the mixergy.com podcast – so it is: https://mixergy.com/interviews/marie-forleo-rich-happy-hot-interview/ and I will share this in the links to the ShowNotes. But, in this, Marie Forleo basically talks about how she had a job for the first eight years that she was running her business – it wasn’t really a business it was a newsletter that she had going on the side, and she had multiple jobs during this period, and she was just sending out consistent emails so she was slowly building a platform and then boom she launched with a very engaged list that she had been building for eight years. Again, she was building this list for eight years before she actually sold them something. And she was showing up, she was being consistent, and she was doing what it takes so that when she was finally ready to create a product, and launch it, she was ready. So, again, are you willing to do what it takes? Are you willing to stick it out for the long haul? And for some people, yes, the answer is yes, and for some people the answer is no, and that’s why I think it is so important not to quit your day job right off the bat. Because, if you are new to business you might not know whether you are the kind of person who is ready to stick it out for years, whether you are ready, willing and able to put in the work to be visible, to get through your mindset stuff. So keep, if you have got a side job, or a day job, a full time job or a part time job, whatever, keep it, until things are going well enough that you’d an replace your job income with your business; because not everyone does, and some people quit their business to go back to their day job, but that always makes me really sad because I think if you had kept that day job, and kept that part time job and just built your business in your spare time and been consistent at it, consistent, consistent, eventually it is going to work out, but you have got to put in the time you have got to be willing to do what it takes, even if you do it slowly; slow and steady works too, you don’t have to have to be an overnight success, most people aren’t.

So, what does it take to build a platform and to create a successful business? That’s probably a whole podcast episode in itself but let’s say it takes: steady action, consistent action; being willing to stand out from the crowd; being willing to be unique, being willing to be visible in an unique way; being willing to show up every day, every week, every month, every year until you make it work. It takes action and it takes mindset. So, I am always talking about the spiral staircase of business, where you take one step of action, one step of mindset work, one step of action, one step of mindset work…and that’s how you get up the spiral staircase in business. I think it is really important to combine mindset work with the action because it makes it easier, it makes it less scary, it makes you more likely to take the action, it makes it more pleasant, it makes it more pleasurable, it makes it a such a better experience. So, when I say: do the mindset work this means: getting clear on your mind crap, getting clear on what’s holding you back, getting clear on your blocks, getting clear on your limiting beliefs, getting clear on all the stuff that you are procrastinating on and your why you are procrastinating. Getting clarity on all this stuff so that you can do the mindset work, which is transforming your beliefs at the subconscious level, at the energetic level, releasing energy blocks using whatever techniques you like.

So, for years, as you know, I have been working with PsychK. I am now working with Heart-Centered-Energy-Work, both with myself and with my clients. I still work with PsychK, because sometimes I feel like working from the mind with really specific belief statements and sometimes I feel like doing the energy work. So, find the thing that works for you and use it: whether that is training in a technique for yourself, or working with someone else. And I think there is a lot of benefit to approaching mindset from both ways. So, I do mindset work with myself on a regular basis – not a daily basis – but definitely at least once a week. And I go through phases with that: sometimes I go through a couple of weeks without doing anything and sometimes I am doing stuff like every day, or every other day. So, it is not always the same; sometimes I have got more urgent stuff to work on, or digging up more stuff, or becoming more aware of stuff to work with on a regular basis. But, I am always working on all this stuff with myself. I am also usually working with someone else on my mindset stuff, meaning I have hired someone else to use, whether it is PsychK or something else, to help me with my mindset stuff, because I am in my head all day long. And, I can’t always see this stuff, and I need other people to help me pick apart and get to the root of what it is that’s keeping me stuck, or holding me back, or messing up my mindset.

So, I honestly think that once of the most effective and efficient ways is to train in something yourself that you can use to change your own beliefs and shift your energy, but also work with someone else. And, if this sounds expensive you know you have got to invest in your business if you want to make it work; and if you want to make it as easy, and inexpensive, as possible, I mean honestly PsychK is really inexpensive. With the basic workshop you can learn everything you need to balance your beliefs; and in the US I don’t know how much that costs, I am going to say probably less than $500; in the UK it is about £350. So, honestly that’s really affordable and it’s two days of your time and probably there is a workshop near year you. So, do that. If you really don’t have that kind of money, or you are not willing to invest, there are EFT videos on YouTube that you can watch for free, you can do tapping or you can do that with yourself. I have not trained in EFT so I don’t know how effective those techniques are compared to training in EFT and doing it yourself – but I found tapping to be really, really useful before I trained in PsychK that’s what I used to use. And I never trained in it, I just did videos and stuff I had seen online. So there are free ways to do this, there are inexpensive ways to do this, there are super-expensive ways of doing this, you can sign up for a six-month program with me and work with me for six months, for £2,495. That’s another way to work with your mindset. I honestly think you need to do both, you need to work with someone else, and you need to work with yourself, but if you don’t have the money, if you don’t have the resources at least work with yourself to get yourself up to the point where you can invest in yourself. You have got to do the work and that requires sometimes money, but also time – so you need to be willing to spend the time to shift your mindset and to do this stuff. So, again, the mindset stuff is all about part of what does it take? Are you willing to do what it takes to build a platform, to get visible, to be super successful in your business.

So, I hope you have found this useful. If you have any questions pop into the Facebook group, that’s hollyworton.com/group or send me an email: [email protected]. Let me know what you thought about this week’s episode. I would love to give you a shout out on the show, if you like, or just ask me a question and I will answer it if I can.

Are you interested in being a special guest on the Business Mindset podcast? I would love to chat with one of my listeners on a future episode. So, I would love to hear about who you are, what you do, how this podcast has helped you in your business, what are your favourite episodes; and how has changing your mindset changed your life and business? Does that sound good? Head over to: http://HollyWorton.com/guest and fill out the form. I will be selecting someone in the near future to interview for this show, so I would love to have you.

I would also love you have you join my private Facebook group: Business Mindset Alchemists, so that we can continue the conversation there. Podcasting is such a one-way conversation, so I would love to get some feedback from you in the group, it is a group dedicated to exploring business mindset and how you can get the mindset you need to achieve your dreams. I would love to see you in there, so go to: https://www.hollyworton.com/group and you will be redirected to the Facebook group.

Finally, whether you have been listening to the show for a while, or whether you have just heard your first episode, if you are drawn to learning more about mindset work and you would like to lean more about how you can work with me, please get in touch or head over to https://www.hollyworton.com/call and you can book in a call with me to learn more. I would love to work with you and help you transform your mindset.

And thank you so much for listening it means so much to me. I wouldn’t be doing this podcast every week, week in and week out for, 217 weeks, if I didn’t know you were listening and if I didn’t care you were listening. I am so grateful for all of you who are listening to this show who have put in the time week after week to listen to this, I really, really am grateful and if you enjoy this episode I would love to have you do a quick review on iTunes, it would mean the world to me.

So, I am going to read some really quick reviews that have just come in this week from I Believe Everyday – she – or he – says:

“I love kicking off my day by listening to Holly’s podcasts, her voice is pleasant, and she immediately feels like a friend. I appreciate all the aspects of entrepreneurship that she touches on in her episodes with practical advice, loads of great questions to get you thinking and calls to action which inspire you to not just listen but to actively take steps moving forward in applying that week’s focus. I enjoy listening to Holly whether she is podcasting solo or interviewing a guest. Definitely in my top 3 podcasters to listen to.”

Thank you so much I Believe Every Day, I really appreciate that and that’s great to hear, I love that I am part of your morning ritual.

We have got another review from BlackEyedSusan 23, who says:

“I am going to echo what someone else said wrote: gentle and probing. Holly’s interview style is war and welcoming but she is not afraid to get right down to the nitty gritty to get the guests and content that her show specialises in. Major Kudos.”

Thank you so much BlackEyed23.

So, I will be reading these when they pop into my inbox from now on. Thank you so much for your reviews, it really means the world to me; and actually after reading that first review I am aware that I did not give you an action step for today’s podcast.

So, here is your action point: think about, journal on, write on, whatever:

Are you willing to do the work it takes to get visible in a big way and build your platform?
Are you willing to take the action?
Are you will to do the mindsets work?
Are you willing to be unique?
Are you willing to be consistent?
Are you willing to make your business a number one priority?
Are you willing to let go of perfection?
Are you willing to be rejected?

Journal on that stuff, think on that stuff, write on that stuff and then take one action, today (or tomorrow, depending on what time you are listening to this) to get visible in some way. And if you have any questions, concerns, you are not sure what’s the right way to be visible for you, sign up for my re-defining visibility; it is going to re-packaged as a self-study program; so you can go over to https://www.hollyworton.com/RV and that will get you to the redefining visibility sign-up form and you can sign up there.

So, thank you so much for joining me, again – going to wrap this up now for real – and remember to visit hollyworton.com/217 for the show notes on this episode.

And tune in for next week’s episode, 218, with the fabulous Stella Orange. We are going to talk about how to experiment with new ways of marketing, it is a great episode, and I am so excited to release this, she has been on my calendar for months, it has taken us a while to get the interview in, and I am so excited that it is finally going live next week. So, be sure to subscribe on iTunes, or Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcasts so you can get next week’s episode as well. Thank you so much, and have a great day.