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Kathi Burns 0:04
Hi there, I'm word Certified Professional Organizer Cathy burns. I'm really glad you're here. This podcast is designed for busy entrepreneurs just like you who want to take better control of your business and move forward with less stress and more success. If this is your first time listening, then thanks for coming. The Organized Energized podcast is produced for your enjoyment and show notes are found at ThePodcast@OrganizedandEnergized.com. Come back often and feel free to add this podcast to your favorite RSS feed or iTunes. You can also follow me on Twitter at organize energy and Facebook. All links are in the show notes. Now let's get into the show. Hi, everyone, I am back and I am with Holly Chantal. She's a messaging expert and she's going to teach us how to reach out and really, really connect with our clients. So welcome, Holly. I'm so glad you're here.

Holly Chantal 0:57
I'm so glad I'm here. Thank you for having me.

Kathi Burns 0:59
Absolutely. So talk to me about this journey that you've been on as an entrepreneur, where did you come from? And how do you land on this messaging? Because you're really, really good at it. So how did that all evolve?

Holly Chantal 1:12
Yeah, so I got my start back in 2009. At the time I was struggling, like a lot of folks are with, what is it? Like, who did I want to serve? What did I want to do, and ended up I wanted to start off business coaching. But I was 24 people really didn't take me seriously, I had zero experience, I can't really blame them. So I actually went into website design first because it was something that was tangible. They got an outcome, I had a little bit of a track record with a previous business where I was, I built my website and I was getting clients, I was the only one in the company that would get my clients through my own website. So it was a direct sales like home party company, and partnered up with a artist who I'm not partnered up with an artist. So he did the design, and I did the strategy. Through that, I began to develop systems for what to put on your website, and how to structure the website and how to create that user experience, really just in the trenches with people, as we're going through that development process. Because if any of you have been through a website development process, you know that it's much more intensive than you probably expected. So my clients would come in, and we would take, you know, six months, 12 months to complete a website, because there were so many decisions that needed to be made. So start putting systems in place for creating, making those decisions and writing the copy and doing all those things and shortened our timelines from six to 12 months down to three months, which meant we could do more websites. And since then, my partner and I split ways he retired from design, and is now doing something else. I have stuck with the copywriting messaging, website strategy side of things. That is

Kathi Burns 3:06
That is so smart. First off, what I noticed is you delegate it, you find someone to do the what you couldn't do a lot of entrepreneurs, I think when we start, we think, okay, I have to design it, too, I have to do that, too. So for starters, you're a smart girl and started out perfectly. And everybody should remember that. Like if you start a business, even though you know what you want to do, you don't have to do it all right from the start. So that was brilliant.

Holly Chantal 3:30
When you find those people that like just really complement what you're doing really well, like talk to them about partnering because that that really happened organically. I knew his wife, who was also in the direct sales company that I was in. She had asked me to do some work on her website and she came to me with this gorgeous design. I was like, I need to know who did this. She said, Oh, it's my husband, but he doesn't develop websites. So can you build it for me? And I said, if he promises to work with me, on other clients, it was ended up being really good. It ended up being like a seven year partnership.

Kathi Burns 4:04
I love that. And they helped him expand and grow and it helped you expand and grow. I remember my very first website, and when with that, like 2003, it was excruciating. There was so involved, and I would love to have someone like you lead me down the road to creating the best, the best website in the shortest amount of time because there's so many decisions, and so many left turns, right turns. When you're first launching a business, you don't know what you're saying.

Holly Chantal 4:34
Even when you're rebranding and you've been in business for a while. It's you'd be surprised how suddenly it feels like you don't know anything. Even though even though you've been in business for a long time.

Kathi Burns 4:46
You're too close to the topic. You're way too close to the topic to even have objectivity about what is that message? Okay, I don't know. Yeah, I'm with you on that. So you If you were to do this again, I think you did it so smartly. What's the first thing that you would do? Would you do it the same way? Or would you go into it a different way? Now that you're looking back from 2009?

Holly Chantal 4:48
You mean, if I were to restart my business? So that's, that's an interesting question. I'm not sure I would do anything differently, you know, for that kind of quintessential reason that I don't think I'd be where I am right now, if I did. But the sorry, I don't know if you can hear my dog barking, I think I'm getting mail or something.

Kathi Burns 5:33
No.

Holly Chantal 5:37
She's just saying hello to the mail person. So I'm not sure I would do anything differently. Because the way my business unfolded, was very organic. I'm one I'm someone that really follows my intuition and kind of follows. I have a plan of where I want to go, but I kind of let it unfold as as it does to get to where I want. Back then in 2009, if I were to write down like what I wanted my life to look like, at this point, I'm absolutely there. I have my kids, I have a dream house, I'm working 20 hours a week, I'm making the money that I want to make. I don't think I'd want to change anything, just in case, none of that. Some of those things didn't pan out.

Kathi Burns 6:23
I love that. So yeah, I mean, you were very smart from the very beginning, just being really strategic about it. So what would be your best piece of advice for others who want to go on to this journey and becoming an entrepreneur? Perhaps they're there and they're just not quite there yet? What would you suggest that they do?

Holly Chantal 6:40
Yeah, so knowing, knowing where you're headed is probably the most important piece, not just like financial goals, and like what's on paper. But really qualitative things. Like, what do you value in how you're spending your time? What do you value outside of your business? Or their causes that you want to be contributing to? What does your business feel like, and what are your clients feel like, like working with them. Really just understanding on a fundamental level, what it is what it is you want to be doing, because I feel like, we go into business with a goal of starting a business, and meaning certain financial metrics. And what happens is, we start settling on what's going to be the easiest path to meeting those goals. You can very easily get in, take get taken off course, and end up with a business that's successful on paper, but doesn't necessarily feel awesome to be in. And that's where people ended up, end up, burned out, that's where you end up, realizing that you've kind of built a job for yourself, and you're very trapped. So if you can make decisions up front on to what you want, how you want everything to be, it'll help you make decisions down the line, that are completely in alignment with that. So Prime example, is like marketing can be a double edged sword for some folks. It's that necessary evil that you need to do in order to grow your business. But a lot of the lot of different methods don't feel great to do,. Then there's reasons for that, if it's not natural for your communication style, you're having to be pushed too far out of your comfort zone, or straight up feels manipulative, you're moving away from what's natural for you, and you're going to end up creating one, it's probably not gonna be as successful as it could be. And two, you're creating a job for yourself, that's not really that satisfying. On the other hand, if you know what your communication style is, if you know what you value and the lines, you're not going to cross in your marketing, and how like, what's a good step out of your comfort zone, and what say, Maybe I shouldn't be doing this step out of my comfort zone. When you can identify those things, you'll continue to make the right choices that will move you in the direction you're on your head much more quickly.

Kathi Burns 8:59
Hmm, that's fantastic. Being an architect of your destiny, by knowing in advance where you want to go is what I'm hearing. And I think you're right, I think as entrepreneurs, we're just like, we have this message, this is what we want to do. But we don't take a step back to see how do we want to be doing it.

Holly Chantal 9:16
It's just you don't know what you don't know. So you're like, you're kind of put into these situations where you're making decisions, and you don't have all the information, you don't know what it's gonna look like, you don't know what it's gonna feel like. So you're listening to experts, and you're giving away a lot of your power by listening to what other people are telling you to do. It isn't until you actually have experienced that you realize, oh, in hindsight, maybe that isn't how I would do it. I would do it this way. So that's like when I'm working with emerging entrepreneurs, one of the things we do is we create a compass. That is we call it your brand compass, but it really is does this align with my personality? Does this align with the promise and that mission that I have for my clients and why I want to work with them in the first place, is it following my unique philosophy and my methods. What it does is it helps you make decisions to make sure that you're not being led off into a distraction that is actually taking away from your goals. And also maybe it's gonna reach your goals, but doesn't really align with your personality and who you are, you're making things a lot harder for yourself. And just having something like that, like that little gut check as you're making decisions, can really, really help streamline your path to where you're going.

Kathi Burns 10:30
Yeah, because there's so many different ways to do it. There's so many experts that say, this is the way, this is the way. I mean, I've been sidetracked so much in the past by going one way, and then going another way. This expert said, this is the only way to go. I agree having that competence, I think is extraordinary, to really kind of say okay, yeah, this is this does feel organic to me, this does feel like authentic. Yeah, that's really good advice. So I know pre show you were saying that you got very organized. And I'm very interested, of course. So anytime I hear that word is like what's your tool Holly? What's your favorite organizing tactic or device that you use in your life right now that works for you.

Holly Chantal 11:13
So Trello. Like, it's where my brain is easy to follow Trello. And Google, Google docs are like my to go twos at this point, took me a long time to get on board with Google Docs. I don't really like how it's organized so much. But I've been using it quite a bit. But yeah, Trello is a kind of like sticky notes, but you can get them on all your devices and it syncs through on every device. So I have my to do list there, I have my network. So I have a lot of JV partners, and then my networks there, who I'm meeting with who I need to reach out to who I need to follow up with, like everything is there. It makes it makes such a big difference. Because I have three kids, I you know, sleep very little. I cram a lot of work into four hours a day. I forget things if they're not specifically written down. So that that's like I said, it's kind of my brain computer so that when I turn off my computer, I can turn off my brain and focus on other things and know that I'm not going to miss something.

Kathi Burns 12:22
Yeah, I love Trello. I agree, it is like the place to put everything. And I like the fact that you could do different boards for different segments of your business, you know, I have a podcast board, I have a regular website board, I have my marketing board. So I have all the different things in your writing and brain dump. I love the fact that you can collaborate and tag your team within it. So I can write something and say, okay, here, this person read this. Here's the document and this other question, please post it. So yeah, Trello is brilliant. I agree with you about Google Drive. And you know, I'm getting into it. I'm learning now how to organize you know Doc's better. Because you're right at the beginning, it was a little bit and organic, just like Gmail, when you first start on Gmail, it's a little bit weird. You're

Holly Chantal 13:12
You're kind of relying on the search feature, which makes sense, because it's Google. But I feel like I would just match rather, like, just know how to find something in my folders and then have to know, okay, what did I write in that document that would would pull up just that document, so they can search for it? So I've gotten very good at labeling things. But when you're sharing documents with different people, you don't always have control over when everything's labeled as.

Kathi Burns 13:38
Exactly, I love Trello, too. Thanks for bringing that up. For anybody who's out there, checking it out, Trello is free to start out with so everybody can have Trello and check it out and see if that works. There's so many different ways to be organized with your brain. I agree with you, Holly, that is like a place to put my brain, whatever one is going to resonate with you is going to be the one that works. So there's no one perfect app, but Trello is a great place to start. So tell me about a time before you were Uber organized and only working 20 hours a week. God love you. That's great. Tell me, whenever you feel overwhelmed, and you're stuck in busyness, or whatever, it still happens, because I'm sure it still happens to you. What do you do to kind of defrag and take a step back and and get your bearings.

Holly Chantal 14:27
So I make lists that's that's how I get on overwhelmed. Because normally what's happening, if I'm feeling overwhelmed, is that I'm trying to just hold too many things at once. It's kind of like you're spinning a lot of plates, and you're not sure you start I get panicky when I start forgetting things, because it's like what am I missing is that that just eerie feeling that there's something I'm supposed to be doing. There's something I'm supposed to remember but I'm not. But if you if I sit down and list it all out then I usually realize that, okay, all of this is pretty doable. Now that I have a list, I can check them off, I can reprioritize them, not everything is going to take me hours to do some things will take a few minutes, and I can check them off right now. But that for me, just having it all on paper, in a visual way, is invaluable. And it just helps kind of combat spasm a little bit and get everything in order. So I can feel really good about what I'm moving forward with.

Kathi Burns 15:27
That's what I was going to ask you if you use pen and paper for your list, or if you use another app, or is it pen and paper for you?

Holly Chantal 15:35
So it depends. I have, if I'm in my bedroom and spasming, then I use pen and paper because I have notebooks everywhere. But in my business world, I have my iPad. So for those of you that are watching on video, I have an app called Good Notes. It works like, you really see it's paper, it looks like paper. But the good notes app, you can create notebooks. So all I have just like scratch paper, I have a notebook that's called Scratch paper. And that's where I take notes. That's where I put lists, just brain dumps, etc. And then I also keep a notebook for each of my clients so that all of their all the material, all the things we talked about are in one place. That's another really invaluable tool. I use it for when I'm doing webinars, I can mark up PDFs. So I actually create my slides, and export them as PDF, put them in good notes, and then I can draw on them as I'm going which is really engaging way to present. So that's another recommendation if people are looking for really sweet software for their iPad.

Kathi Burns 16:42
Yeah, that's sweet. Yeah, I use Evernote extensively. But I don't know if there's actually the drawing capability in Evernote.

Holly Chantal 16:50
I think you can, but the good notes is actually created for presenting. So what's cool about good note is when you are presenting so if I were to share my screen, you wouldn't see all the all the controls, you would only see the slides. I feel like that's that's really nice. It just makes it look more professional when you're presenting.

Kathi Burns 17:11
Absolutely. Yeah, that's amazing. I'll check that out. For sure. Good, good tips. We're learning all this juice today from this expert, who is a branding and marketing and messaging. What I really like about you, Holly is that the message is loud and clear on what you do and who you are. Okay, one question. What do you what's the best piece of advice that you've received that sticks in your brain from time to time?

Holly Chantal 17:40
First thing that came to mind when you asked that question, first thing that came to mind was eat dessert first. And I don't know what that means. But eat dessert first. So let's pretend that the business aspect will say that focus on what you enjoy and the rest will follow. My profound advice for the day.

Kathi Burns 18:07
Eat dessert first, we're gonna put that in the show notes. Because I think that's it actually follows your business model. Exactly. Figure out where you want to go and enjoy being there. Even before you're there.

Holly Chantal 18:20
Right, you should enjoy every aspect of your business. If there's something that feels off burning out draining your energy, there's usually a solution to make that not feel like that anymore, and actually become a very enjoyable aspect.

Kathi Burns 18:32
Yeah, I love it. Okay, good. Okay, so I know that you have a valuable free resource for it to ask to offer to people. We're gonna put the link down below. So talk to us about what what you're giving away, Holly?

Holly Chantal 18:46
Yeah, so I have a PDF called The Buyers Arc. It's a marketing guide that, so let me just kind of give you the premise behind it. So when we're making decisions, we go through a very distinct decision making process and when someone's looking to hire you for your services, they're going through the exact same process. So the buyers arc is what I'm calling that process. And the PDF will kind of show you what are the different decision points that they're making. Then how do you align your marketing with those decision points so that you can kind of guide the person through their decision in a very empowering way. So we're not using scarcity. We're not creating pressure or any marketing tactics, but we're really empowering them with the information they need at every turn, so that they can make an informed decision and positioning your product or service in the best way possible for what their situation is.

Kathi Burns 19:38
Yeah, I love that. I was just checking it out pre interview, and it's really, really a valuable resource. I think no matter where we are in business, it's very, you can use it. Like if you're an old seasoned professional or brand new starting out, it's going to make sense. I think it's going to help you be authentic, which I think authenticity is really the magnet I have all you want to draw to people that are attracted to you not that you're wrangling him in and trying to hold them to you. You want those who want to be like magnets to you, right?

Holly Chantal 20:12
That's why I mentioned the URL is buyersarc.com just for those that aren't actually on the page.

Kathi Burns 20:20
Go to buyersarc.com. And if you see it somewhere, you can download it. It's fantastic. Well, Holly, I really appreciate your time. I always enjoy speaking with you and I always learned something. So thank you so much for being on the show. Everybody. Make sure to grab the buyers arc it will help you no matter where you are in your business. Even if you haven't even started, it'll just help you get clarity. Thanks a lot, Holly for being on the show.

Holly Chantal 20:45
Yeah, thank you for having me. Everyone have an awesome day.

Kathi Burns 20:53
Hey, thanks for listening to this podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you want to hear more, feel free to subscribe on the platform of your choice. Also, if you feel so inclined, I would truly appreciate a good rating from you, to me have a stellar day.