Strategy tip: Master the main CORE of your message before you start worrying about the little pieces like email subject lines, targeting, and calls to action.
(Here’s how…)
Before being a business coach and consultant, I was a travel blogger and then a lifestyle blogger. And I decided to monetize it. So, I studied all I could, and I implemented like crazy, and I worked hours from like midnight to midnight.
I developed a course, and I built my list, and I did sponsorships and all that jazz.
And it worked. I had some results. Some income, some sponsors, some people on my list.
It was clearly working. Because when you learn and implement and master a strategy, it works. It’s that simple.
HOWEVER, it always felt like a struggle. Even though it was something I, to a degree, enjoyed doing, it didn’t fire me up.
I would see people like Mastin Kipp get up on their own websites and just BLOW ME AWAY with their passion, and I never felt that when I was working on my own messaging. I would try to manufacture it (because I knew that passion was part of what was going to SELL). But it didn’t work. The passion just wasn’t there.
It would be a long while later to where I am now, where the physical evidence and FEELING of my business both tell me it’s expanding like CRAZY.
But it could have happened a lot faster.
Because getting to that place of a business and life I adore, getting to that passion, getting to that level of mastery in my messaging where you could FEEL the fire in your words through whatever-the-fuck strategy I decided to implement was just something to learn and implement and master, like any other strategy.
It was about more than just mastering strategies of all different kinds, learning what different things worked (and how) for me, for my clients.
It was about doing the inner healing work and becoming more MYSELF.
It was about EMBODYING what it was I wanted my business to be and become. And becoming better and better at being ME and giving my own gifts to the world through my business.
It was about finding that passion, that fire, that STUFF within myself that meant my messaging was FIRE. That no matter what the email subject line was, I knew the post was going to reach just the right people at the right time.
The pre-requisite for masterful, epic messaging that fucking WORKS is the inner work.
And then the communication skills, the business strategies, and all the other stuff comes second.
You can have the perfectly crafted, technically accurate strategies in your business, but if the fire isn’t there, it’s not going to work.
We recognize that stuff in the arts, such as singing and dancing, but we don’t recognize that heart and soul so much in marketing (largely because we’ve been trained to think of business as PURELY strategy, something you just need the know-how for).
But I believe you need both.
And in my work, we DO both.
We embody…. and we strategize.
We find our passion… and we master our message.
We do the inner healing…. and we translate that epicness into powerful business strategies.
That work EASILY.
I believe – especially in our space – that business is about so much more than making money.
In fact, I don’t think any of us would be in business if the end goal was only cash and capital.
We’re here to serve and support, to do something epic and transformational, and to live lives that are fun and amazing and overwhelmingly epic at the same time.
We’re here for OURSELVES as much as our clients and customers, and that means that we’re here to grow and expand.
And become more and more of ourselves in the process.
That’s what really powerful messaging is.
A combination of TECHNICAL and STRATEGIC skill with REAL, POWERFUL, and TRANSFORMATIVE vulnerability and authenticity.
That’s what’s inspired me to not only work with who I work with – both my clients and my coaches – but also to do what I do and say what I say. And to live the life that I do.
Emails subject lines and all that jazz ARE IMPORTANT. And your business will grow the more you learn and master those key strategies.
But you gotta grow and empower yourself as well.
(By the way, that is a skill and a journey that is AS LEARNABLE and AS FUN as learning strategies.)
In my world, in my work, and in my business and life, the two go hand in hand.
Ready to get after it?
To mastering your messaging,
A business coach and consultant, specializing in epic messaging and strong business foundations, Sarah Elizabeth works in words, film, and sound. She's been a teacher and performer for more than 15 years and knows the words to every Disney song (not kidding). It is her life's goal to play the villain in a Disney animated movie.