11 | LIFER
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[00:00:00] Hello? Hello. Yay. I can't wait for today's episode and I'm going to be sharing a roadmap for how you can grow and scale your business. One person at a time on or off of social media. And it's going to be using an acronym that I have just found to be such a game changer in my business. And I love acronyms because they can help you remember those steps.
And this is something you can reference again and again. So definitely best out that notebook. Write it down, maybe break out your notes app. On your phone so that you can remember exactly what this acronym stands for so that you can create customers and business partners for life. And develop that residual income that will serve you for the rest of your career so get excited for today's episode
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Hey friends. Okay. So I'm very excited for today's episode because what I'm going to be sharing with you guys today. It's something [00:02:00] that honestly is a pathway that I have followed for my entire five years in my current business. And it's essentially just a simple roadmap for how you can take any business model and scale it to grow one customer at a time.
So this works on or off social media, but obviously for listening to this podcast, you are. Interested and looking for some ways where you can grow outside of just becoming an online influencer. So I'm certainly going to share some specific tips and strategies for those of you who are looking to do this.
So a little backstory behind this week's episode. As I am pulling my time away from Facebook and Instagram and not really spending any time at all consuming on those platforms. I still love to get the nostalgia of reviewing maybe some old pictures on my camera. Roll. So a friend and mentor [00:03:00] actually reminded me of the app called Timehop. And some of you guys might've heard of it, but it's one that you can hook up to your social media, to your camera roll, and it will just each day focus on the images that you've either shared or taken on your phone and just remind you of some of the amazing memories.
And I've had a, an iPhone now for gosh, I mean, A long time. So these memories go back years and I have had so much fun. I don't do it every day. But I have had so much fun going back through these memories and the stories that they tell. But one of the pictures that I came across a couple of weeks ago.
I was a picture of a list that I had made. Like maybe four years ago where it was maybe six months a year into my business. And I was looking to grow my business, but I wasn't sure where to start. I had kind of grown out of my warm market if you will. The people who were closest to me had either purchased or had not purchased. And I wanted to figure out how I could grow [00:04:00] my business.
So I just took out a, I think it was a page in my planner. And wrote out a list of about 50 names of people that I felt would be amazing business partners for me. So some of them were customers already of mine. Some of them were not customers at all. They were just people that I really felt like would be great at doing what I did in business. And I knew that as wonderful as the.
Income potential was for sharing. The product and, and we have a pretty generous compensation plan centered around sharing the product. I knew that true passive income. Could come from building a team that would be doing the same thing that I was doing. Right. And so I thought about who would enjoy.
This business model, as much as I have enjoyed it, who might need something like this in their life to bring, uh, an additional income stream to whatever it is that they are doing. And I just made that list. So I wrote out that list. [00:05:00] And it's kind of crazy that now looking back. Four years later that about 12 of the people of the 50 on that list have decided to join me in business ever since I made that list. And now granted, they did not all join.
All at the same time, right. It's been for years. And I'd say it's been a few a year. Over time, but it all started with just making that list and really thinking about who would be the ideal customer, who would be the ideal business partner to help grow my business. So that's the little backstory behind something I wanted to share with you today, which is an acronym. Y'all know. I love a good acronym who doesn't right.
Because it helps you to simplify the roadmap and the path to the actions that you want to grow your business. Right? So today's acronym is something that I came up with a few years ago. It has, it's been something that I've applied to my business ever since. And it's something I'm so excited to share with you today.
So the acronym is lifer. L I F E R F as in [00:06:00] Frank. And the reason I love this word as an acronym is we all want customers for life. Right? We want our customers to love what it is that we are sharing the product or the service so much that they will continue to purchase from us. If it's not something that they can purchase it again. And again, it's something that they would recommend and share with their friends and network.
And so this lifer strategy is. Geared towards helping you create customers for life and business partners for life. If that is, a part of your business model
So if repeat customers is a key component of creating passive income, and that is the best way to do it. , regardless of what business you're in. All of those customers are going to go through something that looks like a funnel and there are coaches and there are platforms that literally talk about, like, I think something called click funnels. I don't even exactly know what that is, but [00:07:00] essentially for me,
I'm a pretty visual person and it's helpful to visualize taking all the people that are out there in the world that may or may not want to buy my product or may or may not want to join me in business. And, you know, there, there are a lot of them, right. , and so you can start by drilling down your funnel to who are your ideal customers. I call them dream teams or dream customers.
And then you can guide them through the funnel in your business. Through certain steps that can have specific call to actions or specific invitations as I call them. To guide them through to make that funnel smaller and smaller and smaller. So let's use the example of my list of 50 names that I wrote down. Now we're all 50 people on that list going to buy my makeup. Nope. Are all 50 of them going to join me in business? No.
And again, when you think about the timeframe of that, it's been four years and it's been a slow but steady process [00:08:00] with those connections that I, that I had. The other thing that's really cool is in the four years, I have grown that funnel, if you will, or I could make and do this all the time, I could make a new list today of 50 names that some of them might still be on their original list.
Some of them might be people that I met last week. At networking event or traveling? My husband and I just got back from Costa Rica and Disney. And it's really cool. The connections that you make, even just like standing in line at a ride at Disney world, right. And so your list or your funnel, the top part of your funnel, the big part is always constantly going to be growing. And the first step of that funnel is creating a list so diving into that lifer acronym the l stands for list
So when you are creating your list, I want you to first think about who is your ideal customer, because for all the people that are out there in the world, [00:09:00] likely not, all of them are going to. Be the type that are going to want or need or desire your product. Now selling makeup is a great thing because most women do wear makeup and our makeup makes it so simple that even the ones that aren't it's usually because they are intimidated by makeup, or they don't know how to do it, or it takes too much time or cost too much money. And so I love that our product does benefit and serve a lot of different women.
But even with the makeup, it is important to think like who, who do you know? That's like you, who specifically are in your circle, who are the people that you already know that you feel like would love whatever product or service that you offer. So perfect example, you guys know I had a Brattle shop. In savannah for a long time
And a perfect example of one of our ideal customers were debutantes. So if you're not from the south, you're like, wait, this is still exists. Or you might not even know what it is, but essentially a [00:10:00] debutante is a centuries old tradition. I think that started in. Probably England, but came over to the United States as a way for young women college age to kind of be presented to society if you will. And this is something that still goes on and a lot of small towns in Georgia and there are debutante communities throughout, throughout Georgia. And there's. , one specifically in Savannah. And so for me, I know that. Each one of those debutantes, and there's usually about 10 to 15 in Savannah each year. And I know they're all going to need a white dress. Well guess who just happened to sell lovely dresses. Right. And so a perfect example of a list for me would be that list of debutantes that were announced each year on mother's day in the newspaper.
And so that is a perfect example of. Something that I did each and every year was I would go through that list in the newspaper and think like, do I know these people? Have I connected with them before? Had they shopped in my sportswear [00:11:00] boutique? And I would think about the next step, which we will get to, which is a way that I could guide them through that funnel, to the next step. Right.
So that is another example is just that debutante list and the newspaper. So another example for if you are a part of my company, because I know a lot of you guys listening are, or if it's something that you're interested in taking on an additional income stream, something really cool that our company offers is an app.
That you download to your phone. And one of the first steps in the app or a step that's always available is to sync your phone contacts into the app. And it's awesome because if you think about it, the people in your phone and a lot of them, you've probably forgotten about, regardless of what, what product or service you're offering.
You have forgotten that you have perfect people at your fingertips that love you and know you and might be interested in trying out what it is that you have to offer. So I love this app for our company because it. [00:12:00] Initially right off the bat, you can click that sync button, go down the list of contacts in your phone.
You can add them into the app as a communication. Contact. And then what's really cool is the company offers some really great third party tools, which we'll talk about in just a second, some great videos, graphics, and you can also create your own. And easily. Uh, send an invitation to those contacts to guide them through that funnel.
So there are a lot of different ways to make this list. It does not have to be a huge list. In fact, that's one of the reasons why I feel that this is such a powerful example outside of social media, because if you think about it, Social media just makes a bigger list. Like say you have a hundred followers on your Instagram.
Like you might not feel like that's a lot of people you might feel like, oh gosh, I'm so far away from a thousand followers or 10,000 followers or whatever it is. But honestly, a list of a hundred people is kind of a lot. And those hundred people that are following you. Have specifically clicked [00:13:00] the follow button, meaning they have raised their hand and signed up to learn more about what it is that you have to offer. So a list of a hundred is actually pretty dang big, especially if it is on an account where people have specifically raised their hand to learn more about what it is that you offer.
So imagine trying to make a list of 10,000 people and trying to decipher or go through and individually communicate with them. It's going to be overwhelming. It's too much, and it's not. Necessary. So my advice as you're creating this list is start with who you know, and how you can serve them. And this is a way that as I mentioned at the very beginning of this episode, you can scale and grow your business. One person and one conversation at a time.
So that's your list. Step one on the lifer is make a list. Step two on the lifer acronym is invite. So think about when you're having a birthday party for your kids, right? What do you do? You make a list of [00:14:00] the kids? Like I just did this with my daughter, her birthday's coming up and I said, okay, you can invite 12 people to pool party. Who do you want to invite?
And she rattled off a list of Monda being 13 names, but she rattled off a list of friends. Uh, that she wanted to invite to the, to the party. Right. And what would be my next step? I would create an invitation. I would reach out to the moms and. Let them know of the time and date and. Would you like to attend this party? Right. And ask them a question, send them an invitation. And that is how we are accustomed for so many different things in our life. And it's absolutely how you can grow your business. So that's why the, I stands for invite.
So I talked about third-party tools and the power of that, and essentially a third-party tool is just anything other than yourself or anything other than you having to take your time. Two. Talk about something, right? So an example of a birthday party, it could be the invitation, [00:15:00] right? That's a third party tool. It has everything they need to know. It's got a cute little graphic. If it's a theme, it's something that's going to clearly and simply explain what it is that you want to share.
So other examples would be a simple video. Um, I have a video that shows the simplicity of this makeup and how easy it is. It's like three minutes and it's just a really simple one. So I will sometimes send that. It could be a live event. For example, we have this Thursday night funny enough on Instagram because I signed up to do this before I hopped off Instagram.
And I'll probably be sharing my story about how I'm building my business off of Instagram now, but we have an Instagram account. Called the artist open house at the artist's open house. Where I will be doing a live panel interview with some other leaders in our company. Just sharing the simplicity and sharing our story of how we built our businesses through the St.
Makeup brand. And that is a perfect example of a third party told this live meeting or [00:16:00] this live panel is a great opportunity for me to invite someone who might be thinking about. Doing, what I do right. Is to connect with them, to invite them to that event or that third party tool. It could also be a class.
It could be a group that you have it again. I've got my awesome telegram group. For those of you entrepreneurs looking to scale and grow your business off of Facebook, you can text the word podcast. 2 9 1 2 4 0 5 8 9. One two, and you can get a link to that group. So, perfect example is obviously I'm sharing this in a larger way with all of you through this podcast. But if I knew an entrepreneur that, and I did this, when I started this group, if I knew an entrepreneur that I thought would be a perfect fit for that group, I could send them an invitation directly to that one person.
And invite them into the group. So the invitation [00:17:00] is essentially going to be you connecting with one person from your list, one at a time, and guiding them to a third-party tool, which again is a video, a graphic, an event. Uh, class a group. There's so many different things that you could do. Just something other than yourself that.
You can share more information about what it is that you offer. So. An example, going back to the debutantes would be, we did a tea at the bottle shop. And we would often do like a trunk show where we'd bring in maybe a designer that had a price point that was better suited towards the debutante or some more, simple options rather than like the ornate laces. Some of our brides where we're loving the, the debutantes tend to like something that's a lighter, brighter, simpler look, right?
So it could be a T or an event at the shop or a trunk show. And what we would do is we have that list, right. And we would send an invitation. Specifically to each of those [00:18:00] debutantes to attend that trunk show or attend that event. So the invitation is a powerful way to guide your customers or your potential customers through this funnel.
And I recommend here's a couple, couple tips. I recommend to use your voice. Always a quick voice text will take you very far. If you have there. Phone number. And again, I recommend that you start with people that you know, and the people that are closest to you that are already in your phone, and that's a great place to start, but literally use your voice. Don't copy and paste, connect with that person on whatever it is that you have in common.
In fact, I love to use three CS when you're inviting someone. And the first seat is to connect. So genuinely if you saw them last week, say it was so good to see you last week. If you, Had a recent event with them, or for example, for me traveling, like it was so great to see you guys in Costa Rica. Right? So connect with them something [00:19:00] genuine. If it's been a long time acknowledge that that's totally fine. So connect is the first C compliment is the second C. So for example, if I were.
Two. Invite someone to join me in business. I would say something like. I cannot help it feel that you would be amazing what I do now. I wouldn't say that to someone that I didn't believe that. Right. It's gotta be someone again, that I consider a dream, teeny, someone that I want to link arms with as a business partner. And what's cool about network marketing and especially the way our comp plan is structured is we're not trying to just sign everybody and, and their mom up.
Right. I would never invite someone to join me in business if I truly didn't think they'd be amazing. So by complimenting them maybe specifically what it is about them, that I feel would make them a good fit for what I do. It's going to build them up and it's going to share that, that passion and that excitement and that belief that she can do it too.
From me to her. So genuinely compliment. [00:20:00] And the third C is the call to action. So this is where a lot of people kind of go wrong when they're sending an invitation. Is they leave it super vague. They say something like, let me know what you think.
Or think about it or. Just let me know if that's something you, you might be interested in. Those are call to actions, but they are week one. So essentially if you don't get a response, they could be doing what you told them to do, which is think about it. Right. So instead. I ask a question that is a yes or no response. So again, if you were to have a birthday party, or if you were hosting an event at your home and you needed account of who all was attending, you would send a message and say,
Hey, are you going to be able to make it this weekend? Yes or no. Right. So you can do the same exact thing when you're sending these invitations. To say, like one of my favorites is, is becoming an artist, something you've ever thought about or is this something that's ever crossed your mind? It's a simple question. And regardless of what the [00:21:00] answer is, it could be, yes, it can be. No, but I'm asking them a question that prompts them to respond.
Right. So think about that call to action. Think about what it is that you are asking your, the person that you were inviting to do next. So that is the invitation and. As you're doing this, I know it can be a little bit scary, but just think about you're here to serve them, your product, your service, it's made a difference to you. It could make a difference to them.
And when you come from that angle, not what you're getting get from them, but what you can give to them. That is going to be a game-changer as you're doing it and just marry the process, divorce, the results you've created your list. Next step is going one by one and inviting them to something. Right? So the imitation is the, I.
So the F stands for follow up. So you may have heard this. This is kind of a well-known marketing role. The rule of seven. And it basically says the [00:22:00] fortune is in the followup and it takes about on average seven exposures to your brand before someone decides to take that next step. So that's a lot, right? Like if you are just connecting with someone, one person or worse, if you are using social media to fish, if you will just like put what it is out there, just hoping that everybody sees it, hoping that someone.
That you know, your dream TIMI, the people that are on your list, reach out to you. They're going to have to see that, whatever it is, seven times before. They respond to you. Same thing. This is a crazy example. My friend, Kate, she realized she has kind of a funnel or a drip campaign to serve her customers.
And in our business, we actually get to earn free makeup, through hosting. A VIP link or a party link, where if someone orders through a specific link, we can earn free makeup. And she realized she had this [00:23:00] one party link that had thousands of dollars in orders. And she was like, wait, where are these orders coming from? Like what in the world?
And she figured out the mystery that it was in her third follow-up email. Where she said. Something just as simple as just wanted to check in one last time. And that powerful one last time was the reminder that those who had reached out to her interested in being color matched.
For them to say, oh, okay. I guess this is going to be my last reminder. Maybe I better go ahead and place this order. Right. And that was on the third followup. So are you even first of all, following up with your customers? After you have invited them to something or after you've shared with them.
For example at the bottle shop, you know, if I had a debutante that came in for an appointment and, or maybe came to that trunk show or an event, I need to follow up with her. Have you found a dress yet? Right? That's another simple question. It's either yes or no. And if she has, and it was from another great sh you know, shop.
[00:24:00] Awesome. Yay. Good. She's got a dress she's been served well, but if it's no guess what, she still has a need. She still has an opportunity for another exposure with your brand or your business. So the fortune is in the follow-up and I want you to think about. About each of these invitations as seeds planted.
Unless they straight up tell, you know, it's, more than likely one of three different things. It's either time they got busy, they got distracted. If you're like me, this act fit into this camp all the time. We're all go to an online class or an event and just, you know, be interested in something, but completely spaced on the time of, you know, actually making it happen. So that's where a second or third follow-up is going to serve you really well.
The second would be money.
Regardless of how much money someone has. If they're being smart, they are creating a budget and they have a specific amount that they have set to spend on something. And also times are tough, right? Inflation is high and [00:25:00] people might be tight on funds. Maybe again like us. Golly, we went to Disney and they took all our money.
If you've been to Disney, you know, all about that, but you know, so it could be money, right? It might not be the time for them to spend the money that's in their budget. And then it also could just be that they're thinking about it, that they may not be ready, that they are weighing some different options. So again, a debutante might have tried on some dresses at my store, but then she maybe is trying them on at others and she's trying to make a decision between them.
So it might just be that they're thinking about it. So. Unless they specifically tell, you know, and then even if they D they do tell you now,
You never know those are seeds planted that in the future might they may have a need or desire and their circumstances may change. They may have more time. They may have more money. They may decide that they need what it is that you have to offer. Now, one of the things that happens quite a bit is you get ghosted, right? You send this [00:26:00] invitation, you don't get a response.
And if this happens, I want to ask you, did you do what I talked about before, where you had a clear call to action? Did you have a clear question that ignites a response? So again, let me know or think about it or other vague statements like that. Why would they respond? There's nothing for them to respond to. They're doing what you told them to do, which is think about it. So ghosting you does not mean that it's not something that they're interested in again.
It is likely the language that you're using, or again, it's going back to that time, money, or they're thinking about it. So fortune is in the follow-up my friends that is the F and the life or strategy. All right, so y'all ready for E it stands for engage. So if you are using social media, this is an awesome one because you can literally engage. That's. The whole purpose of social media is to be social, but if you're operating your business like me off of social media,
Be a real Ferguson. You [00:27:00] guys like look for ways that you can make connections and make friends with other people. Again, if you're in line at Disney world, Chatted up with the people that are around you. You never know my sweet grandmother, she and my granddad were visiting a small town in France. And they went on this tour and the tour guide was really rude to them because they didn't speak French very well. And this really nice French man stood up for them and connected with them and they wound up having lunch together and it crazy story. They stayed life long friends so much so that when I graduated from high school, I went over to stay two weeks with that family.
And they had a daughter about my age and she's like my French sister floppy. I love you so much. I'm going to have to send. Send you this episode to share the story because it's that power of being a real person, being a friend, even if you are on vacation or if you're at the soccer field with your kids.
Or reconnecting with a long lost friend. Again, you're not doing [00:28:00] this from, for what you're going to get from someone you're doing it to love and potentially serve someone else with the product or service that you have to offer. Because again, you never know, seeds could be planted, you could share it.
You know, they may see what it is that you have to offer in some other way, shape or form. And they may reach out to you and connect with you, right. So be a real person engaged, be a friend. So an example, this is a simple one. And we've talked about this with the debutantes, going back to the debutantes send, thank you notes, stay in touch. So, you know, if they do come to your event or your trunk show, just.
Let them know how grateful you are to have had the opportunity to serve them again, whether or not they decide to purchase with you. So the E stands for engage. Be a real person, remain friends and look for opportunities to connect with new people all the time. So the R and the last and final letter of this acronym is [00:29:00] repeat. So this is a process again, I've said I've done it for the last four or five years in my business. And it served me really, really well. And it's whenever I feel like I'm a little stale or maybe out of.
Leads, if you will, in my business, this is exactly where I start is by making that list all over again, looking for things or, or tools or videos or something that I can invite them to. Continuing to make new connections to fill that funnel, following up with those who are in that funnel at some point, right.
And you can continue to grow this and continue to guide and build your business by just focusing on one invitation, one, follow-up engaging with those, those people that are in your funnel. All the time. So also think about what's worked for you in the past.
[00:30:00] [00:31:00] [00:32:00] [00:33:00]
So this coming Thursday, March the 24th, I am going to be leading a panel is that mentioned earlier over on Instagram. That is a group that we call. At the artist open house. And first of all, it's a great resource over there. If you are on Instagram to check out some simple third-party tools, actually that you can learn more about what it is that that we do. But this Thursday night, I'm going to be hopping on live with a few other leaders to share a little bit more about.
How this business works and sharing my story and even sharing how, even though I'll be live on Instagram, how I'm running my business off of social media. So I would love for you guys to hop over on there. If you want to it's again at the artist open house. Over on Instagram, Thursday night, March 24th at 9:00 PM. Eastern time.
And then also, if you are looking for a new makeup routine, I'm so [00:34:00] excited to be offering a VIP makeup class over on telegram in my new makeup VIP group. And I'm going to be having surprises just for participating and sharing some simple tips and tricks for any makeup. But. Especially sharing the magic of saints, 3d foundation with all of you. And what's really fun is this is also going to be my example of that third party tool. I always love to do the things that I would tell you to do in my own personal business. So this is how I am planning to launch my business off of. Social media so i would love to have any of you guys who are looking to up your makeup routine hop over there and you can text the word
The IP over to 9 1 2 4 0 5 8 9 1 2. So again, the letters V I P 2 9 1 2 4 0 5 8 9 1 2. And that will shoot you over to my little telegram group where next Wednesday night. , [00:35:00] March 30th, I will be doing a live demo at 8:30 PM. Eastern time. Uh, or you can just tune it in the group and there's lots more info. That's going to be shared in there as well. I am.
So excited to share a little bit more about what it is that I do both with my makeup and with my business. And like I said, I'm excited to exemplify what it looks like. For you guys to create an event and your business as well. So you can bet I will be sending individual invitations and working through the lifer strategy right along with you. So I will be doing the homework myself. And i cannot wait to see the impact that this has on your business
