E19: How I Reverse Engineer My Marketing Calendar (and Take December Off!)

Starting out at age 25, Tanya Alvarez self-funded her first New York ad agency, using credit cards, and achieved zero to 1 million in revenue in the first year.

 

Along the way, she traveled to 42 countries, completing the Boston and NYC Marathons and a Half Ironman, all while battling a rare brittle bone condition. 

 

Her name is Tanya Alvarez, a classic underdog story, and she’s on a mission to help you own your life, not just your business. 

 

Through OwnersUP, Tanya aims to empower you to win at work without losing at home, utilizing facilitated accountability sprints to scale your business sanely and enable you to live your ideal life now.

 

In this episode you'll learn:

 

--Why she declined lucrative job offers at companies like American Express after college to forge her own path

--Her experience joining startups during the dot com “bust” where she worked hard to learn as much as she could, instead of going the MBA route

--The advice her Mom gave her when she was “so nervous” to start her own thing

--Her simple process for prioritizing goals when distractions are everywhere

--How to reverse engineer your best days, so you can have more days like that

--How to get the awareness of what is not the best use of your time

--An example of a simple process she uses to overcome how social media can hijack our focus

--Why you should hire a virtual assistant before you think your ready

--How AI can help you create SOPs (standard operating processes) fast

--Her “Focus Multiplier:” A simple yet potent tactic to supercharge daily productivity

--The importance of having the right person to hold you accountable (and not let you off the hook)

--How she has used accountability groups not only in her business, but to help her find her husband, start a family and create work-life equilibrium

--Why accountability doesn’t need to be hard, and can actually become a fun game

--Why getting feedback is actually the fastest way to get into action

--Why you shouldn’t worry even if there are so many others who do what you do

--Her two go-to tips for when you’re feeling discouraged 

Online, much of your communication will be done via the written word... so it pays to hone your copywriting skills! 

 

(Copywriting is also one of the most expensive things to outsource, which is another great reason to get good at the basics.)

 

The great news is… copywriting is a very learnable skill and with a little practice you can only get better.

 

In this episode I share how I create copy that connects and converts - and the most important components you can use in your next piece of marketing copy to help boost your bottom line.

 

You'll learn: 

 

-How to evoke curiosity to keep people reading

-The most effective way to get people to want to open your emails

-The magic of teaser bullets, with specific examples

-What makes a hot headline

-How to get people to take action, whether it's a social media post, a sales page, or any other piece of copy

-Why taking a stand in your posts can be so powerful (and how I've done it)

-Examples of enticing subject lines

-Overall copy best practices to make more sales... and more.

Ah, discovery calls.

 

Some people love 'em... others loathe them.

 

Some people never considered they could run a successful business without them, let alone leverage and "scale up."

 

Allow me to share why and how my clients and I have made long, drawn-out sales calls pretty much obsolete.

 

After all, discovery calls are actually an expense - of time, energy, effort... and of money if you're using a sales person or team.

 

Instead, we sell Soulmate clients into $2K, $5K, $10K, $15K and above offers in 15 minutes over DM and email. (No, this has NOTHING to do with awkward, cold DM-ing.)

 

Now, a short, 15 minute connection call to answer logistical questions? From time to time that's totally cool.

 

But we're not about the calendar being booked with longggg calls we think we "have" to do anymore.

 

In this episode you'll learn:

 

-How offers and messaging can do the heavy lifting, so you don't need to spend time on the phone answering objections or "convincing" people

-The framework we follow in our messages that has high ticket clients signing up over DM and email (even at $15K and above price points)

-The elements of offers so hot they practically sell themselves

-The most common reasons why an offer doesn't sell

-The magic of a simple invite letter

-Answers to your questions about messaging and selling frequency

-How to illustrate the "gap" a potential client needs to understand to say YES to your offer... and more.

We’re living through a great shift in human consciousness.

 

Though it can seem tumultuous, one of the greatest gifts it is giving us is an opportunity to see through the illusion.

 

The illusion that we are anything other than the operant power in creating anything we want in our lives.

 

This is a gift we can pass on to our clients, as well. 

 

But how do we harness this?

 

In this episode of the podcast I simply pose the question to you: what if you just tried this?

 

What if you just tried on for size…

 

--Understanding that creation is finished, and therefore what you want to experience is here ready for you to experience it 

--Changing your inner conversations 

--Working on strengthening your self concept even more than working on your marketing 

--Focusing on living in the end of what you desire, and persisting in that 

--Assuming what you want is already yours

--Knowing that consciousness is the one and only reality, and circumstances truly don’t matter 

 

Life responds to us based on our state. 

 

This episode reminds you to ask who it is you are being. 

 

Is it the version of you who believes, expects, knows and trusts? 

 

Or a victim of circumstance? 

 

When you get that the reality you’re experiencing is just a projection of what you’re assuming, everything changes. 

 

You’re here to lead your clients.

 

And the more you embrace these concepts, the more transformative results you create for you, and for them. 

In recent years, nervous system regulation has become a hot topic both generally and in the entrepreneur space.

 

Why? First, because people have realized the importance of the mind-body connection, and second, because entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart.

 

Whether it's long standing trauma held in the body, an upsetting disappointment in your business, or a series of "hits" that have recently thrown you off your game, getting back in balance is so important.

 

Having tools (many free) that you can use anytime, anywhere can mean the difference between giving up on your dreams, and sailing through events that could have otherwise stolen your confidence and motivation.

 

In this episode I share my favorite techniques for regulating your nervous system and keeping yourself on track, and include specific examples of how I've saved myself from the depths during hard times - like starting my business in a recession and deciding to end my marriage while paralyzed with fear.

 

 

 

 

 

Adding an ongoing recurring revenue offer to my business changed everything!

 

It created cash flow stability, better client results, and allowed me to scale a lot easier.

 

It gets you out of feeling like you need to launch constantly, and when priced appropriately, allows you to hit your revenue goals with less clients.

 

These types of offers are typically high ticket and group, creating the ultimate leverage for you.

 

In this episode, I cover:

 

-- How to use a short term program to elegantly feed into a longer term ongoing offer

--The necessary mindset for recurring revenue 

--How to map out your client's journey so you know what to cover in an ongoing offer

--3 steps to designing the actual program

--A method for filling your program that doesn't require a crazy stressful launch

--How to land on messaging that works and then maximize it... and more.

 

 

 

 

With the media filled seemingly more than ever with news of what's not going right... what we should be worried about... what doom is on its way...

 

When you feel tempted to stay small, hide out, and shrink back...

 

It's time to FORTIFY (one of my favorite words).

 

To remember what you're here for. 

 

To dissolve fear with faith.

 

To re-commit to the knowing... that it's ALREADY yours (because it is).

 

In this episode, I give practical as well as outside the box ways to keep yourself in the right mindset for more income, opportunties and success.

 

Just some of what I share:

 

* Two YouTubers I've been binging that are rocking my world

* How a simple index card can catapult you into the life you want

* One easy thing you can do before getting out of bed to ensure your day goes how you want

* Three ways I use my smartphone to manifest daily

* How a gold wallet I bought on ebay shifted my mindset

* How I use my journal to give myself grace and reset my nervous system

* My fave empowering money affirmations... and a lot more.

 

You likely learned to do what you do 1 on 1.

 

This is great early on, because you don’t need a list or a platform.

 

BUT there is a long-term problem with 1:1, because you can only make so much before you run out of hours in the day.

 

The hourly rate is actually old school.  You can make more per hour doing less (same work, more $$$.)

 

By scaling what you offer, you can serve many, many more people.

 

The thing is, with the glut of online courses out there, it's easy to think that's the only way... or the best way.

 

Nuh-uh.

 

In reality, the clients I work with scale their businesses in a multitude of ways.

 

Do some do it through courses? Sure.

 

But they also do it via many other ways.

 

In this episode I share four business model categories with specific examples underneath each one that can help you escape "dollars for hours," gain more leverage, take advantage of passive income, and design your business to be more lucrative, aligned, and fun.

Almost 2 years ago now, the pandemic was still dragging on and I was feeling lost in many ways. I was feeling like an era of my business was coming to a close, I had been living in Florida for a couple of years but still still didn’t feel like I had really gotten to connect with anyone friends-wise. 

 

Covid, working from home, and being still sorta new after moving nearly 1000 miles away will do that.

 

I remember deciding to get serious about manifesting a local support network. One day not long after, someone who’s podcast I’d guested on years ago connected me with someone she had known in NYC – who’d also moved to St. Petersburg recently.

 

In turn, that person introduced me to a talented physical therapist, Tonya Olson! Not only did we discover we were both single entrepreneurs with a love of sparking Rose, it turned out that the apartment building I was moving to was right across the street from the one she had just moved into.

 

We got together and the rest is history – I had my first real friend in St. Pete. 🙂 

 

Tonya is not only a super interesting person, she’s funny, really smart and inspiring. I knew it would be a blast to interview her.

 

In This Episode With Tonya You’ll Discover:

 

* How she combined her training as a physical therapist and her lifelong training and passion as a horse person to create another branch of her business supporting equestrians

* Overcoming the fear of niching “too small” – and why “your niche is your weird”

* How I myself discovered my niche as a business coach (when my market was originally “anyone with a credit card” :-))

* How important it is to keep paying attention to what keeps bubbling up to the surface and won’t leave you alone

* How she talked herself out of starting her own business for years – and what finally changed

* The importance of being very selective about the people you have in your life

* The magic of getting outside of your own industry and discipline in order to find answers and inspiration

* How “weaknesses” as an employee can be your greatest strengths as an entrepreneur, and the lessons she learned having an “owner mindset” as a staff PT

* Her experience with depressive episodes from trying to fit into a world where she didn’t belong (and how it can actually be glorious to not fit in!)

* Honoring the connections you make and not overthinking them – even if they look different than you thought they would

* Why she feels “I don’t dream big enough for how my life has turned out” – and how it’s turned out pretty amazing anyway

* Her experience of recently launching her first online course and what it taught her

* Why perfectionism is overrated and why people are actually craving content and experiences that are less slick and produced

* How “lost opportunities” ended up opening the door to what she really should have been doing all along 

I had a wide-ranging and juicy convo with my long time friend and entrepreneur, Jenny Fenig, on this episode of the podcast.

 

Jenny and I go way back. We met at an Ali Brown event in 2010 and became fast friends. We've come up in this online marketing game together and have seen A LOT! 

 

Because of our connection, we were able to go deep in this episode and did not hold back. If you're into behind the scenes details of the good, bad and ugly of entrepreneurship, this one's for you.

 

After an intense decade in New York City elevating the visibility and message of the biggest brands and thought leaders in the world, she realized the path she was on wasn’t for her. She quit her 6-figure job, had a short stint as a yoga teacher, then founded her transformational coaching company to help women design a new way of working and earning by building their own brand.

 

Having three kids, a husband with a career he’s passionate about, and moving to a small town in the mountains has fueled her commitment to building a freedom-based business – and helping her clients do the same.

 

In this episode with Jenny you'll discover:

 

*  How so much of her life, personal growth and business has been influenced by the tragic loss of her younger sister when Jenny was 16

* Her move from small town Florida to the Big Apple to pursue a career in PR and the work hard, play hard culture that came with it 

* How she started developing her relationship with her inner voice and learned not to ignore it 

* Her leaving her PR career to produce conferences and how it seemed "nuts" at the time

* Dabbling with recreational drugs and drinking to "numb out" and how that influenced her journey - and her subsequent sobriety

* What it was like to work up the courage to leave her cushy 6-figure job (in a toxic environment) to become a yoga teacher and then a coach 

* Our shared experience with EMDR as a modality in therapy to deal with trauma

* How stuff "got kicked up" when she became a parent and how she dealt with the guilt and shame she'd never unpacked previously

* Dealing with the noise online and learning not to compare yourself with everyone else 

* How she dealt with the ultimate curveball that led her to home schooling her 3 kids while also being a full time business owner 

* Getting balance back when she realized she was more consumed with the marketing part of business than the actual work

* Becoming a master of your time and energy, and knowing when to surrender