PP 084: A Cure for Content with Brogan Micallef
Quick Show Notes: Brogan Micallef
Kim Sutton & Brogan Micallef discuss the importance of including your passions while building your business. Think Jane Austen meets Content Strategy! They also discuss the marketing methods which push you but don’t drain you.
.@broganmicallef & @thekimsutton discuss the importance of including your passions while building your business. Think Jane Austen meets Content Strategy! Download & subscribe now. https://www.thekimsutton.com/pp084 #positiveproductivity #podcast #contentstrategy #JaneAusten #SciFiObsessedClick To Tweet
Connect With Brogan Micallef
Episode Transcription – A Cure for Content with Brogan Micallef
KIM : Welcome back to another episode of Positive Productivity. This is your host, Kim Sutton, and today I am thrilled to have an awesome guest, Brogan Micallef, I got that right, right?
BROGAN MICALLEF: Yes, you did!
KIM : Awesome. Brogan is a content strategist with BroganMicallef.com. Welcome Brogan. I’m so happy you’re here!
BROGAN MICALLEF: Thanks, Kim. I’m so excited to be here too!
KIM : Brogan helps determined Heart- Centered and Creative Entrepreneurs get their message out of their head into their people. That is so fabulous. I have never heard it said that way, but I absolutely love it. Can you share about your journey, how you got to where you are today and yeah, like what you’re doing?
BROGAN MICALLEF: Yeah, sure. So as far as my Entrepreneurial journey really started maybe two or three years ago, what definitely wasn’t one of those kids who was stealing cookies by the side of the corridor or anything like that. My Entrepreneurial spirit started much later on, and so I’ve been working in kind of Content Strategy and Communication, Online Marketing basically since I graduated from Uni Surrey it’s four or five years now, and I got to the stage where in my job it was basically my role to start out our Communication Strategy for Online basically from scratch, sorry I was fresh out of Uni, had no idea what I was doing and I somehow stumbled upon Marie Folio and her Bicycle Program and I wanted to upskill, didn’t want to go back into another Marketing Uni Degree, so I decided to learn from an Entrepreneur who was at basically at the front of the game, right. Because Entrepreneurs have to understand Online Marketing, especially if you’ve got an Online business. So I decided that that was the best place to learn from. I think I got to a BAT Module 2 and decided, you know what, like stuff learning this for my job, I’m going to stop my business. I kind of spent the next couple of years trying to work out what I wanted to do. Ended up working with a Business Coach who brought from his thought who kind of showed me that, hey, you do really love communication and this is definitely what you’re supposed to do. And so everything kind of just went from there and having someone to kind of build my business with, was for me definitely the best decision. Especially because you’re kind of making that transition from the corporate world and all of the, you know, the mindset stuff that goes on with creating a business, which beforehand I never knew existed. It’s not something that ever came up in my, my corporate job. So having someone there to support me through that process, was absolutely amazing and the really good thing about it now is that I still get to do the work that I absolutely love. I still get to work on communication and content strategy, but now I get to choose who I work with, and I get to work with amazing women from all over the world who have incredible businesses, but who really kind of struggle with, like you said in the interview you know, getting their message out of their head and to those who really need it most and for me that’s the really important part. It’s I strongly believe that everyone has a message to share and that everyone can help somebody else. And so my job is really to help them kind of facilitate that process and to help them help those who they were kind of cold to help.
KIM : Oh, I love every bit of that. How many of your clients would you say come to you without clearly knowing who their ideal client is and do you help them with that?
BROGAN MICALLEF: Yeah, so that’s probably about 50 – 50. I think there’s been especially more recently, there’s been a lot kind of talk about, you know, being really super clear on who your ideal client is. So some people come to me and they’re already very clear on who they’re targeting and who their ideal client is, and others are kind of just like: “ I help women, which as we know is definitely not specific enough.” So yeah, that is definitely a part of, of what I do, is you know, if you’re not clear on who you’re targeting, we kind of worked through some different questions and I helped them kind of really clarify that and figure out exactly who they are targeting, and the other kind of important element within that kind of whole conversation is I’ve found that we’ve, when some people have done this kind of like ideal customer Avatar or you know, your dream client whenever you want to call it, that kind of work. Oftentimes there’s a really big focus on what those women or people, whoever your ideal client is, what they kind of struggle with just in terms of their business. You know, what’s going on in their business, what challenges they face. And a lot of people are kind of forgetting to add those other kind of lifestyle elements, that round out their ideal client into a real person. So for example, they, you know, might not think about the TV Shows they watch or the Websites that they love looking at all the different entrepreneurs that they follow or the fact that they’ve just got married, or they’ve just had a baby or you know, their kids have often kind of playing up or whatever, and they’re in this really hard transition in life. And the reason that it’s really important to include that stuff in part of your ideal client work is that, like I said, like it helps to round out your ideal client into a real person. Because as humans, like when not just all about business. And there are so many other facets to our life, to our personality and that kind of content and that kind of information is what is going to really help you add personality to your content, and to really create content that connects with people. Because that’s where you’re going to get the emotional ties from. And that’s where you’re really going to either write something or film a video or create a Podcast Episode that you know your ideal client reads or hears and makes them say like: “ Wow, this is the person for me,this is the person I have to work with. How is she or he like in my head, how do they know exactly what I’m struggling with?”
KIM : So I have to ask you, does your ideal client have a name?
BROGAN MICALLEF: I often kind of changed my ideal client. I don’t know why. It kind of sounds a bit silly, but it’s like I can never quite set along exactly what her name is. So for me, I have a specific person in mind but I haven’t actually given her a name. And I think you can do it either way if it really, if that feels right for you, and if that helps you when it comes to writing content for your business or it comes to creating products and services. If it really helps to have a name in mind, then you can totally do that. The other way that you can do it as well is well I have, you know, so I’ve got my ideal client profile.Often I try and think about people who are already in my community that match that ideal profile really closely, and when it comes to thinking about a new product or service or thinking about a particular Blog Post that I want to write, I try and keep that particular person in mind and I find that for me, that really works in keeping an actual real person in mind, because that’s the other important factor with your ideal client profile is that you have to back it up with like real data. It can’t just be someone who you’ve kind of imagined out of nothing because often what can happen then is your, you end up creating problems that, that don’t actually exist or that people aren’t actually struggling with. And as we know, like people have enough problems as it is. They don’t need us to create more for them.–
— [ Laughing ] So yeah, exactly. So it is really important that whether you know you’re just keeping an actual real person in mind who is your ideal client or whether you’re creating your, you know, your fictional ideal customer Avatar, you need to include the real data and so you know that’s serving your audience. It’s paying attention when you are talking to people on Discovery Calls or Sales Calls if you, if your business is structured that way, you know, it’s just paying attention to what people actually say, and that will give you the information that you need to add that real data into your Ideal Customer Avatar. And that is what is really going to make it powerful.
KIM : I am guilty of only having gotten so far as Speakers, Authors and Coaches, so I know that I have work to do, but making that transition because when I started my business in 2012, I was one of those: “ Oh everyone, people you know, who do you want to work for? Oh, any entrepreneur?” Well, I, I’ve learned over the last four years that that couldn’t be further from the truth. And I love how you say Heart- Centered because I am all about that myself. Like I love helping Coaches, Speakers and Authors spread their messages and their programs and their products to the people who need to see them and I think that that is very much similar to what you are trying to do as well. The reason why I asked if you’ve set a name was because it intrigues me greatly that John Lee Dumas has actually named his perfect listener, Jimmy, and he has, he’s even gone so far as to have a video on his about page. I’ll put a link to it in the Show Notes for anybody who’s interested in watching it, but he has a whole video that he’s created about Jimmy. I don’t know that it’s necessary to go that far, but it’s definitely interesting how in depth he’s gone.
BROGAN MICALLEF: Yeah, that is really cool. I’d actually love to see that video, but yeah, I think again, it depends on, on what you need to do in order to really clarify who that person is. And the other good thing about either creating a video like that and putting it on your Website or as seen other Entrepreneurs write a Blog Post that’s all about exactly who they serve and who they can help the most. And the good thing about kind of putting it out there publicly, if you like, is that when your ideal client reads that, and they go and they see that it’s, you know, such and such a person who runs this type of business and is really into like running and green smoothies or whatever. They read that and they go: “That’s me,, that is totally me. This person is exactly who I’m looking for and who I, who I want to work with, like this must be the perfect person for me because like it’s spelled out like I can see myself in this profile.” And so it can be really powerful to help draw the right people to you. And at the same time repel those that you are not meant to serve. And you know, it’s interesting that you talked about, you know, right at the start, you know, you just wanted to help everyone. And I think honestly, most of us are at that stage when we first started our business, because we kind of feel like: “Oh no, we don’t want anyone to miss out.” Like: ‘ You know, we want to help everyone and we know that we can help everyone in that sense.” But the whole point of doing that ideal customer Avatar activity and realizing that there is a core group of people who you can really, really help and who are ready for you to help. And that’s the important aspect. Those people are the ones who are ready to take action and who you can really help to achieve whatever it is that you are trying to help them with through your business. And you know, trying to being able to help everyone, is is really not, is not a reality. And you know, there’s enough people out there in the world and we can access them through the Internet. That having a really small niche overtake business can totally work, because you have the potential to be able to reach so many more people now, than if you had started the same business in your local community for example.
KIM :. Oh, absolutely! So I would love to hear your interpretation of Heart- Centered Entrepreneurs. I know you say Heart -Centered and Creative Entrepreneurs, but when you are serving Heart- Centered, what are you looking for? That’s my question, expand themselves when they’re coming out of my mouth, so forgive me, but there’s a part 2. What happens if somebody who you don’t consider to be Heart- Centered and creative comes your way and wants to hire you? Do you have a practice for that?
BROGAN MICALLEF: I think it’s just being open and honest with yourself and with them. Because I think what I’ve found is that knowing that I can best help somebody who is Heart-Centered and who is Creative and I will come back and I’ll define what I mean by Heart-Centered in a minute. Knowing that those are the people who I can really get results for, and who I can really help them deal with it or aware I’m all their stress or their frustration or whatever they’re feeling in terms of their content. Whether that’s for their Blog or Social Media. I know that I can really help them get results and I know that they’re often in a space where they’re more ready to take action. They’re more ready to commit, they’re, they’re more ready to just jump on this and go like: “Yeah, this is what I really need right now,this is a priority for me right now, so I’m just going to go ahead and yeah, let’s do this.” Whereas if someone comes to me and they don’t necessarily fit that bill, generally speaking, they’re not in the place where they’re ready for me to help them, and again, that’s it’s just about being open and honest with them because for me, you know, I consider myself to be a Heart- Centered business owner as well. And for me that just doesn’t feel right. If I know that I can’t really help you and if I know that I can’t help you get the results that you’re looking for, and if I know that I’m not the best person to help you through this next stage in your journey, it doesn’t feel right to me to take your money in that sense or to to work with you, and so if that ever happens, if I’ve got somebody else in mind, who I think would be a better fit for them, then you know, I pass on their contact details. Or if I have, if I know of other resources that I think would be helpful for them, then I always just, you know, pass that on and explain as well why I think that we’re not going to be a good fit. And then in terms of kind of what I consider Heart- Centered to be, I think it’s really the person who is really committed to helping people and at the core of their being that is what really drives them. They are generous and they are giving and to them what makes them feel amazing when they wake up each morning is knowing that they have the opportunity to really help somebody else and whether that is for free through the resources, the free resources that they put out or whether that’s through the clients or the customers that they work with through their business. I think it’s just a whole attitude of, of how you look at business and how you look at the interaction between you as the business owner and your client and customer and I think it’s really looking at that as an actual relationship and not just as a transaction and the facts that you know, you want to kind of get to know your customer or your client as a person, and it’s not merely just an exchange of money for a service or a product.
KIM : I absolutely love all of that. And when I was starting out, it was honestly everyone because I was afraid that it wasn’t going to succeed. So I was open to accepting payments from anybody who was willing to hire me and that it changed. It took a few years to change, but when it did, it sort of slapped me in the face. I was like: “Hello,” you know, it — You can be so much more enthusiastic about what you’re doing for other people when you totally embrace what they’re doing, and although nobody else’s success is ever going to be your 100 percent priority, like your own successes, it’s a lot easier to feel 99% — yes -engaged because when you’re not, when you’re only 1% invested in whether or not they succeed is so easy to shove it to the bottom of the pile repeatedly and that’s where those negative feedbacks come from, and you don’t want that, it’s just –
BROGAN MICALLEF: — Exactly! It’s not a, it’s not a good place to kind of run your business from because it will completely drain you. Especially if you do consider yourself to be someone who is more of a kind of hot scented or creative or that kind of type of Entrepreneur. It will drain you and it will. It will kind of habits affect. I think kind of, you know, the interesting point with the whole kind of ideal customer Avatar or dream client conversation is that it is something that does take time and starting from a place you know, at the start of your business or wherever you are right now. Like even if you think you’re still in that kind of phase of: “Oh, I want to help everyone.” I think it’s still a useful phase to be in because you know, like you said, it does help you clarify exactly who you want to work with and it does show you: “Okay, this kind of person, when I work with them I feel really drained. I don’t really feel good. I’m not invested in their, in their success. But when I work with this other kind of person, it’s completely different. I feel uplifted, I feel incredible and I am feel very invested in their success.” So I think if you are kind of in that phase now where you’re maybe afraid to kind of narrowed down your focus of who you serve, use that as an opportunity to really work out who you love to work with. And then gradually over time like find more of those people and you’ll find that you will eventually, organically discover who your kind of dream client is. And so I think that that whole process is incredibly useful.
KIM : I found that draining could even follow me into Facebook because when I was focused on everybody and anybody, I was a member of no joke, probably a hundred and 80 different Facebook Groups. Right? [ laughing ] So as I got here, I started getting out of the Facebook Groups that weren’t in line with what I was doing. And over time I also realized that Facebook Groups may not be the best place for finding my clients. And Linkedin really became more key and a bigger part of where I was doing my search because they were, they were the clients who really were looking for me. And there’s, there’s so many great groups over there which leads me to wanting to ask about where you see some of the mistakes or mishaps or maybe just oversights happening when people are looking at their Blog, at their Email Newsletters and Social Media. Are there any big points that you see people just overlook when they’re looking, when they’re looking at their overall strategy?
BROGAN MICALLEF: Yes, so the biggest one, is getting caught up in Hashtag, all the things and trying to do everything all at once and I see so many, especially like solopreneurs, or you may have maybe a VA or a very small team, but I see so many Entrepreneurs, you know, kind of get caught up in the next best thing and kind of bounced between, especially on Social Media, bounce between kind of like each of the Social Networks and kind of try and be always about following the trends and like you said before, you know, where you found out that okay, maybe my ideal clients actually more likely to be on LinkedIn rather than in Facebook Groups like that’s a really powerful and important realization and I think we all need to kind of at regular intervals like step back, and take that bird’s eye view and go, okay, do I really need to be on Twitter or do I really need to be in a Facebook Group? Or do I really need to be on Instagram and I think often we’re afraid to say, you know what, I don’t really need to be here because it’s not helping me, you know, build my, you know, like and trust factor, reach more of my ideal clients, get more people on my list and eventually lead to more sales and I think we can get caught up in trying to use Social Media for business, like we do or did on our Personal Profiles and they have very different. Your Business Profiles, um yes about building that connection with people about building that relationship with people, but at the same time if it’s not helping achieve your business goals, then why are you there? And maybe it’s a matter of looking at, okay, am I using it strategically? Am I actually putting out content that is helping to build my know, like and trust factor that’s telling people about my business, about sharing the different products and services that I offer, showing people how I can help them? Or are you using it a bit more kind of Ad Hoc or do you just not need to be there? And so I think that’s a really important thing to, you know, take that time to kind of step back and analyze that. And the same thing kind of goes with your Blog. So when I talk about Blogs, I kind of think about it as your kind of core piece of communication. So your Blog can either be, you know, kind of like the traditional Written Blog or it can be a Video Blog or even it can include a Podcast. So it’s thinking about it in terms of, okay, this is my kind of main piece of content that I’m putting out and it’s always a good idea to have it on your own site because that’s where you’re driving traffic to your, you’re driving traffic to you rather than trying to push them over to your Facebook Page which you don’t own. So I think again, taking that step back, looking at your Blog and saying: “Okay, what kind of content do I actually really enjoy creating?” And kind of not ignoring, but taking kind of expert advice in that sense with a grain of salt. Because yes, writing kind of a long form Blog Posts is really great for a CEO, is can be really great for building your expertise, but at the same time if you absolutely hate writing and it completely drains you to write an a thousand or 2000 word Blog Post, then people are going to feel that because I really believe that the energy that you bring to your content, whether that’s written, whether it’s filmed or it’s an audio, people are really gonna feel that and if you are creating from a place of – I really don’t want to do this, it just feels icky, I hate doing this, then people are going to feel that. So take a look at, okay, what kind of content do I let Craig? Maybe you don’t like writing, but maybe video is something that you really enjoy and that comes across really well for you and that your community really enjoys. So then use that aspect of it, I’m using that as your Blog. So I think the kind of main point of all of this is yes, like keep on top of the trends and keep reading, what are some of the kind of big time Entrepreneurs are talking about in terms of, you know, the future of Social Media or the future of content or the future of Online communication, but at the same time always take that step back and have a look at what is really going to work for you and what is going to make you feel really great and what is going to help your community feel really amazing and I think that is the most important thing when it comes to creating any type of content for your business.
KIM : You just gave me an Aha moment because I just stole that from John Lee Dumas, [ laughing ] referring to his site for dummy video. Just wrote the Aha moment, right? Right. Tell me. Anyway, I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that my Podcast really is serving as Blog content and I’ve been working on the Blog or on the Podcast for about a month now and all the transcriptions are going on my Blog and it really is benefiting a CEO just as much as writing an article and I’m so much more enthusiastic about this right now than any Blog Article I could write and quite honestly, any blog article I would write right now is probably going into one of my solo episodes and that’s where my enthusiasm is and video for me now. I would honestly rather get on stage and talk to an audience. Then I would get in front of the camera and talk to an audience that I can’t see because I feed off of people, you know?
BROGAN MICALLEF: Yeah.
KIM : So that is why I’ve been so hesitant to be out there and on Periscope or Facebook Live. I just wasn’t feeling comfortable there, so I really appreciate that you’re saying that you have to know where your strengths are, you have to know where your comfort level is. You should always try to get a little bit out of your comfort level because then he can stretch yourself, but find your comfort in one of those areas first and then figure out how to stretch it. Let me tell you, this nurse starting this Podcast was definitely outside of my comfort zone. [ Laughing ] I just, I remember like four years ago, not even being comfortable enough to get on a Skype Call with anybody, so the fact that I’m doing this now, I’m absolutely loving it. There you go. Stretch yourself. What have you seen as being one of your, scratch that, you and I both have our own Facebook Groups. Do you think that that’s an important key for a Heart- Centered Entrepreneur is to have a group and a page?
BROGAN MICALLEF: Again, from of like what we were just talking about, it completely depends on you, and it depends on how you like to show up for your community and know what kind of an energy you can bring to it. I have, you know, kind of Biz Buddies who kind of quick the knees, the idea of having their own Facebook Group because, but them, it’s like there’s so much work involved, I can’t show up everyday like that.,This gonna, if it’s going to drain me, there’s gonna be so much energy involved. Whereas for me, I get really excited by the idea of having a place where I can show up every day where I can help to encourage and to kind of nurture those entrepreneurs who really want to improve their content. And so again, I think it’s really important like step back and have a look at is it gonna fit with your personality, with how you’d like to show up with what else you have going on in your business and how many Social Media Networks you’re already on and how much time you can actually commit to it, because especially with Facebook Groups, I think that is a, and running your own in that sense is you need to be able to put in the time and especially earlier on, so my Facebook Group is only a couple of months old and you know, the amount of time that you need to put in at that stage, is quite a lot because you’re the one who’s initiating conversation. You’re the one who is, you know, moving things along and encouraging people to share their, in my case they’re content or things that they’re struggling with in terms of their content. So again, it’s yet take that step back and look at, okay, does it fit with what you’re doing? Does it fit with your personality? Does it fit with even just how much time you have available? And the other thing as well as you don’t necessarily have to have your own Facebook Group, you can find a group that is run by somebody else that gives you that sense of community and that gives you that sense of, you know, kind of sharing this journey with lack of minded individuals, and there are a lot of kind of more Heart – Centered, um, types of Facebook Groups now, and they still give you the opportunity to kind of promote your services. But at the same time it’s more focused on building that community and that supportive space to kind of just help you through the like day to day stuff as it comes up with being an Entrepreneur. So again, like just step back and have a look at what’s really going to work for you and what fits for your situation.
KIM : That’s such a valid point about how much time you have to. Because even my group has seen very little of me census Podcasts got launched just because of everything I’d been doing. So shout out to the group members, apologize. I haven’t been in there as much as I want to, but I will be back. What are you working on right now that especially excites you?
BROGAN MICALLEF: So, right now, I’m really kind of focused on helping my determined Heart – Centered and Creative Entrepreneurs to really rock out the rest of 2016 and set themselves up for an epic 2017 because I know this kind of a fairly big camp of people who are shocked that we’re in November and I kind of worried that they set all these goals at the start of the year. Whether that was to know that this was going to be the year that they were gonna Blog every single week or this was going to be the year that they would get an Email the least consistently. But now it’s been a couple of months and they’re kind of afraid that their list has forgotten who they are or you know they were going to get really strategic about Social Media and they were just going to pick a couple of platforms, but then Facebook Live came out and Snapchat got even bigger so they got distracted and started running around trying to do everything all at once, and so I’ve created a new kind of Pop Up Service Code, the content overhaul, which is really designed for Entrepreneurs who are feeling like I have not achieved what I wanted to achieve this year and who need someone to kind of help give them strategic direction and to help them step back and have that bird’s eye view of what’s going on really, for their content strategy. Having a look at, okay, what’s working, what’s not? What can you tweak? What can you change? Story that you can rock the end of 2016 and that means you know, we’ve still got a little under two months left and that is still plenty of time to, you know, help you push closer towards maybe an income goal that you had, or some kind of content creation goal that you had and so the service is really designed to help you take that step back and come up with a really clear and specific action plan, to help you work towards those goals that you set at the start of the year. Also to, to help you kind of set yourself up for a really good 2017. And that’s kind of from a mindset perspective as well and kind of coming up with a plan now, and working towards achieving those goals. That is really going to help you gonna reframe your mindset, reframe how you’re thinking right now about your content and that is gonna make you know it next year, so much easier in and of itself. So yeah, I’m really excited about this new Popup Service, I’m really offering it with, November and December. So for the rest of 2016, Yes, sorry If that is something that you were really struggling with, I would absolutely love to help you though.
KIM : We have links to that in the Show Notes. So listeners, if you’d like to find out more information, please visit, TheKimSutton.com/PP084. We’re gonna have a circle background to the beginning of our conversation really quickly, where you talked about B-School. If you could do it all again, and I’m only asking this because I don’t know that any of the other guests so far went through B-School, it was never something that came up. Would you have any doubt about signing up for it again and would you recommend it to other Entrepreneurs who are just starting out?
BROGAN MICALLEF: I never once regretted that decision. For me, it was the kind of turning point that showed me that I wanted to be an Entrepreneur and that showed me another path and that showed me that I didn’t have to stay in a 9:00 to 5:00 and that the skills that I was building, I could use to create my own business and to help people who I really wanted to help and that really excited me to help. And so if that’s kind of a space that you’re in, B-School is amazing. And I think too, it’s also increased, I mean the community isn’t massive so community is huge and there is, you know, the range of people that is in that community never ceases to amaze me. So definitely, if you’re just starting out whether you know what you’d want to do or not, it doesn’t really matter, B-School can definitely help you, and also too, if you maybe have already started your own business and you just kind of need a bit more of a refresh or you need a bit more, a bit more direction or you need a community of like- minded people who can help support you and she won. And you want to learn from you know, Marie Forleo who has been in business for, for what seems like forever in terms of Internet years and who you know, has, has weathered a lot of different stages of business for yourself and you know, she’s someone who you look up to as a mentor then, yeah, basically is definitely a really, really good investment and yeah, I wouldn’t change investing in that program for the world.
KIM : There will also be a link to B-School in the show notes. However it is not rolling enrollment. She opens it up once a year. At the top of my head, I can’t remember what month it’s in Brooklyn. Do you happen to know that?
BROGAN MICALLEF: Yeah. So I’m pretty sure it’s starts in March, but I’m pretty sure that she started advertising it already. So the kind of lead up to B-School is a pretty awesome and intense launched. So even if you’re just interested in launch strategy, definitely head over to B-School and that’s in the show notes. And even if you’re not interested in signing up for B-School, just from like a launch strategy perspective, it’s really valuable to have a look at, you know kind of what’s possible for, you know, and an amazing, an amazing launch and kind of what you can take away from that, even if it’s just one small element of it that you can incorporate into, into your business. So yeah, there’s tons, there’s tons to learn from it either way.
KIM : So you went through B-School, you hired a Business Coach, what other tools, not that those two are tools, but I think you get my point. What tools were really are, are really instrumental in helping you run your business day to day?
BROGAN MICALLEF: So the other kind of big element that I would include, So yeah, B-School Business Coach, the third one is not really a tool, but it is, it’s Biz Buddies. Find people who you can, you know, really be open and honest with, find people who you can share this journey with. Find people who you know, you can encourage and can, who, who in turn can encourage and support you. That in and of itself has been instrumental for me in overcoming a lot of the mindset stuff that comes up and also to like just having someone to talk to about, you know, the little kind of business things that maybe people in your off – the- Internet life don’t necessarily either understand or can really relate to. Finding people who can just really support you has been huge and I honestly just found two that I can think of in particular, I met through Facebook Groups and you know, just putting myself out there and commenting on other people’s posts and you know, asking people just to jump on Skype for like a virtual coffee chat. And that’s something that I think is really important to do. And this is like, you know, no sales pitch conversation. This is just getting back to you know, kind of the basics of building good relationships and just talking with other Entrepreneurs, and that in and of itself is incredibly valuable. And you don’t know where that relationship could lead to. You know, you might have someone who is always going to be in your corner, or as I’ve seen with some other Entrepreneurs, you might find someone who ends up being your business partner or who ends up being a client or customer later on. So relationships and finding these buddies is definitely a really big thing that I recommend doing.
KIM : Oh, I completely agree. And I want to add that some of mine are even in the same industry. I mean you’re in — Yes–, very much the same industry as I am. And the thing is I don’t look at anybody as competition. I am me, you are you. We’re going to attract different people even if we’re both going after Heart- Centered people. It’s just how it goes. And if somebody comes along that doesn’t feel right for me. Yes. I’ll send them over to you because there’s a like: “Oh it escaped me.” But you said it earlier, like trust. What would you say for me? [Laughing]
BROGAN MICALLEF: What’s the expression? Like no and trust, right? — No like and trust.–
KIM: There you go. There’s no like- and- trust factor that I would feel comfortable sending a referral to somebody who was in the same market as I am, because I don’t look at anybody as competition. Their colleagues, even if we don’t work together, even if we’re not on the same payroll. — Exactly.– Yeah, and there’s no, there’s no bridge burning out there or there shouldn’t be. If you’re concerning yourself about somebody being competition, then you need to stop worrying about what everybody else is doing and start worrying about what you’re doing instead –oh yes–of worrying about what you’re doing instead. And that’s been a struggle. I’ve had to go through myself or a lesson that I had to learn myself was stopping worrying about what other people were doing and focus on myself finally.
BROGAN MICALLEF: Exactly. Because it’s all too easy to get caught up in comparison, especially with people who are, either in the same industry as you or someone who is kind of further along than you. And I think yes, working hard in your business is always incredibly important, but you know, taking the time to always kind of step back and reflect. I always find that whenever I take that step back, whether that’s going on holidays or maybe it’s just having a staycation, but the reason that the times when I’m really able to connect back in with what it is that I’m doing and that’s when you kind of realize that there’s no need for you to compare yourself to anyone else. There’s no need for you to think of other people as as competition, so if that’s something that you’re really struggling with, then maybe it’s time to take a little bit of a step back and reconnect. Like Simon Sinek says, reconnect with your why and you know, and going back into why you’re actually doing this in the first place and why it’s so important for you to help the people that you’re helping, and that in and of itself will help when it comes to comparing yourself to other people or kind of feeling or viewing other people as, as the competition.
KIM : Have you found that when you take that moment to step back, that you are able to be more transparent and authentic in your posts wherever they go?
BROGAN MICALLEF: Yes, so this actually just happened for me a couple of days ago, so very recently, so I have just gone just being kind of on holidays and because you know, this is kind of I’m coming up for my first year in business. So this is also the year that I kind of transitioned out of my 9:00 to 5:00. So it was a pretty crazy year in terms of workload. And so the holiday that I am just been on was literally like my first holiday in like a year. And so kind of everything really hit at that point where it was like okay, it’s just why am I doing the things that I’m doing? Like is there a reason that I’m creating this particular kind of content. And like even as a content strategist, like it’s important for me to still step back and to try new things and to switch things up. And one of the things that I really noticed, was that for me there were certain aspects of content creation that were no longer fun. And the reason that it wasn’t fun was because I’d just been, you know, kind of pushing and just kind of making myself do stuff and not kind of checking in with, okay, does this actually really feel good? And so by taking that step back and kind of pulling myself out of my business for a little bit really helps that realization too, to come clear. And I did a Facebook Live in my group just yesterday about this. And it just enabled me to be much more transparent and vulnerable with my community. And to say, you know, I think very often it’s easy for well,, easier for us to give grace and to be encouraging to other people, but we find it really difficult to do for ourselves. And it’s important to, to step back and to look at things almost with an outside perspective, and to give yourself that grace and to give yourself that encouragement and to continually reassess why you’re doing the things that you’re doing. Whether that’s for your content or whether that’s for any other aspect of your business, I think it’s such an important thing to make sure that you do.
KIM : Brogan Micallef, have you read The Charge by Brendon Burchard or The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte?
BROGAN MICALLEF: The Charge by Brendon Burchard? Yes.
KIM : Readers, I have to recommend both of those and they will be in the show notes, but the Desire Map, that was the first one that really got me on that. It showed me the words that I wanted to be going for and every aspect of my life and it’s still a struggle. You had to, as Brogan Micallef said, you have to step back and take a look at it. Is this action congruent with the words that I’m going for in my life and if they’re not, just really consider, is this money worth taking or should I pass it by and wait for something that is in line? –Yeah! — And I know that scary, it really is. Do I turn down this opportunity in the income it’s going to provide right now or do I hold off and wait for something better to go along? Trust me, I’ve been through that battle. I think we all.
BROGAN MICALLEF: I think we all do. Yeah. At different stages or another? Definitely.
KIM : Well, Brogan, this has been an incredible chat. I have loved it all. Where can listeners connect with you? I know you had the Facebook Group, and we’ll provide the link for the content overhaul in the show notes. Were specifically can people find you Online?
BROGAN MICALLEF: So my Main Hub, so my website, BroganMicallef.com. You can find me there, and I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and I’m at Brogan Micallef for all of those. Mostly I probably hang out on Instagram the most, and then yeah, like Kim said, there’ll be a link below for my Facebook Group as well, where I hang out a lot. So yeah, if you’re looking for me on Social Media, Facebook Group and Instagram is where I hang out the most.
KIM : On that note, I think I’m going to have to bring you back just for episode on Instagram. — I love Instagram.– [ laughing ] I, that’s where I struggled, but I would really love to know more, so listeners, stay tuned. There will be at least a part two with Brogan Micallef on Instagram, Twitter, I, I hang out on Twitter and Facebook, but Instagram still got me, so thank you so much again and thank you listeners for being here.
