Major Mistakes to Avoid When Networking to Grow Your Business with Carl Lucchi

Welcome to this episode of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento, and I have the amazing Carl Lucci with me. He is a business consultant with Success Builders, and the founder of a networking organization called I Refuse to Fail. Welcome Carl. Hey, thanks, Amanda. I’m very excited to have you here because I’ve known you.

At least a couple of years now, which is amazing. And we met on Alignable, which is like another version of LinkedIn. And I am very excited to have you here because I’ve done business networking with you. And I’ve learned a lot of really unique things about business networking from you.

And that’s why I wanted to have you here to share that with our audience. So tell us a little bit about how you got started and what you’re doing, business consulting and networking, and all of the things. I’ll give you some background and keep this as short as possible. In about 2009, I was doing some business consulting.

And Amanda, you’re not going to believe this, but I found out that I didn’t know everything, and I know it’s hard to believe. I was networking and helping people, but there were many things they needed that I needed to be an expert at, and I learned something different from you with the Google business profiles.

I want to avoid learning it. I don’t know it, so I need somebody like you. And, of course, you’re under my umbrella of things, of people that I referred to help them. And so I thought, I went to one of these things called the networking meeting, which I’d never been to before.

And I did things the same way they did it. You go there, you pass out business cards, you do an elevator pitch, you set up a one-on-one, you do all the same things, right? So this was good.  I was talking to the gentleman the one I was going to. He was trying to understand more about networking and said he had many members, but he was getting out of it and having a history of being a business developer.

I bought a Tampa Bay Networkers domain name and was still determining what I would do with it. But I thought I would return this to him and see if he. We wanted to utilize that and would do what all the platforms do today. I was just too far ahead of my time.

Like a line on Facebook, all this was new, but he didn’t want to do anything with it. And I thought I’d developed this thing. I could do something with it because networking would be an excellent way to meet people I could get to know and trust enough with my clients.

Of course, I thought that’s what everybody did with networking. So that was wrong. The mindset was, so I started Tampa Bay Networkers and kept telling people that this was a place I could go, and they could go online and see different people’s profiles, just like you do on some of these other platforms.

But nobody got it. They said, where are your meetings, Carl? So you’ll have to hit me over the head about ten times for me to start paying attention. I had to start my meetings. So, I cloned my meetings, just like I had learned from other meetings. And I did that. I started it in 2010, and it’s still there, but I was there to meet people, which I thought everybody else was to help them.

Help the people they meet. In other words, to build an umbrella of people, they know, like, and trust. And then, I was sitting in this chair in 2017 and realized this only works for some people. It worked for some people, but for most people, they quit networking, and I’ve met hundreds, if not thousands, of people over the set for seven years.

And so, as a business consultant, I tend not to do something anymore when something’s not working. I stopped. Personal networking. I left the organization there. I put it there for other people’s meetings, and they did what they wanted. I stopped networking and started tearing it apart from when I got in your car to when you got home when everybody primarily did face-to-face networking.

And I found some significant reasons it wasn’t networking because I did polls. I did surveys. I asked other people. I went to other groups and just watched. Then, I developed a formula that works better for networking because there are some significant areas of networking where people are making a mistake, and the groups are making a mistake.

But it’s not their fault. The reason why it’s that way is because that’s all they knew to do. They went, this is the way it was done. They copied that they do what everybody else does. So they follow the sheep, sometimes taking them off a cliff if it’s not working. And that’s not to say it doesn’t work for some people, but I found it was not working for most people.

I created a formula that worked better for networking. My philosophy is that you can only fix something if you know what they don’t know. You can only fix something if you know why it’s not working.  I looked at those aspects and tried to flip them around to where they would work. And that created this formula. I started doing live events in 2019, trying to test this to see if my formula worked.

I was getting terrific feedback. People said, Carl, I’m not networking as much, but I’m getting better results, and it’s working. So I thought, okay, I’m onto something. So I’ll continue to do that. COVID hit, and I couldn’t do that anymore. And so I found Alignable. Online, which is like LinkedIn Light for anybody who needs to learn what it is.

It’s not LinkedIn. It’s not Facebook. It’s somewhere in between. And I didn’t care for their platform, but I figured I would hang in for a while. And then they asked me to help them form groups and events and things like that. And I did that for about 2. 5 years and agreed to disagree with them on some things.

 I decided to go out independently and formed a group called. I refuse to fail. And through that group, I want you to know this is not about you. This was about helping other people. And once they get that concept, they can qualify. It’s not about selling people.

It’s about assisting people. So that’s how I got to where I am today with this. I utilize the same formula that I had, but I do it through osmosis because when people get into the organization, they have to follow the guidelines to do it. And there are just some major areas.

Would you like me to cover some of those areas? I would love to hear those areas because I’ve attended some of your networking meetings, and I know that they are drastically different than a typical you go around the room and give a minute.

Elevator pitch and all of that stuff. So please go ahead and tell us what’s different from everything you discussed. I liked what you said when driving in the car there. There’s a mindset about it. Preparation goes into attending a networking event, whether live or virtual; talking about those things will help us prepare whether we are doing it live.

I know more and more of those live ones are coming back, but I love to hear all that. This formula works no matter where you’re at. It’ll work at any event you go to, no matter what they tell you have to do. Because it’s pretty close to what they’re doing, but it’s just tweaking it a little to make it work better.

And yes, you should have a purpose when you’re driving to an event or online, getting ready to go to an event. There should be a reason why you’re doing it, and it should not be to go there to sell people. That’s different from what you’re networking for. Suppose you’re going there to sell people. Go to a trade show.

That’s where you sell people. Put up a booth, advertise, and hopefully, somebody comes by and says, I want one. But I’ve asked hundreds of people why you attended networking meetings.  I went there to build relationships. Why didn’t you go to a bar? You can go there and drink and have fun, and somebody will get drunk, and they may even buy what you have, or you might get a date.

What the heck? I don’t know how you’re going to build relationships. Let’s be honest. You’re going there because you have a product or a service that you want to promote yourself. Nothing wrong with that. That’s what everybody does in business networking. It’s how you handle it when you get there. I also asked the same people, did you go there to buy anything?

And this date has yet to raise an answer. I went there looking to buy something. I’ve never had it happen. So if you’ve got a hundred people going to an after-hours event, okay, live or online, going there to sell stuff, and a hundred people, those same people will not go there to buy anything.

 I thought there’s got to be a better way. So you go there with the idea. In my mind, I was building a team of unpaid salespeople. You’re going there to find somebody like Amanda that I get to know over time; it only happens in one meeting, and I will not give you a referral.

I’ll talk about referrals in a minute. I have to get to know her because my name is on it. If I connect you with someone, I get to know Amanda and then put Amanda. Under my umbrella. So that when I’m talking to somebody, Amanda is at the top of my mind. Amanda is somebody, my goodness.

This person could avail herself of Amanda’s service. And then I make that connection.  So if you go there with the intent of building a team of unpaid salespeople and you do that over time, it’s not; hey, this is a marathon. It’s not a sprint. It’s not something you do every time you go to do that. You take the time to do that. You’ll find you’re going to get a lot more success.

Number one. So that’s the first thing. So, what is your intent? And then everybody, the holy grail of networking is the elevator pitch. Okay. I don’t allow those in my meetings. I don’t particularly care for them because they’ve turned elevator pitches into mini seminars or elevator sales pitches, and nobody gives a damn what Carl does.

So why do I need to give you a pitch? I’ve simplified that, and the people who come to my meetings regularly get 15 seconds to introduce their name, business name, and business category. Hey, I’m a business consultant. And then say, I can’t wait to meet you to learn what you do.

So that’s really what you do. You get that out of the way. So you get your name, your business name. Okay. And they can put that in the chat. And then, I don’t know how many times you’ve heard it, but somebody will get up and say, I have a solution for you that will cure your ills, and this is what you need to do.

And I can’t wait to show you this because it will fix your problems. That’s what people do. And that’s an elevator sales page versus an elevator pitch. Okay. An elevator pitch should be no more than an introduction and an offer to meet people. When you’re doing live meetings, people go around also in the handout.

Business cards. Okay. Business cards have about three major purposes. Okay. If you’re in a contest to see who can collect the most, they’re really good because I had boxes of them that I couldn’t take with me everywhere. I had enough. I could have wallpapered three houses. Okay. I couldn’t carry them with me, but I collected them because everybody passed them out, and you got them, right?

Suppose you’re in the business of a competition to see who can collect the most, maybe. They’re great for getting spinach out of your teeth because you can get the end here. They’re really good for that. And the other one is I have business cards when I do live events, but if somebody says, Carl, do you have a business card?

I’ll say, yes, I do. What would you like it for? I want to know why they want it. I can refer somebody to I don’t do referrals. I’m sorry. What do you mean? You don’t do referrals. That’s why I only make connections. I get probably 50 to 100 referrals a year.

The people that Oh, Carl, I told somebody about you. They know you’re not going to sell them. You gave me your phone number, and I gave you your card. I got to call you. They don’t call because everybody thinks you’ll sell them anyway when you call. I don’t do that. The way I do it, Amanda, is if I meet someone I think Amanda can help, I’ll tell that person I’ve got a connection.

Her name is Amanda.  And she handles Google business profiles. She works with my clients. So I’m doing that. When would be a good time for me to have Amanda contact you? Now, number one, I find out they’re interested. Then, I assured them that Amanda was not going to call them. To sell them, she will contact them to educate them or explain what she does.

And then, if it works, that’s a wonderful thing because I would instead get ten solid referrals a year, or excuse me, ten solid connections a year versus a hundred referrals that have yet to contact me. Okay, so you need to train the people you’re talking to to make connections versus just giving out referrals.

 I don’t care whether it’s online, email, whatever. They don’t work. So that’s another aspect that is a big mistake. Setting up at least one with someone doesn’t have to be relevant to your business.

It doesn’t have to be the thought that someone will send you business. It should be. How can you help that person? Not how they can help you, and you should set it up.  I say I have a one versus a one-on-one. I say that because when I used to go to live events to test this out, you’d go into, and there might be 100 people there.

If you go to a meeting with 100 people, it doesn’t matter whether 6 or 100, you will only meet about 6. So I go up to someone. I never wore a name badge or anything. I advise people not to do that. That’s like putting a billboard on to get people to walk away from you when you’re at an event.

You want to go up and say, ” Amanda, I’m Carl. What do you do? And Amanda tells me what she does. And then she’ll say, Carl, what do you do? I’m a business consultant, but really, I want to find out a little bit more about what you do. And you keep gearing it back to Amanda, and then at some point, you say, what?”

We can’t do this all night. I’ve got a lot of people to meet. Let’s sit down and have some coffee, or can we do it on a Zoom call? Some people might utilize your service, but I would like to get to know you better. Would that be okay?  But Carl, what do you do?

We’ll talk about me again now that those two things, number one, show that you’re interested versus trying to be interesting, okay? And that you truly were there to help someone else. That is a good start for someone to say, you know what, this person was interested in me and what I do because that’s why they were doing anyway, so you’d be interested in what they do.

You can just take yourself out of the equation. And I hear people right now pulling their hair out. But how are they going to know what I do? Trust me, you get to know them. They’ll want to know what you do, and now you do it. And so you take that time to develop that relationship, right? The typical one-on-one is, Okay, Amanda, what do you do?

I can’t wait till she shuts up so I can talk about what I do because I don’t care what Amanda does. Okay. And about eight out of 10, that’s what it is. Some people know how to do it correctly and don’t get me wrong, but most do not. Okay. And you don’t want to waste your time with people who will waste your time.

And there’s a lot of them because they don’t know any better. It’s not their fault. It’s the way they were taught.  And then, once again, it goes back to the connections instead of referrals. You don’t want to say, I got somebody I’ll refer to you. I’m going to, once you give John a call, I know this guy, John, or I’ll tell John to call you.

Don’t do that. Could you take the time to connect that triangle and keep yourself in the loop? And then you get back. Amanda, did you get with Fred? Oh, geez, Carl. I forgot. Guess what? Amanda only gets connections.  Or I got with Fred. It’s great. Thanks for the connection, Carl, and then, hey, that’s great.

Guess what? Amanda now thinks more of Carl. So Carl’s more likely to get a connection. This is not brain surgery. This is pretty simple, but it’s just tweaking what people have been doing. Your goal is to do this. It is to build a team of unpaid salespeople, but it’s your methodology.

And that’s what we do in the I refuse to fail partnership. I only allow some people into the partnership to ensure they’re there for the right reasons. My name is on it. And the reason why I call it, I refuse to fail. I get some feedback on that, too. It’s okay to fail. Carl. No, I think failure is like death.

It’s pretty final. Okay. It’s okay to stumble. It’s okay to fall. So, could you get a pivot? It’s okay to get back up. Keep going. Just refuse to fail, refuse to die. Don’t allow anybody to tell you that’s going to happen. Keep doing it and ask for help. Everybody needs, that’s putting on my.

My consulting hat, but it’s okay to ask. I do it all the time. I’m older than water. I’m still asking questions. I’m still getting it.  So anyway, between that and you don’t have to be the head of an organization to do it. I happen to be the head of the organization demanding other people do it this way, but you can do that with your own business.

I think of it like competition. I think of people like trying to take the ball from each other. I love what you said. I was like, oh, my goodness. That makes so much sense. Carl. Just that. So go ahead and give it to him. 

That’s what they want. So go ahead and give it to them. They’re going to like you for that and trying to battle them. That’s a good analogy. Do you mind? No. You can go ahead and go ahead. I remember years ago, I was a credit union manager, and I would have to go to As a credit union representative, I would be forced to go to these chamber events.

And, of course, there are ten other credit unions. There are 20 other banks. There are credit card processors. There’s everyone, and their mother is like. It’s just a fight to talk to the most people. As you said, collect and give the most business cards; my area supervisor would want to know how many business cards.

Did you collect? I had to know she had to know that. And I was like. All right. Please give me your business card, everyone. I don’t. I’m not even talking to them. I need to form quality. No connections. I’m just literally, oh my gosh, my supervisor wants all of these business cards. So I’m just going to go collect them.

Like it doesn’t make sense, I love this methodology. Networking and I love that it works virtually and in person. So there’s no excuse for people after they’ve heard this episode to use that traditional networking, and you have to remember there’s really.

There are three types of networkers. There’s the uninformed, not their fault. They need to be made aware. They’re just, oh, that’s what you do. It’s not anybody’s fault. It’s not even the fault of the groups. They’re just cloning their group after other groups. It’s the same thing.

And then there’s the, what I call the nomad. That’s the person who jumps from networking meeting to networking meeting in hopes that somebody will buy what they have. That’s like throwing mud against the wall. Maybe every once in a while, even a blind squirrel gets a nut occasionally, but it won’t happen.

You’re not going to develop relationships. And then there’s a professional networker who understands why they should be there. Okay. Those are the only three types. And the idea is that what I’m trying to do is one person at a time, or in small groups, retrain people’s brains about it.

Networking and how it should be done. It takes work. It is a marathon. Okay. It does take time. And the other thing is if you’ve got a favorite event you go to, for heaven’s sake, invite people to go to it. If you feel it’s a quality event. The last thing I tell people at every event is if you like what we’re doing, please invite somebody like me here so we can get to know them, and possibly they can help us, or we can help them.

If you prefer to avoid the meeting, don’t tell anybody. And, of course, it gets a chuckle, but almost everybody that is not a nomad jumping from meeting to meeting, they come back, and now we’re developing a strong group. And these events we have every Wednesday are free at this taping time.

They’re every Wednesday, and they’re on Zoom. We don’t do any live events, but we do that. And then the partnership is something separate. And I, what I do is I use the live events to find those. You have to walk through the weeds to find the flowers. I find those right people who use the big Ziegler philosophy that we follow: if you help enough other people in life, get what they want, you’ll get what you want.

And that’s our philosophy. And then when I get those people under my umbrella, now I’ve got, I’ve got people out there doing it the right way with other people. So we can spread the word and get networking. On a straight and narrow, it needs to be done.

I do free consult consulting. I don’t charge people.  I give everybody a year free to consult. I’m not a coach. I won’t coach, but I will consult them on their business or any part of it. And they can contact me through iRefuse2Fail.

Have a one-on-one or whatever they want to do. That’s awesome. Thank you so much. And I truly appreciate you and everything that we do together. But this has been a lot of fun, and I’m very happy that we, you, were here to share your knowledge. I appreciate it, Amanda. Thank you, Carl.

Everything You Need to Know about Apple Business Connect

Welcome to episode 253 of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento, and if you are wondering why my voice sounds like this, please go back and listen to episode 243. 

Looking forward to sharing this with you today, it is a huge deal, and so much information needs to be gone over with this. The good thing is that we have not only this to go over with you, but we also have a download that you can use to make it easy to follow a step-by-step process.

So we will be talking about everything you need to know about Apple Business Connect. If you know about it, you’re probably wondering why she is waiting six months to talk about this. I am waiting six months to talk about it because I was recovering from being on life support in January.

So I was totally out of the loop, and I was out of the loop until about April, and I’m just starting to catch up back on things in my business. So definitely need to make sure that as I uncover these things and get around to thinking about them and talking about them, I share them with you.

So what is Apple Business Connect? In January, Apple upgraded its Apple Maps listing to Apple Business Connect. And it’s basically like Apple’s answer to Google Business Profile.

Apple Maps was like that before, but this has got a lot of upgrades. Let’s go ahead and talk about Apple Maps and why it would be important for you to focus on that now and get your listing to be taken care of.

There are over 1 million users who are currently choosing Apple Maps every single day. They’re using Apple Maps versus Google Maps. Google Business is my number one favorite place for you to focus on your business. There are other people out there that use Apple products.

I’m an Android user, but we want to capture the other end of the market. They’re using Apple products. And I’m sure that a lot of our listeners are using Apple. That is a great thing. If you like Apple, good for you. And here’s how you can capture all of your fellow Apple lovers.

So the first thing you’re going to do is claim your listing. You need an Apple ID to do this if you are an Android user. Could you make sure that you get an Apple ID? That’s going to be your first step. One thing that I want to go back to is, literally a couple of decades ago, we would have laughed at someone if they said, if you’re not on the internet, do you exist?

We would have been like. Nobody needs to be on the internet, right? 30 years ago, 20 years ago, that is not the case now because the internet is in every single person’s pocket, nearly every single person. Most of us need the internet to make a living.

So it is absolutely, positively necessary to be discoverable on the internet. And Google Maps is no longer the only way to do this now that Apple Maps has upgraded this Apple Business Connect profile.

We want to ensure that after you have your Apple ID, you will want to claim or create your listing. So if you have a brick-and-mortar store, your listing will most likely be there. Or you made an Apple Maps listing a long time ago. You will want to go in and upgrade all of that information.

 You’ll see that your business will now appear on Apple Maps. You’re going to be able to display limited one-time offers. And you’re going to be able to make announcements to Apple users as well. Users will be able to look for your business through Siri.

So they’re going to be able to say, Hey Siri, show me the best ice cream shop around me. You’re also going to benefit from the ever-growing iOS user base. So those Apple lovers, if you are one, You know that you guys are like diehard Apple-loving fans. You have an Apple MacBook, you’ve got the iPad, you’ve got the phone.

You love it. All those people expanding into that market will also be your users, and you can capture them as well. And the cool thing about this is that Apple Maps users, For example, can also use Google Maps, but Google Maps users typically can’t also use Apple Maps because if you have an Android, you can only get Google Maps there.

The Apple version, Apple Maps, is going to fail to work. Here is an insight there for you. And you’ll see your business’s performance and engagement on Apple Maps. So they have some metrics that you can track, and you’re going to be able to see how much people are engaging, much like Google Business Profile.

That is amazing. There is a simple and quick method to getting your business on Apple Maps. You’re going to claim your listing, and one of the benefits of doing this, much like Google Business Profile, is that you need help to make changes to your app listing. Someone can go on if you still need to claim your listing, just like on Google, and claim your business.

You want to ensure you’re the first to do it. You get your business claimed and start updating, ensuring the information is accurate and getting found by your ideal customers. You’re also going to be able to customize your listing, so then that way, you can get clients and customers To know exactly why they need to hire you, buy your service, and buy your product.

 You can also post photos from the business if you like. Just like Google Business Profile, you can post photos of the inside of your business, your products, and your services.  

 Even if you don’t sell necessarily like a product, you can use it for your service-based business as well. You are also going to be able to share your business within iMessaging. So it’s going to make it easier for people to say, Hey, want to go to wherever and it’s going to be able to, you’re going to be able to share it a little easier in text messages on iPhone.

The other cool thing is that there is a business chat, and it also helps you to leverage Apple Pay so you can integrate your Apple Pay. Payments are easier with the Apple Business Connect connectivity, whatever you call it. So these are all reasons you should make sure you go and claim your Apple Business Connect today.

And if you would like to, go ahead and download our free guide. And this guide is the Apple Business Listing Blueprint. It’s a step-by-step guide to getting your business promoted in Apple Maps on Siri, and even more so, you can go to her website, which is TDM, and you’re going to go to Apple Business Listing Blueprint, and the link will be in the show notes to this episode too.

So you can click there. Wherever you’re listening to it, and you’re going to be able to find that, go and collect your listing, spruce it up, give it all the information that it needs, your hours, your details, anything that you can give it because you literally can’t afford to be on there, so definitely go and do that.

If you need help with that, please don’t hesitate to contact us. It’s at TD Marketing. We are more than willing to help you with that. And we do have Apple business connect to set up services available, but for now, you can go ahead and follow our step-by-step guide. It will guide you through every single step of what you need to do to claim or create your Apple business connect listing.

If you enjoyed The Determined Mom show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Consider sharing with your friends and family you know would be interested in any of our episodes. We greatly appreciate it; that is how we can help more moms like you grow and prosper. Thank you, and have a great week.

How to Drive Targeted Buyers to Your Website with Tim Zhang

Welcome to this episode of The Determined Mom Show. I have the amazing Tim Zhang here, and we will talk today about how to drive targeted buyers to your website. Before we start, Tim, I would love to hear a little about you and how you got into the world. Into the online space and how you got into helping people to drive traffic.

That’s a good question right off the bat. I was starting strong. Let’s load the question. Years ago. So I used to be an actor for most of my life. I started acting when I was still in high school, got myself an agent, and went to acting school, yada yada. I was 1920. I started booking acting jobs.

I’m like; I’m going to be an actor forever. It’s great. And then, I reached my mid-twenties.  I had a quarter-life crisis. I’m just like, do I want to do this forever? Because I, when you’re an actor, it’s yes, you’re working on shows and stuff like that, but it’s not as consistent.

You may book a couple of gigs a year and still like waiting tables and doing all this other stuff. It’s because I know I can do more with my life. I know I was smart enough to do more, but I have yet to gain experience in anything else. So with experience or knowledge in anything, what do you do?

You become a realtor. Yay. And so I became a realtor. It took me a little while to get my real estate license, about half a year where it’s ground down. I started getting into real estate, and my first year in real estate was so difficult because I got into real estate being young and an artist.

Most people that get into real estate in their thirties, forties, or whatever they have, like a network, are looking to buy homes and are moving. I had no one in my circle looking to buy a house, and I live in Vancouver, a very expensive city. And all of my friends are young, broke artists.

It’s its high-ticket closing sales program. I got my shit together, and I joined the program, and it was. Life changing, and anybody who has never invested in a coach or bought any programs for me, I don’t know if I want to work with you. Cause you have; there are so many limiting beliefs to break.

And literally, the first two weeks of that program were breaking false beliefs about money, about, about business, about everything. And that just completely changed my life. And having learned sales and closing and mindset and all this other stuff, I’m like, okay, that’s cool. Real estate is not that interesting anymore because when I first got into real estate and started reading real estate books and, being a realtor, like you first get your license gun, I’m going to build like a kick-ass team.

I won’t be a millionaire, just selling houses left and right. And then once I got into the online space and saw how he was doing his business and learning about marketing and copywriting, how to get leads and stuff like that. And it’s okay; this is way more interesting. But I stuck around real estate for a couple more years just because I got a license, which was still my first year.

I didn’t want to throw that away. And so I kept real estate but knew that. I wasn’t going to be around forever. To short story long, I left and started my marketing agency after three years. And then that, that also had a lot of like education for me. I learned a lot during that time.

At least for me. It’s especially if you know how once it clicks in for you once you understand the process of creating offers generating customers, building lists, and all this, like business marketing. And it’s okay, you know how to do it. Why would you stop? You get to a point, and it’s you get it, and it’s easy.

So you have to take action. I love it. So for everybody listening, the thing that you’re going to do after this episode is take action. So what you’re going to learn, you’re going to go, and you’re going to take action.

Could you tell us how to drive targeted buyers to your website?

If you already understand this, ah, I get it, that thing, you have to implement it. Cause if you’re not in, if you, if this isn’t making you a ton of money, you’re not implementing it properly. And if you haven’t heard this before, this will change your life.

I promise to be with you. The. On the internet and in real life, it doesn’t matter, but I’m only talking about the internet. There are only three forms of traffic. That is it. Three forms of traffic that you borrow, traffic that you buy or slash rent, traffic that you pay money for, or there’s traffic that you own.

The traffic you borrow, you render by, and traffic that you own. That is it, then, and let me break this down for you. So if you are new to the internet marketing game, I can translate this into something you already understand. So let’s say you’re promoting a movie. I’m Tom Cruise, right?

And I’m coming out with a movie, and oh my God, this is amazing. And the new mission is impossible, which is great. I’m promoting it. What do I do? I. Work. I borrow other people’s audience. I go on. Let’s say, Jimmy Kimmel. I go on entertainment weekly. I go on. These people already have where your dream audience is.

We talk about the movie and stuff, your insane stunts, and stunts that I’ve done. And everybody’s watching Jimmy Kimmel. Oh, I’m going to go check out mission impossible, dead reckoning part one in theaters and watch Tom Cruz try to kill himself to entertain the rest of us.

And that is Tom Cruise, boring traffic to get people into theaters. Now, a way that you can. How can you leverage this in your day-to-day business? The people are ready. People were your dream audience, your dream buyers. They already exist somewhere. They are either on the internet or in real life.

Suppose everybody goes to your coffee shop every single morning. Talk to the coffee shop owners like, Hey, can we put can we do a collaboration and, put a sign here right at your front thing saying, Hey, if you use a discount code, coffee being 25, get a pro, get 25% off of buying my thing.

That’s it. That’s your tedious traffic in day-to-day life now on the internet space, which is so much easier. There’s a lot more potential, right? We do collaborations. We do joint ventures. We do JVs, right? So where on the internet are your dream buyers already congregating, right? Working your way in means adding value.

You are not paying money for it. So what does that mean? So on Twitter, you are building a Twitter audience, right? You’re adding value to that network. And so you are, you’re creating high-quality content and interacting with people, talking to people that have your dream audience and like making comments, making engagements, and then they’ll eventually start following you.

Local mom groups add value, right? And start networking with the moms out there. Do collaborate with a group. Lead it to do like a Facebook live or something like that, where they already have an audience, right? And you can get into podcasts, get into Amanda’s podcast and have all of their entrepreneurs listening to you and be like, ah, all of a sudden; you now have an audience you can tap your message into.

So that’s borrowing traffic now. There’s another example. People, a lot of people, don’t understand this. SEO is just borrowing traffic. SEO is you’re boring. Google’s, you’re borrowing traffic from Google. Google’s keywords that they’re already people are already searching for. And you’re just going in there working your way up now.

Pay traffic, paid traffic is when you rent or borrow or rent or buy other people’s traffic. So instead of going into, let’s say, Jimmy Kimmel and getting on the show, you are doing influencer collaborations, right? So instead of me coming in here and telling Amanda, Hey, I’d love to give your audience some content and stuff they find valuable.

So many people can say, Hey, come on to my website. I’m doing a show. If I’m not capturing if I’m not capturing the audience that is coming into my traffic source, I have nothing. Suppose I have a pizza shop. I have a pizza shop and say, ” Oh, come in and try Luigi’s pizza. And then you come in. Oh, Hey, get a; if you put it, give me your email and then give me your email, and I’ll give you a 15% off your next order or something like that.

Is now traffic that you own because with an email, you can build your list, and you can retarget that list for a lot cheaper money, right? If you go on, you go on a shoe site, right? You opt-in, and it is a, Hey, give us your email, and we’ll give you a 10% off coupon for buying your first pair of shoes at the shoe store.

You didn’t know it. You didn’t know it. That’s right. And right. And now they’re making threads because they’re tapping into an audience already on Twitter. Like people already use Twitter. But they’re not going to buy Twitter because Elon is crazy. And they don’t want to spend the money. And they know that there’s an audience of Twitter users that want to leave Twitter.

And get into six figures. And once you’re at six figures, you can work on your second one and start automating your first one. I love that advice. And you’re talking about only working on LinkedIn, for example, or only working on Twitter or wherever your ideal audience is. You’re only going to focus on that one.

I love that idea of just doing one at a time. Again, it’s just having coaching, a blueprint, and guidance from people. And this is all stuff that I’ve learned from. Guidance and people having that is important because a good example is, I’m starting a business.

So, I need a website. But it depends on your business, right? There’s a lot of, I think. Natural inklings that people end up falling into. They assume that’s the right way to go. They believe that’s, Oh, I better have a social media page. I better be on Twitter and like Instagram and all of these things.

No, that’s not the case. I have a client where I just went through their analytics with him the other day. And they got two sales from social media last year, and they called 184 from organic search right from SEO and I’m like? You don’t need to do social anymore. Just focus on other things.

Like you can reallocate that. Person to be doing something other than social posting because it costs money. It’s not making you money. And that’s, that part is more into just making data-driven decisions, like everything in business, it should be based on data and not how, Oh, it’ll be like this no, test and look at results and measure.

Your customers have a problem that they need to solve. Can you solve it? And do they believe that you can solve it? That’s it. So let’s say if you are if you have. So let’s say that’s why the bribe has to be something worthwhile and valuable to this customer right now, this minute. And so if you are doing e-commerce first purchase 15% off, 20% off, whatever it is, you can, that’s immediate.

Like value, right? So if they’re interested in your stuff, they’re going to enter that email and they’re going to buy, if they’re going to buy anyway, might as well just, here’s the 25, 20% off, whatever. If you’re selling anything else, it could be a book. It could be a; it could be a checklist.

It could be speaking directly to your audience, your dream audience. My dream audience is somebody who already knows what a funnel is. They already know who a funnel is and what a funnel is. So I could offer a bribe of Hey, here’s a funnel template, right? Here is a funnel checklist, right?

Before you launch your next funnel, before you create your next offer, it could be someone that already understands an avatar, right? Oh, here’s a high-ticket avatar worksheet for you. If you don’t know what that is right now, then this person would not want to buy it. Your bribe has to be something that speaks directly to the avatar that you’re targeting.

And also, it has to have enough value because this is a bribe. I’m bribing you for your email for me to market to you in the future. You can do that with any email marketing software now, right? As long as you, there are tons out there.

That’s awesome. That was my, that’s what I like to do. That’s my preferred method of bribery or data collection if you will. But I wanted to see if you preferred any other method. So that’s great. Just an ethical bribe. Yes, that’s all it is. I was going to ask you about the Dream 100.

So let’s talk about the Dream 100. The Dream 100 is a concept popularized by Lord, forgive me. I can’t, I love giving credit because I know I’m the inventor of nothing. None of this is, has come up to me. I don’t remember the guy’s name. I like everything that I’ve learned. Like I, I. I have a hard time coming up where it’s from, but if you look it up, you’ll figure out where it’s from.

I didn’t invent it. So the Dream 100, the idea is you’re making a list of the Dream 100 groups, people, keywords, wherever it is, wherever your dream audience is looking at right now. So if you are, let’s say if you are a, let’s say, a local business, if you’re a local business, if you’re a plumber, whatever, what is your dream?

You can talk to one hundred other local businesses, your dream, 100, pardon me. You dream 100 keywords that you can be a part of your dream. One hundred local blogs that you can be a part of. What is your dream? 100 Facebook groups that you can be a part of, right? Just make a list of the dream 100 places that your ideal customers are hanging out at right.

Now, your job is to get in there; you could work your way by offering a ton of value. Or buying your way in, right? So if your audience is more locally targeted, there are tons of local blogs if you’re doing B2B, right? Local, like local news things, right?

Local news stories, journalists, right? You could do press releases. And collaborate with a lifestyle columnist or local news bloggers; they’re all blogs now. Newspapers are doing that.

Cause you can either work your way in or you can buy your way in, buy your way in as faster, but doesn’t, but you don’t need to have money to start getting your way in. And sometimes, even ads get overlooked. Like I know, I don’t even look at the ads on Google. I look at the organic, and it could be; I don’t know if it’s just me because that’s what I do, but I always just.

Overlook the ads, and I go to the organic, right? It’s definitely like I’ve done Google ads as well. And so it’s a thing for me to where it depends on what I’m looking for. Like I can always tell when people run Google ads on broad keywords or phrases.

Or just a messy phrase? And it’s, Oh, this is what I’m looking for. But, like your ad copy is less relevant. I might click on a to see but for me, I think it’s in a perfect world; you’re doing both.

So you or your primary area of focus is on Google, right? You’re doing SEO and you’re doing ads, right? If your main Facebook. You’re working your way and building your organic audience, and building your organic group plus your running ads. So in a perfect world, you’re doing both.

Or even more, as you said, you can do many different things once you reach a certain level. Methods of traffic, but I would do both paid and free on one platform until you’re past six figures, then look at a second platform as you scale your first platform.

Cause once, cause money is just speed, right? Once you start running ads and once your offer is proven, it will be so fast. That’s very true. It is. And that’s one thing that many, at least, my clients struggle with. I want to pay you to do this, but at the same time, I need clients right now.

And it’s like SEO is a little slower. Google business is a little faster. Google ads are more instant, but they cost a lot. So it’s like always explaining those methods to them and how we can work all three of them to get a path to—all of the traffic they want. 

Google is pricey. Google. Especially depending on the industry, like attorneys and refers, you’re talking 40 per click. An attorney is the one targeting class action lawsuits that they’re willing to spend hundreds of dollars for one click for a very specific class action.

So they’re hiring other people to do more things. But if you have the time, go slow and work your way in, right? Send out emails, right? There’s tons of training out there on organic outreach, right? Strategies, cold email strategies, right? And be like, Hey, you’re not selling them anything, right?

Reach out to a blog post that asks if you can do a guest blog, especially if they’re local. And they need, they want more content like. If they’re getting even a couple hundred hits, a couple of hundred hits a month, and you’re giving them more free content for them to use, it’s a win for everybody.

And of course, in your article, you’re going to link back into Oh, this is my business, this is my offer, and that’s an essential part of, as far as that particular person, their content creation, sometimes it’s hard, to continuously come up with content, especially for a local blog or something like that.

Please stop it. If you’re selling like a jam, right? You’re not knocking on doors to sell your spot. If you’re selling a jam, you’re knocking on doors at grocery stores to see if they’re willing to carry this through inventory for their audience.

It makes so much sense. And that’s a great analogy. Stop trying to sell your shit. Oh, I have; I have a gadget here. Do you want to buy this gadget? No, fuck you. Go to the grocery store next door and ask, Hey, are you willing to carry my fidget spinner at your front desk? Yes. Way better.

That reminds me of the purses. What is that? 31 or something—the bag. I don’t know. I never bought one, but one of that purses, like multi-level marketing things. Okay. So you have the purse lady, and she’s just selling it to her friends like one on one. But then she gets the idea to host a purse bingo.

And that’s where it all happens. It’s like bingo but multi, like multi-level marketing. If you have a good product, the problem is that if you think about what we just talked about and applied, how can you apply it to multi-level marketing? You can; that’s the thing that multi-level marketing does, they target people.

Get a free digital edition of my book, which answers it’s really; I wrote this book mainly for coaches who are, again, finding winners and helping them win more coaches that already have a super busy coaching business. Still, it’s more offline, and they still need to build a scalable online profitable model.

And they could be more tech-savvy. And I simplify everything. That coach, because it’s, it can be daunting if you’re not tech-savvy and Oh my God, what is all this other stuff that I have to learn now? I want to coach people, make an impact, make them lose weight, quit smoking, midlife crisis, careers, and all that.

Mumbo jumbo is there’s an easy way. That’s awesome. I must get this book, even though I’m not a coach. But I love that concept of an easy way. Your book is the easy button for coaches. Is that right? For easy control for the nontechie coach struggling to get on the internet.

Awesome. So if that’s you, go and download the book right now. Thank you so much, Tim, for being here and sharing your wisdom with us. We appreciate it. And we’re all going to download your book right now. Sweet. I’m looking forward to it. Awesome Thank you so much.

How Google Business Profile Management Will Grow Your Business

Welcome to episode 251 of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento, and today we will talk about how Google Business Profile Management will help you grow your business. Now, my voice is a bit off from what it used to be in some of the older episodes.

If you want to know what happened, you can listen to episode 243. Today we will talk about Google, my favorite subject, as you can tell from previous episodes. But I realized I may have never talked about how exactly will Google Business Profile Management grow your business.

It will grow your business exponentially. But first, I would like to give you some background on why. So what Google business profile does is give buyers info about your business right on Google. They don’t have to go anywhere. They don’t have to do any more searching. All the information that they need is right in front of them.

There are pictures; there’s your phone number; there’s your link to your website; there are services; there are products; there are testimonials. So they don’t need to go anywhere else to decide whether or not they want to call you, right? So that’s why Google Business Profile is amazing. The other amazing thing about it is you can now get messages.

You can get messages sent directly to your phone, like a notification. And those messages can bring you money and answer people’s questions. I see many of my clients, and I still have access to their listings, or if they’re current clients, I still have access to them.

And I see these messages coming through all the time, and the people that get a lot of business and a lot of messages are the people that are replying to them right away. If you turn on the messaging service, could you ensure you have… Your maps log in to whatever account that you have your Google Business profile on, and make sure that you’re checking and make sure that you have it set up to push to a text message for you automatically. A game changer there, and make sure you keep updating and posting and all those things. 

How can you use Google Business Profile Management to grow your business?

Let’s get an example, and an example of this would be a hair salon. I always use hair salons because it’s super easy and relatable, and it’s one of the brick and mortars that many people go to regularly. Let’s say you own a hair salon. And you have a Google business listing. How can you use that to grow your business? You’re able to use that.

By A, make sure that Google has all of your information. So every single thing on this profile listing needs to be filled out. It would be best if you had great pictures. Like any other social media platform, it’s visual and informational. So you’re going to have great pictures, you’re going to have accurate information, you’re going to have your hours listed accurately.

You’re going to ensure that everything you’re telling Google is accurate. You’re going to make sure that you have a great description. That’s using great keywords people are searching for to find you, such as best hair salon, best coloring, hair dyeing, processing, or whatever extensions you do.

So you want to ensure that you have those services that you specialize in and have those in your description and some location keywords. The next thing you will do is make sure that you reply to every review, whether positive or negative. And if you want more information on this, you can listen to episode 250 with Sylvia Ho.

And you’ll be able to find exactly what you need to say to those negative and positive reviews, if you don’t mind. Could you reply to every review because that is an opportunity? Your customer to put keywords in there, and if they don’t put those keywords, you can add them in. So this works for some industries but not as well for others because of confidentiality issues.

Sylvia brought that up on our episode, and she’s an attorney, so she can’t say, Oh, it was great helping you with X, Y, and Z, if the client still needs to reveal that. So with a haircut, It’s not as confidential, so that’s a different industry. So keep that in mind as you do this for your industry.

The other thing is that getting more reviews gives you more user signals, right? It gives Google more user signals, not you. And so the more reviews you have, the more popular your listing is, the more popular your location. The more people you have coming through the door helps you as well because, guess what?

Google tracks everybody. We already know that. They can tell you how busy any business is right now if you go to that business and it will give you Is it busier than usual? Not as busy? Busy as normal? All of those things, so that’s because Google tracks everyone. So the more users that are in your business, the better.

The more users leave reviews for your business, the better. Your reputation will be a huge part of it because Google reviews are the second-ranking factor for Google SEO. Number one is Google Business Profile, number two is Google Reviews, and then number three is your website.

The other thing that it’s going to allow you to do is show up in more searches, and the more searches you show up in, the more you’re going to rank, right? The higher you’re going to rank, the more customers you’re going to get. It’s just like a circle that leads back. It’s just an ecological circle just feeding into itself.

So the more you work on your Google business profile, the better. The other thing it’s going to do is it is going to give you opportunities every single day, even multiple times a day, if you want to share about your business. And when I say share about your business, I’m not talking about social media posts; I’m talking about what people are searching for.

So you’re going to wanna create posts that give information about your services, specifically things that people will be searching for on Google. So again, going back to the example of a hair salon, if I’m searching for the best hair extensions in Portland, Oregon. I am going to want to make a post about that.

If you want to find out what people are searching for to find you, you can go to your Google search console and see what searches I showed up for. What are people searching for to be able to come to my website? Those will be some of the searches you’re going to target.

You’re also going to target some of your services. For example, if you do a Brazilian blowout, You want to ensure that you have that as a post periodically. I just wanted to let you know that you want to provide a great picture. You’d like to provide a link to the book. You want to make sure that all of those keywords are in there. You want to make sure your location keywords are in there.

So Google is pulling data from every single thing that you put into Google, right? So it pulls it from your description. It pulls it from your products. It pulls it from your services. It pulls it from your reviews. It pulls it from your review responses, and it also pulls from your posts, your updates. So ensure you’re updating your profile regularly, ensuring all your information is accurate, and posting regularly.

That is what Google Business Profile Management is all about. Managing that profile so you get the maximum benefit for your business from Google. If you enjoyed this episode, please let me know. You can reach out atamanda@tdm-marketing.com. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me there.

And I usually hang out on LinkedIn. So if you want to connect, please send me a connection request. I am looking forward to connecting with you. And I thank you for listening. I hope you have a great week.

How to Respond to Negative Google Reviews with Sylvia Ho

Welcome to this episode 250 of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento, and in this episode, you’re going to hear an interview from one of my clients, Sylvia Ho, an attorney, and she is going to interview me about how to respond to negative reviews. 

Sylvia is a past optimization client, and she’s had huge success with her optimization, and she reached out to me and asked me if I would talk to her about negative reviews and how to respond because she had listened to a previous podcast episode. So it’s a little longer than normal, but I hope you enjoy it.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to my office today. We have a very special guest Amanda Tento, who is a Google business profile expert I know she’s an expert because I was directed to Amanda by a lot of Marketing social media marketing people as a person, so you did you don’t know Amanda your names have been spread among social media and Google professionals when they’re looking for somebody in the area of Google Business Profile. 

Did you know that? No, I didn’t know that. That’s great. That’s what I heard. That’s how I contacted you because they referred to you as the guru of Google Business Profile. So kudos to you. Thank you. It’s exciting. Why don’t you tell us a little about your background, how you got into your Google business profile, or what it used to be, Google my business? A world because I understand that you understand that world well. And right now, Google reviews are generating lots of business for people. And then, from our attorney’s perspective, it’s also hurting some people. 

Could you tell us about your background?

So years ago, I was a credit union manager and was pregnant with our third child and what we thought was our last child. And it turned out to be not, but that’s another long story. So I decided that I didn’t want to go back to the credit union after I had the baby and decided that I wanted to work from home.

I decided to be a VA I started out as a VA virtual assistant, and I ended up working for a marketing agency in Tacoma, Washington, and I still do some work for him to this day. He put me in charge of his customers, Google Business Profiles. And at that time, it was called Google, My Business. And I started posting to them and doing some updates and changing some things like updating pictures and just descriptions and things like that.

And I saw this huge immediate jump in their views in so many different metrics. And I was like, what is going on here? So then I thought this is getting them to the top of the maps, and this is about six years ago, but This is like shooting them directly to the top of the maps.

And I was like, what is going on? I’m onto something here, so I just started delving into that world and focusing on that as my primary focus of learning, experimenting, and creating, and it has been an amazing journey since then.

 I’ve dealt with hundreds of businesses like yours over the years. And it has just been an absolute joy to help people. It is my passion. It’s what I love to talk about. If you have ever listened to my podcast, all my solo episodes are almost all about Google My Business.

You, Amanda, have a podcast called the determined mom. And so it’s wonderful because it weaves your personal story along with great tips, just great tips.

And 1 of the podcasts I downloaded, because I picked out, was how to deal with Google reviews. Now, 1st, how to get good. Google reviews, but then that particular podcast talked about negative Google reviews. So from my perspective and my audience, they’re interested in both. 

How do I get good Google reviews?

How do I get moved up on Google? My. Google business profile is going to say Google my business. I wonder why they did this. And then what do I do with bad reviews? Because often my clients are not as concerned about the single bad review, but the vicious reviewer that. Defames them, so we’ll talk about that in a little while, but let’s talk about generally how Google works.

And you talked about Google Maps and I do know about that. And many people who have businesses don’t know that they might know that, but they might delegate it to someone to take care of, and some people are great. They have hundreds of. Great reviews and they shoot up to the top of the list and other people are not so good.

They might have one review. So why don’t you talk about that? So gathering reviews is incredibly important because Google business profile or Google my business is the number one ranking factor on Google. So if you’re a business, Google looks there first. Would you happen to have a listing? If you don’t have a listing, you must do it today.

First, you have to claim it or create it. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, you likely already have a listing. You need to claim it. You can claim a service area business if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar. And you can create it. So you’re going to create it from scratch.

But Do that today if you don’t have one. That’s the first thing because that’s again the number one ranking factor. The next thing is gathering those reviews. Google takes a little snippet of that review and serves it to people that are looking. So I’m looking for a business startup attorney, or, someone to help with business certain business documents.

I searched for that. And a snippet of your review comes up, right? A review of whatever that service is that I’m looking for. That is how people are going to find you. The more reviews you get now, let’s say someone leaves just a star review. They leave a five-star review, no commenting, no nothing. But you know that person, it’s a client of yours.

You will want to reply to that review because the text you leave as a reply also counts towards those keywords that Google will be pulling up in your profile. So you’re going to say, Hey, thank you so much for working with me. It was great to help you with blah, blah, blah, whatever that service was.

I am looking forward to working with you in the future. Could you make it personal but also informative for Google and also informative for anyone else that’s looking for that service? So they are really. The SEO is proper in the review itself. So the thoughts you have, the more reviewers you have to talk about your business, the higher the ranking.

Suppose you say if you. If you make if you’re a donut shop and you make this fantastic donut and every 1 of your reviewers talks about that fantastic donut, the word fantastic donut will show up in the Google search and then. People will come to you because of your fantastic donut because they’ll show up at your bakery and ask you for that fantastic donut.

Is that how it works? That’s exactly how it works. Okay. How do people go about doing that? First, they claim their profile. And then I understand you did an inventory, you have an inventory and a checklist, and you check people’s Google reviews. Is that right? So you’re going to want to for collecting reviews.

I suggest a couple of methods to our clients, and I gave you one of these, a QR code. I don’t know if you’ve used that or not. But a QR code. Especially for in-person businesses is a great way to gather more reviews. So you’re going to want to put in place a strategy to gather more reviews, and then you’re going to want to make sure you reply to every review.

And replying to every review means positive, negative, and even the ones that are like three stars, four stars. Those are like the in-betweens, but every review needs to be replied to. And the quicker you reply to it, the better in that customer’s eyes. You’re going to look just for that individual customer but also for people that are looking to work with you in the future.

They can see that you’ve taken the time as a business owner. Could you reply to the people you’ve worked with and give them feedback about how it was to work with them too? And that kind of thing. It was great working with you. You always want to leave positive feedback for those clients, but give a glimpse into what it’s like to work with you.

Someone unhappy is probably unhappy for a reason or in their mind, a reason. And one thing that we as business owners need to make sure we don’t do, which is very difficult is to not take it personally, right? That’s the first step. And when you’re also responding to reviews, please think about it from the perspective of I’m not responding necessarily to this person.

I’m just getting back to all of my future potential clients and customers to see if they’re looking at how you handle your review reaction and your view response. If I see a business owner, that is I rate back at, the client or the customer, I’m not going to go there because I know that if anything goes wrong with that product or service, that is most likely.

They’re going to give me that same attitude, and I don’t want things to be resolved with professionalism, great customer service, and care for the customer. So that’s a choice. You’re making that choice for everyone to see when you respond negatively to a negative review.

So what you’re saying is, it’s an opportunity because when you respond to a review in a good sense, when I respond to reviews, it’s interesting. After all, I read myself. I have someone take care of my Google, my business. Still, I get messages and respond to them, especially with clients I know.

If you have an opportunity at that point, what you’re saying is you have an opportunity to show off your customer service. So I’ll give you a good example. I was looking for balsamic vinegar. And I always look at the worst reviews because the best reviews come out, right? So this is on Amazon, and in the best in the worst reviews, it was not a killer because everybody complained about a broken bottle.

And this is how we do things and we don’t have a return like this is our return policy this is the service that we provided, and there are no refunds or there’s You know just, yes, that’s are very harsh language. And in my experience with representing business owners that deal with the general public in terms of consumer situations, a lot of it has.

So if you reply to it emotionally at first and then go back and change it. There’s still the chance that screenshot is out there and That it’s just forever. The internet is forever, as we know, even though there are many lawsuits with deleted texts or yes, or screenshots.

People are still going to see them. It’s not buried, but what that does. Adding more reviews statistically lowers the chance that they will see it, but it also improves your overall rating score. So if you have four reviews and two of them are bad, then you are going to have two and a half stars.

We don’t have you in our records as a customer. But we look forward to servicing you or working with you in the future, something like that. To deflect whatever they’re saying, it’s, that’s interesting because it seems like the briefer you are with those people, the better it is.

And I’m like, no, go on. There are enough other things that you can do to get good reviews from customers who come to you and for you to increase the Google search. And I’ve just noticed that Google’s business profile is the number 1 search because they’re searching themselves.

It’s a pretty interesting search process that they have. And another thing that I want to bring to light as far as reviews go is going back to that. Step of having a review process in place or asking for reviews. You must build that into your onboarding and follow-up process, and send an email and say, hey, it was great meeting with you, even if it’s just a consultation and they don’t end up being a client.

Oh, and Google gives you one. They do. What are the issues with lawyers? , so much of what we do is confidential, so we can only do it if our client chooses to come and disclose that. Otherwise, we can’t disclose it. We can’t ask them to disclose it. So they have to voluntarily. And that’s also another example.

A lot of lawyers say. You will only see a few reviews for family law lawyers, but real estate lawyers and state planners will get tons of them because no one cares if you buy or sell a house. But so much of what lawyers do is confidential. And you don’t see a lot of doctors with tons of reviews either because no one wants to say that’s my doctor. So certain professions are not going to have a ton of reviews.

Different from the donut shop. No one cares about that. Or a hotel or stuff like that. Thank you very much, Amanda. That was fantastic. This is one of the most valuable interviews I’ve done. And I’m sure a few interviews on the internet deal with bad Google reviews.

So I really much appreciate it. So Amanda, how can people get in touch with you? What is your business’s and website’s name, and where are you located? So I’m located in York, PA, but I work with people all over the world. Most of my clients are in the United States, but we deal with clients of all types and sizes.

We’ve switched focus recently to dealing with businesses with lots of locations. Large companies with many locations because we found that it’s almost impossible for them to find someone to work with. The company is called TDM marketing and stands for the determined mom.

LinkedIn is the best place to contact me. I love being on there, sharing, and seeing what everybody else is doing.

It’s a great place to connect. Thank you, Amanda. Amanda Tento, TDM Marketing. Thank you very much. Thank you. It’s been a pleasure. Yes. Thank you for having me. 

5 Tips for Using AI in Your Marketing

Welcome to episode 249 of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento. I am here to share with you five tips for using AI in your marketing. So I know there’s a lot of controversy about AI and they’re going to replace people and photographers and all of these things, but that’s not true.

There’s no AI bot that can come to a wedding. There’s no AI bot that can take your photos in person in real life and capture those memories, those moments. So there’s just nothing out there that’s going to do that. The other thing to remember is that there is no substitute for human editing, intervention context, or those types of things.

So even though AI is a great place to start, and we’ll talk about this in one of our tips, it is not the end of Anything, you shouldn’t just be pasting, copying whatever ChatGPT spits out, and posting it. Edit and we’ll talk about this now. I’m your host Amanda Tento and My voice is like this because I was intubated. So if you are looking for the story behind that, you can listen to episode number 243. That will give you all of the details. 

Is AI a great place to go for ideas?

If you’re sitting there and you’re blocked for an idea, like what should I post on social media, what should I do, any of the things that you can, a thousand things that you can use AI for, this is a great place for you to start. So just go ahead and put in a prompt and say, please, find six postal please develop Six social media posts that I should post on Instagram for XYZ audience about XYZ.

And you can also ask it to include hashtags. I’ve asked it to include stock photos from my stock photo library before, which is cool. Because it will go, I use Envato Elements, so it will go there, and pull a stock photo that’s relevant to that. 

We want to make sure that we’re editing. That’s number three on our list. But the second thing is I want you to always make sure that you’re viewing all of the content that you get from there as a draft. It is a place to go when you’re looking for an idea or trying to figure something out.

When you need a little extra help, it’s not somewhere that you go to rely on for everything. You still need to use your brain, your voice, your context. So that’s a very important part of it. So make sure that you’re using it for ideas, make sure that you are treating it as a draft only. And number three is making sure that you edit.

So a lot of what AI spits out, while it looks good, isn’t necessarily true, or it might be fluffy, or it might be just some of the facts might be off. The spelling is usually never wrong unless it’s spitting out something in British English or Something like Canadian English. I’ve had that happen before but just check everything.

Check the spelling, check the context, make sure you’re reading it, and make sure you’re putting in your voice. The edit is number three. Number four is you can use it to create some very cool social media posts, and I just talked about this, but you can ask it. You can go to chat and say, please write a post for LinkedIn about family law for professionals on LinkedIn that will attract their attention and engage them. And include a stock photo from Envato Elements. And then it will do all of those things, spit out some posts, and then you can go and edit them.

That’s a cool, easy, quick way to get things done. So you’re going to, again edit. Make sure that you’re not using it as your last draft. You’re going to make sure that it’s only a first draft. There are other ways that you can use ChatGPT or AI. There are a million different things, but most of them come through ChatGPT.

You can use them to find keywords. You can use them to develop posts. You can use them to develop blog posts. You can create polls with them, so You can ask it to create a poll for you for LinkedIn and then also create some options for you for that poll. Then you can also use it to draft emails. You can draft website content and pretty much anything else that you write in marketing.

You can use AI for it, which is great. Again, I’m gonna stress it’s only for ideas. It’s only your first draft and you need to edit everything that comes out of it. It is not going to replace you. It’s not going to replace me. It is a really easy way to get ideas and content flowing and those kinds of things.

Just treat it as that. But, these are amazing ways you can easily use AI in your marketing and give yourself a little boost in time, a boost in content. Maybe you haven’t thought of this, but it’s a great way to get started. I feel like AI is a jumping-off point for us now, and that’s how we should view it.

Not as a final destination, but as a jumping-off point. If you have any questions about this episode, please email me at amanda@tdm-marketing.com or amanda @tdm/marketing.com. Thank you and have a great week.

5 Strategies for Using Pinterest to Grow Your Business with Dominique Dunlop

Welcome to this episode of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host. I’m Amanda Tento, and I have with me, Dominique Dunlap. She is a former teacher-turned-digital marketing-obsessed Canadian mom of two through her done-for-you content repurposing services and lead generation. Pinterest, VIP days.

Dominique’s goal is to help you develop a low-effort, high-traffic marketing strategy that will allow you to attract leads on autopilot and be everywhere your clients are without leading to content creation burnout. That sounds like a dream, first of all, But I also wanna just touch on what we’re gonna be talking about today before I allow you to.

Kind tell us how you got started in Pinterest, but we’re gonna be talking about five strategies for using Pinterest to grow your business. So this is gonna be a killer episode. This is actually something that people have been requesting forever, so I’m glad that I found you and that you’re here to talk about it.

But how in the world did you get started, like specializing in Pinterest? Honestly, through a series of random online rabbit holes. When I left my teaching career after I had my second child, I basically decided that I needed to figure out a way to earn my income from home. Because I couldn’t go back to the classroom, I started blogging.

I started out with a learn-from-home play-based preschool program that I had put together for most stay-at-home moms and took my teaching expertise that route. The more I got into that and started learning how to actually market the preschool program, the more I realized I liked the marketing side more.

The preschool side at that point. So in talking to a few of the online connections that I had made over the past while, and people I had connected with in trying to market my program, I ended up connecting with a few women who I call very close friends now that were Pinterest experts, and one of them had a program that trained Pinterest VAs.

I decided to give it a try, thinking maybe I would use it for my own marketing. Maybe I’d go a different way, not really sure what was gonna happen, and soon after I. Took the plunge and completely pivoted away from the preschool program and into the marketing space instead. So do you feel, this is gonna be like a mom question, but do you feel more fulfilled and do you feel like that switch has allowed you to have more time with your kids?

Like just not having that hands-on, half-to-hands-on? Such a tricky balance, and I’m sure most moms can relate. I was putting so much time and effort into the classroom, into other people’s kids when I was teaching. Not to mention we also live quite rurally, so I had quite a drive on top of things, but now it’s just balancing.

Home life. So, there are days that I feel like I’m not giving my kids the attention that I need to be because they’re at me and they’re needing this and they’re needing that. And I try to balance client work and that, but at the end of the day, I get to be here with them and. That’s been really critical for our family through the pandemic, not having to worry about childcare.

So some days, no, I’m not as present as I would like to be with them for sure, but it’s still definitely been the best decision we made for the family. I love to hear that. And I can completely relate to that. Like I know like sometimes my kids are like, but you’re always working. And I’m like, but I would be working like not even in the house.

Like you couldn’t ask me a question, you couldn’t ask if you could have this or do this, or, like I couldn’t resolve any fights or anything like that. And like I’m here like I’m always working, but I’m also. Available. When they need me, which I absolutely was not When I was in the classroom after I had my first.

 And especially with a commute like that too, like Woo. . . . Awesome. Let’s talk about these strategies. What are the five strategies that you’re gonna teach us to grow our businesses? Alright, so there are a few things that we need to understand about Pinterest before we can even talk about strategy.

First of all, Pinterest isn’t social media. It gets lumped in there all the time. It gets lumped in with those social media apps, but it. Really at the heart of it is not. It’s a search engine, and if you think of Pinterest more akin to Google than you do to social media, you’re going to start to really transition how you can leverage Pinterest to grow your business.

I see people all the time, they jump on there with their social media tactics and strategies that worked on Instagram. It’s not going to work. On Pinterest. The other really important thing that we need to understand about Pinterest is because it’s a search engine, it takes time and it is a slow burn.

You have to be in it for the long haul and you’re not going to get instant results. So I would never recommend Pinterest be your sole marketing platform right from the get-go. It’s going to take time before that snowball starts. That’s my big disclaimers and caveats about Pinterest.

One of my mentors likes to refer to Pinterest as the ugly stepsister of social media because it doesn’t get the same attention that the other platforms get. But at the same time, it is such a powerhouse if we can invest some attention in interest. And the other thing about Pinterest is once you’ve got your strategy in place, which we’ll talk about today.

You can have your Pinterest marketing completely automated and going operating in the background in as little as about four to six hours a month, which is way less time than you’re probably spending on other social media platforms. And you can sit down and do it in one shot for the month. There’s no obligation to show up and engage on a daily basis and just be present.

You can sit down, do it, bang it. And it’s done until next month. So that’s something to keep in mind too when we’re talking today. I have two quick questions if you don’t mind answering them. One is, do you find that people give up like they’ll say, okay, I’m gonna go do Pinterest, and then they get started, and then because of that slow burn that you talked about, it just doesn’t happen?

And then they’re like, Ugh. Done. And so many people give up right when they’re at the cusp of things that could have looked different for them. Just to give you an example, what we’re talking about when I say slow burn, slow burn. When I take on a monthly management client, I do a minimum of a six-month contract because I don’t even expect to see a whole lot happening in that first six months.

Something that I take a lot of time to prime my clients with is that we have to trust the process here. We’re looking at a year or so before we’re really going to start to see the fruit of our effort happening. You don’t eat the fruit the day you plant the tree. So what I see a lot of times with people who are getting started with Pinterest or managing their own Pinterest, they will, they’ll go gung-ho for 2, 3, 4 months.

and then they’re really disappointed in what’s happening in their statistics. So they bounce. But if I come back to that same account down the road, that effort that they put in for those four months is still bringing them traffic two, or three years.

And you’re gonna have, and we’ll have the link to book a VIP day in the show notes as well. Definitely check that out too. So thank you so much, Dominique, for being here for sharing your amazing wealth of knowledge with Pinterest, and I am sure that we’re all going to go right now and look at our Pinterest accounts and kind of evaluate them, and get started.

For sure. And as you’re saying that, I thought of one more little key tip. I’m gonna slide in there. You’re not using a business account. Please make sure you switch it to a business account. If you’re still on your personal account that you planned your wedding on and you’ve got all your kids’ birthday parties planned on, you need to switch it up to a business account and you can either start fresh or you can just toggle that in your settings.

You can switch from personal to business, but you need to get it on a business. That’s a great tip too. Awesome. Thank you so much, Dominique, for being here. Thank you for having me. It was such a great chat.

Update Your Google Analytics Today to Keep Tracking

Welcome to episode 247 of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento. And if you are listening to this and don’t know why my voice sounds like this, it’s because I was intubated and have some vocal cord issues. Working on resolving those, but this is how my voice sounds. So I apologize. And I hope you will keep listening so that you can get the content of this podcast. 

Today, we’re going to talk about. Y you need to update your Google Analytics today. So that way, you can keep tracking your website data. Google Analytics. It has changed from universal analytics, which we’ve all had installed for years and years. To Google Analytics, the difference is. 

There’s a significant difference, and it’s in our favor. They will track across the internet. So let’s say someone is browsing on their phone. And then, they pick your website back up on their desktop. They will only track that person as one visitor, which is great because. 

They will know because if they’re logged in to any Google products or anything like that, they do laundry and browse if they’re on the same network. Whatever it might be. If we’re on that same IP, they will track that person as one visitor. So that way, it’s not fluffing your analytics or your visitors. 

That kind of thing. So it’s essential. And also. If you have any mobile apps, it’s going to be across mobile apps as well. So you’re not going to have inflated. User information for apps and the web. So that’s an essential feature. There’s also enhanced reporting. Other things like that now. 

If you’re thinking, I don’t want to upgrade. Unfortunately, you don’t have a choice. Google Analytics, universal analytics, has stopped tracking ads. First of this year. So as I was recording this a few days ago, 

That means that you have to make sure you have Google Analytics set up and make sure that it is tracking. Very easy to do that. Very easy. And you have to do it. There’s no other. Either option is for you. You can be at ax systems, but Google Analytics is free. It’s very robust. 

You can do a lot of different tracking in there. A lot about who’s visiting your website: you can even find out if. Suppose your social media posts are getting any traction. You must do this. And please do it today because if you wait another day, you lose another data day. 

Now what happens to all that data you already have in universal analytics? Does it convert over to Google Analytics for is not. So you will have to save that data somehow if you want to keep the access to it. So let’s say—next August. You’re like, how did we do in August of 2020 or August of 22 or 21? 

You’re going to need to have backed up that data. So that way you can access it. One way you can do that is through. A significant query backup. That’s the easiest way. It’s a Google data backup. Definitely. 

It must be done, especially if you’re a large or medium-sized company or yourself. You want to keep that information. So you have access. What’s going on? You can look at trends and determine if you’re doing better than the previous year. All of that is critical. 

For your marketing success. If you need help doing this, we do offer. This service is at TDM marketing—more than that. I want to ensure you’re aware of this change. And that you’re able to take action. Our podcast is all about actionable marketing tips and tools, which you should have done already. 

But I’m just reminding you in case you haven’t. If you have any questions about this episode, please contact me at amanda@tdm/marketing.com. Thank you for listening, and have a great week.

How to create powerful content to stand out from the crowd.

In this episode of The Determined Mom Show, host Amanda Tento interviews Mel Daniels, a content coach and strategist, to explore the key strategies and considerations for creating content that resonates with your audience and sets you apart. Mel shares her journey and insights, highlighting the importance of authenticity, purpose, and understanding your ideal client and yourself as a content creator.

Finding Your Path as a Content Strategist

Mel begins by sharing her accidental journey into entrepreneurship, starting as a virtual assistant and eventually becoming a content strategist. She emphasizes embracing change and being open to new opportunities, even if they take you on unexpected paths.

The Power of Purposeful Content

Mel discusses the need to create content that serves a purpose and differentiates itself from the noise. She encourages content creators to ask themselves whether they use their content for good or self-promotion, highlighting the importance of authenticity and genuine connection with the audience.

Understanding Your Ideal Client

While considering your ideal client is crucial, Mel also emphasizes the importance of understanding yourself as a content creator. She advises aligning your content with your strengths, passions, and preferred channels. The key is to find the intersection between what resonates with your audience and what feels natural and enjoyable for you.

Balancing Purpose and Strategy

Mel emphasizes the need for a strategic approach to content creation. She discusses how content can unite or divide people, highlighting its power to inspire collaboration and create meaningful connections. Content creators can significantly impact by providing helpful content that genuinely benefits the audience.

Choosing the Right Channel

The best channel for creating content depends on where your ideal client engages and where you feel most comfortable. Mel advises content creators to block out the noise of various expert opinions and instead choose the platform that aligns with their strengths and resonates with their audience.

Creating powerful content that stands out from the crowd requires understanding your ideal client and staying true to yourself as a content creator.

By approaching content creation with purpose, authenticity, and a focus on providing value, you can create meaningful connections, become more visible, and establish yourself as an expert in your field. Remember, the key is balancing serving your audience and staying true to your passions and strengths.

What I Want YOU to Learn From My Illness: Life and Business Revelations

Welcome to this episode 245 of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento, and today I want to share with you what I want you to learn from my illness. And this episode is about life and business revelations, which were revealed to me through this process.

If you have yet to listen to episode 243 to find out why my voice is like this, what exactly happened to me, and what my illness was, please go back and listen. So then this episode will make more sense. I was intubated. I will say that, and that’s why my voice is the way it is, and I’m still working on getting that to be back to what I would call normal or close to normal, and I look forward to sharing this with you. 

When I went into the hospital, I thought I had to have everything, all my eyes dotted, all my ts crossed, everything ready for the baby, which is normal, like nesting for being a mom, ready for a new baby.

I had all the baby stuff and my business stuff ready, only partially, so I could leave for eight weeks and not have to touch it. That was not the case. I was expecting to be able to be back, to be able to answer questions. I was hoping for just a couple of days that I was going to be out.

Everything I planned for did not happen as I wanted it to. And it was a huge learning experience. One of the things that happened when I woke up was I realized that I didn’t want my life to be like it was before. How was my life? I worked all the time. I woke up and got the kids off to school, got to my desk around eight, and I sat there until six o’clock at night, minus getting them off.

The bus and getting them started on their homework, and eating lunch. But for the most part, I worked all the time, and I didn’t have all that much to show for it. I had a lot of clients, and we had a great income coming in, but it wasn’t that I needed to work that much. I don’t know even know what I was doing at this point.

Now that I don’t work that much. But anyway, I was just, Maybe, addicted to the work, and I just felt like my purpose was work, and that was it. So when I woke up, I realized, Hey, I don’t want to live like this. I don’t want my family to be like this. I don’t want anything to be like this anymore.  I talked to my husband about it and said, look, I don’t want anything to be as it was before.

Because it wasn’t great and I shouldn’t have been working that much and I shouldn’t have been focused that much work and the kids and you both just were bitter and it was just a huge revelation. I knew that for my life to be different, my business had to be different. I’m thinking, okay, if I can not touch all of this stuff or six weeks and see what happens afterward, and if everything’s still okay, then you know, It’ll be fine.

I had gotten two huge new clients before I went into the hospital. One has a Google business optimization project of a hundred locations, and the other one has a Google business management project of 26 locations. So we went forward with those projects, and I assumed that I could answer questions and be there for my team and the client.

And that was not the case. My husband had to reach out to a colleague whom I had hired VA through, I trusted this person with everything, and I did not think they would let me down. And in the end, they ended up letting me down. So this is another lesson that I want to share with you.

And that is, don’t just trust anyone, even though they promise you the moon, don’t trust them because it’s very likely that they will not come through free. And when that happens, it can be devastating.  I lost the client for whom we had 26 management profiles per month. 

And that’s simply because she did not pay, even though I was paying her like it was coming out of my account, auto-draft her payment. She was not paying the VA that was supposed to be working on my project. And that VA did not do the work because she wasn’t getting paid. And here we are, like Christmas time and she has kids and things and she needed money.

She needs to get paid for the work that she’s doing. And so she ended up not doing the work, and I couldn’t figure out why. And so, finally, I figured out why. And it was because literally $180 of her pay was being withheld from her and for no reason. And this person was not replying to my messages or her messages.

So I ended up paying her the $180 because I do not like people being unpaid, especially on my watch. Even though I’d already paid her the $180 through the other person, actually way more than that I just, said, okay I don’t want you to be suffering because of something you’re supposed to be doing for me.

Here is the payment. So the moral of this story is that we ended up, because of the poor response time, losing that client even though it was extenuating circumstances, but it was a very big corporation and they did not want to move forward with that type of response.

So that was a big customer service lesson for me. A big lesson in trusting others with your business is for me. My husband was already busy. If you’re thinking like, oh, why didn’t your husband step in? My husband was busy making sure I didn’t die. He was advocating for me. He was coming to the hospital every single day rubbing my feet.

He was taking care of an absolutely 100% newborn baby. And he was also taking care of our other three kids, making sure they got to school, got their homework done, and had lunches. He was doing absolutely everything. So he could only take on one thing.

It was just a lot. The whole experience was a lot. And what I want you to take away from this experience is that I want you to realize that you do not have to work as you’re, as much as you’re working now, you can work probably half of what you’re working and still get the same if not better results because you’re.

Concentration is going to be more focused. Your efforts are going to be more concentrated. It’s just going to be 10 x your results. So since I got home from the hospital, and now I’m recording this in June at the end of June, I got home from the hospital; I want to say the beginning of February, I didn’t even open my computer until I want to sound like mid-March because I literally couldn’t like I could, I was trying to relearn how to walk.

That was my biggest task when I came home, I was trying to walk and walk for longer distances, and I was so excited that I could walk from here to the bathroom at first and it’s just crazy when you find out what’s really important in life and the things that you take for granted.

So you do not need to be working as much as you do. My business was fine for however long probably that’s more than eight weeks. That’s 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, probably 12 weeks. So my business was fine without me for 12 weeks, minus a couple of client and team communications.

But other than that, I could do all of that from my phone. So I did not have to log in. I did not have to do any of that, and it’s grown since I got home. So that is amazing too. So you need to make sure that you evaluate what you’re doing and where you want to be and focus that time on your life.

My family. Now that I don’t work anywhere near as much as I did, I probably work three hours a day, if that. Just because I have a lot of therapy, I wanna spend time with them; I want to be able to do things around the house. There are so many things that I want to focus on that are not work that I need to ensure that I have that time.

That’s what I focus on. And I hired an operations assistant, which has made all the difference and she is helping me get organized. She’s helping me to get my client onboarding. She’s allowed me to do that. We’ve worked through a lot of things together, and she’s also going to eventually become that person where my husband can send her one message and she sends everybody a message and lets them know what’s going on.

And takes over everything. So it is amazing to have that and to know that I’m setting myself up for success in the future, and also setting myself up so I can step even further back from my business whenever I want to or get ready to take a couple of days off as a family. And I would never have done that before.

I would’ve never been able to take two days off of work and not do anything, nuts, and message anyone who still needs to do something. But I have complete confidence in Danielle and hope you’re listening. But I just am so grateful to be alive. I’m so thankful to have gone through this experience because I wouldn’t know these things if it hadn’t been for this experience.

I would still be thinking that I had to work all the time. If I didn’t work this amount of hours, this would happen. You are your own boss. I am my own boss, and we make the rules. We make the schedule, and we can get as much done in three hours as we can in eight.

So that is my lesson for you today. I hope you take this and evaluate your life and business and imagine yourself in a situation where you can’t touch your business. What would happen, even if you want to for 12 weeks, then make an emergency plan? Figure out what is important to you, what parts of your business you enjoy, and what aspects of your business you don’t enjoy, then cut all that stuff out that you don’t enjoy and only focus on those things you want.