Expand Your Fempire Podcast #88 Transcript

Easier Ways to Increase Your Impact and Visibility, Part 2

Welcome to Expand your Fempire with Caterina Rando, the podcast for women in business on a mission. Sharing ideas to support you to grow and thrive. Now here’s your host, Caterina Rando.

[00:00:00] Caterina Rando: This is Caterina Rando, and I am blissing to be with you for another episode of the Expand Your Fempire Podcast. Today, we are doing part two of our conversation on easier ways to increase your visibility. Hopefully, you listened to the last podcast episode where I shared with you six of the best, easiest ways to increase your visibility. We talked about clarity on your mission, your message, who you serve. We talked about choosing the visibility platforms that are right for you. Of course, we discussed the importance of consistency; whatever you’re going to do, you got to do it on the regular. And you know, my favorite: always have a free thing, a free zoom thing to invite people to. Plus, set goals for your speaking, set goals for getting on other people’s stages. Every month, you want to do that at least twice, especially now we’re virtual, you could do it twice a day. And the last guiding principle for easier ways to amplify your visibility is to be a guest on other people’s podcasts. There’s a lifetime supply of podcasts for you to be a guest on that your ideal clients are listening to.

[00:02:02] Okay. Those are the guiding principles we talked about last time, I have a whole amount of new ones to discuss this time. Because the more visibility we have, the more impact we have, the more lives we touch, the more people get to know who we are. Therefore let’s get you more visible right away.

[00:02:28] First thing I want to talk about: when you go networking, make sure you’re making yourself known. Let’s be clear. The shortest distance between you and your next client: speaking, networking, and referrals. Many women network and network and network. I want you to be strategic about your networking. I want you to go where your ideal clients are gathered. I want to encourage you to go where you will have some visibility, meaning you get to introduce yourself. Maybe you could even be the speaker. You get to run a breakout room if we’re talking virtual, if we’re talking live and in person, you want to go networking where the format allows you to get to know a lot of people. I also want to say to you, make sure that you’re not only networking networking networking as your only marketing strategy, or your primary marketing strategy, that you’re also taking some of that time for cultivating referrals and for speaking.

[00:03:42] I want to remind you also that we have recorded many Expand Your Fempire Podcasts on speaking, we’ve done one on cultivating referrals. I want to make sure that you go and listen to those as well.

[00:03:56] The thing about networking is it’s fun, it’s easy, especially if you’re an extrovert and you’re social, you’re gonna love it. I want you to be strategic, make sure you’re getting your voice in the room, make sure you’re setting goals about how many people you’re going to meet if we’re talking live and in person. If we’re talking virtual, have your video on, ask questions, be present, because that is going to have you be more memorable than simply having your name in a box with your picture. Very, very important.

[00:04:32] Because we’ve been living the pandemic lifestyle for so long, I want to share with you a couple of my favorite networking super tips, because you may have forgotten how to network. It is absolutely like riding a bike. The other day though, I was getting together with a few gals, a couple of whom I know a couple of whom I didn’t really know. And the conversation was going on, and then I have this little super tip pop in my head that I used to use all the time and I forgot! And here it is. When I meet new people, instead of saying to them “well, what do you do?”, which is kind of boring, I say to them “Hey, what’s new and exciting with you?” They then get to choose if they want to tell me about their personal life, or their romantic life, or their marathon they just ran, or the great meal they just had, or their philanthropy, or if they want to tell me about what they do. That is a really great question I want you to put in your networking toolbox. You will find that people lean in and are excited to answer that question because they get to talk about whatever they want to talk about, and usually, it is something interesting or exciting that they choose to report. That’s my first networking super tip for you.

[00:06:10] Here’s the second one. Many, many, many, years ago, I hired my first image consultant. You probably know I’m an image enthusiast. I did go to fashion school for a year, FIDM when I was 19, I wanted to be a fashion designer for five minutes. I didn’t want to take all the schooling. I simply enjoy style and fashion and all of that. The first image consultant I ever hired, her name was Kimberly Call, if I’m not mistaken. And I invited her to come to this event with me and I watched her walk up to people that she didn’t know, stick out her hand and say “Hi I’m Kimberly. I haven’t met you yet!” with a big smile on her face. And I thought to myself “wow.” It is so simple, yet it was so effective all evening. She was connecting with people, she was meeting people, and I was impressed. And I took that simple act of reaching out to people, I put it in my toolbox, and all these years later, I’m still using it to meet new people at a networking event.

[00:07:31] Those are my two super tips I want to share with you for live and in-person networking. For virtual networking let me give you a couple as well. First thing always take a screenshot of everybody’s picture, ideally their real picture, their smile, their face on the screen with their name. Then after you can go to Facebook or LinkedIn or Insta or Clubhouse, you can look at their pages, you can follow them, and you can send them a direct message that says “Hey, Sheila, great to see you at the XYZ meeting,” or “Hey Mary, I was with you today at the XYZ meeting. I appreciated your comments, appreciated your question. Look forward to getting to know you better.” You can invite people to connect, whatever you’d like to do. That is one of the things that I encourage you to have as a standard operating procedure after virtual networking. Another one is to schedule time for followup, for reach-outs, on your calendar at the same time you schedule any networking.

[00:08:51] Here’s one more super tip for virtual networking. As soon as I show up in a zoom room, the first thing I do when I’m having enough vitality to do it, which hopefully is always, I send a personal private message to anybody that I’ve seen before in the room that I have met before live and in person, that I have talked to, and I say “Hey, Sheila, great to see you here.” And if I’m super savvy, I’m going to say to them “Hey, congratulations on this, loved your post on this.” Find something that acknowledges them that you can mention in that direct message as well. All of that increases your visibility.

[00:09:37] One of the things I love to do more than almost anything in business is to partner with one of my clients to speak to their community. This is what we call being championed by your clients. And the people that are your clients, that champion you, we call them your champions.

[00:10:00] Let me give you example. The other day, my fabulous friend, who I’ve known for many years, Anastasia, she invited me to come and speak to her clients. She also invited everybody on her list to come to the special event. She also identified a group where her ideal clients and my ideal clients are gathered to promote the event. She had 70 people sign up to join us for this special event. She introduced me. She raved about me. And at the end, I invited everyone to join my Get Booked For Speaking Challenge, which is a low cost opportunity, invited everyone to join me for a conversation. In essence, she showcased me and raved about me to a room full of potential clients. And all I had to do –this is the exciting part– was show up. I’m sharing this with you because as much as I love doing my own zoom thing, as much as I love speaking to groups, what I love even more is when someone who has gained massive value gets their friends together or hosts a special event and invites me to come. I remember pre pandemic, I got in my car, went to someone’s house, ladies started to come through the front door. By the time I went home, 90% of the ladies had signed up, not just showed up, they signed up for something before they walked back out through the front door. This is what we would call an intimate intro. Now you can do an intimate intro in your living room. You can also do an intimate intro virtually via zoom. This is an amazing way for you to be showcased, amazing visibility in front of your ideal clients. If you have not embraced the intimate intro, if you have not identified clients that can champion you, if you don’t have a referral program to compensate those champions, then run, don’t walk to do these things because this will support you to have a steady flow of clients. Because someone who already thinks you’re amazing is promoting you to their clients. By the way, my friend Anastasia, she is going to be a guest coming up on our podcast. She is a speaker’s agent. She books her clients for speaking and for podcast guesting. She books me for podcast guesting because that’s one less thing for my team to do. They’re already full. And I only pay her when I get booked. This is a very exciting model. Her name’s Anastasia Lipske, you’re going to want to listen when she is our upcoming podcast guest.

[00:13:10] Right now, I want you to ask yourself, who are your clients that think you’re awesome and amazing. And by the way, they don’t have to only be your clients. I’m doing this also for past clients that have their own communities, where my ideal clients are gathered. This is a run don’t walk strategy that I want you to be embracing every single month. Do one or two of these, you will be blissing so much in your business as a result, your fempire will grow, you’ll have more impact, and it will be good for everybody.

[00:13:45] Next one, I want you — personally, you– to continue to move towards mastery with your self care. Now, Caterina, I felt we were talking about visibility. Yeah, my friend. Here’s what I want you to know. You cannot be loud and proud and amplify your visibility if your cup is empty. When your cup is empty, you do not want to get out there. You don’t want to pursue speaking. You don’t want to pursue podcast guesting. You don’t want to run any clubhouse rooms. You don’t want to do any Facebook lives. I want you to check in right now about your vitality. Are you having vitality? Because that is required for visibility. Are you having downtime? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you having fun? Fill your cup. That is going to also support you in amplifying your voice and increasing your visibility. You know what is going to support you to have better self care. You know what self care you need to do to fill your cup. I want you right now to take a moment and decide what you’re going to do to fill your cup more. Because if you have no vitality, you cannot be of service. And I want you to have vitality for a long time.

[00:15:14] I may have mentioned I’m going to say it again. When I was in Italy in October, we met this fabulous wine maker. Her name was Laura. She invited myself and my friend Anne-Marie, who I was tagging along with in Italy because she was scouting locations for her La Dolce Vita retreat business. Laura invites us to join a group of Swedish tourists for a wine tasting. We’re in the vineyards, the sun is shining. And you know what’s so wonderful, it’s not like when you go to a tasting room in Napa Valley and all you do is drink wine. And I don’t drink a lot of wine. I did in Italy. When you go to a wine tasting in Italy, you got the prosciutto, you got the fontina, you got the bruschetta. It’s like a full spread, like a meal when you go to a wine tasting. We’re in this vineyard, we’re enjoying ourselves, there’s the Swedish tourists. I see this woman, tall, big smile on her face, super fit. And she’s having such a great time, and Laura the winemaker says to me, “oh, she’s running the group. That’s the group leader. She just came back from six months leading groups in India”. And I thought to myself ” when I’m 75 years old, she was 74. I was thinking when I’m 75, do I want to be running around leading women’s retreats around the world?” And the answer was yes, I’m 57 as of today, that’s a bit away. I got to make sure I’m gonna stay vital so that I can do that. And I’m hoping that you have plans for yourself already, that you have dreams for yourself already, for what you’re going to do when you’re at an advanced age. Now you might already be 74, I don’t know. Whatever your age is there’s a more advanced age that I want you to have a dream about. My mom is 90. She writes every week for the Italian paper. She’s been doing it for 50 years. That’s no exaggeration by the way. Have the dreams for your future that will motivate you to stay vital today.

[00:17:47] Next one. I encourage you to surround yourself with women who inspire you, who encourage you to amplify your visibility. I want you to surround yourself with women who encourage you to amplify your voice, who encouraged you to amplify your leadership, who see the massive value that you have to bring, who are going to remind you when you’re hesitating that you got so much massive value, you could bring it with one eye closed, one hand tied behind your back, standing on one foot, you got so much value. They’re going to remind you of that. Do you have these kinds of women in your life? If not, run don’t walk to find a community of like-minded women, like-hearted women, just like you. By the way, that’s what we are here in the Thriving Women in Business Community. Come and hang out with us. Come to our Clubhouse room on Friday, on Monday, other rooms. One of the things I do in all my Clubhouse rooms is invite women to use their voice, and Clubhouse is a great place for you to practice increasing your visibility. Community is key.

[00:19:13] When I go to a room full of women, I want to be in a room full of women where they got something to teach me, where I’m going to learn some things, where I’m going to be supported, where we’re going to grow together, where we’re going to have fun, where I’m going to make friends, where we’re going to share resources. That’s what I want for you. Do you have that? If not, create your own or find one. We all can use encouragement. We all need encouragement every step along the way.

[00:19:46] Here is the last one. I want you to bliss in the visibility that you already have. I want you to bliss in the visibility you’ve already created. My friend, who’s also been a guest on this podcast, Heather Zeitzwolfe, she recently completed 45 days of doing Instagram lives. 45 days! That’s amazing visibility. My friend Gail Scott you’ve heard me talk about, who does reels on Instagram all the time. Those of you that are speaking and guests on podcasts and doing your Facebook Live and running your Clubhouse rooms and hosting your workshops and doing live and in-person on the ground events, revel in all of this. Bliss in all of this. And then ask yourself what’s next. Here’s what I hope is not happening for you. I hope you are not getting ready to get ready to begin to think about getting going on any of these ideas that have been floating around in your head, even maybe written down on paper, for quite a while. Be a woman of action.

[00:21:02] You cannot be a woman of action if you’re also wanting to get everything right and perfect and look good. Remember my very good friend, perfection is not required and it is not encouraged. The goal is to do it. The goal is to do it again, whatever it is, whatever you want to do, because the more you do it, the better you’re going to get. The goal is to become masterful. This is why I don’t just want you to be visible. I want you to be visible consistently. I want you to be visible every day in a different way. Today I gave a talk in one of my fabulous clients’ communities, Tracie Root, founder of Gather Community, had the privilege to talk to women in her community. I did my own zoom workshop. That’s today. Tomorrow I’m hosting a Clubhouse room. Another day I’m joining in someone else’s room. The next day I’m a guest on somebody’s podcast. The next day I’m interviewing somebody else for my podcast. Every day create visibility, because you have massive value to bring. You cannot bring it sitting in your home office getting ready to get ready to begin to think about getting going.

[00:22:27] Let’s take a deep breath. Right now, I want you to ask yourself: of these things we have discussed today, making yourself known when you go networking, doing intimate intros and cultivating your champions, mastering your self-care so you have more vitality, having dreams for your far future, surrounding yourself with women who inspire and encourage you, blissing in the visibility you already have, remembering perfection is not required or encouraged, which of these one or two or three ideas are you not only going to embrace, you’re going to run with today?

[00:23:15] Because you’ve heard me say it before, and I’m going to say it again. You have massive value to bring. There’s a lifetime supply of people serve. But guess what? You cannot serve them if they don’t know you exist. How do you do that? It starts with visibility. After visibility, we build influence. Remember the influence equation: visibility plus value plus consistency equals influence. Remember, nobody buys from us if we don’t have influence. Visibility is where it all starts. I invite you to listen to the 80 plus episodes of this podcast we’ve already recorded, Expand your Fempire, to support you to learn and grow and thrive more. I invite you to join me for my next workshop. It’s coming up. It’s free. I would love to have you. We talk about sales. We talk about speaking. We talk about running your own retreats. We talk about all kinds of hot topics to support you on your journey. I invite you to step into our Thriving Women in Business Community on Clubhouse. Join our Facebook group because a rising woman like you lifts all the women around her. You, me, we’re rising women. Let’s rise together. I cannot wait to be with you again on another episode of the Expand Your Fempire Podcast. Until then my friend, be in action to increase your visibility, to sell more, serve more and uplift more lives.

[00:25:03] Love to you, call on me anytime for any reason and we’ll be together again on the next episode of Expand Your Fempire.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Expand Your Fempire with Caterina Rando.