Hey there, wellness entrepreneur! Welcome back.
Today, I’m honored to bring on special guest, Lori Kennedy. And this episode is going to be a controversial one and very meaty, especially if you’re looking to grow an online program.
We go over what’s required to grow a successful online program, some obstacles and hurdles that you might have to overcome to have a successful online program, hard truths, and so much more.
Lori really dives into what’s needed to have success in the online world. So if you’re a yoga teacher delivering classes in-person, or if you’re a healthcare provider and have a brick-and-mortar clinic and you’re looking to move into the online space, then this episode is going to get you on the right track to creating success sooner rather than later.
Also, you’ll learn an awareness of common pitfalls and what might happen on your journey to growing a successful online business, so you are more prepared. And if you want to learn more about Lori and her services, then you can check below to find all her information there. So, for now, we’ll get right to the episode.
Question To Lori: Can you tell us a little bit about what you do and who you help?
Lori: Sure. So what I do is, I guess by trade, I am a business coach, although I don’t really identify as that. I have been in the alternative health and coaching industry my entire adult life since I was 19 years old. I started as a personal trainer, then I became a registered holistic nutritionist, so I have never had a corporate job. I’ve never been a typical employee.
Now, we work with practitioners and coaches from all over the world who are getting started online, wanting to create an online signature program and really use that one program to impact and transform lives while giving themselves flexibility, freedom, and financial stability.
So that is now what I do. And I am so thrilled to be able to do it because I know that when we all come together with this intention of transformation, we will do much good in the world.
Alison: Yes, I love that! Actually, your story is similar to mine. I started out with personal training and got certified when I was 19 or 20 years old as well, and then went right to the HHP. They’re a great combo. I love that. Awesome.
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Question To Lori: How come you don’t identify yourself with being a business coach? Let’s get into that a little bit, because that’s a popular word thrown around these days.
Lori: It is a popular word. It never sat well for me because I don’t have any on-paper business credentials, despite the fact that I’ve been, “self-employed” since I was 19 years old. The Wellness Business Hub is a global business coaching company. We have thousands of active clients. I have a team of 40. Like, I guess, on paper, if you look at what I’ve built, I have the experience.
But it’s just this, I guess also because I just repel against this whole business coach bro, guru type of thing. I teach what we do. That’s what I teach in my program, in any of our conversations, in my community, I only teach what we’ve done, the mistakes we’ve made, and how we have gotten to where we are and what we’re doing to continuously grow. So, I guess I am a business coach because we help humans start and grow businesses. I just don’t know that I would be considered the traditional Instagram-worthy sort of business coach that I think other people title themselves as.
Alison: Yeah, sure. I mean, there are many variations of the definition, I think. And truthfully, you can call yourself whatever you want to.
Lori: Yeah, I’m just Lori. That just feels right to me. I can wear my coach hat, I can wear my practitioner hat, I wear a mom hat, I wear a single mom hat, sometimes I wear the ADHD can’t focus hat, I wear all the hats. So, I feel like, at my core, I am a coach.
This is what I have done since I was 19. Even before that, I was a gymnastics coach when I was 16. So, at my core, I am a coach. And so even if it’s personal development or parent, whatever it is, my innate thing is to support and coach and serve.
Alison: Yeah, love that. Helping the people. That’s why I had to get into the industry and a lot of my clients, too.
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Question To Lori: Okay, so tell me, if someone, if a wellness entrepreneur wants to create an online program, maybe they’re a yoga teacher and they’re teaching classes in person or for me, I work with a lot of healthcare providers and physical therapists since I’m one myself, and they have a brick-and-mortar clinic, and it’s rolling and it’s successful and they might want to bring in that online program. You mentioned prior to us hitting record that there are four funnels that they really need to help support that online program. Can you tell me a little bit more about those?
Lori: Yeah, absolutely. And before I share sort of these four funnels, I just want to say that even if you are a manual practitioner, even if you lay hands on your clients or your patients, you are absolutely able to have an online component of what you do.
Even if you’re licensed, even if you’re regulated, we’ve worked with hundreds of licensed and regulated professionals, OTs, PTs, osteo practitioners, massage therapists, so I get that it might be difficult to wrap your mind around how to go from manually adjusting and like working with someone in this very Yoga, Pilates, like in this very physical state to then having an online program. And I think that’s because it’s just not how we were taught. It’s not how the profession was framed.
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And so with these four funnels, what you’re able to do is you’re really able to mimic the experience, and you’re able to mimic a lot of, not all of, but a lot of the care that you provide, the instruction, the education that you provide, and even more than you would be able to provide in your 30-minute, 45-minute, 60-minute session. And then the client or patient goes and leaves, and they get nothing from you. They get nothing.
And so having an online program with the ability to provide education and coaching and accountability and support outside of the four walls is something that I know that a lot of professionals really want to be able to provide because they know it’s going to enable better outcomes.
So, if we look at what an online business is, most professionals, most wellness entrepreneurs, most practitioners, and coaches don’t actually even know what it is. I speak to so many. And that’s the first question is like, “Do you even know what an online business is?” And they’re like, “No.”
So I think it’s important to start there because then you can see how these four funnels, which really are sort of like, if you think about them, like supporting pillars. If you think of the beams that a house would need or whatever the case, you have people who are on the internet scrolling, right? And we’re going to call those people strangers. They’re strangers to you. They don’t know that you exist. They’re scrolling and they are looking for a very specific solution to their painful problem.
So maybe they have a hurt shoulder. Maybe they have a bad neck. Maybe they have bad posture. Maybe they have a pelvic floor issue or whatever it is, and they’re scrolling, and what’s going to stop their scroll is content that is specific to their painful problem, not this general wellness, you know, how to stay hydrated, you know, better. Like how to use coconut oil or whatever the case may be. You know? What’s really going to stop their scroll is three ways to alleviate shoulder pain so that you cannot have a headache every day or whatever, whatever the headline is.
And so that’s going to stop their scroll. And so when they stop their scroll, where do they go? Like, how do you actually get somebody on your e-mail list? How do you actually get somebody to follow you? How do you get somebody to book a consult with you? How do you get somebody to enroll in your program?
And so we have to think about the stranger-to-client journey where there are steps in the journey that this human being needs to take in order to say yes to you, in order to enroll in your program, in order to know you and like you, and trust you. And so that’s what these funnels do, if you think about it.
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And so the first one is capturing the stranger’s contact information. So they’re scrolling on social media. They stop at a post, they stop at an ad, and where does that post, or where does that ad take them? It takes them to this first funnel, which is called a lead gen funnel. So you are capturing the leads’ contact information, their e-mail address, and their name, and now they’re on your e-mail list. Yay!
You have a new e-mail subscriber. So exciting. And then, from there, where do they go? Most people don’t even know what to say. They’re like, “Ok, I have some email subscribers, but like, I don’t even know what to say. So I’m just going to ghost them and not say anything.”
And then you’re mortified, and you’re embarrassed. And then it’s hard to pick it back up again. And so there has to be some type of automation, some type of automated e-mails that are preloaded, that when somebody subscribes to your e-mail list, they get a sequence of, in our case, we do five e-mails so that they get e-mails over a period of several weeks where you don’t have to be like, “Oh, God, I have a new email subscriber, and I haven’t e-mailed in three days or a weeks,” or whatever the case may be.
So the first funnel is lead gen and lead gen attracts the person via a free piece of content, which is called a lead magnet and the free piece of content. And this is really more important than the funnel itself. The content that you’re going to use to get them to give you their e-mail address needs to be very dialed in and very hyper-specific to the painful problem. Otherwise, you’re not going to get the right people, and/or they’re not going to give you their e-mail address.
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And so it needs to be good. Like it actually needs to provide value. And we’re not going to even have the conversation of, “I don’t want to give away all the tips,” give all the tips away. No one’s going to follow them. Just give all the tips away, blow their minds with the amount of value that you’re going to give in three pages. No one needs a dissertation on inflammation. What they need are the steps that they can take to regain mobility in their shoulder. That’s what they need.
So this funnel, number one is the lead gen funnel, which then allows you to start growing your e-mail list. And if you decide to do so, grow your Facebook group, and that also includes sort of these e-mail automations.
And so the next funnel that we would have this person who’s now on your e-mail list, which is super exciting to go through is some type of marketing event. We teach webinars. So we would have them then go from the automated e-mail sequence into a webinar. So that’s funnel number two. And the reason that we do webinars is because it gives you a chance to empower and educate. It gives you a chance to get to know the person and for them to get to like you and to have you demonstrate that you actually know what you’re talking about and you can actually help them with their specific problem.
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And then, that leads to funnel number three, which is our enrollment funnel. And so from the webinar, you invite them into a conversation, and they’re going to book a time with you online. They’re going to get e-mails that motivate them to show up.
Alison: Like a consult call?
Lori: It’s a consult call. Yup. So the consult is to determine if they are the right fit to enroll into your online program. And so the enrollment funnel have them booking the consultation with you. And then on the call, you would then have the opportunity to go through an assessment and a decision-making process with them. And then, if it turns out that they are a good fit and they would like to move forward, you complete the transaction through a checkout page.
And now you have a new client or patient. And from there, automatically from there, they would be enrolled into your online program, which is the fourth funnel, which is delivery.
So this is a content hub. This is where all of the content is stored. This is where it’s pre done. This is where you have check-in e-mails. This is where you have your intake forms. And so it goes from lead gen and will attach nurture to it.
So lead gen and them getting to know you, automated e-mails into a webinar, into an enrollment, into delivery. And these are four-mile markers that this stranger has to go through before they become a client and get the transformation that you’ve promised them.
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Alison: Yeah, a hundred percent. And I work with a lot of clients where they’ve come in, and maybe they’ve implemented one of these or two of these, or they focus so much on the content portion and the onboarding portion that they haven’t really focused so much on the lead gen and the marketing of that.
A common mindset that I don’t think is helpful for especially the brick-and-mortar practitioner or the yoga teacher that does want to grow an online presence is, thinking if they do one webinar and maybe no one shows up that first webinar or they do a webinar and maybe they get a handful of people that show up, but no one books a consult, that anything has gone wrong because I think sometimes in the online world, there is this marketing out there of how you just build it. You build the program, and the people just come. And there is a bit of trial and error.
And as you just walked through all those funnels, there’s some work involved. And in each of those funnels, there is some trial and error. And most of the time during that process, and I found this out for myself, too, is like there’s a lot more erroring going on sometimes than getting it right. But eventually, if you stick with it, it does click.
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Question To Lori: And so what do you usually tell your clients in this process while they’re investing a lot of time, but maybe haven’t seen the results quite yet?
Lori: Everything you’re saying, I one hundred percent agree with. And I just want to back it up before I say, you know, I share what we do with our clients, is I think that anybody who makes a promise to you as a practitioner or a coach, “I will get you clients in X time,” “You will get clients in X time,” “You will make X dollars,” run far and fast. Run far, fast and far, run, run away.
Because it’s not, first of all, that’s highly unethical. Second of all, they can’t promise you that even if they are using their own magical system that guarantees X number of clients and X number of days, and then you don’t pay, because here’s why that doesn’t work.
If you’re not clear on your ideal client and you’re not clear on your offer and the value of your offer, they can’t come in and get you anything. So just be very careful of who you listen to and who you trust, and who you invest with.
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Because if there’s any level of guarantee or promise other than here are the deliverables, like here’s what’s in the program, here are the deliverables, you will leave with X number of calls, you will leave with a funnel, you will leave with this, you will leave with that, like, just be very careful because it’s something that I see a lot and I’m sure you experienced where really smart, well-meaning professionals come in and they’re like, “I paid this to this, and I got no clients out of it.” I’m like, “What did you leave with?” They’re like, “Nothing.” Or they were like, “They just told us to run ads to build the audience,” but they were never shown how to run the ads. Or to get into the feminine and manifest it. It’s one or the other, right?
So what we do, and I think this is, we’re going really hard on this actually, is setting correct expectations from the start. It’s making sure that the people that come in to work with me, the practitioners, and the coaches that we work with, understand what the timeline is for growing a real business. Because even though it’s online, it is still a real business. And you wouldn’t expect to open a restaurant and within 30 days, turn a profit. You would never expect that.
You would never expect that from any business anywhere, except that you expect that online, which means it takes you, in my world, it takes four to six months, to build all of the assets in the funnels and the whole nine, and then we go and we launch it, and you do this thing one time, which you’ve never done before, you’re not good at it, but for some reason, you expect to have the best ever results ever on the first try. I don’t know why.
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Alison: I think it’s because I work with a lot of clients through this very process, is they come in with a wealth of knowledge and experience, and a lot of them have been doing their brick-and-mortar for like 10 years, 20 years. They’ve been practitioners for multiple years, and they’re honed in on their craft. They get people results.
And so they bring all of that into the online world, thinking it’s just going to roll from that place. But it is exactly what you said. It’s something new. It’s like telling a baby at three months, “Walk, baby, walk.” And if they don’t stand up and walk and fall over, you’re like, “Bad baby, bad baby. You’re not meant to be an entrepreneur.”
Lori: Or like, “You’re a failure, and you’ll never walk again, you might as well just keep your ass on the ground.”
Alison: Yeah. Exactly.
Lori: And I think it’s an important thing, what you just said. And I want to make the distinction here because this is a conversation I have all the time. Your experience starts when you have the client, but you have no experience up until that point because the way brick-and-mortars operates is very different than the way an online business operates from a business perspective.
And so, while you might have phenomenal results with your clients and you are literally saving and changing lives, which is the whole reason you want to go online in the first place, to impact more people, that experience begins after the transaction is complete. But up until that point, you are a complete and utter newbie, which is really difficult for people, because they’re embarrassed, they don’t want to look like an idiot, they want to show up professionally, they have beliefs about what showing up professionally is, versus what it is and what it needs to be in order to actually get clients.
And so there’s the fork in the road at the transaction, right? Everything before the transaction, you actually have no experience in, and everything after the transaction, you’re going to crush. Except that, you don’t get to do the thing that you crush at until you get good at the stuff that you have no experience at, which is really frustrating for people.
Alison: And also I find with these practitioners, especially yoga teachers, they’re used to this, but maybe like a physical therapist or a practitioner working one-to-one, often they come into the online space, both A, trying to navigate all these funnels and developing a true online business such that you mentioned, and B, so now they’re also moving one-to-one to a group program, for example, or an on-demand program or a membership.
And so it is exactly what you described that, okay, yes, they still have their expertise and all those years of experience, but you’re still delivering that result in an entirely different fashion. Guiding someone to a result one-on-one versus in a group or through an on-demand portal or a membership program, the experience again is very different. Or, as you mentioned in the beginning, like if they are that manual therapist or energetics like Reiki practitioner or myofascial release, how do you bring that energetic component into the online world?
So you have to develop your expertise and your knowledge, again, your skill set in a slightly different way. So again, it is a little bit like starting over, which is why I think sometimes there’s so much potential in the online space for those brick-and-mortar and in-person people that offer their services in person, however, they just stop before they actually get to that point because they’re hitting all these roadblocks and obstacles.
Lori: Yes. And I think when practitioners and coaches come in to work with us, I walk them through the timeline and the standardized metrics that we know to be true so that they can have a very realistic understanding of what it looks like and when they’re going to start earning money and how much money based on audience size.
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Question To Lori: Let’s talk about the newbie who maybe teach yoga classes or maybe they’re the healthcare provider, they’re a current employee, but they want to come into the online space as a coach. I see that a lot, and has been some of the practitioners I work with. What is that timeline if they’re completely new and don’t have an audience?
Lori: So we have a lot of metrics that we track from the hundreds and hundreds of clients that we’ve worked with from all over the world. It takes eight to 10 weeks for somebody to fully create and finish an online program. It takes 11 days to create a lead magnet from start to finish, including all the tech. We have a lot of this. It takes about four to six months to create all of the assets that you would need in order to fully have an executable online business where you do have organic content or ads running, and it goes to a lead magnet. All of these things that are automated or you’re running live, but the assets that you basically would need.
Now, some could probably argue, you don’t need all of those things. Okay. I have two kids. I’m a single mom. I’m not replying to all the DMs. I’m not doing that. I like having these assets because they do a lot of the work for me because I am not doing a lot of the things that require me manually to respond. And I never did, which is why I love the tech.
Growing an audience, it depends. You need an audience. What we’re seeing right now across the board in my own business, in the friends that I meet, figure a year businesses, 1-4% of an audience will take an action. 1-4%. And that’s pretty standard across the board if you look at overall conversions and whatnot. If you have 100 people in your audience and you’re thinking you’re going to make $10,000 a month, unless you sell one person at a $10,000 program, there’s no way that that’s happening. Because you just don’t have enough human beings. You don’t have enough eyeballs because even if you were to have 500 people on your e-mail list, at a 2% conversion for them to take an action, that’s 10 people. If you had 10 people take an action and sign up for a call at a 70% show rate, which is typical, that’s seven calls taken at a 30% conversion, which again is typical, that’s two clients. And you have to repeat this month after month after month. And you need 500 new people.
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Obviously, there’s a cumulative effect. Obviously, some people who were in the first batch weren’t ready this month, so they’ll be ready next month, which is why we focus so much on growing an e-mail list. It’s because the more humans you have in your audience, the more people that take action, and it’s a cumulative effect.
And so I think it’s really important to understand this because frustration sets in, because to somebody who’s starting a 500-person e-mail list is a lot. When they tell me they have 500 people on their e-mail list, I ask them what’s their open rate. Some tell me only 15 percent of their e-mail list is actually reading their content. So that means only 75 people are consuming the e-mail. Well, 2% of 75 is 1.5. This is why you are struggling to book calls and get clients. It’s not because your content is bad. It’s literally math, and you just don’t have enough humans yet.
Alison: Yes, which is why I tell people sometimes, and this is not always the advice that they want to hear, is I ask them, I’m like, “Okay, you have a choice. Listen, if you want to leave your job and start your own thing, you can do it online, but if you want to generate more revenue quicker, it might be easier to just work one-to-one with higher ticket programs.” So you only have to sign one client a month to work towards your revenue goals as you build up savings in your job versus trying to launch a group program at a lower cost point where you just don’t have the audience size to support it yet. Then you build the audience, and you can always transition at a later time.
But I think sometimes there’s this misconception where they’re going to come in and repeatedly sell a group program without the audience to support it.
Lori: Yeah. And I think one of the things that’s really important is to understand the options. So when we work with practitioners and coaches who are starting from scratch and have no audience, we teach them to beta launch because it’s basically what they’re doing is we get them to create the online program, and then basically they’re getting their first five clients, and they are working one-on-one with them. And so we sort of fuse together the best of both worlds because without an online program, without a content hub, you’re repeating everything.
Alison: Sure, yeah! A lot of statements that you say, exercises that you give.
Lori: Exactly, and so I think there’s this opportunity to do the work, spend the eight to ten weeks, create the online program, and then use a higher fee to attract “one-on-one clients” and put them through your online program.
Alison: Yes, that’s exactly what I teach, too.
Lori: Right? So that’s, I think, the best model. And then you have four, five one-to-one clients paying you $1,500, $2,000, whatever it is. Now you have a group, right? Now you have a group. And so that’s all it is.
So I think that there’s this idea that you have to have this massive audience. You don’t. You can, out of 100 people, get two or three clients at a higher-than-average price point and leverage your time using an online program so that you can have the flexibility and the freedom and all of that good stuff.
At the end of the day, you’re going to want to grow it. And growing it requires growing your audience. There’s no way around it.
Alison: Yeah, 100%. This comes back to that first funnel that you described, the lead gen. And that’s why it’s so important. And also two things, dialing in on what you described so adequately, like with the shoulder example, is learning your audience and their specific problems and trying out copying and messaging.
And during that process, if people aren’t responding and taking you up on your offer, instead of beating yourself up or doubting that people don’t want to work with you or taking it personally and thinking that, “Oh, well, they just don’t want to work with me.” or, “I’m not cut out for this,” that it just comes down to trialing different messages as you build that audience.
Lori: Yeah, 100%.
Alison: Yeah, awesome. Well, I love this. So much information here.
Question To Lori: If someone is considering growing an online program or maybe they started some of these processes, some of these funnels kind of on their own, because usually I work with people and they’ll come in somewhere in this process, what would you recommend for them, especially if they’re trying to keep a brick and mortar business running as well on the side or maybe the online business is on the side? How do you recommend them juggling all these different pieces?
Lori: That’s a really good question. And I think that there has to be an understanding that it’s going to be rough for a while. Like, you know, this whole idea of, you know, enjoying the process and like passive and whatever, maybe once it’s all set up. But I think that you have to go into it like you would have a full-time job.
And again, I always go back to the reference of a restaurant because I think people can visualize that if you were to start another clinic, you know, think of how much work it took you to get your current clinic to where it is. You’re about to do that again. It’s just on the internet. So I think that there’s this level of understanding and surrender that it is going to suck for a while, right? You are going to have to work more. You’re going to have to say, you know, no to a lot of things in order to allocate time to get the online thing up and running. And so having as much of the mental load and the at-home responsibilities allocated, delegated, for a short period of time, you know, a couple of months so that you can allocate, you know, 10 hours a week, 15 hours a week to growing the online business and really sitting down.
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One of the things that we do a lot is, in real-time, I say all the time, in real-time, how much time do you have to allocate? Open up your calendar. Put in all of the pickups and the drop-offs for the kids and your own workouts and your own whatever it is that you’re doing. Now, literally count the hours. How much actual time do you have in order to do this?
If you have seven hours a week, great, fine. That’s what you got. It’s not good. It’s not bad. It’s what you got. So what are we going to do during that time? What are the steps in order? And I think that’s where investing in a coach, investing in a program, investing in a mentor who clearly knows what they’re doing so that you don’t waste those seven hours a week doing the wrong things in the wrong order, using the wrong language that’s then going to reinforce, “I knew this wouldn’t work and it was a waste of time.”
Alison: Yeah. Yeah, 100%. And also, when you work with someone, sometimes I find these practitioners that come in, they might say, “Okay, I’ve only got seven hours to do this,” which is a lot of extra time. If you have that, amazing. But I have these seven hours. And we can actually work together to optimize what they’re currently doing in their brick-and-mortar or with their services that they’re currently offering to often create more time as well. So you can really speed the process up.
And the suck, as it’s called, or the river of misery when you’re in it and it’s uncomfortable, it’s reminding yourself it is temporary, and you get to choose how you want to feel during that process.
And that’s another part that I really work with entrepreneurs on is those uncomfortable emotions and helping to navigate through that because I’m sure, Lori, you can describe this and for myself, when you get it dialed in, and it is working, it is for me has created so much freedom in my business and my life. It’s so worth it.
And that river of misery doesn’t have to last a long time, but it’s just like anything else. Every day, if you imagine a relationship, my husband and I are coming up on our 20 years of being together. But it’s not always rainbows, daisies, and unicorns. There are moments and hard conversations and work that we’ve had to do that have been uncomfortable to get us to the point where we are now.
And the same is true for an online business. It’s nothing has gone wrong. If it does feel challenging, if it does feel hard, if you’re putting in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears and haven’t seen the results, like you do want to investigate what’s going on, which is why a mentor, as Lori just said, or a coach or a program or getting into a system to navigate through those challenges is so important, but also nothing has gone wrong.
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Lori: And we can have this conversation for hours, right? Where, “Oh, I had a cancellation, or, “I had a no-show on a call,” or, “Somebody said no to me.” All of these things are normal problems. They’re not problems. You just think that they’re problems because you don’t know. I didn’t know any better. I thought everything was horrible. I thought everything was a mistake. I thought I was doing it wrong the entire time. And until you have somebody sit you down and go, “Look, like this is just how it is. These are very normal things that occur at this stage of where you’re at.” And those very normal things change, depending on where you are in your business growth.
And so I think at the end of the day, not everybody is cut out to do this. That’s for sure. You might be a phenomenal practitioner in the clinic, and you might not be cut out to have success online because you are shy or whatever the case may be, right? You are not willing to put your face on the internet. You’re not willing, right? There has to be a level of commitment. There has to be a level of willingness. And if you’re not willing to do the things that you need to do, like creating content, for example, if you’re not willing to do that, there’s not anything that I can say. If you’re not willing to put yourself out there to a certain degree.
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So, I think there has to be a level of understanding of what is needed in order to succeed. And then you can decide for yourself if that’s something that you are capable and willing to do at this period in time.
Because I think a lot of people go into it not really understanding what is needed, right? What’s really needed to be successful enough that the impact and the freedom and all of that stuff outweighs the time invested, right? Because it takes time to have the freedom and the flexibility. It is 100% life-changing. I would do it again in a heartbeat. And I think it’s really important to understand what that journey really looks like and what the traits are that are needed in order to achieve the level of flexibility and freedom that you desire.
Alison: Yeah, I love that. And I think that’s a whole other blog that maybe we can have you back for Part B.
But the person that can make it, right? I think that’s one of the personality types in the online world. And I think some of it is not just inherent personality traits that you’re born with because I’m an introvert, and I was very, very shy. I was that high schooler, the wallflower on the wall. And now I lead lots of webinars with hundreds of people and do all the things and show up and have podcasts like this.
So some things can be learned. Our skill traits that you can learn. But as you just suggested, you still have to go through the learning process. And that’s why you don’t want to compare yourself to anyone else in the internet world because you might have a yoga teacher friend or a physical therapist who is an extrovert, and they just love being the center of the crowd and in the limelight. So their webinars might be kick-ass right out the gate.
And if you have to learn the skill of showing up and being comfortable in your introverted self, but in the limelight, that is a skill set. And so your webinars might, not always, but they might just take a little bit more time to get going.
And so some of the skills can be learned. And it doesn’t mean that you’re not cut out to make it. But it is highlighting, “Okay, what are your strengths?” Where maybe our skill sets need to be developed. And that can help with the process and awareness of why it’s taking so long.
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Lori: I think it’s important to know, I am a hardcore introvert. I’m highly sensitive, and I’m a hermit. I also am obsessed with learning how to communicate. And so I think that’s the key. It’s the willingness, right? It’s the willingness to say, “Okay, I am an introvert and I am shy, and I am quiet. But here’s what I need to learn and execute in order to have the success and the impact that I want.”
And a lot of people aren’t willing to do it. They’re not willing. And that’s sort of, “I’m a hardcore introvert. I don’t talk to humans. Unless I have to. I am a hermit. And I know that my ability to transform lives is in my communication.” And so it’s this understanding, and it’s this commitment and frankly, the obsession of getting better, and growth. I think as long as you have that and you are actually true to that, and you’re not going to fall back on excuses, like, “Oh, I’m an introvert,” that’s not an excuse. Then you will be good.
Alison: And just understanding too, like, okay, if maybe you’re unwilling, it’s getting curious, “Why am I feeling so uncomfortable?” And then, a lot of the time for me, it’s realizing, “Well, jeez, it’s just my nervous system because it’s just trying to keep me safe.” And then, from that place, you can give yourself a little grace and compassion, being like, “Well, of course I’m freaked out about delivering a webinar for 50 people when I’m an introvert. “ Like, “Of course, I’m going to feel this way. And I’m a human being having a human experience while I’m growing this business, which feels uncomfortable.”
Like, you know, it’s really acknowledging all of that, which again is another whole conversation that I think is really important to have because you do want to, you know, celebrate yourself when you are going through these uncomfortable times because, yes, the reward is very sweet on the end, but you have to acknowledge the growth you’re going through as a person, too, and give yourself a whole lot of gratitude for that.
Lori: For sure.
Alison: Awesome. So, Lori, thank you so much for coming today.
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Question To Lori: Any parting words of wisdom?
Lori: I think that it’s really important to have a very powerful vision for what you want and a very clear decision that you’ve made that you are going to do this. That’s the way forward.
It’s not, “I’ll try,” because you can’t give yourself an out. So you’re either going to succeed at this, which means that the vision and the mission of what you’re doing is so much stronger than the fear because then, you know, then you will just continue to learn and test and do trial and error and get better and get better and get better, and then you will wake up.
In my case, you know, I’ve been online since 2012. So, 11 years, right? You will wake up and be like, “Holy crap! My 30-year-old self would kill over right now if she could see the life that I have,” right? Where it would have been not even in my field of reference that I would have the kind of life that I have right now.
And so I think that’s my sort of words of wisdom is, you know, there is no, “I’ll give it a try,” because you’re building a business. You don’t give a restaurant a try. You go into it thinking, “This is what I’m going to do for the rest. Like, this is my business. I’m going to have this restaurant, and I want it to be here in 50 years.” Like, that’s the mindset. So this should be no different.
And if you have that mindset, then you’ll be good. That’s all it is. There was never, there was no out for me. There was, “This is it, and I’m just going to continue to get better.” And then it gets better.
Alison: Yes, 100%. I love that. And I think that’s a great summary to wrap it up and the bottom line. And, you know, if there is a takeaway that you’re taking away from this blog, I think really that that is it. So thank you so much for sharing it.
Lori: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Alison: Yeah. Thank you.
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