Ep #23: How to Run a Business Without Social Media
Episode Summary
Jenna explains why running a business without social media is 100% possible and how to do it.
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Show Notes
So many entrepreneurs hate social media but feel like it’s just something they need to do in order to run their businesses. But being on social media is not a prerequisite for running a successful business, period. So are you ready to run a business that doesn’t rely on it?
Businesses have operated for thousands of years without social media, and all of those principles and tactics are still available to you. Social media might be an easier, cheaper way of having a storefront and shortening your client acquisition process, but it’s a choice you get to make; you are not a slave to it. So in this episode, I’m showing you how to see social media as a tool that you can choose to avail yourself of.
If you’re thinking of ditching social media in your business, you don’t want to miss this episode. I’m clearing up the overthinking and misconceptions once and for all and showing you how to run a social-media-free business. Learn how to build the belief that you don’t need social media to have a successful business and some tips and suggestions to help you get out once and for all.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
Some beliefs I used to have about running a business without social media.
How much opportunity you have to create what you want in the world.
What you need in order to say goodbye to social media.
How to show up on social media from a much cleaner place.
The only thing keeping you from having the business you want.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Full Episode Transcript:
“I have no other choice. But wait, do I? No, no, this is my only option. Except, maybe it's not.” If this is what it sounds like in your mind when you're thinking about whether or not to ditch social media in your business, we are going to clear up the overthinking and misconceptions, once and for all. You do not need to be on social, period.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed overanalyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Y'all, welcome back to The Uncommon Way. Fun fact; I am sitting in the car, in my dad's garage, recording this; I think that is worth bringing up because so often, we let all sorts of things stop us from just doing what we need to do. And I love thinking about how it's not about pushing yourself, and hustling, and making things happen. It's really about no longer making things a problem, right?
It's not a problem that the audio might sound a little different; I'll have this fun story to tell in the future. And that, you can all relate to, no matter where you are in your business, you just kind of make things work. And speaking of the trip, I was thinking back on how I've been able to take a trip every month; some have been planned, some have been spontaneous. I am so grateful, and really grounding into the fact that we have businesses like this nowadays, where we can do that.
And I just wanted to share that with you and celebrate that all together. It is so amazing. Just being here with my dad, and remembering how he used to work, my dad and my stepmom, and seeing what's available to us now, is just something that really blows my mind. And reinforces to me, that this is why we do the foundational work in the beginning.
I remember wondering, is it really possible? Is this all just some big Ponzi scheme, or some pipe dream, sold to poor innocent souls? And now I know it's available to us. It takes commitment, but it also takes constraint, right? Really focusing on what's truly important in your business.
I went through a couple years where I wasn't really producing anything, and I was focused on all the wrong things. And now, I see that the longer you spend in mind drama and in activities that don't move the needle, the longer it all takes.
Okay, today's episode is by listener request. It's somebody who left a review and said they would really love to know how to create a business without social media, and to run a business that doesn't rely on social media. And so, this is going to be a zero woo episode; it's gonna be straight up business.
I'm just noticing that there really is this balance between sharing, with you all, what I know you need to know, right? That you don't know that you need to know. And this is all coming just based on what's going on with my clients at the moment; I can see what will be so helpful for you.
But on the other hand, also responding to exactly what you want to know. I want to strike that balance, but of course, I really need your input so that I can make this so valuable for you. So, please do leave a review. And really, that's the best holiday present that you could leave me, by the way.
I don't know about you, I have this thing going with Ben, where he is so hard to shop for. And I just think, “Oh my God, just tell me what you want.” Because I find myself wanting him to just tell me. I always make sure to just tell him exactly what I want, right? So, I'm just going to do the same with you, because maybe you're like me.
And so, if you're wondering, that is what I would love for the holidays. And if you tell me what you want, where you're looking to grow, learn, maybe if you're stuck somewhere, if you let me know that, I will be happy. In fact, thrilled to give back.
Okay, down to business. I know it seems like something I have to do, you just have to do it, but you do not need to be on social media to have a successful business. Today, I'll be helping you build your belief in that, and I'll be giving you some tips and suggestions, so that you can either get out, once and for all, or continue to show up but from a much cleaner place. You knowing that you don't have to be on social, you want to.
And to start this whole discussion, we have to begin with mindset. Of course, first, you've just got to think about the fact that businesses have operated for thousands of years without social media. Let that sink in. All of those principles and tactics, they're still available to you.
Social is just an easier, cheaper way of having a storefront and shortening your client acquisition process, that's it. But it's a choice you get to make, you're not a slave to it. It's a tool that you can choose to avail yourself of. And you might be wondering right now, well, what are the other tools? And I would answer, how long do you have? You know, we could probably spend until next New Year’s talking about all of them.
But I could do that, I could create a podcast just of all the different possible tools, and it still wouldn't do anything if you didn't believe that those were a viable option for you. So, do you? Do you believe that you can go off social if you want to? This is the heart of what I do. Right? I help women see how much opportunity they have to create what they want in the world, and then help them resource their own power to go make it happen.
If you're living in a state of victimhood, which, my friends, is exactly what's happening when you say, “I hate social media, but I have to be on it.” If you're believing that you aren't capable of creating what you want, unless a thousand others have done it first. Or, if you're given the exact playbook or someone tells you it's okay, then very little will ever change in your life. And the world will be deprived of your example; in your specific vision and genius.
So, just as a thought exercise now, just pretend that you never heard me saying that a social media-free business is 100% possible. And that I, myself, spent two years off of social and that, in 2022, I brought in multiple six-figures from a few landing pages; forget all of that. Just pause this recording, and see and think about what you would have to believe about business, about your clients, and about yourself, in order to move forward on creating a business without social.
Okay, that's powerful, right? Because what you're exposing there, is it’s showing you all the places where you can now go to work developing those beliefs for yourself. So, don't skip this, it's going to give you the roadmap of what you need to work on. I'm so curious about what came up for you. Maybe, you realize you need to believe your clients wouldn't care that you're never on social, right?
That being off, it wouldn't undermine your legitimacy. I remember that one for myself, especially as a business coach. Or, you'd have to believe that you're extremely resourceful, or that the universe supports you. Or, maybe you'd have to believe that regardless of what it did for your sales, what you'd learn during that process, and during that defined timeframe that you decided to be off social, was more valuable, right?
That is what propelled me. When I first made this decision, I knew that I wanted to take a step back from the business, and solely focus my thoughts on separating my sense of self-worth from the money that I was bringing in, or the things that I was doing, or the success I was seeing, outside of me. And, I wanted to do that radical experiment.
I'm not saying you should do it in that way, I'm just giving you an example of the beliefs that get exposed. Right now, I would think about this differently, but back then, basically, what I was showing myself was that if I were not on social, if I weren't doing all of these daily activities, I would feel like… fill in the blank. Right?
All the internal critic judgment I could think about myself; for being lazy, for being headed for failure, for not being motivated enough, all the ways that I would drive myself. If I had been able to expose that then, and I knew what I knew now about how I had the power to develop my brain, then I probably wouldn't have made that radical decision.
But you know what? It was an amazing experiment; I'm glad I did. It forced me into a different type of resourcefulness. And whatever comes up for you, you're not expected to be in full belief yet, right? If you were, you'd have the business. So, it's okay. But for the rest of this episode, just tell your brain that you're going to open yourself to believing this is doable, and you're just deciding how you want to do it. Just play with that.
And to my entrepreneurs that are doing really well on social right now; maybe, you're launching and you have large followings, but you hate social. I talk to so many of you, so often. The only thing keeping you from the business you want, is your mindset.
You can just choose to love social, that's one option, and stay with the status quo. Or, you can choose to get off social, because you probably have most of what you need to run a social media-free business. I'll talk about that more in a second. You just have to do it; you just have to develop the belief that you can do it.
And now, speaking to all of you new or established business owners, before you do it, step one, is just to decide how you want to run your business. Because wherever you are, I guarantee you have more opportunity than you're telling yourself you do. I have a client who was struggling just to find some people to talk to; I'm going to have her on the podcast soon.
But she was struggling to find some people to talk to, and was really resistant to social media. It hadn't even occurred to her that she had people just within her network that she could talk to. And, that's what she ended up doing. I have another client, much more established in business, and she only works for Facebook ads.
There are ways, my friends. So, what's it going to be for you? Is it going to be networking? Is it going to be ads, Facebook or local radio ads? Who knows? Are you going to leverage search engines? Are you going to partner with influencers? Are you going to put up flyers in Whole Foods? There are so many options.
And now, other than those mindset pieces, I've got some really good news for you. There's only one other thing that you really need, in order to say goodbye to social media. And, it's that strong business foundation. The same foundation of all business from the beginning of time, right? I'll say this over and over again, I want to shout it from the rooftops; it's not about the thing you're doing, it's about how you're doing it.
I'll just say that again; it's not about what you're doing, it's about how you're doing it. So, you could copy a seven-figure Facebook ads funnel; super, super successful. You could copy every single element of that; the type of ad, what the landing page’s like, the targeting secrets, all the different emails in the nurture sequence, everything.
And, you could still make $0 from that if you don't really know the problem that your people want solved. And, are you speaking to them in a way that makes them trust you to solve it? You really need those three main things; you need to know yourself, know your people, and be able to speak simply and clearly about how those two intersect.
You've got to know yourself and your secret sauce; what you really do, and believe you do it, right? If you don't believe, they sure as hell won't believe. I have a client who runs sales teams for tech companies. She knows everything about sales. But when she had a side hustle, selling MLM products, she just couldn't do it.
She thought, “How can I be so good at sales and yet suck at this?” But there was no conviction. My people aren't here just to make money, although we all love making money, but we like working for something that we truly believe in.
I used to work for an apparel company, and I remember thinking, “Does the world need another piece of clothing made in China?” It was hard for me to believe in it. And when you're a coach, that something that you believe in, has to be you; you are a big part of the product.
Do you know your edge? What you help people with? Why you're different? Do you live and breathe it? Can you talk about it confidently, without shame? Like, I live and breathe clarity, if you're a coach and you need to get clear on something in your business, you come to me. I didn't invent the title “The Queen of Clarity” for myself, but I'm not ashamed to use it.
Because yeah, nobody talks about clarity the way I do. Nobody teaches it the way I do. Nobody has gone through the fire of uncertainty and overthinking like I have, and come out on the other side with knowledge and simplicity like I have. It's not for everyone, but for those who want it, I'm the obvious choice. It makes sense. And that's not arrogance, it's fact.
It's not because of the number of clients I have, or certain certifications that I got for clarity, it's because I did the work to build my thoughts and beliefs, and it allows me to show up like it, now. If you want to get started on this yourself, listen to my last episode on The Model. I recognized this secret sauce of mine first, and then I cultivated my thoughts about it. And you can do that, too, for yourself. Or, I can help you do it for yourself.
And then, of course, you've got to know your people, right? What do they really want? How do they think and talk about the solution? It's amazing, now that I've been here with my dad. He was a pioneer in Silicon Valley back when people knew what computers were, but they didn't really know how they would ever serve them, what they'd ever really be used for.
And, he talked about problems that the sales department would have with the marketing department. The marketing department would be trying to convince people to adopt a certain type of method for their business, rather than going after the people that had already adopted that. And therefore, dated the software they were selling, to make that run more efficiently.
And so, the sales department would tell them, “You aren't really getting us clients. I don't know if you're creating clients for us 20 years from now, maybe, but right now, we need to make sales. And we should be going after the people that actually need this now.”
So, you need to understand the motivations of your people, right? You can be the best coach in the world, but if you don't know what makes your people opt in, or get on a call, or click to buy, you won't be making sales. And, where do your people hang out? You know, mine, Google things. What do your people do?
How can you speak to how those two things connect? How can you speak to how your offer, your edge, connects with their desires and their wants? My landing pages do well because I'm eating and breathing client language. I know my people like the back of my hand. Not just because I was them. And I'm thinking back to how I thought, but because I'm listening now, I never stopped listening.
Do you know how many people have told me they just wish they could articulate the value of what they offer? In those words; “I just wish I could articulate the value of what I do, so they'd want to buy.” And that's why I speak to this so often. And those people who are saying that, they aren't just any people, they're my people, my ideal clients. The heartfelt ones, the ones that show up to everything, that do the work, that are super easy to work with, and open and coachable. Those people.
I'm not using language from people I don't want to attract. There are just too many ideal clients out there for me to spend my focus on anyone else. And that's why I keep calling them in, over and over again. And my clients see this, too. When they start changing their language subtly, they start bringing in completely different people. And of course, when they change their mindset, that happens, too. But that's a story for another time. Like I said, no woo.
So, if you want more on this subject, go back and listen to my podcast, “Knowing Your People 101”. And the other episode, is Episode 7, “5 Steps to Nail Your Messaging”. So, go back to those for a primer. They'll get you so much further than, potentially, where you are right now, and what I see probably 80% of entrepreneurs or new entrepreneurs doing. If you need more personalized help, let's talk.
All of this is to say, you don't need to be on social. But if you want to make money, you need these fundamentals. This is the “how to” of running a social media-free business; it's building a strong foundation. It's that simple.
And then, you choose your one or two areas of focus, and you stick with it. You allow momentum to build, rather than throw your hands up in the air and say, “This isn't working,” and blame the platform. Or, blame your coach. Or, blame the industry for misleading you. Or, blame yourself for being such a failure.
And by the way, you might think, you probably will think all of those things while you're building your business; no shame, you have a human brain, right? But have a pity party in the evening, with some ice cream and Netflix. And then, get back up the next day and re-decide you're going to master this, and get back to work.
You're an entrepreneur after all; we have nerves of steel. What's the saying? Like, we do what 99% won’t, so that we can live like only 1% do. Seriously. My “work with me” page, it didn't start ranking immediately, the day I put up that copy. But that doesn't mean my messaging was off. It just took some time to rise.
You need to give yourself space for that momentum to build. And I was still selling, in the meantime. I was using the birthday cake strategy for getting clients, which you can also go back to listen to; I've made a podcast on that, as well.
Okay, so now that we've talked about how there's no magic formula for building a social media-free business, no one tactic, but instead, it's the real work that has fueled businesses for centuries, where you fulfill a demand. I want to let you know that I'll be recording an episode soon, on the benefits of social media. You heard me, the benefits.
I used social media very strategically, at one point in my business. I'll tell you how, and how I was able to accelerate my knowledge acquisition timeline, and set myself up for success. And of course, how I help others do the same. That is an episode you don't want to miss.
And that thought alone, that you're not going to necessarily be on social media forever, might be just enough to start changing how you're showing up there.
Before we call this a wrap, I'm going to leave you with a couple of recap thoughts. You ready? Number one, you have more opportunity than you realize. Number two, what you're doing is less important than how you're doing it.
Number three, this is a much bigger conversation than what tactic to use. It's about you tapping into your power to create your business your way, and giving yourself permission to do so. You don't have to make any drastic changes all at once, but open yourself to the possibilities. Your path might be different than others.
And number four, businesses have been operating forever, through basic business principles grounded in human psychology. Social media, that's just a tiny blip in that timeline. So, don't let your vision become myopic. Take the larger view; you're running a business, not a social media business. Your business doesn't depend on any one vehicle or delivery method, because it has a very smart woman as its CEO.
Okay, my friends, that's it for today. Remember, deep down, you know who you are. And each day, you're stepping further into what you're here to create.
Hey, if you're a coach who wants true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots. The dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.
Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn, from Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to TheUncommonWay.com /schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach.
Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity First Strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit TheUncommonWay.com See you next time.
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