Introduction
I have a question for you as we get started today. On a scale of one to 10, how much do you love social media as a business owner? One being, oh my goodness, I hate it. I wish it would go away. 10 being, oh my gosh, I love it. I wish we could just do social media all day long.
On a scale of one to 10, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, how much do you love social media? Okay, so my guess is that most of you probably chose number five or lower. Am I right? Social media is something that so many of us go, “oh, I wish I didn’t have to do it”. But you do it because you know you have to, and it creates a little bit of resentment when you are working in your business. And if you know anything about resentment, it kind of stifles creativity. It really hampers your ability to show up as your genuine, authentic self and do a good job.
So today we are going to talk about social media, and in fact, the next few podcast episodes, I want to dig into this idea of social media and how to really embrace it as an entrepreneur, as something that is good, something that can help you grow your business and take the next step in being a thriving entrepreneur, which is what you want, right?
But before we dig into today’s episode, I want to share something really exciting with you. Coming up very soon on March 22nd, is a free masterclass, especially designed for my course creators out there, especially for my course creators who have a course that is gathering dust in their Google Drive folder. Now, I’m not calling you out, I have a course or two sitting in my Google Drive that’s gathering dust, but I have a whole lot more that have made it out into the world and are helping people to learn and to shift their perspective, their mindset, and their life. So I want you to be in that position. I want you to be there saying, yeah, I’m getting my course done and out into the world, and I would love for you to join me on March 22nd for a free masterclass that will help you do just that.
Get more insight into the next steps that you need to take to get your course out into the world. Or, you know, if you have a membership, it’s still okay to come because the principles are the same. And so join in the more the merrier. I love being able to host these free masterclass as we kind of dig into our businesses and work to make progress.
So you’ll see more on social media at Entrepreneurs in Flow on both Instagram and Facebook in the very next few days about how to sign up and save your seat for that free masterclass on March 22nd, or if March 22 is a little bit busy for you, I’ve got an encore of the masterclass on March 23rd.
I hope that you’ll be able to join me if you are already on my email list, you’ll certainly get some emails about this so that you’ll be able to just click, click a quick link. It’s really hard to say and get registered, but like if you are not on my email list, that’s okay. Just go over to Instagram or Facebook at Entrepreneurs in Flow, and you’ll be able to see all the details there as we get closer to March 8th when sign up and registration officially opens.
Okay, here we are. Let’s talk about social media. Let’s dig in and keep that number in mind that you had on your scale, zero of one to 10, how much do you like social media as an entrepreneur? Because by the end of today’s episode, I, my goal is for you to kind of boost that number up a little bit as you shift your mindset about how social media can actually function for you in your business.
Love Social Media
Social media, if you’ve been following me for a while, is not necessarily one of my favorite things. And what I found is that every time I told someone that social media wasn’t my favorite thing, guess what happened? The next time I opened up social media to work as a business owner, I found myself grumbling and groaning and putting it off and procrastinating instead of just digging in and getting things done, being creative, and allowing my perspective to shift.
So first up, I want you to be really careful of the words that you use with yourself and with others when you’re talking about something that is important to your business. But some of you might be thinking, but Moira, I don’t need social media. You can build a business. Businesses have existed prior to social media, so you don’t actually need social media. And my answer to that would be yes and no. If you are in the online entrepreneurial space, if you are selling an online course, an online membership, then yeah, you do need social media.
Let’s think about this in a couple of different ways today, but my job is not to convince you to change your mind about anything. My job is to help share information that might shift your perspective, shift your mindset around the key components inside your business so that you can thrive as an entrepreneur. So here we go.
First up, the first thing that might be mindset shifting for you in terms of social media is to think about it as, you know, approaching it as a business owner, that this is something that is a part of your business. Paul Pruitt is fantastic at really digging into social media and not letting it take over his life. One of the things that he once told me was to approach social media as a business owner, right? But in doing that, to alot time each day to go into social media and actually participate in social media, a lot of times social media is a passive thing. We scroll, we click, like we click the hearts, maybe we sometimes comment, but honestly, most of the time we don’t. We watch the funny videos or the reels, or we read the captions on something and just keep scrolling. We scroll and scroll and scroll.
What if instead you chose three 15 minute chunks a day? Or if you only have 30 minutes total, three 10 minute chunks, you get the idea. And in those 15 minute chunks, you go in, go into the groups that you’re a part of, the professional groups that you’re a part of, and look for posts, see what people need help with. Go in, respond with your expertise, share your wisdom, your insights to help them make progress in their business.
Now, how do you think that would feel if you started your day, maybe not right when you roll out of bed, but maybe have your morning breakfast, you stretch a little bit, get a little bit of movement going, and you sit down with your phone or your computer and you say, I’m going log in, I’m going to go to Facebook. I’m going to go to these groups that I’m in, and I am going to just go to serve.
At the end of that 15 minutes set of timer, how do you think you’re going to feel? Chances are at the end of that 15 minutes, you are going to feel accomplished. You are going to feel kind of motivated because you see that you can make a difference. You are going to feel relieved at having done some good today already. And look at the clock. It’s only 8:30, right?
You are going to start recognizing the power of going in and serving while expecting nothing in return. There’s something powerful about going and serving while expecting nothing in return. Guess what? Suddenly you’re going to find that you don’t hate social media quite as much because now it’s serving a purpose. You get to serve, you get to do good in the world.
And some of you might be saying, yeah, that’s not the world. It’s social media. Okay, I hear you. But the way our world exists today, we have this opportunity to get out there and have a ripple effect among communities that we could never dream of reaching in the past. Many of you know, I live in the United States. I’m in the Southeast, and honestly, the chances of ever being able to impact someone’s life in New Zealand are slim to none except on social media, except in our online world where we are a few keyboard strokes away from one another. And I can offer that connection, that motivation, that empathetic ear. I can offer the insights, the wisdom, the tools of the tech that I’ve found that help in that specific situation.
I can help them at that moment. But ordinarily in the southeast of the US, I cannot help someone in New Zealand. How powerful is that? I want you to think about the ripple effect that that has. If you are sitting in your home office, you pull up Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, whatever it is you do for social media, you commit to spending 15 minutes a day, 15 minutes, three times a day, and serving in the communities you belong to. Think about whose life will be impacted as a result. Because the moment I send that message, I respond to that person in New Zealand, and they turn around and they serve their client who is in Spain, who turns around and serves or does something that helps someone in Canada who turns around and helps someone in Argentina.
I want you to think about weaving a thread from my little spot, my little office in the southeast US to New Zealand, to Spain, to Canada, to Argentina. Social media has the power to impact lives. It’s not just about scrolling. In fact, it isn’t about scrolling. It is about connecting. That is what it was designed to do initially. It has kind of taken on a life of its own right, but it is designed to help us connect with one another. Let’s get back to the roots of that. As a business owner, you can help do that. You can go in and serve, connect, and help others in their journey, whether it’s in business or in life, professional, personal, whoever you serve, go serve 15 minutes, three times a day and look at the ripple effect that it has.
Now, when you are on social media, you have to be really focused. That 15 minute timer helps a lot, but you also have to be focused on who you’re connecting with and who you are reaching. And in doing that, you have to get really clear on the words that you’re using. So this week, I want you to start taking a look at your social media profiles, because you’re going to spend your 15 minutes, you’re going to respond, you’re going to interact, you’re going to connect and do all of the things that we just talked about. But then I want you to spend a little bit of time each day reviewing your social media profiles. I don’t know about you, but I hadn’t done that in a while. And I found some really interesting things that were probably from about three or four iterations ago in my business where I’ve made pivots just like every business owner does.
I’ve had to make some pivots as an entrepreneur, and I didn’t always update my social media profiles. It made me a little bit nervous to see what was still out there that I hadn’t fixed. But it’s a good reminder to us to go in and be really clear, because what happens is that person that you’ve impacted in New Zealand, who impacts the person in Spain, who impacts the person in Canada, who impacts the person in Argentina, what if that person in Argentina meets you? And they can follow the trail backward, but they get to your social media profile and it’s not clear. It’s not, they’re not sure what you do, who you help, how you help. And so they go back to square one.
You worked so hard to create that ripple from New Zealand to Spain, to Canada to Argentina, back to you, and your social media profile might break that thread. So I want you to really think about getting clear in your social media profile more about that in a minute.
Action Item
First, I want to back up and talk about your action item for the week,
because there are so many choices. But today, I wanna keep it simple. I want you to commit to three times a day going on social media and serving, provide value. Do more good, do more good. If it means five minutes, three times a day, that’s fine. If it’s 10 minutes, awesome. If it’s 15, great.
Do what works for you, because I know I’m asking you to carve out special time for social media where maybe that number on the scale was already a three, and you’re thinking, oh, Moira, no, I, I just can’t. You can. The moment that you start to realize that you can show up and serve as a business owner, that you have an opportunity to connect in a unique way that 10, 15, 20 years ago you couldn’t have done without getting on a plane and flying somewhere to connect with that person.
Today, we have so many more options available to us, and social media allows us to really take advantage of that. Okay? So I want you to choose three times a day to go in and serve, and provide value.
Conclusions
And after you get into the groove of serving on social media, go ahead and start pulling out your social media profiles. Start to look at them because on Thursday we’re going to come back and I have a very special episode for you with Shaily Hakimian, a social media Sherpa, and she is as much fun as that name sounds, right? Social Media Sherpa. She is fantastic at helping you get really clear on your social media profiles.
I’ll be honest, it scared me a little bit to get on the podcast with her because we pulled up my LinkedIn profile and remember a minute or two ago I told you that I realized I had stuff in my profiles that I hadn’t updated. Yeah, we looked at my LinkedIn profile live, but I knew it was coming.
So here’s what I did. The night before we got on the call together, I went in and tried to rewrite my whole LinkedIn profile so that it would be accurate and up to date. And even doing that, just like anything else, it’s an iterative process. And Shaily was able to give me some really fantastic tips on what I could do with my LinkedIn profile to make it clearer so that when those threads happen, when you’ve got the person that you’ve connected with a New Zealand who connects in Spain, who connects in Canada, who connects in Argentina, who comes back to you, they’ll know exactly what you do and how to get involved with your offer and to gain value from you.
Come back here on Thursday. I can’t wait to share this fun-filled conversation. Shaily has so much energy. It’s fantastic. It was such a great conversation. We actually stayed on after the podcast recording and kept talking just because it was one of those moments where you just connect and it’s just lovely. I cannot wait to invite you into that conversation on Thursday.
So I will see you back here on Thursday for another episode of the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, where a focus on mentoring community and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.
Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.
