Originally aired Tuesday, February 3, 2026. Businessing is now a weekly show with a new episode every Monday.
Short answer: Look at what everyone in your industry is doing and pick one thing to do differently. Write down the hottest trend, the best practice that drives you crazy, and the thing you wish people would stop doing. Your gut reaction to those is your differentiator, so try one of them this week.
Today I took a quote from investor James Caan, "Observe the masses and do the opposite," and turned it into a notebook exercise. AI-written content is pulling everyone toward the same average, so standing out comes from your gut, not your head. I walked you through three questions to find where you're following the crowd. Then we did our first live Idea Slam with a guest. Rebekah Bryan is a personal stylist who helps introverted business people stop feeling invisible at events. She wanted to launch a training course without a big following, so we built a simple lead magnet around a conversation-starting t-shirt. We also covered a bank survey showing owners feel optimistic.
Businessing is the weekly show where small business owners figure out what to do next, with a new episode every Monday. Hosted by Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community: owners only, nobody pitching, $19 a month.
Key takeaways
- Write down your industry's hottest trend, the best practice that drives you crazy, and one thing you wish people would stop doing.
- Pick one of those gut reactions and try doing the opposite this week, without asking anyone's permission.
- Describe your offer as the result the client gets, the way people buy weight loss and not a 12-week exercise program.
- Build a free lead magnet around one quick win that shows your transformation, then follow up and ask how it went.
- Run one campaign for four to six weeks, because most of your audience won't hear it in the first two.
Questions this episode answers
How can my small business stand out from competitors?
Watch what everyone in your industry does and do the opposite in at least one place. Your strongest ideas come from your gut reactions to the trends and best practices that bug you. Acting on those is what being authentic really means, and it's much harder to copy.
How do I launch an online course without a big following?
Narrow your audience first, then name the result they get. Give away one quick win as a free lead magnet. Follow up a couple weeks later to ask how it went, and start selling once they've seen it work.
What is a good lead magnet for a service business?
A short, free piece that gives one quick win tied to your main transformation. In this episode, a stylist who helps introverts at networking events could offer a PDF on wearing a conversation-starting t-shirt. It shows her value without asking people to overhaul their whole wardrobe.
Why does so much business content online sound the same?
Because a lot of it is written by AI, which pulls together the average of what's already out there. Unless you work hard to make it sound like you, it drags you toward everyone else. Your own opinions and reactions are what break through.
Worth quoting
being authentic is being true to what you believe, being true to what you feel, being true to that gut reaction
Pat Miller on Businessing
Your gut is gonna help you stand out. Your gut is gonna help you be awesome.
Pat Miller on Businessing
No one wants to give you money and have a 12 week exercise program. People wanna give you money and lose 10 pounds.
Pat Miller on Businessing
Okay, what would you do if you ran the company? And that seems to be like a pattern interrupt for small business owners.
Pat Miller on Businessing
On the show
- Rebekah Bryan, Styled with a Twist: Personal stylist for introverted business people who wanted ideas to launch a training course without a big following.
- Idea Slam question: How can a personal stylist launch a training course for introverted entrepreneurs when she doesn't have a big client base or following?
In this episode
- Show open and small business optimism survey
- Government shutdown and Olympics news
- Observe the masses and do the opposite
- Three questions to find where you follow the crowd
- Your gut is your differentiator
- Idea Slam with Rebekah Bryan, personal stylist
- Building a t-shirt lead magnet
- Super Bowl ad trends to watch
Watch, listen and join
- Watch this episode on YouTube
- Apple Podcasts
- Listen anywhere
- Small Business Owners Community
- The Small Business Library (add it to your AI tool)
More on this topic: What you sell answers from the Small Business Owners Community
Full transcript
And good morning. It's Tuesday, February 3rd and we are Businessing. This is Small Businesses weekly show. I'm your host, pat Miller, founder of the small business owners community and one hell of an eighties dj. If you know, you know the show this morning sponsored by Gen Head and Enji, and I am so excited for today's show, standing by in the idea Slam bullpen.
Rebecca Bryan personal stylist. She's gonna come on and tell us all about her business and we're gonna talk about how we can help her business grow. She needs some new clients and we're gonna brainstorm on her behalf. So stretch out your brain. Get ready to help out Rebecca, we'll bring her on in eh 15 or 20 minutes or so.
Also, you need to say good morning in the chat, tell us your name, tell us your business, share your business link. It's free advertising, and I may select someone to be the small business spotlight of the day so we can give you a little bit of self-promotion. So it's gonna be a fun and exciting show. I cannot wait to Idea Slam.
So thank you to Rebecca. For coming on the air. Let's check the news. And then I wanna talk about a guided exercise. I saw a quote that really got me thinking, and I thought, you know what? If it got me thinking, it might get you thinking. So instead of just telling you the story, I'm gonna tell you the quote.
Share a little bit of the story and then guide you through a little bit of brainstorming for your business as well, because I think it could be an important step towards the differentiation for you and your business. But if we look at the news this morning, JP Morgan Chase, that big old bank, they business, uh, they released their business leaders outlook.
And what that means is how are business owners feeling right now? Now you would imagine being JP Morgan Chase, they're talking to people 11 billion times more wealthy than I am, or maybe you are, but they did have a small business section, and here's what they found. How are those business owners feeling?
What they found is that 60% of the small businesses that they surveyed. 60% say they feel more positive about their business now than at any point in the last five years. 60% more positive now than in the past five years, which is saying something as a matter of fact. And good morning, Steve. Welcome to the show.
74% of those. Are optimistic about their company's outlook for 2026. So not only do they feel like things are going great, they think it's going to be a great year. 76% of those polled expect revenue growth this year, so more confident than the last five years, and they think 2026 is gonna be strong and they think revenue is going to go up. They think profits are gonna go up. 76% of those polls said profits are gonna go up. But here's the thing that made my head go poof. You know that little version of the smiley face emoji, where it's got like the nuclear bomb coming out of their head? This is the thing. Every time you talk about ai, all you hear is, oh well AI people are gonna lose their job.
Well, according to those surveyed. 53% of those surveyed said they're going to increase their headcount, meaning they're gonna hire people. So you would think that if everyone was worried about downsizing, because AI is so dang efficient, that's not what they're seeing, at least not right now. The last bit is, what's that feeling like in the pit of your stomach that that feeling, that's like saying, you know, maybe things could go sideways this year.
They asked, what do you think about a recession? 27% of those polls said, yeah, I expect a recession in 26. That's down from almost 40% last year. Okay, so they think it's gonna go well. They think they're gonna make more money. They're gonna, half of the people are gonna hire more than they did last year, and only a quarter of the people think that there's going to be a reception.
A reception, reception. Punch in pie, no recession. Then they asked them about the labor pool. Now this is getting back to the AI and the getting things done, pile of things. They reported this major labor shortage. 89% of those polled said they can't find qualified applicants. They can't find people that they need, but they're optimistic that 2026 is going to be a good year.
So the talent war is continuing, even though things are looking optimistic. In other news, the government still shut down. Oh yeah. That government, yeah. Like the biggest business in the world. Yeah. For It's just off today. It's, don't worry about it, it's, it's off. It's just off. That's what our government does sometimes.
It's working, sometimes and sometimes, eh, you know, they kick it. Did you plug it? Plug it back in? Did you restart the government? Like sometimes if you cycle the government, it'll start working again? No. Oh, it's still down. Okay. Still down fourth day of the shutdown. Now this is a nothing burger compared to the shutdown that happened last year, but still four days of being closed is worth calling out, four days of being closed.
So instead of just passing the funding, one side is saying we're not gonna pass funding unless voter ID is attached for elections. And the other side is saying we're not gonna pass the funding if DHS and ICE funding isn't cut. So, in other words, we're gonna stay closed for a little bit, get comfortable.
In fact, if you're an employee of the government, you might as well just go to Vegas. I mean, that's my solution to most things. When I don't know what to do, when I'm in doubt, get on the plane and go to Vegas, that's what I do. And that's what they should do. Also, shout out, by the way, to the people that allow us to still go to Vegas, even during a government shutdown, the air traffic controllers are still working, even though they're not getting paid.
Now, I'm sure they're gonna get paid, but they're there today. So shout out to them. So we shared the outlook for business. We shared the government being shut down. Let's share a completely apolitical, happy, feel good story. Could you use that this morning? 'cause I dunno about you, but my espresso is empty.
I need some feel good vibes. Here's some feel good vibes. I shared that the Winter Olympics are coming right later on this week and I'm excited 'cause I love the Winter Olympics and the story that's coming out today is that US downhill skier, the goat, Lindsay Vaughn. Was cruising towards this Olympics.
She came out of retirement, she was gonna ski to gold again. Everyone was gonna clap. It was gonna be great. But this past weekend she got injured, blew out her ACL, had to be airlifted off the mountain, like serious stuff. So people were wondering, oh my gosh. I mean, that's the end of her career. Ah, ah, not she announced this morning that she's going to compete.
Anyway, goat moves. Her quote was, I know what my chances were before the crash. And I know my chances aren't the same as it stands today, but I know there's still a chance. And as long as there's a chance, I will try. Uh, just saying that out loud, that's like, whew, that's goosebumps, man. So I know who I'm cheering for.
February 12th is the Super G competition. It's one of the skiing competitions that she normally skis in. She's undecided if she's gonna ski that particular event, but she's definitely someone we can all pull. For Lindsay Vaughn, you are the bomb. Definitely will be. Cheering for you today. Thank you to Steve and Barbara for logging in this morning, sharing their name and their business, and we've already shared both of their business links here on the air.
If you choose to tell us who you are and what you do, share your link. We might spotlight you on the air as well. Let's talk about the lead story. So when I am getting ready for the show, I always have the notebook open, like the notebook, it's solar powered, the notebook. As you can see, I have the notebook open and when I see something interesting, I'm like, ah, I could talk about that on the show.
So I saw a quote yesterday from James Kahn, now, not the Godfather actor, James Kahn. James Kahn, the British investor mogul that sits on the Dragon's Den, which is like the Shark Tank equivalent in Britain. And his quote just made me stop, like it stopped the scroll, and I thought this is something that we need to talk about.
The quote was, observe the masses and do the opposite. Just let that wash over you, observe the masses and do the opposite. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. And I wanna apply that as business strategy and I want you to do some thinking this morning. So sometimes this show is, just put it on the background, drink your little coffee, do whatever, not today.
Today I want you to get a notebook out 'cause I wanna lead you through a little bit of a brainstorming session on your own behalf. 'cause I think this phrase has teeth and I think it's something that can help you observe the masses and do the opposite. Here's the context. Yesterday's show, we talked about having a business copy, everything that you're doing, and the question was, I've got a competitor, they're copying everything that I'm doing.
How do I make them stop? And instead of giving them strategies to make them stop, I simply told the person, that means you're not unique enough. If you're not doing only what you can do, and you are able to be copied, that's a you problem. If you tie that into the quote, observe the masses and do the opposite, I think we can get to something that can help you stand out and help you cut through the sameness that's happening right now.
Because if you think about what's happening right now, as people go out and tell their stories, and you see it all over here on LinkedIn, we're also streaming on Facebook. It's all over on Twitter and X it. It's everywhere. People are expressing themselves in a synthesis. Meaning I wanna talk about this ai.
Write it for me now. AI is going to pull together the average of all the stuff that's out there and try and make something that sounds intelligent, something that sounds like you, but it's pulling together inputs from other people. It's literally bringing you down to the mean. Unless you work really hard to make it sound like you, but as you look around LinkedIn and Twitter and other places, it's people aren't really making it sound like them.
So I wanna challenge you to think about this. Where are you following along with everyone else? Where are you fitting in when you don't need to be fitted? That's what I wanna talk about. So I'm gonna ask you a series of questions, and this is, if you're watching the replay, hit pause and think about this.
Then go back through it. If you're doing it live, you know we're gonna do it live. So grab your notebook and let's get down to business. So we're gonna go after where are you doing the things that everyone else is doing? And here's the first question. Okay? Where are you following the crowd and how can you find a path that's the opposite of your industry?
So the first question is, what is the hottest trend in your industry right now? What's the thing that everybody's doing? Think about what you do and think about what everybody else is doing. Like write it down for me. You know, talking about this podcast, everyone's, um, interviewing people. You gotta interview big names.
You wanna have a podcast that gets any listeners, you gotta interview a bunch of big names. That's what everybody does. All right? So you have something, you have an example, something that everybody in your industry does. Okay? Now I want you to think just a little bit bigger. What is something that's considered a best practice that makes you absolutely crazy?
You do this for a living and everyone says you need to do this, but it just makes you see spots like you just cannot handle the idea of doing it that way, the way that everybody else does. Can you think of something? First one was a hot trend. The second one is a best practice that makes you crazy. And then the third one's kind of a free space.
'cause if you got those first two, the third one should come to you easily. What's something in the business that you see that you wish people would stop doing? Oh my God. Stop doing that. You sound like an idiot. You think it's dumb. You think it's unproductive. You think it's bad for the industry. You think it's bad for you?
And how your clients perceive what you do. Now, why did I ask those three questions? And if you have something, write it down. If you are pausing between the questions, 'cause you're watching the replay on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube, howdy by the way. You've had some stuff come up. I want those things to come up, those visceral reactions that this is not right.
I hate when people do that. That doesn't feel right to me. That is not me. Those visceral reactions, that emotional reaction. That something is ineffective or silly or I wish it would stop. That is like the weaponized version of your intuition. That's your gut talking to you. Now, it might be kind of immature 'cause it's calling someone else silly, or it's something as stupid, but those are reactions.
Those are authentic. When people say be authentic, they don't mean talk about. Spilling your coffee on the way to the studio this morning. Ha ha. I'm such a moron. I was. Or I'm so vulnerable. Like no, being authentic is being true to what you believe, being true to what you feel, being true to that gut reaction, the stuff that we just talked about, that's what you're supposed to be reacting to.
So if you have one of those feelings and you see what everyone else is doing, do the opposite. I'm giving you permission today to try one thing. One thing that you just had that reaction to. I'm giving you permission today to pursue it. No drama. Nothing's wrong. It might not be something that you normally do. Good, good. This down here is your differentiator. This up here is your negotiator. This is gonna help things be fine and help you get along with people and fit in and not ruffle feathers. Ugh, the internet is way, way too big for this to cut through because your negotiator is gonna make you sound and do things like everybody else.
Your gut, you gonna do the stuff that you're on the planet to do. Your gut is gonna help you stand out. Your gut is gonna help you be awesome. To be one of one to be the best in the world. Your head is gonna help you be fine. Oh, your business. It's fine. It's good. It's, it's a solid bee. I, I quit my broadcasting job 'cause I didn't wanna be a solid bee.
I'm doing this show and I'm building the SBOC and I'm having conferences I, I struggle to afford sometimes, and I'm bending over backwards to help people change their businesses. Not because I wanna be a B, it's 'cause I wanna be an A and I want you to be an a, I wanna follow what's here and what's here is if you've got the balls to start your own small business.
I wanna be on your side and help you win. If you have the courage to go out and start a small business, I don't want you to fall into the bad habits of working five days a week. 'cause you don't have to anymore. If you've got the courage to go start a small business, who do you turn to for help? Me, me, others?
Great. Find others. But I'm gonna be here. I'm gonna be broadcasting right here, 11:00 AM And I got your back when it feels like nobody else has got your back. I got your back. That to me is an a, having a bunch of masterminds and, and having, you know, little classes I sell on the web and, oh, I'm, I'm making some money and things are good.
That's a b as I said in my TEDx, and if you haven't seen it, life is too short to build other people's dreams. I'm trying to build my dream and I want you to build your dream. And when you see everybody doing something, do the freaking opposite. And the opposite lives in your gut. It's in your emotions.
It's the stuff that matters to you. It's the stuff. If they told you've got two weeks to live, you would regret.
That's what I'm talking about.
What am I doing? That's the opposite. Well, I'm doing Fridays off because we can, and time is compensation and you should be doing it too. So I work four days and I'm off three days and it's pretty kick ass. I carve out two hours every day to go to the gym 'cause I'm tired of walking around not being healthy for my family and not being ready to have the stamina to serve you and not feeling good every day.
I'm watching everyone create content through machine right now, and I figure the one way that I could be the opposite of what everyone else is doing is to be live every day to talk to you, you and me, every day live without a net. Does it get any more authentic than that? I don't think so. Do I say stuff on the show?
I regret sometimes. Yeah. Do I care? No. No, because I'm being myself. I hope that you can go past a personal brand, which is taking what you do and putting it in a box and living every day and going out and doing the opposite of what you see other people do. It's important. It only takes a minute and I hope it scares you a little bit 'cause then you know that you're on the right path.
And I'll close by saying this, when you think about what that thing is. And Steve Glenn's in the comments right now. Steve, thank you for the kind words. I really appreciate it. Steve and I had coffee last week and he's out building something remarkable and some of the things that he's thinking about doing, they're really different.
And they're really exciting because they're really different. And when you get to the point of I'm gonna try something new and I don't, I don't know if it's gonna work, and I don't know what people are gonna say, I want you to remember the phrase that I like to use sometimes. Okay, what would you do if you ran the company?
And that seems to be like a pattern interrupt for small business owners. 'cause then they remember, oh wait, I do run the company. I don't have to ask for anyone's permission. I can, as they say on the internet right now, you can just do things. You can so do it. Observe the masses, do the opposite. Make history. Make yourself proud and I'll be here cheering for you the whole time. The idea slam is coming up. Rebecca Bryan is standing by. She's a personal stylist. I mean, she can't help me, Avi, she can't help me 'cause I'm so dashing. Uh, but she's trying to grow her business. We'll get a chance to talk with her about how's it going and what is she doing to get some initial customers.
She said that she could use just a little bit of help on that. So if you're feeling creative and you wanna collaborate in our first ever on Air idea Slam with Rebecca, we'll talk to her in just one moment. But before we get to her, let's tell you about Gen Head. Gen Head. They're the sponsor of the show and they want you to scale systems and not chaos built for early stage businesses.
Gen Head systems are designed for founders, solopreneurs, and lean teams like me and you who need real momentum, not complex tools that need a full-time operator. I don't have time or budget for that. I want something that's streamlined, works right away, and I can act on immediately. And the best part of Gen Head is it takes all of.
The software pieces in your software junk drawer, and it turns it into one connected tool. So you don't need a CRM that goes through Zapier to talk to a thing that does a thing, and then comes down from the satellite. And this piece of software you gotta download. Now everything's in one place. Less chaos, clearer data, better systems, better execution.
Learn more now@genhead.com. That's gen head.com. Okay, it's time to do our idea Slam. I am so excited to do this because the idea Slam is your chance to come on the air and share what you're working on. Like tell us about your business, tell us what you're doing, and then, because I can't help myself, I'll ask, okay, how can we make it better?
But it's not just me, it's me and everyone that's watching the show in the chat. So we're gonna bring on our first guest. And she'll tell us about her business. She'll tell us what her challenge or opportunity is. I'll start riffing with her, and I need your feedback as well in the chat. Together, we're gonna come up with something great for, uh, Rebecca Bryan, who's our guest, and that link is on the screen.
It's also in the corner in the QR code. So if you find inspiration and you think, man, I want some of that sign up for an idea slam, we'd love to have you on the air. It's fast, it's fun, and it's free. And it's Rebecca time.
Hello.
Well, good morning. How are you?
I'm great. How are you?
I'm good. Thank you for tuning in this morning.
Thank you for coming on the air. I really appreciate it. Uh, we're gonna get to the idea Slam Edge in a second, but first you gotta tell us who you are and what you do. Tell us about Styled with a Twist.
All right. So I am a personal stylist, not a hairstylist. Some people are confused by that. Um, I was, I went to an SBOC meeting, I think last year.
And that time my business was called next. Um, so I've had a business name change since then. But, um, I started out styling authors. I started out as author stylist, so I had a couple business name changes I guess. But basically what I do is I help. Authors or entrepreneurs or professional, mostly women, but I've helped some men to, um, show up at a, at an event and give them ideas on how to stand out and how to feel confident when maybe they're introverts or, you know, don't feel comfortable getting dressed and getting up in front of people.
Okay. So you are helping people be comfortable in their own skin because of the clothes that they have. Like if you can dress them in the right way, they're gonna feel more confident. Is that right?
Yes. That, and another level of that is matching their personal brand, their business.
Ooh. Okay, so tell me about that.
So if you look at someone's personal brand and it says, wow, they look, they like, they should dress like Don Draper and they show up in sweatpants. What does that mean? What does that mean to a potential client when they don't match?
Um, well there's, you don't want people, you don't want people to be confused.
Um, so if, if. Unfortunately, first impressions do matter. So, um, if you're showing up and you look like who you are, I mean, you can subvert those expectations too. Mm-hmm. But, um, first impressions matter. So if you look like the professional you are, that's, that's a good thing and clients will trust you and respond to that.
Okay,
great. So we're gonna help people look like the professional they are, so they can make a great first impression and get some business. So what is on your mind? Is there something in particular that we can help you with today?
Um, yeah, most, more specifically, I am developing a training course right now, specifically for entrepreneurs, um, maybe who are trying to get to the next level when they, when they're at events and stuff like that.
There's a disconnect there, and they want to feel more confident showing up at events. So I may even for introvert entrepreneurs, but anyway, I guess I want. Ideas on how to successfully launch this course.
Okay?
When, when I don't have a big client base, big following stuff like that.
Okay, cool. Before we do that, I'm gonna dive in and talk about that for a second, but can you do me a favor?
Yes. Uh, we're getting some audio clappage in what you're doing. Uh, down beneath your screen, you'll see two buttons. One's a, a microphone and one is a camera. Mm-hmm. Can you turn the camera off for a second? Not that you're not lovely, and that sweater's incredible, but I think the bandwidth is choking a little bit.
Okay. Can you click that camera off? Can I still hear you? Can you say some words?
Is this working
fine? It doesn't sound
any better.
It does sound a little better. Let's see if it can catch up and that way we can continue the conversation. Again, I want you on the screen, but I'd rather everyone can hear you 'cause if they can't hear you, we can't help you.
Okay? Alright, so let's start here. You, you said something interesting about I don't have a big enough audience and I'm targeting these people. I'm always a fan of getting your audience as narrow as you can. So when I say, oh, I met someone, Rebecca, they are exactly who you can help. Those referrals come faster and the business comes faster.
So you said authors, professionals, introverts, extroverts, fancy people, not fancy people, like narrow it down. Who exactly do you wanna help?
I specifically, I want to help, um, I would say introverted business people.
Okay. Introverted business people. And do those introverted business people? No. They're an introverted business person.
They know this.
I think so. I think, I think they would because they're not looking forward to the thing they need to do.
Okay. So an introverted, so an introverted business person, when they come to a networking event, how are they dressing? Are they dressing to stand out or fit in?
Um, yeah, they're dressing to look invisible probably.
Oh, in their most comfortable clothes.
Invisible is a great way to put it. Okay, great. So introvert and invisible. So when you talk, let's pretend it's me, and that's pretty close actually, but let's pretend it's me and I give you whatever you ask for to fix me. What do you do? Then what is the output when I'm fixed?
What is the transformation? Because when we're trying to sell something, all we're trying to express to the potential buyer is give me money. And this is the effect. No one wants to give you money and have a 12 week exercise program. People wanna give you money and lose 10 pounds. So what is the lose 10 pounds of when you help them?
Um, let's see. The lose and pounds is that, um. First of all, you'll feel more confident walking into the room and people will start conversations with you. So you don't necessarily have to do that.
Okay. What else? Um, that will make new connections and in the end, new clients and money in your pocket.
Okay.
So the connections lead to money. Mm-hmm. So you could say to them, uh, if you're an introvert. You feel like you are invisible, working with me will turn you into a lead magnet so you can close more deals. Something like that. Something that gets after. Why they would hire you in the first place? Because I'm not looking to be on the cover of gq, although I've turned them down three times.
I'm not looking to do that, but if you could tell me, I will teach you how to dress so you make more money. Okay. Now we have a conversation. Is that a fair translation of the effect that you have for people?
Yes.
Okay, awesome. So if you can turn an introvert from uh, uh, a wallflower to a lead magnet. Now you're demonstrating what that transformation is.
So what are the steps? Like what's the first quick win you could give someone to turn them from wallflower to lead magnet? Like what's the first thing you could tell them that you would just give to somebody for free? 'cause you want them to get on the right way.
Um, the very easy suggestion I have is to wear a t-shirt that would start a conversation,
a t-shirt that starts a conversation.
Say more.
Okay. So, um.
I guess a tea, like someone's gonna, if some, if you're wearing an interesting t-shirt, someone's probably going to connect with that and ask you about it. Like, oh, I like Harry Potter too. Tell me more about that. Whatever. It's like, and then you've made this connection and you can talk about whatever.
Okay, so your lead magnet could be almost a personality assessment to teach them this quick win.
Okay. Like a, a passion hobby kind of finder, like a passion finder. Quick win. And I will tell you this works. Uh, you had not consulted me on this, but at the 2024 conference, I thought. I will. 'cause music is so important to me, but I never talk about what bands I like. I went and bought band t-shirts for all the bands that I like, and on the day that I wore the Metallica t-shirt, I cannot tell you how many people came up to me and stopped me and said, oh my gosh, you like Metallica too.
Boom.
There you go.
Started the conversation. So let's get back to the issue then. The issue is you need people to stop and pay attention. Mm-hmm. So you wanna give them the opportunity to say, Hey, you're an introvert. I can turn you into a lead magnet. And the first step in doing that is getting people to stop and pay attention to.
The fastest way to do that is to show off what you're passionate about. 'cause it will find your people. It's a, it's a, it's a cheap code to work a room and create a very simple lead magnet and say, um, you have created the fast pass. To start conversations with potential clients and then give that away as a lead magnet.
So now you're out there not saying this overwhelming thing of we're gonna revolutionize your wardrobe, you're gonna show up like Don Draper. Like, I don't have time or money for that, but you're gonna show me a way I can walk into a room and get noticed. Go on. Like that's a quick win. Do you know what I mean?
Mm-hmm.
So what are you using for a lead magnet now?
I could use a better lead magnet.
Okay. Alright, cool. So let's just go with the t-shirt lead magnet.
Okay.
Alright, cool. So let's go one step further and then just give you a way to distribute it so that way you have something you can go act on and then you can come back and tell us if it worked or not.
But what social media platform are you big on right now?
Um. I would say Instagram.
Instagram. That's perfect. Okay, great. Uh, so you could do a campaign in the month of February of show me Your Tees or something like that where you're asking people, you're show, you are showing the t-shirts that make you, you, and you're asking people to show what their T-shirts are.
And the point is, this is a quick win everyone can use to stand out, try it in the month of February and. Come back to me and tell me how it goes. 'cause that's just the tip of the iceberg on how I can help you cut through and turn you from a wallflower to a lead magnet. Next time you need to work a room.
I like that.
What we want is we want, I want a campaign that you can stay on for four or six weeks that cuts through, and that way you're saying what your transformation is without hitting them over the head of the transformation. Why is she talking about concert t-shirts? Oh. 'cause concert t-shirts help you connect with people you don't know yet.
And then the other thing is stay on it. 'cause two weeks into you running this campaign, 25% of your audience will have heard about it. After four or six weeks, a lot of people will hear about it. And as you showcase people showing off their t-shirt, that'll help them move further faster. Does that make sense?
So with this feedback, do you have any follow up questions or is there anything about this particular tactic you might be able to employ?
Um, I guess follow up question would be, I guess what should I price this training at once I have their attention? Mm-hmm.
Great. So in case you didn't hear the question, what should you price the training at when you have the question or when you have their attention?
I would do the campaign, uh, the, the lead magnet for nothing. I would do a PDF of how showing your passion is the first step to working a room, and the first quick win is to wear your favorite t-shirt that shows off. Who you are and what you love, and you do that so you can build trust with potential clients because step one is to find someone that thinks they're an introvert and an introvert that thinks they have a problem connecting with potential clients.
Step two is to build trust with them to show them, I've got the answer to your problem. Step three is to give them a quick win to continue to build the trust. So they go, wow, Rebecca, that worked. Okay, what else you got? And then you go for the sale. I would say, put this into A PDF. Put it into an email sequence.
Put it up on all your social medias and say, concert T-shirts are the secrets to working a room. Click here to find out why. Or transform your networking just by showing your passions, however you choose to say it. But if that's the quick win that gets the right person in the right room with a quick win to start building trust from there.
Once someone gets the PDF, then you follow up with them and you say. Like two weeks later, you send them an email. Did you wear the t-shirt to the thing yet? I'd love to hear about your experience. Click here to book a 30 minute meeting with me. Then you start getting them come back to you and report the results, and that's where the selling begins.
Got it. Okay.
Got it. Mm-hmm. Awesome. So exciting. So you gotta tell me, you mentioned Harry Potter quickly. Is that because you're a Harry Potter fan or are there other t-shirts you would whip out?
Um, that's, yeah, that's just the easiest, quickest example I could think of. But yes, I, I am a Harry Potter fan.
Uhhuh. In the training. In the training, I give the example of the training I just recorded, I give the example of if you're. If you make candles and you're at a craft fair and one of your candles happens to be butterbeer scented, wear Harry Potter t-shirts. So someone will come up to you and you can show them your butterbeer candle.
Absolutely. Absolutely. If you're watching the show and you have more feedback for Rebecca, drop it in the chat now 'cause we're gonna let her go in a second. While that comes in, uh, Barbara shared, I travel, I wear my Green Bay Packers sweatshirt, and I always find Packers fans to chat with. I know it's a disease that's.
Spread nationwide. Sadly, Barbara Bears and Steve said, uh, this discussion is interesting because the first thing I noticed was the orange on the sweater and the shirt. I know. And that sweater was really cool. And sorry, the bandwidth ate your, uh, homework there. Rebecca is a really cool sweater. But you're right, Steve, that would start a discussion like, Hey, what's the deal with the orange?
Like, I haven't seen that in a while. Uh, this is great. Okay, so Rebecca, here's the only thing that we ask for as being someone that's on the show. Reach out to us in a week or two and, and tell us if you tried it, tell us how it went. 'cause we would love to, um, we'd love to hear you have some success. And if it doesn't work, we'd love to hear.
I tried that. It didn't work. What else can we do? Because we want to be in your corner and help you win. Sound good?
Sounds great.
Awesome. Rebecca, thank you for coming on. We appreciate it. Before you go drop into the chat your name and the name of the business so everyone can check you out and get your new.
A concert T-shirt, PDF, which could be a really great way to get to know you and learn about the business. Okay, that was fun. Now, if you had a big idea and it takes a minute to percolate. You can always drop it in the comments of this show because on all the social media platforms, they archive the show.
So if you come up with an idea for Rebecca and it's after a moment, reach out to her on LinkedIn or contact her in the chat 'cause she's gonna drop her credentials in the chat and that way you can do it. So that is how an idea Slam works. It's our chance to kind of brainstorm on your business and to come up with ways that you can do something different.
Because here's the thing, uh, let's see. Oh, she dropped it. Yes, drop it in the chat there. Um, it, it's a way that we can help you move your business forward. And it's kind of fun too when we're in the chat collaborating with one another. So if you wanna come on the air, scan the code, pick your time, and we can jam on your business.
And if nothing else, it turns out to be a really cool commercial for your business and it gives you a chance to stand out, which is what Rebecca's deal was anyway. Today's show is sponsored by Enji. We love our people at Enji. Marketing for your small business is a must. Enji makes it easy. Even when things feel uncertain or overwhelming, you gotta keep on telling your story.
Think about what we just talked about with Rebecca. She's gotta get out there and tell her story. How is she gonna do that in all of her platforms while using Enji? It's an AI powered marketing engine that learns all about your business, plugs into all of your tools, and puts your marketing almost. On autopilot.
Imagine having help telling your story or promoting your uh, t-shirt to dominate a networking event strategy. You can do that inside ENG g and it'll be done in your voice, in your creative. All your graphics will look great because it's plugged into Canva. No kidding. Plus it's got a scheduler, so everything is done on autopilot.
Even when you sleep. Enji has changed the game and the way I market this business, this show, and everything we do in the SBOC. And I said, okay, we'll talk about you on the show, but you gotta give us a hookup. So they did try it for free for 14 days. Risk free. If you hate it, you can cancel it and then you can email me and yell at me, which won't happen 'cause you're gonna love it.
Then if you wanna keep it, you can have your first two months with a big old discount, and then after that, it is a fortune to use. It's 29 bucks a month. 29 bucks a month to make all of your marketing needs go away. Check out the link on the screen, ng.co/s boc. CO slash SBO for the deal. NG solves the, I do my own marketing problem.
One more story before we get outta here today. It's about the Super Bowl. So the Super Bowl's coming. Everyone's talking about it, everybody's thinking about it. Problem is this Sunday's Super Bowl is gonna be kind of a nothing burger of a game. Because it doesn't involve the Bears, of course, but it's also gonna be just two teams that no one really knows.
The stars aren't really popular. It's gonna probably be a defensive kind of game, like snore. So we have the snacks and the commercials to look forward to, but people got this wild idea that let's wreck the surprise of the commercials. So every marketing department that paid $11 billion to have their ad on the Super Bowl, they're out there now on social media, on the Today Show, promoting their ad.
I don't wanna see your ad. It's like the only thing that makes the Super Bowl good anymore is, Hey honey, commercials are on. And on the years when I've seen an ad, it's like, oh, I saw that Pepsi ad. Oh, I saw, oh, this one's pretty good. Like it's not the same. It's like knowing how the show ends. I am in the full habit right now of I'm, I'm not watching.
I don't wanna see. But then I got curious and I thought, okay, some years Super Bowl ads have themes. We've had those before. Do you remember after nine 11 the Super Bowl? Every commercial was red, white, and blue America. Do you remember that? We've had years where everyone had a baby. In their commercial or everyone was talking about AI or the year after COVID where no one even sold anything.
The Super Bowl after COVID, like, what was that? 20, 21? February of 2021 when we were all just like trapped in our house and going crazy. All of the commercials were just at, at Pfizer, we ask that you just be nice to people. Pfizer like, that's all it was. It wasn't take our drugs, it wasn't buy our beer. It was.
Don't be an A-hole that that was all the commercials the whole time for that Super Bowl. So what will be the trends this year? I did some research. I looked up what works and what doesn't, and I have a prediction. The research for the commercial trends this year is, I think it's gonna be all about nostalgia.
I think it's gonna be all about Polaroid pictures and cassette tapes and MTV and video games, and. Eighties, the Challenger, like it's gonna be all nostalgia. It's also going to be those generational mashups, like where Martha Stewart and some contemporary pop star are on a screen together. Gonna be a lot of that.
The other thing that could happen, do you remember the commercial that won it all last year? The one that everybody said was the best. The one where the Clydesdale gave birth to a little baby horse and everyone, oh, everyone loved that one. So I think there'll probably be some of that heartwarming stuff that makes Abby cry every year.
Every year a commercial about a dog or a horse or something will make her cry. So that's when I know if it landed or not. The other thing is they'll all try and be funny. 85% of the commercials try and be funny. And according to the research, 90% of consumers will remember a funny ad that works. So they're gonna try and be funny and I think they're gonna try and be funny around nostalgia.
So we'll find out together about what they decide to do. Okay, last call for today. Join the small business owners community, especially if you live in Madison. Why? One week from today I'm going to Madison, gonna host a small business owners community meetup for owners only to come in and do some networking to solve e each other's problems, to build some real life relationships.
And we'll do an idea slam in person at. Madison's Dream Bank with American Family Insurance. It's a new member rally. It's a perfect time for you to join the community, so you might as well check it out. Click the link that's on the screen. Visit small business community.com and learn why this community is different.
'cause when you look on the internet, you see information, but you're not sure you can trust it. When you're in the community and you know the person that's telling you the feedback, you know that it's lived experience and something you can bank on. It is an online community for small business owners from all around the country, and it's only $19 a month, $19 a month, and you won't feel alone anymore.
Small business community.com is where you join. We would love to have you with us. Thanks for businessing with me today. Thank you to Gen Head and NG for sponsoring and producing the show. Uh, and don't forget to like, subscribe and share this show with your network. And if you do, you could be a part of my share mail promotion.
So I figured that the way that a business show should grow is through referrals. So if you're kind enough to refer me to your network saying, Hey, here's a show that only kind of sucks, you should watch it. I'm gonna send out some share mail gifts and, uh, send you a little surprise in the mail. So like it, subscribe it and share it.
And you could receive share mail real soon. This is the new daily habit for small business owners. That means we're back on the air tomorrow at 11 o'clock Central. I look forward to it. I'm Pat Miller, founders of the Small Business Owners community. I'm so glad that you tuned in today.
Thank you to Rebecca for being our participant today as well. Hopefully, she enjoyed it as much as we did. We'll talk to you right here next time. Take care.