Fight Information Overload and Start Marketing

[00:00:00] Jen McFarland: The Women Conquer Business show is an educational how to, women in business podcast that features stories, marketing news and real life experiences from fun and friendly hosts, Jen McFarland and Shelley Carney. Join us as we dive into the details so you can slay marketing overwhelm, streamline processes, and amplify your impact.

[00:00:24] You'll learn strategies and tactics, leadership skills, and practical advice from successful women entrepreneurs to help you grow, nurture, and sustain your business.

[00:00:42] Hey, welcome to women conquer business. I'm Jen McFarland joined by Shelley Carney. This week we are talking about something that's actually core to the mission of the show. I was listening to the intro and I was like, oh yeah, today we're going to slay some marketing overwhelm. So we are talking about how to dissolve information overload and start marketing. Before we begin how are you doing Shelley?

[00:01:08] Shelley Carney: I'm doing very well. Thank you. We are having a little bit more snow overnight, but the roads are clear, so I made it over to the studio today. So excited about that. Our Messages and Methods show featured Jen yesterday. So that was fun. We get to see each other two days in a row. That's cool. Talk about marketing and all those good things. Let me tell you something though about what I am not doing well with. I am sick to death of listening to my podcasts come on and oh, you should learn all about TikTok and cryptocurrency and NFTs and web three and LA.

[00:01:47] And come here and look at this and, oh, I'm over here doing this now. Come join me and

[00:01:54] Jen McFarland: All the shiny objects. It's a lot. And the NF, I've read about cryptocurrency NFTs. It's a distraction in my opinion. And I know that there are some people who are making some money with it and it's great for them. For many small business owners it's not a real viable solution to really anything. It is information overload. It will take you away from your mission, I believe. And it is not really, unless you are an NFT company, it's not core to your mission. So it's definitely something to be aware of, but what is it about that really is getting under your skin?

[00:02:36] Shelley Carney: It's getting under my skin because I believe what you believe. I've heard you say this over and over again. Focus on your mission, focus on your target audience. Don't get distracted with a bunch of shiny objects and run off in different directions, because when you have a strategy and a plan in place, stick to it for a while. Make sure you got to give it some time to work.

[00:03:02] Jen McFarland: I think I mentioned this yesterday. Yeah, it .Did. I mention that yesterday,? Like one of the,

[00:03:08] Shelley Carney: You've mentioned it a lot and I appreciate it because I need to hear it.

[00:03:13] Jen McFarland: One of the worst things you can do in marketing is decide to change everything because you haven't maybe given it enough time to work.

[00:03:22] Shelley Carney: Or because it's not fun anymore, or yeah. Or for whatever reason. Because says I should try TikTok. I'm going to run over and try and TikTok

[00:03:31] Jen McFarland: Go try TikTok. Yeah. That FOMO that's on the sign behind me, that fear of missing out it's strong. And as business owners, we are inundated with all kinds of quote-unquote opportunities, whether it's, web three or an NFTs or this new app, that's going to, make my life wonderful or whatever that kryptonite is. That's what today is about, acknowledging the kryptonite, which is that overload. Because I believe a lot of bad decisions happen when you're actually overloaded. I could be wrong, and I know that some people are the opposite. There's all different types of people in this world. What we're talking about in this show, isn't so much that analysis paralysis, which is the other side of it.

[00:04:16] It's more of what happens when you're overloaded, which I think is different. You can overload yourself and not take action, but that's different than analyzing everything. This is about information bombarding you and when you become aware of it, what happens next? Shelley, we were talking before the show, we have different takes on this, different things that happen, how we manage our day.

[00:04:43] So how do you know that you've reached that point of information overload?

[00:04:50] Shelley Carney: I know because I get in a place where I'm like, I just can't deal anymore. Just turn it off. Just turn it off. I can't even look at it. It's too much and I'll think about it later. Because if I'm looking for a solution to a problem I'm, looking here and there and I'm talking to Toby about it and maybe I bring it up with you, others, I'm like, what's the answer?

[00:05:13] Then I'm studying and researching and then it's just I can't handle it anymore. Turn it off.

[00:05:19] Jen McFarland: So do you turn it off?

[00:05:22] Are you pretty disciplined about that? That you're just like, I'm turning it off now.

[00:05:27] Shelley Carney: Yeah. You talked about having 50 tabs open on your computer. I can't do that.

[00:05:32] Jen McFarland: I think that I saw a physical reaction, when I said I have 50 tabs open sometimes, and you're like, oh, I can't

[00:05:39] Shelley Carney: They have those, even the groupings now. And then you can put everything in the group and then just open that one. And it's and then there's 50 more and there's layers. And I'm like, no, just give me three things to think about. That's plenty. If I need to think more then I'm going to write it down and, that's what I do. I keep my little notebook in front of me all the time. And if it's something pops into my head, then I need to do write it down real quick and then continue on. Cause if I don't write it down, I'll forget it.

[00:06:05] Or I'll get distracted and go do that instead of the thing I was working on. So yeah, it's a lot.

[00:06:12] Jen McFarland: So in my, do you ever get information overload by say reading the news or watching the news or going on social media or are you very disciplined in those areas as well? Where you're like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to read for more than 30 minutes or I'm not going to engage for more than 30 minutes or

[00:06:30] Shelley Carney: I'm less likely to go down those rabbit holes because I'm aware of I'm aware, it's some people get on TikTok and they can't get off.

[00:06:37] I, first time I tried to take a few years ago, I started to do that, I started to go, okay, now, video after video, after they're 15 seconds long, we just want to go be on there for a minute and then you're on there for an hour and it steals your life. So I try to be more aware. Of things like that, like going into the news and, I will I'm to be very honest with you, I don't watch the news.

[00:07:02] I watch the late night shows and they tell me the news that everybody knows so that I can keep up. The things that everybody knows, but I don't need even to the,

[00:07:14] Jen McFarland: Yeah, we canceled cable. We had YouTube TV, we were streaming cable services and stuff. We got rid of that because I was like, I don't need to watch that much news.

[00:07:24] And then we also we're now we are really structured when we watch One program and that's it like just a nightly news to get it. And then we move on so that we don't end up doing that. One of the stories that I like to tell about, but I am an avid reader and that's the place where I have to watch out because I love to read and not necessarily the news.

[00:07:45] But just reading and researching. And I, I have the apple news app on my phone and I can just. It's a subscription one, which means it's just, it's pretty unlocked and I can read whatever I want. And the story I like to tell about that is I was reading and then there was a link about Anderson Cooper.

[00:08:04] And so I read about Anderson Cooper. And then before I knew it, I was like reading about. His partner's life and yeah, it just had gotten into this big rabbit hole. And so I guess that what I have started to do in that information overload is become more aware of am I just scrolling and scrolling, or am I really far afield from what it was that my original intention was?

[00:08:27] And so I'm the one who's more likely to have, like all of the tabs open and work on a few things at a time. And I'm also the person.

[00:08:37] Shelley Carney: So what my husband's like that he's always got tons of he's. He's got tons of tabs open. He's got a game on in front of him over here. He's got some kind of documentary or something is playing.

[00:08:50] When I walk into his office, all of this is going on and I'm like, wow. Maybe that's a little stressful. I don't know. But yeah,

[00:08:58] Jen McFarland: I don't do all that. I think that I have become much more sensitive to being overwhelmed since peace Corps, living in a really quiet country, not having all of the stuff and things, we didn't have internet in the same way.

[00:09:14] We didn't have all of the shiny objects. And I think that even in the last 15 years, I haven't completely gone back to the way. It's a lot. I'm a lot more sensitive to it. So I don't do all of that. I do tend, and this is the thing I personally have been working on to start a lot of things all at the same time.

[00:09:33] And I've realized how much my productivity how I feel at the end of the day. It's doesn't feel as good for me. Reading atomic habits. I know that you've been talking about reading the daily stoic. There's just a lot of things that we do personally, to keep us in a place of productivity, maybe feeling better.

[00:09:54] And then it allows us to have a clearer head when we do things like marketing.

[00:10:01] Shelley Carney: Yeah, and then we can and I think when you stay in touch, like you've talked about meditation and journaling, of course. And when you stay in touch with who you are and understand your own values and your own priorities, and you have that firmly, in front of you all the time, then when opportunities and things start coming your way, you're more likely to say, does that align with my values?

[00:10:24] Is that a priority? Is that something I should be working on? And if so, why what's it going to do for me?

[00:10:31] Jen McFarland: Absolutely. And I think that if you find yourself in a state of overwhelm, particularly when you're talking about marketing your business. Cause I think a lot of people get a little tight when they think about marketing their business, it tends to give us a little bit of fear.

[00:10:46] And so it's easy to overwhelm ourselves with. And I do agree with you that when that happens, one of the best things you can do is be very grounded in what it is that you do, what it is that your core beliefs. I think that sometimes meditation can really center us a lot in that journaling personal reflection.

[00:11:11] Shelley Carney: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And that's, again, something you need to write on your calendar or schedule time for make sure that you're doing it every day, because it's one thing to say, oh yeah, meditation, I'm going to get to that. And there's another thing that when you say this is part of my morning routine and I can't go on with my day until I've done it.

[00:11:33] And then when you try it, No, I tried it for a year. I was really good about meditating every day for at least the first six months and and stuck with it pretty well. There were only a few days I missed throughout the year. And once I realized that practice and saw the benefits of it, that's when I realized it is a practice.

[00:11:57] It's one of those things that you do so that when you need it, you have practiced it enough that it's right there for you. You can lean into those those skills that come with it when you do it every day and it doesn't matter if you do it just for five minutes do it for one minute. If you're new to it, but.

[00:12:15] And then build up. I built up to where I was able to do it for 20 minutes. Sometimes if I felt like I had the time and, I just wanted to explore a little bit longer. I could do it for up to 20, 30 minutes. But most likely I would do it for about 10 minutes every day. And just having that practice keeps you centered, gives you.

[00:12:35] That full well of resources that you can dip into when you need it. I'm stressed today. Let me dip into my well of what I've learned about myself over the past six months.

[00:12:47] Jen McFarland: I totally agree. And I think too, when you are practicing stillness, then you become much more aware of when information overload hits, because you're feeling the.

[00:13:03] Do you agree with that? Yeah.

[00:13:05] Shelley Carney: Yeah. You notice it, like you said, you're aware of your yourself. Here's what I am feeling. And that is not what I want to be feeling. And when you can notice and start naming those feelings, then you can process them and you can find out why am I feeling this way?

[00:13:22] And then you can, get to the root of the problem and say, is this something that's necessary in my life? Or should it be. Move it out.

[00:13:30] Jen McFarland: I want to ask everybody, like, how do you know when you're experiencing information overload?

[00:13:37] In the chat. Can we show it, look at this look or just learn? I'm just learning all kinds of things here today. So how do you know you're experiencing information overload? We've talked a little bit about what we know. And I think some people. They also talk about, doom scrolling and,

[00:13:55] Shelley Carney: I feel like scrolling and squirrel sound a little, like for a reason, it was like squirreling squirrel, and the more you do it, the more you reduce your attention span.

[00:14:07] And that's why you have to practice things like meditation and journaling. Grow your attention span back to a reasonable amount so that you can be productive and you can focus on a job that you need to get done until it's done.

[00:14:22] Jen McFarland: So I also find, and so if you have questions about, if you want to share and chime in about how you know you're experiencing it and what you do, that would be great.

[00:14:31] We will share your comments with everybody who, whether they're listening or watching right now. I do think that one of the things that seems to work with what you've mentioned, and I'm wondering if you can speak to this as well, is my husband is amazing at this, by the way I've never seen somebody do this in the wild before, he's amazing at making lists and he is very focused on he makes lists for his weekend.

[00:15:00] And I th I've always thought that was amazing. So do you find that by doing things like journaling or meditation or getting more zero in and clear on your mission do you make lists then to make sure that you're following up on it? Or what do you do next?

[00:15:17] Shelley Carney: I do. Like I said, when I'm sitting there working or sometimes when I'm watching a video.

[00:15:23] It's funny because if I have to sit still and watch a video on the computer, that's when my mind gets is doing all these things. Boom boom. Oh, idea. So I have my pad there and I write things down, it's just, don't forget to do this or that or the other thing and oh yeah. Yes, I do make a list and very often it's a task list.

[00:15:44] Oh, I need to get this done today or sometime this week or whatever. And then I'll just have it there in front of me on my desk the whole week. And I'll just check it off as I get it done. I like lists.

[00:15:59] Jen McFarland: I do too. I usually T I need to get more granular about the lists. I was, I saw a graphic on social. That was so true. It was like, and it's all about like how big the goals are that you set. And it was If you set the steps to get to the next goal, if it's too much and you can't actually step up, it that's really ineffective.

[00:16:18] So it was like a picture of like steps and there were two big and then the other graphic was like, why don't you do it like this? And it was like a regular staircase, like leading to the goal. So I feel like what lists can do if you're reasonable. And this is what I mean about my own thing is I'll make a list and I'm like, I'm going to do 10 things today.

[00:16:38] And then I kept two done and I feel. Defeated, so what I think I need to do now, and what I'm committing to now is making reasonable lists of what could happen in a day and following that. And part of the reason for that is I haven't been making, I haven't been a content creator.

[00:16:57] Like I am moving into now. I have been more of a consultant. So my workflow was totally different. I'm going through like a transition now with the Strategic Marketing Membership where I thought, oh, I'll just make three courses in a day. And I'm like, and possible, like I had this whole idea about like how many courses I was going to make and what it was going to be like.

[00:17:17] And Possible, because part of it is when you've been, I've been I've been working in marketing for 25 years. So some things are pretty quick, when I'm working with clients and things are happening, I am not as practiced at it. Turns out at building courses in teachable. So it takes longer than I had thought.

[00:17:38] So I would say one of the things that you can get really overwhelmed by is making these massive lists. Wait, before you have. Really formulated your plans before he really worked through what that workflow could look like, and it can be really discouraging and it can actually stop you from moving forward with whether it's your marketing or another project is, set reasonable goals, set reasonable to do lists.

[00:18:05] And if it doesn't seem reasonable, Don't do what I did. Get to it quicker that you realize you've overwhelmed yourself with like too much stuff, because information overload doesn't just have to come from external sources. It can also come from within and those pressures that we put on ourselves, at least that's what I think.

[00:18:26] I don't know. Do you ever. Pressure on yourself like that.

[00:18:30] Shelley Carney: I perhaps I used to, but I've learned over the process of doing live streaming and learning new things, working with clients, we just pivoted in the last year. So we started this new business and we didn't know, We had come up with a design back in may.

[00:18:47] Oh, this is what we're doing. And then it, it continues to evolve as you work through the process and make, and this isn't working that, we'd like this kind of client, it's always a perfecting process. So you have to give yourself grace to say, when you're doing anything new.

[00:19:06] I'm going to be learning. I'm going to be learning teachable. I'm going to be learning how to put a course together. I'm going to be learning the, how to video record myself. I'm going to be learning the editing process, whatever it is that you're learning, even if you know, or have done things similar in the past, each new thing requires.

[00:19:27] That you work through it in order to say, and I'm still doing this myself. I'm writing an after show checklist after the show's over. I need to do this, and this, and have to write it down because I might forget otherwise. Cause I get distracted. And I think that's a really powerful thing to have because then I can share it with other people.

[00:19:48] Here's what I do. I do this, and this, and I have my checklist and it keeps me on track, so give yourself grace and understanding that it's a learning process and it's going to take time to perfect the process.

[00:19:59] Jen McFarland: And that is the piece that I wanted it swing back to. Is the, give yourself grace.

[00:20:07] And I'm one of the people who has to give myself grace, I tend to be a perfectionist. That means that sometimes things don't happen on the schedule. And then after I do something, then I give myself a hard time about it. There are other people who. Can sometimes give themselves too much grace, and then they never get anything done.

[00:20:28] So it's, I totally, I am one of those people who needs to give myself grace and acknowledge what I have done. And I think that we all need to give ourselves grace and. Make sure we're not giving ourselves so much grace, that we never get things out of the door,

[00:20:49] Shelley Carney: but if it's something that comes up, for instance, you had two dogs, it and Teddy would not leave you alone.

[00:20:55] So you have to spend time with the dog. And you're like, okay, I have to get this done Teddy. People are going through that with children with elderly parents. Anything else that they have to take care of in their lives, making doctor's appointments and things that pop up that you have to take care of, that you've got to fit into your life.

[00:21:15] And you have to give yourself the grace to say, you know what. Did my best. Can

[00:21:22] Jen McFarland: we, can we get back to Teddy really quick? So Teddy is my mom's dog. I am back in Portland now after spending, I don't know, 10 days or something in Idaho dog sitting. So here's what I learned about Teddy. So Teddy had his own to-do list and once I figured out what was happening and talked to my mom and she's you're absolutely right.

[00:21:41] He is used to this. So every day at four o'clock. Boise time. Teddy was like, I don't know what you're doing in this office, but that's just not working for me anymore. And I realized that my mom would always watch the closer and major crimes at four o'clock and five o'clock. So Teddy was like, no, we sit on the couch now.

[00:22:05] And we cuddle and we watched. And once I realized that I needed to take a little break to share time with him in this way, it was like a non-negotiable for Teddy. Teddy was like, you cannot carry on with whatever you want to do until this happened. Once I acknowledged that, then what I would do is I would take that break with him and then we would go and I would go back to work because he was like, no, I had my knee.

[00:22:32] Filled. So now you can get back to doing whatever it is that you wanted. And I think that's actually another analogy that you can take out into, life is it that's what happens sometimes. And so then I had to like share, I had to acknowledge that he had needs and fulfill them. And then I had to show myself grace and say, you're not going to work for those two hours.

[00:22:54] And then figure out like, if that meant I was going to get up early, Or if it, Ben, I was going to work after watching a couple of crime shows with my dog, my mom's dog, watch

[00:23:05] Shelley Carney: anything else. And he didn't like it. Or did you just stick with a crime shows because you like him?

[00:23:09] Jen McFarland: I like him too. Oh, okay.

[00:23:11] And when I visit my mom, we watched the closer in major crimes together. So yeah. So anyway, that's like another thing that can happen too. Like you have, especially working from home. My dogs decide when I'm need to pay attention to them. I have a little sign on my door so that my husband doesn't come in, but sometimes something comes up and you have to deal with it.

[00:23:34] And I think that happens a lot. The key is the. I think, and you tell me how you manage it, that when you have things that absolutely have to get done, you have to have a way to say, get out of this other space and find ways to get things accomplished so that you can get out and start taking action on the most important things.

[00:23:56] Shelley Carney: Yeah. I think the the best way to do that is take step back and say to yourself, what's my priorities. What are my values? And how can I best meet those? If you have a choice between a and B playing with the dog or getting your work done what's my choice. Why what's my values.

[00:24:15] What's my purpose in life. I. For you. And I'm saying this for you. I love my dogs. I chose to have these dogs in my life and I choose to spend time with them. What, and dogs are like kids. They need you when they need you. And sometimes you just have to fit them in. But if you're in the middle of a live show, like right now, that's one hour a week where you say, that's it I have to have.

[00:24:41] And because you give your time, When you can, then they will give you that time when you need it,

[00:24:48] Jen McFarland: or they're locked downstairs as they are right now because they don't have boundaries. Lock your kids, not lock your kids. Pets are different,

[00:24:59] Shelley Carney: figure things out too. And they go, okay I said put up. With these cartoons and it's going to last for the length of the livestream.

[00:25:07] I've heard people say that. And then when that law, when that livestream is done, then they're open to being interrupted by their kids. The rest of the day.

[00:25:17] Jen McFarland: Yeah. And I think that, and there was one day that I really had to get something out, and so Teddy and this was after I figured out, like we have this time that we have to hang out on the couch and then I just said, Hey, bub, Z let's.

[00:25:30] We gotta go back in the office now. And I'd wear them out to the point where he would sleep again. And then I worked late into the night because I still had to tackle the list. And I think that's sometimes, and it also meant that I had to acknowledge. In order to get that stuff done.

[00:25:47] Like all the other tabs had to be closed. There couldn't be, I'm a big proponent of deep work. Cal Newport wrote a lot of books about this and he is a digital minimalist, which is really fascinating to me for a computer scientist to be a digital minimalist. Like he's someone in computers, but then he also knows there's so much out there that can distract us from whatever it is that we're trying to do.

[00:26:10] So I remember like I need to spend. And I find that if I can do deep work, meaning like everything else is closed and this is the only thing I'm doing, I'm more effective and I get way more done. And that was what I was doing, where all these whether you call them Pomodoro sessions or deep work sessions, I was doing all of these like non undistracted times.

[00:26:30] And there are a lot of tools out there that can help you do that. There's cave day, which is communal working. Co-working. That's a little bit more expensive, but there's also focus mate, which you can schedule up to five free sessions a month, and it's basically you. And one other person saying I'm going to do this one thing and everything goes mute and you work.

[00:26:51] So those are some ways that you can beat away the distractions, beat away the information overload. And then I would suggest that. We, you have to start really focusing and starting your marketing. We can be so overloaded with videos and apps and tools and contacts from marketers, and they make everything sound phenomenal.

[00:27:18] And it's just, like Shelley said at the beginning, now everybody's talking about web three and NFTs and crypto, knowing what it is that you. Have as goals and what's most important can really prevent you from falling down those rabbit holes. Cause there's always going to be something and help you and guide you into what it is that will be most effective for you.

[00:27:45] Shelley Carney: Let's talk a little about FOMO. I see the sign behind your head. Fear of missing out. We all have that fear that we're going to be left behind. Oh my gosh. If only I would have gotten on YouTube in 2006 and stayed with it, I would be in a billionaire by now or whatever. Or if I had invested in Bitcoin back in the early two thousands, or if I had only, and I fear missing out again, I didn't get in on the Bitcoin to start with, so maybe I should get in on it now because I don't want to miss out.

[00:28:16] And all of these things are firing off in your head. I am afraid I'm going to miss out and then I'll be left behind. And that taps into our. Deep fear of abandonment, right? We don't want to be left out. We don't want to be left behind from the tribe. The tribe moves on the nomads. They move on and we're left behind, oh my goodness.

[00:28:40] Nothing scarier than that. So that taps into our primal brain and says, I gotta be in on this. I gotta know what's going on. I gotta, I gotta take part, I gotta be part of this tribe. So how do you handle

[00:28:53] Jen McFarland: that? How do I handle that?

[00:28:58] I. I have a deeper awareness of when I am personally stressed out. And I realized that when I am really stressed out, I tend to make bad decisions. So what I have to doing is when I personally am stressed out, I do what I can to remove. The things that I'm likely to buy or move, remove all of those distractions from my line of sight, I also have a pretty strong sense of myself and it really helps me to disengage from some of those trappings.

[00:29:33] Now, when I first became an entrepreneur, I thought I had to do everything. And that's one of the reasons why I talk about distractions and information overload a lot is because I really felt it at a signal. Level when I first got started, because I believed that I, that things were quicker than they actually are.

[00:29:54] And I think that if you believe that things are quick and that it's, you're behind because of this, that, and the other thing. It's a good time to take a step back and say, no, I'm not behind it's that building a business is difficult and it takes time and I need to be consistently marketing and showing up.

[00:30:18] And in order to be effective, I also need to beat back the fear of missing out. The related one on that I think is Yolo. So will you only live once? So you feel like you have to do all of the things because you have a fear of missing out and life is short and you don't want to. Miss out on that, you want to do all of the things.

[00:30:36] So I think that when people realize, and it's interesting because Gary Vaynerchuk is not somebody that I necessarily ascribe to, but he's been talking about some really interesting things lately and he shared a video. From when he first did wine library. So he did start on YouTube back in, I think like 2003 or something really early.

[00:31:00] And his first videos were bad and he's it's not that you should have done it back in 2003. It's that now you need to do it all the time and you need to be consistent. And that's what I did. And if you think that this all happened for me overnight, even. Wrong. And I love that because I use that example a lot is if you could find the very first videos by him, they are a lot different than what today.

[00:31:27] And it's because of practice.

[00:31:31] Shelley Carney: And perfecting and finding what works and which is a process you gotta keep, moving through that funnel of, getting rid of the fluff and getting down to what works

[00:31:43] Jen McFarland: well and not. It's also that he has a huge staff and a big company, and many of the people that I work with and talk to around town, they don't have that.

[00:31:54] So when you say I should be like that in two years, it's there's a reality check here. He started doing this like almost 20 years ago. And the person that you're seeing today is much different than that person. And he has a big staff and people who are, it may be his thoughts and his ideas, but somebody else is editing it.

[00:32:12] He might be writing some of the posts, but maybe he's getting help in ways that many small business owners are not getting when it comes to marketing. And that's why you need to find strategies, like many of the things we've talked about to help you. Beat back the information overload, beat back the FOMO so that you can start marketing and start doing things over and over again, to be effective.

[00:32:37] One of the books. Reflecting on this morning is by mark Schaefer. He's one of my favorite marketers. Yes, I am a marketer who reads books by marketers and why not? And his book is called cumulative advantage. And it's really great because it talks about in a very real way, how small businesses.

[00:32:59] Need to go about their marketing and guess what? It's not jumping from thing to thing it's about the cumulative advantage of all of your work, of all of the things that you've talked about over an extended period of time, all the ways that you've helped people, how you communicate that over and over again, and how over time that adds up to something really great.

[00:33:22] It's a great book and it really speaks to a lot of the issues that we're talking about here. One of the big problems with marketing is people give up too soon until, they do one live stream and they say that didn't work. Nobody watched. And they go onto the next thing.

[00:33:39] And that's really the fear that I have with what you were talking about earlier, where, you're talking about all the distractions, now I'm going to make money from NFTs or now I'm going to make money, and it's you've never even given yourself time to be good at anything.

[00:33:51] Yeah.

[00:33:53] Shelley Carney: Yeah. And you got to find what fits and what feels right. It feels right to. Work with this kind of person who has this specific problem, and I solve it in this specific way and that's fun and it fits with me. And you stick with that. And then that I think is finding that.

[00:34:11] Good fit. It takes time. It's like going to a shoe store and trying on every shoe in the store. Once you found, and I did this, I went to a store where they fit you for running shoes or running and walking. And they tried to, probably we tried on 10, 15 pairs of shoes and he watched me walk, they had a.

[00:34:29] Walking path in the store, he watched me walk, am I doing this or this? Or, how am I walking, measured my feet and all the different things, in one toes, the second toe is longer than the first toe. And that's true in some people. That will change what shoe you're going to wear.

[00:34:46] And so he finally got me down to one type of shoe the ACX kahuna and size eight and a half nine. And I have bought that same shoe ever since. I don't even bother trying on Reeboks and whatnot because they don't fit my feet as well. It has been determined. This is what fits I stick. So it makes my life easier.

[00:35:09] One less decision. What kind of shoe to buy? I just, I, I go to big five, I have my coupon and I say, I want that. And then I get those and shop shopping's done. And so it takes the same thing with everything in your life, finding the best fit and then sticking with it.

[00:35:27] Jen McFarland: Absolutely. And one of the things that you mentioned in there.

[00:35:32] The problem with information overload is it leads to decision fatigue. And one of the ways that you can eliminate decision fatigue. So this is what Shelley's talking about when she says, I know exactly which pair of ACX. This has been determined. It's the fit. This is what works for me. When you find yourself having trouble making decisions, you have to eliminate all of the distractions.

[00:35:53] Or keeping you from that decision, another way of this happening that we see, whether we're aware of it or not, are people who like Steve jobs used to do this when he was alive and mark Zuckerberg does it today. And a handful of other leaders do it too, is they eliminate all of the. To be like a cert, almost like a uniform.

[00:36:14] And that's what people wearing the same clothes over and over again. But the black turtleneck sweater really had a lot to do with decision fatigue. It was like, I know that I'm, this is what I'm wearing and I'm willing to do it. So the things that you can do in your business to eliminate overload and to do, to prevent decision fatigue are very helpful.

[00:36:37] The thing that we need to be aware of is our timelines and measurements and how long we're going to give something. Because the other fear on the other side is, you stick with something too long. And that's where you need to really talk to people and find out what a reasonable timeline is on whatever project it is.

[00:36:58] It's also another way of putting it too, to talk about your analogy is what if Asics changes the design of that shoe? How are you going to know that's no longer working for you? You've been, you've had a fitting, you have a really good sense of when you put that shoe on how it's fitting and that it's going to work, and you always have to be on the lookout the next time you try it on,

[00:37:18] Shelley Carney: go try them on first before I buy them.

[00:37:20] So that's a good point. Yeah. I still check it. Yeah. Does it fit? Does it still fitting? Is it still working for me? Yeah. And that's something that, that people need to think about. Is there a clear demarcation of this is over it's time to move on when Toby and I were doing the show about treasure hunting, the treasure got found on June 6th, 2020.

[00:37:49] And at that point, we said, that's over, let's move on. And there were a lot of people with us at that point were like, no, we don't want to move on. There are still people in that community who refuse to move on and still gather, still talk about it. And we're like, we've moved on. So you gotta look for those signs as time.

[00:38:14] Try a different thing, different things on, in your business

[00:38:18] Jen McFarland: and to Julia's point, yes. It's hard to know how long to try something before deciding, whether to stick with it. I think that is where measuring results really comes into play. So it's not only am I going to do this new thing, but I have to understand what success looks.

[00:38:36] So you have to have a clear definition of what it means to succeed and what metrics are you going to be looking for to see if you're seeing even a small return on your investment of time and effort and what it is that you're doing. And you have to really, before you make decisions, reinforce that by talking to others, don't make decisions based on.

[00:38:59] Your gut all the time, you sometimes have to go out and you have to reach out and find out. If people are engaging in a certain platform. For example, if you are looking at social media or if people are even interested in TikTok, we've talked about TikTok, for example, as a platform that a lot of people are interested in.

[00:39:18] Have you asked your customers if they're on TikTok, if they're buying things from TOK, if that's a decision platform for them, for example, finding out how long to try something. Sometimes it is hit or miss. Sometimes it does take a while. So don't give up too soon, but then also do some investigative work around whether or not the decision will work.

[00:39:42] And then also take the time to think about what success really looks like and clearly defining that can really sometimes help you decide how long to stick with something.

[00:39:54] Shelley Carney: Yes. Yeah. And success can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It isn't just about money.

[00:40:01] It's, there, there is, are you achieving the things in your life that you really want to achieve? And as we get older, It's becomes even more about, am I leaving a legacy? Am I helping the world? Am I, making a difference in people's lives? There's a lot of, a lot of other values that come into play, especially as we get older or we become less concerned about money because, okay, I'm good on money.

[00:40:26] I have all my needs met now, what else is out there that I need to to work on in my life? I have time for it. So let's do that.

[00:40:33] Jen McFarland: Absolutely. Absolutely. So are you ready to talk about tweak of the week? Do you have any thoughts on this topic or?

[00:40:44] Shelley Carney: I would say that a lot of times things come up, gotta be on target.

[00:40:50] Gotta be on TikTok, kinda gotta do this. Gotta do that. When that starts to bombard you in. To the point where you're like either I'm going to turn it all off and try to ignore it, but it keeps bombarding you sometimes, even when you do that and I'm like Nope. And then there comes a point where you've, you're so tired.

[00:41:08] You've reached that fatigue point of saying, no, they're like maybe I'll listen this time. So if, when you get to that point where you're just like, I don't know what to do. It's. Talk to some people who you believe in who you believe share the same values, the same priorities that you do. Maybe work with a coach, reach out to Jen or me and share your ideas and what's going on in your life.

[00:41:33] And we can help you get through those moments of, I don't know which way to turn. Should I do the tick talk? Should I stay with what I'm doing now? Reach out and get that coaching. And then. That's what we're here for too, to just be that sounding board and help you to make those really thought out decisions.

[00:41:53] Jen McFarland: Absolutely love it. Love

[00:41:55] Shelley Carney: it. But we can do tweak of the week now. Where's my tweak.

[00:42:01] He has taken the week. My tree of the week is aligning. I have had an Alignable account for a couple of years and I haven't done anything with it. Cause I'm just like, eh, is this anything, are it? No, it says it just a LinkedIn want to be, what is it? And then the last couple of weeks I have been investigating it more.

[00:42:22] I've been attending networking online networking events, put out by people who are affiliated with Alignable. They're looking for more. Associates to bring people into Alignable and it's just a matter of, bringing people in and bringing them together. And then just meeting up with people and getting to build those relationships and find out who's doing what and maybe they can be a referral partner for me, or maybe we can just be friends.

[00:42:51] Cause they, we have a lot in common and we were, we liked the same things, whatever If you haven't looked at Alignable check it out. It's very similar to LinkedIn. It's they have, if you're on the free account, you can have 10 opportunities per month to reach out and connect with people, but they will connect you automatically with anybody on your email list.

[00:43:12] And they're not intrusive, like I said, I've been there for two years and I have hardly even noticed that I'm there. But if you get involved and you start to really work with it, you can build up your network in that way. So

[00:43:25] Jen McFarland: I guess I'll give it another shot. I had a paid account for a while last year.

[00:43:29] I did some stuff with it. I never really. Yeah, it didn't really work for me, but I'm willing, I'm open because I know that they've been evolving it and it's it. They are doing more of a focus, I think on really helping small businesses at this point. And I think I was on the cutting edge of it. And I, sometimes

[00:43:50] Shelley Carney: I do that, as you said, they've added groups for one thing.

[00:43:54] So you can be in a group that's. You're your biggest interest when it comes to business? Is it marketing or is it even, more granular than that and find a group that fits? Absolutely.

[00:44:07] Jen McFarland: Yeah. Tweak it the week. Gosh I don't really, I can't really think of anything right now. I think I was mostly pretty keyed up about talking about dissolving information overload.

[00:44:16] I am excited because I have a quarter. Just, it's all up in there. We're working on finishing some sales pages and I sent off a audio book today. Like it's under review from all these platforms. So I'm really excited about that. I'm excited that I've learned how to do an audio book. I think that's a neat thing and we'll see what happens.

[00:44:37] Everything's kind of a, an adventure and a test. So that's my tweak is if you're interested in doing something. Give it a shot

[00:44:46] Shelley Carney: and then you can share it with others. Yeah. Yeah. That's always my thought too. When I tried something new, I'm like I'll learn something and then maybe I can teach it to somebody else,

[00:44:55] Jen McFarland: Yeah. Why not? Yeah. Inspiration

[00:44:58] Shelley Carney: let's inspire everybody here. So my inspirational nugget is, comes from my daily stoic books and everything is neutral until we add our interpretation or perspective or opinion to it. So we get a choice, do we want to look at a neutral event as positive or native?

[00:45:18] And then we get to choose. So he say I have to go get an MRI and I've got some kind of weird medical stuff going on right now. I could put a negative spin on that, or I can put a positive spin on it. I'm learning about. My health and I'm being proactive. And I, and that's really good for me as a person to be proactive, take take action and to be my own advocate.

[00:45:41] Even if that's, starting off in the medical field, it can translate into other areas of my life. So we have that choice of choosing whether to see it as a positive or a negative.

[00:45:53] Jen McFarland: I agree. And I think that for me, it extends into that idea of presence. So if I'm in the, if I get really stressed out, I sometimes stop and say, That's going on right now.

[00:46:05] And then I realize, oh, Hey, I'm, I realized the good things and I can weigh it a little bit through a different lens and make those choices a little bit better if I make sure that I'm actually present in the actual moment and not thinking about the past or worrying about the future. And that's really been helpful to hit the pause.

[00:46:26] Shelley Carney: Yeah, it's always good to be aware of what's going on around. And the big picture. That's right. That's when we get too focused on those little granular details. Sometimes we miss the big picture. That's

[00:46:42] Jen McFarland: right. Are we are good? I

[00:46:44] Shelley Carney: think we're good. All right. I thought I don't feel overwhelmed at all. I feel either.

[00:46:52] Thank you all for being here today. Be proactive and reach out to us and let us know what you're thinking. What kinds of advice that you need to help you in your business or in your life. And we'll do our best to answer your questions. Absolutely.

[00:47:10] Thank you for joining the women conquer business podcast posted by Shelley Carney and Jen McFarland, please subscribe and leave a comment or question regarding your most challenging content creation or business problem. Then share this podcast with family and friends so they can find the support they need to expand their brand and share their message with the.

[00:47:31] Check the show notes for links to valuable resources and come back again next week.