[0:00] Music.
[0:13] So what does it actually take to be the girl who's good at marketing?
What does it take to be the girl who's good at sales?
[0:20] Can you just decide to be a girl who's good at marketing or are there only some personality types that are cut out for it?
I hope to answer some of these questions for you today.
I have a couple of stories that I want to tell you about my life that will also give you a bonus peek behind the curtain into my life and part of my story, but it will also give you some context for why I am the way that I am and why I think the way that I think about things.
And then I'm going to use those stories to give you my hot takes on what it actually takes to become a girl who's good at marketing.
So if you haven't heard my story before, I come from a family of entrepreneurs.
My dad has started and sold three different businesses.
The first one was a payroll company that he sold when I was entering my teenage years.
The second one was a Barnwood picture frame company that he and my mom started and ran together out of the garage of our house for eight years and then sold.
And sometimes I like to just paint the picture of what was happening with that, because if you put the pieces together, it will explain so much about why I am the way that I am.
So I want you to picture a two-car garage with three giant rows of Costco shelves for holding picture frame inventory.
[1:30] And then I want you to imagine this giant shipping table area with a gigantic packing peanut dispenser are hanging from the ceiling.
Some of their most popular products were large picture frames and custom-sized mirrors.
And so they also hand cut and built every single box that every single product was shipped inside.
And so there was a gigantic cardboard cutting station.
It was a crazy production, basically.
[1:56] Anyway, I'll continue. Like I said, this probably explains a lot of why Kaylin is the way that she is.
The third company was a payroll company, also a payroll company, that he sold this past fall and is, I'm pretty sure, officially retired.
I don't foresee any more starting or selling of businesses in his future.
But my three older brothers are also all very successful entrepreneurs.
Think like investors and valuations and raising capital.
That's a crazy, crazy world. My little sister has also started her own businesses.
She's finishing her master's degree this month, actually. And, So I don't know if I've ever shared some of those details here before, but it feels important because it will help you see the cloth that I was cut from because then there's me.
And I owe a lot of my success to watching my family members.
[2:47] And I think all the time that I have had a huge advantage in business game because I didn't have a lot of fear getting started because it was super normal and totally natural.
Starting a business wasn't that scary or weird to me because it was kind of the norm in my family growing up.
And I also have the gigantic benefit of really not being scared of failure because I've watched so many different businesses from a very up close and personal view that I know that you don't fail.
You just figure things out. You just pivot. You might tweak things or change things, but you don't fail. You just keep going and you keep figuring it out.
[3:26] So anyway, what does all this have to do with being a girl who's good at marketing?
I had to give you some background first.
But I have this very distinct flashbulb memory of someone at one point talking about my brother, Austin, and saying, he's such a gifted marketer.
And there was something about that that really stuck with me.
And that phrase felt like such a huge compliment.
And I remember hearing that and thinking, wow, what would it be like for me to be a really good marketer?
And by the way, Austin, if you're listening to this, I do think you're a freaking awesome marketer and I want to be just like you when I grow up.
But as I was preparing for this episode, it really made me wonder, why did my brain hear that phrase like it was such high praise or like it was this huge, admirable trait?
Was it because that's what I aspire to be?
[4:16] There was something about that phrase that felt like high praise and it stuck with me.
And I have since then, I guess, aspired to be and feel like an excellent marketer.
And so I found some interesting discoveries. I did a little journaling session in my preparation for this episode because I did find it interesting.
Like, why did my brain put that together? Like, it was such a big deal.
[4:40] And I found some interesting discoveries that I'll share with you in just a second.
But I want to tell you story number two first. first the second story happened during the process of selling my business poppy seed play someone made a comment totally in passing on one occasion about how my business poppy seed play was doing so great but the one thing that i was missing that would have taken it to the next level was marketing and by the way it was not any of my friends or family or anyone who's listening to this episode just in case you're listening and like oh shoot was it me that said that it's no one who's listening to this episode but the combo of these two stories together is really interesting because here is old Kaylin hearing that being called a good marketer is such a huge compliment and secretly hoping that someone would say that about me one day blended with story number two where after wrapping up selling a business my brain heard someone say basically this is not what was said but it's what my brain heard was Kaylin stinks at marketing.
Now I can totally see that comment in context now about how the person who said that meant no ill harm.
[5:46] And they also didn't have a lot of context on their own about how hard I'd worked to market the business and how good of a job that I had done.
And so if it's okay if I pat myself on the back for a sec about that.
So that comment doesn't really bother me anymore, but it's interesting to assess that it did affect me for a minute because my brain believed that one person's random comment more than years of my own evidence that I was doing a good job.
So it's just interesting that my brain picked believing a random stranger over myself as a side note.
[6:15] But let's break down some more of my thinking flaws through both of these stories.
And again, as another side note, I find it really helpful to talk about my brain like it's a character in the story sometimes because it helps me not internalize shame. It helps me not make things about me.
It helps me keep an interested perspective instead of a blaming perspective.
So here's some of my big thinking flaws about what actually makes a good marketer and let's just bust them one by one. There's two.
Thought error number one, a really good marketer is someone who is blessed with a mystical, magical gift.
[6:52] So here are my thoughts. Are there people who have less fear when it comes to marketing? I think yes.
And are there people who have a naturally higher tolerance for visibility?
I think yes. Those two things are, I think, actually different sides of the same coin.
If your fear is high right now around being seen and you find yourself particularly aware or concerned about how other people might think about you or perceive you when you put yourself out there that's really good for you to know and be aware of but that is an ability that you can expand over time it's not just like a small percentage of the population is cut out for this everyone else is hosed i think it's an actual ability that you can expand and develop and grow over time.
And the way that you do that is by practicing over and over and over.
And every time you do put yourself out there, you show your brain that you're not going to die, that it's safe for you to be seen.
And in fact, that it can also be really fun and anyone can practice expanding their comfort zone.
In the book, The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, he refers to these as upper limits.
So it's totally possible that there are some people who have a naturally higher upper limit in their visibility.
They have a higher tolerance threshold for how much they're willing to be seen.
I do think that's true, but it's not true because they have some magical gift that is only available to some people and the rest of us are out of luck.
[8:18] Thought error number two, if marketing is easier for some people who have the gift, then building a successful business must also be easier for some people.
I think my brain thought that if you're blessed with the gift of marketing, then it's it's easier for you to build a business.
And I have tons of evidence for myself to prove that anyone can build a business and that it's equally hard for everyone. And it's equally easy in some ways too.
But what is actually required to build a successful business is a willingness to create creative solutions and a willingness to keep going.
[8:50] That's pretty much every business model summed up in a sentence.
So now that we have proven what is not required to be a girl who's really good at marketing.
Here's what I think it means to be a really good marketer now.
What I think of now when I think of a good marketer, I think of someone who can communicate clearly.
I think of someone who makes confident statements about how their offer helps people.
I think of someone who gets and holds people's attention when they speak or when they write.
I think of someone who knows their ideal customer so deeply and intimately and what she needs help with, that they're able to help her with the thing that she needs help with.
These are skills that anyone can develop and these are skills that are developed over time.
[9:34] So finally, here's what I want to say. Once I figured out that anyone can be a good marketer if they want to, I had to make a decision.
And I just decided one day that I'm a good marketer.
Because why not? And I really like to drive this point home because I think people think, you know, when they see people like me who are doing a lot of marketing things, that we just always think that we're good at what we do.
But that has not been the case for me. This is something that I've really worked on.
This is a skill that I have honed and developed for years.
The last piece that was missing for me was a belief and a confidence that I'm good at this.
And the day that I decided that kind of changed everything.
And so I want to offer to you that you have that option to just decide that for yourself too.
You have the option like me to let go of the old story if you have one that you're not a good marketer.
You have total permission to do this and you have permission to do it today.
There's no test you have to take to become a a certified marketer.
There's no number of followers that you get where you can magically say, and now I am a good marketer. You can just decide that you are.
And this might feel like an identity shift for you. It did for me.
Putting on the identity of being the girl who's good at marketing, it might make you start to look at your entire business completely differently.
[10:50] Instead of feeling like, ugh, I have to post today, it will turn into, I'm going to post today because it's what I do, because I'm a good marketer.
When a post gets zero likes and you think, I obviously stink at this, instead it will turn into, that happens sometimes.
It's not a big deal and I'm going to post again tomorrow because I'm a good marketer.
When you put on the identity of being the girl who's good at marketing, it will change how often you post.
It will change what you say when you post. It will change how bogged down you get by the likes, the comments, the follows, because you'll realize those are the least important.
When you start thinking about what you want to launch next, instead of getting overwhelmed by the marketing boxes that you want to check off, you think, I got this.
I'm a good marketer. And then...
[11:34] That's when the magic happens. More people start finding out about you.
More people start seeing the things that you sell as being just the right fit for them. More people start understanding what you are talking about a lot more often.
More people start listening when you say something, and they keep listening for a long time.
People will start talking about it to their friends. More sales will start to come through.
You have the option to be a good marketer today. You don't need to wait for any external artificial results.
If you aspire to be a girl who's good at marketing, there's no written exam you have to pass.
[12:07] There's no interview. There's no presentation you have to give.
You get to decide when you become good at marketing and you can decide to be that girl today and every day going forward. You are a good marketer.
Every time you hit post, every time you hit send, every time you send a DM in a conversation, you're a good marketer, not because of anything special that you've done.
You're a good marketer not because of any external results that you've received.
You're a good marketer just because you are and because you care and because you keep going and you keep showing up.
I'll see you next Wednesday for our next episode. I hope you have an amazing week.
[12:42] Hey, I hope you loved this week's episode. If you did, I know you would love to be a member of my community, The Greenhouse.
It's where I teach you how to build an amazing fruitful life while you build an amazing fruitful business.
It is a movement for women who want to unsubscribe from the traditional success path that says that life has to be a struggle and instead learn how good making more money can get, how fun marketing can be, and how much joy and presence you're capable of feeling as a woman and as a mother.
Find out more and join at kaylenpriest.com slash greenhouse and I'll see you there.
[13:22] Music.
