From Passion to Profit (Melinda Emerson)

In this episode of Time to Thrive, host Bethany Meadows talks with Melinda Emerson, known as the “Small Biz Lady,” about turning passion into profit. Melinda shares her accidental journey to becoming a top small business expert and offers practical advice for entrepreneurs at every stage. From creating a life plan before a business plan to mastering social media and avoiding common business pitfalls, this episode is packed with insights. Tune in to learn how to align your passion with purpose and build a sustainable, profitable business!

0:00 Introduction to the Entrepreneurial Journey

00:08 Meet Melinda Emerson: The Small Biz Lady

02:26 A Journey from Passion to Profit

06:53 The Birth of the Small Biz Lady Brand

08:59 Essential Steps for New Entrepreneurs

13:28 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

16:22 The Importance of Being Coachable

16:41 Mastering Social Media for Business Success

18:13 Building Trust and Engagement Online

20:41 The Power of Consistent Content Creation

22:49 Navigating AI in Content Creation

26:36 Developing a Personal Brand

30:27 Turning Passion into Purpose and Profit

32:13 Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts

33:21 Where to Connect with Melinda Emerson

Discover the strategies, systems and skills that lead to success in business. Visit TimeToThriveInBusiness.com to learn more.

Transcript

Time to Thrive Podcast | Melinda Emerson

[00:00:00] 

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: This is Bethany Meadows with time to thrive on today's episode. We will learn about taking the entrepreneurial journey from passion to profit. Join us today as we sit down with Melinda Emerson, Known widely as the small biz lazy lady. I'll give her a little air quotes there and a trusted small business expert. Melinda has been a guiding light for entrepreneurs with her practical advice, insightful strategies, and motivational speaking. the CEO of Quintessence Group, Melinda offers invaluable marketing advice to fortune 500 companies aimed at the small business sector. And she is also the driving force behind the acclaimed Small Biz Lady University, courses designed to help entrepreneurs excel in the digital world. author of several best selling books, Melinda's approach simplifies the entrepreneurial journey, making business success accessible to everyone.

Welcome to the show. Melinda,

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: you for having me, Bethany.[00:01:00] 

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: I warned you ahead of time. I just had Melissa stuck in my head. So I'm going to be very conscious of not calling you Melissa. But so some little fun thing that we do on the show is we have our guests pick a number between one and five and they get a super random question based on the number they choose.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: I'm going to pick the number four.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Four. All right. What antiquated invention do you still use? I told you they were random.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Antiquated invention. Do I still use, I actually still have a fax machine in my office.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Oh, wow. Okay.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Every so often you get some stupid piece of paper, you got to send a doctor's office or something. So I just keep a fax machine.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Or the government.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Government, some kind of financial institution, like some random people still can be a fax, which is so I.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: IRS needed a form from me and [00:02:00] the, I was on the phone with them and he said, you can fax it. That would be faster.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: And we're like, in what planet universe is it faster to send a fax? Yeah, no, I still have a fax machine in my home.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: mail it over. All right let's stick in and pick your brain about all things, small business and entrepreneurship. before we do, but let's get into a little bit about your brand story. What does your journey look like? How did you get here? How did you become a small biz

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: How did I become the small business lady? All of it was very accidental. So back in 2007, I had been in business like seven or eight years and I was, doing really well running my production company. My husband at the time was able to quit his full-time job at GE and join our business.

And then I got pregnant with my son and I ended up. On bed rest for six months. And this was prior to wifi being in [00:03:00] everybody's house. When I got sent home, I was just at home. And so it going to the hospital once a week, getting testing done. Cause they thought something was wrong with my child. So anyway, long story short while I was at home, I just started taking all these notes about all the expensive lessons I had learned in my business.

And I thought. Gosh, I'm going to run my business better if I had better advice. But back then, I've been in business 25 years. So when I got started in 1999, there just was not anyone out here giving small business advice. And, you had Susie Orman was out here talking about 401ks.

I think Gene Chasky was on the today show talking about business finance, but mostly for people with jobs, not anybody that wanted to start a business. And so I was like, what if I could be the person? to give the advice. And but I prayed over it. I'm a religious person. So I was like, let me pray and just ask God for direction.

And believe it or not, I prayed about two and a half months and God gave me a vision and a dream three times to [00:04:00] become America's number one, small business expert. And then he moved every mountain out of my way to make it happen. Case in point my bestselling book, become your own boss in 12 months, I actually spoke to one publisher about that book.

I didn't have an agent. I didn't have a book proposal. I didn't know what a book proposal was. And those people, and I was also not the small biz lady yet. I didn't have a brand that reached a million people online. I was somebody with an idea. I had a media about myself, but that was about it. And they bought my book and my book was supposed to come.

Out in early 2009. So I had to turn it in the fall of 2008. You also remember what happened in the fall of 2008,

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Yeah,

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: right?

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: because I started my business in

That was

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Yeah. Yeah. So it was like people's 401ks became 100ks cause the market crashed. Yeah. So that's what happened. This book, but we were like this, I had written the book, I turned it in on time.

I was like, we're about to go on this national book tour. It's going to be great. [00:05:00] And my publisher called me up and said, listen, thank you so much for being a first time author that actually turned your book in on time. But we don't think anyone's about entrepreneurship right now. So we're going to shelf your book.

Until March of 2010, they shelved my book for 18 months. Before they release it. And I was like, holy macaroni Batman. What is we go do? Girlfriend of mine said, listen, if I were you, I would start publicizing that book, like it was coming out anyway, as a matter of fact, you might want to figure out this new social media thing, everybody started to talk about,

It's really gonna, change business marketing as we know.

And I was so busted and disgusted by this time. I didn't even want to think about that book. If somebody asked me about it, I honestly could give them a 10 minute cursing rant about it. But I hired a woman who knew as much as anyone knew about social media at that time. And she said, I know what we're going to do.

And I was like, what is we going to do? And she said, we're going to go out on Twitter and build your brand. And I remember saying, what is tweeter? [00:06:00] I didn't even know what she was talking about. So anyway, she was like, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. We just need to get you an account and I will, I'll teach you how to use Twitter.

And I was like okay. So the day came for me to get my Twitter account. I go to twitter. com. I put in Melinda Emerson and I get this polite notice back. This name is already taken. Now I have to tell you, my name is not common. I've met six other adult Melinda's like in my whole life. So the fact that there was another Melinda Emerson and that heifer had gotten to Twitter before me was a It was an outrage, but anyway so my girlfriend was like, look, we got to come up with a nickname for you.

And I said, a nickname, you mean Mindy or Melly Mel or something? And she said, no fool, you're not a rapper. I'm not trying to give you a name like that. And she said, we got to give you a name that tells people who you are and what you do. And that was the day I became the small biz lady. And what

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Wonderful.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: That was the best branding accident that ever [00:07:00] happened to me, but it was very much an accident.

I wish I could tell you that I had, had paid this big marketing firm and we did all this research. No, it was a two minute conversation between she and I on the phone and I became a small business lady that day.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: And you had the, you took advantage of the opportunity of the early days of social media when, there wasn't even such a thing on Facebook as a business page

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: And right you there were

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: You had to create a personal profile

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Yeah, you

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: for the

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: can only create a personal page back then. Yeah. Yeah, man. So

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: And then we went all through the horrors of transferring. When they did have business pages, they would have to move.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: who was your friend wanted to go to your fan page cause that felt like a downgrade. Yeah. No, trust me. No. I was there in the early days of all of that stuff and I really benefited frankly from being a pioneer, right? Because I was, Very early to Twitter, obviously. And one of the things that I did was I launched a tweet chat called small [00:08:00] biz chat, which I actually ended up doing for 10 years every Wednesday night on Twitter.

And by creating the tweet chat, Small biz chat. I was probably the sixth person to create a chat on Twitter, like I was super early to that. But that ended up being what really just drove my brand. I got to the point where I was getting a thousand, fifteen hundred, 2000 new followers a week, just because I was becoming known.

For small biz chat. And then when Twitter started adding new people, my account was one of the 30 accounts they recommended that people follow. So then that just got crazy and crazy, so by the time my book, become your own boss in 12 months actually came out, it took a while, but it did really well.

In fact, it is still in print 14 years later in a third edition with Simon and Schuster. I'll tell you that, it's one thing to be a New York Times bestseller. It's a whole other thing to have a book that's still in print after 14 years. So there's that. 

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Yeah, good for you. [00:09:00] Speaking of your book, inside your book, you lay out a roadmap for entrepreneurs. What is the most crucial step new business owners should focus on in the first few months to Set their foundation for success.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: The first thing you've got to figure out is what you want and why you want it. I actually believe that people should develop life plans before they ever develop business plans, because you really want to make sure that you figure out the life you want, and then start that business that's going to help you live that life.

Because if you don't, you could really run the risk of starting a business that's not a good business for you. And Sometimes you just need to get another job because you got a jerk boss, right? So starting a business is hard. So I don't want anybody to get out here thinking, I want to be a boss.

Okay, until you have to make all the hard decisions and go without a paycheck, being a boss isn't real fun some days. And so I really think the first thing you got to figure out. Is what you want out of life, build your [00:10:00] own agenda, build your own life plan. So many times we as women, we ain't even on our list and we at the bottom of our own list.

So it's no, build your life plan first. Then let's start, doing some research on what the need is out there. And then you got to figure out how you're going to pay for it. Because despite what people believe, the money to start your business is going to come from your right or your left pocket.

The number one question that people ask me, that makes my head like spin around is where can I get a grant to start my business? And I'm like, Oh, there are no grants. There's this interesting stuff that people did in the last couple of years because of George Floyd, that stuff is going away. So you need to fund your own business.

Like your sweat equity, your savings, people who have savings, have options. And so that's the next thing you got to figure out. How, what do you have to invest in a business? And then you gotta be like, okay, what skills do I have versus what skills do I need to run this kind of business? [00:11:00] And the only way you really learn that is if you go work part time for a business, like the one you want to start.

So that you really know what the deal is. Don't start a bakery cause you like to bake. Cause I don't have, that's one third of running a bakery. So you got to really understand what does it take to run a restaurant? What does it take to run a bakery? What does it take to run a video production company?

I worked two days a week for almost a year for another production company before I quit my job in TV news and started my company. I was a, My first company was actually a video production company. So you got to learn the business. Like I knew how to tell great stories. I had no idea how to bid a job.

You know what I mean? So that's the stuff you got to go learn. Then you got to figure out who that niche customer is. If you want to sell to everybody, basically you're selling to nobody. So you've got to figure out who it is that you're specifically going to focus on. And then you got to start with a business plan.

Don't, you have to plan for success. Success is not going to just happen to you. I know there's all these people out here, these lean startup [00:12:00] people. Oh, you don't need a business plan anymore. That's a lie. That's a lie. That's a lie. You do need a business plan. You do need to figure out how you're going to get the phone to ring.

And what are you going to do after you get an order? How are you going to fill it? Like you got to write all that stuff down and figure it out. And the last part of what I teach people is I believe in starting as a side hustler. First, you will never get me to tell you quit this job to start a business.

Never. Because most of us are starting businesses, not necessarily what our day job is. So you can do that on your evenings and weekends until you get some traction. Do you figure out what you're doing? Do you figure out what the right pricing model really is? Do you figure out actually how to make money?

And then once you figure that out, on a consistent basis, then it's time to look at how you can ease your way out of a job. But I never tell people to quit a job to start a business because it's just really hard.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Yeah and yeah, and there's so much online that is saying, hey, buy my course on how to start a business in three easy [00:13:00] steps and make 100, 000, 000 in your first year.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Oh yeah. All those Instagram sensations that want to sell you their stuff, please, those people are not making any money. So do not listen to them. And they haven't done it. So unless they've done it, And got real receipts and real people that you can go talk to that they help do it too. Do not spend your money with these people that are only one step ahead of you.

Do not do that. They can't really help you. They can't.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: What are some common mistakes that you've seen small business owners do? What are the cautionary tales that business owners need to be thinking about? We touched on a few, but

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: The number one thing is just having a realistic idea around how hard it is to run a business. I think people are overconfident. I think there's this little, those romanticized version of what business is. Is they don't see themselves liquidating their 401k like to do this. It's no, it's hard.

And the buck stops with you and you've got to figure it all out. So that would be [00:14:00] the first thing. I think the second thing is not saving enough money before you start. So you just run out of runway. You run out of money. You have run out of runway for your plane to take off. So just not saving enough money.

I think the 3rd 1 would be not focusing on a niche target customer, like chasing anybody that you think has money. I think the fourth one would be just not focusing on keeping your customers. It's one thing to get customers. It's another thing to let them walk away from you. It's cheaper to keep a customer.

It's cheaper to keep a husband. It's cheaper to keep a whole bunch of stuff. So you need to figure out how to keep your customers, how to keep them, turn them into an unpaid Salesforce for you. And the last one, and this is probably the most deadly one, not having fiscal discipline, right? If you don't manage your household with the budget, chances are you're not going to run your business with one either.

And that is dangerous. You need to make sure you don't spend 2 in a vending machine. That's not in a budget, right? You really need to be [00:15:00] very draconian because as a business owner, there's always a conference, a tool, a this or that, somebody selling you something. And you've got to have the discipline to be like, No our professional development budget is this and we've already spent it all.

And no, we're not going to be able to look at that until 2025. You've got to be disciplined enough to make decisions based on up to date financial information. And if you don't, you're going to be chasing all the rabbits out here. You're not going to be focused on what you got to do. Oh,

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: piece comes in. I always talk about a business plan, a marketing plan. Those are your guardrails that keep you in your lane. And keep you from chasing the rabbits through the forest.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: there's lots of rabbits out here, right? Everybody needs to get on TikTok.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Our brains is entrepreneurs. We love rabbits.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Oh yeah, we do. But the problem is you got to focus on ham, not rabbits. You got to focus on the meat. What do you need to be doing? Not these things that are bouncing around in front of you. You just have to have routines. You have to have [00:16:00] mentors. You have to invest in coaching, right?

You have to keep reading like the best, most successful entrepreneurs I know are people who still learn or people who still invest. In going to conferences and stuff so that they can learn the latest and greatest techniques. Those are the people that are out here winning. And so that's what you really have to think about.

Who are you in this thing? Are you somebody willing to learn? Are you somebody that know everything already? If you do, you need to keep your job. Okay. Cause you're not ready for being out here in this thing we call entrepreneurship. Cause it's the wild west out here. Yeah. You get it.

You gots to be coachable. Clearly.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: We talked a little bit just a few minutes ago about social media and how you were like, first on the scene and Twitter and doing and the

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Yeah. 

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Back in 2012, I was doing workshops at local libraries for business [00:17:00] owners on how to set up a Facebook page. There was, and it was shocking to me how many didn't even have one yet. It was like, you got to get on board. Now everybody's on social media. It's, it's shocking if you're not. what are some actionable strategies that business owners can use on social media to, build relationships, drive sales, increase brand awareness, all of that.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: the first thing you have to do is get on the right platform, right? The biggest problem that I see is people think they need to be on five or six platforms. Listen, unless you tell, sell social media marketing services, You do not need to be on five or six platforms. You need to be on one, maybe two, and they need to be the one or two where your niche customer spends most of their time online.

I built a million dollar business from one platform from Twitter. And so what I want to really tell people is that you really need to think about what are the one or two [00:18:00] platforms that you realistically really have time to be working to be engaging on? It's not about just posting content. You got to be there.

You got to respond to people. You got to thank people for leaving comments. You got to leave comments on other people's content, right? So you've got to become when it comes to social media, there's really six steps to it, right? You got to connect. Then you got to communicate. Then you have to communicate with compelling content.

You have to do that consistently that then you can become a trusted member of the community. Once you do these five things, then you can turn that relationship into commerce, right? But you can't jump the steps. Like you got, it's even harder to build relationships online. Like you figure if you meet somebody in person, Usually two to three interactions with them in person then you build some trust and they're like, okay, let me tell you about, let me introduce you to some people in my network kind of thing, but online, nah, man you got to engage with [00:19:00] people at least seven times as high as you can.

30 times before somebody thinks you are who you say you are before you can really demonstrate That you have the sauce, right? So it's like you gotta be show up. You gotta show up all the time You gotta show up consistently. Back when I got started in twitter, I didn't try to sell anybody anything for a year I just gave out helpful content.

I just blog, and this was before I had a blog, so I used to share other people's blogs every day. I used to find a great helpful article. I would share something personal about myself. Back then, my son was a baby, so I got great material from him. So I used to be like, had to act like an ape to get JoJo to eat a banana this morning.

Like stuff that made people know that I was a mom, but that I was like funny too. So I was trying to show my personality. And then I would answer somebody's small business question every day. And that is what I did for an entire year before I ever really started talking about [00:20:00] my book or anything that was going on.

But by the time I did start talking about my book, people were clamoring to help me clamoring because they were like, This chick has showed up like it was a job. Like she was here Monday through Friday giving helpful information every day. What can we do to help her? And it's the, it was the personification of that whole give to get thing.

You,

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Yeah, reciprocity.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: 100%. And so those people, there were lots of people that helped me. Lots of people who begged me to do a review of my book on their blog. Just, you can't even imagine that now, but people were like, Oh my gosh he's got a book coming out. We got to support her. We've got to help her.

And that's what happened. Nope.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: that's probably the number 1 in marketing over the past 20 years has been, 20 years ago, we were still doing TV and radio billboards and right and newspaper ads. Yeah. And it was about, here we are, and this is what we do. [00:21:00] Now, nobody cares. Nobody cares who you are and what you do because there's lots of people who do what you

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Hold on

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: They want to know your why they want to know, why you do what you do and see if that aligns with their values because people want to support companies that they feel good about.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: 100%.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: So if you're a business owner, you can't afford not to have some sort of strategy you're building thought leadership and credibility and. All of those things generally through content marketing. That's usually, and that's what you did for a year. You just provided content. built

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: guess what? I still do it. Bethany. I've written over 5, 000 articles about how to start and grow a small business. I still publish two, three times a week to my blog still. So I have never stopped. And what, and the reason why I've [00:22:00] never stopped is because my blog, my writing has just created so many opportunities for me.

I was a columnist for entrepreneur for two years. I was a columnist for the New York times. You're the boss blog. And I, And all of those editors said they read my blog for a year before they ever called me. So I know that there's power in consistency. I've never put a piece of junk up on my blog either.

We do not play that so it's really about thinking about what you want to accomplish, what you want to be known for. And really getting clear about those things and once you get clear It just makes everything easier.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: So I think you're a good person to ask this because this is something that we've had to deal with in the agency. And it's this the, chat, GPT, AI, all that good stuff. everybody thinks they can write a blog because they can just have ChatGPT write their [00:23:00] blog. The problem with that is ChatGPT doesn't necessarily understand your brand, your why, all those things. And all you're doing is producing vanilla, generic content. It doesn't reflect who you are.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: No. Look, I use chat GPT every day too, but I am not using it for my signature content. I might use it to put together an outline, and then I fill out the outline with the content that I want. I use it more for smaller level content, things like, newsletters or, social media content.

If I'm trying to do a, figure out a, 60 word promo for this thing we got coming up, I use it for email sales funnels too. But my signature content first of all, you cannot. Copyright anything that is written in chat. GPT because it is a rehash of somebody else's stuff. So for me, as somebody who old school wrote my [00:24:00] books, like people talking about

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: yeah.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: writing books and chat, GPT chaps my behind pretty good.

I don't appreciate it. And the other thing too, is now that everybody's using chat, GPT, Everybody's content sound in a light. There's no real unique stuff out here. If you don't really understand prompt engineering, if you haven't taken the time to create a brand and tone document for your brand and given that to chat GPT before you have it writing stuff for you, it doesn't even know your tone or your, 

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Personality or brand voice.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: nothing, just the sentence in there.

Write me a 1400 word about this. That's not helping you. Especially if you out here using the free version, it really isn't helping you. So you got to think about what you're doing and have you, luckily I have so much content I've written, I do use chat GPT, but I created my own GPT with my own content because I'm trying to create a, online [00:25:00] small biz lady doll that you could just ask a question to and she'll spit out an answer.

So I'm uploading a lot of my own stuff into my own GPT tool. That works for me. That's based on my content. Now,

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Yeah,

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: that stuff. I can't copyright stuff from some, from, perplexity or copy. ai. You can't. No that's very dangerous. Don't think you're writing a real book that a real publisher would publish from that.

No,

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: I guess the point that I knew you would make for me is that, we can't be lazy about the quality of the product that we're putting in front of the content we're putting in front of people because they're going to be attracted to what aligns with them. And if it's not real, if it's not genuine, if it's not authentic, then you're not going to attract the right people to your community in the first place. 

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: 100%, 100%. And that's why it is so critical that you think about it with intention. What is it [00:26:00] that you want people, are you just putting out content just to put it out? Are you actually trying to teach people something? Are you actually trying to be known for the content that you put out?

I'm very well known for the quality of the content that I write. And also too, I only write long form content. Like I do not write, I never write anything under 1500 words. So I'm writing stuff because I'm playing the SEO game, right? With the content. So I'm writing 1500 to 2000 word pieces. I don't 300, 750 that I long since walked away from that about five years ago.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: awesome. You touched on it there a little bit, but one of the things that you have been very good at and what has helped you be so successful is developing a personal brand.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Oh, yeah. Oh,

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: and I can tell just by being on this call with you, you don't hold back, you are who you are and you have this great personality and it shines through and it's very appealing. [00:27:00] What can people do? Because we don't want people who are if they're not naturally outgoing, we don't want them to pretend

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: no.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: what people do to build that personal brand. What advice would you give them?

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: I think, first of all, you've got to figure out what it is you want to be known for. And you've got to figure out the right platform, but then you've got to figure out the right content strategy. For me, I have a journalism degree from college, right? I have known that writing was my superpower since I was in eighth grade, right?

You are never going to compare yourself to somebody like me. I like to write. It's actually fun. It's not work for me. But if you don't like to write, there's so many other ways to produce content. You can do infographics, you can do quotes, you can do podcasts, you can do videos. And by the way, video content is converting better than any other kind of content out here.

And you can do short form or you could do long form video content. It doesn't even matter, but you need to figure out the right content strategy that is not [00:28:00] going to add too much stress to your life. And I think once you figure that out and you do it consistently, eventually people will notice. Now, I like to tell people when I was building the small biz lady brand, it took me almost two years.

It really literally took me about 22 months before my social media activities started making me money So it's not a quick thing and it's even harder now because everybody is doing it, right? So but you can still rise above the fray And the reason why is because the world is still waiting on a better mousetrap, right?

If you write good content if you do something that is really interesting Really funny you do it on a consistent basis. The world will find you I promise. And it doesn't matter where your door is. It can be in Cambodia. It could be in Guyana. It does not matter. If you're doing something of value and you're helping people and you're doing it in a new and [00:29:00] engaging way.

Oh, the world's waiting on that. The world is waiting on it. So don't feel like, Oh, I wish I had started 25 years ago. Look, you didn't. That's okay. But if you start out right now doing something consistently, a lot of people don't win because they give up too soon. I worked Twitter like a job for almost two years before it made me any money.

Trust me. And I had all kinds of people in the background telling me I was stupid for doing it. What is this?

What is this? Twitter thing? I remember my ex husband used to squish up his face.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: believe

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Go out on Twitter That's where you get your love from. Go talk to them people, yeah. Guess who my number one hater is now

Yeah Worked out for me pretty good, But anyway, my point is you really have to not be afraid to do something No one else is doing or to do something that doesn't immediately make sense, right? You're like, I don't

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Did you read, Seth book, The Dip? It's

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Oh, [00:30:00] yeah. Oh, yeah. All of his books. I love the dip. I love all, yeah, Seth talked about this stuff, but a lot of other people have to, it's really about giving people your loyal folks. Information in a way that they want it. You figure out what your people want. Don't guess at it.

Survey them, talk to them, ask them if they tell you what they want, give it to her. You got to give the people what they want. And if you do, they'll reward you with sales all the time.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: talk about turning passion into profit, right? And usually a business owner goes into business because they're really passionate about what they're doing. they, like you. You love to write, and you turned that into a business, right? What are some key steps to aligning that passion into a profitable business model?

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Well, passion is only one ingredient, right? So I actually, the word passion makes me a little crazy in business because I [00:31:00] think I'm passionate about people. Okay. That's fine. But does your passion have a profit center boo? That's what I want to know. So here's what, when people tell me about. Ask me a question like this.

This is my answer. So you will know, I believe that it's about purpose, not passion. So you have to look at your mission, your vision, and your passion. It's like a, it's, it's like this, right? And then that you can turn that into your purpose. That's your why, but you got to have a mission and a vision with it.

It can't just be passion. Yeah. You got to like what you're doing, but you got to turn it into a real business concept. So that's what I believe you need. You need, you got to have a mission. You got to have a vision and your vision has to be something that you always, you know, like my mission is to end small business failure.

I ain't going to never stop doing that. Because there's failures out here. Like the cold and flu is everywhere. I want to help people live their dreams as entrepreneurs. Most people have good ideas. They just don't know how to run a business. So what I do is teach [00:32:00] them the stuff that they don't know, but I love entrepreneurs.

My love is down here, but my mission is here and my vision is here. And that's how you get me to my purpose. And that's what I walk in my purpose every day.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: that's a great answer. What are one or two most important takeaways from this episode that you really want, if they hear nothing else? What do you want them to hear?

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: I think what I just said was important, right? Mission, vision, passion, equals purpose. You have to always remember your purpose. I also think that. You gotta love it. You really gotta love it. And, but you have to also know that you never really lose in business. Either you win or you learn.

A lot of times we mistake failure for failing.

Is temporary. Failure is a one day exercise. But we, in our minds, we turn it into failing and that's not true. So you have to always live to fight [00:33:00] another day. And so that's why I want you to shake it off. I'm going to give you an hour to be mad or sad about that and keep it moving.

Honey, you do not have time. Go make that money.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: I love that. That is the best. And that will probably end up being a short clip. Good stuff. Where can people find you connect with you? Obviously, Twitter.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Yeah, Twitter, but Twitter actually isn't even my main platform anymore. I spend a whole lot of time on LinkedIn these days. LinkedIn is my main modality. So I am Melinda Emerson on LinkedIn, but if you're interested in our content or any of my courses or training, you can head over to smallbizladyuniversity.

com or if you're a women entrepreneur, you can join my membership. Group, SmallBizLadyAcademy. com. And those are the services that I have now to support women entrepreneurs. I'm niching down into the women, the chixas and the all the lovely [00:34:00] ladies of commerce. And so that is my focus. And of course you can always just email me at Melinda at SmallBizLadyUniversity.

com.

bethany-meadows_1_10-02-2024_131500: Perfect. Melinda, thank you so much for being here.

melinda-emersaon--she-_1_10-02-2024_141501: Bethany, thank you so much for having me. This has been a lot of fun.