807: Turn Your Service-Based Business Into an Online Powerhouse

26:26Right. It's just like we're all wearing stretch pants, right? Even the guys. And so I'm like gardening, I want gardening to be that common where everyone sees themselves as someone who grows a little bit of their own food. And so I would say that has been the like really the foundation that's kept me going for almost 10 years now is I so believe in the mission and I have such a big mission that honestly, Jenna, I'll never get there. Right. So it's like it's so big and so huge that I know I could work the rest of my life and sell to everybody every single day. And and I still want to achieve it.

27:08And so that keeps me going. And then I would say, like, staying in the stories. So I'm actually doing a webinar this week for my Kitchen Garden Academy course. And I've sold this course since 2019. Right. So this is like my sixth year selling this course. And I don't know. I know you do this, too. Right. Like the course is still good. So you should still sell it. And there's new people in your audience that need it. But for us as the entrepreneur, you've got to keep that energy alive. And so two days ago, I just went into my membership groups and just spent an hour and a half looking at their photos and looking at their videos and reading what they said.

27:47And, you know, it's those stories that keep us going. And that remind you, like, there's more Barbaras out there. You know, there's more Connies out there. And, you know, if if I got to change these people's lives for the better, I shouldn't quit yet. And so, yeah. So those are the things. I think big, big mission, I would encourage everyone listening to go bigger, like get whatever mission you've got. Ask yourself, how could this get bigger and and make it so big that you you probably can't achieve it, even if you work, you know, the rest of your life going after it and then going back to those individual stories, especially digitally.

28:27That's what keeps me going. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. It's time for Black Friday. Dell Technologies' biggest sale of the year. That's right, you'll find huge savings on select Dell PCs like the Dell 16 Plus with Intel Core Ultra processors. And with built-in advanced AI features, it's the PC that helps you do more faster. From smarter multitasking to extended battery life, these PCs get the busy work done so you can focus on what matters most to you. Plus, earn Dell rewards and enjoy many other benefits like free shipping, expert support, price match guarantee and flexible financing options. They also have the biggest deals on accessories that pair perfectly with your Dell PC, improving the way you work, play and connect.

29:14Whether you just started holiday shopping or you're finishing up, these PCs and accessories make perfect gifts for everyone on your list. Shop now at dell.com forward slash deals and don't miss out. That's dell.com forward slash deals.

29:34A few months ago, I got my colors done and I learned that your girl is an autumn, which means out with the black and in with the brown. I have been rebuilding a capsule wardrobe lately and my all-time favorite place to shop is Revolve. They add new products daily and you can sort by color and size and even build out wish lists. I recently got these brown Autry sneakers that I am obsessed with and I snagged this suede bag that I couldn't stop eyeing for fall. Plus they have inclusive sizing and constant new arrivals which means there's always something that can fit your life and your style. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out or just a little style refresh, your dream wardrobe is just one click away.

30:17Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger, shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Fast two-day shipping, easy returns. It's literally the only place you need to shop from. That's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop my favorites and get 15 % off your first order using the code gold digger offer ends December 14th. So happy shopping. One thing that I think is so fun to watch of yours, and I swear the algorithm just loves you for me, which thank you algorithm for once in my life, is watching the content you create the amount I think I have saved every single post you've ever published because I'm like, I'm going to need that.

30:57I need to remember how to prune back my tomatoes. I need to understand this. But one thing that's amazing is that your social media strategy that you've been using to market your online business has also led you to quadruple your sales over the last 15 months, quadruple. So many people will argue that the economy stinks and this isn't working and people are over this stuff. Yeah, that's not true. Tell me about this. This is fascinating. Yeah. So, so yeah. So, okay. 2020. So I took your Instagram course. So I found you right around the time I found Amy and I can literally remember, I think I sent this to you an email, but the day you and Drew went viral for your bathing suit post, I was on vacation with my husband.

31:41We were just about to move to Chicago and I'm like, Jenna's going viral. I mean, I felt like I knew you personally. I mean, like we were best friends and I was just celebrating you. And so I I took your Instagram course and it's so I was thinking about this the other day, just how different Instagram is from those first days. Like I, you know, I would watch you post your bikini photos and stuff and like everyone loved how raw and real you were, you know, and but how much simpler was the algorithm then? Right. It was like post a really cool photo and you're good to go. So I started Instagram then.

32:14And to be honest, it was really hard for me the switch in 2020. So I was very used to like aesthetic Instagram and colors and lining everything up perfectly. And that worked for me because I had these really beautiful gardens to post. And then suddenly in 2020, you know, they brought in the TikTokification to Instagram and I was shook. I was like, no, like, why are you changing this? I was really angry. And I would see people who were like brand new to the platform, like blowing up past me. I'm like, what is this? So I had just hit 100 ,000 followers in 2020. So 2021 and 2022, I'd say I was a little lost online.

32:56I was like, I had been running ads. Ads fell through, you know, in 2021 with the iOS updates. And so I was literally like, how am I going to grow my business? Like, I can't do paid ads anymore. They're too expensive. And I do not understand how to do Instagram anymore. If you look at my numbers, we had already hit, We had like grown to be a seven figure business, but we were pretty repeat like 2021 and 2022. My business was basically the same size. And I heard this interview with the Daily Stoic guy, Ryan Holiday in 2023 or right before 2023. And he said, you know, if I had a marketing budget, I wouldn't spend it on paid advertising.

33:33I would make the most incredible videos I could possibly make to reach the most people organically. And I was waiting at CrossFit to pick up my two high schoolers. And I was like, I'm going to do that. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go all in on short video and I'm just going to not give up. I'm going to put my ego aside. I'm not going to pay attention to the likes and the follows. And I'm just going to throw spaghetti at the wall until something sticks. And so for 2023, I committed to be more strong in my language, to speak more opinionated, to truly speak what I actually thought, to post things that I was previously afraid to post, and to post often.

34:15So I committed to posting one to three short form videos a day. Yes. So at the start of 2023, we had like 240 ,000, 270 ,000 followers. By the end of 23, we had 640K. So added almost 400 ,000. And then now today, we're at 1.2 million. So we've doubled, we've added over 600 ,000 followers just this year. And I can attribute all of it, honestly, to that moment of saying, I'm going to put my ego aside. That's another Ryan Holiday-ism. Ego is the enemy. So I'm going to put my ego aside. I'm not going to try to look perfect. And I'm going to be OK with posts that just, you know, totally fail. And what we did is we use what I know you use, too, is we started to use DM automation.

35:01And so because previously, right, it's like like even when you went viral, right, with your your bathing suit posts, it's like before on Instagram, you just get likes and follows. Like, how does that actually turn into sales? And with this DM automation, it's amazing because you can, you know, tell them to comment something. You send them a DM and then instead of them sending you sending them to your website, which who knows what happens over there. Right. We just get their email address or their phone number inside of the DMS. And so, Jenna, we went from like, you know, maybe having a 20 percent conversion, like when someone gets on our website to them signing up for a webinar or something to a 60 percent conversion.

35:43So, you know, for every hundred people that would comment, we would get 60 people's contact information. So for instance, this week I'm doing webinars and we have almost 30 ,000 people signed up and they're all signed up from Instagram posts and DM automation. Isn't that crazy? It's amazing. It is. It's so, it totally changes social media in the way of like, I think so many people spend so much time on social media. and if you were to ask them, what is the end result? Like, tell me, you know, what is your cost per lead? Or like, how much does a new follower earn you? Or like anything there's, they can't tie it to anything, right?

36:23They could say, well, this one post of me making hot cocoa last week got 200 likes and it's like, well, great. But like, what does that actually mean? And how much time did it take you? Yeah. Found that the people that are like scrappy with their time and like, anytime I'm spending in my business is going to lead to a result because anytime I'm spending in my business is away from my kids. Yeah, it totally changes it. And it's so interesting to me, too, because I think a lot of people look at things like DM automation and they think it takes the human out of it. But when you think about the amount of friction that you are giving your followers saying, click out of this post, go to my bio, find the link in my bio, scroll down page, find the form that I need you to fill out, fill out that form.

37:05And then I'll email you. There are like 10 different points where somebody can fall off, not because they don't want what you have or your resource isn't valuable, but because they're living a life and they're busy too. And so it's so amazing to me because I not only then can also see the automated messages and jump in as a real human and say like, Hey, I see you, but you are giving them such a better service. And it kind of goes back to what you were saying about how service is everything, right? How you make somebody feel the sales are easy. If the service is good. This is like having our own little service bots there, helping us help them so that they have a better experience.

37:44I love it. I am so curious about your reels strategy and how you manage to create enough posts to do one to three posts a day. And are you still doing that? Yes, we are still doing that. We still do about three. We're actually, now we're adding in carousels and memes. So now we post about five times a day. Yeah, I know everyone, you know, everyone I'm guessing in their brain, they're saying right now, but the quality, right? The quality is more important. And we've tested. So we'll have times where our videos are not performing with what we were hoping for our following. And we'll be like, hey, let's back it down.

38:22Let's just do one post a day. Let me tell you something. We don't know which post is going to be good. It's true. And so what's happened is we'll back off and we'll do one a day and it'll still under, it'll still perform poorly. And so we're like, it wasn't the number of posts that we did. It was just the quality of the post, right? It was just the, how good the post was. And the thing about the algorithm is the thing about, you know, social media followers is I don't know what they're going to love until I give them the chance to love it. And I will think, I'm sure you've had this happen where I'll make a video and I think it is going to go so big.

39:02And it just tanks. Like, I'm like this thing. I saw you post one time. You're like, can y 'all give this some love? Because it took a long time to make. I just edited this for forever. So please just at least give me a heart or something. And I'm like that, too. So I'll put a lot of work into a video and I'll post and they'll just tank and then I'll put like a nothing video up and the world goes crazy for it. And I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to put a lot out there and the algorithm will take care of the trash. Let me just say that. So like the stuff that isn't that great, it will just hide it and no one will see it.

39:40So it doesn't really matter. I've heard people be like, so if I underperform, should I delete it or, you know, hide it? I'm like, no one will ever see it. Like if it was bad, no one will know. So, so yeah. So how do we do this? So last year it was me. I had, I did have someone helping me do long form video and we would like have the phone recording while we did that. But for the most part, I was the editor and I was the poster. I take a dog walk every morning around 5am. So I would literally edit with my thumb while I walk the dogs. Wow. That's amazing. And post. We're not looking for perfect here.

40:14And I would say for, for real, like everyone listening, like your mind is saying, I can't do one to three posts a day. And that's because you're thinking, I can't do one to three perfect posts a day. But what if I said, can you do one to three bad posts a day? Yeah. And we can all do that. Right. And so the people are so done with perfect. Like it is such good news for us as entrepreneurs. People are so done with polished and, you know, super overproduced. People just want to know us. Like they just want to see us and see someone that looks like them and lives like them and, you know, is doing things like they do.

40:54And so, so yeah, so I would edit while I was walking and then post three times. We post like 9 a.m. at lunchtime around and then around nighttime, like 8 p.m. Now I have a short form videographer like that is his main role. And so the way we do it now is we try to be about a week ahead in terms of planning and we plan based on what we're promoting. So for us right now, like this week, we're selling our Kitchen Garden Academy course. And so we do posts that that promote our workshop in the webinar because that's the way that we sell and promote the course. The thing we don't do is sell directly.

41:31So we don't do any videos or posts that say, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, buy my stuff. Everything goes to a resource. Everything goes to a workshop or an ebook or, you know, a prerecorded class. And I would say to everyone listening, like that's where the magic is back to the thing you and I were talking about, about online being all about trust building. The last thing people want to see online is you immediately asking for the sale. But if you take them through a journey, right? If you give them this opportunity to over time learn from you, to see you show up consistently, that's also part of me showing up every day is I'm like Oprah to them, right?

42:11Now, I'm not like Oprah to many people, but to like a million people or maybe a hundred thousand, they know they can count on me. Like I'm showing up, But like that trust is not like me showing up every day is not just about feeding the algorithm. It's building trust. They are like, this girl's serious. Like she keeps telling me what to do in my garden, you know, like they can trust that if they open their phone on a Thursday, there's going to be a message from me. So that builds trust. And then on the other side, when you give that resource, that begins to build trust. And then from there, you earn the right to ask for the sale.

42:46Right. And you basically say, if you like this, you're going to love going deeper with me. So, yeah, that's our we probably record one to two, one day a week, I would say. And then what I see you do, too, like I just this morning, I went out to my garden to make a kale smoothie and I just put my phone on a tripod, pressed record and filmed myself, go out there, get the kale and come back in. And I'm not making a video with that right now, but I will have it, you know, as footage. I could make a hundred videos with that little clip. So we don't have to always be in recording mode. We don't have to be doing these highly produced things.

43:23Mostly all of us just need to turn on our phone when we're doing our everyday life. Yes. Okay. It is officially that time of year. And if you run a business, you know, the holiday rush is no joke. I've done more Black Fridays than I can count at this point. And let me tell you orders at 2am inventory updates, refreshing my site, hoping it can keep up. It never stops being intense. That is exactly why I use Shopify. It keeps everything running smoothly when things get their craziest. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all e-commerce in the US, from household names to entrepreneurs who will be participating in their first Black Friday Cyber Monday this year.

44:07They've got ready-to-use templates, AI tools, and support available 24-7 so that selling stays simple even during the peak madness. And ShopPay's quick checkout, well, it's a game changer. It means way fewer abandoned carts and way more happy customers. This Black Friday, join the thousands of new entrepreneurs hearing for the first time with Shopify. Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com slash gold digger. That's shopify.com slash gold digger. Go to shopify.com slash gold digger and make this Black Friday one to remember. Let's be real. As business owners, we know a reliable connection isn't optional.

44:49I've had my fair share of slow and lagging internet and let me tell you, nothing kills your groove faster. It is the ultimate productivity killer. You can't process payments, you can't talk to clients, and your team feels stuck waiting on you. Back when I started my business, I learned pretty quickly that things only run as smoothly as your connection does. And that's why I love what Spectrum Business is doing. They get it. They know that reliable systems keep your business running, your clients happy, and your stress levels low. Spectrum Business offers internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, and mobile services built for your budget.

45:24And here's the best part. You can get free business internet forever when you add four mobile lines. no contracts, no added fees, just dependable service that keeps your business moving forward. Visit spectrum.com forward slash free for life to learn how you can get business internet free forever. Restrictions apply, services not available in all areas. I am such a homebody at heart, but I love when travel reminds me just how beautiful it is to step outside of our routine. For the kids fall break, we booked a stay on a small farm near Nashville through Airbnb and it was one of the most memorable trips we've taken this year.

46:03We met donkeys, goats, and pigs and the kids got to pick peppers in their greenhouse. Watching them run around the farm, getting their hands dirty and laughing the whole time was such a joy. It was peaceful. It was full of those little moments that literally just make you pause and feel connected. That trip reminded me why I love using Airbnb. It connects you to places and experiences that really stay with you. If you've ever thought about hosting your home on Airbnb, it doesn't take much. Whether it's your entire house or just a spare room, your space could offer that same feeling to someone else and even earn you some extra income.

46:40Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com forward slash host. I love that so much. Sometimes it feels so like narcissistic of like, I'm recording myself making coffee. But at the same point too, you said this earlier, it's like people want real and they want to be invited into your actual life. And so I think gone are the days where you have your hair and makeup perfect. You're like sitting in a perfect place hitting record. It's like you're taking people on the walk with the dog or you're quick getting the kids out to school and you're recording a quick video and it feels so much more personal.

47:19And I always think of too, is like, even you and I voice memo each other and things like that. And it's like, you are inviting me into your life and I'm doing the same. And that's why you feel so connected. And so it's almost like the veil has been removed in a beautiful way where it makes it so much more approachable for anyone to hit record, whether you're curling your hair or recording a podcast episode, or even typing out an email, That is your life that you're inviting people into. And then you get to choose how you use it, which makes it so much more approachable and so much less complicated than we're making it out to be.

47:53Absolutely. And if you if we all just remember, like we could all just put a post it up of like trust, like we're like this isn't about impressing people. It's about helping them trust you. And I try to remind myself of that. Like, you know, I don't have to look perfect. I don't have to to impress. I just need to to be real and to be trusted. And that really is the currency. So, yeah, I feel the same way. And my kids will literally I'll be like in the kitchen, you know, making breakfast in the morning. They're like, Mom, are you recording yourself? And I'm like, yeah, and this post is going to get me 100 new subscribers.

48:32I'm like, what I'm doing right now is paying for the food that you're eating. So just be quiet. Oh, my goodness. Okay, my final question is this, is what advice would you give to someone who is serving a specific audience? Or maybe they're in a career where they find themselves like you and I did in a service-based business where the only way to scale is to work more and that's simply not an option. Yeah. What would you tell them to do in order to stay an entrepreneur but maybe shift the business? Yeah. So processizing things. So I did this. I was in this exact place in that 2017 time. And I was I was watching you and learning from Amy and Marie and figuring out my own version of this.

49:18And what I would do is, first of all, actually what we're just talking about of documenting yourself. So the first step is literally grab your phone or record on your computer, whatever it is you're doing, document that. So what happens when we document it's just like if we track our calories or track our time, right? We're kind of opening our brain to go, oh, this is like there's a process to this. It's the same with the garden, right? Like there are things I do in the garden that are very just like they're so innate now. And I'm sure you have all these things you do with the camera, you know, or with your business where you just kind of flick of a wrist and it's magic.

49:58Right. And then a person who's never done that. Right. A person who's never pruned a tomato. They're like, whoa, how like what? But what is a sucker even look like? And so all of us have in our brains, we have these folders full of all these details that have just kind of compressed inside of our brain so that we can go on with real everyday life and not have to, you know, obsess over the details. And so the first step is actually to like open that folder back up and start to pull out the details, right? To start to like almost take the video and put it on slow-mo and go, oh, I do this and then I do that.

50:34And then that's step four. So the first step I would say is document your days, document your tasks and the things that you do, and then start to put them into like outlines. Like this is the first step. This is the second step. I would do this. So I would work my day as a garden consultant, you know, feed my kids dinner, and then I would take them to soccer practice. And I would literally walk the soccer field at night with my phone and I would do voice notes of my day. Like first I loaded my car and then I did this and then I did that because I eventually I created a consultancy training where I train consultants to do the same work that I do.

51:13And so I started just documenting what I had done that day. And that turned into my digital products that I just literally took the process that I had slowed down and put the magnifying glass on. And then I was like, OK, this is the first step. This is how you load your car. This is how you set things up at the client's house. This is how you order your supplies. And so, yeah, I would say, like, keep doing what you're doing, but put the magnifying glass on all those little steps and start to get them into processes and documentation. meditation, you're like the minute you do that, you are literally prepped and ready.

51:51Like if you've basically written the thesis for your book, right? You've now got like the outline, you've got your teaching materials. And then I would say, teach it. Don't wait. Like literally, if you have to do this in front of a mirror tonight, I would say, I would say that the main thing I see that people do is they wait, they're waiting and waiting and waiting. Like I would get in front of a mirror, like literally while I'm getting ready. And I'd be like, all right, Jenna, I want to tell you how to set up your garden first. We're going to look, you know, because I would be so scared to walk into your backyard, you know?

52:24And so if the first time I'm ever having the conversation with you about your garden is when I'm actually with you, I'm having a freak out moment. But if I've had that conversation 10 times before to my phone in my mirror while I'm driving, when I get in the garden with you, I'm like, oh, I've been here before. Like this is not my first time. And so everyone listening, I would say the minute you finish this podcast, pick up your phone and teach yourself something, right? Like put it on selfie mode and teach yourself the lesson because like, it's just like everything else. The only way we get better at anything is practice.

53:00And so, you know, find, you know, ask your spouse, ask your child, like, Hey honey, can I teach you how to do this? And you tell me after five minutes, if you understand it, But, you know, like there's, you know, pay somebody to listen to you, teach them and then get their feedback. But none of us have an excuse anymore, honestly. Like we can all start right where we are, document the things that we're doing and then start finding people who will sit still long enough to listen to you. Do it for free at first, then do it at a discount, then charge full price and then turn it into a system you can sell online.

53:36It really is. Yeah, it's a step by step. It's amazing. And even as you're saying that, I'm like, when you start pulling apart what you're doing and how you do it, you can make a playbook that you could pass to an assistant someday. You're creating an online course that you can teach to other people. And you're starting to uncover your own unconscious genius that is living within the things you do and the way you do it that you probably don't even realize are special. So take Nicole's advice and get to work on it because there is only good on the other side of it. And I love it. There is no excuse anymore.

54:12Like everyone knows something that can help somebody else. And you are our friend Rory Vaden always says like you are most perfectly positioned to help the person you once were. There was a time where you didn't know how to do what you're doing. And so uncovering that is so powerful. Nicole, where can everybody find out more about you, learn from you, plant their garden, give us all the places and things? Yes. So my marketing side, if you want to learn how we do marketing and how to grow your business on Instagram, especially, we have resources at heynicoleburke.com slash Instagram. So there's a download there where you can get a ton of five second video ideas and learn my strategy that you all could literally start applying right now.

54:56So that's heynicoleburke.com slash Instagram. If you want to garden with me and Jenna, then that's at gardenary.com. So we have a whole library of blog posts. We have our course Kitchen Garden Academy. And if you want to follow along with us on Instagram, we are there three to five times a day at Gardenary Co. So G-A-R-D-E-N-A-R-Y-C-O. The idea of gardenary is that gardening is ordinary because that's my dream. I love you. I won't start crying again, but you have so changed my life. Having a garden is like now my personality trait. I am obsessed. It has been so amazing. I'm literally looking out my window at my garden right now.

55:39And it's just so exciting because it is just something that I am so excited my kids get to experience and see and pass on. And it feels so special. So thank you for being my phone a friend throughout the entire process here. Thank you for doing it. I know that so many more people, when I saw you're going to start a garden, I was like, Oh, get ready because, um, well, yeah, yeah. I mean, you know what you don't realize, I think we underestimate the power of our influence in all things. Right. And so I'm, yeah, I'm, I'm really, I'm so thankful for you going for it and I'm just glad I got to be a part of it.

56:15It honestly felt so special to be able to thank Nicole in person for how she's changed our lives. her showing up and showing what she does and the way that she does it has influenced us in a massive way. And I feel like it has just shifted so many things for us as a family. Like gardening is amazing. If you have never had a garden, start small, you will be blown away by the experience. I've never been more excited by a tomato in my life. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Gold Digger podcast. It is such an honor to show up in your earbuds and to be able to host conversations just like this one.

56:52And of course, until next time, keep on digging your biggest goals. Thanks for pulling up a seat for another episode of the Gold Digger podcast. I hope today's episode filled you with inspiration, gave you information that you can turn into action and realigned you with your true north in life and business. If you've enjoyed today's episode, head on over to golddiggerpodcast.com for today's show notes, discount codes for our sponsors, freebies to fuel your results and so much more. And if you haven't yet, make sure you're subscribed so that you never miss a future show. We'll see you next time.

57:27Gold diggers.