How to Grow Your Audience

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Welcome to another episode of Teacher in Business. Today we're going to talk about audiences. Today, actually, specifically, we're going to talk about how to grow your audience. And this is like a thing people talk about in the business world constantly. I think today, my perspective possibly will be a little different. If you know me, well, you know already that some of this is going to be a little different. Because part of growing your audience I think, is knowing that you have more people with you than you realize. So today, we're going to talk about some of the key misconceptions I see clients come to me with constantly about their audiences, about misconceptions I've had and walk around with. And then we're going to talk about some things you can decide to intentionally believe and also to remember, so that you feel not only like your audience is working, but it actually is working for you. So for starters, if you're not in my Facebook group, now is a great time to get in there. I have been running these funny little pop up challenges I just did want yesterday for posting things you've already used and like reusing content, because we all forget to do that. Occasionally over the summer, there will be pop up things like that, and prices, because I think prizes in the summer are extra fun. It's called teachers and business just like this podcast, you are welcome. Please, please, please. The other thing is, if you have a moment, if you are just listening to the podcast for the first time, or if you are dedicated because I know you all are out there, and I appreciate you. If you have a moment to go to Apple podcasts or the other platforms you listen on and rate the podcast and leave a quick review, it would be super appreciated. That is part of how more people find podcasts. And it's how like Apple and the rest know how to share it and where to share it. So any, any push you want to give in that direction is absolutely welcome and appreciate it or not, it's totally okay, if you don't do like I love you anyways, my audience I am happy with. So we're going to start with some of the key misconceptions that I think people have about their audiences. These are things I have believed I have clients constantly telling me. And I really think that, you know, they are something that really holds us back. Because part of the way we're taught to like literally audience build as if it is like a numbers game and project causes this problem. Like we're taught that as you bring people in, they have to engage with you. And then you retarget them and you do all these things. We're taught to treat it like a game of cat and mouse. And I don't believe in that. If you've listened to earlier podcasts when I talked about the man the selling model that I believe in, which is called always be giving. It's in the whole series called success from the inside out. I know it's not it's Yeah, but or it's the sales models for teachers. It's called the sales model for teacher episode, good gravy, which podcasts are mine anymore. But either way, I believe in always be giving. So I think this whole like list building and retargeting and all this like I get it. But I also want to remember that those are human beings we're talking about. So but I think that kind of instruction about how to build a business, how to build an audience leads us to some very fundamental misconceptions that we struggle with that hold us back. The first is, and I hear this constantly peep from people, no one is listening to me. Have you ever thought like, no one is hearing me like my messages and my Facebook posts and my Instagram posts and my LinkedIn posts, whatever. They're just going out into the void, and no one is seeing that. You thought that? Probably right. Like, let's be real. Everybody's thought that at some point, people will say like, oh, gosh, there's crickets. It's crickets right now. Listen, that is never true. Ever. It could be that the only person reading them is your mom. But I am willing to bet you a tremendous sum of money like $100,000 that more than just your mom is reading them. Because over the years I have been in business. I have seen it time and time again where people don't quote unquote, engage, engage in the way like Facebook terms engagement. They're not clicking the like button. They're not hitting the heart. They're not commenting, but they are reading and you can't see it. But you can choose to believe it. Because it is happening. Think of all the instances where you Have had somebody stop you and be like, Oh, I saw that post the other day, I loved it. And then you just let it slide through your brain. And you went back to thinking, no one is listening to me. Listen, it happens to be constantly now. Because I really pay attention to it. If you start listening for people telling your things back to you, or like sharing things that you did, or talking about them, like I early on, in my business, I had a woman who my husband is friends with her husband, and we're connected on Facebook. I was doing more videos in my feed at the time, and she kept emailing them to him. I didn't know that for six months. But like, he's not my audience. She's not my audience. But they both found them really useful. Like, I didn't know that there was no evidence to tell me that she was emailing him the videos, they weren't even watching them on Facebook. I don't even know how she did it. But like, from the evidence side, for me, there is no audience. Like, that's no engagement. But it was, you know, the next time we saw them, they're like, Oh, we've been there. Like, who did things that me I was like, Whoa, so there are people watching you, there are people listening, if you continue to show up, that number of people will keep growing. Just keep showing up. The intentional belief that you can put in here instead of no one is listening to me is either something like more people are with me than I realize, because that is always the truth. Or something like people are listening to me. They want more. Truly, I know for me, I know for all of my clients time and time and time again over the years, this has always been true. Always it is also true for you. It is a fundamental truth. People are with you. It's okay. But you have to decide to believe that engagement starts with you. That's one of the fundamental things I believe about audiences. They are in the age as we are with them. But if you're thinking nobody's listening, you're kind of disengaged. So the second misconception, I think, is that we can confuse them. Listen, I have clients tell me all the time like, well, if I offer that, that I'm really going to confuse my audience. I have people tell me like, well, I have this side of my business. And I talk I don't talk about it, because I talk about this side my business more, and I don't want to confuse anybody. Listen, you are a whole human talking to whole humans. Humans know that we do more than one thing. Like you, I accept that you could be both a business owner and a parent and a friend and aspects. Like, you can wear all four of those hats, and I don't think it's weird. So as a business owner, you can offer more than one thing, and they can be totally different things. And it can be okay. Trust me, I do this. So like, as a business owner, I own a business coaching practice, I also own a product based business in the teacher space. I have for years, I talk about both when I talk with people out in public, I use one like much more on Pinterest than anywhere else. People know me from one or the other or both. It's totally fine. Nobody's like, well, that's weird. I thought she was doing that thing over there. Not weird. It's not weird at all. You can teach something related to what you're doing, you can teach something totally unrelated. It doesn't matter. People that know you, people that are getting to know you will be like, Oh, that's interesting. She does both of those things, or all three of those things. I wonder how she does it. I wish I want to know more. And I am not saying offer anything and everything because there is something to be said about constraint. Right? We don't want to make ourselves crazy. So if all of the different things you're offering are making you feel pulled in lots of directions, that's not ideal. But if you love them all, and they just happen to be different. How about we give the other the people out in our audience credit for being smart human beings like we want them to be. And just let it be true, that they understand what we're up to make a whole more than one vision of us. They see us as a whole human to totally fine. So the intentional belief that goes with this is really just the opposite of it. It's I can't confuse my audience. But you can't confuse them. Honestly, the only time they're truly confused is when you are not telling them what you do enough. So if they're confused, it's for lack of information, not from too many offers there. No such thing as too many offers, lack of information is the enemy here. So if you think they're confused, what you should do is tell them more more often not stop, not kill one side of your business, not hide it. Because that's not being true to you and things you love. You can do all of the things you love, with constraint with structure with organization, I help people do this all the time, as somebody who owns multiple businesses, I totally get this. But you got to talk about things. The problem is not that they can't see two sides of you, the problem is that you've decided they're going to be confused, and it confuses how you speak. Or you just don't speak at all. And that's a double problem. Okay, Misconception Number three, is that the people in front of you are not the right people for you. I hear people say this on the internet constantly. It's like, well, but I'm not sure that people in my audience are the right audience. I'm not sure they're the people I want to be working with. I don't know if they're the right fit for me. Listen, let the people decide that whether or not those people are the right fit for you are is none of your business. Truly, I mean, I hate to say it like that. I don't really, it's hard to hear like that, I guess. But it is not any of your business, your business is to do you, and let the rest of the people work themselves out people that you are not for will filter themselves away, the people you are for will come into the fold. And I am constantly surprised by the people who come to me for coaching, who I don't expect to be great clients, for me and are now are there times where I meet somebody and we have a one on one call. And I think like not a great fit and refer them absolutely. But that's more on personality and goals and what they're trying to work on and what I'm trying to work on, then it is my audience. Right. I feel like have this influx right now of people in the mortgage and real estate industry. As somebody who works largely with teachers, and people who tutor and coach and do all these things. Like I didn't expect that. But it's actually been really great. They've, I've been really helpful to them, they've been really great, great clients, I don't want to judge whether they're a fit or not, that's not mine, that is theirs. So for you, if you're thinking the right people aren't in front of you, it is time to let that go. Because whether they are right for you or not is up to them, not you, you just have to keep saying the things you're saying. And the way you start to filter the people is by being more you not less, The more consistent you are with who you are, what you values, letting the worries about what people are gonna think you go, that's the hardest part. The more you just let the things that are meant to come out of your mouth come out of your mouth, the more your audience will filter itself, let them do their job, you don't have to do it for them. The intentional thought that goes here is my people always find their way to me. The other one that you might put in is whether or not the people are my people is not my business. Your job is to show up. I'm constantly shocked by people that become my people that I would never have guessed to remind people. I love it. It's like one of the best surprises in life. It's like a like a package you didn't expect to get. But I'm open to that. And you have to be open to get that joy and have to be open to whoever's in front of you is the right person in front of you. And that's okay. And I'm not saying like be everything to everyone. Because I understand there is something to knowing your niche, right? Like I work primarily with teachers and business owners who simplified that's not everybody though. And it doesn't stop people from wanting to be in my audience who are not those things. I trust that they can figure that out. I trust them to find the people who are right for them. The first coach I hired worked only with life coaches. I was not a life coach. In at the time I wasn't even really sure what I was. And I thought like the entire time I was gonna get found out like kicked out. But it wasn't about that. So for me, I was not a technically correct audience for her. But it all really what helped and she and I worked well together. So, you know, that goes both ways. Alright, and then Misconception Number four is you need more in your audience you need more more, more, more, more. More, more, more, more more people are like, well, but how do I get more people in my group? Well, how many of you have, because if you have more than 20, you're doing a great job. Listen, it is really helpful to dial back into the numbers. When you're thinking you need more people in your audience, I have just shy of 300 people in my Facebook group, it's been plenty to keep my business going, I do a fair amount of networking locally and online, it is plenty to keep my business going. I do not have 10 billion friends on Facebook, I have a lot of connections on LinkedIn. But that's because I really enjoy LinkedIn. That's it like I have 150, some followers on Tiktok, like I'm starting to get business from there, I do not need a million people. You do not need a million people like in a year where I am wall to wall filled with clients, I can basically work with, you know, 40 people one on one. And let's call it 30 people in a group that's 70 people, maybe if nobody repeats at the max. So like, think about how many people you could actually serve. And then it's not multiply it by 10 it show up consistently. And know that whatever number is in front of you can create absolutely clients for you, and work in sales. Because sometimes it's just one conversation with one human like I had a conversation with someone last week, who is then sent me all kinds of new people to meet who are sending me new people to meet like it was one conversation. That is magic. For you. It's just show up and allow the audience you have to be enough, it will grow. But like, I also haven't have personally any interest in having 1000 People in my Facebook group. I really like the kind of homey like I know just about everybody feel of it. I really enjoy that. And so for me, that's a better fit, you have to decide what fits you. But more bigger better is not always the answer. Okay, the intentional thought to put into place here is my audience right now is big enough for me to meet my goals. Cuz it is like I rarely I can think of one instance where I've come across a client, who I didn't believe that and honestly, it was because she never any audience at all, because she didn't know what to say. And once she started talking, suddenly there was an audience and money. I mean, it didn't take a lot for that shift to happen. So, you know, and then I so there's one last thought I want you to walk away from this with. And this is that in your audience, not only are people with you, but they are rooting for you. The people who follow you want you to be successful. They want to be a part of what you're doing, and they are on your side. And it is important to remember that when you feel alone and you feel like it's quiet when you feel like you're disengaged all those things, there are people rooting for you, you have fans, there is no one who doesn't. So when you're like disheartened, come back to that thought people are rooting for you constantly. There's always someone I'm, you know, I have my base of people who I know are going to sign up for everything and do all the things that I there's so much fun. But I know that group has grown over time it started with one person. And that was enough to start with. So I hope that this sort of helps you to reduce some of the drama you have about your audience. And if you want to work on both how you think about your audience and how to get the business you want from the audience you have, without all the drama coaching is really a big part of this has been for me it's been clearly helpful to many of my clients, like I have a client who you know is going to have made $100,000 By the end of the first half of the year, which is right on pace for her but in 2020 She made $20,000 She's going to make 200 This year, and she doesn't post on Facebook almost ever. Like she doesn't do a lot of social media because we have thought about where her audience is, how to reach the people she needs, how to grow her business. It's different for everybody and trying to do it like everybody else just might not be for you. That's where it was falling down for her initially. So coaching can really help you clarify all of this. If you are ready for coaching  let's talk about it one on one, send a message go to my website, which is Torpeycoaching.com. Book it one on one time to talk and then if one on one is not right for you You wait, the next round of my group coaching program, which is fabulous. It's called charting business success. We'll be starting in October. So look for that starting at the end of the summer. And then if you just want to talk about your audience and you want 90 minutes of coaching on your audience, or some other thing, that's fine. I have one bite sessions, they are 90 minutes. They're, I think, $200. And they're amazing. They're high touch, high efficiency, no sales pitch, it is exactly right for you, if that's what you need. So it's also a great way to test out coaching and see if you can get what you want. Right? So if you want to try any of those things, send me a message, send me an email. Let's connect and until then your audience really is with you. I believe it so should you have a great week.