Meet AnnieShe is a former Disney storyteller, Best Selling Author, six-figure founder, and branding expert. In 2013, she quit a dream job telling stories at the Walt Disney Studios to start her agency, Greatest Story Creative. Since then, Annie has branded 125+ businesses spoken for 1000s. And release two best-selling books, including her newest, Established Yourself, Brand, Streamline and Grow Your Greatest Business.
What's the best way to grow a service business without living on social media?This is what I get all the time. Because you know, nobody, nobody that I know in real life wants to live on social media wants to like have to be on all the platforms and posting what they had for dinner. And so many people feel like they don't want to put themselves out there in that way. And, you know, I think it's possible to grow a service-based business without relying on 24/7 social media. And I had to carve that path out for myself. That's a little bit of how I've been able to grow my business to consistent six figures by letting go of what the Guru constantly says about how you have to do this 24/7 Bro marketing approach. I tried all that it almost burnt me the heck out. And back in 2016, I decided you know what, I'm gonna double down on relationships. I'm gonna double down on making the business I already have the best possible business it can be and not stressing about my follower count and my likes and all of these things that seem like they're important, but weren't moving the needle for me. And that's, you know, you just mentioned my new book. That's exactly what I'm sharing and establish yourself. Is that process? How do you take your existing business and make it take it to a new level of passion and profit without it being all about social media, there are so many ways to grow a business. And I know that's something you talk about a lot, Laurie with those that you interview, because with this being social capital and being about relationships, right, like people just forget that even the things you see online happen because of those behind-the-scenes relationships. And so what I teach and what I practice myself is to not stress about 24/7 marketing, but instead optimize the people you already know your past clients, your current clients, your referral partners, and make sure those relationships are fantastic. Get in front of them consistently. And if you do those kinds of things, you can have a sustainable business that you love that loves you back and not have, you know, more than just a couple, a handful of followers on social media.
Lori: I agree with that. And I've seen several startups or I like to call them solopreneurs where their corporate turned into entrepreneurs. Focus on building their social media. But really, that's just one piece of the puzzle. There's a lot of movement and area that you can lead to traction can happen without even using social media. Social media is a great place to have one message communicated to many people at once. But it takes time and consistency but it shouldn't be the end of all
 
How do I stand out with my marketing?That's like I think everybody's favorite question to ask like how do I stand out? And I like it but I'm going to ask are a different way, which is it's the wrong question altogether. Okay, because I think that everybody is. So I think everyone thinks that their kind of main consideration with marketing is standing out that, oh, I need to come up with something original. So I get people's attention. And I'm sort of of the mind that nothing, there's nothing original under the sun, like, you're not going to create something that is just so different from what everybody else says that that is going to be your marketing, that is an efficient strategy. And sort of, you know, there are only so many words in the English language, for example, to describe what a leadership coach does or doesn't do. And people are kind of trying to search for this elusive perfect...