SPEAKER_01 0:35

Oftentimes, when people are describing what you need to do to develop your online business, they'll use analogies. And analogies are great because it helps you to really kind of wrap your brain around a subject. Well, today that's what we're going to talk about. We're going to dip into the game of golf, and I'm going to share three tips to get your virtual business up to par.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Welcome. I'm Arissa Shadrick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. In this podcast, you'll find a different perspective to the external and internal challenges we face as online content creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we create positive change online. To connect with me and my private Facebook group, go to Marissashadrick.com forward slash community. Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

How are you doing today? Today we're going to talk about golf. Yes, this is Marissa Shadrick, online marketing consultant and also certified copywriter. But I do not play golf. So full disclosure here. But let me tell you a quick story. Last Friday, it was the end of the week. I had had a busy week. My husband had a busy week, and we decided to go sit out in the patio Friday late, late afternoon, early evening, just to relax, just to kind of catch up. It was beautiful outside. You know, in Las Vegas, you have to take advantage of the springtime, which is a short window. So we were outside having a conversation, and he is an avid golfer. He loves golf, always has, will continue to play golf. It's how he maintains his health. So it's fine with me. When I was younger, not so much. Uh when, because we've been married 35 years, and it was like he had a mistress or something because he was always golfing. But I understand that that is the way that he resets himself. That's the way that he gets his exercise and he absolutely loves it. So we started this conversation and he was talking about the LPGA, which is a ladies' professional golfing association. And I just said to him, you know, what is it about golf? I mean, what what is it that people have to do to prepare to be able to play, like in the LPGA? You know, these young ladies, I mean, really, they just kick butt. I mean, they're so good. I was watching some videos and they're amazing. And uh he just he got all involved, of course. As soon as I said that, he just leaned in. He was ready to have a conversation about golf. And I didn't know if we were gonna be there in the wee hours of the night. But in any event, I asked the loaded question and he began to talk about golf. And the more he dove into some of the things that I'm gonna share today, I could see the analogy and I could see it for people that have an online business. And so I started grabbing my phone. I was taking notes, and he's like, What are you doing? I go, This is great. This is like for my next podcast episode. I love this. And he goes, You don't always have to be doing something or being productive, Marissa. I said, but I want to capture this because it's really, really good. So anyway, I sort of interviewed him in the patio and asked him lots of questions. And we're gonna dive into this because one of the things that he shared with me was that there's three things that are really important for people to improve their golf game. And this is, of course, his perspective. He's not a professional or anything, but he's been golfing for years. And if I ever travel and he goes with me, he always is ready to go golf while I attend a conference or whatever it might be. He goes with me so that he can discover a new golf course. So we got this rhythm going. So, in any event, he said there's three things. And here are the three things. He says it's all about rhythm, technique, and follow through. So I said, Well, can you unpack that a little bit? Tell me more about that because that's so general. So he said, Yeah, sure. And I said, What do you mean by rhythm? And he said, Well, rhythm is really the confidence that the player has. And I started thinking about that. He said, It's the confidence, it's the flexibility, it's the way they uncomplicate the process. And I started realizing, wow, that is so true about online entrepreneurs, because there needs to be a level of confidence, even if you have not seen results yet, you have to believe in the message that you have. You have to believe in what you are trying to solve, what type of content you're trying to provide to be able to provide a solution for someone. You have to be confident at least in how you're showing up. And sometimes that means we need to have some training. For example, I decided to expand on my writing and pursue copywriting. So I needed to get some additional training. And I decided to get certified through Ray Edwards, which was the best decision I could have made. And so I became a Ray Edwards certified copywriter. And this provided confidence for me. And I can see how this rhythm that he was talking about for golfers applies for business owners too. You have to have confidence, which means all of the training and the mindset, right? Because our confidence comes from what we're thinking about. So if there's something that's negative or toxic, we have to reframe it to be able to protect our confidence and move forward. And the flexibility, of course, in golf, that's more physical than anything else, but they also have to be very flexible because not all golf courses are the same. They are different. The weather is different, there's different scenarios. Even if they played at the same golf course, the weather can be entirely different depending on when they show up and when they play. I know sometimes my husband's out there playing when it's windy. He'll play when it's raining, he'll play when it's 115 degrees. He doesn't care. So I'm sure he has to be flexible as far as how he's going to approach the ball because all those different seasons, I mean, when it's hot here, it's intense. It is intense. So there's some flexibility. So it's interesting when he said that a golfer has to have confidence and flexibility, which means, you know, the physical flexibility, but also the flexibility to know how to adjust according to weather conditions and golf courses. We have to do the same thing as entrepreneurs. We have to be flexible because not all launches are the same, right? And we need to be flexible depending on where we're showing up. If we're speaking from a stage, if we're writing a blog post, if we're showing up for a Facebook Live, we have to be flexible in how we approach our audience. And so that flexibility is there. And if we're using tools and we're using things that could be better, could we could improve on it, then we need to be flexible to let go of some of those things and maybe adopt a new way of doing things. So there's a lot, I mean, we need to be pliable, right? We need to constantly be tweaking and improving what we're doing. So nothing is static. It's always even your website, you know, you could start on your homepage writing something and decide to tighten the messaging and maybe change what you have on your homepage. Or maybe you change the the color scheme or how it looks, you know, how you want to show up your brand message. You want to dial it in and make it more specific so you can resonate with your audience. So there is an element of flexibility as well. Another thing that he said regarding rhythm that I thought was really interesting was that he said that you need to uncomplicate the process, at least for him. He said, you got to keep it low and slow. The ball doesn't move. It's all you, it's all about you. And I thought that was interesting because the ball doesn't move, right? It all depends. I mean, where that ball ends up, it all depends on you, on what you do, right? And the techniques, they don't change. I mean, as far as what you've learned, it's the same. But again, that small adjustment or that small course correction to get it better and better each time is what's really going to get you to that destination. And in business, it's the same thing. We have to uncomplicate the process. Sometimes we complicate it too much and we don't keep it simple. And that creates just more stress and more delay because we're complicating it too much. I've said that before, but we can't try to have a business and compare ourselves to someone that's been in business for 10 years and already has a team and a lot of different systems and maybe more advanced tools and technology. We have to just uncomplicate the process and begin to serve people with what we have and where we are. So the three things he said as far as rhythm, just to review, was confidence. You have to have confidence. That's all included in rhythm. That flexibility, right? Being pliable, and also uncomplicate the process. The second tip he shared was technique. Now we all are familiar with technique, right? What technique is. But he said it's important for golfers to simplify because no golf swing is the same. Interesting to keep it simple. This is sort of piggybacks off of the previous thing that he had said about uncomplicate the process. So when we uncomplicate a process, what we decide to do, where we decide to camp, as far as what we're doing for our online business, we want to simplify the process. So we uncomplicate the overall process, and then what we're left with, we want to simplify it. Keep it very, very simple. And I see advantages to this because he said it was because no golf swing is the same. So keep it simple, right? And he said that people may be applying the same principles to get the desired outcome, but the person is the variable. So you are the variable in your own business as well. And if you keep it simple, it's easier to align yourself to that technique or whatever it is you decided to do because you've kept it simple because we are always the variable. For example, I did a number of webinars last month and I could tell there was a difference in them. Even though the content was the same, the slide deck was the same. Some of them I showed up with lots of high energy, others low energy. Some of them I sounded more my like my authentic self. I ad-libbed a little bit, I was a little bit more free in how I delivered the content. Others I sounded a little bit more scripted. Everyone is looking for the same result, but how you get there is slightly different. Even in the webinar example, how I get from the beginning to the end will be slightly different for each one that I do. So by keeping it simple, it helps me duplicate what I'm doing and sort of maintain my technique for the outcome that I'm looking for. Hopefully that makes sense. So the third tip he had, and this I think is an important one for us online entrepreneurs, is follow through. Follow through is really important for golfers. And in golf, it's not enough to just hit the ball. You don't want to just hit it and stop. The result of a good follow-through will increase your chances of reaching your goal. So interesting because he goes, you don't want to just get up there and hit it. You want to follow through. So, so important to reaching your goal. Now you can understand how this is a great analogy for our online business. Our follow-through in whatever it is that we do is important. It's not just to post and ghost, right? It's not just to write an article and post it online and not promote it or not recycle it and get it out there on social media a number of times. That's part of our follow-through, right? It's not enough to contact someone and maybe get on a call, a one-on-one call. Maybe they're interested in your services, and then you don't follow through. Or the same thing with uh onboarding new members to a program. There's got to be a good follow-through. Your systems, your internal systems, your online systems, and your email sequences and all those things on the back end, that's part of follow-through. So there's nothing that sort of drops. And so I think it's important for us to look at that because oftentimes we think just creating it is enough. And then we don't really what I call put gasoline on our content. When we create content, we want to throw some gasoline on it and we want to be able to set things ablaze everywhere with it. Take one piece of content and repurpose it as much as you can and leverage it because there's only so much time in the day, right? And my husband said the consequence of not having good follow-through when you're playing golf is the ball can go to the right or the left. In other words, you don't have much control. And the end result is unpredictable. And we want to increase the predictability of our end result. So he said, when you don't follow through, the ball's erratic and you won't reach your full potential that way. But when you do have follow through, then the opposite happens. Then it's more streamlined, then it's more predictable as far as what your results are are going to be. Then your analytics will show a pattern. Then you have a better chance of reaching your end result and your full potential. So I think follow-through is really, really important. So let me repeat the three that he said golfers have top of mind. And I think it's really, really helpful for us too, so that our virtual business can be up to par as well. Pardon the pun. But the three things were rhythm, technique, and follow-through. And I think we can see a great analogy in our virtual business. Okay, so let's see how we can apply all this. Because I asked him when we were sitting out in the patio, I said, so what if a golfer is having trouble with their rhythm or their technique or their follow-through? What should they do? Because there's a lot of golf material out there. I mean, you can go online and find all kinds of stuff, right? And he said, no, no, no, if somebody wants to really improve their game, they need to get a coach. They need to be able to have someone come alongside them and show them what needs course correction. Because he said, reading isn't enough, videos aren't enough. If you want to improve your game, he says, you need someone that's going to help you improve all of it, your technique, your follow-through, all of it, in order for you to be able to play a good game. And it's the same way with online business. That's why there's many coaches, because coaches help see what the business owner can't see, or whoever your audience is. So when someone has a coach, the person that hired the coach has a blind spot. There's something that they can't see easily. And oftentimes they're making the same mistakes over and over again. I have coaching clients and I have business coaching clients and copywriting clients, and the copywriting clients, I often see the same mistakes over and over again. They can't see it, they're too close to it. But I can spot it, and all it takes is a little bit of course correction, and all of a sudden everything else gets corrected. It's just that small thing that needs correcting. So getting a coach is important in our online business as well, not just in golf. And I get coached, I have a coach, so even coaches get coaches, and I think it's important for people to be able to hire a coach or join a program where they're going to be able to learn, but also get some connection with the person that is providing the training so they can ask questions and get feedback and that type of thing. I think it's really important. I don't think digital courses are great. They have a place depending on what it is that you're trying to learn. Sometimes you don't need to ask a lot of questions. And maybe if it's just a systems thing that you need to learn, you can watch it and you learn how to do it and done, right? But other times when we're trying to apply it to our own business and customize it, that's when it gets a little sticky. And so I thought it was interesting that that my husband said, yeah, if anybody wants to improve their golf game, the videos, the books, all that stuff's not going to help. They just got to get a coach because they're not going to improve their game. If they're serious, they're not going to improve their game unless they get some help. Because the coach is going to be able to see exactly where they are making the mistakes. So I asked him, Well, do people want to pay for a coach for golf? You know, if they're if they're just doing it as recreation or sport or something? And he goes, you know, if you're going to go out there and you're going to play, you know, you want to play well because there's there's just something great about the game golf. And he said, you know, if you get a coach a year or two, it'll change what feels natural to you, which I thought was interesting. Because what feels natural to us now, in two years, our natural will be different. And so when he said that, I thought that's interesting because it's all about how the probably how the swing feels and so forth. I used to videotape my husband, videotape him and so he could see the replay so he can see his swing, but it's also how it feels because when he tried to swing correctly, it felt weird. It didn't feel right, yet that was the correct way to do it. So it's the same way for us when we're developing our business, when we're trying to apply principles and strategies for online work, it doesn't feel natural. Not in the beginning. But then come in six months later, a year later, two years later, and what seemed totally unnatural now is natural for you because you've learned how to apply all of this and it's become a part of you. So I thought that was really interesting. So I hope that helped for you. And if you're interested in getting a coach, I would love to have a conversation with you. You can always go to my website and there's a little tab that says need help. And I have different programs from all ranges because people always say, Well, how much do you charge? You know, I've done work for people for a couple hundred dollars all the way to thousands of dollars. So it just depends on what people need. I help them with strategy and I help them with copy. Copy is a big part of it. Your messaging really needs to be clear. And oftentimes that's an area where people are too close to their own kid. They can't really see how to present themselves and their brand and their messaging in a way that resonates with their audience. And just again, small course correction could be all the difference in the world. So if you're interested in that, just go ahead and just go to marissah.com and you'll be able to see a little tab that says help me. We can have a conversation. I'm not going to push you into something that doesn't fit for you because I have one-on-one coaching. I have also a program where I help people with their copywriting. And I literally show up and give copy critiques and QA calls and lessons. And I have a mastermind where we just work on strategy. So there's lots of options. So if that's something of interest to you and you want to just get on a call so I can ask some questions and see where you are in your business and where you'd like to be and see if I could be of any assistance, we can talk about it. That'd be awesome. Alrighty. Well, that's what I have for you today. So we got a little bit of lessons from golf so that we can get our business up to par. And the three things we talked about was rhythm, technique, and follow through. You get those three down, and you're gonna get your business up to par. So thanks so much for joining me today, and I'll see you next time. Take care.