Welcome to Make More Money Without Selling Your Soul. The podcast for bold entrepreneurs ready to simplify scale and reclaim their time. I’m Polly Lavarello, Evergreen scaling strategist and cushy business pioneer. Join me and my occasional guests as we explore the themes of wealth, selling and well-being, because building a business that works for you changes everything. Let’s dive in.

00:39

Hello, and welcome to the show. I’m hoping to make this episode pretty bite-size because it’s just an important question really that you need to ask yourself. So if you looked at the name of this podcast episode, it’s The Introvert’s Guide to Visibility, and truthfully, it’s more about the introvert’s guide to getting started with visibility or elevating your visibility if you already are visible like myself.  Um, because, you know, as I’ve shared before time and time again, even though it might not always come across this way, because there’s the ADHD part of my personality, I’m not naturally extroverted. Um, others of you might be like, “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.” Um, because I’m that gorgeous blend of autism and ADHD, which means different parts of me call for different things, and yeah, sometimes I like to be in the middle of the dance floor throwing crazy moves.   Other times, I like to be hiding in a quiet room having a deep, intense conversation with someone about the meaning of life, um, and very little in between. So anyway, the question that I want you to ask yourself, um. There comes a time always in business where we can hit a bit of a plateau, and we can think, “Why is that?”  And the conventional advice around meeting this plateau is to look at what you’re already good at, and then to double down on it, which I am a big fan of that advice. I give that advice myself. It’s certainly one of the first things I look at when I take on a new client is like, “Where do you flow? Where do things come easy?”

01:42

Um, you know, because ultimately, oftentimes there’s the opportunity just to do that 10% more and get 10% even more back, right? Um, or an opportunity to delegate to allow you to be doing that thing more. You know, you might be really amazing at public speaking. Great, do it more. You know, people often say to me things like, “Oh, well, every time I do a story talking about X, I always get a bunch of inquiries.”  Okay. Well, how about we double that, right? So there’s some really simple questions around doubling down. But then there’s the more uncomfortable question, and that is where are you leaving money on the table? What is something that you have not allowed yourself to explore? Because here’s the thing, once we’ve started with the doubling down on the thing we’re already really good at, we can still then meet another plateau, ’cause there’s only so much you can do that, right?   And at some point you then need to ask yourself the question, like, “What is missing here?” And my advice always is to then lean into somebody who can mentor you with whatever that next phase is, regardless as to what it is, ’cause you will do it with more ease and efficiency most of the time, right? Um, and even understanding in that moment, is this a mindset thing, or is this a strategic thing?  Do I need a coach to help me get over myself, or do I need a mentor to help give me the guidance, the roadmap, you know, the clarity or… To stop overthinking about what to actually focus on and just do the thing that they have tried and tested and know works, right? Like, or somebody who does a bit of both.    I like to call what I do coach-sulting ’cause I jump between consulting people and doing a bit of coaching because, you know, like, we get in our own way, and we’re often… We have huge blind spots, and it’s helpful to have someone who can help you mirror that back to you and help you see how you get out of your own way.

03:26

Okay, so the uncomfortable bit. The uncomfortable bit is taking a moment to think about, like I say, “Where am I leaving money on the table?” And that can look like a variety of things. So for the person, like I’ve recently taken on a client, she’s brilliant. She’s a one-to-one. She was already making six figures when she came to work with me.   She- absolutely amazing with visibility, absolutely incredible at storytelling, brilliant in her stories, all of the rest. Had some offers that were also ready to scale, like her offer suite… Well, her main core offer and her mastermind, both great, both enrolling. The challenge was, was if she ever took time off social media, she wasn’t making sales.  So what did she and I do together? We worked on building funnels so that she actually had a way, so that if someone’s discovering an old reel of hers or discovering her for the first time on Instagram, they actually had a journey to go through. And she messaged me the other day to say, “Oh my goodness, Polly, for the first time ever, without needing a sales call, I made my first high-ticket sale. Someone enrolled into my group program.”  Like, just brilliant, right? Um, and another person was inquiring about her mastermind, again, without, you know, already just ready to go essentially, kinda saying, “I’m just talking to you because I wanna give you my payment details, so I’m in.” Um, and that’s the power of kinda recognizing your blind spot and getting the support to kind of implement the piece that, you know…  ] She’d been trying to implement that piece for years and just getting in her own way. So that was her blind spot, okay? You might be thinking, “What’s that got to do with visibility, Polly?” Coming around to that, right? Her blind spot with visibility was that she was very good at it, but she had nothing, no infrastructure behind the scenes to support that, so she couldn’t scale beyond the hours and time that she was putting into her Instagram account.

05:09

And it can go the other way. Sometimes, you know, people, once they have their funnel, they’re also not running ads, so again, they’re capping their ability to get seen, to be discovered, and to make sales. You know, once your funnel’s doing really well, that’s what you wanna be investing in.  And what… Here’s my blind spot, and here’s where the theme of this podcast comes in. My blind spot, to be honest with you, is that I have been shying away from visibility, even more so since I hired a social media manager, who very wisely and diligently pulls me into all social media decisions. Every post that’s written is written by me.  Um, I mean, it’s edited by her and kind of put together into the Canva and stuff, but, like, I am very involved in the process. But I’ll admit that I kinda was, mm, kind of not… I wasn’t giving it 100%, maybe 60%. It was, like, very bottom of my to-do list. Because I have my funnels, ’cause I have my reputation, because I have this podcast, because I have ads running, I have so many other things bolstering what I do right now that I didn’t need… And, and, and in some ways, for a while, I was telling myself, “This is a flex.” So again, I pose that question back to you. Is there an area in your life where you’re calling it a flex, that you’re not showing up 110% to it and it’s still doing well? And what would it look like if you did show up to it 100%, or even just 10% more?  What would it look like? Okay? Because here’s the thing for me. I have always advocated for you do not need to post daily, but I’m challenging that right now. I’m testing the waters, like any good marketer should. We should never just be like, “This is the way, the only way, nothing’s gonna change,” because things change, right?  And what I’m seeing right now in the algorithm is it does really pay to be consistent with your visibility and to show up daily. That is currently what I am seeing, which made me shit myself a bit, if I’m being honest. Uh, sorry guys, for all the bad language in this episode. It’s all coming out. Um, but yeah, it made me feel, um… ] Oh, I just, I was really overthinking it. Okay. So yeah. So when I say, like, you know, where do you recognize you’re doing… I have got time in my business. I run a group program. I have a handful of one-to-ones, and I’ve got a spacious week, as you guys know, hence Cushy Business, right? And I’m a huge advocate for, like, don’t unnecessarily fill up that free time you create with your spacious business model just because you can.

07:38

However, I have, you know, evolved from the episode I recorded back in January or February where I said, “This is my no year,” and I am ready to create more impact. I’m ready to find more people. The results my clients have been getting this year are nothing short of phenomenal, and I want more of them. I have a client who came to me and was like, “Oh, I’m a bit worried about niching. I have this idea, but I don’t know if I should do it.” I encouraged her, I encouraged her, I encouraged her. She went from 432 followers, I think it was, to eight and a half thousand.  Eight and a half thousand. So as I’ve heard other mentors talk about as well, I, you know, sometimes do fall into that kind of bracket of forever the bridesmaid, never the bride, and I think I’m stepping into my bridal era. You know, I’m ready to claim it. And I guess most importantly, I’m willing to fail publicly. I’m willing to try things that might not necessarily work, um, because it’s about getting started.  So you’re listening to this ’cause I’m talking about the introvert’s guide to visibility, so I’m gonna touch on that a bit more significantly. So what has been holding me back aside from the whole, oh, it’s a flex, I don’t have to do it. I’m a little bit lazy. I don’t wanna do extra content. I mean, actually no, I’m not lazy. I’m a mother of two children, both who are neurodiverse. I myself am neurodiverse. I’ve got a whole load of things going on outside of my working hours, like therapy sessions for my kids and various other things.  Uh, so like, no, I’m not lazy. I am, like many women, I am stretched, and so doing extra content has felt like something I have wanted to avoid. But like with all things that we can believe in life and business, it’s always worth challenging those beliefs. So, you know, it was a rather convenient belief for me to believe that recording regular content was actually too much.

09:22

And the question I’ve been asking myself recently is, is it too much or is my approach to it too much? If a client were to say this to me, what would I recommend they look at? I would recommend they look at their systems, their processes, the stories they’re telling to themselves, the expectations they’re putting on themselves.   I would ask the question, how does it get to be easy? How does it get to be fun? And how do you just get started? Like, where have you created content and it has flowed? Where have you found joy in creating content? Okay. Because the one thing we cannot deny is that the more somebody is exposed to you and your personal brand, and your personal brand ultimately is you, the more they’re exposed to it, the more trust there is, the more likely they are to buy from you.   It’s just simple math, okay? It’s one thing that is indisputable. The more touch points, the sooner someone’s gonna say, “Yes, that’s a brand I trust. I am jumping in,” or, “That is a human or a person I trust. I am jumping in.” So there’s a real value to getting over ourselves when it comes to getting stuck. And one of the reasons why I wanted to record this episode is because I support a lot of psychologists and therapists and people who can be incredibly hard on themselves when it comes to being visible, people who can massively question themselves, people who feel like they need to look at 10 reference books before they’re ready to make any bold claim or statement, people who spend their nights up worrying about peers looking at their content and what they might think, what ex-boyfriends might think.

10:55 

Um, you know, so it’s, you know, I know I’m not alone with this. I know that there are these brilliantly intelligent, talented women holding themselves back from sharing their brilliance because of fear of getting it wrong, fear of being canceled, fear of being judged, fear of not being liked. And so, I mean, I guess this would have to be a series to actually break each and every single individual one of those down, and I’m not gonna do that today. I am instead want to help you do something incredibly important, which is get started. Because the truth is, like I’m sure these podcast episodes… I’d like to hope these podcast episodes are better than they were when I first hit record like two years ago. Although I’ve always been kinda eloquent, so maybe that’s not the best example.   But certainly there’s a lot of my business that I’m getting better and better and better at. Certain things like, you know, I’m about to launch a training in a couple of weeks’ time in September and a paid workshop, and I feel really confident about all of those pieces. I feel really confident about the launch.   Why? Because I’ve done it so many times now. It barely even feels like a launch. It’s just a little process where I now go into my Slack and say, “Team, here’s this, here’s that, here’s that. Here’s what, you know, here’s what you guys need to do. Tick it all off. Let’s go.” Like, it’s so simple, it’s ridiculous. Um, so yeah, we just want you to get started.

12:20

So here is what I am doing, in case it is helpful. And you know what, gang? I will take you on this journey with me. I will tell you what my learnings are. I will tell you where I’ve gotten distracted so far. So Jesse Jean obviously had her YAP challenge. While I didn’t sign up for it, um, I had been given various bits of advice from people who were doing it. Um, and I have to admit, that got me in my head. And God bless Jesse Jean, I know that she talks about that a lot. She kinda says, “Stop learning, stop thinking about it. Just get started.” So I know that’s very much not the intent or purpose behind what she does, and that’s probably the lack of value in me not having actually just bought her course.   But I will also say that I partly didn’t buy her course ’cause I know what I’m like, and I know that I will happily delay getting visible to study all her lessons rather than just get started, and I feel like there is just a huge value in getting started. So where does that leave me? That leaves me with recognizing, you know, where we talk about ease, for me, when I talk on Stories, it comes quite easily.  So if you’re not already talking on Stories, I actually always say to my clients, “Start there.” Like, if you haven’t started at all, start with Stories. Start showing up, because they’re only there for 24 hours. So it’s really easy to kinda get into the flow of getting used to talking to the camera, used to kind of timing yourself, ’cause you do have a minute for each kind of bit, right?

13:41

And so while you might not necessarily convey an idea solely within that one minute, if you can challenge yourself to, um, you know, begin with just being happy that you’re on your Stories. Like, if it takes five slides or, you know, five stories, fine. So be it. But each week, try and cut it down by a story until you’re down to one.  So that allows you to learn the art of being a more succinct storyteller. Now, if you’re feeling ready, which you never will do, by the way, once you’ve done that, you know, let’s say you’ve done a week of stories, I then encourage you to go across and actually start recording for the grid. Yes, you can use CapCut. Yes, you can use the AI tool that removes any kind of pauses and ums and ahs. Highly recommend that. And, you know, sentences, if you’ve accidentally done a little blooper and you wanna remove it, you can go in and do that. But keep it really simple.   Like, learn simple principles as, like, what’s the title? What’s the sub line? Where do I put the captions? Make sure they’re nice, high up, almost central. That’s the bit that nearly everyone gets wrong. Where do I sit to be able to get the captions in the right place? But, you know, just recognize first pancake energy. The first one isn’t gonna be the best, and you know something really wonderful about that?   Is the algorithm rewards you by not actually showing your video to that many people. And if by some luck you do get shown to a lot of people when your video’s still not that great, well, great, lots of people have seen you. But the majority of times, if your video’s a bit shit, it’s just not gonna be seen by that many people.

15:11

But in the meantime, you’ve learned something. You’ve flexed that muscle. You’ve hit publish. You’ve been with that moment of it being there, and then just move on. And I do highly recommend challenging yourself or getting yourself in a community where you’re around others who’ll be challenging you as well to be showing up daily.  That’s something I’ll be encouraging everyone inside the accelerator to be doing in September. Because you will learn a way to integrate content creation in your working day. You will find a way to do it more efficiently. You will find a way to do it better. And yeah, later on if you wanna get distracted with edits, sure, layer those in later.   But don’t allow yourself to build up such a huge to-do list at the beginning of doing all of this, that you don’t get started at all, or that you keep on procrastinating ’cause you want it to be as perfect as that person who’s been recording content for two years. That’s just not how things will go. You know, I know Dolly Parton, bless her soul, passed away recently, and she was very much someone who spoke about the happiness with failing ’cause essentially she kinda shared the same premise that you never really truly fail.

16:23

If something doesn’t work out, you’re gonna learn, and if it does work out, brilliant. Like, there’s no scenario here where it goes wrong. You’re just putting one foot in front of the other, and in doing that, you will inevitably attract more clients. Um, you know, another thing that can be a distraction is spending ages thinking about hooks and what you’re gonna talk about.   Again, remove the pressure from that. Something as simple as just showing up after a call saying, “You know, I’ve just got off a call. The one thing people keep on talking about is X.” And then later on when you edit it, remove the ‘I just got off a call’ and be like, “The one thing,” blah. I can’t… Oh, no. Or whatever.   You can, like, think about what that first line is and change that slightly if you want, but the meat of what you’re saying is gonna be really valuable and really interesting. We’re often so close to the work we do, we really underestimate the value and what someone will gain just getting insight into your day, into your work, into what you’re sharing with your clients, okay?   That’s kind of what you’re quasi getting with this podcast. You’re getting the kind of reflections that I would be sharing with you if you were here with me in person right now. Anyway, this episode has turned a little bit waffly and a little bit long, so I’m gonna wrap it up here, but I want you to take away this core premise.  So there are a few questions I asked on this episode. So I guess the first question is, like, you know, once you’ve done the recognizing where you already flow and you’ve doubled down on that, and if you’re not doing that, then take a moment to think about where do things flow? Where am I more easily making money? Am I capitalizing on that? Ask yourself that question first ’cause it’s a really important one.

17:50

Following on from that, think about where am I holding back? Where am I only giving 40 to 60%? Where can I challenge myself to add an additional 10%? For a lot of us, that does look like visibility. If you increased your visibility efforts by 10%, I can almost guarantee you’ll see a 10% return when you’ve got the foundations in place, which funnily enough, I’ll be talking about in my upcoming training in a couple of weeks, so do keep an eye out for that ’cause that will be in the show notes if you’d like to join us.  Um, but yeah, you wanna have this… Yeah. But the visibility piece, if you’re just wanting to get started, knowing that you are a work in progress, knowing that you are only ever gonna get better, knowing that what you’re creating is only ever gonna get better, but it only gets better by you getting started when you don’t feel ready- Then my invitation to you is to keep it as simple and joyful as possible.  Choose a spot to record. Don’t overcomplicate it. I’m gonna be recording at my desk area for now. Um, I might mix it up a bit later on, but I know the moment I start to think about, “Oh, I could record outside. I could go to my local park. I could record on a walk,” that suddenly was too much information for my brain.

19:02 

And simplifying it to one location, one kind of style, not putting pressure on what I’m gonna say, and just using very, very simple CapCut edits so I’m not there for hours or don’t have a team member there for hours, you know, charging me for their time, then that is where we’re starting.   Just get started. Don’t worry too much about the final destination. That could come later. Don’t worry about the kind of OTT edits or different kind of backdrops or getting crazily good at hooks. That will come in time. Just get good at storytelling. Just get good at speaking with conviction. Just get good at not talking like a teacher and actually speaking like a pal.  Those are the things that are gonna make the difference, okay? But don’t overthink it because honestly, the moment we start sounding like a teacher, the moment content starts feeling forced, is when we’re overthinking all of those pieces. If you’re on FaceTime to your mom or your best friend, how would you speak to them?  Bring that energy to it. Cool. Okay, guys. We’re in this together. As I said, this is a living, breathing experiment of my own because I have been holding back. I’ve been hiding away in bits of B-roll and carousels, and I am about to bring more of myself to the forefront. So I will be reporting back soon with how it’s going. Not next week’s episode. That’ll be a bit soon, but, um, I will be sharing more. Uh, my goal is to do it every single day of September, so in October, I shall share an update with you. In the meantime, if you enjoyed this episode, if it’s helped you get out of your own way, please do give me a lovely five-star review. I would be so grateful. I really wanna have this podcast reach as many ears as possible. It’s been in the top 10% for a long time now, and I’d love to get it even higher. So please do what you can to make some noise about this podcast and, you know, give it a review. And yeah, I’ll be in your ears next week. I’ll see you then.