How to make a personal connection in an online world

Today’s episode of the podcast is a solo episode all about how I make personal connections with my community, even though I have an online business.

 
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST 
●     Having an online business is about more than just a numbers game

●     The practical things that I do to ensure I truly know my members

●     The importance of being accessible and not hiding behind your team

●     I’m thinking of making some changes to the podcast, and would love your feedback on what you love and what you don’t!

●     Next year I will be running two more Your Dream Business Live events, and you can join the wait list now!

 
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE
You need to show up and let people get to know who you really are, in order for people to really be able to connect with you.
 
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Join the wait list for next year’s Your Dream Business Live Event

Drop me a DM and let me know your feedback on the podcast

TRANSCRIPT
Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How you doing? Did you catch the two part podcast episode I did last week with Niki Hutchison. We decided just to mix it up a little bit and do a joint podcast. So half of the interview was me and the other half of the interview was on her podcast.

Also, I've had some really lovely feedback about the podcast episode before, when we were talking about failing in business and the fact of sometimes you have to try things and they don't work. And you just do something else. So if you haven't listened to that one, purely from the feedback I'm getting, I think it's a good one.

So go and check it out. This week I wanna talk to you about how I make personal connections with my community, even though I have an online business. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up is a few different things is one at the time of recording this last week. Was it last? No. Yeah. Last week was the Insider Experience.

And the week before was my event, my in-person event. Like having those people around me is just phenomenal. Like they are the nicest, most amazing humans in the world. And it was so good to meet people in person, not only my existing members, but also new people who listened to the podcast or who followed me for a while.

So that was so cool to actually meet people. And then this week, this last week just gone, we did the Insider Experience. And again, it was so nice to welcome all new faces into the club in order to show them what it was like. And lots of them have decided to stay as a member, which is ACE. And I love it so much.

I'm so, so honored that that's the case. And I realized when I was doing part of the Insider Experience. Well, it wasn't part of the Insider Experience, it was actually this morning, we did it. We went Live in the group with a few of my members and someone asked a really good question in the chat saying, I obviously know my Executive Club members really, really well.

Do I really know the Club Members as well. And. Do they still get that kind of relationship with me. And listening to what the members were saying. I kind of feel like it's a bit like a bit of a superpower maybe that I've got. And actually this falls in line with the fact of. I always suspected, but I'm, you know, fairly positive that I'm a, an empath and can feel, you know, I can feel things.

I can feel people's emotions. I can feel people's moods and I can relate to them really quick. I don't know if you're an empath or if you just think I'm talking...

Today’s episode of the podcast is a solo episode all about how I make personal connections with my community, even though I have an online business.

 
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST 
●     Having an online business is about more than just a numbers game

●     The practical things that I do to ensure I truly know my members

●     The importance of being accessible and not hiding behind your team

●     I’m thinking of making some changes to the podcast, and would love your feedback on what you love and what you don’t!

●     Next year I will be running two more Your Dream Business Live events, and you can join the wait list now!

 
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE
You need to show up and let people get to know who you really are, in order for people to really be able to connect with you.
 
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Join the wait list for next year’s Your Dream Business Live Event

Drop me a DM and let me know your feedback on the podcast

TRANSCRIPT
Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How you doing? Did you catch the two part podcast episode I did last week with Niki Hutchison. We decided just to mix it up a little bit and do a joint podcast. So half of the interview was me and the other half of the interview was on her podcast.

Also, I've had some really lovely feedback about the podcast episode before, when we were talking about failing in business and the fact of sometimes you have to try things and they don't work. And you just do something else. So if you haven't listened to that one, purely from the feedback I'm getting, I think it's a good one.

So go and check it out. This week I wanna talk to you about how I make personal connections with my community, even though I have an online business. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up is a few different things is one at the time of recording this last week. Was it last? No. Yeah. Last week was the Insider Experience.

And the week before was my event, my in-person event. Like having those people around me is just phenomenal. Like they are the nicest, most amazing humans in the world. And it was so good to meet people in person, not only my existing members, but also new people who listened to the podcast or who followed me for a while.

So that was so cool to actually meet people. And then this week, this last week just gone, we did the Insider Experience. And again, it was so nice to welcome all new faces into the club in order to show them what it was like. And lots of them have decided to stay as a member, which is ACE. And I love it so much.

I'm so, so honored that that's the case. And I realized when I was doing part of the Insider Experience. Well, it wasn't part of the Insider Experience, it was actually this morning, we did it. We went Live in the group with a few of my members and someone asked a really good question in the chat saying, I obviously know my Executive Club members really, really well.

Do I really know the Club Members as well. And. Do they still get that kind of relationship with me. And listening to what the members were saying. I kind of feel like it's a bit like a bit of a superpower maybe that I've got. And actually this falls in line with the fact of. I always suspected, but I'm, you know, fairly positive that I'm a, an empath and can feel, you know, I can feel things.

I can feel people's emotions. I can feel people's moods and I can relate to them really quick. I don't know if you're an empath or if you just think I'm talking lot of rubbish, which is fine either way. So yeah, so. I wanted to talk about how to make that personal connection, because what happens when you have an online business is all of the strategy.

And all of the focus around a success of an online business is all about numbers. It's a numbers game. And it's all about getting huge numbers of people into our world. And that's how you make money. If you've got a one to many program or a membership, or a course, then obviously the more people that buy the more.

You know, obviously the more you make well, that's fairly obvious, but as in, you know, the more it makes sense. So for instance, the work I put into the membership when there was just, you know, a small group of people, right at the very beginning, it wasn't profitable. And to be honest, the time I put into it now, I think my, my husband would argue it's still not profitable, but I love it.

So it's fine. I don't mind putting effort in, but yeah, one thing that was really lovely is like I said, some of the comments that came in and one of my new members, Annie, said that, you know, I've only known T for a few months and she knows already who I am, what my business is, what my family life is like and what I'm, you know, and what my struggles are.

And my challenges are, which was ACE and so good. So then I was thinking, well, how do I do that? How do I make sure that I can have that personal connection? Cuz for me, it's really important. Because as you well know if you are a regular listener, I have adopted the phrase of the lovely Mary Hyatt. I see you. I hear you. You matter.

Well, how do I live by that? How do I actually make sure that I do see and hear people. Because we're not perfect. We are humans and we all make mistakes, but these are some of the things I do probably to try as hard as I can to ensure that I notice people and not just obviously in a sales process, cuz that's just a bit sucky. If that's the only reason you're doing it.

But genuinely, you know, cause I can't sell the membership and be like, I'm like this and then they join and I'm like, who are you again? So some of the things that I do to do this is really simple but important steps and it might seem unusual. This is my dog going in and out.

So if you can hear him, I apologize. I've got the door open. My husband's not here at the moment. He's missing his dad. So he really likes to be in and around by me. But, and if I shut my door to record this podcast episode, he would scratch on the door and moan and try and open it. So it's safe that I just, you have an occasional tip tap of feet. Every so often.

Anyway, so yeah, so I think some of these things are really important. If you want to make that extra effort and you want to really pay attention and it's not just for online businesses, it can be any businesses. But for online, I think in particular it's even more important. So, you know, straight off the bat that I reply to my own social media messages and my own DMs.

And I'll often reply with a voice note or sometimes I send a video if my face is okay and I've done my makeup and I'm not feeling too tired. I. and I think that's really important. Now I'm confident that most of you listening to this, if not, all of you are doing that yourself. You are appreciating the people who DM you and you are getting back to them.

Sometimes things get lost in the requested bit. So I do have to keep an eye on that. And if I haven't got back to you and you'll start thinking, you're doing it back to me, then please DM me again, because that's obviously slipped through in that. But yeah, so. So I think it's super important that I'm the one who does that, and it is super important in our business that we are the one that does that.

There are lots of people out there in this world who hire someone to reply to the social media post and to have those conversations and to manage the accounts. And yes, I have the lovely Becci McEvoy who helps me with the content side, but in terms of the management or in terms of the proactive stuff and the reactive stuff, it's me.

So, so yeah, that's the first thing. So obviously I make sure that I'm seen, I'm visible and that we can have conversations. The other thing, which is a bit of a, like, you know, a bit of a tech thing, but it's good is seeing what they've done within your world. So for instance, every time someone downloads something, if they take part in something, if they've clicked something, then we tag them.

So being able to see where they came from or what they've done, cuz again, it's just a nightmare. If you have, if someone's been in your world and you haven't acknowledged it. And. I heard this awful story that someone told me the other day, and this is just shocking. And I'm obviously not gonna divulge any of the key details, but someone told me that they'd done a program with someone and it was a fairly smallish program.

So I think they said about 30 or 40 people in it. And they were one of those people. And. It was a, it was an ongoing program for a little while. So it wasn't like just a one off course or a one-off day thing, and they'd done it, they'd gone through it. And I think they were still paying to be in something with this person and this person DMed them a voice DM saying, have you seen this course?

I really think you should do it. And that was the one they did. So, not only did they DM them to cold sell them a course, but they DM someone who'd already done the course who they would've seen. And it's like, wow. Talk about not knowing who your people are. And like I said, we make mistakes things slip through the net, but if someone is sat on a session with me for some time or multiple times, I'm gonna know who they are.

So, so, yeah, so I use the tech side in terms of like tagging and stuff like that, just to remind me, cause obviously, you know, when you get lots of people in your world, it does get a bit tricky try to remember it all. And I hate not remembering, and I've got a terrible memory, which really doesn't help.

The next thing I do is I go and look at them on their website. I go and follow them on social media. So for instance, if someone is in my Insider Experience, or if someone has come to my event or someone signed up for something, maybe not a lead magnet granted, cuz you know, we have them all the time and, and that would be really difficult.

But especially my members. It's really important for me to follow them and to see who they are and what they're doing and that way as well, I can get a feel for their life. I can get a feel for who they are and what they do, and what's important to them. And I think from a coaching point of view, that is really, really important and very much goes along my lines of, I've gotta get to know you.

I've gotta know who you are. I've gotta know what's important to you. What your dream business looks like before I can even start to give you any advice. So, so going and following them, going and look at their site, maybe even making some notes on them. And I do this if, when we do like a five day challenge, we'll obviously set up a spreadsheet with everybody going into the group and we ask specific questions and we put all them on the spreadsheet so that I can go and look.

And I always say, what's your business. So I can go and least give them a bit of a search. Also. I friend request some of the, I try and friend request people as well, if they're on Facebook. So I do try and personally make sure that I am seeing them and they're in my world. And then the other thing I do is I will voice DM people. So for instance, we've just done the insider experience and there are a number of people who are really active and really amazing. And I've DMed them today just saying, how did you get on, what did you think? Have you got any questions? Do you need anything? And it's not some salesy, spammy, horrible call or DM.

It's just literally a I'm here. If you have a question and if they say it's not the right time, or it's not for them then. Absolutely fine. That's not a problem. But like I said, I just like to know that I'm accessible because I think the online world taught me that I'm not meant to be accessible. And yet that's what brings me joy in terms of, you know, hanging out with these people, getting to know them, having conversations with them.

And also that's what is so important for my members. Not the fact of them dealing with one of my team. But the key bit that holds all this together is the fact that you have to give something to them, for them to connect with. So when we talk about making a personal connection, if I was really like behind a screen, or you get this Teresa or this version of me, then that's not making a personal connection.

So. In order to do that, it requires me to show up personally, it requires me to be authentic and vulnerable and all of those good things, because otherwise they've got nothing to connect with me about, like the fact that my dog comes in and out my office often on calls and we'll have a lot of fuss. And if my hand goes down and starts moving weirdly, it's the dog.

But you know, we have these conversations. Then one of the new members just joined and posted a picture of a puppy and I'm like, yes, I love a puppy. So again, it's like, You know, she knows the kind of connection because there's the dog connection there, or it could be the child connection, or it could be the, I like gin connection.

Like you need to show some of you in order for them to, to really be able to connect with you. So it's not just about you doing the outreach and you find out about them. But it's also about them having the ability to, to find out about you. And like I said, it's that it's that want for, you know, a two week conversation.

I had Denise Duffel-Thomas on not that long ago. And she was recently selling a new course and I DMed her saying and bearing in mind, obviously I have done an interview with her and we have chatted a little bit after the podcast, which was lovely, but you know, she's probably done a lot of podcasts, but I DMed her saying.

"I'm watching your launch in awe looks amazing, you know, basically wishing you the best of luck." And she came back to me going, "Thank you, Teresa. That's so kind, really appreciate it." And then we had this whole conversation about the actual course and whether I should get it and all this kind of stuff.

And she was like, you know, are you available for this call? And I said, no, I'm, it's like middle of the night. Cause obviously she's Australia. And she's like, if you got any questions, just DM me. And it's like, you're Denise Duffil-Thomas and you can do that. So I think. You know, I, I think the world of the celebrity online business owners is going, thank goodness.

And yeah, I've got, you know, I have a huge amount of respect for Denise and I think she's wonderful, but she's just a human at the end of the day, like me and the fact that she's gonna appreciate to have a conversation with me, I think is really important. Yeah. I just think, I think we should like pull people off their pedestals a bit and go, you are great.

You're amazing. And I love what you do. But it doesn't mean that like, you can't give me the time of day because you are this all big hero in my world or whatever. Anyway, I think I went off on a bit in a tangent there. But, and it's a really short episode and, and actually, while I'm here as well, sorry, this is like thoughts pouring out in my head.

You know what it's like if you've been listening a while and if you haven't, then I'd love to pretend that's more structured than this, but it really isn't. So I've been thinking about the podcast and I don't panic. I'm not gonna stop the podcast, but I've just been thinking, how can I change things up a bit?

How can I tweak them a bit? What can I do? We've actually put a hold on any more podcast applications because we are absolutely full with applications and the ones that I've said yes to so far, take us like halfway through the next year. And although batching is amazing, you know, I'm the queen batcher and I love doing that.

It really makes me feel disjointed. It really makes me feel like. God, when was that conversation and what did we talk about? And I don't like that. So, so yeah, so I'm gonna be a bit stricter with who I'm letting on the podcast. And I had a really interesting conversation with another member who said, I actually don't like your interview once. She did say I don't like it.
She said, I'm much fun when you are on your own. She wasn't as bothered about the interview once. So I'd really love to get some feedback. Is there something that you've seen someone do and you think that could be cool? So I just tip it on its head and do something completely different. It's not that I'm not happy with it.

I am, I love the podcast, but I'm just interested, you know, a bit like my episode a few weeks ago, sometimes we need to change things up and I don't wanna break something that's working because the podcast is wonderful for me. And I love it. And I get to speak to really cool people, which is maybe a reason why I don't wanna give up the the interviews.
And I've got a couple of really cool people who have reached out again. So that's nice. They're coming soon, but yeah, I'm interested. What are your thoughts? And I think sometimes it's really good to just sit and think about the business and think about what we're doing and question it.

And this is what I think this is my job in the membership is to question people in a nice way and go. So someone came on the other day and was like, I'm doing this thing. And I was like, do you really wanna do it? And they're like, not really. And I'm like, why are you doing it then? So, yeah. I just think having that space to.

To sit and think and question things and to get feedback is great. So yeah, I've gone completely around the houses. This is a very random episode. Can I please blame it on the fact that I've had a very busy week last week with the Insider Experience? And I had my in person event and I was recovering for an operation I had.

So if that's why this is a bit of a crazy episode, then I apologize. The other thing I was gonna say quickly, it's like, this is just like a newsletter update is that the in-person event was so good. I loved it so very much. The feedback I'm getting from it is phenomenal. I'm so, so proud. And I'm gonna do it again next year twice.

So this isn't the VIP thing. This is the per the day thing. And I might do, I'm gonna do the same venue, Birmingham for a couple of them, but I might do one up in Newcastle when I'm up there at Atomic Con. So, cause I'm speaking at Atomic Con this year, no next year, cuz it's 2023. So yeah, I might do one around there, up at Newcastle and then people who are from Scotland.
Cause I had a couple of people come down from Scotland, but wow. It's a hell of a way. So yeah. So if you're interested in that, I think if you go to your dream business live as in teresaheathwareing.com/yourdreambusinesslive then there's a wait list and you can get on the wait list. But yeah, so I just like to tell you that's up.

Anyway. I'm gonna leave you to it. Have a lovely rest of your day. I apologize that this has been such a random podcast episode, and I will sort myself out before I do anymore. Have a great day, and I will see you next week.