Episode 45- Marketing Strategist Sally Curtis

25 June

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Known as the Connector & Marketing Problem Solver, Sally Curtis has been honing her skills and helping clients in the areas of Sales, Business Growth & Marketing for over 25 years now.

Sally helps her clients to accelerate growth and opportunities without the need for extra expense or additional stress.

Sally is one of our first certified practitioners. I decided to interview her about being an Influencer Certified Coach, how she's built her practice and how the certification has helped her to build her brand.

Key Takeaways from Today’s Episode:

In this segment, Jane Anderson introduces herself as the host of the podcast and shares her expertise in strategic communications, particularly focusing on personal branding, content creation, and building communities. She invites listeners to connect with her on various social media platforms and directs them to her website. Jane also mentions her recent content creation boot camp and upcoming events in 2020, including virtual sessions and physical locations like Noosa and Queenstown. She briefly discusses the Influencer Indicator tool available on her website to help identify marketing and lead generation gaps for those looking to establish themselves as experts in their field. Following this introduction, Jane highlights her special guest for the day, Sally Curtis, whom she describes as an Expert to Influencer Practitioner with extensive experience in marketing and business development.
Sally greets the audience and expresses her pleasure in joining the podcast. Jane prompts Sally to provide details about her background, including the evolution of her practice, types of clients she works with, and her journey from local area marketing to broader online visibility. Sally shares her background in business development and sales, eventually transitioning into the personal development industry, where she gained experience working with speakers and trainers. She developed a reputation as the "marketing problem solver" due to her expertise in networking, LinkedIn, and local area marketing. Sally explains how her practice evolved to help speakers and trainers enhance their visibility and spend more time delivering content rather than focusing on administrative tasks.
Jane recalls meeting Sally through a professional association and acknowledges Sally's expertise in local area marketing. She highlights Sally's ability to assist clients in transitioning from local to national and international visibility. Sally elaborates on her role in helping clients identify leverage points and maximize their practice's potential.
Sally discusses her experience in local area marketing, particularly within franchising, emphasizing the importance of understanding individual personalities and adapting marketing strategies accordingly. She explains her role in identifying opportunities for clients to expand their reach and visibility.
Jane queries Sally about her decision to adopt the Expert to Influencer methodology despite her existing marketing expertise. Sally admits to feeling gaps in her knowledge and acknowledges the methodology's role in providing clear foundations for building her practice. She highlights how the methodology helped her leverage her skills and systemize her approach to marketing.
Sally reflects on her initial uncertainty about her gaps in knowledge and credits the Expert to Influencer methodology for filling those gaps and maximizing her inner genius. She discusses how the methodology enabled her to systemize her approach to networking, LinkedIn strategy, and local area marketing, ultimately expanding her practice's offerings and reach. Jane acknowledges the complementarity of Sally's marketing skills with the methodology, enabling her to guide clients while maintaining a balance between advisory and implementation roles.
Sally describes her role as a blend of coach, strategic agency, and problem solver, catering to clients' needs for both advisory and implementation support. She highlights the versatility of the methodology in addressing clients' specific growth requirements and preferences, whether through strategic guidance or hands-on assistance. Jane commends Sally's advocacy for clients and the personalized approach she adopts in guiding them through the Expert to Influencer methodology. She stresses the importance of practitioners like Sally in providing comprehensive support to clients, especially in navigating the challenges and risks associated with establishing a business. Jane emphasizes the practitioner's role in tailoring solutions to clients' needs and budget constraints.
Sally discusses her experience as her own best case study and the insights gained from applying the methodology to her practice. She emphasizes the significance of continuous learning and self-improvement, highlighting the value of adapting the methodology to individual client needs rather than adhering to a rigid framework. Jane and Sally discuss the importance of tailoring solutions to clients' unique circumstances and advocating for their best interests. They highlight the need for practitioners to guide clients effectively, particularly in terms of prioritizing actions based on available resources and desired outcomes. Sally emphasizes the flexibility of the Expert to Influencer methodology in accommodating various modes of delivery and client preferences. She discusses her approach to working with clients, whether as a coach, business manager, or overseer, and the importance of aligning strategies with clients' goals and capabilities.
Jane underscores the importance of advocacy and care in the practitioner-client relationship, particularly in acknowledging the vulnerability and risks inherent in entrepreneurship. She emphasizes the practitioner's role in prioritizing clients' needs and facilitating organic progress through tailored solutions and strategic guidance. Sally reflects on her journey of implementing the Expert to Influencer methodology, noting the initial expectation of rapid progress and the eventual realization of the need for deeper understanding and systemization. She discusses the iterative nature of the process and the insights gained through self-reflection and client interactions. Jane and Sally discuss the accessibility and utilization of the Expert to Influencer methodology tools, emphasizing the importance of immediate access to materials for practitioners. They highlight the value of hands-on practice and client engagement in facilitating learning and skill development, emphasizing a proactive approach to practitioner success. Jane inquires about the significant shifts in Sally's practice since adopting the methodology, focusing on both business growth and personal development. Sally emphasizes the pivotal role of productization in clarifying her offerings and boosting client confidence, leading to business expansion and the formation of an agency model.
Sally discusses the transformation in her practice, particularly in productizing her marketing expertise into specialized offerings. She elaborates on leveraging her proficiency in areas such as LinkedIn lead generation and content repurposing to create distinct service packages for clients, enabling clearer value propositions and streamlined operations. Jane reflects on Sally's transition from a generalist to a specialist approach in her practice, emphasizing the importance of focusing on specific areas of expertise to enhance client perception and facilitate purchasing decisions. Sally shares insights into her revenue growth and the evolution of her practice structure, highlighting the strategic alignment with client needs and market demand.
Sally discusses her journey from solo practitioner to agency owner, detailing the gradual expansion of her team and service offerings. She emphasizes the significance of strategic decision-making and adapting to market opportunities, illustrating the synergy between her marketing expertise and business development initiatives. Jane highlights the importance of community support for practitioners and the value of ongoing learning and collaboration within the Expert to Influencer community. Sally underscores the supportive nature of the community and encourages practitioners to actively engage with peers for knowledge sharing and problem-solving. Sally emphasizes the supportive environment within the Expert to Influencer community and encourages practitioners to leverage the collective expertise for professional development. She acknowledges the wealth of insights and practical advice available within the community, facilitating growth and innovation in practitioners' practices. Jane elaborates on the collaborative nature of the Expert to Influencer community, enabling practitioners to tap into diverse expertise and experiences for mutual benefit. She emphasizes the value of leveraging community resources to address specific challenges and access specialized knowledge, fostering continuous growth and development.
Sally discusses her strategic approach to leveraging community resources, focusing on her strengths as a marketer and outsourcing technical tasks to specialists within the community. She emphasizes the importance of strategic alignment and effective resource utilization in maximizing client value and business growth. Jane discusses the importance of client advocacy and sustainability in service delivery, highlighting the practitioner's role in asking the right questions on behalf of clients to ensure alignment with their needs and long-term goals. Sally acknowledges the clarity gained from the conversation, emphasizing the translator and mediator role in facilitating effective communication and synergy between clients and service providers.
Sally elaborates on the strategic approach to resource utilization, emphasizing the practitioner's role in guiding clients and maintaining focus amidst the dynamic nature of marketing strategies. Jane underscores the practitioner's responsibility in providing guidance and preventing clients from getting distracted by shiny new objects, ensuring alignment with the established plan and objectives.
In conclusion, Jane seeks Sally's advice for aspiring Expert to Influencer practitioners, prompting Sally to encourage them to embark on the journey without hesitation. Sally emphasizes the transformative potential of the program and urges prospective practitioners to seize the opportunity for personal and professional growth.
Jane expresses gratitude to Sally for her insights and willingness to share her expertise, providing contact information for those interested in connecting with Sally. Sally extends her availability for further conversations and assistance, emphasizing her commitment to supporting clients and helping them achieve their goals. Jane concludes by encouraging listeners to follow Sally for ongoing support and guidance, highlighting her advocacy and dedication to client success.

Full Show Transcript:

[Speaker 1] (0:10 - 7:27)
Hi there, my name is Jane Anderson and welcome to today's podcast. I'm super excited about introducing our very special guest today. But before I do, I thought I would share with you a few things that are kind of happening around the traps and some events that are coming up and how you can get more involved.

So for those, if this is the first time you're listening, so my name is Jane Anderson, I am a strategic communications expert and I specialize in three specific areas. One is personal branding. The other one is content creation.

And then the third one is all around building a tribe and how to build a community of people around your message and for you as a leader. So I specifically tend to work with not just experts in their field, but particularly with people who help experts in their field. So I spend a lot of my time working with marketing consultants, business managers, and helping people who are practitioners out there working with some of the methodologies that I've built, particularly around a program called Expert to Influencer and LinkedIn and content creation and all sorts of stuff.

So feel free, I'd love for you to connect. I'm on LinkedIn, of course, I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram. And you can also go to jane-anderson.com.

And you can take the influencer indicator where you can identify your marketing and lead generation gaps and to identify particularly for you, if you are looking to become an expert in your field, you can identify the specific gaps that you have in your practice to help you to identify where you need to spend the time, energy, effort, and some time and actually rarely money. Everything that's in the indicator is everything that's in there is all things that don't cost anything. So you should be able to go in and identify where you need to start to be able to build your practice as an expert, to become an influencer, a thought leader, and to really be positioned in your field.

Some of the things we've been working on, I've just come off the back of a content creation boot camp that I ran on the Gold Coast last weekend. So I had an innovation expert, I had a resilience expert, we had someone who's an expert in insolvency, another one in deportment and etiquette. So we get such a range of people who have expertise in such a range of areas, which I'm super grateful to work with.

But the best thing is, is that the methodologies that I teach can apply to any of those. So we do have some more content creation boot camps coming up in 2020. So we have a virtual one coming up shortly.

So that's coming up in March. We have other ones coming up in great locations. We'll have Noosa later in the year and fingers crossed, I have booked it, we just haven't put up on the website, is Queenstown.

I don't know if you've been to Queenstown, but this is the perfect opportunity to come and do some awesome work, unpack your IP and your thoughts to be able to build your infopreneur practice if you like, and go to Queenstown and hang out with some cool people too. So if you haven't already, jump on the website, as I said, you can take the influencer indicator, you'll start to get information about programs that are coming up. And of course, that way you can stay in touch.

We also have a very exciting program, which is called Content Club, which I'll be releasing just in the next day or so, which will be super exciting. And it's even if you are outside Australia, like maybe you want some accountability to unpack your content, make sure you're doing that every month. If you jump on the website, I can't say too much, but by the time you hear this, it'll be out.

And, but what we'll be doing is I work with experts to help them unpack that IP and we jump on once a month and do that together. So really looking forward to seeing that come out. So you will see that very soon.

So however, but today, today I have a very special guest for you. And the reason why I'm interviewing this person is because I've been working with experts and in particular, not just business managers that work within their practice, but with marketing consultants who specifically work with experts in their field as well. So the challenge I was finding is that with marketing experts and marketing consultants is that the marketing methodology used to market an expert is quite often a little bit different than it is for a normal business.

When you're doing personality marketing or marketing a human being is there's a whole lot of extra work that goes into positioning, consolidating their message in the market, how they get on stages, how they get leads from the stage. You know, there's a whole lot of other different tasks, tactics that come out of a bigger strategy to make sure that their practice grows. So I have decided to interview our very first expert to influence a practitioner.

Her name is Sally Curtis. So Sally is an expert in, so her background was in local area marketing, but she's really known as the marketing problem solver. She's based in Adelaide and she's a strategic thinker, but she also has got this beautiful balance of being strategic as well as an implementer and getting stuff done.

She works specifically with consultants, coaches, trainers, thought leaders, all that space, and their business managers to help them stay clear in their focus and make sure that strategic implementation is really getting done. She's worked with a lot of Australia's leading experts and international entrepreneurs and she really helps them to really exponentially grow their practices and she has really innovative methods of putting planning in place, marketing, lead gen, and leading a team, and LinkedIn as well. So she's got over 25 years experience in marketing and business development and sales.

She has a number of methodologies she uses to really increase those sales, leverage resources, build connections, and what I love most about Sally is she truly cares. She is a huge advocate for her clients. She truly does treat them like they are her friends because they usually are and she has an incredible amount of trust and respect with her clients.

So what I wanted to do today was introduce you to her and jump on the podcast and listen to her. So let's take a listen. All right, so here we are and welcome to our very, very special episode today.

As I said, I have a fantastic guest today and I've been dying to get her onto the podcast and for her to share a bit of her story about how she's evolved her practice into becoming one of our Expert to Influencer Practitioners. So as I said in the intro, Sally is one of our very special Expert to Influencer Practitioners. She's based in Adelaide and she's our very first practitioner.

She's the most experienced practitioner using the methodology. So thrilled to have you online, Sally. Thanks so much.

I know how busy you are. So thank you so much for joining us.
[Speaker 2] (7:28 - 7:32)
You're most welcome, Jane. It's my pleasure. Thank you.

So welcome and hello, everyone.

[Speaker 1] (7:34 - 8:05)
So Sally, your background, so I've obviously gone through it in the introduction, but it's always great to hear from the person who's built their practice, because the people who are listening today are really people who are probably thinking about how to build their practice as either a marketing consultant, a marketing practitioner, even somebody who's implementing methodology. But walk us through, tell us about your practice, how did you sort of start, how long you've had it, type of people you work with, all that sort of thing.

[Speaker 2] (8:05 - 9:52)
Yeah, certainly. So my background is predominantly business development and sales, and I've done that across a number of different industries, both as an employee and an employer at different times. And I had a love of knowledge and training, so I found myself, like a lot of people, entrenched in the personal development industry, ended up being a crew member, and I really just loved that whole speaking, knowledge sharing, et cetera.

So I found myself working with some of the great Australian and international speakers, just at the time helping them fill rooms, so putting bums on seats, and I seem to be quite good at that. I've been very, very good at networking networks, and I've discovered the LinkedIn tool very early on, and probably didn't know what I was quite doing, but found it and continued on. So I've always had that role of coach and teacher and mentor and helping people to grow, and through that, my community have ended up calling me the marketing problem solver, which has been nice.

So that's where the practice sort of has evolved to, and now since doing the training, obviously it's evolved into really specifically helping the speakers and the trainers be more visible, but spend more time at the front of the room instead of behind the computer. So do a lot more implementation, a lot more looking at their practice with fresh eyes and seeing where their leverage spots are and their maximization spots are, and just helping them choreograph to get more leverage is something I really seem to hone in on and do very, very well.

[Speaker 1] (9:53 - 10:56)
Yeah, so Sally and I met as a result of being in PSA, which was terrific, and I remember when I got to see Sally speak, you know, you've come from a background of obviously marketing and working with, you obviously know a lot of speakers, but one of the things that stood out to me that you obviously had a lot of experience in and understood was local area marketing. And so, you know, sometimes it's being able to, for an expert, is to be able to make some of those transitions from, you know, I'm a local coach or I'm a local, you know, if I'm wanting to elevate my brand is sometimes they may have a little bit of understanding about how I market myself locally, but what you've done now is you've started to help people sort of go a little bit bigger, access this more online, build your message.

Would that be right? So what I love about what you do is you kind of got that remit of local right through to national and if not international, if they really want to do that.

[Speaker 2] (10:56 - 12:11)
Yeah, very much so. So the local area marketing came out of franchising. So and that was, for me, was the ability to work with, I had 17 or varied between 17 in my local patch to 170 when it was the national patch, was working with the different personalities, working with some fundamentals, but trying to get the fundamentals to work to the personality.

So it was understanding the individual and their inner genius and then how their patch works or how the specifics of their particular local area ticked, which is often different across the board, as it is with our speakers and our coaches, their audience is different, the way the states operate differently and those sorts of things. So it was understanding how they can elevate, as you said, their exposure in the local area marketing, local area market, then understand how they naturally operate and coming in with fresh eyes like I do, I tend to see the opportunities that they can't see that are right in front of them because they're so in their stuff or in their thing. So it's being able to leverage that and that then helps me, helps provide the catalyst to that bigger reach that they're looking for.

[Speaker 1] (12:13 - 13:04)
And Sally, so how is, you know, you've brought in this expert to influence and methodology, as I said, you're the person who one of our very earliest adopter and and you've taken it and run with it. So what made you, you know, you obviously had a lot of experience in marketing and for those who are listening, some I find are people who have gone, you know, I don't necessarily I feel like I haven't got as much digital skills. So I'm needing to build up my digital skills or they might have certain areas of marketing that they've kind of been able to work on.

And now they sort of want to expand. But in terms of your practice, like you obviously had great, great experience, great clients. And so what was the evolution and what made you start to look at, say, the expert to influence and methodology and how it applied to your practice?

[Speaker 2] (13:05 - 14:50)
Yeah, so for me, the big thing was I'd had success. I've worked with some great clients and I've created some great results. In reality, I probably didn't know what I was doing.

I was just absolutely just doing my thing. I was in that zone, which was great. But instinctively, I also knew that there was more to it.

There was more to me. There was more to what I could do. And I think when we first met and I came along, you said to me, why, why, why are you here?

And I said, because I've got gaps. I knew I had gaps, but I probably honestly really didn't even know what they were. Yeah.

So with the expert to influence fundamentals, it actually gave me the clear foundations of what was required to build a practice, whether that practice was for myself and or for my clients. And then across that, for me, I've been able to marry where my inner genius sits in all of those areas and then been able to systemize and then maximize in those areas. So, for example, the networking search, it was all about LinkedIn and the strategy that you do for that.

Well, I was all over that because then I could actually build a system and a productisation around that. And the same with the local area marketing and the visibility and how you set events up and all those sorts of things. So it not only filled my gaps, it leveraged my inner genius and my skills that I could then productise in a number of different ways and then being able to expand in different ways and be a greater service and create results that I could that were repeatable.

[Speaker 1] (14:51 - 15:33)
Right. So you already had some really good stuff. It is now sort of plugging this in into sort of complementing, I suppose, into what you already had, but also now being able to see the marketing skills that you have and where it sits in the methodology.

So you could kind of go, well, I put my expertise place here and they could still be able to make some choices around some other areas and you could still guide them. But you didn't necessarily have to implement all that stuff for them because you've got a bit of a balance of advisory or mentoring, if you like, and coaching as well as a little bit of something done for you if people are a bit stuck on things. Yeah, correct.

[Speaker 2] (15:33 - 16:31)
Yeah, very much so. So it's that cross between coach and sort of agency or strategic agency and that's that problem solving fits across the top. So when a client comes and they've got some clients who've got no team and they're needing somebody to implement some stuff or they're wanting to set up a team or they're just wanting to tap into a team that's trained that can get the stuff done for them.

So within the fundamentals, I can look at the fundamentals and have a very clear conversation with them. This is why I love the diagnostic tool, is I can have a clear conversation around, well, this is what the diagnostics has said. What areas do you feel you're needing to work on right now for the type of growth you're needing?

And then I can put something into play for them. And so that's more of the strategy. And then other times it's just the, hey, can you set up X, Y, Z for me because I don't know how to do it and I don't want to know how to do it.

I just want somebody to do it. Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (16:32 - 18:34)
Yeah, it's really just trying to keep people in that genius and so that they don't have to worry is that energy and time is better off spent for them in spending more time unpacking their IP, spending the time on their knowledge, writing books, writing their blogs, go get that stuff moving. So you've yeah, what I love about what you've got, one is that your approach with clients is total care. So you have you are such an advocate for your clients like you and the beauty of that is I think as part of being part of the E2I community is that I think that's something that comes up a lot with the practitioners that we've got is particularly people like yourself that have their own practices.

We know that one, they're going to be assessed properly and if anything, sometimes I've assessed and I've gone, well, here's the report, you know, and to be able to refer to a practitioner like yourself where you know they're going to get looked after, you know that they're going to be able to identify those gaps. Because when we're working with experts, we don't have, you know, they don't have an endless bit of money and equally neither do we. So, you know, we're also as much the case study, aren't we?

Going through the E2I methodology as we are with working with our clients. So what I think is valuable that's different, I don't know if you find this, but, you know, sometimes you can do a certification in something like a Myers-Briggs or, you know, or I don't know, leadership circle type, so you can do all these sort of different certifications and sometimes you're understanding the methodology or you're understanding the certification, but you're not actually applying it in your own practice all the time for yourself. So, but you are your own case study almost doing, being a practitioner, aren't you? So you're kind of walking your talk, really, when it comes to, not that you have to be perfect at all the 12 skills, it's more about that conscious choice that you're making choices that are right for you, yeah?

[Speaker 2] (18:34 - 20:01)
Yeah, very much so. And I think that for me, being my own best case study and doing, going through the certification with some smaller clients and sort of really ramping my own business up and getting some of that stuff into play in a much more consistent manner and then going, oh, wow, look at that result. Oh, wow, OK.

And then sort of seeing that and then being able to have those stories to share with people and then going, OK, if I had my time again, how would I do that different? What would I do to improve that? And that's where that, for me, clearly systems orientated and reverse engineering things to maximise it, basically to get back to the party.

So that's been being my own best case study and seeing the results of all of the fundamentals within that used at different times in unison with other ones, dropping the ball with others and sort of picking, you know, you know, then when you talk to a client or when you look at the diagnostic and then talk to the client, you can almost go, OK, if I was going to have to only pick three, I'd go with that one, that one and that one.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So for me, it's enabled me to adapt with very strong fundamentals that make a really big impact and difference to the client, but not have to create a cookie cutter model of this is what you must do.

Yes. If that makes sense. So it creates more as opposed to limits me.

[Speaker 1] (20:02 - 21:21)
Yeah, I love that because, you know, the modes of delivery like you could be working with the business manager, you could be working and sometimes I've got a capability internally that I go, well, actually, you know, my business manager's already got the database under control. And you go, awesome. Keep going with that.

You don't have I'm not going to waste my time, energy, effort. I'll just maybe have a quick look to make sure that what you've got is right. But let's not reinvent the wheel.

You're already doing that really well. Let's look at the next lot of low hanging fruit. And so you sort of, I guess what you're saying is you can cherry pick the pieces out, you know, because I don't know about you, Sally, as a marketer, I know for me when I started my practice, which is why the methodology was built, I just got sick of people saying, well, I don't know, you just got to try it.

You just got to see what works. You just got to see what happens. And I was like, and for most of us, like an expert, you know, that I can't look for this to fail.

Like I put my heart and soul in this. I've left my job. We don't, you know, like we can't really afford to just try something and hope it works.

You kind of need something that you can have, I guess, that conviction with and confidence that, you know, as a practitioner, exactly where to start with someone, depending on that result or the report that comes through.

[Speaker 2] (21:22 - 22:41)
Yeah. Yeah, very much so. And I think for me, that's why I've really loved it and stepped into it so well.

Having done so much personal development and doing all of the programs and I've been a lifelong learner, you know, there's a point where you can learn, you've done enough learning, but you need to, you've still got gaps. So for me, and that can be, that's a horrid cycle to get on. I've been on that.

You waste an awful lot of time and probably money, certainly money in my case. And you're not getting anywhere. And it's sort of like, I need this to work, but you're not sure why it's not working.

It's just because you're on this treadmill. Whereas with the 12 key areas, it's sort of like, this is it. This is the blueprint.

Now, let's just choreograph what's relevant for you right now. And with the difference of, as you sort of said, with me working with either the speaker or the business manager or overseeing the VA, the common question is, OK, what does it need to look like or what does it need to be to be easy for you? As in the business manager, great.

What does it need to look like or be for you as a speaker? And how do you need to make that work together? That's where I can then come in and go, OK, well, what we need to do, if you're already doing that, as you said, or I can come in and choreograph over the top of this and that'll help things move along.

[Speaker 1] (22:41 - 24:42)
Yeah. And that's what I love about your approach is that you always have such advocacy for people like you're always looking at. And I think that's I think for those who are thinking about being a practitioner is that it does take that level of advocacy as you you really are.

You can't take for granted that these people are in a vulnerable position and that they've they put their heart and soul into their business and that they're taking a lot of risk and carrying a lot of risk to make it work. So it really does take that level of care and advocacy to really think on their behalf because they quite often don't necessarily have the right questions to ask or know what they're looking for to be able to to contribute to the level that that you do. So I just love that you and it takes that mindset is that you've got to go.

This is this program is not about me. This is about how it will work for you, what will get you a return, even sometimes what they can afford to spend. So you go, OK, well, based on what you're spending, here's where the here's where your low hanging fruit are.

Here's where we'll start. Get the results there and then we'll worry about the next bit after that. Yeah.

Organic forward movement. I love that. I love it.

It's spot on. I love that. So Sally, in terms of one of the questions I get asked a lot is how how long it takes to do.

And I say to people, well, you can take a week to do it if you if you really want to get in and do the E2I certification and you've got a lot of things at your fingertips and you or some could take a year just to it's really pretty self-paced. But in terms of what you found, how long did it take you? I mean, you're so you're the kind of person who likes to get something finished and get it done.

So you're and for a lot of us that are marketers are like that. So how long did did it take you? What did you find through the process of being able to source?

Like you said, you were a case study on some things. Clients were case studies like just for you to pull the portfolio together.

[Speaker 2] (24:44 - 26:25)
And I remember starting it going, I'm going to get this thing now really quickly and then went, oh, OK, I need to do a little bit more in depth there. That's a little bit too superficial. So for me, it really it took me it took me the 12 months.

It took me using using it and understanding it and also systemizing it slightly along the way. I really thought I was going to get it now in three months because I thought I could pull stuff together. I'm glad I didn't because I'm glad I took the time to actually be the best case study for myself, for self-confidence, for clarity and then being able to understand the processes.

And if I was to do anything different again, I'd probably now look back. I'd probably systemize more in that I'd systemize, I'd work out what I was doing so I could go, OK, and just put some of that stuff in place sooner as opposed to having to go back and doing rework. I'm not a fan of my own rework.

I'd like to try and things to do them along the way. In saying that, though, I probably couldn't have done that until I got to the end and looked back. Yes, as Steve Jobs says, you know, you can't see it retrospectively.

Look back, then you can see. Yes. But for me, it was it was a great process to actually pull it all to pull it all together and to then see it all and then really see the journey of evolution and and really see where the trigger points were in my own practice.

And for those that I've done little parts of the portfolio with.

[Speaker 1] (26:25 - 28:17)
Yeah, that's great, because I think one of the things that I've been mindful of when building it was to set practitioners up for success that they I think what I find different with some methodologies is that as a practitioner, you can't start using the tools until you have the stamp. And that always frustrated me. And because they're like, well, how am I going to learn?

And so did you find because I know it's something that that for yourself that and a lot of the other practitioners is what we do a bit different is to say, well, you know what, if you as soon as you sign up, you've got access to everything is just start using it. You might not have your stamp straight away, but just start using it so that you can get the practice and you can start working on it with clients, because, you know, you're not waiting 12 months to access all the materials. You can just start working with it, sign clients up, just start because a lot of those like a practice like yours is you already had some really great relationships and started working with those people.

And it's sort of more like, did you find that because that was sort of increased, like you said, your confidence and your conviction around using it anyway, because you're able to just start applying it with the clients you already had. You didn't have to wait. And particularly when you're in a practice on your own, even for like yourself and myself is that we've got the same challenges is, you know, trying to throw certification on top of what you're doing.

If you can't if you've got to do all this work before you can even get the stamp that just it doesn't help you to keep growing your practice as you're learning. Did you find that that was useful or did you feel like you needed the stamp to feel like to have start working with it? Or did you find that you were able to just start using some of the tools straight away?

[Speaker 2] (28:17 - 28:58)
No, certainly being able to use the tools as straight going through the curriculum, starting to be able to use the tools like the diagnostic, understanding what that was really saying, working with some clients on a couple of areas based on what it was saying and then going, oh, actually, we've done this a little bit different. Or now that now that I've seen forward movement with that, that that element for you based on what I'm seeing you do, let's just do it like this. So being able to learn and tweak to see where the improvements were was absolutely gold for me.

And I couldn't have done that had I had to wait for the certification. I would have maybe even missed those learning opportunities had I had to. Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (28:59 - 29:21)
And so what's been the biggest shift for you in your practice since you've been using the methodology like in terms of the type of clients you don't have to go into revenue, but even even like as your revenue increased, like, you know, what have you noticed? And then for you personally, just in terms of you, you as a for your own development? Yeah.

[Speaker 2] (29:21 - 31:38)
So very much from a from a business or practice perspective, it's absolutely the product ization. And so prior to doing the certification, I was just good at lots of different stuff, but I couldn't label it and I couldn't necessarily explain it. Whereas overlaid over the fundamentals, I've got very specific things in this in the four categories that I do within my own zone of that in a genius.

So the ability to be able to product productize that and go, right, well, I'm really good as an example, if I use the LinkedIn again, I'm really good on I understand LinkedIn, and I've been using LinkedIn for lead generation and networking network. My word, it was networking networks. Now I naturally know it's lead generation and that that's that's actually an art form and that I do it in a very, very humanized, very connecting connected way.

And that's how I then tie digital into local area marketing. So that became a very strong product or product offering potential at the time. And the other one was that I can see the repurpose opportunities of people that have got lots of content that don't know what to do with it, and they want some visibility, but they've just got stuff.

Lots and lots of content is working out. Okay, well, how do I turn we took we've talked about, you know, turning one piece of content into lots of different things. Well, I can see that I can see that one into 15 really easy, and I can, again, direct or create that content.

So people have got a library of assets of different things that they can then use. And then with that systemization, I can go right based on your big keywords and your big key folders, here's some content that we can repurpose. So it's building some of those assets.

Would I have known that before doing the program? Absolutely not. I would have had no clue.

So that's just sort of two really quick examples of how I can sort of branch into some productization and specialization for specific things when it comes to marketing my own business. But I can say, hey, I do this thing really, really well. I still do the whole lot.

But you know, there's people that will come in for different different reasons. Yes.
[Speaker 1] (31:39 - 32:55)
And then in terms of your your growth, so it sounds like just in terms of like, you know, you seeing opportunities, not just for other people, but seeing opportunities for yourself, leveraging your expertise that you already had. So being able to, like you said, productize that and go, OK, now I can see that people find things easier to buy when they're productized. And I love that you talked about you've got four key areas.

You've got identified even that out of your practice. So you like instead of fixing everything, you know, sometimes that's the challenge that we're so good at what we do end up. And when you're known as just just ring Sally, she'll fix it.

Just ring Sally. You know, it's like that. Take it to a busy person because it'll get done is, you know, Sally's the kind of person she'll find a way even if she doesn't know how to do it, she'll work it out.

And, you know, you have such high trust factor with your clients, which is terrific. And then in terms of your your practice growth overall, in terms of like revenue, has it would you say you've had an increase in your revenue? Like what does that look like?

Does it you've had you've obviously starting now to create an agency as well. You've got a team coming on. What is all, you know, share what you're open to sharing?

Yeah.

[Speaker 2] (32:55 - 34:39)
What does that mean for you? So for me, it was in the very beginning, it was me and hourly rate. And so I replaced and just effectively created another job.

So with that product type productization. And for me personally, the the clarity of what it was that I actually did special do especially well. And then being able to easy being easy to buy and seeing the confidence and the clarity then in the customer.

It just really, really helped me be confident in my own abilities. And therefore, I was able to build the business. So, yes, the business has grown.

It's gone from me. Last year, we had we had between three and seven on depending on what we were doing with staff. And now I'm just just changing the models, the agency side of the business a little bit more.

So I still got the coaching side and the strategy side. And the agency side is more of that implementation on very specific areas. Coming back to the floor, I've got the have the stream.

So just building that out at the moment. So that's sort of the focus was focused for later in the year. But it's actually ended up speeding up because of some of the inquiries that are coming in.

And again, that's for me as a marketer. That's going, oh, that was what I was wanting. Speed to market.

OK, well, now I need to actually need to do this because I can be of greatest service right now in this area of people because I get it. Yeah, and I understand it enough to be able to to be able to then put a team in place because I've done the work and I've understood, I understand it and I can systemize it. And that just seems to be the next automatic step for me is being able to duplicate and clone myself.

[Speaker 1] (34:40 - 35:43)
Yes, and exactly. Because, you know, we're and this is what creates such empathy for our clients is that we go, OK, well, well, I get it. I'm going through it myself.

So, you know, we're on that journey with them quite often. So so that's terrific. What does it also mean for you, Sally, in terms of like you're in a community, obviously, and you're super busy, so we don't necessarily see all the practitioners faces pop up all the time.

But but having the I guess the community of experts, sorry, community of practitioners, you know, in terms of the long term support, one of the things that I could ask a little bit about is, OK, so do I do this and then I don't hear from anybody ever again? Is it some people go, what if I have a question? What if I don't know how to do something in particular?
I don't know how to talk to a certain client or, you know, so what's been your experience in terms of if you stuck? Some people do ask me about that. What have you found with that?

[Speaker 2] (35:44 - 36:52)
Community is awesome. One of the notes that I did write down for myself was tap into the community more so that when it comes to was there any advice I'd give anybody? Yes.

Tap into the community more. I wish I'd done more of that. The community is super, super duper supportive.

No question is a silly question because we've all asked them and that's where the greatest lessons come from. And you're obviously you're in there with the information that you're tapping in. My coaching clients that have tapped into the to the program.

That's the very first thing that I say. Tap into this because Jane's got super information in there. Ask questions, share, you know, if buts and examples of things you're trying to determine what you should or shouldn't do because everyone's gives feedback, which is constructive.

And also based on the same fundamentals that you're working on. They understand the journey that you're on. So it's not just opinion.

It's actually well founded, well based opinion on this traveling that same journey. So I think that's been the real key element of what I've been experiencing and what I now share with my community as well in relation to your community.

[Speaker 1] (36:53 - 39:16)
Yeah, look, that was one of the goals out of the program was to really help practitioners not feel as alone because, you know, the other challenges is that everything changes so fast when you're in the marketing game, you know, like, you know, that in some of its digital algorithms changed and, you know, all these things just go so fast that you what you're actually needing to do is to tap into people who are using parts of the methodology in certain ways that may or may not be like the type like it could be you could have one client that you go, I haven't seen this before. And so you're like, now what do I do? So that you're able to go to someone else who's perhaps, you know, like, I think it might be an area of it that you go, well, you know, I can do the basics in that, but you're not relied on, you know, to know all 12 skills inside out back the front, because it's likely that somebody in the group has probably implemented some of that to a certain extent, or maybe that's the specific area they've gone to town on, because, you know, maybe their practice is doing over a million dollars a year. So they've had more practice at that, or maybe, you know, like a podcast.

So for example, like someone like Oscar Trimboli, who's in the group, who's, you know, in the top been one is in the top 10 Australian podcasts in the country. He's just interviewed James Clear, you know, so someone like that, you can go someone's thinking about doing a podcast, you don't have to be a guru in podcasting. I think Oscar even put up in the group a couple of weeks or last week, you know, the ultimate podcasting guide that he came across and that he follows.

And like, so I guess it you and this is often a question that sometimes comes up with with people that reach out to me. So they will say, I feel like my I feel like they sometimes have come out of corporate or they've come out of like yourself, like it might be local area marketing or other certain areas and aspects of marketing. They go, I just feel like I don't have the digital skills.

But I don't know if I can learn Facebook ads. I don't know if I can learn SEO. I don't know if I can learn, you know, to do all these things.

Have you felt like that you've been under pressure to learn all those things? But in your case, you sort of sort of sitting a bit more strategic and high level and go, okay, here's what you need to do or what have you found?

[Speaker 2] (39:16 - 40:09)
So very much from the community perspective is absolutely is a brain brain trust. It's a great place to be able to ask questions. From my perspective, I haven't I don't want to learn Facebook ads and I don't do SEO and all those sorts of things.

I couldn't think of anything worse. But what I do know is a if I need a local expert within our community, I can probably find one. If I need and I from a networking the networks and the way I work with my agency, I know I can find somebody that's got the relevant skills.

So that's what from that strict strategy point of view, I know what needs to be done. I know roughly what the tool is. But I'm very clear on how that needs to look, feel and be for the essence of that speaker.

I just need somebody that can do that implementation. Yes. Under instruction.

Right.

[Speaker 1] (40:09 - 41:31)
Yes. Because you're the translator, right? Because you're going, yeah, here are the questions.

So it's not necessarily you have to get bogged down into doing it. But again, it's a big parts advocacy is that you're actually if the client needs. And it's also about sustainability, too, isn't it?

Like you're wanting your client to be to have this. So it's sustainable in their practice in the long term. If somebody comes in to do SEO and it's like, OK, well, you better have to be paying this $100 for them to do the SEO, 150 to do the SEO on a landing page or whatever.

So you go, yeah, not necessarily my expertise and not worth the time your expertise. But here's the purpose behind it. So as opposed to the expert trying to go, I don't know why I'm doing SEO again.

And I don't know what I need it to do. And those keywords, I don't know, those keywords don't really match what I sell. And then next thing the SEO person's going, oh, well, what are you trying to sell?

And these keywords, you know, maybe you should use these keywords. So you've got this confusion that goes on. And so have you found that that you've been able to sort of, I guess, stay in that translation space because of the advocacy that you're working for that client?

So it's just knowing the right questions to ask on their behalf, really, isn't it?

[Speaker 2] (41:31 - 42:21)
Yeah, very much so. And that's probably where the greatest clarity. And that's been a great insight just from our conversation today is understanding, OK, well, I need it to do this.

I need to ask the customer or the client, what does that need to look like for them based on who they're serving? Yeah, great. Now I understand that.

Now I need to find the right person that has the synergy and the adaptability to work from that space. Because, again, it's about energy matching and all those sorts of things that I could, you know, you can find three people that can do the job. But if they don't understand the essence of the person and the end result we're trying to achieve, then that might they might not be a right fit from a speed or efficiency perspective or an output perspective.

So it's that translate. It's almost translator and mediator.

[Speaker 1] (42:21 - 43:25)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, way to put it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I love that because, you know, I think it can be for a practitioner, they can get a little bit nervous that, OK, I've got to learn how to do all these exact things. And it's not so much you're not turning into an active campaign expert or a male chimp expert, or it's more knowing where you can get your hands on people if you have to. And you're just keeping the guardrails on and being able to help them just stay focused and not lose.

I think some clients can kind of end up in shiny new objects. And, you know, you're trying to just hold the space for them so that they're not losing time, money, energy on things that won't work. Because then they go, oh, I had this good idea.

And, you know, let's come back to the plan. Don't do that. So I think you've covered everything I wanted to ask you today, Sally.

So if you had any other advice or anything for anyone who's thinking about becoming a E2I practitioner, is there anything else you would have advice for them?

[Speaker 2] (43:25 - 43:55)
Yeah, absolutely. Just do it because you never know. Gold's going to come out of it.

You never know what your gold will be. Your gold will be different to mine. But out of that gold comes magic for you in your special way.

So I would absolutely do it. I'd do it sooner rather than later. So don't wait.

Take the opportunity because it's all there for you. And it really, really does make a really big difference. So definitely give it a whirl.

[Speaker 1] (43:56 - 44:12)
Thank you, Sally. I know how busy you are and really appreciate you jumping on today. There's some people who even may be listening today who even need your help as an E2I practitioner.

So if they want to get in touch with you or if they want to follow you, where are they best to go?

[Speaker 2] (44:12 - 44:41)
Yep. Best place is obviously LinkedIn. That's my little playground.

So LinkedIn, which is Sally A Curtis. Yes. And then Facebook.

It's I'm Sally A Curtis. So I am Sally A Curtis. Obviously, they can call me 0407 607 809 and find me more than happy to have a conversation with people and just help them have that forward movement.

Keep those guardrails on and keep their focus on the racetrack.

[Speaker 1] (44:43 - 45:19)
I love that. Thank you, Sally. So for those who are listening, I'm going to put Sally's details in with the podcast.

So you can jump on the website. You can go follow Sally. Make sure you follow her because she's such a great advocate for people.

And if you need someone in your corner who really cares and can be your eyes and ears when you're maybe a little bit lost with all this or equally to go and keep you in your genius so you don't have to worry as much about it, but you know someone's got your back. Sally's the one that you'd want to connect with. So thank you again for jumping on today, Sally.

You've kept you a little bit over time and really appreciate you jumping on.

[Speaker 2] (45:19 - 45:22)
You're more than welcome. Thank you very much, Jane. Thank you.