The #1 Thing NOT to Outsource in 2024

When you're not a marketer, and this is what I'm talking to you right now, because if you think of yourself as not a marketer, and so you think maybe I should hire a marketer, and I'm advising you against that right now as the you actually need to be that person, you need to figure out the way that it's going to work, you're going to be your best cheerleader, your best salesperson, you're going to be the person creating the messaging, creating the materials, like figuring out the way to say it, all of that is up to you. So you will need to be in the driver's seat there. It also allows for you to make changes and pivot quickly. If you're seeing that like, this isn't working, this is not getting any response, I need to try a different angle to have this conversation with people. And then you finally nail what's going to work to actually bring in more people into your world.

This is the Entrepreneur School Podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under 3am, a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out. On this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey, and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to Entrepreneur School.

Okay, things that you can outsource. And I have outsourced. And I mean, I've tried all of these things. So I'll share my own experiences, bookkeeping, email management, maybe some admin stuff, that is really just kind of like, takes up time. It doesn't require like your strategy, brain, and your vision and your voice as the face of your brand. Because if you're a solopreneur right now, what I highly recommend not outsourcing, is your marketing, your marketing, your visibility, whatever you want to capture underneath that umbrella, it may seem like a good idea to get a VA to create your social media posts. And sure that may actually result in you posting more frequently. But that's not actually the point of social media, the most important part of social media is actually the relationship building and the engagement that you can create. And you truly need to be the one doing that. So I've three reasons why if you'll stick with me on this little mini white paper that I'm creating in this episode for you, three reasons why to not outsource your marketing as a solopreneur, at least like in the first few years of your business for sure that until you get to the point where everything is already working really well. And you just want to turn it all up and explode it. That is when you can consider bringing in other people.

But if you haven't got the systems going fully, if it's not working like a well oiled machine, here is what you need to think about marketing and visibility is not just a box to check off. Okay, it's actually how you build your business. So visibility is about building your audience. And it's about building relationships. And that needs to be done with you. You need to be the face behind creating the relationships with the people who could potentially help you to reach more of the people that you're trying to reach. And to partner with to collaborate with to become affiliates for you and for your staff referral partners. All of these things. These are visibility actions or relationships that you need to be in the driver's seat of.

The second reason to not outsource is because marketing and visibility is actually how you learn about your audience. It's your opportunity to test your messaging, learn what's resonating with your people, and also figure out the most effective way to talk about what you do to talk about the problem that you solve. you be able to articulate it differently because it shifts, the more that you're practicing. The more that you're putting stuff out there, you're able to see if anyone's responding to social media posts, or you're getting replies back to your emails, or you get comments after you go on a podcast episode, or you actually meet somebody in person. And you say something just a little bit differently. And all of a sudden, it gets a different reaction. I'll share an example I, I'm always playing with this for myself, right, and trying to figure out the best way to talk to you about how to grow your visibility. And I went to an event recently, and I sat down at the table. And as you do, everyone asks, what do you do, and I said, I help entrepreneurs promote themselves. And right away that was like, Oh, you need that, right? Because when you're not a marketer, and this is what I'm talking to you right now, because when you think of yourself as not a marketer, and so you think maybe I should hire a marketer, and I'm advising you against that right now as the you actually need to be that person, you need to figure out the way that it's going to work, you're going to be your best shoe cheerleader, your best salesperson, you're going to be the person creating the messaging, creating the materials, like figuring out the way to say it, all of that is up to you. So you will need to be in the driver's seat there. It also allows for you to make changes and pivot quickly. If you're seeing that like, this isn't working, this is not getting any response, I need to try a different angle to have this conversation with people. And then you finally nail what's going to work to actually bring in more people into your world.

And so the last reason why to not outsource is that you are the voice and the face of your brand. And when you're the one doing it, you're creating a lot more consistency in the way that everything comes across. When you start adding a team, you have to be able to really articulate what your brand is and is not and what the voice sounds like. And you're giving another like layer of kind of a gap in between that, that where those things can break down. And that's not going to create the best version of your brand out there, then having personal connection is a really important piece, when you're able to actually reach out in your DMS yourself, be the one responding to emails be the one creating emails, people know that it's you. And they respect that. And they feel like you're treating them better and with more respect and like, like you care, right. And that's a really important part about building trust, building relationships, again, which is the purpose of all visibility. So it all comes down to the relationships that you're able to create in order to look relationships with people you might want to collaborate with, and relationships with people who come into your audience. And that you can nurture those relationships over time to eventually be able to make offers to the people who are coming in. And again, all of that language comes from practicing and being the one doing the marketing and the visibility in the first place.

So it is so important for you to master your own visibility. And if it's something that's a top priority for you this year, which I highly suggest that it is, then I would love to invite you to check out my program, the visibility revolution, it is your complete guide to building an audience full of quality leads. So you can consistently grow your pool of potential clients, for you to share your offers with it teaches you how to create a custom visibility plan so that you can implement it in real time and in less than 10 minutes a day. It's your answer to busting through the distractions and prioritizing the needle moving visibility building activities in your business. I know so many of us are guilty of doing things that we think are helping us grow. Like we're listening to more podcasts, hey, still listen to my podcasts. But this is not unless you're actually going to take an action from this, that is not doing something for visibility, right. It's a learning those things are important too. But we need to make sure that we're always connecting with somebody else prioritizing building relationships, and visibility. Those are the needle moving activities for your business. And I've identified what about 30 of them are to make it really easy for you to actually implement this. So inside of the visibility revolution, you're also going to build out the foundations for your visibility to ensure that you're creating effective content, putting in place systems that support you in email list building, and finding and applying for exciting opportunities to help you grow your audience and build your brand as the go to expert in your field. And you're also going to take action and build momentum every step of the way, seeing results before you even finish the eight week program.

But I just want you to know that as you're planning your visibility for this coming month, quarter and year, that this is the tool that is going to allow you to build that out, create the systems and rinse and repeat what actually works for you. I stand so strongly behind this program, because I built it from an experiment that I did, and that in my own business, and the results that I continue to get because I continue to make sure that I'm doing these visibility actions on a daily basis and creating relationships, the web has grown so much. As far as one, my email list has like quadrupled, like it doubles month over month because of some of the actions that I take inside, from doing some of the strategies that I share inside the course. And the relationships that I've built with potential collaborators who have been guests on my podcast, who've gotten me on their shows who have created. I've been asked to speak on summits to speak at events to speak in person stages. So I'm really excited about what it's creating, and how that's aligning with the goals that I have. And I teach you inside how to create your own goals and have a really core focus about what it is that you want to talk about and become known for, at least for the first 60 days. And build that out into content and into choosing the right strategies that are going to help you to get there.

You did it you just listen to another episode of the Entrepreneur School Podcast. It's like you just went to business school while you folded your laundry prep dinner or picked up your kids at school. Thank you so much for being here. I want to personally celebrate your commitment to growing your business. You can imagine I'm throwing confetti for you right now. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review. Make sure you're subscribed and let us know you're listening by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram. Head to entrepreneurschool dossier for tons of tools and resources to help you grow your business while keeping your family a priority. You can subscribe to our email list and join our community. And until next time, go out there and do the thing.