engage, ignite & expand with brandee sweesy · face book twitter twitter linked inlink google...

Episode 11

Engage, Ignite & Expand with Brandee Sweesy

facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

weekly webinars

IntroductionHey there! Thanks for downloading this weeks episode of the Mind, Money & Marketing Show!

Each week I interview a fantastic guest in the hope that their insights into their own experiences will inspire you on your journey to your dreams and goals!

Creating the life we desire is not always an easy path and we can all do with a little inspiration now and again!

If you’d like to watch the episode, you can see it over on my blog www.jobarnesonline.com

I also run free, weekly, content only webinars, so if you’d like to attend any of those, the links are at the top of each page.

In the meantime, grab a cuppa, sit back and have a read, as I have an absolute ball with the incredibly vibrant Brandee Sweesy!

Jo Barnes :)

! !

(2) www.jobarnesonline.com! Share This Document!

http://www.jobarnesonline.com/adtracking/go.php?c=freewebspdf


















http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://jobarnesonline.com/library/




http://twitter.com/home/?status=Download+Marketing+PDF's+for+FREE+-+No+Optin+Required+(via+@jobarnesonline)+http://jobarnesonline.com/library/+%23jbolibrary




http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http://jobarnesonline.com/library/




https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/confirm?hl=en&url=http://jobarnesonline.com/library/






http://www.jobarnesonline.com




facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

weekly webinars, weekly webinars, weekly webs

Jo: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Mind, Money & Marketing, where quite frankly, I interview the best in the business. There's just no two words for it.

And today, I have got another amazing guest. This lady is just a bundle of – and you think I'm energetic, wait until we speak to this lady. She is a bundle of energy. She's actually a Hangout specialist, but she's much, much more than that. She comes from a background in corporate marketing. She's been advising businesses on how to grow their brands and how to grow their presence for years and years. And now, what she's wanting to do is really help the small businesses online, small businesses ofOline, to really use Hangouts and video and online marketing techniques to grow their presence and brand online.

So I would like to introduce you to the absolutely lovely – you're going to love her from the minute you see her – Brandee Sweesy. Hello, Brandee.

Brandee: Hello, my love. Oh my God, the best of the best? You're the best! I'm so excited to be here. And yeah, before we even came on air, it was like, hi! hi! What are you doing? Let's have some fun!

So yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super honored to be here.

Jo: Oh, it's great to see you. And I know that Brandee, if you have a look at where Brandee is, she just moved into a new house today. So she's all set up in her new house with that lovely windows going on behind you and the lighting reOlecting off the window. It’s all looking good. Are you settling in?

Brandee: Yes, and it's funny, we were talking about that. I haven't quite gotten my lights kit set up to not reOlect off of the windows, so we're going to go buy the chandelier. But I am super excited to be living in San Diego. And we're in the beautiful downtown. You can't see the water because it's dark out right now, but you can see the water from here, so I love it and we've got to get you to move here. We're starting a petition.

! !


























facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

weekly webinarsJo: Petition Jo to America! It looks really good with the lights reOlecting off

the window. It looks a bit Christmas-‐y. You know, we're coming up to November now, getting a bit Christmas-‐y, you know?

Brandee: Yeah. Yes, so let's make the Hangout person feel better about her horrible lighting, thank you so much.

Jo: No, no, I don't think it looks horrible at all. I haven't even got any lighting. I've just got reOlection of palm trees.

Brandee: Yes, yeah. No, it's horrible! It's just hideous, horrible those palm trees in the backdrop, yuck!

Jo: It's just a backdrop. It's just a backdrop, it's not real.

Anyway. Okay, so Brandee, we're here today to talk about all sorts of things. Mainly, we're going to talk a little bit about Hangouts and using them for business and then, we're going to talk about some general stuff about marketing and breaking through your fear and doing what you love to do and all that kind of stuff.

So what I would love to start with is you giving us a bit of background about you, because it does seem like you've exploded onto the scene in the last few months. But I know that prior to that, there's been a lot of work that's gone on on your end in order to be able to do what you're doing now.

So give us a bit of background and tell us who is Brandee Sweesy?

Brandee: Well, when I know the deOinitive answer of that, I'll let you know. But I will give you a little bit of the back story.

I've been in marketing on and off for 20 years. I kind of tried to steer away from it; I got into public speaking, I'd go back to marketing and it was one of those things where I just didn't really realize my gifts and I know that we'll probably talk about mindset, as well.

And then, I came on the scene into internet marketing speciOically and went through a lot of the same struggle. So we can elaborate on that, you know, trying to Oind my voice and Oigure out my brand and being the consummate consumer and not the producer.

! !






















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

weekly webinars And then, I kind of, you know, I was holding my feet to the Oire.

Branding and strategy are my two big areas of strength and I was trying to hold myself to a brand that I was not fully committing to and I was procrastinating, like most entrepreneurs and I decided to do a Hangout.

I got 500 viewers and I was like, what? Why isn't everybody doing Hangouts? And I started looking around and nobody was doing them yet and so I jokingly said at that point, I was really on the bleeding edge. And so my ‘overnight success’ was really I tripped over something and saw the value and then, became the person that said, think about this. Think about strategy. Think about engagement.

Like, I own that trademark, Engage! Ignite! Expand! I trademarked that a couple of years ago, not knowing exactly how I was going to use it and then, it's kind of become my mantra for Hangouts.

So that's the Reader’s Digest version. We can go deeper on any level because I'm more than happy to talk openly about myself, but yeah.

Jo: That's fantastic. It's funny you should say that, because when I started Facebook, it was because I tripped over it. I literally – I wasn't sure which direction I was going in and I just tripped over it and the next thing you know, I'm out there teaching people how to do Fan Pages and all the rest of it. Isn't it funny how things sometimes just pop up in front of us?

Brandee: Yeah and it's always funny because we're searching, searching, searching and I remember hearing this a couple years ago is that we're always chasing our passion, but you won't know what your passion is until you take the next step. And then it's like, oh, does that feel good? Does that feel good? Oh, the next one. And now, it deOinitely is my passion, again, because of the engagement, the humanization of your brand. The opportunity that you're in Thailand and I'm here and that we're having fun and we already felt like we knew each other. You know, all of that, that's really what makes it exciting.

! !








































facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

weekly webinars And same with Facebook, as you know. You know, that whole

connection. And who knew? If you would've told me a year-‐and-‐a-‐half ago that I would be doing Hangouts, I'd be like, what? I don't even know what that is. No. Is that techie? Oh God no, I'm not going to be doing that. No.

Jo: So, your company now, BrandeeSweesy.com, is really – you do a couple of things, don't you? You produce Hangouts for people, so you actually go and you help moderate and you do all that kind of stuff and you also now teach people how to use Hangouts for business. Is that correct?

Brandee: Yeah, it's actually threefold. This is another like ‘oops, I fell into this.' I was doing the Hangouts for business and I had the Hangouts for business product and then, I was being offered money consistently to produce shows and I initially had wanted to have my own show, but I was like, yeah, I'll help you start yours. No problem and if you want to pay me, great, that would be fantastic. So I coined the term ‘Hangout Producer’, which I pretty much made that up. And then, when the demand was getting higher and higher, I said, well, wait, this is going to be a really huge market. I should create a product for people that want to be producers.

And so I created Hangouts For Business Producers Academy, which is a very active group and they're the pioneers in the Oield and they're deOining all of that. So it's been one of those, again, like, oh, look at the demand of the market and get in there.

Jo: That's fantastic. What a great idea. Hangouts For Business Producers Academy. That's so good. That's such a great niche. I'm always nagging my students to pick a niche, you know, focus in a niche and you picked an amazing niche there.

And you're getting a lot of demand for that, yeah? You get lots of people that want to go out there and be Hangout Producers?

! !






































http://brandeesweesy.com

http://brandeesweesy.com



facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

weekly webinarsBrandee: Yeah, you know, and the beauty – like tonight, right before this call, I

was on with my Hangouts Producers elites. They're the ones – and they all have a very unique specialty. One is very much in broadcasting, so he's going to help broadcasters to get on. Then, another one is a start-‐up and he wants to teach single dads, but he also wants to produce. He did this great charity event and he did a 24-‐hour Hangout social media-‐a-‐thon and raised $10K on 10/1 and then, there's another one that has a whole broadcasting, TV show background that is a producer and also does local marketing. Then, there's another one that's going to be running summits and so, they've all niched into their own producer's niche. They're pioneering and I love it. It's so exciting because I can't do it all and I'm like, oh, and do this, and oh and you can do this. Oh, well this could be your niche. They're going to lead the Oield and deOine the industry and it's very exciting.

Jo: So this is – this is incredible because, obviously, in any business, in my business, for instance, you get very, kind of, embroiled in your own space and what's happening right here and, of course, all of my teachings with Hangouts and stuff are how to use them for marketers online who are building their business. But you were just talking there about loads of different ways to use Hangouts that far exceed our little space on here.

So talk to us about the potential for Hangouts, because you're obviously really excited about them.

Brandee: Well, I just got off with my group, right, so it just makes me even more excited because I love that these guys are willing to be pioneers.

You know, this is one of my conversations, you know, one of the biggest mistakes that I see and I made this in the beginning with Hangouts, is trying to market to our peers. Our peers don't need our help, right? The people, I don't want to say behind or below because that sounds negative, but, you know, the people that know a little bit less, they're the ones that actually need your help.

So, we all live and breathe social media and marketing and email responders and stuff, but if you were to walk out the door right now and ask a local business have they ever heard of Hangouts, they would look blank and so same with most industries.

! !








































facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

weekly webinars So it's really – and I’ve got to say, I read this article just a couple of

hours ago – I can pull it up or we can send it out to your people – but it was talking about that Hangouts are going to change broadcasting dramatically. Like, the way that we look at broadcasting – like Google Glass, if you look, they've got HD. Now they're more about doing engagement. Now you can do that Q&A app. We can do these kind of branded things. We can do sound boards and control room. I mean, you could put on a truly big production.

But back to what your audience would be more interested in is going into, like, your local restaurant and saying, hey, let's do a weekly show here. I'll teach you how you're going to rank higher. Hangouts rank higher than YouTube videos, period. End of story. One, because it's Google's baby.

But here's a secret ninja tip that I'm only going to share with you, Jo, and your audience. If you have live events enabled on your YouTube channel and you go in before you even push start broadcast and you go into that live events and you keyword and optimize that video, you will be number one. And the reason being – and my web guy, my trafOic and conversion guy, explained this to me tonight – is that they are doing it because it's like a press release. What's the newest, latest, greatest, best-‐est? Now, it's Google's baby. It's a YouTube-‐Google product and it is the latest, greatest, best-‐est information that's out there.

Jo: Wow, okay. So, I'm skipping a few questions here, actually, because this is way down on my list. But with what you've just said, with this particular show that I'm doing here, the Mind, Money & Marketing Show, what I do is I do it live, but it's essentially pre-‐recorded because I don't tell anybody about it yet. So if people turn up and they have a little look and they manage to Oind it, happy days, they'll be watching live but 9 times out of 10, most people don't know it's happening and my Google page at the moment hasn't exploded, it's quite small. So nobody knows it's happening.

So then, what happens is once it's on YouTube, I unlist it and then I download it and then I edit it, add in a little intro, my little Mind, Money & Marketing intro and a little outro and then, I re-‐upload it and then I tag it and put in my keywords and everything.

So do you feel that I might be losing some juice by doing it that way?

! !






















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Brandee: Sadly, yes. But you know, I wanted to – like, when I went and looked at your show, I was, like, beyond ecstatic. I don't know how many clients I've told to do everything that you're doing with the podcast and the transcription. All of that is amazing. But yeah, you're losing a little bit of juice.

And we talked about this brieOly tonight in my private group. The way to keep the content protected – and you said it exactly right, you know, like a bonus if somebody happens upon it, right? But you're trying to drive them to one location, which is, again, you are the master of this.

When you asked me to be on the show, I was like, you got this, girl. You don't need me. But yes, you do lose a little bit of the juice in doing it as a Hangout, then yanking it back down and downloading it.

Here's what I will suggest that you do. If you take that main Hangout and you go into YouTube editor and you do a ‘save as’, then you can edit out in any direction like in YouTube editor and take a clip that's a highlight reel of some type, like the best moment on the whole show that's a minute or a half and then, just re-‐save that, you know, some title that's associated with your Hangout and then, have an external annotation so that that's a trailer to then Olip you to the longer version when you're ready to add that. And then I would put your pre-‐recorded as unlisted and instead of ripping it down, then in that same YouTube editor on the original Hangout, you could add an intro and an outro. Right? And then just market as available at that point.

I mean, that would be a couple of things. If you want to stay on the same program that you're doing right now, I would try to get as much juice out of it as you can. But ideally, because it's happening now is when it's going to rank higher than a standard YouTube video.

Jo: Yeah. So do you use events? Do you use events with your Hangouts on Google+?

Brandee: You know, what skyrocketed me to fame is I am like the – I'm not even on G+. I mean, I'm there because you have to be there, right? There's G+ experts and I certainly suggest that everybody learn G+ and get more familiar with it.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

But my real claim to fame is that I'm a strategist, Oirst and foremost, so I do not believe that you drag your audience unwillingly to a new platform. You want to take the Hangout to where they're at. So if they're hanging out Facebook, take it to Facebook.

Now, ideally, the best strategy is to drive them to your website, because people aren't savvy enough, just like what you were talking about to go check your G+ page and see if you've got anything going on or go check your YouTube channel and see if you have anything going on. So you should be driving them to a website, asking for the email address and then, Olipping to that watch live page.

That's the easiest for every user across every platform. Now, you can get more creative and stream it live on your Facebook page or do a G+ event, if your people are familiar with it. But in the beginning – like my very Oirst Hangout, I had a G+ event, I had a Facebook event, I was sending you to a web – I mean, I cannot believe anybody ever found it, much less watched it because I couldn't Oigure out where you're supposed to watch it and that's when I became kind of known as the person that kind of cracked the code on it and it was just kind of like, well, why wouldn't you drive them to your optimized press site, ask them for an email, Olip them to the live page, put a comment box below and call it good? I mean, we already have all of those tools in place. So that's how I would do it.

Jo: I love your thinking. I love your thinking, Brandee. So basically, where you're coming from – which I really like, by the way – is you're coming from a place that says, you know what, the main objective here is to raise your proOile, raise the proOile of the brand, have people see who you are, engage with people, all that kind of stuff. That's kind of Oirst and foremost, right and that's more important than, am I going to rank if I do it as a Google event on SEO on Google+ or am I going to hit the G+ community or am I going to suddenly come on search engines? Because I think people get really caught up in that, you know? Oh my gosh, I need to make sure I've got my SEO and I need to make sure I'm going to rank and I need to blah, blah, blah, blah. But at the end of the day, Matt Cutts has come out and openly said that Google will reward inOluencers, right? So surely, the most important thing is just to get the content out there and build that engagement and community because that in itself is going to help ranking. Am I on the right track here?

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Brandee: Yeah, again, I won't speak to any G+ authorities of any type, but I mean, it's quite obvious that if I put my Hangout on my website, it's essentially a back link, right and if I'm engaging with the people on my website, I'm gaining authority and I'm current, so my Hangout's already in Google there, you know, with a little bit of thought on the Oirst page. So you're already engaging with your community and making a statement like that and this is where a lot of G+ experts are doing a lot on Google.

But again and you know this, being in social media, right? The overwhelm of trying to learn every single platform is a disservice to yourself and to your audience that needs to hear your message. Master a thing at a time and become good at it, become comfortable with it and then, onto the next.

But ideally, it's always about being with your people, engaging with your people. Being able to have, you know, close the empathy gap. That's just another thing that I love about Hangouts. It's very real, it's very raw, you know, I'm human, I make mistakes. So we're closing that empathy gap instead of that elusive authority, right? I mean, I think that we want to move more into, you know, this humanizes us. This makes me real, this makes you real. This is why we felt like we knew each other. That's really, you should be focusing on your audience. Who cares about rankings? Your people are going to Oind you. You’ve just got to Oigure out – making sure that you're in front of them so that they can Oind you, instead of trying to drag them unwillingly to something they don't want to do.

Jo: I love your thinking. I love where you're coming from with that.

So a lot of people, Brandee, I think get hooked up on the technical aspects. They think, oh, I don't know how to do a Hangout, it's too techie, I don't really understand it, what do I do? Rah, rah, rah. Have you got any kind of beginner’s tips?

Brandee: Yeah, it's not as hard as they make it sound. You know and I have a product. So get in there and bang around. You're not going to break it. It's not like you're going to break the Internet.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

There's a lot of fun buttons in here, but I advise my clients, like, stop touching the buttons. The only thing you need in a Hangout is screen share, maybe the toolbox to have some fun lower thirds and call it good. Don't be trying to bring in videos. Don't try to, you know – I mean, if you want to have fun with the effects and things like that, do that. You just get in there and have fun.

Again, the biggest thing that you're doing is the humanization of your brand – that's my latest line. You really want to humanize your experience with that. So the techie stuff, don't get overwhelmed with the techie stuff. I think the biggest thing that, you know, and I suffer from this as well, so I say this not as a judgment, but we get so caught up in analysis paralysis, having to be perfect or we have to know everything before we start.

You know, the people that are jumping in there now fearlessly are the people that are going to be leading the pack and you're going to be doing the ‘I should have joined Facebook back then,’ you know? Just get in there and have a good time.

Techie tool wise, I have my iPhone headset on. I have my MacBook Pro webcam. I have my little snowball for the microphone and I had these things. I also say, don't buy stuff until you're actually going to be doing this consistently and making money.

Never ever – okay, so here's my big huge tip, because I think you were asking for more speciOics. I worry to share this publicly, because somebody came into a Hangout the other day masturbating. But when you do the ‘invite people’ the traditional way, you're not in control of your end users’ experience. So it's not just a given that the people get the notiOication or they get an email to join. So the quick and easy – and please keep in your mind, picture somebody coming into your Hangout and doing something inappropriate. There is a basic link that you just copy and paste and share with your audience – and maybe we can do a screen-‐shot or I can send a cheat sheet or something – that you can share and that's your ease of use. I think that would be the biggest challenge and the most frantic contact I get is like, I can't get my people into the Hangouts! How do I get people into the Hangout? So maybe, we'll share that in a document or something, like a little screen-‐shot so that they don't, you know...

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Jo: What a great tip! No, but it's so important. That's a really, really great tip.

I’ll never forget, myself and my friend doing a Hangout, my friend and a colleague once and we didn't invite people into the Hangout but there were people commenting on YouTube and, I suppose, because Hangouts were so new and so public and all the rest of it, we just had this guy – I've never experienced it before – that was just, gosh, he was commenting and posting really terrible, terrible things. So terrible I had to turn the comments off because it was just so completely distracting me. So yeah, you've got to look out for the oddities.

Brandee: I mean, you know, we're on a public platform, so you kind of expect – I mean, I had somebody ask something very crude on one of my Oirst Hangouts, and I was like, um – and I was on air and so I was, like, oh and so-‐and-‐so said, ah, thanks for the offer, but no. Next! Call them out, you know what I mean?

Jo: Oh, bless them. They're just looking for a bit of attention.

All right, so Hangouts and webinars. Do you see a time when you think Hangouts will replace webinars?

Brandee: You know, when I Oirst got into this, I always say that I was on the bleeding edge and I really Oirmly believed, I was shouting it from the rooftops that this was the replacement for GoToWebinar and I had to Oight and Oight and Oight and this goes back to trying to market to your peers, people were not ready for change at that point.

My positioning currently and I understand the advantages, I've seen we're both in a similar group, there's a lot of internet marketers and I see everyone's point. Here's my position on this – stop trying to make it replace it. It is something completely new and different. It was never destined to be a replacement of anything else or it would have been called, you know, GoTo something.

What happens is is when people try to replace the webinar platform with a Hangout, they try to do it exactly the same way. Well, it's not meant to replace it. It's meant to enhance it.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Now, I do think that – my answer is yes, I think it will, but I wanted to preface with saying it's a totally different platform. The idea is that I'd be able to look you in the eye – now, any great speaker does not do a lot of SlideShare, so stop trying to share so many slides in your presentation. That $500 a month program only allows you to share slides. Stop thinking like you're on that platform. Think like you're on a new platform. Have your calls to action up there. Pop up a visual here and there of a custom overlay. Control your audience. Have some type of comment tracker. So what if it's not private or anonymous? It's much more human and it's going to bring you much more – we know people buy from who they know, like and trust.

This is yet another opportunity for people to get to know you on, you know, stuff happens. My backdrop's falling on my head, my slides didn't work, I mean, things have happened. So just to – yes, the short answer is yes, the long answer is understanding that they are two separate things and it was never intended to replace. But it certainly could have the potential if you could just expand your mind just a little bit that it could eventually do it and it's free so, you know.

Jo: Yeah, absolutely, yeah. It's a lot cheaper than going to a webinar. I think the reason that a lot of people were saying, oh, it this going to replace webinars, is because of the list-‐building aspects of webinars. Of course, when you host a webinar, people register and of course, Hangouts are public events. So how do you use Hangouts for list-‐building purposes?

Brandee: Again, it's all about strategy. You know, I'm always shouting from the rooftops about strategy. So the idea is that, yes, you and I know that if I wanted to, I could go Oind this video on YouTube right this second. You and I know that I could go to your G+ page. But the average person does not.

So you are always driving trafOic. Just like your webinar people, you're driving them to a page where they enter their email, where they get a notiOication. Now, here's the other advantage – no one has to download any software. So then it takes them – like, the Hangouts for businesses is designed that way. It's on optimized press one, not even two. They land on it, they put in their email, boom, they're taken to the watch live Hangout page. They don't get to see that page until they enter their email. That's just how it works.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Now, yes, if they're internet marketers and they're savvy, they could probably track it down on YouTube or the second that the broadcast ends, I mark it as unlisted and the only way you get to see it is if you enter your email address and that's how I would use it for list building.

And here's the thing, when there was the big, this happening within the internet marketing community about the list build, okay, so I have a list, I send it out to my list, they register for the webinar. That's as far as my reach is going to go. Now, if I put a Hangout on air as a webinar, it's listed on the G+ page, it's listed on the Hangout on air page and it's on YouTube. Wouldn't it be just hideous if someone outside of my list happened upon my free content? Oh! I can see why they're just up in airs about this.

You know, if you have a strong enough call to action, you have something here that's driving them somewhere. Your content is really good and really compelling, you've got a new audience member that no amount of money would've ever been able to Oind and, more than likely, international.

Jo: I'd just like to really add to that, if I can. We've started releasing PDFs. Just, you know sort of 2,000, 3,000 word PDFs on different marketing things that people can do and we've decided to just get rid of the opt-‐in. I just thought, do you know what? I don't want every man and his dog opting in to get that one free report, but that person then doesn't really want anything else from me. They just want that free report and so, I then send them emails, I then get complaints because they actually don't want any emails from me, they only wanted that one report and then it all kind of goes haywire from there.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

So what we're doing with PDFs is that we've got a link in the PDF directing people to sign up for our weekly webinars. So if they want more content from me, they can register for my weekly webinars. But they get the report for free, without having to opt in and the Hangout is very similar. You're out there doing your content and what you're doing is you're essentially showcasing you and your knowledge before you're actually asking the audience to do anything and then, then those people that really like you and that want to take further action are then going to be the people that click through, that then opt in to come to a webinar or get more content or watch a video and then, those people are far more likely to build a relationship with you and go on to work with you, et cetera, than people who you're just almost bribing to opt in all the time just to get their name and email address.

Brandee: Yeah. 1001% agreed. You and I are singing the same tune. That's why we like each other so much, because it's the truth. You know, when you do the bribery, they're just trying to get something for free or to knock it off or to cut and paste it, you know what I mean? But if somebody actively seeks you out and goes through the effort to come and join your list, that means they want to hear from you. There was no bribery, there was no – and I think that the tide is turning away from that, you know, let me give you these free things and you give me your email. I sincerely believe that. And I think this is a great example of it.

Jo: So, I want to move – I'm about to move off Hangouts, because I want to talk a bit more just about business in general. But before we do, Brandee, have you got any kind of real sort of nuggets that you just want to share, just generally, about Hangouts for people who are out there beginning to build their brand and online presence?

Brandee: Yeah. You know, people that have been afraid of video – again, this goes back to humanizing your brand and if you do video, you over think it and you start scripting and then, you get in videographers and then, you have to have editing and then, you have to have intros and then, your brain explodes and it stops you in your tracks.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Just open your laptop, turn it on and tape and if it's the worst thing you've ever seen in your life, go in and delete it. But until you start getting comfortable with it, you want to be ahead of this curve. I assure you, you know, the article that I was talking about earlier in the show is, it is going to change and again, I'm not some big G+ person out here screaming that. But Hangouts, for sure, are going to change the face of marketing. This is your opportunity to engage on the deepest level possible with your people at this time. So do not miss this train and don't be doing one of these in six months, because in six months, you'll be doing that, without a doubt.

Jo: I've been seeing some Hangouts, I've been watching some Hangouts actually, out and about with guys doing sales Hangouts where the SalesStar webinars, which are still very popular and still work really, really well, where you do the kind of 60 minutes of content, then you do like a 10 or 15 minute sales pitch at the end.

I mean, watching these guys do them on Hangouts now where they're doing it face-‐to-‐face and I've never seen anything so powerful. It's so much more powerful seeing somebody saying to you, this is my product. I believe in it. This is what I think you can achieve and then, having other people that have maybe already done the course in the Hangout saying, we've done it and this is what happened to us and we've done it and this is what – I mean, God, it's such a powerful tool. I'm really excited by Hangouts and I'm going to be using them a lot more in my marketing as I move forward. I think they're brilliant.

Brandee: Yes. Yay! Yeah.

Jo: Just the power of the – it’s face-‐to-‐face, it's the next best thing to being face-‐to-‐face. I've always said that the Oirst way, the best way to create rapport and get to know your customers was in a seminar room, face-‐to-‐face. There's nothing better than it and then, I said your second way is webinars, because it's the next best thing. You can create that rapport, they can hear you. Now all of a sudden, Hangouts have come in and they've taken seminars online. I mean, you can't really get much better than this.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Brandee: No, absolutely not. You know, tonight we were in a mastermind with my group and I in a Hangout. We're all in a synergy, it's like being in a seminar room and we're around the globe as well, you know, the UK, Hawaii, all over the U.S. You know, we're all just sitting there engaging with each other and seeing each other and seeing each other's reaction. I love it, clearly. That's why I'm a Hangout person.

Jo: Absolutely brilliant and I would just like to say as well to people watching that if you are scared and you are worried, you don't have to go straight into a Hangout on air. You can just try it with a friend. You can just do a normal one-‐to-‐one Hangout. You don't have to go straight into doing the broadcasts and stuff, do you Brandee?

Brandee: No and I say, like, bang around in a private Hangout for a little bit and just get comfortable with it. Get comfortable with being on camera, test it out a little bit, look at your lighting, you know? Have a little bit of fun with it before you go on air.

I mean, I have a bunch of testings, where I'll go on air for a minute or two and just babble and then, I go back in and delete it because I'm testing something or I'm looking at something or I'm testing the ranking of something.

But yeah, you know, our ego is so big that we think thousands of people are watching us every single moment and the reality is – you know, I was joking about this earlier today – the reality is that I could do ads and marketing and post it and do events and I'd still be lucky to get 50 people on my Hangout. So the chances of millions of people coming across your little two-‐minute testing Hangout on air are pretty slim to none, you know what I mean? So don't worry about it. Do it, have fun and be gentle with yourself. Stop being so hard on yourself. I hate HD as much as anybody, but it is what it is.

Jo: We were just talking about that before we came on.

So, Brandee, before we go, I just want to talk a bit about self belief, because my audience that watches these shows, they're very responsive to mindset and I'm always kicking them up the bum and sending them motivational messages and telling them how they can do it and all that kind of stuff.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

But I know – I don't want to pry too much into your private life, but I do know that before you kind of went into doing the Hangouts and stuff, you had a bit of a wobble, you were kind of really soul-‐searching, trying to decide what your niche was going to be, where you were really going to position yourself, what your purpose was, if you like. And then, you kind of – you've obviously come through that. But coming through that – because a lot of people are stuck there, what is my purpose, what do I want to do, what niche should I be in, what the hell am I going to do? So many people are actually stuck right there. So how did you get yourself from that point to moving forward to where you are today?

Brandee: Yeah, it's funny, I think it's kind of like that, you know, we're all waiting for that lightning bolt or that aha moment that deOines our life or oh, this is my purpose and I don't know how many times I've said that, oh, this is my purpose, oh no, this is my purpose and I think that we have this – and I'll share this personal story with you. I had given up everything and I went out in the woods for Oive months by myself waiting for the divine lightning bolt that was going to crack my head and the only big aha moment was to never live in that state or in that town ever again. That was it. That was all that happened. The whole Oive months that I was there was never ever live in this state and I refuse to speak in that state. That's how bad it was.

I think that we're always chasing some type of – you know, I think this is really a worthiness issue and it's personally, for me, I battle, is a worthiness issue. Well, look at them, they're so on purpose and God hates me and where's my purpose and you know, we're out there seeking it. You know, your purpose is what you're doing. I fought this most of my life, as well. It's like, marketing is my purpose?

I'll share this other story, just on a worth piece. I was invited to this insane event, 25 Women of InOluence. One was curing cancer, another one was feeding children around the world, another one was – and then, they got to me and I was like, I do Hangouts. Uh, yeah. You know what I mean and those women came up to me and they're like, you help people share their message with the world. So stop being so timid about it. But you know, this was just a couple of weeks ago, I was like, yeah, I do Hangouts. You know?

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Like, none of us are dodging the worthiness piece and the reality is, is this constant seeking for some grand vision. The reality is that you're here, you have something to share and it doesn't have to be this global thing. I mean, be the change you want in the world. Work on your sphere of inOluence. Make someone's life better. That's your mission. Make yourself better. That's your mission, then taking that into business is really to stop chasing the shiny ball and to really Oind your voice.

And when I went through the wobbly part that you're talking about, I was consuming everyone and comparing myself to everyone and I was starting to sound like everyone and I had lost my own voice in that process. And I think that really – here's my big marketing tip, particularly in this entrepreneur space – you are your brand. You create products. So all of these people that get so caught up their brand and their mission and their vision, get very clear on who you are. All of my branding, I have a branding process, you know, what are your three words, what is your tonality, what is your mission statement? My words are bold, real and inspiring and I check in with myself. Am I being bold? No, I'm being a chicken shit. You know, am I being inspiring? Nope, you're being a whiner. Am I being real? Nope, you're buying into your own illusion. Right? I have to check in with myself periodically to make sure that I stay on target with that.

So Brandee Sweesy is my brand. I happen to create products that relate to Hangouts. So, really embracing who you are.

Jo: Who you are, yeah, that's fantastic, Brandee. That's such great advice and it really kind of tailors well with a webinar I did just recently, only a few weeks ago, on pretty much a very similar subject, on knowing who you are, Oinding out who you are, you know and getting to the bottom of that. So that's great advice. Thank you very much.

And before we go, I always like to ask our guests as well if there was something along the way – I'm putting you on the spot here. I'm sorry about this because every time I ask a guest this, they go, oh, uh – was there something along the way that really inspired you? It might have been a movie, it might have been – like, for me, for instance, one of my favorite movies of all time is Working Girl with Melanie GrifOith and Sigourney Weaver. Have you seen it?

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Brandee: Yeah, I love that movie!

Jo: I love that movie! When I was young, that inspired me to want to go and run my own business and you know, be a business woman and all this kind of stuff. I mean, there's been many things that have inspired me since. But Working Girl, if you haven't seen it, go and watch it, everybody. It's great.

But was there something along the way, like a movie or a book that you read or somebody that you followed or something that just has stuck in your mind forever? More that's just one of those kind of, gosh, this is a great inspiring thing that I can share with this audience and hopefully, it can inspire them as well.

Brandee: Well, God, there's so many things Olashing through my head. Book covers, the movies, quotes. I'm a queen of quotes. Yeah, oh boy, I mean, that's really hard. Like, any one thing? I think I've been fortunate to experience so many things that – yeah, you're right, it's stumping me and I don't want there to be dead air space on a Hangout. Okay, what would be one thing that inspires me to, you know, push forward?

You know, I mean, really, it’s any story of perseverance. Anybody that knows me – and you hinted at it – knows that I have been to the bottom and to the top many a times. So any story of tenacity. I was talking to one of my friends the other day and I was like, what's the one word you think of when you think of me and they said, tenacity. Like, your ability to keep persevering. So any story of perseverance.

Oh, I just got a Olash of that Will Smith one where he was homeless and he was carrying his kid and then he ends up – do you remember that movie? What was that called?

Jo: Yeah, I do, I do, I do and I can't remember what it's called and if I had announced this and we had a load of viewers now, they'd all be typing it in the questions box it's called this, it's called this and I can't think of it now.

Brandee: Yeah. But yeah, movies like that, any story of that, any [Og Mandino 41:05] story, any story of like really being at the bottom and then managing, not only to rise but to rise even further. Like "Working Girl," right? I mean, that's really...

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Jo: Yeah. So do you actually go out of your way to read motivational books or watch videos and stuff if you're ever feeling a bit low or something? Do you seek out an inspirational video on YouTube, for instance, to kind of give you a bit of a boost?

Brandee: Oh, God yeah. We all get – I get in ruts. Not just a couple of weeks ago I like, laid in bed all day long because I was like, what's wrong with me?

Yeah, then you have to, you know, you have to kick your own butt. It's okay to feel like crap some days and have bad days, but at the same time, you're like, okay, remember what makes you feel good. Oh, that's right, meditating makes me feel good. Oh, that's right, watching motivational videos, that makes me feel good.

I watched – and you deOinitely should watch this, everybody should watch this, "Add To Cart." Look it up on YouTube. It's like all the famous Internet marketers, there was a documentary that was made like a year ago. It's only got like 600 views, so they must not be very big out to the public. But watching that and hearing everyone's story of their struggle, their failures, their successes, the truth was really good and I was like, yeah, yeah, I got this, I got this and I was back in the game again.

Jo: God, you know, it's so good to hear you – I'm sorry, I really don't celebrate the fact that you were lying in bed all day feeling, oh God, what's wrong with me – but it is really good to hear that at the same time, because I want people to know you're not alone. We all struggle. Every single one of us has times of immense self-‐doubt. I mean, immense self-‐doubt, where you just suddenly – there are days sometimes where I just stop in my tracks and I just think, I don't understand why this hasn't happened yet or I'm not there yet or this hasn't occurred or, you know, what's wrong with me? Why can't I do that? Why, why, why? And I'll literally stop in my tracks and I'm like for a whole day, I'll be like, I don't want to talk, I’m just, you know?

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Brandee: I mean this was – I was pitching a temper-‐tantrum last night to one of my friends, and I was like, I'm not partnering with anyone, nah, nah, nah and he's like, grow your she-‐balls and get on with it. I just want to like, you know, act like a thirteen year old girl, like a drama queen. Yeah, are you kidding me? I'm sure I don't get a whole week without having at least an hour or two of that kind of feeling. It's just really, it is and I'm so glad that you shared this with your audience, because there's not a single person that I've met, and I've met most of the famous ones, and you know, no one is dodging this bullet. Not a single, solitary soul. So it's important to just realize that you're so not alone. That you're not dodging this, I suffer from it, she suffers from it. We all go through this. So it's important to just keep pushing through and realize that you're not alone.

Jo: I think the difference between people who just pack it in and people who succeed are that the people who succeed are those that accept the fact that they have those times and then, they do just move through them and take more action to keep moving forward.

Brandee: Yeah, and you know, it's hard, as you know. It is. I think that that's where it does become that determination of this is not going to let me down. That's where I get, I Oinally get to the anger space of, you know what, screw them, I'll show them and then, that's when I know that I'm on the trajectory again is when I get into that, watch this, you know, and it takes some practice to get there.

Jo: Yeah, gosh. So true, isn't it? Anything you do in life is 90% mindset, 10% skill. It really is all about what's going on up here.

Anyway, we've come to the end of our time. Brandee, you've been amazing. It's been awesome talking to you. Thank you so much for this interview. It's been brilliant. I've loved it. I love it when I can get on with somebody and we just kind of have that really nice back and forth chat and it's relaxed and you're awesome. I can't wait to meet you in person.

Brandee: Thank you so much, back at you. Thank you and great job on this show. I love it.

Jo: Thank you. Thank you so much.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

All right, guys, well, that's it for another episode of Mind, Money & Marketing and I will see you next week with another amazing, fantastic, super best of the business guest. Thank you again, Brandee. We'll see you soon.

! !




















facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Please feel free to share this document with anyone you think may Oind it interesting, link to it from your blog or site, give it away as content to your community or use it to build your list. The choice is yours!

We always appreciate feedback, so if you have any comments or suggestions for future publications please connect and let us know on our facebook page -‐ www.facebook.com/jobarnespage

Thank You! :)

! !


















http://www.facebook.com/jobarnespage

http://www.facebook.com/jobarnespage



facebook

twittertwitter

linkedinlink

googlegoogle

Copyright, Licensing and Liabilities.Copyright ©2011,2012, 2013 Jo Barnes Online. http://www.jobarnesonline.com

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed without the express permission of The Social Networking Academy.

All copyrights by respective companies are fully acknowledged.

Disclaimer of WarrantyTHERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR ANY PROGRAMS OR DOCUMENTATION, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

Limitation of LiabilityIN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Interpretation of above SectionsIf the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided above cannot be given local legal effect according to their terms, reviewing courts shall apply local law that most closely approximates an absolute waiver of all civil liability in connection with the Program or information contained in the documentation, unless a warranty or assumption of liability accompanies a copy of the Program or documentation in return for a fee.

Version 1.00 September 2013, Edited and Published by Jo Barnes of Jo Barnes Online

! !




















http://www.facebook.com/jobarnesonline

http://www.facebook.com/jobarnesonline





engage, ignite & expand with brandee sweesy · face book twitter twitter linked inlink google...

Documents