Show Notes

Jennifer is joined by Dr. Theresa Ashby for a conversation on scaling your business, digital product offerings, and the importance of coaching.

Well-known expert Dr. Theresa Ashby is a reformed Corporate Executive turned Entrepreneur. She is known as a Stratologist and Forbes.com called her a Business Scaling Expert.  She consults with Speakers, Authors, and Consultants on how to build e-learning courses, digital academies, and membership & community sites for business sustainability, scalability, and successability. Theresa is the author of Better Implementation Now! Eight Ways Great Strategies Fail and How To Fix Them, and the host of the Heart Hustle & Humor Podcast.

Connect with Dr. Theresa Ashby:

Website:  https://www.kaleidoscopemediaservices.com

LinkedIn Profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresaashby/

Facebook Profile:  https://www.facebook.com/theresa.ashby.980

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Watch the Podcast Here:

Hey there. Thanks for listening and welcome to the marketing matchmaker podcast. If you're looking to grow your business, increase your revenue and scale your impact all while staying true to who you are and the people you serve. This is the show for you. I'm Jennifer Tamborski, digital marketing strategists, fractional CMO, and founder of Virtual Marketing Experts. My team and I work with six and seven figure coaches, consultants, and online entrepreneurs who are tired of playing the guru game of one size fits all marketing. They're ready to create a business and marketing strategy that actually builds relationships with their ideal clients creates massive shifts in their business and rapidly increases their revenue. As your marketing matchmaker, I'm going to help you find the perfect marketing match for you. This show will teach you how to reach your ideal client, connect with your audience, build that perfect relationship and generate more revenue. All through a process I like to call dating your ideal client. Now let's go have some fun!

Jennifer (01:14):

Welcome Back to the Marketing Matchmaker, everyone. And I have to say I'm super excited about today's episode. I am talking to a friend of mine, Dr. T. I'm going to give a little introduction to Dr. T, and then I'm going to flip it over to her so she can talk about who she is and what she does and who she serves. So, Dr. T is actually Dr. Theresa Ashby and she's a former corporate executive turned entrepreneur. She's known as a strategist and forbes.com called her a business scaling expert, which y'all know. I love talking about scaling. She consults with speakers, authors, and consultants on how to build e-learning courses, digital academies and memberships and community sites for business sustainability, scalability, and successability Theresa is the author of Better Implementation Now!, Eight Great Ways, Great Strategists Fail and How to Fix Them, and the host of a podcast I actually guessed it on not too long ago. Heart, Hustle, and Humor. Welcome to the show, Theresa. I'm so excited to have you here.

Dr. Ashby (02:23):

Oh, thank you, Jennifer. And, and I love the fact that we're friends first and then business acquaintances. We, we love to help each other out in our businesses as we scale. Right. And as we grow, so it's a pleasure you here today.

Jennifer (02:37):

Thanks so much. So let's dive right into all of this, you know, you're a scalability specialist, right? And your business builds digital products. So let's talk about what that means. What exactly are the digital products that you help people to build?

Dr. Ashby (02:57):

It's an exciting time, right? We're looking at new ways to generate revenue or generate leads. And so over at kaleidoscope Media Services, we really look first at someone's business model. And we say, how are you selling your products? What products are you using? And then we take the opportunity to say, Hey, where does a digital product fit in? And as I mentioned, do you want to generate leads? Do you want to generate revenue? Because that will determine what kind of digital product do you want? Do you want an e-learning course? Do you want an e-learning workshop with a combination of coaching? And so it really comes down to that model that you're creating. So you can always sell them into something larger and more maybe one-on-one coaching, right?

Jennifer (03:51):

I mean, well, that's one of the things I think a lot of people forget when we start talking about business is that there's so many avenues you can go down, right? There's a million different ways to scale your business. And I love talking about scaling, right? I love talking about how to take your business from six figures to seven figures, or even from zero to six. And that there are a lot of options out there when it comes to that, but I really believe digital products are essential in that customer journey.

Dr. Ashby (04:25):

Yeah. Well, and that's what you do, right? You help people scale through the processes that you have. And when somebody decides to do a digital product, let's just take the e-learning course and the e-learning industry. I mean, it is growing exponentially. You know, it's predicted it's going to be $3.2 - $5 billion over the next couple of years, I suspect it's going to even be bigger. And which means there are people out there searching for you, those who want to build that digital product. And it doesn't have to be, you know, a series of digital products. It's just about saying, you know what, I'm going to create an e-learning course. It fits into my scalability model. Let's jump in and start creating it.

Jennifer (05:13):

Yeah. So when people are looking at, I often say like that, that digital course for me in my brain, a lot of times comes after they've already had what I like to call proof of concept. Right. They've already established themselves as an expert. And then they roll into the digital course because that one-on-one coaching has gone like insanely great, but they don't have enough time. So when may roll into looking into that, that digital course, what is it that they need to have? Or what does it do, do they need to think about before, before doing that?

Dr. Ashby (05:53):

Yeah, that's a great question. I think it goes back kind of where you were leading into, is having a framework, right? What is the framework you're working from currently? It may even be that you have a book already, or that you have a workshop that you're already leading, that you know the processes and the systems that you take someone through. Maybe you're you have a keynote that you want to convert to some type of e-learning product. So it's really about saying, okay, if I step back, what knowledge do I have that I want to transfer to somebody that I know they will get value, have impact and transform at the end of that course.

Jennifer (06:39):

Yeah. Cause it's all about the transformation, right? I mean, that's, I think that's one of the things that when people are selling or marketing their business, they sell the product and nobody really wants a product. They want a transformation. They want to know what that product is going to do for them. So, really focusing on that,

Dr. Ashby (07:03):

It really is. It is Jennifer. You know, we always, when we engage with our clients, the first question we ask, when the person is done taking that course, what is the end result? What is that transformation you want that person to have? And I will tell you, that's a little bit of an eye opener for people because they're constantly thinking about their processes or their frameworks. And so they just want to teach people the framework. But people aren't really engaging when you're just teaching a framework. It's, it's about being very clear in your product and in your marketing about when your done, this is what you're going to do differently. And if we can focus people to create courses in that manner, I think the person will have a great opportunity to really get their message out.

Jennifer (07:58):

And it really allows them the opportunity. Cause I know we both work with coaches and I have this core belief that coaches have an opportunity to change the world through their coaching and their learning products and that kind of thing. So it gives them that opportunity when they really focus on that transformation to make those differences, those changes that they're looking for.

Dr. Ashby (08:20):

Absolutely. And, it's because when you're a coach, you have the stories that you can tell that people want to listen to and learn from you. And it's the coaches can, you know, that, that may be why you decide to do an e-course for lead gen to get more of your one-on-one consulting. Or you might do a e-course to teach them some basic processes so that when they get to you from that one-on-one, they're already elevated in their knowledge and you can really dive deep. And again, it's my e-course that first entrance. And then my next product is maybe a group like a mastermind. And then the next level is that one-on-one so it depends on where you want to want to take it and just converting that knowledge.

Jennifer (09:16):

Yeah. I love that. So what is the difference between an e-course and an online community?

Dr. Ashby (09:23):

Oh, really, really good question. So an e-course is something that can stand alone, right? It it's a one-way communication, you purchase one of my e-learning courses and I'm going to learn from it. And I go through step-by-step. Ah, the community, it's a passion project. It's passion driven and it brings people together to have dialogue together. It's a two way communication. It's an educational platform. It's Hey, how are you doing? How are you doing this in business? Well, I've tried this and people are just constantly being fed and having this dialogue within a community of like minded people.

Jennifer (10:09):

I love that. And I know I seen a lot of people try and build that in social media. And I know that you guys actually helped them build it outside of social media as well. So how does that differ?

Dr. Ashby (10:27):

Well, I think when you're looking at the social media platforms, it's, you don't really own the flavor, the passion, the content, and you're not really gathering people's information, so you can customize to them. It's more generalized. It, it's also a lot of noise out there. You're getting inundated with people that may not be aligned with your values. Where when you transition into having a digital community that you're leading. And I say leading, because you're just the facilitator of the conversation that's happening in these communities. You're controlling what's going in there. And so it's very focused. It's very directed and people just they're, it it's this, it's this connection that we make within these communities. And, you know, nowadays that's important for us to you know, have that connection. But, but also learning from like-minded people really helps. And, and on the social platforms, you don't, you don't get as much of that depth and that content and that interpersonal action or reaction.

Jennifer (11:45):

I also, I mean, in my mind, it kind of also comes back to the commitment level of people on social media versus going into a different community, right? Because social media is scrolling through. It's a lot of noise and you may see the posts in a social media community. Whereas if you are intentionally part of a digital community, you're going to go there to be a part of it.

Dr. Ashby (12:14):

Oh, that's, that is, yeah. That's right on it's I don't know how many times I've seen something on Facebook and I thought, oh wow, that's really good information, but I don't have time right now. I'm going to come back to it. And then I can never find that information. But if you have your own community, it's like, you just go, oh wait, you know what so-and-so said, this or this article came up, I'm just going to search. I know it's going to be right there. It's going to be easily accessible. So then I can take the content. I can read the content and then I get to ask somebody else, Hey, I was reading that article that was posted on our community, or, you know, so-and-so said something that was just so magnificent. What did you think about it?

Jennifer (12:53):

Yeah. And, and I, you know, I mean, we're currently in 2021, right? So last year was kind of, well, it was a little different than everything else. And reality is, that people are searching for community.

Dr. Ashby (13:09):

Yeah. Yeah. And you know what, I think that, you know, as, as things open up, you know, as the uncertainty continues, communities, aren't going to go away, right. This is going to be just integrated into everything we do. And, and we talked to people about, you know, when you have the opportunity to go and maybe do a live event, so you're doing a presentation and you're talking to people, they're liking what you're saying. They want more of what you're saying. And so what you offer is a community, a digital community, that they can sign up for right there. And the conversation continues. See it's in the continuing of the conversation that the real learning happens and the real transformation happens.

Jennifer (13:56):

That is such a good point. So tell me what a business scaling expert is.

Dr. Ashby (14:08):

Yeah. So basically, we sort of take away all of the noise of everything that you think you should do in business, or that people are telling you to do in business. Right. We get inundated and you know, years ago, people were creating these 25 page strategy documents, and then we'd put them in the corner and then we had to dust them off that, that's gone. That's gone. Basically. We're now looking at, it's a one, maybe two page business opportunity. What makes sense for your business that is quick creates opportunities to pivot and opportunities to scale whether it's your service scaling or your product scaling, but really honing in. And then once you decide, how does that work and where do all those pieces fit, bottom line is then you create your key performance indicators, those things that you have to focus on. So if you decide to do a community, when are you going to build the community?

Dr. Ashby (15:12):

How much resources do you have? What's the timeline? When are you going to launch? And you absolutely create those focused points in scaling that business. And so from a strategic perspective, it's looking at your mission, right? Your vision, and saying, where are we going? Where do we need to go? How fast can we get there? What resources do we need? And then just implementing. And that's where we get lost. People, get these great strategies. And I, because for some reason we can't, we get afraid, or we're not sure if it's going to work or we feel it don't have the right people. And so they stop with these documents. It's the, in the implementation. And that is the most important piece. And, you know, I wrote a book called Better Implementation Now! And it talks all about that. Implementing on your strategy, because you see your strategy, doesn't have to be perfect like everybody used to think it's a strategy that's in time. Then we pivot and then we work through it and generate revenue.

Jennifer (16:18):

Well, I mean, one of the things about marketing all the time is it's, it's both an art and a science, right. And the science part of it is trying something, getting data and results back, and making adjustments along the way. And it sounds like, you know, the scaling strategy is similar. We try something, see if it works and then make adjustments and they may only need minor adjustments. No one says you have to tear it down and start over again.

Dr. Ashby (16:46):

Right. Right. I, you know, I don't know how many times we, we, you know, have somebody call us and say, you know, we want to do this. And we're like, okay, this is fantastic. Where does it fit in your strategic model? Where does it fit in that scalability model? And, oh, by the way, go to some of your past clients, go to some of your future clients, ask the questions. And I know you do that. I know you do that with your clients. You tell them, Hey, go see what people want. Go look at your avatar and ask them the question. Does this make sense? Does it work? Would you buy it? And oh, if you would buy it, how much would you buy it for? And you collect all that data, and then you move forward, you step forward. And sometimes it feels like you're falling off the cliff without a parachute. But do it because your circle of people around you are going to help you, keep you up and afloat, and then just pivot as necessary.

Jennifer (17:40):

Yeah, you are. So, right. That is the, the main thing I always talk about when we're talking about creating an ideal client avatar sheet, like knowing who your ideal client is. You kind of have to talk to them and find what it is that they are fearing, what it is, all of the things, right. Including what they want, right. Because what you think they want and what they actually want may be different things. And it may just be a language thing, right? It may not be that the transformation itself is different, but the way they say the transformation, may be different from what your thinking is,

Dr. Ashby (18:19):

And the way they're going to learn through your products or your marketing, how they're going to take that information in, because we all take it in differently. And, you know, we get excited about like, over at Kaleidoscope Media Services were funny. Cause we're like, you know, once a quarter, we get together and we brainstorm all these ideas and man, they are some really fantastic ideas. But then we have to step back and say, does it make sense within our business plan? And will the client want it, need it, like it and buy it. And so stepping back and really being focused and directed in that way, I think helps business owners not feel so out of control. Right. But very focused and in control of where they want to go.

Jennifer (19:07):

Yeah. So when is a good time for a business owner to look at scaling or to look at, you know, bringing in those e-learning courses and that kind of thing.

Dr. Ashby (19:20):

Yeah. So, you know, there's different stages of business, right? You know, we, a lot of our folks have been in business for a couple of years. They've, they've had some clients where they've been coaching or they've been doing workshops, they've been doing speeches. And what they realize is that's really a one-to-one exchange and they're looking to do a one to many. So, you know, if you're, if you've been in business for a couple of years and you're ready to take that product, that's when it's a good time to kind of reach out, have a discovery call with us and see if it actually fits in your business model. Now we've had a business that has been in business for 35 years? And they contacted us and we're doing some e-learning courses for them because they used to do a four day workshop. And now they want to do a three-day workshop, but they want them to have pre content and post content. So, it really doesn't really matter on that scale. It just, again, matters on your outcome that you want for your client,

Jennifer (20:26):

Right? I mean, that makes a lot of sense. The pre and post content is really interesting

Dr. Ashby (20:32):

When you're onboarding your client, and everybody should be onboarding your client in the same way. So, and I know Jennifer does, I know we do. I know some of our other colleagues that are our referral partners, you know, we have a very systematic process. So how can you digitize that? So it helps with you serving your client one on one versus having to do the same thing. And that opportunity creates consistency in the message. So all your clients come to the table with the same information and man, they are ready to go.

Jennifer (21:08):

I think that's the biggest thing when you're looking at your e-learning courses, or even your community figuring out where that fits in your business model is step one. But then also figuring out what it is, how it's going to make that customer journey, the Ascension, the next step easier. Right?

Dr. Ashby (21:31):

Well, yeah, yeah. That customer journey that's so important. And how do you make the customer's journey seamless and engaging and on building confidence in you as a vendor or somebody that's going to serve them. They want to have confidence in you, but you're going to be like, you know, the rock star for them because when they come to us, they're the only ones that we have to see at that time. I mean, that's, we have to forget that we have all these other things going on, all these other clients. So creating that customer journey and yeah, you can definitely leverage digital products to do that.

Jennifer (22:13):

Yeah. Especially when you think about, because I know we've talked about in the past, like my Dating Your Ideal Client goes from introduction through commitment and then keeping the romance alive. And I think that's where it's the keeping the romance alive part that, that digital product really comes into play. Setting it up in a way that makes your ideal customer seat feel seen and heard and taken care of. And I think that's something that you guys are really great at helping your clients do.

Dr. Ashby (22:46):

Thank you, we enjoy that. We enjoy seeing the idea of just this little spark of an idea. Like, I think I need to do something here, to all the way to the creation and the production, and then they're like, wow, this is great. I'm really excited about it. This is my message. And it's just, I'm getting it out there. And that's the brilliance of a customer journey.

Jennifer (23:14):

It absolutely is. So what would be the one thing that you would ask or tell an entrepreneur, a coach, a consultant, that wants to take that next step that wants to bring on, be in that e-learning space. .

Dr. Ashby (23:36):

Yeah, the one thing is if you have just a little tinge of wanting to do this, do it. Don't get overwhelmed. There is a lot of things, a lot of moving parts, a lot of opportunities, but don't get overwhelmed. You can create, nowadays you can create something so magnificent and you can get that message out there. Just, just take the first step and, and it'll happen. Yeah.

Jennifer (24:05):

And what is that first step? What's the first step that they need to take?

Dr. Ashby (24:09):

Well, we'd love for them to call us. Jennifer, we would love for them to call us. Listen, if they go to our website, kaleidoscope media services, and that services with an "s" dot com, and sign up, we do a 30 minute free discovery call. We want to talk to you about your, your business model and see where some kind of digital product would fit in. And, and it's a no sales zone. It's an information zone. You know, we're on a mission to help a hundred thousand businesses grow and scale by incorporating digital products. So we love to just have conversations and put you in our, our circle of the kaleidoscope.

Jennifer (24:57):

That's awesome. I love that. I love having this conversation with you and I am quite sure we will probably have another one down the road. Thank you so much for joining us today and thank you to the audience. I will have information in the show notes about how to connect with Theresa and kaleidoscope. So if you think you're ready for an e-learning product, or if you just have a glimmer of an idea that you might want one, connect with them and let them have that conversation with you, see if that's your next step. Thank you for joining me today. And I look forward to talking to you on the next Marketing Matchmaker.

Thank You for listening to the Marketing Matchmaker podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear your feedback. Please head over to iTunes and leave a review so we can hear from you. And if you are a coach, consultant, or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income, and scale your impact connect with me at yourmarketingmatchmaker.com. I look forward to hearing from you.