Episode 2

full
Published on:

9th Sep 2025

How I’ve Generated Millions of Dollars with Being Active on Social Media

If the thought of posting on five platforms a day makes you want to curl into a ball and take a nap, this episode is your permission slip to build a sales engine that doesn’t live or die by the algorithm. We’re breaking down visibility in a way that aligns with your energy, your season of business, and the way you actually like to connect — so you’re not force-feeding yourself trends that never turn into revenue.

Over the past decade, I’ve scaled multiple businesses to multi-millions while barely touching social media — and not because I had a secret content hack, but because I understood how visibility really works. In this episode, I’ll show you what’s actually available beyond the trying to make the algorithm gods happy — from active strategies that give you quick bursts of attention to passive ones that compound for years — and why picking the right mix can change everything about how your business grows.

🌟 Have a specific question you want me to workshop on the show?

I set up this voice-note line so you can send context-rich questions I can answer for everyone’s benefit — and I can’t wait to hear what you’re building!

What’s inside this episode

  • The real difference between creating social posts versus assets that work for years — and why neither is right or wrong
  • A counterintuitive way to use social media that supports referrals and retention without building a content hamster wheel
  • The only 4 ways to generate visibility — and how they combine into a compounding flywheel
  • A practical way to turn old podcast episodes into long-term, evergreen sales assets
  • The re-engagement email sequence you can use to warm a cold (or dead) list and earns trust in days
  • The super simple visibility stack to start now with a longer term plan to shift weight toward compounding assets
  • The permission slip that frees you to pause *any* marketing channel, re-evaluate ROI, and come back if and when it actually serves the plan


Connect with Adriane and Visionaries!

Transcript
Speaker:

Over the years, I have

generated millions of dollars

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in revenue in my own businesses.

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It took me like, full disclosure,

it took me many, many, many years

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to even make my first six figures.

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And then from there things

moved really quickly.

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And since then I've been, you know,

I've been able to replicate growth in

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a lot of different businesses across

different models, all pretty quickly.

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So, but really at the end of the day,

I have really never focused on one

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specific thing, and that is social media.

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In fact, I would go so far as to

say I cannot stand social media.

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Like, just to be totally honest,

I haven't used Facebook since.

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Um, the 2016 American presidential

election, if you know, you know, it was,

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it was a bad time to be on social media.

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Oh gosh.

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And I can only imagine.

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It has not gotten any better.

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Let's not talk about

politics at all, shall we?

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Um, and.

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You know, like personally, I

would not even have social media

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if it weren't for my businesses.

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It's just not something

that I really enjoy.

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I would rather, um, just send me a text

message or something like, that's how

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I'd like to keep in touch with people.

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Um, and so anyhow, I get often asked.

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How on earth do you make money if you

are not on social media, especially

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if you are an online business.

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But even if you're not only an online

business, or even if you're not really

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operating, even if none of your business

operations really exist online, like

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if you are strictly an in-person

brick and mortar style operation.

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Well, let's get to it.

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So first and foremost, to make

sales, this is what it comes down to.

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You need TLC, and I love to make the joke

here that it, you don't need the waterfall

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kind of of TLC, the waterfall chasing

kind of TLCI tell that joke every time.

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I'm like, you want TLCI, I have to

tell the the TLC waterfall joke.

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I just can't not do it.

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Um, but TLC stands for

traffic leads and conversions.

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That's the kind of TLC that you.

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Literally must have in

order to make sales.

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If you don't have any one of those,

well, if you don't have the first

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thing, you can't have the second thing.

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And if you don't have the first two

things, then you definitely can't have

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the last thing, which is conversion.

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So, but at the, at the

beginning of that is visibility.

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So in order to generate traffic so that

you can generate leads so that you can

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turn those people into conversions,

it's visibility that starts that.

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Visibility is what fuels traffic.

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So visibility is where all of this starts.

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It is only like social media only

comprises one visibility mechanism

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in general, like one sort of macro.

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Visibility mechanism because I

know there are a lot of different

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platforms for social media, so like

each one of those things would be

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their own visibility mechanism.

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But you know what I mean?

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Like visi, social media is

only one of those things.

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There are all different kinds

of other visibility mechanisms.

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There's speaking, there's

podcasting, there is, there are.

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There are events that you could have

in your, like if I ran, when I was

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running my music studio or my music

school, my performing arts school

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really started as music school,

then became music acting in dance.

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And one of the things we very

often did were open houses.

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That's another.

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Mechanism for visibility.

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Um, I would actually argue that open

houses were probably more of a lead

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generation thing, and we did things

like pass out flyers and we did word

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of mouth with, you know, telling

the kids, like, invite your friend.

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Those were really popular nights

where we'd say, oh, you know, like,

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invite your friend, your friends

can come to dance class with you.

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Oh, they loved it.

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And then the little kids would go

home and they'd be like, mom, I

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wanna sign up for dance Listens too.

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Anyway.

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So, you know, there are lots of

different ways to generate visibility.

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We're gonna get into

what all this looks like.

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But what I wanna start with is I want

you to understand the difference between

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active and passive visibility mechanisms.

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This is my own terminology.

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And so I don't know that you're

gonna see this anywhere else, but in

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general, an active visibility mechanism

is something that I would define as

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being able to give you very quick

visibility, which is, that sounds great.

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I want quick visibility because

quick visibility means that I can

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instantly or very quickly generate

more traffic, which means I have a

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better chance at turning those people

into leads, which means I have a

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better chance at making sales faster.

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So, hey, quick visibility.

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Sounds great.

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The downside of active visibility

channels and the trade off

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for that quick visibility is

typically that it fizzles quickly.

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So social media is the epitome of an

active visibility mechanism because

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you are able to publish a post and it

will typically get sent out into the

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world relatively, relatively quickly.

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And you know, sometimes it

takes a little while to ramp up.

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And I understand that viral posts

often, you know, on social media,

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can happen months and months later.

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But by and large, you're typically

going to see the entire life cycle of

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any given piece of content happened

in a really short span of time.

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Relatively soon after you

initially published it, right?

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That's not a hard or fast rule, but

in general, it's gonna happen quick

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and then it's gonna fizzle quick.

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Whereas a passive visibil visibility

mechanism is going to give you

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longer term visibility so that.

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Single piece of content can work

for you again and again and again

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for the next several months, maybe

even several years, maybe longer.

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That also sounds delightful.

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The downside of that, if there is, if you,

if you were thinking of it in terms of

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like what's the downside is that typically

there's a longer runway to get you there?

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It typically takes a little

bit more time, energy.

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An effort to get to the point

where your passive visibility

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mechanisms actually work for you

in the way that you want them to.

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So like, a good example of this

would be if you have a blog and

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it's not, you know, a case where.

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This is what makes it a passive visibility

mechanism is you're not going to publish

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a blog post and then next week all of

a sudden there's going to be droves

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of traffic coming to your website.

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That would be, that would be unreal

if that's the way that it worked,

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but it does not work that way.

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It typically like.

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It doesn't have to take this long, but

if you're really wanting to be more

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cautious, and especially if you're

just starting from scratch and you

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don't have all the time in the world to

dedicate to it, like you're typically

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looking at at least six months of work

before you really start to see a return

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on your efforts, that's a long time.

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And most business owners don't have

six months to sit around and you know,

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just write their little hearts out,

writing their blog for six months and

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then wondering if this is working.

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And, you know, and the problem with that

is like, if you don't have a proper SEO

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strategy six months down the road, and

you're not gonna be any further than when

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you started because you didn't have a

proper strategy for how to actually even

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get that content out in front of people.

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And if you're not doing other things

in tandem with that, in order to

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boost this, that, and the other,

like there's it, you know, there's

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a whole ecosystem that goes into it.

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But if you understand what you're doing.

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If you really work quickly, your

SEO strategy could be working for

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you next month, the month after,

quicker than six months anyway, and

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it can work very, very well for you.

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And now all of a sudden you are

getting, you know, a consistent amount

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of traffic coming to your website and

it's generating leads to you, leads

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for you, and then you are in turn

able to convert those people to sales.

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That sounds delightful, but of course

it's going to take more intention.

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It's gonna take more intentionality,

and it's gonna take more of a

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specific strategy to get you there.

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So this is, I mean, it's kind

of where you start to look at,

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you're choosing your heart, right?

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Like a lot of times business

is about choosing easy now for

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hard later, or choosing hard.

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Now for easy later, this is not an exact.

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An an exact right use of

that specific concept.

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I think because it doesn't, I don't

think it's necessarily about easy

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and hard, and it doesn't have to

be, and it does, you know, there's a

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lot more that goes to it and there's

a lot of nuance that goes into it.

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But in general, that's

what you're looking at.

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Social media works very,

very, very quickly.

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But it's gonna fizzle out more quickly.

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You have to continue to put effort

into it, but even then, if you

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don't have a messaging strategy, you

don't have a content strategy, you

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don't have, et cetera, et cetera.

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And then even if you're generating

quite a lot of traffic and you're

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getting quite a lot of leads, you're

not necessarily going to be con able

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to convert any of them if you don't

have an actual conversion strategy.

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And that's with any, you know,

that's with any visibility mechanism.

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I know so many people who are like,

I'm generating droves of leads

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and I am not making any sales.

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I think that's gonna be one

of the episodes coming up.

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It's like, what do I do with this?

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What does this mean?

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How do I, like, what do I do?

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How do I increase my conversion rate?

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So, you know, let's.

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There are things, there are touch

points that you wanna look at.

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Look at all the, all along the way.

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It's more about understanding

what is going to make the most

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sense for you in this season.

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What is going to make the most

sense for you based on your energy?

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What is going to make the most

sense for you based on the way

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you enjoy producing content?

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You know all like what's gonna make

the most sense for you overall?

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What do you have the

ability to do right now?

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So that's active versus

passive visibility mechanisms.

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So social media, as I said, is active.

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And it's, what I would say is

like the digital version of foot

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traffic, so the active visibility

mechanism that exists out in the

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real world with brick and mortar.

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Not that online businesses

are not the real world.

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Sometimes as someone who's been in both.

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Sometimes online business doesn't

feel like the real world, but it's,

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you know, it's not if you're, you're

run, you're clearly running a real

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business if you have an online business.

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But you know, the, the.

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In person version of this, I

think would be foot traffic.

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So if you go and open a coffee shop

or you go open some type of retail

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store or you know, whatever it is that

you're opening and you have or you,

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you open a, you open a performing arts

studio, um, person after my own heart

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and you know, you have foot traffic.

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That's, it's very quick visibility

you get anytime someone is driving by.

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You have the opportunity to catch

their attention and to generate

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some interest with that person to

say, Hmm, I should stop in there.

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And lemme tell you, if you have never

run a brick and mortar business,

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people absolutely stop in just because

they're like, wow, what are you,

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what are you guys doing in here?

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What's going on?

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Like when I was even in the process

of just doing the renovations for my

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performing art studio, like I had so many

neighbors stop by who were just, they

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were like, we're just curious what's,

what's going in and what's going on and

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how, you know, what are you doing here?

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And they, like, some

of them became little.

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Little, little birds with

the rest of the community.

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They were like, oh, did you know that

there's a performing arts school going in?

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They were like, that's so cool.

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I wonder, I wonder if my

granddaughter knows this.

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And I remember I had this one

conversation, I'm completely

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derailing here for a second, but

this one woman was like, oh, I should

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tell my daughter loves to sing,

or My granddaughter loves to sing.

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And I was like, oh, okay.

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Like does she do anything right now?

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Let's say she in choir.

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Is she.

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You know, does she do

any of her school plays?

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Whatever.

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And she was like, oh,

she's in kindergarten.

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She goes to, I won't say

what school she went to.

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Not that it would really matter here,

but I was like, that school's about

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45 minutes away, so I'm assuming

she lives about 45 minutes away.

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I was like, that's really kind of you.

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She's definitely not going to

come here for voice lessons.

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Also, a 5-year-old really shouldn't

be in voice lessons, but I digress.

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So, but you get these people who

are like, oh, great, I'll be your

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little brand ambassador and ominous.

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I, I would love to tell people that.

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Well, there's gonna be a new

coffee shop going in and I'm so

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glad that it's not Starbucks.

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It's gonna be some local coffee shop

that's gonna be so great, you know,

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whatever people are gonna, people

become that foot traffic becomes the

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little version of social media for you.

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But again, it's gonna fizzle out

quicker because that person who comes

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in who's like, oh my gosh, there's

gonna be a coffee shop here and it's

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not a Starbucks, and I'm so glad

there's gonna be like a independent, an

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independently owned coffee shop here.

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They're gonna forget about it by tomorrow.

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Like, you know what I mean?

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People are so distracted.

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Are they gonna remember to tell their

friends like they said they were going to?

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I don't know.

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Probably not.

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If they're in the neighborhood,

hopefully they remember to stop by

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once you're open and come test out your

cup of coffee, that is not Starbucks

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that they were so excited about or

whatever, but you know what I mean?

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Like it just doesn't work the same way.

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So, or it works very similar to

social media in that, in that way is

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probably the better way of saying that.

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Sometimes things make sense in my brain

where I'm like, this is definitely gonna

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come out the way that I want it to.

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And then it comes outta my mouth and

I listen to it and I'm like, hang

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on, that's not, that did not make

sense now that I said it out loud.

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Anyhow.

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You've got social or you've got social

media, then you've got, that's like foot

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traffic, but a digital version of it.

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And then if so, there are

certain things that can be both.

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There are certain things that

can be both active and passive

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visibility mechanisms depending on

how that specific thing functions.

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Or the way that you're engaging with it.

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So I would argue that events can be both.

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Like if you go and speak at a conference,

it more likely than not is going to be

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more of an active mechanism for you.

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It's probably gonna fizzle

out relatively quickly.

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Like if you don't get, if you don't tr, if

you don't get those people to convert into

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leads really quickly after that conference

or even at the conference, there's a

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really good chance that you're never

gonna hear from those people ever again.

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Right.

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Like it's gonna give you a huge boost

very, very quickly, but it doesn't

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work exactly the right the same way.

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'cause it takes a lot before you

even get to the event to, you

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know, pitch the, I did a, I did

a conference pitch this morning.

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It's the first time in a really long time

I've submitted a, a conference pitch.

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It took me two hours to write this pitch.

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And that's side note, if you want to

speak at conferences, like it's probably

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gonna be taking you a minute because you

want to tailor what you're writing that.

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You want to, you want to tailor your

pitch and write it specifically for

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that conference and what they're doing.

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And so anyhow, I sort of digressed there.

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But like it took me a long time.

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It took me about two hours to write

this pitch and nothing may come of it.

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And if, even if I were to get it,

it's in March, it's six months from

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when I'm record, it's more than six

months from when I'm recording this.

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So, you know, that's not exactly

quick, but when you actually get to

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the event, things can happen very,

very, very quickly for you and.

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Um, and then they fizzle out very quickly.

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Something else that can

be like, maybe it's both.

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How does this, how does this work

within this sort of framework

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that we're thinking about this?

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I think ads are a really

good example of this.

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Ads are something that they

function quickly, like social media,

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but when you get them working,

they can work for a long time.

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Similarly to a passive visibility

mechanism, ads are like the unicorn

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of visibility mechanisms, and because

they're the unicorn of visibility

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mechanisms, they are, I would argue,

the hardest to crack the code on.

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And this is if you've, if you have ever

said this or if you know someone who's

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been like, you know, I spent a thousand

dollars on ads and I had absolutely

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nothing to show for it in the long run.

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Like I just literally

lit my money on fire.

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Yeah.

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That's really possible

that it's gonna happen.

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That that's gonna happen.

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And as someone who.

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Has run ads for other people.

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Like my part of my agency work was

I ran done for you ads for people.

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I would never take someone's money

without them having the very clear

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understanding that you have to be

willing to light money on fire in order

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to ever get your ad strategy anywhere.

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And in fact, like this is also, I'm

going to digress to just add a side note,

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since we're talking about visibility, you

have no business hiring an ads manager

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or hiring an ad buyer or some type of

media buyer, some type of ad agency.

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There's no logical reason for you to even

start to think about doing that unless

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you have probably a $10,000 a month ad

budget and you are already generating.

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Hundreds of thousands of dollars per

year, and I so strongly feel that

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way that I literally would not have

even talked to you about running ads

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for you unless that was the case.

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When I first started running ads for

people, it was not quite that, quite that

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drastic because my, my monthly retainer

fee wasn't as high, but eventually my

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monthly retainer fee was very high and

it like it would not have made because

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I got phenomenal results for people.

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Like really, really good results for

people and it would not have made sense.

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When you don't have that big

of an ad budget, like figure

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out how to run ads yourself.

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Anyway, that's a different

topic for a different day.

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If anyone has ads, questions,

leave it in the voice notes.

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There's a link in the show notes

that you can leave me questions.

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They can, they can be any type of

question, but if you have questions

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about ads, I know all about ads.

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I know a lot about a lot of

things at this point, but.

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Anyhow, I digress.

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Ads are kind of a unicorn and that they

are both like very much an active and a

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passive visibility mechanism because once

they work, they work really, really well.

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Um, and then they can

break like anything else.

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But typically once you have them figured

out, like you have them figured out.

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The other thing that I would add in here

would be something like email, because.

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When you send each individual email,

the lifecycle of that piece of

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content is going to fizzle quickly.

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But your email list as a whole is

a passive visibility mechanism.

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So each individual email is an

active visibility mechanism, but

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your email list as a whole, or your

email sequences are more of a passive

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visibility mechanism and just, I don't

wanna assume that anyone knows what

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any given thing is that I talk about.

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So an email sequence is something, it's

like an automation or it's an automated.

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Series of emails that goes out.

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So someone opts into your email list,

you send them an initial welcome.

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The next day they're gonna

get maybe a list of resources.

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The day after that, they're gonna get

maybe something else, maybe two days

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:

later they're gonna get something else.

349

:

Two days after that, they're

gonna get another something

350

:

else, et cetera, et cetera.

351

:

And then depending on their behavior,

you might move them into other sequences.

352

:

And there's lots of ways to automate

your email list in really smart ways

353

:

that it really does become a passive.

354

:

Visibility mechanism for you.

355

:

Um, and the, you know, the flip side

of that is you have to make sure

356

:

that your messaging is on point so

that they actually wind up converting

357

:

in the way that you want them to.

358

:

And it takes, you know, it takes

a lot of time and effort to build

359

:

all these, all these emails out.

360

:

And so all these things, so

anyway, those are sort of the like,

361

:

well, which one are they sort of.

362

:

Virtually everything else is gonna

be a passive visibility mechanism,

363

:

SEO and blogging, Pinterest,

podcasting, um, thi, things like that.

364

:

Well, I would argue that guest

podcasting is more active because that

365

:

episode is gonna go out, it's gonna

have its moment in time and that, I

366

:

guess it works similarly to an email

list in that way where like each.

367

:

Well, no, that's not true.

368

:

If it's a guest episode, I'm like talking

myself through my own framework here.

369

:

If it's a guest episode, it's

probably more likely going to be more

370

:

of an active visibility mechanism.

371

:

If you have your own podcast,

it's a little bit different.

372

:

Those episodes can, you can get

a lot of runway out of episodes.

373

:

Like I link a lot of my past podcast

episodes and email welcome sequences.

374

:

So there are episodes from a

couple years ago that I still get

375

:

notified are getting, you know.

376

:

Dozens and dozens of dozens of

downloads every week, basically

377

:

because I'm linking them because

they're some of my better episodes.

378

:

And so, you know, podcast

episodes, you can really get

379

:

a lot of runway out of them.

380

:

And I would also argue, just like

side note, if you want to get more.

381

:

If you wanna get more runway out of your

guest episodes or if you do, you know, if

382

:

you guest post on other people's platforms

or any type you, anytime you're doing

383

:

something that's borrowed, we're gonna

talk about the four B's of visibility.

384

:

Next.

385

:

Anytime you're doing borrowed

visibility, I would argue like put

386

:

those things in your welcome sequence.

387

:

Number one, it adds credibility if

you're on someone else's podcast to

388

:

show like I was on so-and-so's pod.

389

:

Especially if you're on something like, I

was on Jenna Kutcher's podcast, or I was

390

:

on Amy Porterfield's podcast, or I was on.

391

:

Brene Browns.

392

:

I don't know if Brene Brown even has a

podcast, but like if she does, you know,

393

:

I was on this really phenomenal podcast,

or I wrote a guest article for Forbes,

394

:

or I wrote a guest article for MINDBODY

Green, or, you know, whatever that thing

395

:

is, if you can show that that adds a lot

of credibility and street cred to what

396

:

it is that you're doing, and it gives you

more traction for that individual thing,

397

:

you don't, and it kind of buys you some.

398

:

Some brownie points with that,

that the host of the thing or the

399

:

producer of the thing, or you know,

whoever the person behind that is.

400

:

Like, I know personally, if someone

was like, I'm gonna link your podcast

401

:

in my welcome sequence and send

people, it's a win-win on both sides.

402

:

It's a win for the guest of my

podcast because they're going to.

403

:

Show like, Hey, I've been interviewed

on other people's platforms.

404

:

There are other people who see

me as an expert on this topic.

405

:

So you should see me as an

expert on this topic too.

406

:

And you can go listen on Adrian's podcast.

407

:

And it's a win for me because in

turn that that guest is sending me

408

:

more, more audience for my show.

409

:

And so if I find out that

someone's doing that, like.

410

:

There's, you get a lot of brownie

points for that in my eyes.

411

:

And I think any person who is the,

is the producer of a platform.

412

:

Like, without getting too far into

the weeds around this, I know as a

413

:

podcast host, when I bring guests

on, it does almost nothing for me.

414

:

Almost nothing like it's, it's

shocking how little guests actually

415

:

move the needle for like more episode

downloads and expanding your audience

416

:

ship and expanding into new audience

base and those types of things.

417

:

It's very, very, very

rare that that happens.

418

:

So.

419

:

For your information.

420

:

If you were ever interested in starting

a podcast because you think that like you

421

:

can just have guests on it, it's gonna

explode your audience and your visibility.

422

:

Ah, all contraire.

423

:

It does not work that way.

424

:

It's, I wish that that's how it

worked, but it does not work that way.

425

:

But if I knew that someone

was like, they put it in their

426

:

email sequencer, they were.

427

:

Actively promoting it in other places,

and it was just part of their, that

428

:

would speak volumes to me about like,

you know, just things like maybe when

429

:

time comes to choose speakers for an

event, I might be more likely to look

430

:

at that person because they're like

a little brand ambassador for me.

431

:

You know what I mean?

432

:

That's not to say that I'm

definitely gonna choose that

433

:

person over someone else, but it,

I think it factors in, I think it

434

:

factors in, take that or leave it.

435

:

So anyhow, the second part of what

I really want to get into around

436

:

this is the four B's of visibility.

437

:

So there are only four ways

to generate visibility.

438

:

In any business like that is where

I say, well, you know, it's not

439

:

a hard or fast rule or whatever.

440

:

It is a hard rule.

441

:

There are only four ways

to generate visibility.

442

:

You can build it, you can

borrow it, you can buy it.

443

:

And then this is what makes it a me

framework is you can bedazzle it.

444

:

And that's just my fancy way of

talking about referrals and retention.

445

:

So you can build.

446

:

If you build your own social media

platform, if you build your own

447

:

YouTube channel, if you build your own

podcast, et cetera, you can borrow it.

448

:

If you go on other people's podcasts,

if you do a live with someone on some

449

:

social media channel, if you, uh,

if you go speak at someone else's

450

:

event, et cetera, you can buy it.

451

:

If you run ads, if you buy a sponsorship

for an event, things like that, or you

452

:

can bedazzle it where you are getting.

453

:

Isn't that funny?

454

:

I think that's funny.

455

:

You can bedazzle it where you

know you've done such a great job

456

:

for someone because this is a 10.

457

:

This is essentially where you

start to get your evangelists.

458

:

People who have.

459

:

Liked what you do well enough to they're,

they're willing to, number one, come back

460

:

and work with you again or buy from you

again and potentially also spread the

461

:

word about you and let their friends know.

462

:

Let their audience know that they should

be checking out what you're doing.

463

:

So it's retention and referrals.

464

:

So with those things in mind, what

else could you do that is not social

465

:

media if you don't want to be on

social media, what else could you do?

466

:

What else makes sense?

467

:

So if you don't wanna be on social

media, you need to find an alternative.

468

:

You need visibility to make sales.

469

:

So what does that look like right now?

470

:

I'm asking, I'm actually asking

you, what does this look like for

471

:

you right now in your business?

472

:

How are you typically making sales

if you are not really making any

473

:

of your sales through social media?

474

:

If you are predominantly making

sales through, let's say, referrals.

475

:

Like, I know that this tends to be

true for a lot of service providers,

476

:

especially service providers, where

they get to the point where they're

477

:

doing like 50, a hundred thousand

dollars per year, $200,000 per $200,000

478

:

per year, and a strictly freelance,

uh, done for you service provider,

479

:

provider model is, that's, that's a lot.

480

:

It's like you might be

approaching burnout at that point.

481

:

Start to talk about like,

where do we go from here?

482

:

But anyhow.

483

:

You know, it's um, at that point, like

I know a lot of s service done for you.

484

:

Service providers get to that point

and they're like, hang on a second.

485

:

I'm really getting the

majority of my business from

486

:

referrals and repeat clients.

487

:

Someone that I worked with three

years ago who's ready for a new

488

:

website, or someone that I worked

with a couple years ago who now needs.

489

:

Um, sales copy, or I wrote this person's

website copy last year, and now they

490

:

want me to write a sales page for

them, or, you know, things like that.

491

:

Or, I did this person's

trademark last year.

492

:

Now they want me to do a

new trademark for them.

493

:

I did this person's, uh, tax return.

494

:

Now they wanna bring me on as

a, as a bookkeeper or something

495

:

for their entire business.

496

:

You find that these pe it's more

of that bedazzled visibility.

497

:

I can't say without laughing.

498

:

It's just fun.

499

:

Where, if that's the case for you, if

the vast majority of your business is

500

:

not coming from social media and you

don't wanna be on social media, then

501

:

can I just give you the permission

slip to not be on social media?

502

:

Like I if, if there's something that you

really, really do not wanna be doing.

503

:

Now, if you are getting.

504

:

80% of your business from social media.

505

:

Maybe it's not really the smartest move

to just up and pull the plug, maybe.

506

:

Maybe that's just not really the

move, but you know what I mean.

507

:

If you can directly track that the

majority of your sales are coming

508

:

from something that is not social

media or something that is not any

509

:

like insert visibility mechanism here.

510

:

If it's not coming from that and

you don't wanna be doing it anymore

511

:

because it's exhausting or you

don't enjoy it or it's not whatever.

512

:

Stop.

513

:

Like the worst thing that can happen is

you get two weeks down the road and you

514

:

realize you made a mistake, or you get six

months down the road and you realize you

515

:

made a mistake and you can start it again.

516

:

It's really not that big of a deal.

517

:

So when I talk about operational stuff,

when you, this is also a different episode

518

:

for a different day, but I will look at.

519

:

Different parts of, you know, like, look

at all of the tasks that you're doing.

520

:

This is why I really love

time tracking things.

521

:

So let's time track what you're doing and

look at all the different places where

522

:

your time is going in, in your business.

523

:

And then when you start to look at

what makes sense to delegate, what

524

:

makes sense to keep, what makes

sense, to maybe try and systemize with

525

:

something that you're delegating it

to, like a technology or a resource.

526

:

So you're not delegating it to a human.

527

:

You're building some type of.

528

:

System for it, um, and, you know, et

cetera, et cetera, or what are the things.

529

:

So you are either, you are either,

well without getting, I don't wanna

530

:

get too far into the weeds around

this or it's gonna get really long.

531

:

But one of the thing, like one of

the options that you have there is

532

:

just stop when I talk about this.

533

:

Just stop.

534

:

You can stop it.

535

:

You can systemize it, you can whatever.

536

:

You can just stop and down the

road, you can start it again.

537

:

That's the beauty of it.

538

:

So, you know, look at,

look at it that way.

539

:

The other thing is, and I

have a lot, again, this comes

540

:

back to service providers.

541

:

I know a lot of service providers

realize, oh wow, most of my business

542

:

is coming not from social media.

543

:

And if you don't wanna stop social media

altogether, or you want to use social

544

:

media a little bit more intentionally

toward the thing that is actually helping

545

:

you generate more sales, start using

social media shock horror to be social.

546

:

Pause for a dramatic effect.

547

:

You know what I mean?

548

:

Like maybe you can use social media

instead of trying to produce perfectly

549

:

crafted pieces of conversion content

and or viral content or whatever

550

:

the thing is that you're doing.

551

:

Share personal stuff.

552

:

Share things about your

life, share your perspective.

553

:

Share whatever comes to mind,

and like stay active in the

554

:

dms with people that you like.

555

:

Not because you wanna sell them something,

but because you like them as humans.

556

:

Check in on them.

557

:

Maybe instead of having a post calendar,

have a check-in calendar where you know

558

:

that like every I, I heard someone talk

about how the first half of their day on,

559

:

on Fridays, so every single Friday from

first thing in the morning till midday,

560

:

when they go have lunch or whatever,

that's their time where they send text

561

:

messages and dms to, they have a list

of people to just check in on them.

562

:

Hey, thinking about you, how are.

563

:

How's it going?

564

:

Thinking about, we talked about this.

565

:

What's, what's new with that like?

566

:

And they have a system around that.

567

:

That would drive me nuts.

568

:

I think.

569

:

I would hate that because I don't love

doing the same thing every week at

570

:

the same time or like anything on a

schedule like that really drives me nuts.

571

:

Really, really cramps my

style, if you know what I mean.

572

:

So like that would really wouldn't

work well for me, but I know a lot of

573

:

people for whom it would work very well.

574

:

And so you can use social

media in a different way.

575

:

If you just don't enjoy like the

content creation piece of it, maybe

576

:

you don't have to do it that way.

577

:

But you know what I mean, you don't

ha, it's more about are you at a place

578

:

in your business where you're not

making sales or you are making sales?

579

:

If you're not making sales, then

I'm gonna go ahead and argue.

580

:

You need to figure out where to spend your

time in the most effective place possible.

581

:

And if that thing is social media for you,

then like going on all in on social media.

582

:

If you don't from the start, wanna build

your business on social media, it might

583

:

be a trade off of it's gonna take you

longer to or to generate revenue because

584

:

you're gonna be doing other things, but

pick a bit different visibility mechanism.

585

:

You know what I mean?

586

:

Like if you wanna grow, if you wanna

grow a podcast instead, understand

587

:

like where are you gonna promote it?

588

:

If you don't have social media,

where are you gonna promote

589

:

your podcast sort of a thing.

590

:

My general recommendation is

pick one social media platform.

591

:

Start your email list and if you have

the bandwidth for it, pick one passive

592

:

visibility mechanism and have the

intention if this is what you desire

593

:

to eventually move from your active

to your passive visibility mechanism.

594

:

And in the meantime, you're

figuring out your, your messaging

595

:

and all those other things.

596

:

But realistically, like this podcast is

meant for people who are in more of a

597

:

growth phase or they are ready to scale.

598

:

So realistically.

599

:

Like if you don't wanna be

on social media, you don't

600

:

have to be on social media.

601

:

I've generated literally millions

of dollars and the last year that

602

:

I was in, in my performing arts

studio, was it that year had we not

603

:

wind up clo wound up closing, we

would've finished the year between 1.2

604

:

and $1.4

605

:

million.

606

:

The year prior to that, we did

more like 800, somewhat, 880,000,

607

:

some odd dollars in that year.

608

:

Let me tell you.

609

:

Do you know how much social

media was a part of my strategy?

610

:

I mean, not at all.

611

:

The only thing I used social

media for was sometimes I'd

612

:

be like, Hey, come see a show.

613

:

We're producing a play.

614

:

Come see a play.

615

:

Or I'd be like, Hey, look

at these cute kids dancing.

616

:

Isn't that nice?

617

:

And their parents would be

like, oh, they're so cute.

618

:

We love when you post pictures of them.

619

:

And that was it.

620

:

That was my entire social media strategy.

621

:

Or I'd be like, ah, guys,

we're having an open house.

622

:

And people would do the work for me.

623

:

I would, they would share it.

624

:

Oh, our kids take lessons here and

or, you know, our kids dance here.

625

:

Our kids take piano here.

626

:

You should come to this.

627

:

Like come to the, and they'd share it.

628

:

And then like, that was the extent

of my social media strategy.

629

:

That was it where I was getting

all of my traction from.

630

:

Well.

631

:

This kind of gets into a different,

like how I specifically did

632

:

this, but I was getting tens of

thousands of views per month.

633

:

On, on our website, we had

two different websites.

634

:

We had one for the school

and one for the theater.

635

:

Each of them were generating tens

of thousands of views per month.

636

:

The theater was generating.

637

:

Some months more than a hundred

thousand views per month because we

638

:

got big, big media coverage and it

skyrocketed everything I was doing with

639

:

SEO and like it was just, uh, it's a

different story for a different day.

640

:

It was unbelievable when you start

to get media coverage, how it can

641

:

just snowball, like it snowballed.

642

:

The thing with that is it didn't really

translate into revenue for the theater.

643

:

I mean, it helped with like grant

applications and things, so that was, in

644

:

that sense it did lead to revenue, but

it wasn't like, wow, people were banging

645

:

down on our door to come see shows.

646

:

It was just all of a sudden we had a lot

of national and international coverage.

647

:

People who were not gonna like fly

to Detroit to come see a a show.

648

:

So it really wasn't helpful

to generating more sales, but.

649

:

You know, in general, these

are just things to think about.

650

:

So if you want off social, first

and foremost, I would argue start

651

:

strengthening your email list.

652

:

Like hard stop, start strengthening

your email list and email regularly.

653

:

How many times I've asked people

like, do you have an email list?

654

:

Yes.

655

:

When was the last time you emailed them?

656

:

Mm, maybe a couple months ago.

657

:

Okay.

658

:

Well, your task this week is to send them

an email, send them a, Hey, remember me

659

:

style email, and in that, if you need

a strategy for this, let me just tell

660

:

you very, very quickly what you can do.

661

:

Send an email to your entire email list.

662

:

And say, Hey, it's me.

663

:

This is what I do.

664

:

This is what I love helping people with.

665

:

It's been a minute since

you've heard from me.

666

:

I would love to simply offer you

some free resources and give them,

667

:

what do you have resources for?

668

:

Do you have freebie free

freebies that you've created?

669

:

They're already on your list.

670

:

Who cares?

671

:

Give them the freebies.

672

:

Do you have.

673

:

Maybe something interesting that

you've created for your clients that

674

:

you can, even though it's not really a

freebie for you, maybe it's something

675

:

you only give your paying clients,

but just as a, as a token of goodwill,

676

:

you can give it to them this one time.

677

:

Do you, are you an e-commerce shop?

678

:

Can you offer them a coupon or something?

679

:

You know what I mean?

680

:

Like what can you offer them that they're

going to be like, wow, Jane is so helpful.

681

:

Thanks Jane for sending me this email.

682

:

And if they're like, wow, I

don't really want that, then they

683

:

can unsubscribe and it's fine.

684

:

Don't be afraid of un unsubscribes.

685

:

In fact, I would argue I love when

people unsubscribe because if they don't

686

:

wanna be there, I don't need to pay for

them to be there, to be totally honest.

687

:

Like maybe if they're meant to come back,

I fully trust that they will come back.

688

:

I trust in the universe to bring them

back to me when the time is more aligned.

689

:

But like in the meantime, if

they, if somebody doesn't wanna

690

:

be there, then that's fine.

691

:

They're more than welcome to unsubscribe.

692

:

Or if we don't see eye to eye on what

we're talking about, you know, whatever.

693

:

Don't be afraid of unsubscribes, bless

and release and move on with your day.

694

:

But you know, send a, send an

email a couple days down the road.

695

:

Send them another email.

696

:

Reintroduce yourself.

697

:

Tell them an interesting story about how

you got into doing what you, what you do.

698

:

Share your values with them.

699

:

Give them a chance to connect

with you as a human being.

700

:

A couple days later, send them another

email that shares maybe, um, in, in text,

701

:

something that's going to be helpful.

702

:

Helpful for them.

703

:

If you, um, are in more of a knowledge

or service based business, give them

704

:

some type of instructional thing

that they can walk away going, oh my

705

:

gosh, that was so incredibly helpful.

706

:

And, you know, step one, step two,

step three, step four, or these are

707

:

the things you wanna be thinking about.

708

:

Something that they will

genuinely get value out of.

709

:

If you are someone who has products,

show them interesting, unique weight.

710

:

Interesting and unique ways that was not

very articulate in the way I said that.

711

:

Unique ways in in which they can use

your product, you know, if you sell.

712

:

If you sell shirts, maybe show them five

different ways you can style the shirt.

713

:

That could be helpful for them.

714

:

You can, you know, this is what

it would be like with jeans.

715

:

This is if you, you know, if you wear

this, if this, you wanna dress this

716

:

shirt up and wear it more to work, you

know, show them different things, be

717

:

helpful to them in some way, and get

back in the habit of emailing them.

718

:

You're gonna lose a lot of people.

719

:

There's gonna be a lot of drop

off, there's gonna be a lot of

720

:

unsubscribes, but that's all right.

721

:

So, but email, in my opinion,

is always going to be your

722

:

absolute best long-term strategy.

723

:

Because you, you directly have

access to contact anyone at any time.

724

:

That's gonna probably change

down the road with ai and I don't

725

:

really wanna think about it.

726

:

It makes me a little sad.

727

:

It also stresses me out a little bit.

728

:

But like for right now, in this

moment in time, it's a really,

729

:

really, really, really good mechanism.

730

:

So, and then start pursuing

passive visibility strategy.

731

:

If you have specific questions on

this, please send me a voice note.

732

:

It's linked in.

733

:

It's linked in the show notes

where you can send me, Hey, I

734

:

have this specific business.

735

:

I'm interested in this specific thing.

736

:

I am using this particular

visibility channel.

737

:

I'm using social media, or

whatever it is that you're using.

738

:

I don't really wanna do it anymore, or

I wanna do it in a more effective way.

739

:

Give me all the details about what

you're doing, what's working, what's

740

:

not working, what you'd rather be doing.

741

:

All the things, and I would be very

happy to detail for you on this podcast

742

:

a strategy that could be helpful for

you, um, and make it relevant for

743

:

other people who are listening as well.

744

:

So I hope this was helpful for you.

745

:

Uh, leave me, leave me some notes, send me

a message with what your biggest takeaways

746

:

are, and I will catch you in the next one.

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About the Podcast

Scale Your Vision
Scale Your Vision is dedicated to women founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners who have a big vision and want to scale it in a way that is operationally sound with human-first leadership, first class customer experience, and robust profit margins.

About your host

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Adriane Galea

Adriane Galea is a nonprofit founder turned business and scaling strategist, creative entrepreneur, speaker, and multi podcast host. She launched her first business at age 12, transforming it from a spare bedroom in her grandparents' house into an internationally recognized performing arts school and professional theatre company with multiple locations and hundreds of students. During the pandemic, Adriane began helping other business owners scale their operations, specializing in messaging, funnels, and operational strategy for 6- to 8-figure service businesses. In 2024, she founded Visionaries, an education, events, and media company on a mission to help passionate, purpose-driven founders and entrepreneurs scale their vision while working smarter, playing always, resting often, dreaming bigger, and making bank.