Latest / Stronger Business Together / E44 Get Leads While Travelling with Trang Nova
Transcript
- Granger Forson: So this is the Stronger Business Together podcast where business owners learn from other owners. No theory, no gurus, just real journeys and overcoming real hurdles. Today I'm joined by Trang Nova who runs Trang Nova and like any business owner she's in that middle of building things, fixing things and growing something that really matters to her. So Trang, welcome. Trang Nova: Granger, thank you so much for having me here today. I'm really looking forward to this conversation. Granger Forson: Brilliant. Well, let's move on to our first act, act one, your business. So in plain English, what does your business do? Trang Nova: Mm. Well, as you said before, I'm Trang Nova from Trang Nova. And what I do is I am a public speaking trainer. So I help both individuals, whether you are a founder, a content creator, or an aspiring speaker, as well as corporate teams to speak with confident authority where it matters, in meetings, sales, and on stage. So yeah, I'm I'm a nerd for speaking and communication skills and I I love helping people to use their voice so that they can be recognized for their worth. Granger Forson: Fantastic. don't think I've ever had someone say they're a nerd before on the podcast. I love that. Trang Nova: Ha ha. Granger Forson: Everything's spoken. So you gave us a list of people there, but who do you then really love helping and what are they dealing with that they want to come to you? Trang Nova: Mmm, this is a question that I have previously always struggled to answer because you know, niching in business is important. And yeah, helping people with their speaking is niche. And at the same time, anyone who opens up their mouth to talk to someone else in their work could be a potential client. but in terms of who I do really focus on, I love working with service-based businesses. So people who actually face Clients or customers and do good work that that makes a difference. In particular, especially because of my background, I do find that a lot of people come to me who are women or people who English is their second language. And they find that their voice or their speaking gets suppressed in big rooms. So they want to be heard, they want to be seen, and they want to have more power when they do speak up. Granger Forson: Wow, yes, I can definitely understand that in my journey of my life. I actually started on the stage at school and sort of gone from there and using that. But yeah, the power of the voice is such an important tool to actually understand and use. like anything in life, you've just described, it's something that you can learn and develop and improve. So I can understand that need for it and who you start helping with. So fantastic. could do with some of that probably myself but anyway let's move on how did the business Trang Nova: Well, me too, really. Granger Forson: so how did the business start what's that original spark then that got you into Trang Nova: Mmm, I think like a lot of business owners, it hasn't been a straight road. and it's not like I planned this whole business trajectory from when I was 10 years old and I knew I wanted to do this one thing. no, I I was born in Australia to Vietnamese immigrant parents. So you know what it's like. I have three career options: to become a doctor, a lawyer, or a disappointment. I I graduated university as a physiotherapist. And that was my university qualified profession. I I was practicing for a few years until, yeah, a few years in. I was driving to work one day on a Monday morning. I'm sitting in traffic. I'm thinking about my day ahead. I've got 16 patients back to back, 20 minutes in, out, in, out between four small walls. And I thought, is this going to be it for the next Four decades of my life. No, is this is this it? and I felt no. I was like, you know what? I dream of just getting out there. And at the time I didn't know what it was, but I just knew I wanted to get out there, to have more freedom, have more flexibility, have more impact, where I wasn't just working with people as athletes, but working with them as human beings. So I knew I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to work with people more comprehensively. So that was when I started my very first business doing mindset and life coaching. And in my head I thought, if I can help people achieve their potential, then they have greater capacity to achieve success in their lives and to give back. You know, it's to make a difference in the world. So that was my very first business. And as I started doing more of that, as I started running workshops, I was creating content online. I knew I wanted to speak on stages. I got training and I invested heavily in getting mentoring and training from some of the best speakers in the world. And after a while of going on that journey myself, I realized, you know what, I'm I'm kind of good at this. I actually have a skill here. And I also noticed that the ways that I'd been able to help people was quite diverse. Like I had clients who had overcome injury, who had run a marathon, who had sold their house, moved estates so that they could pursue their dreams. And I was like, okay, I can help people in so many different ways. And you know what the common denominator was? It was my voice. How I've been able to use my voice to move people, to make a change. So that's when I went all in on speaking. I went all in on Granger Forson: Wow. Trang Nova: s becoming a speaker and speaking coaching so I could help other visionary leaders and other business owners do the same. Granger Forson: Wow, what a fantastic journey from physio to mindset to speaking. You went through that transition and found what inspires you. I can tell that, you some of you might be listening to the podcast, some are seeing this on YouTube. You're inspired, your face lights up when you're talking about that. We can see that. And similar to myself, I was an engineer, I started designing things. I got into... making improvements and I was trained by some Japanese master engineers and I loved that but what I loved about it was interacting with people and seeing people. rise up and make amazing changes in their work areas and rather than being put down by their managers etc and I really loved that I moved into corporate world and through that I got involved we're trying to fix problems and again in a big world and I moved to a little business and thought this will be my final job and I came across business coaching because we didn't know how to do sales and marketing in this little business. And I really enjoyed it. And I enjoyed interacting Trang Nova: Mm-hmm. Granger Forson: with other business owners. And that's how I discovered my current calling is that, Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: is that helping small business owners do that and achieve things that they couldn't do themselves because we're stuck in the daily activity of just making it happen. So yeah, I fully appreciate that. see my face lights up when I talk about that, just like yours does. tell me about a customer success you're really proud of. Trang Nova: Mmm. I I'm thinking of one woman in particular. So she's been working with me for just over a year now. And the things that she has achieved during this year have gone way beyond what she ever thought. And the coolest thing is, some of these dreams, like she didn't even know that that was a dream until it happened. So what happened was she is a marine biologist. she works on field in sub-Antarctic regions, and she Is starting to move into the space of education. So as a scientist, you can work in the field or you can go into education and raising awareness in the community. So we were working on together on her speaking skills, and then an opportunity came up for her to apply to do a TEDx talk. So I encouraged her to do it, because that's something that I've done before. And it it's a huge thing. It's like winning the lottery as a speaker to do a TEDx talk. So we worked on her application together. She she worked really hard on the application. And then after submitting the application, she she nervously awaited. She receives the email. She then messages me. She's like, Chang, Chang, Tran, they've accepted me as a speaker. So that started the journey of writing her TEDx talk, of her delivering the TEDx talk. And that is something that is huge because it's such a dream for a lot of business owners, personal brands, aspiring speakers. And now she's on to her next thing. So next week she has progressed to the next stage of interviews for a 12-month mission to Antarctica. So working in Antarctica as a scientist in the field, working with the birds there, actually. And that's what we're working on together right now: her interview skills, because it's the technical stage of the interview process. And that's where you can either shine and you can either show your experience or credibility or you may not be able to convince the the interviewers of what you have to offer. So that's what we're working on right now. It's very exciting. Granger Forson: Wow, that's beautiful. What a fantastic answer and a beautiful example where you're actually you've talked about earlier on that you help people build that confidence in speaking, be on stage, TEDx, wow, fantastic. But then also using that skill set that you bring to them to help pass interviews and to shine with their capability in everything they do. And you just demonstrated all of those end to ends. That's fantastic. So businesses. We need leads because leads turn into sales. How do you generate leads for your business? Trang Nova: Mmm. Quite a few years ago, I I got training from a man called Vin Jang. He's also a communication and speaking trainer. And I remember he said something to me that's that's really stuck. He said, Look, Chang, you can't rely too much on one avenue of lead generation. Because if that ever dries up, you'll be in trouble. And what he suggested to me was try to have 10 sources of lead generation at any given time. Which sounds like a lot, but then you if you spread yourself out there and you have a lot of ways that people can discover you, then yeah, you have more leads. So I have about 11 active sources of lead generation. The two main ones being social media, like organic social media through Instagram, LinkedIn. the other one is in-person relationships. So that could be me attending an event, whether it's a networking event and that's where we met, or I am speaking Granger Forson: Indeed. Trang Nova: at an event. And generally speaking at an event is where I get my most visibility. You know, I could be speaking for 30 minutes and then 100 people can see me all at once. So those are my two primary forms of lead generation. It's organic social media. And speaking or attending in person events. And if you want to nerd out on the numbers, Granger, I can share happily. It's sixty percent Granger Forson: Go for it. Trang Nova: sixty percent of leads come from the speaking and the in-person events, and then like twenty, twenty-five percent social media, and then the remaining is every other source of lead generation. Granger Forson: Brilliant. Yes, it's interesting. It's one of the conversations I have with new clients. Do you know where your leads come from? Can you actually measure it? You'll be surprised how many people don't. So the fact you gave me the numbers there, you know exactly what's going on. It's the most important thing to measure where they come from because that's how you can do more and generate more depending on what you need to do. So, yeah, Trang Nova: Yes. Granger Forson: interesting the number of different lead generations you have. at Strong Business together, one of the principles we created our business around, founded, was around keeping it simple, so simplify it. So we only have two. We used to have seven Trang Nova: Mm. Mm-hmm. Granger Forson: or eight. We've niched it down to two based on what actually works. So one plus a backup one, but making sure that the two are always actually working. Because Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: as a small business owner, you can end up trying to do too much and it starts getting complex when you try and build too much. yeah, interesting. Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: Always love to debate those thoughts. But anyway, let's move on to Act 2. Trang Nova: Yeah, but that makes sense. I was gonna say, Granger, that that makes sense because I've mentioned that I have eleven different ones, but then majority of my leads, majority of people who contact me come from just two of those top sources of lead generation. So I can understand where you're coming from with that as well. Granger Forson: Yeah, and all those other ones cost time and energy. So why do them? Trang Nova: Mm-hmm. Granger Forson: That was always my debate. But anyway, let's move on to act two, the journey. So, you know, creating business, running a business, you've given us that fantastic story of why it happened and the journey you went through. But as we're doing that, we have real highs and lows in businesses. You know, there are times when it's really tough and there are times where it's just really exciting. What have you Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: learned about yourself during those tough times? Trang Nova: Hmm. I'm very good at wallowing in my sorrows. Like I'm very good at crying. I'm very good at like taking the hit and feeling like the victim for a day or two. and I am also very good at then switching that off or at least overcoming that to then go l logical and say, okay, well, based on the numbers. Where are my gaps? Where are my weaknesses? What do I need to do more of? So I I've I've learned that because I have felt guilty and bad about those days where I'm I've looked at the numbers and I've done my finances and I just feel crap about myself. Cause I've seen the motivational content of being like, you know what? Don't be a victim. Just go on to the next. Go on to the next. But then I've learned I'm I'm human. Like just let me cry for a day. Let me let me be really upset, which I'm very good at. and then I can move through that, like experience that, then allow myself to generate the energy and generate the the motivation on the other side to get up and to keep taking action. So that's something that I've learned not that long ago. Granger Forson: Brilliant. No, I totally understand that as a business owner myself, my co-founder and I, we have these conversations quite regularly. And interestingly, we recently came across a phrase that you only know when you're on a peak when you start falling down the other side, and you only know Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: you're in a trough when you start climbing out of it. Absolutely. Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: There are always going to be highs and lows. There always going to be difficulties. And we have to accept that, and we have to deal with it. Not as in, you know, I'm... mentally tough, I don't have down days, we all do. But it's what you do to move on and how you keep going. I think that's what makes business owners really successful. Those that like yourself have said, no, now it's time to pick up and keep on going and find the next one and achieve what we need to do. yeah, I totally agree with what you say there, definitely. So as we built the business, as you've done things, you've made decisions. So maybe, know, what's a one or two decisions you've made that's changed the real trajectory of your business. Trang Nova: Mm. The decision to accept that something's not working and to accept that sunk cost the sunk cost fallacy to to let go of all the energy or the time that you've put into something and then to pivot or to or to restart. And I'm saying that because as I mentioned before, I've I've had multiple lifetimes. Now I've had multiple careers. And there was a time when I was doing the mindset and life coaching. And I thought that was going to be it for life. Now I thought this was going to be what I was going to do. I loved it. I could see how it was transforming lives and and it was going to be the thing that saves the world and would make the world a better place. but there also came a time when I moved from Melbourne to Bali. This was after like separating from a long-term relationship, and I was like, you what? I'm gonna move to Bali. And when I moved to Bali, I realized. Every other person there is also a life or mindset coach. And I'm actually not doing anything and unique at all. So realizing that that I wasn't actually offering anything that stood out, that you know, this this market was very saturated, that was also one of the deciding factors for why I then went into speaking training. Granger Forson: Interesting, yes. We can play in what they call the Red Ocean, it? As they say, think it is. There's so much going on, everyone's the same and we have to find our my co-founder Elaine, she made a wonderful description of it. She said, well, what we have to do is we have to pick up the ball and we have to go and build our own stadium to play in. I think, yeah, that's Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: a really interesting one. Sometimes in life you have to make that decision to do something either different or structurally different to everybody else if you want to be different to everybody else Trang Nova: Yes. Granger Forson: around you. So, yeah, really interesting, really interesting. So one of our... principles I talked about earlier on is simplifying everything to sort of bring energy back into your business. So what have you simplified over time to sort of help bring the energy back? Trang Nova: Mm. A lot of the work that I was doing in the early stages of my business was very fragmented. So I would be creating one piece of content for social media and then I'd write a completely separate blog and then I would work to like generate leads in my talks and every single talk would be a personalized bespoke talk for the events that I was speaking at. So everything was very fragmented, which meant it's a lot of work. Because I am doing everything from scratch every single time. but now what I have simplified was to bring everything into one funnel. And I know this is kind of it's seemingly quite simple as we are talking about. It's it's seemingly obvious. yeah, you know, you run a business, have one primary funnel that works. But it took me quite a while to to get there. And it's really only in the last twelve months that instead of having 10 different lead magnets or 10 different things that I'm doing, like my different sources of of lead generation, they still funnel into the same, the same what do you call it? Like self-liquidating offer that then leads into, okay, let's talk, let's get to know each other and have a call. And and what I'm talking about is I will have my podcasts, my social media content and my blog, and it's all of the same content. So one piece of content is simply redistributed and reformatted for all those different platforms. And then all of that leads into a free workshop that I run twice a month. So that gets scalable. I can have as many people as can fit onto a Zoom meeting. And then from there, people can either purchase directly to join semi-private coaching or private coaching, or they sit in my email list and they keep getting offered. Hey, are you still unhappy and are you still insecure about the way that you sound? Are you still finding that you're unable to build rapport? Are you unable to close deals because of the way that you talk? Well, I'm here for you if you need. So that's that's the simplified process that I now have. I found that it works, so I'm just going to keep doing it. Granger Forson: Yeah, brilliant. Interesting. We've done very much the same. It's one of the structures that we set out when we created the Stronger Business together was to totally simplify everything we do in our marketing approach and what we do and have that, whether you call it a funnel, a tube or whatever, that way of bringing in leads, but it's that really simplifying and doing that. And I love that idea of... using the same type of content but across different types of channels rather than Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: building lots of different ones. Interestingly, people always say this when you read books on marketing, you look at podcasts and you see things on YouTube, they say these things. But as business owners, it seems to sometimes take us years to actually do what people are saying and suggesting. So I don't Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: know what it is about us, but we do have these problems. Maybe it's because we built it first, so we think it's right. Trang Nova: Yeah. Or we hear it, we hear it and we think, that doesn't apply to me. I I am above this piece of advice until we've done it for long enough and then we're we're struggling in the trenches and then we're like, maybe they had a point after all. Granger Forson: Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. So if you lost all your leads tomorrow, what would you do in the next 30 days to rebuild? Trang Nova: Ooh, great question, Granger. I would go really hard on what's already working. So I would attend every networking event available for the next 30 days. Especially for me and different businesses will be different. But what I am selling is in my energy. It's evidence in when I speak to someone for the very first time at an event. Hey, if you want to have. the charisma if you want to have the confidence, like it like it sells just by me talking to them. Cause that is the skill set that I am selling. so I would attend every single networking event for the next 30 days. That would be the the main one. Because yeah I can post on social media, I can post on my website, like post blogs, but to me there is a delayed effect with that. There is a delay because people need time and repeated exposure to gain trust. Whereas in person, and this is kind of the challenge that we are probably going to talk about in in a little bit, in person is a whole different it's a whole different level of bonus that isn't gained online. And I know we're really doing a 180 now, especially after COVID, with all the technology that's happening, with everything that's available. Like from what I've seen and from my own experience, I I really find the in person is un irreplaceable. Granger Forson: I agree and I think it really comes from that phrase that people buy from people for our Trang Nova: Hm, yes. Granger Forson: type of nurture. If you're buying a supplement or a awesome. shoes, you can just buy from online and you can find that product and you can look at reviews etc. But you're still looking at people's reviews and understanding which one you buy. So you're sort Trang Nova: Yeah. Yeah. Granger Forson: of buying from other people but you're buying from the reviews. But for our types of products and services, people buy from people and that's such an important activity Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: that I think a lot of people can lose quite quickly when they think they can automate all of their marketing and sales processes. So yeah, Trang Nova: Yeah Granger Forson: totally agree. Thank you for sharing that. Business gets really busy, your business gets really busy at times. What do you do to remain having a thriving healthy business when you get really Trang Nova: Mm-hmm. Granger Forson: busy and under the pressure? Trang Nova: Mm. I only recently had this milestone in my business where I f hired my assistant full time. So she's been working with me for four years, and then just recently I'm like, all right, I need you full time. And the reason I'm bringing this up is because, yeah, like as the business grows, there is more workload. But I once heard a saying, you know, if there is a task that you do in your business more than once, then systemize it. and then outsource it. So I have found that to be really helpful where yeah, I'm getting busy and there is a lot of work that can't be outsourced. So any of my coaching, the the social media content, like filming videos that I post on social media, that that can't be anyone else because I'm Tragnova from Tragnova. but anything else that is behind the scenes that doesn't require this expertise, if I need to do it more than once, if it takes time, then I write it down, I I track it, and then I will s outsource it to Sharice, my incredible assistant. So I have found that to really free up my time and it's helpful because now we're a two-person business where we we're doing like 80, 90 hours of work a week. But we can work at that rate because there are two of us and I have been able to outsource that. So when I'm really busy, the key is How can I work less? Like how can I work smarter? Because I still want to have a life. You know, I still want to have weekends. And yeah, I still work quite hard. I I still do a lot of six-day weeks at the moment. but then also I will take four weeks off in a row and and I will take long vacations. So outsourcing that has been a big thing for me. And I think once again, this is not like all of this, all of the things I'm sharing, I'm just thinking right now, it's probably not groundbreaking. It's probably not the first time you've heard this, but Have you implemented it? Like what we were saying before, Granger. You hear these things, but have you done it? So that that would be the thing that has made the biggest difference for me. Granger Forson: Fantastic. No, I totally agree. And understanding how to do that is a really important thing. We believe in simplifying things first before we outsource them. That's just the two of us. We run it all together. But we're constantly improving and making those improvements to our process. For instance, only this last week, our podcasting process post. the activity which you'll get involved with later on. We spotted some improvements that we could make to that process. We made two minor changes and we took 20 minutes. out of that whole process combined and we run it three to four times a week. So you know Trang Nova: Nice wow. Granger Forson: it's not just about outsourcing it's also about how can you really make that process simpler and do that you know and your Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: assistant giving her that time to find that opportunity to do that it's one of those beautiful things about growing and developing people which is one of our principles so awesome. Let's move on to act three now you've alluded to it already our hurdle Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: so what's the hurdle you've brought for us to discuss today? Trang Nova: Hmm, this is just a little hurdle that's had me crying in bed at night, that's had me questioning my entire business. So to be transparent, this is a a real life hurdle that I'm going through right now. And I I need to give some context to this. So I have been running this business and I have been working for myself for the last six years, since 2020. That that year that we all remember very clearly. Or maybe maybe some of us not. Maybe some of us have blocked it out. Granger Forson: yes. Trang Nova: and for a long time I thought that I was running an online business because I am active on social media. I get a lot of leads online and I do a lot of online coaching. So when I met my current partner who is English and I'm Australian, by the way, we were like, Cool. Well, we both have online businesses. We can travel indefinitely. We can live between Australia, we can live in England, we can also live in the US if we wanted, we can be in the in Asia. Except what I started to learn since being here in England the last four months, and also having that data, 60% of my leads actually come from in person relationships. It's been a wake up call of all right, if I pick up and live in Brazil. for three months and then I go to South Africa for three months. I'm actually gonna be starting over from scratch again and again because I'm not just doing coaching. Like I I speak and I do corporate workshops. So I've learned that there is a lag effect. It takes three to four months to build up in a location. But if I'm constantly moving between locations, then I am just going to be spinning my spinning my wheels. Like I go somewhere new. I work really Granger Forson: Mmm. Trang Nova: hard to plant some seeds, but then I leave again. So essentially what we are doing now is we have decided we will go between three main locations, Melbourne, Australia, Cheltenham or London, UK, and then also Singapore, Singapore, Indonesia area in Asia. So I think Granger Forson: Yep. Trang Nova: my biggest hurdle is how can I build relationships but still create opportunities that don't completely die when I move on to the next location. Because I will come back, but just not for anywhere between six to nine months. and I Granger Forson: Okay. Trang Nova: know it's challenging, but that that is my hurdle right now. Granger Forson: Okay great, fantastic. Let's try and sort of unpick this today. so I would start with the starting condition. Where we are today. So you talked about this lag that takes place for building up. what causes that lag then? What's taking place? Trang Nova: I'm coming to a new location where I may have had some reach online, but in terms of the market in that location, nobody knows me. So it takes what I found at least being here the last four months, it's t it takes time to get to know people. It takes time to build trust to get my name out there. and then by the time I get referrals or by the time I get opportunities, then it's at least a few months in. So so that's a lag Granger Forson: Right. Trang Nova: effect that I've noticed. Granger Forson: Okay. So is that going to networking events, going to other events when you turn up in a new area, you start to build that relationships and you start to then from that relationship building then opportunities for work then arise beyond that. Okay. All right. Okay. Trang Nova: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Granger Forson: So if we were to think about, so you've already got an idea maybe to try and fix that by having three standard locations where you go to and make that happen. Right. Trang Nova: Mm-hmm. Granger Forson: So when you arrive in a new area, what do you do? Trang Nova: I have focused a lot on in person events, as I mentioned before. Theme of the whole podcast, Granger Forson: Okay, yep. Trang Nova: in person events. I do a lot of email outreach. So at the moment, for example, I have started to slow down my email outreach to companies in England because I am leaving soon-ish. And then I'm looking at the next location and then I'm doing outreach Granger Forson: Okay. Trang Nova: there. So I do that in the lead up to going to a new place as well. Granger Forson: Okay so you're trying to build up what just connections with people because you said it's connections face to face do you explore and find the next set of speaking engagements that you can do in this new location? Trang Nova: Yeah, yeah. I have my assistant find all of the events, conferences, different groups in the area and then I reach out to them. Granger Forson: Yeah. Okay. And so you turn up an event and you meet a set of people. What do you do next? What takes that time in order to build up that relationship to where somebody would then say, yes, let's have a conversation about X or I know somebody Y who could do with your help. Trang Nova: Mm-mm. I I like I build up the relationship. I get to know them. They know who I am, what I do. And then yeah, like it can be a delayed it can be a delayed opportunity because there might not be an event in the area, or it might be like, actually, hey, Granger Forson: Mm. Trang Nova: there's this event in three months. Could you MC at that event or something like that? And then by then, I'm like, ugh, I I'm not in the area anymore. So Granger Forson: Yeah. Trang Nova: With with coaching, that can be more immediate. Like I know, Granger, we've spoken about some potential people that we can collaborate with. So that can be more immediate for sure. And that is generally an online service anyway. but yeah, it's it's I don't know how to break that lag effect or how to continue that continue that momentum even if I've left. Granger Forson: Right yes okay so you turn up and then you've to build relationships so the first thing you Trang Nova: Okay. Granger Forson: said is how can you initially build up that head of steam before you turn up so you go to other events could we flip that on its head could you create a triang nova event Trang Nova: Brilliant. Of course I can. I absolutely can. I have done that in the past. I haven't done a lot of it recently. You know, I have run Granger Forson: Yeah. Trang Nova: full-day events, I've done a run retreats. And then I've gotten to the point where maybe I'm a little bit lazy and I'm like, it's way easier being a guest speaker at another event than putting on my putting on my own event. But Granger Forson: It is absolutely absolutely. But you've got a you've got somebody who can help you now. Trang Nova: Yeah, yeah. No, like that could definitely be that could definitely be something that I consider going into a a new place. Granger Forson: And I reflect on the book Key Person of Influence by, Trang Nova: Dan Priestley. Dan Priestley. Granger Forson: Thank you. There we go. Brilliant. Dan Prese is brilliant. And he talks about building up that groundswell of activity, which you do to then publish your event and make your event come in place. now emailing, podcasting, everything you can do social media. in that area in advance is building up that activity of this event taking place. Now you need to decide why would people come to this event, what benefit would they get from it, maybe not just you but other people, how would you find those people to build that groundswell of people wanting to turn up who are to do that. But if you had something that was a product, a service, a wow thing that you could Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: then turn up and run and then From the back end, yes, you'd still then go in and meet other, go and join in other events, but you're now building up an advanced groundswell of people that are looking forward to coming and learning, working with you, finding out what you do, et cetera, through events like that. So you can control that rather than having to control trying to find lots of other people's events whenever they'll take place. Trang Nova: Hmm, yeah. Granger, aren't you a brilliant person? That's that's a that's Granger Forson: And it. Trang Nova: a great idea, especially if because I said I want to do more in person. that's the part Granger Forson: Yeah. Trang Nova: of my the the branch of my business that I actively want to grow. Coaching, of course. but yeah, the actual speaking side of things in person is what I want to grow. So that makes a lot of sense. Granger Forson: Yeah, so you can create something exciting that helps people that you can even do advanced advertising for your social media activity builds up things you can have a waiting list for it. love Daniel Priestley's idea of waiting lists. That's Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: a fantastic idea that again entices people to come along. You have to decide how big that would grow and become. But now you've got a model you can now replicate in each of the areas you go to. So you almost. Once you've done one or two, you can maybe go into then some other local events to increase then your activity. then Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: make a number of leads, sell your products, develop that activity and then you're almost two months before, three months before, you're now setting up the next one that you're going to in the new area that you're going to move to. So you're Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: almost, you you've got two activities, the pre-activity and then the post. post you're doing there, pre you're doing before you leave. Trang Nova: Yeah, yeah. Great suggestion, great job. Granger Forson: It's often switching it on the head and say, how would I do, you see, were saying, how would I find lots of different places? Well, actually, you were trying to find lots of different places. How could you find lots of different people to come to you? So sometimes just reversing the question in Trang Nova: I know. Granger Forson: the other context helps us to really understand how we can organize things. Okay, so if that's a good idea, what would you do first? What would you do this week to start thinking about your first experiments around this? Trang Nova: Hmm. I would I think when I've run events in the past, what I've found is you just gotta pull the trigger and and to put it out there and then you you like you deal with all the logistics later. So what could be the most action actionable step is to put an event up, like on my website, on meetup.com, on humanitics, on those sites. And it may be in advance, like maybe it's for September, maybe or in September now, maybe it's for October. But then that gives it time to build up. And then in the meantime, while I'm marketing it, I'll do the I'll do the event content and the planning. But that would really be that seems like the last step, but really it's it's the hardest, but it's the first step that we could take. Granger Forson: I agree. We often plan, organize, think, spend a lot of energy on it and actually you then turn up and nobody turns up. And actually it's the other Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: way around. I totally agree. You start off with saying, this is what I'm doing. This is the great exciting event. Sign up here. Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: And if you get people signing up, then you build the content for it. Then you build the more momentum for it. If people don't sign up, that then tells you, maybe my target audience was wrong, maybe my description was wrong, maybe I don't actually understand what they need, maybe I'll try something else. So you then create Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: another image of it and try again, because people turn up to events, they love events, people love Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: to come to learn things, people love to see things. It's just finding that one that switches them on to be able to make that happen. Trang Nova: Yes, yes. Granger Forson: And then you've also got, you've talked about your funnel that brings people into your monthly online activities. Again, those online activities, the workshops, did you call them, or seminars? can't remember, apologies. Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: Do you do that in the live context as well? Could you actually replicate that? Because if people are turning up for that and wanting that, you could actually use Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: that in the idea in your physical live events, which you then do. when you first arrive in town type thing to Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: drum up that. So rather than reinventing the wheel, maybe using that context so people can Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: funnel into your digital event or they could funnel into your live physical event. Trang Nova: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I've got I've got about three different signature workshops that I have on rotation. So you know what I could even do? Because my next location is Bali. So I'll be there for two months, between mm late October until December. So I can do all three and that would be useful because it could each event might attract a different audience. And it's more volume, it's more exposure. and yeah, you can you can do it more than once, but still have attraction between the the different events. So I can think of I can think of the topics already. One's on public speaking, one is on sales and and charisma in sales, and the other one is more general, but it's like, hey, if you want to have a speaking makeover, like come along and I'll give you some guidance on on what direction to go. Granger Forson: Brilliant. So you're off to Bali next. So how would you gauge these experiments were working trying to build this physical event that you manage and control rather than just go into other people's events? How would you, Trang Nova: Mm. Granger Forson: what would you define as success in your first go at doing this? Trang Nova: Hmm. really like we or so I say we, but I say I. I would be running these events not just for the fun of it, not for content, because I've got plenty of content already. Success has to be the amount of people who sign up afterwards for coaching or sign up to a service. So really that is the the only metric that matters and and for everyone it it's different as well. Like you depending on the stage of business, maybe getting content or getting experience is worthwhile. But for me it needs to be people who who sign up. So that's easy to measure. what I usually offer at the end of these events is for people to book in for a call with me. It's no obligations, it's it's free, but it's a speak a one-on-one speaking analysis. So I would up upsell that or offer that at the end of the workshop and then have people from there a sell to them one on one. If if if that's something that comes up. Granger Forson: Right, good. So we know what we're to do. You've got some ideas how to do it. You've now got a way of measuring its performance. Now Trang Nova: Mm-hmm. Granger Forson: all you've do is give it a go and find out and give it Trang Nova: Yeah. Granger Forson: a go multiple times. The whole of Daniel Priestley's book, is almost designed around doing exactly that. So we know that the system works. We just have to find how to make it work for us that delivers the results that we want. Trang Nova: Yeah, really into Granger. I I really like your idea 'cause it has been something that I've done in the past, but it's kind of something that I've forgotten about. So I will action that for barley when I'm there. I'll let I'll keep you updated with how it goes. Granger Forson: Brilliant, really exciting, awesome. So Trang, let's move on to our wrap up and close. What did you hear yourself say today that maybe surprised you? Trang Nova: Hmm. I would I would say that your suggestion to run my own events was something in the past that I was like, you know, I'm I'm not really gonna do that anymore. It takes so much time and energy. But then after fleshing it out with you, I'm like, yeah, that's actually a good idea. And I am open to that at this stage of me moving around so frequently. So I'm I'm actually surprised that I said that because I didn't think that I was there, but I am. Granger Forson: Brilliant. Well, thank you for your honesty. And finally, Trang, how can people find out more about you and follow your journey more? Trang Nova: Sure. as we've said quite a few times during this podcast, Trang Nova is the name. And if you type in Trang Nova, I am everywhere. Like I said, social media, LinkedIn, Instagram, my website. I have a podcast as well. but I am the only Trang Nova in the world. So it's as simple as if you type in Trang Nova, you you will find me. Granger Forson: Fantastic, yes, my name also brings that very similar type of thing as well. Trang Nova: Nice. Granger Forson: Awesome, well, Trank, thank you so much for being so open and honest. I know our listeners will get a lot from this conversation. It's been fantastic, thank you. Trang Nova: Granger, thank you so much for having me and I can't wait to hear what the listeners think of the episode. Granger Forson: Thanks for spending your time with us today. We're on a mission to make business owners stronger together. If this conversation's helped you, please like, comment and follow on whatever platform you're using. Around 60 % of our audience hasn't done that yet, and these small actions will help us reach more business owners just like you. If you want to join in the conversations, I guess, or if you have a hurdle question for us to explore in a future episode, reach out to us at info at strongerbusinesstogether.com. Now, go Now go make this next week really successful and we'll see you next time. Cheers!