Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Utilize Collaboration to Grow Your Visibility with LaChelle Adkins

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How to Utilize Collaboration to Grow Your Visibility with LaChelle Adkins · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
• 0:23
  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
• 0:32
  Have you been thinking about adding AgenTic employees to your business?
• 0:37
  Co founder Doubt AI could be a great option.
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  Build an AI powered team that can help you research, strategize, market, and sell, and
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  just get more done.
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  Put AI to work in your business.
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  Visit cofounder.ai and meet your new digital team.
• 0:56
  Hi there, everybody.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast, where we help small business owners get the knowledge,
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  resources, and strategies they need to start, grow, and succeed in business.
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  Our mission here at the Small Biz Chat podcast is to end small business failure.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, America's number one small business expert and your host of the Small
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  Bitch Chat podcast.
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  Today, we are gonna be talking about what it takes to build your visibility.
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  Know, everybody talks about social media.
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  Everybody is like, friend me, follow me, all that stuff.
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  But today we're gonna talk to a lady and she is known as America's Supermom.
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  And she's going to be talking to us very specifically about how to leverage
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  collaboration.
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  So let me introduce her now.
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  If you're trying to build a brand, expand your audience, or increase your visibility without
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  spending a fortune on advertising or strategic partnerships, strategic partnerships may be the
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  answer.
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  Lachelle Atkins, better known as America's Supermom, joins us today and she is an
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  entrepreneur, speaker, author, and mental wellness advocate whose inspiring journey has
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  touched thousands of lives.
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  As a wife and mother of 15, y'all heard what I said.
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  This woman has 15 children.
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  She overcame a thirteen year battle with depression and launched her Fresh Start
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  Coaching Program in 2016 to help others embrace wellness, purpose, and personal growth.
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  She's a bestseller, television producer, and personal advocate, and she's built a powerful
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  platform by leveraging relationships, partnerships and community.
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  And through her Smile for Wellness movement, she inspires people to overcome challenges,
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  discover their strengths and create meaningful impact in the world.
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  As always, if you are a fan of the Small Business Chat podcast, please take a moment to
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  leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
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  Your review always helps us reach more entrepreneurs and continue to bring valuable
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  business insights every week.
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  Now, please join me in welcoming America's super mom, Lachelle Atkins.
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  Welcome to the Small Bish Vap podcast, Lachelle.
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  Well, thank you so much for having me, Melinda.
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  You know, I just every time I hear that intro, it's like, you know, who is that person that
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  they're talking about?
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  Because, you know, when you have a lot of kids, you just hey.
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  That's Sally's mom or that's, you know, John Boy's mom.
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  Okay?
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  You just forget that you got another life outside of motherhood.
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  Listen.
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  I only have one kid, and I am still known as Jojo's mom even though my child is in college
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  now.
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  He's like, oh, that's Jojo's mom.
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  You know, sometimes they call me the small biz lady, but I'm like, look, I'm just Melinda.
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  That's okay.
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  You know, you can actually call me by my name.
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  But tell us a little bit about your business.
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  I'm going to get into these 15 kids because always takes my breath away every time I read
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  it or say it, but tell me about how you started working with business owners, women business
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  owners in particular, to help them become just more confident.
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  Tell me how you just got into the coaching world.
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  Well, know, it started just through my own journey.
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  I went through thirteen years of depression and three hospitalizations.
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  You know, I was raised as an only child, so I had no siblings.
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  And I was always driven around career and being your own boss and things like that.
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  My mom was an entrepreneur and so, my mission was to be a corporate attorney, went to school,
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  met my husband at college, and then, life took another turn with us having children.
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  And as an only child, my mom was an entrepreneur.
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  She couldn't go to field trips or be a part of class parties.
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  And I didn't want that for my kids.
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  So we made a decision for me to stay home and with that, I just didn't know how to function
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  really with being a stay home mom.
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  All of my colleagues were career driven and oriented and so staying at home was very, you
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  know, foreign to me and so, it was a situation where I didn't get a lot of that feedback that
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  I was used to whether it was being on honor roll or gifted classes.
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  And so, you know, I really struggle with knowing my worth and identity.
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  And so that really is a lot that I believe was a catalyst for my downward spiral.
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  But when I got out of the hospital after my last hospitalization, I realized that as much
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  as I tried to blame my husband or kids or circumstances around my depression, I was the
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  common denominator.
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  So I wanted to be able to give back, help other women, and share my story.
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  And that has led me into all the different forms of media that I'm in today whether it's
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  being an author, a speaker, or even a TV producer because I find that, you know, we have
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  to own our story and the narrative and so these different media sources allow us to do that.
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  I see.
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  So let's talk about how you help businesses with visibility and marketing.
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  So, you know, a lot of business owners believe that they need marketing dollars to grow, but
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  you believe that collaboration is faster and frankly more effective to grow a business.
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  Talk about that.
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  Yeah.
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  Because, you know, marketing is what I got my degree in.
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  Indiana University, gotta shout them out.
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  They won the college championship for the first time ever.
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  So, you know, we gotta show support.
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  But, you know, marketing is a very constant high expense that we have with building our
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  business and brand.
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  You know, if you think about McDonald's, you know, as popular as McDonald's is, they still
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  do advertising because it's something that you have to do in order to stay top of mind with
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  people.
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  And so for many business owners, they go through focusing on some of the assets rather
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  than focusing on things that will lead to a conversion.
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  So for me, if I am talking to somebody about being a guest on your show, then I can be a
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  quicker form of conversion because it's like, oh, I was just on her show.
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  Let me, introduce you guys.
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  I'm not sure when she has an opening, but that is a warm lead that many people spend so much
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  advertising dollars to accomplish.
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  And so as a business owner, we, a lot of times, don't recognize how we can leverage our
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  networks, our experience, our skills in ways that allow us to work smarter and not harder
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  and do a lot of these things without any costs.
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  Well, talk to me about the difference between networking and strategic collaboration and why
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  small business owners need to kinda understand what the difference is?
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  Well, for me, I believe they're the same because a lot of people just scratch the
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  surface with networking.
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  So networking would be, you know, me just connecting with you.
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  We connected on Owl, I believe, the Owl app.
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  Okay.
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  So that's networking.
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  Well, strategic, relationships allow me to take a mindset that, okay, we connected on Al.
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  Well, I can screenshot your picture or my picture, our profile pictures on Al, and I can
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  make a post about, I had a great conversation with Melinda.
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  She's doing amazing things as a small business lady.
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  And that's me aligning my brand with yours over something that organically happened.
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  And so we forget these opportunities that we have with having access directly to people
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  because that gives us the opportunity to build credibility with their audience.
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  So for me to screenshot this interview and say, hey, I had a great time.
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  You know, she asked me some great questions and posting that is gonna leverage my traction with
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  your audience and my own because of me showing people what I'm doing instead of just telling
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  them?
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  So let me tell you what the difference is for me.
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  When I network with people, I meet people all the time.
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  Right?
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  You know, I'm always someplace I meet people.
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  But when we start thinking about how we can strategically support each other's business,
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  that's when it because to me networking is casual.
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  Strategic collaboration is intentional.
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  That's what the difference is in my mind.
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  Like I made a decision after I met you, you know what, you have a really interesting story.
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  I think that should be a part of my podcast.
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  Then I'm saying, okay, you know what I mean?
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  Then we have a conversation on the phone, then I find out about five other things you're
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  doing.
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  They're like, oh, you know what?
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  I could plug you into all these other things I'm doing.
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  Really when the follow-up starts is when you can turn it into strategic collaboration.
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  Well see,
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  I agree with that to some extent, but I find that a lot of people miss opportunities because
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  they have that idea that it's casual.
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  You know, how many deals are done casually on a golf course?
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  Right?
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  So we if you're intentional about building your business, I have people one day, I had a lady
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  who reached out to me.
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  She was like, oh my gosh.
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  I am in a bind.
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  I need a VA.
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  Mine is sick or can't take care of my business.
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  I'm reaching out to you to see if you know anybody.
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  Now she knows I'm not in the VA business, but for me, that was a blessing because I'm top of
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  mind as she's thinking I'm a problem solver.
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  So I think when we network, see, you want people to remember you.
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  I don't want people to remember my brand when they need a when they have a problem.
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  I want them to remember me whenever somebody else might have a problem that I could solve.
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  Hey.
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  Let me, send you to Lachelle because she does x y z.
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  Right?
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  That's the whole thing about making it where it's unconscious that people will reach out to
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  you.
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  And I sent her three people, and she was able to resolve the issue.
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  So my point is, you know, we we lose a lot of traction thinking that everything is casual
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  because you can meet somebody, but then are we following up?
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  Do we have a system for the following up?
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  See, it's all strategy.
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  And and if you're intentional around, really managing that budget that you have for
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  marketing, you're gonna see that every casual opportunity can turn into converting to sales
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  if you are strategic from the very beginning.
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  What do you think are the biggest mistakes people make when they approach a potential
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  collaboration partner?
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  A lot of people have, what do you call it?
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  Sales breath where, you know, they come out of desperation over what they want rather than
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  seeing if they are in alignment with the person that they're trying to collaborate with.
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  A lot of collaborations, you know, there's room for everybody at the table.
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  You know, McDonald's, they're not threatened about competition.
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  They have their own McDonald's, you know, like on every corner if they wanted to.
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  Because the key is about distribution and visibility.
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  Because the more McDonald's that people see, the more McDonald's is gonna be the first
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  thought when they're thinking about fast food.
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  Right?
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  So a lot of people get it messed up where they are so focused on what their goal is and not
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  finding a strategic alignment to where it's just makes sense.
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  Right?
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  It doesn't it's not anything forced.
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  You're not competing.
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  You know, you're just offering something that it's a win win for both parties.
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  So let's talk about some creative collaboration opportunities that don't require a big, large
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  audience or advertising budget or celebrity connections.
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  What are just some, some small things people can do to look for areas of connection and try
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  to grow?
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  Okay.
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  So, you know, with your brand, you want people to remember your brand for the message.
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  So, do you have a tagline?
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  Do you have a hashtag?
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  Are you customizing your messages to people?
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  So, for example, if if it's someone's birthday, you could customize a birthday wish but it has
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  your picture on it.
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  People get stuff all the time related to happy birthday or people are adding to a post about
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  someone's birthday But you wanna find ways that you can just slowly stand out from everybody
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  else.
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  You might sing happy birthday through a voice message to somebody.
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  You know, the key is for you to do something different that stands out so that you're
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  remembered.
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  And a lot of people spend a lot of time doing things that cause them stress.
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  You know, they're trying to spend two or three hours sending everybody, you know, saying happy
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  birthday on somebody's post rather than creating a customized birthday wish that they
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  could send anybody anytime it's somebody's birthday.
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  You know, I have people reach out to me on LinkedIn.
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  Like, you know, they have all these things like it's your six year anniversary or, you know,
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  something happened.
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  Well, I take time and create a thought market driven, intentional response to them.
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  So I might say, thank you so much for your support.
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  Here's some things that I've done over the past six years.
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  And then I will send them a link to things because I don't know where they know me from or
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  if anything that I'm doing may be of interest to them.
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  So I think it's about, you know, when you have opportunities that are warm leads, then it's up
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  to you to really take it to the next level by the system that you create so that you can be
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  consistent in reaching out or responding to other people.
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  So I know sometimes we as women, we will get on an airplane or be standing in line and tell
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  people our personal business, but might not reach out to someone that's a more established
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  business leader out of fear, right?
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  We'll talk to a stranger, but that person we really want to talk to, we're afraid to
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  approach.
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  What is your advice for someone to, you know, not be afraid to approach the VP of whatever
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  for whatever company, you know, if you're at an How somebody sort of like talk themselves out
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  of the fear and move forward afraid?
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  Well, you know, I think a lot of it is, you know, the research.
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  You know, it it's hard to sometimes talk to a stranger around something that you wanna
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  accomplish and you need to find out what it is that they wanna accomplish.
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  And so a lot of the times, you know, we have our own script of what we want without even
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  including the other person in it.
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  One of the things that I always do, you know, even being in the media is very male dominated
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  and a thing that god has me do all the time is when other people go high with their ego, I go
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  low with my humility of being able to be vulnerable about my struggles.
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  Because what happens is people can't relate to everybody who's got everything going right.
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  You know, if I was this mom, this and that.
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  Hey, you know what?
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  My kids listen every time I tell them to do something.
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  Their rooms are spotless.
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  The people would turn the channel because they're like, okay, that's not my world.
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  I can't even relate to this woman.
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  Right?
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  So when you are vulnerable, you actually attract more people because they believe what
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  you're saying.
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  And it's like, oh my gosh, if she's dealing with this like I am, it helps them eliminate
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  excuses because that's what we do.
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  We say, oh, you know what?
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  She's got it going good because she's, you know, she's been on TV.
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  Right?
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  She's doing this.
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  We come up with the excuses as to why it won't work for us.
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  But then when we have people tell the truth about the things that we would have used as an
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  excuse, then we're like, okay, now if she had all this going on and she's doing it, I don't
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  have an excuse, I need to get going.
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  I think there's something really to that.
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  Tell me about a collaboration story that really helped you.
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  Like when you've been building your America's Super Mom brand, tell me how, you know, your
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  strategic networking sort of leveled up your business.
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  Yeah.
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  So I had a coach in the very beginning.
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  She charged me like $1,000 a session.
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  She was from The UK.
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  And she was challenging me to do video at the time and you know, connecting with people on
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  LinkedIn and so, I just thought, I just don't want to connect with the people that they refer
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  to you.
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  I just want to do something different.
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  I just feel like everybody's doing that.
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  So I got the book by Michael Gerber.
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  It was the E Myth book.
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  One of the his series of it.
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  And so I went through and you know how people do the little endorsements in the front of the
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  book.
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  Mhmm.
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  Right?
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  So he had a lot of people that did endorsements.
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  So I was like, let me just look up these people that did these endorsements and see if they are
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  on LinkedIn.
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  So I was doing that.
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  And one of the people that I connected to was Doctor.
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  Ivan Meisner.
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  He, you know, I was sending them these this interview that I did because it was cancer
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  awareness month.
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  And so I had I was on this campaign of wearing this pink wig and I had done this interview and
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  I sent it along with the request to connect with him.
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  I didn't know that his wife had cancer.
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  So I think that was probably part of him saying yes.
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  So anyway, he connected with me and I I asked him if he would do a video with me.
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  Well, at the time, I didn't even know who he was.
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  Right?
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  Well, he's the founder of BNI.
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  Mhmm.
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  So I happened to have one of his books, and I started promoting the book because I was like,
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  oh my gosh.
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  He's gonna be on my podcast, and I didn't realize who he was.
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  So I've created a great relationship with him.
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  You know, he's been interviewed by me two times, and, he was interviewed, I was able to
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  interview him on clubhouse, when during the pandemic time frame, but referred him to
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  several podcast hosts and everything.
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  But, you know, you just have to get out there.
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  A lot of times, we talk ourselves out of stuff because we feel like, you know, we're not
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  special enough.
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  We're not knowledgeable enough.
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  We don't have enough skills.
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  You just have to get out there and be committed to what you're doing because that's the thing
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  that resonates with people.
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  Now, if I was, you know, oh my gosh, I don't really know what to say, or, you know, really
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  shy, which I'm not saying that, you know, we're gonna be a 100% confident when we have the
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  ability to talk to people that have accomplished these things, but you have to
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  understand that everybody started where you were.
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  So you're just going through the process.
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  Absolutely.
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  Absolutely.
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  All right, Lachelle, last question for you.
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  What is the best business advice you've ever been given?
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  For mine, is, you don't have to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.
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  So that kind of transcends beyond business, but also your personal life, just with my own
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  journey of trying to people please and, you know, afraid of rejection, all these different
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  things, not having boundaries.
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  But just remembering you don't have to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.
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  I have never heard that before, but that is a whole powerful, I almost feel like that could
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  preach, right?
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  Isn't that the truth?
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  But listen, thank you so much for being a guest on the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  I do hope that your light has encouraged other people.
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  I know it has encouraged me.
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  Thank you for having me.
• 23:14
  Have you subscribed to the Small Bitch Chat podcast?
• 23:17
  Well, it's time.
• 23:18
  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
• 23:24
  small business.
• 23:25
  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
• 23:31
  your business forward.
• 23:33
  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Biz Chat podcast today.
• 23:37
  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 23:42
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
• 23:47
  more fantastic information and interviews.
• 23:50
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 23:54
  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.