Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Becoming a Celebrity CEO with Ramon Ray

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Becoming a Celebrity CEO with Ramon Ray · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff,
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
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  Bolinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Everson.
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  You know, we love it when
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  you leave comments and tell us if this is helpful information.
• 0:35
  Is this moving the needle for you or what it is you wanna see more of?
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  So please make sure that you let us know if this is working, because we wanna make sure
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  that you're getting the information you need to live your dream life as a business owner.
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  Now it's time for me to introduce my next guest He's an old friend of mine, and I'm so excited
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  that he's here with me tonight.
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  His name is Ramon Ray, and he is a serial entrepreneur best selling author, Global
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  speaker, and event producer.
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  Ramon sold one of the companies he found it, and his 3rd book was a best seller.
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  And he's now in the process of writing his sports book called celebrity CEO, and that's
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  actually what he's here to talk to us about tonight.
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  He is the fender of smallbiztechnology.comandsmarthustle.com, which
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  is an amazing, excuse me, smart hustle magazine, And these are great resources for all
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  things small business.
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  So if you wanna learn more about him, you can hang out at ramonray.com.
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  But tonight, he's here to share his knowledge.
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  On how to boost your sales by becoming a celebrity CEO, real welcome remote rate to
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  Smallish chat line.
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  Hey, Malinda.
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  And thank you for having me.
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  It was a congratulations for the consistency, the eloquence, the amazingness that you offer
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  to America's small businesses.
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  Well, I could offer them to those in Iraq or or Ghana as well as anywhere in the world.
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  But thank you for what you do and for having me here.
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  It is a true honor to join you.
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  As we said, long time friends and watching your career, what you do.
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  So thank you, and I'm honored to be here.
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  Thanks.
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  Oh gosh.
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  Thank you so much.
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  You know, when I started small business chat 10 years ago, you were one of our first guests.
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  So I am so grateful to have you back this year because we're only having big time folks on
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  small business chat this year because this is our 10th anniversary.
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  So we count you among them.
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  So now talk to me about this concept of of personal branding and becoming a celebrity CEO,
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  and why is that so important?
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  Absolutely.
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  And I think that, listen, Melinda, there's a lot of people who talk about personal running
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  in a thousand different the books behind me, probably the books to your right and left or
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  wherever it is.
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  A lot of people have their version of personal branding.
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  So for me, Melinda, I think many people are comfortable with corporate brands.
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  Whether it's a Donald, Mercedes Benz, whoever it may be.
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  These are brands that spend, what, gazillions of dollars to, you know, repeat it 1800 m a t t
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  r e s.
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  You bought your last.
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  That's yes for saving.
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  Folgers in your cup.
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  It's like ringing in my head.
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  So those are the corporate brands.
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  But I think as a small business owners as I am, you know, I I don't have a $1,000,000,000
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  enterprise.
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  I'm blessed, but, you know, not a huge, huge enterprise.
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  So I think that for us small businesses, Melinda, my version of the world, we can only
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  afford what's about us.
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  And that's where the personal branding comes in.
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  Yes.
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  We can have a corporate name.
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  I have small business technology, smart also, small business lady, etcetera.
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  But for me, at least at the end of the day, for many small businesses, It's about me, how I
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  smile, how I shake my hand, how I look, the videos I put out.
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  So that's the essence of this aspect of personal branding.
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  That you're really focusing on brand new.
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  I think past company may be one of their first magazines they had have been recovered, but the
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  brand new So that's the essence of personal branding and why it's so important to get
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  people attracted to you.
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  I would also say instead of you chasing them, people chasing you.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  But now let me let me let me play devil's advocate with you because I see all these
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  wannabe small business verse on Instagram every day, and they've been in business for 2
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  minutes, and now they're gonna teach you.
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  Like, they never even have had a business, have not paid payroll, you know, have no idea what
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  it is to, you know, sign for a a lean against their house to get a SBA loan to support their
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  business.
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  And now they gonna coach you.
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  So I I I I'm concerned about this concept
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  Yes.
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  Of the celebrity CEO because I believe it has opened the door to all these posers.
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  I mean, like, it's so scary.
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  Some of the stuff you see out here now.
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  And if I had my handkerchief with me, Melinda, I would be waving it, you know, like they do in
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  in certain churches.
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  I'd be waving it and saying, you go, girl.
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  But say you're right, and I'll be the bigger I'll be the bigger advocate of that.
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  And I think also, as you know, you can buy this stuff easily.
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  I had known too few years ago, I mean, you know this game.
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  I'm learning it, but, you know, you can buy a the big ad of billboard in Times Square.
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  I I didn't know that.
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  I'm like, oh, just put some money down, and you can have your name and lights.
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  So you're right, Melinda.
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  You are absolutely right that there's people who can become and and and pretend to be the
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  celebrity CEO.
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  Here's what I mean, and here's how you can kinda smell them out as it were.
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  I think one, with the longevity how long have they been doing this?
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  Have they had a show or anything they're doing for 10 years or more?
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  And, you know, as well as chat.
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  So that's one.
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  How long have they been doing it?
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  2, what's the credibility?
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  3, who are the peers they're around?
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  The genuine peers are gonna say, yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  I know her.
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  I know him.
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  They've been doing it.
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  So I think and you're right.
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  In this age of when you can buy likes, buy tweets, buy anything you want, it's hard to
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  sniff people out, but as you know, when I knew we've been doing this for a while, Listen.
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  Those who've been in business for a while, those who have the longevity as our mutual
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  friend, John James, says no like and trust.
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  I think once you build that in, that's, I think, where you can start to say, you know
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  what?
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  Let me now lend my ear to this person because they've been doing it for a while.
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  So, you know, but I I like the pushback, and you're exactly right.
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  You can buy anything to pretend to be anybody, but those of us who've been doing it for a
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  while have proven results have showcased and built up the trust with their audience.
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  I think that's an important thing.
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  It's hard to measure.
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  That's how you can kind of separate the big girls from the small girls.
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  So Let's talk about how you go about starting to build your brand if you're just starting
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  out.
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  How do you do that?
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  Yeah.
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  Great question.
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  So, listen, let's take I'm gonna shout out to my wife who makes wreaths.
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  Let's say you're starting out and you're a wreath company just starting out wreath for
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  Christmas or Hanukk or Thanksgiving, whatever it is.
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  Hang on your wall.
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  A, do good work.
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  That's one.
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  It's so simple.
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  All remote, really?
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  Yeah.
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  Really?
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  There's a lot of people who do sucky work.
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  So just do great work that gets you talked about.
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  That's one.
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  I think too, oftentimes you have to be your own amplification.
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  You have to be your own megaphone.
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  You have to tout yourself, do your own show, do your own PR, deal on publicity, you know, when
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  that radio show that has two people listening, when that host interviews you, you tell
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  everybody and get 4 more people listening to your interview.
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  So that's one self amplification.
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  I think 3, don't forget about the consistency and not being afraid of small beginnings as one
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  of our mutual friends says, you know, one is greater than 0 you've gotta start somewhere in
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  London, I think 4, and I can, as you know, I can go on the for hours of this topic with the
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  power of social media.
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  And listen, That point as well, everybody's tweeting, everybody's posting, but it enables
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  us between hashtags and profiles and direct messaging, and I can't get to Melinda because
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  she has a gatekeeper.
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  I bid at 3 AM.
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  I can DM Melinda on Twitter She might be up and say, you know what?
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  Young man, be on my show if you get what I'm saying.
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  So that's the kind of thing I think to use the power for those start just starting off do
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  great work, social media, and all.
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  Alright.
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  So now how do you build a fan base?
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  Like, once you once you you started to build your brand, okay, but It's different between
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  becoming a brand and having a tribe.
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  So how do you build your tribe using Absolutely.
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  And that is a a differentiation process, something that I and, again, why talk about
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  this to book celebrity CEO?
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  Because and as you've witnessed, learn learn what we do, is I've seen it in my own business,
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  and so that's why I'm so, you know, I'm hanging my hat, and I'm so passionate about it.
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  So you have your personal branding.
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  You got that locked in your your reef business, let's say, going back to that reef business.
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  And you you got some people following you.
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  You got some clicks and likes and etcetera.
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  Now your fan base.
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  This is really a mental shift of where you're not trying to be first make sales you just want
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  people to link at you.
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  You just want people to follow you online.
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  You just want people to reshare a nice video you did That's where it's a mindset.
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  I am no longer trying to, you know, sell a chopstick.
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  I just wanna have a contest who can put chopstick on the fastest, if that makes sense.
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  That's where you're doing tribe building stuff where you're enabling the community.
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  It's already there.
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  Your SFGo kinda talks about you're just enhancing them.
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  You're giving them the tool, the platform to start talking about things that you're doing,
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  and that's where it gets interesting.
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  Because as they're as the tribe is already there and you're just bringing them together,
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  they're gonna be talking about who?
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  Ramon, Melinda, Diana, Alex, that's really where it becomes to to be magic.
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  Now how does the content play into building the brand and building the tribe?
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  How does how do where what role does content having that.
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  Wow.
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  Well, and the content is, I think, everything.
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  And, again, to those who are listening and saying, oh, Ramon, I'm seventy five years old.
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  You didn't mention sales, young man.
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  Sales is important.
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  Gotcha.
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  Use the yellow pages, whatever you want.
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  But here's how I think the role of content.
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  Everybody is doing one of 2 things online.
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  They're either searching for information.
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  My baby's sick.
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  I wanna go to the amusement park.
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  When is the Super Bowl happening in the year 2020?
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  Whatever they're asking a question.
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  Or they wanna share.
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  I mean, come on.
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  I everybody scrolled those silly videos at the cat jumping or the dog barking and whatever it
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  is.
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  I don't do that, Belinda.
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  Sorry.
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  I'm only business, but the other millions of humans, they do that stuff.
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  So people who do it with 1 or 2 things.
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  Looking for information or share with each other with each other, and that's where it
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  starts Melinda.
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  What content can you produce in the realm that's doing that you're doing?
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  You're a pipe fitter, a dry cleaner, a lawyer, an accountant, a wreath, make whatever you're
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  doing, what content could use to not start to generate now that people want to share and use?
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  How to do that?
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  A, as one of the guests said before, your phone, you can do that yourself.
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  2, the open to ideas of Melinda, many times people walk with their eyes closed and don't
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  talk.
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  When I wake up in the morning, I think of 3 things that I can talk about because that's
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  just me.
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  So I think having a creative mind, and don't forget other people's ideas.
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  People listening to this show are guests tonight.
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  We're talking about ideas.
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  Don't steal them now because Melinda will go to some chapter in her book, and you may get a
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  desistous letter.
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  But you can, you know, share them if you get what I mean.
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  Does that make sense, Belinda?
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  Yeah.
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  You can.
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  Now let's wrap this up before we go to commercial now.
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  What is the best this is advice you've ever been given.
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  Best bid advice is be yourself and try stop trying to be somebody else.
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  I think there's an echo in here.
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  I think I heard that already, but okay.
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  Good advice.
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  Good advice.
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  Listen.
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  Ramon just gave us some great tips when we come back, we're gonna talk about leveraging content
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  via video.
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  So I'm Melinda Emerson, the small business league, and we will be right back.
• 11:23
  Are you tired of struggling in your business, not taking a paycheck, dreading dealing with
• 11:29
  your business in the morning?
• 11:31
  Are you regretting even starting your business in the first place?
• 11:34
  Well, I know you're tired.
• 11:35
  And I also remember what that kind of tire is like, but the good news is it's time to stop
• 11:41
  feeling that way.
• 11:43
  Stop.
• 11:44
  I'm Melinda Emerson's small business lady, and my new book to fix your business is a ninety
• 11:48
  day turnaround plan to get back your life and reduce chaos in your business.
• 11:53
  I've been in business nearly 20 years and let me teach you how to build a business that works
• 11:58
  for you.
• 11:59
  Grab a copy today.
• 12:03
  Hi, everybody.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, and I am with Ramon Ray, and we are on small business chat.
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  Now we've been talking about how to boost yourselves by becoming a celebrity CEO.
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  And I and I and I used the air quotes for that, but but, listen, Brebo's gonna talk to us now
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  about how you can leverage video to build your celebrity brand.
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  So, Ramon, let's talk about it.
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  What what's going to do with video?
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  Yeah.
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  And Eric was good at me.
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  So let me see you.
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  Because, again, we're not talking about being, you know, the tells Tesla guy or Bezos.
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  Absolutely.
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  We're talking about small people.
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  But Listen, Melinda, here's the power video.
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  Video humanizes your brand.
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  Video personalizes your brand.
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  Video personifies you.
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  As we said kind of earlier in the show, listen, corporate brands are good for small businesses,
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  but at the end of the day, it's about me and you, how I shake my hand.
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  So video is one of the most powerful things that you could put out there.
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  People could say, let me take notice.
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  Let me see what they're doing.
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  It's engaging interactive, and everybody loves video.
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  Alright.
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  So then what types of video are the right kind to use when you're trying to establish a brand?
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  Abs absolutely.
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  3 kinds of videos that I like quite a bit.
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  1, is the standard kind of sizzle video, the video where your hair well, not mine, but one's
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  hair is flowing in the wind and, you know, it's the music, a set of it.
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  It's really cool advice.
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  That's one video.
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  2, the video that I do quite a bit most often is the educational types of videos.
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  These are the videos where you're dispensing knowledge to your community and user base, kind
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  of like we're doing today.
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  And then 3 10% Melinda give or take, have some fun.
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  You'll see what I do online.
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  I talk about me going to the barber shop or to the gym.
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  People wanna see a bit that you're human, a bit in the personal life.
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  If you can do those 3 things well on some some sort of consistent basis, you'll be far ahead
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  in leveraging the power video to grow your brand and build community.
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  Alright.
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  So what is the right time frame for a video?
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  Now I'm a former television producer, so I'm big on 2 minutes left.
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  But do you have a rule of thumb when it comes to video?
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  Yeah.
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  I mean, shorter definitely, is best, and I think it goes to the platform.
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  What I'm doing more and more Melinda is Instagram.
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  I believe the 60 seconds give or take.
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  I think if you can get something in 30 seconds, 45 seconds, and be consistent on that platform,
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  you're good, but definitely, Melinda, I'm with you.
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  Shorter is better.
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  Having said that, let's say there's some serious medical condition or problem or
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  whatever your industry, and it needs to be 2 hours.
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  Listen.
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  People will listen to it if it's well produced and informative if I was speaking to, you know,
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  we don't know everybody out there listening on the show, shorter is better than longer, not
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  knowing all the details.
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  Sure.
• 14:37
  Sure.
• 14:37
  Sure.
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  Alright.
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  Now should they produce videos from their iPhone, the home studio, a formal studio?
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  What is the best way?
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  Running and gunning with with tell me the best way to do video.
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  I love it.
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  If you're in a few tips, I think one, listen, right here, I have a webcam that I do a lot of
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  video, and I have what I think is I have to get rid of this kind of white space here.
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  But I have I invested in this commission painting here for this purpose so I can have a
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  better background.
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  So that's one.
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  Nice webcam HD.
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  2 your your modern phone, if you have a phone in 2002 or 19 21, don't use it, but your
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  average modern phone is good enough.
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  And a quick tip, Melinda, for your listen to those watching, a, don't look directly at the
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  phone like this.
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  Only idiots do that.
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  Instead, hold the phone to the side.
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  Hey, my name is Ramon Ray.
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  I'm on small business chat with Melinda Anderson.
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  Hold it here.
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  Keep turning it around, and people the people coming, Mister Sophie stick, that's how to do
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  video that looks legit.
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  That kind of spin right there while you're doing video, you look legit.
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  Wow.
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  Alright.
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  I'm gonna I'm gonna take that.
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  I love it.
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  I appreciate that.
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  So listen, Ramon, that was awesome.
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  Thank you so much for giving us that helpful advice on how to become a big deal online.
• 15:44
  The mission of small fish chat is to end small business failure.
• 15:48
  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small business lady, and we are over and out.
• 15:52
  I'll see y'all next week.
• 15:56
  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 16:01
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 16:08
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcast and join us next Wednesday.