Unpopular Opinion: The Toxic Behavior That is Rampant Inside the Business "Education" Industry
Episode 589: Show Notes
There’s a massive problem that’s affecting our entire audience right now, and we have some seriously strong feelings about it, which you’re going to hear all about in today’s episode. Do you guys remember that show called Celebrity Deathmatch? That’s what we’re doing today, but we’ve got “serving” and “marketing” in the ring. We are furious on behalf of our clients because of how they have been manipulated into wasting so much of their time and money.
Today, we’re going on record to say that the business education industry is rampant with marketing pros trying to teach other people to be marketing minions instead of actually teaching foundational business concepts that don’t change. Marketing is in our blood, so we get the desire to do this, but marketing is not the key to success. Hear us out.
Listen on your favorite podcast player
The Biggest Problem With Most Online Education Companies Today
We personally know millionaires with successful businesses and zero social following. Marketing isn’t bad, but we’ve been hearing so many clients recently say that they hate marketing. Part of us cringes on the inside because marketing isn’t what people think it is today; it’s not just TikTok and Reels and Instagram and beating algorithms and pivoting on the fly. There’s so much more to it than that. The type of people we work with, who are empathetic introverts with a deep passion for impacting their clients, have been made to believe that there are numerous marketing tactics they have to use in order to build the business that they want. Here’s the truth though; social media is not required, an email list is not required, paid ads are not required. Not every business needs the same thing. Period.
The Great Debate Between Marketing and Serving
We, as Boss Project, over the past couple of years hit a bit of a wall where we felt like the way we were doing business was out of alignment with our passion and our purpose. This happened because we fell into the trap of believing that we needed to do certain things in order to grow. But when we got back to our service based industry roots, all of a sudden we started loving business more, and serving dreamier clients who we didn’t have to hunt down. Although we have social media accounts, and email lists and ads, this makes our business more complicated, and we had to hire a whole team of people to help us do it. We now know that there’s a simpler approach to doing business, and we want to share that with you.
The Questions You Need To Be Asking Yourself Before You Decide Your Next Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategies that we have spoken about today aren’t necessarily bad, but none of them are necessarily required either. Everyone has different access, audiences, levels of privilege, abilities and so on. Therefore, to say that one particular marketing strategy is going to work for everyone just cannot be true! Not everyone is good at social media, or podcasting, or mass marketing, and if you’re not good at it that doesn’t mean you have to learn it in order to be successful in your business. There are so many ways to be successful, so before you decide on your marketing strategy, figure out what you’re good at and what works for YOU! The next time you’re listening to someone’s marketing strategy we want you to ask yourself a few questions: “Is this something I need to know right now? Is it in alignment with the goals that I want to achieve right now? Are the people offering this service actually living a life that is viable for me?”
What We Can Learn About Business From Our Grandparents' Generation
For the majority of our clients, the lever that works the best for them is referrals. As they become more well known, they start to attract people to them, without having an online presence. It’s been easy to get the goals of service providers confused with the goals of 1:Many digital marketers. As a service provider, you shouldn’t feel like you’re not a success if you don’t have an online presence, or the latest social strategy. Of course, there are people who want to be online personalities and grow and influence people in that way; and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But there’s also nothing wrong with doing business the way your grandparents would have done it. Before the internet, people built relationships in the real world, and those foundations are the most important thing!
Quote This
We know that marketing isn’t what it’s been perceived as in the last couple years.
Highlights
The Biggest Problem With Most Online Education Companies Today. [0:09:34]
The Great Debate Between Marketing and Serving. [0:11:44]
The Questions You Need To Be Asking Yourself Before You Decide Your Next Marketing Strategy. [0:14:03]
What We Can Learn About Business From Our Grandparents' Generation. [0:23:12]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Marketing, Advertising, Social Media, Serving, Online Presence, 6 Figure Salaries, Referrals
