Val Selby [00:00:06]: Hey, this is Val Selby and after over 20 years online, I can track where my mindset has blocked me. If procrastination, impostor syndrome and a lack of focus have been blocking your biz, then Val Full Volume is here to help you see choices you are making. Get ready to use your expertise to collaborate like a pro as you create the business of your dreams. Now is the time to make changes and live your best life. Let's get to it! Val Selby [00:00:36]: Alright. Thanks for being here at Val Full Volume, and I'm Val. And remember I said, last week, I was gonna come up with some other words that might be cringey or big. And I've got another word that always just to set me off. It just was huge because I had no idea what it was, and it was cringey because I didn't know what it was. And now it's hilarious to me that I made it such a big deal. And I know so many other people, business owners, are make it a huge deal as well. And it's really because don't know what the hell a funnel is. I just I didn't know what a funnel was for the longest time. So to me, it was just this word that was out there going, I know I need one. Val Selby [00:01:31]: Oh, I don't wanna create something. No. Stop telling me I need a funnel. Once I figured out what a funnel was, my brain went, oh, lord, you are an idiot. Because I just couldn't come up with the concept. I didn't care that people were writing down these diagrams of the funnel and this, this, this, and this. It didn't click in my head until one time. Val Selby [00:02:04]: And I know I'm gonna admit this. Let's see. It was probably only 4 years ago and I was working on my life coaching site and I had been doing spaghetti at the wall. So I'd been creating so many workshops. No rhyme or reason. I was creating workshops to put into bundles, events, grow my list. I had this goal of growing my list to the certain number, and it didn't matter. I was just getting to that number. Val Selby [00:02:32]: Right? That's another episode. Let's never ever ever do that because it's worthless, and all you're doing is paying for people on your list that don't want to be there because found you and didn't care what you had. They just wanted their free shit. Anyways, I, one day, finally sat down and I was looking and I'm like, okay, I have been creating a lot of stuff that last year. I don't even know what I've created anymore because it's constantly onto the, oh, there's a new bundle coming up. I'm gonna create this because it'll be perfect for that event. And I wrote down all of the things that I've been creating over the last year, and I think there was a lead magnet or two in there. Val Selby [00:03:19]: I can't be that specific about it. I don't quite remember that, but I know I had a bunch of workshops. And I wrote them all out, and then I was looking at them and I was just like, oh. Oh, there's kind of an order and a flow to this. Like, I'm looking at it going, well, if they do my boundaries, after boundaries, I want them to do this. And then I want them to do that. And I'm like, oh, and something clicked in my head. I went, that's what a funnel is. Val Selby [00:03:55]: It's really, really that easy. All a funnel is is a natural flow, a flow. And I know that because of the word funnel, a lot of the times we're thinking, oh god, we need that high ticket at the bottom. It has to be a high ticket. Don't think of it as that way. Think of it maybe as just a flow, and you're keeping them in this flow of a pipe versus the funnel. You did not need to end in a huge ticket one-on-one coaching VIP day. Val Selby [00:04:35]: You don't have to end that. And, actually, you don't even have to end your funnels ever. We're constantly adding to them. But if you are not going towards that high ticket item, just think of it as a pipe instead that your products are flowing through and it naturally leads into the next product. So if you're having issues with this whole bundle idea, write down your products if there's just a few of them, and if you prefer pen and paper. It is much better if you go create a spreadsheet somewhere and you are putting them in the spreadsheet because that way you can also track or put them in, Asana, Trello, Notion, whatever you use for your organizational system, put it in there. And that way you can keep track of, okay, I put this in this event. I put this in this event. Val Selby [00:05:31]: And every time you put something into an event, then you can tweak that autoresponder series afterwards just a little bit. So if you're putting Product 1 out there or you have a lead magnet, that's the beginning of your flow. That's the beginning of your funnel, is how are you getting them to you? And that product right there is the answer. Now here's where a lot of people are get really confused. And it's in the upsell, bump sells, the next action you want them to take. Oftentimes, it's not congruent. God. I'm using the coaching words today. Val Selby [00:06:13]: It's not congruent with the product that they just got. So, of course, they're not buying it. They bought Product 1, and you are trying to sell them or upsell them to Product X. They're not correlating whatsoever. The natural flow needs to be, okay, they have Product 1. They are using it. What else do they need to expand on that? That'd be Product 2. What else do they need to expand on Product 2? That's gonna be Product 3. Val Selby [00:06:50]: And you're taking them through this nice natural flow because they got that kick from that first action that they took with you. So now they're like, oh, hell yeah. I got results with that. I need another one. I got results with that one. I need more information. And that's how you create raving fans is you're leading them into the more information on something that's gonna have an end zone of whatever you want them to get to, but you're giving them the products that lead naturally in. So I know that I have a lot of PLR people in my business world, and it goes with that as well. Val Selby [00:07:27]: So for example, if you put in coloring pages into an event or you have a freebie, your lead magnet is coloring pages. If you do coloring pages for kids, and then the next thing you're trying to sell, those people that signed up for that is a blog article pack on business. Let's look - let's go stream. On business, they're gonna be like, what? It's not congruent. Kids stuff, coloring pages, they were hell yes to. Then you just threw this at them and they're like, what? Okay. Bye bye. I don't even know who you are anymore. Val Selby [00:08:09]: So have products that will be congruent, that do have a flow. So you've got kids coloring pages that you put in there that they got access to. The next one might be some kind of summer driving pack of games that they can do while they're driving down the road kinda thing. That funnel, I would naturally lead all through kids' products, every kid product you have. And remember, you can put affiliate links in there as well. You can naturally be leading, but keep it all. These people all want kids stuff. Don't be throwing them at all sorts of crap. Keep them in what they originally signed up for, and you'll make more sales that way because they already wanted that. Val Selby [00:08:56]: So it makes sense that they're gonna want this and then this and then this and then that, or at least it's a better option, better you'll have better rates of conversion that way because you're selling them something that they already know you for, and you're giving them more of what they wanted originally. So funnel is a word that could be cringey. It could be big. You could have built it up in your head. I know when you don't have hardly any products or you don't even have products yet, funnel is huge. It's a huge word. It's like, but I don't have anything, and that is okay. All you need to start your funnel is your lead magnet and one product. Val Selby [00:09:46]: And your lead magnet is going to be something that's actionable, super quick, gets them a result. Absolutely gets them a result. Then next product, for it to be a hell yeah, the next product needs to be something that goes a little deeper on that result that they just got. Like, how can you take them a little bit deeper? What else can you give them that's going to be just expanding on that and get them even more of a result? And then that's how your funnel really starts building because now all of a sudden, you've got those two products, and you're like, oh, okay. Now what do they need to do? Oh, now what do they need to do? And that's the beauty of a flow, if you think of it as a flow instead of a funnel. Again, you don't have to have it end where it's going into high ticket. You do not, but you want to take them on the journey through your products. You want them to flow through the similar products. Val Selby [00:10:49]: You want to keep them interested because they got with you, because they got these certain products. So feed them more of what you know they already want. Alright. Send me your cringey or big words that make your brain shut down. I would love to talk more about them and come up with other words for you because you don't have to think of it as a funnel. If funnel makes you cringe, funnel gives you the heebie jeebies, then just think of it as a flow. Okay? It's a pipe and it's a flow, and it's just gonna naturally lead them through your business. All right. Val Selby [00:11:27]: I will chat at you next week. Thanks for being here again. Adios.