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]:
Hello. Welcome to another week. I'm so happy that you are here. I'm Val of Val Full Volume, of course. And I was sitting here and I'm just like, oh my god. What the hell do I even wanna talk about today? I wanna make this like quickish, you know, it's summer. I can't stop staring out the window because today happens to be a beautiful day up here in the Seattle area. And so it's distracting, just like a little kid in school. And I'm like, god dang it. I can't come up with a topic. Blah blah blah blah blah because I need to be doing this and I need to be doing that.

Val Selby [00:01:11]:
I'm like, oh, there's the topic. There's totally the topic. What are you doing only because you feel like you should be doing it or you're supposed to, or you have to, what can you take out of your business that you don't want to be doing and doesn't bring you an ROI, return on investment? There's probably a lot of stuff. There tends to be quite a bit of stuff. No matter how long we've been in our businesses, how long I've been in my business, there's still things that I am thinking I have to do that I have stuck in my head specifically. Specifically got one in my head right now, social media. I still have it stuck in my brain that I do need to have some kind of social media presence and keep it at least a little bit updated. And it's driving me bonkers that I'm having this thought. So that's why I'm gonna talk it out loud with you because I'm sure that you're doing the same.

Val Selby [00:02:18]:
I'm positive. You're doing the same, not necessarily with social media, but with other things. This is me working through the BS in my head because for so long, we were told that you gotta be on Facebook and you gotta be on Instagram. And of course now everybody's like, well, previously I was on Twitter back when Twitter was fun and awesome because it was all of us nerds talking to each other around the clock, around the world before Facebook and that whole thing. When Facebook come came on and got really popular, Twitter totally changed. And I haven't even been on X in a long time because I go on there and I mourn the old school Twitter. That was a social media that I really loved, the back and forth immediately. The old school, like, Yahoo chat.

Val Selby [00:03:05]:
It was back and forth immediately. I could be talking to somebody in, you know, Saudi Arabia over in that area in the middle of the night, and we were having a conversation. You know, I'm having some kind of silly coding problem or website problem. We're just talking back and forth working it out. Right? Some total random stranger that just happens to be on the platform at that time, and we're just talking back and forth. Maybe a friend is jumping in there as well. It was so much fun. It was the fun part of social media.

Val Selby [00:03:36]:
When I came onto Facebook, I didn't come in with any kind of expectation of really using it for business. So I was learning as I went and it's changed so much and it just feels like such a time suck. And now with our feeds full of so much ads and sponsorships and go follow this, you know, it's just making me not want to be there even more. But yet, I still feel like, okay, but I still need to post on to my pages and this and that and same thing with Instagram. I've never really liked Instagram, but, oh my gosh, I still need to do that. I should do that. I should get on there. People are making money there.

Val Selby [00:04:16]:
It's part of being a business owner and I have to get out of my own head because I do know people that are not on the social medias and their businesses are just fine. They're thriving. There's no problems. So I'm not gonna end up working through this today, people. Let me tell you, it won't get fixed today because this is something that I battled in my brain for a while, but I want to start getting super curious. That's my new word. Curious of why do I feel like I need to be on my Facebook page? Why do I feel like I need to be on the Instagram? I'm talking specifically business here. You know, if you're on for your personal profile, that's totally different.

Val Selby [00:05:00]:
If you're posting to a personal Instagram profile, you know, to keep up with friends and all that, totally different. I'm talking all business here. Why do I have that feeling? I know for me, there's never been a return on investment for any time that I've put in. Even when I have put back with, you know, Your Bold Life when I was really working that heavy and it was on social media, it was all over. And even as I was doing that and I was even doing some videos, I was not getting clicks back to my site. There was no return on investment because I wasn't making sales on social media, and they weren't coming back to my site. So that means I wasn't getting sales anywhere. I was just helping those sites grow.

Val Selby [00:05:49]:
And if I start working this through my head on this, that is one of the reasons why my podcast is on my website. Right? See, I'm going to work through this right now. You can join me if it's not social media, pick something else. That's the reason that I have the podcast on my website is because I want the traffic to be mine. I don't wanna grow somebody else's sites. I don't wanna grow somebody else's host. I don't wanna go, you know, grow those other platforms. I want people to come back.

Val Selby [00:06:22]:
I want the traffic to be boosting my site. So then why am I so stuck on this whole social media thing and thinking that that is going to bring me traffic. Why am I stuck in that? That I need to be there because it's expected of me. There's plenty of places I don't care what's expected of me. So why am I still stuck on that? I am still stuck on it. So when I was talking to one of the Bash Pass members, we were talking about marketing. And I had mentioned, you know, Pinterest and how much I loved it back when I was really working on Your Bold Life, which is midlife women coaching site, by the way. It's not active at this point.

Val Selby [00:07:07]:
It's still there. There's still a lot of great information, but it's not active right now because I'm all in on Bundle Bash. One thing. One thing, people. I'm not spreading my time. One thing. Anyways, when I was working on that website and really digging into marketing plans, I went full head on over the top, jumped to the cliff for Pinterest. I'm like, you know what? Never tried this for marketing.

Val Selby [00:07:33]:
I've only just, like, hung out and played on here. I'm gonna go all in. You know? So I followed Amy LeBlanc. Levee Road Studio is her website, and we'll get links to her. I joined with her free products and her free products were so amazing that I bought everything. Everything. I went all in. And then, you know, it was actually one of the groups that I was active in.

Val Selby [00:07:59]:
I was in there constantly. It's still one of the groups that I just keep up with, which makes me laugh because I am constantly still paying attention to updates because, I mean, just like any other platform, Pinterest has had a ton of updates and especially since there's been a sale in the last couple of years. Lots of changes have happened. And that should be assigned to me that I'm still keeping up with this. Right? So I was talking to the member, and I was like, you know, I've had this on here. I know that previously it did bring me return on investment of any,  you know, and Pinterest is not a social media website. Right? I mean, there's no back and forth on it. It's not social.

Val Selby [00:08:40]:
It's a search engine. Just like YouTube is a search engine. Google is a search engine. Bing, if you use that, it's a search engine. So I'm talking to her about it. And as I'm talking it out, which is the way that I work things out is talking them out. I'm like, you know what? Maybe I should just talk to the members about it and, you know, let's see if they wanna do it too because she's just like, yeah. I've been meaning to get to do that as well.

Val Selby [00:09:04]:
I've been meaning to get a Pinterest marketing going because we both have used it before. So we both know that Pinterest marketing is not like an instant thing like SEO. It's not instant gratification, which is what grabs the part of our brain with social media is there's still that part of my brain that is saying, but that's instant. You can post something and somebody could buy right then and there. Have they in all of these years? No. But there's still that hope, that fake hope hiding back there. Like ridiculous fake hope back here. I'm gonna post something and instantly gonna get a sale from it. Probably not.

Val Selby [00:09:43]:
Probably not. There's just not - nobody's seen it anymore. But on Pinterest, your pins are alive forever. It's not just a news feed that's getting pulled up. It's people going and searching for things, and it's pulling up your stuff. It's pulling up everybody's stuff that's related. Right? So I was talking to her. I was talking it out loud with her and I'm like, maybe I should ask the members, see if they're interested.

Val Selby [00:10:08]:
And then I'm like, hell, why am I doing that? I'm like, you and me are here right now. I'm just gonna commit. We're gonna commit. We're gonna do Pinterest challenge because that's what you and I would like to do. And you and I know a lot of ins and outs. I will go and talk to an expert, get some information from them, have them come to the group. We'll just commit. When we commit, other people will follow along.

Val Selby [00:10:31]:
Right? When I have the numbers and I'm showing people how things are working, they can choose to follow along or not. That's up to them because we're adults. And I'm like, oh, that feels really good that I just made that decision. It's like, oh, this is part of my personality, people. I know it's part of my personality. It was actually when I did the Myers Briggs. Is that what it's called? It's one of my quote "faults." Is the people pleasing? I know this.

Val Selby [00:10:59]:
I know this. I know this. I know this. I'm glad that I'm working through it. That was growth. So needless to say, the Bash Pass members will be working through, if they choose, Pinterest as our marketing for August, getting a marketing plan in place. And, we will have an expert in the group for it because I think that that's going to be a much better use of my time and also a much better use of my outsourcing revenue to have them help me with the Pinterest strategies. So this is me coming around the circle to talk to you about what's not bringing you a return on investment, an ROI for your time or money, time or money, and you still have this feeling you can't get rid of that you need to be doing this.

Val Selby [00:11:53]:
You should be doing this because this is what so many people do to make money. I don't know anybody that's making money on social media. Maybe just a couple. A couple. And that is their entire marketing. Okay, people? The people that I have conversations with that are making money on social media, a couple of them don't even have websites, people. So they are all in on this one strategy. That's not a strategy I can get behind for myself because that freaks me the hell out because that can get cut off at any time with no recourse and no control over how they make changes.

Val Selby [00:12:37]:
It's somebody else's platform. So it works for them because they are all in. All in. I will never ever be at that point of all in on somebody else's platform. So see, here's me working through. Why do I feel like I need to do that? I have lots of reasons why I shouldn't be doing it, why I shouldn't have that feeling. And yet, here I am, fighting that human part where so many of people have said over the years that this is the way. This is the way, Mandalorian. This is the way.

Val Selby [00:13:10]:
So sit down, look at your numbers. Where are you getting your traffic from? Have you gone all in on any social media? And if you have, what kind of numbers were you getting? What kind of traffic were you getting? What kind of sales were you getting? Was it worth it? If it's worth it, then by all means, commit to that. Commit. Commit to where that easy traffic and easy sales is coming from. If it's not coming from there and you have really tried because you wanted to try, I'm not saying go try social media if you don't want to. Uh-uh. No. Don't.

Val Selby [00:13:48]:
Don't do that. Keep doing what you are doing and figure out what is working. And if you've done something in the past that, you know, works, like, I know Pinterest worked for my previous, my other business, give it a try again. Go see if that's the answer because here's my hope. Here's my hope for August. I am going to commit to that and really get in a huge strategy in place. And my hope is that that just starts bringing me so much traffic that all of a sudden, the social medias are just out of my brain because it's like, yeah, I ain't even thinking about that. That ain't even a worry.

Val Selby [00:14:27]:
So that's what I'm gonna do to help with that. I'm a push it out of the way. I am gonna go get some other marketing in place and just push that shit right out of the way. Alrighty. So what are you only doing because it's expected? It's expected. This is what we do. It's that bullshit that's in our head and it's not working for you. Doesn't mean that it doesn't work for other people, but it's not working for you.

Val Selby [00:14:56]:
Not working for you could mean you don't wanna do it, which means you're not doing it. You're half assing it. Right? Just like all of a sudden it's like, oh, shit. I should go do something. Or you've gone all in and you've honestly given it a really good go and still didn't see any results. Those are the things we just need to drop. They're gonna drive us bonkers. We just need to drop them.

Val Selby [00:15:18]:
We need to put our energy in things that are bringing us traffic and sales. And if it's not bringing traffic or sales, take a hard look at it. How long have you been trying? Have you been trying for real? Be honest with yourself. You really put the effort in. Is it ever going to be something that you are going to put the full effort in? Because just because it might work, if you go all in, doesn't mean you wanna. So don't force yourself because that just turns into work. Turns it into a work. And instead, what's another way? There's plenty of other things out there that you can do for marketing and getting out there more, you know, like bundles and giveaways, for example, to drive traffic.

Val Selby [00:16:04]:
But there's other ways. So let's both of us, you and me, stop feeling like we have to put our marketing in a certain areas that we don't wanna be, that we haven't seen a return. And we just don't wanna be there anymore. Let's commit to ourselves and not drive ourselves bonkers. Alrighty. I will chat at you next week. Thanks for being here at Val Full Volume.

Val Selby [00:16:26]:
Bye bye.