Podcast

Data Builds Confidence!

Is that a nerdy title or what?!?

Here’s the thing, as business owners, we have a ton of data, but, especially as creatives, do we really give it enough attention?

I can tell you that I kind of go in seasons where I do pay attention and others where I really don’t.

A balance is good.

Obsessing about our numbers on a daily basis isn’t necessarily a healthy thing, and that’s not really what I’m talking about here today.

I’m talking about what your data can do to build your confidence.

When I say in the title that data builds confidence, did you notice how confidently I said it? I didn’t say data might be able to build your confidence, I said it does. And I use an exclamation point, so you know I mean business! (PS if you’ve been around long, you know I love to overuse exclamation points. LOL)

Let’s dive in.

How does it build confidence?

1. What got me started on this episode, was just reflecting on this podcast.

I dreamed about having my own podcast for well over a year, more like 2 if we’re really looking at it.

You know what one of the things holding me back was?

Well 2 things really…. one was once I got started, I knew I would want to be consistent, so I wanted to wait until I knew I could be consistent to start.

After we sold our wedding venues, I knew I had the bandwidth to be consistent.

The mindset thing that kept me from wanting to start, was really so irrelevant when I think back on it. I didn’t want to be at a point where I just had a few episodes. Or just had a few listeners.

When you start a podcast, you have to start with a handful of episodes “in the can” as we say in podcasting.

This means that you have to upload your first several episodes when you launch your podcast to the big players, like Apple, Spotify, etc.

So really you never have just one episode.

I just didn’t want to look like a beginner.

Okay, if you listen to my first episodes you will not be fooled into thinking I wasn’t a beginner, if you know what I mean.

Not only that, but I even call them a different name because we’ve had a rebrand since then!

I say all of this to say, that when I realized we were coming up on episode 150, I really couldn’t believe we already had that many episodes.

I remember telling my friend Spencer that I wouldn’t really feel legit with my podcast until I had 100 episodes. Well that number is long past us now!

That number of 100, or now 150, is data that builds my confidence.

2. Another way data builds our confidence, is that the numbers are often far better than we thought.

Ironically, a few of my entrepreneur friends have brought this up to me this week.

I knew this episode was coming (I plan out my content topics a year at a time, if you’re in my membership, you know the system, if you’re not, what are you even doing?!?!?!), so it was a little shocking to me, but not really because alignment often happens, but when it does it still feels shocking, know what I mean?

It was a little shocking to me that we were talking about this right when I was coming up with this episode.

Both of these friends of mine were talking about email open rates.

If you do email marketing (and we all should be), you know that there are analytics around email open rates.

This just means the percentage of people on your email list who open your emails. That’s literally it.

It’s a metric that’s important to those of us who write thoughtful emails, we want everyone to see our emails that come from our heart and really do help our audience.

One of my friends messaged me and asked if I was seeing a drop in open rates in Kajabi, knowing that this is the platform we both use.

I am seeing a slight drop too, but I’ll come back to this in a minute.

Another friend said she was looking at her open rates and was so thrilled to see that more people were opening her emails and reading her content than she thought were, and by a huge percentage!

She had a major confidence boost from this and couldn’t wait to share it with me!

The reason why I wanted to come back to the one who saw a drop in data, is because it sounds negative, but I want to paint you a quick picture of how even that can be a confidence boost.

It’s because, we narrowed in on the reason for it.

I was talking to another entrepreneur and she asked if I saw that data metrics were decreasing in open rates because there are some factors that have changed how the rates are being calculated lately. Across the board that created a decrease in open rates, but nothing has changed in actual opens, just the way it's calculated.

Knowing this helps justify that dip in the data.

It’s also yet another great reason to collaborate and network and have business friends. Now I can pass that info on to my other friend who was concerned with it.

But there’s still more to this about the email open rates decreasing, and it still building confidence.

You have to be able to analyze this data in a practical way.

When I stepped back and looked at it, mine is down a little too.

You know what else? It’s Fall, and for him and I both, our audiences are heavy in wedding professionals. Fall is many wedding professionals’ busiest times.

They’re busy executing weddings and events, and their email time is likely being spent more with their clients than in learning mode right now.

The point of this is that I want you to be able to clearly justify to yourself why some data numbers could take dips, and that there’s always a more practical answer than the one you’re thinking about. It’s definitely not because you suck and everyone hates you.

3. Data builds confidence because of the power of one.

Think about just one person paying attention to you.

Let's say this data is about social media. Social media data is one that drives us completely crazy.

We are led to think that views = dollars and that’s just not always, and even not usually the case, but let me break that down for you.

When it comes to views, or even likes, comments, shares, whatever, we’re looking at a piece of content that we’ve spent time on and are sure is great.

I’m sure yours is great, by the way.

Then when it “only” get 100 views, or “only” 10 views, or “only” 1 view, it feels really defeating.

When you hit that send or submit button, you’re looking to go viral, for a million views, right? Because your content really is that good!

But there’s so much more that goes into it than just your content being good. That’s the unfortunate and frustrating thing about social media.

What I’m saying when I say to think about “only” one person paying attention to you, I want you to see that person. That’s someone who is a fan of yours, and who you are influencing.

That’s big stuff, right?

Now think about being in your home, putting your social media post up on the TV screen, and having ten people in your home watching it.

Significant, right?

Now pack 100 people into your home and have those 100 watching your social media content on the screen!

That’s super powerful!

That’s what’s happening when you see something of yours get 10 or 100 views.

Let that sink in, and let that data build your confidence.

Hot tip: Set a date on your calendar to check your data. I use the marketing planner for entrepreneurs and it even has a spot to put some of your analytics on the month view, it’s one of the things I love about it. If you use it too, use that spot.

If you don’t, just make a place for it on your calendar.

At the end of the year, you’ll be so pleased at your growth. And again, the data will build your confidence.

Here’s a bonus action item, go to your favorite social media platform and look at your profile analytics.

Sort it by your most viewed content.

Repurpose that content. It’s what’s resonating with your audience and making the biggest difference.

You can even just repost it! Really!

I would recommend reposting it only if it’s more than at least a month or so old, but repost it! For real!

I mentioned that there are a lot of factors that play into your views, timing can be one of those factors.

It may get more or less views than the first time.

Having your own business is playing in your own sandbox, and experimenting with your data is half the fun, even for creatives like us!

If you loved this episode, please subscribe to my podcast and even leave a rating or review if you feel led to.

Thank you as always for being here with me where we learn, grow, and connect together!