Layne Booth Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Layne Booth
Layne Booth is our guest today on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.
She is the CEO and Business Growth Strategist of The Project Booth, a business consulting company that uses proven metrics and data to bring business owners to the next level in their business.
By strategically planning operations and creating a visual roadmap map, business owners can reclaim their time to focus on their business, make data-driven decisions, and capitalize on sales & profits.
Data is key to everything, and unfortunately where most owners spend their time in the “lets hope this makes a difference” stage of business
With her passion—and over a decade of “in the trenches” experience—as a guiding light, Layne ensures successful growth-minded business owners eliminate overwhelm by bringing clarity to help with teams, capacity and profits… and get back to running a business they love.
How The Dots Joined Up For Layne
As she says “I’ve witnessed business owners have incredible energy and focus for what they do, but seem like they don’t have time to stop, and may feel like they are drowning in doing “all the things.”
We follow a simple ABC approach to drive amazing results:
A is for Analyze: Analyze the numbers to tell the story.
B is for Bottom Line: What do the numbers say about your actual profits, brand reputation, and customer service?
C is for CEO Decisions: The secret weapon is creating a tool that CEOs actually use to make important decisions, not just creating another report.
So do you need a ton of traffic to grow a successful business, or is that actually missing the point of business altogether?
And what made her take the leap from her position of Forecasting manager for the VF Corporation and go it alone?
Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Layne Booth
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Layne Booth such as:
We delve into the distinct difference between a CEO and an entrepreneur, and why so many people get very confused.
Layne shares how she built up her referrals based business by really nurturing her already built relationships.
And lastly………..
Why you simply have to understand the pain point of you customer, to then make that solution as simple as possible.
How To Connect With Layne Booth
Return To The Top Of Layne Booth
If you enjoyed this episode with Layne Booth why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Spike Ball Founder, Nick Ruiz, Steve Kahan or the amazing Mandy Barbee
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Full Transcription Of Layne Booth Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, hello there. Good morning world. Good morning and welcome to Join Up Dots. Yes, it’s David Ralph Acosta, host of Join Up Dots. Who else would you expect to be here? After seven years? I have decayed a bit actually. I saw a picture of myself on launch day. I look like a small child. I don’t know what’s gone wrong with me. The energy has been sucked out of me. Not the case with today’s lady. She looks like she’s vibrant. She She looks about 50. She might be older than 15. But, but who knows. But she is the CEO and business growth strategist of the project booth, a business consulting company. But uses proven metrics and data to bring business owners to the next level in their business. By strategically planning operations and creating a visual roadmap, business owners can reclaim their time to focus on their business, make data driven decisions, and capitalise on sales and profits. Now beta is key to everything. And unfortunately when most owners spend their time in the Let’s hope this makes a different stage of business, creating content, doing videos and just hoping that somebody is going to like it and share data data is key. Now with her passion and over a decade of in the trenches experience as a guiding light she shows successful growth minded business owners eliminate overwhelm by bringing clarity to help with team’s capacity and profits and get back to running a business and they love as she says, I’ve witnessed business owners have incredible energy and focus for what they do, but seem like they don’t have time to stop and might feel like they’re drowning in doing all the things we follow a simple ABC approach. Drive amazing results. A is about analyse. analyse the numbers to tell the story B is for the bottom line, what do the numbers say about your actual profits brand reputation and customer service. And C is for the CEO decisions. The secret weapon is creating a tool that CEOs actually use to make important decisions, not just creating another report. So do you need a tonne of traffic to grow a successful business? Or is that actually missing the point of business all together? And what made her take the leap from a position of forecasting manager for the Vf Corporation and go it alone? Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start Join Up Dots with the one and only Layne Booth. Good morning Layne. How are you?
Layne Booth [2:43]
Hello Hello doing fantastic today And may I say that you can do all of my feature introductions that was fantastic.
David Ralph [2:50]
It was just a bit of saying you look 15 women that would say I won you won you over with that that that cheap line. I threw your way
Layne Booth [2:58]
they had me hooked.
David Ralph [3:00]
I had you hooked, now I’m gonna get straight to it. Okay, I used to analyse love it B is for bottom line, love it C is the CEO. Did you struggle with C? Did you come up with CEO decisions? It’s not as good as it or am I missing the point on that one?
Layne Booth [3:15]
Well, I love I love that question. I mean, at the end of the day, a lot of times businesses are running their business on, you know, gut guessing versus actually strategically thinking about their business as CEO. So honestly, that’s where we started like that was the first of the ABCs. We had to kind of figure out the amb, but CEO decisions. That’s what it takes to get you to that next level in business and most people are going by by their gut and really missing the mark entirely on strategic thinking and bringing that all together.
David Ralph [3:49]
Now, the trouble is, a lot of people don’t see themselves as a CEO. They see themselves as an entrepreneur or an online business owner. You know, I’m sitting at the moment in a pair of shorts with no sleep. socks on, you know, I wouldn’t do that if I was a proper CEO. I’m just sitting here relaxed, is that one of the issues that people come in to almost play instead of putting the suit and tie on and becoming that person?
Layne Booth [4:13]
Well, let’s, let’s shift what we think about CEOs, right? I mean, the CEO in the corporate world sure may have to show up in a in a suit and tie but the CEO of online business CEO, as an entrepreneur, you get to make it exactly what you want. And sometimes people forget that, like you get to create your CEO story, you get to create what you want in your business as CEO. So our goal is to absolutely shift the thinking on what it means to be CEO when you are your own boss when you are leading your own online business.
David Ralph [4:46]
So what are you then as a CEO, how would you describe your sort of methodology and, and the way you turn up?
Layne Booth [4:53]
Absolutely, my, I think a key distinction between being an entrepreneur or you know, business As owner versus really considering yourself as CEO, means that you are building something that is bigger than you, you’re not building your own job that you may happen to like or not, but you are building a business that can run without you. You’re building a business where you can step away for a week, a month, a quarter a year, and still have it thriving and growing. Because you’ve built systems because you have built processes because you know what matters to grow the bottom line, and you can step away anytime. while still having very well, costed the the vision and the mission of the business as you were implementing and putting those steps in place, if that makes sense.
David Ralph [5:44]
It makes total sense but it doesn’t tell me about you. So well. Where do you see yourself?
Layne Booth [5:49]
Absolutely. So I see myself as someone that is, you know, putting something together bigger than me. That is going to impact, you know, hundreds of online business owners If not, you know, thousands. And that requires me thinking differently about my business. I’m a very heart driven entrepreneur. Yes, I love the data and science behind it. But at the end of the day, I want to impact more people that then can go and impact more people. So it’s kind of that ripple effect, you know, the first stone thrown in the water, you know, creates that first drop, but I want to see this beautiful ripple effect of impacts that the project booth is able to make on the world. And so with that heart driven focus, I know that I can’t do that alone. And so as a CEO, for me, that means building systems and infrastructure to where we can have greater impact.
David Ralph [6:53]
Now, I’m kind of fascinated and I I’m into the data. I love data. I love traffic. I love things that I can fundamentally go, there’s a chance I can get that, instead of just creating content and hoping that somebody loves in shares, as I said in the introduction, now, when I was running it, you’re the project boof through the sort of search results and stuff. You’re not getting a lot of traffic. And so I felt like this is an interesting question. How are you getting the customers to find you? Is it word of mouth? Is it Facebook? or How are you actually getting people to connect with the project booth?
Layne Booth [7:27]
Yeah, great question. So for me a lot of I’m still in the earlier stages of of the project booth. So for me, a lot of it is come from strategic relationships. So you know, I spent a lot of time the first year going to live events when they were allowed. Right now we’re recording the middle of COVID. So really getting in front of people that were my people. So where were small business conferences, where were people hanging out if they had online businesses and showed up at those events to make Those strategic relationships, and then nurtured them. So you know what that person probably knows five other people. And you know, it continues to spread out from there. So right now very much strategic reach outs and referrals. And we’re in the, we’re in the makings now of generating more and more traffic to, to our site through Facebook ads and things like that as well.
David Ralph [8:24]
No, but the reason I asked about was I am totally into SEO, literally everything I do is based on I create content I know somebody is already looking for and then you get a fair share with a marketplace. And so when I went across and looked at it, I thought, Okay, this is different. Now, with that being taken away from you, though, that conferencing because up until that point, I thought, yeah, this is this is great. There’s a totally different way of doing it. It’s not all about SEO. It’s not all about Facebook, it’s not all about Instagram, okay now in the real world and speaking to people now with that suddenly taken away does that make you think, Oh my god, I should have been spending more time on the fundamentals or because until COVID hit, we all thought we would you know, the amount of people that I’ve spoken to, that have built careers on public speaking. And now it’s suddenly taken away overnight. How are you assessing it?
Layne Booth [9:19]
Yeah, great, great question on that as well. I mean, for the beginning stages of business, you know, that was really important. And now you know, I’ve I’ve made a lot of those strategic relationships and so, and most of them are other online businesses. So to connect and further collaborates in a digital way just still aligns perfectly with with what we’re doing so like, right now, a big step that we’re doing is hosting workshops. So we will collaborate will be fined for four to eight speakers to to get together and that is basically creating warm audiences. You’re kind of having that borrowed authority from them, too. To bring together and it’s more of a virtual event, which still works. And honestly, it’s really great to record and repeat. So you not only have the benefit of that one time, but you can drive traffic to it later as well.
David Ralph [10:13]
Because I think what we’re going through at the moment, and I don’t want to timestamp it too much, because people could come to this show in 1015 years and not remember any of this, but it does make you look at your business, upside down, sideways, doesn’t it? And you think to yourself, yeah, I can’t just do that and take things for granted anymore. You know, I’m very fortunate in certain regards, because, you know, people used to say to me, why don’t you build up a public speaking why don’t why don’t you do that you’ll you’ll be good at that. You used to do it in the past, and I used to think can’t be bothered. I can’t be bothered to traipse around the world, spend a night in a hotel on my own stand up on some stage and then you know, traipse home. Now I’m so glad, but it doesn’t mean but I’m in a better position. It just means that I’ve lost a certain income stream by not doing That. So what did you think businesses is heading now online? Are we going to more and more virtual world? Are we going to be waiting until it becomes naturally sort of connective again? What do you mean?
Layne Booth [11:13]
Yeah, I mean, I, I see us kind of going down two paths. I’ve I’m seeing, you know, we actually work with several clients that were big on hosting their own live events, right. So they have absolutely had to pivot. So I think you’re actually gonna see kind of two trains starting to starting to form here where the, the people that really crave those live events, man, they’re just bottling up energy right now. Like they as soon as as soon as we are open again, they are going to be ready to like, dive straight back in and really be around people again. I mean, it David, you and I were joking or the beginning like introverts, you know, folks, you know, like online business owners, they might be just fine right now with all these restrictions, but there’s a large portion of the population that is ready to get out. So you’re actually going to see a really, you know, opening of the floodgates happening in the, you know, when we are in a safe time to really reopen in that way. And then on the other train, you know, you’re actually going to have tapped into people that thought that was the only way and now are seeing, Oh, I can’t show up in a virtual way, oh, I can still get, you know, amazing clarity and transformation from these virtual events that are still serving a need. And they might not have been open to that that path in the in the past. And now it’s just very clear that that still does have massive impact, and it might have more impacts, you know, then they might have thought in the past. I think you’re really gonna see kind of two, two sides happening in the future. And you know, people might have been on one side and they’re gonna switch to the other
David Ralph [12:53]
isn’t my thing. We aren’t going to pull away from the laziness that has slipped in where you see people hosting webinars, for example, trying to make it seem live. But it’s largely obvious that it’s not live. And it’s pre recorded. And I think people are going to be making more of an effort in their business, to put themselves in a position to be better to do it live or connect with more virtual people, don’t you when you go onto these webinars and they say, it starts in five minutes and you think, oh, that’s lucky. You know, I’m just sitting here at the right time. And then you start looking at it. Now it’s just a it’s just a sad old webinar that’s been pre recorded, but Mater that live
Layne Booth [13:35]
I think there’s actually opportunity there because you know, what, people need a push to make a decision, right? I mean, if you don’t give a time limit on people, they’re just gonna sit around and be like, Oh, well, that’s a nice that’s a nice thing. You know, maybe I’ll flip back to that. I mean, there’s definitely a the live aspect is something people really gravitate towards with the new like, couple Bring it back to the SEO decisions. So you kind of have to figure out what’s best for you and your audience. I can definitely tell you I’ve I’ve seen some of those you know, pop ups and things like that where I’m really interested in that topic. But I got I don’t want to have to wait around for an hour when this thing actually goes live or let me you know, reschedule everything in my calendar. I want to know the information I want to listen to it. So I’m a big believer in moving people to action. So whatever your path is, is right for your audience and your people, as I think is the one to take and you know what, a lot of times that requires testing and looking at the data to see Alright, well, do people actually show up live or do they tend to show up more when it’s Netflix style?
David Ralph [14:44]
And what do you think?
Layne Booth [14:45]
I’ve seen both the effective for repeatability in predictability in your business, the automation tends to win out for For the folks that we’ve worked with, with, you know, dozens of online business owners that have courses, programmes, products, the immediate access, meeting them where they are when they first see, oh, they’re speaking to my pain point, being able to serve them then tends to win out from the data that we’ve collected.
David Ralph [15:19]
Now, what I want to do is spin it away from more technical aspects and take it back to you because Can I Are you do you have a family? Are you married? Do you have sort of restrictions in that regard?
Layne Booth [15:31]
Yep. So I have a fantastic husband. We’re coming up on 12 years married and two little princesses, ages six and almost two. So our girls are full. Our house is just full of unicorns and Princess things right now. So that’s, that’s where we are.
David Ralph [15:52]
Right? So with you you’ve got as most people have a side hustle is when you work around the family. And then it becomes the thing and the thing can take you over. Now, how do you balance that? Because I know a lot of people have issues where they get so wrapped up in the business that the girls having a school play suddenly doesn’t become as important as doing some live thing on a Friday morning. How do you balance that?
Layne Booth [16:19]
Hmm, yeah, this is this was a challenge for me for a long time because I was working in corporate for a while while building a side hustle while you know, mom, and this was something that for me happened in iterations. So it was kind of one step at a time like, hey, this one thing is important to me, like, I knew I wanted to attend her kindergarten party or whatever it was, yeah. Then it had to go on the calendar. It had to be blocked out. As soon as I knew I wanted that to be a priority. I had to block it out so that nothing else is going to interrupt it. And with that, To kind of having the understanding that you know it, it’s going to be okay. If something happens, that seems like a really big deal, you know it, it’ll be there in two hours when I get back. So kind of having that mindset of, you know, it’ll be okay was big as well. And then as I’ve grown and scaled now, you know, there’s certain times I want to work and don’t want to work and I want to be, you know, hard stop to make sure that I’ve got evening time with my family. So it has kind of come through iterations from like, hey, that one event to know here’s my solid, you know, work schedule. Yes, I can change it can fluctuate a little bit week to week as I choose. But it’s a conscious decision. I feel like that’s usually the biggest piece is just make a proactive decision versus a reactive one and then feeling bad about what you had. What ended up reminding.
David Ralph [17:56]
when my kids were younger, and I was wasted. I was so exhausted by everything. If I’ve used to have to go to their place, and more often than not, you know that they’re gonna have sort of three quarters of an hour of kids that you’ve got no interest in, and then that 30 seconds of your own kid. And so I thought, I always just look for the backseat, and I think I could just close my eyes. And a couple of times I close my eyes, opened my eyes and the whole thing had gone. Everybody had left the theatre. I was just sitting there fast asleep at the bank. And it should have been a wake up call for me, actually, but my family weren’t asking for much other than me to stay awake for an hour for them to do their thing. But it wasn’t a priority for me. And I look back we’ve we’ve shame really fat. Some person from America that I bought my I’ve been buying something from me was more important than my kids getting up and doing stuff, huh?
Layne Booth [18:49]
Yeah. And I mean, I don’t know about you, David. But mean when I decided, hey, this is the new avenue. I want to go down. I want to leave corporate and go to online business. It was a Family based decision, yes, I get to choose how I wanted to work, which is really fulfilling for me. But really that initial catalyst was, you know what I want to decide how much time I get to spend with my family. I don’t want the corporate hours and mandatory meetings and all that stuff to dictate that I want to be in control. And so for me, that was the initial catalyst. And so I’m I’m very glad that I was able to remember that and a lot of the strategic decisions I had to make for the business as well, that they continued to be a priority. It didn’t always work. It didn’t always execute exactly like I wanted to, for sure. But he of course corrected along the way when I was like, You know what, that actually I did want to do that thing. So let me make sure I’d make that a priority. The next time it comes around,
David Ralph [19:49]
Heres Oprah
Oprah Winfrey [19:50]
The way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself what is the next right move? not think about? Oh yeah. All of this debate, what is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move and the next right move and not to be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment, you know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you, because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.
David Ralph [20:22]
Now, but it really sort of emphasises, but it’s not all about hustle and flexing your hustle muscle. Sometimes it’s just about being quiet and thinking things through, which ties into obviously what you do very well, looking at the metrics and on your website. metrics are important. Which ones with a question mark? So which ones Layne?
Layne Booth [20:45]
Yes, this is a great question. And I get this frequently from from a lot of people that I get to interact with. And I will say first of all, it absolutely depends on you and like we talked about your priority. So, is your business important to get you more money? Is it more important to get you more freedom? Is it more important to get you more impact and thought leadership? And when we ask those questions, it really starts to identify, okay, you know, if income is the priority goal, then let’s put metrics together to massively impact the income that you want to receive out of your business. So yeah, I will say we do tend to break this up into three key components. So when we are clear on what your objective is, as
David Ralph [21:41]
Sagan, tell us about them, what what what are the three, I mean?
Layne Booth [21:46]
Yes, so First, and most people are probably gonna already kind of have a feeling on this one. But first is finances right? I mean, if you’re not making money, you don’t have a business you have a glorified hobby. So financially are a critical piece of how successful you are. It’s your points on the scoreboard, like how much how much impact Are you having with your business? Right? And so finances is a big piece. And what I mean by finances is a couple of things. What is your revenue look like? What is your profitability look like? And then can you optimise you know your expenses or other revenue streams so that you can generate more profits at the end of the day? So the finances is a huge, huge component of the three. The other two. First is marketing. So I like to, you know, we like to think of marketing as the front end, right? It’s the it’s the introduction to your business. It’s how people know about you. It’s what that visibility looks like, and then how well you are converting them to whatever it is that you’re selling. So marketing, Kiki said like you talked about, David I mean, SEO can be a huge component. This. So what does traffic to your website look like? Are you trying to drive traffic to your website? Is that important? Or are you trying to drive people to your YouTube channel? You know, depending on what your marketing levers are. So marketing, we really want to identify your key traffic sources, how people are finding you, and then how well they are converting. So traffic volume, and then conversion rates by those different levers, whether you’ve got stuff coming from YouTube or SEO or Facebook, what do those conversion rates look like? Because I guarantee you they are different from whatever platforms you are marketing on. And then the third third piece is in operations. And so by operations, this is how you deliver on your promise. Right? So you might have a course or programme. You might have a service, you might have a product, but how are you delivering it? How are Marketing, you know, gives you the lead the potential customer and then how are you executing on the back end to actually deliver on that promise? Does that require, you know, how many hours of your team? Are they, you know, continuing to improve? Are they able to get faster and faster? And the delivery methods? Are you able to automate things with amazing systems and software that is available to you? how effective are you with the operational efficiency of your business? So, those are the big three the marketing operations and finances are really your your scoreboard, that’s how you’re putting points, you know, points up for your business and how effectively are you doing it in those three areas because each leg of that stool is vitally important to really have a robust and predictable business going
David Ralph [24:52]
forward. We’re talking to Layne booth and we’ll be back with her after these words. You ready
Unknown Speaker [25:00]
to make a full time living online? Check out the amazing Join Up Dots business coaching.
Unknown Speaker [25:05]
Hello, my name is Alan. And I’ve just completed the excellent eight week course with David.
Unknown Speaker [25:10]
Before I started working with David, actually, I had no idea at all where to start.
Unknown Speaker [25:15]
I had a lot of ideas about why probably thought was going to be good business. David was able to help me through that though, to find that passion. Within literally minutes. We had, we had a business idea. And for the last seven weeks, we’ve been building on it and building on it and the position I’m in now, I don’t think I’ve ever got here
Unknown Speaker [25:35]
on my
Unknown Speaker [25:36]
because of the amount of information that David gives the structure. He’s got the full package here and he explains it in a way that I can understand. His support is phenomenal. I feel like this is the way business is supposed to work. David
Unknown Speaker [25:51]
helped me understand, okay, what were the next logical steps that I should do? How can I get this up and running? So I would really recommend this as an excellent course. Helping you if you have an idea if you have no idea, really teasing that out and at some of the practicalities and steps to take to really launch your business, whether as a full time job or a side hustle. So it was really excellent. I recommend it for anybody thinking about setting up their own business.
Unknown Speaker [26:16]
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say David, good to save you years.
Marni Spicer [26:20]
Thank you, David, for all your amazing help and support which keeps on going. And we certainly couldn’t be where we are today without you. So
Unknown Speaker [26:29]
you’re awesome.
David Ralph [26:30]
So if you would love to become my next success story and have your own life changing online business following my step by step system, being tuned over many years to take away the effort and expense that others struggle with, then come across to Join Up dots.com and book a free call with myself. Let’s get you living the easy life as it’s there waiting for you to get it that is Join Up dots.com business coaching. Okay, we’re talking to Elaine both from the public booth. And we’re talking about metrics and actually looking at your business as a real business. And one of the things I’m interested in, but you mentioned on your site as well, I spend a lot of time going up and down people’s sides is software piece together is a time suck. Now, I’m always blown away how complicated people make their businesses where this goes off, and that goes off. And this does and I say to them, how does it actually work? Well, I don’t know. I had somebody come in and set it up for me, and it just kind of operates it blows me away. How complicated Do you find the same thing?
Layne Booth [27:39]
Goodness it’s it’s definitely varies. I feel like the people start with good intentions and making things simple. And then over time, it does end up getting more and more complicated because they’re honest, I mean, the throwing more spaghetti at the wall, they’re trying to test all these different things. And then they’ve you left a spaghetti bowl. have everything intertwined with you 53 different software applications, and really don’t know what’s working anymore because they have gotten it so complicated. So I absolutely see that happening.
David Ralph [28:13]
Now, how complicated it has it been in your life, because from the outside, it seems quite simple. You got a Facebook community, you’re growing Instagram, you’ve got your platform, and you go out to virtual events and so real life events and use referral based business.
Layne Booth [28:29]
Right, so for me, I mean, I see my sales funnel per se as very, very simple. It’s, hey, let’s get visibility in one form or another. Let’s invite them to book a call, see if we’re a fit, and then let’s enrol them into our back end programme. So for us it’s visibility book a call and work together. So it’s really three steps is just a little bit of Yeah, I’m and I’m in that testing you know, phase right now to on Hey, what’s the best month And do I need a couple of different methods? So from having workshops, to Facebook ads to, you know, consistent referral networking, like those are my big three right now on visibility strategies that are working, and that we are getting metrics and data pulled together on how effective are each three of these avenues, because the rest of the funnel is super easy book a call, see if we’re a fit. And if we are, let’s work together. I love
David Ralph [29:31]
that because that is pretty much what I do. And I’ve done all the complicated things in the past. And I basically say, yeah, you know, listen to the podcast, if you like it come across our chat to you and a story, you know, and my conversion rate, probably about 95%. Really, just through that because you’ve already built the trust the loyalty of doing something for seven years with people listening, and little by little getting past that stage of Oh, I’m not sure I’m not sure To actually, I might give it a go, but I just want to sort of test the waters. It’s not hard is it? Where I find people struggle is by trying to be too distant from the ultimate client? And I did that at the very beginning, I thought that a podcast was just like being a radio host. And for the first couple of years, it was, but I wasn’t earning any cash on it until I realised No, actually, I’ve got to bring something of a service. And so that’s how I developed it. Now, once again, people do save it, they can create businesses where this flies off, and that flies off and they never have to speak to a certain customer. I think that’s hard. I really think that’s hard. I think you’ve got to, you know, you’ve got to speak to the person who’s paying you surely?
Layne Booth [30:43]
Yeah, it takes a lot of time and energy to have passive income, right? I mean, it’s, it’s really a myth and, and like, Hey, I get to set up this one funnel and just, you know, watch everything flow in. It might be passive. What we’re seeing is more of how you feel out a way to make money where you don’t actually have to talk to anyone. But you are doing a lot of work and a lot of reconfiguring and setting up tools and funnels and, and a team of people to make sure that you know, that’s actually functioning in a proper way for you. So it really, really is more of a myth than a truth.
David Ralph [31:23]
I don’t know if it’s a myth, because I’ve got several passive income things. And they they chip in quite nicely. You know, I just look at my bank account and more money’s coming. Well, I think the issue is, is people think that that’s the easy route. And I always say to them, that’s the hard route because you need a tonne of traffic, because you’re not sort of, you’re not manipulating it enough. It almost you get what you get out of it. And you don’t really run the metrics to see that 80% just bounce off and they don’t you know, it’s a kind of lazy approach, but it does work and I’ve got some that has been working for years and years and years. I should go back home. and redo them. I can’t be bothered. And that’s because a lot of these are kind of, I would say, desperation businesses, but you learn a lot by doing them, but they don’t become your real thing.
Layne Booth [32:13]
Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and and to defeat me think back about what was the time and energy that you put in on the front end to then create, create those systems and, you know, to generate the tonne of traffic that’s required for that, right. I mean, it did take some effort. And so just the, the idea behind it is, hey, what kind I tell people to see, like, what’s going to be the biggest bang for the buck? Right? I mean, what’s the high impact activities that you can do that will give you those big wins? versus Hey, do I mean No, you absolutely can. I mean, it’s your business. You can choose the path you want to take but do you want to spend a lot of time selling $7 product or do you want to spend the same amount of time for a $7,000 package or programme? And it really comes down to what are your goals? What so lifestyle that you want to live? And how much time and energy Do you want to spend getting those funnels working and those processes is working and the systems and software required to generate the income that you need to see from those avenues.
David Ralph [33:28]
Well, that’s throwing it back at you as well on Layne, this is this is one of those conversations we should be having in a pub. If you look at the funnel once a lot of people think the funnel is the thing, but of course the funnel doesn’t work unless you’ve got the right fuel coming into it. And this is the bit that I don’t understand why. where for example, as I say, I love SEO. I love Google. Google gives me data. It tells me how many people are coming to look at something each month. You can then crunch it and you can work out if I targeted but where will I land How much of that pie will I get? And by splitting the traffic into three customer bases? One being, Look, you’ve really got to prove me prove to me that this is going to work one going, Yeah, I think this is gonna work, I’m gonna buy it and one going, I’ve got my wallet open, I’m ready to buy, you literally you’re just putting the right people into that funnel maximising the chances of a sale, which means then you don’t have to do as much work. Now I do about all my clients, and we spend, you know quite a bit of time getting spreadsheets out, looking at the numbers, crunching them finding the Google position, finding the ones with buying intent. And you can just see that their eyes change. And they say to me, this is where it works, isn’t it and all of them pretty much would have come from it, where they bought a URL that I thought was a bit sexy. They’ve done a website, they’ve done a few sort of blog posts, I’ve spent time on Facebook, they’ve done you know, Instagram and stuff and haven’t got anything because they’re putting the wrong fuel in it. They’re not targeting content based on what people are already looking for. It seems so easy to me now. But I’ve been through the struggle as much as anybody else until it becomes easy.
Layne Booth [35:10]
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the you’re absolutely right on you do have to eat you have to pull out the spreadsheets right? You do have to look at what is really happening. And interesting to you. I mean, you can you can do the same process for multiple industries, but you absolutely have to tweak it. I mean, to your point, David, on, who am I talking to? What are the pain points? Am I communicating effectively?
David Ralph [35:37]
Yes, get it’s as simple as simple as that. You’ve got to? Well, I think the hardest thing is people coming up with an idea. That’s that’s the hardest thing. Once somebody’s got an idea, you can run with it. And then you can see Is there a market out there? If there’s a market who’s the ideal customer who’s the ideal customer that’s got money? That’s one of the things that blows me away. People come to me and they go, Oh, I’ve decided on this I’ve decided I’m going to target five year old children. I know, you target the parents, they’re the ones with the money. You don’t target the five year old kids, you know, especially on these kind of online things where they teach maps, and they teach, you know, physics. And I always say to them, the pain point isn’t the kid the kids just doing it because I get told the pain point is the mums and dads that come back from a hard day’s work, and they have to do homeschooling, they’re the ones that are gonna pay suppose so somebody else can take that pain away from them. But a majority of times people target the wrong customer. They target the one who’s not actually got that pain. So it pulls me away.
Layne Booth [36:38]
Absolutely. in it. We were working with a client. That is a big fashion influencer. And she has to tweak how she’s talking even on different platforms to right I mean, so you might be able to speak one way on your YouTube channel, but you have to change it for how you’re talking on your blog. And so even If you are, you know, at the end of the day talking, you know, to the same pain points if your audience is a little bit different if you’re speaking more to readers versus watchers, I mean, the the way you approach that even has to be a little bit different. Right?
David Ralph [37:15]
Great. Yeah, absolutely. And that’s one of the issues. If you now it 100%, I would much rather have 100 tiny little businesses, where each of them speaks to the right person in the right language, but the right product, then trying to create a broader one that has to be changed over time. You know, just just building up like a kind of business portfolio, where you’ve got one business doing something and one business and then you, you reduce the risk as well, because if something dips, like we’re seeing at the moment, you don’t really care because you’ve got the other ones working, instead of putting all your eggs into one basket and trying to make every bit of content appeal to everyone. It can’t possibly work surely.
Layne Booth [37:56]
Amen. Like I would love to just stand up and cheer for what he does. I’d right there, David. I mean, right now we are being we’re very open, our eyes have been open to the fact that we need multiple streams of revenue coming into our business, having one, one place to go and put all those eggs in that basket is is dangerous, right? I mean, it can make or break your business. So by diversify by having, you know, by having books versus you know, programmes versus courses versus a maybe a tangible product. And these are the different ways that you can diversify within your business. So that, hey, when it maybe a manufacturer in China goes down and you can’t get product for the next three months, then you can fall back on Well, I’ve got this training programme that I can do, or I’ve got this workshop, and then if, let’s say, God forbid, the internet breaks or something, then you know, maybe happen. What are the other things that you can look at, I mean, at the End of the day, like entrepreneurs are super creative. And yeah, this this challenge has really helped them reignite that creativity that they have. And so I mean, now’s a perfect time to really think through what are the multiple ways that people can see impact from me that I can provide value in a solution to their problems from multiple different ways.
David Ralph [39:27]
I’ve got a business that sells holidays in the Florida Keys. I have got a course that teaches people how to interview on a podcast. I’ve got people that launch on a podcast, that’s all sort of virtual, then I’ve got a two day master class with me. I’ve got an eight week business course I’ve got loads of different ones. And the beauty of it is when you get fed up with it, you don’t have to do it for a while. You know, I think there was a stage when every month I was having to do the same thing. Oh God, I gotta do that. And now I just sort of put them to bed. Leave them a benefit. quite fancy doing that I might do that course again and sort of bring it out, and then sort of market it through the podcast. But subsequently, you never have to worry about money because there’s all these things just preying on. Now, if you are stupid, and you then sort of rack yourself up to the debts with Porsches and Ferraris and, and all that kind of stuff, then yeah, you are gonna struggle, but I like to live a very frugal kind of existence Really? And and never have to worry. And that is why like, I look so yeah.
Layne Booth [40:30]
Fantastic. Yes, I love it.
David Ralph [40:33]
You didn’t agree with me? I sensed in a woman’s way you just went I don’t believe this. But I’m not gonna say
Layne Booth [40:40]
Well, I mean, I might have if you hadn’t. Self deprecated at the beginning of our podcast here, I think even called it out
David Ralph [40:46]
yourself. I was sucked dry with energy. Let’s listen to somebody that did sort of loses energy and ultimately lost his life. never quite fulfilled his legacy, but God What did he leave with us, Steve?
Steve Jobs [41:00]
It was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [41:35]
It does Oh, doesn’t mean I’m normally I say to the guest, what do you think? And I’m just gonna say it does make all the difference.
Layne Booth [41:42]
Absolutely. I mean, and and to that point, I mean, as well. Connecting the Dots means looking at the past and looking at the past with with the data that is pointing you in the right direction is such a simple solution to figuring out where you want to go and how you want to apply that Going forward.
David Ralph [42:02]
So here’s the question for you. Why do we make it so complicated line?
Layne Booth [42:07]
Oh, that’s such a good question. I know for me and what, you know what I’ve went through and even, you know, some of my colleagues, it almost feels like it needs to be sometimes, right? I mean, when you’re looking at when it’s kind of that comparison of, hey, well, they’ve got all these things happening. They seem to have it all together. Look, they’ve they’ve got, you know, four different things happening in their business. That comparison. Almost makes it feel like oh, well, I’ve got to get started on you know, all these complicated things to actually grow my business. But I’m sure what you found to be true as well is, the more simple you can make your business the more simple you can sustain it, the easier is to amplify. So when you bring that simplicity, that is where the magic happens, because then it’s repeatable. You can bring on Team members to help you can easily help with software or systems to make it scalable in the future. So it really is kind of getting out of your own way and thinking that it does have to be complicated and just know that that’s, that could be completely untrue that you can simplify to amplify your message.
David Ralph [43:21]
And if you simplify, customers understand it, don’t say that.
Layne Booth [43:26]
Oh, man, I had such a challenging time when I was first getting started really simplifying my message. What was it that I actually did do? What? Because I thought I could help everybody with everything right. But being able to get really clear on you know, what, you know, data, as silly as it seems, sometimes to say it out loud. Data is my passion. I feel like it unlocks the potential in businesses. And so I want to help other people figure out the data that’s pointing them in the right direction and be that interpreter for them. And once I got I myself got clarity on that, and it really made the the next steps in business much more simple. Yeah,
David Ralph [44:09]
totally, totally agree. Well, this is the part of the show that we call the Sermon on the mic when we’re going to send you back in time to have a one on one with the young lady. And if you could go back in time, what age line would you speak to and what advice would you give her? Well, we’re going to find out because I’m going to play the theme, and when it fades, it’s time to talk to each other. It’s a sermon on the line
Unknown Speaker [44:38]
with the best bit of the show.
Layne Booth [44:55]
Alright, so I’m going to be talking to that 16 year old Layne. I feel like you know, teenage daughters years are pretty epic for for a lot of folks, right? So, for me one thing that happened when I was 16 years old, me and my mom were kind of battling things out, as you might expect, but one thing that she did say to me was, I don’t want you to ever be afraid to try something just because it seems hard. And that’s where I kind of have connected the dots for me personally, because that’s one message that I happen to listen to her on, has really resonated multiple stages in my life. So from from going through college to picking a degree, and a major that was was quite challenging to moving into corporate roles to starting my own business man, I have leaned back to that time, to that short and simple phrase that she shared with me and that has made all The difference in how I approach things she set the bar on how to look at situations and to make, you know, that next best decision much like Oprah says, right, what’s the next best step? Knowing that I shouldn’t give up just because it seems hard. So, for any teenagers that might be listening, I’ll just go ahead and say, Listen to your mom. She’s been there before, and she’s got your best interest at heart. And you know what, there’s nuggets in there that you can learn and you can take away right now that will forever impact your future.
David Ralph [46:36]
And listen to your dads as well. I know they might be sitting on the sofa in their underpants, but I still they know a few things.
Layne Booth [46:43]
Absolutely, yes, yes.
David Ralph [46:46]
We both we’ve all been there. We’ve gone through the journey. So Layne, what is the number one best way that our audience can connect with you?
Layne Booth [46:54]
Yeah, I would let folks know the best way to reach me is just going to our website at the project. booth calm. And from there, there’s all sorts of other ways to connect on social to check out some of our free master classes. And to just learn more on how to really grow and scale your business
David Ralph [47:12]
line. Thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And please come back again, when you’ve got more dots to join up, because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Layne. Thank you so much.
Layne Booth [47:27]
Thank you,
David Ralph [47:30]
Layne Booth. So there’s many different ways to actually build a business. You can either do it online, you can do it in real life, you know, it’s just connecting with people. And that’s where people make the mistake. They’re not thinking about how can we connect in a way that the person understands and can see the value in what you’re offering. If you’re struggling in business out there. It’s because you are not expressing the pain point that somebody is dealing with and presenting the solution to them. It says Simple as that. As always, thank you so much for being here. looking after yourself. Be safe. And I’ll see you again soon. Cheers.
Outro [48:08]
See ya. Heard the conversation. Now it’s time for you to start taking massive action. Create your life busy only life. We’ll be back again real soon. Join Up Dots Join Up Dots Join Up Dots. Jo Jo.
