Ep 131: Rates Are On The Rise And What That Means For You As An Entrepreneur
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Hi, I'm Joanne Bull and I am obsessed with all things podcasting and creating an unapologetically big revenue business with it. From podcast guesting to podcast hosting and everything in between, we're going to dive into it all and show you step by awesome step how to build a big business.

how using a podcast can and will grow your business. So grab a glass of wine and pop your headphones on because girlfriend happy hour has begun here on The B Word.

Have you ever had one of those besties that, irregardless of how long it's been since you talked, when you do chat, it is like no time has passed at all? Well, yesterday I was on the phone with Stacey Brown Randall, who is that girl for me. Stacey and I met a few years ago. And legitimately, when I have a thought in my head that I need to discuss business-wise, I mean, Stacey's who I go to. We think so much alike. And in typical fashion,

Yesterday when we were chatting, I texted her and said, it's going to be a five minute question. I just need you to tell me I'm either crazy or I'm on the right path to something. And 55 minutes later, we finally laughed and had to get off the phone. If you need Stacey in your life, I'm telling you right now, she's the host of the podcast Roadmap to Referrals. She is the queen of teaching you how to generate referrals in your business. I

I had her here on the B-Word way back when in episode 74, and we'll link to that in the show notes, and I'll get her on here again in the future. But what Stacey and I were talking about really started as a what is going on with the industry rolled into her concerns that she is seeing a decline in students entering into her big ticket program. This is by referrals. We call it the B2B. And

where I'm kind of going in my world and in my community and my network. And something that then popped into my inbox just this morning, so perfect timing for recording this episode, was a newsflash from Fox News. And here's where I'm going to really have a conversation with you today. Heart to heart, like a bestie should.

Guys, the interest rate spiked to a 22-year high today. Now, I'm recording this at the end of July, so I don't know when you'll be listening to it, but a 22-year hike, even though I'm not an analyst, I'm not an economist, I don't pretend to be, I understand that from a business perspective, that's a big damn deal. Do you understand that? And I'm not saying that condescendingly. I'm honestly asking you as your friend.

Do you get what a big deal that makes for your products, for your services, for your offering, for the listeners of your podcast?

If you don't, it's time to lean in and figure it out. Now, you may understand what interest rates mean for your own personal pocket. If you're obtaining a mortgage on a home, you're not getting an interest rate at 3% anymore. And your credit card interest rate, I'm going to bet that it's spiking too with the rising interest rate. So you might want to take a look at what that monthly payment has to look like if the only thing you're meeting is your monthly balance, which I hope you're not. I'd

I do hope that you have a lot of financial stability and you're able to do more than the monthly minimum. I'd really like to see you pay the whole thing off every month, but I also do understand good and bad debt, and that's not always going to happen in a business.

But the raising interest rates are really going to be affecting the spendability of your consumer. And here's what I want to think about. It may be time for you to reevaluate your audience and what they need. Now, a year ago, you may have put out a digital course and it sold like crazy and it's not selling as much right now.

You initially might sit there and think, oh, okay, it's because it's been out a year and I ran through all my old audience and I just need to get more visibility. And that may not actually be the answer. The answer could be that what they need right now has changed and it's time for you to update or revamp that course and your messaging in order to make it something that is a hell yes on the spend list of someone who could potentially be penny pinching right now and not a maybe less.

later. By the way, that is where Stacey is finding a lot of her clients right now that enroll in her high ticket course. They're going maybe later. So her pipeline for 2024 is looking really, really good. But 2023 is struggling just a little bit. As a business owner, she's been doing this for a hot second. So she understands the up and downs of the market and can ride this out. But if you're newer into entrepreneurship, it may be freaking you out just a little bit.

One of the things that we recently did here on The B Word, in fact, I sent it out last week, we sent out a survey to everyone in our email list, just asking them, what do you need? I mean, it literally had four questions on it. It asked, what are you struggling with the most? What is your niche? And like two other questions to answer. And we did that very specifically to get a pulse on our audience for, hey, what do you

What are you currently struggling with? Because if we're going to continue to create content or look at who we're bringing in to teach in the Podcast Her community on a monthly basis, or look at which podcasts we're growing with the Podcast Her network, we need to know what our audience is going to be responding to and what they need in their life. And far be it from me to pretend that I've got all the answers. So

So one of the things you could consider doing if you need to get another pulse on your audience is to simply do that. Create a quick survey and send it out. No, not everyone will answer. And that's okay. In fact, if you didn't get the email because it went to your inbox and heck, you just missed it like some people do, you're welcome to go to joannbolt.com forward slash survey and

and answer it today because we are going to keep it up for a while in order to continue to monitor our people so that we can serve you in the best way possible. Another thing you might want to do as you're getting a good pulse on your audience right now is

really spend some more time engaging in your social media. I know this may not sound like the financial advice that your financial advisor would give you, but I'm looking at it from a different perspective. I'm looking at it not from a what content is getting reposted the most or having the most comments on, but how can I get in the DMs of people who have bought from me in the past or I have formed relationships with?

Or just flat out are commenting on our material. How can I get to know them on a deeper level in the social media atmosphere in order to ensure that we're meeting the audience where they need to meet? It's a great spot to ask questions in the DMs. A, people really like you responding to them. And B, it allows you to come down out of the cloud of podcasting world and really kind of slide into that conversation with someone and say, do you

Do you need more podcast episodes on email list building? Or are we in the right direction with podcast growth, which is what I really think you need in order to grow your business? And what part of that do you not get inundated with from other avenues? That's one of the big things that we do here. And I would encourage you to take the time to do that as well, because your audience needs are going to be changing as the economy changes.

I know we've all been seeing the recession, but folks, it's really, really real when it hits a 22-year high. I don't know about you, but it's just not the cost of eggs anymore. It's everything on my credit card that's affecting me. Speaking of credit cards and their rising interest rate, you might want to consider that piece for your clients and your audience. If you've got people on a subscription basis, whether it's a credit card or a credit card,

Well, I already mentioned earlier that not everyone pays their credit cards off every month. And so you might notice an increase in the drop-off of your subscriptions, even if you're a low-ticket offer. Actually, I'll go as far to say, especially if you're a low-ticket offer. I find oftentimes that the people who are dropouts

joining a lot of low ticket subscriptions, when financial times get difficult for them, I can't talk today, those are the things that they will drop off the quickest because they are perceived to be the least value rich for them. So in order to combat that, you may want to take a hard look at your lower ticket subscriptions and how do you

pack in even more value? How do you re-engage some of the low-hanging fruit that's been in your world? Maybe is it taking advantage of all of the pieces that your offer has to, you know, give them? How can you make sure it's in their hands? And how can you again increase that offer? One of the things I saw a friend of mine do last year

last month, which I thought was really great. She has a small women's conference that she does every single year, and it's always just been her. You know, she brings guests on stage. Yes, she has speakers. So I don't mean it's just her on stage. I mean, it was just always her conference. Well, she understood that the economy has changed. She understood she needed to bring in more value. So instead of having to raise price

prices to, you know, meet her financial needs. And instead of lowering the price of the event in order to meet her audience needs, what she did was she collaborated with someone else who had a similar audience and they actually produced the conference together, which was really interesting to watch because it brought in so much more value to each one of their audience members.

That collaboration put those two brain powers together and actually ended up creating an even better conference at the same ticket price as the one conference host did all these past years. Now, strategically thinking, does she need to do that moving forward every single year? Possibly. So be careful who you're collaborating with, because if it's not someone you want to keep working with, now you're going to have to figure out how to

unwind that with your audience. But if it works really, really well, and it grows the conference in a way that helps everyone's pocketbook and their knowledge, gives them a lot of value and keeps them wanting to come back, like that experience just exploded for them. That's a great tool to keep in your back pocket if you do events or live things.

I actually really, really, I hope to get to be able to do that here in the next year with one of my retreats, in fact. So as we land the plane on that thought process, let's make sure that you're really getting that message. You do not need to decrease your pricing, even though interest rates have gone up and the spendability of your consumer or your audience is lower. You just have to increase the value. What you have to look at, no matter what price point you're offering is,

Am I overpacking it with value? And the way that you determine how you're overpacking it with value is you engage with your audience and see where your leaks are. What are you missing? What do you still need? So I know that today's episode was a little bit heavier than normal. I mean, I talk money occasionally, but I don't always throw out interest rates at you. But in this time, in my perspective,

promise to you, which is always to help you build that business in that revenue generating way that really makes sense for you. I hope you start looking outside the box just a tiny bit. Not too much to compromise what your business is, but enough to meet and exceed the expectations of your audience and your consumer in a time where they may be feeling the pinch of the interest rate. As always, guys,

Build your empire. Put a mic behind it. And I'll see you same time, same place on Thursday. You just finished another episode of the V Word podcast. Cheers to you. If I were with you, I would literally pop a big old bottle of Prosecco and pour you a glass. Since I'm not, why don't you do the next best thing and share this episode with one of your besties? Because we all know you've got that one girlfriend that needs to hear it. Thanks, friends.

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