Market Your Genius with Nikki Nash

[00:00:00] Emily Thompson: If you're a business owner, and I think there's a really great chance that you are. Then you know the importance of marketing or at the very least, you feel some ongoing pressure to spend some time making sure that it's getting done. Marketing is how you get customers and clients through the door of your business.

[00:00:28] But for the history of business, as we know it, marketing has been mostly dominated by cookie-cutter blueprints and at least somewhat aggressive means of snagging those leads into your but is that the modern reality and future of marketing? I don't think so. Welcome to Being Boss, a podcast for creative business owners and entrepreneurs who wanted to take control of their work and live life on their own terms.

[00:00:51] I'm your host, Emily Thompson. And I honestly often lament the amount of marketing that my brain has to employ as the owner of two businesses. And I'm not talking about social media-ing, which is something I've long distanced myself from as much as possible. I'm talking about how marketing is a part of every facet of business, from what I'm creating to how I'm delivering it.

[00:01:14] I lament it because the way marketing has been presented for maybe ever feels gross. But I've been seeing and feeling a shift in how marketing is taught and utilize that moved more into alignment with how I like to do business. And today's guest, Nikki Nash has harnessed this new way of marketing and wrangled it and do a new book that I'm excited to share more about with you.

[00:01:39] Nikki Nash is a podcast host hay house, author of the book, marketing, your genius, motivational speaker, and creator of the genius profits society, a training and development program on a mission to equip entrepreneurs with the tools and resources they need to share and profit from their message.

[00:02:00] Have you ever wished you had a mentor that could provide advice on how to improve your customer experience and scale your business? Well, HubSpot has got you covered its new podcast, The Shakeup is a show about business builders who dared to be different. Alexis Gay and Brianne Kimmel dive into the stories behind the most disruptive companies in business, examining the decisions and investments made by leaders who are building for the future by challenging the status quo.

[00:02:26] Sound like someone, you know? This is the boss away in these stories will inspire you on your journey to do things differently as well. Listen, learn and grow with the shakeup and more business podcasts with the HubSpot podcast network at hubspot.com/podcastnetwork,

[00:02:48] Nikki, you welcome to Being Boss. 

[00:02:51] Nikki Nash: Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much for having me here. I am so freaking excited. 

[00:02:56] Emily Thompson: This has been a long time coming along. So, so many things were like, put on pause and hold and we just kind of had to like wait for the planets to realign or whatever in the world was happening.

[00:03:09] But this is, I would say, long past due, but also come in exactly at the right time. 

[00:03:14] Nikki Nash: I completely agree. I do. I really do. And oddly so much has happened since we like met. I feel like you were my last in-person like pre pandemic entrepreneur friend. 

[00:03:29] Emily Thompson: Indeed, indeed. So let's talk about that really quick.

[00:03:31] Nikki and I met at Alt Summit in March of 2020. It was the last hurrah of our lives before we both came home and had to quarantine. So you're right. I met you at our, we shared a session together. We met then and there. I got to see you speak, who got to see me speak? We like immediately connected.

[00:03:59] I ended up, I actually did end up meeting Erika Cordae and India Jackson. I met up with them right after you. So hung out with. Hung out with them, drove myself in a convertible into the desert for like an alone hike in the woods, say woods, but that's the desert. And then I came home and had to quarantine..

[00:04:18] That was my story. How did it happen for you? 

[00:04:21] Nikki Nash: So I hung out with you. I hung out like right afterwards. I think I was charging my phone before, you know, white time and hung out with a couple of other people speaking. And then I literally flew home. Didn't really understand pandemic stuff. So all of a sudden it was in California.

[00:04:41] I live in New Jersey. I flew home to New Jersey was home for maybe 48 hours, flew to Mexico and was in North America. And then the world shut down. And I was like, are we getting home? 

[00:04:55] Emily Thompson: Maybe, maybe not. But you did make it home. 

[00:05:03] Nikki Nash: I did. I made it home and literally the next day, everything, everything in New Jersey shut down.

[00:05:09] So it was like, you couldn't go to the gym, you couldn't go anywhere. We were like, huh. So we went on vacation. We had this glorious time and now we're trapped. Indoors. Yeah. 

[00:05:22] Emily Thompson: At home with nowhere to go.

[00:05:25] Nikki Nash: And no line of sight into when you could go somewhere else. It's just kind of like when things will open up.

[00:05:32] So I was like, well, my hair is a hot mess and my hair appointment is canceled. So a good thing. I'm not going anywhere because. 

[00:05:40] Emily Thompson: Yep that right? So that is our beginning. So basically it was a very big moment in our lives together and separately. And I remember at that, um, at that conference talking about having you on the podcast, because you were there.[00:06:00] 

[00:06:00] To talk about your forthcoming book. You were so joyous and excited about it in a way that I found totally inspiring. And I was so excited to have you come talk about it, but things happen, timelines get extended. Now you're here and I'm so excited to introduce you to the Being Boss audience, to talk about this book.

[00:06:24] That is coming out or may have already come out by the time this goes live. So let's dive in to you. If we may, Nikki, I would love for you to share with us your entrepreneurial journey. What has this looked like for you and how is it that you got to where you are today? 

[00:06:43] Nikki Nash: Oh, my goodness. I feel like a lot of self-talk got me to where I am today, maybe.

[00:06:53] Oh my goodness. But the journey, was a financial and emotional roller coaster. And I was working in corporate prior to. My first kind of venture into entrepreneurship. My last, like full-time corporate corporate job. I was head of, like kind of content digital marketing for North America at Intel. It was really a lot of fun.

[00:07:18] I loved the people I worked with. I got to just create, it was almost like I could come up with ideas and pitch it to my boss and then see how it worked. And it was almost literally like when I look back kind of like mini entrepreneurship, like I had this idea of doing a fashion show to promote, what they were calling ultra books at the time, which are essentially.

[00:07:39] Then in light laptops, like a Mac book air, but for PCs. And I was like, we should do a fashion show where like the laptops look like clutches to people because they're so thin and light and come in different colors. And then they like pop them up and it's like, yo, this is our laptop. We're just strolling down the street with my laptop.

[00:07:57] And it was so much fun. And I remember my, I asked for a budget. My bus was like, you can have this, which was like a small fraction and I had to make it work. And so I really enjoyed it. My job, but my, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and that's how my grandmother passed away. And we're like, this is very likely genetic and my mom got tested.

[00:08:21] She tested positive. And it's crazy because the day that Angelina Jolie posted or the New York Times posted her opted about having preventative surgery because breast cancer ran in her family was the day that I was being genetically tested. And I was sitting in the backseat of the car, reading this on my way there.

[00:08:41] And I was like, life's too short. I don't know what is going to happen with me. I don't know what the test results are going to be, but I do know that even though I like my job, it's not what I feel like I'm put on this planet to do. And so I decided I was quitting. I stayed for, maybe like six months or so, because I was making six figures and I had an end date in my mind and we'd go to Mexico every year.

[00:09:07] So I was like, I'm going to quit and have my last day be right before we go to Mexico. And then I'm going to ship all of my stuff home. Cause I was living in Portland, Oregon, and I'm from New Jersey. I was like, I'm gonna ship all my stuff to my parents' house and use it as storage. And I'm gonna go to Mexico.

[00:09:22] And I literally was in Mexico for two. First week. Great. I was like so inspired. Like this is going to be the best business ever. And then the next week, Nick, you just quit a six-figure job. You've been making six figures since you were 26 years old. How the F are you going to make money? This is terrible.

[00:09:40] And I freaked out and I started looking for jobs. So like entrepreneurship kind of like, it was a slow ignition, slow start. And I took a job as head of marketing at a tech startup because I convinced myself that if I could learn from. Entrepreneurs building a business, how to build a business. Then when I started, I would be way more successful.

[00:10:02] Right. But it was purely a mindset thing. Like I don't regret it. I did learn a time, but it was fear making that decision, not Nicki going. Hmm. This seems like the right thing to do. It was like, ah, I'm scared. What's a rational way to like live in fear, but it sounds good. Like how can I mark it and spend my fear?

[00:10:21] I know I'm going to get a job at a tech startup and learn how to start a business. Brilliant. Right. And so I did 

[00:10:29] Emily Thompson: That's some beautiful self-awareness though. Congratulations.

[00:10:36] Nikki Nash: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's very self-aware but I still do crazy stuff that I was like, why am I doing this? And so a year and a half later is when I then quit my job again, going, why am I doing this? I'm just delaying the inevitable, inevitable. I'm delaying my dream. Not fulfilling my soul. I just was so not soul aligned at all.

[00:10:58] And I quit that job and started my own business. As, at the time I was initially a marketing consultant and it was because I'm like, yeah, my background's in marketing. I know marketing. I can help people get leads. I can help people get clients. I know how to do this. And brought on my first client paid like three grand a month.

[00:11:18] They were a startup. I was like, this is great. I can pay my now I was living in Boston by very expensive apartment. That was beautiful, but I was like, huh, this worked better. When I had a salary. Then when I'm now solo and long story short, I realized that entrepreneurship is a journey of figuring out.

[00:11:43] This interesting mix, especially when you're doing it, because it's something you love of like, what am I uniquely qualified to deliver? What am I actually excited to deliver and who will actually buy this thing that I'm really good at doing? And that I liked doing. And I ultimately realized that, while marketing consulting and that sort of work, I was basically.

[00:12:06] For lots of companies, almost like a fractional CMO, is how I, I started, while I could do it. It wasn't what lit me up and what I really wanted to do. And part of my bigger mission was yo, there are so many women and women of color and different ethnicity starting businesses and making such a fraction of what

[00:12:28] male owned businesses make, and there are so many things that contribute to it, but I wanted to be able to help women build profitable businesses, doing what they love in a way that felt right for them, because the way that, my male clients were kind of building their businesses was not necessarily in alignment with how I wanted to build a business or how I wanted to help people build businesses or teach them.

[00:12:52] And so it was really kind of figuring out, okay, well, what is it that I could deliver to people that will help them. And so I'm still in the realm of marketing where a lot of people come to me because they want to get more clients get more leads, be seen as the go-to industry expert, but I bring this interesting mix of business savvy.

[00:13:15] I'm like, we need to look at your cashflow. Like we need to look at your systems, but also very much like mindset intuition, because there are a million things you could do to grow and build a business, but you have to figure out the way that's right for you. Right for the team that you're building and, um, your skillsets and your uniqueness.

[00:13:36] And so I have a lot of joy of kind of mixing, you know, left brain, right brain, feminine, masculine, like all of the things together to create a pathway that's in alignment for folks that are clients and customers. 

[00:13:53] Emily Thompson: Right. But I also feel like you sort of tapped into the way that is doing business in a new and different way, where we are diverging from the way that business has been done for

[00:14:09] probably centuries, if you actually really think about it and going into this idea that, you know, blueprints don't work, everyone has to do it in their own way. You have to do it the way you want to do it. And for the people who need it, um, and really sort of shifting marketing, I feel like that's something that has been floating around for a minute, but you've like tapped into that in a way that is really fantastic.

[00:14:33] And I love that your story is one of. Of tapping into it for yourself even so that you can bring it to others. And I feel like this probably leads us into. This book that we've already alluded to. So tell me a little bit about, about the book, about your book deal and how that all came about, because this story is how I met you.

[00:15:02] Nikki Nash: Yes. So my book is called Market Your Genius, and it is pure manifestation in terms of how the book deal came to be. The book, I feel like it was written. Um, and I'll talk to you a bit about both, but in terms of, you know, starting with how it came to be, because people are always like, how do you get a book deal?

[00:15:21] And I am being published by hay house, which is like the spiritual book publishing company of the century. It's like, everybody's like, Ooh, spirituality, Hay House. How'd that happen? Right. And I'm like manifestation my friends. So, um, It all started when I was watching this video by Brendan Bouchard, who also happens to be a Hay House author.

[00:15:43] And he talks, in this video, it was a lot about, performance and getting things done essentially. And he said that he should be able to look at your calendar and tell what your goals are like if he was basically like, if I look at your calendar and I can't tell what you're moving towards, what your goals are, is not going to happen.

[00:16:04] And I've had writing a book on essentially my bucket list. Since I was a kid, I used to write poetry and submit them into like poetry contest. I was an English major. I freaking love writing and the little voice in my head. Would always say things like. All right. We'll write a book. You know, before you graduate college.

[00:16:25] Oh, you'll write a book when you're 25. Uh, well, you know, you need more experience or something to write about. So write a book, you know, before you're 30. Okay. Well, write a book before you're 35 and I'm like now 37 going like, oh, okay. Well that was a lot of hats. Decades of saying like this book, at least I can say the book will come out and that was written, but it was every, you know, couple years here's I pushed back the deadline.

[00:16:51] And when I looked at my calendar, I'm like, there is nothing, literally nothing, zero things on the calendar related to a book. Like there was no come up with idea. There was no right. Something, there was nothing on my calendar and I kind of pendulum swung and I said, okay, you want to be able to look at my calendar and know that Nikki Nash is working on a book.

[00:17:13] You will see stuff about books on my calendar. So I stopped how to get a Hay House book deal on the internet. Like if you Google it and I have a lot comes up, but I somehow found this article and I can't find it again. That's why I'm like the universe did something. Cause I don't know who wrote it. I don't know where it was.

[00:17:29] I can't find it again. I don't know what I typed into Google. Maybe the person took it down. I have no idea, but it was this woman who said how I got a hay house book deal and she wrote a blog post about it. And she mentioned how she went to at the time Hay House was doing these in-person writers' workshop events.

[00:17:48] And if you went to the event, you would learn about writing a book and about the book publishing industry and all of that. And as like a kind of bonus or perk to paying and attending this event, they would allow you to submit your manuscript to be reviewed by the editorial team. And they would choose one person to get a book.

[00:18:10] And I was like, and that's how this person got a book deal by hay house. I was like, okay, that's going to be me. And I looked online. Booked the next available writers workshop that I could attend, put it on my calendar. I started, there was another hay house event that had nothing to do with, getting a book deal, but it was about how do you build your platform and speak and all that.

[00:18:34] So I booked that event too, and I. Went to the writers. I raised my hand. I walked to the podium. I asked the question. I have no idea what my question was, but apparently I mentioned the name of my book Market Your Genius, because I had the title by then in my head. I just didn't know what the book would be.

[00:18:55] But I was like, I'm writing this book called market your genius. And I shared a little bit about myself. Ask the question. People were laughing. I don't know what I said that was funny, but people are like, you were so great. And I'm like, I blacked out. I have to this day, no idea what I said at all. I'm like, okay.

[00:19:12] But whatever I said was caught the attention of people, the head of the editorial department as somebody who's now my friends, she was, her name's Kelly. She has a book, editorial company, but she asked Kelly to hand me her card, the head of the editorial department and told me to call her. And or email her and scheduled appointments that we could talk.

[00:19:34] And we did. And she encouraged me to write a book proposal. She asked me, if I had any questions, she was just really great and, and supportive. And next thing I knew I was, bumping up against this deadline where I had to submit the book proposal. Cause it's not like you can, anytime you want submit a book proposal, it's like, no, you have to do it by a certain date.

[00:19:56] 48 hours before that date, I had nothing written in my book [00:20:00] proposal, so I hold a two night all-nighter and I was a zombie. I have no idea how I'd pull this off, but I wrote a book proposal in 48 hours. I'm talking like I had a pile of business and like spiritual books around me so that I could look at how books were structured.

[00:20:20] Like I basically took apart my bookshelf and had them scattered around the room. I bought this like online course, um, Uh, what is it called? I know, I know it, but if you look up, um, book mama, her and Danielle LaPorte, co-created it. It's like your big, beautiful book proposal or something like that. Book plant that way.

[00:20:41] Emily Thompson: I'm pointing my finger. I, I know that one too. I know that. 

[00:20:45] Nikki Nash: Yeah, I got that. I was like listening to the audio while flipping through book proposals while writing sections that I would literally go learn about how to write this section. Write that section. Kelly has this book. Um, I'm friends with her now.

[00:21:00] Look, you were born to write. I had her book open because it has outlines and stuff. I was literally researching how to write a section of the book proposal, creating that section did the whole thing in 48 hours. My poor family, my little sister. I'm like giving her my book proposal going, can you read this for grammatical errors?

[00:21:17] Like right now? Cause it's due like tomorrow, so right right now I've read this. Like I'm going to like 40 or 50 pages. The stuff that I just put together, I didn't sleep. It was crazy. And then I hit the submit button and I said, all right, I did my part universe and I've been manifesting this since the second I found out it was a thing.

[00:21:37] So I just told myself, I'm like, you got this, you just had to submit it. You just had to submit it. And you're getting this book deal. And it was about, I submitted in March and in June, uh, like a week before my birthday. Um, I had a call, um, come to my phone and it was Rick Tracy. Who's the CEO of Hay House.

[00:22:00] And he called me because side note, I also won a contest at that point. And then I went to, to be mentored by Reed Tracy for six months, like in a small mask. And, uh, literally ha he called me and he's like, I just found out we're picking up your book. And I literally, it was like, Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be part of the family.

[00:22:21] Like I tried to seem so calm and I was running around outside putting myself on you every time he was talking, screaming at the top of my lungs, I was like, I'm so grateful to be a part of this family. You scream at the top of my lungs. People probably thought I was crazy. Like, what is this person doing?

[00:22:38] I was so freaking excited. I love this. 

[00:22:43] Emily Thompson: So I think some tips for everyone put things on your calendar. Number one, that is such a huge one. And I also love how, what you are describing here is like showing up for the flow, right? Like there is this flow that happens whenever you start tapping into something, you are supposed to be a part of.

[00:23:11] Right. When there is something that you are supposed to do, things just start clicking into place. And either you can show up for them or you can like literally stand in your own way, but you showed up for it and like rode the flow all 

[00:23:27] Nikki Nash: the way through. Yeah. All literally all the way through. And I was just like, you know, if I've already given other tip out of that story for folks.

[00:23:38] I think about this all the time. When I have to write like a newsletter or piece of content or something, it's like, when you commit to it, I don't care if you do it like two seconds before it's due, don't push it off because like, people are expecting to hear from you. And if you don't show up, then you can't expect to

[00:24:00] have the things that you're working so hard for. And so I could have easily said, well, this is due in 48 hours, so there's no way I'm going to be able to do it. No, I said, this is doing 48 hours. I'm doing it. I don't care what it takes. I'm going to sit here on the floor, riff a billion books. Yeah. It's like buying online courses last minute and like writing it section by section.

[00:24:23] And I didn't just like half, but it was a really good book proposal. Like I look back and I'm like, man, I pulled some stuff out. Um, but keep in mind I was an English major and I did have to, I think that was like every night for me in college, I was doing this. So it was maybe like a decade later, but I still somewhere deep inside me had those.

[00:24:43] Like riding a bike. I was like, get back on papers, do 48 hours, Nikki, get it together. 

[00:24:53] Emily Thompson: Your skills are how it is that you perform. I love that. I love this because, [00:25:00] because you, you just continued to show up for it. And like, and again, even with that 48 hour deadline, you did not stand in your own way and think, you know, there's no way I can.

[00:25:11] You never did that. You showed up and you did it, and maybe you didn't put that 48 hours on your calendar, but, but didn't you, right? Maybe it wasn't like actually technically on your calendar, but you sat down for those two days and you did it and ended up with this amazing book deal with a dream publisher for you.

[00:25:34] If I recall correctly. And. Is it now out? 

[00:25:39] Nikki Nash: It comes out August 24th. So it is almost away. Days away you were so close August 24, 2021. 

[00:25:48] Emily Thompson: Perfect. And so Market Your Genius. This is the book that, that had been swimming around on you for multiple half decades, like right. This idea that, and in the book, you, you claim that everyone has.

[00:26:07] Some genius. So I would love to hear from you what it is that you, what do you mean by that? And why is it important for you to, I guess, both recognize it and use your genius? 

[00:26:19] Nikki Nash: Yeah. You know, growing up, I have always been intrigued by this inquiry of like, why we are the way we are down to the point where I'm like, Ooh, astrology, Ooh, human design, psychology.

[00:26:30] Like, what is it that makes us us and don't have the answer. But in my inquiry, one of the things that. Discovered is how uniquely different everyone is. And I'm talking like you could grow up in the same house I'm talking about. You could, you know, have the same parents, you can have so many things similar and there's still going to be something unique to you.

[00:26:53] Like maybe it's tangible and you're just really good at something maybe it's intangible and you just have a sense of things or you can do stuff, but everybody's different. And I spent so much time. And corporate, and you get these like 360 reviews where it's like, let's review your performance and what you're like and how you're doing.

[00:27:12] And I, I not knocking them because I do them. But, but it's, it's one of those things where so often. I would focus on the negative, right? Like I could have a glowing review and then it would have area of improvement and then I'd beat myself up over having something to improve. Right. And then I started realizing like, what if I improved on things or were on areas by leaning into what I was naturally good.

[00:27:39] Right. Like if internally, one of the things that, my boss mentioned to me was I needed to be more visible internally because that's how you get promoted is by people like you, he's like, you need everybody to know who you are. You need to be the go-to person, which is interesting because it's really the same in business, but you need to be the go-to person on this topic so that when you're up for promotion and when like all these things come up, it's a natural.

[00:28:03] Oh yeah. I know who Nikki is. Nikki is great. And so, we created this internal, I started doing these lunch and learns internally called getting social with Nikki. And I would just teach social media to people internally that whose that touched social media and their jobs so that they understood, you know, what were the new hot platforms?

[00:28:26] How are they being used? Because not everybody had time to research and figure all this out, but I'm really good at making the complicated. On complicated and teaching it. So I'm like, I'm going to do these lunch and learns. And so I leaned into my talent for that, as opposed to looking at, oh, I'm not visible.

[00:28:42] And I need to figure out how to do this and looking at how everybody else was doing it, because there's a guy who did it a different way. I was like, what if I just did something that I'm really great at and made it fun and leaned into that. And so I really feel like everybody has. Things that they're good at.

[00:28:58] And it could be a Nate to you. You could have been like this since you were a kid, it could be something you've just developed over time. It could be a combination of the two, but there's something that makes you unique and that you're talented at. And you may not take it for granted because it's just so freaking easy for you.

[00:29:15] Right. But when you figure out what that is and you market it and you promote it and you use it. Do things that you maybe aren't as great at, or don't like, then everything becomes better. You know, like you, your life becomes easier. You're not fighting against, what's not working. You're kind of going downstream with like, I'm going with what's working and bringing it from a marketing perspective when people are like, oh, how do I differentiate myself?

[00:29:43] Or, oh my goodness, what are my competitors doing? Are different, just innately you're different. So why not look at what makes you different and market the heck out of that and promote the heck out of that, because then you'll attract the people that are down with what makes you different and unique and you may not be right for everyone and that's cool, but you're going to be on the same frequency and wavelength and all that jazz of the people who are down.

[00:30:08] Who you are and how you show up. And so you'll be able to better reach them if you consistently market that, which is unique to you and that which makes you special. 

[00:30:19] Emily Thompson: Yes. And it's, as you're describing this, I'm almost imagining this it's like, we all have a unique lens through which we see the world and do what we do.

[00:30:29] Right. And I think oftentimes, especially in the realms of business that most of us are in aware. We're probably most of the people who are listening to this are very heavily online, where it's so easy to see all of your competitors and not the competitor. On your block, right? Like the ones you actually have to worry about, you're seeing competitors on the other side of the planet, even you are inundated with everyone who's doing more or less what you're doing, but, and I think because of that, we lose the distinction of our own lens.

[00:31:04] Right. We lose this, like the ability to see what, how it is that we're seeing, because that, that lens metaphor. And I think we can get fuzzy. I mean, we can try to see the world or what we do through other people's lenses. Right. But the more we can like clarify our own, we can recognize the lens through which we see and do what we do, the lens being our genius, the easier it is for us to differentiate and just feel so great about what it is that we're doing.

[00:31:35] Because I think that piece is like the genius of your genius perhaps, right? Whenever you feel so confident and amazing about your genius, you shine that you like are great at what you do. You have this like innate, like enthusiasm about what you're doing that is infectious and makes people want to do what it is or want you to do what it is that you do for them.

[00:32:03] So I love that idea of, you know, we all have. These like innate, differences. And the more we can focus on those as opposed to making them up, because how many times have you seen marketing things that are like, you know, make yourself different, right? Like identify something outside of yourself that makes you different from your competitors, as opposed to just like innately what is different about you and how it is that you do it 

[00:32:31] Nikki Nash: A hundred percent. And there are people who do what I do. It's not. I'm the only marketer on the planet. And it's not like the things that I'm teaching in this book are all revolutionary, fundamentally. You know what I mean? But I teach them in a way that is unique to me. And the stories I tell are unique to me, or at least probably other people may not think to use them.

[00:32:56] For anybody who is a nineties kid, legit have a story about an episode of Daria. And I use it to make a point like, it's just me. It has a lot of pop culture. It has music will references. It's just funny stories from my childhood and people might go, what does that have to do with business? It's like, everything has a core point that people read it and go, whoa, that makes so much sense.

[00:33:17] Or if that was hilarious and now I get it and I won't forget it because of the way he taught it. And that's unique to me. And I remember reading the audio book. And I was reading it in it. Must've been early June and I'm literally reading the book for the first time in order, because I wrote it more or less in order.

[00:33:38] And then I knew chapters around and then you go through so much to editing where my editors like, add a story here. And then I just started looking at it. Chapter by chapter, but I would read it backwards because I felt like the beginning of the book has so much love because I kept reading it at the beginning.

[00:33:51] And then I was exhausted by the time I sort of got to the end and I stopped. So I started reading it backwards. So when I was reading the audio book, I'm reading it out loud for the first time in order finally edited, like with all, any edits or changes done and I'm reading. Yeah, this is a good book.

[00:34:11] Like I'm really good at teaching this and sometimes you forget what your genius is and what you're good at. And I'm sure there's going to be somebody who hates the book and that's fine, but like the people who get me. On the same, like vibration or wavelength and all that. They're going to be as jazzed about this book as I am.

[00:34:28] And that's who I want to connect with. I want to use what I'm good at my way of telling stories, my way of writing my way of creating content. I want to use that to connect with people and attract people because I show up the same way in that book as I do on my podcast, as I do on, you know, Coaching call with a group of people or in a membership.

[00:34:49] Like I show up the same way. And so I really encourage people to, instead of, to your point, finding something outside of themselves that makes them unique go inward because you can't change that. The way you speak the way you tell stories, the way you think all of that makes you different. Especially if you're a creative selling services, you may have another person that's a designer or, you know, a videographer or, you know, I don't know why I can't think of any job ever a coach.

[00:35:20] Well, like, you know what I mean? Why am I blinking? Do a great job. Thank you. Nobody messes up. Like I do either. Like I do it in my own unique way. But like, there may be somebody else who's there, but your process may be different the way you, um, see things and put them together could be different. Your aesthetic could be different the way you treat your clients and customers could be different.

[00:35:46] And so come up with the way that you believe is the, the way to do things. And yeah, I mean, I'm not going to say I've never looked at the way somebody who's a competitor ever did things, but I look at it and go. Yeah, I would totally, I just do it differently. And then I go, okay, now I'm going to do it my way, but at least I kind of know what else is out there.

[00:36:08] But honestly, for the most part, I try to keep blinders on and I'm like, I try really hard not to look at what everybody else is doing. At least during certain moments when I'm building, because otherwise you could end up looking like everybody else, because if you see everybody else is doing something a certain way, you can almost trick yourself into believing that's the way it should be done.

[00:36:28] And so then you start doing it and then you were killing your uniqueness. You're killing the thing that you probably would have done differently because. You're going well, you know, I remember my first photo shoot. I felt like, and I'm not being facetious, but I felt like everybody and their mother was like at a cafe in Paris or like in front of the Eiffel tower.

[00:36:47] And I was like, you know where I am, I'm in Boston and my friend's studio throwing confetti. That's what I'm doing. And the people are like, I love your photos. I'm like, yeah, they're great. But you know, what probably makes them even greater is that they stand out from the crew of coaches. Where everything is in Europe at the same spot.

[00:37:07] Emily Thompson: Yeah. They're different. They're different.

[00:37:13] Okay boss, trust me when I say I know the struggle of growing your business and expanding your network and trying to remember everyone's name, email address connections, and what it is you talked about with them last. If only there was a tool to let you keep track of all of that. Oh, wait, there is meat HubSpot, a CRM platform that helps you keep track of the people who are a part of how you do business from vendors and contacts to clients and customers.

[00:37:43] What is CRM? It stands for customer relationship management, and it helps you stay connected to your people and in HubSpot, they are the best at what they do. With special features like a contact at timeline, which gives you the historical context. You need to get work done and connect appropriately with customers.

[00:38:02] It puts all your customer data in one place. So it's easy to make a call, put a contact into a sequence or a schedule a meeting. And if you're on the go, you can do all of this from the HubSpot mobile app. So you can manage your customer experience, grow your network, and collaborate with your team from anywhere.

[00:38:21] Learn more about how you can scale your company without scaling complexity at hubspot.com. Whether you're hiring your first or 50th employee, there's no reason to be doing it like a dinosaur. Streamline your systems and make hiring something that feels like moving forward. Not a total slug. Gusto makes payroll easy and it offers flexible benefits, simple onboarding and so much.

[00:38:47] It's fast and effective giving you the chance to get back to being the boss you're here to be. Sign up and get three months free. Once you run your first payroll, when you go to gusto.com/beingboss that's gusto.com/beingboss.

[00:39:05] Oh, I love all of that. So a couple, a couple little, I made notes literally that time while you were talking cause so many good nuggets. I love this idea at looking at competitors or just literally anything. And instead of being like, oh, I'm going to do this and this. I like how they did that. It's the question is how would I do this differently?

[00:39:25] Yeah, that having just that like little mindset shift that adjustment in how it is that you were observing other people in the business world is so important for really giving you the, the ammo. You need to create something that is distinctly you. And for the book in general, whether it's Angelina Jolie references or Daria or all the fabulous things, I do think that

[00:39:50] I was leading this a minute ago, whenever you were talking, or whenever we were talking about how it is that this book is about leaving behind the blueprints and focusing on like each little unique thing about you, like finding your genius. This is the marketing book that like marketing essentials book, I think for like our generation.

[00:40:13] So nineties kids unite.

[00:40:19] This has the references and context for you to get how marketing is done now. And I think in the mid immediate future, God knows how quickly things are going to change, you know, within the next 10 years. But for now I think this is wonderful. And I want to go back to this point too, about putting on your blinders, because we have talked about looking at competitors, right?

[00:40:43] And this is something that I have done for a long time as well. That I absolutely credit to my ability to show up and do the things that I do and to create things that are new and kind of different, is putting on blinders. I think it's so easy for us these days, especially if you're an Instagram scroller to just inundate yourself with so much competition that it's hard for you to see the value in what makes you different.

[00:41:13] Right. And the more you can put on your blinders during your day to day scrolling, whatever it is that you're doing, the easier it's going to be for you to show up and create from your genius. I do think that there is important times in the marketing process that you do competitive analysis. That is an important part of the process.

[00:41:36] But it's something you do in specific moments through a specific lens. It's not something that you are consistently feeding yourself. Um, it's used to inform decisions at key points, not to inform just like your daily thoughts about your business and how it is that you want to move forward. Um, so that is, that is enough.

[00:41:56] Just sort of point I want to make, it's important to keep on your blinders regularly, but incorporate competitive analysis at key points in your process. 

[00:42:07] Nikki Nash: I completely agree. And I also just want to tell everybody that they should start the hashtag nineties kids unite and maybe we'll use it to promote this book because I was like, yes.

[00:42:22] I love everything about this.

[00:42:23] Emily Thompson: Yeah. And all night, nineties kids are trying to market themselves in one way or another. These days, you just shared a story about why it's so important to do it in organizations, but also all of us entrepreneurs, nineties kids unite. Love it. Okay. I do want to dive into an important part of your book.

[00:42:45] You have this sort of distinction between package, promote and deliver. And I want to know from you, like, how do you define these and why are they important for how you, present the idea of marketing your genius? 

[00:43:04] Nikki Nash: Yeah. Well, I think marketing your genius and kind of, as I mentioned earlier, coming from that place of leaning into your strengths and talents, at the end of the day, like that's huge and pretty much a big premise of the book, but in order to have a business that consistently generate revenue and clients and all that magic, you first need to package your genius in such a way that people will want to buy it.

[00:43:34] Right. So the first part of the book is actually just a package section is like four chapters. And it's like, how do you figure out what your genius is? How do you find out who the heck wants it? And how do you market it to them in such a way that they're like, oh, okay, like you get me. This is for me, I'm into it.

[00:43:54] Sweet. And once you package it and you kind of put it into products, services, whatever it is that you're doing, or infuse it into products and services that you already have existing, you have to then figure out, okay, now I have this offering. How the heck do I get it in the hands of the people that are going to resonate with it that are going to actually pick it up and buy it?

[00:44:13] And so packaging your genius is part one, and then promoting your genius is okay, how do I now get a consistent flow of clients and customers to buy that thing of which I just packaged. Right? And then when you deliver it, it's not just like, okay, great. They have it in their hands. It's like, no, that section of the book is all about how do you deliver it

[00:44:36] in such a way that people not only tell everybody and their mother about your magic and your genius and how great you are, but they become a client or a customer for life. Like how do you have the keep buying from you? Keep connecting with you, engaging with you, increasing that, you know, customer lifetime value, which is the lifetime of which the customer is with you.

[00:44:55] Like how much are they spending during their lifetime? How do you increase that over time? And so, full disclosure, there is math included in sections of the book, but I tried to make it fun. 

[00:45:11] Emily Thompson: Business is math, guys. I see this in Being Boss community all the time, especially you creative sewer listing. If you're here to do business, you have to learn to like at least a little bit math.

[00:45:23] Nikki Nash: Yes, math, math is fun. And we have calculators on our phones now. I have so many like easy spreadsheets where it's like, just plug in number here and bam, like it calculates stuff for you. So I do that with clients all the time. Cause I get it. Not everybody likes math. I was weird. I'm like a creative person that loves math. 

[00:45:47] Emily Thompson: Same hand up, same. 

[00:45:53] Right. So, okay. I want to touch base on all of these because I love that you included all three package promote and deliver and your marketing book, because quite often, especially newbie business owners think that promote is the only thing that marketing is. And if you are just promoting and these days, especially with social media is easy to believe that literally your job is just to promote right.

[00:46:24] That you are here just to market all the time in that like middle section of promoting. But you've included packaging before promote and deliver after promote, because both of those are an important part of the marketing process to package, as you mentioned, like, so that people will want to buy it, like packaging up what it is that you're doing.

[00:46:48] But I would say too it's so that they can. So that they even have something to buy from you. I think too often, especially creatives who have all of the ideas, really struggle with narrowing in on the thing that people can buy. It's easy for people to distinguish if they need you, because it's obvious what it is that you offer and how it is that you're going to be able to help them.

[00:47:11] And then on the deliver side of it, this is, I especially love that you include a whole section on this because this is a piece that I am super passionate about. Having a boss business is not about having a really great offering and you have a bomb ass social media. Like that's only a piece of the puzzle.

[00:47:33] The rest of the puzzle comes from you being amazing at delivering the thing and actually doing the work for the people who were paying you money and unfortunately this is the piece of the puzzle that I see missing far too often, but this is why everyone is here in the first place. And doing it well, gives you so much power it within the context of your marketing efforts.

[00:48:00] One of the things that we talk about often here is word of mouth marketing and how I think the holy grail. Of business, especially when it comes to marketing is one we're really the only marketing you have is your word of mouth marketing. Whenever I hear a boss come to me and they're like, I don't market.

[00:48:20] Everyone, it just comes to me from referrals. You are doing a bomb ass job, and I love that for you because that means you are so great at doing the work that you are here to do, that you don't have to worry about spending all of your time on social media or putting money into Facebook ads. Unless that is a growth strategy that you are going after.

[00:48:44] And so the fact that you've put all of these things together really shows me that this is a holistic view of what marketing is. Again, in a way that businesses are really starting to align themselves with these days, packaging promoting and delivering is all a part of having a truly, positioned a business for marketing, for whatever goals you're trying to achieve.

[00:49:14] Nikki Nash: Yeah, I completely, I completely agree with you. And I think, you know, this probably comes back to studying marketing when I got my MBA, but then also being in marketing from a career perspective and marketing really truly is like not all social media and ads. It's like such a small percentage and piece of marketing that people don't realize when you work at a big consumer product, good company.

[00:49:41] So like Coca-Cola, um, Proctor and gamble, which owns like pretty much every household appliance that you ever need, Kraft foods, like any of those places. So if you're on the marketing team and you're doing brand management, you're versioning the profit and loss statement, like you're literally in numbers.

[00:49:57] You're not like, Ooh, Are commercial going to be at your, like how much money did each business unit bring in? Where do we need to, you know, impact pricing? Do we need to run a sale? Do we need to do this? It's like it's math, it's numbers. And so for me, so often, like part of marketing is what is it that you're going to offer at what price point?

[00:50:20] What are the ways that you're going to get it distributed, whether it's an, you know, a retail store or somewhere else, how the heck are you going to them? Get it in the hands of the people. How do you make sure that they're happy and still talking about it? Like there's so much that goes into marketing and that's why, um, I'm so excited about it because I think so often folks are like, oh, I need.

[00:50:45] You know, somebody to help me with marketing and they're like, oh yeah, I can do it. And all they do is social media. I'm like, no, that's not like, you're not a marketing. You're you're a piece of marketing, but you're not all of marketing unless you're simultaneously helping people make sure that the thing that you're helping the promote on social media is something that people want in the first place.

[00:51:05] You know, I've worked places where we're like, let's create this new product and it's like, why are we creating a new product? The first product we have isn't even selling well, but like not enough people want it. How about we fix the first product? Right. And so, I think so often people have misconstrued

[00:51:22] what marketing really is, and marketing is essentially finding a need in the marketplace, like people who need and want something and are willing to pay for it. And then coming up with a price for it. Partnering with like the people that create the product. And if you are selling your services or art or something like that, then that's you, and then you figure out a way to get it into their hands and increase the visibility and reach of those things and keep it moving.

[00:51:51] And I think, that's why I love marketing so much is because it's not just, you know, it's not just me doing Lives and podcast episodes. Those are like my favorite. I love them. I thoroughly enjoy them, but if I don't have a product sold at a certain price available at certain places, then I'm missing a lot of key components of the marketing plan.

[00:52:13] Emily Thompson: Indeed. Thank you. Thank you for that addition, because they do think that gives that widens the view of what marketing is in such an important way. So. I appreciate you sharing that, that extra little nugget. Um, Nikki, this has been a pleasure. So much fun. I just, can we do this again? 

[00:52:33] Nikki Nash: Uh, yeah. I don't even think he'd understand.

[00:52:37] Like I would chat with you every day. I think last time we chat, not chatted, not for podcast purposes. We're like, has it been an hour or so? Like, what are we doing? Like, we need to go back to like work or reality or something or just chatting. So much fun. 

[00:52:51] Emily Thompson: Yes, I could, I could literally do this all day and we will do it again because I think, I think that you even, what you just touched on is so important [00:53:00] because the world of marketing is so broad and where we have found ourselves these days is really very narrow.

[00:53:05] We're so many. So many business owners think that what they're, you know, following us on Facebook or how many likes they're getting on Instagram is, you know, the extent of what marketing is. And I it's so important for everyone to widen that view and understand that marketing is a holistic business effort.

[00:53:28] And I think you have presented it in such a beautiful way that makes it digestible and usable. And we'll we back to talk about it more. I'm sure. 

[00:53:38] Nikki Nash: I love it. I can't wait. 

[00:53:41] Emily Thompson: Perfect. Where can bosses find more about you and what it is that you do? 

[00:53:47] Nikki Nash: Well, if you had to marketyourgeniusbook.com, it'll literally take you to a place on my website at which not only talks about the book, but you're at like my whole

[00:53:58] kit and caboodle as I feel like somebody in my family used to say like the whole shebang everywhere, so that you can access me literally anyway, that brings you desire. But yeah, marketyourgeniusbook.com is probably the easiest place for people to head to, or, and, or listen to the Market Your Genius podcast, and go find the episode where I interviewed you because it was during my birthday week, last year, where I literally was like, Hey, it's my birthday week.

[00:54:26] I'm going to interview really cool people and I got to interview you. So look out for that episode. 

[00:54:31] Emily Thompson: Oh, I love it of it. And we will be sure to include links to all of these things in our show notes. And Nikki, I've one last question for you. What's making you feel most boss. 

[00:54:45] Nikki Nash: Right now in this moment, I just, I didn't sign the lease yet, but I'm about to literally signed the lease on an office space for myself.

[00:54:55] And I could do not like, I feel so freaking boss about this because I can't work in my home anymore. It's like driving me legit bananas, and I've been a work from home person, but it's just, there are now too many people in the house. And think that, you know, I can just talk at any given moment and like, no, like I'm going to the bathroom.

[00:55:12] Like not, not trying to invite you to talk to me. No offense. 

[00:55:19] Emily Thompson: I totally understand that one for sure. In the Being Boss Clubhouse this past month or last month, I guess now, I did a whole episode on real estate. And why on the Making a Business podcast where I talk about literally this thing, I think, you know, we've all seen this like move away from office spaces, just like there's going to be a whole other unexpected wave coming because there's something to be said about expanding

[00:55:47] your business's footprint in the physical world, not to mention all the mindset and like Headspace situations around it. That is super boss. Congratulations. 

[00:55:58] Nikki Nash: Thank you. It's like it's [00:56:00] so me, I already have an entire Pinterest board of how I'm decorating it and like furniture and I like CVIP days that are like, it's just so it's so awesome.

[00:56:08] I'm so excited. 

[00:56:10] Emily Thompson: Perfect. Congratulations. And thanks for coming to chat. 

[00:56:14] Nikki Nash: Yeah. Thanks for having me. 

[00:56:16] Emily Thompson: Anytime. 

[00:56:18] Do you ever feel like you need more support in your business. Maybe you need someone to share your wins with who actually gets how cool it is to do what you do. Or maybe you want to share your struggles with someone who understands what it's like with extra points when they have a great resource or tip to help you out of the weeds.

[00:56:36] Or what about the energy that simply comes from being surrounded by folks who just want you to succeed? Being a part of a community of business owners like you will help you in your business, unlike anything else, you can be a part of on your entrepreneurial journey. And the being boss community is here to help you feel supported as a small business owner from weekly virtual meetups to connect and share your wins and struggles to a 24/7 community platform.

[00:57:02] To ask your questions or lend a helping hand and lots more. The being boss community is a place to connect, share, and find the help you need to be the boss of your business. Learn more and join in at beingboss.club/community. And until next time do the work be boss .