027: Doing less – but better w/ Tracy Stanger
Doing less – but better.
With guest Tracy Stanger
How would you feel if someone said it’s ok, good even, to pick just one marketing platform for your brand?
Relief? Hesitation? Disbelief? All the above?
In this episode, I am joined by Tracy Stanger – an anti-hustle business coach for women building world-changing businesses while parenting. She believes you don’t have to “do it all” and that you will actually get better results (and less stress) when you do less, but do it better. Tracy teaches her clients how to trim their to-do list to just the most impactful tasks for them – and make it easier to get those tasks done.
We talk about ditching the marketing platforms that don’t give you joy or results – and instead doubling down on your best one, to maximise the results of your efforts without driving yourself to burnout trying to be in all. the. places.
If the thought of going cold turkey scares the shit out of you, don’t worry: Tracy has some actionable tips to help you make the transition if you choose to give it a go!
I just really want to stress the fact that it’s better if you build your business in a way that means you have time for life.
— Tracy Stanger
Episode links
Sort, Purge, + Organise — An ADHD-friendly course that helps you build your business foundations your way so you can hit your revenue and impact goals without running over your life.
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Disclaimer: The following transcript has been auto-generated and then cleaned up by my wonderful VA – and while the general flow of the conversation is there, it’s probably not 100% accurate.
P: Hiya, Tracy, and welcome to the show!
T: Hi. Thank you.
P: I’m so excited that you’re here, and I really can’t wait to dive into the topic that we are going to be discussing today. It seems to me like anywhere we turn as entrepreneurs, we’re told that we have to be on each and every platform out there. We need to be visible, visible, visible… everywhere, right? And honestly, even just thinking about that is exhausting to me. Which is why it’s so refreshing when you say it’s okay, and maybe even better than okay, to choose just one marketing method and to go all in with that.
T: Yes, definitely. It’s definitely better.
P: It’s like permission to chill! Before we get into the really juicy details of the episode, could you just tell our listeners briefly what they can expect to learn from the episode today?
T: Yeah. So I want to share with you that it’s okay to choose just one marketing method. How that actually is better than trying to be in all the places all at once – and we’re going to talk about why it works and also how to do it. How to actually choose the one place that you’re going to devote your attention to.
P: I love that you’re actually bringing up how to do it. Because that way it becomes really actionable and easy for people to see how they can incorporate this approach in their own businesses. So you call yourself an anti hustle coach?
T: Yeah.
P: I love that.
T: Thank you. I mean, it just seems so much of entrepreneurship, especially online business and entrepreneurship, is about side hustles and go, go, go! And doing all the things, just like you said. Like you have to be all the places, you have to offer all the services and you’ll start feeling like you have to work 24/7. And I actually did that in a previous business, and it burnt me out, and I had to go get a 9 to 5 where I was miserable.
P: I think I think a lot of us have been there.
T: Yeah, and I just know for a fact that you don’t have to hustle to build a successful business, and so I want to help all the people that sounds good too. And my niche really is mothers, working at home mothers, because you do not have time to hustle, and it’s just not possible. But you still want to build this amazing impactful business. So here’s how to do it without grinding yourself to the ground.
P: You say you’re all about doing less, but better – so tell us, what does that mean?
T: So instead of trying to do it all, you just focus on the few tasks that are really making the biggest impact or feeling the best for you. The things that you like, that you are the best at the things that actually really, really need doing because a lot of our to do lists are just full of all the stuff that we think we have to do… we’ve been told we should or we’re just used to doing it because we always have. But a lot of that stuff does not need doing. So doing less, but better – you find the stuff that actually does need doing and then figure out a way to do that stuff better, faster, easier, simpler. So it will be like, “Okay, I know this needs doing, but does it need doing by me, or can I delegate it? If it does need doing by me, can I just set up an automation to do it for me?” Like my Rosie, the Roomba that cleans my floors for me. It does need doing, but not by me. Or maybe, you know, just streamlining the process to just the type of tasks that get that thing done. Like, it’s all about getting the results, not about the all the things you have to do to get the results.
P: I know a lot of business owners, and I’m guilty of it myself, especially when starting out you feel as if you have to be busy all the time. You feel as if you have to feel the stress. Otherwise, you’re not, you know, running a real business. I think this is something that we really need to get away from, because I mean, it’s kind of a highway to burnout.
T: It absolutely is. And if you’re not going to have any fun – and really your business isn’t going to grow more or better either. But yeah, I was just trying to be busy all the time. I briefly mentioned that that’s what I did in a previous business. I was working 24/7 or at least felt like I had to be working 24/7. So if I did take an afternoon off to read a book, I would not be able to even concentrate or enjoy it, because I was in the back of my mind thinking about all the stuff that I could be doing or should be doing. “If I’m not doing that, then no one’s ever gonna find me.” And a lot of that stuff was marketing stuff, which is exactly how I got to this idea, because I was trying to be all the places in this business and I was just constantly turning out more and more and more content. And if I wasn’t doing it, I was a loser and my business was never going to take off. And then I quit.
P: And that wasn’t why you started a business in the first place, was it? To feel like you were chained to it? A huge core value in my business is freedom, and that’s freedom for me as well. To be able to take that day off when I need a mental health day. To be able to read a book that is not about business development, but like to actually sit down and read a novel because I wanted to read it. It took me a while, you know, before I was able to say that “You know what? That’s okay. It’s okay. I am the boss. I can decide what I do and how my day looks” – and that’s a huge mindset shift, I think. When you’re going from being employed to being self employed, at least it was a huge hurdle for me because I still felt like I ought to be by my desk between like nine and five or eight and four. Otherwise, you know, it wasn’t a proper job. I felt guilty. That’s no way to run a business.
T: Yeah, and and just to that point too: it’s not that it’s just okay. I just really want to stress the fact that it’s better if you build your business in a way that you have time for life – that you build in downtime and rest before you need it, but definitely when you need it. Um, you are giving your brain the space that it needs to come up with your best ideas to create more, be more creative to work more effectively when you do work, which means you’re working faster. If you’re working all day every day, then you’re going to sit down for work for an hour, and your brain is so fried you’re gonna get, like, not much done. But if you just had a lovely morning and a nice breakfast and a bath and then you sit down for work, you’re gonna get so much done and it’s gonna be so much better. So really, I mean, it’s for the benefit of your business. It’s not just like I’m gonna do this because I want to.
P: Yeah, I recognise that. I’ve got this thing… well, like I usually take four weeks off, like completely off. during summer. And I need roughly a week to kind of slow down and ease out of work mode. And then I find after that week – that is when the creative juices start to flow for my own business, and then I get this itch to start working on it. And so it’s almost like my brain has had the break that it needed to open up space for more creativity. So I definitely see what you’re talking about there. We’re going to talk a little bit about this concept of doing less, but better in the context of marketing today, which I just want to point out to my listeners that it ties in nicely with a few of the episodes that I’ve done before. Because I’ve had a few other experts on social media coming in to talk about their preferred platforms. And it’s not to say that you should be on all of these platforms, but rather actually more for you to be able to determine which of the platforms are going to be for you. Because if you want to be on every platform you’re gonna end up burnt out, you’re gonna hate it after a while.
T: And you can’t. You can’t excel at all those things. So when we talk today about picking one; then you can go and listen to the episode about that one that you picked and learn, like, really invest in that one and get best at that one. And then you’re not wasting time learning everything about all the other ones – because you just don’t have time for that. You’re here to work, not be on all the content Creation.
P: Yeah, I think part of it is the fear of missing out and the fact that there’s so much noise out there. You know, you hear everyone saying, “Oh, you need to be on this platform and you need to be on this platform…” and then you get all frazzled and you’re like, “which one should I pick?” And for me, if I’m to bring out a bit of a personal anecdote, I would say maybe go for the one that you enjoy and the one that gives you results. I know that we spoke in the pre interview session that we had about my attempt at starting a YouTube channel, right? You’re laughing now. She’s laughing because she knows that I actually only ended up recording two episodes. I hated every single minute of it. And I realised that ”You know what? There is no way in hell that I’m going to be able to keep this up because I hate it that much. I need to figure out something else. I need to do something I actually enjoy doing.”
T: You’re totally right. Well, that’s the episode. Let’s go.
P: Haha! So what are your top tips?
T: So I like to explain why this works with the 80/20 rule, and that is something that I use in all aspects of business, and I always teach my clients. But the 80/20 rule is that 80% of your results are coming from only 20% of your effort, which also means 80% of your effort is only getting you 20% of your results.
P: That’s food for thought.
T: And when we think about this in terms of platforms, that means if you are on five different platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, maybe a blog and a podcast, you’re probably only getting 80% of your leads from one of them. Maybe Instagram, maybe the podcast… and that one is the easiest one. You’re probably working a little bit on your Instagram, getting most of your leads from there and then toiling hours and hours on these other ones to get another little chunk of your leads. So I say, get rid of those other four, stick to the one that takes 20% of your time and gets you most of the leads already. And you’re getting just about the same results with so much extra time – and that extra time you can use on other things in your business, you can double down on your one thing and just get exponentially more results from it. But you just don’t need those other four. And I like to say, I’ve heard other people say it’s okay to pick just one. But they might say, like pick one social media and one long form content. So, like Instagram for social and a blog for long form content. But I want to simplify that even more, especially for my clients who are moms and barely have, like an hour or two to work every day. You don’t have time to learn how to be perfect at both of those things or to create the content, even if it’s just repurposing, it’s still a lot of work. So I want you to just pick one social media platform, because you can still provide the massive value that you would be with your long form content, like a blog, and you can network at the same time. So that just simplifies things even more.
P: You’re not gonna make me choose between Instagram and my podcast, are you?
T: I’m not going to make you choose, but because I do love your podcast. And I love seeing you on Instagram, I don’t know… Maybe after this episode there will be some thinking.
P: I think for me the key is that I immensely enjoy both of those things, so I don’t actually want to let any of them go. Whereas YouTube it was easy to just ditch it.
T: Yeah, and I want to, um, kind of speak to that, too. Like when it’s easy or you’re already doing it… because while I say just pick one thing, I have like a 1B that I want you to keep, which is your email. And that’s because email is the one thing that you actually own. If you are just on Instagram or just on Facebook, you don’t own that. You don’t own your audience. So I do want you to have your email. But even then, if you are not at a place where you enjoy writing the emails and you’re not going to keep your list warm if you hate the tech and you can’t even figure out… I didn’t have email for my business for the first almost year, I think because I was trying to use Mailchimp and I hated it, I couldn’t figure it out. I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted it to do. I spent a little time looking for something else to use, and I didn’t like those options either. So I just said “Now is not the time. I’m going to focus on building my audience on Instagram.” And then when you do that, when you spend the time you do have on your one thing, you’ll get all the results you need. You’ll get all the leads, all the clients, all the sales and be able to use that momentum and that money to pay someone else to handle your email list for you or to take podcast editing and all this stuff around it off your plate. So if you are keeping like a 1B that’s totally fine. Do whatever you enjoy in your business and whatever gets you great results. But focus on the thing that is the easiest, and then use that to kind of fund the other things that you are enjoying and getting good results from.
P: That’s a really good approach, and I know that you’ve spoken about using your own zone of genius as a way of figuring out which platform or which marketing channel to choose.
T: Yeah, so that’s part of how this works. We’re using the 80/20 rule that shows you which thing is getting you the most results. We’re focusing on your zone of genius, which is the thing that you are just naturally great at, like for you conversations. That’s why the podcast was a no brainer and YouTube was a big *farting noise*!
P: Yep, definitely a big *farting noise*! This is gonna go down in history as the podcast episode with all of the farting noises.
T: Have we done it already?!
P: No, I did it earlier *laughing*
T: But yeah, you’re using your zone of genius because when it’s your thing, it just makes a bigger impact with less effort from you, just naturally. So we’re gonna look at, like, what is your zone of genius? It could be video or writing or designing like more visual stuff, like designing your Instagram feed. But when you’re doing what you’re really great at, your content is just going to be so much better that a bigger audience will be drawn to it faster. And that kind of goes hand in hand with what Maggie Frank-Hsu calls your big idea. So she has a book called Be About Something that helps you figure out what your big idea is, the thing that you’re meant to share with the world. Or the same as knowing your brand, which thank you Petchy for helping us do that. But when you are really nailing your big idea and your brand, you’re just amplifying what you’re putting out there so much more that your people are going to be drawn to it. And people are going to know what you do and speak on your behalf, and people are going to see you and go, “Oh, that’s for me!” just so much faster. So you don’t have to be all over the place like grasping for people because you’re so focused that they just come to you.
P: Absolutely. I can tell all the listeners that, you know, when I used to be a design generalist, I used to do all of the things. It was so much harder to get content out there and to be specific. So definitely just finding that focus, finding your one thing, is absolutely going to help you not just build a stronger brand. But it’s going to make it easier for you to create that content that you’re going to put out there as well because you’re clear on your message. And if you’re trying to say all of the things to all of the people, nobody’s going to listen because you’re not going to be talking about what matters, and people are going to hear it in your voice and they’re gonna see it in the content that you put out there, that this isn’t something that your heart is 100% into. People can sense that stuff.
T: And that just reminded me to… my friend Shayla is also in branding, and we’re talking about the use of templates the other day, which if you’re trying to be in all the places and you don’t know how to do all those places, really well, then you’ll be like, “OK, give me your best Instagram captions. Give me your best YouTube script” and you’re just using these generic things just to get stuff out there. But that stuff that you’re making is so generic that no one’s gonna hear it. You’re not really spreading your message…
P: …because it’s the same that everyone else out there is putting out there. And I think that’s really important to bear in mind to dare to step into that thought leadership when you’re out there promoting your brand. Because that is absolutely 100% what’s going to make you stand out; if you actually have opinions on something that are your own and you can proudly stand behind them and say “These are the things I believe in. This is how I work. And I know that this works because…” just be brave and be bold – and just get your stuff out there!
T: That’s just such a good lesson. Because what I’m finding more and more about business is; it’s just about you and being yourself and being brave to trust yourself in what your opinions are, and how you want to do business, and what your favourite marketing platform is. And all of this stuff is just about trusting yourself and putting it out there.
P: Yeah. And then, like you said: you don’t have to be all over the place because you’ve found your place and you found your voice. So what do you do if you’re already on all of the platforms? Do you just throw them away?
T: Yeah. *laughs*
P: How do you do that, though? Like, how do you pick which ones to slash?
T: So, I am a master purger. I like to think about all of this, you know, trimming your to do list… any of this stuff… as the same kind of like home org stuff. So if you were cleaning out your closet and you’re like, “maybe I don’t need that shirt…” but you’re not so sure you could actually get rid of it, we have this thing called the outbox method. So if you’re literally in home org, it would be a box in your garage or in a closet somewhere that you put that stuff that you think you could get rid of into, and let it just sit there for a week. So you haven’t committed to saying no to it. But you’re like, “I think I can, and let me just see how it feels.” And over that week or that month, you can see “Oh wow, I haven’t even barely thought of that shirt. I definitely didn’t need it. Now I feel comfortable sending it out.” And so we can do the same thing when you’re purging your to do list or when you’re choosing which platform to get rid of. If after this conversation you’re like “Okay, I’m pretty sure Instagram is my thing and I’ve got these four other ones that I’m gonna maybe not do anymore.” Just put them in the out box. You don’t have to cancel them, delete them from the world. Just leave them there and then try this for a few months because, I mean, the out box… with the shirt it’s like a week, but with marketing, it takes a few months to really see results from what you’re doing. It’s going to take you a little bit of that decompression time.
P: You’re talking to someone who still has boxes in storage from seven years ago when we moved house…
T: Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. So these other things that you’re going to decide today that are not your one thing, you just put them in the out box and know that you can come right back to them if you miss it. You can go pick them right back up. But I’m pretty sure you’re going to find that the thing that you’ve been getting the most of your results from… it’s going to get you even more results when you have more time and energy to focus on it and other stuff in your life. It’s going to be good.
P: I love how you are almost giving us permission to do this. Thank you.
T: Let me write you a slip.
P: So when we get down to the basics of it, and how to actually do this, I know that you had an exercise that you wanted to share with my listeners today.
T: Yes, it’s called the one thing exercise. This is literally how to find your one platform that you’re going to do. And I just want to preface this with the reminder that the best anything, the best tool, the best service you’re going to offer, the best marketing platform – is the one that works for you. So, like I said before, trust yourself to trust what feels good and really let that be front and center in this exercise. But the first thing that I want you to do is think about your dream clients. So where will you find your target market? Where are they already hanging out? What kind of content do they want? Are they more readers or are they more into podcasts? Do they want to see you doing whatever it is that you’re trying to teach them? So bear that in mind. But second, think about what you like to create. How do you like to create? How is it easiest for you to communicate? And what’s your superpower? And superpowers could be like talking, writing, being on camera, creating visuals. And then there are different content types that are tied to those. So if you know, just right off the bat “Oh, my gosh, I could talk your ear off all day. I could just wanna blah, blah blah about my big idea and my brand” – then your content type might be a podcast or speaking on your IG stories or doing IGTV or Facebook lives, or even voice memo’ing your ideas that you then can turn into written content. But focus on how the ideas best come out of you. And likewise for writing. It could be blogging, doing long Instagram posts… like I’m a little bit into writing too, so my Instagram posts are all 2200 characters every time. There’s a lot of information there.
P: I’ve had times where my caption has had to just carry on into the comments.
T: Yeah, but that’s how you get the ideas out. Then that’s your superpower. And obviously on camera would be like YouTube and doing IGTV and Facebook lives. And visuals might be like on Pinterest or more about the actual Instagram picture or in the stories… like the actual graphic… however you best communicate. And then the third step of this exercise… So the first was to think about your clients. The second was to think about what you like to create and then number three… Obviously, ideally we’d like to find the overlap. Is there a place that your clients want to be that you are a superpower at creating content for? Obviously, that’s your one thing. But if there isn’t any overlap, just do what you like, and we kind of touched on this before, but like with our YouTube because I did the same thing with YouTube, I tried to do a YouTube channel at the beginning. I have, I think… four videos, which I really need to go take down.
P: If we join forces we’ll have six!
T: Yeah, but they’re terrible. They were not good because that was not my medium. And that’s not going to do my business any favours. Crappy content on your dream clients’ favorite platform is not going to get you anywhere. We want to have good content where you’re happy, and they will find you.
P: So what you’re saying is that at the intersection of what your target audience would prefer and what you like, that’s the sweet spot? That’s where you’re hoping to find your one true love?
T: Yes, yes, exactly.
P: You’ve made it sound very manageable and like something that’s easy to implement for people. But, before we start rounding off: if there’s just one final tip that you want to share with my audience, what would that tip be?
T: Just encouragement and permission to take a look at the different platforms that you’re using, and think about where you are getting the most leads and having the most fun. And just go “That’s what I’m going to focus on. I’m giving myself permission to put everything else in the out box and do what I do best, creating great content using my superpower for my clients” – and see if that doesn’t make things so much better and feel so much better too. Because you’ll have so much extra time.
P: That’s a nice challenge. If my listeners want to learn more from you, where can they find you and connect with you? I’m guessing you’ve got the one?
T: Yep. My one is Instagram. I’m there at @Tracy.Stanger. And specifically, when you get there, be sure to check out my stories. Because even if you choose Instagram, you don’t have to do all the things on Instagram. So I have not made one reel in my life. I don’t know if I will.
P: Good, because I haven’t either and I was feeling like I was missing out.
T: No, you do not have to. My thing is stories. So it’s like… sometimes I do my 2200 character Instagram posts, But it’s only really here and there, so the magic is really happening in the stories. So I hope that you will come follow me and watch my stories and talk to me in the DMs. And then also, everything that we talked about today is actually from a lesson in the simple systems for marketing module in my course Sort, Purge + Organize. So we take that whole home metaphor to your whole business, sort through your current to do list, purge the stuff that doesn’t need doing and then organise what’s left, including marketing, your client process and your admin stuff. So if you’d like to less but better your whole business, go to tracystanger.com/spo and you get immediate access.
P: I just want to take a moment to say thank you so much for sharing your the one approach with us, because I think it’s going to feel quite liberating for a lot of people out there.
T: Good. Thank you so much for having me, because that’s exactly what I want. I don’t want you feeling bogged down and overwhelmed by your business. This should be fun. You should be enjoying your life and your business and building this amazing thing the easiest way possible.
P: Fantastic. So everybody can now come and hang out with both of us at Instagram. Because Instagram is my one true love of social media as well. And, you know, I look forward to continuing the discussion there. If anyone’s up for it, feel free to just slide into my DMs or tag me if you’re trying this approach and you need a little bit of support and backing, I’m right here. Just tag me and I’ll be cheering you on!
T: Me too!
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