Speaker 1: 0:03

Well, hello. This is Kimberly Brock, and for over 20 years I've been running my own businesses that have not only been profitable but personally fulfilling to me. So now I'm on a mission to help other new business owners, just like you, make money doing what you love to. Now we're going to have some fun, so let's get started Now we're going to have some fun, so let's get started.

Speaker 3: 0:31

Well, hello, this is Kimberly. It's episode 309, and I am so glad that you are here today because I want to talk about how you're going to actually make money, and this is a quick episode. I know so many of you have been struggling because you're trying to gain momentum and you're like how do I actually make money? Maybe you're just in the idea stage, maybe you already have something for sale and it's not really making the money that you want, and maybe even you're trying to pivot or adapt somehow to some new type of offer, but you feel frustrated and you're like how am I going to actually make money? I am going to give you the big picture key today. Y'all this is going to help you. Someone had said this, and I don't even know where I heard it. I think it was on a podcast or something, and I just hadn't heard it in these words Okay, you know how sometimes that happens, where you just hear someone phrase it a little different and you're like, whoa, I get that, and so that's what we're going to talk about today. If you're new here, welcome. I'm so glad that you found this podcast. I have no doubt it's going to help you along your business journey, whether you're in the idea stage, starting or growing, there's something for you. You can listen to this whole backlog of free content here on this podcast, or you can also go to my website, kimberlybrockcom. There's also links down below. I have all types of other free resources for you to help you like getting started checklists. If you're in the idea stage, you've got something for that. If you're trying to grow your business and if you're trying to start a podcast, I have all of that there for you, because I don't want you to feel stranded, I don't want you to feel alone when you have resources here that are at your fingertips. All you have to do is enter your email and you will get them when you get those freebies. So make sure you check that out.

Speaker 3: 2:03

I do have a free Facebook group called Women Starting Businesses and Podcasts Doing what we Love. You can jump in there too. We have fun weekly posts and I would love to keep updated on what you're doing, what you're offering Y'all. It's so awesome because everybody who comes in the group y'all everybody has a different business. It is the coolest thing, because every time I read what type of business you have, or that you're starting or you're thinking about starting. I'm like, okay, that's amazing, and I love that it's coming from your heart. Like every time I can see like, oh my gosh, this must have come from a problem that she had right. Maybe she saw a gap in the market here. So I just love it, because I know it's all based on the gifts that God has given you and I just I love it. So, anyways, make sure you get in the group too. So I'm just going to go ahead and kick things off.

Speaker 3: 2:49

As I said, this is going to be a shorter episode because it's a really quick point, but I think it's a super poignant point for you. Does that make sense? A poignant point? Okay, I guess. So no-transcript to be strapped to one business.

Speaker 3: 3:39

I think some people have gone into business thinking this has to be it, like I'm betting on black and there's nothing else. And I think most of you here can actually have like two different types of offerings, two different types of businesses. You don't have to have LLCs for all those. It doesn't have to be that complicated. It can just be something that you test and you try to offer and you say is this offering, you know, worthy of continuing my effort with? Like, should I keep doing this Is this is this working?

Speaker 3: 4:09

And I want to talk about that today because I don't want you sitting there banging your head against the wall, and I want to give you a good key word here. I guess it's a key phrase that I think can really open your eyes to gaining momentum and actually making money with something. And here it is. I'm just going to tell you right here at the beginning, because I think this will open your eyes, and it's this I know you hear follow the money all the time. Like we've heard that. Like when you're in business, just follow the money. Or even with, like, not conspiracy theories, but I guess kind of like that when people are investigating their things, you know they're always like follow the money. You hear that a lot, but this is what I want you to do. I want you to. Are you ready? I want you to follow the energy, the energy. Where is the energy of the market going? And to me, this is profound because I think you can feel it when there is a momentum towards something right, and I've felt it with my businesses my first one within this very room, which was my gift boutique that was online when I was taking it online in 2003 and Amazon was there and they were known for books and I was like this is where it's going. I felt the energy of that and I wanted to be a part of it.

Speaker 3: 5:36

Then, when I was selling all my products and then some of the college themed baby gifts were blowing it out of the water, I was selling a ton of them. People kept calling me at the time because you had a phone number. People would call you weren't really doing live chat and they would call and be like do you have this school, do you have Florida? Do you have this? And I was like, oh my gosh, I could feel the energy of people wanting to buy cute baby gifts, clothing, bedding, all that that was college themed at the time, because it wasn't something that was ubiquitous out there everywhere, and I could feel that energy. So I opened that other website, so I had two boutiques going at the same time. Right Then I started doing portrait photography. Digital photography was coming of age and people were getting really good portraits of their family, you know, in digital files, which was so amazing because you could do so many things with them and order all kinds of prints and keychains and books, and I felt that energy and so I started doing photography part time. Right, you could argue, these are three separate businesses that I was running at the same time. Okay, you can do this, right.

Speaker 3: 6:43

And then, when I was starting this business, I felt the energy of podcasting and information being spread everywhere, even with YouTube and everything. So I felt like at the time I was a little late to the podcasting party and that was 2019. I remember going to a convention. I went to a convention so I could learn about podcasting. I went by myself, flew to Florida, did the whole thing and it was podcast. Movement is what it was. It was so much fun.

Speaker 3: 7:08

And they were saying you know, y'all, there's 600,000 podcasts now, and how many podcasts are there? And I thought I'm late. There's 600,000 podcasts out. At the time. This was in 2019. Now they think there's maybe 4 million, 5 million, something in that range. So I thought it was late, but I felt the energy right and I felt the energy of people starting businesses. Somehow, by the grace of God, it was great timing, because we all know what happened in 2020 and that was COVID, and I felt the energy of everyone at home going.

Speaker 3: 7:44

What can I do. I have been unhappy with my life doing this job. I want something else. I want something on the side. I you know I maybe I got laid off. I've got to start something now. I felt the energy I want you to think about in your industry or anything that you know about, even if it's not in your industry. I would love for you to get creative. Like where are you seeing energy? In whatever realm, whatever town, whatever city, whatever environment you are in, what is there an energy towards? Is it events and local get togethers? I see that as coming up huge y'all. I think people are lacking it.

Speaker 3: 8:30

I've talked about this before that I truly believe we joined a pickleball club here. It's an indoor club. It has like 13 courts and I just walk around every time now and I know these people and we all play together and I just show up by myself sometimes and just pick up games. It's like what guys do with pickup basketball. I've never done that with any sport, where you just go and you're like, hi, I'm in line, I want to play. It just seems so weird. But my husband's like this is what pickup basketball is like. I'm like, oh yeah, that's so crazy. I never did pick up basketball or anything like that, so to me it was foreign. But now I know these people and I'm like pickleball has just brought community. People like to be here and we always talk about it Like people like to be there.

Speaker 3: 9:13

Because you're not at home sitting there watching Netflix, you're doing something else. You have friends. Now you can do tournaments and there are so many other things that are going on in the world, in your world, around you. Now, what is it that people are excited about? What do you feel the energy moving toward that y'all is? How are you going, how you are going to create something special for people? Do you, do you see a need? A lot of people are sick, have autoimmunes or have other sicknesses. Could they use care? People need energy for care. Do they need help toting their kids around? I see all kinds of like Uber-like services for taking you know kids that can't drive, getting them to their activities. I don't know what it is in your area, but I feel like in your life you can feel that maybe something you're doing in your business is not where the energy is like. Think about it whatever you're selling, if it's not selling like hotcakes, you have to ask yourself is the energy waned for this? Has the energy waned in my area? Now, everybody's area is different, right, because some people maybe like LA or New York, they get things first and then, in other towns, it'll come, like several years later. I've noticed that my sister lives outside of Los Angeles. When I visited her before, I'm like what is all this? Like I saw. I remember seeing the trucker hats a while back, going what? And now trucker hats are everywhere, but it took some years to get to where I am in Texas, right, and so you have to, though, be able to sense that out, and my guess is, in your world, with your preferences, with your life, the habits that you have, the things that you're doing, you see a sense of energy towards something right, and if you have an ability to tap into that energy, that's how you can make money. That is how you can make money. So I challenge you all today to not just sit on something where the energy is fading, like it's something that's not going to be as popular anymore. Right For me having an online gift boutique.

Speaker 3: 11:20

All of those years where I resold other people's products, I had a ton of products. I honestly think this is my honest opinion and some of you may disagree. I think that is a very hard business to make it a big business now unless you have investors and y'all have this whole vision. Maybe you're tied to some other major company that is doing it and you have all this backup. If you're just like a mom and pop trying to have a gift boutique online and that's all you're doing, I think that's a very hard business. I think you have to be omni-channel now. You'd have to have a local store that you also have online. You make it easy for people different touchpoints. They could order online, they could order from your store. I think you could do both.

Speaker 3: 12:04

I think the better idea as I talked about in a previous episode so look, if you're thinking about doing a gift boutique, is to carry one type of product line. I'm noticing all of the stores are doing that. They're selling just their perfumes, just their clothing, just their brand, right? I think brands are now opening their own stores and you're seeing that. So I just think it's a harder business. It may shift here and it may go back somehow, but right now that's what I see that you have to have more of a singular focus and it's better if you can sell your own thing, that you make, that you get manufactured, that you white label, anything like that, okay.

Speaker 3: 12:41

But what I'm saying is when I had the online gift boutiques, that was amazing and that was where the energy was. I don't feel as much that that's where the energy is. I feel like the energy now is having your own brand right and doing your own thing. And I think online coaches all kinds of coaches are great. I think there was a huge boom five years ago when I started. I think it's kind of leveled out.

Speaker 3: 13:05

A lot have stopped their businesses and I think it's hard to be a coach unless you are locally connected or you have some really good YouTube channel or a podcast right. You have to have something where people know you and you know you're getting I want to say, press, or you're getting exposure somehow right on a regular basis. You have to have that. Or it's hard and it's really easy if you're local and you're a go-getter locally and you're sponsoring events, you're speaking at things, you're doing all kinds of things to get connected so you can be the go-to in your niche, in your area. I do think local style of business like where you really are networking locally is back in, because COVID kind of made us all go online and I think it's kind of back in. But you have to feel in your. Everybody's location is different.

Speaker 3: 13:55

Where is the energy going right now? So today, if you are pondering your business what to start, what to change to, what to offer get a cup of coffee and walk around, talk to your friends, sit and think about it. Where is the energy going? Ask yourself, what am I excited about in the marketplace? Where do I see things going Right All these blood tests with knowing what genes you have and and you know just all the stuff GLP-1s there's where energy is going Like we are hearing about all of this stuff, and so you have to ask yourself am I able to sell something or do something in support of any of these things? Where all of the collective energy is going right now? Right Now, you do risk that you have a business that's only really good for a few years, but you know what? It may not matter, because then something else will come along and you can adapt. So don't worry about being a fly-by-night business. There may be a way to then adapt again.

Speaker 3: 14:53

And if you get used to this way of thinking, where you really look at where the energy is going. It's kind of like waves in the ocean. You can look out and you can kind of see how the waves are flowing. When you feel the wind, you're like, oh my gosh, it's blowing north. What is happening around you that you can sense? Where is this flowing? Where is the energy going? And I'm telling you now this is your key to success, this is your key to making money right now.

Speaker 3: 15:21

I think the world is changing at such a fast rate. I think business is changing with AI and everything. I think you have to be where the energy is. Okay, my friends, where is the energy around you? That's how you can find your best business idea. That's how you can find what to sell, what to adapt, what to change to. This is it. I hope this helps you today. I'm so happy you're here. Yes, I have paid programs. If you want to come in and get closer to all of this type of information and help your business get started and growing effectively, make sure you check out everything at KimberlyBrockcom, make sure you're subscribed to this podcast. You don't want to miss out on any future episodes and I'm so excited you're here and I hope today you will follow the energy, my friend, because that is your key to making money and building a successful business. Have a successful business, have a great day. Bye now.

Speaker 2: 16:14

Now this episode may be over, but our relationship does not have to end here. Head on over to KimberlyBrockcom and, yes, you can get more valuable information for your journey and you know what. You don't need to go through this alone. I would love to help you. Thank you so much and have a great day. Bye.