Liam O'Neill - Empathy Marketing

You’re going to get lied to A LOT on Instagram… There’s one thing in particular I’ve noticed recently that sets you up for failure is this: “Making £10k per month & scaling your business is easy, all you have to do is X,Y,Z at A,B,C price, use ChatGPT for all your content & you’re done.” What these people fail to recognise is the journey you have to go on, the identity you have to carve out & the time you have to put in to build something meaningful, & generate leads & sales every month to grow. It’s what I call the “unscalable emotional labour” of building a business. Whoever is willing to do more of that, wins. So if you ever comes across these type of posts, please know this... These people aren’t trying to help you. They’re trying to go viral. So go in with the expectation that this is going to be difficult, and you’ll have a much better time trying to build a business you love. However long it takes.

STOP doing these 5 things if you want to maximise the enjoyment of running a creative business in 2024… 1 - Taking on people who aren’t a good fit. When you take on people for the wrong reasons, you do yourself, and them a disservice. Ask good questions, lead with curiousity & make sure you can 100% help them solve their problem before going into any details about your offer. 2 - Being afraid of selling. “I don’t want to come across salesy.” I understand, neither do I. We need to reframe what it means to sell. It’s not about convincing. It’s about giving the person enough information to allow them to make an informed decision about whether they want what you have. 3 - Trying to figure it all out yourself. Big one. Your ego wants to say, “I did this all myself, look at me.” Thing is, we need help. It’s not a smart move doing it alone. You don’t have to experience other people’s mistakes. You can actually learn from them by simply paying them to teach you the right way. You’ll make enough other mistakes along the way, trust me. 4 - Caring about follower count. The more I do this business thing, the more I realise there is ZERO correlation between the size of your following & the quality of your business. I work with clients who have 7k, 12k, 150k followers, who have hired me to help them with their content. I’ve less than 500 followers. The problems are the same all the way up. 5 - Settling for average. Average is nothing to aspire to. Every time I feel like I’m coasting, I’ll look for the next thing. Ask yourself: How can I make this better? Who do I have to become in order to hit that goal? What needs to be changed in my service to make this flow more smoothly? Keep pushing for excellence. What toxic trait do you want to let go of in 2024? Drop a comment & let me know!

SAVE this one & slot these hooks into the first line of your December posts if you want more leads for Christmas! + drop a comment if you’d like to see a PART 2 on this. 👇🏼

LET ME EXPLAIN… ↓ 1 - Stopped taking on people who weren’t a good fit. When you take on people for the wrong reasons, it doesn’t go well. Learn from my mistakes. Ask good questions, lead with value & make sure you can 100% help them solve their problem. 2 - Stopped being afraid of selling. “I don’t want to come across salesy.” I understand, neither do I. We need to reframe what it means to sell. It’s not about convincing, it’s about giving the person enough information to allow them to make an informed decision about whether they want what you have. 3 - Stopped trying to figure it all out myself. Big one. My ego wanted to say, “I did this all myself, look at me.” Thing is, we need others. It’s not a smart move doing it by yourself. You don’t have to experience other people’s mistakes. You can actually learn from them by simply not doing what they did, and bypassing it. You’ll make enough other mistakes along the way, trust me. 4 - Stopped caring about follower count. The more I do this, the more I realise there is ZERO correlation between the size of your following & the quality of your business. I’d rather have my current following size forever, and maximise the engagement & community, than grow a huge following where no one really engages or wants my services. 5 - Stopped settling for average. Average is nothing to aspire to. Every time I feel like I’m coasting, I’ll look for the next thing. How can I make this better? Who do I have to become in order to hit that? What needs to be changed in my service to make this flow more smoothly? Keep pushing for excellence.

3 moves I made that’ll save you 10 hours a week… Like with anything you do repeatedly, you’ll always find ways to do it more efficiently over time. Content Creation is no different. Over the years I’ve found many ways to do it faster, without sacrificing quality. But the 3 below have brought the most benefit by far. 1 - Make 1 Decision to Save 1000. I decided on my colours, fonts & design templates up front. The only variable I have to worry about now is the copy. 2 - Bulk it up. I started creating in stages. I purposefully make time for each one. Research > Write > Edit > Schedule. 3 - Work DOWN not ACROSS. The biggest mistake I made was this: Working across the week rather than down the month. Let me explain... Working across the week meant I was working on 3 or 4 different styles of posts for the week in one sitting. (Carousel, Reel, Single Image & Video etc.) Hopping from one content type to another, never really getting deep on any of them. Working down the month means I now make 1 style of post in one sitting, creating 4 of those for each week of the month. Allowing me to really get into a flow on 1 style, then repeating the process for the next content type. Are you doing any of these already? Or did I just make your life 10x easier? If I did, hit Save on this one & use it next time you’re sitting down to make content.

Last chance… This day last week I opened up 3 spaces for The Mindful Marketer Mentorship. Buzzing for the people who’ve decided to lock in, and start building out their plans with me to find their next 3-5 clients organically on Instagram, without needing to spend a penny on ads, websites or logos. So I’ve now got 1 space left. With that said, let me remind you… This is NOT for you if: 1 - You aren’t willing to dedicate time to developing a tailored marketing process. 2 - Only wanting to create content for likes, views & follows. 3 - Are happy enough spinning your wheels without a strategy. This IS for you if: 1 - You’re ready & willing to commit to a specific, laser focused plan, built around your current needs, and your business goals for the future. 2 - You want to maximise BOTH your content on Instagram, AND incorporate a system to generate new leads every week, while ALSO learning how to turn those leads into sales. 3 - You have ambitions to make that side hustle into a full-time pursuit, and want to follow a step-by-step process of how to actually get there in the next 90 days. Spaces are limited to 3 for this first intake, (1 left) and I’ll be closing doors on this today as I want to get everyone locked in, with a plan, before I get married at the end of June. (and head on my honeymoon straight after!) After this, doors won’t open again until late July/early August. If any of the points above are resonating, drop me a message today with the word “GO” & we’ll have a chat to see if you’re a good fit for the final space in the programme.

I’ve lived the life of a busy fool. Being pulled in every direction by each notification or request. Jumping from one surface level task to the next. Never really going deep into the stuff that moved the needle. Spinning my wheels, going nowhere fast. That’s when I realised I needed to change. I needed some boundaries. How I went about it: 1 - 3 tasks MAXIMUM per day. If you create a list of 5-10 things just to feel productive, you’ll always feel behind. If you set 3 main tasks for the day, and you get them done, that’s a good day. 2 - No phone till noon. I keep my phone away until after I’ve finished my deep work block. I’ll then make time to respond to any messages, emails or comments. Very rarely will you have a message that needs responding to straight away. 3 - No phone after dinner. Having a cut off time in the evening where my phone locks me out of all apps. That’s why you won’t hear from me after 8.30pm. Do you feel like a busy fool on here? Scrolling & scrolling for hours & then not posting anything because you’re overwhelmed. That’s not where we want to be. We want to get the best out of this amazing tool. Not for it to be something that causes us stress. If you need help navigating that, I cover this in one of the first lessons of my programme, the Mindful Marketer Mentorship titled, “Focusing on What Matters.” P.s. 4 Days left to grab 1 of the last 2 spaces for it, where I’ll personally teach you how to optimise your time on here, to maximise your marketing efforts, and minimise your busy foolishness, while generating more interest in your service, without spending hours a day doom-scrolling. Drop me a message & we’ll get chatting to see if it makes sense for you.

Size matters. But what you do with it matters more. (that’s what she…) Focus, guys, focus. We’re talking Instagram here. Anyway, you can do a lot with a little when it comes to IG. With just over 100 followers, I’ve already: Collaborated with other creators. Got amazing audience feedback on content. Created free products that people have found useful. As well booked sales calls for my flagship programme. (being released publicly next week) So yes there’s a lot of perks to having a smaller following, here’s 3 of my favourites: 1 - Higher engagement. For such a small following, my stories always get at least 50% view rates, along with great engagement on polls, feed posts & reels etc. 2 - Deeper conversations. Because there’s less volume, I can ask better questions in the DM’s, reply to comments more easily & message any new followers to say thanks, then get to know them a little more. 3 - Less pressure = more experimenting. With fewer followers, you can treat it like a comedian would. Before a big show, comedians test out bits in smaller clubs, see what works, make a note & build their Netflix special around that. Treat your content in the same way. Take the pressure off. Go test out your next bit. Your Netflix special will come. Anything you’d add to the 3 above? Let me know in the comments.

Do I do this 7 days a week? Nah. But I do make a commitment to it Monday to Friday. This is what currently works for me. Under my current circumstances & work demands. It’s what sets me up for the most productive day. I need to be grounded, focused & ready whatever needs done that day. The people I work with need me to be that way too. By having a structured, consistent morning routine throughout the week, I can give everything I have. I’ve optimised this over time through trial & error, and a lot of chopping & changing. Bonus: The one thing I’ve noticed most recently that’s had the most impact, is going to bed at the same time, and getting up at the same time EVERY day, including weekends. I don’t follow my usual workflow on weekends, but I do now get up at the same time & go to bed at the same time as I do during the week. It’s an absolute game changer for energy levels, and actually for enjoying the weekends more too, as they don’t feel like “they just go sooo fast”. Try it for yourself & watch your work week become laser focused, and your weekends become even more enjoyable. (and about 6 hours longer) Would you be interested in seeing more of this style of content? Let me know below. 👇🏼

People will pay you. Even if you’re not the cheapest. Sometimes even BECAUSE you’re not the cheapest. It’s time to stop scraping the bottom of the barrel. It’s time to stop denying yourself from making a profit on your work. The starving artist mentality isn’t serving you any more. It’s OK to want to make money from the work you do. It’s OK to charge what you believe your work to be worth. It’s OK to say no when someone asks you to do it for cheaper. Don’t settle for being the cheapest. That’s a race to the bottom. Focus on becoming the best. That’s a race to the top. That’s a race worth running. Save this one as a reminder to yourself.

You are not a crossword puzzle. Every blank space does not need to be filled. This is not a competition to see who has the fullest calendar. This is also not a good strategy to creating a healthy business. It’s OK to have space in your day, that’s simply just space. It’s OK to not reply to an email straight away. It’s OK to not have any plans on your day off. Stop trying to squeeze everything in. Because eventually you’ll burst at the seams. Trust me I’ve been there. I’ve lived the life of a busy fool. Being pulled in every direction by each notification or request. Jumping from one surface level task to the next. Never really going deep into the stuff that moved the needle. That’s when I realised creating space is so important. Space for deep, focused, uninterrupted work. Space for play, laughs & doing nothing. Without it, we’re all just busy fools going nowhere fast. How I went about it: 1 - Use the power of the “Graceful NO”. If it doesn’t suit you, say no. If you can’t commit fully, say no. If that meeting could be an email, say no. 2 - 3 tasks MAXIMUM per day. If you create a list of 5-10 things just to feel productive, you’ll always feel behind. If you set 3 main tasks for the day, and you get them done, that’s a good day. 3 - No phone till noon. I keep my phone away until after I’ve finished my deep work block. I’ll then make time to respond to any messages, emails or comments. Trust me, very rarely will you have a message that needs responding to straight away. Tag your friend with the fullest calendar in the comments & we’ll cancel 1 task off their list this week together.