[JOE]: This is the Practice of the Practice podcast with Joe Sanok, session number 433. Everyone loves payday but loving a payroll provider, that’s a little weird. Still, private practices across the country love running payroll with Gusto. Gusto automatically files and pays your taxes. It’s super easy to use and you can add benefits and management tools to help take care of your team and keep the business safe. It’s loyal, it’s modern, you might fall in love yourself. Listeners get three months free when they run their first payroll. Try a demo and test it out at gusto.com/joe. It’s what I use. That’s gusto.com/joe.
Well, welcome, welcome, welcome. I am so excited you are here spending some time with me as you may have picked out. We have quite a month of podcasting going on here, so we actually, we had one go live on the fourth and today’s the sixth, this one goes live, then on the 11th, we have Richard Villasana, who is the founder of Forever Homes for Foster Kids, then on the 13th, we have some about speaking on the 18th, another one we have on the successful speaker, that’s with Grant Baldwin who I’ve had on this show. He has an amazing podcast. Then on the 20th, we have Holly [inaudible 00:01:31] who is talking about social cues and public speaking, and then Dr. Rhoberta Shaler on the 25th. She’s the relationship help doctor. And so we have two, four, six, seven podcasts going live this month and just want to keep you full of awesome content and keep you inspired.
So, it’s really exciting to have so many interviews going on. We’re also in the middle of doing tickets for Slow Down School. Slow Down School is the event that we put on here in Northern Michigan. We’re actually not going to be doing it in the summer of 2021 because we’re going to be on a mega road trip with the family. Our plan is in August of 2020, that we are going to have a pull-behind camper and I’ll be podcasting out of national parks and meeting up with you and having meetups around the country and just getting out into the world and road schooling our kids. We’re going to actually do a separate podcast. We haven’t launched the website for that, but it’s going to be leavetofind.com. We bought that. Leave to Find is going to be the name of the podcast. So we’re right now just kind of recording, going through that process of talking to our kids’ teachers and making sure that we kind of align academically with the school while also leaving lots of room for our kids to podcast with us and learn, and, it’s just fun.
Like little things like my eight-year-old Lucia, she was saying, “I’m a little nervous about going on this road trip.” And I said, “Well, that’s normal. What’s going on?” She said she was nervous about tornadoes and so we watched some videos about tornadoes, how they happen, why they happen, and to kind of plan our trips well in Tornado Alley with a camper, kind of when those tornadoes are most likely to go through. And then she felt better about it. So to have all these little teachable moments to learn about things. And then they wanted to learn about black holes. So to just keep learning exciting and you know, to have some adventure. We love our house here in Traverse City, we love being in Northern Michigan, but to kind of go out into the world and explore and meet a whole bunch of you doing this Practice of the Practice world tour.
We haven’t even named it or I’ve thought about doing like campfire kind of get-togethers with people or maybe doing a one-day thing. So we’ll see how it kind of shakes out as we get closer to the trip. But, why was I talking about this? I had to, oh, 2021 we’re not doing Slow Down School, because we’ll probably be on the road. So if you’ve been on the fence and just want to get to that next level, you definitely got to come. I interview everyone that wants to talk to me before they come to make sure it’s a good fit. You can schedule an interview over at slowdownschool.com. There’s a link right there that goes into my calendar. You can find what time works for you. Will absolutely love to chat it up with you and see if Slow Down School is a fit.
And we’ve already got a great group of people that are coming that are really high achievers. They want to grow their practice more, they want to scale it and then some other folks, they’re working on podcasts and e-courses and big ideas and then there’s some people that have a mixture of both. And so it’s really awesome that we’re going to be working together in such an intense way and it’s a lot of fun too. Every year it’s so, so much fun. I just wish I could kind of give to you what the experiences that you would know that you want to come, but you know, I’m not going to do a hard sell. If you’re not meant to be there you’re not meant to be there, but, we’d love to jump on a phone call with you to see if you might be a fit. Well today, we are talking about simplicity entrepreneurship and I can’t wait for you to meet Milana. she’s awesome and it’s just such a good interview. So without any further ado, here we go.
Well, today on the Practice of the Practice podcast, we have Milana Leshinsky. Milana is an entrepreneur, business strategist and marketing mentor to coaches, authors and speakers. She’s the founder of Simplicity Circle, whose mission is to help entrepreneurs succeed and grow while keeping their business simple. Milana, welcome to the Practice of the Practice podcast.
[MILANA]: Thank you so much Joe. It’s a pleasure to be here and talk to your people.
[JOE]: Yes, well you are a classically trained musician. You’ve lived quite an interesting life, and when you were at New Media Summit and shared a little bit about your journey, I put a big star right next to your name because I’m just like, “This lady needs to be on this podcast.” So take us back a little bit of being a classically trained musician that now helps entrepreneurs. How did that happen?
[MILANA]: Yeah, well I used to live and breathed and slept music since I was eight years old. So it was quite a change of not only career and profession, but my identity. I had to kind of completely shift away from seeing myself as a musician and starting to see myself as an entrepreneur over the course of, you know, that transition, but the reason is very simple. I had kids, I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and couldn’t find really good daycare for my daughter at that time. She was one, came home crying and gave my two-week notice and became a full-time mom and a web designer at that time. I slowly started learning about building your business and you know, everybody who wants a website, they’re a business owner and, that’s how I started really learning a lot more about building a coaching practice, specifically using the internet.
So that’s where my expertise started developing, and you know, 20 years later I have worked with thousands and thousands of coaches, people who want to become coaches. I’ve also seen a huge transition for many therapists and counselors into the coaching profession, and so I understand a lot about this whole field and love helping coaches and experts in different areas to build our businesses online and monetize their expertise in the different ways that they would enjoy doing.
[JOE]: When you gave your two-week notice, were you a professional musician at that time?
[MILANA]: No, at that time I was actually working as a web designer. A professional musician, I went all the way from the age of eight all the way to the age of 21 until I came to America. And that’s when I realized that music education system here is very different and if I wanted to continue, I would have to either work in a public school, which was never something I would agree to do or really become, you know, a piano player, performer. And that’s not something I was interested in either because my major was actually education, music education, music theory, music history, music analysis, composition, improvisation. So I wasn’t really a performer. I was a teacher. It just, the system didn’t really allow for that. So by the time I quit my job, I was already working as a web developer, graduated, having learned computer programming completely like 180 degree shift from music and art and being in that world to suddenly being part of a technical world and computer programming and web development and the internet.
[JOE]: Yes, total different parts of the brain. But I feel like they complement each other too. I feel like I have that push and pull. I’ve always been kind of artistic and musical, but then the analytical side also kind of creeps in. It’s nice when you can have kind of both sides of the brain.
[MILANA]: Well, there’s something that, you know, that’s what people tell me, is that the reason that I am such a systems thinker and have some analytical approach to teaching and to developing products and programs that probably kind of is what ties it all together for me, is the fact that I did study music analysis, which was a big part of my major, one of the most difficult classes I’ve ever had to take in my life. Oh, a lot of people failed and some ended up with a breakdown and that was the class that they always warn you at the beginning when you first enter. And I actually got an A and it wasn’t that hard. So there was something, the connection there that I was blessed to bring into my business. And the, I’m still a teacher. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, it’s just I’m not teaching music anymore. I’m teaching business and marketing and it’s a lot of fun.
[JOE]: Yeah, so you have this Marketing Super Skills framework that I’d love to kind of walk through and just hear how you help people simplify their marketing and all of that. So what are some of the pillars to this framework?
[MILANA]: Yes, so a lot of people say that they don’t like marketing and that’s usually because they tried to follow a specific marketing model that they are seeing from their industry. The Marketing Super Skills approach is that it’s designed to help you discover your natural marketing style and then pin down the marketing strategy where you can get your best results. So it’s really a relief for people to see that they can just simply follow their natural marketing style instead of trying to fight against all the things that they’ve been told to do, but it doesn’t work for them. And it doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming. The idea behind Marketing Super Skills is that your marketing strategy and your business overall can be an extension of your natural personality.
And then marketing becomes simple and growing your business becomes simple. I’ve actually observed in my own business, every time I step outside of my Marketing Super Skills, I struggle, I feel inadequate, I get frustrated and I don’t get results. And the results don’t come as easily. When I acknowledge, honor, and embrace my Marketing Super Skills, I have, first of all, I have so much fun, but most importantly I get better results and I don’t even notice the time go by. So it’s the awareness that we need to come to. And so the tool that I developed, this gold Marketing Super Skills, and it actually, when you answer the questions, at the end, what it tells you is whether you are a teacher, builder, champion, or connector.
[JOE]: Go through those again.
[MILANA]: Yes, teacher, builder, champion, connector.
[JOE]: Take us through what each of those mean.
[MILANA]: So before I do that, I will say that even if you score high in teacher and your friend scores high in teacher, your marketing strategies will still be different because you might be more visual and they may be more verbal, you might be more creative and they be more analytical, you might be more introverted and they might be more extroverted. So it doesn’t tell you like this is how to market if you’re a teacher and this is exactly what it’s going to look like for you. But as far as what each one represents, so each of these Marketing Super Skills really comes with the finding of the core driver. What drives you as a person? because technologies and marketing methods change all the time. 20 years ago there was no social media. So people who now love social media, they used to do something different. Social media is just a tool for them to express their core drivers. So let’s take a look at the core drivers. If you are, if you score high as teacher, your core driver is all about, your desire is really based on helping people understand something in an easy way.
So, you’re going to be creating, naturally, you’re going to be drawn to creating tools, ideas, materials, so that it’s easy to understand. And the kind of things that, the kind of words that people see you with and the words that you probably identify with the most would be trainer, advisor, coach, mentor, expert professor, right? So if you understand that teacher is your primary Marketing Super Skills, then everything you do to generate client leads, to nurture your potential client contacts, to actually get paying clients, to use social media, everything you do when it comes to marketing must focus on you sharing useful information and educating your audience. So that’s the teacher personality. And you know, if you are a teacher and you’re listening to this, you’re probably thinking, “Well, of course everybody likes to share and teach and help people understand.” Well, that’s not true.
Connectors couldn’t care less about that. And we’ll talk about that in a moment. So each one is driven by something that is unique to your natural personality and then you know, when you take the quiz and I’m happy to share the link to the free quiz with you, you actually get to see a suggested marketing strategy for you as a teacher.
[JOE]: Yes, let’s give the quiz link at the end for people after we go through all four of those different types.
[MILANA]: Sure. And then the second one is builder. Builders are really cool because I am a builder and the core driver for builders is creating and using leverage to get clients. So builders love being associated or they identify with words like Artisan, designer, creative, producer, collector, curator, starter. And everything you do when you’re a builder in terms of marketing has to do with you creating and sharing tools and ideas as a way to attract and nurture your prospect and turn them into clients.
Sometimes the word builder means, to people something different than what actually is. They’ll say, “Well, I’m a builder. I build relationships or I build people up.” That’s very different. It’s just the, you know, it’s a label to define the marketing super skills of the type of somebody who loves to naturally create. They see little systems, they see like, when I am left to my own devices, naturally what I do is I create trainings. I agree, tools. I created this tool. I created Telesummit, the very first telesummit in the world. So I’m currently building software. So it’s that thing that, what are you natural tendency. So that’s builder, and so if you score, by the way you can score high, you want to look at the top two, because usually for most people it’s the top two that create their marketing super skills, beautiful mix where one type can lean into another, and that way you don’t burn yourself out by only focusing on your primary super skill.
So, let’s talk about connectors. And I have to tell you that most people who are podcasters, Joe, they have high on connector. The core drivers for connectors are, you know, it’s really connecting them to each other and to resources. Connectors take great pleasure and fulfillment in connecting people and resources together. They really enjoy reaching out to people and bringing resources to their tribe, to their community. Connectors typically associate with words like being a hub, a resource, a networker, a supporter, everyone’s friends. That’s how they’re seen but, and I also will say that just because you’re connected doesn’t mean you love networking. I’ve met quite a few connectors who don’t like networking, but they like connecting. So that’s a little different.
And so, if that is your highest Marketing Super Skills, then connecting with people must be present in some shape or form in every marketing activity that you choose because that’s how you communicate your highest value from attracting to enrolling clients. Hopefully that makes sense. As a side note I maybe revealing a little bit too much about myself, I score zero on connector, which talks about that because I built an entire company that’s focused on connections except the keyword here is built.
[JOE]: So, teacher, builder connector, and what was number four?
[MILANA]: Number four is champion. So teacher, builder, connector, champion. The fourth one, the last one was champion. The core driver for the champion is really about being an inspiration and inviting others to support your mission, building a personal brand. So the words that champions associate themselves with would be like messenger, visionary, leader, influencer, movement starter, tribe leader, coach. Champions, in marketing also make great coaches, and as champion, you inspire potential clients through speaking, through storytelling. You’re great, you love doing live video because it allows you to connect with people emotionally, and really impact them.
And so those are the methods, that you want to look at. Each type also has, you know, strengths as well as possible traps and things to watch out for. And again, I go into more detail. When you take the quiz and you learn about your personality, then you can see what your marketing might look like and what you should be looking out for as you are using these different personalities, these different super skills.
[JOE]: Wow, so once you know your super skills, what do we do next to kind of make our marketing more simple?
[MILANA]: At that point you are invited to select the marketing methods that resonate the most with you based on your Marketing Super Skills. So you get a little checklist of strategies that would be great, that normally are attracting that kind of super skills. And then you can build your little marketing strategy, like a blueprint, because in marketing there’s only three things that you do. You attract, you nurture, and you convert. And so when you’re attract, we’re talking about building your list, reaching out, reaching to new audiences, really building your tribe. When I say nurture, I’m talking about follow up. How do you stay top of mind with these people? How do you add value, how do you educate them? And then convert of course means selling. What exactly do you need to do to close the sale, to turn a prospect into a paying client?
And so, each of these three attract, nurture, convert, has its own set of strategies that will work best for you. And so that’s —
[JOE]: What is one strategy that would go with each of those. So like for a teacher, what’s one strategy, for a builder, for a connector and a champion?
[MILANA]: So, it’s, I can give you the different strategies, but I’ll also say that for example, a virtual summit. A virtual summit is a strategy that is perfect on the surface level. It’s perfect for connectors, because you need to connect with people. You need to interview them. But it’s also great for champions because you can do a lot of storytelling and you can draw out and spot inspirational stories from your guest speakers. A virtual summit is also great for teaching because you can teach through a virtual summit and it’s awesome for builders.
“Hey, hello. I came up with the idea of summit. I’m a builder, a good deal connector. The reason that it worked for me is because I approached that as a builder. So the reason I’m saying that, Joe, is because you can take any marketing strategy and with the awareness of your marketing super skills, you can approach it in a way that will work for you. Okay. So, for example, for builder, one of the ways to actually attract clients, to build a list, to have a platform is a Facebook group. So for the longest time, the idea of using Facebook to get clients has completely alluded me because I was seeing what other people were doing and what other people were doing is they would go to Facebook groups and they would reach out to people, they would connect, they would post a little inspirational quotes and they would respond in different threads.
And I would look at them and say, “Wow, what a waste of time because my connector is a zero. My connector was being quiet. It didn’t want to do that. And then I learned about Facebook groups and I lit up and now I have a group with 5,000 people, I have a place for me to talk about simplicity entrepreneurship, and it feels amazing. It feels very much aligned for me. So that’s an example. For connectors, obviously, podcast is a really great way to market yourself because you get to shine as a connector and it allows you to really build that network around yourself of people that become your network. So you get to make meaningful connections, you get to meet and nurture different people, you know, same thing with attending events. For example, I really don’t like attending events unless I can actually learn. So networking at events is not my favorite thing to do, which is why you’ll find me in the seat usually inside the room. And at the event that you and I recently attended Joe, it was great because the organizer of the event facilitated.
[JOE]: Yes. Yes.
[MILANA]: He so made it easy for somebody like me who is not typically a natural connector to connect with people in a different way.
[JOE]: I love the point of your best marketing comes out when you really know yourself because, when people are able to let their uniqueness come out, the whole idea of competition just goes away because it seems like when, whether it’s a podcaster or a therapist or anyone that’s helping people, when they really own who they are and they speak up and they say what they’re into, they also say what they’re against, it seems like you then repel the people that you know, really wouldn’t want to work with you anyway and you attract the people that do. And it’s just more fun also.
[MILANA]: Absolutely. Well, what happens is you attract clients who see you as valuable. They listen to you, they follow you, they talk to you, and they connect. There’s something that clicks between you two. And sometimes you talk to somebody or they talk to you and they just don’t resonate with your ideas or they don’t understand what you do. There is some kind of a disconnect and that’s why it usually happens because the way you communicate your value needs to happen in the way that is most natural to you. For example, the way that I get my most sales and my most, you know, the biggest number of clients is by teaching webinars because in the webinars, I get to, so my two top ones are builder and teacher; builder is higher than teachers. So I create webinars, I develop my own tools and frameworks, and I organize my ideas into little systems that make it easier for people to understand and to simplify their thinking.
Somebody called me, “Milana, you are the last teacher I’ll ever need to learn from because when you teach it, I get it.” So, that’s how I inspire people. I always like, I don’t know if I’m a motivational speaker. I watched Tony Robbins, you know, that’s like the top, top, top, inspirational, motivational speaker and like, “I don’t know that I can ever do anything that close,” and my clients tell me, “Milana, you don’t need to be Tony Robbins. When you speak, I listen, when you speak I understand, when you speak, I get inspired because I finally understand.” That’s what they find valuable about me. And so when they buy from me, they already value my way.
[JOE]: Yes. You know, the last question that I always ask people that I’m interviewing is if every private practice owner in the world were listening right now, what would you want them to know?
[MILANA]: I would want them to know that building a business can be hard when you follow somebody else’s blueprint. When you watch what other people are doing, it becomes simple. When you find, when you tune in to your own inner guru, your own intuition, your own inner guidance so that your business decisions are connected to your personal goals, dreams, purpose, you know, so constantly tune in, what is true. When you feel in the flow, what do you do when left to your own devices? That’s your natural tendencies. Do more of that. Then you have less pushing, less grinding and more results.
[JOE]: Oh, I love it. And you said that you have the free assessment that you are sharing with the audience. What’s the best way for them to connect with that assessment?
[MILANA]: Yep. So, my website is simplicitycircle.com and if you go to simplicitycircle.com/super skills, you’ll have the opportunity to take that assessment completely free and see your results.
[JOE]: Awesome. And we will put that in the show notes as well. Milana thank you so much for being on the Practice of the Practice podcast.
[MILANA]: Thank you so much for having me, Joe.
[JOE]: What an awesome interview. I had so many takeaways that I’m implementing and I want you to go take some action with what you’re learning here today. It’s so important that you actually put into practice what you are learning rather than just take it into your brain and let it sit there. Also, go support our sponsor Gusto. You know, I’ve used Gusto for about a year now. It’s helped me with my payroll. I used to be paying, I don’t know, 100 bucks a month, 150 a month to my accountant and now it’s so much cheaper for me to run all the payroll, to do it correctly, to have all the tax documents when you need it. In fact, because I sold my counseling practice, that LLC, I sold the DBA but not the full LLC because Practice of the Practice was going through it too. My accountant had me create a new LLC just for Practice of the Practice.
We’re in the middle of switching everything on Gusto and you know, it’s so, it’s time-consuming to get some of it put in there correctly but compared to when I kind of worked with an accountant to get my payroll done, it’s so awesome. So use promo code [JOE] to get three months free over at gusto.com/joe. Use promo code [JOE], that’s going to help you out.
And we’ve got so many events coming up this year. I feel like I’m just dumping them on you but we’ve got slowdownschool.com at the end of July all the way till August 1st and then we have Killin’It Camp out in Estes Park Colorado. That’s going to be October 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, and then we’ll probably have some popup events, as we have this mega road trip. So thanks so much for letting me into your ears and into your brain. Have an amazing week. I will talk to you soon.
Special thanks to the band Silence is Sexy for your intro music. We really like it and this podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to this subject matter covered. It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are rendering legal, accounting, clinical, or other professional information. If you want a professional, you should find one.