IAM2199 – Business Coach and Founder Helps Entrepreneurs Find Clarity and Market Themselves with Confidence

In this episode, we have Liz Theresa, a seasoned business coach and founder of LizTheresa.com.

Liz shares her journey from pursuing a degree in English to becoming a prominent figure in the world of online marketing and branding.

She discusses how her unique personality and approach to personal branding have been pivotal in her success and offers valuable insights into effective time management and leadership.

Liz emphasizes the importance of personal branding and authenticity. She believes that her unique personality, or “Lizness,” is a key factor that attracts clients.

Liz advocates for “time auditing” as a method to improve productivity. By tracking her activities minute-by-minute, she gains insights into how she spends her time and identifies areas for improvement.

Website: Liz Theresa
Other site: Free Copy Video

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Transcription:

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Liz Theresa Teaser 00:00

It's not that they know that they wanna buy something specific, like, they don't know that they need a website or just consulting or how I fit into their world.

They just know I have to fit into their world. So it's not your products that distinguish you. It is your you-ness that distinguishes you.

Intro 00:17

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview.

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:42

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Liz Theresa of LizTheresa.com. Liz, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Liz Theresa 00:51

Hey. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 00:55

Yes. I'm definitely excited to have you on. I've definitely been looking forward to this one. And I wanted to read a little bit more about Liz so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

And Liz is a business coach and founder of LizTheresa.com, and she has been helping entrepreneurs find clarity and uniquely market themselves with confidence for the past seven years through her strategic web design and clever copywriting services.

She wants every entrepreneur to rise to be the star of their own business. She's also the creator of concept to creation, her flagship branding and web design program.

And you can download a free copywriting training program from her at freecopyvideo.com. Liz, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Liz Theresa 01:35

Yeah. And I'm so grateful for everybody lending us their ear.

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Gresham Harkless 01:39

Yes. Definitely. Definitely. And, just to start everything out, I wanted to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Liz Theresa 01:47

I know. I always have to remind myself I am a CEO because it sounds so freaking cool. My background is a little funny. I actually was pursuing a degree in English at Bridgewater State University, and so I was getting my master's there.

And the reason why I went to pursue my master's degree is because there were absolutely no jobs when I graduated with my bachelor's in 2009, and so I thought, what better way to pass the time than to just continuing my education?

And so, I ended up going to Bridgewater and it was there actually that I discovered online marketing.

Because just to give everybody a little bit of a flashback, back in 2009, I mean, that's when Twitter was invented, and that's pretty much when I started graduate school.

So to talk about online marketing in 2009, 2010, 2011, which is when I started to get into it, I was like a pioneer.

I was very much a cool cat, and the way that it happened is I was actually a really experienced person in camera presence, so like being on camera.

And so I was trying to teach someone who was an administrator of the school how to use video with his students.

And then it turned out that he said my personal brand had something wrong with it. He was like, oh, you're using Twitter so wrong.

And I looked at my Twitter and I thought, wow, I look so pleasant. Like, I had a cowboy hat on, and I was like, yeah. Like, because I was twenty one years old. Right. Right.

And that seemed like a great idea. Then he told me all about personal branding, and then given my literature background, I read everything I could on online marketing and I got totally addicted and I started my business just after graduate school.

And I would say I had definitely soft launched, so I had a job while I was launching my business. I did try to work in, like, English and, like, try to get into social media marketing with my English degree, but everything, like, you needed three to five years experience.

And I did have one interview, even though the economy was still terrible in 2011. I did get one interview, but then they actually told me, like, that I was too creative to work there, and the job would, like, suck the soul from my body.

So then I that's really, like, verbatim, and I never forgot it. It's just one of those things and then yeah. And then, I guess, fast forward to now, and I'm offering full service website design, social media, not social media marketing anymore.

But that was how I got started, but I do some social media consulting, as well as copywriting.

Gresham Harkless 04:01

Nice. Nice. Nice. Yeah. That makes perfect sense. Funny enough, I too was an English major, and I too graduated in 2009. I didn't go to Bridgewater. I think that's you think you said that's where you went, but I knew firsthand like, all the craziness.

And funny around that time, it seems like the business world changed a lot, and that lot moved towards social media and a different time type of digital marketing, so to speak.

Liz Theresa 04:22

Yeah. It was all, like, kind of rapidly changing at that point, and everybody seemed to wanna use Facebook.

And so, like, I became an expert on that just because it was so I mean, I don't wanna say it was easy to, but it was because there were so little information that it was easy to know everything about it. Yeah. Back then.

Gresham Harkless 04:38

Yeah. And it helped that Facebook wasn't what it is now as far as, like, business pages and all that fun stuff.

Liz Theresa 04:43

Yeah. It's a real animal now.

Gresham Harkless 04:45

Exactly. Exactly. So I know you touched a little bit more on it touched a little bit on it, and I wanted to drill a little bit deeper to hear a little bit more about, like, how you serve the clients that you work with.

Liz Theresa 04:53

So I actually got my first client, who is on this show, by the way. Lori Tobin was my first client I ever got.

And I actually got her at a networking event. Those old fashioned ones where you just walk around and it's very awkward.

I met somebody that hooked me up with Lori and, like, it's been true love ever since, so that was really really awesome.

As far as like how I got my first, because I feel like it's like you get clients in funny ways when you're really starting and then like all of a sudden, it's like you meet one person, and that one person opens up, like, a whole hallway of doors for you.

Gresham Harkless 05:24

Mhmm.

Liz Theresa 05:25

And I met someone on Twitter who ended up her name was Caitlin, and she was really she just became, like, a friend, and I would say a great mentor to me.

And she introduced me to, like, the next six or seven clients I had. I mean at least, like, and then after that they some of those people are still with me today.

And that was now like seven years ago, so it was a while and it's just so funny. I feel like it's, like, who you know can be so impactful.

Gresham Harkless 05:48

Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. And like you said, if you you happen to meet that right person, it like you said, it opens up a whole entire hallway for you where there's endless doors as seems like.

And yeah, Lori was awesome. We had her on on, episode #65 I believe. And, yeah, she had an awesome interview. So it's great to hear how everything comes full circle.

Liz Theresa 06:05

I know. Now we're all connected. We're like a family. Exactly. We're like a family. There you go. Podcasting family. Exactly. Exactly. So, now I wanna Broadcasting family.

Gresham Harkless 06:12

Exactly. Exactly. So, now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for what you feel distinguishes you or sets you apart.

Liz Theresa 06:21

So I think for me, and I think for service providers, it should really you could kind of borrow from my secret sauce.

But my secret sauce is my Lizness, is what I would say. So the things that make me so essentially Liz, which is not to say I'm like The Rock where I was talking to the third person. It's not like that.

But what I believe is that if you are a service-based business and if you're a personal brand, one of the best ways to distinguish yourself from your competition is to bring your personality into things as much as possible.

And I will tell you with absolute certainty that one of the biggest reasons people hire me is because they'll like read the copy on my website, and think to themselves gee, she sounds really fun.

And I mean, like, with more enthusiasm, but, like, they'd be like, gee, she sounds really fun. And then they would they actually end up scheduling a call. That's, like, one of the first things that the good consultation, this is the way they go.

They usually say something like, oh, I read your copy, and I just knew I had to, like, I have to have you in my life and in my business. I just have to have you around. Like, that's how it starts.

It's not that they know that they wanna buy something specific. Like, they don't know that they need a website or just consulting or how I fit into their world. They just know I have to fit into their world.

So it's not your products that distinguish you. It is your you-ness that distinguishes you.

Gresham Harkless 07:33

I love that. I love that. And you might have to trademark the word business. I think that is definitely a great word as well too.

And yeah, a lot of times people forget that you don't buy necessarily products and services. You buy from people like, and trust and those people you develop relationships with.

So it's great that you have been authentic to yourself. And by being authentic to yourself and showing who you are, you have attracted sounds like the right people in your life.

Liz Theresa 07:55

Well, it's even like how if Apple made, like, the iBoots and they were, like, these special boots that, like, synced with Apple Health and told you about your foot health. I don't know. I'm just making something up.

I probably buy them because Apple made it. I mean, I don't know. I feel like that's a good example of a brand, like, so it doesn't have to be a personal brand.

I guess you could think about corporate, kind of borrows from that by creating, like, know, and trust, which is what you got at. Definitely.

Gresham Harkless 08:17

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. When you start to build that relationship and that person starts to identify themselves with everything that is you, like the listeners that you talked about, you start to want to be involved.

And have every product and service that person is putting out because you feel so tied in and it feels like you connect with it.

Liz Theresa 08:34

Yeah. And we should say put more lizness in your business. Oh, my, bet. Oh, it's so cheesy. I have to use it. It's just, like, watch people roll their eyes, and we'll all have a good laugh. But, yeah, I love it.

Gresham Harkless 08:45

Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. So, now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack.

And this might be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Liz Theresa 08:57

So my favorite, favorite thing that I do is I do something called time auditing. And have you done one of these?

Gresham Harkless 09:05

I haven't. I'm afraid to do it.

Liz Theresa 09:07

Okay. And you know what? That's very normal because it's weird, and it's kind of it's overly insightful maybe for some people.

But what basically, for people who don't know, the way that I like to describe a time audit is if you open the notes app of your phone, which is how I like to do it.

And then I write a minute by minute account of everything I do in a day. And the reason why I think time auditing is incredibly awesome is because, well, one, it tells you how you're spending your time.

And so for anybody that, like, if you end a work day and you're like, I didn't get anything done. This will make that go away because you'll have written proof that you did, so that's super helpful.

Additionally, you're less tempted to waste time, so you end up finding more time and you end up accomplishing more because you're actually more conscious of like, when five minutes passed, what did you do?

Like, I mean, I write down everything, I write down like, from 10:23 to 10:27, Liz walked downstairs, got some water, and then maybe used the bathroom and then came back, like I might do that.

It's so impactful especially for entrepreneurs where like if you're a person and you're doing everything for your business, your every department, you need to be so intentional with how you spend your time.

Gresham Harkless 10:14

Yeah. I would definitely agree with that. And it's funny, like, I try to do, the time blocking, but I think time auditing goes to a different level because you start to figure out, like, where all those nuances are and then those lost, maybe thirty minutes to an hour where you're not sure exactly what happened.

You can start to look at your logs, so to speak, and see exactly how you're spending it. And if you can kind of adjust that to be more effective.

Liz Theresa 10:33

And I had I talked to this lady honestly yesterday. This is so random, but related. And she said this quote that I'm gonna repeat. Her name is Jamie Palmer, from a company called Outlier Marketing Group.

So she's like a marketing person. But she said work expands to time allowed. So like, if you have like blocks of time, because I still use blocks of time as well, like you can't use one.

I mean, you really should use a bunch of ways to manage your time, but if you say I have an hour to finish this email, that email is gonna take you an hour.

Gresham Harkless 11:02

Yeah.

Liz Theresa 11:02

That email is not gonna take you five minutes, and so I thought that was also a really cool way to think about it.

Gresham Harkless 11:07

Yeah. Absolutely. And there's a lot of times when you have that conflict or you don't have enough time, you start to become creative on how you can kind of accomplish those goals.

So when you have a missions goals, you have a short deadline. Sometimes you figure out exactly how to reach those goals.

Liz Theresa 11:21

Oh, yeah.

Gresham Harkless 11:21

Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget, and this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Liz Theresa 11:31

Oh, that it's okay to say no if the person that's calling and ready to give you money isn't right for you.

Gresham Harkless 11:37

That's powerful. That's powerful. Yeah.

Liz Theresa 11:39

And people are afraid, though. That's why. People are afraid to say no.

Gresham Harkless 11:42

Yeah. Yeah. And you always have, and wonder if that next client's gonna come in. So you have to say yes to this person, or you may not be able to pay your bills and do all those things. So definitely fear associated with that.

Liz Theresa 11:52

And I'm big, like I mean, I'm big on also aside from saying no, it's better to say no early or just not say anything. So, like, if you say I don't know. Like, I had somebody ask for a quote.

This is just an example, and they wanted a just to give you an idea. And they were very complimentary on the phone, and then they emailed a follow-up, trashing trash talking a bunch of my clients, and she was like, I hope you didn't make their website because it looks, like, awful and embarrassing.

And I was like, hi. And actually, lucky for my ego, I didn't, make those websites. But it didn't mean that, like, I don't love those clients.

So then, like, I thought to myself, I was, like, wow. How about the golden rule? Treat others the way you wanna be treated.

Gresham Harkless 12:34

Alright.

Liz Theresa 12:35

Talk about people like that. Then I was like, I'm just gonna, like, let this puppy go and just not respond anymore. Because she was, like, ready to do something.

She kept following up and I was like, I just don't wanna talk to negative Nancy's like you. And I say it on my website too, so don't be afraid to say that somewhere that you like to work with people that are good and nice people.

Gresham Harkless 12:52

There you go. Yeah. Definitely don't be afraid to ask for what you want because sometimes you'll get it.

And if you don't ask for it, sometimes you'll get what you don't want. So definitely a good reminder.

And, now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition for what it means to be a CEO.

And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So I wanted to ask you, Liz, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Liz Theresa 13:12

I'm very emphatic that I think that it's so important to be a good leader. It's being a leader in your industry and being a leader to your clients and being a leader to your team.

So it's about exhibiting positive and strong leadership skills, and I think in those three different arenas, and I would say of the three most importantly to your team.

So when I onboard people that work with me, I try really, really hard, and by work with me, I mean, like, contractors I hire, whoever.

I try really really hard to show up as love, is what I always say, like, always show up as love, and then in showing up as love, saying to that person I'm hiring, what are your strengths, and how can I make you feel stronger? Like, what strengths can we play to?

So how can I give you tasks and delegate things that you'll enjoy doing that will let you up? And what do you wanna learn? How can you grow, and how can I be the mentor for you?

And so that's how I show up as a CEO. I equate it so much with showing up as being a positive leader or mentor.

Gresham Harkless 14:13

I love that and I love what you're saying, show up as love. That definitely makes perfect sense. And when you set that standard and set that culture, so to speak you start to attract really great people and you start to do of course, really great work.

So, I think that's a phenomenal definition. And Liz, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule.

What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, and just see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and also how everyone can get a hold of you.

Liz Theresa 14:36

Oh, I would love that. I think if I had any more nuggets of advice, I would say don't wait to start something, like, don't wait for perfection. Just go ahead and start, because like if you don't start, you're always gonna have reasons not to.

And there is no time where you'll feel ready to like launch a business, or even to shift a business. There's no ready period. There's just kind of, like, deciding if it's important enough to do it or not.

So just know that. And then as far as like where you can find me and fun things that you can do, I am on iTunes, and I have my own amazing show. It's called Liz on Biz, and you can find it on iTunes or Google Play.

You can also find me at liztheresa.com, which is l i z t h e r e s a. Or if you are just feeling really crafty, you could download my free copywriting class, which is available at freecopyvideo.com.

Gresham Harkless 15:24

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And we'll have those links in the show notes to your your, podcast and also your website and, of course, the free training that you have as well too.

But Liz, thank you so much for taking some time out. I truly appreciate you, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Liz Theresa 15:36

Thank you.

Outro 15:37

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CBNation and Blue16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts, and watch videos at CBNation.co. Also, check out our I AM CEO Facebook group.

This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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