Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hi Gorgeous! This is episode number 238 and I am so thrilled that the amazing Lacy Boggs is back on the show today.

Lacy Boggs [0:10]
Hi, this is Lacy Boggs and you’re listening to Heart Sells! Podcast with Christine Schlonski. Enjoy.

Christine Schlonski [0:16]
Well, I am just pumped to have Lacy Boggs back today. We’re going to talk about creative magic that sells and I already loved our last episode where we talked that only a block was a strategy makes sense and Lacy explained beautifully why that is the case and what you can do when you are not inspired to write something and I hope you tune in and figure out what that is. So Lacy is a content strategist. She is the author of the best selling Kindle book Make a Killing with Content, and she is the Director of the Content Direction Agency. She helps personality-driven brands, create and implement content marketing strategies, tailor-made to support their customers, and reach their goals. So let’s dive right in. Well, I’m so super excited to have you back on the show, Lacy, welcome!

Lacy Boggs [1:13]
Thank you.

Christine Schlonski [1:14]
Yeah, the first episode was so fun. And again, congratulations on Carnegie Hall coming up in May.

Lacy Boggs [1:23]
Super excited!

Christine Schlonski [1:24]
So, it’s probably after your episode came out, so people, hopefully, can be somewhere good. Get your face. I don’t know.

Lacy Boggs [1:33]
I don’t even know. I don’t even know where it’s gonna be but maybe.

Christine Schlonski [1:37]
Yeah, maybe. So it’s magic. It’s creative magic. And we’re going to talk about some more creative magic in this episode, because you’re just a rock star when it comes to content, writing content for other people, which is something that most of the entrepreneurs are not even aware that you can actually start a blog and outsource blogging so to speak, other form of concentration. But before we dive in, I would love to know what was the very first thing that you ever sold in your whole life?

Lacy Boggs [2:14]
Oh my gosh, the first thing I ever sold?

Christine Schlonski [2:16]
The first thing you’ll exchange your product, services, and got paid for?

Lacy Boggs [2:22]
Well, if we’re going way back, I sold Girl Scout cookies as a child. It was a Girl Scout. So Girl Scout cookies, I don’t know that I was very good at it, but I did it. Um, and then my very first business was actually a food blog. So before I left my last job, my last real job was working as a food writer and food editor for a magazine here in Colorado. And that is nice work. If you can get it, you get paid to eat. It’s really good. But I got pregnant and I didn’t want to work crazy. 60 hour weeks and be there until three in the morning when the magazine had to go to the publisher and things like that. So I left that job and I thought I would start a food blog because obviously, I was a food writer. But let me just tell you, it’s hard to make a living as a food writer. I call that my four-figure year because I didn’t make very much money, but I did sell a few things there.

Christine Schlonski [3:19]
Did you get at least sponsored on the food?

Lacy Boggs [3:24]
Yes. So that’s the nice thing about having a food blog, you get invited places so that you’ll write about it. So I did get sponsored for some things and but not paid very much.

Christine Schlonski [3:35]
Yeah. Well, you know, I like when you, when you see all these movies like Ratatouille, and really, there’s some really nice French movies. I think one would be translated is The Chef, where people actually the critics, right, they get, you know, they get to the nicest restaurants and then they taste the best food. And I thought like that would be another option for me. Really going in. Being in the nicest places and kind of figuring out if I like it or not.

Lacy Boggs [4:07]
It’s like I said, wonderful job hard to get paid for.

Christine Schlonski [4:13]
Yeah, yeah, probably you need a name in the industry and that is not going to happen from one day to the other. But that’s you know, I mean, there are really no overnight successes as a writer. Yeah. Awesome. So yeah, let’s talk about the idea of outsourcing your writing, your content creation, so to speak.

Lacy Boggs [4:38]
Mm-hmm. I think sometimes when I tell people what I do, and that we write blog posts for other people, they get this like wide-eyed look, and they say, oh my gosh, you can do that.

Christine Schlonski [4:48]
Yeah. Like you said, some of, your amazing people you work with. And I was looking like, wow, they did to that? So whatever you can share, just share with us. And then also, what kind of questions do people come to you with?

Lacy Boggs [5:07]
Well, I can’t tell you everybody I work for because then I’d have to kill you. But we do have, you know, some nondisclosure agreements and things like that. So sometimes people want to keep it a secret, which is fine. And other times they don’t mind sharing that they have somebody else writing their content. But yeah, it’s an interesting thing to me because entrepreneurs don’t seem to have any trouble hiring writers to do, for example, their website content or to write a sales page for them or write emails for them. But something about blogging feels different, right? It feels they’re, yeah, personal, they’re worried that it will be inauthentic or that it won’t sound like them or that their clients or customers will be able to tell that they’re not doing it anymore. I think that’s one of the things that really sets us apart is that we make it a very strong point to write in the client’s voice. So, you know, I always say nobody should be able to tell that you’ve outsourced even your mother shouldn’t be able to tell any difference. Because I feel like it’s important to have that consistency. But people are always like, how can you write what I’m thinking? You know, it all comes out of my head. And it’s very much, it’s very much a relationship between the writer and the client. So a lot of times we will interview the client, or we will, they will, they might want to write out an outline or a few thoughts in an email that they send us. So it’s still their thoughts. It’s still their stories. They share anecdotes and stories with us things we couldn’t possibly, it’s not like we could research. Those sorts of things.

Christine Schlonski [6:49]
If you can’t read the mind then?

Lacy Boggs [6:51]
No, we can’t read both. Unfortunately, not yet. Working on it now. But we can, we do, we are really good. Most of the women that work for me are former journalists. So they are good at interviewing. They’re good at gathering information, and they’re good at then synthesizing it into something new. So basically, what we’re doing is just removing the time and effort, it would take you to write it. And so a lot of times entrepreneurs get to a certain point in their business, where they need to spend their time doing something else, it’s more valuable to spend the time they would normally be blogging, doing something else that generates income or that has an impact on people. And blogging falls down on the list of importance, but if they want to keep communicating, they can bring us in, we can still do their thoughts, their thought leadership, their ideas, but they don’t have to do the actual writing.

Christine Schlonski [7:44]
Yeah. So how does your work support the entrepreneur by, let’s say, like saving time? How does it have an impact on their sales?

Lacy Boggs [7:53]
Yes, a lot of times people tell us it’s like me dialed up to 11 and I like that because it still feels like them, but we’re putting, like a professional copywriter polish on it. So we always do the strategy upfront. So we know what we’re going to publish about, and we know why, we know what they’re selling, right? And then we can, we’re very skilled at working in organic calls to action, or working in, you know, the right kind of copywriting that fits in a blog post that will help move people to become a lead or join a webinar or make a sale, whatever it is, it’s very rarely, at least with our clients, it’s very rare that somebody’s going to buy straight from a blog post. But they might be saying yes to something else, like opting in for a lead magnet or deciding to join a webinar or joining somebody’s Facebook group, whatever it might be. So we have that expertise to make sure that every time you’re publishing something, it’s moving people closer to a sale, even if they’re not hitting the Buy Now button right from a blog post.

Christine Schlonski [8:55]
Yeah, which that’s really uncommon if you don’t have like a super-duper cheap product.

Lacy Boggs [9:01]
Right! For a dollar widgets maybe, but.

Christine Schlonski [9:05]
Yeah, exactly. I mean people want to be nurtured and you know, you need the like and trust piece and you know, they want to know about you and better to experience for them as well because they kind of sell themselves already before they talk to you or hopefully before they book your course or coaching program.

Lacy Boggs [9:29]
Right? I have this great example I am. I worked with a brand called Bluff Works for a while it’s a men’s actually I think they sell women’s clothing now too, but they sell technical travel clothing, so the kind that doesn’t wrinkle on the airplane, but theirs doesn’t look like travel clothing, it looks like a nice suit or whatever. And so the owner of the business was really the personality behind the brand. So I worked with him for about four years, writing his blog posts were which were all about his crazy travel adventures, but also some things behind the scenes. of the business, like, why he decided to do Kickstarter or how they were developing the new jacket or whatever. And he got to the point where they were ready to do around of Angel Investing. So we were writing a blog post about that. You know why he had decided to do it that way, and so on. And we sent out the email to his list to say there’s a new blog post about Angel Investing and went out to about 10,000 guys who buy pants. And at the end of the email, we just put a little PS and said, if you are an Accredited Angel Investor, and you’re interested, reply to this email, and you can talk to Stephen. Well, he got about 16 replies. And of those three people ended up investing over $300,000 in his business. So from one email. I wish I could say like it was because that one post is so amazing, but I really think it was because we had been blogging and building up a relationship with those people for three years before we made that huge ask, right? So it’s a long game and you’re building up a relationship with people even when you’re not saying buy my course right now. You’re building that relationship, that foundation so that when you do make the ask people are excited about it.

Christine Schlonski [11:14]
Yeah, yeah, I totally get it. So would you say that it’s important for people to blog and to, or if not blogging like at least put regular lead content out there?

Lacy Boggs [11:28]
I think in most cases, the answer is yes. And, and what I will say is, whatever channel you choose is fine. Like, a lot of times people will come to me and it’s almost like they’re asking permission not to blog. They’ll say, Oh, well, I have this podcast that does really well or I’m really good on Instagram. Do I have to have a blog? And the answer is no. If you’re getting the leads and the sales you need from a podcast from Instagram, from a video, whatever, it is great, do that. And if you’re not and if you want to grow things a little more then maybe adding a written channel like a blog is a good idea, right? Blogs have a lot of benefits going for them that other channels might not like, Google Search isn’t indexing Instagram posts. They’re not. They can’t quite index podcasts like this one yet the audio so unless you put up show notes or transcript or something, you’re not getting found in searches that way. So having a written article, or written blog post that Google can search means you’re going to get more traffic that way. So there’s a lot of little benefits around blogging that that may not be available to other things. But so I guess my answer is, if you’re doing great with other things, more power to you. If you would like to increase and grow and grow your leads and grow your presence, then maybe a blog is a good choice.

Christine Schlonski [12:54]
Yeah, and it doesn’t need to be like the long-winded one, with 800 or 2000 words, right? It can be short and sweet.

Lacy Boggs [13:02]
Yeah, totally depends on your goals, right? If you just want to communicate with your people short and sweet is amazing. I always recommend at least 300 words because that’s what triggers Google to index it to put it in search results. If you’re trying to rank for a particular keyword, you might have to go more in-depth. That’s where you might need to have 1000 2000 words. So that Google says, Oh, this is a really in-depth resource. And then you could rank higher for that keyword. But again, it’s all about your goals. What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? And then we can choose the kind of content that makes that possible?

Christine Schlonski [13:41]
Yeah. So start with a goal in mind. Always. Yeah, that’s a good reminder. So you mentioned in our first episode that you know, you had your first four-figure year by still trying to be a food blogger, and then obviously, you transition. You have now this successful company where you actually have a team of people that help blogging for others, what was maybe an Aha! moment that you can share that made you realize that there was the opportunity to step up in a much bigger way?

Lacy Boggs [14:21]
Yeah, I think I resisted building a company for a long, beyond myself for a long time because I was afraid. I was afraid of other people depending on me. I was afraid of being the boss. I didn’t want to be the boss. I didn’t want to be you know, in charge of hiring and firing. And what happened was that I was working as a solo person and I just got full, my, there were only so many hours in the day, right? I was working, I was a full-time mom, in addition to running this business. And so I really only wanted to work and have the hours to work about 20 hours a week. So when I hit that wall, you know writing a blog post takes time for somebody, right? So there’s only so many blog posts I could physically write in 20 hours a week. So I went to my friend and I said, hey, would you be interested in subcontracting for me? And she said, yes. And, and that’s how it grew very organically. She was my first subcontractor. And then it just grew from there. It was like we needed other things. We needed an SEO expert. So I found another girl that I knew a friend and I said, would you be interested in working with us? Yes, I would. So we’ve grown this team of we have eight women now, we’re all moms. And we’re all building that lifestyle balance life well as balanced as it can be, lifestyle. And it feels really good to me because I don’t have to be like, being the boss is better than I ever thought it had to be. I had to overcome that fear. A little at a time as we were growing.

Christine Schlonski [15:54]
Yeah, and that’s what it is right? You take each challenge one step at a time. Yeah. Awesome. And do you have, or can you share like a resource that made a big impression or difference for you like maybe a book or like anything that you remember that was like, wow, I’m so happy I discovered this.

Lacy Boggs [16:18]
Yes, I think probably my favorite business book is Essentialism by George McKeown. I think his name is. It’s just very, very much how I think about the world. And to sum it up, it’s about doing less but better. So stop trying to do everything stop trying to be pulled in a thousand different directions, focus on what’s going to have the biggest impact, and then do it as well as you possibly can. And I think that’s, that’s impacted me in my business because we were talking before we started recording about you have posted new notes everywhere with your ideas right now. I think a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to that. Like having a thousand post-it note ideas, but when you start to think, okay, I have to focus what is going to have the biggest impact for me right now? And how can I do that one thing better? I think it gives you an entirely different view of how to, there are a million things we could do. Whether you’re talking about business in general, or marketing specifically, but what is the thing that’s going to move you forward the most efficiently and effectively? And so that’s also what I try to bring to my strategies. You know, I don’t try to tell my clients. Hey, you have to be everywhere you have to be on every channel. I say no, let’s pick one or two to focus on and do those really well.

Christine Schlonski [17:42]
Yeah, I totally agree. Yes, master one thing and then add the other and then you can be sure that you have tweaked it in the right way you have worked it in the right way. And you know, then obviously, it’s going to make you money and when it makes you money, then you can explore other things. And yeah, the shiny object. That’s something a lot of entrepreneurs suffer from because we are creative as entrepreneurs, and I started to just write down ideas so that I can get them out of my hat. And then, you know, whatever I pick, making it as good as I can for the moment, but also not being in my own way of starting things. Because I wanted to do it perfectly.

Lacy Boggs [17:55]
Oh, that’s so good. Like, you have to find that middle ground, right?

Christine Schlonski [18:33]
Yes. Yeah, because I also know many people that don’t start because they want it perfect. And when you want to perfect, you’re just in your own way. And most of the time, your customer will tell you what they need in the process, but you have to show up, you have to make that offer. And then obviously, you can change it while you go along. So, you know, trying out and getting feedback is, I think a really, really important component when you want to be an entrepreneur, because you know, you have to figure it out on your own.

Lacy Boggs [19:06]
Yeah, there’s no, you know, we have all these marketing formulas and templates and things like that, that we can buy or invest in from different people. And there’s nothing wrong with those, those are a good place to start. But I really feel like you can’t just rely on someone else to figure out your marketing for you, 100%. You need to be able to look at it and say, what works for me? Which of these pieces is going to work for me? And that’s what I try to do with my clients is say, look, you don’t have to follow the formula if it doesn’t make sense for your people or your brand. You know, let’s pick and choose the things that make the most sense for you right now.

Christine Schlonski [19:47]
Yeah, totally. And that’s, that’s why I love your very thoughtful gift, the Editorial Calendar Template because it is actually something that you fill out yourself. You decide what gets in the calendar and what doesn’t. So Hmm, can you tell us about it and where, where people can get it?

Lacy Boggs [20:08]
Yes. So this is actually the exact same document/tool I use with all of my clients and I use it for myself too. And it’s an Editorial Calendar that you can look at and fill out and help plan out your marketing strategy based on your goals the way we’ve been talking about. You can go to lacyboggs.com/heart-sells to grab it. And when you get it, there’s actually a video of me explaining how to use it. So I walk you through all the pieces of it, but really, it’s just about stepping back, zoom out a little bit, take a 30,000-foot view of what’s happening in your business, what your goals are, and then create content that’s going to help move you towards those goals. And then you just put it at you just slot it in the dates. That makes sense because once you figured out that big picture, the actual weekly topics or monthly topics or however often you’re posting are much, much easier to come by.

Christine Schlonski [21:04]
Yeah, awesome. Well, that’s a really great help. And I know I have been overwhelmed with these things at the beginning of my business, but I’m also realizing that having a structure gives you freedom, especially the more cooperations you have with other people. The more you partner up, the more clarity you need, what needs to go out. Where do you want to make a launch? Where do you create a new group program or online program or a retreat or whatever, so that the content is aligned to the goal that you can support more people?

Lacy Boggs [21:44]
Yes, the more you add to your team, whether it’s just the VA who helps you with certain things, or you start to have an actual like lots of different people on your team, the more organized and the more planning you need to do because that way everybody’s on the same page. Everybody understands what the goal is and how they’re going to get there. It’s very important. So it’s great for solo people to get out of their heads and get planning. But it’s also great for people who have a bigger business or a bigger team because you really do have to have that framework, as you said so that everybody knows what’s happening.

Christine Schlonski [22:18]
Yeah. So can you share like a parting piece of guidance for the listeners?

Lacy Boggs [22:25]
Sure. I think that the way I think about content and content marketing is that we are laying a path for our clients to follow and at the end of the path is a sale, right? So if you can imagine your potential client is on one side of the river, and a sale is on the other side of the river. Each piece of content you create is a rock in the river to help them get across. If you just scatter them in randomly. Your person is going to have a really hard time. If you lay them out systematically and strategically though they can go from one side to the without getting them washed away, and you’ll get a lot more people making the journey with you. So being strategic about your content helps lead people to the sale and helps you reach those goals and your business.

Christine Schlonski [23:11]
Yeah, I love that picture you just put in my head. It totally makes sense, like build the bridge, right? Don’t just pile up some rocks hoping people get on the other side. Then that leads to the last question for the day. What us Heart Sells! mean for you?

Lacy Boggs [23:29]
Oh, I think for me, I always try to sell from my heart because it’s about service, right? It’s about Can I help you? Can I be of service to you? In my business? I’m really big on, it’s important for me to support people who are making a big change in the world. So I don’t necessarily think that blogging is going to change the world. But I get to support people who are making a huge impact who are changing lives and changing the world. And that is really important to me. So that’s how I sell from the heart is knowing that when it’s a good match for both of us, I’m going to help them multiply their impact. And that’s really wonderful for me.

Christine Schlonski [24:10]
Yeah, I do think blogging changes a lot because you do inspire, right? And, like when I had that period in my business where I wrote a blog each and every day, and then people got back and said, well, you know, your posts became part of my morning ritual. That was just wonderful. It did put some pressure, obviously, on me as well. Because all of a sudden, you know, you’re just blogging and sharing and, you know, doing the inspirational thing, what comes through not very strategic besides a call to action, but um, yeah, I think it does help people to transform or be inspired or have a better start into the day. And I think it’s a beautiful forum. To you know, express what you’re thinking. And yeah to just show other people and obviously, there are other forms like podcasting, or videos or master classes, webinars, whatever, but I do think people really like to read. And that’s something everybody can do everywhere? Like even at birth? And I just think it does, it does change lives and therefore the world.

Lacy Boggs [25:33]
Well, thanks for saying so. I appreciate that.

Christine Schlonski [25:36]
Yeah. And I know you’re doing great work. You shared some with me and I just love what I’ve seen. So I highly recommend people hop on over to christineschlonski.com/podcast and yeah, get to Lacy’s wonderful episode with some resources and make sure you are getting your download of the Editorial Calendar Template. And also, obviously, all the links to her will be there. Just one, click away, connect with her, check her out, follow her. It’s very inspirational. I love getting your newsletters. They’re so different. So, yeah, I just want to make sure people do connect. And don’t just wash that thought away. It’s gonna help you build your business and you can learn a ton from Lacy. So hop on over there and check out the Show Notes, including the Resources. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your time today at Heart Sells! Podcast and yeah! Have a wonderful day.

Christine Schlonski [26:43]
Well, again, what a valuable episode I hope you’ve gotten a ton out of it. I just love talking to Lacy and I could have gone for hours because she shared so many golden nuggets, and I’m going to implement some of the stuff because this will help my business grow and also for everybody reading blogs, they have a much better time enjoying them because I get to show up more often right and more often we show up, we are top of mind at people’s inboxes. And this will also help us to make business because you know if they think about the solution they need, and you come to mind first, well guess what? They are going to reach out to whoever they can think of for support. So I hope that you have gotten a lot out of it that you have taken notes, hop on over to christineschlonski.com. Find the podcast tab and then you get the Transcript, the Show Notes, and the Key Points of this wonderful episode. And also you have all the links to Lacy so you can connect and it’s just one click away, as well as resources are wonderful Gree Gift, the Editorial Calendar Template. And I also put you in a link to her amazing book, Making a Killing with Content. And once you’re over there, Sign up for the Empowerment Notes, and get all the updates on Heart Sells! Podcast as well as amazing content that I usually do not share on social media. Thank you so much for having been here for tuning in. Have a wonderful day wherever you are in this beautiful world. And I’m saying bye for now.