There’s a moment every business owner has and it’s not in daylight hours! It happens when everything is quiet. It’s the thought: “I know I’m good at what I do… so why isn’t my business growing the way it should?”
In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show, I’m breaking down what’s really sitting underneath that feeling… and why it has nothing to do with your talent, your work ethic, or how “hard” you’re trying.
I get so excited about this because I’ve found time and time again, through working with so many founders/business owners it’s always uncovering the difference between being busy vs building a business that grows!
I talk about what’s really causing inconsistent leads, clients and revenue as well as the shift from effort to structure which = momentum and how to start thinking about your marketing like a system, not a guessing game. I cannot tell you how many founders fly by the seat of their pants with their marketing, that it really looks like a guessing game.
If you’ve been doing all the things and still feel like something isn’t clicking… this episode will land.
This is the conversation that helps you move from frustration to clarity… and start building a business that actually works.
If this episode resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it and tag me on Instagram so I can connect with you.
If you heard me talk about my VIP days at the end of the EP, HERE is a link for you to join me for a day that will change how you do business:
Hayley x
SUMMARY
0:00:00 – 0:01:40 Intro & Episode Framing
0:01:40 – 0:02:35 Objective of the Episode & Milestone
0:02:35 – 0:03:13 Personal Story: Pregnancy & Speaking
0:03:13 – 0:05:00 Defining the 2AM Thought for Health Brands
0:05:00 – 0:05:58 The Real Problem: Not Content, But Systems & Funnels
0:05:58 – 0:09:00 You Are Not Stuck – Your Marketing System Is
0:09:00 – 0:11:11 The Next-Level You & The Need for Strategy
0:11:11 – 0:12:18 Shift From ‘What Should I Post?’ to ‘What Is My System?’
0:12:18 – 0:13:27 High-Level Framework & Brand Base
0:13:27 – 0:14:54 Designing Messaging, Sales & the Growth Engine
0:14:54 – 0:15:55 Closing, Call to Action & Offer
Hayley Osborne
Hello, my beautiful friend, and welcome back to the podcast. I’m Hayley. I am your host of the Hayley Osborne train. I’m really glad to be in your ears today, wherever you are. I hope that you are multitasking, because it’s important to, you know, do the things and then, you know, learn new things, because knowledge is power, okay, and power gives you choices, and choices are good anyway, okay?
Today’s episode is one of those ones where I think that is a conversation that I know is going to land for so many people, people for you, for lots of health brands, because I think at 2am we always have a problem, okay? And I want to talk about how to finally fix it, and it’s what I call the 2am problem, and it’s not something that you wouldn’t have heard before, because this is not the first, this is, I’m not, you know, I’m not the first person to talk about, you know, the things that business owners think about in the middle of the night, all right?
And it’s crazy because we all do it, and I think we all know that it is not necessarily 2am but it was a really nice title for the podcast. But I think we all do it when it’s dark, when it’s quiet, you know, when everyone is quiet, when the house is quiet, when you know wherever you are is a quiet and the phone’s down and there’s no noise and there’s no distractions, and the truth comes up, and things get a bit scary, because you know, when you’re running a business, it’s like balls to the wall, like it is you, that’s it.
You’re the responsible one. Your responsibility for you has that for everything. And it can be scary, and usually, you know, when you wake up, fresh from that 2am problem, you want to take some action. And so that’s what I wanted to talk about today, because I think I like to lead with practical things, and I know that that’s very helpful for people. So that’s kind of the objective for every podcast episode that I have. So this is episode 201 so if you are new here, I am Hayley, your host, and last week was the 200th time I have hit record, which is crazy.
And I’ve had three two. I’ve got three babies, but I had two in between this podcast. I’ve had three in between this podcast, but I was actually pregnant with two, and that really does something to you, especially your ability to talk. Yes, I’ll never forget delivering a keynote, though, in front of about 300 women, and I was nine months pregnant, and it was rescheduled to that time because of covid, and I was so out of breath, I ended up ditching my notes and just riffing it. And it was fine, but then, yeah, the podcast kind of did the same to me, so I’m just relishing in this now, just being just me. That’s it. It’s just me, my body, and I am not sharing it with anyone else, which is wonderful. No breastfeeding, no nothing anymore, which is just so good.
Anyway, back at it. So we’re talking about the 2am thoughts. Okay, so you are lying there and you are thinking that I know that I’m really great at what I do, so why isn’t my business growing the way that it should be? It’s not like a panic thought, it’s a soft thought, but it’s like, dang it, you know, God damn it. It’s just what is happening. I am frustrated, okay? And I think it’s a question that you know is circling in the background when it’s daylight, but you’re busy doing the things, and you’re showing up and you’ve got your marketing happening. You’re posting content, you are busy with clients, helping them, and your energy is in that okay, because when you are in the health space, it’s your job to help people and help your community to grow and be healthier.
So from the outside, everything is moving. Everything looks good, but internally, I know that a lot of us feel that there’s a disconnect, okay, and I think that people assume, well, from what I have found in working with my clients, that there is an assumption that I need to post more, I need to be more consistent, I need better content. I need to grow my audience. I need to be bigger. So what? What do they do? Well, firsthand, I have seen they add more okay platforms, ideas, more pressure, more pressure to show up, and it’s fine for a short period of time, and it feels productive, but I have seen that it does not change the result.
So I think here is the truth. I don’t think that it’s the content. I don’t think that it’s the visibility at all. All because you’ve clearly very visible. I think it’s a system and funnel problem. Okay, so right now, I think for lots of business owners, your marketing looks like, you know, posting when you can saying what comes to mind, promoting yourself when you remember, and there’s no clear pathway from content, trust, inquiry client, okay, so what happens is you stay busy, and that’s the reason that your business doesn’t scale.
And it’s very simple, that’s it, content, trust, inquiry client, that is it, okay, and that is the pathway that you need to build for yourself to scale and not stay super busy in that hamster wheel. Now I know that we removed ourselves from the hamster wheel to work for ourselves, what I did, and you are working for yourself, but then the same thing kind of happens. So the idea is that I don’t want you to stay busy. I want you to be able to scale, but to do that, you kind of have to take a few little steps back to take 20 steps forward. And that’s okay, because it is so beautiful on the other end. Okay, so I want you to really hear what I’m about to say next. And as it is that you are not stuck at all.
Your business isn’t stuck at all. I think your business is wonderful because you wouldn’t be doing the business that you are doing. You wouldn’t be running the business that you’re running right now if you weren’t smart enough to make it happen, because you have trained for years to be able to have that credibility that you have, whether you are a naturopath, a physio, a Cairo, you’re in the beauty industry, you’re in the wellness space, every business owner works their ass off to get where they are, and you got to have balls to run your own business, right?
There are some days that are shit, and most of the days are really amazing. Okay, the thing that is stuck is your marketing system, okay, but that’s good news, okay, because systems can be fixed. They can be made simple; they can be scaled. And it’s so nice, all right? And I think that what is deeper is what is happening here. And the part that I see all the time with lots of women, that I work with, lots of business owners that I work with, is that you are, you’ve outgrown Okay, the way that you are operating, and that’s okay. That’s really normal to be able to move forward, but you are operating at something that is sitting back here.
And I talk with my hands a lot, so if you are listening, you’re not watching on YouTube, because this is live on YouTube. I’ve got this really cool hat on at the moment. It’s my, like, my tan suede, beautiful hat. I absolutely love it. My hair is a bit crazy, so I decided to wear a hat. The hat, the hats have a vibe. I’m loving the hat. Side note, I’m actually getting my hair cut soon, which will be so nice, because after baby number three, my hair is kind of growing a bit psycho, so it’s back to its wild self. You know how you lose hair? Like, I don’t know, for me, it was around the four-month mark after baby, and now it’s like growing back.
And it is about, oh, I want to say maybe, like, 15 centimeters long. And then there’s this, like, other bit that’s like, past my shoulders. And so we have to do something about that, because I stopped wearing it down, because it is just so obvious and it’s wild, it’s really thick right now, which is fine, because it means I’m going back to pre-baby hair, which I’m so loving anyway. But what I see all the time with people that I work with is that you need to step into this person that you know that you can and your business needs to grow with you, okay? Because you’re outgrowing the way that you’re currently operating.
Okay? So I think that you’re in demand, but you feel stretched. You are capable, definitely, but inconsistent, and you’re showing up haphazardly, which means you’re not converting, okay, and the version of you that you are stepping into, I’m telling you now, to a new level, different devil, okay? So to be able to go up a level, you need to be clear who you are, who you serve, the problem that you solve and the transformation that you provide, very clear, structured in your approach. Okay? So you don’t come on looking scattered, okay, so every post is planned, every story is planned.
We are following content pillars all of the time that work for. Us, okay? What is the objective for all of this? There has to be something you cannot just show up and hope it lands. That’s not us. That’s not a strategy at all. And this person, you’re scalable. Everything that you have is scalable. Every business out there is scalable and profitable, okay, but I can you know if, if there’s this 2am problem, the way that you’re marketing your business hasn’t caught up with the version that you are turning into, and that’s just the way it is. And it feels frustrating. I get it, okay? And it feels heavy, it feels annoying. I don’t think that there’s a lack of effort. I just think you are putting in the work, and I know that you care so deeply about what you do.
Otherwise you wouldn’t do it. And I know that you want to succeed. Otherwise you wouldn’t have studied so hard and gone out on your own and done all the things, okay? But without strategy, you will be exhausted, and that’s a fact, okay, and that’s a cycle that will keep going around and around, unless you do something about it. So what actually changes this? You stop asking, what should I post? And you start thinking, okay, what is my system? What is the system that simplifies this for me, that works for me? And when you simplify this, everything changes.
You know what to say. You know how to shop. You know where it is good for you to show up. You know what time of day or week is good for you to show up. And you know how it leads to clients. You know how your business grows, and this is something that I help my clients build, okay? And this is a marketing ecosystem that actually works, okay, so at a high level, it looks like building your brand base, okay, you engineer your digital footprint to work for you. Okay, sounds big. It is big. It’s massive. I’ve been in this space for a very long time, so I started working, and I’ve seen so many changes and iterations of what it looks like to grow a massive brand.
So in 2009 the year that Instagram started, I got my first marketing role, and I worked for a company called Brown Foreman, and they own the Brown family-owned Jack Daniels, and that’s what I did. So I was first on the Instagram page for the Australian Jack Daniels brand, Sham board, Southern Comfort, El Himador, like tequilas, vodkas. That was my jam. Instagram, social media for these massive alcohol brands, and it taught me a thing or two about building global brands and building in the digital space. And I have been playing in this space for such a long time.
Okay, that is a very long time, and that is the year that Instagram started, and I am so bloody proud of that. I’m not sure if I’ve actually told that story for a while. So there you go. And I grew with the brands, and I helped the brands to grow, and oh boy. And that’s when I lived in Sydney. I had so much fun, and it was so perfect for the time that I was at in my life as well, but I do know, and I’ve seen this so you do need to engineer your digital footprint if you do want to grow, because I’m all about it okay, and you need to be able to design your messaging.
You need to be able to design how you sell, and the ecosystem that fits around that, okay? And then you activate that growth engine with a firecracker up its ass, okay? And once that is in place, you’re not guessing anymore, you’re growing that feels really, really nice, okay, and it is a framework, and it is something that I work towards, and that is what your high level looks like. So there’s a few parts to that framework I’ve built that, and I continue to use that how I work with my clients, and build the systems that actually help you to scale and grow inside your business.
Because it does come down to systems. You can’t wing it when you get to a certain point. It’s kind of fun when you start, and it’s fun, but it will only get you so far, okay? And then you have to start to get serious even about how you show up, because that’s actually what moves the needle. Yes. So I think that if this episode has landed for you, you’ve had that to a. I take this as a sign that I don’t want you to do more. I just want you to do things differently with the way that you’re structured, how you show up, how clear you are and what your intention is. Okay, because when your marketing finally matches the level that you are operating at, and I know that some of those that listen to this podcast, you know who you are.
You are operating at a high level. Okay, that’s awesome. Everything changes. So if you’ve loved this episode, I want you to share it with somebody who you think might benefit and who might help. And if you are ready to take this to the next level. This is exactly the kind of work that we do inside my VIP days and my programs. And I will see you in the next episode for any of the information on my VIP days. The links will be in the show notes for you, and you can find them on my website as well, but you can click through there. Have a great rest of the day, whatever you are doing, and I’ll catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.
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