Episode 230

full
Published on:

31st Oct 2023

Conquer Your Business with Erin Marcus | RR230

Join me as I sit down with the amazing Erin Marcus, the founder and CEO of Conquer Your Business. Erin’s journey is a testament to her self-reliance and determination. Listen to her origin story, which might resonate with many of you who didn't quite fit into the traditional school mold. Her story is a reminder that sometimes life takes unexpected turns, and it's our adaptability that counts.

Erin emphasizes the importance of being true in your business to grow and build your network strategically. This is a conversation that explores the value of real connection and the true essence of networking. Tune in and let Erin’s story inspire you on your own entrepreneurial path!

In this episode you will learn:

  • Embrace your unique journey and adaptability in life.
  • Recognize the difference between networking and building your network.
  • Be prepared with specific asks when seeking help or collaboration.
  • Discover the power of giving before receiving in networking.
  • Find value in genuine relationships and authentic connections.

Learn more about Erin:

Website: https://conqueryourbusiness.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErinMarcusConquerYourBusiness

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinmarcusconqueryourbusiness/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmarcusconqueryourbusiness/

A little about me:

I began my career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years, and then found my niche training & supporting business owners, entrepreneurs & sales professionals to network at a world-class level. My passion is working with motivated people, who are coachable and who want to build their businesses through relationship marketing and networking (online & offline). I help my clients create retention strategies, grow through referrals, and create loyal customers by staying connected.

In appreciation for being here, I have a couple of gifts for you.

A LinkedIn Checklist for setting up your fully optimized Profile: https://www.janiceporter.com/linkedin-training.html

An opportunity to test drive the Follow Up system I recommend by sending a FREE greeting card (on me): www.sendacardeverytime.com

Connect with me:

http://JanicePorter.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiceporter/

https://www.facebook.com/JanicePorterBiz

https://twitter.com/janiceporter


Join our Relationships Rule community on FB here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/relationshipsrule/


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Transcript
Janice Porter:

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's

Janice Porter:

episode of relationships rule. I have a mazing guest with me

Janice Porter:

today someone again, I think I met on LinkedIn, I'm not even

Janice Porter:

sure if it was at a networking event online or not. But we did

Janice Porter:

meet through LinkedIn, we had a zoom call, we hit it off right

Janice Porter:

away. And I'm so excited to have her on my show. So first of all,

Janice Porter:

welcome to the show, Aaron Marcus.

Erin Marcus:

Oh, thank you. I'm excited to be here. As much as

Erin Marcus:

I, LinkedIn makes me crazy. At the same time, I've met the most

Erin Marcus:

amazing people.

Janice Porter:

There you go. Exactly. Right. And I know that

Janice Porter:

we are aligned in that we both we both think that relationships

Janice Porter:

are key. And I just, I think I'd like my audience to know first

Janice Porter:

from you, I was going to read a little bit about your company's

Janice Porter:

conquer your business and all of that good stuff. But tell me how

Janice Porter:

you got here, at least.

Erin Marcus:

Because origin story

Janice Porter:

in a way, because I got a sense from reading your

Janice Porter:

bio, that that you were one of those problem children in school

Janice Porter:

that you didn't like, probably ADHD or something like that,

Janice Porter:

where you were so busy wanting to do things that you want to be

Janice Porter:

active, they couldn't sit still in a desk, I kind of got that

Janice Porter:

sense. I don't know how that

Erin Marcus:

I don't even know that it's ADHD. I was bored and

Erin Marcus:

had other things to do. Yeah, I was a total problem child. But

Erin Marcus:

at the same time, basically, if you look at my high school, I

Erin Marcus:

didn't go. But I aced all the tests, which back in the 70s and

Erin Marcus:

80s. Before they tracked everything you did online meant

Erin Marcus:

you graduated Chicago public schools, because I aced all the

Erin Marcus:

tests because the books were interesting. I'd read the books.

Erin Marcus:

I remember what I did listen, but by high school, eight other

Erin Marcus:

things to do. I'm not good things. That came later, by

Erin Marcus:

senior year of high school, I was honestly working 60 hours a

Erin Marcus:

week. Oh, your high school. I was just working in a pharmacy,

Erin Marcus:

I was a pharmacy. Okay. It's making me and surviving. And the

Erin Marcus:

hysterical part is I was a pharmacy technician, which meant

Erin Marcus:

I was, you know, distributing drugs, both legally and it is

Erin Marcus:

what it is. But it's not the scary version that you see now.

Erin Marcus:

Right? It was a little bit more innocent version of it. But what

Erin Marcus:

I've always done is been very, very self reliant. So I wasn't

Erin Marcus:

one of those kids who always knew what I wanted to do, and

Erin Marcus:

then set out to do it. But I did always know that if I wanted to

Erin Marcus:

have something, I had to do it myself. I think that's a big ad.

Erin Marcus:

You know, that's a big Gen X thing anyway, right? If I wanted

Erin Marcus:

to do something, I could do it myself. And in high school, I

Erin Marcus:

wanted to live on my own terms. I didn't want to go to school.

Erin Marcus:

So I earned a living so I could live on my own terms. Right.

Erin Marcus:

College became more interesting. I literally went to college to

Erin Marcus:

get out of the house. And by the way, before we get all dramatic,

Erin Marcus:

my mother and I have a great relationship, right. But at the

Erin Marcus:

time part of my part, me part her, I really did go to college

Erin Marcus:

to get out of the house because they didn't know what else to do

Erin Marcus:

next.

Janice Porter:

Do you grew up in Chicago, right? I

Erin Marcus:

grew up in Chicago. Yeah. And college got more

Erin Marcus:

interesting. Right college got more interesting. So I got good

Erin Marcus:

grades there because now it was more engaging. And the topics

Erin Marcus:

were more challenging. And, and that was what it was. And the

Erin Marcus:

rest of my life really has been do a good job so that the next

Erin Marcus:

opportunity opened up for me, it wasn't setting my again, it

Erin Marcus:

wasn't me setting out to do this one thing that I was interested

Erin Marcus:

in. I'm interested in so many different things. But that

Erin Marcus:

independence as Gen X, you know that we grew up with the knowing

Erin Marcus:

that if I wanted something I had to provide it for myself. The

Erin Marcus:

undying drive to learn I just cannot cannot stop. I know.

Erin Marcus:

periodicity. I'm the weird person that reads all the signs

Erin Marcus:

at the museum.

Janice Porter:

I do that too. Yeah. rules in the game to

Erin Marcus:

know because I don't follow any rules. Here

Erin Marcus:

what they are. Yeah, no, that's another thing I never you know,

Erin Marcus:

if you mix this drive to learn with truly a Midwestern good

Erin Marcus:

work ethic because like I said, I work 60 hours a week as a 17

Erin Marcus:

year old right? I'm with not thinking the rules applied to

Erin Marcus:

me. I just really didn't I don't mean that in a chip on my

Erin Marcus:

shoulder way. I just they didn't. They never have but you

Janice Porter:

for quite a long time, weren't you? I

Erin Marcus:

did but I wouldn't looking back now, looking back,

Erin Marcus:

I realize my success and delivering allowed me a breath

Erin Marcus:

of freedom, even in corporate, that's probably not normal. It's

Erin Marcus:

probably not average. In the last job that I had before I

Erin Marcus:

went out on my own. I was there for 12 years. And I oh my god,

Erin Marcus:

like, I realized now I was really, really allowed to be an

Erin Marcus:

intrapreneur. I did, I mean, I created an entire department, we

Erin Marcus:

I helped change the entire business model, I was brought

Erin Marcus:

into rooms that were so above my paygrade. And it really goes

Erin Marcus:

back to this work ethic, do a good job, take complete personal

Erin Marcus:

responsibility, because you I have zero entitlement, there's

Erin Marcus:

nothing that's going to be handed to me. And that opened

Erin Marcus:

the next opportunity. And I also think the intrinsic thing about

Erin Marcus:

I actually like people, I love learning about people, and

Erin Marcus:

figuring out why they do what they do, so that I can do a

Erin Marcus:

better job at what I'm doing. And, you know, again, looking

Erin Marcus:

back the skill I needed to grow up self reliant in Chicago

Erin Marcus:

public schools, with people from 22 different countries, which

Erin Marcus:

means nobody knows how to communicate with each other, are

Erin Marcus:

the exact same skills that allowed me to be so flexible in

Erin Marcus:

my corporate life. And it just all, you know, this crazy

Erin Marcus:

background that at the time didn't seem like it made sense

Erin Marcus:

at all. Right? It just comes together to go, Okay, this is

Erin Marcus:

why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Janice Porter:

So when you were you went from corporate, I think

Janice Porter:

was Do you consider your franchise piece part of

Janice Porter:

corporate? Or was that the No,

Erin Marcus:

oh, God? No, I call it jumping halfway off the

Erin Marcus:

cliff. Okay. So, right. So I had my job, and we fool ourselves

Erin Marcus:

into thinking that our paycheck is secure. Because we have a

Erin Marcus:

job. That's, you know, we know better now, truthfully. But so I

Erin Marcus:

had a job at a great job, by the way, with great, amazing people.

Erin Marcus:

But I got to my late 30s, early 40s, and I'm like, There's got

Erin Marcus:

to be something else. Right, you hit you start thinking about

Erin Marcus:

things differently. And so the first leap I took was purchasing

Erin Marcus:

a franchise. And it wasn't a physical franchise, like it was

Erin Marcus:

a it wasn't like a subway or something where there's a

Erin Marcus:

vocation to it, it was a service. And again, it was kind

Erin Marcus:

of a baby franchise, it was only been there for a couple of

Erin Marcus:

years. So I had this mixture of a framework of what it was that

Erin Marcus:

we did. So I didn't have to invent what we did. But I had so

Erin Marcus:

much room to create, how we did it, how we marketed it was not a

Erin Marcus:

step 123 So it was a really good mixture for me,

Janice Porter:

I can see that it would be because you wouldn't, I

Janice Porter:

can't imagine you having like a box type of like, military ties

Janice Porter:

where everything has to be done the same? Yeah,

Erin Marcus:

I don't play I can't do things, like more than

Erin Marcus:

three times. And it's a problem. I mean, the problem with men the

Erin Marcus:

problem, like,

Janice Porter:

Oh, that's funny. So, franchise, I think you ended

Janice Porter:

up becoming a trainer for other franchisees, right,

Erin Marcus:

yeah, because again, the drive to succeed God

Erin Marcus:

only knows where they're at. We really can't say I don't know

Erin Marcus:

where it comes from, it comes from that self determinating you

Erin Marcus:

know, I want to have that self determining strength or

Erin Marcus:

opportunity, flexibility, work ethic, lack of attention span,

Erin Marcus:

ridiculous bandwidth.

Janice Porter:

Identify because, I mean, I, I was, I was a school

Janice Porter:

teacher in my first life and that in the public school system

Janice Porter:

is very bureaucratic. And I can't do the point even that

Janice Porter:

when you go in the lunchroom every day with the same people

Janice Porter:

the same teachers the same support so God forbid if you sat

Janice Porter:

in the wrong seat in the lunchroom, like I couldn't do

Janice Porter:

that for so I had to get out so

Erin Marcus:

I have to be free i can't handle the rules of who

Erin Marcus:

tell you know who I need to be don't need to be with I can't I

Erin Marcus:

wasn't even like that in high school. I think one of the

Erin Marcus:

benefits of going to a high school with people literally

Erin Marcus:

immigrants nobody spoke English from 22 Different countries is

Erin Marcus:

no one had any money. Yeah, everyone was just trying to

Erin Marcus:

survive and so I never had that click experience that you see in

Erin Marcus:

the movies.

Janice Porter:

Yeah. So okay, so from Franchise the franchise

Janice Porter:

world, then you made the leap out to the name of your company

Janice Porter:

now is yes,

Erin Marcus:

that's totally right. Because what happened

Erin Marcus:

was, so the franchise was The subject matter of the franchise

Erin Marcus:

the work that we did was working with families with aging

Erin Marcus:

parents.

Janice Porter:

Okay. Oh, if your time? Well, um, there was a lot

Janice Porter:

of people I know that got into rural too soon.

Erin Marcus:

Yeah, well, I want to say, I was on the cusp of it,

Erin Marcus:

because when I started the franchise, it was amazing. And I

Erin Marcus:

did get that business to the top 10 out of 200 franchises in

Erin Marcus:

about 18 months. Hence, like what you said the franchisor

Erin Marcus:

would hire me to help, you know, grow new franchises and train

Erin Marcus:

them. What happened is six years later, within about six years

Erin Marcus:

later, when I left and I closed my office, you had a situation,

Erin Marcus:

a two fold situation where there's no barrier to entry in

Erin Marcus:

that industry. There's zero barrier to entry in that

Erin Marcus:

industry. And at the same time, the estate liquidation side of

Erin Marcus:

that business that was originally helping pay for the

Erin Marcus:

services, right, the state sales and the resale side of that

Erin Marcus:

business had gone completely bust. Nobody was buying us

Erin Marcus:

things anymore, you had an oversupply of stuff and an

Erin Marcus:

absolute lack of demand for that stuff. And when you put those

Erin Marcus:

things together with the fact that I was in the city of

Erin Marcus:

Chicago, where they were raising the minimum wage, the taxes were

Erin Marcus:

going up, workers comp was going up, and 90% of my competition

Erin Marcus:

was working under the table while I was running a legitimate

Erin Marcus:

business, when you put all that together. And at the same time.

Erin Marcus:

I'm talking at my cheat, you know, when it's my turn as the

Erin Marcus:

entrepreneurs at the chamber to take my turn and talk about my

Erin Marcus:

business. The people are going, yeah, yeah, we know you have

Erin Marcus:

that business. But why are you making money? How are you doing

Erin Marcus:

that? Your business growing, the thing that people wanted from

Erin Marcus:

me, wasn't what my business did. It was what I knew how to do,

Erin Marcus:

because of my corporate experience, my MBA that I had

Erin Marcus:

eventually gotten right. And so after a while you decide, Okay,

Erin Marcus:

do I want to stay over here where the logistics of the

Erin Marcus:

business are a nightmare? The profit margins are horrendous.

Erin Marcus:

The trauma that my clients are going through is creating

Erin Marcus:

caregiver burnout for me, there's right there's just so

Erin Marcus:

much trauma and problems, or let's see, I know how to grow

Erin Marcus:

businesses. I have an MBA in marketing, I have a corporate C

Erin Marcus:

suite background, I know business strategy. That's where

Erin Marcus:

I'm actually helping people. I don't know which way do you want

Erin Marcus:

to go? And kind of like, you know, before we hit record, we

Erin Marcus:

were talking about how the beauty of entrepreneurs that

Erin Marcus:

it's been a good five years since I've even interacted with

Erin Marcus:

someone I don't like. The other piece of that puzzle is this

Erin Marcus:

business. And the way that I've created this business has

Erin Marcus:

allowed me to make my job. Interestingly enough, more and

Erin Marcus:

more narrow, so that the only thing I do are my favorite

Erin Marcus:

things that I'm great at smart. Write my favorite things that

Erin Marcus:

I'm great at in delivery to the clients and in service of

Erin Marcus:

growing the business, hire people who only work in their

Erin Marcus:

genius zone. And the things they're amazing at that they

Erin Marcus:

love doing complementary to each other. Right?

Janice Porter:

That's smart. And so I read somewhere in one of

Janice Porter:

the things I got about you that you had a year though, in 2018

Janice Porter:

That was you called your failure year. And then in less than two

Janice Porter:

years, you went from calling yourself the number one pinball

Janice Porter:

and barely making any money to multiple six business six

Janice Porter:

figures in your business and having fun so you're not

Janice Porter:

stressed out because you've got a good team around you. You're

Janice Porter:

doing what you love to do. What happened? What what?

Erin Marcus:

Yeah, explain that.

Janice Porter:

Great marketing. So

Erin Marcus:

what the heck, what really happened is I

Erin Marcus:

underestimated how even though I know business and I know

Erin Marcus:

marketing and I know strategy, I really underestimated how not

Erin Marcus:

having even the external framework of a franchise brand

Erin Marcus:

was going to affect Aaron the human and how I could close a $3

Erin Marcus:

million deal as my parting gift to corporate how I can be how I

Erin Marcus:

can be running a half million dollar franchise when the next

Erin Marcus:

person below me isn't like 35k And yet when it was the flag in

Erin Marcus:

the ground with my name on it and my picture on it, it really

Erin Marcus:

fell apart for a year because I couldn't figure out what I

Erin Marcus:

wanted it to be. I wanted you know that's where that loving at

Erin Marcus:

different things kind of hurt me for a while. And very kind

Erin Marcus:

person who did has renamed errands, your failure to Aaron

Erin Marcus:

zero of reflection. Thank you for that. But it took me about a

Erin Marcus:

year a little over a year to get my feet underneath me. Because I

Erin Marcus:

leave before I look, that's just my personality and I leave

Erin Marcus:

before I look. And so that year that it took me to figure out

Erin Marcus:

what is it that I'm great at doing? What is it that I love

Erin Marcus:

doing? Who is it that I want to do it for, and putting the ducks

Erin Marcus:

in a row enough. But again, once you figure that out, if you

Erin Marcus:

stick with it, that's how you can launch and leverage very

Erin Marcus:

quickly. So what

Janice Porter:

if you love more than one thing?

Erin Marcus:

Not everything you do has to make your money. Okay,

Erin Marcus:

this is a really big problem I am watching happen today I have

Erin Marcus:

this conversation all the time. Not everything you love doing

Erin Marcus:

has to make you money. I volunteer with wildlife rescue.

Erin Marcus:

I sit in the dirt in my yard and garden. I don't need a side

Erin Marcus:

hustle for either of those things.

Janice Porter:

No, but if business wise, you know, you

Janice Porter:

have two or three lanes that you that you go in that they all

Janice Porter:

kind of go together. If they go

Erin Marcus:

together, that's fine. Okay, if they go together,

Erin Marcus:

that's fine. If they go together, then what this that,

Erin Marcus:

honestly, is what a lot of my clients have they have like two

Erin Marcus:

or three things that in their mind are completely separate.

Erin Marcus:

But truthfully, if we can find what I call the umbrella, that's

Erin Marcus:

what I got. Yeah. So your umbrella? Yeah, we can sign the

Erin Marcus:

umbrella then there's absolutely no problem having more than one

Erin Marcus:

aspect, like when I talk about multiple streams of income,

Erin Marcus:

build multiple streams of income in a way that doesn't confuse

Erin Marcus:

the marketplace. That makes sense. Right? I'll give you I'll

Erin Marcus:

give you an example. In my business, when I started out

Erin Marcus:

coaching and coaching, and we added coaching and consulting,

Erin Marcus:

which is a little bit different. But then I saw a really big gap

Erin Marcus:

in the marketplace of implementing on what I was

Erin Marcus:

teaching people. It was a really big gap in the marketplace.

Erin Marcus:

Because we would have these great conversations. But when

Erin Marcus:

they would go to do the things. They didn't have my team, they

Erin Marcus:

didn't have my background, they didn't know they were already

Erin Marcus:

out of hours in the day and days in the week. So this year, we

Erin Marcus:

added that. And there's four or five different things now where

Erin Marcus:

we will do it with you and for you, instead of just teaching

Erin Marcus:

you how to do it. That's an umbrella it goes together. Yeah,

Janice Porter:

that makes sense. I don't know whether I saw this

Janice Porter:

in yours or not. How do you feel about? Yeah, I did see it here.

Janice Porter:

Because you say something about, you know, there's no such thing

Janice Porter:

as a single funnel that will earn your course with just one

Janice Porter:

email, just do this one thing, just just just you that kind of

Janice Porter:

fits with what we

Erin Marcus:

were just talking about. I mean, and so I call

Erin Marcus:

those instant haptics. And it's not Do not get me wrong, it is

Erin Marcus:

not that the tactic is wrong. Correct. Okay, in and of itself,

Erin Marcus:

most of these tactics have value. But if you run your

Erin Marcus:

business and are growing your business, starting at step one,

Erin Marcus:

you become susceptible to believing one of these instance,

Erin Marcus:

haptics will solve all your problems. And this is exactly

Erin Marcus:

what I do with my clients, we have to start at step four. And

Erin Marcus:

step four for me, like if we create my funnel, my version of

Erin Marcus:

a funnel. Step four is a business that's on solid

Erin Marcus:

footing. We have good offers, we know what we're doing, and we

Erin Marcus:

know who we're doing it for, and we know how to talk about it.

Erin Marcus:

That's Step four, that's the foundation that you have to

Erin Marcus:

start with that first. And then based on that information based

Erin Marcus:

on what you know, you want to grow. And by the way, knowing

Erin Marcus:

what you want to grow is not $1 amount, that's only one piece of

Erin Marcus:

it, because there's a million different ways to make a million

Erin Marcus:

dollars. So we have to know what is it that you're trying to

Erin Marcus:

grow? And then then we go back to step one, and we look at what

Erin Marcus:

are the marketing strategies that we need to have to grow the

Erin Marcus:

audience that most people don't do the work before they go out

Erin Marcus:

to work. They don't set their foundation. They just go well, I

Erin Marcus:

want a million dollar business. That's as far as they get. And

Erin Marcus:

then they go looking for tactics that'll get them there. And

Erin Marcus:

again, it's not that that tactic is necessarily wrong, but it

Erin Marcus:

might not be right for your strengths. It might not be right

Erin Marcus:

for your business. And that's the other piece of it. We buy

Erin Marcus:

into these Institue optics and then And when they don't work

Erin Marcus:

for us, because they have us believing we need to do

Erin Marcus:

something we absolutely hate doing. We feel like a bigger

Erin Marcus:

failure because their marketing will have us thinking it's

Erin Marcus:

working for everybody but us. Yeah. And

Janice Porter:

that's, that's the kind of pull me push you

Janice Porter:

thing around, is I know, the marketing is so good, that they

Janice Porter:

hook you in with something that isn't you.

Erin Marcus:

Right? And it's not their fault, by the way. No, I

Erin Marcus:

know, I know. Right? Their marketing is good, because they

Erin Marcus:

did their work. That's right. That's right.

Janice Porter:

But it's not necessarily going to work for

Janice Porter:

you. So not necessarily gonna work for you. I do understand

Janice Porter:

that, that you think as I do, that, networking, building

Janice Porter:

relationships, networking, let me say networking done properly.

Janice Porter:

And building relationships is something that that is key to

Janice Porter:

growing your business, more than one sort of funnel, so to speak.

Janice Porter:

Right? Can you speak to that, from your perspective,

Erin Marcus:

I've started to phrase this a little

Erin Marcus:

differently, because just to hit this home even harder. Don't

Erin Marcus:

confuse networking with building your network. I think people see

Erin Marcus:

right like, people, I'm going tomorrow. In fact, I'm going to

Erin Marcus:

a networking luncheon in downtown Chicago, I'm really

Erin Marcus:

looking forward to it. They always have a great speaker,

Erin Marcus:

they always have great people, they always have great food. But

Erin Marcus:

networking is different than building my network. So one of

Erin Marcus:

the things I ask people is, who's in your phone? Yeah. Who

Erin Marcus:

is your actual network? Who do you have? That will answer your

Erin Marcus:

DM? Who do you know that when you need a trusted resource, or

Erin Marcus:

your next client that you can reach out to I used to say call

Erin Marcus:

but let's face it, I only answer the phone. If it's my mother at

Erin Marcus:

this point. Nobody else calls me everyone else, just text or DMS

Erin Marcus:

rate. But who is in your network versus networking? Now they're

Erin Marcus:

both very important. So I now from being more involved with

Erin Marcus:

seven figure businesses. Networking is brand awareness.

Erin Marcus:

Building your network is relationship based.

Janice Porter:

And you got to do both. Yeah, you do. Yeah. That

Janice Porter:

makes total sense. I love it. So you have a saying in your

Janice Porter:

business, your tagline being charged, take action, get

Janice Porter:

results. That speaks to you. So well. I love it. And you have a

Janice Porter:

podcast as well tell me tell my audience the name of your

Janice Porter:

Podcast, the

Erin Marcus:

podcast is called ready yet, right? That's right.

Erin Marcus:

The tagline is, you'll never do it. It takes until you become

Erin Marcus:

the person it takes to do it reflecting back on my year that

Erin Marcus:

I had to figure out who I needed to be in order to do the things

Erin Marcus:

that I wanted to do.

Janice Porter:

What do you what do you love about podcasting?

Erin Marcus:

Oh, my God, the relationship right? Here's,

Erin Marcus:

truthfully except for this monthly luncheon. That gives me

Erin Marcus:

a reason I have to like get fully dressed, not just upper

Erin Marcus:

half dressed and get out of my house. The only way I'm

Erin Marcus:

currently networking is by podcasting. Because think of it

Erin Marcus:

this way, by the time we have a connect call, and you are on my

Erin Marcus:

podcast, and I am on your podcast, we have now spent a

Erin Marcus:

really good two and a half hours together easily. And it's such a

Erin Marcus:

great like, we know if we're each other's people. I know

Erin Marcus:

right? We know so much about each other personality, not just

Erin Marcus:

personals. Yeah. And I love the truthfulness in the real story.

Erin Marcus:

And I also really the thing I like about podcasting is the

Erin Marcus:

more truthfulness of it, at least who I choose as my guests.

Erin Marcus:

Because marketing is what you do to grow awareness of your

Erin Marcus:

business and inspire your audience to become your clients.

Erin Marcus:

But we all know, marketing is not the reality of everything

Erin Marcus:

you're experiencing as a business owner. And there is

Erin Marcus:

such a needed safe space for sharing the truth of the

Erin Marcus:

entrepreneurial journey. Like you heard me say, I went from

Erin Marcus:

multiple six figures in corporate to tap 10 out of 200

Erin Marcus:

in my franchise to $11,000 which if you've ever had a business

Erin Marcus:

$11,000 Gross is not a positive number net by the end of the

Erin Marcus:

year. Right. And so to be able to share the reality of it with

Erin Marcus:

people because the Gary V's out there they're 20 Robbins, right.

Erin Marcus:

They have their purpose and I want you to be motivated by

Erin Marcus:

them. But they're so far removed from where most of us are it

Erin Marcus:

becomes hard to actually learn from that.

Janice Porter:

Well, it's funny, something you just said, though,

Janice Porter:

reminds me of kind of the difference between Instagram,

Janice Porter:

and some a little bit. And LinkedIn, because nothing on

Janice Porter:

Instagram to me is real. And so you can if you choose to get to

Janice Porter:

the realness of you, you know, and I have to say, my

Janice Porter:

generation, I'm a little bit older than you, my generation is

Janice Porter:

not as good at doing that as your generation then if I'm not

Janice Porter:

Yeah, you know, it's it's harder to, to, you know, but I'm

Janice Porter:

starting to give little bits of things that I talked about that

Janice Porter:

I'm okay with. But the thing about it is that I know I

Janice Porter:

digressed from what we were talking about, but oh, that,

Janice Porter:

that when you when you start to build relationships by having

Janice Porter:

these conversations, whether with the red.on, or not with the

Janice Porter:

red.on It's just so much more real. I had a podcast, I want to

Janice Porter:

share a little bit of a conversation I had yesterday

Janice Porter:

with I was on this girl's podcast. And she and I had done

Janice Porter:

a little training exchange. And so we've gotten to know each

Janice Porter:

other that way as well. And I knew the first time I talked to

Janice Porter:

her, she's a entrepreneur, true entrepreneur, she's got a couple

Janice Porter:

of businesses, she's, she's a CPA, as well, as well. And

Janice Porter:

bright young woman, I really was impressed with her. And I kept

Janice Porter:

thinking about this other woman that I knew here that I really

Janice Porter:

thought she should meet. So I had said to her after the first

Janice Porter:

conversation, that I would love to introduce her to someone, but

Janice Porter:

I needed to check first whether this person had the bandwidth

Janice Porter:

was available to speak to her because that person was the

Janice Porter:

person in my phone. And I don't want to just, you know, put

Janice Porter:

together without asking. So anyway, that took a little bit

Janice Porter:

of time, but it worked. And I did the introduction. And

Janice Porter:

yesterday she said to me, oh my goodness, she said, I can't

Janice Porter:

thank you enough for the introduction to this woman. She

Janice Porter:

said, she's gonna be a lifelong friend, like, yeah, this woman

Janice Porter:

was a true entrepreneur, who has done very well she was on

Janice Porter:

Dragon's Den, which is the Canadian version of Shark Tank.

Janice Porter:

Got a huge deal with her business. She's super

Janice Porter:

successful. And anyway, it was just such a great feeling to

Janice Porter:

make that happen.

Erin Marcus:

It's a great feeling. But you just said you

Erin Marcus:

just gave an example of the number one thing required to

Erin Marcus:

build your network. Give before you got if you want more

Erin Marcus:

referrals, give more referrals. If you want more partners give

Janice Porter:

give. Yeah, I didn't know why I wanted them to

Janice Porter:

meet. But to me, it's, well, it's

Erin Marcus:

also not linear, right? You didn't do that show

Erin Marcus:

that she gave you a referral back, I will tell you that for

Erin Marcus:

about 75% of the people who are on their podcast, or they're on

Erin Marcus:

mine, some people it's not the right fit, but for at least 75%.

Erin Marcus:

I get them at least two more podcasts that they can record.

Erin Marcus:

That's how I network.

Janice Porter:

Well, and I just realized that that's something

Janice Porter:

that I actually don't do enough of which I will today I will ask

Janice Porter:

you afterwards, you know, and where do you need to me to do

Janice Porter:

that? You know, but if you're not for networking, that makes

Janice Porter:

sense. You're right.

Erin Marcus:

And one of the reasons one of the places it

Erin Marcus:

falls apart, it's amazing to me how many people when I say what

Erin Marcus:

do you need? Who do you need? What do you want? How can I help

Erin Marcus:

you have nothing? They have nothing as they don't know,

Erin Marcus:

they're unprepared for that. People want to help each other.

Erin Marcus:

We need us you need to have a prepared specific ask.

Janice Porter:

Okay, yeah, that's good to know. Right? In

Janice Porter:

first impression, connections, you know, I know what to ask for

Janice Porter:

and everything. But sometimes it's about really putting this

Janice Porter:

thing into a system, right? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Janice Porter:

Um, before we wrap up, I do want to ask you a couple of questions

Janice Porter:

off the grid, so to speak. Are you a reader or a listener or a

Janice Porter:

video watcher? Where

Erin Marcus:

do you reader, a reader

Janice Porter:

real life books like touch and feel book?

Erin Marcus:

I love touch and feel books. I was the happiest

Erin Marcus:

person in the universe when the Kindle came out. Because I used

Erin Marcus:

to travel for my corporate job. And my biggest fear was being

Erin Marcus:

caught on an airplane with nothing to read. I can read we

Erin Marcus:

went on especially if it's like just fiction for you know.

Erin Marcus:

giggles and you know, entertainment. I went on

Erin Marcus:

vacation for seven days and I think I read eight books. Oh my

Erin Marcus:

goodness. I can just tear through, I can tear through

Erin Marcus:

things I can sit. Like as active increases, I can sit and tear

Erin Marcus:

through books. And were they all thick nonstick, those are just

Erin Marcus:

fiction for fun. My current pattern is nonfiction Business

Erin Marcus:

Growth books in the morning and fiction at night to chill out.

Erin Marcus:

You don't watch TV. Not I haven't watched TV in a while.

Erin Marcus:

Okay, I used to I'm not I am a big fan of TV. I even but what I

Erin Marcus:

learned is I don't actually watch TV. I look at it. I watch

Erin Marcus:

the same stupid stuff over and over and over. It's NCIS Los

Erin Marcus:

Angeles. And CBS NCIS New Orleans. Big Bang Theory. Yeah,

Erin Marcus:

now. That's it. That's like all I watch. And it's not it's

Erin Marcus:

because it's mindless. It's mindless. So I'm coming down

Erin Marcus:

while it's on.

Janice Porter:

Fair enough. Thanks for sharing that. And I

Janice Porter:

know that you mentioned earlier in this my favorite piece that I

Janice Porter:

like to ask everybody I know you mentioned curiosity, because you

Janice Porter:

said you're a lifelong learner. And you're you thrive on that.

Janice Porter:

So would you say that curiosity, in your opinion, is innate? Or

Janice Porter:

learned? And then what is the most thing? What's the thing

Janice Porter:

you're most curious about today? Gosh,

Erin Marcus:

I think it's nature and nurture. I think some people

Erin Marcus:

are more curious than others. I think a lack of curiosity stems

Erin Marcus:

from being taught fear and scarcity. Right? It takes a

Erin Marcus:

certain amount of courage to be curious, because people fear

Erin Marcus:

things that are different from them. And curiosity would just

Erin Marcus:

solve that problem. Right? So I think some of us are more

Erin Marcus:

naturally curious than others. And I think what leads to a lack

Erin Marcus:

of curiosity is fear and scarcity. What am I most right

Erin Marcus:

now I'm curious about plants and gardening. Yeah, I'm in the

Erin Marcus:

process of trying to, I don't know, get this whole patch of my

Erin Marcus:

garden to be better. I can't even I don't even know the word

Erin Marcus:

right to cultivate and so and the

Janice Porter:

song flowers or vegetables,

Erin Marcus:

that flowers, there's so much wildlife here.

Erin Marcus:

It would be an exercise in frustration to grow anything to

Erin Marcus:

eat and be gone before we got it. But I have a pollinator

Erin Marcus:

garden that I'm growing in the one sunny spot. I live in a

Erin Marcus:

wooded area. So we have one sunny spot, and I'm trying to do

Erin Marcus:

a pollinator garden and fix the soil. So currently very curious.

Erin Marcus:

Like that's what I want. That's

Janice Porter:

interesting, because my sister who lives in

Janice Porter:

LA, she spent a lot more time out in her garden through COVID.

Janice Porter:

And she did this whole project with creating mosaic tile tiles

Janice Porter:

from it's amazing, but she also has an LA they have to have like

Janice Porter:

cacti and things like that. Right. But she has she started

Janice Porter:

learning about I think it's like the pollinator thing where the

Janice Porter:

butterfly the caterpillars come and you're almost there and then

Janice Porter:

the butterflies come and then they feed off the sin difference

Erin Marcus:

here is they freeze during in Chicago, right? I

Erin Marcus:

mean, I think for me, it's very much an aligned with the

Erin Marcus:

wildlife rescue that I did. And we're on an acre and a half year

Erin Marcus:

of a wooded lot. I've got every animal under the sun here. So it

Erin Marcus:

just and again, an acre and a half. I'm trying to create

Erin Marcus:

something that doesn't isn't going to add work, right? If

Erin Marcus:

enough work to

Janice Porter:

to create projects. I'm fascinating,

Janice Porter:

actually. Well, Erin has been a delight. Thank you so much.

Janice Porter:

Before you go two things, one, let my audience know and I will

Janice Porter:

put it in the show notes how they can find you. And secondly,

Janice Porter:

what's what's the one maybe business tip or, or favorite

Janice Porter:

thing you'd like to share with my audience.

Erin Marcus:

So make it really easy to find me. It's all at

Erin Marcus:

conquer your business.com if you just go to conquer your

Erin Marcus:

business.com. The podcast is they're reaching these they're

Erin Marcus:

the socialists. They're the everything you need conquer

Erin Marcus:

business.com. And the one thing that has really been inspiring

Erin Marcus:

me. How can I put this like, be a little more brave? If I have

Erin Marcus:

to look back at why I didn't achieve things I wanted to

Erin Marcus:

achieve? It's never because I wasn't smart enough. It's never

Erin Marcus:

because I didn't work hard enough. And that is the same for

Erin Marcus:

99% of the people that I meet.

Janice Porter:

Just be more bold. Go do something that

Janice Porter:

scares you. Yeah, that's great advice. Thanks, Erin. Thank you

Janice Porter:

so much for being here. And thank you to my audience again,

Janice Porter:

for being a great loyal listeners. Please let us know

Janice Porter:

that you enjoyed the podcast episode by leaving a review and

Janice Porter:

remember to stay connected and be remembered

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About the Podcast

Relationships Rule
It’s always about Relationships!
Imagine that 68% of our clients leave because they feel we don’t care. Then visualize having authentic heart-based retention strategies, proven to minimize client losses, while organically generating a substantial number of loyal clients through referrals.

Catch a glimpse of how Janice opens a conversation by applying her fine-tuned curiosity. Notice how genuinely interested she is in building a relationship with her guests – heart-based business owners and entrepreneurs. In mere minutes, guests generously share their most sweet and powerful retention systems that you can adopt today!

As a seasoned relationship marketing specialist, Janice invites us to listen in weekly, as she reveals how to nurture and build relationships in real-time.

The Relationships Rule podcast’s aim, is to help you naturally ease your networking fears, so you can adopt strategies that amplify your client list, because the facts are, that today, success is built on a foundation of strong relationships. You can relax now, knowing you can activate your relationship marketing plan, by simply tuning in to Relationships Rule each week.

About your host

Profile picture for Janice Porter

Janice Porter

I began my career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years, and have now found my niche in coaching business owners to network at a world-class level.
My passion is working with motivated people, who are coachable and who want to build their businesses through relationship marketing and networking (offline & online). I help my clients create retention strategies, grow through referrals, and create loyal customers by staying connected.