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Episode 206: Helen Munshi, the business growth strategist and quiz funnel expert!
19 Plays3 months ago
Are you the best kept secret on the internet? You’re incredible at what you do, now you just need more people to know about you. That's where quizzes and Helen come in.
Helen is an online business strategist and trained quiz funnel expert with over 15 years experience in strategy & entrepreneurship. She helps businesses generate consistent high quality leads using the power of positive interactive quizzes. She is all about creating a list of buyers rather than lurkers and doing lead generation with heart.
She's supported entrepreneurs like Holly-Marie Haynes to build engaged communities ready to buy - "Helen's strategy tips helped me create a lead magnet that now has an average 80% conversion rate and 70% email open rate. The results I am seeing to grow my community are mind-blowing. Plus Helen made the process fun and enjoyable"
She's also a country music loving Brit! Usually found with a messy ginger bun, eating anything spicy and playing Korfball.
So if you're ready to ditch scare marketing and boring freebies and get results like Holly then you need a quiz in your business. She offers done for you quiz writing services and also supports people to create their own quizzes through The Quiz Academy.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/139117106726077/
https://www.instagram.com/helenmunshi/
https://www.pinterest.com/thestartupstudio/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenmunshi
Timestamps:
[2:00] How did you transition from Pinterest marketing to the path you’ve taken to end up where you are now?
[6:00] What kind of journey would a typical client of yours go on?
[10:00] What sort or results do you see for these businesses?
[12:10] How does it translate into sales?
[14:50] What app do you use and what does it cost to use your services?
[19:00] Would you ever go back to the corporate world? And how do you get the interaction you do miss from that environment?
[22:55] What propelled you to change from focusing on Pinterest?
[25:20] All in the surname! What question does Helen have for Nick on the next Fireside Chats
[28:00] Holiday brain and mindset
[30:00] Where are you taking the business?
[34:45 ] If your business had a character or personality who would it be or what would that look like?
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
The Entrepreneurial Journey podcast. We're talking business and building a culture that's kick ass. Where we make it happen, grab your seat, let's have a blast. At the Entrepreneurial Journey podcast.
00:00:22
Speaker
If you love the entrepreneurial journey, how about subscribing and giving us a five-star review. Wherever you get your podcasts, follow or subscribe and give us a positive review so more entrepreneurs out there don't need to feel alone. Thanks.
Meet Helen Munchie
00:00:42
Speaker
Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Journey podcast. Today I have Helen Munchie with me. Hello, Helen, how are you? Hi, I'm great, how are you doing? Good, really well. So Helen of HelenMunchie.com. And we met five years ago, four years ago. It was a while ago, yeah. Yeah, and you were Pinterest queen then. Tell me what you're doing now and then we can talk about the evolution of your business.
Quiz Funnels and Marketing Strategies
00:01:12
Speaker
Yeah, so it does seem sort of, slight sorry, my cat was shouting in the background. It does seem slightly and different, but there's actually kind of a a trajectory that's got me to my point now. and So at the moment, I'm doing quiz funnels. So I'm helping online businesses to generate um not just any odd leads, but leads that are actually really engaged and invested in what you're doing and so that they are ready for your next launch. So that's what I do, i helping people to really bring personalization to marketing. So that's massive trend for 2024, has been for a few years to be fair. So ah yeah, that's that's essentially what I do.
00:01:54
Speaker
Great, yeah, I have noticed, I keep being approached by people who go, can we do a questionnaire, a quiz for you? yeah And then we've got the whole Daniel Priestley score app and we've got loads of things. So it does seem to be a trend.
Helen's Business Journey
00:02:08
Speaker
So how how did you, well, for our listeners and viewers, how did you do the Pinterest marketing thing? And then how have you ended up where you are now? What what path did you take?
00:02:22
Speaker
Yeah absolutely so I started actually in strategy so I'm trained in business strategy sort of back in the day at Accenture so it's sort of quite focused on ah yeah business kind of corporate strategy and which I ah love it very much appeals to my kind of logical side um but i I wanted to take that and I wanted to work and in the charity sector so I actually went and worked for the Prince's think is now the king's trust but at the time was the prince's trust ah working with and disadvantaged young people to start businesses and it was just such a perfect combination of kind of the strategy but also then like the energy and the creativity of new business which i just
00:03:05
Speaker
I fell in love with, you know, people were just so driven and excited. And yeah, so I ah did what I probably would have told them not to do, which was I basically left my job without the plan. They always say builders have the worst houses. The strategist did not have a business plan, but i I left knowing that I really wanted to start working for myself. and So I went into um like business coaching, business strategy, working directly with small businesses. And that's essentially what I've done for the last,
00:03:34
Speaker
Gosh, I don't know now, probably about 15 years. Yeah, it's been a while but when I was employed and then obviously see for myself. um And it's it's taken slightly different guises. So I went and did sort of a couple of years working in Pinterest, which I know is how we met. Yeah.
00:03:49
Speaker
And then I moved into the quizzes and the quiz funnels. But the underlying theme for me, which I still work on, is always about solid business strategy, making sure we're crafting a really intentional customer journey through your business.
Crafting Customer Journeys
00:04:06
Speaker
I think it's very easy to kind of not always easy but it's people you know they put different offers up and they you know they build this thing and then they build this thing and it just starts to take on a life of its own slightly kind of frankenstein-esque and there's no logical smooth supported personalized path through your business because you've just kind of bolted bits on which is is natural and so for me i've always wanted to work at
00:04:32
Speaker
crafting that that process um so that then it's ah it's a business that works better for you, but then also for your customers, which in turn leads to mean and growth. Yeah. So you've just described exactly what we've done as a business.
00:04:48
Speaker
like, oh, okay, hang on. I'm just going to put my light on. I forgot to put that on. Oh, that's better. You can see me. And yeah, the, it's really tempting to build something, put an offer out there and then go, okay, right. Everybody gets it.
00:05:08
Speaker
you and And I think the message to people out there in small businesses is that whilst you understand what you're doing, your audience probably doesn't. That's our biggest learning, definitely. And when your audience doesn't understand it, selling it is so much harder.
00:05:32
Speaker
yeah Because you don't want your audience to have to think about what it is they're buying, they just need to know what it is they're buying instinctively. yeah that That's taken me nearly five years to learn that, Ellen. I think also, sometimes they understand it, but they don't connect with it. that's yeah So they can logically
Emotional Connection in Sales
00:05:54
Speaker
understand things. but I know from like myself, but also from working with this, people don't buy with logic, people buy with emotion. yeah And I think it's so easy as a business owner to get stuck in the logic and not connect on the emotion.
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it really is because part of the equation is you do have to look at data at some point without a shadow of a doubt. yeah You have to, you right, start with the emotion and then the data is the output. and Okay, so what kind of journey would a typical client of yours go on with you? Where'd he begin?
00:06:30
Speaker
in terms of like crafting a quiz. Yeah. I mean, we almost start without even talking about quizzes, which seems slightly counterintuitive, but we start with, as you can imagine with me, solid business strategy. So we start um on a call where I will just immerse myself in their business. We'll understand the different facets, what they're selling, who their customers are. We'll understand what it is that we actually want the quiz to achieve, but then also how we want um the your audience to feel as they go through that quiz. Because a quiz is so interactive and so personal, um it has that ability to to build the emotional connection, if done right. So we want to understand, we want them to feel
00:07:13
Speaker
supported, um do you want them to feel called out, do you want them to feel inspired, you know, spurred on, what is that feeling? and So we'll we'll look at that. And then we actually start to build it backwards. So um as with any kind of funnel, I mean, that sounds a little ah robotic, but like it is a funnel, it's accustomed, whatever you want to call it. and You want to make sure you're taking them to the end result that you want them to to do that call to action. So we start with that. What is it you want them to do as a result of going through the quiz? And and then and then we build it back with basically. So we can't topic, but then we build out the results categories. Then we move to the next point before that, which is going to be you know your questions, your answers, and then kind of go from there.
Effectiveness of Quizzes in Business
00:07:55
Speaker
And that makes sure kind of going through that process backwards makes sure that actually it it does run smoothly, it does get the end result that you're you're aiming for. Right, and do you mainly work with course creators or what sort of business do you work with? Do you know what all sorts actually actually work across the board and brilliantly for products businesses because you can provide a ah personalized shopping experience at the end, and which people love. So you can do it with products businesses, I've worked with coaches, consultants, but then also, you know, financial advisors, dieticians, fertility experts, and gosh, like all sorts, gluten free people, you know, it's it does work if done right for for any kind of niche actually.
00:08:38
Speaker
Right. That's really interesting. And where do most people sort of position their quizzes on? Is it Instagram, Twitter? Where, where, where do they go? You can use it across the board. it's It essentially becomes an asset in your business and you, I've got a list of about 30 different ways, um, in my quiz program that you can actually promote it. So you can say it at the end of a podcast, you can you know put it on your website, you can put it in popups, you can do ads to it, the ads incredibly cheap. um It's ridiculous. like I've got a current client who's on about 30 cents a lead. I've run them and I'm getting 50 PLEs kind of thing, which is just like really good for ads. Yeah, and that's very good. Yeah, you can put it on your socials, your stories. um I've just released ah many chat automation um for people to actually do your quiz directly in their
00:09:31
Speaker
Instagram DMs, um you could do it through WhatsApp, you know. So essentially whatever platform you normally use, you can promote your quiz. Right, wow, that's quite a powerful tool.
00:09:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it and it is a it a bigger time investment than like a classic PDF or something like that. and So it does take a little bit more energy to create it, but once it's created, it's a really strong um yeah asset in your business. And what kind of results have you seen for those business owners?
00:10:04
Speaker
Yeah, so it's it's um the to the the two kind of main areas you get results. I mean, there's lots of different reasons why quizzes work so well. But it's firstly, people just love learning about themselves. You know, it's just kind of human nature. It's it's kind of how we're built. So the people actually really love taking it. They love giving you information about themselves and in an age of you know, all the changes to third party information and all all this kind of stuff. People are a lot more protective of their information and their data. And it's also a lot harder just to kind of naturally come across it um on you know all the different platforms. But in this situation, they're actually giving you information about themselves, which allows you to then
00:10:46
Speaker
personalise their interaction with you, which is just so much more powerful. So instead of sort of scassing on doing a launch, saying message to everybody, if you have an audience and you know that a quarter of your audience are really concerned about, um if we look at your business, they're really concerned about, for example,
00:11:04
Speaker
um you know whether they'll actually complete the program you know they have a history of maybe not following through on it then actually you can you can target your messaging to that you can target the testimonials of people who are also worried about that but actually that didn't come true when they work with you Or if you've then got another section of people who are purely cost driven, like purely price driven, let's talk about the value and why this is such a good investment and how you can then make that money back you know using the techniques in their business. Or if you've got a subsection that are really concerned about time. yeah So you can target whatever it is that they're concerned about, even if you're selling the same product at the end of it, you just sell it in different ways.
00:11:43
Speaker
and which is is hugely powerful. and So that's one way they work. And then it's also just, it's a volume game. You know, you're doing and in an automated way, you're getting a lot more leads. You know, I've had people who launched their list and in two hours they've got, you know, 150 new leads just because they've put a quiz out there and people just love taking quizzes basically. That's fabulous. Okay. And have you seen it's led to additional sales? Because that's the $64 million dollars question, isn't it?
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So generally quiz leads are more engaged because it's sort of a you know, our attention spans are so small nowadays, I don't know what it's currently sitting at, probably about four seconds or something, I don't know quite. and But they, as they go through the quiz, they're getting more and more invested, they're answering more and more questions, and they're kind of making those micro commitments to you and your business. So at the point when they give their email address, they've been through 10 questions, they're invested to get the answer, and they're actually so much more
00:12:44
Speaker
invested in you as a business. So yeah, generally they're more engaged leads and they're more excited to hear from you because they've already got, had a good experience of interacting with you already. Right. And do you need fancy software like ScoreApp or do you, can you just get started, I don't know, like you say through WhatsApp?
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's there's lots of different ways you can do it. and I use a platform called Interact, which is better, slightly cheaper than the other people. So you can do ScoreApp, you can do in Interact. There are plugins for your website, depending on your website, or you can just do it directly in you know through many chat in you know DMs and and WhatsApp and stuff as well. So there's there's lots of different mechanisms. and the The thing I would say is,
00:13:37
Speaker
and You want to make sure that the experience of taking the quiz is a really good one um for the person going through it so sometimes it is definitely worth investing a small amount in a bit of software that's really the like the customer experience and the user experience is really like top notch. Okay. Okay. Well, that's good advice. All right. And what, have you used this method for your business? Sounds like a daft question, but a lot of people selling this stuff don't use it for their own business. What results have you seen personally? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I do. Yeah, I definitely, I practice what I preach for sure. So I've just, I've actually just finished writing a new quiz. and But yeah, i've I've used it in my business for, I think about three years now, two and a half. three
00:14:22
Speaker
um And yeah, definitely. I mean, I've seen it work so well in terms of just the volume of leads coming in. um And then on the other end of it, the the conversion. And I've actually got it as a sort of starting point for a larger kind of sales funnel that I have now as well. So it can... it can interact really well with the different elements in your business. Right, okay. yeah And as a small business owner, and because a lot of what you've described there are solo printers or they've got a small team with freelancers and things like that, what kind of investment are they looking at to work with you?
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah, so you need the software, which is, I mean, it have to, but generally I just recommend the software, which I think is about $30 a month, probably. That's loads cheaper than ScoreApp. What's it called again? It's called Interact. I think you can go onto my website and just put my web address forward slash Interact. I think that's it either. I'm writing that down.
00:15:19
Speaker
Yeah. and So that's, that's a really good one. um And then if you want to work with me to actually create your quiz, it starts at about $1,250, I think $1,250. And they've got different level packages. But I also run a the quiz Academy, which is a, so not a DIY, it's so like a done with you. So it's a six months um of, you know, coaching support, um and a course to take you through the whole process.
00:15:48
Speaker
Oh, right. Okay. That could well be very useful for us. And that starts at $397. So it's obviously a lot more accessible, but you still get quite, I i mean, I just love working in businesses. So I'm always, I'm always there and supporting um and kind of helping your ideas and reading through the content you've created and stuff and and feeding back.
00:16:10
Speaker
Hmm, no, that is very doable. Definitely. Okay. And then, and then of course the the skills are within the business and then you're off and away, aren't you? Yeah, absolutely. And we we do cover more than just
Balancing Automation and Personalization
00:16:22
Speaker
kind of quizzes. and I couldn't quite sort of help myself. So you look a little bit at like the strategy and making sure we've got that customer journey set up really well to start with. um And you get some of the many chat automations and full know banks of questions and all sorts in there as well. Oh, that's brilliant. Great. Are you enjoying it, Helen? I am. I do absolutely love it because it's such a good combination of creative and strategic, which I love. um And I feel like there's this, I don't know whether you feel this as well, there's this myth out there that
00:16:53
Speaker
You have to sort of be camp automation, like you have to be the, you know, either you're sort of fully automating your business, but that really removes your connection with your audience and that real personal, or you're in the kind of connecting people one-on-one, personalized in the DMs and that leads to kind of burnout. And I don't and feel like you have to be either of those. if no Me, you have to have you can easily have a foot in each camp and that's really,
00:17:16
Speaker
what I um what I talk about and what I really you know believe in and it's also you know let's make marketing fun again let's let's strip back that kind of shouty you know just like shove it down your throat kind of thing let's let's make it something people want to take part in Yeah, I completely agree. I didn't realise you were supposed to be in one camp or another and that's just as well because I'm like you, it's like our model, yeah you do the course but then we're with you with twice a month with live sessions and you know I do lots of ad hoc work with our coaches as they go through the process and afterwards as well when they're partners with us.
00:17:58
Speaker
and And this NLP for business coaches that I'm just launching, I said to you, it's a pilot. I'm doing doing a live one on Zoom and I'm recording it so people will be able to buy the recordings. And if they want, still comes to the live one. So I think people want a blend, don't they? They want to dip in and out of stuff online and then they actually want to meet you.
00:18:26
Speaker
and get to know you. Yeah, definitely. And I think that the more you can blend the two even earlier in your funnel before they're even customers, yeah it will just give people an opportunity to really understand a bit more about who you are. It's always going to lead to more interests, more engagement, and then eventually more sales as well. Yeah, definitely. We have the podcast for
Entrepreneurship Reflections
00:18:50
Speaker
that. Yeah, which is a brilliant method.
00:18:52
Speaker
Yeah, so people, and Nick and I have started doing one together, which is hilarious. Yeah. but So they they really do get to know us as people, which will put some people off, but that's fine because we don't want everybody. Yeah. And are your clients all over the world? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so um you know New Zealand, Australia, Europe, US, yeah. Great. Would you ever go back to corporate world?
00:19:22
Speaker
question. and The only reason I'd ever get tempted back into corporate would just be having people around me. You know, I like the hubbub of kind of people around me. and But I would definitely struggle, I think, to be an employee now. um I kind of struggled at the time as well, to be fair. Well, did ji well I tended to switch jobs um quite frequently, not that frequently. But I i like, I love variety in what I do day to day and I think sometimes it can be quite hard if you have a set role in a corporate organization to get that freedom and that ability to stretch and flex and change direction slightly as and when you need. So yeah, I like that about ah being self-employed. And how do you get that interaction with other people? You know, because you do, I miss that too sometimes. yeah How do you manage that?
00:20:15
Speaker
Yeah, so I actually can't intention about it because it is very easy to kind of, you know. Thanks for listening, everybody. Did you know at Tri-Cress we've built a kick-ass culture, coach and consultant program? So if you're a business coach or consultant and you're looking for something new, add to your toolbox or even escape the nine to five, join us at our next event. Links in the information on the podcast. See you there.
00:20:42
Speaker
Well, I got the publisher for my book from A Walking with Wisdom Walk. Oh, perfect. Yeah, just chatting to a woman who said, oh, I'm just putting in my book to the publisher, blah, blah, blah. And I said, oh, I've just written one. Who is it? And she said, oh, I'll give you the details. Sent it off, sent the proposal off, away you go. I'm like, oh, OK. Nice. You know, yeah, so nice surprises. So Way back, so Pinterest is still very much out there, but what what kind of got you to go on? I need to move away from this and do something different, because it's still huge. People don't realize how big Pinterest is. And I'd still use it, it's still one of the main ways that I market my business is still through Pinterest and actually quizzes play really well on Pinterest. and But I think for me, the reason I kind of moved away from it wasn't so much that it wasn't working, it was more
00:21:38
Speaker
so the work that I was doing wasn't kind of using my skill set really. In terms of like what I love to do, um it got quite, ah you know, we sort of, we had quite a good client base. It was actually quite hard to walk away from. It's quite hard to say actually, I'm making money doing something, but now I'm not going to do it anymore. But it was very, it was repetitive, which again, we know it doesn't quite suit my personality. yeah um And Yeah, i just it just wasn't sort of something that I really enjoyed anymore. um And I started doing a quiz for myself and I realised that was a really good fit for me. Are you using AI at all in writing the quizzes? Yeah, I mean, I need to add that into my programme, actually. I've got it on my list to add in AI prompts. okay And I think there's a place for it for sure, but it needs to be
00:22:29
Speaker
and There's been a kind of quite a surge in people just writing fully AI quizzes like here's my topic, write me a quiz kind of thing. The trouble is if it's not grounded in, and you know this, doing what you do as well, if it's not grounded in solid strategy and it doesn't link up with your business properly, you'll have a quiz but it won't actually lead to any of the outcomes or the right kind of leads or anything like that. So um there's definitely a place for it to be used to kind of spur some ideas or to help you with things that you then tweak but you need to feed in the right, it's the same with everything in with chat, GP and
AI and the Future of Quizzes
00:23:02
Speaker
stuff. You have to put in the right information. And unless you know that, you're not going to get the quality output that you need. Yeah. Yeah. If you sound like a robot, you're going to get robots, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And that kind of defeats the point of the quiz, which is that it's really personal and it shows your brand and your brand voice and who you are and so on.
00:23:25
Speaker
Yeah. Now, part of our Nick and Becca fireside chats is the IS Nick question that then I put to you. I told him I was interviewing you and he went, I've only got one question. He said, Munchie, where does that surname come from? It's such an unusual surname. I went, can you not do better than that? I went, nope, that's all I could think of. That's what I want. Yeah, totally, totally fair.
00:23:51
Speaker
and It's sort courtesy of my husband, so he's um he's Indian, so yeah, it's an Indian surname. Right, okay. It's probably really common in India. yeah Yeah, I should probably ask him. I'll take Nick's question. I don't know how common it is actually. Right.
00:24:05
Speaker
Yeah, so I say ah kind of have an English first name, Indian surname. Ah, that's right. Okay, now your turn to ask him one because it's only fair.
Business Lessons from Stand-up Comedy
00:24:17
Speaker
So Nick's my older brother. Yeah. ah We're in business together. I don't know whether you've ever seen him, met him. No, I don't think I have actually. i think i Yeah, no, I haven't.
00:24:27
Speaker
Tall guy usually wears glasses and loud shirts. Okay. Did a stint as a stand up comedian and now mainly trains lawyers in communication, networking, influence persuasion, negotiation. That is also a keynote speaker. So he opens the fridge door, the light comes on and he does a 10 minute set. That is my brother. All and So what question do you have for him, Helen?
00:24:55
Speaker
Okay. So I'm writing this down. So I remember by the way, yeah and then what he answers it on the next. Yeah. Yeah. he right Very good. Um, what one thing can people like running a small business learn from standup comics? Ooh, I like that a lot.
00:25:24
Speaker
to run. Because it does feel like business can just be way too serious. You know, we leave our we leave our corporate life to start a business because we love the kind of the energy of it and the creativity. We've got this idea and sometimes it feels like if you're a few years in that can kind of get squashed out of you a little bit. So yeah is there a way to kind of, I guess, bring back the fun yeah it like that and comedy that might help do that?
00:25:55
Speaker
I like that a lot because yeah, you're right. there There are sometimes Nick and I get together and go, oh God. And then we have to remember to bring the phone back into it. And the way I did this a few months ago, I came back from a holiday in Spain in April and I went, right, I've decided to run my business with my holiday head on. Nice, like it.
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah, so I decided to approach everything in the way that I approach everything on holiday, minus the sangria. I was going to say Aperol, spritz and hand at midday. Yeah, can't can't do that because I'd get nothing done, or I might get loads done, but it would be rubbish. and So that worked really, really well. And then I had another, the other thing I've decided to do is do more holidays. That's the other thing. So I came back.
00:26:48
Speaker
the other week from Thailand and it took me a week to get back into work mode. Don't you find the better holiday you have, the harder it is to get back into work mode? Yeah. I know I've had a good holiday when I kind of get there and my brain just leaves my head and I just can't even form a thought. Totally. I'd say that's my husband. He's like, well, that's what my head's like.
00:27:11
Speaker
like all the time. you know When you ask someone like someone else like a guy, you say, what are you thinking about? And they're like, well, nothing. And I'm like, I don't i don't understand how that works. like no that that's but I think that's holiday head, isn't it? That's, yeah. Yeah. Where's my next cocktail coming from? yeah That's it. and Yeah. So trying to bring back the fun. Well, we are doing actually because it it's like, look, if you're not,
00:27:38
Speaker
If you run in your own business and you're not enjoying it, you can't enjoy it 100% of the time. You really can't, that's impossible. But around 70 to 80% of the time, the old pray toes law.
Helen's Business Expansion Plans
00:27:51
Speaker
If roughly you're enjoying it that amount of time, then jobs are good and as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. But I think you can get a bit bogged down in the kind of the everyday and the this and the learning something new all the time. And you know I think it's easy to to lose the fun unless you kind of intentionally do it. Yeah. Where are you taking the business?
00:28:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good it's a really good question. So um I'm very aware that I need to so I want to grow my quiz. I want to grow the quizzes for sure. So I want to get the quiz Academy. I want to get a lot more people through that because I think it's just such a it's just such a good way to become visible. And and I think for me, the other thing that I'm really aware of in my own business is that I really need to put my my voice out there more and have a tendency to be great at kind of the funnels and the tech and the quizzes and this and that but actually at some point you also need to just put your voice out and and I don't know why I don't do it more because I love it, I love podcasts, I all that kind of stuff. So I think for me that's the real next thing is for me to be putting out more, um yeah, opportunities for people to connect with me through my voice and and my face. Yeah, that personal brand thing's really big as well. Yeah, exactly. People do want to see who you are and what you're about, definitely. Yeah. Good. And and what drives you? What's your dharma, as the Hindus would say, or your purpose?
00:29:23
Speaker
what What's that in your psyche, in Helen's psyche? Yeah, so kind of why do I do what I do? Yeah, there's kind of, there's two sides of it. So like, for me personally, um we we really want to be able to get a good amount of recurring income so that we can then start working away from from the UK. So we want to be able to travel, we want to be able to go live in India for a few months, you know, go and pitch up to a hill station and live there for a bit. and So you know we don't have kids, we've got that freedom to be able to to do that. and So that's sort of on the personal plan for sure.
Financial Independence for Women
00:30:01
Speaker
right In terms of what drives me to to do the actual work that I specifically do is about um the the big picture is that I feel there's a lot of power and if we put more money in the hands of
00:30:16
Speaker
of women, basically. and If we have people who are financially independent, who are excited about what they do, and that has like a real ripple effect to to their family, to their community, to whatever mission they're, you know, pursuing. um So that kind of equality of access to finance, the autonomy of being able to earn your own money is is really, really important to me.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, very important. There's loads of studies on there that if you give, I got a friend who runs a fantastic microfinance business called Wild Hearts in Action, and he's done loads of studies, and their microfinance could be like a tenner, literally 10 pounds, 50 pounds.
00:31:01
Speaker
The studies show that when you give that to women and women run their own businesses, the babies put on weight and um are healthier and have better health outcomes. The children get sent to school, everybody gets fed and it goes back into the community. Yeah.
00:31:23
Speaker
Sadly, the converse doesn't happen when you, and and the loans, by the way, 98%, 99% get repaid. That does not happen when you give that to men, sadly. I don't know what the statistics are. Yeah. And there was another stat, because I'm a trustee for the Women's Fund for Scotland, and um women will spend a vast majority of their income on the family and kids, like literally 80 odd percent, whereas guys, it's about 56%. Yeah, and I think they've more charitable giving they've shown that kind of gets put back into, yeah, I did a, I sort of created a training course actually for Tear Fund to do it, working with lines and that yeah, the stats are just, yeah, astounding. um
00:32:15
Speaker
And I think it's, you know, when you look at also the kind of the wider, so when you look on the bigger businesses as well, so kind of away from microfinance, but I think it's something like only 2% of all investment raised is actually goes into female founded businesses. But if you actually reverse that and made it equal, the the additional income that you would add to like the US economy, and it was in the billions and billions, you know, it's, so there's, there's good economic arguments for it, but there's also,
00:32:45
Speaker
good social arguments. And it's, you know, it just feels right as well, you know, it's equality. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is definitely equality of opportunity. Yeah, definitely. I think that's really important.
Envisioning a Charismatic Business Presence
00:32:57
Speaker
Okay, last question, Helen, and you are a marketeer, so this one should be easy. okay If your business had a personality or a character, either who would it be or how would you describe it?
00:33:11
Speaker
Oh gosh, that's actually, I feel like, yeah, that is quite a hard happened ah hard question. and I think they'd they'd be that person that walks into um like a party or a bar and they're not quiet, but they they're there and they've got like good jokes, they've got enthusiasm,
00:33:37
Speaker
they've got like a good story for most things. and And people just kind of naturally get attracted to that because they wanna be around that energy. That's what I'm trying to create. I don't know if I'm there yet, but it's that's kind of what I'm what i'm going for. and So not like the loudest person at the party, um but just sort of naturally um attract people.
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah, people are drawn to you and and they are definitely without a shadow of a doubt because you have a really great relaxed demeanor that immediately makes people feel safe and comfortable. That's really sweet. Thank you. Well, it's true. It's really true. And you're also very, very easy to talk to. I just delivered a session on effective communication.
00:34:25
Speaker
And you're a very good communicator, very clear and easy to follow. And people go, oh, yeah, OK, I get that. You know, the process you're describing, you make sense, simple. I know isn't simple because we do lots of marketing, but you I think probably the way you take people through it will be really good because we go oh yeah I get that bit and then you'll show them the next bit all right I'll get that bit and then yeah little by little yeah yeah appreciate that no no that's all right and by the way digital nomad visas have you looked them up yeah so we were looking at Portugal but I think they've tightened the rules around Portugal recently because I think a lot of people started doing that so we haven't kind of looked at our
00:35:13
Speaker
um next one yet and i yeah yeah they I was can't remember
Digital Nomad Visas and Networking
00:35:19
Speaker
where it was. I was looking and it was like 30, I think it was an article and it was 30 countries now do digital nomad visas, varying lengths, like six months to 18 months. yeah And I thought this, if I didn't have kids and two dogs, I would just be off. I would just go because you can just go wherever you want. It's amazing now, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. you know If you can make your living online, which is what you know the vast majority of people that I work with want to do, yeah you've got that freedom. Yeah, it's fantastic. Right, well, I look forward to seeing your adventures in India. Yeah, exactly.
00:36:01
Speaker
Get busy and stay in the house. Wonderful. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed that. I'm going to talk to you about that course for a member of our team to do that. I guess it is networking, but it's not sort of there. You're very welcome. I've got, like, a lot of new applications to get for you to reach business there. It's more of a kind of community of people who just get together. I do those a couple of times a month. I actually work at my local gym quite a lot to kind of have the sort of people behind me and My husband actually worked from home Monday and Fridays as well so it's only really three days that I'm by myself. Yeah we do similar things so I there's a lady lovely lady who organises walking with wisdom networking so once a month there's a walk.
00:36:45
Speaker
That's a great idea. Yeah, it's really good. I take the dogs. So I killed two birds with one stone. The dogs are walks and I get to chat to people. And you're absolutely right because our client base, you know, the bit we're growing and still work with one to one with businesses, but the bit we're growing is the online stuff. So.
00:37:04
Speaker
I'm not doing it to get people to sign up to the programme because they're the wrong audience, but it is, it's that community and getting to know people and stuff like that, which is really nice. Yeah, yeah I think it's so important that you sort of have to yeah really kind of carve out the time because it is it's easy when you get to it going, I'm busy, I could just see it But actually, I think it is. um And it's a good way to kind of when you hear yourself talking about what you do, kind of start changing up how you talk about it and um yeah, see how people will respond as well. It's quite interesting. Yeah.