AMY PORTERFIELD: “You are here for a purpose. You have a mission in life. And every little nudge you get, every little bit of intuition, that gut check, it needs to be shared with the world. They need to be put into action, not stifled by fear. And you better believe that everything I'm saying to you right now are the things I need to remind myself on a daily basis, that our message can help move somebody else. If we're honest, if we're in integrity, and we don't hold back, our message can move somebody else forward, help them get to that place that they desperately desire and want.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the time to focus on growing my small-but-mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started.
AMY: If you love Online Marketing Made Easy, you’ve got to check out Entrepreneurs on Fire, hosted by my dear friend John Lee Dumas. He discusses things like how to live tax free as an entrepreneur—uh, yes, please—and shares inspiring stories like how a college sophomore turned twenty dollars, cell phone, and a dream into a cookie company valued at over five hundred million dollars. I mean, you got to love stories like that. He'll leave you with actionable steps and fired up. Be sure to check out Entrepreneurs on Fire wherever you get your podcasts.
Well, hey, there. Welcome back to Online Marketing Made Easy. I hope you're doing well. Here's my hope for you: I hope that you are running your own race, putting your head down, doing the action items you need to do, and telling yourself, “I'm going to do the next best thing. Even if I'm not sure if it's the next best thing, I'm going to make an educated guess and do the next best thing.” Listen, some days are tough, and that's all you can do, and I think that's really, really valuable. So, anyway, quick words of wisdom.
So here's the thing: I've been thinking about you a lot, my listeners and my students of some of my digital courses, and I've been paying attention to what seems to be some of the biggest pain points for you. And one that keeps coming up over and over and over again is content creation, creating content on the regular, and the struggle around planning it and organizing it and, ultimately, creating it. And I get it. I, too, have felt the same way. So because I know the struggle is real, I'm here to help you get clarity and ease so that you can keep sharing your message with the world and leaning into your purpose.
So in doing so, I've created a free three-month plug-and-play content-calendar template so that mapping out your upcoming content can feel easy and actually fun. Dare I say that? So I created a content-calendar template years ago, and because it was so popular, I decided it was high time I revamped it and updated it, just made it better. So you’ll love this updated version because not only does it allow you to seamlessly plan out what content goes out and when it goes out, it also allows you to plan out your social content. And I personally think having it all in one spot makes repurposing of content so much easier.
So I'm going to give you a URL that's a little bit different than I usually give. So pay close attention. This is where I want you to go: amyporterfield.com/#contentcalendar. So amyporterfield.com/#contentcalendar, so the symbol #content calendar. And if you don't want to type that in, you could just click on the episode description wherever you're listening to this podcast, and you'll see a link to it there as well. You're going to get a free three-month plug-and-play content-calendar template. I absolutely love this resource. I think you will, too.
Now, if you've been listening to Online Marketing Made Easy for a while, you know that at the end of my episodes sometimes I ask my guest, “What's the best piece of advice that you've ever been given?” And I always love hearing what they have to say. Not only is some of their advice pure gold, but it's so interesting to hear what has helped some really successful entrepreneurs along the way. So I thought it would be fun to turn the tables and share with you the best advice that I've ever received as an entrepreneur. And to be honest, I thought it was going to be super easy for me to come up with a long, long list. But when I got down to it, there were only a couple of things that have truly stuck with me through the years.
Now, the first piece of advice is actually from my former boss, Tony Robbins. If you've ever listened to any of Tony's content or heard him speak in person, he talks a lot about his life growing up and how his life has made an impact on who he is today. His childhood was unstable. He didn't have money. He didn't have connections. He didn't have a degree in business. So in order to create the life and the business that he wanted to have, he had to become resourceful. He had to use things like his creativity, his determination, his curiosity, and his passion to get ahead and achieve what he wanted. And that's why he says that resourcefulness is what actually makes people get ahead in life. I think the quote he shares is something along the lines of, it's not the lack of resources; it's your lack of resourcefulness that stops you from being successful. And I wholeheartedly agree.
So the mindset I choose to have in my business is that anything is possible. I always believe that there's a yes in the works, meaning if I come up against something that's not working or someone says that I can't do it or that it will never work, in my mind, that's just a challenge. I think to myself, “I'm resourceful. I'll figure it out. We'll work it out. We will always find a way. There is always a solution.” And it may take some time or a lot of creativity, thinking outside the box, but we will always find a way to make it happen. And that's not just me wearing rose-colored glasses. I, honest to God, believe that we can do anything we want to do in our businesses if we have patience, we put our minds to it, and we are resourceful. We can figure it out. We can solve problems. We can do difficult things.
And before you think I'm getting all woo-woo on you, come back to me here. The thing about having a positive mindset and believing that everything is possible, or figureoutable, as my friend Marie Forleo likes to say, is that it needs to be backed up by hard work and determination. You can't just will something to happen. You have to believe that it's possible, and then you have to get to work.
So I think I love this advice that you've got to be resourceful in your business because it makes me think, like, if I get into action, if I do the next best thing, that I'm going to uncover some answers that I needed to get to where I want to get to. Action creates clarity, right? And the more clarity you have, the easier it is to be resourceful. So I guess my advice here is let's get into action. All right. So that's the first piece of advice that I would put to my list of some of the best advice I've ever received.
Next, I want to share a piece of advice from someone I dearly admire, Luvvie Ajayi Jones. So here it is: “Fear has a very concrete power of keeping us from doing and saying the things that are our purpose.” So that's what Luvvie says. I'm going to read it one more time. “Fear has a very concrete power of keeping us from doing and saying the things that are our purpose.” So let me tell you, friend, as an entrepreneur, heck, as a human being, I feel we butt heads with fear on a day-to-day basis. Am I right? We want to say something, share something, yell about something that's in our hearts, but we hold back for fear of being judged, fear of ruffling feathers, fear of insert whatever comes up to you.
So I had a very specific situation with fear and fear of being judged. The other day, I was interviewing my friend Ed Mylett. So that was just two episodes ago. So episode 466, you can go find it. I hate to choose favorites, but I have to say that was one of my most favorite episodes. I felt like it spoke to my heart. I felt like he was talking to me directly in that episode, although I knew it was adding value to all of my listeners. But it was profound. Like, I got off that episode, and I told Hobie that was a special episode. Something was really amazing about it. So it's episode 466.
But when we were talking, I didn't plan to share this story, but I shared with him a story of feeling really insecure in a recent setting of my peers. And I was beating myself up over it because I'm like, “This is ridiculous, Amy. You know these people. You should be here. You're totally qualified.” But for some reason, like, my mind, fear of not being enough, got the best of me. So I didn't want to tell this story, because I didn't want to look weak. Like, I'm actually kind of embarrassed by this story. I feel like I should be further along in my mental growth than I was in that moment.
But then when I shared it, of course, Ed, being the amazing human he is, he instantly identified with me, and I felt like he was incredibly genuine, and also shared his own story, and that was incredible. But I tell this to say I almost didn't share it because the fear of looking weak.
And going back to what Luvvie is saying here is that this fear has this power of keeping us from sharing things that I think because I shared that someone else is going to hear it and be like, “Thank God, Amy, you shared that. That’s what I needed to hear.” And now I feel compelled to just put my head down and keep moving forward, even though I have these stumbling blocks. And that is powerful, right?
So sweet, friend, hear me out. You are here for a purpose. You have a mission in life. And every little nudge you get, every little bit of intuition, that gut check, it needs to be shared with the world. They need to be put into action, not stifled by fear. And you better believe that everything I'm saying to you right now are the things I need to remind myself on a daily basis, that our message can help move somebody else. If we're honest, if we're in integrity, and we don't hold back, our message can move somebody else forward, help them get to that place that they desperately desire and want.
Whenever I get an idea that feels a little scary or I'm inspired to do something out of my status quo, I acknowledge that there is fear there. I totally see it. I know it's there, and I know it's there to try to keep me safe. Like, Amy, don't do that wild thing. You might crash and burn. Or that's a little risky, or you're putting your business at risk if you do this or that. The fear is definitely trying to keep me safe and grounded. But it's also—this is why it's so tricky—it's a roadblock between staying stuck and doing great things in this world, like stepping into my purpose.
And that's really why this piece of advice speaks so loudly to me. I think I have a lot more to say, a lot more to share. And every time I want to share something and I get that fear that pops up, I'm going to remind myself of this quote from Luvvie, and I'm going to remind myself that my message could move someone forward, or my actions could move someone forward. If I get this crazy idea to try something new and I feel scared but what if I do it and, best-case scenario, I transform lives; worst-case scenario, I learn what didn't work so that I can build off that for something that does. I mean, we talk about fear a lot on this podcast, but I think, coming back to what Luvvie said, that the fear of not saying something, keeping us from doing or saying something that is really aligned with our purpose, it's not worth it to buy into that fear. It's just not worth it.
Okay. Moving on to the third and final piece of advice is one that I constantly have to remind myself of, and it's that other people's opinions of you are none of your business. Ah, did you hear me? One more time for the people in the back. Other people's opinions of you are none of your business. If you've been listening for a while, you know that I struggle with my desire for everyone to like me. And I've just been that way my whole life, even as a really little kid. And especially now that I'm putting myself out there online even more, it's even harder because people have a lot of opportunity to see me and to not like me, or maybe should I say, have their own opinions about me. As I'm sure you can imagine, this need for other people's approval has not served me well at all. It's taken up a lot of mental space that could have been used in a much more productive way. Did you hear that part? I think that my desire to be liked and to not ruffle feathers, so, like, say the right thing so that people will like me, it's taken up a lot of mental space that could have been used in a much more productive way.
And here’s the thing: once you make the decision not to care what other people think about you, which I am well on my journey to get there, you become so much more free. I already feel it, and I've only taken baby steps. All of those negative thoughts and energy are released, and you have the space to focus on things that will actually serve you and ways you will serve other people. And it's hard for everyone.
Funny enough, I was watching TikTok. I mean, I wish I got a dollar for every time I said that because I literally learned so many great things from TikTok. Hobie rolls his eyes because he is not on TikTok. But I was on TikTok, and Reese Witherspoon shared on her Instagram how this was a great piece of advice. And I was already planning on putting it in here, but when I heard her talk about it, I was like, ding, ding, ding. I am not alone, which is always a great thing to be reminded of, right?
But Reese said in her TikTok that it's a great piece of advice but hard to put into practice, and I agree. So that's why I work really hard to remind myself that I'm much better off when I don't let others’ opinions get to me. And if you think about it, so often what other people say about you is a direct reflection of how they feel about themselves. Like, you have to remember that. What people say about you or think about you—they might not even say it. We're just worried what people are thinking about us—it's a direct reflection of how they feel about themselves. And how they feel about themselves is layered in life experiences and years of struggles and trauma and wins and everything in between that have nothing to do with you. So let’s be real: it doesn't matter. It just matters for them.
And a great reminder that my dear friend Jasmine Star always reminds me of is those people who have opinions about you, usually negative opinions about you, they don't pay the bills, so they don't get a say. You just keep doing you.
So there you have it. Those are some of my best pieces of advice that I've received, and I hope that you find them helpful. It's actually a really fun little exercise to think back at some of the best pieces of advice. And here's the thing: I want to be flooded with best pieces of advice. So if you're not following me on Instagram already, please go do so. I'm just @amyporterfield on Instagram. Go follow me, and then send me a DM and give me the best piece of advice you've ever received. I want to know. And then I think I'm going to share them on Instagram. Like, if you send it to me, and I'll share some of them on Instagram so we can flood others with some good advice as well. All right. I can't wait to hear from you.
I hope you love this Shortie episode, and thanks for hanging with me.
If you have a friend that needs a little pick me up, maybe some words of wisdom, please grab the link to this episode, text it to them, share it with them. They will be so forever grateful, I just know it.
And I'll see you on Thursday for more entrepreneurial goodness. Remember, I've got two episodes a week: every Tuesday’s shorter, every Thursday's a little bit more in depth, lots of step by step. So I'll see you Thursday, same time, same place. Bye for now.
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