I get lots of questions about Instagram. Should I go live? Should I use Stories? Should I link to Facebook?
While I actually love Instagram and have gotten lots of engagement using it, plus lots of leads, I am not advocating spending your energy over there quite yet.

You can't feed your funnel until you've fixed it.

There are so many voices out there teaching marketing. Teaching you where to spend money and how to grow your social media following.
But if you are running fabulous ads, and your website is confusing, broken, out of date, or not clear, you are just flushing time and money down the toilet.
If you are spending hours creating content and graphics but you don't have a clear funnel for clients to flow through, then your time is being wasted.

Listen, I know times are crazy right now. You might feel frozen. You might feel confused. Exhausted.
Maybe you've pivoted online and you're trying to figure out how to open up again.
Or how to pivot again.

Maybe all you can do is post on Facebook half-heartedly. I get it! And I want to wrap you in a big hug.
Please give yourself grace. These are very stressful times. Don't get down on yourself. Don't beat yourself up. Do what you can with the energy you have. Take time for self-care. Take time to relax. Let your shoulders relax. Being on high-alert all the time is not good for your health at all.

But listen.
If you have just a tiny bit of energy, (or a lot of nervous energy) it would be better to fix your funnel instead of spending time on social media.

Fixing your funnel means:
-Clients who find you online know clearly what you do and why they should choose you
-You stay in front of them consistently (without annoying badgering)
-You close the sale easily without fear (and get paid, instead of getting "exposure.")
-From start to finish, your clients are slowly "pre-sold" before they ever get to the sales conversation.
-Prospects know they want you because your funnel took them through a step by step process of understanding what you offer, what you do, and why they should choose you.

Honestly now is a great time for you to fix your funnel since you are stuck at home anyway.
We have a whole batch of local business owners who are going through our Funnel Fix Program. They are running Facebook ads and getting clients. They are emailing their list and getting credit cards. This process works. But it only works if you do EVERY step.

Is your funnel flowing with new prospects coming to you daily? (Even in a pandemic?)
Does your funnel work from your online ads to the closing of the sale conversation, without any leaks or broken pipes?
Or do you feel like you get leads but no new clients?
Or have all the leads dried up, too?
If you have a broken pipe, you are losing prospects before you can turn them into clients and that's why, my friend, it doesn't matter what you post on Instagram or Stories or Facebook. It doesn't matter if you're running Google ads. If your funnel is broken, we have to get that fixed.

​I want to help. I have set aside time to talk to you about YOUR situation. If you know your marketing just isn't working, let's fix the funnel. 
If you're sick of running your own ads and want to get it off your plate, we can do that, too. 
We have a full staff ready to help YOU through this hard time and make it to the other side, stronger than ever before. 
Let's talk. Start by applying for a strategy session. We'll map out a plan and fix your funnel. You don't have to do this alone!
​www.jenhickle.com/apply

We are here to help.

If you have been faking it too long, now is your time to reset.

Ask yourself what you really want to do.
Is your business really what you want?
Are you truly committed? The truly committed will rise.
Those half in and half out will fold. They'll say, "I'm out." And that's okay. It's just trimming the tree. Like storm winds that knock down the dead wood.

If you need to start over, now is your time. 
Hunker down, rewrite your life. 
Redo the course. 
Adjust. 
It's not failure to give up on what you've been doing for so long, even though it nearly broke you.
It's failure to not fulfill your calling.

There's no need to impress anyone anymore. 
Take off the mask and face who you really are and then embrace it. 

It's beautiful because God made you and He does not make mistakes. 
He wants to use you exactly as you are. 
NOT what others told you to be. 
NOT what the world says is beautiful or successful. 

You get to rise out of this and embrace the quirky, awkward, creative you. 
If you actually like being alone, it's not a bad thing. It's who you are. 
If you love diving deep and researching, you aren't a nerd. 
That's your gift to the world. 

If you are an artist that never paints, go paint. 
Ignore the voice of shame and vulnerability that says it's not good enough. 
You are just out of practice. 
You have life experience to lean on now, instead of cocky youth. 
Just paint. 
You don't have to do it to show anyone. Just paint. 

Or dance.
No one needs to even see you.
Just do it because you love it.

Write. Write if no one even reads it.
Don't write for the likes or the comments (or the lack of). 
Just write because you love to write. 
And if your writing is rusty, keep writing. 
You will only get better if you keep doing it. There's no other way.

But to turn off your creativity, your painting, your dancing, your writing, to swallow it and push it down? That's depression. That's anxiety. That's when you run so fast so you don't have to face your thoughts or emotions. You stay busy and go to the gym and are around people all the time--to drown out your thoughts screaming at you. 
That's why you escape your kids and hang out in groups. To get away from the voice that's calling you to slow down and face who you are.

Now is the time. It feels excruciating at first. To stop the schedules and the running and the deadlines. But we will find something beautiful at the bottom of this, if we are willing to look.

You'll find what you've been hiding from. You'll find who you really are. 

You'll breathe through the pain and birth something beautiful if you stop hiding behind the alcohol and the movies and the keeping up with the neighbors.
Journal. Write. Get it out.

Process.

Go for a power walk. Talk to yourself.

Do whatever it takes to face what you have been running from. See what God is speaking to you.

In every wartime and depression, our nation has re-invented itself. And maybe they kicked and screamed in the middle of it, too, but beautiful things came out of the ashes. 

What is coming out of you? What will change when this is all over? What will you give up? What will you return to, more grateful than ever before? Who will you run to, arms open wide, promising to never take them for granted again? What job will you quit? What business will you start?

This is your chance to reset. 

If you love being with your kids 24/7, you don't have to stop after this.
If you love working from home, you can continue.
If you love slowing down and living at a slower pace, you don't have to sign up for all the activities when they open up again.
You get to choose.

If you hated the track your life was on, but you just kept pushing through, well, now you get to change.

If you hate change and this is all so hard for you, push through it. Because on the other side of change might be exactly what you want or need.
You can fight the growth or you can lean into it. It's your choice.

You can surrender to the process and gain so much or you can be angry and frustrated and end up with ulcers and an anxiety disorder through this whole thing.
​
It's your choice.
Own it.
Control what you can and release the rest. 
This is all up to you.

​And just like that, everything was canceled.
I rubbed my finger over the dry-erase calendar, taking off all the fun things my kids had been looking forward to. Clicked delete on events on my phone.

The busy pace of our world has slowed to a crawl.

Now I make meals at home three times a day. I take a nap if I want to. I look at all the books on my shelf and realize I’ll be able to get to them now.

I think about the basement and the projects I’ve been meaning to tackle.
Now I have the gift of time.

We snuggle on the couch and watch a mindless show and I count my blessings because my kids are healthy and on either side of me.

I shudder when I think of everyone sick and fighting for every breath.

My mind can hardly process that the world is shut down. It feels like 9/11 and yet, completely different.
I’ve never lived through a pandemic before. I try not to think too far into the coming days, weeks, months. I focus on what I can: my kids, our food, our house, our health.

I pray we can stop the spread.
I pray we can go on breathing.
I pray for those already sick and those across the ocean.
I pray that these slower days bring us back to our center and to what really matters: our family, our faith, our next breath.

I pray for all the health care workers and government officials. I do not envy the decisions they are making.


>>If you need to bring your business online, we've put together a guide for moving appointments to Zoom. Grab it here. We want to help. http://neveralonebusinessservices.com/zoom-for-music-schools.html 
>>Please share this with anyone who sells appointments and needs to get them on Zoom.