Ep. 096: "Do I really need that?" Avoiding FOMO
Recently a friend and I were chatting and realized we both assumed we needed a really cool new software for our businesses because it seemed too good to pass up! Has this ever happened to you?
She ended up realizing she didn't need it after she purchased it (luckily it was a monthly subscription she could cancel), but I had thankfully caught myself before I clicked that "Buy Now" button.
What happened was FOMO. Yes, we are all susceptible! And it gets even harder when there's really good marketing for an offer, or something is a hot new trend. (I'm looking at you Clubhouse.)
That's why in this episode I want to showcase how you can spot that you might be falling for FOMO and how to make peace with saying "no" to shiny objects. And why having that big-picture vision paired with simple strategies is so essential to staying on track.
LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED TODAY:
Your Rebellious Success: https://erikatebbensconsulting.com/rebellious-success
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Welcome back to the, sell it sister podcast. In today's episode, we are talking FOMO and as an online entrepreneur, even as an offline entrepreneur, but especially as an online entrepreneur, FOMO is really, really, really real. So I want to talk about how you can successfully navigate FOMO and also. End up, uh, like, uh, being able to avoid confidently, avoid spending time, money, or energy on things that you don't really need at least don't need yet in your business.
Uh, and this really comes from, um, my, my friend, Marcy, uh, we were chatting recently in the DMS. About a, a platform that had come out that by some very well-respected people, it looks really awesome. We know from other people who were early adopters, that it is awesome. Uh, it really helps you with marketing funnels, especially if you have like a lot of, um, passive products, like courses or digital downloads and stuff.
Super, super awesome, great price point. Uh it's there's like a lot of, um, They're going to be like adding stuff to it over the months and the years. So it would have been kind of great to like, you know, get on getting on the ground floor, as they say. And we were having this conversation about how she had, uh, she'd gotten it.
And then she started to look around inside, and then she was starting to feel overwhelmed cause she just didn't realize, or she, she started to realize that it didn't actually align with. How her business and her offers are set up and structured right now, anyways. And that in order to be able to really take advantage of the awesomeness of the new platform, that she had a purchase that she'd signed up for, it was going to take a lot of time and energy to move everything where it was and all of these different places in her business onto this one.
Platform and that ultimately, because of the nature of her offers, it just sh like she didn't need something that was that robust anyways. And it was funny because in her, in her telling of this, I don't even remember how we got on the subject of it really, but I was like, Oh my gosh, I definitely almost signed up for that thing as well.
Like for a similar reason, like I was like, Oh my gosh, the, you know, the marketing for this, it seems amazing. Like this, this thing seems so robust. It seems fantastic. It has so many capabilities. Like, Oh my God. I know, I know the people who created it, like, you know, I they're great people, like, I don't know them personally, but I know, I know of them.
I'm like friends with some people who know them. And, uh, so, you know, I, I knew it was legit. Right. And I, I knew that it. Could potentially be amazing for my business. Like I had no doubt in the platform itself that the platform wouldn't be amazing and worth every penny. But when I started to sit back and look at how my business is structured, I was like, Yeah, I don't, I don't think, I don't think I need it.
Like same thing. It would have been this huge process to move everything over, or I could've paid somebody to do it for me, but then, you know, then I'm out that money, right. For something I don't really need because my whole business is not centered around selling lots of, um, Passive products are things that need kind of more robust funnels.
I've, I've worked with people who, whose businesses are structured. That way. I have nothing against people whose businesses are structured that way. And I would absolutely recommend these types of things to those entrepreneurs. Like if I was working with them, if they were my client, I would absolutely suggest this, um, this software.
But for me, it just didn't make sense. But it was that thing. It was that common thing of, you know, Oh my gosh. Like what if, what if I don't get it at this price? Because like the price was about to go up. So it was like, what if I don't get it now at this great price? And then I regret it later and I'm super bummed and, and all of that.
And I feel really stupid. And granted, this is something that like is, you know, I could, even if I had joined, I could cancel at any at any time. It, you know, it's not something I was like locked in for life on or anything like that. Um, but I still just was like, you know, starting to have that feeling of like, is it better if I just like lock in this low price point now, even if I'm not even going to utilize it for a few months or should I.
Wait and pay more later or whatever. Like I just, I was having this big, like mental back and forth with myself and I talked with a friend and she really like put it into perspective for me. And I was like, God, you're so right. Like you are so, so, so right. But at least at first it felt like. Oh, my gosh, all the cool kids are going to be here and they're going to be so smart for being early adopters.
And they're going to get in at this better price and they are going to be leveraging all of this like amazing funnel technology. And I won't have it. And like, you know, is that going to be detrimental to my business? Like the whole thing, you know, my, my brain was just like going right. And, uh, so yeah, so long story short, like I, I didn't.
Ended up joining definitely would still recommend the software and my friend ended up, um, she was like, I'm going to cancel my account. And again, maybe same thing for her, maybe in the future, she will, uh, decide it is for her. But at that time she is more than happy to pay more for it. Right. And that's what I decided to, like, I might actually use it in the future, but if I do I'm totally okay with paying more because it will make sense because my business will be such that the benefit will.
Like drastically outweigh the cost and I will pay somebody who's an expert in porting all of that thing, all of like the stuff over into it. Like I will just, I will outsource that whole process. Right. So that's kind of like a more like, uh, something you're actually like shelling out money for. And sometimes I think, you know, when there's money involved, it's a little bit easier to.
Say like, nah, I don't need it. Like, especially if the budget is tight or we just don't want to be spending that extra amount every month. It's a little bit easier to be like, okay, I may have a little FOMO, but I'm also still going to say no, but I think it can be even more tricky when we're talking about the investment of our own time.
Because I feel like a lot of times we can rationalize, spending more time on something. Cause we're like, well, it's free. I'm not paying for it. It's this free resource. So shouldn't I be taking advantage of. Like any free resource that I possibly can. Right. So this is the example I want to give for this would be clubhouse and, you know, are there a lot of people on clubhouse now?
Yes. Are the people who are getting business on clubhouse now? Definitely. Does it mean that every entrepreneur needs to be on clubhouse? No, absolutely not. And even if you are giving talks on clubhouse, it is not. Mean that you need to be spending hours every week, listening to other discussions on clubhouse.
Right. But I think what happens is these new platforms come along or people start utilizing platforms for business. So something like a Tik TOK, which, you know, started as a law, there was a lot of dancing and stuff like that. And then people have started to leverage it for their businesses. And we go, well, it's this free thing.
It's this free marketing channel that I could use to grow my business. So shouldn't I be doing that? Shouldn't if I were smart, wouldn't I be leveraging that? And the reality is is that it doesn't matter if you're investing money, time or energy, it's still an investment and it's still taking you away from.
Something else that you potentially could be doing now, if you are somebody who loves. Talking who loves speaking, who loves teaching, who loves connecting in that way? Them clubhouse might make a ton of sense, especially if you have other marketing channels that are like rocking and rolling for you and you feel really good about, and they're getting your results and you're already being consistent over there.
But if you are just heaping on being on clubhouse to an already sort of chaotic. Uh, you know, chaotic workweeks and chaotic, overall like marketing plan and business plan and all of that, then it's only going to keep you stuck in that hamster wheel. Right. It's just going to be another thing that is going to keep you spinning your wheels, feeling like you're throwing spaghetti at the wall.
Week after week. Okay. So the alternative to this that I like to do for myself and with my clients is think about what the big picture vision is, and then create a simple sustain marketing plan. So obviously, you know, the big picture vision for all of us is like make more money, right? Not necessarily be millionaires or anything like that.
But if, if that is the case, That's awesome, but it could just be, you know, we, we want to make more money, right? We want more money. We want more time. We want more, you know, ease more fulfillment, uh, all like all of those good things that are super common amongst most entrepreneurs, um, more opportunities, more options, things like that, but there are definitely different ways to get there.
So I think it's really important to think of, you know, big picture vision. Does that look like impacting as many people as you possibly can, like, like thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people with your work? Or does it look like maybe serving 50 people a year, something along those lines, right.
Neither one is, is better or worse than the other, but it's just a really good idea to think about, you know, what would you really. Like to be doing. Would you, you know, what percentage more of clients would you like, what types of work do you want to do with people? Um, what kind of an impact do you, you want to have?
How much more money do you want, you know, monthly or, or annually, and then to think about what is a simple marketing plan that will help you. Obtain and achieve your big picture vision and simple is not always sexy. It's not flashy. It's not, you know, any of those things that get a lot of like traction and possess on.
On social media and online. Um, but simple works. It, it really does. Simple does not mean small results. It does not mean in effective. It means that it's something that you can do and in the doing of it, it is getting you results. And it's also something that you can do consistently, so that those results can be.
Consistent. So if your goal was to let's just say you only needed like five more clients for the year, right? That's entirely, entirely different than getting 5,000 new students to your course. So your marketing plan is going to be different. It's going to be a bit more low key, and you may not need. All of those different platforms, right?
If you know that you already get clients, like if you have a history of like, Oh, a lot of my clients come from Instagram. Just double down on your Instagram, right? If you got 10 clients last year, that came from Instagram, what, what more can you do on Instagram that is going to much more easily lead those five clients to you, or is that, you know, Speaking to people's audiences is that hosting workshops is that, um, you know, doing coffee chats, doing networking, uh, whatever those, those things are.
And I have a podcast episode, a few back that is about lesser known ways to get clients. So definitely check that out. If this is something that you struggle with, but that is going to be different than somebody who wants 5,000 students. That marketing plan is going to look predominantly like. Paid ads, right.
And a lot, maybe a lot more PR things like that. Again, it's not that you need all of that, but you're only trying to get the five clients you maybe don't necessarily need tons of paid ads, paid PR like you don't need those. You don't need those things. Right. So keep it simple so that it can be sustainable.
And if you already have something that is simple and working then consider what else you, you know, if you want to add in something like clubhouse, or let's say, if you. Um, going back to, you know, a software, if it's, if the software is aligned with you and your business and your business schools and, um, the current structure and all of that, if it's going to amplify that, make it easier.
Uh, it not just be something that like you potentially could use way off in the future then. Sure. Maybe you take advantage of it now. Or you can do what I do, which is have a parking lot list. So I know with that, um, that software that I chose not to get, I have put it on a parking lot list for the future.
If there is a point in the future, maybe it's later this year, or maybe it's the name next year where I am really leveraging. The power of like passive funnels for my business. Right then I know. Okay. This thing is awesome. And I am going to, uh, revisit that then. Right. I have also said this about like the beginning or at the end of last year, I was like, I want to do, like, I want to do more Tik TOK for my business this year.
Um, I haven't really done. I've only done, like, I think four tech talks total, none of them were really. Uh, super related to my, my business, but I'm on the app. Um, usually about once a day, at least consuming content. However, I just haven't prioritized. Making it part of my marketing plan and I haven't really needed to, so it's not to say I'm never going to use tick-tock and obviously there are ways to repurpose Tik, TOK videos for reels and, and stuff like that.
So I can, I can really like leverage my efforts over there if I want to. I just haven't done it yet so far. It's just been like a place I go and I scroll and I laugh and I like send funny tick docs to friends and stuff. And there might be a time where like that too, like marketing my business on tick-tock might remain on that parking lot list forever.
Like I might, I might periodically come back to it and be like, is now a better time. How do I feel about it? Do I really want to, you know, be creating over there for my business or do I not? And I can constantly revisit it and I can constantly. Say no, or not now, or, um, you know, like say I'm going to revisit this in three months or six months or whatever the case.
So it's not to say if you're saying no now doesn't mean not ever just put it on a parking lot list for yourself and then reevaluate it periodically. Uh, also. One thing to think about. Is that just because something has the potential to be really freaking good doesn't mean you need it. I know I've already kind of touched on this a little bit, but like you could probably figure out, I mean, it would be difficult, but like let's just envision that right now, there was an easy way to figure out how much revenue people have made, uh, directly or indirectly from being on clubhouse.
Right. It's probably a lot of money. So just because the potential's there, just because it could potentially get you more business does not mean that you need it because there are also plenty of people who are not in clubhouse and will never be on clubhouse that have wildly successful businesses.
Right. There are people who. You know, w none of us have ever heard of who are making multiple six and seven figures in their business. And they are like, barely, even on social media. Right. They're, they're getting the way they acquire clients is through totally different ways than social. Right. So just because it's, it could be really freaking good, just because it's really freaking good for others.
Doesn't mean you need it. And then lastly, it's really, really crucial to design a business based on you and then double down on what works for you. Uh, and I'm just gonna say again, you know, simple is not always sexy. It doesn't always get talked about. People don't necessarily do like free or paid like workshops or webinars on it, but it really, really, really.
Works. And so what I mean, when I say, you know, design a business based on you, double down on what works and keep it really simple is if you are someone who is like, I really do not have the capacity for a lot of one-to-one work. Like maybe you just generally, like in your schedule, You do not have a lot of quiet hours or you do not have like the energetic capacity to be doing one-to-one, uh, work with people, right?
So maybe you need to have offers that are allowing you to show up and serve in a way that is not through direct one-to-one work or perhaps like. If the, if the one-to-one work is more like execution type work, like you are, um, let's say you're building like email funnels and things like that, where you could kind of pick and choose the times of day and the days of the week when you're doing that, that might be better than like.
Having to show up to like coach people through on their, their email marketing or vice versa. Right. So there's, again, there's no like right or wrong way here, but, uh, think about your strengths. Think about your, your time capacity. Uh, think about all of that and then build out offers and systems and a marketing plan that centers around that again.
So like I have a, an episode that's all on. Um, coffee chats, right? Coffee chats, just because they work to get people, some business doesn't mean they're necessarily the right thing for you in this season of your life or whatever. So just because some people are using them. And it gets some results. It might not be a part of your marketing plan for a business that is designed around you and your strengths and your capacity and, and all of that.
And when you find what is actually working, like as you're tracking, okay, where are my clients coming from? What are the things that I'm doing? That are really resonating with people then you can look at, okay, like, what is that? Do I want to do more of it? Can I do more of it? And also like, what is not working?
Like what is an area where you're like, Yeah, I know, technically this could work. It's just not really doing anything for me or maybe it is, but it feels way too hard to make it happen. Right. Like maybe you're like, it's bringing people to you, but you're like, God, this is just absolutely draining and I don't want to keep doing it.
That's okay. Like again, drop, drop. What is not working? Even if it means it's not working on an emotional level and keep, um, what is, and try to do more of it or find a way to do, to do more of it. And, uh, and like simple as just, it is the name of the game. It, it really is. I mean, could you build up, uh, a business that is ultra complicated and have a lot of like monetary success?
Sure you absolutely could. That could do that. But I really feel like there is so much power in simplicity and often things that feel a little bit more complicated at first, because they're the first few times that we're doing something, it becomes simple. So it's not to say that you can never do stuff that's slightly out of your comfort zone or you can never try new things.
But I would just aim for, okay. What is the easiest way I could pull this off? So let's say you've never done a free training before to get people on your list. Are there ways to do all of the bells and whistles and everything like that to get people signed up and to nurture them and all of that good stuff like, yup.
There, there are a lot of really robust ways that you could do that. Uh, or you could also just. Get them onto your list and, you know, teach them for free and that workshop and then send them a followup email after, and then just send them like the rest, you know, your regular ongoing, uh, email newsletters that you, that you send out, right?
It doesn't, everything does not need to be a giant production in order for you to get results. So the next time that you are feeling FOMO, I hope that you think back to this episode and really think through some of the things I talked about and truly think, is this something that I actually need, or am I just feeling FOMO in this moment?
And if it's something that you. Might be curious about doing in the future, put it on that parking lot list and just keep refining your business so that it works for you double down on what works ditch, what isn't and the other benefit of ditching what isn't is. Then it actually opens up time for you to try that new thing.
If it's a right fit, uh, that you could take off your parking lot list and start to put into action. So I would love to hear from you. Um, if you're a passive listener, you know, that I hang out mostly on Instagram, on Erika, Tobin's consulting over there, but I love to hear from my listeners, whether you're brand new or you've been here a while, I would love it.
If you tag me in your stories with a picture of this episode, and then you tell me, you know, what is something that you, uh, have felt FOMO on in the past? You know, what is something like maybe. It, you know, the near past, or the way back past that you either realized you didn't need and you ditched it, or you, you know, you did start doing, and maybe you realized.
As you went on that, like, Oh my gosh, I totally just hopped on this stream cause of FOMO. And I don't actually need to be doing this thing. I would love to hear from you. Um, or conversely, if there was something that you almost gave into and then you did that gut check and you didn't either way. I love to hear from you, come by, say hi over on Instagram at Erica cabins consulting and as always happy selling.
