478: Live a Fulfilled Life, Be At Your Best, Know Your Worth and Rebrand Yourself with TEDx Curator and Business Consultant Elizabeth Barry

Robert Plank 0:00 marketer of the day number 478. live a fulfilled life. Be at your best know your worth, and rebrand yourself with TEDx curator and business consultant, Elizabeth Berry. Hey, everyone, and thanks for listening. We're talking right now with Elizabeth Berry. And Elizabeth is an author, a marketing executive and a leadership coach. And she knows all about storytelling. And she's going to tell us all about her business, her secrets, her strategies, all the great things that she thinks we need to know. So, Elizabeth, how you doing?

Elizabeth Barry 0:32 I'm doing great. It's a beautiful day here overlooking New York City couldn't be better.

Robert Plank 0:38 Awesome. Well, I'm so jealous, but also kind of knocks. I know, like, you guys have had some of that bad weather over there. So. So yeah, can you tell me about your website and what you have going on these days?

Elizabeth Barry 0:49 Yeah. So I have been, I've launched my own marketing agency 11 years ago. And I've been helping entrepreneurs, startups and those in business for about 15 to 20 years to rebrand. Most recently, in the past two years, I've taken my business into more of a consultant level and a coach. So having branded entrepreneurs and people in business, to better market themselves, and to help them work on personal branding. I'm leaning more towards executive coaching and helping leaders communicate better learn how to present themselves in a new light in a new way, tell a different story so that everyone is happier in their professional and their personal lives.

Robert Plank 1:39 Well, great. Well, I mean, I'm excited to jump into some of that. So you're mentioning here that like you help people rebrand and have a new message. So I mean, what sort of message that they have, when they come to you? Is it just like the same old tired message or as a message that doesn't make sense or no message? Like, what do these people's businesses look like when they come to you?

Elizabeth Barry 1:59 Well, a lot of it would probably be twofold. One is they have the same message that they've been saying for years, and they just want to say something differently. And that comes from the market shifting obviously, and from their customers changing over the years, our customers, our customer base, is consistently changing. And with technology, and social media, there are so many different ways in which we can be meeting the needs of different people. So one is that they're just tired of their message or that the market shifts, or number two, their message is so convoluted in their own language, that they're the only ones that understand it. That's a that's a biggie.

Robert Plank 2:44 So I think I know what you mean there. And I think I can relate to that sometimes of getting too much in my own head being too close to it, like using some of the techie buzzwords, but can you help us understand this by like, do you have any interesting like stories or case studies about some kind of situation where this happened? Where like, the branding was sort of off and they came to you and you clean things up?

Elizabeth Barry 3:04 Oh, absolutely. I was just working with an executive coach. And looking at her website. All of the buttons in the navigation were things that made sense to her. They were like kitschy cute, it didn't say hire me or profile or my resume or things that an user would identify with and click on. So literally, within an hour, we had a conversation I went to work an hour and a half later sent it sent her a new idea and a new way of presenting all the same content on our website just by simply changing the content and the words. And it was it's something that we all fall short of right, we all were in our own heads. And she's in the process of updating her website right now. And with just those slight tweaks, you don't even need a web designer to really do it if you have a WordPress background and it back end and you can do it yourself. So it's it's it's really neat to get that type of feedback. And I think a lot of people just have to be open and willing to say, Oh, yeah, you know what, I'm okay with being wrong. Which comes into the leadership, right? Which is where I've, I've been heading my business, it's it's been really refreshing to work with clients who were humble and ready to say, like, helped me become better.

Robert Plank 4:35 Right? Yeah, I can relate to that. And sometimes a hard lesson to learn, right? Because sometimes, sometimes we think, Oh, I'm so smart. I got myself to this point in my business I bolted up to wherever I'm at. But then, at a certain point, we ended up maybe holding ourselves back and slowing our own growth because our thinking God is here, but our thinking maybe won't carry us the rest of the way. So that's the reason it's pretty reassuring because you know, sometimes when people Say, rebranding, what comes to mind is a huge tear down and you know, throwing up the whole website and building it back up. So is that pretty common that maybe many times, people just need to make simple tweaks and just like change up something simple like the navigation or rearrange the existing pieces as opposed to throwing it all out starting from scratch?

Elizabeth Barry 5:21 Absolutely. And I've, I've taken this experience, because I was always the marketing agency, that people would come to, after going to, you know, an agency or Freelancer that would charge them way, way too much money, which, you know, as has helped had helped me keep clients for four to five years for just simple projects that are after the first website. And now, it really just comes down to I mean, most people are not really looking at websites fully right? Most people are not going to read your entire life story. So what I tried to do with clients these days is to really hone in on the specifics, to be concise, and to take this content on there and repurpose it in a social media calendar that are utilizing their talents and their expertise by sharing their thoughts and, and thoughts starters on LinkedIn, or social or maybe using images for Instagram and know this, I'm also a TEDx curator I hosted so far, 14 TEDx events, big events with celebrity style speakers, and I do the whole thing myself, and it's really taught me a lot of about how to help leaders become more concise and to tell their stories in a more engaging way.

Robert Plank 6:47 Well, that sounds great, because I can also relate to being in that sort of situation where there was some speaker and they they start to talk and they go on and on and on about all these these things about their background and their degrees and the years in business. And I'm thinking, well, that's great, I'm proud of you, but get to the meat already. So So you're saying that people need to to be more concise? And so how does how do you go about doing that? Is it just a matter of like approaching it from a newbie point of view? Or like, what's your thought process is, if someone has some sort of big long bio, or a bunch of long winded stuff? How do you go about shortening all that,

Elizabeth Barry 7:25 I take the 10,000 foot above approach, right? So in it's something again, that we most of us can see, we need an expert, I'm kind of like a business therapist, that's kind of how I see myself where, you know, we take a 10,000 foot approach, look at ourselves, looking down at our resume. And even a short exercise is reading it out loud, I'll ask them to read it out loud, and they go on, and they go on, and they go on, and then they realize, well, wait a minute, no one's gonna read that. So, you know, we, what I usually do is I actually just go to town and do the work and make it simple for them. But I also give them the tools and the tips, and the advice on why it is going to be better for their business and how it can affect and effect their profit there. And, you know, the ability for more people to to want to talk to them and to talk about them to others.

Robert Plank 8:22 Right? Yeah. And sort of like you alluded to, in this day and age with the attention span is so limited. I mean, not only on the internet, but you know, if someone's doing a TEDx talk, or speaking in person, and everyone has their cell phones, I mean, it's really easy to get distracted there. And that tip there about reading out loud. I mean, that's so huge in a number of ways. And that's a that's a thing that I need to do more, and I probably have done maybe once or twice on accident. But um, I was introduced to me a few weeks ago, at a speaking engagement, and I had to bring a bio and I wrote, like, I think maybe three, maybe four sentences. And looking at it on the page. I was like, Oh, yeah, this is just gonna be like a couple of seconds. And then when the person introduced me, I don't I still don't think it was like a super long length of time. But I just kind of felt like Geez, I should have cut this down to like a third of the length that was because I just felt like it kept going on and on and on. And even though it wasn't such a long, long time, it was maybe like 30 seconds. It felt like an eternity to me. And I think that thinking back right now, it was a matter of like when you see that text on a page, you're like, Oh, I just it's just the words in front of me, right? I just scrolled, I just skim through it really fast. But then when it's spoken out loud speaking takes longer than reading. So it really like it's such a night and day difference, right? But the written stuff and the spoken stuff.

Elizabeth Barry 9:44 Oh, absolutely. And even the words that we use when we write aren't, aren't the same words that we use when we speak. A lot of times I coach every single one of my TEDx speakers, and they'll in the beginning they'll send me their talk and say, okay, read this. And I say, absolutely not send, send me a meeting invite and you're going to read this to me because I need to hear it. And you know, a lot of the times I will pick something up, I do not read anyone's TEDx talk when I'm or, or a speech, when I'm doing that. And I have a great story, I had this one client who was being awarded this big award and in central jersey, and she was going to this big events dinner, and she wanted a new bio. So I rewrote her bio in a very engaging way. And she loved it. And at the event, she had no idea that they were taking the BIOS and reading them and making videos. And there were about maybe like, 12 people that got the award alongside of her, and everyone wanted to come up to her because they they read her bio out loud in the videos and everyone else's were like we were saying, way too long way too drawn out Wade to NBA, she did this, she did that. And it's really a refreshing way to take a look at ourselves. And, you know, say that you like red wine or know that, you know, say that you find four leaf clovers, or you have rescue cats. I mean, make it little fun. I mean, most of us are living in such an age of too boxy, too stiff. And we really can learn a lot from just throwing our hands up in the air and surrendering and saying, Well, what Who am I? Who do I want to be to everyone else in a new way?

Robert Plank 11:29 Yeah, I mean, I love it standing out from the crowd and and showing some of the personality and the silliness. And what I liked about what you said there was well, first of all, when someone sends you their TEDx talk, you don't read it, but I liked that you didn't say, Oh, well record, like, you know, record it and send me the recording, you said, meet me, I'll send you a meeting invite and we'll meet and you'll speak it out loud in front of me. So is that is there a reason for that is that like to get them to read it in front of a live person as opposed to into a recording or is that just because

Elizabeth Barry 12:01 it's it's my technique and having done 14 TEDx events, to actually listen for the stuff that's going to be compelling to an audience and the stuff that's just gonna be flopped around and just people are going to lose their lose their insight, they're going to lose their attention, they're going to get on their phones are going to be looking around, they're going to start to get hungry, they're going to want to know when the drinks are coming. So it's really just my tactic to make sure that my speakers get to that stage with the most with the best story that they can tell without any fluff, without any boring with all pizzazz and with a 123 parts story that has a beginning, a great middle, a climax and an end.

Robert Plank 12:49 super great. And I imagine that so not only are you listening for maybe the slow parts in the story, or the things that can be shortened or thrown out kind of like a stand up comedian, but I also imagine that maybe the what they've written now looks okay written but then maybe when it's spoken, it's easier to stumble across words, or some things don't quite sound okay. And and by having spoken out, you can help smooth that out. Is that correct? Or on the right track?

Elizabeth Barry 13:16 Oh, absolutely. I know that for myself. I do a lot of writing on LinkedIn, I wrote I just wrote an article right? Right before we got on and, you know, I write very deeply, and I speak very engaging, and I'm alive when I speak, both of those are very different. So if I read one of my LinkedIn conversations over a YouTube video, it would be very, very deep, and we would go deep, but on a video, or in front of people, I really just kind of go with the flow, and I get up there and I just nail it and live within the talk. So we we definitely use much larger words and, and different words when writing when we want then when we are speaking and it really is just about, it's not about us, it's not about you, honestly, and that's that's my biggest tip for any, any TEDx speaker, or anybody that I'm working with, from a professional standpoint, it really is about the perception and the audience of they're the hero, they're the hero on what you're saying, or pitching or selling. And when you can do that really well and and most of us can't write because we live in our own minds and we do need the expert to help them but once we can get that outside input and really put it to work for ourselves we can we can really make an impact on the audiences that we want to reach and, and just people in general which makes lives professionally and personally so much better.

Robert Plank 14:53 I agree completely and it makes so much sense when you're talking about it now but you know, it's about your audience, and not About You, because it's, I mean, what would it what would even be the point of you getting up on stage and using all the stuff that sounded great to you, but then no one else cared? And it seems like the most obvious thing saying it, you know, outside of it or saying it in hindsight, but then it seems like maybe some people aren't even aware that this is a thing to be focused on, maybe, maybe they're living too much in their own box, and they're just, you know, writing out some kind of talk and thinking, Oh, yeah, I seem really smart. With this, this makes me look really good. But then maybe if they, they simplify things, or dumb things down or added that that story structure, you mentioned the beginning, middle and or added fun, or added jokes, and did all the things that may kind of make the audience come alive. It might be more of a simplistic talk, but probably more popular, right?

Elizabeth Barry 15:48 Absolutely. I mean, whenever you go and hear someone talk me, most of the time you you can read their bio on the pamphlet, or the brochure, or if you're going to see someone speak chances are if you're into the topic, you're already going to have looked them up and knowing everything about them. So there's no need for someone to introduce themselves and what they do and where they've been and what school they went to, for the first five seconds of the talk. Really, you just want to engage in that. And that plays into marketing itself. I mean, personal branding and, and marketing in today's world is really just about who we are as people and how we want to show up. And it really isn't about the you know, putting a suit on and just kind of looking like the guy next door. And, and also it's just simplifying and not telling the whole story we use an image of, of a shopping center, you go into a king supermarket or Acme or stop and shop and you know, you go into a cereal aisle and you look at 100 cereals, which one you're going to choose No. So I use the same analogy in my marketing and branding and my coaching for speaking and you don't have to tell the whole story. Just pick one and go with it and make it powerful. Well, super

Robert Plank 17:06 great advice there. So just you don't have to cover all the bases just sort of get the job done. And something that you said a few minutes ago, sparked my interest when you were talking about you right before hopping on this call. You whipped out a quick LinkedIn article. So I'm curious about like, what's your writing process, like because I asked because, you know, sometimes I'll get really inspired. And I'll, I'll think I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna write, you know, like a one page article. And I get really into it. And it ends up being like three or four pages. And it still has like lots of stuff packed in and ends up being really tight. But I feel like, I'm not super consistent about it. Like I can't sit down every day and and crank out that content or even every week, it just kind of comes to me randomly. So do you have a way of capturing that lightning in a bottle, so to speak, of just sitting down and cranking out what you want, you have a process like that?

Elizabeth Barry 17:57 Yeah, I mean, my process this morning was simply because I had a client that was a little crazy town. In addition to my marketing business, I own a Pilates studio. And once in a while you get someone that's just just a little bit outside the line. So I just I really just was like, wow, okay. And what I what I did was I took my experience with that, and I wrote an article, you know, for 20, I sat there for 20 minutes and wrote it and posted it. And it was about listening intently. So I took my experience from it, from my perspective of listening to this woman just kind of just go a little bit outside the lines, and I couldn't even get a word in edgewise. But the importance of listening intently, even to someone that doesn't make sense or will do something a little crazy teaches us a little bit about life and about people and how to handle ourselves and every sort of situation. So my process really is to take the experiences that I have and use them as content because they live inside of me someone with my energy level and my passion for business and life and leadership. Whenever I experience something I always have to kind of get it out so I most of my articles that I write are an inspiration from books that I read or just from things that take place on a daily basis that live inside of me and if they you know Wayne Dyer uses the quote all the time don't die with your music inside of you. So my inspiration is is to educate others on things that happened to me that I know very well that everyone else has seen or experienced in the same light and would like the advice on how to work with that in the future.

Robert Plank 19:51 That's really great so that I'm that connects with the storytelling aspect of things right? You're not just thinking about facts and figures. You're thinking about some, you know, interesting idea you had you connected to a story that way, it has the beginning, the middle and end, it has the emotion, it has all the things people can relate to. It sounds like it has all like by by using real life experiences and stories, and has all those exciting emotional attention grabbing ingredients, as opposed to just some some boring stuff, right?

Elizabeth Barry 20:25 Yeah, I always like to tell the individuals within my network that you're not alone, sometimes we experience office situations or clients or proposals or contracts and dealings with others. And it doesn't always go right. And when it doesn't go, right, we are in this place as a human as how do I react? How do I respond? And, and a lot of times people do have that I'm alone. So my, my approach to working with beautiful people in business is to say that you're not alone, and I've been there and everyone kind of gets upset or has to deal with something that's not so fun. So we're all in this together. It's just in how to how do we find solutions yesterday wrote an article about how to how to the 2018 Guide to calm problem solving. It's always about like a philosophical, very deep, very Earth centered way of looking at business to make people realize that, again, like I keep saying, it's not so buttoned up, we can just learn to breathe a little bit more to really enjoy our professional and personal lives.

Robert Plank 21:44 Yeah, totally. And I think that, um, at least for me, and I think pretty much everyone else I've spoken to about this is that it like if you're, if you have some way of expressing something, if it's, you know, writing or podcasting or cranking out videos, or webinars or whatever, just by putting those feelings you have into words is almost like going to the therapist, right? It's like it helps you get clear on, on what you're feeling, what you're going through how you're going to get out of it. And it's sort of like, just helps you get get clear on that sort of stuff as an added bonus to getting the content out better to helping people and growing your business. And I'm really curious about sort of since we're on this topic, I'm curious about some of your struggles and difficulties coming up. Because I mean, you've made it to this point, but I'm sure that there were there were periods of time in your business when maybe you felt like giving up or you weren't sure what to do next. Do you have anything like that to share with us any like sort of real deep and raw stuff?

Elizabeth Barry 22:41 Absolutely. Last year, I last year, I when I, I had my marketing agency, and then I ended up getting picked up at a digital agency. So I helped a colleague run his digital agency, and then I moved into the city and I went to Tuscany, I came back and I was like, I don't want to work with you guys anymore. I really want to go back to coaching and business coaching in my marketing consultancy, and I had worked with, you know, women for years and, and women CEOs, and I sat in my new apartment and on the Upper West Side, and I was like, Who am I going to talk to what's my client base, I was so lost. And I really was just month after month thinking, I don't know where I belong anymore. I don't know who I want to work with, or how how to even charge. You know, I used to have a marketing agency, it was easy. People used to come to me meeting a brand or a website. And it took me a year. And then I you know now I own a mark plot, I came back to Hoboken. I run a Pilates studio, and I'm restarting my coaching agency. But that time, that was a big obstacle for me. And I think that a lot of coaches and speakers and authors and even podcast hosts, you know, run out of ways in which we can portray ourselves and it's a very scary time. When you can't find the solution. I could not find an answer for a year. And that was a big obstacle for me to say, I don't know who I want to work with. I don't know who my target audience is because I don't really want to work with smaller entrepreneurs anymore. How do I get to the big fish that was, you know, I was working with entrepreneurs and startups. But now how do I get to the bigger fish? How do I get to the people who have money that are willing to spend it and humble enough to say I need the help? And that was a that was a big learning curve for me?

Robert Plank 24:31 And how the heck did you get out of that? How'd you get to the answer.

Elizabeth Barry 24:35 I just kept putting myself out there. I got up every day and i and i just breathe and I put out content and I've started to achieve the client base that I thought I wanted just with the content that I've been putting out there again, about leadership about mastery about communication, and now I'm really leaning towards working with CEOs and leaders in agencies to come in because I had a marketing agency myself for 11 years. So I know what happens with clients or clients and, and just proposals and different big meetings and what happens in boutique agencies and startup agencies where you have a $5 million agency, and you have 25 employees, or maybe 15 employees, and you have to work together to make the clients happy. But sometimes that interoffice communication, there's huge breakdown. So I've applied my experience in marketing to end my leadership capabilities with all the stuff that I've read over the years about communicating intently to meeting the needs of that type of audience. And it took, you know, it took a lot of patience, and persistence to really know that I think at the end of the day, if someone out there who's listening is going through this to know your worth. And to know that it's going to come and to just be patient, but nothing comes to you. So you can just sit there and just close your i's and cross your fingers, you have to keep putting it out there and see what sticks. And I'm I'm on that road, and I feel really good about it. Obviously, the TEDx work has helped because working with know one of the founders of Viagra and Derek campout, and was the first man to put prosthetics on animals who's now got a show on animal planet. And you know, working with that type of caliber people, you find your worth and for what, for whatever it's worth out there, everyone who's listening, you just know that if you know what you know, and you believe in what you can do, then there's a way there's a means to an end.

Robert Plank 26:53 Well, that is super fantastic. And it sounds like from hearing your story that that you worked your way up because like some of those numbers that you mentioned, I mean, I couldn't even I couldn't even imagine like how the heck I would even go about tackling that. But it sounds like by by starting small and dealing with, you know, this agency and that agency, you learn the ropes, you picked up some skills that then you could bring as you work your way up the ladder. And then once you got there, you have this whole, you know, all these these months and years of these prior experiences, and there was no way to really jump to the ending there. But by going through these stepping stones, you kind of pick things up along the way. So you didn't have to figure it all out overnight. You You figured it out over time, as you were doing is that right?

Elizabeth Barry 27:39 Yes, you don't know what you don't know. And it really is a blessing to be patient and to look upon your experience. but to also say no, you know, I didn't want to work with just women anymore, I actually really enjoy working with men, because I'm a tough, I'm tough. And I'm also fun and playful. And I think that the dynamic for a man to work with a woman coach, it becomes it becomes an engaging hourly experience that, you know, you're not being told what to do. And, you know, it's it's, it's, it's been a really, really, really nice transition for me to say, I don't have my marketing agency, how do I get clients again to I'm going to take my marketing experience and work on leadership and communication within marketing agencies to help them increase their profits and increase their productivity.

Robert Plank 28:38 Yeah, and I can relate to having a woman coach, like I have a woman coach right now and I love it. And I feel like um, I don't know, I don't know, like, I'm already a man like, I already know, the the man's way of thinking I want that outside perspective. And then it's also interesting because my coach, I feel like is used to being a little too nice. And I'm like, like, No, you can, you can be a little more rough than then you're used to because like I want to, I want to kind of kind of hear it from from both sides. So I can definitely relate to that I can relate to not knowing what I don't know. And but I think that it's a really good reminder that you had in there is that it's really important for us to remember what we want to say no to and if things aren't working, or if we're getting tired of something or if it's holding us back or not serving us or whatever, then we definitely need to say no. So I mean, I love that advice. And I want to make sure that, you know since people have been listening to you for the past, you know, 2830 minutes, that maybe their interest is piqued about the things that you do as far as your coaching and the TEDx stuff. So can you tell us about any sort of resources that you want people to check out today like any sort of, you know, websites, books, any anything like that?

Elizabeth Barry 29:51 Well, they can go to my website, Elizabeth berry consulting calm, I wrote a book on vulnerability for women called Own your vulnerability, it's available on iTunes and Amazon. I'm also working on the men's version of vulnerability. That's actually really great. It was actually it's been much more fun to work on than the woman's version. And I interviewed over 100 men in the past year, so that'll be coming out soon, but I definitely look forward to speaking with anyone who's, who's ready and willing to make a change and to discover their why.

Robert Plank 30:25 Awesome. Yeah. And and, and sort of the as we've been saying, in this in our discussion here, like, it's, it's really easy to get safe, comfortable stuck in your own bubble stuck in the same way of thinking and, and sometimes if we, if our business is in sort of a blocked period, or mediocre, maybe we need that outside perspective to rebrand, shake things up, simplify, be concise, make things more exciting and entertaining for those outside audiences. So I mean, really good advice. So everyone needs to go right now to Elizabeth berry consulting Comm. And check out what's on that site, check out her content, check out the book on vulnerability, and then especially check out that new book for men if you go and click and go there once that's live. And so when people go to Elizabeth berry consulting.com, is there an easy way for them to contact you and reach out and see if they can hire you for coaching or something like that?

Elizabeth Barry 31:24 Absolutely. There's a coaching link at the top of the page, they can read a little bit about what I've done. And my approach, as well as some testimonials. There's video testimonials, and written testimonials. And then my webs, my email and my phone numbers there. I always have my phone on me. I love picking up the phone and speaking with people, just to be clear about what everyone's needs are. And I'm always available to say hello and to help someone out.

Robert Plank 31:54 Well, super great. So I mean, I think that's a really good call to action there. So everyone needs to go right now to Elizabeth berry consulting Comm. And check out the coaching link, check out those videos. But most importantly, look at that email address and that phone number and if you want to be unlike most people and take a little bit of a chance and see what Elizabeth has for you, well then why not pick up the phone, give her a phone call and have a quick chat to see what your business is going through what kind of struggles you have at the moment and how Elizabeth can maybe help you in whatever sort of capacity that is so Elizabeth berry consulting.com and we'll see you there and thanks so much Elizabeth for stopping by and sharing some of these great stories and takeaways and tips and all kinds of fun stuff.

Elizabeth Barry 32:39 You got it you have most beautiful day I look forward to speaking with anyone who's ready to discover their their necks for 2018

Robert Plank 32:47 please follow

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