🗺️ How To Map Your Business Ecosystem

Amelia [00:00:01] [Sparkly synth music begins to play, overlapping with the introduction to the episode] Welcome to Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing all their clients.

Melissa Kaitlyn Carter [00:00:08] [Music continues to play as Melissa Kaitlyn Carter begins to sing] Let's go, off the grid. Okay! Let's go, off the grid. Okay! I know that you really want to put your phone away. Yeah! Let's go, off the grid.

Amelia [00:00:24] [Singing fades out but synthy sounds continue] Have you ever wished that you could have a successful business without social media? Well, you're in luck. I'm Amelia Hruby, writer, speaker, and founder of Softer Sounds Podcast Studio.

Amelia [00:00:34] On this show, I share stories, strategies, and experiments for growing your business with radical generosity and energetic sovereignty. Download the free Leaving Social Media Toolkit at softersounds.studio/byeig. That's b-y-e-i-g and join us in doing it all Off the Grid.

Melissa Kaitlyn Carter [00:00:56] [Music gets louder as Melissa Kaitlyn Carter sings again] Let's go, off the grid. Okay! Let's go, off the grid. Okay! I know that you want to put your phone away. Yeah! Let's go, off the grid [music fades out].

Amelia [00:01:14] Hello and welcome to Off the Grid. I'm your host, Amelia Hruby, and we are currently in Season Two of this podcast about leaving social media without losing all your clients. Or, as I like to think of it, a podcast about doing business with radical generosity and energetic sovereignty, which means that we are not doing business as usual around here, folks.

Amelia [00:01:37] We are charting our own course. We are making different choices. We are deepening and embedding ourself in our values. And it is a good old time if I may say so myself.

Amelia [00:01:49] If you're new around here, I hope that you will go download the Leaving Social Media Toolkit. It is a totally free resource that I created just for you to help you envision how you can leave social media and make a plan for doing business differently.

Amelia [00:02:05] It includes three great tools. The first is a five-step plan for leaving any social platform so you don't ghost your followers. We've all been there. Don't do it. Get the toolkit. The second tool is my list of 100 Ways to Share Your Work Without Social Media. It's a crowd favorite. Everybody loves it. You're going to want it.

Amelia [00:02:23] And the third tool is a very snazzy Notion database for mapping creative marketing experiments. It's all in the toolkit. It's totally free. And you can get it in the show notes or at softersounds.studio/byeig b-y-e-i-g. Go grab it. It'll also get you on the list of emails that I send every time a new episode comes out— only way to get on the list is to get the toolkit so go be like the other very cool thousand or so people who've downloaded it and grab it today.

Amelia [00:02:57] Okay. Welcome to the episode. I have not done a solo episode in a few weeks, and I am very excited to be back on the mic, me, myself, and I, here talking to you about one of my favorite things— business retreats, but also so much more than business retreats.

Amelia [00:03:15] So, last week I had Maggie Gentry on the podcast to talk about planning a DIY business retreat or a solo business retreat. As you likely heard in that episode, I love business retreats. I am so busy working in my business all the time, I rarely get to work on my business, which is what business retreats are for.

Amelia [00:03:36] And the extra good news is that I am hosting a business retreat for all of us in August. My workshop series, The Refresh, is returning this year. We're doing it again, folks. It was a crowd-pleaser. It was a great time. I adored it last year and I can't wait for you to join us this year. So, if you're new around here, The Refresh is for freelancers, influencers, and small business owners who want to refresh their relationship with social media and chart a new algorithm-free path forward.

Amelia [00:04:06] The Refresh is your opportunity to set aside three days at the end of the summer to work on your business, and you get to do it with me. Yeah. Me, Amelia, host of Off the Grid, founder of Softer Sounds, all around goofy grinning weirdo.

Amelia [00:04:19] I don't want to take up a whole bunch of your time telling you about it here on the pod, so if you're interested, head to the show notes. There's a link with tons more information. You can find it at softersounds.studio/refresh. There's also information there about a discounted early bird price for you, yourself, and you. So, head of the show notes, get all the info, and come join us.

Amelia [00:04:42] And whether you're joining us or not, in today's episode, I am going to walk you through the three-step process that I teach in The Refresh. And I'm doing that because you can use this to plan your own business retreat.

Amelia [00:04:55] One of the values of this show is radical generosity so I'm going to go ahead and teach you the whole process here on the pod for free. And I'm hoping that if you listen to this whole episode, it probably feels pretty aligned, and you're going to want to sign up to come join us. And if not, do it on your own. You got this. I'm cheering you on.

Amelia [00:05:12] So, let's go ahead and dive on into the episode [splashing sound]. If you haven't ascertained by now, The Refresh is a three-part workshop series or process for refreshing your relationship with social media and charting a new algorithm-free path forward for your business.

Amelia [00:05:34] This works whether you are launching a new business or creative endeavor, or you've been in business for a long time, and you just need to reconnect with where you're at and where you're going. And there are three main steps—

Amelia [00:05:48] Step One is Clear the Fear.

Amelia [00:05:51] Step Two is Weave the Web.

Amelia [00:05:53] And Step Three is Make the Map.

Amelia [00:05:56] So, let's take this one step at a time. Step One is Clear the Fear. So, in this step, we are releasing our anxiety and changing our mindset about business and marketing. We're diving into those fears that arise when we consider leaving social media or doing business differently. We're reflecting on what comes up when we flip the script, when we make different choices, when we start down a different path.

Amelia [00:06:23] If you're new to business, this will likely start by naming, articulating, journaling, feeling into, finding in your body, all of the narratives you have around what it means to be a business owner, what it takes to start your own business, how you have to do that, what your first step should be, your second step should be, your last step should be, how much money you should make, how much money you shouldn't make.

Amelia [00:06:51] All of these things that start to come up when we consider selling our work or our goods. So, your first step in clearing the fear is identifying that friction. Where do you feel resistance on your path to start a business, in your current business, and your marketing and your creative practice?

Amelia [00:07:10] Start paying attention to the moments where things get sticky, where you want to stop, where your inner critic starts to really speak up. A great practice for clearing the fear is naming and engaging, gently, with care and support, your inner critic. What are they saying when you go to work on your business or when you go to write that email that talks about your new workshop?

Amelia [00:07:34] Or when you go to put up that website or that sales page that finally has your coaching offer on it. What do they say when that beautiful offering you made doesn't sell quite as well as you thought it would? Or when ten people unsubscribed from your last email. What does your inner critic say and how can we acknowledge and release that criticism?

Amelia [00:08:01] Another helpful practice in clearing the fear is naming your shoulds. What do you believe you should do as a business owner or aspiring business owner?

Amelia [00:08:11] I know for me, especially when I was on social media, I had so many shoulds in my head. I should have this many Instagram followers. I should be sending 30 emails a month. I should do this. I should do that. I should post a TikTok. I should have better offerings. I should constantly be talking about my products, whatever it may be.

Amelia [00:08:29] A great first step in clearing the fear is naming all of those shoulds so you can get rid of the ones that don't serve you. This step is also a really great moment for self-care, embodied support, and/or spiritual practice.

Amelia [00:08:46] I'm saying this, you know, identify your friction, name and engage your inner critic, name and release your shoulds, like it's, you know, a really easy thing to do, right [chuckles]? Unearthing and releasing those narratives and those internal voices and those resistances we feel, that is deep work and often we need a lot of support in that process.

Amelia [00:09:07] So, I invite you here to use the tools that you already have. Could be tarot. It could be breathwork. It could be going for a walk. It could be petting your dog. Use those self-care and divination tools that you already like to work with and let them help you clear the fear in Step One.

Amelia [00:09:28] This is where I start all of my business retreats— The Refresh and my personal business retreats that I go on. I always start with this moment of recognizing all of that, like, junk and gunk that's clogged my system since my last retreat. I try to write it all down and then let it all go.

Amelia [00:09:47] Often, after I have done that, I will then go do something really restorative and supportive, and I do that before I even get into the quote unquote, "business stuff," that I'm doing on that retreat.

Amelia [00:09:59] So, in The Refresh, we will clear the fear together. We will name our fears around leaving social media. We will name our fears around making different choices in our businesses.

Amelia [00:10:08] And then, my dear friend and collaborator, Grace Allerdice will be there to guide us in a visualization that will help us release those fears and see different paths forward. It's a really amazing time, of course, I want you to come join us. But if you're replicating this process for yourself on your own, start with some sort of practice that's going to allow you to name all of those fears and then a paired practice that will help you release them. That's your first step.

Amelia [00:10:36] Now let's move on to Step Two of The Refresh process— this business retreats and restoration process. Step Two is Weave the Web. So, in Step Two, we get it all on the table— everything you're doing, everything you wish you were doing, everything you wish you weren't doing.

Amelia [00:10:55] What are you making? What are you sharing? What are you selling? Everything from your newsletter to your podcast to that one-off workshop you taught to your signature coaching program to your signature coaching program itself to your website. It's all of those pieces. Again, what are you making, how are you sharing it? We want to get all of that on the table.

Amelia [00:11:17] For me, when I say table, I mean a piece of paper [chuckles lightly]. This is where I get out my giant sticky note pads. You know, those things they, like, use in universities. I have one of those, I get it out, and I get my markers out— just my set of, like, Crayola classic eight colors and I just start writing it all down.

Amelia [00:11:35] What is everything I have sold in the past six months? What is everything I've thought about making in the past six months? What is every way that I've shared my work in the past six months? It's all going on this giant sticky note for me. Now, it's helpful [chuckles] if you have documented some of this somewhere before, right?

Amelia [00:11:54] So, I don't just have a Rolodex in my head of every idea I've had for the past six months, but I do have a place in my Notion workspace where I keep ideas and I put them there. I do have places on my website where I can see all the products there and I can go check and be like, "Okay, yeah, I did forget that I taught that workshop," or, "I did forget that somebody bought that, like, custom package that maybe I thought I would turn into an offering."

Amelia [00:12:17] Things like that— just trying to gather all the threads. We're, like, getting all those different colors of yarn so we can start the weaving. We're shaping the web. We are beautiful silken spiders, and we are spinning our silk so that we can weave the web.

Amelia [00:12:34] In The Refresh, I walk you through identifying your core offers, core channels, and core community. This is my, like, three-part framework for business fundamentals.

Amelia [00:12:47] Core offers is what you sell.

Amelia [00:12:49] Core channel is how you sell it.

Amelia [00:12:51] Core community is who you sell it to.

Amelia [00:12:53] And so, when we weave the web, we're kind of focusing in those three areas to get really clear about the what, the how, and the who of your business. And we start to make sense of what's there and where the gaps are.

Amelia [00:13:07] And that takes us into the third step. So, now that we've cleared the fear— clearing the fear gives us space to just dream and plan without all that baggage, or at least try to let go of that baggage for this period of time where we're dreaming and planning.

Amelia [00:13:22] But we've cleared the fear, we've woven that web, we have started to see what we're selling, how we're selling it, who we're selling it to. We're kind of getting those threads together, and now we will make the map.

Amelia [00:13:38] So, in Step Three, Making the Map, we take that beautiful brain dump you created in Step Two, and we make it visual. We put it in space. We locate it in your ecosystem. So, we start by connecting the offerings with the marketing channels that sell them.

Amelia [00:13:56] So, I often invite people, when they're making their map, to have three different colored markers. And so, you write the core offers in one color, and then you write marketing channels in a different color, and then you have another color where you start drawing lines between them to make this into a map. The lines kind of make it the map for me.

Amelia [00:14:13] So, say— I'll use Softer Sounds as an example. We have three core offerings— the podcast launch package, podcast reset retreat, and our editing packages. Those are our three core offers. I'd write all those in one color. I normally do green.

Amelia [00:14:27] Then, how do I sell those things? Well, we have a free resources part of our website that points people to a podcast launch workshop that points people to the podcast launch package. So, in my other color, I'm going to write free resources blog, I'm going to write podcast launch workshop. Those are two of the channels that I use to sell those.

Amelia [00:14:48] We also have other channels like Off the Grid, right? So, Off the Grid doesn't sell any of those core offers. Off the Grid sells The Refresh, as I am literally doing this episode, or it sells Business Success Without Social Media, or it sells a business coaching session with me.

Amelia [00:15:06] So, I have a kind of different offering suite that's just connected to Off the Grid. The podcast launch checklist does not sell you Business Success Without Social Media, so there's no line connecting those things.

Amelia [00:15:18] Hopefully this helps you see how we can kind of start to make these maps. So, you write all your core offers in one color, you write your core channels, that could be the channel itself, like your email newsletter, your podcast, or it could be, like, a specific piece of content, like a lead magnet, and then you draw lines to start connecting what sells what.

Amelia [00:15:39] It can also be helpful if you want to add another layer to this to bring your core community into the mix. So, sometimes I will take another color and I will start to connect the people to the offerings they buy. I'm not writing, like, literal individuals' names on here. But, for instance, with my course Living Systems, the people— the community for that is the people who come to this free workshop that Grace and I offer called Notion Nerd Night. So, I'll have Notion Nerd Night on there. It's, like, a community that's connected to the course Living Systems.

Amelia [00:16:10] As you do this, it starts to look like this giant root system. It's a map, it's a web [laughs softly]. It is your business ecosystem. I like to make one super messy map to start. Like, my first map is generally illegible [laughs]. The lines have crossed over so much, like marked through things, I've added stuff. It's such a mess.

Amelia [00:16:32] And then, after I've done that, after I've done the messy version, then I figure out what connects, what doesn't, and I make a much clearer, much more intentionally color-coded map that I can refer back to for the upcoming season—

Amelia [00:16:48] Because after I make my map, once I've moved through the three steps of this process, I've cleared the fear, I've woven the web, I've made the map, I hang that map on my wall, in front of my desk in my workspace so I can look at it every day for the upcoming quarter, six months, or a year.

Amelia [00:17:04] And those maps are so helpful because they really help me stay on track with what I want to create and share in my business. The thing that happens when almost every single person makes their map— I saw this with almost everyone in The Refresh last year, I've seen it a bunch more times as I've shared this practice with other folks— normally when you make your map, you will discover that you have some things that are just totally not connected to anything else.

Amelia [00:17:33] So, you might have an offering that you're not selling anywhere, or you might have a marketing channel that isn't connected to any of your offerings, or you might have a community that is not at all connected to what you're selling, you know, when you start to make the map and you start to connect everything, you can see where you're missing threads, where it's a map and there's no road between those two places. You can start to see the things that would be helpful if you created to better support your business ecosystem in the— in the future.

Amelia [00:18:09] Every time I go through this process, whether it's on a personal retreat or guiding us all through it in The Refresh— every time I go through it, I get so much clarity.

Amelia [00:18:20] I see the offerings that don't have any marketing materials. I see the marketing channels that don't lead to any offerings. I see the community members that I'm not serving any— in any way, and I just get super clear on anywhere that there's misalignment in my business, as well as opportunities for new places that I can weave things together.

Amelia [00:18:41] Something I hear from folks all the time, like most of the people who land in my SpeakPipe voice message box [laughs]— is some iteration of, "Wow. Everything you're doing just seems so strategic and connected. Everything you create so clearly sells an offering that's so aligned with what you're talking about. Every marketing channel you have feels so integrated into your business ecosystem."

Amelia [00:19:07] These are things I hear from people all the time, and let me tell you, the way that I figure that out and make those plans is with this process.

Amelia [00:19:16] It's by releasing the fear that I have to do business a certain way to be successful.

Amelia [00:19:22] It's by weaving the web of all the ideas I have and everything I've already created and want to create.

Amelia [00:19:28] And then, it's by making the map of how that can actually interconnect. And then, I get really nerdy and I, like, start to make superhighways [laughs] if we're using a map metaphor.

Amelia [00:19:38] We've gone from the web where we're like spiders spinning silk to, like, I am a civil engineer and I am going to build a superhighway between my podcast and an offering and my business and all the things, right? Like I— you know, different hats, different metaphors, mixing them all together here, but that's The Refresh process.

Amelia [00:19:56] And, my friend, you can do it all alone, but I'm going to tell you one last time that it is so magical to do it with other people, especially when those people are other Off the Grid listeners.

Amelia [00:20:10] Last year's Refresh community was so cool. I wasn't even going to have a community at first, but folks asked for it, so I made us this Discord channel. And then, what everyone shared was just so powerful, so impactful. The energy was there, the synergy was there. It was just a really beautiful week where we got to hang out, say hi in Discord, have three days of workshops together and then wrap things up online and everyone got so much out of it.

Amelia [00:20:37] And you don't have to take my word for it. Go to the sales page, check the link in the show notes, read those testimonials. People will tell you in their own words [chuckles lightly] how much they loved it and what they got out of it. But if you're still here with us, I really hope that you will join The Refresh this August— August 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, 2023.

Amelia [00:20:58] If you're listening live when this comes out, I have good news for you. We are having an early bird gets the worm sale on The Refresh in June and July 2023. So, if you're a super fan and you tune into Off the Grid right when it comes out, you're going to get the best discount, which is 30% off your Refresh registration until end of day, June 30th.

Amelia [00:21:23] So, if you're listening on release day, you got two more days to use the code, gettheworm— get it, like early bird gets the worm— to use the code gettheworm to take 30% off your ticket. That code expires end of day June 30th, 2023.

Amelia [00:21:39] But if you're listening a little bit later, maybe you're like me and you have to, like, catch up on your queue every few weeks, which I— I get so far behind, ya'll. So, I understand [chuckles].

Amelia [00:21:48] If that's you, you can take 20% off your Refresh registration with the code— yesplease. That's y-e-s-p-l-e-a-s-e yesplease. You can use that code for 20% off your Refresh registration until July 31st, 2023.

Amelia [00:22:08] If you're listening to this live, we are about to go on a little break. I am taking a three-week sabbatical, closing Softer Sounds, taking some time away from my computer, my inbox, this podcast. So, this one's going to be on the top of our feed for a minute, which means you might be listening in July. So, use that code yesplease to take 20% off Refresh registration until July 31st or for our early, early birds out there, use that code gettheworm for 30% off registration until June 30th.

Amelia [00:22:42] After that, it'll be a full price, which is still only $99, my friend. Did I mention that up front? Maybe I didn't. Thanks for listening to all those discounts without knowing how much it actually costs. But all three days of The Refresh and the week-long community is only $99.

Amelia [00:22:58] This is probably the most affordable way to work with me live. I will be there with you to answer your questions, guide you through the process, talk about your business. [Whispers] I love talking about your businesses, come bring me your business. Let's talk about it. Let's refresh it. Let's make it happen.

Amelia [00:23:17] Okay. As always, if your budget is free 99 right now, you can go get the Leaving Social Media Toolkit for free resources to leave social media and grow your business without it. This episode was another amazing free resource for planning your own refresh, your own solo business retreat with The Refresh process.

Amelia [00:23:40] And all the links are in the show notes, if you decide now, in the near future, or any time before August 20th, probably, when The Refresh registration closes— any time before that, come join us, go ahead, and get it on the calendar, my friends. You sign up now, you've already booked your business retreat for the end of summer. You will feel so good headed into the fall.

Amelia [00:24:02] And if you do it this week, it's, like, less than 70 bucks. So, come join me. I can't wait to see you. In the meantime, I'm going to go on break for a few weeks. I am going to enjoy myself in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I'm going to teach some teen girls how to podcast. I'm going to go see Taylor Swift with my sister-in-law, and then I will be back for the final episodes of Season Two of Off the Grid. Until then, I am going to let you listen to that super cool new theme song we have, and I will see you Off the Grid.

Melissa Kaitlyn Carter [00:24:37] [Melissa Kaitlyn Carter begins to sing over sparkly synthy sounds] Let's go, off the grid. Okay! Let's go, off the grid. Okay! I know that you really want to put your phone away. Yeah! Let's go, off the grid.

Amelia [00:24:53] [Music continues to play softly] Thanks for listening to Off the Grid. Find links and resources in the show notes. And don't forget to grab your free Leaving Social Media Toolkit at softersounds.studio/byeig.

Amelia [00:25:05] This podcast is a Softer Sounds production. Our music is by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter and our logo is by n'atelier Studio.

Amelia [00:25:12] If you'd like to make a podcast of your own, we'd love to help. Find more about our services at softersounds.studio. Until next time, we'll see you Off the Grid.

Melissa Kaitlyn Carter [00:25:25] [Melissa Kaitlyn Carter sings the new theme song again] Let's go, off the grid. Okay! Let's go, off the grid. Okay! I know that you really want to put your phone away. Yeah! Let's go, off the grid [sparkly synthy sounds fade out].