Why You Don’t Need Flashy Tech

[00:00:00.490] – Laura Burnett

Welcome to Nine to Thrive: Lead Generation Uncovered, presented to you by the very professional Laura Burnett from It Moon and your Tech geek. And we also have Nicky Williams, my very own business mentor, and other people’s business mentor, who runs Nicky Williams Online. And we are both from The Thrive Business Academy, the membership that basically just helps business owners get things done and figure out how to do it.

[00:00:29.290] – Laura Burnett

So if you’ve been following use, we have been covering the seven biggest lies that you have been told about business. And leaders just don’t want you to know this. But we do! Because we believe in the truth and we want to make sure that we let you know what you do need to do in your business and what you don’t need to do in your business.

[00:00:49.940] – Laura Burnett

So we’ve already covered in episode one about the ICA and why you do not need one, and in episode two, how there is no winning formula. So now in episode three, this one’s actually over to me more. It’s always been on Nicky until now. I feel like I’m being bullied now, but we’re talking about tech and how you do not need all the tech that you’re getting recommended.

[00:01:15.350] – Laura Burnett

So tech, you know, that word that everybody hates. People hate it, they don’t like it. It makes people run away in a different direction. But what is happening a lot, and I’m seeing it even more recently and it really is driving me insane as a Tech Geek, who is very passionate about helping people with their tech and make sure that they get the right tech that they need.

[00:01:37.860] – Laura Burnett

So when we talk about tech, just to clear it up, we’re talking about things, I’m just going to name some software that I use and some of my clients off top of my head. Things such as email marketing systems like Active campaign or MailerLite. Course platforms such as Thinkific, Membervault. Podcast platforms such as Libsyn. You’ve got loads and loads of different software out there. Zoom is a software, Calendly, Acuity, the list could go on.

[00:02:03.100] – Laura Burnett

But what happens as a business owner is you’ve got to decide what tech you want for your business. But what we find happening all the time is you’re getting recommended software by leaders that you don’t need.

[00:02:17.100] – Laura Burnett

So I have a lot, a lot of clients come to me and they’ll say, oh, I bought this software, and it’s software that costs £150 a month. And this client has zero customers. They’ve just started their business and they just want to create a course. So they actually don’t want to use all the features that are in this £150 software, but they’ve been told to get this software by a leader in either an email that they might have had or a podcast episode, something like that.

[00:02:49.080] – Laura Burnett

And generally what happens, not all to everybody, not all leaders do this, but generally what I see happening is some leader will create or invest in software and they’ll create their own software or their own version of software that already exists. So then what happens is all the friends of this leader will start recommending that software, but this software will be high value, it will be over £100 a month, which to some people watching this podcast episode may be nothing. But to a lot of people, especially people within mine and Nicky’s world and our membership, that is a lot of money to people. And a lot of people will be going into credit card debts, taking out loans to be able to afford this one piece of software. And people will tell you, you must get this software. It’s amazing. It’s going to transform your business, it’s going to save you so many hours a week. It’s going to be absolutely fantastic. You’re going to create so much income from it, you’re going to get a brilliant return on investment.

[00:03:46.560] – Laura Burnett

And the truth is, no, you’re not, because it’s not the actual software that gets you the sales. The software just improves the customer journey and it does save you some time, but it just depends on your business. So many people will come to me and ask what software to use and I couldn’t tell you without actually looking at your business and telling you more. Such as, the way I normally do that is, I offer, like, a business audit where people will chat to me for an hour and then I can tell you what software you need or in my membership because I know people off by heart in the membership because you literally get to know them so well. I can easily recommend software to them, but I would never recommend a piece of software that someone doesn’t need. And it hurts so much when I have people come to me because they’ve spent a fortune on software that they just don’t need.

[00:04:33.510] – Laura Burnett

Such as, I’m not using names, but I have had a client who came to me using a piece of software. It could create landing pages, it could do email marketing, it could create courses, it could create memberships, it could do video recording, it could create quizzes, it could create forms, it could do a hell of a lot. But actually all she needed to do herself, because the only service she offered was doing one to one work with people. Well, she just needed some place to schedule actual calls to. So she actually just needed a piece of software that would have cost maybe £10 a month compared to the $159 that she was paying for this piece of software. And it really drives me insane because can you tell, it just drives me insane. Um, and I feel really like Nicky probably has had this with clients or herself, maybe.

[00:05:20.800] – Nicky Williams

Yeah, I think it’s about trust as well. I think people are trusting these leaders that are, um, marketing these wares. I used to do it when I was a full time blogger many, many years ago. There was a hosting company that they used to make a reasonable income from their affiliates to them. It doesn’t mean that hosting company was the best it could be. And actually, some of these people that were recommending them had actually moved themselves away from that platform themselves because they weren’t so good, but they still kept on marketing it. And that was not out of integrity for me. That was very much anti and it was, really shows me what these people are doing. They’re doing it to gain income, but they’re utilising their trust. And I think that’s the thing. And I’ve done it.

[00:06:15.380] – Nicky Williams

I’ve spent thousands upon thousands upon thousands in utter tech tosh that is fantastic, in the right place at the right time. But, you know, using your example for the lady that needed one to one, I mean really, that was ridiculous, the amount that she was paying for that. But it’s about lack of knowledge. And I think what we do is we really inform the people in our world and they really trust us because they know that we’re being open, honest and we’re doing things and suggesting things for the good of them and their business, not to make more income.

[00:06:55.020] – Nicky Williams

Yes, our members pay us a monthly income or a monthly amount, but they get – beyond measure – that back with the trust that they know we give them, don’t we? We offer them that security, I think it is, whereas I wouldn’t say not everybody does that. And it’s going back to our programme, recent one, when we’ve talked about these strategies and these programmes, they aren’t treated like individuals. And I think with tech, you definitely need that individual one to one impact, which you offer in your audits.

[00:07:37.110] – Laura Burnett

Yes, we do, because it’s always different for everybody. Like email Marketing, the programme that I run within The Thrive Business Academy, and it teaches people how to do email marketing from scratch. But I never tell anybody they must use this software. We spend the first literal week of the training going through all the different features that are in email marketing and why you’d need them, so then people can make that decision and like, right, I need that feature, I need this feature, I need this feature. Obviously, if you’re unsure, then they can ask me. And generally, two pieces of software are what people get. There is not one piece of software that everyone goes to.

[00:08:13.740] – Laura Burnett

Like, I’m an affiliate of a software called Active Campaign Email Marketing. I would love just to tell everyone to get that, because I do believe it’s the best one, but actually, it’s not for some people. Some people don’t need it. They literally do not need Active Campaign. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who doesn’t need it, but some affiliates would. They would push you something, that they don’t need.

[00:08:34.120] – Laura Burnett

So if you don’t know what an affiliate is, that means someone’s getting income. So I could send you a link to Active Campaign to buy it. And if you bought it through my link, I would get 20% of the income from what you signed up for. But I would never personally myself make someone buy that based on not knowing anything about them. So I couldn’t just send an email out today and just everybody, you need to buy Active Campaign. It’s amazing, it’s phenomenal, it’s going to change your life, it’s going to do “this” to your business. Here’s my link and sign up. If I did that, I’m not being true to you because actually you might not need that software. I need to know a little bit more information before I recommend it to you. And it really drives me insane when emails hit my inbox to say, you need to buy this brand new software that’s come out, it’s going to transform the industry. It does this, this, this and this, but actually you don’t need it. We just get shiny, what do you call it? Shiny object syndrome. Is that what you call it?

[00:09:29.530] – Nicky Williams

Yeah, no, yeah totally. That’s what it is.

[00:09:32.120] – Laura Burnett

Sorry about that.

[00:09:37.930] – Nicky Williams

I was just hearing stuff going on and I was like, what’s going on? I’ve got the squeaky corner with the puppy behind me and I’ve got you going, something’s going on in the background there. This is real time!

[00:09:48.470] – Laura Burnett

But yes, so it literally, it just drives me insane. If you don’t need it, you don’t need to get it yet and you will change software. So I used to use Trello all the time for my business and we’re currently just transferring stuff over to Dubsado. We’re still using Trello, but some things that we did use Trello for, we’ve gone into Dubsado now just because I’m ready for the next level. But I didn’t need to pay for Dubsado for two years because I didn’t need it, really didn’t need it. And it’s just about resisting that shiny object and don’t actually rush to get it and find out do you actually need that software? And if you don’t know, just ask someone who does know. There’s more Laura’s  out in the world. Not exactly like me. I am very unique, I have to say.

[00:10:34.030] – Nicky Williams

I have to say, there is no other Laura out there and she is the whizziest, whizziest of all wizards for tech. So, yeah, no, no, and I think that’s it. I think it’s about different levels that we’re all at. And why invest all of your money at the start in stuff that you don’t need when you could be saving it until the point you do need it? And, um, it’s just yeah different levels, different tech, and find out what you need when you need it.

[00:11:03.910] – Laura Burnett

Yeah, and just always think if you’re being told you need to get the software, one, who is the person telling you? Do they actually use it themselves? Are they an affiliate? And obviously, do we really actually recommend it to you because they know you and what you actually need?

[00:11:22.700] – Laura Burnett

You know, don’t buy into things that people, just because it’s a brand new software does not mean it’s amazing. Generally, brand new software is not amazing because it takes several, several months and sometimes years for it to get all the bugs out. So just ask someone who does know what they’re talking about and you’ll start saving income. So lots of people come to me and they’ll say –

[00:11:40.860] – Laura Burnett

This is Bella by the way in the background. Bella agrees. Bella is like no tech. Stop buying all the tech.

[00:11:49.530] – Laura Burnett

And this is coming from a tech geek. Stop buying all the tech. I should be promoting tech but it is, tech’s really, really good if you get the right tech for you and your business. Like literally stop buying tech that you don’t mean. I do not pay over £50 a month for any piece of software I use. And I run a very successful business. You don’t need lots and lots of different software.

[00:12:11.210] – Laura Burnett

So that is it from us on Live Three. You Don’t Need All The Tech. And if you have been having fun listening to us and you want to know more, then we are going to be running a Masterclass in September called The – no it’s not called that, yes it is called that – it’s called The Seven Biggest Lies You Are Being Told About Business and the leaders don’t want you to know. If you want to know more about these seven biggest lies, join us in September by going to www.Thethrivebusinessacademy/masterclass and then you can watch it.

[00:12:45.120] – Laura Burnett

And obviously if you are watching this back and September’s well gone – September 2022 by the way, was that the year I had to think then for a minute – then obviously if you go to that URL, you will still get access to whatever Masterclass we are currently running at that time. But I do not have a, you know, see into the future that well. I am a big blagger, you know, work as I go. Nicky is not. She may know what that Masterclass is, but I don’t.

[00:13:09.930] – Laura Burnett

So that is it from me and Nicky on Nine To Thrive Lead Regeneration Uncovered and have an amazing day.