In this episode of Your Biz, Your Rules, I’m THRILLED to chat with the powerhouse of persuasion, the real-life Nutella -snorting cartoon character that is Bushra Azhar.
When it comes to standing out online (whether you like dealing with the pesky human things or not) this lady knows it ALL. And, lucky for us, in this show, she drops a whole bunch of great tips and ideas that you can swipe and bring to life in your own business, no matter what you do.
(If you make it all the way to the end, she’s also offering a fabulous freebie just for you – no opt-in required.)
Listen here:
The key takeaways:
💛 One of the biggest benefits of running an online business is the fact that you don’t have to sit there, pretending to smile. You can always switch off the camera. Nobody can see you. You can be making all of those ugly faces, groaning inwardly at the stupidity of human nature, and whoever you’re dealing with won’t even know it. You can’t do that in real life because they can read it on your face. It’s kind of hard to fake enthusiasm, love and devotion when you are face-to-face with people, but you can totally do that on the Internet.
💛 You have to decide at the get-go whether you want to be a “hell, yes” for 50% of the people and “hell, no” for the other 50% or a “whatever” for 100%. Being a “whatever” in business is a kiss of death – you want people to sit up and take notice when you say something.
💛 When you hold back your personality in business, you actually lose money because you’re attracting wrong people. They might end up being on your list, but they will never buy from you. Or they might buy from you and then they will make your life hell. Or they may be ideal customers and buy from you, but then when something goes wrong and you show your true colours, they’ll be like, “who is this psycho?” The fact is you’ve always been a psycho, you’ve just been hiding it and they were mistaken. It’s a loss for everyone.
💛 When it comes to free ways of growing your list, hands down the best strategy is guest blogging. Nothing compares to it. Bushra’s first 2,000 subscribers came from a guest post, as did her first sale – that is the power of a well-placed, well-crafted guest post. Honestly, if you are looking to grown your audience from scratch, and you don’t know where to start, reach out to top industry blogs in your field and just beg them, bribe them, or just go sit at their doorstep to get them to let you guest blog. Even if they don’t give you a link back, that does not matter. If your guest post is good enough, people will look you up, they will find you, and they will come back for you.
Listen to this episode here.
The links + stuff:
- When business besties save the day with Tara Collins
- How to research, pitch and land guest posts [direct download]
- Mass Persuasion Method by Bushra Azhar
- The Persuasion Revolution
- 60 Second Persuasion
The quotables:
(Highlight to share!)
“The fact is you’ve always been a psycho, you’ve just been hiding it. ” – Bushra Azhar
“Persuasion is not something that one person does to another person. Persuasion is something that a person does to herself, as a response to the things that you expose them to.” – Bushra Azhar
“You cannot crawl inside someone’s brain and try to force them to say yes to you.” – Bushra Azhar
“Profit over perfection.” – Bushra Azhar
“Everybody should channel their inner buttercup.” – Daire Paddy
“Using an editor is SO much more than just running a spell check.” – Daire Paddy
Listen here:
Born in 1978 to unsuspecting parents, it was quickly noted by the nurses that Bushra was a little unconventional, leading one of them to remark that she looked like she came out of the womb with a plan. She is still trying to figure out what that means. Featured in Forbes, Fast company, Inc. and 50 other super places on the internets, to working with big-ass companies like Pepsi, Unilever and E&Y, to being a well-paid (way too much if you ask me but shhhh…) consultant, she has her hands quite nicely full.
Bushra is a tolerable wife, an eccentric mum, a spicy food connoisseur, a dreadful tennis player and a social psychology aficionado.
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