109. How To Show Up Online Without The Overwhelm with Susie Bills

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Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the things you have to do in your business? You know…things like creating engaging posts for social media, scheduling out your content, showing up consistently on all your channels, creating an email opt-in, consistently emailing your list, scheduling consultations, selling your services. I mean, the list is never-ending, right? 

I take a bet that all you really want to do is serve the people who need your expertise. So instead of getting stuck trying to do everything in your business, why don’t you start outsourcing tasks that are bottlenecking your business so you can get back to doing what you do best? 

In today’s episode, I am talking to the amazing Susie Bills, owner of the Virtual RX Agency that specializes in helping coaches uplevel their social media marketing and gain back time to focus on what they’re great at –serving their people. 

Susie and I talk about what it takes to successfully show up online using social media and email marketing. Susie shares her best tips for picking the right platform to show up on, how to repurpose content for multiple social media channels, how to use LinkedIn for your business, ways to nurture your audience after they opt-in to your freebie, how your pillars tie into your systems and processes, plus so much more.

This episode is packed with some juicy insight, so don’t miss out and click that play button!

Connect with Susie:

Website: https://www.thevirtualrxagency.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susiebills_virtualrx/ 


Rachel: Hey guys, it is Rachel Feldman. I’m already smiling because my good friend Susie is going to be breaking down what it takes to take your business online. We’re kicking off this episode with a real behind the scenes. So Susie, tell everyone a little about yourself and why you are the woman that I asked to deep dive into this topic. 

I’m Susie Bills. I am the owner of Virtual RX. We’re an agency that started doing primarily social media for coaches. I’ve known Rachel for many years. I think it’s been about five, maybe even six. It’s been a while. I started doing social media for my own self and my network marketing company that I had been a part of. As I was doing things and learning marketing and attraction marketing, and these ways to show up online to attract your ideal clients for. My company that I was with started asking me if I could do trainings for people because they liked what I was doing. 

So that’s kind of how I dipped my toes in the Social Media Marketing World. From there just grew that business and was able to provide content and graphics and all of that for people so that they could focus more on what they are great at which is coaching, serving their people and all of that. 

How To Stop Getting Stuck & Actually Show Up For Your Audience

I pretty quickly realized that coaches and basically all online businesses needed other things, right? What else in the operations of an online business, there’s so much to it than just showing up and being a coach, right? So email marketing, just all these other pieces, people were asking, could we have the tech part, like opt-in for email marketing? All the stuff that gets everyone stuck?

Because if you’re a coach and you love to coach, that’s what you’re passionate about. You want to help people, you want to talk to people, but trying to set up your calendar, or even your emails, or just any of that tech, connect to stripe or power. And it’s like we couldn’t take days, right. And for many people, they just get overwhelmed, and it’s not overwhelming piece that we’re able to come in and just take off your plate. And then you get to have more time to do what you love to do and what you’re good at.

What I would say is one of the big things I see is when we’re overwhelmed, or energy just goes into that low vibration, we’re so annoyed. We’re so tired. We were talking before we started recording, it’s like Double Dare you to go into Canva and create stunning covers. And really time how long does it take you, right? Cognizant of your time when you’re actually doing that? How much time is it taking away from that we need to be able to show up?

Because when you write, when you show up, you have to be all there for your clients. Right? That’s part of the reason that they are attracted to you. So yes, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, and you’ve got all your crap over here that isn’t done right. And you’re feeling that it’s definitely going to transfer over to just how you show up for your clients and overwhelmed. I mean, we all know social media, right? We love social media, we need to do it. It’s amazing. But it can take a lot of time and you can get stuck in creating the graphics not that you can’t do it and you might like to do it. But is that the best use of your time? Right? 

What Overwhelmed Coaches Should Be Focusing On

Rachel: What I would love to ask you about social media. It’s as you said, we all love it. We all need it. It can feel overwhelming. You specifically work with coaches. What is something that a coach should be doing right now? And if that coach feels overwhelmed, what are some of your tips so what should they be focusing on?

Susie: The foundational piece is your niche, right? So you really have to have clarity around that. Because that’s where all marketing starts from right? Yeah, I’m sure you people heard the saying like if you speak to everyone you’re speaking to no one, right? So you really need to spend some time getting that figured out. 

I know Rachel has a ton of videos on that and then I also like to talk about like the two, maybe three, but definitely two platforms that you want to master that you want to be on that you want to be known for where people know to go find you, right? Like for Rachel, I always know you as Facebook and Instagram. Those are just always been where I can find Rachel. And she’s mastered those. So instead of spreading yourself too thin, and thinking you need to be everywhere and do every single thing on each platform, right? Let’s pick and grow and expand and get you really solid in two. 

Rachel: Just to step right in, how do you help your clients pick those platforms? Because I think that’s a huge thing that I see, especially when it comes to age demographics. 

Two Tips For Picking The Right Platforms To Show Up On

Susie: So it’s interesting. There’s two ways. So if you are looking to attract 20-year-olds, you want to help some millennials, right? We’re probably going to spend some time on Instagram, because that’s more of the age demographic. Although I did hear a statistic yesterday, that the average age and the average disposable income on Instagram is growing and growing. So keep an eye out for older people that have more money are also flocking to Instagram. That used to be more of a younger demographic. But now I think it’s really for anybody. 

We want to find out who are you trying to attract? Where do they hang out the most? So that’s the one side, the other side is where do you like to hang out? Because if you don’t like the platform that you’re on, and if you’re like, I have to go to clubhouse, or whatever it is, and you’re not.

If your energy isn’t into it, it’s going to flop, right. So you’ll be putting time and effort into it and you’re not going to be getting the return that you’re hoping for. So those are the two but I mean, the most important is where do you like to spend your time? Because you are going to have to spend some time even if you hire somebody to do your social media for you. That’s another misconception is that you don’t then need to show up. You still do in person, you need to show up and do things. 

Those are the two. It’s usually really easy. If I was to talk to you, right? We know that where you like to hang out pretty much. So that seems to be how people can show up with their best energy if they’re enjoying where they are. 

What Trends To Focus On With Instagram

Rachel: There are tons of different platforms and everyone thrives on different platforms. I love what you just said about that it’s where do you love hanging out. Where do you find yourself going to and really looking at where your ideal client hangs out? I would say Tik Tok falls into some of what Instagram is doing as far as clear video, but what would you say, if we were to take Instagram. what is really trending on Instagram for a coach to be focusing on? 

Susie: I’m sure if anybody has spent any time on Instagram in the last couple of months they’re not going to be shocked when I say Reels. Surprise there’s a misconception that you have to dance and sing and be super gregarious right and outgoing to do Reels, but you really don’t. 

There are ways to do it that are more information sharing and curiosity provoking and making connections with people and having interaction so there’s definitely strategy that goes into Reels or Tik Tok videos. Not that everybody’s using a strategy. There’s a lot of people to show up and that they’re good at it. 

When we put a strategy behind it and then we are able to build on that strategy and give it kind of a long term purpose. You don’t just want to show up just to show up. We have a purpose in mind. We want to connect with people and eventually monetize and sell to them and there is a process for that is not just showing up randomly here and there. That’s not right. 

So that being said, stories are still amazing. Stories are a great way to be able to you’re doing the same thing but they’re just a little bit less scary because they can just be even a lot more like still pictures and stuff. 

What I love is Instagram added that link so you don’t even need a swipe up for someone to be able to click on a link, which just makes the playing field really even for everyone. That link has never really been a thing. You could have one link in your bio and even in your content you’d have never been able to have a link but even before that because we all know that most people don’t see you once and click on your link and go buy stuff. That’s not how it works. It can occasionally but that’s like Christmas or something. 

So building that relationship prior is really important. Then when they see your link it’s almost like they’re thinking oh here’s that link and then it’s there and part of the sales conversation and flow and journey. Versus a lot of people just think I can just spam people with my link and people are going to buy and we all know that is not how it works for you with your clients. 

Repurposing Tips If You Operate On Two Different Platforms

Rachel: I think you definitely just touched on if that person is scared to do Reels, what are some other strategies when somebody is picking a platform like Facebook as their other option. Do you have your clients do the stories on Instagram, save them? Take them over to Facebook? What is the best saving time tip? If you have those two platforms? 

Susie: Yes, so repurposing. The most amazing thing ever is repurposing. You make the content once and then let’s share on whatever platforms that we’re spending our time on. What can be used, which platforms a little bit different, what you put on LinkedIn is going to be very different than what we put on Instagram, same piece of content, but just served up differently, right? 

So what I like to do the best is have the Facebook business page, and the Instagram business account, right? If those are connected, then we can post on Instagram, and it will automatically share on Facebook, and then you can do that personal profile to personal Instagram too. So why not do that? Right? Why not keep it simple? 

Rachel: We’re talking about all these things on the play to get the online business bill? Be really smart. I know, my track is I had to pick up my phone, pocket through an Instagram story and I will have it set for a save feature. I’ll go and put that right on my personal profile for Facebook, as long as it makes sense.

Susie: Exactly. If it doesn’t make sense, I’ll take that extra time and do a few stories, write and stories or where people get to know you a little bit like behind the scenes more. So our content is great. Especially if you are educating someone on something and providing value and in your stories, you can do that. 

But it’s also just a little more personal, right? It might be while you’re working out, or whatever it is, it just gives people another place to connect with you on just a personal level, like your friends, right? That is what this is all about, is connecting with the right people. And I think a lot of people do get worried about if I say this, what will people think? My tip on that is if you just show up as yourself, yes, some people will go away. But those are the people that should go away. 

Rachel: If we’re talking online business, I always hear people say, Well, I don’t want to post on my personal page on Facebook. I always say you’re not selling on your personal page. But that is part of your brand and who you are. So if you’re scared to do that, how are you going to build an online business? Your business is a big part of your life. So obviously you don’t want to be on there spamming people all the time and only talking about your business. I mean, you want to show that to people. Making that connection, huge people. I get that question all the time as well. I don’t want to bug like my family members. Again, we think that people are spending way more time thinking about us than they are. 

I even think some of my first clients, it wasn’t that I came out with sign up for a call, which I see sometimes on personal pages. I just started talking about the problem, the solution, the problem, the solution, what I was going through with autoimmune food, allergies, undiagnosed, whatever the hell was going on my kids, I just started to talk about it. People would contact me that I went to high school with. So I’m on swim teams with I mean, people that I never thought would be clients of mine. R

Susie: Isn’t that interesting? And because you were going through it, people that connected with that reached out, right, and the people that didn’t were like, what is she even talking about? They went away, which is great, but they were just like, way to go. I’m so happy. You’re like dream. There we go. 

How To Use LinkedIn For Your Business

Rachel: Before we close out on social media. Let’s talk about LinkedIn. You would say LinkedIn has definitely a different vibe. There are those people who are would you say LinkedIn is searching for corporate people in the office space of Linkedln has changed. 

Susie: They all change all the time, right? Linkedln has definitely changed over the last few years. Especially way back it was like you just put up your resume. People would always say I have a Linkedin but I don’t know what to do. Now it’s super interactive. There are a lot of coaches on their business coaches, life coaches, health coaches, you can do live events. 

One of the things that’s interesting is if you want to broadcast live on LinkedIn, you do have to go through an application process and they need to approve you now which is interesting because they don’t want to see pictures of your food. They’re still trying to keep it it’s a professional platform. 

So it is a great place to connect professionals if you’re saying corporate. It’s mostly corporate people who are stressed out, who are kind of high stress, high performance, go go. So anything that is a little different to that, if you’re posting content about how to reduce stress or how to change your mindset is a big area. You can only this will help in but sometimes work that kind of corporate structure, the people that in that that isn’t something that’s talked about a lot, right? It’s very different, right? 

In the corporate professional C suite, all of that, they’re not really talking about mindset so much, right? So when you show up and talk about things like that, it does stand out. I have many clients, actually, that are life coaches that are on LinkedIn, and do really, really well and were able to do their live events on LinkedIn. One of the beautiful things about LinkedIn is it invites people for you. And then it keeps track of who RSVP, and then at the end, you can download their emails, and then you can do a follow-up email. 

Rachel: Wow, I didn’t even know that lead generation on LinkedIn is outstanding. I still think even though there are lots of coaches on there, it’s still an untapped platform for coaches, that’s such a gem for somebody to know, because to be able to do lead gen and have it in that way organically is a game-changer, which says to lead generation, or some people call email marketing or opt in freebies. 

Key Elements Of Lead Generation That Get Missed

So let’s talk about this second core element. You have your lead generation opt-in freebie otherwise known as list building. What are some key essentials that often get missed? 

Susie: We’re going to start with your niche, because you want to know who you’re speaking to. But building that email list, I mean, I think we can all remember was it last week or the week before when Facebook shut down and Instagram. If you have built your business on that, and you don’t have any other way to keep track or be connected with the people that you’re usually interacting with, even if you have a really great group on Facebook, or something that can be a little scary if that’s where you’re generating your income from and creating. 

So creating that email list and always, always trying to funnel people into that, because then you own that list, you can nurture that list, you can market them, right? It’s so important and it’s so overlooked in a lot of online businesses or businesses in general, because there is the automation part that has to happen. So first, you have to create something that you’re going to share with people as a freebie. 

Rachel: What do you generally suggest when people come to because you’re looking at the whole big picture? How many freebies do you usually have your clients have? 

Susie: Freebies in different formats, it could be a masterclass. It could be a challenge, it could be a checklist, right? Videos. One of the things that we love is doing a self-assessment. So it’s a checklist or a quiz. But really, at the end, the person has self-assessed that they need what you’re talking about. It’s nice and short, just like the checklist. So love that. 

Why Your Freebie Has To Match Your Message

But also depending on what your transformation is that you provide people when they work with you. We want to give them a little taste of that. We want to give them a little taste of working with you. So maybe weight loss is something you focus on and then getting off sugar, and then maybe hormone. Having those set up because everybody is coming. When they land on your social media, they’re thinking can this person solve my problem, 

Rachel: I love that you share that. I talk about that all the time. You have to have your freebies match what you’re saying the problems you can solve. It gives them a little sneak peek into what that would be like to work with you. And then they want more, right? They’re like oh, I better reach out or what else? Are they happy? Let me go check them out on social media right or what have you. 

So we haven’t really been a leader then you were saying the nurture sequence right and for people that maybe are listening that don’t quite know what that is right? 

From Opt-In To Nurturing Conversations Through Email Marketing

Susie: So somebody opts in for your freebie, your checklist and then they’re in your email software that we have set up. Then we have three to five emails that we call an indoctrination or something, that nurture that is sharing a little bit about what you can do for them, providing value. 

It’s just like if you met somebody at a networking event, you don’t just walk up and say here, buy this. You’d have a conversation and try to figure out how you can help them. It’s the same thing with the email. I always like to have the emails say reply to this email. Try not just have book a session, but just say, reply if you want to talk about it. Or if you’re giving tips, let’s say on energy and then you can say, what daily routines or daily rituals do use for energy? Anything just to get a conversation going. 

How To Create A Welcome & Nurture Sequence

After those three to five emails thanking them for joining, here is your download. The next one, you can share a little bit about you. Share how you help them. Maybe a little bit about your story, but always focusing on what you can do for them. The PS at the bottom is, by the way, if you’d like to talk further, here’s a link to schedules, strategies. 

After that, you want to set up the nurture sequence, the ongoing emails, that we all get from people who say email marketing, email marketing, but all done in automation. So once a copy is written, the emails are written, then we can just go ahead and set it up in automation, and then it is literally set it in front. 

Rachel: So that’s something that I love that you just said, because there are so many overwhelming pieces. I mean, we’ve talked about opt in freebies and list building, which everyone talks about, but we’ve talked about nurture, sequence, indoctrination, email marketing, and I love that you say, set it up. 

Susie: Do it once instead of having it constantly be the leak in your business, the leaking funnel, and always on your to-do list, right? It’s always on your to-do list, it never gets done. So yes, definitely. I would say if you’re just starting out, we start with one, right? But as we’re working together, the longer you’re growing, maybe three is a great number, right? Talk about those different pillars in your coaching business that you focus on. Have one for each because everybody comes in, right? 

How Your Pillars Tie Into Your Systems & Processes

Rachel: That is solid gold. I want you to listen to that again. Because when you can actually focus on those areas. If you’re like, I help women lose weight, then you’re tying it to sugar, then you’re tying it to hormones. All a sudden people are oh, wow, this is their system, they’re automatically saying, well, this is their method in their approach. That’s why they’re so different from this other weight loss coach, or hormone coach. 

Susie: When people come to us sometimes or to a coach, they think I want to lose weight. They don’t know all the pieces to lose weight if you haven’t heard it, right? They’re not thinking I need a hormone. I mean, they might be but if they’re thinking about weight loss, they’re not thinking probably about their hormones, or maybe that they’re addicted to sugar, right? So you could have one on the gut because maybe they’re not even thinking that weight loss and gut. 

Rachel: So Thursday, should we just do a whole other episode on mind mapping people’s funnels? 

Susie: Yes, I love it. It’s so great to talk to you because we geek out on this stuff.. 

Rachel: What’s also great about what we’re doing right now is how you get clear on your niche. This is how you get clear on those pillars. Those pillars are really your system and your process. If you’re like I help women to lose weight, by getting off sugar, hormones, and improving their digestive health. It’s like, show me the money then on these three things. Play. When you are talking on your social media, when you’re in your email marketing your nurture sequence, really set yourself apart from every other coach who’s talking weight loss, and the same as for any other niche. 

Susie: Right? Exactly. Because you become that expert on those topics. So anybody in your vicinity where they see Instagram or wherever, if they’re looking for that solution, then you are super clear and showing up as the expert because you’re focusing on those. So that’s why, again, the whole niche and getting your pillar straight. I mean, that is the foundation of the moneymaker. 

Because I think that’s also where we get the confidence as coaches to stand out and be different from everyone else. I don’t think everyone gets that right away, I think we focus on niche, and we miss that second element, which is so important to hook to all the information that we usually say at the beginning of the video. This is how I help people, and then most importantly, choosing the programs that really showcase what we do. 

And for everybody listening, I’m sure most of them know your programs. But I just want to say that with my clients, we use Rachel’s programs. They are amazing. If you’re looking to save time writing, and just all of it the beautiful recipes, there’s so much time and money to be saved by using Rachel’s programs. And that’s what we’re all looking for. Right? We want to save time and we want to make money. 

Rachel: I think the same goes for why you created these virtual assistant services. You get to a point where you’re a business owner where it’s so frustrating, right? Some people can’t push through. It’s not that they are not strong. It’s just that it’s really the tech part or the logistics, or the strategy is just depleting the hell out of them. 

Susie: Right. What I also find is that people can do it for a while, everything on their own. When you’re starting, bootstrapping and doing that. Then there becomes a point where you’re the bottleneck of every single process in your business, and then you’ll hit a plateau and you cannot grow an empire. You just do it on adrenal fatigue. If you’re like me, pushes and can do it. But I wouldn’t recommend that. I would say most people can’t do that. And it’s not right. It’s not. 

If you’re already the kind of high-performance person in life in general, a type A personality, there’s going to be some level that but to build a business that can be sustainable. When I look at you and I, both in business, 12 years strong, I’ve had it now, 11 and a half years strong, I’ve been in the online space and in business, so there were some ups and downs with that adrenal stuff, but I think every business owner does, and I think that’s why for health coaches, especially, and wellness coaches, we need to always make sure that we are having that little check in with ourselves. 

Rachel: Yeah, and also because you’re helping so many other people and you have to bring your energy for them a lot of the time because they’re looking to you. To close this out, what are your favorite –and I don’t want to get into tech and platform –but what are your favorite platforms that you work on as far as email marketing. 

Favorite Platforms For Email Marketing

Susie: For email marketing, the tried and true is the one that’s been around for a long time MailChimp, I love MailChimp. It’s pretty easy to use, I get a lot of ways to use it and there’s also a really good free version that people can use for a long time before they ever even have to pay. A little more advanced would be Active Campaign or something like that which is great too when you want to get into really being able to segment your audience. 

For social media scheduling, once the content is created, we use a software called Sendible which is very user-friendly. Again, I think it’s $19 a month. It’s very affordable and then you can pre-schedule all of your contacts. These are the two areas that everyone gets to pick up on. 

Canva if you want to look good or make yours. Now that being said, I can spend three hours on one graphic so I don’t let myself go into Canva. I have my team members but that doesn’t even turn out that great when I do it. I will just say this. I have so many coaches who say why am I getting charged for these photos? I say you have the free version on Canva. Please go pro for $12.95 and get access to all those gorgeous stock photos. So your templates, I mean, they’re gorgeous. 

So those are my three go tos. Usually if I’m working with a new client, those are the first ones that will say, girlfriend let’s get on these top three and then let’s renovate to build higher. The other thing that’s amazing and great is to also have a free scheduler for your calendar so people can book in, call and it goes right to your calendar. I use Acuity, setting up a new version and then the next level is $15 a month. 

Rachel: We could go on, right? We always start with spending the least amount of money using those softwares that really are going to help you free up the most amount of time to start your business even as you’re growing. 

This was such an amazing packed episode. Can you tell everyone where to find you? 

Susie: I also have a freebie that I’ll share, it’s 28 tasks you can outsource in your coaching business right away and it just gives you an idea. It’s broken down into categories like marketing and what can you outsource to get your wheels turning and then the amount of time it would save you. 

So we’ll give you an idea. I’ll share that with you but my website is the VirtualRXagency.com

Lots of information on there and then also you can always fill out the application for a consultation. That’s on there as well. Thank you Rachel. I love chatting with you catching up to share your with your audience and then also the pillow behind you but most people will close this out that pillow behind me which says fuck perfect. It’s been in my office I think for five years you can get that at society6.com 

Rachel: There you go. That’s what everyone needs in their office. Alright, guys, it’s been a pleasure. Susie, thank you so much. I just had a plethora of information that was so helpful for me at any stage. Alright guys, we will see you later. Make sure to check out Susie, her work and fill out that application if you want to hire her.

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