Episode 119 – Nancy Juetten

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Nancy Juetten 0:00
Well, what is my fatal flaw? I can tell you right out of the box what it is my kryptonite is narcissism. Someone who is a narcissist who’s the center of their own attention, who has no awareness or appreciation for the impact they have on others. These are the kinds of clients that I can’t have in my universe. And so I’ve developed a bit of a Spidey sixth sense to be able to identify a narcissist in my midst. And these are the people when they come into my midst, I have to make a referral for them to go elsewhere. Because my philosophy is no icky people under the tent. And if you are a narcissist, I’m not your person. And that’s that. And so that’s, that’s my kryptonite. And you know, it takes a while to if you found yourself at the behest of a narcissist again and again and again, even though you might be doing brilliant work that’s beyond anyone’s expectations, these people cannot be pleased. And so the trouble with working with narcissists is that you over invest in the relationship to try to make it a success. And it is a false economy, it doesn’t work out because you can’t please these people. So let’s just send them on their way. I’d rather work with nice people that see the value and allow us to move through a fluid process than to be held hostage by someone who will never, it will never be good enough.

Richard Matthews 1:37
… 3-2-1

Welcome back to The Hero Show. My name is Richard Matthews. And we are live on the line today with Nancy Juetten. Nancy, are you there?

Nancy Juetten 2:40
I am.

Awesome. So glad to have you here today, Nancy. And she said she’s coming in from North Washington on the other side of the country, we’re about as far away as we can get while still being in the same country ’cause I’m in Florida. So anyways, it’s good to have you here. And what I want to do real quick is run through your bio for our listeners who don’t know who you are, and then we’ll jump into this. So the thing that stuck out to me here, the top of your little bio says Sassy Sound Bites Guaranteed which is funny. And you are a Get Paid Mentor and Bye-bye Boring Bio 2020 author. And you have guided speakers, experts and authors who want to travel to put their brilliance on paper or online to get known and get paid for their winning ways. So what I want to start out with is tell me what it is that you’re known for? What do you help people with? What’s the actual like products and services that you offer? And who are the people that you serve mostly?

Well, thanks, Richard. It’s good to be here. And what I’m known for is helping experts, speakers and authors transform their boring bios from wallpaper to wow, to attract clients connections and cash right now. And 10 years ago, I wrote this book on a dare from a friend in the depths of the Great Recession. And it ultimately helped me save my bacon at the precise time that I needed to bring it home. And I have since gone on to build a brilliant business. It’s a multiple six figure business where I first start by helping people transform their boring bios from wallpaper to wow. And then we talk about how they can broadcast their brilliance so they can get known and get paid by having offerings at various different price points so people can engage at the level that’s comfortable for them to get the outcome that they need to make their way in the world.

Richard Matthews 4:27
Awesome. So when you say bio, are you referring to the speaker bio you might put out to get speaking engagements, like your about page what do you mean by bio?

Nancy Juetten 4:36
All of it. So you know, there’s a speaker when she said someone like you as a podcast host might want to take a look at. There’s a speaker’s sheet that a decision maker at a conference might want to look at to determine whether or not you are the one they want to bring to their audience. There’s all of the bios that you have on social media that should be consistent, relevant and congruent to telling a consistent story about who you are and why you serve, so that you’re telling a complete story in a few characters as opposed to 50 or 100 words. And then there’s how you like to be introduced when you’re on a podcast. What I’ve discovered over the last 10 years is that most people treat these things as a box that needs to be checked, instead of a message that needs to be mastered. Because the bottom line is that for most independent business professionals, their About Us page is the most frequently visited of all beyond their homepage. And if it said lackluster and not a blockbuster message, it’s a Forrest, run in the opposite direction instead of running into your arms with a credit card with the opportunity to do business. And so when I say Bye-Bye Boring Bio, I refer to every bio that’s out there about you, so that when people meet you for the first time, they feel as if they know you already, and they can’t wait to do business,

Richard Matthews 6:00
It makes a lot of sense. One of the things we do, we do a lot of what we call building heroic brands. And one of the first things that we always do with any of our clients is work on their page story, because most brands are about page story. And it looks like you know, a manufacturer from China wrote their about page story. And it’s not fun, it’s not engaging, it doesn’t actually tell any human stories or and it doesn’t drive to any sort of call to action. So it’s a huge win for businesses to get their about page story, right. And I love the idea of making that theme sort of consistent across all of your bios, whether that’s your Twitter profile, or your Pinterest, little blurb, or whatever it is anywhere you’re online, having that same story woven, so you’d have to have longer and shorter versions of it. I assume you teach people how to do that, and how to do that pretty well.

Nancy Juetten 6:51
I do and what’s beautiful about this is, is well, there’s a backstory, we’ll get to that. But I think the greatest thing, the greatest gift I have is to help others to be made to feel very important. And that is a superpower of mine. That is something that clients truly appreciate. Because if you’ve ever tried to write about yourself, so many of us have had trash, standing in the way of big cash, they can’t stand on their value, they feel like they’re being overly braggadocious. They don’t want their humility to stand in the way of their upside. There’s so much that people have to contend with. Writing about yourself is not easy, but to be a brilliant reflector for others. So they finally see what others see, that is more than a bio. That’s a personal transformation that allows people to make more money, make a bigger impact, and move about the world with more confidence. And that is that something for the marketplace to celebrate, I think,

Richard Matthews 7:58
I agree with you that writing about yourself is hard. And again, that’s one of the reasons why we offer the service to our clients, we interview them and get their story from in the private forum. And I’ve gotten responses back things like Wow, it feels like you really know who I am. And it’s funny, because you’re just writing their story for them. And when they see it and see it back. They’re like, Oh, wow, actually, you know, you don’t have to come across braggadocious when you actually deliver real world value to people. So it’s a good skill. But I do want to actually talk a little bit about your origin story, how you got to be doing this type of work. And we got a show every good comic book hero has an origin story thing that made them into the heroes they are today. And when we hear that story, were you born a hero? Were you bit by a radioactive spider that made you want to help people get over their boring bios and have brilliant bios and said, Where did you find a job and eventually sort of move your way into becoming an entrepreneur basically want to know where you came from, or how you got here?

Nancy Juetten 9:04
Well, I was the child of an actor in Hollywood, and a homemaker. And my dad needed to be the center of attention all the time. And that meant my sister and I who were very capable needed to fade into the wallpaper so he could have all of the light. And I think how I came to my superpower of seeing, hearing and celebrating others, is by never having been seen, heard or celebrated in my own family. It’s really a deep wound that affected me very profoundly. So as I grew up and became an accomplished marketer and developed a successful business, I think my greatest strength was being able to see hear and celebrate others and to appreciate what it meant to them to be put in a spotlight where they can make a bigger difference because if you’ve never been allowed to bloom in your own family, you know, what a deep pain that can be. And so there’s just some kind of a natural affinity that I’ve had to appreciate. Why is it important for you to be seen, heard and celebrated? And where should you be seen, heard and celebrated? And how will you ultimately be compensated, and let’s find a way to make it happen. It’s a way for others to be made to feel important. And it addresses really a deep wound that I had, where maybe I never really felt important. Until I discovered this very distinct talent that I have.

Richard Matthews 10:34
it makes a lot of sense growing up in a family where you may not have had that recognition. And I know, it’s something that’s constantly on my mind. So I’ve got four young children. And you know, I’ve got my business going, we’ve got things going, and we’re always trying to make sure that their voices are heard and our family, right, that they’re, you know, they get to have opinions and thoughts on the things doing and the place that we’re going, especially since we travel a lot. And it’s interesting to see how it, you know, to hear how it impacted you how it turned into your superpower, right?

Nancy Juetten 11:08
Well –

Richard Matthews 11:10
-Which is cool.

Nancy Juetten 11:11
Well, there was one particular incident, which is a fun story that I’d love to tell very briefly. My dad was an actor in Hollywood. So we watched a lot of television. And I was fascinated with advertising. And there was this commercial about how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? And there was this animated owl asking the question. And so one day, as a nine year old, I wrote a letter to the president of the Tootsie Pop Corporation, and told him how many licks it actually took. And I had this feeling of expectation that something awesome was going to happen. And a few weeks later, I got this gilded certificate in the mail. And it said, very few people on earth know how many licks it takes to get to the center. But this certificate belongs to the one of the few who do and that made me feel important. And I thought, “boy, if I could use words on paper to get a CEO of a major corporation to write me a letter, maybe I’m supposed to be using those skills to make entrepreneurs and experts and others feel important, whether through their bios or through the speeches that they make, or the messages they share.” And I’ve been doing that ever since.

Richard Matthews 12:23
That’s really cool. Yeah, I remember those commercials that you know, I mean, like this, take a given scenario, the Tootsie Pop, and I run the other thing on the Tootsie Pops, we had to look for the little star as you get a free one at the gas station. I remember.

Nancy Juetten 12:35
I remember that too.

Richard Matthews 12:43
Let’s spend a little bit of time talking about your actual superpower. Right? So again, we say on the show … whether it’s a fancy flying suit, or the ability to call down Thunder. Heroes have what I call a zone of genius, it’s a scale or set of skills that you’re either born with, or you developed over time that really energize everything else that you do. Right. So I want to hear what your superpower is. And you mentioned it already. But why don’t you give a little deeper and tell us what it means and how it actually impacts people?

Nancy Juetten 13:11
Well, you know, it’s fun to talk about this, because sometimes, even people that are talented, have a hard time talking about themselves. And I remember trying to come to a realization of what my superpowers were. And one of the things I did and one of the things I recommend my clients do, is ask your clients who know your work best, what they would say about you to find out what is really special and distinct and differentiating about you. And when I did this a number of years ago, a client said, “She’s a word wizard on steroids. She’s a human exclamation point, her enthusiasm will blow your mind.” And one person said, “Nancy knows how to take the best that you have to offer, leave the rest and make you sound like a professional just like that.” And these were things that people said about me. And so what I would say my superpower is to be able to ask clarifying questions, see you in a way that you may not have been given yourself permission to see yourself before and find a way to make yourself sound irresistible without being icky, manipulative, or braggadocious. And then my second superpower is helping people to see ways that they can monetize their various skills and abilities so that they can have more of the quality of life that they want. And so those two things in combination are why I’m the Get Known to Get Paid Mentor and the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Expert.

Richard Matthews 14:41
I love the word thing. It’s one of the things that I’ve always been fascinated with is being able to put your words together in such a way that other people connect with them and that they understand them because words are really the way that we connect with each other is the way we tell our stories. It’s the way that we do our sales is the way that we build relationships and we have this dis, you know, what you would call it’s a very visceral connection with words. And I remember, like so my model I guess for my business for the longest time has been I call myself the my superhero name is The Alchemist. And I say, you know, modern day marketing is like alchemy of old. And if you learn, if you master it, you can turn your words into gold.

Nancy Juetten 15:31
Oh, I love that. That’s so beautiful.

Richard Matthews 15:35
Because it’s really how words work, right. And I remember as a young kid realizing from reading, reading some books from Robert Kiyosaki and some other ones that if you say your words, in the right order, to the right people at the right time, you can change their lives. Everything from getting them to purchase a product or getting them to, you know, I grew up in a religious household and went to a lot of religious things and realized that you could speak to someone from stage and have them alter the course of their life because of the words that you spoke. And so that always fascinated me that you could use words to improve people’s lives. And it also struck me that it can go the other direction, too, right? You can use your words to destroy someone’s life, they’re a neutral tool that you can use for good or good or evil.

Nancy Juetten 16:25
Oh, that is so big, what you’re talking about there, that is so big, because if you use words like weapons. And listen, I grew up in a situation where there were raised voices and raised hands and more than my share of conflict. And I was really deeply affected by that. And I’m thinking if you’re going to use words, use them wisely to build people up and not tear them down. And, I do that, and it just comes very naturally to me. And I think one of the things that I heard Jeffrey Van Dyke who is a very talented strategist, and coach, he said, “out of your deepest wound in life calls forth your greatest gift to share.” And in my case, not being seen, not being heard, not being celebrated, not being, you know, rewarded in the ways that were important to me. It just set me up to be a brilliant reflector of other people’s brilliance. And it’s in doing that you heal yourself. And any unfortunate thing that might have happened in your life can become a gift, if you just have the guts to recognize it and turn it into a blessing for others. And I think that for a lot of us, the work that we do is a manifestation of how we’re going to respond and whatever we were shown and that’s certainly been the way I’ve decided to do it.

Richard Matthews 17:51
I love that. I love I love your story. And I love just to focus on how powerful words can be to help other people and to, you know, make a better world. So I do want to flip that over right and talk about the other side of superpower, which is, of course, the fatal flaw, right? It’s like every Superman has his kryptonite, or, you know, Wonder Woman can’t remove her bracelets of victory without going mad. You probably have a flaw that tells your business back. It’s something that you struggled with maybe, you know, like me, it was perfectionism that kept me from shipping products or lack of care when meaning I let my clients walk all over me. But I think more important than what the flaw is, is how you worked on it over the years to, you know, to basically overcome it so you can continue to grow? I am hopefully sharing that-

Nancy Juetten 18:39
Well, what is my fatal flaw? I can tell you right out of the box that my kryptonite is narcissism. Someone who is a narcissist who’s the center of their own attention, who has no awareness or appreciation for the impact they have on others. These are the kinds of clients that I I can’t have in my universe. And so I’ve developed a bit of a Spidey sixth sense to be able to identify a narcissist in my midst. And these are the people when they come into my midst, I have to make a referral for them to go elsewhere. Because my philosophy is no icky people under the tent. And if you are a narcissist, I’m not your person. And that’s that. And so that’s my kryptonite. And you know, it takes a while to find yourself at the behest of a narcissist again and again and again, even though you might be doing brilliant work that’s beyond anyone’s expectations, these people cannot be pleased. And so the trouble with working with narcissists is that you over invest in the relationship to try to make it a success. And it is a false economy. It doesn’t work out because you can’t please these people. So let’s just send them on their way. I’d rather work with nice people that see the value and allow us to move through a fluid process than to be held hostage by someone who will never. It will never be good enough.

Richard Matthews 20:13
So that reminds me of, you know, the thing that I mentioned a second ago is the lack of self care, right? So you struggled at some point with the whole self care, right, where you let other people walk all over you. And you recognize that, hey, the people that I let walk over me are these narcissistic people or the way that you’ve sort of dealt with that is to just keep them out. They’re not allowed in your tent, they’re not allowed at all.

Nancy Juetten 20:36
Well, and I had an accountant say to me one time because I was working with this one person, a very, very successful entrepreneur who’s world renowned in a number of very important arenas. And you would think it would be a really prestige assignment. But I found myself not sleeping at night, because I couldn’t please this person. Even though I knew I was doing the best work of my life. And this accountant that I had said, “the whole reason you got into business for yourself, was to have fun and make money and one without the other is not good enough.” And after a number of sleepless nights, and feeling devalued, or feeling put upon or put out or being the victim of unrealistic deadlines, I thought, no matter how far I reach to achieve these milestones, the price I’m paying for it is too high. And I remember surrendering that account and saying, you know, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you all these many years. And I’m now going to release this contract for another person to take on the helm. And I wish you all the best, and they couldn’t believe that I was releasing it. But sometimes the price you pay is too high for the reward that you get. And you have to find the courage to say no to the clients that aren’t right for you. And yes, to make room for people for whom the exchange value is more fair. And took me a while to figure that out. But boy, I’ve never gone back after that.

Richard Matthews 22:11
I remember years ago, and I had that happen in my business where you finally realize that, you know, I’ve got to fire my first client, because they’re draining the life out of me. And it’s such a, it’s such an interesting experience that like I don’t, I don’t think you can prepare someone who’s in a space where you’re working with clients, for like having to go through that. You can’t like they just have to go through it at some point and get that experience. So they realize like, “oh, okay, I know where my limit is, I know who the people I need to have in my life are.” And it definitely made my business stronger, because it made me stronger. It made me realize who I was, and, you know, who I wanted to work with, and those kinds of things. And, you know,

Nancy Juetten 22:52
I had a colleague –

Richard Matthews 22:53
– employee even.

Nancy Juetten 22:55
I had a colleague, who was a very successful financial planner. And he was considerably older than I was and very successful. And I was just getting started. And I was lamenting to him about this challenging client relationship that I was having trouble managing. And then he said, this was such a funny story. He said, you know, in our firm, we have a new business development committee. And when people asked to knock on the door and be our client, we typically say, “the new business development committee is next meeting next week to decide who gets to come in, and we’ll let you know if we have room for you.” And I remember when he told me this, I couldn’t believe his bravado. I thought, “Wow, that’s so confident.” Because at the beginning of my business, I was just hoping anyone would say, yes, you know, but years go by. And I realized that just because Someone’s knocking on the door to do business with you doesn’t mean that you have to say yes to everyone who wants to come in. And boundaries and standards are important. And if there’s an ideal client, where you are best at working with that kind of client to work your particular brand of magic, you should have your Spidey sense tuned in, so that you can serve that person more readily. Because if you say yes to the wrong client, sometimes you pay a lot of heavy price that you could otherwise avoid.

Richard Matthews 24:22
That’s very true. And I know it goes the same for the sales calls as well right when you’re actually trying to close a client if you have the competence to let them know that “hey, you know, it’s a no pressure sale. I’m not looking to force you to become a client and you know, I’ll be fine. Whether or not you buy,” kind of thing is a it’s the same kind of confidence and bravado where people are like, like, “oh, wow, so like, maybe I do want to work with them.” So anyways, yeah, it’s a powerful thing. So I want to talk a little about your, your clients though, right. So this section I call your common enemy, right? So every superhero has an arch nemesis, the thing they constantly have to fight against in their world, right? In the world of business, it takes a lot of forms. But generally speaking, in the context of your clients, right, the people you work with the mindset or a flaw that you’re constantly having to fight to overcome with them, so that you can get them better, cheaper, faster, or higher degrees of results. And if you had your magic wand, and you could just pop them on the head when you started working with them, and not have to deal with that. What would that common enemy be?

Nancy Juetten 25:29
I don’t know. Oh, by common enemy? Well, I’ll share this, you know, when we’re writing bios, and preparing people for podcasts and broadcasts, one of the things that I bristle the most about, is when someone says, “just throw it together for me, it’ll be fine. I don’t have time to put into that.” When someone says that, to me, that is my common enemy. Because I don’t believe that this is the kind of work that can be delegated. I don’t think that if – I don’t think it’s possible for a service provider, such as myself to get the magic of who you are, if you’re not willing to invest some time to share that with me. I can’t just do a Google search and pull it from air and have it be right. So if you’re not willing to put some time into sharing with me about what makes you special, different and preferred, then I’m probably not going to be able to help you very much. And it’s, you know, don’t just delegate and not be involved. That to me is a common enemy. delegating without involvement doesn’t. It’s like trying to build a horse by committee, you get a camel instead.

Richard Matthews 26:46
Right. It’s not like you know, a design brief or something else where you could hand it off to someone who has the skills, if you’re talking about someone’s story, you actually have to get their story from the source.

Nancy Juetten 26:59
You can’t pull it from air.

Richard Matthews 27:00
-Find out like who they are. And let’s say, Yeah, what they’re doing. It’s surprising to me that you run into that issue. Because, I don’t know, it just seems like you would, it would be natural that like, Hey, if you’re going to help write their story, that they would want to tell you their stories that you can get it right. But –

Nancy Juetten 27:19
you know, there –

Richard Matthews 27:21
I have the same kind of thing going,

Nancy Juetten 27:22
What I was just gonna say is that sometimes people are looking for a box to be checked instead of something brilliant to be accomplished. And, I guess I’m tuning into wanting to work with someone who wants something brilliant to be accomplished is willing to create a relationship around that. Because what people forget, as I said, at the start of this conversation, you know, the bio isn’t just a box to check, it’s a door opener to something more that you want. You want the clients, you want the podcast interviews, you want the interviews on television, you want the highly paid, speaking opportunities from live and virtual stages, if you’re not willing to put your heart into what the person who has the power to make the decision gets to look at, then you get what you get. So look at it as a door opener to something more instead of a box to be checked. And the person who’s not coachable, or the person who is so attached to their origin story that they forget that it’s not even relevant to what they’re doing now, you know, these are challenges to sidestep so that magic can happen. And if you’re that attached, you know, sometimes I’ll ask people, they’ll send me their information and ask me to look at it. And one of my first questions is, are you open to some upgrades? Or are you looking for a rubber stamp? Because if someone says, “I think it’s brilliant, and I don’t really want your input,” then I know a whole lot about that person before we even get started. But if someone says “yes, I absolutely want someone to look this over so we can be upgraded dramatically. That’s why we’re having this conversation,” then I know I’m onto something. But some people are so attached to whatever they’ve created, they have such pride of authorship, that they’re not coachable. And if someone reveals themselves to be that way, I probably have to refer them somewhere else.

Richard Matthews 29:17
I have a similar rule in in our business. What do you call it the we do a lot of web design work, and for expert brands, things like that. And one of the things that like, “Hey, you need to get a photography session done.” And I give them a cheat sheet of like, what they should actually get from their photographer and several pages long. And I’ll actually tell them like, “if you’re not willing to agree to go do that, like you can’t hire me.” This is like a prerequisite.

Nancy Juetten 29:46
Brilliant. So smart

Richard Matthews 29:48
As your imagery is going to be a huge aspect of actually getting a brand to look good online is your imagery and the same thing with your story, right if you’re not actually willing to put in the effort, like why hire me in the first place?

Nancy Juetten 29:59
Right, absolutely.

Richard Matthews 30:01
So the flip side of your common enemy then is your driving force. Right? It’s the thing you fight for. Right? So just like Spider Man fights to save New York or Batman fights to save Gotham or Google by indexing categorize all the world’s information. What is it that you fight for? Right, your mission, so to speak?

Nancy Juetten 30:18
Well, I want to tell you a little story about that, because it’s powerful. I think I may have mentioned that my dad was an actor in Hollywood. And he would get all hyped up about going on auditions for commercials, television shows, movies and other opportunities. And he may have felt that he totally nailed the audition. But then, he’d come home and wait for the phone to ring. And sometimes it would, and sometimes it wouldn’t. And the downside of that is that there were long periods of economic scarcity in our household because he was the only breadwinner. And if he wasn’t working, there was no bread. And so what I realized as a very young age is that I don’t want to be beholden to someone else as to whether or not I can make my living, because they’re giving me permission to come onto the lot to speak my lines. And so, I am on a mission, I’m on a mission to empower speakers, experts and authors to speak up and share their messages in all the ways that are readily available to them. And also through the many thousands of podcasts, broadcast television shows, and other venues where they can raise their voice and make their impact even from home in this post COVID-19 scenario. Because when you want to speak more, in today’s world with technology, the way that it is you can speak more you can make offers, you can empower people with knowledge, insights, information, you can extend offers that people can say yes to in exchange for meaningful fees. And what a powerful empowering way to take control of your economic destiny just by speaking up as only you can. So that is the mission that I’m fighting for. And it again, comes from a deep wound from, you know, being an economic scarcity. But I will not be beholden to someone else as to whether or not I can make my way in the world. And I don’t want any of the speakers, experts and authors that I work with to be bridled by that either.

Richard Matthews 32:20
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And it’s definitely, you know, a powerful thing today where you can, you know, the world has changed dramatically this year, and it’s not going to go back. You have probably more opportunities to speak to more people now than you probably ever have, the venue might have changed might be on things like Zoom, where we’re having technology difficulties on this call, but you know, what, if they have more of these opportunities now than ever,

Nancy Juetten 32:45
I think that’s so empowering

Richard Matthews 32:47
– bigger as the technology gets better. Yeah, absolutely. So I want to talk about a couple of practical things with you, right, so I called this Hero’s Tool Belt. And you know, just like every superhero has, they’re awesome gadgets like batterangs or web slingers, I want to talk about a couple of tools that you couldn’t live without in your business, think tools to your product delivery, or created –

Nancy Juetten 33:10
Okay.

Richard Matthews 33:10
That you use with your clients to help them get their bios written. Something that you think is essential to getting your job done every day?

Nancy Juetten 33:17
Well, on the practical technology level, I am a big fan of Belive.TV, which is a way to use Facebook Live on a desktop. And it’s a great way to connect virtually with people across the country. I’m a big fan of Zoom, which we are using now to be face to face and air to air and nose to nose, even though we’re on opposite sides of the country. I’m a big fan of a Blue Yeti microphone and a set of headphones so that the sound quality can be good with the qualities that I can control from where I sit. And then because creating a result from every podcast is important. I’m a really big fan of LeadPages dotnet, which is a way to – it’s a simple, intuitive platform that allows you to create irresistible opt-in gifts and that convert. So that when you do a podcast like this, you can invite people to take action and become part of your world. So those are some of the things that I couldn’t live without that I use every day. And not to be too self serving, but

Richard Matthews 34:24
We’ll get to see some of your lead pages here before the podcast is out. I would imagine.

Nancy Juetten 34:30
Well, at least one of them. But you know, obviously, I’m very proud of the work I’ve done over the last decade creating the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Tools and techniques and templates and all the amazing resources that I’ve assembled to help making writing about take the struggle out of writing up about yourself and put it in the rearview mirror. So these are the tools and the templates, and the resources, and the approaches that I’ve refined over the last 10 years are tools that I use every single day with my clients to help them spell out their greatness and broadcast their brilliance so that they can attract connections, clients, and cash. And people have said, “Nancy is all of the help and none of the hype, and she delivers more than she promises. And then some,” to me, that is a beautiful statement of what it is that I bring to the party. So when I’m using these technology tools, or whether I’m using the tools I’ve created from my own intellect, I feel that I can help my clients accomplish the objectives that they set, and set the stage for even better things to come.

Richard Matthews 35:38
I look forward to going through your bio Bye-Bye Boring Bio Book myself. Because you know, I do a lot of my own writing and bio stuff, I know, I can always make it better. And probably for In my case, make it a briefer, because I tend to be too wordy a lot of times. So-

Nancy Juetten 35:57
You know, since you brought since you brought that up, you know, today in one of my Facebook groups, I challenged people to post a 50 word bio, that would be what they would want a podcast host to read when they’re introduced. And it was so interesting. This person says, Well, here’s my bio, and it’s 123 words, and someone else posts theirs. And it’s 400 words. And what I was trying to frame the message I was trying to bring home is if you’re going to be introduced on a podcast, and the host says I need 50 words or less, deliver 50 words or less, you must follow the directions and make sure those 50 words are the words you want spoken to position you as the expert that they want to hear from. If you can’t even follow that simple instruction, what other missteps might you make, that might make for a missed opportunity for everybody. So follow the directions 50 words start there and then go shorter and shorter and shorter. Because brevity is beautiful. Brevity is the soul of wit, a wall of words doesn’t serve you or anyone else get to the meat of the matter and get on with it. There’s bigger things to accomplish beyond the bio and that’s really the big objective that we have. Bigger outcomes for everyone but the .. bio opened the door. So there you go.

Richard Matthews 37:15
I feel like that would probably actually serve my podcast really well is to have people instead of asking for a bio is asking for like, how do you want to be introduced and put a word limit on it because like, sometimes I get files back two or three pages long. I’m like, I’m not gonna read a three page bio on air for people.

Nancy Juetten 37:37
And you know, it’s that’s those who are narcissists. Those are Narcissus revealing themselves to you, in their approach. For four pages is way too much information, TMI 50 words or less or you don’t get a shot. It’s a hard boundary. Right?

Richard Matthews 38:01
Absolutely. And it’s interesting because like, I have to go through it, generally I will. I’ll take the time to go through it and pick out the highlights like, “Hey, here’s some of the important things that they’ve done or what they’re saying,” you know, because it’s important to get and share people’s stories and whatnot. But just, thinking through my own process, hearing you say that, like, you know, part of it is, I’m asking for a bio, right, and I’m getting a bio back and I didn’t actually, you know, maybe I should, I should ask for something that’s more relevant to what we actually need. So, you know, I need a, you know, give me a 50 word introduction for how you want to be introduced on the podcast, and that would make my life easier.

Nancy Juetten 38:39
Well, since you brought that up I just –

Richard Matthews 38:41
Cool idea. I feel like you’ve improved my podcast.

Nancy Juetten 38:44
Oh, bless you. You know, one of my greatest wishes, is that an interview like this that we do would become required listening for everyone who wants to be on the podcast, and that everybody would be inspired to check out the resources I’ve created to help them rock every broadcast they do, because people forget that it’s a two-way street. And I heard from another gal today, who was one of my clients for a long time. And now she’s doing TELUS Summits and multi speaker events. And she says, “Oh, my gosh, Nancy, now that I’m on the other side, reviewing all these bios that are coming in of varying lengths that are not at all relevant or congruent to what we’re all about. I’m having to rewrite them at the 11th hour because nobody’s following the directions. It’s like herding cats.” So if we could train all the speakers, experts and authors out there to get it right the first time, you set the stage for the host to be delighted to have met you before they even speak of the first word. And then if you rock the talk, this host probably knows people that they can introduce you to that could open up the opportunity for you to share your message to further because you’re a pro at Hello. Most people miss the mark. And that’s kind of the flag. I’m waving. Get it right and set the stage for better things to come.

Richard Matthews 40:03
That is 100% accurate. As someone who’s done more than 100 of these interviews, I can tell you the number of people who nail their bio that they send to me, that makes it really easy for me is very, very slim.

Nancy Juetten 40:15
See?

Richard Matthews 40:16
– I appreciate what you’re doing.

Nancy Juetten 40:20
I will send you a copy of the book so you can have it at the ready as a part of your business success library and may it be a tool that will change the world in this very specific way. So that bios can be better and that the experience of being on a show like this can be better for everybody.

Richard Matthews 40:40
I look forward to it.

…

So what I want to talk about next is your own personal heroes. Right? So every hero has their mentors, just like Frodo had Gandalf or Luke had Obi Wan Kenobi or Robert Kiyosaki had his Rich Dad, or in the comic book world spider man had his Uncle Ben, Who were some of your heroes, were they real life mentors, maybe other speakers or authors, peers for a couple years ahead of you, and how important were they to what you’ve accomplished so far in growing your business?

Nancy Juetten 42:42
I have several heroes. One is Jack Canfield, who is the author of The Success Principles, how to get from where you are to where you want to be. I met him in 2005 at a book signing. And when I met him and stood in line with my 20 bucks to buy his book, when I got to the front of the line, he looked me right in the eye and he said, “What’s your name?” And I said my name is, and he looked at me like I was the most important person in the room. And he said, “I’m very pleased to meet you, thank you for coming.” And I have kept that book on my bedside table since then. And of all the 10s of thousands of dollars I’ve invested in business development over the years, the $20 I invested in his book has been the single best investment I ever made. And I can’t say enough about him. My second hero is Oprah Winfrey. Because if there’s anyone in the world who’s taught us how to live our best life and have our life count for something, she is the one at the top of the list. And then if I had a mythical hero, it would be Mary Tyler Moore, from the television series by the same name. Because I think it was in the early 70s. She was a single woman with her own apartment making her way in the world and throwing, turning the world on with a smile and making it on her own. And as a child growing up in a family with a traditional household, I thought, “Boy, oh boy, someday I’m going to be able to make it on my own, throw my hat in the hair, and make everyone smile through the work that I do.” And I just have always admired the way she showed up and the way she did her thing. And I’ve tried to be a little bit like her along the way.

Richard Matthews 44:32
And here you are right living your own best life, which is a cool testament to the power of, you know, good stories and what they can do for –

Nancy Juetten 44:40
Yeah, for sure.

Richard Matthews 44:41
– With other people, I want to talk a little bit about your guiding principles, right. So one of the things that makes heroes heroic is that they live by a code. For instance, Batman never kills his enemies; he only ever brings them to Arkham Asylum. So as we wrap up the interview, I want to talk about the top one or two principles that you use regularly in your life. Maybe a principle you wish you knew when you first started out on your own hero’s journey?

Nancy Juetten 45:02
Well, I want to reference something I learned from Jack Canfield. And he said that even if you hit, if you run into the biggest tree in the forest, if you take five swipes of an axe to that tree every day, at some point, that tree will come down. He calls it the rule of five. And the whole idea is if you have a big goal that your book will become a bestseller, that you will make a big difference in the world, that if you just take five swipes of an ax every single day, you will make progress. And I find great comfort in this guiding principle. Because even when life gets hard, or life hits the fan, every one of us can do five things to advance towards our bigger goal every day. And that simple principle has made a huge difference for me going from obscurity to becoming the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Expert who’s world recognized for this expertise. It happened five steps a day, every single day. And then I think another guiding principle for me is fall down seven, get up eight and keep on swinging. Because sometimes life does get hard and obstacles cross our path. And you can either check yourself into a pity party hotel, stay for a while and never get up. Or you could cry your crocodile tears dust yourself off and remember why you’re here to do this thing in the first place. So fall down seven, get up eight, keep on swinging. If you practice the rule of five, and you show up as a winner, who cares about others as much as you care about yourself, I think you’ll manage to do pretty well in life. And those are some of my guiding principles.

Richard Matthews 46:41
I really love the whole five things. It’s a very, like visceral mental picture. And I know one of the things that really helped grow my business over the years, has been a pretty harsh commitment to doing at least one thing every day that pushes me further towards my goal, which is less than five. But even with that, if I go back to the dream board I put together 10 years ago with my wife that I had it sitting on my wife at the time, we’ve accomplished every single thing that was on it.

Nancy Juetten 47:08
See, isn’t that beautiful? Congratulations, that’s awesome! So then I went on to say, I’m wondering if you need to dream bigger up, maybe it’s time to dream even bigger.

Richard Matthews 47:19
I’m in the process my wife and I are talking about you know, because we travel full time, we’ve been traveling full time for three years around the country, we’re talking about buying a big sailboat next and sailing around the world. We’ve already got the, we started looking at the boats … do it. And we want to, you know, get ourselves into and the sailing classes we need to take and some of the other things

Nancy Juetten 47:35
Brilliant.

Richard Matthews 47:35
Are on the next list. We’re already on the dream bigger stuff from the personal lifestyle stuff. I’ve got some huge goals in the business that we’re doing. But it’s just interesting, because like I had that dream board from when we packed up, it’s sitting a little thing like what do you call one of those little expanding folder things. And I was like, just curious, I pulled all the things out there. And I was like, “Wow, I’ve done every single thing in here.”

Nancy Juetten 47:35
Bravo.

Richard Matthews 47:35
It’s a cool place to be where you’re like, oh, man, I accomplished all my goals from 10 years ago. And it is because of that principle, right? It’s the five things of an … For me, it was just one thing that I could do everyday that puts my business forward. And you know, it probably took me longer because I was only taking one thing a day. But you still can … the largest tree in the forest, which is really cool. Cool point.

Nancy Juetten 48:20
Congratulations to you. That’s wonderful.

Richard Matthews 48:25
It’s definitely a cool place to be. And my only point in sharing that is just that anyone who’s listening, they can do the same thing, right? If you just get up and take a step forward, you know, never give up. If you get knocked down and I’ve been knocked down plenty, he said, he just get back up, keep going, don’t give up and he always push, you know, find something you can push your business forward with you can accomplish anything which is crazy to me.

Nancy Juetten 48:46
I think it’s wonderful and very empowering.

Absolutely. And it’s one of those things that it gives you a lot of hope, right to know that you can, you can accomplish whatever you want. And it is amazing to me how quickly those results stack too, right. Because it you might start using a lot of the problem most people have is they never start swinging the ax. So they always just imagine that is going to take a long time. But as soon as you actually start doing things, the results stack on each other pretty quickly. Right? And I was mentioning things like learning to do. Last year, I started doing calisthenic workout for push ups and, and it was one of the things like you know, the first day, they’re like, I want to get something where I can do 50 push ups. If you just sit down and try and do 50 pushups, you can’t. But I started I was like if I could do one today and then two tomorrow. And then I was like, you know that I could do five and then the next day I could do 10, and then the next day I could do 15, and like by the end of like four weeks. I was like you can do 50 push ups in like three months in I could do 100 push ups, all all sorts of different kinds. And it’s amazing how quickly the game stack. I met the physical example but like it happens in business too, right? You take a bunch of little wins, you stack them together, and the sum is greater than the parts.

Well, and you know, there’s one other corollary, you know, here we’re talking about taking action and being positive and falling down seven and getting up eight. But another Jack Canfield principle that I love is the drop out of the gosh, ain’t it awful club, because we are the sum total of the five people we spend the most time with. And if you’re spending time with winners that see possibilities and upside, you’re going to see more possibilities and upside. And if you’re hanging around with people that are saying, gosh, ain’t it awful, you’re just going to go down the abyss and not be able to accomplish whatever it is that you want. So we do have a choice of who we get to spend our time with. So to be on a top podcast that’s had over 100 episodes like yours, and they have the opportunity to share this message and have so much in common with someone like you. I mean, these are the kinds of things that really lift me up and make me believe that there’s magic in the world, and that, that good things are happening every day, because we reached out and found a way to connect and share a conversation. And you know, that’s a whole lot better than wishing things were different. And wallowing in things that we cannot control.

Richard Matthews 51:04
Which isn’t a particularly important message for what’s going on in our world right now. And it’s one of the reasons I love doing these interviews and meeting people like you. And I think that’s a really good sort of cap on our interview. So, but I finish all my interviews with something I call …

I call it the Hero’s Challenge. And I do this basically, it’s a whole selfish thing I do because it gives me access to stories I might not otherwise find on my own. So the question is simple. Do you have someone in your network that you think has a cool entrepreneurial story? Who are they? first names are fine, and why do you think they should come share their story on our show?

Nancy Juetten 51:41
Yes, I do. I would like to introduce you to Steve Sims, the author of Bluefishing, The Art of Making Things Happen. This is a man who used to be a bricklayer who knocked big buildings and hated it. And now he’s known as the modern day Wizard of Oz, who teaches people how to create relationships that turn into beautiful experiences. And you know what, before I came on your show today, I asked him, if he would be honored to be introduced to you. And he was delighted at the prospect. So if it’s alright with you, I’d like you to meet him. Because this is an amazingly powerful book that has been world changing, life changing. One of his favorite quotes is, “you can’t go to the bank with Facebook likes.” You have to create relationships with real people in order for magic to happen. And if you read this book, you will be so well served, and it will probably add a zero or two to the right of your income. He’s just powerful. And I know he’ll be a fabulous guest on your show.

Richard Matthews 52:47
Well, I will absolutely see if we can get him on this show. We’ll reach out afterwards and get the contact details so we can invite him on. Thank you so much for that. And, as a send off …comic book, there’s always the crowd who is standing there clapping and cheering on the hero for their act of heroism. So as we close, what I want to know is where can people find you if they want your help in the future? Where can they light up the bat signal so to speak into “Hey, Nancy, I need your help getting my bio to not be boring anymore.” And more importantly, who were the right types of people to light up that bat signal, if they need your help … reach out?

Nancy Juetten 53:23
Brilliant, the fastest and best way to get yourself served is to visit https://byebyeboringbio2020.com/

Run, don’t walk and download the preview for the 2020 workbooks that went to Amazon bestseller status in four categories. And it’s my gift to you at https://byebyeboringbio2020.com/ And the ideal person to benefit most is a speaker, expert or author who wants to raise their voice, make their impact and do so without having to leave home. Because the workbook is about making your bios better. And it has all kinds of brilliant etiquette around making brilliant conversations with podcasters. And people of influence just like you.

Richard Matthews 54:06
Awesome, that sounds wonderful. And we’ll make sure we put that link in the show notes. If you’re listening to this, you can always check back on our website to get the links to get that and download a copy of that book. And if you are in this space, I can tell you as a podcaster having your bio done right. Setting up the interview is so much easier. Right It makes our life easier as a podcaster who’s always looking for guests and trying to get people on. So take the time. Download the book, put some time and effort into your bio and reach out Nancy if you need her help. Because obviously you can hear just in the way that she structures her own speaking she knows what she’s talking about. And Nancy, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I really appreciate it. I loved having the chance to talk with you despite our technical difficulties here at the internet as it is. And before I hit this little stop record button do you have any final words of wisdom for our audience?

Nancy Juetten 54:58
I would say let’s all be heroes by bringing our brilliance to the marketplace in the way only that we can. The world needs us and it’s time to step up and make it happen. Thank you for your opportunity to be here. Appreciate it.

Richard Matthews 55:11
I completely agree. And again, thank you again, Nancy for coming on the show.

Nancy Juetten 55:14
My pleasure.

Richard Matthews 55:15
It was fantastic.