The Jo Show · 4 February 2026
Episode 12: I gave a hypnotherapist marketing advice — then she reset my brain
Most podcast episodes don’t end with the host getting hypnotised on camera.
This one did.
I sat down with Stephanie Rother, a naturopath and hypnotherapist on the Sunshine Coast, to talk about marketing her practice. We covered the usual ground — finding your ideal client, getting your name out, building referral networks.
Then she offered to do a live hypnotherapy session. I said yes.
Ten minutes later, my energy had shifted from a 3 out of 10 to an 8. And I’d thrown a surprising number of metaphorical rocks into the ocean.
This episode turned into something I didn’t expect: a genuine example of holistic marketing. Not the woo-woo kind. The practical kind where your mindset and your strategy actually have to work together.
The ideal client problem (and the fix)
Stephanie told me she’d been working with four or five different client avatars. She thought going wider would help her reach more people.
It’s a common trap. We want to help everyone, so we try to speak to everyone. Then our marketing loses focus, our message gets diluted, and nothing cuts through.
Here’s what I told her:
Think of your best client ever. The real person. The one you loved working with. Build everything around finding more people like them.
You don’t have to invent a fictional avatar. You already have proof of what works. Use it.
By the end of our conversation, Stephanie said she already had that person in mind. That’s the shift.
This approach flows through everything — your social posts, your email marketing, your paid ads, your SEO, even your PR angles. When you know exactly who you’re talking to, the clarity unlocks ideas you’d never find otherwise.
One of my clients targets white wine drinkers in her ads. She doesn’t sell wine. But that targeting outperforms everything else because it matches who her best customers actually are.
Specificity wins.
Why your energy matters to your marketing
Business owners talk a lot about strategy, systems, and tactics. We don’t talk enough about energy.
I’ve built McKee Creative over seven years. I know what I’m doing. And last week I was exhausted — dragging myself through my to-do list with zero enthusiasm.
That’s not a strategy problem. That’s an energy problem. And it affects everything: the quality of your work, your decision-making, your ability to show up consistently.
The live hypnotherapy session Stephanie ran me through was a simple guided visualisation with breathwork. Nothing complicated. But it worked because I was willing to follow the process.
The practical takeaway: if you’re running on empty, no marketing tactic will save you. Sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is stop and reset.
What’s actually working for small business owners right now
Beyond the hypnotherapy, this episode covers a few things that came up naturally in our conversation:
Networking works — if it suits you. Stephanie credits consistent networking as one of the biggest needle-movers for her Melbourne practice. For me, it’s the opposite. I’ve tried it repeatedly and I leave those rooms drained. The lesson isn’t that networking is good or bad. It’s that you need to find what works for your energy and your personality, not just follow what the gurus recommend.
Your gut instinct matters. Stephanie’s biggest regret in business? Not listening to her gut. Every time she ignored it, things went wrong. This applies to taking on clients, buying courses, and following advice that doesn’t fit how you work.
Happy accidents beat rigid plans. Some of Stephanie’s best referral relationships came from unplanned moments — reaching out to someone she saw mentioned in a comment, having a Friday morning coffee that turned into a genuine connection. The overall strategy was “build your referral network.” The execution was staying open to what showed up.
Build your business to suit who you are
This is something I keep coming back to on The Jo Show.
The templates and frameworks and “proven systems” you see everywhere online might work for someone. They might not work for you.
I’ve bought courses I never finished. Tried tactics that drained me. Followed advice that didn’t fit how I operate.
The turning point was giving myself permission to stop doing things that don’t suit me — and build a business around what does.
That’s what I want for every small business owner listening to this podcast. Clarity, momentum, and a business that actually fits your life.
Watch the full episode
This conversation with Stephanie Rother covers:
~ How to find your ideal client without inventing a fake avatar
~ A live hypnotherapy session (yes, really)
~ Why you need to get the blinders off if you’re serious about growth
Connect with Stephanie:
- LinkedIn: Stephanie Rother
At McKee Creative, we work with founders like you to bring bold ideas to life through strategy, marketing, and creative that converts.
Book a free strategy call to explore how we can help you double your revenue—without doubling your workload.
Transcript
Jo McKee (00:00)
Who’s been your best client ever? Like who have you loved working with? Instead of trying to make up an ideal client avatar, think of the real person
Hello Stephanie, it’s lovely to have you with us. Thanks for doing the Jo Show. You’re a natural health hypnotherapist on the Sunshine Coast, is that correct?
Stephanie Rother (00:19)
Hi Jo, thank you for having me on the podcast. I really enjoy being here. yes, it’s Infinite Health Concepts and I’m a naturopath and a hypnotherapist. So I combine both of those modalities. I’m doing meditation as well and some breath coaching as well.
Jo McKee (00:38)
It’s
so interesting. mean, coming at this from the position as a business owner, I think we always find when we start a business that it becomes a self-development program. There’s no way around it. When we’re doing well, our business is more likely to do well. And that isn’t just to do with spreadsheets. That’s for sure. There’s mindset and emotional health and physical health and all that sort of thing. So I love having you on for that
Stephanie Rother (01:00)
Yeah. So it’s how little things in life can hold us back that we don’t even think of anymore because they’re just stuck there.
Jo McKee (01:10)
What would you say in growing your own business has been, I guess, the biggest obstacle that you’ve come across and then how have you come past that?
Stephanie Rother (01:18)
biggest obstacle is getting your name out. And that becomes harder and harder and harder. ⁓ So I moved recently to the Sunshine Coast and I’m still building my business because I need to get myself known here. In Melbourne, it was running all by itself because I had built so many connections in the community. So when you start off, it’s the hardest bit. ⁓
How do people find me? And how do they remember me? And from where I look at it moment is, especially with AI, there is so much on social media. How do you actually stay at the front in any feed? Because I notice it myself, my own friends, if I don’t regularly like their posts, they disappear. That is exactly.
Jo McKee (02:09)
My
feed? Yes.
Stephanie Rother (02:12)
It’s scary. It’s actually a bit scary when you think about that, but it’s kind of for me, it’s, you know, I need to stay on social media despite not really liking it.
Jo McKee (02:24)
I think the easiest way, ⁓ if I can offer a bit of direction on that, is the first thing I often do with a client who would come to me is say, well, Who’s been your best client ever? Like who have you loved working with? Instead of trying to make up an ideal client avatar, think of the real person because you don’t have to write anything then it’s already done. And it actually has worked, which gives you that confidence inside because you know that it was successful.
And then building everything you do around finding more people like that. And it also helps clarify your positioning, your offer, your message every time you do a post, keeping that one person in mind. Seth Godin talks about finding the smallest audience possible, which is a similar principle and then expanding naturally. So I’ll just throw that in there if it’s useful to you. ⁓
Stephanie Rother (03:18)
I appreciate it. I found myself literally making that mistake just earlier last year, all of a sudden I had like four or five avatars because think the tendency is that you go, you want to go wider to make sure that you meet as many persons need. And I’ve now shrunk it back to
Jo McKee (03:20)
Yeah.
Yes, we want to help everybody.
Yes.
Stephanie Rother (03:45)
three who are very similar to client types that I work with on a regular basis. But I like the idea of actually shrinking it even further to just that one person who is a client.
Jo McKee (04:00)
Even just until things are steady. Well, naturally other people will come to you who don’t fit that. I mean, I have paid for coaches where, you know, they said this is the criteria and I didn’t fit it, but I still was happy to pay them knowing that I wasn’t their perfect target, if you like. And I still had a lot of benefit out of the material. ⁓ But it just helps you really focus in and…
as you say, with your resources of time and money with your marketing, if it’s not focused, it’s just gets very distressing very quickly because there is a lot to compete against. But when it’s focused, it’s amazing how the cut through happens. It’s really good. yeah, anyway, that’s just, I guess, aside.
Stephanie Rother (04:40)
Thank you very much. I’m already having my client in front of me that I’m thinking of, which is great.
Jo McKee (04:46)
That’s exciting. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll have to watch your post now. Play the game of figuring that one out. Don’t tell me. Yeah. And just end up being consistent because we all think we say the same thing over and over again and we get bored listening to ourselves. But the person on the other end hasn’t heard it that many times and they forget and they’re busy and distracted. So you do have to bang your own drum repeatedly with a very clear message at the right person, to the right person. So yeah, something I figured
that we should do because I am a very practical person and I learn by doing and I’m thinking for the listeners, it will be the best illustration of what you do is if we do a hypnotherapy session live, which is scary for me to suggest, as I said to you. ⁓ But why not? know, often in business, we talk about things and don’t do them. I figured let’s have a go at that and see how it goes. ⁓
Stephanie Rother (05:43)
good idea, I’m up for it.
Jo McKee (05:45)
Yeah,
that we do need to put that warning in for listeners if you’re listening or watching this while doing something else don’t follow the instructions because it might result in disaster.
Stephanie Rother (05:58)
Yep, now if you’re operating a machine or if you’re driving a car, anything like that, you can listen, but don’t follow any of the instructions that I might be giving to Jo anybody who listens.
Jo McKee (06:07)
Yes.
But it will give a taster for anybody who’s listening and maybe interested in the work that you do, Stephanie, it’ll give them an idea of it. So I reckon let’s get into that now. And then once we’re done, I’d still like to probably wrap up a little bit about with your experience and what’s working for you now. We’ll come back to that. But let’s do a practical one.
Stephanie Rother (06:32)
And I might also explain what we did together. So if we’re working on something, ⁓ would you be interested in working on your stress levels right now?
Jo McKee (06:45)
I feel like they’re very relaxed. feel like I’ve come to a very good work life balance after seven years of building my work to suit me. And this is another thing that I’m really big on on this podcast is building your business to suit who you are rather than what the templates and the gurus are shouting at you. So I feel like it’s really good. But as I said to you, I’m really tired right now. I feel like I’ve slept very, very well lately, but I’m very tired. And so that’s, guess, a signal to not.
Ignore.
Stephanie Rother (07:16)
Yeah, that’s good. So before we get started, when you rank your tiredness out of 10, 10 being, really, really tired. I’m ready to go to bed. Now, actually, let’s do it the other way around. Let’s look at your energy levels. 10 energy levels would be really, really high. Zero, you would be obviously not alive. So scale, where would you see yourself right now?
Jo McKee (07:44)
At the moment, I’m probably a three, which is crazy. I’ve had a really good ⁓ run of exercising every weekday for weeks, little bit of break over Christmas, but for months now. Yeah. And be very proud of myself because I hate exercise. And so I should be quite good with my energy levels right now. But just for some reason over Christmas and then, yeah, with this, I guess it was a little cyclone the last couple of days here. Yeah. It’s been a bit on. Yeah.
I’m done. I’m tired. look at my to-do lists that I normally love and I’m like scraping through it.
Stephanie Rother (08:20)
Did the tightness start for you?
Jo McKee (08:23)
Probably about, probably within the last week particularly, I would say.
Stephanie Rother (08:29)
week. ⁓ yeah. And where would you like to be out of ten? ⁓
Jo McKee (08:34)
At least an eight. Hang on, which way did we get our scale?
Stephanie Rother (08:39)
Yes,
you want to be innate with energy. Yes. We’re talking about energy. So you would like to be innate. Okay, so let’s get into it. You want to be innate. Are you happy to be slightly put into a trance and follow my instructions?
Jo McKee (08:56)
Let’s try this, yes.
Stephanie Rother (08:58)
Okay, yes, that’s good. So all I ask you to do is if you could leave your head where it is and just lift your eyes up and look at the ceiling. of, yep. And just really as if you’re almost trying to look behind your eyelids while they’re open. And yeah, that’s hard work. And you just breathe normally while you’re doing it. And as you’re doing it, you might be noticing that your eye is getting
more and more tired, more and more tired. And as they get more and more tired, there will be a time when you feel it’s so much easier to just close your eyes. And when that time happens, you just easily let your eyelids slide over the eyeballs and just close your eyes because you want it to happen. So you do make it happen. Allow yourself to just be in that spot where you can close your eyes. That’s right.
Just allow yourself to soften, to go into that deeper, deeper state. You might imagine that you’re standing at the top of a staircase that is going down to a beautiful beach. And with each step that you take onto those stairs, with each step that you take, you go a little bit deeper down to that beach. And the further go down to the beach you go, the better you feel and the better you feel, the deeper you go.
And when you’re ready, just take that first step going down. Ten. Nine. Eight. Deeper and deeper. Seven. Going deeper. Six. Five. Going deeper and deeper. Four. Three. Two. And one.
being down at that beach. It’s a beautiful beach. And as you walk slowly along that beachfront, you notice that heaviness, that tiredness, heavy on your shoulders. And as you look back over the steps that you take on the beach, you can see that the footprints are quite pronounced because of the weight that you’re carrying.
And that weight is sitting on your shoulders. And as you look over your shoulder, you notice it’s actually like a backpack that is sitting heavily on your shoulder. And now is the time to let go of that weight, of that heaviness that just slows you down. And I want you to imagine that you take off the backpack and just nod your head when you’re ready to take it off.
That’s right. Okay. Do you need help? I can help you take off the backpack. You can do it yourself. Okay. Take that backpack off. Put it down in front of you and it’s heavy. And as you open it, you can see it is full of rocks. And I don’t know what those rocks are. But if you take one of them into your hand right now and you look at it,
It will stand for something that is dragging you down, that is making you tired. Just hold that rock in your hand and just say goodbye to that feeling, to whatever it was that that rock represents. You don’t need it any longer. And if it’s all right with you, I would invite you to throw it away because you don’t need it and just throw that rock into the water.
and see it disappear in the ocean. And look at the rest of the backpack, how many other rocks are there that you don’t need. And look at each of those rocks. I don’t know what they are, but you do. And I want you to take each individual rock and make a conscious choice to say goodbye and make a conscious choice to let go of it. And when you’re ready to let go of it, take each rock and throw it into that water.
And so continue that way until you remove all the rocks that no longer serve you and just hold you back and drag you down. One after the other, just letting them go. You might notice that you feel slightly different.
bit lighter, maybe freer, as you just let go of all those from.
And once those rocks are all gone, just let me know by nodding your head. Or take your time. I want to make sure that they’re all gone.
That’s good.
Just letting all those rocks disappear. Getting rid of it.
Letting them move away. You need to.
That’s right.
taking your time, one after the other.
letting them all disappear.
That’s
food.
just letting go of whatever is in that background.
Actually, if you want to, you can throw that backpack away as well. You don’t need to carry stuff on your back, you?
Just get rid of what you don’t know. Don’t need any longer.
because it’s so much easier to leave the past in the past, to look into the future.
When you look into the future, you feel more excited because there is so much possibility.
Whereas the problems of the past, are in the past. It’s time for them to just be gone. So now you make a choice to let them go. Subconsciously, consciously, unconsciously, whichever level, let all those rocks disappear. And I wonder, are they all gone by now?
There’s still more. ⁓ good. Fantastic. With the rocks gone, you can now just look forward to the future where you want to be. I want you to see yourself maybe just a couple of hours from now. Maybe you might just sit down for a moment, take a time to have a cup of tea, cup of coffee to nurture yourself.
And as you do that, you might see yourself thinking about what you need to do over the next week or so to move forward.
to grow your business, to move forward in your life.
And as you look at the list of the things that you need to do, you might notice that it feels exciting because new ideas are popping into your head. Perhaps you can see yourself feeling energetic, feeling positive about what is happening, having that new interest in moving forward. But at the same time, making sure that whatever you do, you look after yourself.
that you nourish yourself, give yourself the rest that you need, because you know what you need yourself.
And then you can feel that energy, that energy that helps you to move through those days and that motivation. Because now that the rocks are gone, you can fill that space around you with ideas and you can manage and imagine those ideas as if they are bubbles, beautiful light bubbles. Or maybe you prefer clouds around you, something that is light, something that you can just easily touch.
Something that you can easily shift around that moves easily with you. And it’s always around you, but it’s not dragging you down. It is just easily with you because that’s what the future holds. Movement forward, movement into energy, movement into life.
And so I really want you to see yourself smiling, laughing, being happy, and maybe look at something that you want to achieve over the next couple of weeks or this month or next month and see yourself having achieved it and bring that feeling into you right now as if you were there, as if you were in this moment looking through your own eyes. See?
what you see then feel what you feel then feel the energy that you feel then that you achieve what you wanted to achieve and just think to yourself how good is it I’ve come this far feel the sense of pride that you have in yourself feel that sense of energy that’s right
And now I invite you to follow up with some breathing. As you still hold that image in your head and enjoy it, I invite you to breathe in to the count of four. And I’m just counting you through first, and then you can follow through. I’m going to ask you to breathe into the count of four, to hold to the count of four, to breathe out to the count of four. And we’re doing five rounds of that.
When you’re Okay. Breathing in. Two, three, four. Hold. Two, three, four. Breathing out. Two, three, four. In. Two, three, four. Hold. Two, three, four. Out. Two, three, four. In. Two, three,
Hold two three four. Out two three four. In two three four. Hold two three four. Out two three four. Last round in two three four. Hold two three four.
⁓ two, three.
can return to your normal breathing, enjoy the level of energy that you’re experiencing right now. And think to yourself that in future, if you need more energy, you can use that breath to bring you back into that future vision of yourself, feeling that energy coming into your body to energize yourself, to feel re-energized, to lift your energy and your spirit and your mind and your creativity.
When you’re ready, you can come back into the room. And when you come back into the room, you can open your eyes feeling re-energized, really ready to go for the rest of the day. You have awareness of your whole body where you’re sitting comfortably and just eager to get on with whatever it is that you want to do.
Jo McKee (21:43)
Well, that was a great reset. Thank you. Yeah, really good. That’s amazing. I’ve done box breathing before and meditations and, having you step through that was a really good reset.
Stephanie Rother (21:46)
How are you feeling?
So where’s your energy level out of 10 now?
Jo McKee (22:02)
Yeah, it’s right on that eighth. It’s there. I laughed at how many rocks were in that damn backpack.
Stephanie Rother (22:06)
and rest.
I
was looking at you and thinking, oh yeah, there are a few rocks in there. It’s just not unusual.
Jo McKee (22:17)
Yeah, fine.
Stephanie Rother (22:18)
This is how hypnotherapy works a lot. It’s the guided visualization and you going with it. Your mind doesn’t know if it’s real or not. Subconscious just goes with that imagination that you have and you following through with it gives that the power because it’s kind of, you you feel rocks, you feel the heaviness, you let go of it. It’s, know, if you ever woke up from a nightmare and you were scared.
didn’t really happen, but your nervous system, your subconscious was in that stress response. So we were like that. And then we got you into the future, which is positive because I know that you have great plans and that you’re actually looking forward to them. That’s why you’re you know, annoyed when the energy is not there.
Jo McKee (23:06)
Yes.
Stephanie Rother (23:08)
So
it’s and with that breathing, this is a triangle breath. And it’s a technique that also helps to energize you because you might know that our sort of nervous system kind of goes into excitatory and relaxing paths. And it does that with the breath and the heart rhythm. And what
Research literally has found is when you breathe in, you gently move into the more excited part of the nervous system. And when you breathe out, you move into the more calming part. So when you breathe in and you hold at the end of the exhalation for those eight counts, you’re in an excited part. And when you breathe out, you’re like…
Jo McKee (23:54)
That’s why you didn’t hold on the out.
Stephanie Rother (23:56)
Exactly. So how do you protect you more in the excitatory part? So it’s slightly raising the energy. When you do box breathing, it balances it. So we use box spray in order to bring us down when we hyped up, but also we can slightly lift the energy if you’re really tired.
Jo McKee (24:01)
Yes.
That’s excellent. It’s so quick too. Obviously when you get up and you’ve got your things for your home to do and for your business and you want to keep yourself, I guess, aligned with just your direction and your values and your health, but you don’t want to spend hours doing it and how quick that little exercise was for the difference I feel. I mean, yes, I decided I’m going to do this and I’m going to wholeheartedly just go with it, which obviously you need to do.
It’s fantastic. It’s really good. So that was a great illustration. How have you found in your own business when you hit a hurdle, do you just do you know straight away, OK, snap into this, let’s do this exercise or do you sometimes have to sort of remind you?
Stephanie Rother (25:05)
It depends. I’m just a human. So sometimes I need to someone else tell me that because I might get stuck myself and it’s the same with everybody else, right? You have, you are in it, you have the blinkers. But for me, what the easy thing is ⁓ when I feel that kind of fatigue, quite often I pretty quickly can snap out of it. So when I get to that point, which I definitely try to avoid, but
If it happens due to whatever reason, I use breathing a lot to get me back into that state. And that’s the same when I feel that I get very ⁓ tense or uptight about something. I tend to use breathing a lot to get myself back into that state. When I’m in the process of doing something that can be a little bit more challenging, ⁓ public speaking, which I don’t really have a problem, but still.
Even though I don’t have a problem, if I have to do it, I’m being conscious about that. I visualize myself how I want it to go. And I also set the intention of what I want to achieve. So it’s just being a bit more mindful and intentional about how to approach things. ⁓ yeah, that’s how I deal with it.
And when I get stuck, then I need to ask someone else for help. If I find I get to a point where something is repeating over and over again, it is not moving at all. Then I know that I’m stuck in a rut and I need
Jo McKee (26:43)
Yes. Getting somebody, getting some outside help doesn’t hurt. I did a really fun interview with Sarah Campbell, who runs an agency in Canada. And there’s a great story there of how she thought she was doing really well with her finances and had a great client roster and building a great team. And then she got a bookkeeper in, thought, okay, I can afford a bookkeeper now. And they said, you’re losing money. So I went and I said to her, what’s the biggest…
change you’d make or the biggest thing you would have done earlier. She said, get a bookkeeper from the start. You know, even when we have a certain skill set, we do need to have input from other people. So I think it’s wise that you do that. What would you say is the biggest constructive or positive thing that you’ve done for your business that really moved the needle that you just go, yeah, I’m so glad I made that I took that action.
Stephanie Rother (27:36)
One of the biggest ones was getting serious about networking. That made a huge difference when I started that in Melbourne. ⁓ It was just all of a sudden I had way more people around me that knew about me. It was just that little word of mouth. That personal interaction with people, especially when you are in a profession where people need to feel you.
need to see you with hypnotherapy. It’s kind of, need to trust you as well. So if you have a gang of people around you who get to know you better and better, they are more likely to recommend you to other people or you just get the word out more. And it also gives you a little bit of a community around you because it’s a small business. Most of the time you’re there by yourself, right? And so if you start networking and
Jo McKee (28:29)
Yes, yes.
Stephanie Rother (28:34)
It doesn’t matter what group you go to, know, if it is a chamber of commerce or whatever, but you do it regularly so that you see the same people over and over again, you build those relationships. And that’s the people that you can also always go to and ask as well. Hey, I have a question. ⁓ How do you approach that?
Jo McKee (28:53)
It’s a fabulous brains trust, isn’t it?
Stephanie Rother (28:55)
Yeah,
it’s kind of because they have had some of the problems that you think are unique to you. Because we all go through very similar iterations over and over again. If it wasn’t for the other women and some men in my life that are in small businesses, I would be way more frustrated about something that are going on. Yes, absolutely.
Jo McKee (29:01)
Yes.
Have you come across the Sunshine Coast Business Women’s Network? It’s a very strong one. ⁓
Stephanie Rother (29:22)
I need to go there. I have
on my list this year. ⁓ So that is the next step that local chamber of commerce and the Sunshine Coast Business Women’s Network.
Jo McKee (29:37)
Yeah, they’re a super energetic bunch and a lot of smart minds there. I think that’d be great. Yeah. What would you say is something you’ve done in your business that you would say people should never do because it just doesn’t work? Is there anything particularly like a mistake that you made that you think?
Stephanie Rother (29:54)
mistake that I’ve done that I would not recommend and most likely I’ve tried to forget them as quickly as possible.
Jo McKee (30:02)
Block those suckers out.
Stephanie Rother (30:04)
One
of the problems is not listening to my gut. That is one of, because every time I do not listen to my gut, that’s when it went the wrong way. And that also means sometimes saying no to clients. Because, and that’s the biggest problem as a small business person, especially when you’re starting out and you think I need to take on every client. Because I need, I need, I need, can’t.
Jo McKee (30:08)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Yes.
Stephanie Rother (30:31)
You know, it would be too arrogant to say no. But when the God says, ⁓ you know.
Jo McKee (30:39)
quite a trap, isn’t
Stephanie Rother (30:41)
So I’m pretty good at listening to it these days. And when I get that feeling, it’s kind of sorry, but I need to send you to someone else. You wouldn’t even help with by a different practitioner. ⁓
Jo McKee (30:55)
I don’t know the details enough, but the science is coming out that we do have kind of a second brain in our gut, actually. It’s more than just a vibe, you know, it’s actually a real thing.
Stephanie Rother (31:07)
And because also our subconscious processes information very, very quickly, faster than our conscious mind, that when that feeling comes up, the subconscious has already pulled in information around me that I might not consciously have noticed where it’s kind of done that little evaluation and said, that’s not your mind.
Jo McKee (31:29)
It’s a big deal, I think for small business owners, ⁓ looking to grow your business and your newsfeed is full of ads of tools and gurus. Like it is enough to give anybody ADD if they don’t have it already, you know, and the fear of missing out and the, I have signed with this person and should I have bought that lifetime discount that’s available for the next three minutes and all that I’m going to say rubbish. And I say that as a marketer who runs ads, but just really listening to your gut and.
Knowing the next step, often the tool you need could be a free one. There’s a lot you can do for free these days. Very cheap, not getting caught up in that cycle of having to have the shiny thing that costs money and wrecks your cashflow with too many subscriptions and all the anyway, but just listening to your gut as a business owner to me is so freeing. ⁓ because you don’t have to get caught up in that FOMO.
I guess I’m trying to describe the feeling of doing things because everyone else is doing it in your circle of business owners or the just thinking you should that feeling of should is so destructive. And when you get rid of that feeling of should it’s suddenly you enjoy your business again. You know, it’s a good thing. So yes, listen to your gut people.
Stephanie Rother (32:50)
Yeah, and it’s really interesting because we, as you said, we get so bombarded with stuff. And then we also start to compare each other, you know, this person is doing that and they are doing well. So should I do that? As you say, and I’ve fallen into that one at some stage, I’ve disproved myself as a magpie with a shiny object, shiny new object syndrome. It’s kind of, and that cause and that cause.
I cannot even think about how many courses I’ve started and it’s kind of, and then I forgot about them all, you know, they’re sitting somewhere and I’m not doing them. But at that moment, it seemed like it was a really brilliant idea. I’m looking these days quite often, if it comes recommended from someone that I know personally, if they give it kind of an endorsement, I look into it and does it feel right? But sometimes I’m just,
Jo McKee (33:27)
Definitely a good idea. ⁓
Stephanie Rother (33:45)
following a whim as well that I reach out to someone. And it’s really not a planned thing, but it again comes from my gut feeling. The other day I reached out to another naturopath who was on the Sunshine Coast, because I just saw her mentioned in some comments. And I was thinking, ⁓ I think I want to meet that woman because I’m still looking at building my referral network here as well that I can refer people to.
because she works in the detox area, which is not my area of expertise. And, you know, she was graciously enough to accept that we caught up and we had the most great Friday morning and, you know, really talked about a lot of things. you know, my, want to stay in touch with her because I can see how great that works, but that wasn’t even a planned activity. was just the overall plan is build your referral network.
And then I’m open for the opportunities that come up, even if they are not planned, if that makes sense.
Jo McKee (34:50)
The happy accidents often the best thing. I think with courses, especially when you’re starting out as a business or still small and you do need to do a lot yourself and you think, okay, I should learn this skill. Yes. But sometimes people are buying it, I think for validation that stuff they already probably know, um, awkward figure out, or if you’re the type to buy a course and not finish it, then it’s that feeling of thinking you should do it yourself, but not really.
being interested enough to go, yeah, this is something I want to apply my time to and add to my skill set, you know. So we kind of fool ourselves a little bit.
Stephanie Rother (35:29)
And it is this thing where there is an expectation that you should do a certain course for you. As you said, you know, this is what you should do to further yourself. is it really in your line? Is it really what gels with you? That’s the important question that you need to ask yourself.
Jo McKee (35:49)
I think, I think, yeah, definitely finding your unique, just, yeah, evaluating it as to what suits you. mean, for networking, I actually have tried networking plenty of times and I hate it. I’m not good in, I just get too tired in a room full of people and I just want to come home and it’s, I see the power. Like intellectually, I could build you a networking funnel framework, follow ups, you know, cadence. I get the tech and I know it works for people so well. It works really well for my brother with the solar business he’s got.
And I think I tried it for longer than I should have. ⁓ You know, the joy just isn’t, even though I love meeting people, it’s the weirdest thing. And once I just gave myself permission to just stop it and just do the things that I like to do to build my business, I’ve enjoyed things a million times more. It’s been amazing.
Stephanie Rother (36:39)
It does make a difference, doesn’t it? Yeah. And it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. It takes a bit of kind of special interest to walk into a room full of people. I prefer smaller groups if I can manage it. You put me in a room with 300 people, it’s kind of too much energy coming at me. It’s kind of Jesus. I find that a bit hard. So I prefer
rather a smaller group that I can go to regularly and build that connection so I have familiar faces.
Jo McKee (37:10)
So I love just hearing what you’re putting together on the Sunshine Coast, with the hypnotherapy and looking forward to seeing what happens when you focus on that. I’m not even going to say ideal client, your best client so far and find more people like that. ⁓ that’s really, really good. And it was going to unlock quite a few things because once you have that, it works through your organic posts, through your email marketing.
know, if you run paid ads, obviously the same sort of thing. And also an SEO, just thinking, you might not even just be thinking about keywords related to hypnotherapy, particularly, or anxiety. But if that person’s into, I don’t know, mountain climbing or something, you know, you can come in from that angle. It’s the same with PR. There’s often an angle where people can get PR that’s completely unrelated to the topic. ⁓
And you can come at it that way too, which gives it just opens up a whole new way. lot of ideas for one of my clients, the best targeting I’ve had in her paid ads that just keeps on giving every time I test new targeting, it just keeps outperforming. It’s white wine. She’s not selling wine. Yeah. It just can be completely left field, but ⁓ open up a new ad avenue of acquisition from an interest in just how you come at something. So it’s good fun.
Stephanie Rother (38:21)
⁓ interesting.
Jo McKee (38:35)
Yeah, so I really, it’s been really great to talk to you today and to do that practical, ⁓ I guess we could call it hypnosis or meditation, what would you call it?
Stephanie Rother (38:36)
you.
It was a mini hypnosis guided visualization, whatever you want to call it. It’s been a pleasure, Jo. I really enjoyed that. And you had the right attitude. You said, if I want to experience it, I need to follow it and I need to be with it because that’s how hypnosis works. You agree to it. We have a contract. You follow my instructions. In the end, you were sitting in the driver’s seat and you drove the car where you wanted it to drive.
Jo McKee (39:13)
That’s right. And honestly, I think we just need to keep our minds open to growing our business any way we can. And if that means we’ve got to sit down and follow instructions and do that guided walk down the beach, then that is what we’ll do. Yeah, it’s fantastic. So thank you, Stephanie.
Stephanie Rother (39:30)
Thank you very much, Jo. Really appreciate it that I was on here. Thank you.
Jo McKee (39:35)
Bye.