Brooke Elder – Founder of Social Tenacity

Entrepreneurs live a high risk life. From near bankruptcy, Brooke Elder was able to build Social Tenacity, a coaching network for marketers, to help others scale their business. Listen as she describes some of the secrets to her business’ success.

Brooke Elder – Founder of Social Tenacity

Transcript:

Alan Olsen: Welcome to American Dreams. My guest today is Brooke Elder. Brooke, welcome to today’s show.

 

Brooke Elder: Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to chat today. 

 

Alan Olsen: Brooke, for the listeners here, can you share a little bit about your background how you arrived at the point that you are today?

 

Brooke Elder: Yeah, so it’s kind of a long story. So I’ll, shorten it up. But, I started out actually as an elementary school teacher, and after I had my second baby, I decided to stay home. And being a go getter that I am, I got a super bored.

So I started multiple businesses trying out different things. I had a web development company that I ended up selling, I did network marketing, like all good moms in Utah do. And I ended up growing that to be the top of my company, and I did it all through online marketing.

So I started coaching network marketers, and I’ve been doing that for the last seven years. And now I have a software that I’ve developed to help coaches build their business. So it kind of has been this evolution.

That’s one thing I love about life is you do one thing, and it just kind of leads to the next and leads to the next and you grow and gain the skills that you need to just take you to the next level. So

 

Alan Olsen: In your company’s called Social Tenacity. And when was this established? Which year?

 

Brooke Elder: In 2015.

 

Alan Olsen:  Okay, and then when you started in on social tenacity, what did it feel like getting your first paying client?

 

Brooke Elder: It was very exciting. And it was also very scary. So at the time, my husband had well, about a year before we started a car dealership, and we put everything into it, like every credit card, 401k, cashed out all equity at our house, like everything into it, and we lost everything.

So we were talking about what is it we’re gonna do, and my husband said, I think we need to file for bankruptcy. And I was like, I have this idea for a business. Like, I just I like I had the idea for Social Tenacity for like a year. And I was just too scared to actually like, pull the trigger and put myself out there.

Because I’m actually very introverted person, I’m much more extroverted now. But like, I used to be too scared to even pick up the phone and order pizza, because I’d have to talk to someone I didn’t know. So I really had to push myself out of my comfort zone.

And I put everything together, I ended up hiring a coach because I knew that was going to be the thing that would push me to like, actually do something. And then when I got my very first paying customer, I was like, the the confidence that have brought was like, It’s okay, I can do this, we’re gonna be okay. And it was a huge glimmer of hope for us and our family.

 

Alan Olsen: Brooke, that’s quite a story and an experience of having you back against the wall and a failing company, business, personal finances all tied up, say, Well, I think I’ll go do another business. There had to be some sleepless nights in there.

 

Brooke Elder: 

Oh, yes, for sure. For sure. And, like, building businesses is just what I know how to do. I failed at many, many businesses before this. I did graphic design, and I tried all these little things and like they would kind of work. But I knew that it was time like I had to go bigger go home, because I was assumed to not have a home to go to.

 

Alan Olsen: So let’s talk about the model of Social Tenacity. First, ideal clients, someone coming to you saying, Hey, can I get you to help me out? What is your ideal client look like?

 

Brooke Elder: It’s someone who has an idea and a passion for helping others. That’s everything we do is based in authenticity and service. So we help people take their ideas and their their expertise, because I believe that everyone has their unique gifts and talents and strengths. And we’re given those things so that way we can serve the world.

But a lot of people don’t know how to do that, or how to create a business out of that. And so what we do is we take those things, we find out what people’s unique strengths are, and then we help them create a course or a membership around that thing, and then show them how to market and monetize that.

 

Alan Olsen: Do you like to work one on one with individuals? Are you working with a level down with teams and marketing within an organization, what is your ideal paying client?

 

Brooke Elder: So I like working with individuals, a lot of the people we work with are women that are those stay at home moms, and they’re looking for a way to bring in some extra income. And they know that they have, like pouring into their kids is important, but they know that they have so much that they could offer that they could help more people.

So we don’t work a lot with like corporations or anything like that it’s more individuals who are looking to start their business.

 

Alan Olsen: So an individual says, Hey, Brooke, I need your help. I need the supplemental income to make ends meet helped me build a online community, what are some of the what is your approach, then, to building that community?

 

Brooke Elder: Well, the first thing that we do is we look at your strengths. So I love strength finder. And so we have all of our clients take the strengths finder test, because knowing what your strengths are, it helps you to know how to proceed.

And a lot of the times the reason why people haven’t started a business is because they, they do lack the knowledge of how to do it. But a lot of the times it’s that confidence, and the imposter syndrome, you know, like who am I to be able to help these people. And so we always start with strengths.

Because when you can identify the things that you were just naturally good at. Those are the things that we can then weave through your business. So that way, you always will feel confident, because if you feel confident you can take on things and you take bigger risks that give you a better outcome than if you don’t have that confidence.

So we start with that. And then we help them find out like who is their target audience? What’s the problem that they solve? What kind of language is that they’re talking about? And try to find ways to take that language and then weave it through their marketing.

 

Alan Olsen: There’s a lot of social media venues today. How do you incorporate what you’re doing inside of those communities?

 

Brooke Elder: Well, we have a social media scheduling software that we use, so that way you can be really on every platform it does Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, so that we, we have a formula that you go through, or you can create four different types of content to really engage your audience that works across all platforms.

And so we help them create that content and then schedule it so that way they can be in front of their whole audience. And that way, because I mean, almost everyone’s audiences on Facebook.

Facebook, or Instagram, those are the kind of the two but TikTok is starting to become like the new, almost number one, that’s where a lot of the efforts of influencers and stuff are going is on TikTok.

And so we want to show them how they can create videos and really, to be successful on TikTok, you need to be doing videos like three times a day, no one’s got time for that. And so with our software, then they can batch all of the videos and then schedule it all out.

So that way, you can be that influencer and be out there on those social media networks, but it’s not going to be consuming all of your time.

 

Alan Olsen: It’s an amazing journey that you have of stepping out and helping the women entrepreneurs, build communities and build businesses, and at the same time, you’re trying to balance life, how do you keep it all in sync?

 

Brooke Elder: That is a great question that I have four kids, myself, I homeschool my kids. And the first secret is I have an amazing husband. So he takes on a lot of like the normal day to day stuff. But the secret really is automation.

And that’s like my passion. And everything through this whole journey has been learning how to automate my business, just like the social media is an example of that. But I love to automate businesses, but do it in a way that it doesn’t lose the human touch.

Because I think that’s a lot of the things that people worry about when they hear automation is like things are just working. And then their clients are kind of like left to the wayside, to the system that you built. And so I want to make sure that my clients actually are getting better results through that automation.

And once we implemented that into my business, it freed up my time so much that now in my business, I only have to work like maybe an hour or two a day. And then it’s great that I can then go and homeschool my kids or we go on hikes or we can go and do fun things and I can actually live the life that I wanted to.

And that’s one thing that I think people don’t tell you, when you start a business. I’ve heard the quote, like an entrepreneur will work 80 hours a week in order to not work 40 hours for somebody else.

And that’s kind of what it’s like, when you’re first getting started, you’re working at times, and you’re not seeing that freedom that you thought that you were going to have. But when you can add in those automations into your life, and into your business, that’s where you start feeling that like, quote, unquote, balance.

 

Alan Olsen: So Brooke, you have the right to choose who you want to do business with. And is there a process that you walk through of who you want to deal with and who you don’t want to deal with.

 

Brooke Elder: So a lot of it starts in our messaging and marketing, you know, talking about people who are looking to use their gifts and their talents and strengths. That’s one thing that I’ve learned through this process is learning how to draw the line in the sand. So that way, when they get to a point of where you’re going to offer something.

We do, it’s membership based, so you just pay a monthly fee and go through the process. And so when you get to that point, you already are resonating with the kind of community that we’re trying to build.

And I think that’s the secret is weeding out those people that you don’t want to work with the people who are needy and entitled and that like are just after, how can I build a business really quickly. So I can make money and I don’t really want to serve, we can weed those people out and then really get like the best of the best before they even sign up.

 

Alan Olsen: When you set up a membership fee, do you have like a standard of how many months the membership will run for mandatory? The first year is that usually just a month to month,

 

Brooke Elder: It’s on a month to month, you do get a discount if you do an annual plan. So you get two months free, and then we give you some bonuses and stuff like that. But I don’t want anyone to be like locked into something because I hate it when I like sign up for something. And then I’m like, oh, this is not what I thought it was.

But I have to continue paying for the next four months or so. So I tried to make it really easy. Like if it’s not a fit, and you’re like, Nope, this is not for me, then it’s easy to just be like, Okay, I’m gonna go find something else.

 

Alan Olsen: So what if an individual says, Hey, Brooke, love to get your membership? But I’d also like some one on one consulting, how do you approach that?

 

Brooke Elder: So we do offer one on one trainings, so I’m very picky about who I work with, because I want to make sure that we have a good relationship and chemistry and stuff and that your business is something that’s really fun. Because if it’s not fun for me, I’m not going to show up very well.

I remember back in the day, I had a client when I was doing web design, and he did medical supplies, that was the most boring website like I ever built it. I like didn’t know what to do it.

And so, I have learned that that I show up best, but it’s something that I can get behind your passion too. And it’s something that I love, and you’re going to get a better experience by doing that.

 

Alan Olsen: Brooke, what are what are some of the most common mistakes people make when marketing?

 

Brooke Elder: I would say that they try to market to everyone and stead of really honing down on who it is that they help. A lot of the things I see people say is, well, I help moms, I can help any mom. And it’s like, well, you need to narrow it down.

Because when you talk to all moms, like if you think of all the moms that, you know, there’s probably a very big difference between them. Do they have little kids? Do they have older kids? Like what are their interests? What are their passions? What is it that they want to do?

And so the more that you can hone in your message, and sometimes people think that if they hone in their message, what they’re doing is they’re saying, well, all these other people I can’t help, I can only help this small amount.

But the truth is, when you really hone in your message, and you really talk to you that one person, what it does is it attracts that one person and then when there’s people who are at let’s say they’re 60%, you’re 1%, the message is still going to resonate.

And you’re still going to get those people as but when you can hone in your message one, it’s going to make that marketing work much better. Your sales are going to be higher, but you’re going to love your clients too and the people that you’re working with

 

Alan Olsen: Now the one last question here in the world of automation, a lot of people are moving towards more AI and automation of processes, but how do you automate? Or how do you market without losing authenticity?

 

Brooke Elder: That is a good question. Because you can totally lose out on that, especially with all of the AI processes and stuff that are out there. The key is to still have some part of the human touch. In our marketing, we do a lot of marketing through direct message.

And by doing that, we have automations of we send out this message, and then this message, and then this message. But we also have a person behind that to bring in that human touch.

And so before an automation, automated message gets sent, we can look at what was the last thing that they said, bring something into what they said, so it resonates with them, and then send our next like, automated message. So I think the biggest, probably pitfall that people have in automation is when they’re automating their client journey.

Looking at, not just when they become a client, because a lot of times people think well, okay, as soon as they become a client, I’m gonna send them their contract, given their logins, give them their onboarding calls, or whatever it is.

And then after that, they’re okay, now they’re on their own to go through your program, or a course or a membership or whatever. And they, it’s almost like they forget about it, because they’re so focused on that client journey and the marketing aspect and forget once they become a client.

And so we’ve found ways that you can automate that client journey from the time they are a client until they are no longer a client, they finish your program or whatever. And doing that through a way that you can have that human touch.

Based off of different things that they do, you can send them different messages, you can celebrate them in your community, you can send them gifts.

So it’s all based off of what things that they’re doing and looking for, like, if you’ve been in business long enough, you know that there’s going to be those times where your clients are going to get stuck, they’re going to hit roadblocks, they’re going to get hit those times where it’s really hard, and they don’t want to push through.

And so those are the most important times to reach out to them to send them something to even just give them a little, we send out postcards. And there’s a company that’s called handwritten, and you could actually automate the handwritten postcards being sent out to your clients. So that’s something we do in those times.

So that way, they have this feel of like someone sees me because people just want to be noticed. And so when you can personalize that and show them like, Hey, I noticed you, I see what you’re going through, then they’re more likely to continue on.

And when you do that, you’re gonna get better testimonials, better client results, more referrals, and it just makes your business all around better.

 

Alan Olsen: Well, Brooke, you’ve sold me so how do I go ahead and for the listeners here, contact you? Or how do I reach out to find more information on Social Tenacity?

 

Brooke Elder: So the best way is to just reach out to me on Facebook so I am Brooke Elder like if you do facebook.com/theRealBrookelder that is me and send me a friend request. Send me a message and I’d love to chat with you and find out more about your business and what it is that you’re doing.

 

Alan Olsen: Well, Brooke, thanks for being with us today on American Dreams.

 

Brooke Elder:

Thank you so much.

We hope you enjoyed this interview; “Brooke Elder – Founder of Social Tenacity”.

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This transcript was generated by software and may not accurately reflect exactly what was said.

Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com.  GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.

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Brooke Elder Biography

Brooke Elder is the founder of Social Tenacity, a market strategy company focused on helping coaches and online course creators grow their business. With expertise in creating automated systems that preserve authenticity, Brooke is able to help her clients free up their time to focus on lifestyle.