Branding Secrets Unveiled

First, let’s address the elephant in the room. You’ve got a brand. Brand identity. Brand aesthetics. Brand story. Copy. Messaging. Logo. It’s a common cause of “Holy crap how will I ever figure all of this out” syndrome. These words are regularly thrown around the Facebook groups and the masterminds and you can probably find a separate service and separate expert for every single one of them. But make no mistake: your brand identity, your messaging, your story are all tied tightly together. They are all ingredients to your money recipe. And the most important point to remember is that they should all begin by being an extension of YOU. Have you ever wondered how the biggest brands in the world captivate the attention of their ideal customers and create raving fans? Small business owners often make the mistake of thinking they are “just a business” when they are in fact a BRAND. We are living in a content driven and personality-based culture so if you aren’t thinking like a brand, you’re leaving money on the table. If you are a small business owner looking to up your game, learn the secrets behind the success of the world’s biggest brands. Discover how you can leverage their proven strategies to create a powerful brand identity without the hefty price tag.

Big brands have invested millions into research and testing, fine-tuning their approaches to influence consumer behavior effectively. In this training with Gina Hussar, you’ll learn how to adapt these insights for your business, gaining a competitive edge in your market.

We’ll explore the key branding conventions that create an arc of desire, a technique used by top companies to make their products irresistible. You’ll understand how to trigger specific actions from your customers, guiding them through a seamless journey from awareness to loyalty.

Our training will cover:

• The Psychology of Branding: Learn how colors, logos, and taglines can evoke emotions and drive consumer decisions.
• Storytelling Techniques: Discover how big brands craft compelling narratives that resonate with their audience and how you can do the same.
• Consistency in Messaging: Understand the importance of a unified brand voice across all platforms and how it builds trust and recognition.
• Consumer Behavior Insights: Gain insights into what drives consumer choices and how you can tap into these triggers.
• Mistakes to avoid- How to NOT make a Bud-Light-sized mistake that costs you millions of dollars in potential revenue

Don’t miss this opportunity to transform your small business with the same strategies used by industry giants. Branding is the secret sauce to standing out in a crowded market, attracting your ideal clients, and setting yourself up for rapid and predictable growth.

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Branding Secrets Unveiled

How To Think Like A Big Brand

It is our monthly training. Gina Hussar, our guest, has slides. If you’re someone who wants to follow along on slides, we encourage you to go over to our YouTube channel and follow along there. Otherwise, you can just read. You’re going to get a lot out of this episode because Gina has beautiful, glossy branding stuff. I’m going to go ahead and introduce her.

Gina Hussar is here to help creative and visionary entrepreneurs build and rock their passion field businesses. The best way that we can describe what Gina does is to think Sex in MID City meets Oprah meets Steve Jobs. Building your dream business and brand should be a fun and nurturing experience in which you extract the gold from within your unique value and blend it in a cocktail style with powerful messaging and business strategy that aligns with your vision.

Not the vision of all the people who send you emails and product pitches but you’re big, beautiful, and “I can’t believe this is my life vision.” She’s a published author, international published magazine writer, certified law of attraction, a business coach, and a total book nerd. Look at her. Could you even imagine she’s a book nerd?

She’s a mom of three who geeks out finding the exact words that perfectly capture your brand and set you center stage with a big old neon spotlight. There’s a lot of BS out there and six-figure promises that are well-meaning but missing the key ingredient to freedom and success recipe, and that is you. You can tell she writes great copy because she wrote her bio.

My assistant wrote that but it makes me sound great. I hope I can live up to it.

It does. Full transparency, Gina wrote the copy on my Superbrand site, which I need a rebrand but I love what she wrote so I’m hesitant to change it all up. Gina, take it away.

Focusing On The Human Element

Thank you for having me. In this episode, we’re going to talk about big brand secrets you can steal for yourselves. I’ve had the pleasure of working as a copywriter and creative brand strategist for many years. I’ve worked in multiple industries, everybody from solopreneurs to the legal industry to IT and cybersecurity. You name it. A lot of what they do is very much applicable to entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, and coaches.

They’ve already spent the money and done the market research. They know what works and what doesn’t. We’d be crazy not to take a leaf from their book and apply it to our businesses. The first question that I always tell my clients to ask when they’re thinking about their brand and messaging is, “What problem do you solve that a Google search can’t?”

There’s so much free content available between Google and YouTube. You’ve got to differentiate yourself. What do you give that the competitors who pop up in the Google search aren’t giving? I’m going to give you an example. This was a client of mine named Wilma who was a financial planner. She came across a benefit for veterans that would help them save some money but it was extremely complex. They could Google the benefit and get all the information they needed but it was still extremely time-consuming and complex to apply for.

We created an eBook that we offered to veterans for free. It broke down in easy-to-understand bullets what this benefit was. We went beyond what they could find in the Google search by delivering an offer in which she would apply for the benefit on their behalf. She did very well with this offer because they wanted it but didn’t want to do it themselves. That was the human touch that Wilma brought in that Google could not compete with.

That’s one way you can think about what human element you’re bringing to your offers that a Google search can’t. If you’re an author, your human touch is built in. You want to be sharing behind-the-scenes stuff about your life. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking they don’t want to get personal. You want to get personal and bring in that human element. It’s what’s going to differentiate you in this crazy AI-complex modern world we’re living in.

The second question you want to ask yourself is, “What are you selling?” We know through research and behavioral psychology that people make buying decisions based on three things, time, money, and reputation. “Will this save me time? Will it make me money? Will it save or enhance my reputation?” In Wilma’s case, she was saving them time and making money by filling out this benefit on their behalf.

You might be selling something that gives somebody their time back and repairs a relationship. Whatever it is, know what you’re selling because it’s that human emotional undertone that holds the weight. Even if you’re selling a tangible product, you’re selling it to solve a personal problem. The tangible thing you’re selling sits on top of a human need. Even if you’re selling weight loss supplements, what you’re selling is longevity and the chance for somebody to live a longer life and be with their family.

When you’re thinking about your messaging, you don’t want to be listing features and benefits, logistical things, and how many ounces they’re getting or how many calls they get with you. You want to be focused on those human elements, time, money, love, reputation, and stress. It’s those kinds of human personal problems that your offer ultimately solves.

To wrap up, you’re always selling a solution to a personal problem. I want to keep repeating that. Even if you’re a physical product or business coach, what you’re selling is to solve or present a personal problem. I hope that makes sense. Your brand, contrary to popular belief, is not your name, logo, and color palette. It is a distinct identity in the perception of the consumer formed by the emotional experience people have when they engage with you.

Secret #1: Emotional Over Transactional

A lot of times, entrepreneurs are tricked into thinking that their brand is what color their website is, their logo, or their name. That’s not the case. The brand is a feeling you cultivate within your audience. That’s so important. The first secret that we can steal from big brands is that they focus on emotional over transactional. Even though money’s exchanging hands, we’re always focused on the emotional payoff for the audience.

Human behavior has not changed in centuries. People want to be entertained, moved, taken care of, and reassured. We do that by creating a compelling customer journey. That journey starts from the moment they become aware of you all through the length of their interaction with you. The customer journey is ultimately how people feel when they experience your brand and it’s the number one predictor of whether or not they will buy from you. You can have the best price or a fancier website than your competitor but how they feel experiencing you is going to be the ultimate factor in their buying behavior.

I don’t know how many of you guys saw but remember the old Budweiser commercial they used to do at Christmas time with the horses and the puppies? I’m not sure they ever sold beer but didn’t they make you feel warm and fuzzy?

Yes, that’s exactly the point and we’re going to get to that. Thank you for that. What we mean is it didn’t even matter if they showed a beer can. They evoked a feeling and nobody does this better than Disney World. Disney World has spent billions and billions of dollars perfecting the customer journey so let’s deal from their book a little bit.

Here’s a picture of my kids on our way to Disney. They’re much older and bossier than this when they were kids. This is how kids see Disney. How parents see Disney is money out the door. What Disney knows is that if they can get you to feel something, you will buy it. You’ll notice their commercials like Juliet was talking about. They spend billions of dollars on these high-tech rides and special effects but their commercials are families, children, engagements in front of the castle, and romantic couples walking hand in hand. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime memory.

They do it so well that when you go there, you find yourself justifying the purchase of a $30 lollipop that looks like Cinderella’s head because they’ve made you feel something. You’ve bought into, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for my kids.” They’ve done their job. They’ve tapped into those core emotions so much that they’ve made your emotions forget about your transactions. They do that brilliantly. It doesn’t matter how much they raise their prices. It’s packed month after month and year after year because they do this so well.

Part of the customer journey is feeling seen, appreciated, and a sense of belonging. One of the ways you can do that is to customize. If you download the Disney app, everything is customized. “Hello, Gina. Are you ready to make some magic?” There are easy ways we can do that by calling your audience by their first name, creating customized experiences for them, and asking them their birthday so that you send something out on their birthday. Those are all things that create customer loyalty and become associated with your brand.

If you can surprise and delight people, they’re going to be happy to purchase from you. They’re going to tell their friends and stay loyal. Here’s a small business example of that. There’s a company called Mythologie Candles, which I love. The candles are pricey. They’re $40 to $50 a pop. I have one right here. The reason I love them is because they’ve got the customer journey down. You get this candle and it might be called The Cottage in the Woods. The mood is described as frayed scrolls, ancient tomes, dimly lit laboratory, as the alchemist brews his next magical potion.

Every candle comes with a story. When you get the candle, it comes with a beautiful postcard that tells you tips for lighting and rituals you can do with it. You feel like you’re getting so much more than a candle. You’re getting a story. You’re being invited into this world. You’re getting this little added gift of a ritual card that you can do with it. It’s a tiny thing that brings that surprise and delight experience to this buying practice. That’s a good example of a way to do that.

I worked with a company called Big Red Media. They own MSP Success. It’s a $50 million cyber security company. These are some of the things that you could do if you were in cyber security, for instance. You might send your audience a portable charger or a webcam cover. That’s on-brand ways to surprise and delight that get people thinking about your brand. You might send a newsletter every month. I call it Hack Attacks in this example. That is a little bit of a service upsell where you’re giving them tips every month for them to stay safe.

You can think about things that relate to your brand that will be like anchors in the minds of your audience. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It can even be something digital where you don’t have to spend any money at all. I had a client once who asked about everybody’s birthday when they opted in. Every week, they would get a digital automated astrology reading or horoscope reading. It was something people loved. It was easy and free for her to do.

That customer journey is super important. You never want to forget that every touch point is a chance for you to reinforce your brand. For example, let’s say somebody buys from you. You’re a coach and you have a contract. You might have this gorgeous brand and when they get to the contract, it’s black and white, legal, and serious. That’s a chance for you to reinforce your brand. Maybe the contract is a beautiful PDF that’s in your brand colors. You’ve got to be thinking about every time they experience your brand, even those legal administrative things, you can reinforce that customer experience.

Secret #2: Consciousness Not Demographic

Secret number two is big brands do not market to a demographic. This is something that has shifted a little bit. Years ago, it was creating your perfect avatar. How old are they? What do they look like? Where do they live? How much money do they make? That is not as important as marketing to a consciousness. You want to market to a set of beliefs, fears, and desires.

I’m looking at this call and we are all different. We all live in different places. We’re all different ages. If we went by demographic, somebody might miss out on us but we all might share the same goals, dreams, and challenges. You want to make sure you’re marketing to a consciousness. One of the big brands that do that is Nike. They don’t come right out and say, “If you’re not wearing Nike, you’re a lazy couch potato,” but there is a vibe or consciousness tied to this logo and message of, “Just do it.”

It’s a phrase that implies, “Stop making excuses. Get off the couch. Go work out. Accomplish your goal.” That’s a consciousness that they’re marketing to. They’re marketing to people who want to see themselves as go-getters. There’s a small business in the town I live in, which is Plumber. It says, “Don’t sleep with a drip. Call a plumber.” Everybody loves this brand.

When you’re marketing to consciousness, what you want to do is build in what’s called a binary choice. That binary choice should be extremely obvious. You’re either this kind of person or that kind of person. For Nike, when they’re marketing to that Just Do It consciousness, are you a go-getter or someone who doesn’t buy Nike and doesn’t care? They’re not coming right out and saying that but it’s implied.

“Don’t sleep with a drip tonight. Are you the kind of person who’s going to get it taken care of or are you the kind of person who’s just going to listen to it drip night after night?” This is such a subtle behavioral psychology thing but nobody wants to be in that other group. We all want to think of ourselves as better. I wish I could think of the cyber security when we did. “Don’t let the hackers have the last word.”

“Are you going to be the person who leaves yourself vulnerable or are you going to stick it to those hackers and protect yourself?” Even though the message doesn’t come right out and say those things, it’s implied. There’s a choice. You can be this or that. When you make the decision to buy from our brand, you’re this. You’re over in the A group. Think of ways you could create that binary choice in your brand.

You’re looking at the psychographics. Probably one of my biggest complaints when I talk about building your avatar is everybody stops at demographics and that’s the least important of them.

Secret #3: Create A Common Enemy

Yes, psychographic. It is about the subconscious fears and desires. Psychographic things are ultimately what influences purchasing decisions. Number three, big brands create a common enemy. This sounds harsher than it is but what it’s doing is establishing resonance with your audience in a way that says, “You and I are on the same team. I get you.” I’m going to give an example that can be a bit triggering but I’m giving it because, like it or not, it was smart branding.

Trump did Make America Great Again. Like him or not, he had a brilliant marketing team behind him. What he did was create a common enemy. Much to the dismay of a lot of us, it worked. He had no political experience so he knew he was never going to win the election going toe-to-toe with an opponent who had been in politics for years. He created a common enemy. Instead of Republican versus Democrat, it was us against the government. “Other people have ruined this country. We are going to take it back.” He created this unspoken common enemy, “I’m one of you. I’m not a politician so you can trust me. They ruined it. We’re going to get it back.”

Here’s an example of a lawyer in my town. He is by far the most well-known lawyer in our city. His brand is, “There’s never a fee unless we get money for you.” People point at him when they see him in the street. What he did here was he created a brilliant common enemy in every other competitor. He tapped into the common perception people have that lawyers are greedy swindlers. He’s saying, “I’m not like the other lawyers. You don’t pay me anything unless I get money for you.”

Be thinking about the common enemy your brand has. Who’s the common enemy between you and your audience? It can be something intangible. I have a client who is a very successful relationship coach. She has done extremely well teaching women how to build their online dating profiles and date in the modern world. This common enemy she created is, “It’s us against technology.” It’s not like it used to be. You’re probably not going to meet a guy through your parents or at the local grocery store. We have to take control of this.

“Online dating is here to stay. Here’s how you navigate it and get the best of it.” She’s made a lot of money doing that. That was a great common enemy. People fear technology. They don’t like it. Her avatar is a woman over 40 looking for love. A lot of us can’t stand how things are with the AI and all the crazy online stuff you have to navigate. She did very well creating that common enemy.

Secret #4: The Power Of Paradox

Secret number four is big brands use the power of paradox. This is so powerful. This is one of my favorite things to do because it allows us to tap into the layers of ourselves. Most of us aren’t just one thing. I’m going to say something a little bit controversial but I will explain it. One of the things that drives me nuts in typical branding and marketing advice is to niche down. “You’ve got to have a niche and be one thing.”

While that’s important, most people are not one thing. If you can find the paradoxes within you and leverage them, you become a category of one and you’ve niched naturally. I’m going to explain what I mean. Your paradox combines things that seem contradictory and makes them a strength or it leverages something that could be seen as a negative into a positive. I’m going to give you examples of each.

Nerd Fitness. This brand blew up and this is their mission. “We are a group of nerds dedicated to bringing you trustworthy information on creating long-term fitness results.” You don’t typically think of nerdy guys as buff, muscular men. It’s not something you would typically associate but that’s where this power of the paradox comes in. They naturally niched. They took two things about them, their passion for fitness and the fact that they considered themselves nerds. They created a micro niche that did very well.

They also, whether they did it intentionally or not, created a built-in common enemy. Nerds against meatheads. You don’t have to be like the meatheads to feel fit, live a long life, and be healthy. They created a space where nerdy guys can go work out, get healthy, and not feel intimidated by the normal gym rat type of people. That’s their vibe here.

Here’s another example, College HUNKS Hauling Junk. You wouldn’t typically think of good-looking college guys and garbage in the same sentence but these guys have an idea. They were good-looking and strong. They needed money and they turned this into a national brand. One thing you want to think about is what opposing worlds you or your audience and habits. What opposing desires might feel unattainable to them that you can be the symbol of and you can show works?

My paradox is that I am extremely spiritual. I’m a certified healer and extremely strategic. I have certifications in both worlds. I used to think that that was a problem and that meant I wasn’t niching down enough. Now, I know that that paradox of being spiritual and strategic is my unique differentiator. The second paradox is turning a fault or a perceived fault into a competitive edge.

Years ago, when Jägermeister hit the market, it tasted terrible but a lot of money had already gone into production so they had to figure it out, and they did. It was described as tasting like cough medicine mixed with battery acid. That’s what Jägermeister tastes like if you haven’t tasted it. No one goes to dinner and orders Jägermeister to drink.

You do a shot of Jägermeister when you’re already drunk or someone dares you to. They took their horrible taste and turned it into a battle cry or a group experience. When you order a shot of Jäger, you aren’t ordering a drink but camaraderie. Not only that. Notice there’s a built-in binary choice. Can you handle a shot of Jägermeister? Are you this kind of person or that kind of person? They took this thing that could have bankrupted them and made it a dare or a challenge. “Is it a Jägermeister night? Can you handle it?” That was brilliant.

Here’s another example. Come in and try the worst drip coffee one guy on Yelp ever had in his whole life. This was a small business. It was a coffee shop. Somebody left them a bad review. Rather than panicking, they put this sign outside of their coffee shop. It was funny. It evoked curiosity. People wanted to see how bad this coffee was that somebody had to leave a terrible review about it. My guess is they sold quite a bit of that terrible coffee because they leveraged what could have been seen as a negative into a positive.

Here’s the last one. “We sell beer because no great story ever started with someone eating a salad.” Maybe your negative is that you have a very small team or you’re a very small business but maybe the positive is that means you always answer the phone. There’s extreme personal attention or maybe your perceived fault is that you don’t advertise. You can leverage that by saying, “We don’t spend our time dreaming up gimmicks. We spend our time on you.”

Every single person reading this, myself included, we have these things about ourselves or a business that we perceive as less than and that we think aren’t good enough. We think it could be better and are not as good as the competition. Part of your branding is learning to leverage those things into positives. It’s learning to lean way into the things you think you need to change about yourself or your brand. When you do that, it creates natural niching. It’s extremely powerful.

Secret #5: Selling To Humans

Secret number five is big brands remember that no matter what they’re selling, they’re selling to humans. I love this example. Wireless communication is not inherently funny. It’s boring but what Verizon did was they tapped into a universal frustration. They remembered that they were selling to humans who are dramatically angry if we lose cell reception.

We’ve all been there. Driving in a bad area, we’re frustrated when we lose a call. They capitalized on that. How many times have you called a company and you can’t get a human? You’re stuck yelling, “Representative. I want to talk to a human.” They have done a great job of tapping into things that are universally human and true. We all hate losing cell reception.

Here’s another example. The GEICO. A fun fact is that the Screen Actors Guild went on strike in 1998. If they had not, the GEICO would not exist. The GEICO became a thing because there were no actors to hire. They were all on strike. GEICO decided to sprinkle inhumanity to a very boring thing like insurance. They gave the GEICO a voice, an accent, feelings of inadequacy, and a fully actualized personality. Now, it’s a household name.

Their product is a fairly serious, boring thing, which is insurance, but they remembered that they’re selling that insurance to humans. You’re insuring cars that your children drive and you want to keep them safe. They’re tapping into all those things they sit in bed and worry about at night. They added a human element with this guy. It’s very smart.

Here’s a summary. You’re not a logo, you are an experience. You create your brand experience with ongoing customer journeys that make them feel surprised and delighted. You do not market to an avatar based on demographics but to a consciousness. Create a common enemy and a binary choice. Use the power of paradox. Leverage negatives into positives. Remember that you are selling to humans, and humans forever and always want to be moved, surprised, delighted, entertained, and understood. I moved through that quickly. I’m happy to provide these slides for you.

Thank you, Gina. I do want to point out to you, guys. You still need to do that demographic because it probably is going to formulate how you communicate. We’ve got a lot of older people on here. We don’t like getting texts over and over. You still need to do that work. It’s just not the most important part of it. There is that younger generation. If your demographic is 25 to 45, probably text is okay. If they’re above 55, we don’t like getting texts all day. Email us and we’ll get to you when we can because that’s where we were raised. You still need to do that work but what she talked about was probably the most important part of it.

That’s true, Juliet. What we’re doing with a lot of my clients is we’re giving a choice. They can choose how they want to be communicated with, by text or email, even taking into consideration learning behaviors. I hate watching videos because often by the time I have to do that, it’s night and I’m sleeping beside someone who doesn’t want to hear the video. I like to read. I always appreciate it when somebody has a video that says, “Download the transcript of the video underneath.”

Giving people choices is important too because we have no patience anymore as a society. If this isn’t being delivered in a way that’s comfortable, easy, and convenient for me, bye. I’m going to exit. I don’t like videos that don’t show how long they are. “Bye. I don’t have time. I need to know if I can consume this in the next ten minutes.” Think about those universal things that drive people crazy. I don’t like when people don’t list prices. That’s a personal preference to me.

I don’t want to watch your hour-long video only to find out you’re out of my budget. This goes against a lot of advice. “No, you’ve got to create tension. Don’t tell them how much it is.” I am going to be the voice of controversy and say that’s a bunch of BS. It insults the intelligence of the audience and disrespects their time. I’ve been doing this for a lot of years and I’ve been very successful at it. I don’t follow any of those rules because I’m a busy mom. I know what annoys me and I try to always think about what might annoy you and make sure that we’re not doing that. I hope that was helpful.

That was a great point. When I chose my show company, one of the reasons I did was because it reached all three learning modalities. This is a training but if you follow my show, it’s meant to be a learning experience. To what Gina said, that YouTube video that somebody wants you to watch, I’ll pop earbugs in and listen to it but you’re probably never going to catch me watching a whole video. I don’t have time. It is important to have that ability to read, which is great because there are a lot of transcription programs out there that will transcribe it for you. Reading, audio, and video so visual, kinesthetic, and all that.

Customers are savvier than they’ve ever been. I blend branding and marketing together. It’s holistic. It has to be. You’ll get a lot of, “Make sure you put in urgency.” That’s true but make sure it’s authentic urgency. When I see people telling me there are only two spots left on a webinar, there’s not. We all know that. When I see that, I instantly lose interest in someone.

There are ways to create genuine urgency. My client, Jackie, launched her book. We hit bestseller. I’m super happy for her. There’s no limited amount of Kindles so our urgency was, “If you buy it today, it’s $0.99. Tomorrow, it’s going up to $15.” That was genuine and true. We did that. We could do that with integrity and it worked.

I want to mention that things change as well. Gina, remember when we were back working for the inner circle, everybody did a webinar where at the end it had the $40,000 clothes you’re going to get and also XYZ bonus but it’s going to be $2,000 today. A bunch of us were on a panel a couple of years ago and somebody did a close like that. We all got caught on video rolling our eyes going, “That is so 2016 or ‘17.”

Juliet and I left the room and went and got cupcakes.

It was Newport Beach Sprinkles. Sandy, do you have questions?

Finding Your Paradox In A Niche Market

Thank you so much, Gina, for your information. It’s so much food for my brain. I don’t know if I have a question as much as I have perhaps a statement of my book. Juliet, you know I have a niche market. I’m a cancer survivor, stage four. I wrote a book. I want to go beyond the book to create a piece like the word you use, longevity, peace of mind through the arduous nature of treatments of all sorts. It’s like trying to get into that bubble and wondering how.

It’s a big statement. It’s a lot of great information and it’s digesting how. Even in a niche market where it’s specific, you would think, “Maybe it’s a little bit easier because I’m going into a niche. It’s cancer,” but it’s how to differentiate. There was a question there about opposing desires. “How do I take secret number four and put it into my world?” You’re trying to find the commonalities there.

The subtitle of your book is Why or Why Not.

I know that part but it’s going beyond that. I’m trying to expand more on that. Thank you, Juliet.

That’s true.

I have a friend going through this. God bless you. When it’s something so personal and it takes courage to do this, you’ve got it. You almost have to let the disruptive thoughts win. The things you think you shouldn’t say out loud are the very things you should say out loud.

That’s her whole book, Gina. It’s called Cancer Ramblings.

Juliet, am I complicating things? It’s right there but then it’s trying to get that to the masses because it’s so clear. How can we honestly make the journey a lot more pleasant, even though the obvious route is to be in pain and hate the journey?

My friend who is going through this has the best outlook. He named his tumor Carl. He does YouTube videos about Carl. It’s so disruptive and people are watching it. He doesn’t have a business. It’s the fun side of cancer and people are like, “What?” It’s so out of pocket. What are you doing to market?

YouTube and TikTok. I’m trying to do Instagram and all the social media channels, even on LinkedIn, connecting with organizations on their cancer society. It’s a lot. It’s exciting and overwhelming at the same time but I want to be a kernel of light for people through words and work. It is a dark space but it doesn’t have to be. Why do we have to subscribe to that? I feel like cancer is the new cavity. 1 in 2 people are going to get cancer. Not to make light of the experience but trying to find light can make the experience a lot better like a perspective in life in anything you’re going through.

Do you have a website and everything already built?

Yes.

She’s coming from this place. She helped someone who was in the hospital with her and the doctors were amazed because she positioned it to this person as life is a journey. This is part of the journey. You can whine about it or flip it and say, “Why not? This is part of who I’m going to be in the future.” She was flipping that over into a different mindset. I can see how you would downward spiral unless you caught yourself and said, “Why not? I’m going to embrace it.”

Why ruminate with questions you’re never going to get an answer to? I’m never going to know exactly why I got my cancer. It’s random, insane, and absurd. Forget it. Those answers are never going to come. Come into the solution part. Have the acceptance that if you can take this, you can take on anything.

Is your book your main offer?

Yeah, at the moment. I’m hoping to expand upon this with some simple, clear, and concise courses to guide people. Also, simple tools. I’m working on that. The book is the launching pad. That makes me feel legitimate in my soul to share the message.

She is a yoga instructor so some of her videos are about how to calm the anxiety. She’s doing some other things that are helpful, holistic tools.

I would have to look at it. We like sharing excerpts from the book. I want to say this. One of the things that I work very intuitively and that has worked for me is doing things the opposite of what everybody says you’re supposed to be doing. If you have a feeling like, “I should send this person or celebrity a book,” if you know of a celebrity who has been through it, don’t ask for anything. It’s like, “I went through it too. I wrote this book. I thought you might like it.” Leave it at that.

Do those little God nudges that are like, “Do this.” I would encourage you to move forward with any of that. If you have digital versions of your book, you can offer that to organizations that work with women who have cancer. There are so many ways outside of social media marketing and things like that. Those are the things that have worked for me. I’ve never run an ad in my life or had a webinar. I go with my gut and reach out to people. I’m in groups. I’m sure you’re in groups.

I don’t market myself but if somebody asks a question, I bring my gift and answer it. We live in a society where if you move somebody with your answer, the first thing they’re going to do is click on your profile and Google you. It’s this organic growth just by giving. I would encourage you, and I know it’s tough, to detach from, “I need to sell this many copies.” Go with your gut and serve. If you get a hunch that you should send it to a certain person, send it and see where it goes.

I love that so much. Thank you.

She’s sending a copy. Someone came out with a cancer diagnosis. Sandy’s an actress as well so she does have access to other celebrities. We’re sending him a book. He said, “This is how I found out that I got cancer. It’s stage four like hers. It’s the same thing.” That’s one of the first things. She’s already reached out to see if she can make a connection.

That’s perfect.

Thank you, Gina and Juliet.

You’re welcome.

Juliet, it’s the collaborative nature of teamwork so thank you for that. It’s powerful. The point is to serve.

Christine?

Juliet, I have something to say about it since I have worked with people who have cancer for many years with my program Operation Heal. I have a different perspective from the medical model, even though I’m a nurse and a peak performance coach. One of the things is looking back on my history. I went to nursing school at sixteen. I learned a lot about cancer from the very first day when I was on the medical unit and how to talk to people when they have cancer.

Back then, it was the worst diagnosis that you would have. As a young student, I thought, “What do I say to the patient after the doctor leaves and gives this diagnosis to the person in the hospital bed?” Sometimes, the doctors wouldn’t even tell the person that they had cancer so that’s how it looked like. It was a horrible disease. When you look back, they didn’t have the treatments they have now. It was more of a death sentence in that sense or perceived that way. Now, we have treatments and you’re a result of it. You’ve been able to overcome those challenges.

My suggestion is that it’s an everyday thing that everybody is aware of. There’s not probably one person in the universe who doesn’t know somebody who has cancer or has been just diagnosed. It’s an everyday vocabulary much different than how it used to be. We don’t want to claim it as it’s yours. For instance, I had a brother-in-law who had a stroke. The first thing he said to me was he started talking about “my stroke.”

I said, “Is this what you want to claim as your own, using that word, my cancer?” It’s a diagnosis that happened but it’s not yours to claim in that sense. I always advise my clients to avoid “my cancer.” It’s cancer. It’s a diagnosis. It’s not you personally. People can be called cancer patients. How does that feel when you’re called a cancer patient? I would avoid that as well.

That’s great advice, Christine. Sandy, Christine brings up a great point in your case. The common enemy is not obvious. You might think the common enemy is us against cancer. It’s not. It’s us against our thoughts about it and the perception. Cancer is not the enemy. Perception and perspective are the enemies. Thank you, Christine, for sharing that. That’s great.

Gina, thank you. Where can they find you if they want to talk to you more or engage your services?

I have my website but I would encourage you to not reach out there because I miss things there. You can look at it but I would encourage you to email me directly or send a text. It is me answering, not my team. We can chat about what you have going on.

Thank you so much. Dorothy?

I wanted to say this is so impressive. There were too many things on my website about me and this and that. Like you said, it’s all a part of me and who makes me who I am. I’m happy with that thought.

She’s Grandma Beasley so she does cooking. She has branches. She teaches this younger generation that’s fleeing the cities how to thrive in your new house in Montana.

That’s awesome.

She has a great platform. I want to remind you that the next training is Gretchen Hydo. She is a master coach who is fabulous at teaching coaches how to get over that six-figure hump in their income. I know when you’re first starting, that’s, hard. She’s going to be teaching you the art of storytelling for enrollment and how to tell stories when you close. For all of you, I use that and you’re sick of hearing my stories but she’s going to teach you how to do it. You can sign up for that at BAMagTraining.com. Any last ones before we go?

The only thing I’ll say is until the end of 2024, we’re doing free brand analysis. You don’t have to do it by the end of 2024 but if you book it by the end of 2024, I’ll take a look at your website and your end-to-end experience. We’ll take a look at where any customer journey gaps are so that you can get those fixed and start off 2025 strong. You can email me directly if you’re interested in that.

Thank you so much, guys. Gina, thank you as well.

Thank you for having me. It’s nice to meet everybody. Bye-bye.

Important Links

• Gina Hussar
• Superbrand Publishing on Youtube
• Nerd Fitness
• Mythologie Candles
• College HUNKS Hauling Junk
• Cancer Ramblings
• BA Mag Training
• GCHussar@Live.com

• Gina Hussar phone: 412-585-1445

About Gina Hussar

I’m Gina Hussar and I’m here to help creative, visionary entrepreneurs build (and ROCK!) their passion fueled businesses.

The best way I can describe what we do here? Think Sex and The city, meets Oprah, meets Steve Jobs.

Because building your dream business and brand should be a fun and nurturing experience in which you extract the gold from within, your unique value, and blend it cocktail style with powerful messaging and business strategy that aligns with YOUR vision (not the vision of all the people who send you emails and product pitches) but YOUR big, beautiful, “OMG I can’t believe this is my life” vision.

I’m a published author, internationally published magazine writer, certified Law of Attraction and Business Coach, total book nerd, mom of three who geeks out finding the EXACT words that perfectly capture your brand and set you center stage with a big old neon spotlight.

There’s a lot of bullshit out there. A lot of “six figure” promises that are well meaning but missing a key ingredient to the freedom and success recipe- YOU.

This is not just a copy writing site. The right words can make you LOADS of money. But (here’s where the Oprah comes in), that doesn’t mean crap if you aren’t “feeling” your work. Anyone with a copy writing background can write a great email. But what then?

The internet is a CROWDED place. You cannot afford to blend in. And the key to standing out is finding, embracing and declaring your unique value. Your special sauce. Your bold “I am.”

From there, all of the warm and fuzzy (and profitable) missions you want to bring to the world can blossom. This is about building the FOUNDATION for your brand. Setting you up for expansion. You’ve got to connect your DNA (Differentiating Natural Attributes) to your audience’s ABC (Absolute Biggest Challenge).

It drives me CRAZY when I see people spending thousands of dollars and hours of time on marketing before they are solid on what to even market! And then, because they haven’t yet tapped into the elements of clarity and conviction that come from a soul-built brand, they start sending out copy-cat messages, (yawn), copy-cat programs (kinda illegal) and they burn out before year two. Sustainable success depends on a unique blend of spirit and strategy. You’ve got to build a business that is undeniably YOU.

So yes. We can write some kick ass emails and copy for you. But we can also find your GOLD. Your shiny purpose. The clear and compelling blueprint for your freedom biz. And then we can wrap it up in a pretty signature program box, create your offerings and your modules, your “can’t it get out of their heads” slogan, your 12 month ascension plan and, in general, your blueprint for world domination. =)

Whether you need a killer sales funnel or a complete brand message overhaul, I got you. You’re busy. You’re running a company, starting a movement and maybe raising a kid or two. Leave the dirty work to me.

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