127 | The Power of Facebook Groups w/ Joanna Novelo

Joanna Novelo is an entrepreneur who understands the power behind having an engaged community.  As a community strategist, Joanna helps entrepreneurs create unique and engaging experiences for their communities so their fans turn into repeat customers.  By making audiences feel seen, heard, and taken care of, Joanna helps some of the biggest names on the internet create win-win situations where community members are thrilled and businesses thrive.

We met working together on my first client over two years ago, and immediately knew we were kindred spirits.  On this show, we talk about:

1) Defining online communities

2) The long-term effect of communities

3) Fun vs. work

What to do AFTER you open the group and having it up and running.

Connect with Joanna!

On Facebook

On Instagram

Join her Facebook Group

Check out her Website


Connect with ME!

Also, I'd love it if you connected with me on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Or shoot me an email at youshould@connectwithpablo.com with the "Heard CEC's Charod" in subject.

This that's a genius email address?  Me too, but I didn't come up with it.  It was the idea of my good friend, and super talented web designer, Nathan Ruff.

If you want your website redone, updated, and managed with unlimited updates for just $250/month (CRAZY GOOD DEAL RIGHT??), go to Manage My Website and hookup with one of the smartest, most talented guys I've ever met- THE Nathan Ruff.

Transcript

Joanna: 2:19

even if I abandoned this business and started a new one, this community could follow me. It's about having those raving fans, those lifetime followers, and these people will tell you what they want. They'll tell you where their thoughts are at. And so we would call this on the outside market research, where you got to pick up the phone and call 10 people and ask them these questions. Well, a community will actually do that for you and they will feed it to you until you, you can't. There's no more lines on the spreadsheet, right? So content creation comes out of this product development comes out of it. Customer service if you're doing it right, don't need a customer service team because the members of your community will actually do it for you. Sales, your members will sell for you. I've seen, I've seen clients make hundreds of thousands of dollars and they never said a word. It was their community that would step in on one bread and say, they did this for me. They did that. They'll tell you what products they need and it could even be a product that is not. In the industry that you're in right now, it could be something completely different. It's very common for coaches to, to create planners right. For their, for their clients, because they need to get organized. And so they'll go off and create these planners and there's an evolution of product development. That's very natural and it's already pre-sold because your audience is asking for it.

Pablo Gonzalez: 4:33

Welcome back to the chief executive connector podcast. I'm your host and chief executive connector. Pablo Gonzalez. And with me today is kind of like my soul sister in the community game. She was the first person that I collaborated with in building out an online community as a service for somebody. Joanna novella was an entrepreneur who understands the power. Of having an engaged community and as a community strategist, she helps entrepreneurs create unique and engaging experiences for their communities. So their fans turn into repeat customers. I know that sounds familiar, but making audiences feel seen, heard and taken care of Joanna helps some of the biggest names on the internet create win-win situations where community members are thrilled and businesses thrive, come alive from Joanna. Welcome to the show. How you doing?

Joanna: 5:21

I'm good. How are you?

Pablo Gonzalez: 5:24

I'm Superman. I'm pumped to reconnect with you. I feel like you and me have spoken a handful of times, but we're always on the exact wavelength.

Joanna: 5:32

Exactly. Like from day one, like as soon as we got on a zoom call, which was actually important in my art, it, you were, that's a fun fact. You were the first person that I ever helped us with here. We were like chatting and it was like, dude, this guy's really cool.

Pablo Gonzalez: 5:47

Awesome. I love it. You know, the fact that you're in, I want to dive into that kind of in your entrepreneurial journey, but the fact that you were important, the way you have that to me, like when you announced on Facebook, I was like, oh, she's a, bad-ass like, like you just, you just made like the boss move of COVID happening in San Francisco. This is crazy. I'm going to go to Toyota right now. Like, yeah.

Joanna: 6:07

Yeah, that's definitely, and I did it with a family too. because yeah, I've told this story to a lot of different people. And one of the things that people tell me is like, but I have kids, I could never do that. We did it with two kids and two pets, but yeah, we made a split decision to come down. It was the craziest decision we've ever made for our family, but it ended up being the best we're driving down here

Pablo Gonzalez: 6:29

and I there's so much. I've learned this by moving to Jacksonville from, from Miami, just like when you're an entrepreneur, reducing your cost of living while increasing your quality of life in order to extend the, the ramp that you have to build the business, the way that you want is incredibly valuable. You're really is. Yeah. Awesome, man. So Joanna, as I warned you, about 30 seconds ago, I start off my podcasts with my thesis on human connection. That is. People bond the quickest, when you either add value to their life, which we're going to do a bunch of on this call, or you share a vulnerability that they can relate to. So I ask all my guests to kind of like what you're struggling with right now. What's something you struggled with in the past. So our friend that's listening in her ear, his ear right now is listening and it's like, oh my God, join us just like me. And then we talk about how awesome you are.

Joanna: 7:19

Yeah. So before we hit record Pablo and I were having a conversation about content creation and that is one of the biggest things that I'm struggling with because I'm so used to supporting people who create content. And for my own business, I know that I, I will go above and beyond for clients and I will do whatever needs to be done for them. But my business itself always gets put on the back burner. And therefore content is not being made. And there's always this excuse. I would call it an excuse at this point of me saying like, oh, well I need to like, make sure that they're taken care of. And then I could focus on my business and I'm adopting a new schedule of switching that around. And now I work on the business in the morning and then client work comes in the afternoon because like someone told me client work will always get done, but. Your business will always get pushed to the back burner. If you don't make it a priority.

Pablo Gonzalez: 8:22

That's smart, man. That's really, really good advice. And I think it's so. It's so it's like a classic thing, right? Like the carpenter was shitty cabinets, the car mechanic whose car like barely runs. Right. I think it's, I, I describe myself as that all the time. I'd describe myself as the carpenter. We should have cabinets all the time. Cause you look at my. You know, my website and my infrastructure of my business and even my content isn't as good as the content that I make for, for my clientele. Right. Like my clientele is I got a super, super high level. I'm like at a I just do a lot of it. And a lot of it's really imperfect, but I throw it out there because like, I was kind of telling you, right. Like I. I get a lot of value in just the feedback of it. Even if, even if the feedback is like, Hey dude, your headline is misspelled. You look like an idiot. Like I'm like, well, you're watching, right? Yeah. So, so what are you, are you like institutes kind of like, are you like, time-blocking kind of like work on the business time or, or what's, what's that structure look like for you that you're trying

Joanna: 9:20

to implement? Yeah. So a game plan is written out on Sunday. I have a little planner that breaks it up for me. So I plan that out on Sundays. And then it's a four hour block every day and I have the task assigned to it, to those four hours. And then the rest of the day, if it ends up, you know, I'll time block. But if it ends up going beyond that, then it does. But at least my work has already been knocked down in the morning hours of way, better than nothing.

Pablo Gonzalez: 9:49

Totally, totally. And even, and I don't know if you get this, but I'll like time blocked two hours and I'll fuck around for like an hour and 15 minutes. And then it's really just 45 minutes of work, but that 45 minutes of work is better than nothing. Awesome. Awesome. All right, Joanna, tell me, tell me about your like trajectory into becoming this community expert and advocate for community. How'd you how'd you get into kind of doing this.

Joanna: 10:15

So I started off as a virtual assistant for a woman named Lindsay Pedea. And she was just like the coolest person I'd ever met. And I didn't realize that she was like a master networker. And so if you know about networking, it takes really one really good connection to just blow everything up for you. And that's literally what happened with her. She's a super connector. And brought me along for the ride. And I had no idea what rollercoaster I had just boarded, but she's really the one that laid the foundation for me and where I am today. So I started off as a VA in her business and she had asked me she was traveling and her business partner was traveling. She said, we're not going to be able to keep an eye on the Facebook group for at least the next couple of days. So can you just pop in and help us out? So I did. And it was about Facebook ads and funnels, and I had no idea what any of that stuff was. So I had people coming in asking questions about like, how do I increase my reach and which audience do I select? And I was like, you know what? I don't know, but here's a GIF here in the comments and I'm going to go find out. And I did it as this, like, I mean, like a defense mechanism of like, I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I'm just going to like entertain you with these GIF And so what I'm talking about is gift G I F sometimes pronounced Jif. then it became, when they would ask the question, they wanted their GIFs in the comments and they, then they wanted their answer. And it just became this form of entertainment for me. And when I tell people, I literally started a business out of sending people GIFs This, this is how it became a thing. I was re I'm really good at personalizing gifts. I'm really good at knowing people's likes and interests and their quirks and sending them GIFs based on that. So it looked like a really high level of customization. And then one person said, Hey, why don't you come do that in my group? And I was like, do what? And she's like, just come send GIFs I'll pay you just to come in and hang out in the comments and talk to my people. and from there I started to just build a business out of it. One client came from the next community and then one client came from that community and it grew and it grew and it grew. And for the first year, I don't think I understood what was happening. I don't think I understood that there was a system that I was. Using and that there were effects of the system that I was using, like retention and upselling product development, content creation. I didn't understand that I was moving the wheel on all of those things and generating it. But after about a year and a half, I started to catch on of like, oh, I really am doing all of these things. And so that's how I started moving into consulting and strategy. And that's where I am today. I'm doing consulting and strategy and training teams to have a community manager so that they can create all of those things inside of their communities.

Pablo Gonzalez: 13:22

I love it. And you know, to me, it's so it's like once you have. Any kind of tradition or common inside joke, you have the foundations of a community.

Joanna: 13:35

Yeah.

Pablo Gonzalez: 13:37

Yeah. And for you is GIFs right. Or gifts, right? Like, like you start doing that thing, then it's like, where's my gift. And then where's my gift. And then how am I going to do it? Right. Like, I, I think it's so. I don't know if you ever listened to any kind of talk radio. I used to listen to a lot of sports talk radio, and it's just like the moment that somebody starts becoming a regular and they have a name of like, Hey, it's your boy, Billy D from Dallas, you know, like, and people start to get ownership of it. Right. So like, I love how I love how that one thing that you were really good at started being like became the stage for people. Right? Like it was like, I, yeah. And then, and then since then you've designed a whole. Methodology. And you describe it as an experience, which I think is awesome. You want, you want to kind of, you want to kind of talk me through the, the foundational elements of what it is to, to create this like community experience.

Joanna: 14:28

Yeah. So I think from being on strategy calls and hearing the entrepreneur or the visionary talk about what their passions are, how they ended up there, what their vision is for the future. I think that the context of it can get lost through Facebook ads or funnels, or even some of their content where they might be playing it, safe or for whatever reasons that it's just not translating. And then I noticed that sometimes when they get into the community that they're holding back or playing it safe, or they're unsure of what to say and. When, when you see the disconnect, like there's just such a long line of like channels that the message and the vision and that energy has to go through. It's like a game of telephone where by the time he reached the community, some of that message is lost and it's really hard to get them. And this is actually the community is, is the end point, right? It's the, it's the end of the funnel. Yep. And this is where, I mean, this is what you came for is, is this point to manifest these people, to give them the results that, you know, you can provide and to bring them on this journey. And it's so much of it just gets lost. And what I wanted to do with the experience is and, you know, I think to use, I always use Disneyland as a really good example. They, they know what they want you to feel at the end. And they reverse engineer back to make sure that every step of the way they're leading you into that, which is really what my framework is, is okay. If that's the vision over here that you're telling me on our call, how do we get it to the end point? So that way we're not playing a game of telephone and people are actually experiencing your greatness. I think a lot of people. A lot of people are very talented, but they don't get to share that because there's a lot of different obstacles in the way. And some of them, it might just be them. Like I have some clients who are just brilliant and their genius behind the scenes and they want to build a community, but they don't know how to show up and talk to people. And so my job is to be that buffer for them and to help guide them. So that way their community can really fully experience it. Rather than getting the surface level of like a course, for example, anybody can make a course and a lot of people do, but not a lot of people can move you or you know, get you attached and say like, whatever it is that Pablo sells for the rest of his life, I'm in consider it done. If you sell something in 15 years, I'm there. Because they get to really experience you and see that full vision that you had. And that's, that's really, my objective is to be the person that allows you to fully step into that light.

Pablo Gonzalez: 17:38

I love that. I love that. And that brings me back to kind of what you were talking about, where you started realizing of what the effects of community is. You're just kind of, you know, what is. Right now you're talking about repeat sales, lifetime value. Can you, can you kinda, can you kinda talk me through, you know, how you see the manifestation, you know, like the, the actual, tangible manifestations of like a well-functioning community from a, from a business operational standpoint.

Joanna: 18:07

Yeah. So, I mean, so many things like, and let's take Disneyland as an example again. you know, if you went to Disney way, when you were a kid and you pulled those pictures out and you were looking at them right now, You would just be overcome, like if you had an amazing experience, you would be overcome with emotion of like, do you remember how fun that day was? We should do that again. And that is lifetime value. Like you're talking about, like, we are creating something that can be felt. It's a ripple effect that pays dividends. So. If, and this is the mistake, a lot of people will make is they want to build a community to sell to around this specific product or this launch. And they don't think long-term, they don't think like, even if I abandoned this business and started a new one, this community could follow me. It's about having those raving fans, those lifetime followers, and these people will tell you what they want. They'll tell you where their thoughts are at. And so we would call this on the outside market research, where you got to pick up the phone and call 10 people and ask them these questions. Well, a community will actually do that for you and they will feed it to you until you, you can't. There's no more lines on the spreadsheet. Right? So content creation comes out of this product development comes out of it. Customer service is you almost, if you're doing it right, don't need a customer service team because the members of your community will actually do it for you. Sales, your members will sell for you. I've seen, I've seen clients make hundreds of thousands of dollars and they never said a word. It was their community that would step in on one bread and say, they did this for me. They did that. And they'll generate thousands and thousands of dollars without lifting a finger, bringing in a sales team, anything they'll tell you what products they need and it could even be a product that is not. In, in the industry that you're in right now, it could be something completely different. It's very common for coaches to, to create planners right. For their, for their clients, because they need to get organized. And so they'll go off and create these planners and there's an evolution of product development. That's very natural and it's already pre-sold because your audience is asking for it. community that extends offline. So I deal with, with online community exclusively, but my goal is to create offline community, to get people, to meet in person and to fly and meet each other. they will, and there's always this connection. It's like the roots of a tree. The roots will trace back to you and they will always bring your name up. This, this is I'm selling, right? Cause you're still, your name is still coming up. They'll start recalling on those experiences and being like, do you remember this? Yeah. And then that, and then there's your. You're omnipresent at that point where people are just constantly talking about you. years down the road And I think this is a short-term thing that turns into a long-term play for someone's business, where you could curate a group of a hundred people pretty quickly. You know, this is not SEO where it takes six, seven months for it to like turn around or a year or whatever. It's like right now you can make a group of 15 people and already start reaping the benefits off of that, and then grow it into something where for years you're able to still keep bearing fruit from it.

Pablo Gonzalez: 21:55

I love it, man. You were talking about this from like, like your clients are essentially content creators, influencers, people that sell stuff online, but like, to me, the big aha moment was. The idea that if somebody buys a Harley Davidson, they can't go get a Japanese bike a year later because they'll lose all their friends. Like it's not a it's it's, it's not just for influencers. Like I, like, I see this, I see this as the fundamental existential threat. For all businesses right now. Right? Like as, as Google and Facebook and Amazon are better, right. Listening to you on your phone or based on your behavior, or however you think they're listening to you. Right. Maybe this camera's always on. I don't know. Right. But like the idea that I can be like, oh dude, that's a nice, you know, like, look at, look at the plant behind you and be like, oh man, I wish I had that plant. Or maybe my eyes dilate when I see it. And all of a sudden I get it offered to me via. All these different ads on my Facebook feed a second later, right? Like that's only going to get either better or worse, right? Like, however you want to contextualize whether that's good or bad being offered, everything that you've ever wanted at all times. But the only, the only brands and the only businesses that are going to win are going to be those brands, the ones that are like, oh man, I can't get a different kind of, you know, like bonsai tree because all my friends are bonsai tree owners, you know, like I see it right now with Peloton, right? Like I bought. I bought a bunch of Peloton stock February of 2020, because I had three or four friends that were like, dude, you got to get a Peloton, so you can join my Peloton WhatsApp group because we do a ride every morning and I'm beating Christine McFarland sent over there and I'm number two on the leader board. And Eric is beating me and I want to kick his ass. And I'm like, I'm buying that stock. And so, so like investing in community is. To me the future of all of all business development man. So I would love to, I'd love to kind of like play around with you. Like, let's say I'm an architect, right? Let's just, let's just get weird with it. Right? Like, let let's say I'm an architect and I wanted to create a forum online for where my. Business clientele. And I could create these referral sources. Right? Like how would you, what would you recommend they start with, or like how, how would you go about doing this for like a business? Do you have any ideas around that?

Joanna: 24:13

I actually have a pretty good example of a client that I just worked with. And I knew when I took this community on, like, if I could make this work, that there was literally nothing that I couldn't do. because he was a garage door owner. Garage door company, owner

Pablo Gonzalez: 24:29

installer or whatever.

Joanna: 24:32

So his name is Tommy Mello. If you guys want to look him up he's I mean, he's a white force and he had, he just had a lot of people around him that would ask questions of how did you do it? And then he started the membership. And so that's when I was brought in to help with the membership. So I literally thought to myself, like, if I can help garage door company owners, this is it, man. Like I I've mastered the formula and yeah. I think because of that now I really understand it. because some of these people owned HVAC companies, electrical companies all was in the home service business. So he was, he was brought and he worked with home service company owners. So the comments theme is that at the end of the day, even though they own an HVAC business, they're still a business owner who needs to market their company. Who needs to pay their taxes, who needs to develop themselves personally, as a leader to lead a team, there are common themes here, all across the board. So it doesn't matter what if you're in like a different niche or you're in a different business. You're still in business. So the trick is define the common theme because there are other architect There's other architects out there who have the same questions that you do, who are facing the same things that you are, and they need an outlet for that. And problem said something to me like. Almost two years ago. I think it wasn't this point where he was like, Jesus had community, right? Like we didn't invent community and we all are part of the community, multiple communities. You're part of like the community where you live at, you might be part of your church community. You might be part of like a softball league, which is the community. We understand how this works. And it's all about finding something in common with somebody and being like, what you feel is what I feel and what I feel is what you feel. So we should just talk about it and like be better together. That is community. And if you think about it from that viewpoint, then the illusion of online community is now taken away. So back to like these home service owners at the end of the day, they're all facing the same things. How do I hire a W2 when they've been a w nine? Right? Like, it doesn't matter what you're, even for me, how would I go from that? Right. Like, and I do online community strategy. So it's about finding the common thing. That's the first thing is like what matters to these people? How, and what should we be talking about? And you can figure out which topics which I can tell you right off the bat from, from being in so many communities time, the money is the. Time money and confidence are always really big topics. So that's where you would start. People always want to talk about how they don't have time. They always want to talk about how they don't have enough money and how to increase their confidence. So if all else fails, those are three topics that you start with. And then you just keep asking more questions. You know, it's like when you sit at a barbecue, And you sit down at a table with four other people. You have no idea where that conversation is going, but you might be getting a real estate license at the end of that conversation. You don't know where that's going, right. You're just sitting down having a conversation and letting it evolve. And that's what community is. I also think for that reason, that's why a lot of people are scared of community is because they need this light. Template, like, tell me what to say, tell me what to do. But if I told you to sit down at this barbecue and here are the five things you're going to say, you'd be like, that's creepy. That is so weird. And, but when I reflect that back to people, and I say like, I'm not going to give you a script on what to say to your community. It's about just talking to people. I've already given you a leg up three topics that, you know, for sure will be engagement, killers, and then you let it go from there. And that's it. You just have to be willing to talk to people.

Pablo Gonzalez: 28:52

It does brilliant, man. I never thought of it. So I, I very deliberately look at when I'm trying to build out content streams that lead to community. I think of, I think of it as like pillars, right? Like what is, what are the pillar content that people are going to care about? But I never thought about the university, the, the universality of time, confidence and money, like that is, that is so good. That is such like a nugget right there, man. Really, really awesome. so this guy, Tommy, the garage door guy, His community. Does it give him garage door business, or did he give him the ability to sell consulting to other service providers or both or more or other things?

Joanna: 29:31

Yeah, both. so if you think about the fact that his members are talking about them is their mentor and they're constantly like saying, well, Tommy told me to do this. Tommy told me to do that. One guy. So they're in different areas. So this is one of our best success stories is he was in like three states over from, from Tommy, took all the advice that Tommy gave him. He also did garage doors. So maybe he's considered a competitor. Not really because they're in different markets, but he took all the advice. And here's, what's funny about it. Is he. Has gotten his business to a point where like it's cleaning up and the books are like getting on point. The marketing is getting on point that Tommy has been eluding to the fact that he might buy out, buy the business from him. So community can give you like really whatever it is that you want. Like he's meant this guy is paying him to mentor him while at the same time, priming this business to get it to a point where Tommy. Once it and we'll go in and buy it. And like the books are done. Like the marketing's done the SEO's army, a place, like all of that is completely done for Tommy. And then this guy could receive a pretty nice payout from, it was just goes to show you the levels of benefits that you get from community is just like mind blowing. I think that he, so he definitely gets referrals because his name is constantly being circulated on social media. So he's. Getting tagged on things. My mentor, he, he has a podcast, so his people are sharing the podcast out. So marketing for them. He's also, Tommy is expanding across the United States pretty aggressively at this point. So he has people that are marketing in their area that are part of this membership. Right. They're sharing the podcast, they're getting his name out there. so yes, referrals and then name recognition. Is a really key thing for him right now that he's benefiting off of. not only that, I think it helps him to process things like sometimes when he shows up to Q and A's, he's just talking things out and you see a light bulb go off on his head, like, he'll go silent and like look up. And then, you know, he just processed something that he's been working on and like it clicks Man. I could just like, go on forever for like, and this was a small grade, I'm talking like 75 people,

Pablo Gonzalez: 32:11

like interesting. So that's a 75 person Facebook group. Yeah. And they're all business owners that find time to log into Facebook to hop into this group. Right. Cause that's also always the thing like, oh man, I'm a B to B owner. Like my people, aren't just going to log into Facebook group. But people, people sleep on that, man. Like if it's valuable enough, people will check in right.

Joanna: 32:34

I mean, if so, I, I also think that people undervalue the issues that other people are having. Like, do you know how hard it is for somebody to actually switch from a w nine to a W2? There's it's such a layered expensive issue. That if they can pay a couple hundred bucks to have somebody fast-track them and not make these mistakes, because he was brutally honest about all the mistakes that he had made in his business. People will pay for that because you're saving them time and you're saving them money. And also they're not spinning their wheels. Yeah, which is another really office that the company, oh, the answer. And they're going to go do it, which moves the needle forward. I think that sometimes people are so advanced and they've solved their problems years ago. Did they forget how important that issue was that they couldn't sleep for two weeks because that bothered them so bad, you know? And when you think back on that, like where was I at that point and how important that was to me. Perhaps painful. It was some of these things are really painful. Like some of these things in Deborah, any marriages, they end up ruining family relationships and the importance of the advice that you're giving. Man. I just don't think that people maybe you're so close to it and you can't see your own magic. Which is a lot of times what I do like to go back to how work, how are we translating this down? The line, your vision that you told me at the beginning was to get people through XYZ. But then when we're on the other side, you discount your advice or you don't remember how important that was, maybe because you had$200,000 problems at the time. And now you've had, you have$5 million problems and you don't make the connection anymore. That happens a lot with advanced entrepreneurs. They forget how painful these things were and they think, oh, nobody wants to hear that, but you probably wanted to hear it. So they want to hear it.

Pablo Gonzalez: 34:41

Totally. Totally. And, and the idea that somebody at earlier, somebody in an earlier cycle can remind them kind of like what you said, you see his eyes go up into the right, right. Like when somebody asks a question a different way that you were so you're like, you're so far declined and so deep in it that you hadn't even thought of how simple the solution could be, rather than the inspiration of it, man. Like you're so many things. Right. But let's start with like about an hour ago when you first started listing the amazing things, you know, the, just the. Just the SEO, right? Like just, just people, just people inviting him to more podcasts being on more YouTube channels being on, you know, like creating all these pieces of content, the intros that content facilitates, right? Like then on top of that, the iteration of product research where you just, you just explained that perfectly, right? Like the iteration of Expanding into other marketplaces and other verticals, right? Like Tommy went from being a garage door installer to a guy that is a mentor to people. And he's monetizing that to now he's able to expand into other geographical areas. So like he's expanded business lines and now he can expand horizontally and vertically. Right. Like, like that's, that's super fascinating. All right. Let's take up. So. And then the personal thing, right? Like the idea that he is truly helping people, right? Like what you're talking about, you forget, you forget how much value the experience that you've had in the past is to other people. So like that, that gratifying thing of like being of service, I think is can't be discounted. Let's take a, let's take a hard right. Turn here. In this business, how do you stop yourself from becoming best friends with every single one of your clients? And is that the move, right? Like how do you, how do you kind of like, like, I struggle with that, right? Like, I'm like, where's the boundary here of how much I love this person now because I've been there like hype man, community, person, forever versus like, this is a professional relationship. What do you, what do you think around? that stuff

Joanna: 36:35

That's really hard because in the community you are in English. An extension of them. So I have learned to adapt myself around this person. And so here here's a fun thing. that maybe a lot of people, I don't know, should I go wizard of Oz right now until this or not? Let's put it out there. If you want to edit it out. Pablo. So I often times will go under the profiles of these like of my clients. So they are talking to me, but under the profile of my client. And so I learned their voice and I learned their mannerisms and I trained myself to become an extension of them. And. their vision becomes my vision. And it has to, because if you want to be an extension of them again, you don't want to play a game of telephone. You want that seamless transition of this is exactly what was in my head and this is how I want it laid out in the world. I, I think that most of my clients ended up just do becoming my friends because I choose people. Based on, on that, knowing that I'm going to become an extension of them. And do I care about their mission? So this is when values. You have to be clear on your values because you're 10X-ing either something great or something really crappy. and so I've worked with people where I truly genuinely believed that they are change makers. And that they are the real true influencers, the ones that are influencing to make the world a better place. And I mean, because of that, we just developed this connection that you know, just last for a really long time. So I don't know. I don't know that I can avoid it. I don't know that I've cracked the code on, on that because it's kind of like a This is a real spiritual aspect of it that I never really, I don't think broken down and like processed, but it's kind of like ghosts where like you have to jump into their body and you have to like, feel what they're feeling and you have to be just as passionate about it to be able to carry the torch for them.

Pablo Gonzalez: 39:03

Yeah. I think that, that's why you're awesome at what you do, right? Like, I don't think that there is a way to have a strictly professional relationship with someone that you're representing on that level, where you are literally becoming the person that creates, you know, You can't be someone's hype man, without buying in man. Right. You know,

Joanna: 39:26

just lovable possible.

Pablo Gonzalez: 39:27

Yeah. It's impossible. Like it just comes out. It just comes out hollow. Right? Like at that point, you're just like, ah, you're just a, like a cheesy TV pitch man. And like nobody, nobody connects with that shit.

Joanna: 39:39

And I try really hard not to work with. Cheesy people because I don't want to have to be an extension of their cheesy. Yeah, for sure. And remember that this, this is a reciprocal relationship. Like the community gives back to the community builder and then the community builder, it's a, it's a fatten and it just, the energy just keeps trickling down and back up. And if you're not translating that correctly, then you're not going to receive back. And. I think this is why people struggle a lot when they say like, oh, well, people aren't talking in my Facebook group, which is one of the biggest things people will say, right? How, how do I get them to talk? And I'm like, but you're not talking. Probably it's usually a mirror and the best community builders know how to create energy and receive it. That's where a lot of people miss the mark.

Pablo Gonzalez: 40:34

Hm. I like that. Tell me more about that.

Joanna: 40:37

you know, I think it goes back to people like when we're talking about this conversation at the barbecue and look, I'm awkward in person. If you meet me in person and just so you know, I'm awkward. I I'm good on camera. I'm a larger than life personality under my Facebook profile, but you meet me in person I'm awkward and I own it. And I warn people. I'm like, you start the power station. Like a lot of people would expect me to be. and I've had a lot of people when I, when I meet him from like masterminds and we meet in person and I'm a very like shy, mellow person. I'm like, yeah, I'm Beyonce like onstage. I'm like this larger than life personality. But when you meet me, I'm like a shy girl from Kentucky like that too. Right. Yeah. But I know. Well, how to start a conversation. I know how to just ask a question. Yeah, which is probably from years of me just asking questions in groups and just knowing like what makes people tick. But everybody has something like, like we started this at the top of the podcast. Everybody has something that they're struggling with and everybody has something that they are working to overcome at the moment. And I know that every single person that I meet, regardless of the fact of whether I'm not whether or not I'm shy to talk to people, there's always one question that I could ask besides how's the weather, right? There's always a question I can ask that of what what's your day, or like what's going on with you right now. And. Allowing them to, to respond back to me and then talking back to them. And then pretty soon rapport is built, but it's a transfer of energy. And when I go places, like if you're a shy, introverted person, like talking to one person is the same thing, talking to 10,000 people in the Facebook group. I mean, that's the luxury of being online. Is it's all the same, right? Like if I'm in a room full of 10,000 people, I will get nervous because they're balls of energy sitting in front of me. But online it's so easy to, to treat them all as like, it's one computer screen to me, like at the end of the day, but, okay. So let's, I'm veering off here. Let's get back to the question of

Pablo Gonzalez: 42:59

like, oh, I like, I like where you went with it. Like I like, I like the idea of you're basically positioning it along the lines of. You don't really need to be the star of the stage as much as you're just the forum for communication. Right? So like you got to, if you can get a question started and you can get people talking and then ask another question and then another one, right? It's not like this, like top down effect as much as just engaging and like value seeking is kind of where I saw you going.

Joanna: 43:24

Exactly. Yes. I think you've mentioned this somewhere where, like you don't always have to be on stage. There's not always that feeling. you know, when you actually go to speaking events, it's not just one speaker, it's multiple speakers. it's hosted by somebody who collects these speakers in one room to add value to you, but they're not standing up there for like eight hours there. I mean, some people aren't right. But they know that there are other people who can contribute to the experience. That's another layer of community is that you don't always have to be the star of the show. You can share your stage. Totally fine. You can have an opening act. Right. Okay. So the topic just to like, get us back on track here is about mirroring energy. Yeah. So if you. Are high energy and you get around, somebody comes tired, all of a sudden you're tired, right? Because you feed off of that energy should be a sixth sense. Like it really should because it's, it's a sense that's just so strong and we don't give it enough acknowledgement. And I think what makes people think that I'm like a magician is that I, I focus on energy a lot. But mostly because a lot of people overlook the power of it. You know, when you've been in an exciting Facebook group, it's fun. Like you can just feel it in there. You can feel in the way that people comment and you can feel, and the way that the person running it ask questions, there's an energy there, you know, when you landed in the dead Facebook group, you know, for a fact, as soon as you get in there and you're scrolling, you're like, oh my God, you feel it. And that's kind of like, This, this is the main exercise. When I do a strategy session that we walk through is like, how do we get energy up and maintain it? Disneyland again. Oh my God. Freaking nails it. Right? Like you're walking to your next ride. And a marching band comes out of nowhere and you're like, whoa. Or like Mary Poppins just pops out of the bushes, you know? And it's like a total. It's an energy change. I remember when we went there, it was three o'clock in the Anaheim sun on a July, like on a hot July day. And my daughter was throwing a tantrum and Mary Poppins popped out of nowhere and my daughter just jumped up and went to go take a picture with her. And it was like nothing had ever happened. And it's energy. It's just like you have the tools and the resources. But energy is the glue that brings it all together and really propels it.

Pablo Gonzalez: 46:12

Hmm. I like that, man. I like that. Listen, I, I wanted to dig deeper into that just cause it's one of those like reticular activator moments for me. Right? Like I've had a couple. There's a guy called Chris Ross. And that I'm becoming pretty good friends with. Who's like a big business guy and he's got a big following or whatever. And he talks about energy a lot. And like the more, the more I started talking with him about it, the more the more I realized that the smartest people are really tuned into the, the amount of energy that you give off and that you receive. Right. So like, I you're you were in that company as well, obviously. All right, Joanna, you ready for the energy lightning round? All right. What is your favorite restaurant? Where is it? And what do you order there?

Joanna: 46:51

Okay. So my favorite restaurant, I grew up in Kentucky, my favorite restaurant. And I'll tell you why it's all about community is, oh, Charlie's so I don't know, but I think they haven't been Florida actually, but like up north. So if you ever go Pablo, oh my God. I'm going to tell you exactly what to order right now. So you got to get a mountain Dew. And then you need to ask for extra butter. Cause they're going to bring out these roles that are going to like change your life and then you get a bowl of potato soup. Okay. And the reason why I love O Charlies is because my birthday is on September 11. I was 15 the day that nine 11 happened and I was so excited cause it was my birthday. I was 15. I was going to be able to get my permit. It was a big day for me. we were, we had a volleyball game scheduled that day against Fort Knox. And so obviously it got canceled because they were shipping people out from Fort Knox. we went up to bowling green, which is like the city in Kentucky. and we were going to go to Chili's. But Chili's is based out of New York city. Actually, we wanted that everything is based on in New York city, but Charlie's is a Southern chain. So it was the only restaurant open. We walk in there. Of course, nobody went out to dinner except that people would birthdays. So everyone in the restaurant had a birthday. It was all of us in the restaurant that day. Okay. What happened today? And it's my birthday. So let's get through this, like what's going on. And O'Charley's was the only restaurant that any of us could find. And so we all ended up there

Pablo Gonzalez: 48:30

interesting. Back to experience, right? Like having a formative experience. That's really, that's a really cool story, man. I like that. What is the, what content are you most into right now? This could be, what is your Netflix and chill series? Does your, or it could be what book you're really into or whose podcasts you're really listening to. But what are you, what are you most consuming now? Content wise these days?

Joanna: 48:52

So I am like a meme addict. That is, that is like my whole thing I'm really into right now, horoscope memes, because I'm finding out that there's a whole culture within each horoscope. And I, oh my God. It's like so fascinating to me because once I found like my Virgo, community I was like, okay, that's why I like to do lists. And like, yes, I do like cleaning and it's not like that crazy. I think I validated a lot of the things about myself. so that's my thing right now is like horoscope culture and memes That's awesome,

Pablo Gonzalez: 49:29

dude, my wife is such a meme addict also. Like I've never had anybody say memes as like the content that they're really into right now when I ask this question, but it's, it's real man, like, right? Like um, it's like all

Joanna: 49:39

I can say. Okay, there's this guy on Facebook. His name is Charles McMahon, I think is his name. Charles

Pablo Gonzalez: 49:46

McKinnon.

Joanna: 49:46

his last name is McMann attorney McMahon. He's from North Carolina. He has like 200,000 followers on Facebook, Facebook. He sells divorces. Okay. And he does it through memes I kid you not. It's amazing. That's a real

Pablo Gonzalez: 50:02

thing. For the Record having one friend that's really into memes is a really valuable part of your network, because then you can be the person that curates and sends funny meme. to other people I've been doing it through my wife. recently

Joanna: 50:15

me. So meme marketing is a real thing. It's a real thing. And I've been thinking about making that an extension of my business, by the way, because memes are so easy to like start conversations around and It makes people laugh and it's like the grease on the wheel. I've seen a lot of sales generated off of memes.

Pablo Gonzalez: 50:36

Yeah, for sure. It's a real thing, man. Like that's a, that's a really interesting conversation and I think it's a. That would be, that seems to me like an awesome extension of your business, that a feeds your business, right? Because the better you get at making memes, the more engaging your Facebook groups are going to be. And then on top of that, that creates that like that SaaS platform for you, right? So people, people hire you to. Be a consultant, whatever. And then they're going to pay 20 bucks a month for you to curate means that you can do at scale and whatever, man. That's really smart. That's really, really smart. Okay. What is something that you were sure about in your twenties that you no longer believe?

Joanna: 51:15

Oh, I was sure that by this point I was sure that in my thirties, everything would be worked out. I was like, in my thirties, I'm totally going to have this figured out. Like, I'll live it out in my twenties. I'll figure it out by my thirties.

Pablo Gonzalez: 51:31

We're still here. We're still here.

Joanna: 51:34

He gets more confusing, right? Because it's, you're just leveling up. Right? Like every age is the, is another level of, and you just keep unlocking things, right. You're like, oh, back pain.

Pablo Gonzalez: 51:51

Yeah. That's really funny. But yeah, that is, that is the Tony's in a nutshell. It's like, oh yeah. When I'm 30, I'm an adult now.

Joanna: 51:58

Oh yeah. I'm going to be like seven in income streams, like, you know, three nonfiction books a month.

Pablo Gonzalez: 52:12

I love it. What is. Either the best piece of advice you've ever gotten or your like go-to piece of advice that you'd like to give people.

Joanna: 52:21

Oh, so my go-to piece of advice now is like, it all works out because of, I know for a fact, when we moved down here that it was such a split second decision and we weren't prepared for it. to just uproot our family and move to another country. I had been in San Francisco, which is where we came from for 15 years. My husband was there for 20 and he had no idea what we were doing and we doubted it the whole second, but the universe provided for us, literally every step of the way, we just took it one step at a time and it all worked out. It's just amazing. Like, even when you reflect back about things that you stressed out a lot about it still all works out.

Pablo Gonzalez: 53:05

Awesome. I love that. I love that piece of advice, Johnny, before I ask you the final question, which as I'm thinking about what I'm going to ask you, it's kind of, I don't even know anyways right now, promote whatever you want to promote. Like I'm going to, I'm going to link here to your. Facebook page experience magic, your Instagram experience, magic your Facebook group, your, your website experience magic.com. But like where is the number one place you want somebody to connect with you with? What is something you want to promote? I don't know. Like you have like a charity fundraiser coming up, whatever, whatever you want to promote right now. Like do whatever you wanna promote.

Joanna: 53:40

So you guys can find me in the links. I do have a Facebook group where we talk about Facebook groups. Totally sound like an MLM, right? The group of groups, groups. yeah, I, so I teach people how to train their team, to manage their community and leverage it. I mean, we spent the last hour talking about like what a lot of people are leaving on the table and just completely missing, not even knowing that it was even a thing. Or possibility. and then I create strategies that help businesses to make sales, create raving fans you know, whatever it is that your outcome is from that community. so yeah, I have lots of different services for people to choose from. If your team is small, I have a size that makes sense. If you're an enterprise, I have services that make sense.

Pablo Gonzalez: 54:30

Love it. Hi, Joanna, Joanna, last question that I ask everybody, which is awkward asking you is where do you find community?

Joanna: 54:37

So I find community in a Facebook group. That's a shocker, right? But I have everyone in my life right now I can trace back to a Facebook group because I've been in this world for a long time. Now that like, these are my friends now. I have one for port devices that has. That's where I found my kid's school. It's where I find my kids' clothes. Like I figure out doctors and dentist and like all of those things. I have a Facebook group where I learned about my business in and that's my community. It's all on Facebook. I run that.

Pablo Gonzalez: 55:10

That's awesome. Yeah. That's sweet. You live, you live what you practice, what you preach. I love it too. And I'm glad we did this, man. I you know, when we met. We met through a Facebook group running Cade's Facebook group. Right. when we met, you were like the only other soul out there in the ecosystem that I knew was kind of working on something very, very similar to me. And it was a really amazing lifeline to just connect with somebody that's doing the same thing that thinks around at the same way that, you know, like that, that, that was just so valuable to me. And I really, really appreciate it. And the more I know you, man, like when I think about. When I think about the guts it took for you to move from like San Francisco to Portola yatta. When I think about the guts that took the move them from Kentucky to San Francisco, I don't know which one's more of a culture shock for you. I like TBD. Right. But like, you know, you're just you're somebody that just shows up in this like very authentic fashion and you, you know, Have you, you clearly have this like gumption about you and just like really easy way to connect, man. I just really appreciate you having in my life. Thanks. Thanks for, thanks for doing this. Yeah,

Joanna: 56:12

I feel the exact same way. I just want to like second everything you just said right now.

Pablo Gonzalez: 56:18

Cool. All right. Done. Second. Thanks for that.