Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Darlene Hawley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Darlene, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

If I had $1 for every time that one of my clients has come back after working together and said, I’m finally getting clients because I’m standing out the way that I want to stand out, I could fund at least one of my children’s college education. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but you get the point.
I want to help, YOU, stand out too.

One of my clients, let’s just call her Regina, came to me a few months ago after having a bad dry spell. Maybe you’ve had one of those where it’s been 90 days and you haven’t had anyone reach out for a call. It stinks, right? Regina was feeling frustrated and overwhelmed because she felt like she was doing all the right things, and constantly putting herself out there but her busyness wasn’t generating her any clients. So, we did a full messaging assessment and dug deep into her business – looking at her website, blog posts, her podcast interviews, what she was sharing on social media…

And we uncovered that she wasn’t sharing very many stories. She had no call to action and wasn’t truly connecting to her ideal clients and their pain points and their true desires. We created a messaging and visibility plan that lit her up and had her excited to show up each day and engage with her community.

During one of our recent check-ins, Regina told me that she had 9 calls scheduled over the course of 60 days. Finally, she wasn’t just doing “the things” – she was gaining momentum. And she was also gaining clients. She shared that by prioritizing storytelling, making clearer calls to action, and speaking to her client’s pain points and desires, she now had a close rate of 60%

That’s what I want for you – to be able to book those clarity calls, to get those visibility opportunities, and know that when people show up, they’re the right people to work with you. Because they came from your crystal clear messaging.

What would it mean for you this year to have crystal clear messaging in place?

To use your story to call in more of your ideal coaching clients?

To stop worrying, or even obsessing, about where your next client is going to come from?

I’d love to be your partner in visibility – so that you can stand out online.

Darlene, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Darlene and a speaker, podcast host, personal branding and online business coach who shows ambitious, heart-centered service-based entrepreneurs how to create a profitable online business while making space for themselves and their families.

My genius is showing entrepreneurs 2+ years into their business how to deepen their business foundation and go after visibility so they can share their message with the world, attract dream clients, and have the impact, freedom, and flexibility they desire.

As the host of the Attract & Stand Out Podcast, I’ve has been featured on podcasts, in articles, and on stages such as the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, Authority Magazine, Elephant Journal, Salvation Army, Pechanga Casino, UNLV, MACC Project, Bank of America and San Diego Gas & Electric.

Prior to starting my own business, I worked my way up in big box retail operations management, as a mortgage loan officer, and as a financial coach. I’ve been committed to helping entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses since 2007.

I’m the SCORE Inland Empire Workshop Chapter Chair and the former president of the International Coach Federation of Nevada.

I’m also a mom of four, and a wife, connector, storyteller, and dream builder based in Temecula, California.

You can connect with me and learn more about my speaking and coaching at darlenehawley.com.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

There are so many important pieces to building an effective strategy for growing your business. Here are five of the things that I do each week to continue growing my business.

Tip #1: Do something that scares you every day.
A few years ago I started using the mantra, “I do scary things!” At the time I found that I was avoiding doing the tasks that I had written down and either procrastinating the tasks as long as humanly possible or sometimes not even doing them at all, because I was afraid of putting myself out there, being told no or feeling as I had failed. Now I seek out opportunities to do something that moves me forward and scares me just a tiny bit each day, like pitching myself onto a podcast or reaching out to a dream client to talk about working together. The reframe that I created to do scary things, allows me to find the confidence to continue showing up, even when it feels hard.

Tip #2: Share a story in everything that you do.
The easiest way to create a strong connection with your dream clients and to grow your personal brand and business is to build a strong connection by sharing a story in everything that you do. Jerome Bruner recently said that people are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when it has been wrapped in a story. So when you’re recording a video, writing a blog post, speaking on stage, or showing up on a podcast you want to be memorable. Find a way to share a story about yourself, your clients, or something you’ve heard to pull your dream clients in so that they can see themselves in the story and take them on a journey with you.

Tip #3: Create a strong brand foundation for your business.
Building a business foundation is just like building a house foundation. It needs to be able to handle anything that comes your way. You want to create a solid strong concrete foundation for your business to stand on so that as you start to build your business, your growth can be supported and you don’t feel the growing pains. It’s so important that you lay a strong brand foundation so that as your business grows everything continues to thrive and doesn’t start to come apart.
When I work with my clients we work on honing in on their niche, get crystal clear on identifying who their ideal clients are, determine how to write magnetic messaging that truly connects to their dream clients, learn to share their unique brand story, and create a strong signature offer that solves a problem and helps move their dream clients forward.

Tip #4: Build a personal brand that allows you to stand out and BE YOU.
A personal brand is what makes you special. It’s your unique combination of stories, skills, life experiences, the emotions you share, your quirks, your personality, and the content you create that make you who you are. It’s how you present yourself to the world. If you have an effective personal brand you’ll differentiate yourself from the competition and be able to build trust with prospective clients. People will take notice and watch what you do. You need to clearly communicate who you are and what you do to stand out.
One way to get this across is to communicate your values, mission, and vision in everything that you do in a way that connects to your dream clients. People want to know what you stand for so they can determine if they want to stand with you. Stand out by being you and sharing things about you that will help others feel connected to you and repel the ones that are not your people. You want to make a great impression from the beginning so that you can build on the know, like, and trust factor. If you break that trust upfront it’s almost impossible to correct it in the online space. Think about it like this: if you were to meet me in-person after following me online, the goal is to make it feel like you already know them and that there is no disconnect in how you’re showing up.

Tip #5: Be consistent with your marketing and visibility strategy.
Though there are many ways to get clients and to market yourself online it’s important that you find a strategy that works best for you and allows you to show up consistently. Many entrepreneurs struggle with impostor syndrome and focus too much on what other people are doing and end up not being visible because they feel like everything has already been done.
It’s vital that you create a client attraction marketing plan that feels good to you, and excites you to show up each day so that you can show up as your authentic self. I teach my clients to find 5 ways you can commit to showing up each week for 5 hours to grow their brand and business. Some are non-negotiable for every online business like emailing your newsletter list and sending personal video introductions to new subscribers that have downloaded your freebie. Others you can pick and choose from to see what works best for you, host a masterclass, attending local networking events, participate in a virtual summit, or offer mini clarity sessions to add value to your dream client’s lives. The important thing is finding what strategies truly light you up and do those. Just because the completion is doing something does not mean you should do it too. Create a plan that moves you forward and makes you excited to show up each day.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

June 30th, 2020 my FB & IG accounts were hacked and Facebook closed the accounts causing me to lose my FB group, Business page, and my personal accounts. At the time I was devastated as I used those platforms as a place to nurture my community by sharing valuable content that eventually would lead them to work with me in my 1:1 coaching practice.

This ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. I pivoted how I was marketing my business and where I was spending my time and in turn was able to create a workflow and system that allows me to show up each week in an easy fun way and my clients can easily find me when they’re looking for a personal branding and online business coach. I use to spend so much time looking for clients and finding ways to engage on social media. Now clients fine me through the power of SEO and I’ve been able to grow my business and work even less than ever before.

It’s taught me that it’s okay when things change because it can often be just the think you needed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://darlenehawley.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/coachdarlenehawley
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/coachdarlenehawley
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/darlenehawley
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dhawley
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGBrqtIRept5jrYwfxJj6Eg
• Other: Podcast: https://anchor.fm/darlene-hawley

Image Credits
Heather J Keys, Katie Wood, Laquita Parks-Lewis