[00:00:18] EMMA: Today we're talking about something that I think is one of the biggest shifts you can make in your business. It's the shift from being visible, hi, to being positioned. Now, if you've been in business for a while, you've probably been told you need to be more visible. Post more, show up on LinkedIn more, get on video, send a newsletter, be everyone, everywhere, everything.
[00:00:41] Do all the things . And there is a little bit of truth in that. You do need to be visible, I'm being facetious, especially when you're starting out. But what no one tells you is that visibility on its own
[00:00:52] is exhausting. It's a treadmill, and if you've been running on that treadmill for two, three, five years, and you're still hustling for every sale, I want you to lean in because today's episode is for you.
[00:01:05] Pour yourself a cup of tea, but it will need to be a strong one. I want you to picture a I want you to picture a lighthouse for me. A lighthouse doesn't run around the coastline waving its arms, going, " Look at me, look at me. I'm over here. Please come and find me." A lighthouse stands still. It shines, and the ships that need it find their way to it.
[00:01:29] That is the difference between visibility and positioning. When you're visible, you are the one waving your arms. You're posting, you're commenting, you're networking, you're sending the proposals, you're following up. You're doing all of the work to get found. Whoa You're also probably exhausted. When you're positioned, you are the lighthouse.
[00:01:52] People come to you, they drop into your inbox, they send you a DM that says, "I've been following you for ages. I'd love to work with you." [00:02:00] They book the clarity call already knowing that they wanna say yes. Most of us in business are highly visible. We're putting content out, we're showing up, we've got the website, the socials, the newsletter, the events.
[00:02:15] But visibility alone means you still have to go and sell, sell, sell every week, every month, every quarter. Now, I'm not gonna lie, love sales and relationships. But positioning, positioning, positioning, if I can even say the word, gets it right. I have a client, She's a brilliant woman. She runs a beautiful business.
[00:02:35] She's been doing the work on her visibility for a long time, showing up consistently, putting out great content, being very generous with her expertise. And she had a clarity call booked in with a potential client. Cold. Did not know them. A discovery call, basically. And before the call, this potential client had binge-listened to my client's podcast.
[00:02:56] binge-listened, like you do with a Netflix series. Well, like I do with a Netflix series. So she comes to the call already warm, already invested, already convinced. My client did what good business owners do and what I coach them to do, got curious and listened. She asked really smart questions. She did not pitch.
[00:03:16] She didn't sell. She just made the space available and made sure she understood what this woman actually needed. And at the end of the call, my client asked, "Have you got what you came here today for?" And the potential client said, "Yes, and I hope you'll take me on. Will you work with me?" Those dream words, ladies.
[00:03:38] Are you sitting listening to this? The client asked to be taken on. That is positioning. That is what it looks like when you're positioned in real life. The buyer arrived already sold. My client didn't have to convince, persuade, sort, overcome objections, none of that. The work had already been done quietly in the background by the [00:04:00] podcast, by the content, by the consistency, by the reputation that she had built over time.
[00:04:05] That is magic, and that is what we're all working towards, surely. Now, here's where I wanna speak directly to the woman who's been in business a while. Maybe you're at 200, 300K. Maybe you're at a million. Everything that works at 50K
[00:04:21] breaks at 150. Everything that works at 150 breaks at 300. Again, at 700.
[00:04:28] You get my drift, right? I say this because it's so true. When you started out, hustling worked. Me too. You could grind your way to the first six figures by showing up everywhere, saying yes to everything, selling hard, all the things, and that was fine because you had the energy, and you were building, and you were excited, and you were all the things.
[00:04:50] But there comes a point where hustle stops being a strategy and starts being a tax on your life. You're tired. You're running a team. You've got delivery to manage. You can't keep posting five times a day and chasing every lead yourself. It doesn't scale, and frankly, it just doesn't suit you anymore. You have outgrown that way of working, and this is where so many women get stuck.
[00:05:13] They've outgrown the visibility-only model, but they haven't yet built the positioning that lets the business come to them. And so they keep running, and they get more tired, and they wonder why, despite all of this success, it feels so freaking hard. I've been there, as you can tell . How do you know
[00:05:34] if you're visible
[00:05:36] or you're positioned?
[00:05:38] Here's the simplest test I can give you. If sales feels hard, if you have to hustle for every client, if you're constantly chasing, constantly following up, constantly initiating, you're visible. I mean, well done on that, right? If the leads are coming to you, if people are landing in your inbox already knowing they wanna work with you, if you're getting [00:06:00] refer- the right referrals without asking, you're positioned.
[00:06:04] Another way to tell, if you're attracting the wrong type of client, the tire kickers, the ones who quibble on price, those ones aren't quite your avatar, that's actually a positioning problem. It's dressed up as a visibility problem. You're being seen, but you're not being seen by the right people for the right reasons.
[00:06:24] And most of us are a little bit of both, and that's okay. The work is in tilting the balance
[00:06:30] more and more towards positioning So let's talk practically. What actually builds positioning? 'Cause I know you're gonna ask. Number one, it's being known for something specific, not for everything, for one thing, maybe two things.
[00:06:46] When someone in your network is asked, "Do you know anyone who does X?" Your name has to be the first one out of their mouth. I know you're gonna ask me for an example, so I've got one. Let me use myself. If someone says, "I know a female founder who needs more sales, more revenue, and better results in their business", I want to be the first name on their lips, Emma McQueen.
[00:07:10] She's the one for sales and results for female founders. That is it. That's my lane. I'm not the mindset coach, I'm not the productivity person, I'm not the marketing strategist. I'm the woman you come to when you want results and you want sales That clarity didn't happen by accident. It happened because I ha- have been saying this for years in different ways.
[00:07:35] The podcast says it, the Revenue Raiser program says it, Thriving Women say it, the BD Sprint says it, every client story I share says it. Clarity isn't about being clever. It's about being remembered. So if you want to ask yourself, what do you wanna be known for? And are you saying it clearly enough and often [00:08:00] enough that people would know how to refer you?
[00:08:04] Number two, owned channels that builds trust over time. This is your email list. This is your podcast if you have one. These are the places where people get to know you deeply over weeks, and months, and years. My client whose potential client binge listened to the podcast, that's owned media doing its job.
[00:08:26] The podcast was working for her while she slept, while she was on the school run, while she was on holiday. And if you don't have an email list, you don't have a business. I know that sounds harsh. I know you're gonna be booing me. I'm really sorry. But if you are just starting out, this probably isn't for you.
[00:08:41] You just need to start, start out, create an offer, and go for it. But if you're more than two years in, please get this sorted. Social media is rented land. Your email list and your own channels are the only things you actually own, and they cannot be taken away from you. Number three, proof testimonials, case studies, numbers, stories of transformation.
[00:09:04] People wanna see that you've done it for others before they trust you to do it for them. And when you're positioning yourself for premium work, proof is non-negotiable. Side note on this, I feel like if you're hiring someone and they promise the result, make sure you do your own due diligence that they have achieved that result for themselves.
[00:09:25] For instance, I hear shocking stories about coaches who promise $10,000 months, $20,000 months. Have they had them for themselves, or have they had them consistently? And I pride myself personally and professionally on having done all of the things I tell people to do. I've been in business for nine years.
[00:09:43] I've tried and experimented with a lot of things Number four, consistency not volume or intensity. Positioning is not built by posting 17 times a week and burning out by Thursday. It's built by showing up reliably [00:10:00] with a clear message over a long period of time. It's the long game. The people who are positioned well in their industries are the people who have been saying the same thing in slightly different ways for years.
[00:10:11] Don't you reckon? Yeah, I know. I wanna tell you another story because I think this one is a beautiful example of that positioning in action, yeah? I had a client who was invited to speak to a room full of her target market, hundreds of the exact people she wants to work with sitting in one room. Now, here's the rub.
[00:10:32] She was asked to speak for free, and if you can see my face, it's an angry face. I have feelings about women being asked to speak for free. Strong feelings, probably not appropriate for this podcast episode. The default assumption that a woman will share her expertise unpaid while a man in the same lineup gets a fee drives me absolutely bonkers.
[00:10:56] But we kicked it around together. We looked at the room, we looked at the caliber of the audience, we looked at the strategic value of the platform, and we made a call. This one was worth it.
[00:11:05] Not because free speaking is fine, but because the positioning play was extraordinary. So she said yes, She got working preparing properly, right? The night of the event, she walked on stage, and she was sensational, and I can say that with confidence. Do you know why? Because I was in the room. The life of a business coach. I was sitting up the back watching her own that stage, and she was magnificent. But here's where it gets a little bit more interesting.
[00:11:34] The moment she walked off the stage, she literally got mobbed in a beautiful way, but mobbed. People crowded around her, wanting to talk to her, wanting her card, wanting to know how to work with her. And because she was prepared, because we'd thought this through together, she had a way to capture every single one of those conversations, and by the end of the night, she had added 150 people to her email list, 150 [00:12:00] people of her ideal clients from one talk, and their phone numbers and their email addresses.
[00:12:06] Just saying. She also had 15 people come ask her to come and speak for them. 15 new paid speaking invitations from one stage. Now are you starting to understand how this works? She didn't get mobbed because she was visible. Plenty of people are visible. She got mobbed because she was positioned, because she walked on that stage already being known for being excellent at what she does.
[00:12:33] Because the room had been told in advance, "This woman is the one to listen to." Because everything about her presence, her message, her delivery, her offer signaled premium and clear and exactly the right fit. That, ladies, is positioning, and that is the asset compounding. That is the difference between a free speaking gig being a waste of time and a free speaking gig being the highest leverage night of your year I wanna talk about the mindset piece for a minute because this is where a lot of women especially get tangled up.
[00:13:07] When you're highly visible, you're in control. You can see the activity. You can count the posts, the proposals, the meetings. It feels productive. It feels safe in a way because you can always do more. When you're working on positioning, the work is slower, the work is quieter. You're investing in that podcast that might take a year to build an audience.
[00:13:30] You're writing the email that might land softly today, but compound over time. You're refining your message and your offer instead of pumping out more content. Do you see the difference, ladies? And it can feel like you're doing less, but you're actually not. You're building an asset When you're well-positioned, you have to be willing to let some people choose not to work with you.
[00:13:57] Positioning is as much about repelling the [00:14:00] wrong clients as it is about attracting the right ones. Not every business is for everyone, and that's a good thing. I'm not everyone's cup of tea. I mean, thanks for joining me. Let me talk about the Thriving Women community for a minute. I told a story last week, uh, that some of my Thriving Women had not heard.
[00:14:20] This year, we said hello to 50 Thriving Women in our gang, and we said no to 25. Why? They were not the right fit. I didn't think that bringing them into the community would benefit the community for where they are right now. They might come in next year, and they might not, and that's okay. That's positioning in action, right?
[00:14:40] That I get to say yes to the right people, and I get to say no to the people who are not the right fit. Simple, not easy. And if you're listening to this thinking, "Okay, Emma, I want more positioning and less hassle. Where do I start?" Great question. Here's what I'd say. Start with your message. Can you say in one sentence what you do, who you do it for, and what the outcome is?
[00:15:03] If not, that's job number one. Start with your own channels. Email list first, then maybe consider a podcast. You wanna get, uh, maybe a LinkedIn newsletter or some long-form content that makes sense to your business. Pick one and commit to it for at least 12 months. Oh, it's slow. Start with your proof. Get the case studies written.
[00:15:24] Get the testimonials filmed. Make it easy for people to see what you do and who you do it with. Start by saying no to the wrong clients, to the wrong opportunities, to the rooms that aren't your rooms. Positioning is built as much by what you decline as by what you accept. And finally, I'm not good at this, give it time.
[00:15:44] Positioning is not a six-week sprint. It's a multi-year build, but the compound effect is extraordinary, and a lot of us, including me, well, we're a bit impatient for results. I know. I know. And I wanna leave you with this. Visibility will wear you [00:16:00] out. Positioning will set you free.
[00:16:02] The woman who has both is the one who builds a business that lasts, where the leads come to her, where the right clients ask to work with her, where she walks off stage and gets mobbed in the best possible way, where the calls end with, "I hope you'll take me on." That can be you. It is being built every time you show up clearly, consistently, and with a message that's worth remembering.
[00:16:27] If this has landed for you and you're thinking, "I need help with this. I need to get clearer. I need to stop hustling, and I need to start positioning," then let's talk. When I coach women one-on-one, this is exactly the work we do. Your message, your positioning, your sales rhythm, your business foundation, so that you walk away with the clarity and the confidence and a plan that makes people get what you do and want to talk to you about it.
[00:16:52] Because we work hard. We work really hard, and you deserve to have your work understood and your message heard.
[00:16:59] That's it from me this week, and I always do a wacky sign-off because I think I'm being funny. But Brianna, who is my podcast producer, who is watching me now, because that's how we roll, does not think I'm funny. Well, she does, but she puts up with me anyway. So rather than anything wacky, goodbye.
