Unknown Speaker 0:13
Hello and welcome back to another episode of simplify your business amplify your life. I'm so excited about our guest interview today with Kim Roth of Allura Connections. Kim Roth is a business strategist and Kajabi and FG funnels expert she is the founder of Allura connections. She believes in keeping your text simple, which also keeps your business simple. She works with business owners who are ready to simplify their tech and scale their business with a solution that lets them focus on their clients. Instead of worrying about their back end tech. She worked in it for over 20 years as an Oracle Developer. Over the years she worked as a consultant and an employee, but her number one responsibility was always to figure something out that would make someone's job easier. She discovered that if it wasn't a simple solution, then it became a nightmare to maintain. And eventually people search for another solution. She started the online world as a beachbody coach and took just about every training out there. Facebook ads, sales funnels, messenger bots, email marketing, social media, Twitter, Instagram, all of them. It was like a big box of puzzle pieces that all needed to be sorted and put in the right spot. She eventually discovered that was what she loved to do. She loves to make all the behind the scenes magic work, she became an expert at connecting the tech and using online marketing tools to find and attract ideal clients to a business. So get ready. I am so excited to have this interview with Kim. Okay, well, I am excited to have you on today. Kim is when I feel like it's been a long time since we really chatted about some of this techy stuff. But what I love about what you do is the simplifying it the whole idea of simplifying Tech because this tech stuff can be overwhelming. And I always say I know just enough to be dangerous. And the honest to God's truth. So but I'm excited to have you on and just talk about how we can simplify some of the things that we're doing in our business, so that it's not so overwhelming, and we can get it set up and sometimes set up once and done and move on from there. So thank you for being willing to jump on today.
Unknown Speaker 2:30
Thank you for having
Unknown Speaker 2:31
me. Yes, yes. So, um, I guess one of the things that I always hear people ask me or I asked myself, this a lot, too is how to know if I'm even using the right tech in my business. Like, I feel like I'm jumping, oh, my gosh, there's a new platform. Should I be on that one? And, you know,
Unknown Speaker 2:53
yes, I think that happens so easily, just because there are so many different platforms out there. And every day, you probably hear something new that somebody is using, and they just think it's the bee's knees, right? It's telling you that you should switch over to this and you should try it and all that. And the one thing I always tell people is to stay in your lane. Especially if you spent time and money setting up a piece of software to work with your business. And you understand how it works and say it only does 90% of what you need it to do. But you understand how it works. And it gives you the key points that you need. Just stay with it. Unless what you're missing is like huge a game changer for you then kind of research because you have to remember how much time and energy it takes to bring up a new software and to get it completed. I mean, it takes way longer than what you think it should. Because client work comes first. And you also need to you know, sleep, eat and shower. So you need to consider all of that when you're looking at any type of new software.
Unknown Speaker 4:14
Okay, I think one one thing that jumps out a lot, because I've seen it and some new ones that have been coming out is oh, it's way less than this one or it's way less cost wise than this one. And so then that money thing starts running in people's heads.
Unknown Speaker 4:34
Yes. I mean, it those things catch my eye to you, but you really need to research what you're getting. And consider where you want to go in the future when you're looking at pricing, because so many software's they have a base price. That's pretty limited on what you can do with it. Okay, so it could be less than what you're currently paying for something. But six months from now, when the base doesn't handle everything that you need, and so you need to move up a level, you still may have been better off where you were. Yeah. So you really need to do the research and compare features and consider where you're at now versus where you want to be, and how long it's going to take you to get there. I mean, granted, if it's going to take you if you have a five year business plan, and you're like, Oh, I am not going to need that for years, then yes, you might want to consider switching. But if not, you know, really just compare everything and compare your current prices. That's one thing. We're all in one software that comes up a lot. Because an all in one package is going to be, let's say, between 100 and $150 a month. So people think that they can't afford that. Well, by the time they buy, or they start, you know, spending money on an email platform and a website somewhere else. And then you could also have a small course on another platform. And by the time you start adding up those prices, you can be at or above what an all in one platform is going to cost. Sure,
Unknown Speaker 6:15
sure. Now you kind of stick with Kajabi and FG funnels Correct?
Unknown Speaker 6:21
Yes, yep.
Unknown Speaker 6:23
Can you talk a little bit about the difference between those? Because I think both of those are an all in one, right?
Unknown Speaker 6:28
Yes, they're both all in one. I started with Kajabi when I started kind of my business journey. And I love its simplicity, like that's the big thing that I like about it, it's pretty easy for people to get in there. Once it's set up. I mean, any software has a learning curve. But once it's set up Kajabi is pretty simple to go in there and tweak and get to work the way that you want it to work. So the learning curves, not quite as steep. Fg funnels has a steeper learning curve. But you can do so much more with it than what you can with actually funnels
Unknown Speaker 7:10
with Kajabi
Unknown Speaker 7:11
or with Kajabi. Yes,
Unknown Speaker 7:13
I followed it
Unknown Speaker 7:15
fg funnels has, like your calendar is already built in there. It has a CRM built in there so that you can do pipelines, you can do of course membership on it, do your sales pages, you can do your website's, the Page Builder has some more flexibility to it. And design wise, you can do quite a bit more with it too. But I mean, all of those features come with a bigger learning curve. So yeah, so it just depends where you're, again, like where you're going and where your business is now. What platform I recommend?
Unknown Speaker 7:54
Sure. So you if you somebody came to you, you would and kind of went through what they're looking for, you would recommend one or the other verse on whatever they're kind of needing at the time. Yeah, we go through
Unknown Speaker 8:07
what they need, and then see which one is going to best fit them. So yeah. If a lot of times people already have Kajabi, or they already have, it doesn't have to be Kajabi. They already have a WordPress site established or something, you know, like that, where I even evaluate that. They get like a shiny object syndrome to think that, Oh, everybody is using Kajabi or everybody's using fg funnels. And I have all of my stuff on a WordPress site. There's nothing wrong with a WordPress site, especially if you already have an established blog and you've been using SEO. I've told people to just stay where they're at that they that what they have already established is good for their business that they don't have to change just because everybody else is
Unknown Speaker 9:04
in sometimes it sounds like everybody else is but you know
Unknown Speaker 9:08
Yeah, I mean it sounds that way because you started researching and other platforms.
Unknown Speaker 9:14
Like everybody Yeah, it does look like
Unknown Speaker 9:15
everybody else has it. You started looking for it.
Unknown Speaker 9:20
Yeah, so what what are some of the things that that you do for them when you work with them for like Kajabi and
Unknown Speaker 9:30
and actually funnels I'm because either way the the customer the customer journey is the most important part of your business is where do you want people to go as to each step of your business? So we sit down and just evaluate, pull out all the ideas. Everybody always has more ideas than what they have time to implement. So we're So we're looking at the key ideas. A lot of times I start with a one on one offer, what can you do? For one on one business that starts bringing in money? Because once you start bringing in money, then that money can start to fund all your other ideas? Yes, yeah. So yes, so the first step is always like, what can we establish as a one on one coaching offer. And then we look at Alright, so now, once you have that established, we can start working on your freebie, we can start pulling together your website, we can start looking at an application funnel to automate your coaching program. Maybe you want to do a group, coaching program or a course. And then all of that stuff kind of fits in there as we start to evaluate the customer journey.
Unknown Speaker 10:53
Yeah, that's it. That's awesome. Yeah, a lot of the stuff that I talk about with my clients as well, but at least you're getting it into a specific platform for them.
Unknown Speaker 11:06
Yes, we're evaluating their journey and how it's gonna work with the software that they're using.
Unknown Speaker 11:12
Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Um, if you have ConvertKit, or MailChimp, or any of those, and putting them over into an all in one platform, like Kajabi, or fg funnels, I'm assuming has email to yeah, um, do you recommend that? Do you? What are your thoughts on putting all of that in there?
Unknown Speaker 11:38
It depends. Answer it depends. i Okay. So one of the reasons I like having everything together is you don't have to worry about any connections. So you don't have to worry about having your zaps set up. Usually, if the, if the email platform already has a connection inside of your like, you're all in one, like Kajabi connects to Active Campaign, and it connects to ConvertKit. And I think it connects to MailChimp, I believe. So when that software has the connection, I don't tend to worry about it so much as what I do when you have a zap involved. Because I've had clients where the ZAP stopped working and you don't, you don't know it, right, until you go out there and check or you think that your your numbers aren't growing as quick as what they should. So zaps, always kind of make me concerned, it's something that you just need to keep an eye on to make sure that everything's running and you're not getting any errors. So that is like one consideration. The next one, it depends what you want to do with your email and what kind of stats you want to see. So if you compare what you can do in like Active Campaign with what you can do in Kajabi, you can do so much more with Active Campaign, and their workflows and their automations and stuff. So if you need that in your business, then I'm like, yeah, just stay an active campaign. And the additional stats and stuff that you can pull together from some of these other email platforms, and like, just just stay there. Yeah, just because you've decided that you need that. If you don't need that, then I'm like, hey, just use Kajabi his email, you can pull quite a bit of stats. From there, you have basic capabilities with it. The other thing to consider is you don't always have to stay there, you can always switch one way or the other. As far as that goes. I've helped a lot of people go from MailChimp to Kajabi. But I've also helped people go from you know, Kajabi to Active Campaign, because there was some additional features that they wanted inside Active Campaign. The mail that comes inside fg Funnels is pretty powerful with what you can do with it and the workflows and stuff that are all built into that. So when it comes to actually funnels, I typically say use F G, use F G funnels for everything. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Awesome. Now the stats inside fg funnels, they're a little bit harder to get to sometimes versus like what you can get in some of the other email platforms. I mean, one thing, when you're using an all in one, there's going to be a little bit about each module that you're not going to like, from when you go to like a platform that their sole mission is to create an email system that, you know, is the best. Yeah. So you know, when you're dealing with an all in one, they're trying to make everything work together. And typically, there's going to be something you just don't like about each one. But all in all, it gives you everything that you need and makes it simple to keep your business going.
Unknown Speaker 14:47
Sure, sure. So what would somebody need to know or or, like if they wanted to come and work with you what would be some of the first steps that you would tell somebody they needed to do before they could work with you.
Unknown Speaker 15:04
Branding is pretty big, having that big picture idea for the brand of your business. The colors that you want to use the message that you want to portray that as a pretty big thing that God have figured out before you can start pulling your website together and your sales pages and all of that together to at least have a good idea of it. Because as we grow with our business, I think our brand and our message, oh, it continues to grow with us too. But you really have to have that started. Sure, you have to have a vision, and you have to have your brand and your voice. And all of that kind of nailed down before you start thinking about putting your sales pages and your website together.
Unknown Speaker 15:50
Yeah, yeah. Which makes sense, because it's hard to kind of get your voice and all of those other things if you don't have it in full branding, you know, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know, there's some, some people out there that say you don't need to worry about your colors, whatever. Just get out there and start whatever. Again,
Unknown Speaker 16:09
yes. When you're first getting going, I tell anybody that's firstly, just just go. Don't get hung up by everything. I mean, when I first started, I bought my domain. And I had my business domain, or my business name, but it pointed over to my Facebook business page. Because I didn't really know what where I was going and what was going to happen in the next six months. So my big thing was, I just wanted to get clients. Yeah, so at least if I can establish an identity in Facebook, or if you wanted to do Instagram or LinkedIn, like I could at least establish an identity there and start talking to my ideal client and get my first client so I could figure out my branding and my message and all that.
Unknown Speaker 16:59
Right. I totally agree. Yeah, that and that helps, especially because it's, it's when I work with clients, too. That is that's one thing, just narrowing down what they want to do into a niche. You know, because everybody wants to work with everybody, which leads to working with nobody. So
Unknown Speaker 17:16
yes. And that's so hard to say, like, oh, I only want to work with these type of people. Because there's always this panicking psi. Well, what if that I can't find that person, or that person doesn't want to work with me. But if you can't give some sort of direction, yeah, you end up not only not knowing who to work with, and they don't know what you're doing, and it's just hard.
Unknown Speaker 17:40
Right? Right. So what kind of advice could you give to somebody trying to decide on going to an all in one so they can get rid of like, all these separate things?
Unknown Speaker 17:54
All the different pieces? Yeah. So the first thing I tell people is take an inventory of what you got.
Unknown Speaker 18:03
Yeah, we probably have more than what we think we have.
Unknown Speaker 18:05
Yep. And ask yourself, do you use it? Or a lot of times, you could be paying for software that can't like that piece. Like I'll just use quizzes, for example. So you could be paying for a third party quiz platform, but maybe your software like your all in one software, like fg funnels can handle a quiz. So if you didn't know that, and you're paying for it over here, but you really didn't need to, then you know, you can eliminate it based on what fg funnels can do. Now, you also have to evaluate, can it do it the same way that what I'm paying for because you might come back and say, you know why it can't do it the way I want it to work. So I am still gonna pay for it over here. But you made that conscious choice, because you did a little bit of research to see what you could do to save a little bit of money. So that's always the big thing is to figure out what you have, figure out what you're using and know what it can do.
Unknown Speaker 19:13
Because sometimes you do it because you know, it could do this one thing, just this one thing. And you might be surprised that it could do other things, but you're just not utilizing it to that. Yeah, we spend, you know, a lot on these little
Unknown Speaker 19:24
monthly subscriptions. Yeah. Or you needed it for something for a couple months. And now you're not even focused on that anymore. So you could just eliminate it. Yeah, shut
Unknown Speaker 19:35
it off. Yep. Yeah. It gets overwhelming, because again, it goes back with all that tech stuff. If you're not, if you're not, if you're like me, and you're old enough to be dangerous. It's kind of a scary thing. It's like, well, I used that once this last year. And so what if I needed again, you know, it's like, Oh, come on. Yes. But that's where it gets spendy if you're not taking an inventory of what you're what you're using and only making it active for them the months that uses
Unknown Speaker 20:07
Yeah, it's it's hard to turn something off, because you've spent a lot of time and energy either setting it up or learning how to use it. And you think, Well, what if I need it next month? Right? Well, if you do a little bit of planning, you can determine whether you're going to need it next month or not.
Unknown Speaker 20:28
Um, okay, so this is kind of I this probably was covered earlier, but I'm gonna ask it anyway, what have you learned from being in this field that you think people should know? A lot?
Unknown Speaker 20:38
Okay. Well, I mean, a lot of people tell me that they can't do tech. But they don't understand it, they can't do it. And they kind of beat themselves down, before they even start. And I've worked with so many people where that's just not true. They may not have a full understanding of everything. And everything's a little new to them. But so often, when I show them how to do something, they can do it. Yeah, yeah, they just need a little guidance they, they need to learn with somebody showing them versus watching a video or reading about it. And once they have that confidence, then they're more creative, and they're more willing to try things, you're not typically going to break something. I mean, you can you can break something, you can accidentally email people the wrong link. But if you pay attention, even the most established high up business owners have sent me up, oops, I sent you the wrong link, or oops, I sent you the wrong time, or oops, it happens to everybody. So once you get past that fear, most people do pretty, pretty good. Really. They just don't give themselves enough credit. Because it's all new. And it's
Unknown Speaker 22:04
frustrating. So then you just like, throw your arms up, and you're just like,
Unknown Speaker 22:09
Yeah, I mean, even me, like learning a new piece of software. It's frustrating. It takes longer than what you think it should? Um, you don't you feel like you don't know everything. So that's a big, you know, once you have software that works for you, and you understand it, and you can go in there and make tweaks pretty darn quick. You really have to think hard about switching to something else, because it's going to take you months to get comfortable with another software package.
Unknown Speaker 22:41
Awesome. You said you had something you wanted to share with the listeners. So do you want to tell a little bit about that?
Unknown Speaker 22:51
Yeah, I have a freebie. That's your business success plan that pretty much lays out the steps and the tech that you need at like three main steps of your business. So we talked about a little a little bit like if you're just getting started, what do you really need, like, you don't really need a website, you don't need a sales funnel, you just need to get your first client. And at that stage, you can trade a little bit of time for money. So you have some extra time you're not completely booked with clients. So you can do some manual steps to just keep your business running. And then you move to where Okay, now I'm getting clients. Now my time is a little bit more precious, and I need to automate some stuff. So once you start becoming that established business owner, that then you need to look at some different tech that is going to save you some time. And it's going to automate those back end tasks that keep getting pushed to your backburner. So like that's another step in your business. And then that third step, it may or may not be where you actually want to create a course or a group membership or something else, because nine completely maxed out, but you still want to reach more people. And so in that stage, I kind of talked about all of the different software that you need for launching a course. Yeah, there's a lot more to it than what we consider sometimes. So,
Unknown Speaker 24:20
yes, so where can they find that? Or where can they learn more about you even.
Unknown Speaker 24:25
So, you can check out my website, my website is Elora connections.com. That freebie itself is that AlluraConnections.com/bsp for business success plan. You can also check me out on Instagram. I'm Kim Roth underscore funnels over there.
Unknown Speaker 24:45
Awesome. And I'll have those links in the show notes too so they can connect and grab that freebie from you. But I appreciate you jumping on and chatting with me. I love this whole idea because you know, I'm all about simplifying business. So when you're talking about something Buying tech that like, totally like, makes my ears perk up because it's such a frustrating thing. Sometimes that doesn't really need to be so
Unknown Speaker 25:09
Oh, I mean, there's so many people that have great business ideas, but they won't watch them because they're afraid of the tech. Right? And there's, I mean, even if you think about it, there's so many ways to launch business without even using tech. You can still talk one on one with people.
Unknown Speaker 25:30
We make it harder sometimes than it really do. Yes. Well, thank you, Kim. And I, like I said, I'll have those links in the show notes. And be sure to check her out and we'll chat another time.
Unknown Speaker 25:48
Yes, definitely. Thank you very much for having me.
Unknown Speaker 25:51
Thank you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
