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The Carolina Women's Collective is your one-stop shop. This biweekly podcast, hosted by Booth Parker, features interviews with a powerful network of female entrepreneurs and business leaders, sharing their inspiring stories, actionable advice, and industry expertise.
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Booth: Today on the Carolina Women's Collective Podcast, I am joined by Laura Sson, MBA. Laura is a business strategist and host of The GenXpert Show. Laura specializes in helping Gen Xers who are tired of the corporate life capitalize on their experience and build their own businesses.
Welcome to the podcast today, Laura.
Laura: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
Booth: So I am gonna jump right into some great questions. So the corporate life can be a super path for many, especially starting [00:01:00] out, and it offers stability and the ability to grow and the quote unquote move up the ladder. but it also oftentimes can lead to burnout and a yearning for something more fulfilling, and that offers better work-life balance.
So as a woman myself who falls into the Gen X category and spent many years doing the corporate lifestyle, I can attest to all those things. So why have you chosen to focus on Gen X as your client?
Laura: Well, I tell you as a Gen X for myself, right? So I left corporate a long time ago and went the entrepreneurial path, 'cause that's just kind of who I am.
But during the pandemic, what I saw was so many women our age in, in this age group who were being laid off. or pushed out. Um, and they would try to start their own businesses and they weren't getting [00:02:00] any, they weren't getting anywhere. Um, and they also weren't getting anywhere trying to get jobs in corporate because.
There, there's ageism. I mean, there is a real age bias, and I live on the West Coast where there's a lot of technology companies, and especially in technology, they think that if you're not 30 years old, you don't know anything, which is absolutely not true. But a lot gets heaped on Gen X women. About, well, we're distracted because we've either got kids at home or we're taking care of aging parents, um, or we're not adaptable.
Or the one that you know, really bothers me is, well, we're experienced and that makes us expensive. And so corporate is not responding when we're either trying to get back into the workforce. maybe after taking care of kids for a while. Or we've been laid off, and so we try to come back in. There's a brick wall there.
And so we're, we're leaving all of this talent [00:03:00] untapped, all this experience that's not in the workforce anymore, and that's just not okay. And so what I started to see during the pandemic was that a lot of women were. Thinking about going out on their own, but not exactly sure how to do it.
Um, I think starting your own business can feel overwhelming, especially the first time. and actually the reason for that is that the skillset that makes you really good at what you do, whether that's finance or marketing or um, operations, uh, whatever that is, is a completely different skillset from the one it takes to start a business from scratch.
And so I realized that I had that skillset and that I really wanted to share that with these women who have so much to give and so much talent, and they were just running into a brick wall. And so that's how I came to say, okay, gen X women, those are the people I wanna help because they completely deserve it and we just should not be leaving all this talent, on the side.
Booth: [00:04:00] I love that so much, especially being Gen X because I've, I've heard that story from, you know, many of my peers. I've witnessed it from people, so it's, it's so great to have the support group focus for Gen X. And in addition to focusing on Gen X, a lot of your clients are coaches and consultants. They're taking their experience into that route.
What is the difference between a coach and a consultant?
Laura: That is a really great question because I think, you know, they get interchanged a lot and for the most part I think it's fine. Um, I think a lot of times what, one thing, one way you can think about it is that consultants often offer a done for you solution.
Like they'll come in, they'll assess the problem, and then they'll take whatever it is off your plate and they'll do it. They'll help you implement it. Coaching is more of a, how do you help people do it themselves. It's a lot of times more of a mentorship role and a lot of times it's, I'm not gonna take this [00:05:00] off your plate.
I'm gonna, um, be with you for accountability and feedback while, while you, you know, make this change on your own. So that's one way to think about it. At the end of the day, I don't think it matters much whether you think of yourself as a coach or a consultant unless you are selling into businesses because large businesses probably.
Are looking for someone who calls themself a consultant. And so you need to call yourself whatever your potential clients are looking for, right? So I think it almost makes more of a difference, um, on who's buying from you as to which one of those you should choose, um, rather than, you know, whether it's a big deal about what you call yourself and what you do.
I think the reason I like coaching and consulting for Gen X women is because we have a tremendous amount of experience. And we're at that point in our career where we've learned enough and we've done enough that we can, [00:06:00] um, effectively, uh, call ourselves that and no one's gonna sort of go, yeah, you've been in business for two years, you know, you've been doing what you've been doing for two years.
How can you possibly be a coach or consultant? Right. I think when you're mid-career you could, you actually have some gravitas and can do that. And the other reason I love it for, um, for women Gen Xers, is because it's a very low startup cost. You, you don't have to buy a bunch of equipment. You don't actually need, um, a storefront.
You don't need a lease. Uh, you just need your knowledge and you can start.
Booth: That is great. 'cause there is a lot of confusion I think, amongst people, between the coach and the consultant role. And I like the way you said that it can be interchangeable, but it really depends on who you are selling it to.
And that makes so much sense because, I mean, I do financial, um, I say coaching and consulting, but like when I'm going into a very established business. What I'm doing for them is more of that consultant kind of done for you thing. And then when I'm working with someone starting [00:07:00] out, it's, it's the coaching piece.
So I really like the way you explain that because I think a lot of people have confusion when they're looking for a coach or a consultant, what each role is. So that was fantastic. And yes, the Gen X experience just leads right to that path. So I love that. and I have found personally being Gen X that.
a lot of women when they get to that burnout stage, they're kind of ready to do something different when they choose to make that, change from corporate to entrepreneurship. So how do you witness that in your experience and how do you guide your clients into finding the quote unquote thing that is most aligned with where they're trying to go in this next season of life?
Laura: That is such a great question and I agree with you. It's, that is I think, why a lot of women say, you know, I could go back to corporate, or maybe they tried to get back into corporate, but the lure of entrepreneurship is this ability to take [00:08:00] back your control over the impact you can have. Right. And I think a lot of us, when we kind of get to that Gen X age, you know, we're, we're all between 45 and 60 at this point.
you are longing to say. What can I do that's meaningful to me and how can I, help others? And that is, oh my gosh, that is probably the most common thing I hear from all of my clients is that they wanna help people. And so I think what, what I try to do is I try to say, okay, these are your passions.
Perhaps your talents and the, this is where you have experience, and so how can we find a way to put those two things together in a way that still will allow you to build a business that will thrive? Because I actually don't. Believe in, follow your passion and the money will show up that, you know, if you're a philosopher, we are gonna have a hard time figuring out how that's gonna be a [00:09:00] revenue generating business.
But if we can somehow figure out how you can use philosophy to help a business get what they want, then we can probably figure out a way to make that a business. So I think what we wanna do is we wanna say, all right, who do you wanna help? And then we wanna say, how can you use your expertise and your talent to help them solve a problem?
And if we can figure that out, then I think we can get to that sweet spot where you are doing something that's meaningful, you are creating impact in the world, but that you still have a business that's gonna sustain you financially.
Booth: I love that because we always, and it's funny, the last episode on this podcast, we talked about the difference of purpose and meaning, and it was really focused on meaning. So I like the way you talked about like it being meaningful while you're doing this and not just, you know, do your passion and the money will come.
'cause I've seen a lot of people try that and it. [00:10:00] It doesn't usually work out. So that's, that's really good advice right there for sure. so putting years into that corporate environment, it really does allow someone to gain a lot of experience and knowledge. How do you go about helping your clients capitalize on all of those things from the corporate world as they redefine their role in their new professional landscape?
Laura: Well, there's a couple things that you need to do and it's interesting that you asked that question because I will say that I think the biggest mistake that gets made for new entrepreneurs, and especially in coaching and consulting, is that they start marketing too early. I. And it makes a ton of sense, right?
If you look at the messaging that we get on Instagram or even LinkedIn or, you know, wherever you're going to figure out, you know, how to do this entrepreneur thing. 'cause again, this is not like knowledge that just is out there, right? It's actually a specialized area. And so I I if you go, if you say, okay, I'm gonna be a coaching [00:11:00] consultant, and you go out there and you look for what do I do next?
a lot of the, the messaging that you're getting is market, market, market. And the thing is that unless you put in a foundation for your business, first, marketing's not gonna work for you. So what I help clients do is, first of all, you wanna build a program that people are gonna buy. And the way you do that is by solving a problem.
And then, and the other thing you do is you test it before you go out and start marketing it. Um, so that, that's the first thing we wanna do. The second thing we need to do is we need to price it so your business can thrive and. Women, sort of chronically underprice what they're doing. Um, and there's a lot of reasons for that that I, you know, I don't think we need to go into here, but the reality is that we need to set a price so you're making enough money so you can stay in business and keep helping people.
Super important. And then the third thing we need to do is [00:12:00] that a lot of people, when they find themselves in an entrepreneurial role, they all of a sudden realize, oh my gosh, I'm now in charge of selling this thing, and how am I gonna do that? And that feels icky and awkward. And so what we work on is an authentic way to message what you have.
And so instead of selling, what you're really ending up doing is having a conversation about how you can get hired.
Booth: I like that. It's kind of like your resume all over again, but you know a little bit Yeah. Yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that. So why women are doing this? Because you said women are notorious for pricing themselves too low and I've, I've seen that everywhere.
I actually did a speech one time on value for yourself and. I'm terrible at it too. But women also suffer from imposter syndrome, especially if they've stepped out of corporate for a bit and they're going, you know, back into the workforce. So how do you help women find their confidence from their experiences as they're venturing out into this [00:13:00] new role?
Laura: Well, you know. The great thing about having experience is this is like the one thing nobody can take a away from you. That is, that is authentically yours and nobody else can, um, can be that right? Nobody can I. say the same stories that you can. Nobody has the same approach that you do. And so what we talk about is how do you turn your experience into thought leadership?
And you actually don't have to be an expert to do that. And so what we work on is thinking about how you can occupy, A role in your space that's different and that solves a problem in a unique way that only you can,
Booth: I like that a lot. And that really leads me into my next question
So you focus a lot on thought leadership strategy with your clients. [00:14:00] And I'm learning a lot about this right now, that it is, it's different than content strategy that we keep having pounded in our heads day in and day out. So can you explain exactly what thought leadership strategy is and how it is different from content strategy?
Laura: I think thought leadership strategy is a form of content strategy, but it's different in a number of ways. First of all, it really lends itself to long form content, so unfortunately, because we're all bombarded with. Social media 24 7. Everybody kind of gets into thinking short form content, right?
Vertical video or posts or whatever it is. The thing is, it's really, really hard to explain the way you think and to actually get original ideas across in 35 seconds. So I think that there is a real opportunity here, while everybody else is doing 35 [00:15:00] second sound bites for people who really wanna stand out.
To move over to longer form content. And it doesn't mean, you know, it has to be hours at a time. You don't have to write a book, although you can. That's thought leadership. Um, but I think in terms of podcasts, uh, YouTubes, blogs, eBooks, um, all of those kinds of things are ways that you can have a little bit more time to explain how you really think.
And so look thought leadership. Really is powerful in four ways. First of all, it helps you showcase the way you think. Second, it shifts buyer beliefs. And so if we think about what we need to do to get somebody from maybe not even understanding the problem that they have to getting to a point where they're actually gonna buy from you, we've gotta shift a number of beliefs along that path.
Thought leadership content is amazing for that. The next thing is that it builds [00:16:00] that no, like trust connection, right? You hear a lot about No, like trust. You know, it's interesting that comes from a guy by the name of Bob Berg. He originally wrote this book called Endless Referrals back in 1994, like pre-internet, right?
When the internet was like. Just emerging. Right. And he wrote this book called Endless Referrals that basically said all things being equal, people will buy from the person that they know, like, and trust. And this has just become, I mean, that was like, um, like prescient on his part because this is be, I don't think it's ever been more true that how do you break through all the noise that's out there today?
And I think that's true. People do need to know, like, and trust you. And so how do you get them to do that? I. And long form content. Thought leadership content is an incredible way to really let people inside of the way you think and how you do your work. And then finally, I go back to that last thing that it's really good for, it's great [00:17:00] for making it feel less like selling and more like getting hired because people already get like what you do and what your, how your program works and, and actually the steps they're gonna take with you.
And so they're like, yeah. I, I, that totally makes sense to me because they've explained it all to me. I've read all their stuff, I've listened to all their stuff, and I'm just gonna call this person and hire them. It's kind of like when you hire a plumber, right? If you need a plumber. You don't necessarily call the person on the phone and when they answer the phone, you don't necessarily, especially if you've got like a pipe problem, you know, or, or you've got water leaking all over your floor.
I'm not gonna be there on the phone with you going, well, you know, I need to talk about it with some other people. Or, you know, I need to call three more plumbers, or I need to whatever. It's like, oh, you can be at my house at three o'clock. Great, you're hired.
Booth: I love that. I'm so glad you brought up the whole know, like, and trust thing because I, I wanted to ask about that anyway.
So, trust is gonna be a huge factor when someone is going to hire a coach or a consultant. [00:18:00] And I, I have seen a lot of. Um, people advertising, coaching services mostly in the 35 second content you you mentioned, but they, they never convey experience in those, which in turn, in my opinion, it brings their credibility into question.
And that credibility to me turns into trust for most consumers. Um. How do you take these well seasoned, experienced women clients of yours and get that story into that credibility, trust factor type content? I know you were talking about, you know, building that, but is there a particular strategy for how you convey that experience for that trust factor?
Laura: I was so glad you asked that question. I think there's two main ways that you can do that. The first way is social proof, so obviously testimonials, case studies, [00:19:00] um, anything that you can do to show that your approach has worked. Right, and it doesn't necessarily have to be from your coaching or consulting business, especially if you're new, you can go back and explain about things that you did when you were still in corporate, because again, this is part of that experience that the.
The nobody else can duplicate. Right? That's yours. And so if you explain that, um, you at, at work took a, uh, you coached executives for instance, and that you were able to use this process that, you know, got people, made people better leaders or made people better team builders or made, got people promoted faster, right?
If you can explain how you did that. That goes a long way to building trust because a lot of people out there on the internet are saying, yeah, I can do this. But it's like a complete black box about how they actually do that. So when you start to explain, this is [00:20:00] my approach, these are my tools, these are my processes, and every single one of those.
Is a piece of long form content, right? when we talk about thought leadership, I think people start thinking, oh, you know, I've gotta be like a Nobel Prize winner, or I've got to, you know, I've gotta have 87 degrees. No, you don't. What you need is just.
An approach that works and then what thought leadership is, is it's about explaining to people how you do it and why it works. First, I start with an assessment, and this is why this assessment works and this is why I give it to people, and this is why I use this assessment versus this other assessment.
Right? You can talk about all of that and that starts to really help people understand that you know what you're doing and so then that builds on that trust piece that we were talking about and it also gets people to know. How you work. And people don't buy things that they don't understand. So the more you can explain your process and your tools and that, and show that they work, to the extent that you [00:21:00] can do testimonials and case studies, man, the more you're gonna be able to build up that trust piece.
I.
Booth: I love that and I'm gonna completely flip it now. So now we've built up the trust from the experience and the story, but now we're all having to deal with ai. So AI is new, is the new thing that, you know, everyone's having to deal with. And. It's a bit of a hot topic, for Gen Xers because they're kind of being pushed to embrace AI or they're going to get left, left behind because the younger generations are all embracing it.
So how do these women go about finding that right mix of using AI maybe for efficiency or something like that, but also staying true to their authenticity from their experiences.
Laura: I love that because you know. That's, that is again, the one thing that AI can't do is [00:22:00] replicate your approach and your experience.
So the way these large language models work, all they can do is estimate the probability of the next word in the sentence. That's actually how they work. And so that's why everything that they write tends to like average down. It averages to the middle, right? Because they're taking everything that they've been trained on and they're just guessing what the next word is gonna be.
And so you tend to not have a lot of strong opinions. And so the thing is the, if you've got an opinion and you think everyone else is doing it wrong. This is what you need to write about, right? You need to say, I believe this and this is why everybody else is doing it wrong. And that is just, you think like, well, that's a little bit scary.
It is a little bit scary. But that is what's gonna help you stand out in the age of AI because AI tends to produce really generic content. And the great thing is if you have experiences, you can tell [00:23:00] stories about that AI can make stuff up, but you can tell real stories. And I do. I do think that people still have a radar now.
I don't. AI is keeps getting better, so all I can talk about is where the AI is today. The thing is, do I think you should play with ai? Yes, I do. Do I think that you should get a chat GPT account and like ask it questions? Yes. Learn what it is. Learn what it can do, and if it can help you with your productivity.
If you've got some writer's block or you wanna help you to generate ideas, or you say, I've got a story, help me outline this and make it more, more coherent, by all means use it for that. But. It can't take away your stories. It can't take away your approach. Like if people come into my program, like I've got three milestones that I walk people through and AI couldn't come up with those three milestones because it hasn't been doing what I've been doing for 25 years.
Right. And my, I believe my approach is a little bit different. So I think that the, the extent that you can use that and leverage that in telling people about [00:24:00] what you do, why you do it, and how it works, and who it's worked for. That's something that, um, will keep you authentic. And I think today when you've got a lot of people who are just letting AI generate the content, I, I think you that it's just good.
There's this real opportunity to stand out
Booth: and it all circles right back to the trust factor. So it's. It really comes full circle. Even when you're using ai. I like the way you said, kind of use it for your outlines and ideas, and then you fill in all of that space that, you know, organized, cohesive, thought process there.
Then you fill in with. Experience and your authentic story into there.
Laura: Yeah. And, and you just layer your own stories in, you layer your testimonials in, you layer in your, your, you know, again, you can tell Jae, this is my approach, um, you know, help me generate some article ideas that will get people, um, interested in how I do this.
Right? And so you can, you [00:25:00] can certainly speed up your process that way because you know it. When we start talking, I mean, let's all be honest. Social media takes way too much time outta my week, right? So then generating log to form content, you know, I have a job, I'm helping people. That's what I really want to be doing.
So you know, all of this. Um, content generation. All this thought leadership, uh, work is, um, it, it does take time out of your, out of your week and away from, I think probably what we all would really rather be doing. But if you want to stay in business, if you want to keep helping people, then this marketing and selling.
Is a part of entrepreneurship. It's a part of what you have to do. And so at least this thought leadership approach it sort of makes your product and the marketing the same thing, right? You're talking about your product and how you do what you do. And you make that part of your marketing and then hopefully it takes a lot of the load off of your selling because people are [00:26:00] ready to hire you.
And so hopefully it can close some of that, um, time gap around what am I gonna post today? What should I write about, you know, whatever you're just writing about what you do and how you think about it.
Booth: that's really good advice. 'cause I'm not a techie person and so ai, like, I've started to, you know, use the, the chat chief PT for questions and things like that.
And, one of my co-founders is, you know, younger and she's all AI and kind of teaches us old people some things, but it, it has been interesting to see how it can make things more productive and efficient. And so that, that's a really good way, um, to use it for sure. So in this world of coaching and consulting, are there any specific industries or niches that you see are benefiting from it more, that there's more opportunity in?
I know you know, the, that whole industry of coaching and consulting is, um, growing and expanding, and I'm just curious what you're seeing as far [00:27:00] as trends and, and where it's going, um, long term.
Laura: That's a great question. So I think that there's areas of consulting and coaching that are always gonna be profitable, right?
wellness money, business help, career help, relationship help. So. I think that you can basically say, all right, here's my experience and my talents, and is there a way that I can adjust those to fit one of these areas where people or companies are likely to pay money to get help.
Right? And so I think that you can. Always layer what you do on top of. Places where people are willing to pay money. So what I would say is you're looking for opportunities where people or companies are in transition, because that's [00:28:00] usually when they need help. So if you are helping people who are, uh, recently divorced, you are helping people who have just started companies, you're helping people who have pivoted companies or let's go into consulting, right?
You're helping people who've had a management change. You're helping companies that, Are starting a new product line, you are helping companies that have, um, crappy leadership and they've got a the retention problem, right? So if you can find a place where people or companies are in the middle of change, they're in the middle of transition, and you can focus your business at helping them solve problems and getting through that transition, those are always gonna be moneymakers.
Booth: Yeah, kind of regardless of the industry they're in. But there's always a need. Yeah. I really like that whole, solving a problem. Piece because whether like the consulting piece, okay, well maybe they had a higher level manager, get ill and it's gonna be out for a few months, and they need that void filled versus like the [00:29:00] coaching piece where it's, it's a startup and.
They've run into some kind of hiccup or whatever, and they need to be, you know, taught through it. I really like that, that thought process of the transition and solving a problem and, and everything like that. That's really, really good advice.
Laura: Yeah. So I would tell you that there's three questions that anybody needs to ask if they're thinking about starting a business or even about your business right now.
If you already have a business, you need to be able to answer what problem are you solving? Who do you solve it for and why does it matter to that person or that company to get the problem solved? And if you can answer those three questions, then you'll have a business that can be profitable.
Booth: That's a really good thought process right there.
'cause if you're not doing those three things, then people don't need your service. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And then that, that hurts when you're like, oh, nobody needs my service. So you've got to kind of think through that process for
Laura: sure. But then that gives you an opportunity to pivot, right? Right. That gives you an opportunity to say, [00:30:00] okay, this isn't a problem that anybody really wants solved.
And I do see a lot of people start companies in that area. They think, Ooh, I really wanna do this. And it's like, yeah, but you know, that's not that important to them. So you've gotta find something that's important enough to people where they're willing to pay money to get the problem solved.
That's, that's kind of the deal. People buy things to solve problems.
Booth: Yeah. And let, let me ask you this, and this is completely kind of off the cuff, but it just popped in my head thinking about this do your clients who are going out and coaching and consulting for people, I. Sometimes people don't see the problem that needs to be solved, but you can recognize the problem in their business or, or, or their life, you know, whatever.
If you're in this line of work, the coaching and consulting piece, and you see that, do you ever recommend kind of presenting like, I see this and I could help you with this, or does that kind of spook a potential client away?
Laura: Well, I think what you have to do is [00:31:00] you have to understand your potential client, your target client well enough, and this is why your customer can't be everybody, because you've really gotta understand the problem that you're solving and the person you're solving it for, the company you're solving it for.
So your best bet is to address the problem that they think they have. So, uh, and I'll use myself as an example. So remember earlier when I said a lot of companies just start marketing too early. So I don't generally come out and say, you probably need a program, or you need to adjust. you know what you're selling, you need a different product or service, right?
What I do is I say, well. When you're marketing, are you getting crickets? Like is nothing happening? Uh, when you're marketing, is no one engaging with you? Are you doing all of the marketing things and not getting any response back? Right? So that's the problem that my client sees, right? And so I can then when they come to me and they say, yeah, I'm doing all the marketing [00:32:00] things and nothing's happening, I can say, well.
Did you validate the problem that you have? are you making sure that you're solving a problem? Right? Then I can ask the questions that will help them understand that maybe they need to be solving a different problem that I see that they don't necessarily see. Does that make sense?
It does. It does. You kind of have to show them the problem and not just tell them about it. You know, that's actually something that you can do in your thought leadership content is you can say, you are seeing this problem, this problem, and this problem, or you're having this challenge and this frustration, and what if you are trying to solve it the wrong way?
And by the way, here's a different way of looking at your problem. And when you can give someone that kind of an aha moment, that's when they pick up the phone and hire you.
Booth: Right? 'cause then they see you can solve a problem for 'em. Yeah. That is so great. It all comes so full circle. I I love when that happens.
So, okay. I have one more thing I want to ask you about that you do. [00:33:00] That is, I think it's unique to you and it's something I guess you've in invented so to speak. So you have this, thought content. Generator. Can you tell us about that and how it works?
Laura: Well, today. This is analog, right? It is. It's not a chat GPT, although it might be in the future. But right now what I wanted to do is, as I've gone around and I've been talking about thought leadership. I'm still getting a lot of questions about what do I write about? And so what I did was I went through those beliefs that we need to change for people, right?
So the first thing is we have to educate our audience about what's keeping them stuck. The second thing is we have to show how, what we do, our program or or service, whatever the thing is that we sell, how does that move them forward? We have to get them to believe that we are the right person to help them solve their problem, right?
That's, that's that trust piece that we talked about. And then it's really useful if we can tell them how we're different, right? Because a lot of people have even stuck at these problems before. [00:34:00] And so if they are aware that there's a lot of people out here, out there who do what you do, um, why should they pick you?
Why is it gonna be different this time? Why is your program gonna work with them over something else? Right? So that differentiation piece. And so what I did was I came up with 52 prompts, like just. Content prompts, questions you can ask yourself, things you can write about. So I did 52 because I thought long format content.
If you did one for every week of the year, and by the way, you don't have to do one every week of the year, you can take vacation. But I just, 52 seemed like a good number. So it was 52 questions that you can ask yourself and you can use as a launching point to come up with this thought leadership content.
And so I put this all in a free, uh, document, and it's called the Thought Leadership Content Generator. So it has, it basically leads you through thinking about, um, what you should highlight in your thought leadership content. And then it has the 52 prompts. And then I've got one more piece that I think [00:35:00] really makes a difference because that's the thing, thought content gets us to the know and the trust.
But, and it might get us to the like, but. I think you really wanna identify with the person that you're gonna work with. I think that that human connection, you know, we were talking about AI before. I think the more people start using ai, the more that human connection is gonna be a differentiator and a way that can really help make a difference when people are considering who they wanna work with.
'cause people buy coaching, right? They buy coaches, they don't buy coaching, um, they buy consultants. They don't necessarily buy consulting. They have a lot of choices, right? So they really want. You want them to like you. And so I think in order to do that, you've got to let a little bit of your personality in.
And so I made these, I, I call them selfie boosters, but they're not like selfies like you take with your phone. They're like, how do you tell people about yourself? And you can get as personal or as not personal as you want, but why do you do what you do? What's your backstory? What are your values? Who are you as a person?
And [00:36:00] you can tell 'em about your pets, your hobbies, you know, you don't have to tell 'em about your family if you don't want to. I know some people, like to stay more professional, but I do think that adding that in is just gonna make your thought leadership content that much more powerful. So I included some prompts for that too.
Booth: That is fantastic. Yeah. All, it's all just part of the whole. Story, you know, the authenticity. And, I'm definitely gonna go check out the 52 prompts because that they sound so intriguing. So, Laura, this has been fantastic and I know that everyone listening, not just the Gen Xers, have gotten some great takeaways from everything, especially on how thought content strategy works.
And, I will link. Your website, your socials, and the thought content generator in the show notes so that everyone can go take a look. So thank you so much for your time today. This has been wonderful.
Laura: Well, thank you so much for having me. I've really enjoyed it. [00:37:00]