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Ever wish you had a mentor to help you become who you were meant to be? Crystal Ware is redefining what it means to become your best self, in business, life, and love and sharing everything she she knows to get YOU there faster.
Are you stuck? Feel like you are meant for more but not sure how to breakthrough? Every week, we will explore all of your questions on building a path to true happiness, achieving success and creating our dream life. Brick by brick, we will work through the issues and mindsets that keep us stuck, dive into finding our passion and how to take ACTION. Clarity (vision) + Confidence (Owning your worth) + Courage (to live life on your own terms and become your own CEO) propels you to your destiny. And the good news it: its all within you!
Each week, host, Crystal Ware, will bring you all of the practical wisdom to grow every aspect of your career and life including mindset, vision, goal planning, social media management, financial acumen and so much more. You'll also meet top business leaders, entrepreneurs, mompreneurers and innovative thinkers who invested in themselves and found their way success and happiness by leading on their own terms.
You were made for more, so start living like it today. Join us as we take action, grow together, and get inspired to reach for your dreams.
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Get Clear with Crystal Ware podcast, the place where we get clear on our goals, own our worth, and learn to be the CEOs of our own lives. I'm your host, Crystal Ware, lawyer and former Fortune 500 corporate leader. Who found the confidence to say goodbye to a lucrative career and start my own business.
Now I'm opening up the playbook and sharing everything I've learned to get you there faster. It may not be easy, but it will always be worth it because you are made for more. So put on your big girl pants, jump on board and let's reach for the stars. Are you ready to get clear?
Crystal Ware: Hey, Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of get clear with crystal where, and today on the show, it's going to be so, so, so much fun. We are welcoming Liz Wilcox, the fresh princess of email marketing and survivor contestant to the show. She is an expert email strategist, keynote speaker, showing business [00:01:00] owners how to build online and make real money.
Real money. So thank you so much for coming on and sharing your time with us today,
Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited. Let's do it. Yeah. And I know that we will have some survivor people, so we will save a few questions for the end to see how much time we have. But I want to dive in because I do think that really does tie into mommying and careering and all the things. So we will get to that. But I know first and foremost, because you have like such unique background, such unique, career, how did you get to be here and be in digital business?
Because that's, not necessarily a traditional path that people are just paving out for us.
Liz Wilcox: Yeah. So I actually started out wanting to be an educator. I have a bachelor's in elementary education. I have a master's in leadership. I wanted to be a principal and own my own, Or start my own school one day, and then I became a mom, right? And I was like, hmm, I [00:02:00] could be that amazing public educator, or I could be a great mom, and which one matters more, right?
And I thought, well, Chelsea's only got one mom. Those, you know, the, the kids that I wanted to serve in schools, there's plenty of educators out there that can help them. And so that's when I started looking for alternative paths, right? Cause I also, And I, I consider myself a really smart, creative human and I couldn't just, stay at home with my kid after a couple of years.
I got, you know, I got the itch so to speak. And so I started my own online blog. I was an RV travel blogger, I was married at the time and we bought and lived in an RV and I thought, Oh wow, people actually move these things. I could do that. If I could figure out this blogging thing, I could do that.
And so I started as a travel blogger. I got really good at it, but [00:03:00] really what I The skill I developed was email marketing, right? A lot of people, after a few years, they said, you know, Liz, you make more money than most bloggers I know, but like, I haven't seen you write a blog post in forever. Are you actually a blogger?
I'm like, well, no, I'm, I'm really an email marketer. Like my blogs, quote unquote, come from my emails. and. After I did, I did the digital course thing, right? Everybody and their mother says, Oh, well, you know, the real pathway to wealth is a digital course. And so after a few years of emailing people, I said, Oh, I'm going to create this RV maintenance course.
Crystal Ware: I had 141 people on my wait list and By the cart close date, I had made 141 sales. So that's when I knew maybe I'm doing this in a different way. Then others, maybe I have something to teach here, which was awesome for my teacher heart. So I [00:04:00] sold that business, went all in on email marketing, and now I'm talking to Crystal. Wow. So when you started writing your blog, did you have a plan? Did you go into it like endeavoring to make money and make it a business or were you really just starting out as fun and I want to share this amazing adventure that we're on.
Liz Wilcox: Don't let the pink headband fool you. I don't do Much for fun Most things I live a very intentional life and so I Started the blog as a business. I knew you know, it was around the time. I started getting itchy I was like, I've got to do something know, my then husband was in the military, but we were on a budget.
I just knew that I wanted more for our lives and I started googling and I was like, how are these people traveling in these RVs? And that's when I discovered blogging and I was like, oh I could do it. Certainly [00:05:00] Certainly so naive certainly I could do that. And so I started it as a business which is Also, I think why I developed this email marketing skill because I took it so seriously.
I You know, a I'm a mom. My daughter was a toddler. My then husband, he really didn't care about the blog. He thought it was like, Oh, that's cute. and so I, I took it so seriously. I was like, Nope, this is going to be my path. Not only to, getting our family on the road, making more money, but like, this is, this is my path to greatness.
Like, I took it so friggin seriously. So I started my email list the day I launched the blog because everyone and their mother said, you do this so you can grow your email list. You do that so you can grow your email list. So I started growing my email list the day I, started the blog and I sold [00:06:00] my first digital product to that email list.
Crystal Ware: About six months later, Wow. So how long ago was it that you started your
Liz Wilcox: I started my blog in 2016. So it actually, I launched the blog almost eight years ago today.
Crystal Ware: That's amazing. And so I want to get a little philosophical for a second because I think it's interesting and clearly You are my type of lady here because that's the difficulty I have is like when people are like just feed into your passion, do what you're passionate about. Well, you know, I think we only have so much time.
So am I going to devote all my time to my kids or if I'm going to take any intentional time, right? Away from doing anything. housewife mom stuff, then what is it going towards? That's what I always think. so I love that you had that thought process around it. what do you say to people who also feel that way?
it needs to start out as a passion. It needs to be something that you love. you can't [00:07:00] just focus on making
Liz Wilcox: LOL, I love money and so does this capitalist society. What the heck are you even talking about? Like, that makes absolutely no sense to me. Y'all, do you think I was passionate about helping 60 year old men get in their RV and travel? Not really. But I knew 60 year old men had money and could buy my books and read my blogs and they had time to read Every single word I wrote, they had time to, show up to my YouTube live stream, okay?
Like, I just, I'm sorry, is this too much? It's, we're recording this on a Monday, I've had a good night's sleep, like, I am on it. and not that I didn't care, it wasn't like I was just, you know, Yep. Money, money, money, money, money. You know, I was, I was interested in the topic, but interested is so much different than passionate.
You know what I'm passionate about myself? Okay. I love me [00:08:00] so much. I want my life to be better than I ever could have imagined. Okay. Like I am so romantic with myself. Like that's what I'm passionate about. I'm passionate about my child. Like I'm passionate about my electric bill. I'm passionate about being able to pay for groceries, as we go into 2025.
I'm passionate about my rest. Okay. I don't, I don't know what else to say. Is that a good enough rant for it for you?
Crystal Ware: Yes. I, I mean, I love it because at the end of the day, We're passionate about creating a life that we love, that serves us, that feeds into the life that we envision for ourselves. And what do we need to get there? and it doesn't come free.
Liz Wilcox: Amen. I wish it did. I wish it did. And now that I do email, I am very passionate about electronic mail. I don't know anyone else who geeks out and gets so excited, but I'm passionate about it because it's changed my entire [00:09:00] life. Like y'all, I am living in my dream house. On my dream street in my dream neighborhood never in my life could I have imagined Living on the street actually when I moved in my ex husband came over to help Move us in And he told our daughter You know, when I met your mom, she took me for a picnic right down the road and she said if she could live anywhere, she would live on the street.
And then she told me, I don't think I'll ever make it. I couldn't believe he, I didn't even remember telling him that. I've blocked that out, right? but I love that email has been the channel to not only give me that, but to make awesome connections like I'm hanging out with crystal right now.
Crystal Ware: Right. And I've been talking to crystal on and off, I think, for at least a couple of years in the inbox on social media. we're finally making it happen. Like, yeah. Email has made that happen. That's why I'm passionate about [00:10:00] it. you know, and it's an amazing, incredible thing that it also is the thing that drives my business that makes it all possible. So do you see this being like a viable option and a good option for like the busy corporate mom out there who really wants more time, more freedom, more energy to devote to her family and her children?because I think that is what a lot of people are looking for is like, I know, and you probably experienced this in your personal life too, talking about a digital business and different aspects of a digital business and what does that mean to people?
And I think sometimes it's kind of hard for a traditional corporate person to really understand that there are these other viable options and to make that concrete and like create a pathway. Yeah. But it seems like it's worked for you. And this is a repeatable, scalable opportunity.
Liz Wilcox: it's so viable. And I I [00:11:00] love talking to moms about this because I was a mom that lived in 200 square feet I didn't have the internet like if you've ever been to the woods, you can imagine the internet situation I had going on Okay I also didn't have a supportive partner again Like he was like, oh, that's cute.
Like you just kind of wasted money, but whatever and I really had to work in the margins of life because Like I said, I didn't go into teaching because I wanted to be a good parent, right? So I wanted to be present and I would go to libraries and Lowe's parking lots and that's when I would do my work.
I'd write my little blog post, which eventually I cut the blog post guys because it was just too much time. I couldn't, I couldn't write, you know, I had crap to do. And so, I had a solid website. Anytime I was on the internet. It was spent either emailing people that are already on my email list or finding people to promote my email list.
And this is where I think corporate [00:12:00] moms, especially will understand the power of networking, right? Like as corporate, it's all about who, you know, it's about the schmoozing, right? But with this type of business, like you don't have to schmooze. You can actually make real connections, Oh my gosh, I really like crystal.
Let's do something together, you know? Right. And so. That's all that I did. I cut out the blog posts, I cut out social media and anytime I was on the internet again, I was just emailing people or I was networking with people that could help me grow my business. So I joined like a peer mastermind where we were all doing similar but different things, right?
We were all in the travel industry. but. we all had different takes. I was a very sarcastic. Oh my gosh. What am I doing type of blog where most people took it a lot more seriously? but of course, we were able to cross promote cross pollinate so to speak and that's how I grew the email list and then of [00:13:00] course as things started growing that's when I started taking it Even more seriously and creating my own products.
Crystal Ware: So this is absolutely viable, especially for the corporate mom who may be, you only have a little bit of time each day, but those are really the foundations of every business I've created. And it's pretty much still what I do today. Yeah. So with that, how would you summarize that if, if you, if I was coming to you off the street and like, Liz, I've got to get out of this nine to five job. I need to have more flexibility, but I also need to create an income for my family. Like one, two, three, four, five, very succinctly. Like what would you say?
How does somebody start?
Liz Wilcox: Yeah, well. So I would number one, get an email service provider. You don't need a website yet. And so that's something that hosts the emails can host what is called a landing page. So people can actually sign up and you can send mass emails through what is called an [00:14:00] email service provider. You can Google them.
I won't waste your time on it.so get an ESP, create some sort of opt in, some sort of lead magnet, right? Hey, sign up for my list. For X, Y, Z. It's, they used to call it and maybe corporate types will really understand this an ethical bribe. If I give you this, you give me your email address, right? And just start emailing once a week in an effort to show that you are invested in that subscriber to relate to them and to stay top of mind, right?
I think I skipped a step. Of course, you got to pick a topic, right? And if you need money, if you're looking to just, quit that nine to five or go part time or whatever, pick a lucrative topic and this is not often taught. I'm so glad we're talking about this. This is not often talked about, especially among women entrepreneurs, but you can pick a lucrative topic for me.
The travel industry, the [00:15:00] RV travel industry at the time was incredibly lucrative. everybody was leaving their nine to five to happen in an RV in 2016. It felt like, and so that was something that, I felt the audience had money. So I could sell, it's, oh, it's my passion to help struggling, parents that, okay, well, if they're struggling and do they have time for you?
Probably not, right? you can pick industries where, you know, wealth, career advancement, travel is a good one. Finance, the economy, all of those are really good industries. And if you Have an expertise in that even leadership. If you have an expertise in that, fitness is another great one.
Crystal Ware: People spend money on those things. Crafting. Oh my gosh. The crafting industry is huge and they spend a lot of money. Okay. So picking something like that. And then of course, again, picking the email service provider. Creating a lead [00:16:00] magnet and then putting it everywhere and anywhere you can think of. That's amazing. I love that. And so with that, that's just kind of a snapshot. And obviously Liz has so many resources and her website will be in the show notes, but getting into a little bit of specifics, because I think. You know, sometimes people talk about, I need to be on social. I need to do these other things.
I need to write emails. You seem to have kind of a proven way of getting emails out the door in 20 minutes or less. Can you tell us more about
Liz Wilcox: Yeah, I developed this when my daughter was a toddler and I really only had 20 minutes. I, you know, I would tell my husband, Hey, I'm going to go to the store and get a drink. And I would go, I would rush to the library to get internet and I would just send something out. So again, all of this is developed like in the margins of life, right?
So with an email, just a greeting, Hey [00:17:00] Crystal, and then a personal update, a lot of email marketers, as you get into this game, we'll tell you to tell stories. I don't know about you, but I don't have time to write a story and I definitely don't have time to read a story. Okay. And that's the majority of your subscribers.
So instead of telling a story, just give a personal update, two to three sentences about something you've done. Since the last time you emailed, you know, oh I was at my nine to five and you know, Carl ate my bagel again So annoying and then you know, that's very relatable, right?
Crystal Ware: Yes.
Liz Wilcox: you know, but I'm emailing you at you know on my lunch break anyway, right?
That's shows you're invested there. Oh You're emailing me. Yep. Okay. Great. so again, the greeting, the personal update, and then just segue into whatever content you want to share, whether it's an outbound link, you know, like a podcast, a blog post, an Instagram reel, or you just have something you want to [00:18:00] type up right there in the email.
Now, I know I said the word segue and that can be scary. You know, our, our 10th grade English teachers, they, they really did a number on us when it comes to essays. But by segue, it can be simple. Remember we got 20 minutes, so let's get to the point. Just hit that caps lock my friend and type anyway, dot, dot, dot.
Crystal Ware: What I really wanted to talk to you about today is that new Instagram reel, that podcast episode, my three tips for X, Y, Z, and then. Get out of there. So that's it. Just the personal greeting, personal update, segue with the caps lock. If you can't think of anything, content, sign off 20 minutes. Wow. That does, that breaks it down. That makes it so simple. And how many times a week do you recommend. You know, emailing
Liz Wilcox: Yeah. So remember we talked about, you need to show you're invested in your subscriber, become relatable and stay top of mind. For that reason, I did. [00:19:00] do recommend once a week. It doesn't have to be daily. but once a week is a great cadence where, you know, when people are looking for your solution, they'll remember you.
They'll know, Oh yep, she's invested in me. Oh yep. I can relate to her. So I'm going to buy from her. if you If you can only do once a month right now, do once a month, put it in your calendar. But I do want to challenge you. I want to invite you to challenge yourself really, to get to that once a week.
Crystal Ware: Cause it is a great cadence for almost all businesses. and for people that are listening that may not have experienced or worked on any email marketing. the subject line is super important and most email service providers will have some way to kind of track your open rates. which means how many people are actually reading what you're writing?
Who are you really connecting with? which is, is at the heart of what you want to work on. So that I know I've experienced can be quite a challenge, [00:20:00] right? Especially if you're a verbose person like I am. How do you succinctly cut it down, write something that makes people want to open it? and how do you come up with captivating subjects?
Or for the people that are on Instagram, it may be, What we call a, a hook, you know, those, I kind of think of them a little bit synonymously. so how, how do you work that out? How do you get people to click?
Liz Wilcox: Yeah. So I actually disagree with Crystal. I don't think the subject line is that important. the from line is what is important. And I know all my corporate girlies will agree when you're looking at your email, you don't actually look at the subject line. You're looking at who it's from first, right? Oh gosh, Carl.
Oh my. Gosh, I'm definitely not answering that right now before lunch. I'm trying to have a good morning. Or, oh, Jessica, I know this will be quick. I'm just going to open it really quickly, right? So we look at the from line first. And I've already told you how to get the from [00:21:00] line. You know, like, yes, I want to open.
We already talked about it. Invest, be relatable, stay top of mind. That way you become familiar in the inbox. I know if I forgot my subject line tomorrow, like if I sent out an email and it just had no subject line, I would probably garner the same open rate I got last week because my from line, it's from Liz Wilcox.
I've done the work. They know I'm invested. They trust me. They're expecting my emails. It probably would have the same open rate as normal. But if and when you get going, yes, subject lines, they're not unimportant, right? You know, we look at the from line. Oh, that's from Liz. We see the subject line. Oh, now I definitely want to read it.
I'm going to click on it, but it is secondary to that from line. So honestly, if you're in a pinch, I would suggest write your email up. Honestly, y'all nowadays, just put it in chat GPT and tell, [00:22:00] say, give me 10 subject lines for this email. At the end of the day, like that really is the simplest way to do it nowadays.
But like Crystal said, if you're verbose, you don't want your subject line to be long. So chat GPT might not know that you want it to be about three to five words, because most people are reading on their mobile, right? Especially when it's not work related. They go home, they're checking their email or in the morning, they check their email.
So we need it to be pretty small so people can see the whole subject line. So again, I, I suggest writing the email first and then looking at it and saying, if I was just sending this to Liz or just sending this to crystal, And I know them. What would the subject line be? Don't try to write it for SEO or Instagram.
You're writing it for a friend, right? You're writing it for someone who consented, who opted in, who already knows you. So write it for that [00:23:00] person. it's, it should give just enough, curiosity to get them to open. So for example, one time you might Have a subject line. That's a question. have you seen this yet?
Question mark. You might add a little personalization every once in a while, saw this and thought of you crystal. and then you might just do, an intrigue. it could just be saw this and thought of you, right? You don't even need the personalization in that way. But yeah, just keeping it short varying it, maybe putting an emoji every once in a while question mark every once in a while But really focusing on that from line when you write emails, am I getting to the point?
Crystal Ware: Am I, doing the things I said I would do? Because that's really what is going to get your emails open time and time again. Yeah. And so we've talked about the email itself and the subject line, but getting there and earlier you mentioned, you spent a lot of time and intentionality [00:24:00] of figuring out. Where you could connect with other people who and how you could get your email list out so that you can get people to opt in. Where should people spend the most time on that? Because it feels sometimes like you could just be all over the place. You could spend an inordinate amount of time and listen, a lot of people here are working moms. So we don't necessarily have all that time. So where is the most bang for your buck? And how did you go about really getting people to opt
Liz Wilcox: Yeah. So honestly, if you have a little bit of extra cash, I would recommend hiring a podcast broker. So getting on podcasts the same way I'm on this one is a great way, to establish expertise and authority in your industry. And it's a great way to get the absolute. Best leads. Cause if you've listened to me for 20, 30 minutes and you stop what you're doing to join my email list, you're pretty much sold on, [00:25:00] whatever I'm talking about.
Right. So if you've got time, I would recommend, getting on podcasts. And if you've got a little extra cash, just pay someone to book those for you because, they are going to vet the show, make sure it's a right fit. and. you're going to get high quality leads from that show.
also something called pod match. com is where people, I don't like to waste time I think I can't remember how much it costs, maybe 20, 30 bucks a month. But there was, are people looking for podcast guests, right? And so, I can pitch them very easily versus, the typical advice of listen to their show 10 times and make sure this, and you got to find their email and that takes too much time.
So I'm just going to go to. Basically, like a matching site for podcast guests and hosts. So if you've got the time and a little bit of extra cash, that's definitely what I recommend. but I also [00:26:00] recommend as far as networking goes to network across, find people on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.
I know you're scrolling on your phone girly, like let's be productive about it and find people that are doing the same thing. And in the same sort of boat as you. So don't try to network too high up. And if you're in corporate, you understand this. You're not just going to go straight to the CEO of the company and ask for the promotion.
You know, you're going to figure out who knows somebody who's in the same boat as you. How can you work together to climb the ladder, so to speak. And this is the same thing you need to do, online. So I think I found people in Facebook groups, people that were, asking questions that I had too.
Crystal Ware: And, oh, let me look at their website or let me look at their social media. Oh, they've got a little bit of a following. I've got a little bit of a following. What if we shared each other's stuff for a month? Let me, let me just reach out to them. So that, Is a really effective [00:27:00] way to network and to get that cross pollination that you really need, especially in the first few years of business and growing your email list. And so when it comes to monetization, I know you've created a pretty solid membership. Can you tell us about that and other monetization strategies that you used early on versus
Liz Wilcox: I've done it all, babe. if you name a digital product, I've tried it out. So my first digital product, again, I was a busy mom. And so I actually, I wrote a book and I'm putting that in air quotes, actually networked across like we were just talking about. And I asked people, Hey, can you write a chapter?
Can you write a chapter? Can you write a chapter? I'm going to put this book together and we'll all sell it. So that was like my first digital product. And it worked really well because I had an email list that liked it. And I had all these other bloggers that were promoting it as well. So it seemed bigger.
Then I actually was right. I was like six, seven months into business and I've [00:28:00] got, you know, 12 people promoting something with my face on the cover. It was awesome. I didn't even know how genius it was. I'm like, gosh, I got to do that again. That's actually a really good idea.
Crystal Ware: That is honestly genius.
Liz Wilcox: but really it came out of, I know my audience told me they want a funny storybook.
I don't have time to write a funny storybook. Oh, well, what if I get other people? So I've done that. I've also put together events. So when I had a little more time, I did again, bring in partners to help me because I don't I just didn't have the support or the resources. but I created a digital summit and nowadays there's these, there's a trend of like mini audio summits.
Those are really simple to put together. It's a great way to grow and also monetize. but Crystal mentioned my 9 a month membership. Yeah. Again, it came down to time. I created this 9 membership for a few reasons, but one of the reasons I keep it [00:29:00] 9 and why I love promoting it is it's a no brainer offer nine bucks.
I write your emails for you. There are templates once a week, yada, yada. It's an easy sell, right? and also it's easy responsibility. You know, if it's 9 and. You email me at four o'clock, but I'm done working. I see the email, but I know I can answer it tomorrow because I got to go pick up my daughter from school for 9.
I don't feel chained to my desk the way, if you were paying me 200, 500 a month, I would say, Oh, I got to get this right away. my daughter can wait for a few minutes. I don't want that, right? So I monetize in a very intentional way of how can I have less responsibility at work while actually making real money.
Crystal Ware: And I've done, I've grown that, membership the same way that I grew my email list, networking across, doing podcasts, having partners [00:30:00] promote it, et cetera. That's amazing. I love it. And I, I think, anytime there's kind of a done for you aspect to things like that is really helpful for people. And so I would just encourage everybody listening. If that's the thought process or an idea for you to think about, what are you good at? What do you enjoy doing?
What can you provide to somebody else at scale? Something that's blanket that universal guidance or, some kind of product that you can push out that helps
Liz Wilcox: Yeah. And I just, while Crystal was talking, I have an idea. Oh, I've seen, I've seen a lot of people do like paid private podcasts. So, you know, as a busy person with a lot of responsibilities, you know, could you, do the things that we said, and then, record like a 5, 10, 20 minute podcast once a week, charge, 10 to 30 a month, and then just start growing from there, because if you've got the 9 to 5, you likely don't [00:31:00] absolutely have to have the money right this second.
And that was a privilege I had with my 9 membership was. I was taking clients and that was where I was getting the majority of my cash flow. So I had time to grow this little thing that does need volume, right? And so, I do, I do my, service providing, you know, Work with my clients and just a couple hours a day.
Crystal Ware: Cause at this point I was working full time in this business, but a couple hours a day I would work on the membership, growing it, networking, finding partners, you know, doing podcasts, interviews, et cetera. And I was always talking about the membership from the get go. So if you've got some time, if you say, yeah, I don't need the money right now, but if I, if I do these little bricks, these little steps every day, for the next two years and eventually, I can replace my income, something like a private podcast or, where you're giving your [00:32:00] expertise every day or once a week, that, that might be a good route for you to go. I love it. I love it. So. With that, how do you think being on Survivor has helped the business? Do you think it's helped being out there? I mean, that is like major PR, right? That's like a thousand podcasts in one or more. I don't know. It's huge
Liz Wilcox: Yeah. Well, let's talk about they say all publicity is, is good publicity, but I have seen this year that that is not true. So if you haven't seen, I was on season 46 of Survivor and I was portrayed in, I mean, I don't want to say a negative light, but kind of a weird, kooky sort of light.
and I, I received a lot of, we'll say bad press. And so I don't think my business really grew. I will say I have heard from some people, not a large amount, but you know, every now and again, I do get, Oh, I found you on survivor. And I, I [00:33:00] knew, Because they did on the first episode. It was crazy.
They showed me saying my like my full name. My name is Liz Wilcox and I help people make money on the internet with email. I couldn't believe they showed that I was like, wow, like crystal just said this is like 10, 000 podcasts, you can't pay for this type of publicity so I do get people trickling in from it, but it hasn't been this crazy Overflow, but I will say It has made me. As far as, you know, bringing it back to how it's helped my business, it has made me so incredibly resilient. I feel now, if I went through that, hitting send, writing a sales campaign, pitching a giant podcast that I've been too nervous about. It's like nothing. It's like whatever, you know, I've starved in the jungle, you know, 30 days.
I can surely, I can ask Pat Flynn if I can come into [00:34:00] his community. Like, who is he? You know, I met Jeff Probst, for heaven's sakes. I was, in, aired in 125 countries across the world this year. I can do anything. And so it's definitely helped my mindset around what is actually possible for me and my business.
Crystal Ware: It's made me a lot less nervous of going for the next level. And I think now that it's over, especially I think in 2025, that's going to help me tremendously grow the business. Yeah. and it's interesting that you say that because, briefly before I went to law school, I worked for a plastic surgeon here in Houston who, was pretty famous locally, you know, a lot of PR and a lot of stuff he did in philanthropy and his daughter went on, the bachelor. This was quite a few years ago, and they had a PR person locally.
Well, she was herself, but they taught her, actually. Not the show, but they, [00:35:00] her PR person helped teach her how to turn up her, you know,
Liz Wilcox: Yeah.
Crystal Ware: Yes, because, they really want characters. I mean, listen, reality TV, Basically, I was born with it. I mean, not really, but by the time I was, going into middle school, real world was coming
Liz Wilcox: Oh, yeah. I loved the real world. Shout
Crystal Ware: Yes. I mean, I remember I didn't watch season one when it was brand new. Cause I think I was only 11 or so, but by the next year I watched the old one in Eric nice or niece or whatever. And his little workout videos on MTV, if anybody remembers those, but they want a character, they want to take who you are and amplify it.
And I don't think that's unusual. not fun if it's not the light you want to be portrayed in. but I thought you were fabulous on there. And I thought I also saw when they shared that and you guys, Liz and I were talking before she went on survivor. so I didn't know, cause you can't share that with [00:36:00] people, it was just like, emails are on hold.
Everything is on hold. but you know, I, I feel like it'll come back around. I mean, I think there's going to be a lot that you can give from that and get
Liz Wilcox: Yeah, absolutely. And now that I'm out of it, I you know, I don't think I was portrayed again like negatively I have you know, a lot of positive feedback. I was just I am myself and like Crystal said it, you know, they do want a character and I'm nothing if not a character You know, I didn't need a PR person to help me tune it in And it's just you know, I really turned it up on the show But they never showed me saying I'm turning this up You know, I'm I'm acting this way because I want people to look at me weird because they then they can easily dismiss me or whatever.
so that's, that's been very interesting. but I think on a binge when I was getting on a binge, people will be like, Oh my gosh, that Liz is something else. Wow. [00:37:00] Look at her resilience. Cause I'm also allergic to just about everything. So I quite literally was starving. So I know that. the further I get away from it, the more people will, Oh my gosh, I loved you on that show.
Crystal Ware: And also the more I'll be able to share those stories and, make them relatable the way, we've been talking about this whole episode. So I'm also curious, because I'm a long time watcher of the show, also big brother and I wouldn't now, but before I thought, Oh, should I apply, should I try to be on? but then when I had kids, I thought, I don't know how was it leaving? Like how was it leaving for that time period? Cause you don't know how long you're going to
Liz Wilcox: Yeah, so the maximum amount we would be gone because they give you a ballpark rate was about less than six weeks
Crystal Ware: Okay. That's
Liz Wilcox: Yeah, and to be honest, I am a type of person that can compartmentalize Pretty easily and so to me it was and we already shared this. I love money And so to me it was [00:38:00] like i'm about to go make a million dollars like mom will be right backand I also nowadays I split custody with my daughter's, father And so I was You know, I had some semblance of being away from her, right?
and when I got out there, the, the hardest part was thinking about just how far away I was, and I had no cell phone. So it's, it's absolutely zero contact with the outside world. Once you leave Los Angeles, they, they take your phone. And I told my sister who was the point of contact with CBS, do not Call me, because if you call, they're going to pull me from the game.
So unless my child is dying, and I hate to say that out loud, like, do not call me. Like, I'm going to win this million dollars. I don't care if she breaks her arm, unless she's having heart or organ failure. Like, do not, do not call, you know, like if she breaks her leg, if she gets [00:39:00] hit by a car, do not call, like, unless it's organ failure, like, we, we're gonna, if, if she has a medical emergency, we're gonna need the money, so don't call, I will be home, like, nothing, I, there's nothing I can do, if she, you know, gets hit, and is in the hospital for a week, cause of her leg, or whatever, anyway, I don't know how that sounds, but that's, that was my mentality,
Crystal Ware: It's pragmatic, people. That's what it sounds like. It's pragmatic.
Liz Wilcox: I'm very logical thinker. a lot of people tell me I have a lot of masculine energy, but that's fine with me. That's probably why I was cast on the show. they were like, whoa, this lady's off the charts. but out there, speaking of pragmatic, I really tried to set aside the mom. And if you watch the show, I think about halfway through, I mentioned my daughter and Twitter went crazy.
They're like, Liz is a mom, even though I mentioned it in the first episode. You know, it's just not, it wasn't part of my gameplay. And so I really tried to downplay it cause I didn't [00:40:00] want people to, you know, Oh, well, she's a mom. She's, she misses her daughter. I didn't want that kind of pity. and I didn't want that to be like, Oh, well, she's a mom.
Let's get her out because you know, that's just a cute story. We don't want at the end. but it was, it was difficult at nighttime. At night, when everything's quiet, you know, the game is sort of gone to bed for the evening. everyone's sleeping at least for a couple hours. I would look up at the stars and something I told my daughter right before I got on the, walked into the airport, she started sort of panicking.
Mom, mom, I don't want you to go. I don't want you to go. And I said, well, I've already committed. So I have to. fulfill the promise I've made. And I said, here's what we're going to do. I said, I'm a day ahead of you. Cause we crossed the timeline. We're in Fiji. I said, I'm a day ahead of you. So every night I'm going to kiss the moon.
I'm going to blow a kiss to the moon and the moon's going to carry it to you. So every night when you look up at the moon, you can know I [00:41:00] already saw it and you can catch my kiss. And so every night that was the most difficult time at night. and I would get upset when I couldn't see the moon when it was cloudy and I would just sort of aimlessly, I would still kiss it.
I go, well, you know, I love you, Chelsea. And I whisper it. I always tried to do it in private. So no one could like hear or see me. Cause I wanted people to think of me as this, you know, logical together, Nothing bothers her type of person. I mean, if you can watch the show, you'll be like what? But you know, that's what I wanted right when I got was maybe something different but I There was another mother on the show that really struggled and you could tell, of course I missed my child.
Of course, of course. but I could tell she was very much struggling. I don't think she had been away from them ever for more than like a day or two where I had been away from my daughter for weeks at a time before, never without a phone. [00:42:00] But you know, I just kept telling myself a million dollars, a million dollars.
Crystal Ware: She's going to, I'm going to be able to afford such a lovely life for her. Don't, You know, don't miss her. Everything's fine. She's fine. but it was a crazy experience. Thank you for, no one has ever asked me that question. Yeah. Well, and I don't know if you've had this one before, but the other one that my husband would be like, you have to ask this, I didn't even tell him and, and he's the one that got me under survivor. I was thinking when you were talking, I'm like, Oh, I'm going to have
Liz Wilcox: Oh, he's going to die.
Crystal Ware: guess who I was talking to.
So, but is. We always talk about when we're watching, how do you handle the bugs?
Liz Wilcox: Yeah.
Crystal Ware: just covered in bug bites? Are you like dying? How is that?
Liz Wilcox: so funny is I hardly ever got bitten, in my normal life. I mean, I live in Florida. There's bugs like crazy here and I'm hardly ever bothered by them. And it was the same in Fiji, whereas other people, We're like Crystal was saying, like, Oh my gosh, the bugs, [00:43:00] other people were bitten like crazy and we're just in, I don't know what it is about my chemistry or my hormones.
I've never really experienced a lot of bug issues. they do give you some sunscreen that has bug spray in it.but that's, that's it. You know, there's no, unless you win a tarp or something, but they don't really give you mosquito nets. I haven't seen that as a reward in a long time. But for me, they weren't bad.
But then I think about, you know, I played with Q and Tiff and they were eating up like crazy. And my boy, Randon was eating up like crazy. And I think by the end I had maybe three bug bites and I was there almost the whole time. So yeah, it was crazy how it must just be the chemistry, you know, the scent.
Crystal Ware: Yeah. Well, lucky you because that's all I can imagine. I mean, I live in Houston, very similar weather to Florida and I am the one that's attracting all the mosquitoes and no matter what.
Liz Wilcox: then. [00:44:00] Yeah. I hardly
Crystal Ware: that's what I think about. I think I could. You know, it'd be difficult to be away from the kids, but for a few weeks, I could manage that.
I could probably manage being outside. Obviously I'm used to the heat, but what would the bug bites be like? And that's where I kind of draw the line of like, is it worth it?
Liz Wilcox: Yeah, I mean, it's worth it. I thought, honestly, the hardest thing is just being on TV, playing the game. And I, I don't know how this is gonna make me sound, but I, I even told a friend, right towards the end, I was like, do you think this game is, like, super easy? And she was like, oh my gosh, yeah, this is so easy.
But, Being on TV, being on Survivor was hard, you know, watching, you know, well, I said that, but I didn't actually say it that way, or, you know, they miss what I said directly after that. That was difficult, dealing with the reception of it, but I am grateful. that I do have such a public [00:45:00] facing business because I had gotten a little taste of it.
So it wasn't like whiplash, like, Whoa, what is this? you know, I've dealt with haters, you know, I've been in business eight years, so I've dealt with that before. So it was just on a much larger scale. but I was able to Especially because of my membership and the way that I've built the business and monetized.
I really was able to kind of hide from the internet, which was such a blessing. I was able to, you know, my sister works for me full time. She was great. She was able to handle, you know, any day in day out stuff. And I just would get online, do the thing that I was, you know, Do the podcast interview, write the email, answer a couple of questions in the Facebook group, and then just get offline.
Crystal Ware: And I did that honestly for about nine months. and I just, I'm just so grateful for past me and all my present customers and future customers, because none of that would be [00:46:00] possible without those two things. Yeah, well, that's amazing. I love everything, your story, what you've built. It's absolutely incredible. I think there's so much value for other. people in digital business in general, but especially for working moms who may want to be building something with those, as you called them, the margins of time, which is like as a working person and also as a mom, that's usually where we're working in between all the margins between all our other responsibilities that we have going on.
So guys, you definitely need to go and follow Liz, get on her email list, learn from all the magic that she's had. for me. I've kind of been dabbling in this for three years or so. And I can tell you eight years, you learn a lot, a lot. Liz is an absolute expert at this point. So it's been amazing.
I love it. I'm so thankful and blessed to have you had you on today and everybody else, all the links will be in the show notes information on Liz and where to find her. [00:47:00] And until next time, keep getting clear on what you want in your life. The kind of life you want to live from day to day and how you can build that because I truly believe with all of my heart that everybody can create a life that aligns with what you want.
If you just go for it and believe in it and take some effort to get there. So keep getting clear on that and keep making it happen until next time. We'll see you later.