The Color of 2023 The Head of the Table

Nov 19, 2023

"Think In Color" 2023 event has officially ended! We're extremely grateful and pleased for the chance to be part in the lineup of exceptional females as well as BIPOC makers and pioneers of the field. We hope that you leave the event you're amazed by our panelists' experiences and gained an understanding of the best strategies to establish a prosperous online community, expand your service offerings, and grow your business as well as different elements.

Many different subjects were discussed during the discussion, we've attempted to share our favorite moments with the readers. Learn what we took away from each speaker.

Skip ahead:

Creating Cozy & Collaborative Virtual Communities

Cicely Blain is a consultant for anti-racism as well as the co-founder of Bakau Consulting. Bakau Consulting

Session description: Although remote work existed before COVID-19 was established in the 1990s, it was more important for businesses that were transitioning into a virtual setting. By extension, businesses that were looking to keep an intimate relationship with their customers opted to create online communities which are similar to the ones they already have. a part of and help to support one another. It can however be difficult to create an online community that's just as fluid and dynamic as one is physically.

In this video, Cicely Blain shares their procedure of establishing their own online community called Living Room. They share their strategy that they employ to create an atmosphere of warmth and comfort within a virtual space, creating secure and friendly communities, and using digital tools to address the needs of people.

The key lessons that were learned can be summarized in the following manner:

HTML0Find out who your client is and what they're looking on.

Prior to the creation of Living Room, Cicely had decide who they would build the digital space for. As their goal is based in fighting against oppression and racism that exists, Cicely was aware that the community they created would be a target for people like DEI specialists, consultants and HR professionals that do similar jobs.

Then, Cicely had to figure out the reason why these individuals were looking for.

"I was thinking, 'What are these folks anticipating, especially at this time in which things are changing and people are guided by various name?

     The people of the world are definitely looking for an atmosphere of community, of being part of something, and feeling connected regardless of whether they are feeling the sensation of. "They're searching for ways to be connected and learn."

     Relevant to the individuals you are looking for.    

The most effective way to persuade people to join your community is by providing them with something that they are connected to. For Cicely what was most relatable was their house. The idea was to create the same comfortable and cozy atmosphere that their living space gave the residents.

     "I wondered, "What is it that I wish people to experience as they enter the space What do I want people to feel when they enter the space? I thought to myself, I want people to experience exactly the as they feel when entering an atmosphere that's warm as well as welcoming and warm. I would like them to feel at ease, relaxed and reassured. It is important for people to feel comfortable and understood."

Cicely conveys this energy all across the globe via:

  • The session begins with setting aside the participants to think for 10 minutes. Facilitators ask a simple question on screen to assist people reflect internally.
  • A soft music playlist that is based on R&B to help people relax and relax into their calls.
  • Interacting with every conversation with the impression that they're engaging in hilarious conversations with the closest people. While recording video clips for their online classes, Cicely could be doing her makeup or making a cup of hot coffee at the table.

     Provide a variety of ways for members of the community to obtain the information they require    

Although members of an online community might seem to share a common outlook however, they might possess distinct needs as well as strengths and weaknesses. For your business you'll have to figure out diverse ways in which you are able to meet the demands of your customers, regardless of the different requirements.

With Cicely's Living Room, Cicely met the needs of patrons with:

  • Engaging in a variety of methods (e.g. live chat or discussion forums and online-based classes with comprehensive content and much more. );
  • The community's principles and values;
  • The freedom to dress in authentically as they are;
  • The removal of unnecessary stress, such as deadlines and scheduling meetings;
  • Be aware of accessibility issues (e.g. disabilities and neurodivergence) as well as any other.

Fonds within the Funnel - Maximizing the profits of a Funnel that focuses on customer.

Ellie Diop, Content & Director of Finance at Ellievated Academy

Description of the session If you want your business to be successful, you must have potential customers who would purchase your product or interact through your services. But, most companies make the error of putting together content that their ideal customers would want and not what customers actually require. In this talk, Ellie explains how you can grow your business as well as increase revenue by creating a funnel that draws the ideal client and meets the needs and desires of their customers.

     The main takeaways    

     Every element of text plays an important role in the performance.    

A funnel focusing on your customer's needs is like making a connection to your customers. The most effective way to do this is to produce content which is informative, pertinent useful, valuable, and beneficial for your customers. A funnel that is designed to cater to the needs of the customer is comprised of five elements:

  • Awareness
  • Discovery
  • Information
  • Conversion
  • Retention, relationship and REPEAT

On the importance of creating the content Ellie says, "Every piece of content that you produce is part of the selling process for your business. What you wrote in the last three months is performing the task of helping users move across the sales channel... It's crucial to make sure that you show up regularly using the same format creates an established tone which customers can comprehend and help them navigate through your sales funnel."

Clarify your branding

If you aren't sure who your service or product is targeting, nobody's likely to buy from you or use your services. Therefore, before you create an online funnel, it is essential to establish your company's goals and mission by beginning with the ideal customers. It is possible to inquire:

  • Who do I serve?
  • What can I do in resolving their problems?
  • How can I accomplish that?

These answers are the foundation of the business decisions you make. Ellie gives a clear procedure to guide you through reaching out to [your target audience] reach [YOUR PURPOSEwith your service or product

Ellie has had her own experiences with expanding the scope of her company, Ellie shares, "For myself, this may mean helping women to create profitable businesses by providing them the right plan and financial strategy. '... In the past I kept the details written on a post-it inside my office corner. Whenever I wanted to write videos, I'd recall who I had spoken to. "

     Develop your social media followers    

Social media is among the most efficient methods to build brand awareness in addition to create leads for your company. It's that effective that a most people browse through the company's Instagram account (or the other Social Media sites) before visiting your site.

Therefore, it is important to dedicate time (and maybe even cash) into your content for social media in order to boost its exposure. One way to do this is to:

  • Engaging educational and engaging videos (especially videos)
  • Payment for advertisements
  • Collaboration with influencers who have the same market that you.

     Utilize lead magnets to broaden your list of email subscribers    

When you're making content, the objective is to sign up the vast majority of those who aren't on social media onto your mailing list. By signing people up to your mailing list you give them the opportunity to communicate directly with them, which is more valuable rather than merely hoping they come across your videos and posts while scrolling through Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). Lead magnets have the potential to are useful.

If you're in the best scenario, with lead magnets you're offering the value of your product for free in order to obtain the contact details of individuals (usually their email and name). address). You can also consider asking for additional things as well. In the beginning, when she started the business, Ellie offered free 1-on-1 sessions to clients in order to gather feedback. They were used to get her first group of customers that were compensated.

     "You've gotta look at what aspect I can provide an incredible free service to make people satisfied? This should be your principal reason that draws people to sign up. (In my company) I've recently introduced changes in that instead of leading the user immediately to purchase a particular item, we invite users to sign up for an offer that's free like an opportunity to take a masterclass for free. We then sell the offer at the back end. The results we have seen are incredible."

     This process allows customers to keep their existing ones more easily than acquiring new ones    

When you are able to receive it is important to continue moving them through the sales funnel. This is more difficult than convincing an existing customer to buy from you again. Therefore, you should focus on retaining your client as you did before rather than just acquiring customers.

In order to ensure that your customers are loyal, here are some tips to keep in mind:

  • Provide high-end customer service
  • Use customer surveys to get feedback
  • Seek out testimonials from customers who are happy (offer incentives, if in a position to)
  • Design a product or service to fill the market gap

The idea for the offer, Ellie shares, "I am the creator of my first business credit class with a price of 15 dollars. After that, I started to get feedback from customers about what my customers would want to see in the next. Then I created Business Credit, which is Business Credit revamped. Then came Business Credit masterclasses, Business Credit masterclass, and afterward, the whole package. This resulted in most of those who purchased the first then went on to purchase the following one to complete the missing parts. They later bought the 3rd due to the fact that they were advancing their knowledge and skills. They are interested in further learning."

Expansion of B2C and B2C companies with multiple revenue sources

Jessica Chen, Global Communication Expert and Soulcast Media's CEO. Soulcast Media

Description of the event generally speaking have three primary factors that impact their revenues and sales: their products/services and the material they write for describing their services or products and the platforms through the channels they use to communicate their data. In this talk, Jessica discusses the power of LinkedIn to aid businesses in communication with customers (B2C) as well as other companies (B2B) and how you can ensure that your content is appealing for both types of audiences and methods to increase the variety of services you offer for each group.

     LinkedIn is an efficient way to share content on LinkedIn to boost your visibility    

While many professionals and business owners are using LinkedIn but don't take into account LinkedIn a platform on which it's possible to boost the visibility of your business and share material. Instead, they view LinkedIn as an avenue to update resumes, find opportunities, and connecting with friends and acquaintances.

In real life, LinkedIn is a social media website, similar to Instagram as well as X (formerly Twitter), and must be considered a social media site. The only difference is what type of content you publish.

The attraction of LinkedIn, Jessica says, "The advantages of this site is the ability to target a certain segment of users who engage in a course of action committed to the development of their professional and are eager to improve. "

Jessica will also talk about her experience from speaking about her experiences as a journalist back in 2018 to becoming certified Top Voice and a LinkedIn instructor within just five years. The way she describes it is her regular postings on the platform and connects to a variety of people that can profit of her aid to help users develop their communication abilities.

HTML0 Edit the text you are sending to accommodate both B2C as well as B2B audience

Most business owners are of the opinion that their products will only be seen by people who are targeted at people who are just an individual. However, this isn't true.

The advantage of LinkedIn is its capacity for users to modify their messages so that it can be tailored to B2C and B2B groups. It is not necessary for your message to be changed, however having different language used to describe the image of your business can boost the visibility of your business and draw individuals and companies.

"I realize that in order to talk to those who are B2C, I'll employ words such as "you," "your," but have you ever considered this idea? ...?'""you"?" "You" asks Jessica. "My manner of writing has always been concise which makes everyone reading my material feel like they're reading from an person.

     "[With an audience of B2Binstead in place of the words 'you" and "your" I'm currently framing my talk using words like "the team" and "the team" or "the group'. This is more optimistic and less personal."

     Make yourself known as a expert in B2B for your customers.    

As opposed to individuals who need a high-quality product B2B buyers need to be sure you're offering the genuine deal. To get their attention they'll need to position yourself as an authority thought-leader in your area regardless of whether the service that you provide is primarily targeted at B2C buyers.

If, for instance, you're an artist, then you may design and sell courses on photography in order to draw B2C clients. To get B2B leads, develop ideas-leadership material in the arts field or on making a career as an artist. If you're offering one-on-one training sessions to show individuals how to become more productive, you could have the ability to attract B2B audiences by posting content about improving the efficiency of your work.

You can switch your focus from selling B2C services like e-courses or classes one-on-one, to providing talks and other events.

How to build a brand with videos

XayLi Barclay, specialist as well as Visual Content Coach, with Shoot Expand Shoot Expand

Description of the event you run your own business isn't easy to stand out, especially the case when you're in an industry that is crowded or. Yet, you'll be capable of overcoming this fear by creating a branding image for yourself through the creation of video content, such as small TikTok videos, Instagram Reels, or longer YouTube videos. In this video, XayLi explains how you can use videos to help promote your online course as well as to boost the number of sales. Make your brand's image more prominent in the minds of customers.

It's easy to get started.

When you are making your first livestream or even launching your first livestream it must be perfect. Start with the footage you've got. At first you will find that the general public will accept your poor quality videos and not very good editing skills since they realize that with time you'll get more proficient.

XayLi herself began by using a laptop, an unassuming white background and the LED light bulb, which seemed to be a standard.

"This is that I started my career and even got invited to be an expert in their field" she elaborates. "I was not waiting until I had the newsroom of my own and started giving lessons to other people. I used the resources I had since I recognized that what I was trying to share was not just about how gorgeous the studio would look.

Presently I've got a house which has a studio attached, but this is where I started a few years back. "

There will be more details as you progress towards the top.

If you are able to see increased traffic through your content and you earn money you can begin expanding your equipment and upgrade the technology used in your videos. It is, for instance, possible to buy an upgraded camera or webcam, a tripod stand (worth around $500-$1,000) with a green-colored screen, an E-Camm Live along with the teleprompter program, as well as you can also purchase the Adobe Premiere subscription for editing.

Discussing upgrade options available in the field of equipment and set-ups, XayLi states, "[At this stage] There are a variety of camera angles, and there are many more. You should consider investing in these things because you're making the money. Many of us believe that we need to look beautiful to earn money. No. It is necessary to be in the market and after that the money begins to flow in."

If you're able to make enough income, you could begin outsourcing your videos edit distribution, and recording to contractors or an internal team.

HTML0 Pay attention to only one thing at the moment.

It's the common belief that says you have to take every step to grow your company by sharing content on all channels, be a part of every trend, and speak about a variety of topics. But this may not be correct. It's better to concentrate focused on a specific aspect at a moment when creating your image. It doesn't just stop your from getting overwhelmed and taking your hours on it, but will also make the viewer aware of what to anticipate of each time you upload your videos.

Inspired by XayLi Barclay's "Rule of Five Fives" The following are five key elements to consider in developing your plan for digital for action

  • A single product or service
  • One possible market
  • A tool that converts leads
  • The primary source of traffic
  • The main goal of the company

Memberships Members The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Teri Ijeoma the founder of Trade & Travel

The course description when done right it is a wonderful opportunity for businesses to create deeper relationships with their clients and earn additional income. Teri Ijeoma has created an online platform for memberships that caters to Trade & Travel and she currently has more than 35,000 people attending her courses, and over 185,000 subscribers in her database of email customers. In this talk, Teri shares the benefits from establishing a program for members as well as explains how companies can establish and manage the memberships that can be efficient.

Know when it's the right appropriate to change from a model that's completely free to a paid model

If yours isn't the most known business, then it's likely you'll be required to launch the membership process by providing good value. Teri created her own by creating an online Facebook group for absolutely free. However, when you create your own group, it's crucial to know the time to move from a community that is free to a paid-membership program.

Here are some signs that you need to be watching at prior to changing your course:

  • The business you're associated with has been growing in size but members have to pay one-time fees for your service -- instead of paying for any additional benefits members get, e.g. year-long customer support, etc.
  • The members of the group start group's meetings or groups by themselves making it challenging to oversee the group's management duties.
  • Moderators for groups are hired to serve as coaches, providing coaching to the members of the group but without other revenue derived from members of the group.

The membership program you have can be described as a product which is an item in the sense of

Many businesses that create online courses provide subscription plans to add to these courses. Although membership plans can be an excellent way to make your courses more effective but you must consider it a genuine product, not an added-on.

In discussing the Teri's Trade & Travel membership, Teri acknowledges "In the beginning, I believed that it was an aspect of my schooling. This isn't the case. membership is an independent service. It has its own marketing team and a marketing, promotional and sales plan... It is best to view it as a separate service itself."

Be informed of your costs

If you're transitioning from a free-group into an membership-based model, think about what the income you want to earn and set your price on that basis. At this stage, it's simple to set your price lower to attract greater numbers. However, if you're confident that the program is full of value, don't be afraid to charge a premium price for the program.

As in the previous example If you're hoping to earn an equivalent amount of $10,000 per month, it's much better for 500 members to pay $200/month than to get 1000 members to pay $100/month. The more expensive your prices are, the more people will be less likely to join. But this also means that you'll be able to reach your goal in terms of income quicker, and making it easier to manage the program.

Head of Table Panel Discussion

Diandra Marizet (Host) The Executive Director & co-founder of Intersectional Environmentalist

Description of session: This panel discussion includes the panelists Cicely, Ellie, Jessica Cicely, Jessica, and XayLi giving their opinions regarding the significance of inclusivity and diversity in the field of business. The panel also discusses the difficulties women as BIPOC entrepreneurs have to face when they move into the world of creators and the best way to sell their products ethically within the market of capitalism.

Below is a listing of the most emotional concerns and questions in this debate:

     Women from diverse backgrounds who run businesses have reached the realm of financial security in the very first instance. What are the current challenges that they face, the challenges to overcome, and opportunities that this presents?

Ellie Diop: Just like the times you've suffered from in poverty, so is suffering from wealth. If you're one of very few in your family that have a six to seven-figure enterprise, there's nothing to learn from. There's still a stigma around discussing money, especially for those of distinct race who earns higher than the average person all throughout their lives.

When I earned my first million dollars, I was worried to go home and leave my mom's. I was reluctant to invest in the funds since I wasn't sure what I would do if I ever lose the money. In addition, I was scared to tell my relatives as I feared they'd be influenced by my story.

Something I'd love to be more conscious of is the possibility of collaboration in across these fields, which can help remove the negative stigma "Hey is this happening? If you're concerned about earning more or spending your money on it, do not hesitate to talk with me about the issue". The stigma that is perpetuated is one of the main reasons why it's common for people to earn a significant amount of cash only to be back to where they started.

     Most often, when working in corporate settings it is necessary to be able to learn, code-switch or not talk, or take certain elements of our personalities off. In reality, it is not the scenario that we fall under the idea of professionalism. Was that experience a factor in how you engage with your fellow members and how you apply that to the liberating work you do as an DEI professional?

Cicely Blain Cicely Blain: The systems of media that we grew up in, and are now witnessing a particular type of person on television, media as well as social media. When certain creators of online enjoy a significant amount of media attention as others remain in the shadows and it's very easy to be led to believe that you must have a certain way of talking and be.

In the event that you're in a situation that you're acknowledged as who you are by peers and those who are in the position of authority (even even if they don't be experiencing the same things that you are) is a wonderful feeling. But, even though there are more opportunities for representation have increased, they are getting more readily available, there's a double set of standards for what people have to perform. In certain instances it is acceptable to accept these two standards (even in cases where they cannot be true) which hinders us from achieving our goals.

On TikTok most users do not appear dressed with a professional, neat style all of the time. Although it's wonderful, I'm of the opinion that being an active participant is restricted to a very select people who have higher expectations of others, and with regards to how they display their images.

If you're facing the decision of whether the direction you're heading in isn't a good match for where you can lead you in the direction that you're drawn by Then why not consider an option to move to full-time ownership of your firm?

Jessica Chen: All of individuals will reach the point where they realise that the goal we had set for ourselves is over and we're now ready to try various new things. The experience I had was an amazing job that I thoroughly enjoyed, but after 10 years of being employed in the field, I felt sad there was no more to be had. I've always been one that enjoys creating my own path. This is when I was thinking about ways I could pass on the lessons I've learned to others.

I started out as a journalist. It could be seen as an "proper" occupation where there is no room for your opinions and aren't in a position to present yourself as a person but you're just sharing stories of others. It was a bit of a shock to begin creating my own voice as well as to display my unique style of communication. The process was definitely on the upward spiral.

     Which is the most efficient approach to pricing your goods or services in order to draw customers who are in alignment and keen to learn from you and appreciate the value of your product?

XayLi Barclay: A lot often we offer low rates, but we overcharge investors, which is a shame for the investor. You may think your business will attract a lot of customers if the price of your product is affordable. It's likely that there are residents in your neighborhood who don't have the courage to take action.

It was my job to work with a coach to determine how much I could make as well as determining the cost I could charge depending upon the amount. There is a common practice for creators to offer classes online for just $7, and get six figures out of the course, but they're not able to generate enough amount. If you're just beginning your career as a creator and you're just starting out, it's important to know what you want to achieve for your business and determine your prices according to your objectives.

If I run 5 online classes at the cost of $1000 per course, I'll earn five thousand dollars. That's in contrast to offering 500 courses at $10 for each course. Consider it this way. This is what I had to go through.

Watch the sessions of Think in Color 2023 on-demand

We've compiled a list of the key details from the 3-hour-long event intended for budding entrepreneurs as well as more experienced ones working in the economy. We encourage you to explore those topics that piqued your interest.

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