Ep #312: How I Solved…Summer Series Overview

Stacey Brown Randall: Have you ever wondered how other business owners solve problems that they’re not an expert in? I know I do, and I love hearing the story of how a business owner went through the process to define the problem and then figure out how to solve the problem. So let’s take a listen to some of the stories from business owners who solved problems outside of their zone of genius.

Hey there, and welcome to episode 312 of the Roadmap to Referrals podcast, a show about helping you build a referable business. I’m your host, Stacey Brown Randall. My journey from a business failure to a successful business now 10 years in, I know generating referrals naturally and consistently has made all the difference. Working with clients around the world, we leverage the science of referrals, protect relationships above all else, and help you build a referable business.

Welcome to the Summer Series. If you are a longtime listener of this podcast, you may have been waiting for this. At least you knew it was coming.

So for those of you who are maybe newer listeners or maybe, heck, this is even your first episode you’ve ever listened to, welcome, first of all. So glad you’re here. Thank you for checking it out. And you have found us while we are entered into what we call the Summer Series.

So a couple of years ago, I decided to take a dedicated number of episodes every summer, really just because Summer Series has a nice ring to it. I could have picked any other time of the year, but I decided to pick a topic and then dedicate so many episodes to it and do this every summer.

Now, some summers, the episodes are related to referrals because as you know, I would say like outside of the Summer Series, I’d say 90 something percent of the episodes you’re going to listen to, that’s what we’re talking about. Referrals, referrals and more referrals. And specifically, referrals without asking, right?

But sometimes with the Summer Series, I give myself permission to bring in different topics and to bring in different experts to talk about different topics. Because as much as I love talking every single week to you guys about referrals, sometimes we just need to embrace some other things going on in our business as well. And so I use the Summer Series as a way to do that.

So in the past, we have had a Summer Series, like last summer, our Summer Series was on mindset and thinking like a business owner to be able to not only survive, but also thrive as a business owner.

So we talked about things like understanding your survival state versus your executive state. We talked a lot about mindset. We talked about mental health. We talked about a number of different topics. We had some experts come in and kind of help us better understand how just to protect our minds as business owners.

Also, in the past for Summer Series, we have done series on business development. So it was like everything, it was like topics around business development that you could do in your business that wasn’t related to referrals. That was intentional.

I talk about referrals as the main, for me, because I’m selfish, I want your main way that you bring in clients to be by referrals. I will always want that for everybody. I mean, that’s why I have a business and that’s what I teach, right? So that makes perfect sense. But obviously, you should have more than one way that you’re bringing in clients.

So I think this was two years ago, we did a business development series on the podcast. And we did, we talked about things outside of referrals of ways that people would actually bring in new prospects, right, that could potentially become clients.

So, you know, we talked about things like networking, we talked about things like social media, there’s a lot more. I just mentioned two, but we had a whole Summer Series on that as well. So I definitely encourage you to go check out that one too.

We always usually label these as the Summer Series for the most part, or by the name of the series for the summer. So you can easily find them when you’re looking back either on our website or in your favorite podcast listening app.

We’ve done Summer Series in the past on, I actually did one on the Referable Client Experience, which is what my second book is all about. Which finally has a publication timeline, which is very, very exciting.

It won’t be out until September 2025, and I don’t have the exact date yet, but we are making progress. So I’m very, very excited to be having a timeline and somebody else, namely the publisher, like making me stick to a timeline. It’s very important for me.

But one year I did a Summer Series on the Referable Client Experience. And I broke down the client experience and how I teach it and all those things about building out a referable client experience.

And I’ve done other Summer Series in the past. Some of them related to referrals like back in the day before I got really comfortable with this podcast and was like, it’s okay for me not to talk about referrals every minute of every episode. And I can talk about other topics. So I have expanded. And this summer series is no different.

Funny story. The idea for this summer, this is going to be so weird, maybe I shouldn’t share this on a podcast, but whatever, I’m like halfway down the road and now you’re probably like, finish the story, Stacey, because now we want to know what you’re talking about.

But the idea for this Summer Series came to me when I was in the shower one day. And I don’t know if you get random, crazy, great ideas that happen to you while you’re taking a shower or going for a walk or exercising or whatever, but for me, this idea popped in, and it popped into my head.

And I was like, I wonder what it would be like to have my listeners listen to other business owners talk about solving problems. To be frank, they didn’t know how to solve when the problem first started.

Which means the people coming on this Summer Series, the business owners that I’m interviewing, they’re just like you and me. They’re like everyday business owners.

At one point, I was telling my husband about the series. I’m like, I just want to talk to ordinary business owners who solved problems that they didn’t know how to solve because it’s not what they sell. And he was like, is any business owner really ordinary?

And I was like, you’re right. We’re not an ordinary group. We are a very special, special group. And we are extraordinary, not ordinary, because we start businesses.

So I said, okay, not ordinary, but everyday. Right? So I am really excited for this podcast series, because we are going to talk to everyday business owners who solved a problem in their business. And it’s not related to what they sell.

So for example, I would not come on the podcast to talk about referrals if I was a guest on this podcast series. I wouldn’t come on the podcast to talk about referrals, because that’s what I sell. That was a problem I knew how to solve, solved it, and now I have a business helping other people figure out how to do that. That’s what I sell. That’s my products. That’s my service offerings.

So I was looking for people to come on the podcast where you could really hear the business owner talk about, I had a problem with X and here’s why it was a problem. Here’s how long it was a problem. Here’s why I finally decided to solve the problem. And then here’s how I did it.

And that is the framework for each of these episodes. It is a, what’s the problem? How long was it a problem? Why did you finally decide to solve the problem? How did you research solving the problem? And then how did you actually solve the problem? So that is overall what each episode kind of will follow that exact same framework.

So for instance, we have someone coming on the podcast who’s an attorney that’s going to talk about how he solved his video marketing issue. Like he needed video content, and he just wasn’t pulling the trigger to make it happen and years went by.

So he’s going to come on and talk about, as an attorney, video marketing or video content generation for his YouTube channel is not in his zone of genius, but he figured out how to solve that problem.

We’re gonna have a fractional CFO consultant come on who’s gonna talk about how they finally, how she finally got to the point where she picked a niche, niche, niche, whatever you say, however you talk. I say niche, some people say niche, whatever.

But she’s going to talk about how she finally solved that niche, like that niche problem that really does bother people and follow them along for a really long time. Everyone’s like, pick a niche, pick a niche. And some people are like, it’s just hard. And so she’s going to talk about that, which will be great.

But we’ve got folks coming on to talk about how they solved productivity issues in their business. We’ve got folks coming on, okay, I’m saying folks coming on to talk about how they solve profitability in their business, but that’s actually my episode. So I don’t know why I just said folks coming on, because it’s me.

But I’m going to come on and have one of the episodes where I’m going to talk about profitability and how I solved that problem in the game-changing way that it shifted my entire business. And that’s going all the way back to 2019.

So we have a number of folks that are coming on, and these are everyday business owners like you and me. And they’re going to come on and they’re going to talk to us about how they solve their problem. And it’s great because you’re going to get to listen to them talk about it. And I am very excited for this series.

So I hope you will stick with me through this entire series. We are going to run, I think, around eight weeks with this series. So I’m very excited. But if you’re like, hey, Stacey, I’m only here for the referral information. Well, that’s cool. You should probably circle back around and pick up with us towards the end of July or early August, because we’ll be right back talking about referrals, my friend.

Don’t worry. It’s never far. And of course, we have 300 plus episodes in the past that you can go back and listen to if you need some referral information.

While we take a pause to talk to everyday business owners on how they solved their problems. I am so excited to dive in for this, and I am so happy you’re here and going to join me.

I’m going to ask that when you hear an everyday business owner talking on the podcast, doing their interview with me, talking about how they solved their problem, please show them some love on social media.

You know, we’re going to post and tag them after every episode, but you know, maybe reach out to them on LinkedIn or Instagram or Facebook, whatever handles that they give me, and go find them on the show notes page for each episode but go and tell them they did a great job.

Sometimes for some folks, this is like their first podcast interview. For others, this is like their thousandth podcast interview. So definitely give them some love, give them a shout out, say, hey, great job, thanks for sharing that on Stacey’s podcast.

I would really appreciate you guys showing some love to these business owners because you know, what we put out there, it does come back to us. And so we wanna make sure we are just sharing some love.

Okay. Final thought before I let you go, because this is a quick, quick, quick, quick episode as we get ready to kick off next week with this series, which of course is kicking off with episode 313 next week.

Real quick, what I want to let you know is maybe you’ve seen it because you’re on my email list, maybe you’ve seen it because you follow me on social media, but I have released a new program. And I am affectionately calling it The Starter Course. Its official title is, Your Next Five Referrals.

And what I’ve noticed over the last almost four years of having my coaching program Building a Referable Business, is that there’s a lot of people who want to be in the coaching program, but it’s not the next right step for them.

Maybe that is a time capacity constraint. Maybe it is a budget constraint. Maybe it’s just it’s not the right season in their life or in their business to join me for a year-long coaching program. And I completely respect that.

And in the past, what I had to offer you was just a few of our strategies and maybe one or two that you could access in an online program format. And some people did that and had great success. And then they ended up joining me in the program, in the coaching program, which is wonderful. And other people went through an online program, and they had success and they’re off doing their thing. And that’s wonderful.

But what I realized is that the people who come into an online program, when they don’t have ongoing access to me to ask questions like you have in my coaching program, BRB, and in my VIP done for you service, Referrals in a Day, when you don’t have that direct access to me on an ongoing basis, and you come into one of my online strategies like Growth By Referrals or Referring Machines, that if you don’t have a few things set up in your business, you’re not going to get as much success as we would ultimately want you to have from the online program.

And while we do talk about those things in the online program, there wasn’t anything dedicated to it. And so I decided to take some time and create that, okay, if I could have every business out there, and I could wave a magic wand, and I could have them do what I want them to do, and have things in place before they work with me, what would it be?

And I took those things, and I was like, actually, if some people just did these things, that’s all they need, which is amazing. But for others, they’re going to want to eventually work with me in my coaching program or as a VIP client.

And so I put all those things that I really wish you would have in place. Like, even if you’re never going to work with me, these are the things like, please get this right. Some of these are simple. Some of these are you got to like do a little work for them.

But if I could have you put these things in place, I know that you could start generating referrals and you could start having referral success. And at a minimum, you would have the things in place since you were paying attention to the referrals showing up in your business that you don’t even know are there.

It happens all the time, folks. It happens all the time. And so I’ve called this starter course, I’m using air quotes, you can’t see, but I’m calling my starter course, Your Next Five Referrals.

And the reason why I picked that name is because yes, I actually want you to put these things in place and that would help you generate or find in your business the next five referrals.

But also because at the end of every module in this program, I do what’s called your next five. And it’s where what I just taught you, I then talk about at the end of that module, I’m like, hey, set these things up for me. And then at the end of that module, I talk about where other clients have found referrals hiding within what I just asked you to do.

So it’s a really cool program where not only do you learn the things I want you to have in place, simple things. None of these things should cost you any money. I want you to have these things in place. Hear me say that again. These things will not cost you a bunch of money, or any money, actually.

But then I also go through, and I talk about, and here is when you do this, what you need to be looking out for, because there’s probably referrals there, or you’re going to be able to generate some referrals.

It would be wonderful and lovely if everybody who went through the starter course really received five more referrals after that. I can’t make that guarantee to you. That’s my goal.

My hope for you is it would be your next five referrals could be discovered or brought in or found by going through this starter course. And it is an online course. So let me be clear. But that’s my goal for you. That’s what I want for you.

I can’t guarantee that, because I don’t actually know how fast you’ll put everything into place. And I don’t really know what’s missing in your business right now. But I do know if you put these things in place, you’re going to be able to find referrals.

And that’s what you should ultimately want, particularly if you’re a longtime listener or a new listener to this podcast. You’re probably looking for ways to generate referrals. And this is it.

So we just launched the starter course, Your Next Five Referrals, at the end of May. So whenever you’re listening to this episode, and I’m going to talk about it coming up as we move forward through the summer as well. Go to StaceyBrownRandall.com/starter, and that will take you to the information page that will share with you all about your next five referrals.

A couple of things for you to know. It is an online program, so it is not like there is weekly Q&A calls with me, but there’s a bonus that is offered where you actually can hop on a monthly Q&A call with me to ask your questions.

So you have 12 months of access to this program, but really you should be able to knock this out and get things implemented in your business in really like half a day. And if you needed to take a couple of weeks, you could do that.

We like walk you through doing it over four weeks, but you could really do all of this in a less than half of a day, but you’re going to have access for a full year. And right now, we are offering monthly Q&A calls. They’re groups. You’re going to come in. It’ll be other people who are just in the starter program, who are just in the starter course, to be able to ask questions.

And I don’t usually do that, especially at this price point. But I want to make sure that as you’re going through it, if you have questions, I’m there to answer them. So you will have access to hop onto a live Q&A call that I’m doing, and it’ll be monthly.

And those dates will rotate just based on my travel schedule, but I’ll do one every month. We will not have one in December for those of you who are like, she said every month.

Okay, let me just clarify. I know within a 12-month period, if you join now, there will not be one in December, and you’ll probably get around nine or 10 monthly Q&A sessions. But for the investment of right now of $500, it’ll probably be the best $500 you spend this month. So let’s do that, okay? Join me at staceybrownrandall.com/starter.

Alright, I’m so excited to share that information with you guys. Now, let’s get ready for next week for our episode as we talk about how everyday business owners solved problems out of their zone of genius.

You can find all the things that I talked about in this episode, of course, on the show notes page for this episode, StaceyBrownRandall.com/312, that’s for 312.

Alright, we’re back with another great episode next week. You already know what it is, created with you and your needs in mind. Until then, you know what to do, my friend. Take control of your referrals and build a referable business. Bye for now.