My son got a C in Art in quarter two. 

He was upset because he tried his hardest and he didn't understand why this happened. He was doing all the things he thought he needed to do.  This was my opportunity to go into mom and coaches mode to talk through it with him.  As he and I were talking over text, I realized that there are powerful lessons here for entrepreneurs as well.  

At some point, we're going to have to do things that aren't our jam (zone of genius or what we enjoy). That's the nature of the entrepreneurial beast.  Until that time comes, see what resources can help you make the best of the situation.  Collaboration and value exchanges are super helpful to get this work done.  

We're not perfect.  No one is. Not even Oprah or Marie Forleo or Lewis Howes.  We need to give ourselves grace and take responsibility.  Did our launch suck because we didn't show up like we should?  Then we need to own that?  Did the launch suck but we gave it our all?  Well, we did the best we could this time, give yourself some grace. It also leads nicely to lesson three. 

It may be crass, but it's true.  Dwelling in the negative and attending your pity party for one, in the rain with no umbrella, with no food or drink to eat isn't very fun, is it.  Shit happens. I'm not suggesting that you ignore and put a fake smile on your face. Rather, I'm submitting to you that it happens, sit with it for however long you need to and then move on based on lesson number four.  

When things don't go as planned, do a lookback.  We used to ask bankers to do this when I was a bank examiner.  
What went wrong?
Why did it go wrong?  
What's the root cause of the issue?  

The answers to these three prompts will help you move forward.  

I told my son, I would rather get a C in art in 6th grade than a C in art in 12th grade.  Colleges aren't looking at the grades now.  I'd rather make some mistakes now when the stakes aren't as high...when I'm not employing a team or risking hundreds of thousands. John C. Maxwell has a whole book on failing forward and how it can help you turn mistakes into stepping stones for success.  Here's a link to the book on the 'zon. 

This is a lesson I'm still learning.  In an effort to be successful (for my son, it's getting an A or B, for me, it's building my biz and having time and financial freedom), we can try too hard. And if we showed up as us, the results could be different (and better).  

I love the life and entrepreneurial lessons are everywhere. And, my son is okay with his C (it also helps that his final grade was a B and he still made honor roll...so bonus lesson 2: it all works out). 

I was doing research on one of my favorite platforms, Statista, the other day and found something worth noting; the most popular messenger app.  

During the time in my mastermind, there was a dude who said that his audience didn't use email, that they used Instagram.  That's cool, but the thing is, we don't own the follower list on Instagram nor do we have a good means to communicate with our followers if Instagram is down or if ::gasp:: it goes away.  So, how do we serve those folks who are like: 

One way that is becoming super popular is communicating with texts or messenger apps.  You might be like, welcome to the year 2000, Em, but did you know how popular they are and which one is the most popular? Since I did the research, let me share it with you.  

How can you use this information? 

If you thought quizzes are only for getting emails, you're only partially right.  They can also collect phone numbers too.  So, when you collect that phone number, you can include it in your text message marketing or nurture your community by a group chat.  

More leads = more community = more clients = more sales = more impact.  

That's pretty powerful knowledge. And if that isn't support for the 'it's not about you, it's about them' advice, then I don't know what is.

But you might be thinking, that's great, but is this just advice to get more likes?  

Absolutely not. While social media may be a big part of how we can connect with our audience, it's not the only way.  And whether you have you build your business solely through social media or just have a website, personalization matters from a business perspective.  

According to a PNC Solutions article, there are four business reasons why personalization matters; 

• Customer experience
• Increase in revenue
• Brand loyalty
• Customer retention

All of those add up to more money, either now or in the long run. 

In fact, a Salesforce Research paper had some pretty interesting insights.  Instead of you reading the article, I've highlighted a few key takeaways.  

• 58% of people expect a personalized experiece when buying from a company.  That's roughly the same weight as the brand's reputation! 
• a connected customer's propensity to buy = your brand + level of personalization.
• 57% say they're willing to trade data to get a better, more personalized experience.  

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One of the keys here is that people expect this of companies who are selling products or services.  

You might be thinking, I'm only an entry-level entrepreneur or my team is only five people, this doesn't really apply to me, that's really for established companies with hundreds or thousands of people.  

And this is where you are wrong. Remember, people want to be seen, they crave connection, and they love talking about themselves. There's a way for even the smallest of entrepreneurs to get data or information about their (potential) client base and I'll show you the top three ways. 

1. Survey your people. Surveys don't have to be boring, either.  Many survey forms (like Typeform) even included a chat like function so that it feels more like a conversation. 

2. Use a quiz.​ Quizzes are great way to capture leads and learn more about your potential clients, while providing value to the (potential) client.  They answer the questions and get their results (which are all about them), typically in exchange for their email address.  You learn more about them based on how they answered the questions and their overall result.  You can also serve up recommendations to shop an area of your e-commerce store or which of your services would benefit them.  This is my wheelhouse and I love helping people get started with quizzes for this very reason.  

3. ARC. Ask-review-create. I love this method for social media in particular.  Ask your followers a question--whether that's a poll in a group or on your stories. Next, review the responses.  And finally, create based on what you learned.  You can effectively connect with your audience using this approach.  

Do you think personalization is important?  Let me know in the comments below.  
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"I literally don't know why you get so excited about quizzes." 

That's what someone voted on when I polled my Facebook friends about quizzes.  And my first thought was, "That's amazing! Surely you just don't understand why quizzes are so amazing!" 

My informal quiz on Facebook led me to write this post so that I can count the ways why quizzes are so awesome! 

Quizzes tend to have a higher email conversion rate than static lead generation methods.  The PDF you want to send to folks? That's cool, but it sometimes just ends up in my inbox wasteland.  With quizzes, you can optionally send the lead something, but it's more about interacting in the moment and immediate satisfaction of getting results.  

And the bonus, good quizzes are shared! Which means your leads are sharing with their friends, which means more potential leads. 

High bounce rate?  People not sticking around on your website? A quiz can help with that.  Quizzes take two-three minutes to complete, which means that people are staying on your site (and that particular page) for two-three minutes.  You've given them something to engage with and then they can visit other parts of your site that interests them. 

This is one of my favorite aspects of a quiz.  Results (and even answers) can be segmented into your CRM. This means you can serve up content that is relevant for the people on your email list.

Did I ever tell you about the time when I was on someone's email list and  they sent me an email saying that they thought of me for this modeling job near where I live?  Turns out, they were looking for a 60 year old thin woman.  I am in my early 40s (and don't look like a 60 year old) with an athletic build. That disingenuous act caused me to unsubscribe (this person also didn't see the big deal in segmenting his email list).  

I want people to open your emails and find value in them with information that is relevant to them.  Here's an example of how a quiz helps with this.  Let's say you're a money mindset coach and your quiz has three quiz results; amazing mindset, meh mindset, and poor mindset.  By segmenting your email list by quiz result, you're serving up ways to improve someone's mindset to the people who need it, which aren't the people who have an amazing mindset. 

Let's say you have 100 people take your quiz and using the prior money mindset example, let's say 28% had an amazing mindset, while 40% had a meh mindset, and 32% had a poor mindset.  That's good information to know.  Now you know what kind of content your community needs.  Giving them tips designed for those with an amazing mindset will fall flat for most of the people on your list. So you can create content that is designed to help people that need help--because your quiz results showed that 72% of those who took your quiz need help.  

But let's take it a step further (and this is my favorite part). How did people answer the questions.  What does that tell us?  You get to know more about your community.  For example, if most people indicated that they didn't have enough money to take a vacation you could:

• create a social media post on having enough for vacation, 
• talk about that on a money mindset podcast, or 
• create a mini-course on saving for a vacation
• create a freebie or a blog post on top tips for saving for a vacation.

It's probably the biggest reason why I love quizzes. I actually download or transfer the quiz data to analyze and help entrepreneurs come up with these insights...that's how much I love it.  

Quizzes are best positioned in the discovery/brand awareness phase.  However, I love them to also engage your current community. You can engage them, learn more about them and serve them similar to those new leads. You can even do personalized product recommendations based on your quiz. Quizzes are flexible and we are the queens and kings of our domain.  So why not have fun with your current community?

So if you're like, Em, I'm sold on creating a quiz. Here's the two pieces of information you need to know!

1. I use Interact as my quiz platform because it is the most intuitive, platform agnostic tool around with amazing value (don't love WordPress? No problem! Got WordPress? No Problem!). 

2. I help entrepreneurs create quizzes that convert.  There are a few different ways to work with me, so choose your own adventure! 

• Quizzes that Convert Masterclass.  This is great for entrepreneurs who aren't ready to invest in a done with you or done for you service.  You learn my process and do it yourself! 
• Done with you service. This is great for entrepreneurs who aren't ready to invest in a done for you service.  Who may know the type of questions and answers, but need help with the tech.  At the end, we'll create a quiz that you can distribute anywhere you can put a link or HTML code. 
• Done for you service.  This is the best option, especially for entrepreneurs who want to focus on income producing activities and don't have the time or desire to create their own quiz.  You'll receive a custom crafted quiz that you can distribute anywhere you can put a link or HTML code. 

If you want to discuss how quizzes help you, let's set up a time to talk! 

I had the great pleasure of attending the Summit of Greatness hosted by Lewis Howes.  Check out this video recap for all of my great takeaways!