Why People Buy You, Not Your Product
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In this episode of On the Flywheel, I chat with Ed Troxell about how to build confidence on camera and keep business simple. Ed shares his journey from tech and education to coaching others on showing up authentically through video. We talk about mindset, overcoming fear, and why connection matters more than perfection. If you’re ready to be seen, heard, and paid—this one’s for you.
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From Education to Entrepreneurship
Helping People Show Up on Video
Mindset, Fear & The Confidence Gap
Business Simplicity & Systems
Personal Reflections, Books & Advice
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Jonathan Mhart (A):
This is on the Flywheel, a podcast where each week we talk to entrepreneurs and professionals about the practical things they do to build and keep momentum in their personal and professional lives. Hello and welcome to on the Flywheel. I'm your host, Jonathan Mart with Flywheel Consulting. And today we have on Ed Troxel Truck. Ed Troxel. I want to make sure I get your last. I really, all of a sudden in the moment, I'm like, how do I say his name? His last name?
Ed Troxell (B):
You're good. Yep.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Troxell Troxel. Okay, try. Try one more time.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yep, no worries.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
All right. Hello and welcome to on the Flywheel. I'm your host, Jonathan Mart of Flywheel Consulting, and today our guest is Ed Troxel of Ed Troxel Creative. Thank you for being on today.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. I'm excited for this conversation.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
As am I. You have a lot of great insights, and so I'm excited about chatting with you for my own sake as much as, you know, for the sake of the podcast or anything else. So I always like to start the conversation by just asking you a little bit about to tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are today in terms of career path and current business. So.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. So I've always been a part timer when it comes to just regular jobs because I love being able to have different projects to work on with different people. And when I got the full time job at Apple, people were like, yes, you got the full time job. Like, you get the benefits, you get all, you know, the things that everyone thinks you should have is a full time job with benefits and all that. And I was like, yeah, it's, it's cool. Like I have it, but it's not something I really wanted and actually freaked me out. When I got full time, um, I actually didn't apply for full time the first round and they were like, why not? Like, this is for you. So anyway, so I got full time and I realized afterwards that I needed to do more than be in that four walls and be constricted. And so the.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Can I ask you real quick what you were doing at Apple?
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah. So I did SAL Workshops, Business support.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
In the Apple Store then.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yep.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Okay.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah. So I did quite a bit of different things within the store and it was great, but I knew that I needed to do more and get out of the four walls. So the universe really punched me in the gut because I didn't listen the first few times. And it was like, you need to go back out on your own because I Had a business before, a magazine business that I ran for two years while in school and working three or four part time jobs. So again, I like that.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
One of those people that always has something going on, something cooking.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes, yes. And it was fun and it was great, but I had to do this full time. I knew it was all or nothing this time. So this was back in 2015. Started my business full time, went with just my name at Troxell Creative, just to keep it simple. And in fact, the initials are etc. So et cetera. Because I do so much. Right. So that was like the thinking around that.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's cool. I like that.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah. Always thinking about branding and thinking about like, how can you build your personal brand? Right. So I started with that and then I realized at the time, I started with just web design and tech support because that was my world. I was like, but how are people gonna know to choose me? Like, how am I gonna stand out? How am I gonna market myself differently? And that's when video came up. I was like, okay, great video, but I don't wanna be in front of the camera. I don't like the sound of my voice, I don't like the way I look. I don't wanna mess up. Like, it's just, it was not my thing. But then I realized and I had a real conversation with myself in my backyard. Sitting in the hammock on a sunny day.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Is this out loud or in your head?
Ed Troxell (B):
Out loud. To myself. I know as entrepreneurs, we are the crazy ones, as Steve Jobs has told us over and over. So I had this conversation with myself where it was, you either need to get on video and have a successful business or you go back to a nine to five, plain and simple. So I got on video and I studied and I created a live talk show. That's what started me off. And was doing that for five days a week, for about an hour, almost every day, just to get out there. You know, I'm obsessed with content and I'm obsessed with conversations. And as entrepreneurs, those are the two things that we need to get really good at in order to create those conversions for our business.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Oh, that's a great, that's a great insight right there. Yes, that's what I'm trying to do here. Right, Exactly. Yeah, that's. I, we, we talked about. You briefly alluded to this in the beginning before we started recording. But five days a week you said Facebook Live for an hour a day. That is a lot of work.
Ed Troxell (B):
It was, it was a lot of work, but it was fun. And I knew that was my opportunity to connect with people whenever it was ready for them. Like, I would get a lot of live viewers, especially in the early days of Facebook Live, but I'd also get a lot of replay viewers. And I made sure that I was talking to both during my recordings. Right. So even if you're catching the replay, be sure to say hi, because I wanted my viewers to make sure that they knew I saw them and that they're there and that they can be part of the conversation. Like, we forget these days that social media, especially early on, it was always join the conversation at Twitter or at Facebook or whatever platform. We lost that along the way, and it just became this, like, almost like PR feed, where you're just throwing out all this me, me, me stuff and forgetting, like, oh, wait, I'm doing this to create conversations around the content so that we can not only learn more about our audience and ourselves, but also how we can best support one another to grow from there.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's really. I like that a lot. So. So how do we apply that to today, Today's social media landscape, since you're talking about it, like, how do we go from, you know, just like spitting, you know, just volumes of mediocre content out into the world as opposed to having good conversations with people?
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. Especially because so many are using ChatGPT, right. Or some kind of AI model, which we were also talking about where and we're starting to see this a lot, is that people are using this quick rinse and repeat of AI content, that they're just getting a bunch of content and copying and pasting it straight to their socials. And people see that, they realize it, and it's all sounding the same. So what we have to know and start working on as business owners is our personal brand. Our personal brand really is our reputation. You know, that's as simple as that. And so we have to be able to think about what is our messaging, who are we targeting, what are we trying to communicate, and really look at tools like AI and how we can leverage those in our business as our creative partner or our second opinion. Right. It's one of those things that allows us to still be creative, still be using our own critical thinking, and then go ahead and plug into one of these AI tools to help us see what else is out there and how we can expand on it.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, I love that. I think the other part of it, too, is that I think also you're. The word authentic gets thrown around a lot, maybe too much, but Also, I think it's becoming more and more important the more that our perception of what is real or not real online gets more and more blurred because it's AI is getting better and better to, you know, just to alter reality. And so I think feeling like you're connecting with people and that people genuinely care makes a. Has a big, big impact as well.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. That's. And that's the whole point of building out your personal brand. It's getting to know, like, and trust you. Because at the end of the day, we're not necessarily buying your product, the best product on the, on the market. We're buying you and how you are perceived and what you bring to the table. I like you. I want to talk to you. I want to help support you. What can I buy from you? Right. And so we have to remember that. And also, again, not to just copy and paste, you know, I, I've worked with different industries, one specifically with real estate. And I've had agents where they'll say, oh, yeah, I'm sending out, you know, my email newsletter, but I'm not getting a whole lot of tract. Well, we take a look at that and it's like, okay, you're sending an email newsletter once a month, fine, that's kind of a little too far out there, but that's fine. But it's all templated from the brokerage and there's no personality from the agent. People want the personality. They don't care what the brokerage is talking about. They want you just the same way. Like on LinkedIn, for example, your personal profile is going to perform way better than your company page. So should you be posting on your company page? Sure, if you have extra time, but it's not that important. Your personal profile is.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's a. You answered an important question for me. Because I'm like, I have both, but there's no way I'm going to be able to post on both.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
And so I was deferring to wanting to post on my personal profile. So.
Ed Troxell (B):
Perfect.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
There we go. 100% got an A on that one.
Ed Troxell (B):
I can also read mine. So there you go.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's powerful ability right there.
Ed Troxell (B):
It is. It is.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's. That's super helpful. So let's talk a little bit more about, like, specifically what you're doing for people as a part of Ed Troxel Creative. Are you still doing websites and stuff like that? You're talking a lot about social media. What, what does it look like? How are you helping people?
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah, great question. So over Time. I've evolved really into the. The marketing and helping people build their personal brand. And what I focus on is the conversations and the content. Like, how are we creating those in a way that's going to help that individual grow their business? So I really focus on. Typically, the content is social media. So we talk about, you know, what to be posting. Not only the captions and maybe photos. I always take them to video as much as possible and getting comfortable with that because video is the most powerful tool we have available to us. It's the next best thing to you being in person. Sometimes it's even better than you being in person because once you get comfortable on camera, your walls go down and they'll really come. You really come to life.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Interesting.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So should people. So should people. Like, the one thing is, like, part of the reason I'm doing this podcast is because then I can, you know, split it up and turn it into video content for social. Transparently. Yeah. In addition to. I just like having conversations with people and learning about them and what they do and what. What makes them successful. So it's as much for me just personally as anything else. But the thing that I do feel weird about is trying to sit down and talk to the camera about something and give some insight. And obviously there's a huge amount of social medias that people just sticking their phone on the counter and just talking to it, but it just is such a weird thing to get over.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. And that is one of the biggest things that I'll work on with clients, because, let's face it, nobody for the most part, really wants to see themselves on camera. Like.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Agreed.
Ed Troxell (B):
It's just. We all have that, right? So it's. What can we do that we have control over to help us feel more comfortable with that? And oftentimes it starts with the phone. I can tell you, sitting at my computer and trying to talk to the camera is so awkward compared to picking up my phone and being able to record content. Now, for a lot of people, even picking up the phone to record content can be awkward because we're holding it at here typically, or a little higher, and it's. We're not used to that. So there's exercises we'll go through to, like, help them with that piece of it. But it's like going to the gym, right? You. You want to go to the gym to feel better or to lose weight or whatever your goals are. Just driving to the gym might be the first thing for people. Then walking into the gym, then going in for 15 minutes. Right. Like we have to put in the reps because that's what's going to make it easier. And so that's what I'm working on with my clients is helping them with the conversations and the content, building that out. But we do it in what I call 15 minute sprints. So it's all part of my just 15 method.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, you're really, you're really applying the kind of. Yeah. The workout model to, to it. But I like that a lot. I think that there is so much about business and life in general that is just about putting in the reps. And we do get way too worried about like in order to start things being perfect or feeling like everything's just right as opposed to like you just gotta go out and do it. There's a lot that can't be. For as much as we rely on AI, there's a lot that can't be like replaced with experience.
Ed Troxell (B):
A hundred percent. A hundred percent. And just that personal touch, you know, we're, especially when we talk about AI, we're being inundated with so much AI right now that it's overload, especially for the non techie individuals out there. And so the more human you can be in your content, in your conversations and in your in person meetings, the better. Because that's what's going to attract the right people for you and it's also going to repel the right people for you. Like let's be honest, we, that's a good point. We don't want everyone to be our clients. Everyone's not going to be a good fit for us. And so when we start to realize that and we start to put ourselves out there, we have to understand people are going to be repelled by us. And that's okay.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah.
Ed Troxell (B):
That's what we want.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
I mean anecdotally there's not a single creator that I've ever followed online that doesn't at some point when they get successful enough reference the haters.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So to speak. So it doesn't mean it doesn't matter who you are. Everyone's going to dislike you for some arbitrary reason.
Ed Troxell (B):
100%. Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah. Which is, you know, but that's also life too when you think about it. It's just that it, you know, online it's like times a million percent. But there's always people in life, if you think about it, that just don't like you. You don't jive with them. Who knows why the difference is for the most part you can like choose not. You get to choose to minimize being around those people. If you're posting online, the haters, the algorithm could just be reacts to that as well. So they could just keep, you could just keep bumping into each other all the time.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. Well, and I will say this because this comes up quite a bit too, as people will say, like, well, what if somebo, you know, leaves a comment that's not really great. Right. Obviously see what that comment looks like. You can hide it, delete it if, if appropriate. But know this, that when you get comments on your social media posts, whether they're good or bad, it doesn't matter. That's helping your post be seen by more people. It's pushing your content out because the platform, their goal is to keep people on their platform engagement. Exactly. And so the more people that are engaging on your post, the platform itself is like, oh, let's show this to more people. It will keep them on our platform.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, that's a great, that's a great point. So do you what's typically the best course of action if you do get a negative comment? You know, because this is, we're in theory talking about people's businesses here.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So should you delete, should you hide, should you respond?
Ed Troxell (B):
Respond if possible. Like, you know, again, it depends on what that conversation looks like. But always respond because people are watching and even if they're not commenting, they're still seeing, oh, somebody left a comment and they're not responding. Are they guilty? Did they do it? Like so always respond. And here's the beauty you don't have. If you're like, oh my gosh, I don't know, I don't know how to respond to this. Like, I don't want to say the wrong things. Use ChatGPT. Here is a perfect example of when to use AI in your business. Yeah, you copy and paste that in there and see what kind of response they will give you and then be able to adjust it appropriately for yours and then respond.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
I do actually have found that that's one of the best uses for it is under like asking in strategies for like when you have a hard conversation, it's like, how should I send, how should I write this email? How should I have this conversation with this person? I've actually found that to be tremendously helpful.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. And what I always recommend is always double check it. Right. Like don't copy and paste directly. Again, you want to put your own voice in there. But yes, use it as a tool to help you with that. It does Help. And it really does. If you pay attention to it, it, you're going to start to learn those words or the way that it's phrased and formatted. So you won't even have to rely on AI as you continue to go through your, your business and conversations.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah. I've also heard about people putting like, you know, doing like a custom GT GPT and feeding it like, you know, buying the book. Of course.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
And feeding it like a couple books about hard conversations and using that as the like to training it on those books and then, and then asking it like, hey, how do I approach like crucial conversations? Or something like that. How do I approach the conversation? So that's kind of an interesting thought as well.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. And here's a, here's a pro tip when it comes to coming up with responses, whether it's for negative positive reviews or for your follow ups or your, you know, outreaches, create a Google Doc and start having templates. Because chances are you're gonna say if I say one thing to you, it's probably gonna be the similar thing that I'm gonna say to somebody else if I'm doing, let's say a direct outreach or a simple follow up to whatever our conversation was. Like, if you catch yourself doing the same thing two or three times, create a template.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, 100%, I will say there's a couple. The productivity nerd of me.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Also says there's a couple other things you can do. One is they have like text expander apps.
Ed Troxell (B):
Oh yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, so you can put them in there. So you type in three letters and then it'll pop, you know, it'll populate with the whole block of text. You can even have it ask you questions. So like, you know, if you're saying like normally you say hi person's name, whatever. You can literally, it'll say, hey, who you, you know, it'll ask you for the person's name. You say, you know, frank, and then it automatically puts it in there too. So you can do.
Ed Troxell (B):
Love that. Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
As well.
Ed Troxell (B):
Anything that we can do to help ease that time constraint that we have and to make our lives easier. Because again, it's all about putting in those reps and being able to see and recognize, oh, I'm doing this multiple times over and over. Why not template that? Why not make my life easier?
Jonathan Mhart (A):
100%. Yeah, I tell people that all the time. It's like if there is a process in your life that you're doing over and over again or especially in business and you're like, I hate this every, I have to do this every week or every day and I hate this. And it's painful.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That means like, let's look at that process and understand if there's an easier way to do that.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So that everything, you know, or it's like kind of the old, you know, the thought is always, what is it is, is delegate. It's like automate, delegate or get rid of it, you know, whenever you can. The things that are painful or you don't enjoy doing.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So well. So I want to jump into like talking a little bit more broadly about your business. I'm curious and just some of the kind of like interesting questions I like asking everyone. The first one is what is the best part and the worst part about what you do?
Ed Troxell (B):
The best part is being able to see my clients come to life. And what I mean by that is seeing them smile and feel that weight lifted off their shoulder, both in our one on ones, but also when they start showing up on social media. Right. A lot of my clients will eventually start to post their videos and to see that come into my feed is everything because I know what they did before that video to get there. Right. And so it just, it's the most magical moment. And for other clients who maybe aren't doing the videos on social, but they're now creating messages in their emails that are actually getting responses that are mind blowing for them, that makes me so happy. So one of the things that I always do with my clients is I always start with celebrating wins because as entrepreneurs it is very lonely out there and we don't have that support system. So when I'm working with someone, I always make sure that is something that we're doing constantly because those wins, whether big or small, is what is all about this journey and why we're here to do it. So we need to make sure that we're embracing those. So that was a long answer, but that, that's where I go with that part.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
I love that.
Ed Troxell (B):
So the worst part, the worst part I will say is probably, ah, it's so challenging because I do love entrepreneurship. I will say the worst part is lack of communication from others. I, I, that's fair. I, I will say that I, I just did a post on this and actually it's gotten quite a bit of good attention around it. And you know, it's one of those things where we're, I'm just saying it how it is because I'm tired of people beating around the bush when it comes to it. Right. Like, I'm big on communication. Whether you're trying to work with someone or you reaching out to them for whatever reason, like, whatever it is, like, just communicate, I'm not interested or I'm busy or, you know, I'll. I got this. I received it. I'll follow up. Like, there's just so much lost in communication, lack of communication these days that it comes down to a respect thing. So I would say that's probably like, the worst part about entrepreneurship, is that there is a lack of communication.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Are you more referring to you being an entrepreneur, entrepreneur or working with entrepreneurs?
Ed Troxell (B):
I will say those who are trying to work with you as an entrepreneur. Yeah, Usually that. That's the case there.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah. I, you know, that's a tough one. I fundamentally agree with you on that. At the same time, I think we get. There's so many inputs into our lives that were completely out of. Like, completely out of our control.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, I mean, that's obviously. I mean, the fundamental flaw with email is it's basically like a task list that anyone can insert something into at any point. It literally 24 hours a day, and you have no control over whether you want to see that or hear from that. And so, like, half of our, you know, not so much of our time is spent just trying to like, filter through, like, filter out the noise. Only focus on what is important. And I know for me, like, I want to be the person you're describing. I aspire to that. But in reality, it's like, you know, I get so many emails that I have to triage through. Like, yes, I could take a second and respond to an email and says, like, received or whatever, you know, but it's also like, that's one more, like, mental load as opposed to just like, archive, archive. Good, good. I don't need to respond to that now. If you're actively working on a project together and then you just leave someone hanging, that's a little bit different, of course. But that's always the challenge for me personally is like, there's so much stuff coming in. At some point, I'm like, I'm just trying to get through the essentials. If I don't really need to deal with this, then I'm just gonna push it off.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah. And I will say one trick around that that can be helpful for anybody that's in that situation is that you, because we all have multiple emails, is that you assign an email specifically for, like, in this example, junk mail. Right. Or subscriptions or whatever.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Oh, 100%.
Ed Troxell (B):
That one I definitely love working on is having that piece because I. Right now I have probably over 200 in that email. And, and having the number drives me crazy as, as the, you know, I guess that's my adhd.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Not helpful for me at all.
Ed Troxell (B):
I can't stand that. So I'll leave that inbox. But I know like I can get to that when I get to it because whatever's in there is not important.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You don't want to see what the numbers are. Yeah, fine. If you think 200 is bad.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, at least for my like, I also have the like generic spam email that I sign up for everything with and I.
Ed Troxell (B):
Good.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, I just. Yeah, no, I'm talking about just work like. Like work related emails right now.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
But it, yeah, it's just like, you know, non stop. It's too. Yeah. The personal one. I'm never going to even worry about trying to empty that thing out. That does what it does. I actually use a tool called SaneBox. Have you ever heard of that before? Yeah, yeah, that's been. That's immensely helpful.
Ed Troxell (B):
Oh good. I haven't actually used it, but I've seen it.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, it's. It's excellent because it makes it. It's just really. It does a really good job of just only servicing like in your actual inbox. For me, the things that are like, I actually need to do something about as opposed to, you know. And then you can really easily train it to like filter out all the other emails that you get when you're cc'd on things or you're like.
Ed Troxell (B):
Oh yeah, that's.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah. Generally aware of like it just does a good job of learning what is actually important to you. And so you just. And that does help with the overwhelm. But so I think we've talked about it a little bit already. But I am curious what you feel like makes you different. Like what are the things you talked about? Building a personal brand. Brand. Which I feel like is related to that.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So. So tell me a little bit about that part.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah, it, it does come down to the personal brand and it does come down to finding the right words and the way that you format it in your. I'm going to say email. Cause I work with a lot of clients on their direct outreach messages via email as well as their email newsletters and there's an art to it and there's a way to say more with less and being able to position things so that you actually get responses Right. And so a lot of times what makes that experience easier and different for everyone is my 15 minute method. And it's really about being able to work in 15 minute sprints to accomplish those tasks to get things done in your business and your personal life. Of course. Because once you nail the 15 minute workday, you're. You're going to be able to nail anything.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah.
Ed Troxell (B):
At that point.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah.
Ed Troxell (B):
So it really does help. You know, there's that Pomodoro method out there that a lot of people are used to. It doesn't work for, for me or for, I think, people these days, especially if you have ADHD or tendencies.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You're saying the Pomodoro method's actually too.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes, it is. Because if you think about it, our attention spans, on average, I mean, they used to be 8.4 seconds. Well, I think we're down to right around the four second mark.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah. It's dramatically dropped.
Ed Troxell (B):
It's. It's terrible. So we have to figure out, like, how do we make that work for us, especially when so much needs our attention, from email to social to text to phone calls, like, everything. Right. So I found that this 15 minute method is what has worked for me for years and, and is what's been working for my clients. And so that's what has made me different and stand out, especially in today's world.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah. Attention spans, man. That's rough. That's a tough thing. I have recently tried deleting basically all the social media off my phone because I feel like. Oh, yeah, it just, it just like it sucks you in.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yep.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, and I have young kids and stuff and I'm like, I don't want to them to. I don't want to be modeling just being on my phone all the time. And then it also feels like it's just, you know, it's always there.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So actually I was thinking literally this week I was like, I'm going to try putting my phone down at home, and if I want to do something, I'm going to try like pulling out physical books again and trying to read a physical book.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Because I don't know what else to do other than to get the phone out of my pocket. And then if I'm sitting on the couch, my kids are, and I'm like trying to chill. The first thing I'm doing is like scrolling my phone.
Ed Troxell (B):
Right.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So maybe instead of that, like, what if I just try pulling out a book instead of. Yeah, we'll see how that Works.
Ed Troxell (B):
And you bring up a good point too, for listeners, is that this happens to all of us, especially when the phone is close by. It's just a natural reaction. Right. So if you can put it further away, especially if you have to get up to go get it, then, then that will help. But then you can also try the just 15 method in that specific part. I'm just gonna go for 15 minutes and scroll. Literally. Set your timer. I mean, the main reason why I have my Apple Watch outside of the health and fitness tracker for the gym is the timer. I literally have my 15 minute timer go off throughout my workday. Unless I'm on a call or doing a podcast episode like this, it's not set. But the minute that I'm done, I set it for 15 minutes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Okay. Yeah. I mean, maybe, maybe people need to re. Yeah, I guess we need to rethink how long our attention spans are when it comes to work. Yes, that's a really, that's a really, that's really good thought. So the, the, the thing that I want to touch on related to that is what do you think most people get wrong then in your business?
Ed Troxell (B):
I think marketing in general gets a bad rap for a few different reasons. Mostly, you know, people have been taken advantage of, especially in the past. I mean, it still happens these days, of course, but SEO experts out there.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
They'Re going to transform your life.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes. You know, I think a lot of it also stems from, I mean, you have, you have the, the gurus who are just in it for the money. Right. They're not really giving you the services, but then you have the people that are giving you the services. But maybe they didn't set the right expectations up front and they're not clearly communicating with you throughout the process. So that therefore the client doesn't feel like they're getting what they should be and feel like they've been taken advantage of. Right. Like, there's a lot around that in the marketing umbrella there.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah.
Ed Troxell (B):
So it does make it challenging for people to want to, to trust you and work with you. You know, I've had those con hard conversations with people who have been screwed over in the past and we have to take extra steps before moving forward so that they do feel comfortable and know that this is somebody they can know like, and trust is going to have their back.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, I think that's, I think that's really good. There is no magic bullet in the marketing world. I mean, I think there are things that, you know, at different points in time, there are Things that are like high value, you know, high value opportunities. There are things that are underpriced versus for, you know, for whatever the cost is of the attention. But we don't. There's so much content now in the world. I don't think that there are magic bullets.
Ed Troxell (B):
No.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, that are gonna just. I think long term consistency seems to be the key to success when it comes to marketing. And no one wants to hear that it's gonna take six months before you start seeing results.
Ed Troxell (B):
I know. Yes. And that, that's the thing, you know, clients want to have that magic bullet. They're, they're going into it thinking, okay, you're gonna fix everything overnight. Right. And the ship has been sinking for the last six months. Right. It's like, well, I mean, no, we're good, but we're not that good. Like there's no such thing as that. And so it's really pulling back that curtain and understanding like there is no magic bullet. I'm going to be a straight shooter with you and understand like this is what you need to be doing and consistency for the long haul around that message, around this action is what's going to change it for you. And yes, it typically does take anywhere. I find the sweet spot between four to six months if you're being consistent and focused. Right. Again, there's that focus part and that's where that 15 minute sprint is going to be coming into play big time. Because entrepreneurs are busy and they're doing a lot of different things. Their focus and energy is not where it should be.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, that's, I mean, that's the biggest challenge for me is like, I understand the value of marketing. I understand the value of doing it consistently. I understand the value of putting out like authentic, like good content. That's not just AI garbage. Now it's hard to actually get all that done.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, so that's, for me, what's actually been helpful is having a virtual assistant to help with stuff because not. I can't rely on them to like create content for me.
Ed Troxell (B):
Exactly.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
But I can rely on them to like help me schedule things, help me to like do the layout of a newsletter, you know, and then I'm also paying someone to hold me accountable.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Which is like, there's a lot. I think people undervalue how valuable that is.
Ed Troxell (B):
100% that. And you said, you said the a word, accountable. Like that is going to be. We're going to see that so much more play a part in people's lives. Especially because I Mean, let's face it, so many people are going to be like, well, I don't need to hire a marketing person. I can just plug into AI and get, you know, my next 30 days of content. And I have my own assistant and all that. Great. Like, figure it out. See how well that does for you. I mean, you're going to have some issues because again, it's only as good as you put in.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Right.
Ed Troxell (B):
But understanding that there's the accountability part, having that human that touches base is huge.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, 100. 100%. And I think for my business that's actually what I found out to be. I think what my clients find to be the most valuable is the fact that, hey, there's these projects or these things that you want to do to move your business forward that you get so busy working in your business that you don't have time to work on it. And so actually paying me to, part of what you're paying me for is just like make sure those things actually get done.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
And at the end of the day, like, yeah, I cost you some money. But when you actually get this thing done, it's going to save you so much money or make you so much money that like, it's a no brainer to do the work.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
But that's a tough hump for people to get over.
Ed Troxell (B):
It is, it is. And once you find your person that you, it's almost like it doesn't even matter what kind of work you're doing because as long as you're communicating with them, they feel seen, heard and validated. Right. Like, yeah, that's, that's a bigger part of the job. Of course, doing the work and all that is part of it. But the bigger part is finding somebody that you can trust who's going to tell you, yes, that works. No, that doesn't work. Oh, maybe we should try this. Have you thought of that? Because we are busy. We can't think of everything and we can't do everything.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Right.
Ed Troxell (B):
So we need that human support.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. So I want to touch. We are getting close to the end of our time. We haven't talked about any of the personal stuff because the business stuff is so interesting. But I do want to talk about like at least a few things. One of them being, you know, are there any kind of routines or things that you do like outside of work on a regular basis that you feel like help you, like set you up for success during the day?
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah, I am trying to stick to morning routines. So I try not to take morning calls. I try to wake up and go to the gym or do something active so that I don't stay lazy. And, and actually I, I've found that when I do that, I'm waking up earlier. And I'm also extending the hours of my day. It feels like at least. Right. Because we only have the same amount of hours. But when I do that, I get to the gym early, I do a simple workout. I'm listening to a podcast episode. So I'm getting into this creative space. I'm making notes and whatnot. And then I come home and I'm having my breakfast, feeding the dog and slowly easing into. Okay, what are we working on today? Who, who's the calls? Like, what's on the calendar? All of that stuff. And it does make a huge difference versus not doing that.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah. Just getting up and being active during the day. Yeah, that's something I aspire to. Yeah. I have young children right now, so that just is hard to get up. And then, you know, the biggest, the biggest thing that I find for me is that you. It's a long day, you finally get the kids to bed and you're chilling finally. Or, you know, let's not talk about like trying to get house projects done at the end of the day, all that kind of stuff. Right. So then you're finally relaxing and you're like, okay, I got 30 minutes or an hour to maybe unwind from the day and then I'm supposed to go to bed.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That is what my wife and I have had the biggest challenge with. Because, you know, by the time you're stopped doing stuff, it may be like 8 o' clock sometimes.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
And so then you're like, okay, well, I need to. Or even 8:30, like, I should be going to bed, but like 9, 9:30. And so I can wake up early, get enough sleep, and then wake up, actually do what you're talking about because the kids are up at 6:30 or 7.
Ed Troxell (B):
Right.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So, you know, you got that time right before there. So that's, that's, that's my biggest challenge is getting to bed on time.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah. Well, you made a good point about the eight to nine o' clock thing. I will say I really try to. And I've kind of programmed myself to do this now too. Is that by 9pm I'm trying to be pretty much done with any kind of extra work, whether it's business or personal. Trying not to scroll, scroll on social after, after nine, like, I try to do all of that stuff. Before 9pm so that really, that 9 to 10 hour is kind of just like zone out, find a TV show or go sit outside or whatever, and then slowly get ready for whatever comes next for, you know.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah.
Ed Troxell (B):
Honestly.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, that's. I think that's for me and my wife. I think what we got to be better about is putting the phones away somewhere.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
And like, not having phones be part of the, like, wind down.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, I do know if I read a book in bed, I'm out in like five minutes. That seems perfect.
Ed Troxell (B):
So that could be your 9pm At 9pm you're going to be reading a book.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's what I got. I just got to have the discipline to actually put the phone down and pick up the book.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Some days I feel like I have it, some days I don't. It's.
Ed Troxell (B):
It's hard. Yeah, it's hard. And that's also why it's important to set business hours. That was one of the first things I did when I started my business, was set business office hours for myself for that piece of it. Right. It's. It's again, training ourselves because we can work at any time, anywhere.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Right.
Ed Troxell (B):
All the time. Right.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Right.
Ed Troxell (B):
But that's burnout and we don't want that. So having those parameters will definitely help.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, I think that's good. I have found that context, for me is everything I'm not good at, like, being in work mode, then going to do personal stuff and then going back to work.
Ed Troxell (B):
Oh, yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So I try and like, even if I have to work a little later, like get everything done and then be done with it well enough for the day so I don't have to go back to it.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Because then it also has like this just like in the back of your head. It's just like cooking.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, and that you're like, oh, I got to do this, I got to do this, I got to do.
Ed Troxell (B):
This and I have the time. I might as well do it. Like, what am I doing here sitting watching TV or trying to read a book? Like I should be doing that.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah. Yeah. But no, I think, and that's something I talk a lot to people about is just like the idea of work life balance.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
No one. I'm always, I'm always curious to hear what people's opinions are. I think the consensus is it doesn't exist.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah. I mean, it's just a constant challenge if you're going to try to make it exist. So it's again, it's just Putting it, trying to put in those office hours and realizing, yes, you're going to break them, but it's a barrier there and it's also setting the right expectations for the clients as well. Yeah, that's a big thing. Right. And so it's just helping put in those buffer times for you and. And your mental health as well.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah. I think a big part of what people don't realize is, like, if you're an email person that responds in, like, two minutes to every email, then you're setting expectations that when people email you, you're going to hear right back. Back, right away. Right. If you respond to every text message within two, you know, 30 seconds, like, that's what people set as expectations. Instead of like, if I reply to, you know, obviously, level of importance and urgency, all that.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Come into play. But like a regular email, if you respond within 24 hours.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's totally fine.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You know, I think we need to normalize that, not getting instant responses to everything.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. I even have something in my email signature that says, you know, if you receive this outside of your hours, don't worry about it. Like, there's no rush. And then I have my office hours in there, too, so that if they're reading that far down in the email, they can see, oh, here's what the expectation is.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah.
Ed Troxell (B):
Letting them know it will be 24 to 48 hours that I'll get back to you.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah.
Ed Troxell (B):
Usually it's never that long, but do.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
You have any issues with. Have you ever had an issue with anyone saying anything about that?
Ed Troxell (B):
No. In fact, I've had clients who love seeing that message, and I've had people who are like, hey, I know it's your day off, but I just wanted to email you this to let you know, blah, blah, blah. And they don't expect a response because they know it's my day off. Yeah, it's great.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
I think I should add that into my signature.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
I do internally, like, have a schedule that I follow for when I'm responding to things like that, but it doesn't hurt to communicate that via my email signature.
Ed Troxell (B):
Your email signature is gold. It's gold. Leverage that spot.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's probably a whole other conversation for you about is how to. Is how to make use of that, because I've tried a lot of things and haven't had that much success with it. But that's for another time. So I want to get into the. Just some of the bonus questions that I like to ask everyone. The first One is, what would you. If you could, you know, you had a billboard above free the. You know, above the 101, and you could put anything on it, what would you put on the billboard other than, like, advertising your business?
Ed Troxell (B):
All right, Right. I would say, depending on how big the billboard was or how. How many words you can have on there, just show up. But if I can extend that, I would be just show up, deliver and engage.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Okay, expound. Expound on that a little bit for us. What do you.
Ed Troxell (B):
So those are the three keys to success in anything that we do. Right. Showing up, you're in control of that. Nobody else is. So just showing up is the first step. Then you have to deliver your expertise. Again, nobody else can control that. You're in control. So those are two things that you can focus on doing that are part of your control. Then once you put that information out there, you're opening it up for that engagement again, that conversation take place. So then you can engage with anybody who engages with you, but that can't happen until you show up and deliver something really good.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's a good one. That might be one of the top Billboard quotes.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Because, I mean, that's just. That's so much of life is just showing up.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That's why, you know, I'm part of bni, like a networking referral group that you've. That you've actually visited our chapter before. And people are like, I don't want to every week do like, a networking thing, you know, but the thing about. And this also comes to accountability, the thing about paying to be a part of a networking group is that, like, it's an important thing for your business to be successful. It's an easy thing for a lot of people to like, oh, I'm too busy to do the networking. Right. But it's part of your marketing. It's part of, like, building your business. And when you're paying to be there every week and they're keeping track of attendance and there's like, an attendance requirement, it's providing accountability that you're, like, doing this important thing for your business every single week. And so much of it is, like, just showing up and. And doing it. Yeah, you know, I see it. I've seen it already several times. Like, people come in, start being B and I, and they're like, I'm not good at public speaking. I'm not good at, like, doing this, like, networking stuff and all that kind of things. And you see it over the period of a year, them just get more and more confident talking about their business. Because that's a lot of things. Like that's a big thing for a lot of people. They don't know how to talk about their business.
Ed Troxell (B):
Right.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Not even talking about social media and stuff. It's just like I meet you in person, like what do you do?
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
And explain it and learn how to explain it in a compelling way. And so like showing up every single week and working on it. You see the progress that people make. I mean, practice makes perfect. There's a reason.
Ed Troxell (B):
Putting in those reps. Yeah, putting in.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
The reps. Yeah, absolutely. That's, that's really powerful. So the, the final question of the day is what is, what is one or you know, a couple of books that you've gifted or recommended most to people.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah, two that come to mind that I absolutely love. One is actually a very new one that I just finished. Wealthy and well known and. Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Not heard of that one. Interesting.
Ed Troxell (B):
Great. What I really loved about it is that they had real examples for service based businesses in the book, which typically business books don't have. Like really good examples for service based.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Yeah, okay, I like that.
Ed Troxell (B):
And then Soldiers, which is a real estate book. But real estate agents are entrepreneurs and there is so much crossover between the industry and regular business. So I love being able to tap into the real estate industry for business tips. And Sold was a great easy read.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Okay. I've not heard of either one of those. I'll have to check them out. It is interesting about real estate is that you're like really truly selling a brand 100% because it's just a transaction after that point.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah. And that's why so many agents should be thinking about their personal brand and growing it because that is what they're selling. Yeah, they're. They're selling themselves, not the brokerage themselves.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Absolutely. No. There are good real estate agents and bad real estate agents, regardless of how much you like them.
Ed Troxell (B):
100%. Yes.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
That is like, I think the, in terms of differentiating yourself before any people know anything about you. That's the biggest way you can.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Well, Ed, thank you so much for being on today. It was a wonderful conversation. Time has flown by. I always feel like, you know, can talk way longer.
Ed Troxell (B):
Absolutely. I know.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
So I want to give you an opportunity real quick to shout out where people can find you online or whatever else you got going on.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah, absolutely. The best spot is going to be my website. So edtroxel.com.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
How do you spell Troxel? I mean it will be in the.
Ed Troxell (B):
Description and stuff, but it's always hard. Yeah. So Ed and then Troxell t r o x e l l.com explore. That's going to give you links to my social. You can join my email list. I send out a weekly email with tips and tricks in there for growing your business. And then, you know, there's different ways to get in touch with me and go Download the free 15 minute plan.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
All the socials and everything like that.
Ed Troxell (B):
Yeah.
Jonathan Mhart (A):
Cool. Well, thank you very much. You can also find my business Flywheel consultinglywheelconsulting. Co you find me on all the socials like and rate this podcast. Right. If you've enjoyed the conversation today, we have lots of great conversations with local business people and we'll see you all in a couple weeks. Thank you.
Ed Troxell (B):
Thank you.