Welcome to the #piratebroadcast™: 

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Connect with Bonnie
https://www.bonnielfrank.com/
https://www.bonnielfrank.com/podcast
https://www.facebook.com/BonnieFrankSuccessCoach
https://www.instagram.com/bonnie.frank
https://twitter.com/bonnielfrank
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-frank/

Connect with Russ
https://russjohns.com/
https://thepiratesyndicate.com/
https://nextstepnext.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nextstepnext/

Audio digitally transcribed by Descript

Introduction: [00:00:00] Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast™, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

Russ Johns: [00:00:10] It's so funny because Bonnie and I were starting to talk in the chat. We were chatting away and all of a sudden It's time to start the show. So let's get started Bonnie. Good morning. How are you doing?

Bonnie Frank: [00:00:20] Good morning. Very happy to be here.

Russ Johns: [00:00:23] It's so wonderful to have you back on the #PirateBroadcast. We had started this thing, over 400 and I don't know, almost 430 episodes ago and we continue to bring a lot of people in, share a lot of interesting things, inspire a few people and make sure everyone has the information they need to move their business forward. And as we were talking, you mentioned Clubhouse and I wanted to have you share your experience in what you're doing on Clubhouse, because it is blowing up. A lot of people are on it and I just have to be cautious about jumping in, cause I have a tendency to get too involved sometimes. So tell us how you're working it and what's happening over in Clubhouse, Bonnie.

Bonnie Frank: [00:01:09] Yeah. So I've been on Clubhouse for about five and a half months, which in terms of Clubhouse years is like a decade  cause the whole app is only about 15 months old, but I monetized it within five days. And I continued to do so much so that January was my highest profiting month of my entire business of seven years, mostly because of what I was doing at Clubhouse. And so now Clubhouse is my number one lead gen. Where before that it was Facebook and before that it was something else. So right now that's the way it is. And I'm on Clubhouse about, I would say I average about one to two hours a day, so I'm not on there a lot. But I use it really strategically. It's tripled the downloads of my podcast. Tripled. And that happened within two months. And my numbers on all six social media platforms have increased tremendously, so it's been really good.

Russ Johns: [00:02:14] So it's just been a really great visibility tool. So now back up a little bit. So for those that are not familiar with you, what is it that you provide clients and your contacts and your community? As a regular effort.

Bonnie Frank: [00:02:32] I'm a business coach and consultant, and I've done that for seven years. I'm a former teacher and college professor, so I'm, self-taught in business. I make no bones about that. I do have a couple of degrees, but they happen to be in education. And so I help people start, grow and scale online businesses every single day. And so whether it's here or on Clubhouse or on my podcast or wherever, I'm constantly helping people start grow and scale businesses. That's all I talk about all day long.

Russ Johns: [00:03:09] That's fantastic because one of the things that I love to share in the pirate community over and over again is the marketing effort cause I happen to be somebody that helps with marketing, the strategic development of live streaming video and the #PirateSyndicate. I run the #PirateSyndicate and we help other business owners, produce a show, put things out there, create the same impact as the #PirateBroadcast™. And so it's really fascinating to me to see what other things are taking place and Clubhouse is one of those things that I'm cautious about because  I've been super busy and I tend to get sucked into those things that are really engaging yet, it still takes time. And I just haven't done it to the degree that you have and rock on for that. I want to find out, though, how you're converting the conversations into your business cause you have a lot of different ways, but wanted to dive into that a little deeper.

Bonnie Frank: [00:04:07] Sure. So first of all, for your audience who isn't totally familiar with Clubhouse is an audio only app. And so like here we're live streaming. You can see us, you can't see people on Clubhouse, you can see like a little teeny, tiny picture of them and they can change their picture. But it's audio only. And they've recently added Android. So anyone on iOS or an Android can be on Clubhouse but it is still invite only. So if you need an invitation, somebody who's on the app has to invite you. So Russ, if you would like an invitation, I will extend you an invitation

Russ Johns: [00:04:45] I'm on clubhouse. I was an early adopter. I just knew my own limitations.

Bonnie Frank: [00:04:50] I'm going to start calling you in, man. I'm going to start calling you in. And if you use it strategically though, that's the thing. Most people don't use it strategically because it can be overwhelming.  It's a 24/7 global opportunity and people like, oh, mark Zuckerberg and Paris Hilton, Tiffany Haddish all sorts of people are on the app. And Bill Gates has been on several times.

Russ Johns: [00:05:18] Elon Musk has been on.

Bonnie Frank: [00:05:20] So many people, and and it's free. It's a hundred percent free, so you can go in and out of rooms, just like you would click on and off of a live stream. You go in and out of rooms and listen to what's going on and you can participate in the conversation. You can go up on stage, quote unquote, stage and ask a question or make a comment and you can ask Elon Musk a question. In real time for free and have him answer you. When does that happen?

Russ Johns: [00:05:48] I know it's incredibly innovative, it's creative and I've been on several shows that are really amazing conversations and great resources that you would normally not even have access to at any cost. And that's the beauty of it is it's pretty universal. So I just really think that it's important for people to understand that not every platform is for everyone. For me, I just needed to be cautious about that time and everything that goes along with it. So I also want to remind everybody that Bonnie has been kind enough to participate in the #PirateBroadcast™ and the pirate community and we're doing this... I'm doing giveaways now. I want to be able to give back to the pirate community. And this was an idea that Marcia Reece shared with me. And she goes, Russ, I'll be more than happy to give some things back to the community. And I think it would be really cool if you could figure something out how to do this. So I wanted to give away... Bonnie's going to contribute 30 minutes, just a strategy call to anyone that types in #piratenation into the chat. I tried this yesterday and I'm going to come back and try it again today.

Bonnie Frank: [00:07:03] #piratenation

Russ Johns: [00:07:04] Into the chat window here. And let's see if we can get some entries in there. You have to give yourself permission to do this or give StreamYard permission to access your account. So that's one of the things you have to do.

Bonnie Frank: [00:07:18] To identify you as you. Yeah.

Russ Johns: [00:07:19] Yes. So you have to give permission, but I would give permission for a 30 minute strategy session with Bonnie. I guess that's what we're doing right now.

Bonnie Frank: [00:07:29] That's what we're doing. So you had asked, how do I convert Clubhouse listeners into actual paid clients and customers? How am I growing my business with Clubhouse. So what I'm doing is pretty much, honestly, very similar things to what I've done on Periscope, what I've done on Facebook, live, what I've done on Blab...Rest in Peace Blab... what I've done on fire chat, what I've done on 15 other live streaming platforms and every single social media platform I've ever been on. I've monetized all of them. And so what I do is I simply provide information to people. I answer questions. I help them. I guide them through different marketing, different social media strategies. I give business tips. I give a lot of how tos and we talk through things and so people can come up on stage. They click a hand icon and they come up on stage virtually right. And then their mic is open and they can ask me a question and I help them in real time. And I do this every single day on clubhouse. So I started out doing two rooms a day, they're called rooms. And now I do one room a day that I host. And  I do that and then people hire me. It is literally just that simple. It does not require, it's never required complicated funnels. Business is not complicated. I say this every single day. Business is absolutely very easy, know your audience and you give them what they want.

Russ Johns: [00:09:05] It's pretty simple. People ask for something and you provide it. And then all of a sudden business takes place. I love it. Jeffrey says good morning pirates, Russ and Bonnie, so happy I'm free to watch live today. Love to have you, Jeffrey, thank you so much. And also just to clue everyone, Jeffrey typed in #piratenation, hashtag #piratenation. Now Hiett, you typed in #piratenation, but it's not hashtag #piratenation, no spaces, and it didn't show up. So I want to make sure that you don't miss out because it's not in there. It looks like Sheila Chamberlain, same thing has #piratenation hashtag #piratenation. Wendy says welcome to the pirate posse, Bonnie. Good morning. Admiral. You give so much away without even swag.

Bonnie Frank: [00:10:01] You need to start giving away big pirate flags.

Russ Johns: [00:10:03] Yeah. I got eye patches. Send me your address. I'll send you an eye patch. I know Bonnie, good to see her here. Karen Joseph. Love her. Thanks. Hiett says, good morning pirates. Sheila Chamberlain says hello pirates. Jenny Gold is in the room. Hi pirates. Jenny, if you hear this type in hashtag #piratenation.  Okay, I got three entries now. It looks like it's working today.

Bonnie Frank: [00:10:30] All right, come on. We gotta narrow these percentages to a lot lower than 33 and a third percent. Come on.

Russ Johns: [00:10:36] Yes. So Bonnie, one of the things that I want to make sure that I allow to take place today is who is it that you love to help? What is it that you love to do in your business? Because you've been doing this for seven years now and you got a groove down and I watch you, and we've been connected for a while on and off different platforms and back and forth and I'm curious to see what it is that you like to do and what you love to do versus what you have to do and see where the gap is because you seem like one of these people that love to do it and you're doing it.

Bonnie Frank: [00:11:19] Yes. Yeah, I do. I do love what I do and there are so many things that can occupy your 24 hours a day. And I just make sure that I have carved out a career for myself where I do absolutely love what I do every day. So I really do love helping people start, grow and scale online businesses. I really do, and anybody can do it. And whether you want to have it as a side hustle, as just an extra income stream or whether you want to build an entire business and have multiple streams of revenue within that one business like me, like Russ. It is all possible. It is possible for every single person on the planet. And I really do mean that. And my thing is, although I will, I don't really want to just help you just make money once. I want to help you have a sustainable income. I want to help you have your revenue streams that keep on giving, it's the gift that keeps giving and you really can build your business while you sleep. I used to think that was just something that people said. It really is true. And and you can totally do it. Anybody can do it. And I'm really passionate about it.  You can see, I get really happy when I can help people have that happen.

Russ Johns: [00:12:39] I love that. And I believe that we're living in the most amazing time in history. We have the opportunity to connect just like this. You're live streaming, audio podcasting, all of these things are available to anyone, everyone that has a phone and an internet connection. And you can start a business this way. And it's super simple out there. There's somebody that wants your help. So if you're willing to step up and deliver that assistance and support, you have an opportunity to go out there and do it. So I want to say there's one thing that is always challenging. Oh, here, Howard said #piratenation. Good job, Howard. Good job. Awesome. Cathi Spooner. Good morning. The question that people always ask is how do I get started? And I like live streaming. I started out in podcasting. I taught podcasting.  I was involved in radio and media companies and things like that. So it was easy and I love it. I'm doing music every day. I'm creating something every day. I'm a content creator at my core. And so converting this stuff and getting it out there is easy for me. And for those that often struggle, what do you recommend for people? Cause I know that you're an amazing creator that is creating every day. What do you suggest to people that are starting or getting started or want to start or thinking about starting.

Bonnie Frank: [00:14:13] So the things that you walk around, so everyone is hearing this and everyone will hear on replay, hashtag replay. Thank you. Welcome. Everyone, who's going to be listening to this, the kinds of things that you walk around every day with, in your head, knowing how to do in your head, you just know how to do them. You don't really think about it. You just know how to do it. Those are things that not everybody knows how to do those are things that you can monetize. Those are things that people will pay you to either do for them, or to create courses, to create membership sites, to speak on stages and talk about those things. Those are things that are monetized, so anyone can really monetize their passions. I fully believe that. And I know that to be true, you really can. It takes some strategy, right? But you can totally do it and it's not difficult. It does not take a lot of fancy equipment at all.

Russ Johns: [00:15:09] Yeah, that's so true. And I just wanted you to share that because I think it's so important and so critical that, especially  right now, there's a lot of transition in the world. There's lots of things that are challenging for some people and I have been so fortunate and blessed to be incredibly busy, a lot of activities going on and my life is full and I'm grateful every time I wake up in the morning and the reality is we have an opportunity to go out there and help other people. And if you can find something that provides value to someone that can create an entire business, it's sometimes an industry, just like Clubhouse. There are so many resources out there that are just willing to share so much. And when you can connect and the reality is that because we're so connected all over the world, finding that individual that needs your help right now is the biggest challenge and making it easy for people to find you, easy  for people to connect with you and easy for people to work with you. That's the big thing right now.

Bonnie Frank: [00:16:17] Exactly. And, if you make yourself available,  all you have to do is click the live button, right? Click the go live button and all of a sudden you are live on a global platform where anybody can see you. For free. That's incredible. And when I built my business seven years ago, I built it in a coffee shop. Because I wanted to get out of the house. I didn't even have a desk at home. All I had was my... it was a few versions ago, but all I had was my iPhone and my apple earbuds, the ones with the cord. That's all I had. That was my microphone and this was my interface. That's it. That's all I had. And I built my entire business that way in a coffee shop. Cause I figured really what more do I need besides wifi and coffee? My entire business still to this day revolves around those two things. And that's how I built my business. And then since I was there everyday live streaming and I was always holding up my coffee cup and talk about the the place where I was, called these coffee, I just shouted them out in my in my podcast the other day, because I was doing that, they started giving me free coffee. They're like, hey, this is free advertising. I'm like, this is a win-win, so I kept doing it. So yeah it's not hard. It's really not. Every single person can do it. Whether it's on a live streaming platform or you want to do a podcast, you want to do a YouTube channel, or you don't want to do video at all. You just want to do audio,  there's Clubhouse.

Russ Johns: [00:17:46] Clubhouse is here. I was recently introduced... the same people that invested in Clubhouse, there's another platform called Lunch Club  and I booked some amazing calls with individuals that are amazing and incredible. And very random and you just have to be willing to put yourself out there. So for someone that's thinking about this, I always say, just get started. And so if you had a free day and you were thinking about doing something and you're thinking about the possibility of encouraging someone else to start something. I know you're a fan of Clubhouse, but what are some other platforms that people could think about and ways to start to get their word out in their business and share their interests.

Bonnie Frank: [00:18:33] Sure. There's Twitter spaces, so it's like Clubhouse, but it's on Twitter. So if Twitter is really your thing and that's where your audiences and you really need to be where your audience is already living, don't try to drag them somewhere else. Just that's too much energy. Don't do that. Meet them where they already are. So if Twitter is your thing, then do it on Twitter. If LinkedIn's your place, then do it on here on LinkedIn. It's wherever your people are living. If you know that your people love blogs, start a blog. And do you know that your people are really already podcast listeners or that they would definitely enjoy a podcast and you want to start a podcast, then do that. There's unlimited choices, there's unlimited choices. And if you want to kill two birds with one stone or three, you can do a podcast. You can video it. You can share that video on your YouTube channel and you could do that podcast right out of a Clubhouse room. And now you're meeting lots of people where they live. So there's unlimited choices. You just need to decide. And in any of those places that are listed at their LinkedIn don't find me on YouTube, I have a very small following there. I really don't work on my YouTube channel. It's a thing.  It's another thing to do anyway, but LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Clubhouse, Instagram, wherever you want to find me, just Google Bonnie L Frank, I will pop up. Feel free to DM me. Feel free to message me privately. And I'll help you. Anybody can do it really.

Russ Johns: [00:20:05] Yes. Yes. I love that. Jeffrey says you're so correct, Bonnie, building a business with residual income allows people to live in a life of abundance in optimum wellness, physically, mentally, and financially, because finances is a major stressor for peeps out there. Holistic wellness, gladiator, hashtag #holisticwellnessgladiator.

Bonnie Frank: [00:20:30] Jeffrey's got his own hashtag.

Russ Johns: [00:20:32] Yes. Yes it's so awesome. Jeffrey. So just to remind everybody #piratenation, it looks like we have a couple of entries here. We're going to be giving away Bonnie's time.

Bonnie Frank: [00:20:44] I'm going to go like this and I'm going to look like I'm just peeping over his comment. Sorry, that was funny.

Russ Johns: [00:20:52] We should get  a screenshot from that.

Bonnie Frank: [00:20:55] I know that would be like, it's like one of those things we used to drop.

Russ Johns: [00:20:58] The beautiful thing about it is we always have fun here at the #PirateBroadcast and you're sharing these ideas and expanding on what people might be thinking about. Should I, could I, what do I do get started? It's practice. It's just go out there and decide if you like it. And you don't have to do this permanently. It's not as if you start something and it's the end of the world if you make adjustments along the way. I know I have, I've made thousands of adjustments along the way, and I'm curious, so what big adjustments have you made in the last seven years?

Bonnie Frank: [00:21:34] Oh, my goodness. I had a name change of my business. So when I originally started, my business was women in biz and that was my website and that was my business. And ironically, I was pretty much the only one who knew that. Because I was building my business at the same time on Periscope, which is now oops, which is now gone. It's Twitter live. And so my handle on Periscope was Bonnie L Frank, same as Clubhouse. And so people are like, okay, so where do we pay you? And I'm like you go to my website and they go, oh, bonnielfrank.com? Like no Women in Biz and I'm thinking, how do you not know when they're thinking, what the heck is Women in Biz because I didn't have a brand as Women in Biz. I had not built up that brand at all, but I was building up my own brand and then it was like,  oh, Women in  Biz really doesn't mean anything. And so I changed it to my own name and I've continued to evolve on many dozens of platforms that I've been on. And I've monetized all of them. Many of them have come and gone. I beta tested them before people could ever even use them, evidently they were gone.  But it's totally possible and you just have to find the place that works for you because they will all work or not work. They will all work or not work. It just depends on how you use them.

Russ Johns: [00:22:52] Yeah. I love that advice. Sarathy says, hi pirates. Hi, Russ and Bonnie. Thank you so much for being here. He also typed in #piratenation,  hashtag #piratenation.

Bonnie Frank: [00:23:04] I love this avatar. It's beautiful. Yeah. Kilroy. Yes. That's it. That's right. I was like, what was his name?

Russ Johns: [00:23:15] Yes. Yes. Hiett, did you type in hashtag #piratenation, guy looking over a wall.

Bonnie Frank: [00:23:22] Right? He was like, yeah. Oh, I used to draw that on all of my notes.

Russ Johns: [00:23:27] Pirate Nation, hi, everyone. Life is beautiful. Make adjustments to anything to make life work for you. Thanks. Hiett, appreciate you. I just really appreciate you being here, Bonnie. And, there's some things that I would like to... there's lots of things I'd love to share and conversations like this just get me going in the morning and set the pace and the tone for me. If you had to share something with someone and say, hey, this episode was really great because of why, what would you want to say to them?

Bonnie Frank: [00:24:04] What episode? This episode?

Russ Johns: [00:24:05] This episode right now, this Information.

Bonnie Frank: [00:24:07] If you want help on getting started, here I'll write your promo for you. If you want help on getting started or if you have any thought that maybe you might want to start a business, listen to this episode and you'll see how easy it is. You'll see for yourself.

Russ Johns: [00:24:26] See, so now I can take that little snippet there and I could create an avatar and audio gram from it and use it as a promo.

Bonnie Frank: [00:24:34] Absolutely. There you go. You're welcome

Russ Johns: [00:24:39] These are things, Bonnie, like we were talking about before the show is like we're walking around with this stuff in our head that we had just happened to know it's like muscle memory only, not everybody knows it. We just think everybody knows it because it's in our head.

Bonnie Frank: [00:24:53] It's true. It's true.

Russ Johns: [00:24:56] Not everybody does know it.

Bonnie Frank: [00:24:57] And even if they do look, I love to use the example of accountants. Anybody really could do their taxes. They really could. They could get those forms and they could put in the numbers and they could use a calculator to even make sure that those numbers are right. Anybody could, but not anybody wants to. I don't. That's why people have jobs as accountants. The kinds of things that you know how to do and that you know how to do so well, people really will pay for whether or not that's your typical nine to five. Doesn't matter. It could be other things. Like I said, I used to be a full-time teacher and college prof and I loved doing it, but then I decided to switch and now I'm doing this, so you can be good in lots of different things.

Russ Johns: [00:25:45] I've had so many amazing adventures in my life. , I think it's great because  I have different interests at different times and it's like chapter in the book of life and you just continue to go through it and grow through it. So Bonnie as always, it's a pleasure, love hanging out. Thank you so much. And just before we go, though, I have to do this giveaway and let's do this. See if I can actually make it happen today. Let's see if we can make the magic happen. All right, here's the screen. I'm going to share the screen here. I'll get my sound effects going side effects. Yes. All right. Drawing... look at that. Woo. Alright. Sarathy is the winner. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Thank you so much. This is awesome. This has been fantastic. I really think it's a fun thing. It's a fun adventure. So Bonnie, I really appreciate you.

Bonnie Frank: [00:26:41] So Sarathy go ahead and please  reach out for a connection on LinkedIn cause you're here. So let's just do it on LinkedIn and remind me that you won and we will set up that 30 minute coaching call. I'm excited.

Russ Johns: [00:26:56] Thank you so much, Bonnie. And as always everyone, #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree, so you #enjoytheday. Take care, everyone.

Exit: [00:27:12] It's a beautiful day for the #piratebroadcast™. We are here again, with #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. I just want to share a few housekeeping efforts here, if you can't watch the show live, you can always listen to the podcast, you can always go to russjohns.com/piratebroadcast and listen to all of the episodes There are over 250 episodes, that available for your consumption. Also, like, comment and share on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. Just share the love of the pirate community, get connected, get engaged, and start a conversation.w

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