40: Taking Small Steps Towards Big Goals with Ruth Soukup
New York Times bestselling author Ruth Soukup is dedicated to helping women everywhere create a life they love. She is the host of the wildly popular Do It Scared podcast, as well as the founder of several successful brands, including Living Well Spending Less®, Elite Blog Academy®, and her newest endeavor, Thinlicious™, created to make getting healthy taste and feel good. Her practical advice has been featured all over, including Good Morning America, the Today Show, Family Circle, Entrepreneur, TIME and Fox News.
In this episode, Ruth shares so much goodness about overcoming perfectionism and setting a strong foundation for your online business.
Hear her insights on the power of taking small steps consistently over time, the importance of human connection in the age of AI, and her recent focus on showing up authentically on social media (primarily Instagram).
Ruth also shares her predictions for the future of online business in 2024, including the effectiveness of blogging and other content formats.
“Big goals never happen all at once. They are the result of small steps taken consistently over time.”
Connect with Ruth Soukup:
Key Takeaways:
- (03:20) Ruth’s journey in starting her first online business
- (05:50) Taking small steps and remaining consistent
- (11:15) The concept of time blocking and dedicating full days to big projects
- (13:10) How the book, Do It Scared, helped Heather overcome perfectionism
- (16:00) Fear archetypes; identifying and overcoming fear
- (18:50) Ruth’s predictions for the online business world for 2024
- (21:35) Showing up on social media and building genuine connections
- (26:05) Results of organic growth and increased sales
- (29:35) Blogging in 2024
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Perseverance Pays: Triumph through Consistency and Dedication
In this episode, Ruth Soukup shares invaluable lessons on product creation, content repurposing, and the undeniable power of perseverance in business. Here are some key takeaways from the conversation, with actionable advice for educators-turned-entrepreneurs seeking sustainable business growth.
The Power of Digital Products: Turning Knowledge into Profitable Products
Ruth underscored the significance of introducing products into your business model, particularly digital products that boast generous profit margins.
She highlighted the magic of continuity products, such as subscription-based models, lauding their ability to generate dependable income.
Heather’s experience with her thriving membership program experience is a great example of this idea in action.
Diversify Platforms, Secure Your Audience: Navigating the Shifting Landscape of Content Creation
Ruth has been active in online business for several years and shares about the shift she has observed in blogging and the evolution into various forms of content production, such as social media and podcasts.
Ruth advocates for content repurposing—for instance, recycling podcast scripts into blog posts to fortify SEO. She also emphasizes the importance of directing traffic toward building an email list.
Email marketing is a critical element of marketing, offering control and durability that platform-dependent strategies often lack.
Growing an Engaged Community through Authentic Connections: Instagram as a Conduit for Personal Branding
Ruth detailed her transition towards authenticity by focusing her efforts on Instagram, where she embraced a strategy of genuine engagement through stories and frequent posting.
Her insistence on experimentation to find one’s authentic voice echoes her larger message—be true and approachable while also professional, leveraging personal connection in business endeavors.
The Long Road to Success: Embracing Perseverance and Big-Picture Goals
Ruth recollected the hardship of her early blogging days, recounting the continuous, unacknowledged efforts before her breakthrough successes.
Heather agreed, relaying her own rocky path to business success and reinforcing the message: it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
They agreed on the significance of setting large goals, outlining the crucial role of time management, and adopting focus days to enhance productivity.
Overcoming Fear and Embracing Imperfection: The Antidote to Paralysis by Perfectionism
Touching on a common obstacle in the entrepreneurial journey—the fear of perfectionism—Heather credited Ruth’s book “Do it Scared” for helping her adopt a mindset geared towards action over lawlessness.
Ruth’s investigation into fear archetypes provides a comprehensive free assessment at doitscared.com, encouraging entrepreneurs to take actionable steps against the tethers of fear.
Preparing for a Future with AI: Human Connection Amid Technological Advances
As AI reshapes content creation, Ruth stressed the essence of maintaining the qualities that only human empathy can render.
While AI brings efficiency, both Heather and Ruth agree that the true value of online business lies within the personal connections we foster with our audience.
Ruth Soukup’s journey from a stay-at-home mom to a New York Times bestselling author and online entrepreneur embodies the resilience, strategic diversity, and authenticity necessary for enduring success.
For educators transitioning into the business sphere, these insights can serve as a compass for navigating the multifaceted online marketplace, reminding us of the true purpose and power of education—transformation, both personal and collective.