Season 2026. Episode 2 Melissa Pruitt on Consistency and Having Fun Growing your Business

Melissa Pruitt is a Marketing & Sales Coach, Author, and Speaker who’s dedicated to helping online entrepreneurs take their knowledge and skills to market and sell their courses, memberships, and coaching programs. Her background in psychology and NLP as a clinical therapist and coach bridges human behavior with marketing strategy, and this is how she teaches her clients to create deeper connections with their audiences. Her Psychology background combined with her expertise as a two time published author and copywriter allows her to help her clients connect deeper with their audiences.

Melissa is also TEDx speaker, been featured on multiple publications and platforms, including Huffington Post, various podcasts, summits, and events and loves to share her message of creating a fulfilling business on in person stages, Zoom stages, and mastermind events. She is the co-owner of Adaptive Marketing Program which helps online entrepreneurs market and sell their offers and the co-host of the Online Marketing Podcast with her husband and business partner Paul.

I loved speaking with Melissa and learning about the importance of consistency in growing your business, building trust with your customers, and having fun!

You can reach Melissa at:

Instagram: @realmelissapruitt

website: https://adaptivemarketingprogram.com/

Get her book "Influenced: From Social to List to Launch" here: 

https://www.amazon.com/Influenced-Social-Launch-Melissa-Pruitt/dp/B0DH83QSY9#:~:text=Influenced%3A%20From%20Social%20to%20List%20to%20Launch%20is%20the%20ultimate,a%20successful%20business%20or%20project.

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Original music  "Saturday Sway" by Brendan Talian (for  all interviews before 2025)

Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:34  
hello and welcome to the storied human I'm here talking to Melissa Pruitt, who really blows my mind with The information that she has, and we're really looking forward to digging into it. Welcome, Melissa. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm really excited to talk to you more. I'm excited to talk to you. I know we've been sort of tag teaming each other for a while, and I just am so impressed with the background. Like what you and your husband do, what you do. I love your book. Tell us a little more about how you started, how you how you got to this point, how I mean, your journey is amazing.

Unknown Speaker  1:10  
Oh, awesome. Well, thank you. Well, my husband and I were business coaches, and we work primarily with entrepreneurs and business owners really wanting to market and sell their offers. That's what we do. And talking everything about social media paid ads, we help them with all the things that you can think of in the online marketing space. But what's interesting is that my background, I didn't start off in the business coaching world. I actually have a background in psychology. So I was a therapist for over, over a decade. I was a therapist, and I worked with all different types of individuals. I worked with families, I worked with women with severe eating disorders. And through that whole process of working with people and learning to really connect with people and build trust and relationships, that's something I think that's been really valuable with the work that I do today working with business owners, because at the end of the day, yes, we are running businesses, and we have different goals for ourselves, with wanting to, you know, monetize in our business, but it is about the relationships that we have in our business and how we can serve people. And so pulling in some of those experiences that I've had in the past with working with people has been really wonderful with the way that I coach and we teach people. I do love that. That explains a lot to me about how your approach is more like human centered, and more, I don't know, relationship centered, but also just making it easier, right, making it about human to human connection, and so you have that great background. So how did you move into coaching? Like, did both of you start at the same time, your husband and you, or did you start first? Well, it was one of those things we kind of had our each of our own little journeys, which was kind of fun.

Unknown Speaker  2:55  
I know he has his own journey, his ups and downs, and maybe one time you can have a chat with him, because his story is so interesting I would love to and he's a photographer. And, yeah, that's so cool. Well, he he started off as a photographer, but he wasn't always in photography. He was actually very, very successful in the real estate field, and that's where he got a lot of his expertise. Yeah, with marketing and sales. He trained, you know, 1000s of people in that in that area, and when we met, I was kind of on my own little journey where I had, had just started my own business. I was doing. I'd gone from being a therapist to then diving into life coaching. I love being a therapist, and I loved working with people. I got into it really young. And so along with that, a lot of times I would really, I really would want to help people, and I really took it to heart. So I got burned out really fast in that world just because of helping people. So I shifted gears from the, you know, mental health space to more life coaching, personal development, and then that's where we kind of met each other. I was on my own journey. I was doing my daily vlogs, and he was on his own journey as well, too. He was, he was a very successful photographer, but always business minded. And when we met, we actually started off together. Our business. First business together is we worked with photographers, teaching them business so of course, like he's very successful in the photography piece, but we both came together and really wanted to focus on that business aspects for photographers, because that was one of the things that we found in the field with photography. Photographers really knew a lot about photography and the art, but the business sense was always a little bit of a struggle. And then from there, you know, we both had so much experience and background to bring to the table that we wanted to go beyond just photography, and I was never a photographer. I always enjoyed helping out. You know, I helped out in the business as well, too. So we expanded into the world of entrepreneurship, which is where we both really love to talk. We really love to shine, and we've been doing that ever since. So it's been a really fun journey. And I think.

Unknown Speaker  5:00  
That's one of the cool things working together. Yeah, yeah, it's so nice when you can do that together, and also when you refine what you're doing and you move closer to what really brings you joy. Because this obviously brings both of you such joy, and we all want more of that. Business doesn't have to be so serious and buttoned up. It can be much more like, you know, organic, for lack of a better word, I love that story. I love it. I love that you work together. I've met my husband at work, and we still work well together. Okay? I really relate to that. Yeah. We love it and we it's one of those things that when we, you know, got together as a couple, it was one of the first conversations we had together, because we had both come from previous marriages where we did work with a spouse that was not a healthy relationship and so but when we started working together, we really had a great, honest conversation about what worked for us, how we like to work together. And it's one of those things which I'm sure you've experienced. You kind of figure out what your skills are, what your strengths are, and lean into those, and then really trust the other person. And we've done that really well over the years. Definitely, you know, with anything, it's one of those things when you first start, you kind of learn each other's quirks and things like that. But we really, work really well together, because we just know, we know what you know our strengths are and what we bring, bring to the to the business and and we trust that the other person is going to show up and do do their part too. So it's really, it's really a lot of fun. It does sound like a lot of fun. It also sounds like the role of coach fits you now in your life, right? Like, I understand about the therapy. I always part of me wanted to be a therapist. I was very attracted to it,

Unknown Speaker  6:42  
very interested in it, always. And mental illness. We have some in my, you know, way back in my family, and I was always sympathetic, but I always knew that I would take it home. And I knew I was too I couldn't handle it. I knew it, yeah, so I stopped myself. I think it's very wise to know when in your life it's time to switch it up a little, you know, absolutely, absolutely, yeah, it was, you know, it served its role, and when I was in it, and it was, you know, I loved it when I was in it, but it did get to a point where, like I said, I would start to come home, like you said, with it. I would, I would think about, I would think about my clients. And a lot of the times, some of the situations just were really, really challenging, and so just had a lot of challenging thoughts. What I love about coaching is that, you know, a lot of times the people that we work with, especially nowadays, they kind of know what they need to do. I mean, they might need some directions on specific strategies and things like that, but it's a matter of just kind of guiding people along to make the best decision for themselves, and that's the way that even Paul and I, we coach today. We give a lot of great coaching on business, but we really work with people and meet them where they're at because not everyone's going to want to do business the same way, and they everyone has different circumstances, too. So that's kind of how we look at it from a holistic perspective. It's, you know, we have some people that, they know they're just starting off with their business, and they want this to be, you know, income supplement other people that, you know, money's not really the big thing on their mind, but they just want to contribute something to their community. So we meet people where we're at, where they're at, and work with them to kind of help them with their goals. It's very individualized, and that's what I really love about the coaching world. It's just always interesting, isn't it? People are so interesting. That's why I do this. They are, they are, yes, you learn a lot about people. They're fascinating. Yeah. But I really, I want people to hear how important it is to have a coach, a life coach, or a business coach. I never knew before. I started knowing more people in those worlds, how important that is. And I have an accountability group. I meet with them every week, and it just keeps me on track. It reminds me of what I should be doing. And I think that can help so many people can be helped by that. And you know, they don't realize that's part of what happens is you have to be accountable to somebody you're not inside your own head? Yeah, yeah. And it also can get very lonely sometimes when you're inside your head. So just having you know that accountability someone to bounce ideas off of, it's so important, and you bring all that experience, I just I can imagine that people are very grateful to have you in their corner. So how many years have you been doing this now?

Unknown Speaker  9:20  
Oh, my goodness. So, like I said, I wasn't, I was doing therapy for over 10 years now, so, gosh, I you know when, when Paul and I had met, that was like, around, what, 2014

Unknown Speaker  9:33  
14, 1314, so, since then, yeah, yeah. But it's, it's kind of lots of iterations with it. So along the way, because I do consider every experience that I've had has built on each other. It's been kind of this stepping stone. So along the way, along with the therapy, I also worked with a mentor as well in the personal development. He trained underneath a personal development a lot of people are very familiar with Tony Robbins, so he trained under in that school.

Unknown Speaker  10:00  
So I worked a lot in that company. I was their top coach, and we would do things that were very in that realm with personal development, teaching people kind of how to overcome their barriers and whatnot. So that was another stepping stone as well. I worked a lot to

Unknown Speaker  10:16  
in my past relationship. I was an owner of martial arts studio with several different locations. So I had that business sense in that it was, it was a different time back then, but when I we actually had physical martial arts studios, so I managed those martial arts studios with the students and the instructors and everything like that. I had a lot of different experiences. And at the time, it's one of those things, you're like, oh my gosh, how do any of these make sense? Because, you know, therapists, you know, in the martial arts world, personal development, like they all don't seem to fit together, but somehow they all do fit together, because all your experiences build on each other, and that's what brings you to where you are. And it's been really great, because I have such a rich, you know, rich experience that I can pull into the things that we do today. I love that. And you're sharpen your business skills as you go. You don't even realize, like, you just seem like a natural in that world, you know, Oh, you don't even realize, thank you. You're like, doing all these things, and you can, you can handle it, and you're good at it. Sometimes we don't know what we're good at until we give it a shot, absolutely. And you got to give yourself that chance to give it a shot, like you said. And sometimes you'll, you know, you'll, you'll hit it. And then other times, you might, you know, fall down a little bit, but that's okay, and you just get back up and you learn from it. I'm so glad you said that. That's like, my big thing that I got from the podcast class, which is also it had a lot of mindfulness as part of it. I just wasn't taught that as a kid. I don't think a lot of us were that that little failures are part of the journey, and they just mean you got to keep going. You pivot a little, maybe keep going. And I just see that everywhere, that kind of it's fascinating to me, how people, they have that polar, polarized view, like, Well, I wasn't meant to do it, you know, they have one little failure. They think they're not meant to do it, or even with, you know, I mean, I'm going to dive off a little bit into recovery, like, it just, I know that I used to think, oh, they fell off the wagon. Oh, that's just not working for them. You know, I had that judgment because I didn't understand. But people can have little slip ups. People can have little The only problem is just not getting up again, right? You got to keep going. And I just think we should, we should teach that more, because I know that was, I was holding on to beliefs about failure and about slip ups, and I was taught in my family to be afraid. And, you know, we were, my parents used to use examples of people in our family that, you know, it was really sad, because they would say, Oh, well, so and so tried their own business, and they lost their shirt, you know. And it's sort of like a tale of, you know, don't do that, which is really not what I'm like at all. But it worked for a long time on me.

Unknown Speaker  13:00  
So what I'm really interested in is I'm interested I'm interested in all of it. I love to talk to entrepreneurs. I never even knew how much I love them until I started the podcast. Your journeys fascinate me because the tenacity and the personality and just the tales. I mean it just that they you know, not anybody has a streamlined path to having their own business. It takes a lot of guts. And I would love to know if you could, I don't mean to corner you, but I would just love to know like the top couple things that people stumble on, like the top things they need help with, maybe the top three in on finding, yeah, well, I think the the number one of the biggest pieces. Because, I mean, I get, you know, Paul and I, we talk about strategies all day long, and we love that. But I think one of the biggest thing is just getting out of your own way would be one of the biggest things. You know, there is, you know, entrepreneurship, there's a lot of, you know, personal development and entrepreneurship kind of go hand in hand with each other. It's so it's kind of interesting, you know, coming to this where, you know, I'm doing business coaching, but there's a lot of times when I'm coaching people, it's a lot of mindset of putting yourself out there. I think that would be one of the number one things, is like, you know, trying something new. And

Unknown Speaker  14:20  
we when one of the things I always tell people is like, you know, go into trying something like, whether it's like a new promotion, or you're putting on a new offer or just trying, you know, even like putting yourself on social media, you won't know the results from that. You won't know you know how well it turned out until maybe, you know, a couple months from now. You won't know until you try it. But it's actually just the act of, you know, putting it out there, as far as that goes, and being okay. I always tell people to, you know, put yourself out there, put an offer out there, without any expectations. And it's a lot harder to say, you know, to do that, you know, then you know, you think it is, but without any expectations, with it.

Unknown Speaker  15:00  
Um, that's one of the biggest pieces that I see, that entrepreneurs really, you know, it's that, that comfort level, because we are, you know, and I'm me included as well. We have standards for ourselves. We have that perfectionism, where it's like, Oh, I'm not, it's not yet, and I just love, I've gotten much better at it nowadays, where it's like, we're just going to try this, and we're going to have fun, we're going to experiment with it, and we're going to go with no expectations, and we're going to learn from it, you know, we're going to, if it's a new promotion, we're going to put it out there. And there's been a lot of times where I put together, you know, like a sales page, because I write all the copy and everything like that. And maybe it's not exactly, exactly as I'd like it, but I'm just going to get it out there, because we won't know. And so we have people actually look at it, get get feedback from it, if it actually is something that works. So that would be like one of the one piece is that a lot of people in this world, they don't put themselves out there enough. Another big theme that I see with entrepreneurs is consistency. It's really, yeah, consistency with with doing the things, and sometimes with that consistency. You know, you come into entrepreneurship because you don't want to work for anyone. You want freedom you want. You know you want to be able to, you know, wake up whenever you want to wake up and do whatever you want to do. But we have to create our some consistency for ourselves as as entrepreneurs. You know, we have to have some sort of, like, routines, things that we do on a regular basis that are going to give us the biggest, you know, return of our, of our time and energy. And sometimes, some of those things, they're not exactly the fun things, you know. They might be the mundane,

Unknown Speaker  16:34  
but like, if you know, if you're if you're consistent at it, you know, that's where you're going to see the results. It's those constant little things that you do each and every day, even the stuff that's boring to do that every day. And I see a lot of entrepreneurs, they kind of fall off of that. They they see something shiny and go over there, but it's like, you were doing this thing really, really well. Like, keep doing that, and you got clients, and then you stopped because it got boring. But it's like, keep doing that, that consistent thing over and over again, and that's gonna, that's gonna, that's worth so much, that's so important. You know, I remember, I got to interview my brother, who's a really successful entrepreneur. He sells, I call them boutique arcade games. They're, like, beautiful. They're hand built fashion. You know, they have art and a cabinet, but inside is a computer you can play, play 1000s of games. So he's kind of evolved to this, and it's just this beautiful thing. But he talked about consistency. He talked about, just keep your head down, keep on target. And I said, Well, what's a piece of advice that you would give like budding entrepreneurs? And he had the most practical, beautiful piece of advice. He said, Don't buy swag.

Unknown Speaker  17:46  
Start their new business, right? And they're like, ooh, swag, you know? They're not even a business yet. My brother, I thought that was so wise. I said, so good. He goes. Don't buy the shirts. Don't buy the you know. And now, of course, he has some of that, because he delivers the machines, right? He has the shirt. He looks official, but he said, Don't buy swag in the beginning. And I thought that was so it speaks to your point, like, swag is exciting, right? It's the shiny thing, but you have to build the business. It's the shiny thing

Unknown Speaker  18:15  
exactly, exactly. And sometimes it that those things, you know, it's figuring out, what are those things actually move the needle in your business, and just being really consistent with that. So if it's like, you know, a weekly email to your people to connect with them, keep doing that weekly email, even though it's like, oh, and you know, I don't know if this is making a difference or not, you'll, you won't know. And so you just keep that consistency. The last thing I would say is just having fun in your business, that's contagious, you know, fun. I was going to say a lot of things that you're talking about. Cathy Heller talked about in her class, where you're talking about being authentic, getting out there, like not making it. Kathy says, who's the least favorite character in a movie, the perfect one. People don't relate to perfect. They don't want perfect. They weren't real. And so if you're authentic, they believe you and trust you. And trust is what you talk about so often in your book and in your on your website, about building that relationship and having that trust. You don't build trust by having all your, you know, ducks in a row and waiting really long time to get your stuff out there. And it's I also like that. You say it's more than just throwing content at people, right? So I think a lot of us who are not used to social media, myself included, we just like build this little content thing and this little missile and fire it out into the world. But that's not what it's about. And what's funny is, you're reminding me of losing weight is the same way, like you're not going to see results right away. What you you know you were good today, and what you ate today will help you in a few days, right or next week. So it's very similar to anything that you're that you want to establish, and habits are really important. But pivoting, my brother talks a lot about pivoting like he tried over 17 years. He calls himself the 17 year.

Unknown Speaker  20:00  
Or overnight sensation. He tried several different products, and if they didn't work, he tried again. Like, I think, what is it about someone that gives them that stick to itness? Like, do you build that or do some people have that naturally? I think, I think some people are just have natural resiliency. And you know, whatever you know background that allows them to be resilient. And if they fall down, they get right back up. But I do think it's something that can be, can be learned and can be practiced, like with anything. It's one of those things. It's so interesting that, you know, you know, when kids grow up and they're learning to ride a bike and they fall off the bike, we encourage them to, like, okay, get back up on the bike. And, yeah, you gotta keep trying, and eventually you're gonna learn to ride the bike. But as entrepreneurs, the minute, like you do, like a launch and it fails, it's like, oh, this is, this is over. I'm terrible at this. I'm never gonna try that again. It's so true. That's so true. It's the same thing. It's like, so it's really just having that, that attitude of, you know, it's you're not losing, it's just you're learning every step of the way, even if things that seem like that failure, and I'm using air quotes here, failure to you, it's no it's a learning experience, right? Yeah, it's all part of it. It's all part of it. And a lot of times to what you see on social media from and in the space from a lot of successful people, all the wins, but I know darn well, and you know darn well that they had many, many loses that they may not be publicly, that got to that to that point, you know what I mean. Well, you're also reminding me, I noticed Amy Porterfield recommended your book, and I love her. I took her course, and I'm, I just love her. I love and she also works with Kathy Heller, so I, I definitely have a type. And

Unknown Speaker  21:48  
she said, I love how she sort of revels in the fact this is so loving to tell people she revels in the fact that she went to so much trouble to plan her first online course. She was going to sell this course, and she made a big whopping $167

Unknown Speaker  22:04  
and she cried for like, a week. And I thought, How lovely to reveal that to people and let people know that's not the end, right? And even people who are super successful have had those stories. So I think that's really important.

Unknown Speaker  22:19  
I just love that idea too. Is like, not all of us are good at habits, and you have to learn how to

Unknown Speaker  22:27  
I. What I do is trick myself into following habits like whatever works, right? Like I told I wrote an essay about it, and people were cracking up.

Unknown Speaker  22:37  
Sometimes I just don't feel like emptying the dishwasher,

Unknown Speaker  22:41  
so I'll start the coffee, and I'll say, if I can empty the dishwasher before the coffee is done, and that's how I do it. And I'm like, I know I'm tricking myself, but it's like a little challenge. And so I wrote about that, and I said, we really should, you know, work this into everything, like find what works for you, because not everything works. You know, everybody's different, everybody's different, and everyone ops or operates a little bit differently. And I love that. Like, you know, put, you know, I wish, what if I can get this all done before the coffee is done, or sometimes, like, I'll be, I'll put on, like, you know, a show is like, by time this show is done, I'm doing just kind of, like, mindless things like cleaning up, like, let the time that show is done, I'm going to be done with that. So good. It's all about setting yourself, setting yourself up for success, whatever that is. And I think if it's something that really matters, whatever it is, whether it's business or personal, we'll put it off. We'll put it off to the the last minute, if we've unless we schedule it, make it an appointment. So anything important, important, make it an appointment. Put it on your calendar, treat it like a, you know, an important day, whether it's, you know, something in your business, or if you need to get to the gym, or whatever the case it might be, it's an appointment, and you'll treat it, you'll treat it differently. You'll treat it with the, you know, the respect that it deserves, because it's taking time out of your day with that So little things like that can set yourself, telling yourself that you take yourself seriously. You know, I think that's important, because we, especially as women, we're taking everyone else so seriously, worried about everybody else.

Unknown Speaker  24:13  
It's nice to worry about yourself and realize that you you deserve anyway, you'll be useless to everybody else, if you don't take care of yourself, absolutely. I agree. I agree. So are there any books that you read that helped you? Do you feel like there's

Unknown Speaker  24:30  
people that you I know the Tony Robbins thing? Probably really, that connection is incredible. Are there any books that you read or movies that you saw or people that you talked to that really influenced you, um, I've had, like, I said, with everything, there's been like, little bits of pieces inside of, like, you know, this, this journey with it. I One of the series of books that, I mean, I really enjoyed in earlier years are a lot of authors in the in the Hay House space with a lot, yeah.

Unknown Speaker  25:00  
I were so many of them I can't even name, you know, all, hey, I love her. Yeah, there's a lot of with affirmations, positivity, you know, motivation, things like that. So I really, I still enjoy things like that. I also that logical brain of mine I love, you know, anything there's we're always trying to figure out, what's that productivity thing that we're going to do. So atomic habits was a really great book. I loved that. Kind of bring that up because we're sort of talking about habits and how to stick to them. That was a great book. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  25:31  
really great book. And then nowadays, what I really enjoy is, anytime there's any documentaries or on entrepreneurs and their stories, and I just love watching those and seeing, you know, the journey of someone from how they got started to where they are today, right now. We currently in this time we were traveling full time, but we live in celebration Florida, which is about 10 minutes, 1015, minutes away from Walt Disney World. So I'm enjoying learning a little bit more about Walt Disney, and you know his journey as well. I'm in the early stages of, kind of learning about, you know, how he started to, you know, building, you know, the Disney brand, and now to even where Disney is nowadays, and how it's gone beyond him. He's created this legacy. So I found that stuff really, really interesting. So neat. Well, I just think people that are entrepreneurs are super inspiring. They are and they all have these like I said, I got kind of hooked on talking to them, because their journeys are fascinating. They're like little microcosms of, you know, people's lives. Like we all have journeys, we all have struggles, and it's just nice to hear how somebody got through them. And it's so funny because my brother told me things I didn't know. I thought I knew all kinds of things about so you never know what people are really dealing with. I have a friend too that has her own business. She also calls herself, I think, the 15 year overnight sensation, and she

Unknown Speaker  26:56  
completely changed her career. And she,

Unknown Speaker  27:00  
you know, works with animals, and has, like, a doggy daycare, and she has a master's degree in animal science, so she does like extra if you need extra care you need, you know, injections or special, special needs dogs. But, yeah, it's been quite a journey for her, too. And I just am so impressed with people that stick with it, like you and Paul, I mean, that's pretty it's not easy, right? It's not easy, yeah, the long run, right at the long run? Yep. And always, you know, our program, we named it our main coaching program. We named it adaptive marketing program for because, because it's always adaptive, and we've had many iterations, and we continue to adapt. You know, with everything, that's a great thing. You know, with that, it's with marketing, you kind of have to pay attention to what's going on in the market, what people are resonating with, and you you adapt. You adapt the way you communicate with people. At the end of the day, it's about meeting people where they're at if you have an offer that you know is going to help them, how can you get that message out to them in a way that they're going to understand it? And so it's like you said, trying things, different things, adapting to, you know, the the shifts and changes and whatnot and and we'll continue to adapt, even beyond this. So, so great. I like how positive you are. I also I wish people, I hope they hear that some of us really could use an ear or help a coach is can can shorten the journey and and make you realize what you you know, how to set your goals, and maybe what's working, what's not. And I know it speeds, it speeds up your journey because you're accountable, and so you do it like when you have to admit to somebody. No, I didn't get to that. You know? It's just harder. So I hope people hear that, because I think it's super useful to have somebody in your corner. Is there anything else that we need to know? I was reading about 10104

Unknown Speaker  28:52  
formula, the system,

Unknown Speaker  28:55  
yeah, yes, yeah. I can tell you a bit about that. So my book is influenced from social pull the list to launch, and I talked a little bit about some things we pulled in today, which is really get that messaging, and making sure that the messaging that you're putting out there, you know, to your audience is, you know, is congruent. So everything from your social media to how you're going to get that message out there with a launch, it's all that flow with it, so that everything you put out there makes sense, you know, the kind we don't want to just throw content out there, to just throw content out there, like spaghetti on the walls. We want, you know, when we put a piece of content out there, and how can we, you know, lead them, lead them down that path towards contacting us. And, you know, learning a little bit more about what we do. The 104 formula is in the book, where I really talk about how to, you know, because I talk about this and people like, well, how does that actually work? What does it actually look like? And it really, what it comes down to, is really understanding that you're the problems and challenges, that your person is having their desires, that they have, what they want, more for themselves, and more than just surface life.

Unknown Speaker  30:00  
Like, really, what are they thinking, feeling, saying and doing and documenting this in our wonderful Formula, Formula so that you can really, you have, you always have things to talk about with your audience. You're never going to run out of content. Because I know that's a big struggle for people's like, what do I actually say on video? It is, yeah, what do I post it? Once you have that idea of how your person works and the challenges that they have. And again, you get to know about this by having relationships with people, having conversations, doing some research, then you're never going to run out of things to talk about with them, because what you're going to talk about with them is going to be so relevant and interesting for them that they're going to want to reach out to you. And then the next natural step is to ask, well, how can you help me and where you can take them on that path too. So that just makes more sense than sort of banging your head against the wall and throwing and it can be fun too. It can be fun too.

Unknown Speaker  30:52  
So what about brand like, do you work with people to define their brands? Or, I know people have a hard time with that. Absolutely yes. That's one of the things we work with as branding. And I think where a lot of people get stuck is they get stuck in some of the the nitty gritty, like, what should my logo look like, and what should my colors look like, and the font and all those things. And those are important. I'm not saying they're not important, but really, when it comes down to brand, it comes down to, again, that transformation that you want people to experience when they work with you, it that feeling you want them to have when they when they work with you. So really getting crystal clear on that first and then all the other pieces will come together. There's so much great information out there about color theory and you know different styles to you know how to connect with people, but it first comes down to that, again, that feeling you want people to have, the transformation that you're promising, and getting really crystal clear on that, and then everything else follows from there. But you have to be really clear on that first, as part of your brand and your brand statement, your your vision, and what you want people to feel. I love that the way you said, you know, there's a there's a start and a finish, like that transformation. I've heard that before. I think that's great to focus on that. I know a lot of us who maybe are Creatives or, you know, my husband calls me the talent. You know,

Unknown Speaker  32:15  
I don't come by sales or marketing naturally, you know, I find it, you know, not anymore, but I did find it icky, you know, like, how people can be about it,

Unknown Speaker  32:25  
but it's really not icky, you know, like you make it so human you talk about it's just it doesn't have to be hard or icky, because people buy from someone they trust, and you don't sell a product. You really sell you. That's what Kathy Heller always talks about. So if you have that together, like you have your message together, and you're in your authentic you're going to do better than if you say, Hey, here's this great product and it does all these things for you. So I think that's really important to get out there. And I just don't think we can say it enough Absolutely. Sometimes, you know, you just, I know, in the beginning, I would think very, I would have distance from whatever I was trying to do, and I would say, like, how do I analyze this? And how do I, you know, market this? And that doesn't work exactly, yeah, yeah. We, we look at selling is really, it's it's really a serving selling is really serving your people. And it all comes back to again, if you really are in tune with the problems, the challenges, the desires that your person has, and can really speak into that, and not just surface level, but really like have these conversations with them again, whether it's through social media, whether it's an email newsletter, whether it's on video, but you're really talking to them,

Unknown Speaker  33:45  
they feel heard and they feel understood, and then they're more open to listening to whatever solution you have for them, and that solution just naturally. It's the next natural step. So the sale really feels very effortless, because you've already kind of explored with them. You let them know you got their back. You understand where they're coming from. Give them some examples of that, and then the sale just comes naturally, because it's, it's a solution that you know, for a problem that you have an understanding of with it, and it doesn't have to, you don't have to switch personalities, from, you know, teaching, educating, to sales like it's all just really fluid and it flows. And that's one of the great things inside the book I talk about that, you know, it's a seamless process where you don't have to switch it on or off. This is just the way you relate to people. It's the relationship. I love that, yeah, I love that. That is so good. No, is there anything that we forgot to mention? Anything you'd like to add? Um, you know, I just would say, in your business, really think about how you can serve your people best. I would say that that's the starting point for you. It's just, how can I serve my people best? And what kind of things would you know? What kind of problems can I, can I solve for them, and can I create something that would just be a no brainer solution for them? I think.

Unknown Speaker  35:00  
That for anyone just starting off, it's like, well, how do I how do I even get this? How do I reach? How do I reach my person? Just solve their problems. And if you're not sure what their problems are, that's where you need to do some research. Have some conversations with people. Get to know your people really well. And if you can solve people's problems, people are willing to invest in that because they, they have that pain point, whatever problem, it could be a big problem, it could be an annoyance, and it can be, you know, in all we've helped different entrepreneurs and all different things from, you know, not just coaching, but, you know, info products, you know, you know, things that are just like, you know, novelty items, you know, like hobbies and things like that. But there's, you're always solving problems for people. So really, just so cool. So I think that that's really important to remember. We don't always start off like that, focusing on that. So that's wonderful. I want to make sure we mentioned your book. Yes, it's called Influence, from social to list to launch. And you did a TED talk. What was that about? I did, so my TED talk, I did, actually, earlier on, it was about mindfulness, and again, another walk of life where I, you know, I did, you know, a lot of in the mindfulness world, but it was really about mindfulness and being intentional and overcoming some struggles with that. So I am on on TED that TEDx,

Unknown Speaker  36:21  
yeah, but you know, it's funny. You have done so many different things, but somehow it does all add up, and it brought you here. Yeah, it did. You have positive attitude that I think comes from doing all those things absolutely. And I think if that's an encouragement for anyone else out there too, because there was a lot of times I didn't always feel like that. I felt like, oh my gosh, I'm all over the place, like this doesn't make any sense, but now kind of reflecting and looking back like I said, they're all stepping stones, it all makes sense, even though it didn't make sense time and it just, it's just a cool part of of the journey, and the journey continues even now. So, so lovely to remind people about. Because again, I think we are sort of taught that there's a trajectory, and we're going to, you know, go up and up and up, and it's going to be straight, a straight line. And most of us who are a little older know that it's not a straight line, but it's important to remind people you know, you try stuff, you follow your instincts, you you do what you know, you need, you, what you want to learn, you, what excites you, and somehow it does add up. You find your way, but it's not a straight line sometimes. So that's really good, because people, I think, do judge themselves. And also that,

Unknown Speaker  37:29  
I would just urge people to get a coach, because we we get afraid, right? And we stop ourselves. And I think sometimes that's the difference between continuing and not being afraid, is having somebody who's a cheerleader. Basically, coaches are great cheerleaders, and I've been helped a lot by my friends who who do it.

Unknown Speaker  37:49  
So thank you for being on I think there's a lot here people can really take away. Can you please tell us how to get in touch with you? That's what I wanted to make sure we talked about Absolutely. So if people want to reach out to me the best, I'm on Instagram and Facebook, my handle is at real Melissa Pruitt, like a real person. And if people are, if people are interested in the book, influenced with a D book.com,

Unknown Speaker  38:16  
and if people are interested too, I also have a workshop, if anyone wants to go through some of the things I talk about in the book, and it's a free resource, and that is influenced workshop.com and that's influenced with a D, that's great.

Unknown Speaker  38:33  
Yeah, that's mentioned in your book, right? Yes, that's one of the things you get when you get the book. Yes, absolutely. There's lots of really awesome resources in there. I wanted to make it really rich with resources that people can put into action right away. So good. Thank you for sharing. I know you've helped people. People are going to listen to this and say, Hmm, that's what I need to do. Oh, well. Thank you so much. This was so fun, and it was great having a chat with you about but all the things, lots, lots of good fun things. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker  39:01  
Thank you.

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