0:00:02 - Betsy Jordyn
Had enough, ready to turn your career into your own consulting and coaching business, you're in the right place. I'm Betsy Jordyn and, with my background as a consultant, entrepreneur and personal brand builder, i'm here to give you inspiration and guidance to own your brilliance, shape your brand, articulate your message and get seen and paid as the expert that you already are. This is enough already The place for consultants and coaches to learn how to create businesses and lives that they love.
0:00:31 - Betsy Jordyn
So welcome everybody to this week's episode of the Enough Already Padcast, the show for consultants and coaches who want to forge their own past of success in their careers and their lives And every week I probably say this all the time is oh my gosh, this guest is really special and really meaningful to me. But this guest today is Chad Barr, who's very meaningful to me. He is my very first business mentor. He's my first web guy. You've heard me talk about him over and over again on the show around the one who got me into content creation in the first place. You can go back to my episode with Jared Nichols in episode 23 and you'll hear us both raving about him. And Chad is here to talk to us about all things web presence related, thought leadership, content creation. We might even slip in a little bit more of our shared passion around chat, gpt and so much more. So, without further ado, welcome to the show, chad.
0:01:24 - Chad Barr
It's great to be here With that kind of introduction. I could listen to you all day long, but thank you for having me.
0:01:31 - Betsy Jordyn
We have so much to talk about. We have so many of our fun stories. You can share with my listeners all the fun stories about my first experiences with content creation, so that they could know what it was like. But before we get into all the conversations, i'd love to back up and talk a little bit about you, your background, where you came from, how you went from being an Israeli musician to a software guide, to this photographer, web strategist, now content creator, thought leadership creator and more.
0:02:02 - Chad Barr
Amazing. So, as you already mentioned, i was born and raised in Israel And the beginning of my life in Israel I was very much attracted to music, so I would definitely call myself a musician, study music, especially the guitar. I played professionally in Israel in both rock and roll bands, jazz band, and then, at the age of 18, like every other Israeli, i had to join the military, which has been the Tory for all of us Israelis three years for the guys and two years for the girls. So the age of 18, i joined the military And even throughout the military service I had the option to even entertain the troops with my music background And fast forward right at the conclusion of my military service.
I always had the dream to make it to the US, was fascinated with American music, both jazz, classical, rock and roll, and then I had the opportunity to come and visit the US as a representative to work at summer camps right after the age of 21. So I remember talking to the guy who interviewed me And at that time Israel was sending about 400 representatives all over the US and Canada. I believe today it's more like 4000 representatives that get sent to summer camps to both bring the culture of Israel And especially if you have music background and you completed the military service, it's almost like a short shot ticket to get there. So I remember sitting there at the conclusion of my interview and I said to the guy where are you sending me? He said to this beautiful place by the lakes called Cleveland Ohio. Never heard of Cleveland.
0:03:37 - Betsy Jordyn
Ohio.
0:03:38 - Chad Barr
So I remember asking the guy where the heck is Cleveland, ohio? He said it's pretty close to New York, it's about two fingers on the map. So anyway I made it to Cleveland, ohio, where I met my future wife to be, who was from the US. From Cleveland I did go back after the first year, came back to the US after that year and then decided to continue my education here.
At the beginning I started to study music And then I decided to take a course in programming in the Kobo language And I have to admit I fell in love with coding And maybe there is the kind of brain association between writing, composing music to developing code and developing software And I felt almost the same kind of enjoyment And I decided to switch my major from music major to computer science. And then my first position was in a consulting firm that was writing software for their clients. And then, fast forward a couple of years later I decided to create my own company, cb Software System, which was focused on the development of software solution primarily for the distribution market, so any company that would have a distribution type environment. I've developed the software with my team to optimize and computerize every aspect of the business And then fast forward several years later, with the announcement for the beginning of the internet. I used to say that it was both me and Al Gore who pretty much developed the internet, but on a serious note, i recognized that there is a tremendous opportunity there. So myself and my team started to dive into learning and figure out how to use this internet thing And then fast forward.
Later I transitioned or transformed my business from a software development house to an internet, to the internet company, and then recently the focus has been for the past almost 10 or 15 years and not only helping my clients coaches, consulting, consultants and entrepreneur with every aspect of what I call web presence. And to me, web presence falls into three categories First of all, the web strategy. Second, very remarkable content creation. And then third is their marketing initiative. So as I started to move in that direction, not only did I find that the need out there is to help them with the web presence, but especially the majority of my clients struggle with how do we take what's sitting in our heads and then manifest it out there through technology. And that's where my focus today of helping my clients with every aspect of their content, which we also trademark the concept of creating global digital empire, which is all about taking the wisdom of my clients experiences and what they are known for and then manifest it out there on the web. So that's my short answer to your question.
0:06:34 - Betsy Jordyn
Well, that was such a great synopsis of your career. I want to delve in a little bit more on the pivot points and then I want to get into the specifics of some of your passions, of where you're at right now. So it seems like there was the pivot point between going from music to the software and creating software. It seems like there was another pivot point from you going from working for somebody else to working for yourself, and then there was another pivot point of going from a software company into what you do now, which is more of creating that web presence and the digital empires. What was it that allowed you to make those pivots? It seems like it was kind of seamless for you.
I'm not hearing any sort of pick up for you around. All right, it's fine to let go of music and embrace computer science. It's fine for me to let go of working for a company and embrace working for myself, and it seemed like it was a natural evolution. What was it in your mindset or your background that allowed you to to make those pivots without a lot of? it doesn't sound like there was a lot of angst in your story.
0:07:37 - Chad Barr
You know this is a great observation. I never thought about it this way, so thank you for bringing it up and kind of triggering my mind to think in that direction. I would say that I was born an entrepreneur And what I mean by that early age, probably the age of 12 or 13,. I start to entertain with my music background. So one thing I did not mention my first instrument with the accordion before I even picked up the guitar, at the age of 13.
0:08:05 - Betsy Jordyn
Well, thank you to let that go, so you can become more of a rock person rather than the accordion guy.
0:08:10 - Chad Barr
But that's the secret. Let's not share it out with anyone.
0:08:13 - Betsy Jordyn
Except for everybody who's listening to my podcast. But they'll be, they'll be good. They'll keep it a secret. You'll everybody will know that you're cool.
0:08:20 - Chad Barr
That's right, thank you. Especially my grandkids think that way. So yeah, but anyway, early, starting the age of 12 or 13, i start to entertain using the accordion and then, shortly thereafter, as I develop my guitar skills, i joined several bands and I have to admit that being able to entertain while going to high school and in the evening entertain for anywhere from weddings and things like that, and enable me to not only enjoy what I was doing and develop my passion, but also generate some serious income early And I have to say, not not showing off, but probably at one point towards the end of 1617, just before I joined the military at the age of 18, i probably was making just playing five, six nights a week, the equivalent of both, with my parents were making at that time. So I've come to realize, wow, there is an opportunity out there to leverage my skills, my talent, and I always dreamed about being an entrepreneur, owning my own business. So then the pivot point there is.
I started to study music and then fell in love with computer programming. I said to myself let me first gain the experience working for someone else, and I think it was a period of about a year and a half or two that I worked for someone else And I said you know, i think I have enough experience to start my own company. It was a scary decision. And I remember coming home and saying to my wife at that time you know, i think I'm going to go on my own. And she said I use, are you sure about that? And I said absolutely. And I've never looked back. It was an amazing decision.
Throughout the year, the year is just looking for that opportunity, as you call it, the pivot point, to say what's next, What is the next opportunity, that I feel the passion, i feel kind of the music in my heart to say that's the direction I want to go. So at that time it was a transition from music to software development And then later on, from software development to the internet And now, more as we evolve with the internet, we start leveraging content creation and now artificial intelligent technologies such as GDPT. And who knows where we're going to be a year or two, five years from now. But I'm going to listen very carefully to my heart and to what's happening out there to try to figure out what's next for us and what's for what's next for our clients.
0:10:42 - Betsy Jordyn
I think I think you just hit on what the secret is that allowed you to move so seamlessly is. I don't know if it's just like you're a born entrepreneur alone. It seems like you're a born entrepreneur and a creative And it seems like the secret for you is you had at an early age this ability to listen to the music of your heart. And I think that's the having that skill to listen, to listen and trust the music of your heart and bring it into expression. Even just doing the accordion at a young age, like you heard the music in your heart, you wanted to create expression. That seems to be, thematically, what carries you all the way through into what you do now, and it seems like that's the heart behind even helping people. content creation is you want them to express the music that's in their heart and express what's there.
And that's your, that's your key message that carries all the way through.
0:11:34 - Chad Barr
I like that. That's a very profound and accurate description. I also want to mention more of a thing. When I talk to a lot of my clients and many of them are entrepreneur, coaches, a consultant as you, as you are focusing on Oftentimes I hear that there is a fear for them to dive into the next big thing, even though perhaps their own music, their own heart, is telling them I want to move in that direction.
Perhaps they don't have the courage to do so. So one of the question I was asking the past in the past where are you developing this courage from? And I've come to realize throughout my military service. There was a time that I was involved in, in some kind of admission with the Israeli military, that we were involved in in so called war, where guns were shooting around us and bombs were going off and all that. And I've come to realize in the business world, no one is shooting at me.
What's the worst that can happen, you know. So I try something. It didn't work out, so I'm going to try something else. People, i think, oftentimes fear the possible, inevitable thing that would most likely never happen. So the other thing that I would like to mention is for people to realize, or perhaps develop the courage to say if my heart is telling me to move in that direction, perhaps I should listen to it and take action. Whether then not have the courage or have the fear to say you know, this is not for me. The opposite is what I would like to encourage people to move into.
0:13:05 - Betsy Jordyn
And I would probably say is that advice is what has helped me. You know, personally, there was, like, some of my pivot points in my career is when I was first starting my business. That was relatively easy, like going from, you know, being my in my Disney job and starting my business in the first place when we worked on my first website. That was fine, you know we did. Yeah, it was scary to do the videos And I if you all remember the story about you know, talking to my, talking to my web guy who said, yes, you're going to be doing videos. And I did the videos and I wrote the scripts And I said, no, i'm not going to do scripts, i'm just going to, you know, go off. And he's like, oh, no, you're going to write scripts. If you all remember that story, chad's the one who made me write all those scripts And he's the one who told me it was terrible, but that first iteration was easier.
My second iteration of letting go of consulting and moving into a mentoring space I mean you saw me like have like complete meltdowns around it That was so much harder And I think that that is something that you would say all the time is just, you know what are you passionate about. What's the worst thing that could happen? Those are always some of the advice you would have, except for that one time when you said I don't know what I'm passionate about. You're like, yeah, we always have our failures, but we won't get into that part there, okay, so let's go back to your story.
So one thing that was interesting to me is when we first started working together, you were a CB software And you were working with somebody else creating websites and your CB software website, you know, was kind of like it wasn't, it didn't show the creative side. And then there was like a transition that happened at a much deeper level. I experienced in you when you started getting into photography And then you breaking away from your previous business connection and this creative website came out. Like, if you ever look at everybody should look at what Chad's website It's Chad bar and associatescom. Is that correct?
The Chad bar group of the Chad bar groupcom. Sorry, you go over there and it looks like you know, just a bunch of crayons and paint just exploded everywhere. You know how did you get from sort of like because you were much more in the you know million dollar website kind of idea and you were kind of in that box to this whole creative expression and creating tomorrow's thought leaders and all of that? How did you unleash this creativity in a greater way? What got you to that point?
0:15:24 - Chad Barr
Great question. For me, it was simple surrounding myself with genius And what I mean by that, i just discovered that I need to rely on an amazing team that pushes my abilities and challenge my own thinking. So as we, as I, hired different people, both for the CB software, which was the software development company, and then for the Chad bar group that became the web portion of my business, i've realized that not only do I need to listen to my heart, but I need to listen to the people I trust to hire to work in my organization, and many of them have said you know, going even back to the software days, i remember the beginning. I was coding my own software And one of my team members came to me and said why are you coding yourself Now?
we could do the job just as good, possibly even better. Why don't you trust us to do the thing? you focus on the vision of the business, taking the business to the next level. And that's when I realized they're absolutely right. I need to listen to the genius that surrounds me, whether it's my mentor, my trusted advisor, whether it's my spouse, or whether it's my team members that I pay to bring to my, to my organization. So hopefully that that answer your question. But the key here is not only to for me to listen to my own intuition and to test my intuition whether it's in the right direction, but to really let out a challenge me and be influenced by, by what I see out there and and then say how can we make it better? What is the thing? And I remember just like challenging you sometimes when you brought your own script And did I really use the word crap Maybe I said, come on, you've got to write it again.
0:17:07 - Betsy Jordyn
You probably didn't say this crap.
0:17:11 - Chad Barr
One other thing. I think it was Richard Nick, not Richard.
0:17:15 - Betsy Jordyn
Nixon.
0:17:16 - Chad Barr
Not Nixon, one of his advisor, i forgot, but but anyway, perhaps the story was just the name slipped my mind. Right now, so many things we focus on, but anyway, what I want to say when Kissinger that's the one when his team members would provide him with the report that he was requesting, his first reply was this is crap, i needed to rework on that. They went back and work on version number two, came back with version number two and Kissinger would look at it and say this is crap. I need, i need a better version. When they finally brought up what back version number three he looked at it and said okay, so now I will read that.
Perhaps I would not as as as adamant or or as Kissinger, but I oftentimes let my team challenge me. But I also challenged them to say we can do better than that. And as I start to look at what we're developing for our clients, what we're developing for us, oftentimes I would challenge my own team to say we can do better than that. And sometimes they would challenge me to say this is not ready for live date. We need to improve on that.
0:18:22 - Betsy Jordyn
No, that is a great thing that you do. I'll tell you that you are at that level. But what I appreciated about it is I felt confidence that whatever was going to come out was good. So when we did all those videos and you would say, all right, I want to take it again and now do it this way. This is what I do with my clients all the time.
When we work through the brand positioning and I push them, or we work on website copy, it's like no, it could be better. or content creation when I help my clients, I channel you because I would rather have us mess with it behind the scenes rather than getting it public and it not being as good as it possibly can be. But I do want to say I think that I suspect and you could tell me if I'm wrong and just tell me don't, like I said, forget it. But I think that there's more to your transition than you just started listening to people, because I saw change, Because I was very closely working with you as you are transitioning, and I saw a shift happen when you really embrace photography.
I don't know if that just unleashed your creative side and broke you free. But when you got into photography it was not just like I'm going to take pictures of my grandkids, but it's like I'm taking, like these, works of arts with pictures or something that you do with your editing. You can still see in your pictures that there's a unique Chad Barr kind of feel to it. I feel like that there must have been something that when you embrace photography it's almost like you let go of this like million dollar. It felt like you were in a little bit of a million dollar straight jacket for a little bit. Then, when you embrace the photography, it just like that straight jacket just fell off. Your business just changed to a different vibrational level not to sound too woo, but that's how it felt to me.
0:20:08 - Chad Barr
What I think crossed my mind is you're mentioning that very accurate description, by the way because our life, our business is right in front of us right now, so oftentimes it's perhaps more challenging for us to realize what is it, is that happening? But you've got a great point there. What I'm going to add to that? that when I discover something that touches my heart, touches my brains, touches my being, i immerse myself in it. I take everything I can to let it come in. Then I study everything I can to improve my skill, to improve my ability. So, just like whether it was software development, whether it was the web, whether it was photography, i'll use photography as an example.
When I've come to realize that perhaps photography is something that I need to study, building my passion, my time into, i study everything I can about photography. At that time I looked at some of the most amazing photography and I said, wow, this is unbelievable. How did they do that? I start to look behind what is happening there? Then I say to myself can I do what they're doing? Then how can I take it to another level that applies to me, that is different from what they're doing? The same applies to content creation. The same apply to artificial intelligence. Today, as I find these new things that are really turning me on, i let myself immerse in it, i study as much as I can, and then I let it influence myself, and then I bring my creativity into it in order to be able to create something that now is meaningful for me, but hopefully for the people that are watching. That art or whatever it is that we are creating, that I'm creating or we are creating.
0:21:56 - Betsy Jordyn
Once again, it goes back to listening to the music of your heart, but it seems like that was a very different transition. That's when I think you moved away from. you too can make a million dollars consulting, or you too can have a million dollar website. you can be tomorrow's thought leader. There was a different value proposition. I remember asking you and I would love for you to explore a little bit more around why is content creation so close to your heart? I remember you said years ago of what it was, and there was something about the idea of somebody dies without their great ideas being expressed, like that would be a tragedy. We were talking about our shared things, because for me it's like if somebody dies without living their purpose or being able to use their strengths and monetizing their strengths, i kind of felt it from my standpoint, but you were like but our ideas? So what is the tragedy if somebody's great ideas go to their grave and they're never expressed? Why is that so upsetting to you?
0:22:50 - Chad Barr
I've had this profound moment and I don't remember exactly where I was. I think I remember, but that's not as critical, but whether it was two or three years ago. As I start to observe and look at what is happening in my life, in my client's life, all the sound, i had that moment that I realized what if some of the greatest thinkers and creator of history whether it's the venture, our comedies, newton, whoever, or Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, what if some of the greatest minds of history did not share their art, their wisdom, their knowledge with the world? What if they said to themselves No, this is mine, i'm going to keep it to myself, i'm not sharing it with anyone, my observation or my feeling about that. They probably will still be living today in the version of the Dark Ages, because technology would not have happened and all the evolution of the amazing thing that we've seen through history.
So as I thought about it, i've come to realize that inside all of us there's maybe Tony Robbins used to say, there is a genius inside, right? So what if us, all of us, do not share what is sitting there, the knowledge, the wisdom that we have? I believe that the world, we take a major step back. So my my desire today, or what I've come up from that moment, is to realize that my role here is to try to help as many of my clients as I can to realize that while they're here on Earth, they have an obligation, not just to themselves but their families, to humanities, to everyone around them, to take what's out there inside their heads and to share it in a way that allows them to impact others and make this a better world.
0:24:39 - Betsy Jordyn
So my guess is, my listeners are having two conflicting thoughts right now, as they're hearing you say that One thought is it's like, yeah, that sounds great, I want to do that. And then there's another thought that they're saying it's like, yeah, Chad, but I'm not Tony Robbins. So you know, I'm not Steve Jobs, Like I'm not. I'm not like one of those kind of people. You know, what would you say to someone who is going to have that objection of saying, sounds great, Chad, but I don't have those profound ideas. I'm not the next Brunet Brown, I'm not going to have a TED Talk that has bazillions of downloads.
0:25:11 - Chad Barr
Great point. But unless you try it, unless you do what you need to do to at least attempt to take that knowledge, the skills, the wisdom that you've collected and established over the years, unless you go out and put it out there in whatever platform would make sense for you and maybe multiple platforms as it grows you would never know what the world is responding to it right?
0:25:39 - Betsy Jordyn
But, chad, i don't know what to talk about. I have no idea what to write about. What do I write about? What do I write about?
0:25:49 - Chad Barr
Listen to your heart, listen to your mind. So, just like in my situation, at one point it was software. Then it transitioned itself to the web. Today it's about content creation. So what turns me on today is what is the content that we create, or I create or my clients should create? that would make a huge impact on others And that's what I study.
So, as I look at that today, not only do I need to reflect on what content resonates with me, but then talk to my clients, talk to the people that I try to approach out there and say does that resonate with you? What's the impact by you listening or watching a piece of video that I've created? What impact does that create? And the feedback oftentimes that I get from my clients allows me to determine whether I'm on the right track or maybe I should to change it a little bit. So experimentation trying is what comes to mind that I would recommend for people to say you've got to try it. But you also mentioned one other thing that I need to.
If someone has the question in their mind what should I write about? What should I create? My question would be what are you good at? What have you learned? What have you accumulated over the years that you would feel is something that someone else may want to listen to or be advised upon. So, and that's what I would suggest for them to try to put out there and say whether it's an article that they're creating or a podcast, or even suggest for someone, why don't you interview me and ask me the kind of question that relates to my area of expertise and let's see what comes out. And then try that and see what comes out from that.
0:27:44 - Betsy Jordyn
So it seems like the whole idea of listening to your heart is like a skill build that you just have to do something and then respond to it and then it gets stronger and stronger, like you heard the music and you wanted to do the accordion and it's a skill build, and so from your standpoint it's like just try something. I know you have more pragmatic ways that somebody could start with content creation, because I know that there's consistent questions you ask people to at the very beginning, like, for example, one of the things that you ask people is like well, what are three things that your clients are asking you about all the time? And you always do videos with that. Those are some of those easy peasy, like get started, because somebody's like gonna say well, i don't know what my strengths are, how do I write about my strengths? Like you know, like where do I begin And the way to focus.
It could be like that And like maybe just let's brainstorm a couple more. Not brainstorm, just tell me a couple other ones, because you do this all the time with me. What are three things that your clients are struggling with right now? What are the questions you get asked all the time?
0:28:43 - Chad Barr
That's right. So I'll come back to it. And I forget, please remind me. But my point is this as you look at any successful organization from the time that they started to perhaps fast forward a year or two or five years later or 10 years later, you'll see in my mind some kind of an evolution, or perhaps even a tremendous evolution, in their success rate.
So when I first started my software company, i started as a one-man band. Basically It was just me writing my software and I had one client, and then that resonated with someone else, so I had two clients and three clients and all of a sudden I got more and more requests to write software for different organizations that have come to realize I cannot do it on my own. So I hired the team to start to help me develop the software. The same applies to my web. So the market will tell me whether I'm on the right track or not. And as the market becomes more and more in need of what I am, that I'm doing, i've come to realize I'm on the right track and I need to do more of it but at the same time not prevent from being stagnant, because all of a sudden I say to myself well, this is great, i'm having success. I'm just gonna keep doing the same thing over and over. I think that's gonna be a terrible mistake. So one of my favorite thing to do with clients, both existing clients or first-time client is what you just mentioned to say to them, and that, perhaps, maybe, is the test for someone to say what am I good at To say to you if you were that person?
what is one of the challenges that your clients or your target audience may be facing? So, among the possible many other challenges that they're facing, can you come up with just one of them? So then you'll tell me what that one challenge and then I'll say to you all right, so if this is the one challenge that your target audience is facing, what are three ways to overcome that? Now I'm using three, arbitrary. It could be five, it could be 10, it could be 50 ways of resolving it, but when you start to tell me here are the three, four, five ways to resolve this challenge, that tells me Betsy is great. And, by the way, not to patronize you, that's the one thing that I've seen tremendous as we start to work together. I saw tremendous potential in your ability. Now I want to be great in front of the camera, but the ability to answer those kind of question in your area of expertise. So that's where we start to build, to say, okay, here's one challenge, let's build. What is challenge number two, challenge number three, challenge number 100, and what are three, five, 10 ways of overcoming them? And that, perhaps, is the method that I would recommend for people to say what do they see as the problem with the challenge that others are facing? Come up with a way to overcome the challenge and that, perhaps, the way for them to start creating content and to figure out this is what I'm good at and this is where I can start building my future, my career.
0:31:35 - Betsy Jordyn
You know, i think if you go to my YouTube channel, like my super oldest videos, i have a bunch of those videos that you asked me. You cut yourself out, but you asked me those things at the end of my video, my first video shoot and I wonder if that's like an interesting best practice. Like you know, an easy way to get yourself into the water of content creation is just do that first, and then it'll just like kind of like you know, prime the pump and then the rest of the ideas will start flowing, because then it's easy enough to say you know, like what are the things that your clients are struggling with, what is your answer? And then when you think about your answer and how your answer is different than other people's answers, then you might get a little bit more of a clue into your zone of genius. And then, if you start getting into that process, i think that there's something about just getting started, that you start building again that skill building on creating content.
But it's not the skill of typing it. To me, the skill that I have developed and I don't know if this is because I journaled all the time or some of the work that we did is I have an ability to manifest here, to here fast. It's not necessarily I have this unique skill of writing, but I have an ability to somehow get this, you know, not have like too many stop gaps between the idea and to execution. And I wonder if just asking yourself some of those questions starts just building that muscle.
0:32:53 - Chad Barr
Great point. So I want to build on that. So one of my favorite things to do while I present let's say while I deliver a speech, five, 10, 20 minutes into my presentation, i pause and there's usually always a flip chart next to me. I look at the audience and I say to them in your area of expertise, what are some of the challenges that your clients are facing? Can you share those challenges with me? And as people start to shout out, this is one challenge, another challenge, I write it on the flip chart right And then I say to them once I fill out the one page or two or three pages full of challenges that my audience is sharing with me, i turn to them and I say, if you ever wonder where I get my best ideas, it's from you. You just share with me what challenges. Now, most likely, for some of those items I just wrote behind me maybe a lot of them I already have content that I've created. If not, you just challenge me to say how can I resolve the challenge you just shared with me? So that's one way for me to build my expertise, to build my content While I take my long walks for many, many years, although today I substitute the walk with my passion for pickleball, which I play daily.
But as I used to take my daily walks, during my walk I would say to myself what are some of the challenges I heard that clients have shared with me during that week, or what are the things that I've heard that are trending out there in the internet or Wall Street Journal or whatever. So I would come up with a topic And then I will say to them Chad, you've got two seconds to think about that And now I want you to come up with three, four, five ways to overcome that. And I believe, while I'm taking my walk and thinking about what challenges are out there and how can I overcome those challenges, it really has helped trigger and build my mind to answer those as quickly as possible And was the beginning of my ability to start creating some powerful content that I believe did resonate with my clients. And that would be my suggestion for others. Go to your clients base and say to them simply what is one or two of the challenges that you're facing today?
Write it down, create perhaps a library of those questions and then start to create content that addresses those challenges. And then send those ideas to your clients and say, by the way, thank you for the idea. I just created an article or a podcast or a video that I believe addresses those issues. Would love to share it with you, would love to get your feedback. How about Thursday at 10? And I have two other ideas I wanna share with you. And now you start to create a conversation, you start to create a dialogue, and if you provide powerful value to your target audience, not only do I wanna hear that, but I wanna have the conversation with you and perhaps you know how your services to help them resolve the challenges that you are working on resolving.
0:35:37 - Betsy Jordyn
So it seems like the real flywheel is not just listening to your own heart, but in listening to the music in your heart, but is listening to the people that you serve, and that's where the flywheel really happens. I remember when I was like trying to make this pivot from the consulting into what the business I have now like I thought initially where you said we all have our failures is, i'm like, oh, everybody wants to know how I do OD consulting, i'll do the consultants institute, but my heart really wasn't in it And it really wasn't that successful in that particular iteration until I started really listening to what people were asking me And everybody. I did this one podcast for somebody else and I get still tons of traffic from it because there was something that I said about strengths and that resonated with people And that's like, oh Well, you want to learn how to use your strengths. I'm like, well, that's what I really love doing And that's where my brand program came out of. It is like that deep listening.
Another easy peasy thing that just kind of gave me another idea around content creation of how to tap into that client is, yes, listen, you could do it in your audience, you could do it on the conversations. I added a form for my intro calls And I asked people what's the situation or challenge that motivated you to jump on a call with me today? And that's always the first question And it's like, well, that's really good insight And you could organize that. So that's another way that you could do content creation. So it seems like content opportunities are all around us, but the biggest thing is just getting past your own mental blocks of like, oh, nobody really wants to hear an answer. But people are actually still asking you the question And it's just a matter of putting your answer out there in a more public, vulnerable format.
0:37:14 - Chad Barr
I believe that opportunities, both in general and opportunities for content creation, are all around us. We just need to pay better attention to them. That's number one. And I believe also it was Steve Jobs that was known for not only effectively listening to, perhaps, what his clients were asking for, but the other thing that he was known for he knew what is the idea he wants to create, without necessarily listening. So maybe he was listening to his own mind, his own heart, and say I'm moving in that direction, it's time to create that, let's see how the market is going to react to that. So perhaps it's a hybrid between not only listening to our mind, listening to our heart, but also listening to our clients and then decide what are the things that they're asking that we should respond to and what are the things that they're not asking that we believe we should create, and then go and develop that and see how the market reacts to that.
0:38:05 - Betsy Jordyn
So that's a good initial question to start off with If you want to start your content creation journey is what's the questions you get asked all the time? What are the people struggling with And what questions should your clients be asking you that they're not, And answer those questions as well, But it seems like the only way to make this thing work is to really get bypass any of those things that might trip you up and just really listening into, like yes, this is my answer and trusting your answer.
0:38:33 - Chad Barr
Yeah, and going back to what we said a few minutes ago, betsy, if I asked a potential person what is one of the challenges your audience or your clients are facing, and they struggle to answer that question. we have a problem there.
0:38:50 - Betsy Jordyn
Yeah.
0:38:50 - Chad Barr
Because I want to make sure that they are able to very quickly say oh sure, there are a lot of challenges, here's the top one that comes to mind. And then, when my next question comes up, has what are three ways to resolve the challenge? I want to be able to make sure that that person has the skill, ability, knowledge and wisdom to say, oh sure, here are three ways. If not, we have to go back to the drawing board. Let them do more of the research, talk to the audience, do some studying, perhaps even leverage artificial intelligence to help them refine the question that should be asked by the audience and then go in and answer those questions and start to develop the content around that. Most of the people I talk to have no issue in being able to identify whether those challenges are not, to overcome those challenges, and that's the beginning of absolutely starting to create some great content.
0:39:43 - Betsy Jordyn
So let's talk about what's next for Chad Barred Associates or the Chad Barred Group. Can you tell a little bit about what you're working on right now and what you could do to benefit my audience of consultants and coaches who are building their own practices?
0:40:00 - Chad Barr
So, of course, any aspect from number one web presence. So a lot of our clients come to us and say either I don't have a web presence or even a website, or I have a successful website and I want to raise the bar which, by the way, has been trademarked by me, because raising the bar should be spelled with BA, double R, right Of course, of course.
So the first thing is helping them identify the web strategy, helping them identify what is the content that they should be focusing on creating, what platform should be delivering their content, and then, what marketing initiatives should they focus on in order to attract the right client, in order to engage with those clients and both create the kind of impact that allows them to help their client and grow their business? So web content marketing are the areas that we have been helping our clients for a long time. The focus today with a lot of our clients is really raise the bar big time with their content creation, whether it's podcasts, whether it's videos, whether it's creating books. But now more and more of our clients are looking into creating online courses. So what platform would make the most sense to create those courses? And now, all of a sudden, Kajabi, kajabi, sorry.
0:41:13 - Betsy Jordyn
And now all of a sudden, artificial intelligence comes into it. I meant to say kajabi everyone, because I'm a kajabi purist. Go on.
0:41:24 - Chad Barr
And then, with artificial intelligence becoming so popular and taking over the world, I believe that that our focus is going to be both helping our clients with content creation, creating courses, effectively marketing those courses, and then leveraging artificial intelligence, such as chat, UPD, among other platforms, to really raise the bar big time for their business and the kind of impact that they're looking to create. What's next for us? We have been working on our digital empire academy as well, And that's one thing that I am going to launch this year And the focus there is going to be. Before the end of the year, it was all about content creation visual and things like that But now a big chunk of it is going to be around artificial intelligence how to effectively leverage things like chat, UPD to really help them grow their business and to even help them create the kind of I refer to it as a remarkable content in order to do what they're doing best.
0:42:29 - Betsy Jordyn
Yeah, I think of, like chat GPT is my junior copywriter. You know, like I love chat GPT, you know, and the best part about chat GPT is I ask it to do something and it says, certainly, you know, exclamation point versus I asked my daughter to do something. It's like, Ainsley, could you do this? And it's like, hmm, you know. So it's like, at least somewhere Somebody just says, certainly, exclamation point. Ok, so how does somebody get to get a hold of you? Just go to your website if they want to learn more about the digital academy, the digital empire academy. Just on your website. Or is there anywhere else to go to?
0:43:06 - Chad Barr
Yeah, so everything is under the chat by group. And then look at our blog, which is our way for us to communicate and ongoing things through the blog. register to, through the blog to become part of our of the list And then, if there's an interest, there's contact us, which they can do right through the website but the chat bar group or just go to chat bar dot com, which will take them right to my blog.
0:43:33 - Betsy Jordyn
And you are at, because I remember several years ago you had a goal of getting consistent with your newsletters every single Wednesday. So how, how consistent have you been? Have you made it consistently? And what's your? what's your number right now?
0:43:46 - Chad Barr
So so the first week January of 2013, i decided to launch my weekly newsletter And it was an experiment that I said let's see how long it's going to last. And as of today is what? Wednesday? today, we launched our newsletter And the good thing is I'm going there right now. The good thing is that today issue was number 544. Wow, we've not missed one Wednesday since 2013. So I'm very proud of that.
And then also has helped create so many other things anywhere from our books that were driven by the content, podcasts that were created from that, and also the ability for clients to find us. I use that example very quickly, But I remember getting an inquiry from someone in Australia And, as always, i asked them I'm just curious, how did you find us? And she said I will. I'm a subscriber to your newsletter for the past three years And I thought it's time for us to contact and they became a client. So now I'm proud of our newsletter being number 544 today, but also using that as a tool to communicate the value of communication with our client, which also create the attraction for them to come and become clients in the future.
0:45:05 - Betsy Jordyn
And that's one of the things that I'm so grateful for you about is, if I didn't get on my content creation journey, my marketing and my business, i would not be where I am today if it wasn't for you And you encouraging me. I mean, that's all you Like. So if anybody looks at me and some people are like, oh my god, you have so much content, it all started with one little video session And you telling me that I can write articles and I could do a blog. And you told me I could do it And I believed you And that's why I'm here. I wouldn't have my business if it wasn't for you, so I'm super grateful.
0:45:36 - Chad Barr
I saw the potential and you were amazing in front of the camera And we created so many pieces of content Just once you were on. It was just unbelievable. Come on, let's do another. Yeah, i want to get back in your studio, because it's always fun.
0:45:51 - Betsy Jordyn
So we've talked a lot about a lot of different things. We talked about your whole background, we talked about pivot points. We talked about listening to the music of your heart. We talked about your passion and the practicality of creating content. Is there anything else that you would want to tell me about Any of those topics? And I just didn't ask you the right question.
0:46:08 - Chad Barr
Two things So number one is I observe some of the most prolific and profound leaders out there The one that resonated with me, whether it's the Seth Gordon of the world or whoever. It is what I've come to realize years ago. They're all prolific of remarkable content And they don't stop creating. It's almost like overwhelming for us to look at people like Seth Gordon, the books, the blogs, the podcasts, the videos that they're creating. So my call to action to those of them that are watching and listening to this podcast I'm going to encourage you to make sure that if you want to strengthen your self-leadership, if you want to become a game changer, you've got to do so with powerful content and you've got to become more prolific in establishing the content. So that's number one. Now, with the evolution of chat GPT as an example, which we started to do today, i've seen a complete transformation in my own content creation by leveraging the tool. So I encourage the listener, the watcher of this podcast, to make sure that if they're not dive deep into chat GPT, you have to do so because, as we all know, chat GPT is not going to replace us, but the people who are leveraging chat GPT will replace us. So it's a call to action, to all of us to start leveraging artificial intelligence, such tools, in order to make sure that we are becoming a game changer in it. I use it tremendously right now for all my content creation, not only into generating ideas.
But here's what, very simply what I do. I go to chat GPT. I say to it here's some of the things I'm thinking about writing today. Can you give me some more feedback, some more insight? what are your thoughts? what additional insight can you share with me? As I start to get those insight, if they're on the right track, i say can you give me more? If they're not on the right track, i correct chat GPT and say this is okay or this is not okay. Here are the reasons why it's not okay. Here's when I need more clarifying from you.
0:48:09 - Betsy Jordyn
You're so nice to chat GPT. I sometimes just say, no, not bang on, You're much nicer to chat GPT.
0:48:17 - Chad Barr
So I train myself in the past several months to do this, and that will be also my advice to others Don't look at chat GPT as artificial intelligence. You've got to look at chat GPT as the smartest human being you ever talked, to Talk to it like a human being. So I am very polite, but also I corrected it. So, just like talking to my trusted advisor or my mentor, i would say to chat GPT would you please create this for me? And then I would correct it If it's on the right track. I would say things like thank you so much. this is great, i love this, but I know you could do better than that. So how about if I challenge you to come up with other insights? If it's not on the right track, i say this is a good start, this is a good attempt, but I would like you to correct yourself.
Once I get all the insights from chat GPT, i start to put into an article or podcast or whatever it is that I'm creating, my insight, leveraging some of the things it recommended example for my business, example for my career And once I formulate, let's say, the next article, i didn't copy and paste the entire article that I've just created back into chat GPT And I say I would like you to become the best world class editor.
I would like you to edit my work, come up with any spelling correction, any mistakes that you suggest to correct, and then come up with suggestion how can I improve this article to make it much better? That's the final touch. I'm always blown away. but what chat GPT can do to take my own writing that I created with with some of the insight he provided me and really raised the bar big time blows me away every time. And that's what I would recommend for others to not only realize that they've got to become content creator, but use tools like chat GPT. leverage them to really raise the bar. be careful from the concept of plagiarism, but leverage the tool to really help you become a thought leader.
0:50:15 - Betsy Jordyn
That's awesome. Thank you so much, chad, for being on the show. I would just add one other thing to what you said is also really listening in and tuning into the music of your heart and not being afraid to express it, and recognizing that it is an obligation, in a way, to let what you have on the inside be expressed in the world. Thank you so much, and thank you for everyone who's listening in And until next time. Thanks for listening.
0:50:42 - Betsy Jordyn
Thank you for tuning in. If today's episode lit a fire in you, please rate and review an offer ready on Apple Podcasts or subscribe wherever you listen. And if you're looking for your next step, visit me on my website at betsydordyn.com And it's Betsy Jordyn with the why, and you'll learn all about our end-to-end services that are custom designed to accelerate your success. Don't wait Start today.
