Starter Girlz Podcast

Why Niching Down Leads to Massive Business Growth

• Jennifer Loehding • Season 7 • Episode 77

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Struggling to stand out in a crowded marketplace? Discover how niching down can help you attract your ideal clients, raise your prices, and build a profitable, freedom-based business.

In this episode, marketing expert Amber Gaige shares proven strategies successful entrepreneurs use to grow faster and with more clarity. From positioning your brand to crafting messaging that resonates, this conversation offers a clear roadmap to help you differentiate and dominate your market—without the overwhelm.

You’ll learn:

  • Why niching down creates more opportunity, not less
  • How to position yourself as an expert in your space
  • The secret to building a strong, unique brand
  • Mindset shifts to overcome marketing confusion
  • How to grow your business in alignment with the life you want

Perfect for entrepreneurs, coaches, and service providers ready to get focused and grow smart.

Connect with Amber Gaige
Website: farbeyondmarketing.com
Book: The Far Beyond Marketing Guidebook (Available on Amazon)

Amber Gaige:

They were plumbers. Okay, a plumber is a plumber is a plumber. No offense to us out there. I love you all. Right, plumber's kid, but you're a plumber, right. How do you do it differently, plumber? Okay, so it is like overland plumbing and he's got the ducks on the dashboard, right? That is his unique selling proposition, right? Yeah, it's all about going above and beyond and off-roading. It's this all terrain and this is the look of the brand, right? And then Benjamin Franklin plumbing when they started, they decided they were going to be the punctual plumbers, so they were going to pay you. That is a unique selling position. Both plumbers are going to unplug your toilet, right, right, but one plumber is going to show up in a Jeep, and then I was going to pay you if he's late.

Jennifer Loehding:

Welcome to the starter girlz podcast, your ultimate source of inspiration and empowerment. We're here to help women succeed in every area of their lives career, money, relationships, and health and wellbeing while celebrating the remarkable journeys of individuals from all walks of life who've achieved amazing things. Whether you're looking to supercharge your career, build financial independence, nurture meaningful relationships or enhance your overall well-being, the Starter Girlz podcast is here to guide you. Join us as we explore the journeys of those who dare to dream big and achieve greatness. I'm your host, jennifer Loehding, and welcome to this episode. Welcome to another episode of the Starter Girls Podcast, wherever you are tuning in today. We are so glad to have you. I am your host, jennifer Loehding, and we are going to get this thing started All right. So I want to open up with this. Marketing isn't just about visibility. It's about strategy, clarity and making every effort count. My guest today has spent over two decades helping businesses cut through the noise and grow with purpose, and so I'm so excited to chat with her today. She's a friend. She's here locally in the Dallas area. This is gonna be so much fun, but before I get her on here, I do need to do a quick shout out to our sponsor.

Jennifer Loehding:

This episode is brought to you by Walt Mills Productions. Need to add excitement to your YouTube videos or some expert hands for editing? Look no further. Walt Mills is the solution you've been searching for. Walt is not only your go-to guy for spicing up content. He's the force behind a thriving film production company with numerous titles in the pipeline. Always on the lookout for raw talent, walt is eager to collaborate on film and internet productions. With a background deeply rooted in entertainment and promotion, walt Mills leverages years of skills to give you the spotlight you deserve. Want to learn more about Walt and his work? Head on over to waltmillsproductionsnet and let your content shine All right.

Jennifer Loehding:

And with that I want to make one more mention to head on over to startergirlz. com. Why do you want to head over there? For a couple of reasons, actually three good reasons. One, if you've missed any episodes, you can catch up. You can also join our community news, where you can keep up with what is going on and you'll never miss an episode. And then, lastly, we have an awesome quiz over there called the Success Block Quiz, where you can determine what your number one success block is that may be impacting your success. And it's free, takes two minutes, so go over there and check it out. And again, that is startergirlz. com.

Jennifer Loehding:

All right, we want to get our guest on the show today. So my guest, amber Gage, is a strategic marketing expert with over 20 years of experience helping businesses in competitive industries stand out and scale. As a daughter of a plumber and a third generation entrepreneur, she understands the unique challenges of home service businesses to drive excuse me, home service businesses and uses data-driven strategies to drive sustainable growth. Amber's own entrepreneurial journey includes founding and scaling a company to private equity acquisition in just five years. Now, as the founder of Far Beyond Marketing and a certified story brand guide, she helps entrepreneurs, franchisees and trade professionals simplify marketing and maximize profits. With a track record of delivering real results, amber is the go-to expert for businesses looking to eliminate wasted efforts and achieve ambitious growth goals.

Jennifer Loehding:

So, amber, welcome to the show. I am so excited to have you here today. I'm so happy to be here with you, my friend. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun. So the great thing I got to tell our listeners one of the things I love about Amber she was actually connected to me through somebody else. Mutual contact introduced us and, like the first time we got on a Zoom, we were like oh my gosh, we have similar energies and passions.

Jennifer Loehding:

It was like a big heart attack back and forth, with us talking, and so we've been friends since, and I'm so thrilled to get her on here today and talk about her journey and what she's doing and how she's helping her clients achieve results and all that good stuff. So, amber, this is gonna be fun.

Amber Gaige:

Yeah, first time you and I chat, I'd be like talk to me an hour and a half. We went, oh yeah.

Jennifer Loehding:

I have a few friends like that in my world and it's fine. You know, I'm sure you find the same thing that not everybody absorbs our energy. Well, when we find our match, it's really good. And I don't know, sometimes I'm like exhausted when I'm done because it's like, oh my gosh, I found another person that has energy like I do and it's like, yeah, it's good, but you're just tired when you're done. You know that's right, don't even need coffee, we're just high on life. Exactly, exactly, yeah, let's get this thing going. I want to talk about what you're doing, so tell us a little bit about you know, your, your marketing, like what all this is about for your clients and how you're helping them have success.

Amber Gaige:

Oh my gosh. So we love helping our clients have success. So we are all about creating real plans, customized approaches and strategies to help our clients win, because everyone knows someone who's been screwed by marketing that didn't work. They've made that investment right. They've been like oh yeah, I wrote the check for this or I tested that, and it's like I didn't get a single thing out of it. I hear that every day and it just breaks my heart.

Amber Gaige:

So what we do is we meet with every single client and we say what are your goals? What's going on operationally? How can we help you move the needle? And then we actually match and create a plan for them with good strategies and tactics that are 100% transparent, 100% data-driven, all based on our proprietary platform of the Four Seasons Marketing, which is my international bestselling book, and we help them to get their business to the next phase of where they want to be. And we hold their hand the whole time. We don't put them in a track and we're like, okay, thanks for signing up, peace out. No, we're very much hands-on strategic marketing guides for our clients. I like that, peace out.

Jennifer Loehding:

No, that's important because marketing obviously is one of the most you know like important parts of your business. If you don't market, you have no business right. And it is a tricky thing for a lot of people to master. I mean, I'm not going to lie, it is for me too. I think for all of us it's learning how to connect, you know, with your audience and finding out what it is that you need, what pain points they're going through, and then how to deliver that message so that it speaks to them, right, yeah and you gotta make sure that you're hitting the right people with the right message at the right time.

Amber Gaige:

And marketing is there's no silver bullet, anyone that gives you a guarantee, that says, oh, it's 100% gonna work. They're just, you know, selling your oceanfront property in Arizona. I don't know, but no, it's always a moving target. You have to figure out what's working in order, you know, and then try it and test it again.

Jennifer Loehding:

And to your point on that, I mean I have a real case thing going on right now because I'm getting help with the SEO on my YouTube page right now, which is so interesting because it is.

Jennifer Loehding:

It's a lot of trial and error, right Like we've been doing it one day, which, I will tell you, is like a massive shakeup, because when you, when you've been doing something one way and then all of a sudden somebody comes in and goes you might want to tweak this a little bit, let's do this. And then I'm like, oh my gosh, you're like rocking my boat, cause that's my safety net, right Like. I'm like, but it's interesting because we're doing like a little bit of AB testing to try to see like, hey, if this is the thing that people are clicking on, or is it this that people are clicking on, kind of thing, and so it's interesting. But you're right, it is. There's no right way, because the one thing you think may be the right thing, you know you may like it, it may be your thing, but it may not be what resonates with your people and the one thing you put up you'll be like, hey, I don't like that thing and that's the one thing they like they click on it and they latch onto right.

Amber Gaige:

Right Cause it has to be all about our people. I think one of the quintessential sins of marketing agencies and marketers as a whole is we make it all about us and we can't do that. It's all about our client. It's all about our customer. You've heard me say this a hundred times. It's about solving the problem that the customer has through our product, service or area of specialty, and if we make it about them, then they win and then we win.

Jennifer Loehding:

It's a lot to think about and I'll tell you I may have shared this with you or maybe I didn't. I did a mastermind over summer, I think I kind of shared with you. I was building out this offer suite and it was so crazy because when I first built that course out, it was all like, okay, this is what I like and I still love it. Don first built that course out. It was all like, okay, this is what I like and I still love it. Don't get me wrong, I love that course. But when I got to the end of that, I was like, oh my gosh, I built this beast out. Now who am I person? Who the heck is buying this thing? Like right, I had to rethink this and I remember her telling me this was last summer. I remember her saying I want you just to put that on hold right now. I want you just I know it's hard because you took a little bit to just put it on hold. We need to engineer it backwards and figure out who the client is that we want to get to this level. And then I realized, in order for me to do that, you know, given the industry that I'm in, we had to build out this offer suite. It couldn't just be this big course, because the person that was going to buy this big horse is probably somebody kind of like me that would get that, and I really wanted to find a person and walk them through that journey, to take them there.

Jennifer Loehding:

So I didn't really know all this at the time that I built that out. I started realizing that as I was going through and having these pain point moments where I'm going okay, this is stupid. I built this out now and I don't even know who I'm selling it to. I don't even know who my avatar is Like right, I created it. I realized my avatar was me. It was me. It was the person when I started this business. How did I get to where I am today? There was all this journey that I had to go through. So there are a lot of pain points in this whole marketing thing and I think, like if you can cut out how to be effective and address those pain points and find the right person Ms Amber, like right, find the right person that can help you do this, and I think it's very common for us to attract the kind of people that appreciate who we are, right I mean.

Amber Gaige:

So it makes sense to me that your target demographic was someone like you, but you had to go through the process of making sure that you found the right person and that that was validated in your process, and I talk about that a lot. I'm like look, target audience is so much more than gender, zip code, income, household. It's a psychographic, it's an approach to business, and that's why I say there's plenty of room for business to go around. We can all do the same thing and still have plenty of work right, because we're all going to attract a different audience when it comes down to it, because we're all different.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, and I'm so glad that you say that too, because one of the things I'll tell you back when I was in Mary Kay and I was working with my teams, a lot of times people would get hung up on really, and I realized to them in that moment it was big because I know for me it was when I started, right but they would get hung up on little things like making sure we had the right script, and I would say, no, really, you're marketing yourself, Nobody cares about a script. What they want to know is who you are as the individual. Because we at that time keep in mind when I started this in the beginning we're talking the late 90s, before we had reels and all this social media and all this big time internet we were face to face on everything, like we were in people's faces. But nothing has really changed.

Jennifer Loehding:

At the end of the day, it's still you are marketing you like you and your brand and what you bring to the table. And so you're very right when you say that there's plenty of room for us to go around, because it's really about you and who you're attracting and fitting that need right, Like fitting that gap between who you are and the people that you're trying to attract. And so, yeah, I think it's important Find your people and really not be hung up on all of the superficial things, right, Like just really hone in on meeting those people's needs. Find those people, yeah.

Amber Gaige:

Yeah, find those people, find their needs, figure out what uniquely you bring to the table your unique selling position. Um, we are going to attract people that appreciate us for who we are right as colleagues, as friends, as clients, as business owners. We're a feather flock together, right? I mean, it's been happening for centuries. So when you find those people that appreciate your authentic offer, that appreciate the approach that you bring to business, they're automatically going to be drawn to you.

Amber Gaige:

I talk about this a lot when I'm helping franchisees that are trying to decide should I do a big brand franchise or should I go with an underdog brand because I can get the territory that I want, because it's a lesser known brand. And I tell people all the time you're selling yourself. It's exactly what you just said. You are doing business with people who appreciate who you are and then your brand follows. You always start with a personal brand. My brand may be far beyond marketing, but I'm the face of it and so when you focus on that, then people allow you, then the trust builds and I think that's you know your brand builds as well with time. But ultimately people are attracted to who you are and how you do business.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, that's really good that you put. You say that too, because I think a lot of people, you know, think they want to hide behind, and that's kind of like what I'm going through with mine, because I have, like you know, starter Girls is our, is the big brand, which is all about, you know, female empowerment and how do we help female entrepreneurs grow. We have a lot of men that listen to the show too, but it's really geared to how do we help those women thrive. And a lot of that is because of all the pain points that I went through in the different stages of my life and I realized that, in order for us to really thrive, we have to really work on all these areas, right, so.

Jennifer Loehding:

But then there's also Jennifer Loading Brand, right. And then Jennifer Loading Brand is really about holistic wellness. It's about, you know, the mind body connection, all those things that I like to do that help us thrive. You know, in that, in that capacity, and then the reason being because those are, I feel like are, the most important, you know, pieces of of how we thrive. But it is, you're right, it's so, it's so. You know, you have to build your, you're the brand, and then the bigger brand follows behind, you know, comes behind that. So I've been learning a lot of that, you know, as I, for a long time, I couldn't figure out how to separate those but keep those together. And I, finally, as I was building out that offer suite, I really started connecting. Okay, what are we trying to do here with starter girls? And then, what's Jennifer loading? They really overlap, but they're, they're nuanced differences, you know, yeah.

Amber Gaige:

And they will overlap and that's okay. I think a lot of times we get so bogged down into thinking it has to be so separate, you know, and do I build a brand based on me or do I build a completely separate brand? It's okay that it overlaps, it's completely fine. My four C's of marketing that's the way that I do business underneath, far beyond marketing. Why is it far beyond marketing? Because I want to be far beyond just a marketing person. I want people to win, I want women to win, I want their businesses to win, but I'm still me. And, like you said, your journey to get to where you are. We all have journeys and those journeys make us who we are and those journeys really do impact the nuances of our brands. You think about it. You look at your logo, you look at your colors, you look at your fonts and your journey.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, yeah, no, no kidding I, it really is. And that's the thing when you try to tell people. It's like you know, like I was trying to explain to somebody about the Starter Girls logo and she was showing me these like really pastel colors and they were beautiful. But I was cracking up because I was like Jennifer's not a pastel kind of girl. We're not doing pastel. I need like bright yellow, bright pink, red, like I am a bold kind of.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I mean don't get me wrong, amber, I'm all about like, I love, like you know, zen and the blue and weaving in like the soft, but I'm like that soft, sparky, like it's like oh, I never even heard myself say that the soft sparky, because I, you know, like I love my moments of calm and I think we need to integrate that into the harmony. But I got to have that little bit of pizzazz over there because my personality is just, it wouldn't mesh if we didn't have it in there, you know. So you're right, I think we got to. You definitely got to understand those. I think that don't be afraid to take that Like, if that's what it's to be, absorb that and be okay with that. Right, like, be okay. I think the point here is be okay if you're a little bit salty and you want bright, bold colors in your branding. If it fits in your shoulders, people, then that's what it's meant to be right.

Amber Gaige:

I'd rather be me and I'd rather be loved for who I am than to spend my life behind a mask, experiencing less than what I deserve and what I want. Right, let's lean into who we are authentically and let's stop with the mask. Let's stop asking people to treat us differently and let's start expecting people to be 100% authentic and you know what. We have the right to say who's on our ship. Either you're in the either. You're on the ship or you're not, and it's okay to kick people off every once in a while if they don't love you.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I know, and it's good that you're saying that too, because we're talking, you know, when you talk about like, especially with new entrepreneurs, I think we've all been there, like we want to help everybody. Right, been a thing with me too, because I, like you know, obviously I told you I bring men on the show. I work very well with men and talking to them and engaging with them, you know. And so I'm like, OK, but who are let's be real who are people that buy a lot? It's women. Women are the buyers, right, we know this. Men don't they buy. They buy other things that they say we're talking about personal development, we're talking about those things. A lot of that's going to fall into the women's space, right.

Jennifer Loehding:

And so I've had to really rethink that as I was doing my own push. It's like, ok, who am I trying to attract here? Because I'm talking, you know, about things like holistic health and all this, and I'm not to say men don't buy into that. But I think, as us women, we're always looking for ways to weave in harmony into our life. And so I've had to really think about my positioning on that, because I want to gravitate this way and then I have to think about who are the people that you know. So it's good that you're saying that, because we can't serve everybody.

Amber Gaige:

We can't serve everyone.

Jennifer Loehding:

We can't serve who our people are because we just really we can't. When we spread ourself out, then it's hard to even brand our marketing in those areas, you know.

Amber Gaige:

And the data science tells us too, jen, that the more nuanced you are, the more niche down, the more you can charge and the more of an expert that you are perceived to be in the market. So our fear is alienation, right, but it's actually the inverse when you become super, super clear about who you are and who you serve, you make more money.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah Well good. So are any of our entrepreneurs listening to this right now? You just heard it from the marketing girl Be sure, business down so that you can make more money and be seen as the expert in your field. So good.

Jennifer Loehding:

You said something earlier, Amber, which I kind of want to segue into, because you mentioned earlier, kind about our journeys and how we get to where we are. And I've always said this on all the shows I talk about. You know, our journeys are not linear, they're very non-linear, right. But the thing is is if you start to, like, connect the dots between the things that we do and our experiences, you start finding these overlaps, right. And, like just today I made a comment to a friend.

Jennifer Loehding:

I said you know I laugh about this and I've shared this probably with you that the very thing that I used to get in trouble for all the time was talking, because I was a friendly kid and I had to get done with my work and I'd make friends with this neighbor, and this neighbor and the teacher would be like Jennifer, oh, I'm telling you straight, A student but always got in trouble for talking. And I find it so funny that this is the very thing that helps me. You know, do what I do in the work that I do, and so there's this whole idea of our journeys and leaning into our strengths and all of those good things. But I want to talk about your journey and kind of how you got to this, what led you to doing marketing and branding and all of these things. So maybe kind of fill us in and our listeners in on that.

Amber Gaige:

Oh man, I'm laughing because I always got in trouble for telling other people what to do, and that's what I do for a living now.

Jennifer Loehding:

So it's like you were the boss. Hey, I was bossy too, so it's okay, you and I would have been bossing each other. All my friends are bossy. We would have all been like it's just been. We would have all been like it's just been. Nobody would have been listening, because we had just been telling everybody what to do.

Amber Gaige:

you know pretty much, pretty much. I found something in my attic not too long ago and it was this this um purple I don't know if you remember, lisa frank. There's this god awesome like bright purple, three bring three ring binder and it said the hideaway club president's binder. President, I was trying to rule the world, you know.

Jennifer Loehding:

So it's like you know you want to be in the club. You got to join the purple binder club my binder that's right. I do remember by the way yeah yeah, but yeah, I mean.

Amber Gaige:

So. I mean, I'm a third gen entrepreneur. We talked about that before. I spent my life watching my family create their own path, create their own wealth. For me, yes, money has power and money is great. I don't think money is evil, but for me, freedom is what mattered more than money. I wanted to be able to newsflash, call the shots. I wanted to be able to paint my own path. And so at first, when you're growing up an entrepreneurial family and you're going through your youthful journey, you're like I don't want to be anything like my family. I'm the odd duck out. I'm going to go do my own thing.

Amber Gaige:

So I actually traveled the world, spent a lot of time in Europe, sang internationally, have a degree in opera, and I really thought I'm just going to go travel the world and I'm going to sing and I'm going to enjoy music and that was great. That was really fun for a while, until you realize you're broke as crap and you can't live that way. You can only live on the pot of a karaoke pot or purse for so long, right? So came back to the family business and worked there for many years and then all of a sudden got the opportunity to start my own marketing company, because we were doing marketing well and other people were saying what are you doing, how is this working? And so, um. So I started a marketing company for other home services businesses and then, five years later, private equity called and they were like, hey, we like this concept, so we're going to buy it. And they interviewed all of us. It was a licensing agreement, so there was like four or five different branches of us at the time and they flew us all up to Denver, colorado.

Amber Gaige:

I remember being so nervous and scared to death because I was the only woman and I was under 35. And they had us all in this interview process about who was going to be the president of this new brand. And I got it and they picked me. And I remember looking back on the plane ride and it was one of those fly in, fly out days, you know.

Amber Gaige:

So you're like you're flying in for the meeting and you're flying out that night and I remember, just sitting on the plane, I took my shoes off and I went. What the hell just happened? Oh my gosh, like I'm leaving the family business. I'm now going to run this brand nationally. I'm 33, 34 year old female and I got a bunch of 60 year old dudes working for me. How the hell am I going to do this kind of thing, you know? Um, but it was an amazing, amazing journey to work in private equity and to learn how to work with people outside of a family business and respect all walks of life and work well with a lot of different personality traits and then really get into how to solve problems with businesses from all across the United States all different sizes, all different brands, all different industries.

Amber Gaige:

And it was like my MBA it really was because I had to learn school of hard knocks you know, but ultimately, you know, being a mom and deciding as a woman that freedom is what mattered more than money, um, I wanted to come back to my roots and so fast forward. Several years later and at the end of the non-compete and all that it was, I need the time to be with my son and I really want to build something great that has my name on it, and so that's when I launched Far Beyond Marketing several years ago and just haven't really looked back, just been really thankful for the opportunity to be in the driver's seat once again.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, you said a couple of things that resonate with me. I think that the reason I also, my parents, were entrepreneurs and so I grew up kind of watching that and seeing you know how they were navigating that. And I think when I went into being an entrepreneur, my whole thing and I may have shared this was really about the autonomy. It was never about the money, I thought, and I had. I came into that world and so or I had one at the time and so I was sort of kind of thinking that it was going to give me the freedom to be able to be with my, my daughter at the time, but also have an income coming in. And I don't even know, at that time I really expected much more than that. But I think you know, looking back, it's always been, even to this day, it's really about the freedom.

Jennifer Loehding:

For me, it's like I just can't imagine, especially at this juncture in my life. I don't know where you are, but I've been in the entrepreneur space since like 1997. I can't even imagine like I just cringe at the idea I would die. I think not, not, not like literally die, but I think I would be emotionally a mess if I knew that I had to now plug in an eight to five at a job like that just because I didn't have to do it so long, and the fact that I would have to be like on somebody else's watch. You know what I mean, like somebody dictating what time I can't do it. I'm up at 4am every freaking four to 5am. Every single day of my life I'm up and I don't go to bed till 10 or 11. So I go all the time, but I get it on my terms. It's my freedom of choice, right, like I can, just how I want to, how I want to navigate my day.

Amber Gaige:

Yes, Agreed, there's no better life. I really do believe there is no better life than self-employment. It's scary, it's risky. You better be tough, you better be tenacious, you better be able to take the hits and understand that there is risk involved. But if you can do that, then there is so much freedom and joy and passion in it that you know you're really. And again going back to. It's amazing how you get to find your tribe right, Like meeting you was such an empowering thing for me, Cause it was like this woman is a powerhouse.

Jennifer Loehding:

That's how you were described to me, pretty much like y'all need to meet you guys. You just meet those people and you just know. And so I'm like I meet people, like that I'll, I'll meet someone. I'll be like I need to introduce you to this person. There's something about this person that makes me like the inner I don't know what it is, but you remind me of that or something I'm like I gotta meet. So you were kind of interesting. Then, when I met you, I was like okay, now I know why we were connected.

Amber Gaige:

I figured it out very quickly. So shit is that you get to work with the people that you love to work with, you know, and you get to create that path and and for me and I don't know about your listeners, but I mean there's just nothing more rewarding at the end of the day to go work today or not just have a lot of fun, cause every day that I sit down at my computer I love what I do, I mean and I don't want to lie and say every single piece of what we do is we love it, right.

Jennifer Loehding:

But you know, I'm sitting here and right before I'm getting on the call with you, I'm sitting in there and I'm creating a video clip and I'm like this is what I do. I mean, like I'm creating a video clip to put on the thing and I'm like you know, it's driving me nuts. I realized after I created it I forgot to do some, so I have to start it over again, and that's the stuff that makes me mad. But I'm thinking, you know, like I studied accounting, I could be doing numbers right now sitting at a desk crunching numbers, you know. So I'm not going to complain about the fact that I got to read I about the fact that I gotta read, I gotta download the video again and put it up on there, put some captions on it, you know, because now that's not all I do, that's a piece of something I do.

Jennifer Loehding:

But that's what I'm working on right before I get on the call and I'm thinking this is kind of fun stuff. Like, you know, when you, especially when you find whatever is it you enjoy doing, I don't know about you, but, like. For me, I get to kind of pick who's going to be on there, how we're going to frame the story. You know how do I want to make this look, you know, and so I feel like there's a little bit of just. We get to kind of design all that you know.

Jennifer Loehding:

And so I think that's what is fun about what we get to do as entrepreneurs is that we get to have fun. We don't have to say everything we do is, yes, yes, you are going to work and, like you mentioned all those things, you're going to work hard, you got to have tenacity, all of those things. But there's fun in this too. There is a beauty in this that we get to do and create something that's ours.

Amber Gaige:

Yeah, yeah, for sure You're right. No, there are parts of business that really suck. That's why I have a bookkeeper, did not study accounting, cannot, and yeah. So you know there are things there are things.

Jennifer Loehding:

Do delegate the things you are not good at when you can do that I firmly agree. As soon as I got a little bit of help on the YouTube thing, I'm like, oh my gosh, now I freed up my Sundays a little bit. Now I'm not sitting there figuring out freaking stupid at keywords in it and stupid keywords in it. And show notes like show notes like don't get Amber. Seriously, we have chat GPT and I'm using them and I'm still looking at this. This is the perfectionist in me.

Jennifer Loehding:

I'm looking at four titles and I'm going which one do I pick? Now? I just let somebody pick it. But just pick. Pick the title. Pick the freaking title for the podcast. I don't want to do it anymore and you know what it's. Take the monkey on my back now because guess what, I can relax. Somebody else is picking it for me. I don't have to do it. That's my point. Delegate when you can, okay. We need to totally agree with that, right, if you're spending too much time doing things you're not good at you need to figure out how to get somebody to help you do those things Right.

Amber Gaige:

I mean, you know there's that great Brian Tracy book like eat the frog. Yeah, you've got massive frogs that you've got to eat every day. Okay, figure out a way to ask someone to do it for you. Like, come on, like if you absolutely hate it, I have a great va. She's phenomenal.

Jennifer Loehding:

She checks my email for me every day, because I don't know if you like in that all the time, I agree with you, girl, you're rocking it. So I had a question for you. So somebody, let's say, and I know you're doing your workshops right now, which are good, by the way, if you're local you can check them out she's got one coming up and several more coming up here. I got to attend one, so but I want to backpedal this for somebody kind of starting out. We've talked about niche, like finding your niche, and all that. What would be like, you know, talk about the story, branding and all of this stuff. And I don't want you to spill all of this on this show, because I want whomever's listening to this to reach out to you if they want that help and get more from you, but maybe like one thing they can do to kind of help them start in the right direction with maybe like their branding or their story, whatever you know, just to get that going.

Amber Gaige:

Yeah, okay. So what is the one thing that makes you unique? What is your unique selling proposition? You know, we we may all sell widgets, but we all sell widgets differently, right? And then, secondly, what is it that your client gets directly from doing business with you? What is that problem that you solve? And it is an emotional problem, it is a tangible problem, it is a philosophical problem how do you uniquely solve problems for your clients? And if you will answer that question for yourself, it will be amazing to think about how your brand starts to come to fruition.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, that's good, amber, and thank you for sharing that, because I know for me, when I was trying to figure that out, that was tricky because I kept talking about what I was doing right, like what I was actually doing, and they don't really care how you get them to the problem right Now. Maybe, after they find out what you do, they might wanna know like what? Like I would be the next question after I tell you, tell me what you're going to do. I'm like okay, so how are you going to do that? Right, but they need to know what you're going to do. Like, what are you solving? Right?

Jennifer Loehding:

And so I kept getting hung up when I was doing my branding on like okay, here's what I do, here's what I do Not, what do I solve? Like, overwhelm, stress, things that are important to women, right? Like, they want more money, they want to be able to have that autonomy and that freedom. Then we can start talking about okay, how am I helping them do that? Right? But I think you're really in on that. So thank you for saying that, because I think for a lot of entrepreneurs they really get stuck in that it's like they're talking about here's what I do, you know, like here's how I, or how I do this, but what is the actual thing that they're solving for that person, right? Because that's what they want at the end of the day.

Amber Gaige:

That's what they want to know. They want to feel seen. Everyone wears a sign that says make me feel special, right, if you can help your clients feel seen, that they really understand that you get them, then they will do business with you, yeah, and you know what you keep saying, that you know, make me feel seen.

Jennifer Loehding:

We used to talk about that, mary Kay, that everybody wears a sign that makes me feel important or whatever, and so when we were selling and so and it's funny because I always had heard that but I never really understood that right it took me a while to kind of really grasp onto that the importance and you know, and it was even just in the way we were approaching, like when we were doing our physical presentations, how we were making our clients feel in that moment. So it's so good that you say all that and know that we used to talk about that in all the years I was at Barry Kay, we would say that over and over and over. There you go, there you go, good stuff, good stuff. Okay, amber.

Jennifer Loehding:

So I want to ask you these are a couple of fun questions I want to dive into and I always love to ask them like because you're obviously a rock star and like you, just, you've got this great energy and you've been talking a lot about uniqueness and finding out what that you know that important thing. I do want to ask you really quick, before we get into that about that unique selling proposition, because people don't always know, like, what that is. Maybe, like you, want to explain that just a little bit. I don't again. I don't want you to tell them everything, but what that is, that, whatever that looks like, maybe an example or something to them so that they understand what that is.

Amber Gaige:

Yeah, okay. So, like, your unique selling position is what you do differently from the competition, okay, so let me give you two examples. So, like, one of the brands that I was very privileged to be a part of was Benjamin Franklin plumbing. They were, they were plumbers. Okay, um, a plumber is a plumber is a plumber. No offense to my plumbers out there. I love you all. Right, plumber's kid, but you're a plumber, right. How do you do it differently? I've got one plumber. His brand is a Jeep. He loves that Jeep, okay, so it is like overland plumbing and he's got the ducks on the dashboard, right, that is his unique selling proposition, right, he is. Yeah, it is. It's all about going above and beyond and off-roading. It's this all terrain and this is the look of the brand, right?

Amber Gaige:

And then Benjamin Franklin plumbing when they started, they decided they were going to be the punctual plumbers, so they were going to pay you. That is a unique selling position. Both plumbers are going to unplug your toilet, jen, right, right. But one plumber is going to show up in a Jeep and then I was going to pay you if he's late. What matters more to you, the consumer? Do you want a fun brand that you can relate to Nothing wrong with that Cool. Call a Jeep plumber. Or are you a busy executive that doesn't have time to wait around, whose time is money and you expect someone to compensate you for your time? Gosh, darn it. Do you see how those two audiences? They have the same need. It's a clogged toilet, but it's two different motivational factors for the same service.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, that's so good that you did that. Thank you, Because you know what. That is a hard thing for a lot of people and I know, like, when I was building out mine, what I ended up doing is I ended up making mine, I created this four-step system, Then I gave and it's got a cute little name to it, but that was what I had to work on. Is what? It's got a cute little name to it, but that was what I had to work on. Is what? Because when you talk about like, okay, yes, we have starter girls and that's kind of a unique, the brand is unique and what we're kind of the you know the energy behind that.

Jennifer Loehding:

But when I was trying to create, like, how am I creating this program or this course? Like, how do we drive people to this? I had to really think about, okay, what is going to make this unique? A lot of coaches out there, what brings and makes that a little bit different? Right. And so I ended up creating this four-step system and I gave it this cute little name that I have for it, and it's basically my methodology for how I walk somebody through breaking, identifying inner blocks, breaking through them so that they can get in alignment with what their strengths and weaknesses and their values. And actually the big thing is is what we're doing, and doing that is getting rid of the problem, the burnout, the stress, the overwhelm, because we're creating a framework of sustainability Right.

Amber Gaige:

I love it.

Jennifer Loehding:

So, yes, but I'm telling you, it took me three months of working with this mentor you and I had met. I wish I would have known you. You probably could have helped me knock that out quicker. It took me three months working with this mentor across the country to help me to iron that out. And once I got it, amber, I was like, why did it take me this long to get this figured out? And so now it's like okay, now I know what my unique I know my unique selling proposition is for Jennifer Loading. I know what it really extends over to starter brands, because I can use it everywhere, because they all overlap. But I'm not kidding you, it took me that long. I formed my LLC in 2018. It took me that long to finally figure out what the heck am I solving right? What's the problem and how am I doing it? We now have it. It's normal right.

Amber Gaige:

That's right, because we all struggle with with that. It's the mental burn of calories trying to figure out yeah how to do that right.

Amber Gaige:

And so I mean, look, big brands do the same thing. Gillette racers, they had to go through the process. Duh, they went through the process. Coca-cola these are brands have all taken the time to story brand their messaging because it is not obvious. When I was going through and becoming a story brand guide, oh my gosh, the migraines it hurts. Yeah, you have to figure out how to think about these things. It doesn't definitely.

Jennifer Loehding:

Well, they need to call you Amber. Our busy entrepreneurs need to call you to help them with that story branding. Okay, so a couple few questions, because I know you got to get going, you got family and all the things to go. I would love to know what is the best piece of advice that you've got, anything you can think of from anyone in general.

Amber Gaige:

Oh, there's my life. My life just went off, okay. I'm standing up, jen. Okay, there we go, the best piece of advice that I got man, I try to be the dumbest person in the room Always.

Amber Gaige:

I always want to be surrounded by brilliant people, you know. So I think there's been a lot of advice that I still get. Let me see. Well, my grandmother always said baby girl, God watches over fools and little children. I'm not going to tell you which one you are. That was kind. Love you too. The kiss rule Keep it simple, stupid. You know, I think when we overcomplicate things, we just we make things too difficult and then, honestly, the the lesson that I've been learning recently Jen is who gets to be on my bus? You know it's, it's that I? Okay. The let them theory by Mel Robinson? I know, I know that, that's. You know, probably I shouldn't plug another book, but I'm an audio bookaholic. Totally, can, no, absolutely. Oh my gosh. Allowing people to be who they're going to be, without taking the emotional ownership on myself of trying to control it, Let them, let them be them, and I'm going to be me. And I think when we apply that to business as well, there's a lot of freedom in that.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, you said another thing we used to say in Mary Kay too, by the way the keep it simple thing. I would be sure you never wear Mary Kay girl or have friends there, because you keep saying some of those things Apparently. We all, we had some universal business principles. So, and yes, thanks for plugging in the book. No, I love it, cause I used to on my show.

Jennifer Loehding:

A lot of times I would ask, like you know, what's your favorite book? Because here's the deal I give book recommendations by listening to you guys, right, and other people can hear them. I don't care, right, put it out there, because I think you know there's plenty of room to go around. That's what this is about, you know, and that's why this show is really.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know, I can say these things all day long. I mean, I've had to weather through all these different things we're talking about, even here in my own. You know my own business. But here's the deal you come in here and you're an expert in this field and you're going to say something a little bit differently than I am and it's going to resonate with somebody just a bit differently than if I were to come in and say, okay, you need to, you need to niche down your, you know your market. Okay, we all say the same things, right, but you're the expert and you say it a little bit differently. You know, yeah, um, okay, I got it. This is another fun one. I want to ask you, like, what is the number one thing you do every morning that you feel like helps you with your success in the day?

Amber Gaige:

Like the one thing that you feel is so important that you feel like helps you with your success in the day, like the one thing that you feel so important. Oh man, prayer. I got a lot. I do have a lot. I'm up at four and five o'clock too, just like you. Did you say what? Did you say Prayer? Yeah, I wake up every morning and I spend at least an hour praying praying about anything and everything. I have prayer journals about anything and everything. I have prayer journals. Yeah, prayer is a huge thing. Exercise is a big thing for me that I recently started adopting. I'm realizing how much healthier I am when I take care of my body.

Jennifer Loehding:

I feel better too, huh yeah.

Amber Gaige:

You feel better, but yeah, but for me it's prayer Awesome.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I think we all have our thing. But I'm like you. I mean I have like a lot of things I do that I feel I'm very much a scheduled person now, which is so weird because I don't know that. I was like that for many years. I think I sort of just I've got rolled into that, you know, into that role now and I really like, value my mornings and stuff. So I'm with you on that. But I'm glad that you do that. Okay, so real quick, anybody listening to this. You know they want to get in touch with you, find the book, any of those things. Where do we want to send them?

Amber Gaige:

Sure, go to farbeyondmarketingcom. The book is also available on Amazon. It's the Far Beyond Marketing Guidebook. Hit me up, I'm on all the Instagram profiles, social media profiles, you know anywhere we're online, but Far Beyond Marketing is where you'll find me and my amazing team.

Jennifer Loehding:

Perfect, you'll find me and my amazing team. Perfect, awesome, amber. Well, listen, I know you have to get going to pick up a kiddo so I don't want to keep you, but I do want to tell you. Thank you so much for all your wisdom, the chat. I appreciate you adore you and you've got great energy and you're rocking it, so keep doing your thing and keep shining.

Amber Gaige:

Likewise, sister. Thanks so much for the privilege of being on your show. I am a huge Jen fangirl. Thank you.

Jennifer Loehding:

Awesome, well, I love you, so to our audience, of course, we love you and appreciate you, and I hope that you found this episode both informative and inspiring. Hit Amber up if you need some help with branding. And, of course, you know, do all the things share like comment so we can keep sharing all of this fabulous content. And, as I always say, in order to live the extraordinary, you must start, and every start begins with a decision. You guys, take care, be safe, be kind to one another and we will see you next time.

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