Marketing Re-Imagined: Tracy Beavers Of Tracy Beavers Coaching On How We Can Re-Imagine The Marketing Industry To Make It More Authentic, Sustainable, And Promote More Satisfaction

An Interview With Drew Gerber

Be authentic, and transparent. Remember what it was like to start your business, how scary it was. Share your journey, the wins and the losses. Give transparency with the wins especially when it comes to claims of income.

From an objective standpoint, we are living in an unprecedented era of abundance. Yet so many of us are feeling unsatisfied. Why are we seemingly so insatiable? Do you feel that marketing has led to people feeling unsatisfied and not having enough in life? If so, what actions can marketers take to create a world where people feel that they have enough, and they are enough? Can we re-imagine what marketing looks like and how it makes people feel?

In this interview series, we are talking to experts in marketing and branding to discuss how we might re-imagine marketing to make it more authentic, sustainable, and promote more satisfaction. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Tracy Beavers.

As CEO and Founder of Tracy Beavers Coaching, Tracy has a proven track record in marketing, sales, and business growth. With 20 years experience, Tracy has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs with everything from overcoming the fear of sales to growing their business visibility through organic marketing strategies. She is a public speaker, and a published author. She has been featured on top business podcasts, and has been a regular contributor on one of her hometown’s premier tv shows. She is the creator of two online programs: “Business Visibility Made Easy” and “Be A Confident Entrepreneur”.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to know how you got from “there to here.” Inspire us with your backstory!

I am an accidental entrepreneur. Growing up, my father was self-employed and it looked like a hard way to earn a good living. He worked REALLY hard, and traveled a lot. It didn’t look like a lot of fun to me. I was raised in the generation where you graduated college and got that awesome corporate job with good pay and a pension (anybody remember that word “pension”…or am I aging myself here?) Somewhere along the way, the wheels fell off the bus on that plan. I was downsized from my first ever career. Fast forward through a few toxic bosses and a CEO that didn’t know how to compensate a sales force, I became so fed up with the corporate grind that I made a plan to exit. I wanted to have more control over my time, and my money.

In order to fully exit corporate, I needed to come close to replacing my six figure earnings. I decided to use a step-down approach. I began building businesses that gave me income so I could step down to a smaller corporate role for less money and more freedom to build. I juggled all of this alongside our two kids who played every sport imaginable. Looking back on it, I have no idea how I managed to get to my goal….but I did….I was able to leave corporate and fully focus on my business/sales coaching practice. It’s the best work I have ever done in my life.

What lessons would you share with yourself if you had the opportunity to meet your younger self?

Oh golly….how much room do we have in this article?

Growing up, I worried way too much about what other people thought of me…what they would say about me. I spent too much time considering others’ thoughts of me rather than considering who I was and what I truly wanted. I was also super impatient and was by gracious going to “make things happen” rather than letting my life unfold as it would on its own.

If I could meet my younger self, I would tell her to get quiet for a bit. I would tell her to chill out and stop trying to control everything. I would tell her to ask herself what she REALLY wants in life. What does SHE think is important…what makes HER happy…and how does SHE want to live each day? I would tell her to tune out all of the noise around her, and just listen to herself instead. I would encourage her to take those hopes, dreams, and desires and develop them into a life and career that would fulfill her. I would let her know that she doesn’t have to control everything. Her life will unfold as it should if she has faith and takes the steps to follow her dreams.

None of us are able to experience success without support along the way. Is there a particular person for whom you are grateful for that support to grow you from “there to here?” Can you share that story and why you are grateful for him or her?

We can’t experience success in a vacuum for sure. Strange as it may sound, I am grateful for all of the experiences I had in corporate both good and bad. The good experiences showed me what’s possible, and the good bosses demonstrated great leadership. The bad experiences caused me to dream of what could be possible, and as for the bad bosses? Well, they showed me how not to behave as a leader. As for specific people that have supported me, I would have to say I am extremely grateful for my husband Jon and our two awesome kids, Emily and Jack.

When I told my husband that I wanted to start building businesses and I wanted to leave corporate, he had his reservations. He didn’t doubt me, he just isn’t entrepreneurial by nature. He has a corporate career that he loves. He told me he knew I could be successful and he allowed me (and still allows me) the time and space to create this business I love.

Our kids have been great. They knew how much working for myself meant to me, and they never made me feel guilty for the times I needed to focus on a deadline. When I create Reels, my kids think they are hilarious and they share them with their friends. How sweet and fun is that? I hope that watching me all of these years inspired them in some way. Our daughter is pursuing her dream of being in law enforcement. Our son is in college and wants to study marketing. I love that these young generations have so much possibility ahead of them because of this online world. Their futures are wide open and it’s exciting.

What day-to-day structures do you have in place for you to experience a fulfilled life?

I absolutely love the work that I do and building this business. I could easily be a workaholic if it weren’t for my family. Thankfully I have them to balance me. I am much better about turning off the work than I was in the beginning of being an entrepreneur.

I have structured my weeks to give me large chunks of uninterrupted time for content creation. I set up my week to have Mondays and Fridays open, with clients being served on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and a possible Thursday afternoon for client overflow. This schedule was created through a lot of trial and error. I used to see clients Monday to Friday and do my creative work in between appointments. This structure I have now with tight boundaries around my days works much better for me and gives me that white space I need for creativity.

I hired two VAs this past year, and it has been excellent for freeing up my time. Tech is not my love language so I am able to give my tech stuff to my tech VA. While I love content creation, my social media manager creates my social content and helps me run my Facebook group.

By having this structure, I am able to work in time for walks with our dog, time to go outside and enjoy the sunshine and time to spend with my family.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think it might help people?

Yes! This year I developed a new course that has an 8 week group coaching offer alongside it. The program is called “Business Visibility Made Easy: A Step By Step System to Gain New Clients Without Paid Ads”. I have launched it a few times with great success, and am working through tweaking a few things in preparation for relaunch in January 2023. It has been so rewarding working alongside my students.

So many of my clients understand the fundamentals of how to grow their audience online, and how to grow their email list. But they struggle with the execution of all the pieces and they get overwhelmed. My program walks them step by step through all of the organic strategies I have used the past 7 years to build 3 successful businesses. They are easily able to see how to layer each strategy in the right order for maximum visibility. It’s so fun to help them grow their businesses and get the income they seek.

Ok, thank you for sharing your inspired life. Now let’s discuss marketing. To begin, can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority on marketing?

I am a business/sales coach with almost 20 years in marketing, sales and business growth….yes…I started when I was 12. Seriously though, I realized that I had a gift for marketing when I was routinely being asked “How are you so successful in sales? How are you gaining so much market share so fast?” I thought I was just doing what everyone else was doing. Turns out, everyone else wanted to know my secrets.

Throughout history, marketing has driven trade for humans. What role do you see that marketing played to get human societies where we are today?

Marketing has had a major influence on how we behave as humans today…both good and bad. Marketing can be used to inspire us, to cause us to be kind, loving and generous. Marketing can also be used to break down our society into greediness and comparison. People follow the messaging. As marketers, we need to recognize the power we have and use it for good.

I work in marketing so I’m very cognizant of this question. What role does marketing play in creating the human experience of “I don’t have enough” even when basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing are met?

Social media is the machine that created the “I don’t have enough” mentality and its twin sister “FOMO” — fear of missing out. Marketing is the vehicle used to move the machine. I would argue that past generations (like mine…again…I am aging myself here) raised without social media were far happier and content with their lives. The only marketing we experienced was on television, radio, or print media. We were sheltered. Social media turned everything up and if we aren’t careful, the marketing we see on social media can influence us toward comparison and discontent.

What responsibility do marketers have when it comes to people feeling that they aren’t enough?

I have been building in the online space offering 1:1 client work, courses and group coaching for many years. The online marketing space can be frustrating and feel very inauthentic if we, as marketers, aren’t transparent.

There are so many online coaches and course creators that aren’t being fully transparent in their marketing. Someone just starting out as an online creator might see their claims of “six figure months” and never realize that this is top line sales and probably not net profit, actual cash in their pocket. This same person that’s a newbie to the online world may get frustrated and quit because they feel that others are achieving this with ease, when the truth is that everyone is working their fannies off, it’s just that only a few of us are willing to be honest about it.

It’s as if no one wants to be honest about how hard it can be to build an online business, get the visibility needed to grow an audience and an email list, take the time to do the podcast guest interviews and the consistent weekly content that will attract their audience, etc. They want to post about working 10 hours a week and making six figures a month…..perhaps that’s true and they are achieving that….but what details are they leaving out?

Many 21st-century marketing professionals in a capitalistic society will discuss solving human “pain points” as a way to sell products, services, and other wares successfully. In your opinion or experience, has aggravating pain points led to more pain?

For me and my clients, I teach focusing on the ideal client. What do they need, how can we serve them? Yes, they have pain points, but focusing on finding them a solution and coming from a place of service will lessen the “pain”.

Different cultures view trade/marketing differently. While some may focus on “pain-points” others may focus on “purpose-points”. How do other cultures differ in how they approach marketing? Please give examples or studies you may know about.

I don’t have any examples of this in my years of experience. In the end, marketing is all the same. We ask our clients how we may serve them.

Okay, fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview: It seems as if we have never stopped to question marketing. In your opinion, how can marketing professionals be more responsible for how their advertising shapes our human experience of feeling safe, secure, and knowing that we matter? Based on your experience or research can you please share “Five Ways We Can Re-Imagine The Marketing Industry To Make It More Authentic, Sustainable, And Promote More Satisfaction”?

1. Serve first. Sell last. Focus on coming from a place of service to your client and being their best solution. The sale will take care of itself in the process.
2. Be authentic, and transparent. Remember what it was like to start your business, how scary it was. Share your journey, the wins and the losses. Give transparency with the wins especially when it comes to claims of income.
3. Build relationships. Screaming “buy my stuff, buy my stuff” will not translate into long term sales success. Connect as a warm-hearted human and make a genuine connection. Remember there is another warm-hearted human on the other end of the conversation.
4. Focus on the long haul. Overnight successes are never truly overnight successes. Know that the connections you make now, the marketing you put out into the world now, will bear fruit for you in about 60–90 days.
5. Focus on collaboration over competition. We are ALL wanting to be successful. We are ALL wanting to grow our businesses and gain market share. Find others in your shared space that you can lock arms with for collaboration. This is a powerful growth strategy that spreads all the good karma.

For you personally, if you have all your basic needs met, do you feel you have enough in life?

I would love to say yes, but that wouldn’t be honest. Having my basic needs met is a great foundation for feeling stable and confident each day, but it’s not enough for me for my entire life. I believe we were each put here on earth with special gifts, talents, ways of being in the world. We each have a responsibility to unearth those gifts and talents and use them for the higher good of all humanity.

Do you have any favorite books, podcasts, or resources that have inspired you to live with more joy in life?

I have a daily devotion I read every morning along with various books on faith, and abundance. I love to pray and be in gratitude when I go on my morning route with my dog. I do love Jen Sincero’s books…her badass series has a way of making me laugh while hitting me right between the eyes with truth for my day.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I believe the online space could use a good scrubbing of honesty in terms of marketing.

Returning to honesty, and transparency will make us all feel so much better about our businesses and ourselves. I believe it will foster a community of support rather than competition. A community where we are all cheering for one another and we all win at the end of the day. This type of community feeling would fuel more entrepreneurs to keep going, and keep marketing.

What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?

I have an awesome Facebook group full of entrepreneurs. It’s become a collaborative, supportive and fun community where we focus on people over profits. I provide live weekly trainings with actionable tips my audience can implement immediately for their business growth.

Join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beaconfidententrepreneur

You can also connect with me through my website: www.tracybeavers.com

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.

About The Interviewer: For 30 years, Drew Gerber has been inspiring those who want to change the world. Drew is the CEO of Wasabi Publicity, Inc., a full-service PR agency lauded by PR Week and Good Morning America. Wasabi Publicity, Inc. is a global marketing company that supports industry leaders, change agents, unconventional thinkers, companies and organizations that strive to make a difference. Whether it’s branding, traditional PR or social media marketing, every campaign is instilled with passion, creativity and brilliance to powerfully tell their clients’ story and amplify their intentions in the world.