INS021 - Micro-Story Telling with Matt Hanham

It's No Secret with Dr T.

Matt Hanham is a Perth based entrepreneur, investor and consultant with a passion for small business, technology and wealth building.

He is the director of Visible and host of #Amplify Your Business podcast.

He also has one dirty little secret that he likes to keep hidden; he’s also an accountant, but lets not tell anyone.

Seriously though, Matt’s brief accountancy career was really just one building block in his business success. He has a creative mind and he likes using financial reports to spark his creativity, but he does not like creating the actual financial reports himself.

Illness

At an early age he got very sick and hit rock bottom and this is what drove him to want to have his own business.

He looked at buying an existing business but when he looked at the sale price, $300K, he didn’t have the money, but he knew he wasn’t afraid to do the work, so he started his own similar business from scratch.

“When you start something from scratch you start from zero, but you’re also in control”.

Mistakes

Matt had an insolvency background and saw all the mistakes other people made in business, but even with this insight he still ended up making all the same mistakes himself.

You have to keep your ego in check, because if it’s telling you, ‘I don’t make mistakes’, this can be really dangerous.

In the corporate world it can be much easier where you have a team and everyone has different roles, but this is not the case when you work for yourself.

When you work for yourself you need to be flexible, be aware you have blind spots and ask for help.

Any mistake can be rectified as long as you don’t let it fester too long.

The Giant Leap

Matt forced himself to take action by refinancing his house, put all the money into an offset account, took a four week holiday and then came back and made the decision that he needed to start a business.

You need to be an action taker, because taking action creates momentum, but always remember that money is import, but your health is far more important.

The Business Pivot

Matt’s current business, Visible, www.visible.com.au, initially started as an SEO, Google Adwords and web design business, basically a traditional agency.

But he realised his business has to change to the changes in the digital landscape. It had to pivot to survive.

There was a shift of attention. More people have their mobile phones with them, more so than doing a search on their desktop. So you need to be where people have their attention.

The Losses

This is why Visible had to switch focus towards social media and content creation. With the pivot his business did lose a few clients, he had to buy out his business partner; because there was no longer any congruency in their thinking and direction, and basically it was a painful period.

So what does Visible do? They basically help small businesses owners amplify themselves online

How does Visible work with a client?

Step 1. First we work out who your target audience is.

Who is it that you want to talk with and attract to your business? This is the Discovery Process.

Step 2. Then we help work out your strengths?

If you’re good at producing videos we’ll assist you to head down that path. If you’re better at writing – we’ll help with your blog post.

Step 3. We help leverage their time. Most business owners are time poor.

The Goal: to work out the best and fastest way to extract information, or content about their business and distribute it everywhere we can on the internet, as long as it matches their target audience.

Different Frame of Mind

A potential client may be on INSTAGRAM because they want to browse through pretty pictures, whereas on FACEBOOK they may be more inclined to watch a short three-minute video, because they’re in a different frame of mind.

People are looking for different things from the different social media platforms.

Creating Content

A burger shop may shoot a 2-minute video preparing a burger, but from this you can create multiple 15-second videos and still shots, which can be posted onto YOUTUBE, FACEBBOK and other social media platforms, using different text and layouts.

For example a client may have a raw podcast file and from this Visible can complete the full episode, audio snippets, photos and quotes.

What Does Your Customer Want?

What will work best varies between businesses. It’s all about what the consumer wants to see.

For example a thirty-five year old female hairdresser will have different needs and wants to a fifty-five year old male mechanic.

Consistency Is The Key

Many business owners like to do their own social media marketing, the only problem is most do it in a flurry for one week and then they stop.

This is why using an agency can be a good idea. Visible can take over the workload, or help them set up systems.

What is Micro-Story Telling?

It’s about letting people know what you’re up to and what you’re like, as a business owner. It helps people relate to you on a personal level.

Posting a photo eating a burger with your family shows you like burgers and you also like to hang with your family. At our core we are community driven.

Micro-Story telling comes from providing micro-content. These small bits of content when put together tell a story.

Authenticity Counts

If you share who you are you become more authentic. If you’re not sure what to post, try something and see what sort of response you get.

You may start with a photo of a burger and next you could share a video of something you’re having problems with.

Eating Your Own Dog Food

For years Matt was helping people with their online social profiles, but not doing it himself or for his business. He eventually realised he couldn’t be telling people to do something that he wasn’t doing himself.

He started by shooting videos around the office and creating a weekly VLOG, which was posted on YOUTUBE and Facebook.

Important lesson from this: When he started doing it for himself, and spending his own money he learnt a lot and was able to offer a better service to his clients.

It’s How We Communicate Today

Micro pieces of content help tell our stories – Micro-Story Telling

Businesses can no longer switch their minds off to what they do digitally and just concentrate on their business.

It’s like saying we won’t answer the phone anymore, or in 1987 saying you didn’t need a fax…YES YOU DID. Social media is just how we communicate with other today.

It’s Not Always Easy

Posting on social media is a simple process, but it’s not always easy, so to make it easier, simply identify what you’re passionate about and use it in your social interactions.

For example, if a Lawyer is passionate about golf he or she can post photos playing golf, visiting gold courses, articles about golf and latest golfing news on their social media pages.

This all helps connect with their clients, especially those that love golf.

It’s no different to 30 years ago where the Lawyer would go down to the local golf club and network on the 19th hole. Instead of being one-to-one, it’s now one-to-many.

Monday Morning Tip

Open up your primary online platform and if you don’t have one yet start with Facebook, and just post something.

If you don’t have a business page yet, post something about your business on your private page.

Just write a simple update. Today I’m going to do this in my business, and then repeat this for the next 7 days. If you can do this you’re onto something and then just keep going and don’t stop.

You have to build a micro habit to get started and then grow from there

Matt’s Contact Details

Personal social pages: @MattJHanham

Visible can be found @TeamVisible

The podcast is #Amplify Your Business & Simple Minds podcast.

Website: www.visible.com.au

If you have any questions about this podcast episode please email [e-mail]

Also, if you haven't read my book It's No Secret There's Money in Small Business you can download the first 16 pages for FREE to see if it's your type of business book, and finally if you want to get more people throuhg your front door, you may like to downlaod and read 12 Secret To Get More People Through Your Front Door.

Finally, dates for my There's Money in Small Business event has been schedule for the 17th-18th August 2018 in Cairns. More details coming soon