My 2024 Visibility Non-Negotiables: Wins, Lessons, and What’s Next

One thing I did stay consistent with was visibility. Because no matter where I am in my business, I know visibility is essential. I will say this part again, if people don't know about you, they can't buy from you.

This is the Entrepreneur School podcast, where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you, the emerging or early stage entrepreneur, on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair, and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under three. I'm a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out on this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to Entrepreneur School.

Hello. If you're listening to this in real time, it's New Year's Eve, and what are you doing hiding in your bathroom listening to my podcast. If you are, I love you. Thank you so much for that. That's where I listen to most of the podcasts when I'm getting ready for my day, maybe you're getting ready for some fun new year's eve activities. Love it. Love to hear it. I just wanted to bring you this special episode as a great year end wrap up, because I created it to be part of a summit that I was recently in called The Great debrief, hosted by Kat Griffin. I will link you to her below so you can check her out. I was like, Yes, I am all about doing this because it's giving me an opportunity to reflect back on sort of really digging into the some of the details around visibility for me in 2024 and it turned into a bit of a confession, because my year was not the greatest financially or just overall in my business. I, like have shared before on this podcast, I looked at getting a job at one point. I kind of am doing that again, in a way, but more to come on that anyways, for 2025 but listen in on my live unpacking of 2024 and I hope that you can get some tidbits out of it, or at least be able to look at your own year in a very honest way and see what Some of the wins were, what some of the lessons were, and how you can just take your own experience and allow that to propel you into 2025 because everything happens for a reason, and you're on the right path, and it's all going to be just fine. I feel like this episode is going to be part confession, part reflection. Going to get really honest with you about how 2024 went, and I don't think that I was quite even ready to admit it to myself until now. And while I would love to come here and give you this highlight reel of all these successes and step by step strategies so that you can replicate them. The truth is, this year felt tough. It has been a challenging time for many entrepreneurs. We're all juggling so much trying to make sales and keep up with our messaging and figure out AI and stay visible and oh yeah, actually live a life, right? But there's one thing that I know is true, and that's if people don't know about you, they can't buy from you, and visibility is the first step in your sales cycle. It's how you grow your audience, how you build trust and create opportunities for sales. But visibility is not about going viral or doing all of the things and being everywhere all of the time. It's really about showing up over and over in the right places. And this year, I put this theory to the test with some big visibility experiments. And today I'm going to pull back the curtain on what worked what didn't, and how it's all setting the stage for an even better 2025 so I am Kelly Sinclair. I'm a visibility coach and brand strategist, and I also host a podcast called entrepreneur school, and I help entrepreneurs like you build the kind of visibility that grows an audience, amplifies your authority and brings those dream clients knocking without burning out or relying entirely on social media? Yeah, I know we're going to talk about social media here too.

Now, when it comes to visibility, I'll be the first to admit, it's always an experiment. There's no perfect formula, and honestly, it can sometimes be hard to draw a straight line between. Between any single action that you're taking and results that we're chasing. But what I have learned is this consistency is the magic and showing up in a variety of ways across the right platforms. That's what builds momentum over time. Grab your notebook, your favorite beverage, hot or cold. I don't know where you live right now, or what time it is, but you know, it's the holiday season, so whatever's in your cup, I'm not judging. Let's dive into these highlights, the lessons and the results of my year of visibility, and I'll share some numbers, some surprises and why I really believe that the work that I'm doing now is laying the foundation for 2025 so before I jump into the 2024 reflections, let me share a bit of my philosophy on how I approach visibility. For you, there isn't one right way to do visibility. You don't have to start a podcast or speak on stages or host a summit, although those can be great strategies. Visibility really needs to align with your strengths and feel authentic to you. I build a custom visibility plan for every one of my clients. No two are the same. It just starts with understanding your audience and working backwards from there what platforms or events are actually going to reach them. And just as importantly, what will you actually enjoy doing and showing up for? Because the best strategy is the one that you'll stick to.

Okay, now for the confession part, let's get real. 2024 was not a banner year for me financially, it wasn't the best. I spent a lot of the year in exploration mode, figuring out what I truly wanted to focus on in my business, and my word for the year was allow. And for me, that meant giving myself permission to be flexible, follow what excited me, explore opportunities as they came, rather than sticking rigidly to a strategy that didn't feel aligned, because I have done that, the stick to the plan no matter what thing I am accountable. AF, okay, but I've launched offers that didn't feel good. The prize no buyers. And this year, I was like, No, we're not doing that again. We're breaking the pattern. We're not going to say, here's what I'm going to do, and then I'm going to go do it. I needed to be more flexible. But the thing about exploration is it's not always efficient, so rediscovering what I love about my business has taken a lot longer than I expected. And while I wish I could have fast tracked it, I guess some processes just take time, right? But one thing I did stay consistent with was visibility. Because no matter where I am in my business, I know visibility is essential. I will say this part again, if people don't know about you, they can't buy from you. And how would I know what I should be creating or what's going to resonate if I didn't even have an audience to give me some feedback. Feedback is you offer something, you get no sales. Feedback is you ask a question, you get a response. Feedback is all of those things right? All of that is equally valuable as you figure out how, how you're moving forward and what you're building in your business. So 2024, not the year of my dreams, but it was the year that I needed to rediscover what lights me up about my work, and I'm ready to take that clarity and lean into it in 2025 right? I think part of this confession is like, is this embarrassing to share that I'm on a different path than I thought I was going to be on? I think that's just the truth for everybody, right? Like you can, you can set a goal, but you have no idea how you're going to get there, or you can start working towards it, and then you can change your mind about what your goal is, even.

So every experience really is valuable, whether it's something that taught you something really well, or a lesson that was maybe harder to learn, right? So one of my favorite visibility things that I did in 2024 was that I ended up speaking at a conference in Nashville called the podcasting moms conference, and it was like my childhood dreams come true, because I get to go to Nashville and be on the stage. I'm not I'm not a country singer. I wanted to be when I was a kid, but it kind of felt like the same, like it still went to the Grand Ole Opry. I stood on the stage at the rhyme, and it was great. But it all really started with visibility challenge that I started for myself back in the summer of 2023 and that's when I was like, Okay, I need to start being more intentional about getting myself out there. And honestly, part of that was because it was summertime, and I knew I was going to have my kids at home. They were going to be in camps, and if I just let them dictate what I was doing all day, I was never going to actually focus on my business. I was just going to go play and be on my paddle board and have a lot of fun. But. I knew I would pay for it come this September, if I hadn't been like, planting seeds and getting things going. So I was like, hey, visibility challenge, 10 minutes a day. At least one thing that I'm reaching out to somebody or talking to somebody about something, right? And that's basically the definition of it. But one of the first things I did, because I'm ambitious like this, and I have a background in PR, is I reached out to the local media and told them about my podcast. So, like, I have this podcast, it's a great resource, blah, blah, blah. Then I got amazing coverage. So I was featured on the radios, on two online articles. I was at a half page in our print newspaper, and they even put me on the front page, like local mompreneur. It was, like, really fun. And so that coverage just created all this momentum, and so many amazing things happened from that, including I ended up with a podcast guest on my show who, unbeknownst to me, had also been on the Joe Rogan show. Had had this big event that he ran with like 6000 people added, and people like Ed, my let and I was like, I don't even know why we're talking to each other, but Okay, let's do this. And essentially, I took that, the momentum from that, and I saw this opportunity to speak in Nashville, and I built it into a case study. So what I ended up talking about was PR for your podcast. So it was like, look at all the things I've been doing and how they've been spilling out of this one thing. And that's really the amazing thing about visibility, is that showing up, consistently, leveraging your efforts, building relationships, you can create a chain reaction that opens doors you didn't even know existed. Sometimes you don't know what's going to happen from an action that you take Right? Which is like, Oh, I wish I would know that if I do this, then this result is going to happen, but that's just not the case. But if, instead of being worried about not knowing what's going to happen, be excited about not knowing what's going to happen, be excited about the opportunity and the potential of if I'm in this room today. Who am I going to meet and where is that going to take me next, right? And, like, lean into that. That's one of the huge lessons that I have from 2024 because it all built like that. It was like the step, then that step, then this step, and it just continues to stack up. And it does take time, right? But everything that I do, it's from the collaborations to the podcast in person events. It's designed to create momentum. And when you approach visibility in this way, you're leveraging one opportunity to create the next, and amazing things can happen.

So I want to get a little tactical with you now. You're probably like, she's a Visibility Coach. What are her favorite things to do, right? Here's a quick rundown of the strategies that I focus on this year. Number one, collaborations, my favorite way to grow, to build new relationships, to make a connection with someone, and just really talk about, how can I add more value to you, and what you're trying to do, right? Because that doesn't feel salesy at all, either it just gives you an opportunity to say, hey, I have this expertise or this skill set, and I can come in and, you know, speak in your community, be part of your Summit, contribute something to your digital bundle, offer whatever it is. Those are all fantastic ways. One of my favorite ways speaking, both in person and online. For me, it's about positioning as a thought leader. And anybody who has a business where you sell your expertise, you sell your brain, someone has to believe that you know what you're doing in order to buy from you. This is definitely a core aspect of your visibility is, is getting out there and showcasing what you know really how smart you are. That's what that's all about.

Podcasting. For me, as a podcast host, it's really great because I create weekly long form content that helps me to continue mastering my messaging, figuring out the ways that I'm talking about things, and also having a platform then where I can exchange that for somebody else is I do a lot of podcast swapping, like, let's be on each other's shows and give each other the spotlight. And that works really well, too. And then my favorite thing that so many people overlook, because we are in this digital space all of the time, is in person events and networking. So these have been total game changers for me, for building credibility in my local community, like, don't forget, there are people who are literally outside of your door, they're down the street, they're meeting in coffee shops. They're doing these things, and you could tap into them in a totally different way than you can tap into the people that you're depending on an algorithm to be seen to, to be shown to, right? So on a monthly basis, I track everything. I think that's really important. Actually, I'm going to show you, this wasn't part of what I prepared, but I happened to be standing right above my calendar because. Excuse me as I wiggle this around for a second. You know this is legit when, right? I have, I have one of these for every single month. It's like $1 store tabletop calendar. And every day I write down what I did that day that has to do with visibility, whether it's applying for something, recording something this recording, this summit, will be on that list, for sure. Those kinds of things, and it just keeps me accountable, right? But when I look at my overall year, I probably do two collabs every single month, so something like a bundle or a summit, plus, I'll record a few podcasts with other people. And those always come out whenever they come out, depending on the production schedule, when I'll attend one to two events. And those could be a virtual event or an in person event. And those could also just be networking calls with individuals that I met. So it doesn't have to just be like you go to a formalized thing, but actually having a conversation, that's where those collaboration relationships can start from, right? So essentially, in my world, something's happening every week where I'm I'm featured somewhere that I could be building my audience, both my audience of potential clients and potential collaboration partners, both need to be considered. So that's sort of my matrix and the back end of my strategy, and you'll notice that I didn't say social media, right? While I use this as a tool, it's not a core part of my strategy. It's not really where I find clients. It's just where I continue to have a presence and where I build relationships with people like once we've already met, basically.

So now we want to know the results, right? Me too, some that we don't know yet, so that's okay, but here's where all this visibility has led to and a lot of this is intangible, and I think that that is important to accept. Sometimes the results of what you're doing are intangible, but they are still valuable. So the first one is confidence and clarity. Every opportunity has helped me to refine my messaging and feel more confident in sharing it. And as that builds, that translates into so many other things, like you can go and speak somewhere, and then you're going to have a sales conversation with somebody, and you're going to do way better at it because you've built that confidence through the other actions that you're taking. It's a practice. It's something it's that's happening all the time. The other thing that's really shifted for me, that I look at as a positive result of this is that I'm starting to receive invitations a lot more than I'm having to pitch myself. So I have no problem with, you know, actively seeking opportunities, and you certainly have to start there, but as you start doing stuff, you're going to be seen in all these places, and you're going to start receiving the invitations, like I did a podcast episode A little while ago about how I landed five speaking opportunities in one day zero pitching. And that came from having been in other places, having spent time in other communities, having built relationships with other people. That's where it came from, right? So this is a direct result of that showing up consistently, and it's great. It's great to know that at the end of the day, you can get to a place where people are seeking you out and you're not having to do all of the efforting, which is great.

One of the tangible things that I measure all the time, of course, is email list growth. And so for me, I was actually surprised by this. My list grew by over 70% this year, even with regular cleaning, like, I deleted like 500 inactive subscribers in November, and that it's still showing that I thought it was gonna end up being negative because of that. But hey, for context, there's 1000 people on my list. It's not a huge list, so it's but it's grown that much, and it wouldn't have, wouldn't have, if I hadn't done all of these things too. So imagine, imagine that I'm also maintaining an average open rate of 45% which I think is really good. Like people are there. They're interested in what's happening, and they're sticking around. But the sales side of things, I am not seeing a lot of sales coming directly from my emails, so that's just telling me, okay, we've got the system in place that's bringing people onto the list, but whatever I'm offering is either not hitting them at the right time, not the right offer, not something's not right my sales messaging something, so it gives me information as to where to look to fix things, but for me, where my biggest sales do come from this year was local clients that I've met in real life at networking events or who live near me, and I've established that credibility by speaking in person, by attending things, by building my brand and. In my community, there are lots of people here who will advocate for me, who will refer me, who will, you know, speak really positively about me in the community where I live, because I've volunteered and, you know, done free trainings for groups like the Chamber of Commerce and our local business incubator and things like that. And those things build credibility and trust, and they keep you Top of Mind with people who are talking to other people about you, and that's like the old school business model, and that's what's been working for me. So isn't that amazing to think? Oh, it's just really getting back to the basics. We don't need to be so fancy and so strategic all the time.

One thing that I did want to share as a bit of a like, Well, I wouldn't do that again, cautionary tale, if you will. But what I do differently section here is, like, I love collabs, but I did one this year that didn't work out very well. And it's because, well, at first of all, I was excited about it because I was invited to be part of it, so I didn't know the host, which is okay, but I saw some of the speakers, like one of them was an author of a book that I had read, and I was like, Wow, that's pretty impressive. So yes, I would like to share that stage. And she was like, Oh, I don't know you, so let's have a chat and make sure we're aligned. We did that. Did feel good. But one of the things was that she had a the minimum list size requirement, like 4000 people, you had to have a new list. I was like, I don't have F but I do have a podcast, and I would be willing to do a little extra promoting in order to, you know, fulfill my commitment, which is fine, like I get, there's always a commitment of when you're being part of something, it only works if everybody participates. But she had this, this requirement that you had to get 100 clicks on your affiliate link in order to be included. And when the promotion period started, those rigid requirements turned into basically constant micromanaging, like you now have 63 clicks, and I would get an email like every day, and it just felt very invasive, and it was not, was not a good experience. So it reminded me to be selective about partnerships and avoid collaborations that have requirements like that that just don't fit my values or style. I think that we need to be able to build trust and know that everyone's going to show up and do their part. And I want to be trusted, because I'm a grown up, you know? So anyway, I just wanted to share that because it is something that comes up a lot as part of when you're evaluating collaboration opportunities. So consider what you're willing to do or not do, or how you would feel about that kind of a situation. All right, we're wrapping up so key takeaways, visibility is essential, but make sure you're also paying attention to like the sales process and your offers, so that you know what your visibility is turning into for you. Like that it's a sales cycle. Like, visibility feeds a pipeline. What's it feeding? And how is that playing out for you? What are the results? Build a habit around visibility. Okay, this is what makes it feel manageable. The calendar I showed you. This is 10 minutes a day. 10 minutes a day. If I do nothing else today, I'm making sure that I'm doing something somebody could see me doing right? That's it like, that's your whole definition. And let it be something that you're doing all the time. It doesn't have to be, oh, I need this whole big new strategy. And then let's go start implementing is like, just send the email. I know you have somebody on your list right now who you need to send an email to, because you need to ask them about a collaboration or a podcast or something that you've been thinking about doing, or maybe they're even a potential client that you're ignoring. I have been there too, so send that email right now, because every opportunity is a stepping stone, right? It leads to the next thing, even if that ROI isn't immediate.

So 2024 year of learning, year of experimenting, a lot of growing through visibility for me, and it taught me that visibility is not just about being seen. It's about building relationships, refining your message, and building that habit to show up consistently. So if you are ready to create a visibility strategy for 2025 you want to make it more intentional. You want to be committed to something. I want you to go and grab my free toolkit with 33 strategies that you can start implementing right now. It's on my homepage @ksco.ca and know this, you do not need to do it all. You just need to start showing up in ways that feel right for you. So thank you for listening. I hope you found some valuable insights in this conversation, and if you want to stay connected and hear more behind the scenes stories about business and parenting, be sure to give my podcast entrepreneur school a follow. You can also find me on Instagram @ksco_kelly.

You did it. You just listened to another episode of the Entrepreneur School podcast. It's like you just went to business school while you folded your laundry, prepped dinner or picked up your kids at school. Thank you so much for being here. I want to personally celebrate your commitment to growing your business, you can imagine I'm throwing confetti for you right now. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review. Make sure you're subscribed and let us know you're listening by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram. Head to entrepreneur school.ca. For tons of tools and resources to help you grow your business while keeping your family a priority. You can subscribe to our email list and join our community and until next time go out there and do the thing.