Clarify your messaging before it costs you more clients with Maya Elious

Akua: If you are finding yourself at a crossroads and you are trying to attract new leads in your business, then you need to tap in today’s episode. Maya Elias, who is a messaging coach and founder of Built To Impact, is here to set the record straight on what we need to be doing as business owners with our messaging so that we can book more clients in our business.

We dive into why business owners are playing it safe with their messaging steps on how to strip away the fluff and get crystal clear on what it is we’re trying to communicate, and how the word authenticity has taken a whole new meaning. This episode is pure gold. So now let’s get into it. Welcome to Unbreakable Business, the podcast where we uncover the untold stories behind entrepreneurship.

This isn’t about polished success stories. It’s about the sleepless nights, unexpected roadblocks and unshakeable grit that builds businesses that last. Every week we sit down with entrepreneurs who faced it all, sharing raw, honest conversations about challenges, growth, and the moments that made them unbreakable.

Whether you’re just starting out or chasing your next breakthrough. This podcast is your reminder that you have the strength to keep going. Hello, Maya. How are we doing? I am doing amazing. How are you doing? Good. I’m really excited for us to be talking about this topic of all about just messaging, and it’s such a core.

Foundational piece as a business owner, but you know, entrepreneurship has changed. There’s been so much change even just this year alone. So really having you come here and like, especially like you’re an OG business owner, like you’ve been in the game of Men. Men, okay. So having you here to kind of really just.

Offer your perspective and feedback, and honestly, your journey I think would be really encouraging for people. So thank you for being here. Yeah, thank

Maya: you. I’m excited to, yeah, talk about the changes of entrepreneurship and what people should be thinking about right now.

Akua: Yeah. And so one thing I, I really want us to start off with is, I’m so curious to know about what your own journey, like your evolution as a business owner and your messaging, how has that evolved, especially to where you are now?

Maya: Man, I’ve had so many iterations of reinventing, you know, right now what I’ve been talking to my clients a lot about my community about is just the power of reinventing and not being afraid of it. Because when I take a look back at my 17 year journey of, you know, being in the branding space and entrepreneurship, it’s like, mm-hmm.

I’ve had to make some pivots and I think it could be scary. And sometimes I think when we think about reinventing or pivoting, we’re like, oh, do I need to start from scratch? But it’s really just making sure that your business and your messaging and your mission is matching your growth and your evolution.

And so, you know, I started my business and making money professionally. When I was 18 and now at 35 running my business, I can’t imagine running my business now at 35 the same way I was run running it at 18. Mm-hmm. And so when I first started I was, you know, creating graphics, I was making MySpace pages.

I was in college and I was making, you know, 35 to $60 here and there. And at 18, 19, 20, I mean, that’s a lot of money. And inflation wasn’t where it is right now. So, you know, I was maybe making 600 to a thousand dollars a month and I’m like, yeah, this is good money. Plus my dad’s still paying my bills. I’m living at home.

Life is good. So life is good. Life is good. I’m like, yeah, I’m caked up. I got all the money. Yeah. Um, but then, you know, growing and learning as an entrepreneur, ’cause I didn’t go into entrepreneurship. Thinking I’m gonna be an entrepreneur. It was just that somebody paid me money to do something that I thought was fun and that I was doing for free anyway.

Mm-hmm. Which is where a lot of my clients have found themselves. They’re like. Wow. Somebody’s willing to pay me more than my nine to five for something that I already enjoy or that I’ve been doing for friends and family. Mm-hmm. And so, as I started to grow in entrepreneurship, um, I started to evolve my own brand and learn about pricing, learn about sales and marketing, really learn what my skills were and how I added value into the marketplace.

So I’ve made a lot of transitions from MySpace designer to, I did photography for a little bit, then I ran an agency. I was a web designer, and then I transitioned into helping my clients with the strategy. Found my gifting and messaging, did one-on-one coaching, did high ticket coaching to group coaching, masterminds, conferences.

So there’s so many different iterations of how I’ve used my skills to impact my clients.

Akua: Oh, I love that so much. Also, when you said MySpace, I was like, MySpace. I was like, oh my, it took a, yeah, it took a back and we’re the same age. I was like, oh, I forgot it. And like, you know, like the top seven friends, like that was the life back then.

So I love that you were a MySpace designer. Yes. Um, I think what I love so much about your story is. That again, it just really highlights the unexpected journey of entrepreneurship, the ups and downs, and each season you took skills, those skills, whatever you’re supposed to learn, and applied it into the next season and you just kept building off of that, building off of that until you found your sweet spot.

So I am really interested to know more about of, you said messaging was your gift. When did you realize that that was like your bread and butter as a business owner?

Maya: Ooh. I recognized that messaging was my gift when I was working with my clients and. They’ve really struggled to communicate the value of what they did on their website.

So if you’re a web and graphic designer watching this, you understand you’ve prob probably at least 50% of your clients are expecting you to write their copy or kind of make it better. Or just figure out, well, what letters or what words, you know, go on this page. And it’s like, girl, I’m not a copywriter.

You supposed to give me the words and I build the website. And so my clients would come to me like, okay, well the, you know, I would recognize that they were making. Investments in their website and people weren’t going to their site or people didn’t know what to do, or the site was kind of incomplete ’cause they didn’t have the right words.

And so then when I would get on calls with them, I would help them with their messaging. I would help them with their copy. And at the time, it’s interesting because as I tapped into my skills along the way, like of, of building my business and recognizing where I add value, I didn’t know what certain things were.

Formally, mm-hmm. Before I started to master it, right? Mm-hmm. So even thinking about MySpace pages, I didn’t realize I was helping people build their brand. I didn’t know what building a brand was as I was helping people build their brand. I didn’t really know what messaging was as I was helping people get clear on their message.

And so I just knew I had a skill that people valued and they were looking for an outcome for MySpace. People wanted to. Create a certain portrayal of who they were, build their brand. And so I helped them do that with my clients. They wanted people to understand why their products and services were valuable, so I helped them with that.

And so I really tapped into that gifting and part of my journey was dropping out of college to work for myself full time. And I recognized that when I was in college, I really struggled to understand. Complex concepts, or it felt complex to me, right? Learning some of the things that we needed to learn, whether it was some type of math course or a science course or whatever it was.

And I realized that, especially now as a coach who teaches other. Coaches and experts how to teach and coach that. Most people, they have an expertise, but they don’t know how to simplify and filter their expertise in a way that the consumer or the student can understand it. And so because I’m somebody who already naturally needs things explained to me in a simple way, it made it easier for me to help my.

Communicate things in a simple way where their ideal client could be like, I instantly understand what you do, and I instantly understand why it’s important for me to get it, and that’s. Kind of how I really tapped into messaging.

Akua: Yeah. Oh, I love, I love that so much because I, even, for me personally, right now, that’s something that I’m going through.

I’m going back to the drawing board, really working on my messaging, and I’m having people actually look at it and give me feedback, and I’m humbled every time. You know? I’m like, every time. Okay. All right. Was it. Expecting that, but it truly is a really humbling experience and you’re, it’s such a foundational work, but it’s, it’s something that you have to just keep revisiting and revisiting and revisiting, and you don’t realize how often until the money starts drying up, until the inquiries start becoming less, then you’re like, oh, we gotta start figuring this out now.

And I, and you know, I’ve been having, and I’m currently in this research trace, I’ve been like having, uh, research calls with different business owners, and that is. Commonly right now what I’m hearing is, and they’re still doing fine, so this is not to like freak people out or anything, but like, just being real about it, where people are like, I’m not seeing the usual success that I have seen.

Yeah. And so with that, I think that, do you think that entrepreneurs are playing it too safe right now in regards to our messaging? I,

Maya: Ooh. Um, they’re playing it safe and I think that. There’s a little bit of ego, right? Because how you just said, like you, you’re being humbled right now. And I think a lot of people have to go back to the level of humility where it’s like, yes, you went through the course before where you went through your ideal client and you figured out your messaging.

And it’s like as you evolve, you have to refine and audit every area of your business. And be honest, is this still working? And so, you know, I’ve, I’ve been selling the same coaching program for. Maybe six years now. And of course the foundational part is what is your message? How do you wanna be seen in the marketplace?

How do we wanna position you? Let’s create your offer. And it’s funny because I find that when clients finish the program, they have great results and they’re like, well, what’s next? I’m like, you have to do it again. And it’s this ego of like, no, I need to do something more elevated. And it’s like, baby, the most elevated thing you can do is make sure that you know.

Your message and your audience better than anyone else, like until there really is no point, because I was gonna say, well, until you’re making millions, then even when you’re making millions, you’re now just investing more money to make sure your message is on point, because now you’re spending money on ads and you really cannot.

Afford to lose out on money because your message is off. So messaging is something that’s foundational and it’s also something that’s cyclical. It is a cycle and you have to pay attention. As I evolve, I need to refine my message. I do also think we’re playing it a little bit safe. So aside from the the lack of humility or just wanting to a one and done, I do think that.

When it comes to messaging and content, so much has changed. And you know, I was brainstorming it the other day ’cause I’m always thinking like, how can I best support my clients? Like what is going on when it comes to content and marketing and the online industry? And I was thinking about. The different eras that we’ve had in business.

And so, you know, as millennials, we’ve been in the information age for so long where it’s, we can go on Google and we can get information now. We can go on chat GPT and get information. We could go on YouTube and get information, information, information. And when experts would position themselves online, we started with blogging or we would have our YouTubes and we have our podcasts and all of those things are still phenomenal.

But because industries are getting more saturated and we have so much more access to information, information in itself is no longer a luxury the way that it used to be five years ago. And so now it’s, it’s annoying and it’s unfortunate. So if you’re listening to this and you’re like, I’m just so sick of this content thing, I get it right.

None of us really, like none of us. Love the feeling of it, feeling gimmicky because for those of us who have been in this space for years, it’s like I don’t wanna have to do some silly dance and point fingers and all of that to give valuable information. But the interesting. The interesting thing is value is the baseline now.

It’s now expected. Yes. Whereas value before for me with my brand was I could write along blog posts and I would blog three times a week and I would send out emails ’cause other people weren’t doing it. Now it’s everybody’s doing it and now everybody’s doing it at a faster rate because they can hire copywriters or they can just go on chat GBT.

So now it’s figuring out one, how do I. Stick out in a way where I’m more authentic, but also entertaining and interesting because where we would go to social media to connect with people and to get information. Now social media is escapism. We’re looking for what’s going to catch our attention and it has to catch, catch our attention instantly, or else we’re gonna keep scrolling.

So along with phenomenal messaging, along with being valuable, we do have to figure out. The psychology of, how can I say this message in a way that captures enough attention and it can feel a little bit gimmicky. It can feel like I’m not here to be an entertainer, but we really, truly are in the era of attention and entertainment.

Mm-hmm. Tied to your value. And value still has to be the, the baseline.

Akua: That was, oh, there’s so much gold that you shared within that. Like even number one with what you said. I think many of us, and I’m guilty of this too, is yes, we create an offer and we’ve launched it and then we move on and think that we have to create something next.

And you know, even with how I’m like my, the coaching that I’m in right now, she like said literally exactly what you said of you do this again. It’s the same cycle over and over and until you have made a million in this offer. By itself, that is when you can move on. And so I was like, you know, my A DHD self, I’m like, I gotta move.

You know, I like, don’t like to be put in a box. But it was like, to me it was definitely a wake up call of like, okay, like now we gotta lock in here and really make this offer as I’m rebuilding. I have my Storytelling for creatives course that’s coming out, and now I’ve decided to kind of pivot it and go back to the drawing board and I’m like, all right, I gotta lock in.

And then also thinking of like, alright, this for the future as well. Like this is something that is going to be staying with me for a long time, that I’m gonna have to keep refining and reevaluating. And so like. Really making sure that I’m pouring into it every single chance that I get. And I love what you said too, of just the value is the baseline.

It truly isn’t enough anymore. You have to figure out how to be entertaining and like are, and you like think of yourself too, like when you are on social media and you’re consuming, like you’re looking for things really quick. Like I now watch everything at two week speed and so Yeah, exactly. And sometimes now, which this, I don’t know if this is just me, maybe this is just you, but I will watch a TikTok video and I can already kind of tell the direction that the story is going and.

I’m like, okay, great. I like it. And still move on even if they, if the story isn’t done. Is that me? Yeah.

Maya: Is that, is that you too? Oh, no, that’s, that’s, I think that’s a lot of us who’s like, okay, I get the point. I need to get onto the next thing, which is that now why we have to structure stories where it’s like, well the payoff is at the end, so we’re gonna say these are three things that you shouldn’t be doing if you wanna X, Y, Z, and, and number one is the most important.

So we start with number three ’cause we’re trying to get people to the end because of how the consumer mind thinks. And it’s so funny, we’re like, this is how my A DHD brain thinks, and I’m like. I said this on another podcast, I don’t know how, you know if it’s gonna be well received or whatever, but I think it’s funny because you know, we’re seeing a lot of, we’re seeing a lot of late diagnosis of a of a DH adhd and I’m like, is this a late diagnosis or.

Is our brain chemistry being altered because of how social media is designed to change our focus? This is not by mistake that all of our brains are watching things on two X speed and we need to be captured in three seconds. Our brains didn’t operate like this seven years ago. Right. I can look and say like, uh, I think I kind of have an A DHD brain, but what I know for a fact is my brain wasn’t operating like this 10 years ago.

Akua: Yeah. Oh, that’s such a good point. That is such a good point. I think like society has. There’s so many things, even society that has really changed who we are, and I think as business owners, it’s now more important than ever to be more grounded. Which leads into my next question of when we talk about messaging, right?

We know that it’s a positioning issue, right? Like naturally, that’s kind of where. Like how do we position ourselves? How do we reposition ourselves? But do you at times also think that it’s an identity issue? Do you see it at all as somebody who’s trying to really fin their messaging of like, how do we find that balance of like, okay, repositioning where it’s a repositioning issue, I guess more so not balanced, but understanding if it’s a repositioning issue or is this an identity issue?

Maya: Oh, that is a powerful question. It’s everything’s always gonna go back to identity. Mm-hmm. And when I can see that my client can’t recognize their value, it’s because they don’t recognize who they are. They don’t recognize innately the value that they have to offer for you to second guess. Charging a thousand dollars for something you’ve been doing for 10 years.

It’s like, do you know who you are? And so it really does go back to identity, which it, it almost gives me chills because, you know, I think about how. Social media and society is changing our brain and mm-hmm. And it creates almost a level of frustration for me spiritually, because I’m like, all of this stuff is designed to keep us distracted, right?

Yeah. And the more distracted we are, the more pulled away we are from our purpose and the more pulled away we are from our identity. And I think as a believer. The number one thing the enemy tries to confuse us with is identity. Mm-hmm. If we don’t know who we are, then that person cannot fulfill the purpose.

Mm-hmm. If God has called Maya s to fulfill a purpose, but Maya s doesn’t know who Maya S is, Maya s cannot fulfill that purpose.

Akua: Mm-hmm.

Maya: And so for us to position ourselves in a manner that we can have the impact that we desire, we first have to understand our identity and who we are. Who am I? And then what am I called to do?

And so we’re trying to do a lot of doing without understanding our being.

Akua: Yes. Oh, I love that. How can business owners tell the difference? Because I think, you know, we’re, we’re hustling, we’re moving, we’re shaking and baking, you know what I mean? And trying to get everything done. And I think because of that, it’s so easy to.

To not realize that, that like, you’re not, like, you know, you’re not having a repositioning issue, like this is an identity issue. Like, are you bringing in your whole self as a business owner? And I still think, like, even just as a storytelling strategist, when I have, when people ask me sometimes of like, the common question I get is like, well, I don’t wanna be too personal or I, I just wanna be professional or be looked a certain way.

And I’m like, we as multi human beings, we’re so multifaceted, we’re so complex. And what is a beautiful thing, it is to be able to bring in your full self into your business. Mm-hmm. And I don’t think people realize how much of it’s that it, that it’s, it’s a gift, but also I don’t think people can spot the difference.

Mm-hmm. What do you

Maya: think? Yeah, I mean, I think that’s such a great point. I think there is a difference. I think one. Looking at the level of confidence and then looking at the level of clarity. So I think if a client comes to me and they’re like, I’m confident with who I am, I know I need to be get getting paid more.

I know what I bring to the table. I’m just struggling with the rest of the world, seeing it. Then I see that’s a gap in clarity. And then that’s, we need to focus on your positioning. Now, if a client comes to me and they’re apprehensive, I’m not really quite sure if people would pay for this. I’m not really quite sure that what I do is good enough.

I think everybody else is doing it. That then is an identity issue, and that’s how I’m gonna look at the difference. If you come with the confidence, then we just need to be clear on how that confidence is translated in your work. If you’re apprehensive, we gotta go back to identity so you can feel. Full and confident in your identity, and then we translate that confidence out into the world.

Akua: Yes. I love that. And I think this is a reminder for business owners. Like if you are sitting in your day to day and you’re redoing the foundation work, you’re rebuilding, working on your messaging, working on your offers, and you catch yourself saying that, then that means that you need to maybe take a step and like put that aside for a second and really figure out who you are and figure out how, again, you wanna bring in your.

As a business owner, because I think we have to remember, especially as you’re trying to get to a new level as a business owner, it’s gonna require a completely different person. Mm-hmm. You are going to have to shed and so many things are gonna be pruned and shed and, you know, you’re, you know, and you’re, as you’re replanting and, and re like harvesting of like new things.

It’s a really vulnerable, uncomfortable process. And so if you find yourself. Do like thinking that of like, I don’t know if people are gonna pay for this. I don’t know if I’m good enough. I’m not sure of like what it is that I actually offer. Then taking that sec second to do that identity work because it’s really going to propel you forward in more ways than you would like, you couldn’t expect.

And so I love that you, that you brought that up. It, it’s so, so impactful.

Maya: Yeah. Thank you. So when I see that, that struggle and identity, I recognize it mainly as imposter syndrome. And so when my clients are struggling with imposter syndrome, I have them create what I call, and I did that list. I’m like, let’s just stop everything.

Let’s stop the messaging. Let’s stop the positioning. I just want you to make a list of everything that you’ve done and accomplished. It doesn’t even have to be specific to business. Let’s talk about what you’ve accomplished big or little in life in the last seven to 10 years. You became a mom. You gave birth to a human and kept it alive.

Write that down. Okay? Yeah, you did that. You know, like you’ve been married in this society where everybody is saying that marriage is nothing or it’s not important. You’ve been able to, you know, steward a healthy relationship. You’ve been able to do this, you’ve been able to do that. You got a raise at your job, you’ve been able to help at your, whatever it is.

Write down all of the things because you need to start seeing. Yourself as a winner, you need to start seeing yourself as somebody who achieves things. You need to start seeing yourself as somebody who is accomplished. When you can start seeing yourself from that position and build a habit of seeing yourself from that position and won’t feel so foreign to then position yourself to talk about the wins and why and how you add value to the marketplace when you already have created that habit of knowing I achieve things and, and here’s the evidence of it.

Akua: Yeah. Oh, that’s such a good point. Like I did this, I have like a list of cards that like people have wrote, like just speaking over me of different things. And I always go back to that when I’m like not feeling the greatest. And I’m like, Aku, you’re a pretty badass. Like, let’s, let’s brush it off. You know what I mean?

Let’s, let’s get back into it. And that’s okay. Sometimes you gotta do that, you know what I mean? Just remind you of like who you are. And so how can business owners essentially just really. Like what steps can business owners take to strip away that fluff and really get that clarity on their messaging?

Especially right now, there’s so many things that are up in the air. I think you know everything from society politically, like just people are finding themselves in an unknown. I think business owners are, because what used to work, even just last year, I don’t think it’s working now because how quickly things have shifted and so.

How do we strip back at that fluff and, and really just get clear on our messaging?

Maya: Oh, I mean, the first way to get rid of fluff is to define things. You know, oftentimes when, when people start out into messaging, they’re really vague with, with what they do. Um, they’re very vague with how they explain things.

And so I’ll ask my clients, what does that mean? Well, what does that mean? And then what does that mean for your audience? Right? So for example, let’s say. You know, I’m working with a life coach and she wants to work with moms, and it’s like helping moms become their best self. Well, what type of mom is she?

Is she a first time mom? Is she a single mom? Is she a married mom? And maybe you’re not going that deep into the type of mom that she is, but you have to understand her enough to know how does she define what her best? Looks like, or the best version of herself look like. And so defining things is incredibly important because then we don’t say helping moms become the best version of themselves.

Then we define it, helping moms elevate in their finances and their friendships or whatever it is. We figure out what that exactly means and it’s our responsibility to define it since we are the experts. So that way. When your ideal client reads it, they’re like, I journaled about this. When I think about messaging, I think about what is my client Googling?

What is my client searching for on YouTube? What are they secretly searching for in a private browser? What are they asking? Chat GPT, and then they would delete it so nobody else can see that it’s in their library. It’s the things that deeply they, they feel a level of. Like they have a desire and then there’s a pain point around it.

They deeply want to experience something that they’re like, I’m stuck here. I don’t know how to get to this place. And you as an expert, you have to know how to speak to that. And being vague is not going to trigger any emotion. We have to create messaging that’s like. Wow. I feel so seen, like it does. Did she go through my Google private browser?

Like how does she know that I’m dealing with these things? So being very intentional about speaking to your clients specifically. Also knowing that ideal clients, they search for things specifically. We don’t go on Google and say, how do I become the best version of myself? We say, how do I lose 20 pounds?

How do I get better in my marriage? How can I be a better communicator to my husband? How can I. We ask for things specifically, and we wanna make sure that our messaging aligns with that.

Akua: Yes. I love that so much because again, it’s so foundational, but it’s key. And the thing is too, we don’t even realize we’re being vague until we put pen to paper and give it to somebody else and ask them to read it.

And that’s where, you know what I mean? ’cause people will be like, well, I already know this. It’s like, but when you apply it, that really shows if you know it or not. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I think, again, it’s like that humility piece of like, we’re always a student. As a business owner, this is our time.

Instead of having our ego drive us, this is our time to really lean in instead of leaning out of like, okay, I need to refine this because your person has also changed and. I wanna add to that of like researching because your person has changed, like literally with my offer, what it was, and then the researching that I’m doing now, I’m having these 20 minute calls, my ideal audience has shifted and I’m like, damn, now I gotta go back and change stuff.

You know what I mean? And like it’s so that’s so good. So it’s so important, um, honestly, to make, to take the time to do that. And one thing that I’m learning too is that yes, we use a lot of vague language next level, level up. I hear that all the time. And I put it in my, and I got called out and I was like, oh, wow.

Like it’s true. Like there’s common phrases that we see all the time, overwhelmed, level up. Um, I don’t even know there’s so many that all of us as business owners are all commonly using and that is not going to help us stand out. That is not going to help, like bring leads, aligned leads, right? Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Like you have to really sit there and highlight that pain point. And one thing that I was reminded of is that the more urgent, the pain point. Like the more specific you are and like the more urgent you are with the pain point, the more likely they are to book. You know what I mean? And so really going back and thinking through what is the pain point and like what is the tangible thing that you can give them?

Because we also, like when we say next level, like that’s not tangible. We have to think about like what is tangible. Anyway, sorry, I No, that’s. So good. Yeah, it just like really is, has been like we hear this as business owners. I’ve heard this in the beginning and then revisiting it now as I’ve changed and my business has changed.

It like has such a deeper, newer meaning for me. So.

Maya: Yeah. Well, I think the important thing that I’m like, if you’re listening to this, please listen to what she’s saying she’s doing. She’s doing market research, and I believe that we have gotten lazier and lazier as entrepreneurs because even now when I see other business coaches promoting, Hey, I am gonna help you grow your business without getting on sales calls, without sending dms, without doing, it’s like, do you want to know the person that you are selling to and.

The best marketer wins, and you cannot market to a group of people you have not researched, like it just doesn’t work like that. And so market research requires you to study the market that you want paying you. And without doing the market research, you’re operating with the level of entitlement. You’re saying, I deserve to be paid without caring enough about these people to care about their problems.

People are paying you to solve their problems, yet you don’t know what their problems are because you didn’t care enough. To actually have a conversation about what their problems are and the pain that it’s creating in their life or their business, their relationships, their finances, whatever it is. So if you’ve not gotten on the phone with 10 people who you would define as your ideal client to have a 20 minute conversation whether or not you’re selling something, I think you could do market research and sell at the same time, especially if you’re good, you can make up an offer on the spot.

It doesn’t have to be something that’s perfectly structured, but if you have not gone on the phone. With a minimum of 10 people to really understand. What people are looking for. You don’t have the right to complain about not making sales. You simply didn’t do the work to earn anybody’s business. You have to do the work to earn the business.

And so I really encourage you all if you’re kind of struggling to think about what. I don’t even know what my messaging should be. I don’t know what these people are struggling with. Get on the phone with people. Let people pick your brain. ’cause that’s another thing that I, you know, hear people saying like, I don’t want people to pick my brain for free.

And it’s like, you need to be letting them pick your brain and you need to pick their brain back so you can understand how you need to be selling to them. So them saying yes to your offer feels like a no brainer.

Akua: Yes. And one thing I wanna add to you is like, people are always willing to help because I reached out to entrepreneur community and I, I had three calls so far and those, and my goal is 10.

I have 10 scheduled. And the three that I’ve had so far has already changed my perspective. And I was like, oh, like I have to really. Make some major changes because I was way off, which was also like really humbling. And so I, I, I like this conversation has been just so, so good. And if you’re listening, like do the work, like everything that Maya said, do the work because it’s really going to propel you forward.

I feel like we hear the word authenticity all the time and I feel like business owners are now rolling their as. What are your thoughts on the use of authenticity and like some of these vague words? Like what, what, what’s your hot take on that? Yeah,

Maya: I mean, I agree. I think it’s, I think it does feel a little bit cliche.

I do think it’s, I don’t know if I wanna say overused because. You really do have to be authentic. It’s, it’s almost like, I really don’t know another word to use. You have to show up as yourself. So I get it because it’s, that is the advice we hear. Well be your authentic self. And people are like, but what does that mean?

I don’t know what being my authentic self looks like, or we think being authentic means telling all of our business. And as a personal branding strategist, I’ve bumped into that where people are like, well, I don’t need people known where I live. I don’t need people knowing my kids’ names. They don’t need to see my, and it’s like, girl.

And it doesn’t mean that you have to freaking. Show your birth certificate on the internet. It just means the stuff that you do show needs to be real. People wanna see the human side of you. And so there’s two aspects, like when I’m helping my clients build their brand, I want you to position yourself as an expert.

So you’re gonna, you know, talk about the things you know, you’re gonna give them the educational content so people know that you yourself are educated. But people also wanna work with humans. We have to work on humanizing your brand. And you know, I remember when for, you know, Snapchat first came out, so this is over a decade now, and it’s like, well, why do people care about what I’m eating?

And it’s like, it’s not about, it’s such a pretty picture of you taking a, a. You know, a picture of your Chipotle label. It’s the fact that we just feel connected and like, oh my God, I love that restaurant too. Or, I’ve been eating this a lot more too. Like there’s a lot of things that people know me outside of me just being a business coach and helping hundreds of women and, you know, helping people build six and seven figure businesses.

People know that I like to work out. People know that. I love to travel. People know that I’m an aunt. They see, you know, um, my relationship with my sister, my relationship with my parents. They see these other aspects. People know that I’m a believer. I’m, I’m very bold with my faith and so. There’s an added level of trust because of that added level of connection.

There’s 1,000,001 black female business coaches. Like I’m real. What I do is not that interesting. Honestly, it’s not. And you know, people get so nervous like everybody else is already doing what I’m doing. Everybody’s doing what I’m doing. Okay. Mm-hmm. But everybody is not Maya Elliots. Not every single person is a black female Christian business coach who has a great relationship with her parents, who likes to torque on stage, who likes to mm-hmm.

You know, travel the world, who, who likes to talk about love and all of these things. And so it’s the level of connection. It’s your story. Part of that’s gonna be your brand story that differentiates you. And so I think we’re trying so hard to be different and to stand out. And the best way to be different is to be yourself.

You are unique because. You are you. There’s literally nobody else on the planet who is you. That’s the most instant way to differentiate yourself. So when we say be authentic, we literally mean. Just show up as yourself.

Akua: Yes. And that’s, that’s more than enough. Like one thing I always, my, I used to compete in pageants and that was something that my pageant coach told me was like a, like Akua, your story is a gift.

And like now that’s what I move forward in as a storytelling strategist. And that is something I commonly hear all the time as well. And so like I have to like teach people how to have boundaries. ’cause I’m like, anything can be turned into a story, but especially as you’re leaning more into yourself.

You gotta revisit. Okay. Like, what are you comfortable with and what are you not comfortable with? And ’cause you deserve to honor yourself too in the process. And so people always jump of like, I gotta tell about, like, you know what I mean? It’s like

Maya: the most traumatic story and it’s like, girl, we didn’t need to go here.

Akua: No. And, and it’s not to be in a shameful way, but it’s like the most relatable, like. People have booked with me not because the things like the big, heavy things that I’ve walked through, they’ve booked with me because of that relatability piece. The most mundane, insignificant things that I have shared about my life, those everyday moments.

That is what is what booked. So when you shared those things about yourself, like you love to twerk, you love to travel, all those different types of things, how many of us love to twerk, twerk, and travel? I love that. You know what I mean? It’s that relatability piece. I’m like, oh, she loves this work and travel bet.

I’ll sign me up out. Sign me up. She seems like a good time. You know what I mean? Filling up the application to work with her. I know I’m gonna feel safe as a business owner. I know I’m gonna feel seen as a business owner and I know it’s so funny, but it’s like those different types of things of like, you know, like you said, like your faith, like these different types of things of that, like bringing your whole self into a, as a business owner is I think is so important.

Now more than ever, because even somebody that I, um, had interviewed, she said that like the feedback that she’s also been hearing was that a lot of business owners feel jaded. A lot of people feel jaded right now in terms of before they wanna like purchase or invest. And like a lot people are now a lot more skeptical.

So if you really wanna like. Work through that with people. Just show up as yourself and be real, because then it’s like, okay, like our values align. I, she sees me like, this seems like a really fun place to be at. Okay, I’m gonna hang out here. You know what I mean? Because, and people are craving that right now.

And so I love that you should, because I think authenticity now has a new meaning. It really does. And I think it is up to us as business owners for each of us to define what that truly means. Be able to effectively

Maya: communicate that. 100%. Yes. Yes. I think it goes back to what you said about identity. It’s like, well, some of us don’t even know how to be authentic ’cause we don’t even know who we are.

We’re leading with this identity of who we think we need to show up as. Or you know, we have on a mask because we wanna be accepted. And it’s like, just go back to who you are. Write down your values. Who, who are you? Who do you wanna be? Show up as that person.

Akua: Mm-hmm. And so even with that ai, let’s chat about it because now it’s so quick to get your messaging.

I mean, chat GI mean, if you, if you could prompt it well enough, chat, GBT can lay it out there for you. You know what I mean? And I think a lot of us as business owners. We’re like, if we’re, when we’re out here doing the foundation work, we’re always like, well, we don’t have the time. I’ll just use chat. GPT.

I’m avoiding chat GPT right now. Like I personally am not doing it. ’cause I’m like, I need to be able to still think critically love. I love ai. You know what I mean? But I’m like, there’s just certain pieces of myself that I can’t lose as a business owner. And so when you think of like. Alright, AI and it’s evolving so much and it’s so quick now to like get your messaging figured out on X, Y, Z.

What are your thoughts on that? What do you think? As a messaging strategist,

Maya: you still have to know your message to best leverage ai and I think, I think it’s easy to tell. Oh, when people are bypassing still the f the foundational parts of business and trying to leverage ai, it’s like I use AI as if it’s an employee that works for me.

And if yes, if you’re listening and if you’ve ever hired somebody and if you’ve ever had a team, you know that you get your money’s worth when you train the person Well. Some of y’all are leveraging ai, hoping that it will train you when you’re supposed to be training ai. Yes. Okay. Yes. AI can’t be your business coach.

AI can’t be your therapist. AI can’t be something that trains you. It’s speculating based off of information. It’s pulling from the internet, and it’s a great tool, but you have to use it with wisdom. And so when I’m leveraging ai, I go to AI and I say. Here’s my brand story. Here are the pain points of my audience through research I did work doing.

Y’all are trying to mm-hmm. Bypass research by hoping AI can do it for you. I got on call with 10 people. And the most common pain point that they explain was this ai, take this and maybe create a story out of this. Or what type of content should I create based on the pain points that I took the time to research.

So I think, you know, with ai, if you’re trying to leverage AI to not do the foundational work, you’re going to be stuck and you’re always gonna be a slave to it. If Cha, GPT or any other. Art artificial intelligence software stopped working today. I would still be phenomenal at what I do. Mm, that’s a question you have to ask yourself.

Could you still show up and be phenomenal at what you do without ai?

Akua: Yes, yes. Oh, I love that so much. This has been such a phenomenal conversation and, and if you’re listening, I hope this lit a fire under you because it is time, like, right, like it is time to, if you find yourself right now, like you’re getting stuck, like this is your time to really do the work, right?

Like there, I think that’s something that we, as business owners, like, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business, you cannot escape these foundational pieces and you just have to take the time to do the work. And so we. At the Unbreakable Business Podcast like, like to do really fun, rapid fire questions.

Okay. So we have a couple for you, and just let us know what comes to the top of your mind and let’s get into it. Okay? So one word that describes your message today.

Maya: Ooh. Evolved. Mm.

Akua: Okay. Love that. Okay. Favorite breakthrough tool that you’ve used to really define your messaging? Doesn’t have to be like an AI tool, just anything like what, or if it’s like even an exercise or whatever that you’ve done.

Maya: Breakthrough tool for messaging. Honestly, my brain, I’m like, I would put myself up against any messaging expert in the world, so I would go to myself first as the messaging tool.

Akua: Yes. Okay. Love that. Okay, so Mo, most surprising messaging hurdle? Fear of sales or fear of visibility?

Maya: Well, I’m not afraid of either of those.

So I would say messaging hurdle, maybe fear of being misunderstood because I put such a high value on being clear. Okay. And so anything that’s not clear, you know, there’s a misunderstanding. I’m like, what did I do wrong? That I didn’t articulate myself in a way where they received the message how I intended.

Akua: Yeah. Okay. Okay. What is a common messaging like tactic that you see business owners doing that you’re like this? No, absolutely not.

Maya: Because you mentioned ai. Um, I thought about this because, you know, we’re thinking it’s such a powerful tool we can use, and many of us, we prioritize chat, GBT over the other tools and software and we’re already starting to see a trend with chat GBT, where we can instantly see it.

And it’s, it’s beyond just the, what the M dash is that people have been talking about. It’s like chat, GBT has this cadence where it’s like, you’re not this, you’re not, you’re this, and that’s why this, you know what I mean? Yeah. We see it everywhere and it’s like. Girl, please just figure out your own messaging because this cadence, this fake deep.

Translation that chat GBT is giving to everybody. Mm-hmm. It’s starting to look a little bit crazy already and we’re only like a year into all of us using it. So

Akua: yes. I think that’s such a good point. I think again, even with ai, you can’t avoid doing the work. You still gotta do the work if you still want it to produce for you.

Right. Like that is the key thing because like a lot of things, when AI gives me stuff, I completely rewrite it. Like I don’t even keep what’s there. You know what I mean? Like. So a lot of it is, so I think that’s just such an important thing, like where, yes, we’re leveraging it to save time, but it’s like you wanna know what’s gonna save you time in the long run doing the damn work, and then put it into Chachi bt, and then leverage it accordingly.

You know what I mean? Like I think that’s just such a, such a key thing.

Maya: Yeah. Oh my goodness. Because sometimes chat GBT will give me a prompt and I’ll be like. Stop being corny or like stop being take deep. Like I, like, don’t play with me.

Akua: I say that all the time too. I’m like, why? I, I’m like, why? Why are you asking me that?

I said, I’m like, who asked you to ask me that? I literally would put that in there. Like, who asked you to ask me that? Because that’s not what I was looking for. And that’s not even what I said. Like, so I always have to reminded like, you’re doing too much. Stop jumping ahead. Like, wait for me. Right. Like I always have to say like, I know what I’m looking for.

Chill out. You know what I mean? And like, not saying that it’s been great, but I’m just saying like, it’s. I think it goes again too of like, I always think of this like, if it’s made by man, it’s meant to, it’s, it’s made to be broken. And so like, I think that’s just a thing of like a tech tool. It’s made by man, so it’s gonna have, its, its faults.

There’s gonna be positives and negatives to it. And so like, again, like really as a business owner, just finding that balance, but doing the work so that like you’re leveraging AI so it can actually boost you not to where it’s gonna help you like. With shortcuts because entrepreneurship, there ain’t no shortcuts.

So like we need to, you know what I mean? So,

Maya: right, right.

Akua: I have loved this conversation. It has been so, so good. And so every episode we like to end with this question, which is, what does having an unbreakable business mean to you?

Maya: Having an unbreakable business? It’s gonna require you to have unbreakable faith because I’m sure you know as an entrepreneur you better operate in faith because the wrong mindset will break you.

The doubts if you let it, if you let it fester, too much will break you the fear if you let it fester. Too much will break you the wrong environment. If you stay in there too long, will break you the wrong relationships. If you stay in there too long will break you. So if you wanna have an unbreakable business, an unbreakable life, you better have unbreakable faith.

Akua: Yes. Oh my goodness. That is, Ooh, that’s like the perfect way to end this episode. Maya, thank you. Thank you so much for being here on the show, and for those who want to connect with you, where can we find you?

Maya: Thank you so much for having me. If you guys wanna connect with me, I’m on Instagram at Maya, S-M-A-Y-A-E-O-I-O-U-S.

And if you wanna evolve your business, evolve your message, you wanna reinvent so you can love entrepreneurship again, go to maya elias.com/evolve and let’s connect there.

Akua: Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you so much, Maya, for joining us today and for everybody listening. Until next time, thanks for tuning into Unbreakable Business.

If you love today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who needs a little extra inspiration. Remember, no matter what life throws your weight, you have the power. To keep going and your business can be unbreakable too. Until next time, keep building, keep growing, and stay unbreakable.