Emily Merrell  00:00

Hey, my name is Emily Merrell. I’m a taco loving people connector, and I’m obsessed with playing the name game and all things networking. I’m the founder of second degree society, a female focused networking community, as well as a business coach for female business owners, passionate about bringing their business to the next level with the help of events, community and connections. I crave deep conversations and am continuously curious to see what makes people tick, and I’m invested in uncovering their stories with some life lessons along the way. This podcast is aimed to inspire and educate as you tackle your busy day. So join the conversation and tune in for the second degree podcast. Hi guys. Welcome back to the second degree podcast. I’m your host, Emily, and today, I haven’t done many of these, but I am so excited to bring back for not a 2.0 but like a update point oh, or something like, I don’t know, I don’t know what, what it’s going to be, but my dear friend, Miss Jamie. Raderman, Jamie, welcome to the show.

 

Jamie Ratermann  01:10

I’m so happy to be back.

 

Emily Merrell  01:11

I’m like,

 

Jamie Ratermann  01:12

I try to think of how many years it’s been. It’s like, even though I’m back, it’s been a bit that’s we’ve changed. We’ve changed lives. That’s the last time we spoke.

 

Emily Merrell  01:20

Yeah, I’m trying to think we probably recorded it in 2020, um, I’m

 

Jamie Ratermann  01:24

almost positive, because we were talking about the tiger king.

 

Emily Merrell  01:28

Oh my god, yeah, I

 

Jamie Ratermann  01:29

remember that perfectly. We’re talking about the tiger king. And I think you were, were you still in San Fran then I think you were, oh

 

Emily Merrell  01:35

yeah, oh yeah. I was, I was living in a one bedroom apartment with my husband, and was like, oh my god, is this what marriage is like, a version of hell. We’re both living at home in such small space. This is wild. But, yeah, that was Tiger King. Rest his soul. He’s still alive, isn’t he?

 

Jamie Ratermann  01:50

I think so. I have no idea. It was like, it was a really popular that I that I don’t really care anymore. Yeah, it was

 

Emily Merrell  01:57

really popular. Made all the memes and so, oh yeah, four years guys, also, this is being recorded in May, and tomorrow is Jamie raderman’s birthday, 35th birthday. I’m calling at your age. I hope that’s okay.

 

Jamie Ratermann  02:11

And I get wiser and sexier every year, so you can say my age all the time. It’s fine. I think,

 

Emily Merrell  02:17

no, truthfully, I do think you were like we and we must have recorded in April, or maybe about this time of 2020 Yeah, it must have been April. It was April of 2020 so it was right before it was your, right before your 31st birthday. So, okay, this is perfect. This is we didn’t even plan this like this, y’all. But Jamie, okay, I’m not going to introduce you, because I want you to introduce yourself. Who the hell are you? Who the hell are you? Woman,

 

Jamie Ratermann  02:43

why are you here? What’s going on? I am Jamie. I am a who I am Jamie. I’m a Holistic business coach. I combine my 14 years of marketing experience with my health coach certification. I focus heavily in helping entrepreneurs get out of their own way. I have a podcast called limitless, for the fact that most of the time we’re putting our own limits on ourselves. So for me, I really, really love to help people kind of turn passions into more of a freedom seeking type of business. We’re not trying to hustle constantly, even though sometimes there’s a healthy hustle to get started. But also, too, I’ve found that through my own business, that I have become more of myself, and I’ve found more meaning in life, in the way in which I set boundaries and decide what I want, all of the above. So I like to give that to my clients, and yes, I am going to be that girl that tells you that social media, marketing, selling can be fun because it is, it truly is, but it takes kind of releasing some of those limiting blocks we have. And

 

Emily Merrell  03:49

I think that that’s a great way to start off just talking about, like, putting your own limits on yourself and thinking about your evolution, even in knowing you. I’ve known you for more than four years, but like referencing the last four years or five years, basically, the last four years have just been really transformative for you as a business owner, in that when I met you, you still had consulting clients, and you were you were more hiding in the shadows and limiting yourself into not living like the full potential of who you are. So it’s been really beautiful to watch that transition of of the Jamie popping out, versus you being like a puppet master of others success.

 

Jamie Ratermann  04:31

I mean, I am seven years in business. It’s been seven years of running my own shop, and it was just in the last year that I felt comfortable saying like, you know, part of the beginning of my journey was getting laid off from the corporate world, and part and even too, I think part of what made me like wait until that story was allowed to be shared, had a lot to do with like, early on, I really wanted to prove myself, and I did that. That is my. Corporate experience, in a nutshell, is like, I want to prove the social is worthwhile. I got to prove the numbers. And while I can absolutely say that your girl’s a data girl, because of that, the proving myself the early stages of entrepreneurship was something that I definitely was trying to put on a mask and figure out how to one up and show, show a version of myself that really wasn’t true to me, and I learned a lot from it. I don’t want to act like it was like a bad experience, but it would. But I think there’s a sense of like this many years later, going, Oh, the more I truly like position myself as an asset in my business and like also what I want it to be. The more people come to me, the more, the more I’m consistent with showing up, the more I like pursue things that are a little bit scary. And

 

Emily Merrell  05:50

when you think about proving yourself, and I think this is such a this is such like a point of your 20s, too. I think if we all took a second to reflect back on in our 20s, there’s that, that need for like, worth and proving and success. Who was it that you were trying to prove it, to prove whatever this element was,

 

Jamie Ratermann  06:12

therapy. What first comes to mind is, you know, a little bit of my mother, to be honest. What first comes to mind is my mother, for sure. I think there’s also the manager that caused havoc for my corporate experience, where I’m going to name, he’ll remain nameless, but like, there was, like so many times I would come and go, Look, I 3x the goal he gave me. I brought in this number of sales. I did this, and I did as a team of one, and I deserve a raise, because 50k in New York City doesn’t goes nowhere, yeah, like, you did your job. Way to go that I was, like, there’s just that, that consistent, like feeling, but it was, but, you know, I think the part of me is that I come from a small town. I come from a small town in Ohio, and I live in New York City, and a part of the allure of moving here had a lot to do with I get to choose my own path. Small towns are lovely. I want to just say it. They’re, they’re, they’re, they care for you. They many people would drop anything to help you, but you kind of got to fit the mold, to be respected in a lot of ways. So there’s so breaking the mold is something that is not normal. And I think in New York, like staying in the mold is not is not normal. So like, the so that having the experiences that I’ve had here has helped me to really understand, like, who am I? What is that, and also, you know, start to realize that, like, I am the person I’m trying to make happy, like I want to say in the past that like that wasn’t that way. But the more I’ve been like, Am I happy, then okay, I’m not doing something right. Like, if am I like, is my business truly supporting me, or am I supporting my business? Like those have been like repeating things, especially in the past two years, of how does this work for me, instead of me working for my business? Because I think that’s something that happens too often with entrepreneurs, is that we end up walking in going, Oh, we want freedom. We want to be our own boss, we want to do all these things, but we don’t. We don’t actually get rid of that external validation, which honestly, like the more you can choose the people you want to be respected by, but also prioritizing your own voice is what is what end has ended up being the biggest foundational like, I feel like tectonic shift of swords within me. Whenever I realize, okay, am I happy though? Then I’ll let everyone else come in.

 

Emily Merrell  08:46

And I think they’re the limitation also that you said, of like, when this, if, if this, then that, like, the the aspect of when I make it here, then my mom will be happy with me, and then I’ll be happy. And so there’s always this. Is, there’s always some sort of like the cause and reaction to to success, or to your own production or your own output. So I feel, I feel also limitless. Bringing it back to the term limitless, you know, the small town is like a limiting town in terms of the the allowed to dream the amount that you were able to play outside of the lines. And now you’re in this you’ve been in New York City for over a decade, and you made it congrats. And thinking about like, yeah, you live in this city where anything is possible, which can be a blessing and a curse, because anything is possible, and there you then have that limitation of time versus what I should be doing with it, slash my failure. If I’m watching TV on a Friday night, like, should I be taking advantage of culture? Oh my god, time is gonna explode around me. That’s my own personal thing. I’m just projecting. I’m

 

Jamie Ratermann  09:58

the opposite which I would. Have to open that conversation, but like, I’m like, I never feel like I’m I have anything I’m running out of like, there’s never going to be like, you know, and like, and I don’t think New York’s ever going to have its moment where, like, it’s, it’s not a city to be in, like, it’s like, I’ll get like, I’ll get to it what I’m supposed to but I always have the opportunity whenever I decide. But again, I know that that other people find that to be the opposite, where they have FOMO and that had, they have to be out, they have to be doing things. I always

 

Emily Merrell  10:26

felt like I needed to tap into culture, and if I didn’t tap into culture or take advantage of it, then I wasn’t relevant. And if I wasn’t relevant, then why would anyone want to hang out with me? And if no one wanted to hang out with me, I’m alone. And then what am I good for? And yeah, it was, like, it was a whole that was a spiral. It was a spiral. It was a spiral. Now I, like, have no culture, and I go to bed at nine o’clock. So life is different now. But anyways, this isn’t about me, Jamie, I was gonna say one of the things that that stood out was the manager story, when you were talking about your manager. And I think again, back to like, these moments poking moments of building of an entrepreneur. And I I feel like, if we’ve had this, we have had this conversation not with just ourselves, but with other people just talking about that manager story and that person that got under your skin, that fired you up to realize, like, while he was a villain in your 20s, he’s actually like, God bless him, that he got under your skin, because he helped you recognize that there could be more. And you weren’t going to answer to this bozo who didn’t give a f about what the hell you were doing. Like you knew that you could you could shine, and you could shine brightly, and this wasn’t the audience for it?

 

Jamie Ratermann  11:40

Yeah, I feel like that there’s a sense of, like, just understanding the power of adversity, like the idea of, you know, like people who don’t run into adversity kind of don’t have great stories, yeah, they kind of don’t have drive. They’re like, if every day was just cake and things were handed to them, we kind of wouldn’t relate to them. Like a part of the human experience is those hard moments, those like, I’m done moments, and I think, you know, part of part of my story was that, like, I really was handing off my self worth to somebody else. And like I, instead of going, wait, I he doesn’t, to be frank, I don’t know if I’m allowed to curse on here. I

 

Emily Merrell  12:24

forgot, yeah, like, he

 

Jamie Ratermann  12:26

didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about. Like, he like, in general, like, like, I know this sounds a little bit petty, but like, after I left some of those businesses, some of those brands, like, went down. Like, they like that. They weren’t creating innovative ideas, and I would just sit in his meetings begging them to just be on top of modern trends, and now I’m just going, like, oh, wow, and I still wanted their approval. And like, I think this kind of comes back to this idea, like, who, who’s allowed to give you their approval, and then also why your you should be the person that needs it, making happy first. But I think for me, Adversity has been something that and challenge has been something that I’ve welcomed more and even like with with clients now, whenever they’re like, I’m like, nothing’s working, and I’m like, I like, when you’re ready, let’s think about how great it’s going to be that you get to look back on this moment and say, I did the thing. And even too when someone’s talking to me about selling, like, let’s say, if we just just add as a as an example, like, people think that you can just, like, sell to anybody on the internet, right? But when it comes down to it, the people that are like, I’m done, I’m ready to change my life, it’s usually because they’re in a challenging place, and then they’re more likely ready to invest in making a big transformation, whether it’s services, products, anything in between. So like this idea of adversity, just like plays, it’s a blessing. Even though you could, you could take it two ways, but the blessing side of it is when you go, Oh, I’ve I’m learning because of this. And

 

Emily Merrell  13:58

even your story of like starting your entrepreneurial journey. You were pushed out of the nest because of a layoff, and you could have gotten another job. But there was that moment where you had to decide, like, am I going to bet on myself, or am I going to keep wanting a douchey like manager to tell me that this is good enough?

 

Jamie Ratermann  14:17

I mean, I think that’s what was interesting, is that I, I, yeah, I was laid off. Like, my, I have a whole podcast episode. It was like therapy, like, really sharing it. I was ready to share it until I was ready, and then it was totally, I feel like, helpful, but, uh, within that, like it, I, I didn’t go straight to entrepreneurship. I interviewed it. I had interviews on like, five or six places, and I was walking in and just seeing the same toxic corporate environment that I had just left and I got offered jobs, and I was and I I still remember this, because my now husband was like, you’re going to say no, yeah, I think I am, because I don’t want to. I don’t be crying. I there was what? There was one brand where I was next door. I was like, in a waiting room, and I was next door to somebody who was crying because they were burned out and tired. This is a good sign, but what’s the word culture

 

Emily Merrell  15:13

like? And they’re like, my name to her. I haven’t eaten days. I haven’t seen sunlight.

 

Jamie Ratermann  15:20

I think that’s what’s always hard. When someone asks you, would you ever go back corporate? And I’m like, it would have to be the right place. But ultimately, I think that, like, I wouldn’t have known, wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t been reflective and really paid attention to why I wanted to leave the last job, even if I didn’t get the last say.

 

Emily Merrell  15:39

So who How old were you at this time when you decided to walk away from corporate?

 

Jamie Ratermann  15:44

So I would have been 2727

 

Emily Merrell  15:47

Okay, so 27 y’all, I feel like, if you hear entrepreneurial stories, this is like the what is? They call it the Dark Soul of the night, the the year that you start getting really itchy, the year that you start questioning, like, where you are in the world, a lot of entrepreneurial shifts happen. Or Tiktok, I loved how you said tectonic plates happen at 27 it’s like a year where you’re just like, Fuck the institution. Why am I doing this? Why can’t I bet on myself? What’s and who knows, maybe the entrepreneurial bug will pass through you and you’ll happily to come to corporate life after the fact. But most of most people who make this jump, it is in the 27th year of life that this, like itch comes to life, which I find so fascinating.

 

Jamie Ratermann  16:31

I mean, I love that I loved I love to think that people do that. But I also would heavily encourage that it doesn’t have to be at 27 it could be on the edge at 3038 45 please, please, don’t I think this kind of comes back to I just, I really realize now how much I just lived life for others and like I want entrepreneurship comes with hardship. I’m not going to act like it doesn’t, but like not having that hardship that I choose, not somebody like putting me under their thumb. So there’s a sense of, there’s a sense of, like, I would love to believe, and I’m not saying it’s not true for true, but like, I would love to believe that entrepreneurship can be for everyone, but it’s not. It’s not a simple journey. It’s something but it’s at least, it’s something you get to choose. I

 

Emily Merrell  17:19

completely agree with that. And I think there are people who are more resilient, like yourself and myself, who can fall on their sword and get back up again, Chumbawamba, their way through entrepreneurship.

 

Jamie Ratermann  17:36

Like, I’m like, I like to be in entrepreneurship is to, like, Eat shit and get back up like, like you’re okay with like you’re okay with, like, falling on your face and can go but you like, you, you you have your shoulders back a little more after, after, you learn like, but I’ll say jumbo one, but that sounds fun, but you

 

Emily Merrell  17:53

remember, you get knocked down, you get up again. Yeah, that’s my mantra of life, of less drinking, but like more mantra of falling down. So fast forward to, I think this was like 2020 2021. You launched your first group program, and you also launched the sprints. So talk to us about what market Marketing Mastery, I believe, was your first group program that you launched, which was like Jamie rotterman signature program. If you all looked at her website, she’s wearing this beautiful, like, emerald blue, this bright sapphire blue,

 

Jamie Ratermann  18:28

my pictures, Oh, of course,

 

Emily Merrell  18:30

I know. I’ve, like, helped you build your website. I stopped, yeah, yeah. And so then thinking about, like, this incredible program, this incredible offering, changing the way people worked and thought about social media. Tell let’s start from the beginning of this, like, what is your what is your opinion? For someone who comes to you and says, Jamie, no, I hate social media. I’m never going to do social media. Social media is not for me. My clients don’t live on social media. What would you say to them?

 

Jamie Ratermann  19:01

Oh my gosh, there’s so many things of what you just said that I’m just ready to I’m fired up about so she’s already, I would say that social media is still and it’s always going to be the most opportunity we’ve ever had and creating wealth in our lives, like, like, and I always like to use it as an example of like in the past, it was only shaking hands with people. It was, it was hoping that you saw something in the classifieds. It was hoping that you could get into a newspaper. And now you have threads, Twitter, YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram, LinkedIn. You have, you have all of these places that you don’t have to do all of them, but you have so many options to not only decide who you, who you are, which I think, is the biggest part of this, but you find your community by being yourself. And I think that’s, I think, part of when people like to talk to me about I don’t like social media. I. Right, my knee jerk reaction is what, what is preventing you from being yourself on social media? Because, like, the I think whenever somebody kind of gets all wrapped up in, Oh, I gotta grow. I’ve gotta I gotta get this much reach. I like, I have to be as good as the next person. There’s a lot more of how they’re shying away from who they are and who they want to be. And I was that way too. There’s a, this is a process. I still you were the first person I ever went live with on Instagram. I still remember I was like, the most makeup I’d worn in bleep. And like, my face was like, like, so caked with makeup that I get, like, just, I remember, like, sweating down, like sweating and just like feeling so worried about, oh my gosh, how will this be perceived? What is it going to be? And I remember that so well, just because of it was done, when it was done, I was like, That’s it. How can I just make that into such a big deal? And but your

 

Emily Merrell  20:56

first wasn’t, wasn’t as scary as you thought it’d be. Your first time. Didn’t

 

Jamie Ratermann  20:59

hurt, or you popped my chair so well, I know I’m

 

Emily Merrell  21:03

sorry. I was a little slut on all the Instagram lives. I just I loved being people’s first. I still love being people’s first because it’s like a safe place to land, where you’re having a conversation. Lot less intimidating doing it with a fellow peer than like talking to the camera and trying to be relevant. Same thing with these interviews. I You do such a great job with your podcast of doing the solo episodes. And even like, doing a solo episode is is nerve wracking, because we’re like, now I’m just monologuing to no one.

 

Jamie Ratermann  21:33

I hope they listen. I’m like, I’m like, pulling my Hollywood career into into episodes where I act like I’m a person on the pedestal. But yeah, sure. But yeah, I think at the end of the day is, I like to view social media as our own way of building our own biography online. So the idea of, yes, you’re going to sell on here, yes, you’re going to be like showing up and learning how to do a reel or learning how to write a really, really good caption. But the end of the day, like, if you want to think about it this way, your kids, kids can come back to these posts. Like, I love even the idea that my kids, the kids get to hear a podcast. Or, hell, you don’t have to have kids. You just somebody can search and find you. Now, if it’s a really compelling perspective. So at the at the core of it, social media is going to allow you to be bolder. The more you do it, the more consistently you you talk about what’s what your perspective is. And then after that, let’s get into tactics. After that, we get into growth. After that, we get into like, what it looks like to sell. Because anyone who’s trying to be somebody else constantly is going to lose and they’re going to hate the process.

 

Emily Merrell  22:46

I think so much about I’m going to go back to the Ohio, like small town Ohio stereotype, where you’re told to be like a good girl, and you’re supposed to not take up too much room, and you’re supposed to follow directions. So I think social media, if you weren’t conditioned like that, please DM me, because I’m so curious where you grew up, because that’s awesome. But generally speaking, like the idea of being told the reverse of what we were conditioned like, take up space, have a point of view, be edgy, be be up, be yourself, and you’re like, Am I allowed to be myself? This is, this is a weird back to, like, Permission granted.

 

23:26

Who?

 

Emily Merrell  23:27

Who is allowing you to be yourself and giving you that permission? And then also, how do you know who you are when you’re told to kind of just be a quiet, good person?

 

Jamie Ratermann  23:38

Oh my gosh, absolutely. I mean, it’s, it’s kind of, I don’t know, like, the the good girl complex is, so I feel, it feels so like, like, putting, being put under someone’s foot, like, so, if we’re at all good, if we’re all, quote, unquote, good girls, who’s who are we good girls for? Like, who gets? Somebody’s gotta take the lead. Somebody’s gotta we’re following somebody in some way, shape or form, and we could get into a whole religion and all the different complexes that come with this. But like I I honestly feel like I know that I’ve shaped people’s worlds. Maybe I haven’t shaped as many people as bigger thought leaders, but I get to know that like I’ve given my clients the ability to love themselves more, like, like, well, I love hearing the like, you know, big sales months and all the things I love. I love that. But I also love like, I I love myself like, I trust that I’m going to do this. I trust that I like what I have to say is worth being listened to. And I at the very, at the very basic of all this, it’s like, connection should be what’s what running a new business is about. And I think that, and I think that’s the the good girl complex is just awful. Like, let’s just call it is. Like, it might have the word good in it, but it’s,

 

Emily Merrell  24:58

it’s a bad girl. Complex. It’s naughty by nature. No, yeah, I think what you’re saying also about social media is incredible, about like the biography, or the fact that we can connect with our past and our future. Can connect with our past selves, and we can connect with our past selves. I feel like when I’m bored, I’ll scroll through old posts and reread them and be like, Whoa, Emily. Like, good, good on you. Or, oh, wow, we went there. Call

 

Jamie Ratermann  25:26

that pride scrolling, when you probably pride scrolling was scrolling through your own stuff. Oh, she was spicy that day. I don’t remember that, but I, but now I do like, like, I love that. I think that’s one of my favorite Well, of course, my favorite type of scrollings for sure.

 

Emily Merrell  25:39

Well, I think it’s also funny. Pride scrolling. I like that you like look at your different versions of self too. Like, I don’t know if you notice you’ve always had a signature color, but I’ll notice, like, haircuts, or I’ll notice eyebrow shape differences, or when I went through like, an eyeliner phase, or I clearly loved that sweater because I was wearing it in every freaking post for like these seven months, you know, it just I had

 

Jamie Ratermann  26:05

tons of blue light glasses. I had, like, four pairs. I wore those constantly. Now, I know I never wear them, right? Like you like, rarely do you, like, see the

 

Emily Merrell  26:14

cycles and you see certain trends and whatnot. So going back to, you know, we your step one basically is telling people like social media is available to them. It’s not a negative, it’s a positive. It’s permission to show up to say your point of view, to to have a biography. Now, what happens within marketing mastery and what I know you’re you told me before this episode you’re going to be retiring it. So tell us about the evolution of like, creating a program, sunsetting your first one, and now introducing your next

 

Jamie Ratermann  26:47

program. Okay, well, exciting, but I Yeah, so Marketing Mastery. I ran for four years. Wow. I would say the program evolved so much while I was doing it and part and really the goal of it was, I wanted people to have a meaningful connection to marketing. I hated the idea that marketing was, like, a bad word for people, and how, like, really, truly, the kind of options we have for ourselves is marketing is connection. Like, if we if you lose, if you don’t feel connected or feels cold, it’s not marketing. It’s just soliciting somebody. So, like the idea was, like, really coming back to like, let me teach you what marketing is supposed to be. We did that through offer development. We did that through messaging. We did that through how to have a strong website and social media. So, like, there was, there were those things, but what happened after four years is that I wanted to make sure the people that had the best results would be something that I could replicate. So I introduced Money Mastery Academy in its place. So essentially, Marketing Mastery did two things, build a brand, learn how to sell, and Money Mastery Academy is learn how to sell. So like that. So what I what I’ve built in there is everything from how you take a sale, from social over to over to being a client, because it’s not just like be loud and post a ton on social, there’s more to it than that. But also, like owning, owning how your offers are supposed to support you, I think, and I’m just, I think I always wanted, I m always makes me feel comfortable in saying, this is that I’ve had, I’ve had bad coaches in the past that are like, just put out a new offer, put out a new offer, put out a new offer. And I got to a point where I was like, I am absolutely like, put it like the none of these make sense together. I’m just doing a ton of work, and it’s not it doesn’t make sense to me. So like, building what I call a ladder offer suite, and that’s something that I’m allowing people to do over six months. So Marketing Mastery was my way of, you know, proving my methods, Money Mastery Academy is me giving the method like, I’m like, here’s the method, step by step. We’re not like, like, I’ve, I’ve had over 50 people come through marketing mastery. This is, this is how it’s going to work for you, and here’s the time that you need to do it. So I think for me, I want to acknowledge that there could be no next step without it. But like for me, out of integrity as somebody who wants people to make money online, I’m not going to hold on to an offer that doesn’t always deliver the results. So I’m taking everything that was right and good about selling Marketing Mastery and turning it into a longer but a really supportive program.

 

Emily Merrell  29:30

I love the name of it too money, mastery Academy. It sounds, sounds like a very sexy application, only university that you have to be at a certain caliber or a certain level, to be matriculated in.

 

Jamie Ratermann  29:45

I mean, I feel like I, part of me is like, I want a little bit of glamor. I want you all to feel like you’re a fucking badass. So the difference between college and Academy, when I was thinking about names or like school, I was like, You know what? Academy’s got a little bit of finesse. Got a little bit of bridgerton vibes. Let’s make this thing, let’s, let’s, let’s see ourselves as the badasses that we are.

 

Emily Merrell  30:06

Did you watch bridgerton, by the way, many times. Okay, good girl, did you go to the premiere thing? It

 

Jamie Ratermann  30:12

didn’t, I didn’t get the tickets. It was like a lottery. And I didn’t, I didn’t get the tickets. But I’m a pole I am a Poland fan. I think it’s like, the best season so far. Like, absolutely the best season so far, just for the fact that it’s two awkward leads. And I think that’s what makes it so great, because all the previous ones, like, they kind of were themselves, were and like, these are, like, they’re a little bit awkward. And I like that. I like the wall flower, wallflower too. Like bold, I’m hoping say doctors by the second, second round of it. But yeah,

 

Emily Merrell  30:45

the four episodes, I was like, Guys, we’re talking about bridgerton season three. And there was like a four episode drop before the second part of the third season comes out. And it’s like, come on, you’re leaving us hanging with the good stuff, which is good. They’ve got us back. They reeled us in.

 

Jamie Ratermann  31:01

Well, they, I think they knew that we were all going to binge it within a weekend, and now we’re going to binge those four episodes until we get this,

 

Emily Merrell  31:09

as a certain Jamie rotterman has done. So back to social so they did a good job selling us, and I think that’s a good example of selling and like giving us a taste of what’s to come. So social media is kind of like that. It’s an opportunity, and it’s a place to showcase your expertise, but also to taste the person and like know that it’s a real person on the other side, before entering into their or arena or into their world in a bigger way. Do you have any best practices that you like to remind people of when they are approach attempting or approaching selling on social media. Okay,

 

Jamie Ratermann  31:45

so I feel like social what I would say is make sure you find one platform first. So if you’re if you’re brand new, walking into it, find one platform. I would actually recommend LinkedIn, because it’s an easier to post to platform, and it is really building up on its creators. It’s really allowing people like they want creators on there more than people that are just dropping their resumes. And it’s just easier. You can text only posts work really well. In general, you’re gonna, you’re gonna be able to build pretty good community. They have groups that are built in there. But the idea is, choose a place, I like to call your Lighthouse social. So the main thing that comes from this is that you want to be able to consistently show up. Now, I would say three times a week should be maybe your minimum, mostly out of practice, kind of like when someone’s trying to change their health, their habits. How can you do something that’s good for you three times a week? That’s going to probably be a good, good marker. But you can do anywhere from three to seven times a week, whatever that whatever feels right for you. But the main thing is, is that whenever you are thinking about social, visibility is going to be a big deal. Visibility is not reach. Visibility is simply putting up content. So if you’re doing Instagram Stories, feed whatever that looks like. What that is, is that it ends up building confidence in yourself as somebody who is a creator, and also whatever response you get, whether it’s reach, whether it’s comments, whether it’s likes, you’re going to see what topics that people respond to. So like having having those two things, just to get started whenever you’re selling is a big deal, so getting that in the in the room, and then to really get to where you want to go, you have to have somewhere else for them to decide that they want to spend more time with you. We’re all people love to talk about the algorithm and how it works, or it doesn’t work, or whatever it is, but at the end of the day, how can you identify the people who are not just interested in your content, but interested in you as a business? So that’s kind of where freebies trust funnels. I like to call them freedom funnels. To be honest,

 

Emily Merrell  33:51

they served us some freedom fries when you get them

 

Jamie Ratermann  33:53

exactly. But the idea is, like, if somebody’s engaging with your content and you don’t give them a place for them to go. Like, I want to spend more time with you. You’re putting in more work. So like, I like DM, strategy, networking, all good. I’m not saying it’s not, but if you create one really strong introduction to you, so let’s say you create a freebie that solves a really key problem for them, that is going to allow someone to spend time with you, even though you built it three months ago, over and over and over again. Instead of you having to create content repeatedly, repeatedly on that same subject, and it’s just showing Oh, every time I see someone sign up for it, I’ve got an interested list of people who can come to my next masterclass, who can who’s going to be the first to know about my next sale, who’s going to know these things. So when somebody talks to me about, oh, funnels are so scary. They’re not, they’re just it’s it takes time to build it, and I like to give templates for people to start with so they can build from there. But the idea is that if someone engages with you on social and they have nowhere to go, it’s a lost opportunity. It’s just a lost opportunity. So that those would be the. The first two things, because selling your $1,000 program over and over again and your feed is going to just kill your engagement. It’s not what social media is for. Social media, what I kind of like to call it like a dating we’re thinking about dating social media is like you’re texting, you’re texting somebody. You’re flirting a little. They like, kind of like they’re they’re really getting into your vibe. Whenever someone decides to get on an email list or just join a freebie or do these things, they’re like, can we have a coffee date? Can we, can we go to the your favorite place together? So it’s like, we’re, they’re committing a little bit more to you, and then, like that final stage of them becoming a customer, like they’re going steady. They’re, they’re, they’re ready to invest time and energy into you. But the idea is that you gave them all this opportunity before to just hang out with your brand, hang out with you as a person, and if you give them these repeatable processes, but they’re meaningful to you, you’re going to find that you get a lot more aligned clients. You’re gonna also find that you’re not killing yourself to get people in the door. So

 

Emily Merrell  36:04

working smarter, not harder, having like a really good freebie or opt in that people can digest at a time that works for you, but it’s not you serving them constantly. You can be living that freedom life. You can be living on vacation and having them like getting to know you without you doing the actual work. Do you have any any suggestions for people when thinking about coming up with a freebie like I know this is one of the biggest objections people typically have. They’re so worried that they’re going to give away the milk for free, that no one’s going to buy the cow, which I think is bullshit. So that’s a whole different conversation. But what are your tips on? Like, helping, helping, kind of get to that place where you’re like, This is a freebie that’s worth

 

Jamie Ratermann  36:50

putting out. Let’s call a spade a spade. Knowledge is so accessible right now, like it’s, you’re like, I want to, I want to be completely frank and say, like, a freebie should be. You know, when we’re thinking about what type of topics to choose, like, the basic or where to start is, what kind of things is your client or your potential client actively searching for? So what did they Google recently? And like, aim, your product, your freebie, that. But as far as like, giving too much? Yeah, you want, you don’t want to overwhelm. There’s no reason to overwhelm, but there’s no reason to gatekeep either. So in my in my opinion, you want to make sure that it’s digestible, so that they actually get through at least 50% of what the freebie is. But on the other side of it, giving your perspective on the knowledge that they’re seeking. So I think the the idea that I’m going to give too much away, you’re thinking that you’re like, like for this is only mainly for coaches and service providers, but you’re thinking, you’re thinking that the knowledge, or the information is the only thing that makes you a good business, and that’s and like, that means that you don’t have a business because your brand, the way you do things, your methods, are actually what makes a business, versus information that they can find if they Google enough. So gatekeeping is over, like, it’s so over like, give, give the information, but give it on your on your terms and understand what’s inside of your programs, or what’s inside of whatever they might buy from you, is definitely you want it to be more of a step by step method, not a here’s what you should know about this process, like, here’s the steps to make this process yours. That’s the difference between a freebie and something that’s like more of an offer.

 

Emily Merrell  38:39

And you’re so right with gatekeeping, too. I think the aspect like you can Google anything that you want, you can go to YouTube University and learn seven different languages if you have the time and effort and accountability. And I think the thing that coaches do that you can’t do for yourself is give yourself that guidance, that feedback, that soundboard, and also the accountability to do the thing that you wanted to do without band aiding it together

 

Jamie Ratermann  39:05

too. Totally, I like to think about it in a way. Like, like, how do you whittle it down to what’s what’s necessary? So, like, if you wanted them to do one thing from this freebie, what would happen? What would it be? And like, like, I, I, people like to call me a wealth of knowledge, and I, I’m so happy that they do, and that’s so lovely. But my, my brain started to kind of twirling a little bit, going, like, I don’t want to be the person with the overwhelming knowledge. I want to be the person who inspires action, who gets like, makes that happen. So like, information really isn’t you’re not giving anybody something insane you, but but understanding that if you can show them a digestible way to do it, so they can take action, they’re going to trust you, they’re going to want to spend more time with you, versus, like, like watching an hour long YouTube about about it instead.

 

Emily Merrell  39:56

So Jamie, as we sit here on the eve of your 35th birthday. Day and reflecting back on the last four years of our since our last conversation on this podcast, and then also seven years of business. What? What reflection do you have for for yourself, or what do you want to say out into the world of the last seven or four years? It could be a lesson. It could be like a thank you. What comes to mind?

 

Jamie Ratermann  40:23

You know what? Like my brain was, like my brain was thinking about a couple of different things, and I but after you finish, the question that this is just, this is just downloading for me, as we’re talking is, I like to talk a little bit about how my transition to deciding to be a coach versus a consultant, was after my dad had passed, and it’s been over five years now since my dad passed away from complications of a heart attack. And I’ll the story that I usually tell within that is that, like, you know, for me, I think about legacy, and I think about how, like, he didn’t get to enjoy his retirement, and that we should enjoy our lives every single day, and like, how, how we build our business should be those things, and I still agree with that a whole wholeheartedly. I still have health that’s a big part of what I do, but I think on the other end of it is owning what we have control over. And I know people don’t want to hear this, but you do have control over how much money is in your bank account. You do have control over how you feel about social media. You do have control over how you feel about your body and everything in between. And it’s it’s the ability to not allow other people’s opinions to prevent you from approaching life the way you wanted it to be. And I think I’ve definitely gone through this experience in the last seven years, of learning how other people do it and trying to figure out what shoe fits. And I think it took me until the last two years to go, like, let me make my own shoes. Like, let me, let me make like, Look. I’ll take a little bit of what I’ve learned from everyone. But like, owning the experience I have in life. It’s not a simple task, but it’s so much more purposeful and meaningful that like I go, like I can have that I’m allowed to have that too. What’s blocking me? And sometimes it’s friends, sometimes, sometimes it’s old patterns, sometimes it’s these things. But the idea is, is that nothing you deserve, everything you want, but your approach to it has to be focusing on what you can control, like job that’s beautiful.

 

Emily Merrell  42:30

And I am getting Penelope vibes here too, throwing off the CITRI, the citrus and being like, I am going to wear my hair in the sexiest look possible, just

 

Jamie Ratermann  42:40

curls on the tiny little curls you were falling into this transformation. Babe.

 

Emily Merrell  42:48

Next episode, Jamie’s gonna come to me and like, a whole new color scheme. I’ll be like, what? Who is this? That would shock if I

 

Jamie Ratermann  42:56

could get Penelope, like, nice, like green, that deep green that she comes into the first ball. I was like, yeah. I was literally, like, clapping, like, like, Yes, girl palette, this is your color palette. But yes,

 

Emily Merrell  43:09

yeah. It was like, just the lipstick, everything, the softness of it. It was beautiful. And Jamie, I so, I so appreciate that too. Like, thinking about legacy of both you as a person in the business, and what you want to leave, how you want to leave your mark on the world, but also like how you want to feel as you leave the mark on the world, to the point of your dad like he was at the brink of retirement. And I know we in our own conversations, getting to that moment, like I will enjoy it when I am fill in the blank retired, or when I have X amount of money in the bank account, and so we don’t know what today’s gonna bring. We don’t know what tomorrow’s gonna bring. So let’s live our limitless, limitless life for the present. I love you,

 

Jamie Ratermann  43:54

dropping in limitless left and right. Yes, I again, I yeah, I really, I think I’ve lived too much of my life for others, and I know that I’ve made some big, some big steps to make it my own. I’m not done like, it’s like, there’s never, there’s never, like, oh, like, I’ve erased that feeling. But yeah, the closer I get to deciding what I need, the more everyone around me is happier. And I think that like I I have empathy for people who have a hard time, but I also really respect people who are pushing their envelope and figuring it out along the way,

 

Emily Merrell  44:35

yeah, who aren’t defined by the hard time exclusively. Yeah, or can reimagine it. So Jamie, where can people tap into your world and be more a part of the Jamie Ratterman lifestyle?

 

Jamie Ratermann  44:50

Okay, come along with me. Of course, we’ve been talking about, I have a podcast called limitless new episodes every Tuesday. Okay? Come along, come hang out with me. This this girl over here has decided to share her 10 year story recently. So I always have guests. I always have solo episodes. You can see me on social media at Jamie radiman, but I’ll also drop you my attraction guide. So in general, we talked a little bit about sales. So I’ll drop this mini course that I’ve put together that you can and share, share with your listeners. If they’re like, Okay, how do I start to love social? How do I make it my own?

 

Emily Merrell  45:24

I love that. Um, also, are you going to change your last name? Nah, yeah. Me neither good. My

 

Jamie Ratermann  45:31

husband’s totally fine with it. I’m but I’ve also decided that even if someone decalls me his last name, I’m not, I’m not going to be but heard about it like, All right, thanks. Fine, but, but, but there’s no official name change. No,

 

Emily Merrell  45:43

we just got our first invite to the Merrell family, and I was like, it’s I’ve won, I people think for the Merrells, so you should just change your last name. I

 

Jamie Ratermann  45:52

think my thank you card for my wedding was I called Greg Merrell. I think Greg’s gonna be okay with us. Right with it. We have

 

Emily Merrell  46:01

it up in our living room, actually, or your beautiful picture of Positano before we end today. Jamie, you answered these questions four years ago, and I need to look back and see what your answers were, but we’re going to do some six fast

 

Jamie Ratermann  46:13

questions. All right, let’s see if I let’s see if they’re still the same. Yeah, right. This

 

Emily Merrell  46:17

is the fun like, compare, get and contrast. My first question is, tell us an unknown fun fact about Jamie.

 

Jamie Ratermann  46:24

Ooh, let’s start. You’re starting with a big one from the Oh yeah. Starting with the unknown fun oh. I once thought I was going to be a blogger, and I bought the note the domain bold blueberries, because I thought it was going to, I thought it was going to be a site that was so cool. We’re going to be bold blueberries. Bold blueberries.

 

Emily Merrell  46:42

I love that. I love that. It also trends actually with like you and who the blue the blue parts. I prefer Jamie, the blogger, I think, like something really calling out what you do.

 

Jamie Ratermann  46:54

I like that.

 

Emily Merrell  46:58

Who would be a dream person to be connected with dead or alive person

 

Jamie Ratermann  47:05

you’re making. Like, none of these are, like, popping up immediately. So, yeah, your fast questions.

 

47:09

Um,

 

Jamie Ratermann  47:11

you know what? Trevor Noah, I think I would love to just in general, like, be in his world.

 

Emily Merrell  47:15

That’s a good one. And I feel like hearing his accent. I just like, talk to me. I’ll just like, he’s able

 

Jamie Ratermann  47:21

to, like, take things relax, like he has a really interesting perspective on the world. But like, I find him, like, leaving the Daily Show and like doing the like, kind of positioning his own path is something pretty rebellious. So I kind of, I find her to be interesting.

 

Emily Merrell  47:34

Have you read his book? Not yet, but I want to, yeah, read his book. That’s your next, your next assignment. Um, well, we know what show you’re watching, but What show are you watching, besides bridgerton?

 

Jamie Ratermann  47:45

I mean, really frank. I watched the first four episodes twice already, and it came out last Thursday, so I would just be making up things if I’m saying it, you’re

 

Emily Merrell  47:57

like, Okay, bridgerton. Bridgerton, season three, part one. What book are you reading? Or have you recently read or obsessed with telling people to read?

 

Jamie Ratermann  48:06

Ooh, okay, so I just finished wild power, which is a feminine energy book, which is really nice. I’ve also been like doing a deep dive into Daniel Priestley. He’s a marketer, and he has a couple books called oversubscribed and key person of influence, so digestible, so easy, but in general, like, oh, Daniel, I’m on a bit of a Daniel priestly, like, kick, but I did just finish wild power. Wild

 

Emily Merrell  48:29

power. Wonderful. Adam, both the list. And then, what is your favorite emoji?

 

Jamie Ratermann  48:35

Ooh, the heart on fire. Oh, I

 

Emily Merrell  48:37

like that. And then my final question for you is, what permission Do you want to give our listeners today?

 

Jamie Ratermann  48:46

Ooh, okay, permission to take on the title of rebel, whatever that decides to mean for you. I want like what it might look like changing your routine a little might look like changing your outfit, putting on something bolder, saying something that you’ve been wanting to say a little bit on more unfiltered. But choose your own version of rebellion. You’re going to find that it gets easier and easier. I shared a lot today about marketing and what I did as a business owner, but I I’ve always been trying to love my body more and the small things I’ve done to just take care of myself, but I will still remember the first time I took off my shirt and wore a sports bra in the middle of a like a cycling class, and that felt rebellious to me. But I think I would love for you all to see that you could be in like you have an inner rebel. You just have to let her come out when these small rebellious moments

 

Emily Merrell  49:34

the next class, she’s taking off for her bra too. So that’s cool,

 

Jamie Ratermann  49:39

topless cycle, here we go. That sounds awful To be frank, but I’ll keep the sports.

 

Emily Merrell  49:50

I’m kidding, sorry I ruined a beautiful moment. Well, Jamie, thank you so much for sharing so candidly and so vulnerably all aspects of your story and curious to. Seven years and a big evolution even from four years ago. So my homework used to listen back to that podcast episode from four years ago and see how you’ve changed.

 

Jamie Ratermann  50:10

I can’t wait. I realized too that we both talked about Netflix shows on both the episodes, free advertising.

 

Emily Merrell  50:19

I’m like, Hey, Netflix, you listening? I would love to have you as a sponsor and listeners. It’d be like, today’s episode, go get into Jamie’s world. She’s doing extraordinary things. Follow her on Instagram, download her freebie, and give her some love, and we will see you the next time on the second degree podcast. See you later. Y’all. You