Busting Marketing Myths with Colin Scotland

Colin Scotland is here in this episode to talk about all things marketing and his mission to extinguish myths in the marketing space. He helps mission-driven entrepreneurs find their spark and never let it go so they can fulfill their potential and change lives doing what they love.

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On this episode of the Live. Love. Engage. podcast:

• Inspiration Colin gained from watching his father, a market trader.
• The rapid growth Colin’s online business experienced before going bust in 2013.
• The epiphany moment that Colin had after the business failed.
• Obscuring your marketing messages by saying things that people expect you to say.
• Being the truest version of you in how you show up.
• Why Colin’s clients typically hate marketing.
• How to make sure only good things come back from your marketing.
• Putting yourself out there from a place of service.
• Tapping into true authenticity by realizing life is bigger than us.
• The best piece of advice Colin has ever received.
• What brings Colin the most joy in what he does every day.
• Colin’s approach to marketing after his business shut down, and what he eventually changed.
• Finding your internal voice and accepting that it changes over time.
• Accepting that we’re not perfect and continuing to grow. 

Connect with Colin

Colin’s Website: https://colinscotland.com/

TRANSCRIPT

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TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:02] I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of The Love Method and author of the number one Amazon best seller, Live Love Engage – How to stop doubting yourself and start being yourself. In this podcast we share practical advice from a spiritual perspective on how to live fully, love deeply, and engage authentically so you can create a life and business with more impact, influence and income. Welcome to live, love, engage.

[00:00:37] Namaste and welcome to live, love, engage, I am your host, Gloria Grace Rand, and today I am delighted to have a gentleman with us who is going to be talking about all things marketing and more beyond marketing, really. So but I’ll explain more in a moment. But first off, I want to welcome Colin Scotland, who is joining us all the way from England today.

[00:01:04] So welcome. Hi, Gloria. Thank you so much for having me. It’s lovely to be here.

[00:01:10] It’s lovely to have you. I’ve been introduced to you and really love your mission, which I’m going to actually share with our listeners, as well as our viewers on YouTube today. So you are on a mission to actually extinguish the myths about marketing. And you run a you run some marketing, coaching, business, marketing incubator masterminds and the Awaken Creator program, and he helps mission driven entrepreneurs find their spark and never let it go so they can actually fulfill their potential and change lives doing what they love, which is a really good thing to do, isn’t it? I mean, I think especially I think there’s some entrepreneurs that go into business just to make money. But I love working with people who really are more sort of purpose driven and really are wanting to, I guess, change the world, I guess, as well as as and and make some money doing it at the same time. So let’s start off by letting our listeners and viewers now. How did you get started in doing this, this type of work?

[00:02:22] Oh, do you want the long version or the short version of that? Because it’s 46 years in the making, right. The short version. The short to medium version, i, i. Always my my father was a market trader in Liverpool, and I grew up on the market stall with my dad. Right. So we were always be buying and selling things and doing the kind of traditional entrepreneurial type stuff. I loved seeing how. A market trader gets people’s attention and then kind of talks and persuades and communicates with people walking by. Right, that fascinated me. In the old days in Liverpool on the markets, you would have these guys that did what were called demonstrations. So, you know, these like product peelers and things like that. You see these adverts now and these adverts online. It was that. But don’t even live. Right. So these guys would have such a parterre, such a really, really interesting way of of grabbing people’s attention. They’d have crowds of people around them. And so from an early age, I’ve always been fascinated by that kind of stuff. Anyway, fast forward 20 odd years. I did a degree, a masters degree, and I started a Ph.D. in consumer behavior and communications. Oh, and and at that point, I started an online business myself. And it when it blew up, it went crazy bananas, crazy busy. And I ended up ditching the Ph.D. and focusing and chasing money. Right. So you just mentioned about people driven by money. That was me. I was relatively successful. We got to four million pounds sterling a year revenue, which is about, I don’t know what, six million dollars a year.

[00:04:09] So it was a nice business. It was it was doing well. And it went it went bust in 2013, and I lost everything that I had in the world right materially everything I had in the world, and in the aftermath of that, I kind of realized that I hated it. I missed time with my kids. I drank too much. I worked too much. And I wasn’t happy. I had a lot of money, but I wasn’t actually happy. Yeah. In the aftermath, I, I really did a lot of soul searching to uncover what’s actually important to me. And I realized it wasn’t money. I I’ve been a martial artist. A lot of people don’t know that about me. A martial artist for many years taught jujitsu. Right. And one of the most the things that lights me up is seeing a person grasp something for the first time and seeing a light in their eyes when they kind of go, oh, and they get it and they understand. And I can feel I can feel a change in them as people. And so. I kind of had an epiphany moment at one point in the aftermath of that business lost, where I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing if I could create a business where all I get to do is have conversations with wonderful people and help them to find an experience that light. And that was in 2013. And from that, here I am today, that’s that has been my guiding light through everything that I’ve done since and continue to do today.

[00:05:44] That’s wonderful. I am. And we were talking before we even got started to that, that I think it’s important for people to understand about about business. Like you said, you really realized that it wasn’t all about money. It was it was more about you wanted to really find something that was fulfilling. And how does that, you know, translate into marketing? Because I think some of the maybe even some misconceptions that especially maybe business owners, when they’re first getting started, have about their message and that they really have to focus in on sales. But there’s there’s more to it than that. What do you think?

[00:06:26] Oh, absolutely. Because if you think about it, we people buy from people and they buy from people that they know that they like and that they trust people where there’s relationship. Yeah. So, so often times. And listen, I I’m a marketer and I’m guilty of this. We go through kind of saying the things that people expect you to say, be trying to be the person that you think or the people expect you to be and do the things that you feel are expected of you. So what that does is it puts layers on top of who you truly are. Right. It puts a mask in front of you and it builds layer upon layer upon layer so that you’re very much obscured in your marketing message. We don’t see you. Your mission in life is to be the truest expression of you. And so if we put layers on and we put layer upon layer upon layer of what we say in the world and how we show up, how is that the truest expression of what was that this the surest imitation of others, not the truest expression of ourselves. And listen, after after I had that epiphany, this has been a long and still is a long road. I’ve not mastered anything by any stretch. Still as much a student of life today as I was when I first started. And so one of the things I realized after a lot of error and struggle and strife was that actually I’m I’m trying to talk about marketing in the way that that guy does or that girl does. And the way that I’ve read in this book, and I’m not expressing what I feel and know to be true about marketing, and that is people connect with people and it’s all about the relationship. So how can we create relationships if we hide behind masks? Yeah. Know, and that’s what kind of led me to this being the truest version of you in what and how you show up.

[00:08:18] Mm hmm. Yeah. It’s so important. And it’s interesting. I was just on a I connected with someone the other day, Instagram. And so she sent me a message saying, oh, thank you for following me. And, you know, have you ever. She immediately got into you like have you ever thought about doing courses for your business? Because that’s what she does. And I’m like, oh. So I knew right away kind of where this was going. And I’m like, I just played along and said, no, I haven’t. And then she then replies back with, you know, oh, what would you you know? Can you imagine what your life would be like? You know, if if your business was perfect, I’m, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, oh, this is like a this is a question that I would have with someone on a discovery call. I’ve never met this person in person. And well, I mean, I’ve only just connected with her on social media ever so briefly. We haven’t even had a real discussion. She’s already launching into this automatic spiel because she wants to be able to get clients. Have you experience that? And do you have you talked about that even with your clients, or what would you say to someone who who does that?

[00:09:30] So I’m kind of I consider myself an A. marketer and a. marketer. And my clients typically hate marketing. And they come to me and they say, I don’t do marketing. I’m not a marketer. I hate sales. Yeah. The sort of sales makes me feel a little bit sick in my stomach. Right. That is me. That is me. Or you go through. Right. That’s who I am. I’ve just obviously I’ve a fascination with the psychology, the persuasion and all of those things. Yeah. And so I’ve I’ve done my 10000 hours in that space. Well, I hate all of that stuff. I hate the passion. And so the thing is, if you think about it, if if I if I show up and I truly want to serve you and be of service to you, right, then the last thing I’m thinking about is how can I get the sale from you? That’s the last thing on my mind. And in situations like you’ve just described, it’s the first thing on their mind. They might they might have this layer, this mask of, oh, imagine if you had this. And what would life be like for you if you were to reach this this and summit of the mountain, you know, and then straight bang. Have you thought about what I do? Have you thought about me? And it’s all about me again, isn’t it? Instantly. Yeah.

[00:10:46] Yeah. So I just decided to unfollow her. She was like, I could go into a dissertation and reply back. And I’m like, you know what? This is the way either she’s been trained or whatever. But it’s it’s probably just going to fall on deaf ears. And I said it’s not it’s not worth my emotions to get upset about it and just say, OK, you know, God bless you and I’ll just not not engage with you.

[00:11:10] Yeah, exactly. And that’s that’s your choice, right? Yeah, that’s your choice. Yeah. Well, I mean, the thing is, it’s it’s just about. There’s there’s no real there’s no real secret to this. It’s just about how you show up. Mm hmm. And I use this this analogy with my clients. Right. It’s a bit like if you next time you’re looking at yourself in the mirror, make a frowny face at yourself in the mirror, like furrow your brow and roughly face up. And look at what the reflection does back at you. Mm hmm. And then make a smiley face and watch what the reflection does back at you. Yeah. And the thing is, your marketing is driven by how you show up and what face you make in the mirror. If we if we make a smiley face, the reflection can only smile back. It can’t be any other way. Yeah. And so this is how you show up in what you say, what you do, how you share what you do with the world. You show up from this place of of abundance, of connectedness, of wanting the best for the people around you. Of the greater good. And when you do that, that is the universal equivalent of smiling in the mirror. Mm hmm. And only good things come back.

[00:12:25] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I agree with you 100 percent, because that’s you. You want to. We gravitate naturally to people who are smiling and who are friendly. And if your message comes across that way as being, you know, coming from a place of how can I serve you? How can I help you get. And it goes back to even I don’t know if you’ve heard of Zig Ziglar at all, but he you know, he you always say, you know, give enough people what they want and then you’re going to get what you want. But it’s really about thinking about them first, not you.

[00:12:58] And I think the challenge is that you’re so right there. But the challenge in that Gloria is actually doing it. And I’ve been somebody who’s been on my knees. Right. Unable to put food on the table and pay the bills. Worried about losing my house right when the business went bust. And so I appreciate as well as most that there are practicalities to this. So as much as you want to live your dream, fulfill your purpose and all of those things, you’ve got to clothe and feed your kids. You’ve got to you’ve got to eat and, you know, and have a place to sleep and all of these things. Right. So we’re constantly balancing. Don’t you find this this kind of oh, you know, the scarcity element of a fear of needing to to to do stuff with the higher purpose stuff. And so there’s there’s almost like a little battle going on, don’t you find?

[00:13:47] Oh, yeah, definitely. But I do think if you can still stay on the side of. Of being of service and and trusting and trusting that it will pay off, but also taking the action that you need to take because you can’t just sit down and just hope that people will come knocking on your door. You do have to do some of those marketing things that you may not necessarily like to do, like, you know, send out an email or or post on social media occasionally or do a video or something. You do still have to put yourself out there, but put yourself out there from a place of being of service and do it consistently. I think two of

[00:14:32] It has to be real is people can people know when you’re being fake a mile away? Right. People smell it. They can sense it. They can feel it. So so the whole thing about being authentic, it’s really about uncovering what that truth is for you and then doing that in a way that is genuinely there for the purposes of others. So it’s their purpose outside of ourselves. You know, Viktor Frankl in search for meaning, talks about a defining purpose as a purpose outside of ourselves or able to connect to something bigger than them, realize that life, the universe is bigger than us, and get outside of ourselves in that it allows us to tap in to that true authenticity. And it’s what that’s present that the magic happens. And, yes, you know, you still have to send emails. You still show up on social media or write blog posts on your website and make videos and record podcasts. Right. You doing it from a place of of higher purpose, of higher calling. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? That is being authentic. That’s what that’s what that means, right?

[00:15:40] Absolutely. And I would say for those of you listening and and watching that, one of the things I’ve learned is not to force it, because sometimes if you are trying really hard to get something done, that is when it does come out. It’s harder to be your authentic self. So I have found that in those situations, it’s much better to just take a break for a little bit, maybe go for a walk or something and just rather see if you can get inspired and to be in a happier place in the sense to be able to then do that work. Because when I’m in when I’m coming from a place, I’m just like, you know, all of a sudden inspiration hits. It’s like, oh, let me let me start writing now, because it comes much easier than when I’m like, oh, God, I’ve got to do this. And it’s like it’s like pulling teeth.

[00:16:31] It’s such a powerful lesson in that. But it is hard to do, isn’t it? One of my coaches said to me, Culina, I want you to take Fridays off. And I nearly fell through the floor. Right. We negotiated it down to half a day, not a full day. And that was walking the dog, throwing the ball for the dog on the field. And I had a headache with the stress. My brain was telling me, you need to be doing this. You’ve not done that. You need to do that. But what a what a wonderful, refreshing change of state it was. And like you say, you then come back having processed able to be far more productive and get much more done.

[00:17:09] Yeah, I’ve seen it, don’t you? Yeah, for sure. In all of your experience that you’ve had and now in doing all of the work that you’ve had, what’s and you just mentioned that you work you have had a coach in the past as well. I don’t know. Maybe you’re still working with a coach, but what is that? What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

[00:17:32] The best advice I’ve ever received didn’t come from one of my coaches, it came from a guy when I was about 15 years old who was quite influential on me, and he said, Colin, life isn’t a rehearsal. You don’t get to go back and do it again. And it’s most profound piece of advice that I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard far more profound work, but it’s been one the one thing in my life that really stuck with me. So then when I’ve been faced with a choice of do I do this or do I do that? Do I do this or do it do that, I’ve it’s really always caused me to come back to what am I hoping to get out of my life and what do I feel called to do in my life? And then and then using that as the thing that spurs me in to the thing that I know I really should do, but I maybe don’t feel like doing, you know? Yeah, absolutely. So it’s been that it’s been that glory.

[00:18:28] Oh, yeah, that’s yeah. And it’s so true. And and what goes along with that, I think as well, is that life is short and you never know when something’s going to happen. So if you want to achieve something, there’s no time like the present to start working towards that. And because you don’t know what’s going to happen, and it’s important to pay attention to that.

[00:18:51] It’s no wonder it’s no wonder, is it that people have these epiphanies and life changing moments? For me, it was when my business went bust. That was when my world shook upside down. For others, it might be a death. It might be a redundancy, it might be an illness. It can be all manner of things. But typically it’s things that turn our world upside down. And I remember reading one of my favorite all time books, Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Yeah, reading. Reading in that book when he talks about. Imagine you’ve only got three months left on the earth, right, and you know that that day is imminent, it’s only 12 weeks away. That’s not that’s not long. Well, how would that change how you turned up today and what you did with your with your hour, your time, your minutes every second? Would all of a sudden become so much more precious to you, wouldn’t it?

[00:19:41] Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean I mean, I’m thinking about it right now, imagining I was like, yeah, it’s it’s it just really changes things. And it does it can think that way all the time.

[00:19:54] Yeah, absolutely. And we should you know, and we and I don’t I have to keep reminding my just saying that,

[00:20:00] You know,

[00:20:01] I wish I did. I wish I did. But then think about it. If we were able to go to say no to the things that aren’t serving us, then we’re saying yes to the infinite possibilities that could or can and will. Oh, how powerful is that?

[00:20:16] Yeah, absolutely. Oh. Going to you, I want to ask you, what is the what’s the favorite part of what you do when it’s what is what brings you the most joy and what you do every day?

[00:20:33] So for me, it’s. It’s that light and seeing that light in people’s eyes and feeling like I’ve played some part in allowing them to realize that they’ve got a bright, shining sun inside of them, you know, and then feeling that feeling of, oh, of of joy that lights me up. The fact that I get to have these exciting, wonderful conversations every day with genuinely, I, I you know, I feel so blessed and grateful for that. And then when people realize, oh, I can be that, I can do that, I am that, oh, wow. That world changes. World changes. What greater gift is there than to give people that? You know,

[00:21:18] That’s for sure.

[00:21:19] Yeah, that’s what lights me off the bright lights for me.

[00:21:23] And isn’t it wonderful when you can actually do it, light you up and then you actually can can put food on the table and you can keep a roof over your head, too? It’s a wonderful combination.

[00:21:34] Well, this is the paradox. I spent the first probably three years after my business went doing the things that I thought a marketing consultant would do, a marketing. I wasn’t really I didn’t consider myself a coach at the time. It was more of a like a marketing consultant. Right. And I did all of the things that I thought would be expected of a marketing consultant. I wore a nice suit and looked very smart and all of these things and and said the things that I thought people wanted to hear about and in more money and in your business and doing all of these things. Right. And then and actually, it was when I was brave enough, I didn’t I wouldn’t even say about the fact that my business went bust because I was ashamed and embarrassed and I felt like a complete failure. Yeah. Right. But when I was able to own who I am, my journey, warts and all. Yeah. That was when things changed, because I was no longer hiding behind those layers that we talked about. And I was I was expressing me and the vulnerable. Yeah. Alterable little boy inside of me. That’s going clen. Who do you think you are? You know that little voice that we’ve all got inside?

[00:22:43] Yeah. Yes.

[00:22:44] But when when when I’m able to kind of still still show up anyway, because I know I really feel I feel compelled. It’s not a rehearsal. I’ve got this chance to help, to serve, to be of service, to make a difference in people’s lives with what I do. So so I have to show up and do that. And when I was able to do it without that mask or I say without the mask, we’re always peeling it back out. And we were always like chipping away at that thing. But the more I was able to be the expression of what I thought it was, that was when things changed. So it’s finding what that voice is for you. That’s the critical part. Hmm. Okay. That it changes. It’s OK that that voice today is different to the voice. That was yesterday. Yeah. You know, because we change and evolve. It’s a part of life, isn’t it? Yeah.

[00:23:33] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Because I’m definitely not doing the same things in the same way that I’ve done in the past. And and I think it’s great that you’re able to let your vulnerability show about the problems you have, because I think that also does help other people than to say, oh, well, if he was able to get past that, then, you know, maybe there’s some hope for me. And so it’s it’s good to be able to let people know that we’re not all perfect. We all have our own things that happen. And and that’s what makes us who we are today. And as hopefully we we learn and we grow from that. And that’s and that’s what life is all about, is just continuing to do that, because we’re always going to have stuff come up and we just have to learn to deal with it and keep on going.

[00:24:24] Absolutely. Well said. Well said.

[00:24:28] Well, I have really enjoyed our conversation, and I’m sure that there are some folks out there who also enjoyed it and would love to learn more about you. So how can they do that? Where’s the best place to get information on?

[00:24:41] Oh, yes. So you can find out more about me on my website, ColinScotland dot com. All of tons of free resources around how to show up in the world of markets and in business in an authentic way like we spoke about today.

[00:24:56] Ok, awesome. I will have that in the show notes for everyone to be able to connect with you as well. And yeah, thank you again for being here today. I really enjoyed our conversation. And it’s it’s refreshing to talk with someone like yourself who. Yeah. Has been around the block and knows that it’s really about speaking from the heart that is speaking or marketing. And and that’s how we can do business better. So thank you.

[00:25:26] My pleasure. Thank you for having me. It’s been lovely.

[00:25:29] Thank you. And thank you all for listening and for watching on YouTube. I appreciate all of you and appreciate the reviews and things that I get. I love reading them. So thanks for the positive comments. And until next time, as always, I encourage you to go out and live fully, love deeply, and engage authentically. Did you know that

[00:25:52] A majority of entrepreneurs tend to discount the importance of their work and a good number feel their success is simply due to luck? I know from personal experience that self-doubt can keep you from having the kind of life and business you desire. That’s why I’ve created a free guide called Uniquely Knew How to Move from self-doubt to self-love in four simple steps to claim your free guide. Go to live, love, engage dot gift. That’s live, love, engage, dot g-i-f-t.