90 Happy Subscribers Episodes in One with Erin Fajen

Hey there, welcome to Happy Subscribers, a podcast that explores how bloggers and content creators can create more purposeful relationships with your audience through email marketing. I’m Ali Grimert, email marketing strategist, copywriter, email platform expert, and founder of the Done For You Email Marketing Agency, Duet. I started as a personal finance blogger in 2016 and have since helped hundreds of bloggers and creators like you maximize your email marketing for more impact, more traffic, and a better connection with your subscribers.

Be prepared for some advanced email talk as well as tactical tips to help get your valuable content into the hands of your audience faster and easier. I’m excited you’re here, so let’s do it. We can create a deeper, more meaningful connection with the community you love and serve through email.

Today is going to be a not so usual episode, and I am so excited. I’m bringing on Erin Fagin, a client of mine, who is the number one most organized person I’ve ever met. Apologies to everyone else. Erin takes the crown. And also perhaps the most studious, determined, and German person I’ve worked with. She has worked with us to create an automated welcome sequence, and she’s also been meeting with me one-on-one for hands-on coaching.

I asked Erin to be on the podcast because just a few weeks ago I got a message from her on Slack that read, and I quote, I officially made it through your entire podcast. I would like my master’s degree in email marketing now, please, with three exclamation points. And I was like, Absolutely. Also, can you come on to the podcast and tell me everything that you’ve learned and share with everyone else? So, and not only that, but y’all, she took notes. I have seen the Google Doc with my own eyes.

She’s taken notes on every episode. So today’s conversation is really just us learning from Erin, who’s learned from our guests while on the podcast. It is the freaking best day. I’m so excited. Y’all are gonna love Erin. Erin, welcome to Happy Subscribers.

Erin Fajen (02:06)
Thank you, I’m so excited.

Allea Grummert (02:09)
So finance.

Erin Fajen (02:11)
Your voice has inspired different things about my own voice. And so you’ve kind of got these like little calling card type things that you do, which I love. Like you call your AI tool you’re using Chatty Kathy, which I just think is fun. Because it’s part of your brand. Yeah. you are chatty and it’s fun.

it’s quirky and it’s part of you. And I think incorporating that on a regular basis helps your listeners hear that levity and that that fun that you bring. I also love your little jingle, like let’s get technical, technical. you have these little gems that you incorporate regularly that help people know, like this is really Allie, this is really her, this is her this is her goofball self.

showing up here to bring you all the email marketing wisdom that you need. this is really fun. Thank you for having me.

Allea Grummert (03:06)
You are so welcome. I’m so glad you’re here. And to give you guys some context about what Erin does, so she’s not like your typical content creator, food blogger, which I know I have a lot of those guests on the podcast, but Erin is a leadership advisor. She’s a disc expert, entrepreneur, and simplicity enthusiast on a vision to help leaders do less but better through her work with teams and organizations. She helps people build self-awareness.

Communicate more effectively and protect their energy. She’s also a proud boy mom who brings the same philosophy home, keep it simple and make it meaningful. Also, she’s from Kansas City. Let’s hear it. Let’s go. We love our Midwest connections. okay, Erin. You’ve you’ve known this episode, this conversation is coming. What is like top of mind for you that you want to talk about first?

Erin Fajen (03:55)
Ooh. okay. Well, you mentioned being studious. I am studious. So I just I I but I loved when I find something that I’m really interested in, like I just I love diving in. And your podcast came along at a moment for me in just the kind of life cycle of my business where I was like, I have to know everything there is to know about this and the way

you deliver it is just so personable, so human, so practical that it just like it did drive me to take notes on every episode and really get in there. But I think the the things that stood out to me are like the themes of your podcast. Cause I don’t I don’t know what number you’re up to now.

Allea Grummert (04:48)
Gosh, I think we’re in the eighties.

Erin Fajen (04:50)
In the eighties. Okay. So in eighty podcasts, I do think you could put them into like four buckets.

Allea Grummert (04:56)
Tell me more. Tell me what you’ve observed. This is so important for so much fun for me.

Erin Fajen (05:02)
Okay, okay. Well, first and foremost, the welcome series. Like welcome series is I love the way you put it, like you go to an Airbnb and you need oriented to the world around you. Like, how do you change a thermostat? And how do you, you know, do this? How do you do that? Where’s the best grocery store, the best little coffee shop nearby? who do you call if you get stuck? and you don’t have a key to your place. So

All of those things being in the welcome series made so much sense to me and really helped me understand the importance of the welcome series because you know, we get so used to talking about our own businesses that we assume people have that orientation. And I know that I did. I was like, they’re probably tired of hearing me talk about, you know, Aaron’s business.

I facilitate disc workshops. I help individuals interpret their disc personality profile. And so in doing that, because it’s something on repeat in my mind, I forget that it’s not something that everyone has an orientation to. And so just the welcome series, so important, helped me see why it warranted three to five emails and the level of depth that it needed to go to.

Because I was ready to just like pull the band-aid off and just like send one email and be like, You’re on my email list. Woo! welcome. And that was not the way to go about it. So that is that was probably the first thing that I learned.

Allea Grummert (06:42)
Love it. Keep going. Tell me more.

Erin Fajen (06:44)
Okay. segmenting your list is thoughtful. And I love your focus on thoughtfulness and care and like genuine care for your subscribers and for their inboxes because people have so much going on and their attention is precious. And so if you are sending the same messages to everyone.

That’s not thoughtful. That’s not careful with their attention and their time. And so I just your respect for the people that you are serving absolutely comes through. And like drawing that out of each of your podcast guests has been really telling and how much that actually matters to you. So I think segmenting your list and how thoughtful that is.

It is there are opportunities to create different sales funnels through that. And that is absolutely part of running a business. But the thoughtfulness and the care I think is really key. And that’s helped me as I frame up, okay, what are the segments? How do I, if I’m the receiver of these messages, what what do I want to hear about? What do I need access to? What questions do I have? What feels like noise?

Just just really putting on the hat of that person so that when I’m sending to that segment I can be thoughtful.

Allea Grummert (08:19)
I feel like the little emoji with that watery eyes. Like so sweet of you. Yeah. I mean, like, yes, like care for both like our clients, you know, and how you understand email marketing, but also how your audience receives that. And I’ve, you know, I’ve been able to see that on the back end of your business because you literally know like

Almost every person on your email list. Like no Air Aaron has sat there and segmented by hand because right sh they’re not coming in through different lead magnets. Some are coming in from different events, but like she can say this person gets this type of email. This person does not. I love it.

Erin Fajen (08:56)
What’s been really fun for me in this process is that and I do have a probably a different business model than a lot of your listeners, because I’ve met everyone on my list. Yeah. So I have stood in front of a classroom and taught them a class. So we have talked about, you know, what was their first job, or who is a leader that they admire, or what is a point in time where you learned this leadership lesson. And so they’ve told me their stories.

I know their names, I remember them, and now they’re on my email list. And so it is really fun to be thoughtful about like when I’m writing my broadcast messages, I’m thinking about Nancy. And when I’m writing emails about certification, I’m thinking about Kristen. So there are just like different

personalities and personas to each of the individuals that I serve that that one really stood out to me and just being very thoughtful about what they need. and especially because I know these people. And it’s really like cool to work with them.

Allea Grummert (10:11)
Well, I’m I’m going to circle back on each of these themes, but I want to hear the four buckets first. ‘Cause I’m like, no, I have follow up questions, don’t you worry. I just don’t want to get ahead of myself. What else do you got, Aaron?

Erin Fajen (10:21)
Okay, content themes. Okay, so these are your fourth content themes. Right. So I I and in my observation, and I know you have a variety of topics that you’ve addressed, but you know, you’ve said what are the things that you need to really beat the drum on on repeat, you know, you’re constantly talking about this is what your audience is worrying about. Anchor yourself around these content themes. And so that

That message has really helped shape the way that I’m structuring my emails and thinking about, okay, who are my segments? And then within those segments, what are the content themes that they really need to be hearing from me? for example, so I help facilitators learn how to facilitate disk workshops. And so one of the things that they need to know is if they’re preparing for a workshop.

How do they set up the classroom? How do they get all their materials and their supplies ready? How do they do tech check? So all that prep. And then facilitating the workshop, they are handling questions. They are advancing slides. They are facilitating activities. They are handling questions and drawing out answers from the audience. So those are the things that are happening in the classroom. And then there’s follow-up that happens after the workshop. So how do they keep the learning

Going? How do they keep their audience engaged? How do they support that manager to do ongoing development efforts? So those are the content themes that I would be focused on for that particular segment. People who are learning to facilitate desk workshops. How do you prepare? How do you do it? And how do you follow up from it? And keep it all smooth. So those three themes within that segment are

the things that I will be speaking about on repeat. And it just helped organi you know I love organization.

Allea Grummert (12:22)
I know I was gonna say, what does that do for your

Erin Fajen (12:24)
What did I do? Or my thoughts around I was like, well, what do I say to this segment? because it felt like such a blank slate that it was a little bit difficult to get the wheels turning. But then when you were talking about those content themes and within the segments, that helped me narrow my thinking around what did these individuals need?

And that is extremely helpful. So content themes, that’s where your thought leadership lies. And yeah, so I I would say that that’s bucket number three.

Allea Grummert (12:57)
Yes.

Erin Fajen (13:00)
helps people get oriented. Segmenting your list helps them see that you’re being thoughtful and careful about their inboxes. and then the content themes, that’s where your thought leadership lives is in those those

Things you’re talking about on repeat. And then your nurture series.

Continuing. So I would say that’s bucket number four. The importance of a nurture series. one of the things that really stood out to me, okay, I’m gonna go back to my notes because this was in episode 50.

Allea Grummert (13:38)
Love it.

Erin Fajen (13:39)
You

said, you know, selling is a lot about encouragement, encouraging people to feel confident in their decisions, helping them see that they can confidently take action, whether that’s in working with you or that right now is the right time. And

Selling, I think, for a lot of us who are content experts. So I am an expert, I am a practitioner in my field, and I am learning to be an entrepreneur. I’m learning to be in sales. So your advice around the nurture series really helped me see that continuing to be in touch with people and continuing to be front of mind as someone that they can trust and feel encouraged by.

can really have a positive effect on a subscriber to feel like they are confident in what they’re doing, they’re on the right track, you’re reinforcing these messages and helping them see that they can take that confident action to move forward in their own work. So that that message around the nurture series, it’s not just be in their inbox for being in their inbox’s sake. It’s be in their inbox to continue to encourage them.

And I feel like that’s a big mindset shift around it’s not just pumping out emails, it’s encourage the people you care about.

Allea Grummert (15:08)
How do you feel like you leverage that idea of encouragement when you sit down to write?

Erin Fajen (15:16)
well that’s a really good question. So when I am thinking about those specific people on my list, I really try to use you language. So you are doing great already. And one of the things that you could think about is to, you know, do X, Y, or Z in order to strengthen your approach.

So here’s an example of how you know I ran up against this particular challenge. Here’s how I handled it. I know you’re doing great. And you might want to think about these one or two ideas that could help you go even further in your work. So using that you language and also thinking about it from a turn from the standpoint of like

You’re not doing anything wrong. What you could be doing to make it stronger could be some of these ideas.

Allea Grummert (16:13)
Yes. I actually remember when I I mean I’ve been doing the email strategy playbook, which is like our audit for years. And at one point I was like, my gosh, if they were just to receive this, it would all like, here’s what everything that needs changed. Yeah. And I was like, that’s not who I am. That’s not very nice like nobody wants to receive a forty page document being like here’s everything that’s wrong. So we’ve actually like went through and included like client affirmations throughout.

Like you’re already doing a great job of this or it’s already really organized. Here’s how else you could do whatever. And yeah, weaving that in. I mean, it’s really thinking about how is this being received by the other person.

Erin Fajen (16:53)
Absolutely. And I think that’s something that you have done kind of masterfully is to provide that encouragement through through these interviews and through this podcast, being able to you know, really draw out what is the thing that could help strengthen someone’s approach. Yeah. And I get something from every podcast. So

Allea Grummert (17:18)
Every episode. Every episode. my gosh. Well, thank you for these four themes. I love it. I am curious. Well, first of all, before we move on, with the nurture, are you referring more to broadcast emails or like an automated nurture sequence?

Erin Fajen (17:32)
well, I think it’s both. So for

Allea Grummert (17:34)
Technically for you it’s both.

Erin Fajen (17:36)
me, yeah, but the way that I’ve set it up has okay, so this is probably good context for your listeners. Is that when we started working together, I was such a blank slate. Like I’ve had email marketing on my to-do list for several years. I’m it I’m starting my seventh year in business and I think in year

one point five, I said, Okay, email marketing. This is this is my goal this year. And then, you know, several years passed and here we are.

I was a blank slate. So I didn’t have any data. I didn’t have any previous emails sent. I didn’t have any subscribers. I was a zero, zero, zero on all of that. So when I started my broadcast emails, I was very quickly then able to say, Okay, this broadcast, this can be evergreen. I’m gonna pop this over and start a nurture series. So now I think I have a nurture series that’s about twenty emails long, and every week.

I’m writing an email and sending it as a broadcast and then popping it over into the nurture series as well, making that evergreen. So that has helped me from the beginning be able to capture those emails, move them over. And so now any new subscribers that come in are starting at the beginning with me, but the beginning is really recent.

Allea Grummert (19:08)
Hey there! I want to make sure that you know about Ready Set Email. It is a done-for-you service that my team and I will provide for you, where we give you five welcome emails that introduce all of your new subscribers to your best content.

your story so that they know you, like you, trust you, and continue to open up your emails. You’ll also get two opt-in forms, a newsletter format, and a strategy for knowing what to send to your email subscribers, making the whole process so easy as you grow, email, and send traffic from those subscribers back to your website.

on autopilot. So please book a call with me if you’re interested. You can do that at duet.co slash happy and we will get a call on the calendar to see if this is the best next step for your business.

cannot hold on to this question until we come back to the nurture part of the buckets. I was gonna start at the top. We might go backwards. Tell us about your broadcast schedule. Tell us about the themes and tell us about the pop culture references because they’re so fun. Y’all, let’s just take a minute. For Aaron, how how quote unquote professional could disc emails be versus how personable you’ve made them?

Erin Fajen (20:27)
well, you know, corporate America’s pretty buttoned up. And I just my focus and my goal is to make working with your coworkers fun again. Like I think it can be fun. You know, I spent a lot of time in corporate America and when it was finally time for me to move on from that chapter of my life.

Looking back and remember I remember sitting in Florida on the beach, staring at the ocean on my birthday. It was my fortieth birthday, and having this moment of like, what do I want this next chapter to look like? And I want it to be fun. I want some levity. I want to be serious, but not take things so seriously. So I’m very serious about my work. I’m very serious about delivering

a high quality experience. And I think part of that is to not take ourselves so seriously and just have some fun with it. So in every workshop that I deliver, every conversation that I get to facilitate, I try to bring in some pop culture references, some fun, some jokes. and then that’s translated into my email. And that has that I think that’s the thing with the nurture series that has really stood out to me is that until I started

writing, I didn’t truly understand my own voice until I started writing it all down. And then I was like, this is really funny. I’m funny. And then am I funny? And I mean I’m funny to me. Well

Allea Grummert (22:10)
Yeah.

Erin Fajen (22:11)
and you had to make it

Allea Grummert (22:13)
My gosh, I think it’s hysterical. And I would say I’m an I’m also a funny person. I think I’m funny. and so yeah, and you’ve like so yeah, guys, yes, that was you guys pushed together. yeah guys. So Aaron writes these emails that break down different television shows. Like once a month, one of your content pillar emails is to say, like, okay, let’s break down the family, the families on Bridgerton.

Or the individuals and say which one are each a personality type and why. And it’s so what I love is that, like you said, like you’re really serious about the work itself, like and how important it is. But the way that you frame it is just so lighthearted and like, but it’s not throwaway lighthearted. It’s like, now I understand it, or I get to see this in action.

And I just think that is such a delight for your list, for your audience, for people who’ve worked with you. ‘Cause you get replies from people too, yes?

Erin Fajen (23:10)
I do. I do. It’s really fun. This is the thing that’s been fun because I know so many of these individuals and that I’ve sat in classrooms with them or, you know, stood alongside them as they’ve learned this, as they’ve gone through certifications, as they’ve delivered sessions for their teams. It’s been really cool to hear from somebody that came to a workshop five years ago during COVID.

You know, and that’s just like a a time warp in and of itself. So it’s like we knew each other in another life. And then to get an email back from them and it it’s like hearing from all my old friends. It’s really

Allea Grummert (23:53)
Yes. Yes. Yes. it’s it’s been funny all like so Aaron and I, like literally starting from scratch, we’re like, we need to upload this list of email addresses. And how did we know them? How do we reintroduce ourselves to them in a way that lets them know this is me, this is legit. If you don’t want this email, that’s fine. But here’s what you’re gonna get. We’ve created a handful of those because it really is like this audience maybe came from an event that you hosted, whereas you had a whole other audience that was like,

given to you from someone who is retiring. So how do we like make that handoff and like make that smooth? And then and then the rest of your content, like your welcome sequence, your nurture content is the same for all of those people. and then I we you mentioned this earlier, the facilitators of the events. Guys, guess what Erin did? She created a whole separate newsletter just for facilitators. Do you want to tell us about who they are, what their name is?

Erin Fajen (24:52)
yes, okay. So people have been certified in disc and now are part of what I call my disc savvy insiders club. So this is maybe like okay, I can’t do math while being interviewed on a podcast, but it’s like less than ten percent of my list. Five percent of my list, it’s a small number. three percent.

It’s smaller. Okay. It’s a it’s a tiny number of people. Okay, these individuals are carrying forward within their organizations all things about disk. So I’ve created a Friday email that goes just to them. They’re very special to me. I want to make sure that they have all the best stuff. They have all the resources, you know, extra team meeting agendas, extra activity ideas, extra

Handouts that they wouldn’t have had access to in any other way. And so I’ve started packaging those up and putting those in my Friday sequence that is, I don’t know, would you call that an ongoing nurture sequence? Yes. Yeah. Okay. So a nurture sequence for that particular group, my Disc Savvy Insiders Club. And I tried so hard. I wanted the acronym to spell

Disc. D I S C. But the way Disc Savvy Insiders Club comes up is D-S-I-C. So all the letters are there. A little bit out of order. But I think it’s kind of clever and quirky. And they know it’s for them. They know it’s just for them. And, you know, just to take care of that group and to get them all the extra good stuff.

Allea Grummert (26:40)
Yeah.

Erin Fajen (26:40)
Because my nurture sequence is really the focus there is

all about educating people on disc. So those these are my content themes. So educating people on disc, but doing that through leadership lessons, stories that I’ve told time and time again by I like to that’s what you know, the you mentioned the Bridgeterton one. So my husband and I, we like we watched whatever shows we’re watching. we like to pause the show and talk about like what’s their disc style. Like

And why are they at odds with one another? Because it’s just it’s so dramatic, you know, all the shows, they’re they’re showing people in the extreme. And I think that’s where you can really see something come to life and go, like, okay, I’m noticing these behaviors, this is how I can and point that out in real life. and that’s really helpful because in real life we’re really kind to each other. We’re really polite. and that’s that kind of masks some of our like true

thoughts and feelings.

Allea Grummert (27:48)
Two responses. Yeah.

Erin Fajen (27:50)
yeah, so you’re gonna be polite and kind and courteous to your coworkers. you know, on the for the most part, most people are. And so you don’t always know like, well here’s what they really think. But by watching a TV show, you can you can you can see them kind of their behind the scenes thoughts on things. And so it’s really helpful to be able to practice. And then that’s what I’ll put into my

one of my emails is to say, like, okay, we watch this TV show, here’s here’s what we think about these different characters and, you know,

Allea Grummert (28:24)
Yeah.

Erin Fajen (28:25)
husband, he’s now, you know, whether he likes it or not, certified

Allea Grummert (28:31)
Yes. I’m sitting here going, that’s the love I’m looking for, Erin. Where can I find a man who just sit and talk with me about email marketing on a Friday night? That’s all over these TV shows. my gosh, I love it. okay, so for listeners, can we have a little bit of context on like how often you selling something to your list? How much of it is like making sure that previous clients keep hiring you? Like

Kind of what’s the purpose of your email marketing from a high level?

Erin Fajen (29:02)
from a high level, my biggest goal is I will teach you disc. Like I’m gonna tell you this story or this leadership lesson, and then through that you will learn the disc model. And not for learning a model’s sake. It’s for you to be more effective in your work and in your relationships. I

And because as I said earlier, the kind of the thoughtfulness that you talk about in, you know, segmenting your audience and being very careful with their inboxes, I think thoughtfulness, you know, we have I wanna be a thought leader in this space, but more than that, I want to be a thoughtful leader. And that’s what I wanna impart on my listeners is we all have our own styles, we all have our own ways of going about our work, but

And there’s a lot of thought leaders out there, but there we have an opportunity to have even more thoughtful leaders and just being you know, thinking about it. So I just want to get people thinking about their job as a leader and how they can tweak this, put some more energy into that, think about this before they go into their next meeting and help them be thoughtful. And then your question though was around

Sales, like how often am I selling to my audience? So those Tuesday emails are really about being thoughtful. Now in the footer, I have an opportunity for like two different things. So if you want to get disc for your team, like the disc experience, which would be take the assessment and then attend a facilitated workshop, that’s

one place that they can click if they wanted more information on that. And then the other one is if they wanted to get certified in desk because that is an industry credential that carries a lot of weight and it’s something that they could then take this entire programming in house and do that themselves. So those two specifically are always available. and thank you for helping me build those out. So I can click on those at the bottom and then that would

move them into other sequences. So if they decided to opt in, they could hear more about those two things. So I I guess what I’m really selling them on is the the importance of thoughtfulness as a leader and the usefulness of disk as a tool to help them be thoughtful. And if they’re sold on that, then they may choose to go further.

down the path of bringing it to their team or becoming certified in it that model themselves.

Allea Grummert (31:56)
Absolutely. And

Erin Fajen (31:58)
And just saying that out loud now is when I realize that’s what I’m doing. Never

Allea Grummert (32:04)
Wheeler.

Erin Fajen (32:05)
asked me that question.

Allea Grummert (32:07)
We love a mid-podcast revelation. I love it so much. well, okay, so I am curious now that we’re back to the top of the funnel, we’ve worked our way back up. I am curious about your welcome sequence and knowing that you are gathering people from all these different events and people that you’ve worked with, like what is it about your welcome sequence now that it exists that gives you, I don’t know, whether it’s like relief or confidence or assuredness that you can send everyone through that.

What is it about it that you that you love and appreciate for your

Erin Fajen (32:40)
I love and appreciate that it’s comprehensive. So it leaves no stone unturned because whether because I did meet all of these individuals from like at different points in my career and at different points in business ownership and then at different points in their understanding of what I do. So this takes them back to the beginning. And it’s like, hey, this is what I do, and then this is what I’m gonna talk about. It also

helps them understand my backstory a little bit about why moving out of corporate America and into this work was so important for me and my life and my family. And then it helps them see my approach to it a little bit more lighthearted, a little bit fun. I’m going to bring them the content that they will receive on this list isn’t going to be you know,

Here’s where you access these documents and where to click. It’s going to be storytelling and it’s gonna be lessons that they can take something from each week.

Allea Grummert (33:48)
Yeah. I love it.

Erin Fajen (33:50)
So comprehensive, I think. Yeah and just helping me feel confident and sure that everyone’s got the big picture before they go and dive in and commit to, you know, going through the series.

Allea Grummert (34:03)
Yeah. I love that because it I think it gives you peace of mind knowing I’ve told them everything that they really need to know. I’ve given them this little this Airbnb visitor packet like of where to be. But like, welcome to Aaron’s house. This is this is what you’re gonna get here. but also I love that you pointed out that people are coming to you after who knows how long it’s been, you know, or or their understanding of disc that you can kind of introduce them with this full picture.

And yeah, that’s why Greg, you were saying, like, now I see why we need three to five emails. You know, if each email is hitting on one big idea, how do we gradually introduce this to people so that right? And it’s not just like, hi, I’m Erin. I used to work here, da da da. It’s because of my family, because of how I, you know, these things that are important to me, just like I know that your work is important to you and I want to make that easier. So it’s still about the reader, but it builds credibility for you.

But like they’re probably already aware of it. Like you’re already this like kick butt. I’m I was about to cuss about this kick butt gal in Kansas City, known for disc. Like you get to reinforce that and remind them of where you’re from, what you do, who you do it for, and why you do it. And I just think that the content that you create, Erin, is so like out of left field. I’m gonna say that like lovingly. That’s a compliment versus like super corporate y emails about work stuff.

Whereas like this is and I feel like the work that you get to do of like helping teams better work together is like that’s what a delight that that gets to be your job.

Erin Fajen (35:40)
It is a delight. That and that is why I chose it. I was doing so much in corporate America that was not a delight. and like probably everyone listening to this podcast, because you are doing the work that you are doing, you’ve had the experience of like, okay, I’m good at this. And when you’re good at something, you get more of it because people trust you to handle it.

Yeah. And when that happens across like fifty different categories of things, you suddenly end up with a job that has, you know, core responsibilities, but you’ve got all these commitments that sit outside of those core responsibilities that everyone’s counting on you for because you happen to be talented in a lot of different categories. that that just led me down a a big burnout path. I had to pick something that

was fun, that felt like a delight, that felt like the way that you just described it, which is like, how cool. Like what if I could just do the one thing that I really enjoy and then got really good at it and then did it every day.

Allea Grummert (36:54)
Yeah. Amen to that.

Erin Fajen (36:56)
And that realization that I could simplify down to just the one was was the turning point for me in my career.

Allea Grummert (37:07)
Yeah. Can I ask, as somebody who is like you’re obviously a self learner and you consumed I looked, this is gonna be our ninetieth episode. So you’ve consumed

Erin Fajen (37:16)
I got you looking

Allea Grummert (37:18)
so many episodes. but like what was right, because you you obviously want to learn a lot. What was the the point when you decided I need to bring in Allie and her team for help?

Erin Fajen (37:31)
Rewind the year. I last year I was like, okay, I really want to get serious about being a thought leader in this space. And how how am I going to do that? I need to be discoverable to people. I need to be sharing my stories. And I was doing that on social media, but I felt like that was more about building up my name and not as much about building up my voice.

It just didn’t feel like the right vehicle and I was never quite nailing it. it always felt awkward. I didn’t always have a picture that I wanted to put. I it requires a photo. I’m like this game requires a photo. I do not have that many photos. Okay, so what do I do? And I went through a course through our mutual friend, Dory Clark. She has a program called Recognized Expert and I was like, That’s what I want.

I wanna be a recognized expert in this space. And so through that program, that’s when I that’s when I met you. So you you delivered a webinar for her audience and I saw you speak. And what clicked for me in that webinar that you delivered so gracefully was how important it is to build up your voice, to have that personal relationship with your clients.

And the fact that social media doesn’t even reach the people you want to reach. And I I have a very relationship-driven business because the individuals that I have met through the classroom are now on my email list. If I were spending all of that time posting on social media and they’re not even seeing it, that did not feel thoughtful. It was like it’s not even getting to them.

So if it’s not even getting to them, like I have their email address, like I should just send it to them. And so that made so much sense to me. Now, I also wasn’t quite sure which service that I wanted from your team. I’m so glad we had that conversation, Allie, because it helped me see that, you know, what I thought I wanted. You were able to kind of customize for me, which I thought was really great. But for me, the realization came when I realized I’m gonna

facilitate these professional development workshops, focus specifically on desk. I’m gonna go all in. I’m gonna be a recognized expert. And the vehicle that I need in order to do that, email marketing. Love it. Totally convinced. So in that, I was like, okay. So I logged into kit and then I logged right back out because I did not know what to do. And I was like, all right, I absolutely need help with this. I have these lists. I don’t know how to upload them. I

I know tags are important. I don’t know how to tag people. I believe in the segmenting. I don’t know how to tag people. Someone’s

Allea Grummert (40:32)
Show me.

Erin Fajen (40:33)
going to click through this with me. So yeah. I I think from the get-go, it just made so much sense to me. It was just aligning the timing in my own business to make sure that I could really go all in.

Allea Grummert (40:49)
Yeah. Well, and I love that you also like you decided what the platform would be. You already had things to say. It was really like, now I’m committing to this because I actually know that it’s a really good long term plan.

Erin Fajen (41:03)
Yes.

Allea Grummert (41:04)
And it’s so such a joy to watch like, y’all should see Aaron’s Google Docs. I was like, Did you color code that? She’s like, Well yeah. And I’m like, I

I am so impressed. But just like you have a slew of ideas. And I remember that that’s where I was when I started my business and started my emailing my list. It was like there’s just so many things I need to address. And like getting them out of your head and into email and knowing that they’re going to live a long time. Even, you know, we were talking about do we add these to your blog posts? Maybe, but like give it six months. Just get most of it out in the first place and then you can go add it to your blog if you really want. And that’s such a sweet place to be and to take all of that momentum.

I mean, I’ve been emailing my list consistently since I think it was October of twenty nineteen, like one day a week. And and it started with like that much momentum. And then you’re like having content pillars to say, here are things, yeah, I should really write include an email about this or this or this. And it’s evolved since then. But once you catch that momentum and you’re like, I have things to say, and email is a way you can say it and then reply people reply back to you. You’re like, This is this is my medium. Big fan.

Erin Fajen (42:09)
I love it. And people replying back is the most gratifying thing. Like they got it. like it happened, you know, it got to their inbox. That’s like challenge number one. It got to them and then they read it and then they had a thought and they clicked reply and they typed something and they hit send. Like that’s like ten steps. So for someone to take all of those actions and actually do it just feels like that is a gift.

Allea Grummert (42:39)
Absolutely. Aaron, thank you so much for your time. Your now expertise in all things email marketing. shared with us. All of your new knowledge. It’s yeah. it’s a privilege for me to be able to see how much how eager you are to learn and apply things. And also like in our coaching process, like Aaron and I will walk through things on a call and then we have access to each other in Slack. So she’ll try things and send them to me. And so

I love that you’re like you’re in with both feet. so that yeah.

Erin Fajen (43:10)
I know.

We’re we’re pals now, Allie. We’re we’re doing that.

Allea Grummert (43:14)
Yes we are. Yes we are.

Erin Fajen (43:17)
So this is me showing my real fangirl situation that I’m in here with your podcast. But it’s just it’s been so informative. and then those those little things that kind of come up on repeat for you that help me help me see where you get excited and where you do genuinely want to hear more from your guests so that you can learn. Maybe somebody will say something that’s potentially opposed to what you believe to be true.

You won’t get defensive. What you’ll say is, ooh, anymore. Or I have questions. So I think that’s the graceful part is to be able to hear someone’s opposing opinion and view and then be curious about where that came from so that you can have a productive conversation. And I think that’s the thing that makes you just really successful in doing that.

And then when somebody does say something that’s aligned, you’ll say, Ooh, I have goosebumps. And then you also say, Tell me more, because you want to hear more.

Allea Grummert (44:23)
Tell me more. Tell me more about how we think alike on this. Yes. Thank you. It’s been a personal experience to learn how to be a good listener. Yeah. I’m sure. I literally had my first boss out of college sat me down and told me that I was a bad listener. And ’cause I didn’t know, Aaron. I didn’t know because everything like, and then I’ll tell you this story about me. And then I’ll tell you this story about me. Like thinking like, we’re sharing something. When in reality I was like, I’m taking away their opportunity to

go more in depth with their own experience. And that’s been like it still breaks my heart going back to that conversation. I can tell you right where we were sitting. And so and it’s been like, yeah, a journey of what it what it would it look like for me just to ask someone more about their experience. Because I’m in my own head all of the frickin’ time. So it it’s really nice to hear someone else’s what’s going on in their minds.

Erin Fajen (45:17)
That’s really cool because you’ve you’ve grown into that for sure. Because that I didn’t know you before. I know you now. And five stars.

Allea Grummert (45:26)
you Aaron. That means so much. I got goosebumps.

Erin Fajen (45:32)
Yeah.

Allea Grummert (45:36)
And I’m crying a little. So we’re gonna wrap this up. Well, before we sign off, can you tell people how to learn more about the work that you do, if it’s a good fit for them, or if they know someone who’s in the corporate space?

Erin Fajen (45:47)
Yeah, I think probably the best place is my website, On the Up KC. So I’m in Kansas City. So on the up is the name of my business, on the up KC dot com. And you can join my email list there if you would like to. so thank you for helping me build landing pages, Allie, that now exist on my website. So love to have you join the party and yeah, it’s a lot of fun.

Allea Grummert (46:15)
It’s lot of fun. Yeah. Go go peep Aaron’s emails. Take some inspiration for your own and learn about disc along the way.

Erin Fajen (46:23)
All right. Yeah, absolutely. I’d love to have you.

Allea Grummert (46:27)
Awesome. Thank you so much, Aaron.

Erin Fajen (46:28)
Thanks, Ali.

Allea Grummert (46:34)
Thanks so much for listening to Happy Subscribers in our conversation about email marketing today. I hope you feel inspired to take action, even if it’s a small change, so you can more confidently share your valuable message with your community through email. Special thanks goes to my team who makes it possible to produce and share these episodes with you. Seriously, thank you guys. If you want to hear more email marketing tips, strategies, and success stories to help you develop deeper, more meaningful relationships with your email subscribers, be sure to subscribe to Happy Subscribers so you don’t

An episode. If you have a few seconds, I invite you to share this episode link with a friend or post it on social media so your peers and community can benefit from it as well. And if you have a few minutes, I’d appreciate if you’d leave a written review of the podcast since that helps more people hear about it. And I believe we need more creators sending more valuable emails to their audience with more confidence. If you want to reach out to me directly, the best way to do that is to join my email list through one of my top freebies listed in the show notes. You’ll get regular emails from me that are packed with value. And if you hit

to any of those emails, it’ll land in my inbox and I can’t wait to chat with you there. Until next time, let’s duett