An Interview with The Suitcase Entrepreneur Natalie Sisson
I’m thrilled to be able to introduce Natalie Sisson to you in the second in our series interviewing amazing working women who reveal their communication successes and struggles.
I first discovered Natalie through her podcast The Suitcase Entrepreneur in early 2015. In April of the same year I jumped on the opportunity to join her Freedom Plan online program to help people build a business around a life they love. The 10-week program helped me to discover new ways to grow my business and get to know some inspiring people.
Natalie is also behind the 10-Day Blog Challenge and the book The Suitcase Entrepreneur, available in both English and Japanese.
1. What sort of communicator do you want to be, and why?
I want to be the type of communicator that is super, super clear in my intentions and that is able to get my message across really clearly to those that need to hear it most. I believe that I am pretty clear in what I do. I believe that I am very practical in how I deliver my message, and there’s no jargon. There’s no BS. And there’s no fancy words. So I want to be the clearest communicator I can and communicate with inspiration at the heart of that. Why? Because I want to inspire people through the work that I do, and I want them to be able to understand it so clearly that they can actually take action and build their lifestyle businesses and freedom from that. So it’s really important for me to be crystal clear and make it practical and actionable.
2. What is one communication success that you can share with us?
Well, I would say actually that, for me, one of the communication successes was my personal journey to speaking at a TEDx for a couple of reasons. That I had to get really, really, really clear on my brand story as a result of doing that talk. And I had to cut down into 15 minutes or less this entire journey on the path to freedom. And so, for me, from a communications point of view, I had to really dig deep into the key highlights of that story. It’s very tempting to include everything, but really distill that down into something that’s meaningful in 15 minutes or less, which absolutely integrated probably about 8 years of my life. And I learnt a lot about the power of storytelling, about what’s really important for people to understand and get across. And also how to create and keep meaning even when you are aiming for brevity.
3. What is one communication failure you can share with us?
I’m always surprised with my business and my blog and my podcast how many times I believe that I’m putting out a message that still doesn’t get heard. So I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a failure, but I have probably failed to repeat that message again and again and again until people hear it and understand it. I understand that there’s a rule that people need to see something eight times before they believe it, take action or really consume that message. So my mistake in the past is that assuming that people will get it the first time and not reiterating the key message to them.
4. What is most challenging for you in communication right now?
Speaking to my right target customer audience in their language. I’ve realized that because I’ve come on such a journey, I get and understand where some people are at who are maybe two years behind or three years or maybe even five years behind, but I’m not necessarily speaking to them on their own terms. And it’s almost like, I haven’t forgotten what it feels like to be there, but I’ve forgotten about all the things they might be experiencing.
And I almost need to go back and transport myself back into that time to be able to really relate and understand what they’ll be feeling and thinking and going through. And so that’s challenging because you like to move on and you like to improve, and you like to progress. And that almost feels like you’re dipping back to where you were. But I know that you can learn a lot from that.
What I’m doing about it is actually interviewing members of programs and products to really get, in their own words, where they’re at, and it’s really helping me to understand what they’re going through.
5. What communication skill, resource, or advice would you offer to our readers?
There is an excellent book by Robert Cialdini called Influence. And I appreciate that’s more for being able to market and message to people, but it’s all about communication and how can you influence people to be able to do what you need. And at the end of the day, communication for me is a tool that gets people to take action. So I think that is an excellent book. And I really do like Copyblogger as a resource, a website, and a blog for teaching you how to communicate effectively through copy. And outside of that, I went to a Toastmasters evening before my TED talk, and that was excellent for teaching me how to communicate and speak more effectively.
6. What else do you want to tell us about?
I’d love to tell you about my new house in Portugal, but it’s not particularly related. Although it is in the fact that I communicated very clearly my desired outcome when I was buying the house, which was if I put in an offer and it was accepted, that I wanted to be able to live here before the house was settled on. And I was so intent and clear on that message that that was a result that I achieved. So that me a lot as well. So always ask for what you want, and you will likely get it.