How Julie C Butler's First Summit Tripled Her Best Month

Jennie Wright [00:00:02]:

Hi there. This is the Aquire podcast from the Audphonic Podcast Network, and I’m Jenny Wright. Today, I’m thrilled to have an exceptional guest with us. Julie C Butler, who is a true advocate for female entrepreneurs, striving to design their dream lives and live with simplicity and ease. With over 15 years of experience, Julie has honed her expertise in helping entrepreneurs achieve abundance while prioritizing family time. Her commitment to freedom of lifestyle actually led her to lead a very big move recently, which is relocating her entire family to Costa Rica. Julie, welcome to the show.

Julie C Butler [00:00:37]:

thank you so much for the amazing intro. I’m so happy to be here. I always love chatting with you. It’s always such a pleasure.

Jennie Wright [00:00:45]:

Thank you. I’m so glad too. And I’m glad that we got to catch up on your recent move and Everything that’s, you know, goes along with that. Julie’s from Canada. She’s originally from Ottawa, and I’m in Toronto. So, 2 Canadian girls, we’ve we’ve had some good chats in the past. So I’m definitely wanna just dive right in here and get really into the nitty gritty. Let’s talk about summits. Now you’ve you’ve already launched 2. And you’re about to launch your 3rd. Could you share what your business looked like before you ran your 1st summit?

Julie C Butler [00:01:17]:

Absolutely. So I was that person that, first of all, I knew what my problem was. Right? Like, I was I I I kind of, like, was always it was like a hamster wheel. Like, I was going in circles trying to figure out how I could grow my list organically without paying for ads and to this day, I still might have put that much money into ads. But my problem was list email list growth. I knew that my community, my audience, my list needed to grow, and it wasn’t what I’ve whatever I was doing, wasn’t working. You know, I I Pinterest wasn’t really working for me and, you know, social media and Well, in in full transparency, I’m, like, I kind of fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to organic marketing. So I knew that I had a problem that needed to be solved. And after actually, it was after talking to you, Jenny, that, you know, I I heard you speak at your own summit, And I was like, this is my girl. She’s a lead generate. She’s a lead gen expert, and I’m gonna talk to her. And after speaking to you and speaking about hosting a summit, I was all in. I was like, sign me up. I’m hosting my 1st summit. Let’s do this. And so I was struggling. I was always struggling to grow my audience and grow my list. And what happened as a result of that is that my email list went from, you know, whatever the number was. Let’s say 3000. and it was slowly declining. And the numbers were getting lower and lower and lower. And so what happened is that I was selling my stuff to the same people all the time, and it wasn’t growing. Or if it was, it was, like, small numbers. Right? So so definitely knew I needed to make a change.

Jennie Wright [00:03:04]:

Absolutely. And you did such a good job of it. It was really inspiring to see you go on that journey to building out your 1st summit. And do you mind sharing how running a summit transformed your business impacted your mission to support women, in living a life simply by design? Mhmm.

Julie C Butler [00:03:22]:

First of all, I was a little bit not not skeptical. No. And the skeptical is not the right board. I think that I wanna say that I was nervous, right, because when you embark on a summit hosting a summit, it’s a big thing. Right? Like, it’s a big project, but it can be so rewarding in so many different ways. And so I I was like, I like to be comfortable in so many ways, like, so many so many of us here listening. Maybe you’re listening, and and you’re like, I hear you, Julie. I know what you’re talking about. We like to stay comfortable. and hosting a summit, you know, it brings us outside of our comfort zone a little bit. But I have to say that, first of all, There are so many ways that it has, you know, filled my life with so many so much goodness And the first thing is was the collaboration. It’s like meeting the people. Right? Because without even knowing it, you’re meeting incredible entrepreneurs. They come into your life because if you’re doing a call to speakers, they have and then you communicate with them. And and I decided to pre record the interviews in with each person, And that alone in itself changed. It changed my life. It changed my business in ways that I like, I could go on and on and on, but back to, you know, the question, it’s that it’s it kind of I figured out a passion that I had that I didn’t even know was there. Right? I’m an extrovert. So, of course, this is kind of like my vibe talking to other entrepreneurs, you know, but in in because I’ve done this, not only have I Have I grown my list? I’ve made incredible friendships. I’ve, you know, I’ve partnered up with many of the people that have recorded some that were speakers on my summit, and you just make besties. Right? Like, you make brand new connections and friends and the friendships and that alone just enriches enriches. Did I say it right? Is it the French that’s coming out? Yes. my life and my business because it just, like, you know, like, I was so and you know me, when I go in, I go all in. And I just discovered that I was meant to do this all in all because I loved talking to people, talking to entrepreneurs, which led to me launching a podcast afterwards. and just the incredible friendships, the co like collaboration opportunities. And, I mean, I could go on. Like, you know, and I don’t know if I answered your question.

Jennie Wright [00:05:59]:

You did. You did, but I wanna go deeper on 1 or 2 things. You said it sort of just changed your business. It revolutionized it in a way. So Other than the networking and the things like that, what are the tangible results that you’ve seen as a result of doing the summit?

Julie C Butler [00:06:14]:

Yes. Yes. So, Jenny, you know, but my first summit resulted in almost 2000 new email subscribers. Right? It it generated income because we were, you know, selling VIP passes. So so not only, I mean, I tripled my best month last year. Right? Like, my my summit month, I tripled my best month that I had the that that year in

Jennie Wright [00:06:40]:

2022.

Julie C Butler [00:06:42]:

And, and then from that, like, almost a year later, I can honestly actually now say that A lot of these people have moved on to purchase to join my program to purchase, you know, some of my digital, shop items, at participating in, you know, in my, other summit, or, you know, then and they’d move on to the to the podcast and etcetera, etcetera. So so it’s it goes beyond just that initial hosting the summit. It goes much more further than that. And you don’t see those things when you host your 1st summit, but it’s what comes out as a result of it that can keep on going for years to come.

Jennie Wright [00:07:26]:

I fully agree with that. We see that happening a lot where we go into creating a summit, and we find that the summit is this transformational event that doesn’t just create the interviews in the in the event itself. It has all of these ancillary second, third, and even 4th degree changes that it creates. — albeit making you a better copywriter or making you better interviews or really playing into that extroverted attitude that you have towards getting to know people and even going so far as to building out your own podcast, which I remember when we first spoke, one of the things you said was a podcast felt like too much. And even though you wanted to do when it felt overwhelming, and then after the summit, you’re like, yeah. No problem. I got this. I can make if I can do a summit, I can do a podcast. And and it really It really amplified a lot of the skills that you already had, at least from my opinion. And I saw a tremendous amount of growth in you in being able to be more of, like, one to many with people. Yes.

Julie C Butler [00:08:25]:

Yes. And it does that. It grows you as a business as a business owner, as a person, as an entrepreneur, not just that, but because I I did the the recordings in person with each speaker. I got better at, like, I became a better speaker because of it. Right? Like, you just gain that much more confidence and you gain more. You get better at speaking on this kind of a stage, right, which then also can open the doors for, like, I never thought that I never I never wanted to be on stage, like, on a real real stage. Right? But now I’m like now I’m like, Yes. I wanna be invited to participate to be a speaker in a in person conference. Of course, I wanna do that now. Right? So So it just you evolve as a person. You evolve as a business owner and as a human being, I think, and all in all because no matter no matter what, because of this experience with the summit, I just now in real life out and about, you’re just you’re you have these you’ve gained skills that you don’t you didn’t even know you had. And so it’s kind of like you you become smarter. Right? Like, when you’re when you’re meeting people, when you’re talking to people, like, just every day out and about or your friends or or whatever. Right? Like, I I just feel like my life becomes so much more became so much more, you know, rich because of the the new friendships and they they just, like, it’s just so the whole experience is so rewarding for, like, in so many different especially now, a year, almost a year after my first summit, right, like, you you see now the results of that first event that you host and the people that you’ve helped and, you know, like, Not just that, Jenny, but now I get almost daily emails inviting me to participate in summits, bundles, live events, and etcetera. Right?

Jennie Wright [00:10:26]:

was just about to ask you about that. I was just gonna say before you did your own event now that you’re actually working towards your 3rd, it’s coming out in a couple of months. What was the what was it like for you in terms of people asking you to participate in things versus now? I’m gonna guess it’s quite different.

Julie C Butler [00:10:45]:

It was never. It was 0. Like, I had to find, you know, I think I participated as a speaker maybe in two two events prior to hosting my own. Right? And I had to You know, like, I didn’t know where to find them. And, I just happened to be lucky enough to find, you know, the one that I was part of, but I was never asked.

Jennie Wright [00:11:12]:

And now?

Julie C Butler [00:11:13]:

I don’t remember everything except for maybe one that I did participate in. But after hosting my first summit, It was instant. I was starting to get invitations to be a speaker in people’s summits on being a guest on podcasts. And now I’m going you know, now I’ve hosted a second summit, and I’m about to host my second and, you know, at the time of this recording in this in 2 months. but now it’s almost it’s almost sometimes daily, but for sure, weekly. Absolutely. And so now I have to picky and choosy, and sometimes you have to say no. Right? Otherwise, I’d be promoting summits and bundles every day of the of the week and not promoting my own stuff.

Jennie Wright [00:11:54]:

Mhmm. And there’s so there’s a lot of positives that came from you hosting the summit. We’ve talked about that quite a bit right now. Let’s talk about a couple of the challenges that sort of surfaced while you were running or while you were preparing to run your summit because every journey of list building and lead generation and even launching comes with its own set of challenges. So What are some of the hurdles that you encountered or that you faced while planning and executing this event?

Julie C Butler [00:12:21]:

So the first summit that I hosted and, you know, you were part of the journey. I did it in a very short period of time, and I was just starting. I I, like, I onboarded a VA for the first time at that time when I was building my first summit, but I did a lot of the work myself. Yeah. Apparently because I’m an nerd, and I love building website pages and things like that. And I wrote my own copy as well. So that was a lot. And it I guess because we did it in such a short period of time, I overextended myself and I I got stressed. I I had anxiety, and I was not, like, full blown anxiety. I was just like, you know, I was feeling the pressure I was, you know, stressed out. I did get a cold, you know, like, a week before my summit.

Jennie Wright [00:13:11]:

I could’ve told you that was gonna happen.

Julie C Butler [00:13:14]:

I know. You always you have to put the self care into that. so but, you know, I just remembered to breathe, and and and I knew that you learned from these experiences. Right? And I knew that the second time around, I would plan it way ahead of time. I would give my I will allow myself more time and obviously, give more tasks to my amazing VA, to so that I’m not, you know, pulling in, so much of the work because, like, You know, like, whether you want it or not or like it or not, you you’re hosting a summit. You’re doing the work, but we also have to you know, take care of the rest of our business as well. Right? Like — Absolutely.

 

Julie C Butler [00:13:54]:

business still goes on and summit. You know? goes on. So, I mean, that was one of the things that, you know, came about in terms of challenging. So, definitely, we wanna give yourself, allow yourself enough time to plan the whole, you know, everything, especially if it’s the first time you’re doing it. Right? Like, I’m on summit number 3 now, and I’ve chosen to keep the same theme and the same, you know, kind of like, so I just basically rinse and repeat. I just changed the speakers. And so that means it gets

Jennie Wright [00:14:25]:

— So why wouldn’t you?

Julie C Butler [00:14:28]:

Exactly. Don’t fix something if it’s not broken. Right? Yep. so and and, you know, like, normal little things, you know, like, you know, people say they want to be a speaker, but then they ghost you and stuff like that. I mean, I think that’s happens in anything that we do. but I don’t like I’m a very positive person, Jenny, and so I always expect the best. And and I, you know, I attract sometimes the best. And so I always remain positive, and I let go. I don’t hold on to things, and I don’t, you know, of course, I have high expectations because that’s who I am. And but at the same time, I don’t overthink it. I’m like, you know, when I went into my first summit, it was kinda like, this is gonna awesome. Right? Like, that was my mindset, and it was. Right? So that’s how I go into anything. And even when I’m launching my own program, it’s like, this is gonna be awesome. And, you know, even if zero people join and even even if zero people joined, it doesn’t matter. It’s like, okay. When when can I do it the next time? And it’s gonna be awesome. Right? So So I guess maybe that helps me, right, like, overcome the hurdles that sometimes aren’t so magnetized because I’m positive person in that sense?

Jennie Wright [00:15:45]:

Your positivity is very infectious. I will say that. and it it’s definitely something that people have said to me about you and how much they just, you know, they just find it pleasant to be around you and stuff like that, which I think is great. Did you find it useful? So you and I were able to work on your 1st summit together. You’ve done your second and you’re working on your 3rd solo. Did you find it beneficial for that 1st summit? And I know that for a lot of it, you did your own work because you are quite technically geeky and awesome that way. Did you find it useful to have somebody like me in your corner for that 1st summit? Can you see the benefit of working with a producer? 1000

Julie C Butler [00:16:27]:

percents. Like, 1st of all, accountability. And secondly, I didn’t know what I was doing. So I kind of would have, you know, like, missed a lot of things. I wouldn’t have known what to do, how to do it, the timeline for 1. Right? Like, I mean, we work together, and we did it in a 3 month period, which was, you know, We got to the finish line because I’m a doer, but I don’t know that I could have done it without you. Like, if, you know, like, if if I didn’t you to help me along the way, I probably wouldn’t have had, first of all, met the timeline. Right? Like, I you know, when you don’t have accountability sometimes, it you you kind of like, you you prolong it way more than you need to. Right? And you’re like, oh, yes. I’ll get to it. I’ll do it then, or I’ll get to it. you know, like, you provided me with so much, first of all, expertise because you’ve hosted, what, 350 summits now, like, maybe more. Yeah. Right? ish. So so so you’re the expert. And so I trusted you to guide me along the way. And, well, hell, we had like, hey. We had, like, weekly calls so that, you know, you could guide me along the way. Keep me accountable. And, of course, I had you know, voxer, voxer access or or email access to you with any time I had questions, but definitely, I I would have been blind leading the blind. I wouldn’t have known, what to do, how to do, what order to do, and all of you know, because there’s a lot that goes into putting a summit together. And so, def 1, like, 1,000,000 Absolutely. It was so even if I did know, like, you know, like, the base or the guideline or having that someone Hold your hand, but not really hold your hand because I did I did the work, but it’s it’s so much more fun to do it with someone too at the same time. Right?

Jennie Wright [00:18:28]:

Absolutely. And you did such a good job. And I know for your upcomings like your pass summit that you did and this next one coming up, you’ve given yourself lot of time to plan, which I am so thankful for. And it’s some it’s probably even more enjoyable as a result to not have it be cramped into this 3 month period. I know you’ve extended it out quite a bit, and you had to take into the consideration that you were moving from Canada to Costa Rica. And so you really did have to plan that out, but I’m so glad you gave yourself this space to to really plan it out for the next one. It seems to be working for you.

Julie C Butler [00:19:02]:

Yes. I love. You know, I give myself actually, I give my gang, I think I gave myself 6 months. And, like, after the first summit, I was, like, back in to summit planning mode. partly because I love it. I think that I I didn’t know this about myself, but I think that I realized that I’m an organizer and a planner And I love organizing stuff like this. And so I was happy and excited to jump right back into organizing the next one. So and I love having the time to do it in. Right? Like, because you can space out the tasks really, really well, but not just that. My VA is not stuck doing everything in 1 month. Right? And that’s what happened. that time. Like, we were, like, rushing and and, oh my god. Like, is this done? Is that done? Is this done? Now we have so much time. There’s no pressure Right? Like, we have, like, 2 months to to prepare, you know, the artwork and the the the the back ends, the back end post production, not post production, but the back end production work that needs to happen for a summit. Right? Like, now there’s it’s not a big rush to get everything done in, like, you know, and and I have about roughly 40 speakers in my summit. So That’s a lot of artwork, and that’s a lot of, like, you know

Jennie Wright [00:20:22]:

— Planning and organization. And — Yep. You

Julie C Butler [00:20:25]:

know, exactly. And and, you know, you wanna introduce the speakers and you wanna introduce, you know, put all of their links and, you know, all the the all the stuff that needs to happen in the back end. It’s no fun if you’ve gotta do that in, like, a short period of time. So when you have the time, you can breathe, and you just have a lot of balance.

Jennie Wright [00:20:45]:

If you were to talk to somebody who’s sitting on the fence about hosting an online event like a summit, what would you give them in your most Julie esque wisdom?

Julie C Butler [00:20:58]:

Well, you know me and my positivity. Exactly. But, hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m human, so I I have my moments, but, I would definitely you know what? Like, what do you have to lose? Right? And if If having like me, I I I went all in and I went even 40 speakers the first time. But if that seems overwhelming, just choose a smaller amount of speakers. Maybe 20 or 25 speakers is more attainable for you, but I say It’s so rewarding and so fulfilling, and it will grow your business, leaps, and bounds from, like, from where you are now to maybe even where you want to be, a summit is is one of the things that can propel your business to that next level for you. So I say just go for it. Just jump in with your 2 feet. We have nothing to lose. Just go for it.

Jennie Wright [00:21:56]:

Absolutely. And that’s one of the things that I love about your positivity, and I think that would be a really great thing to say. People who are listening and thinking about running their own online event. There’s a lot of worry about the work or the level of work and things like that. And there is work. Julie can attest to that. However — Yes.

Julie C Butler [00:22:15]:

There is a lot of work.

Jennie Wright [00:22:17]:

There is a lot of work, but —

Julie C Butler [00:22:18]:

Like, anything in our business.

Jennie Wright [00:22:20]:

Yeah. Absolutely. And but if it’s worth it to put in the level of organization and understanding of what the benefits could be, And this is why I just love this version of an online event. This is why I’ve done so many, and I think it’s so important to talk about. And I really appreciate you diving it and giving us sort of a back end view of what that was like for you and sort of the thoughts and feelings around building that out. So really appreciate all of that time and effort that you just gave us to share all of that with us. I appreciate it.

Julie C Butler [00:22:47]:

So welcome.

Jennie Wright [00:22:48]:

Absolutely.

Julie C Butler [00:22:48]:

You’re so welcome. I always love chatting summits with you.

Jennie Wright [00:22:52]:

Me too. We’ve done this a few times, and I was so excited to bring you on for the acquired podcast to have us, have this discussion again. And our listeners, I’m sure, will benefit from it as well. So, Julie, people are probably wondering where they can connect with you, learn more about your mission, where can they find you online?

Julie C Butler [00:23:12]:

Awesome. Well, it’s easy. So all you have to remember is juliecbutler.com. That’s my my home my where I reside online, and I’m also on Facebook and Instagram. So, Julie C Butler, you can find me as well. yeah, so that’s where you can find me and kind of see if you you wanna connect and and jam with me.

Jennie Wright [00:23:37]:

And I think people should jam with you. I think you’re fantastic that way. And I just I’m glad that we had this opportunity to have the conversation here on you know, the acquired podcast in terms of what benefits list building and lead generation can do to elevate your business, take somebody who had a dream of moving to Costa Rica and getting their whole family van there and being able to do that in a span of, like, a year and a half. I know I know you had those plans in place before. But I feel like the summit was something that propelled it more quickly to make it more of a, you know, more of an actuality, have something happening more quickly. And I’m glad that that was that was part of it. So I just wanna say thank you so much for being part of this episode and sharing so much detail. And for everybody listening, make sure you do subscribe to the podcast and Find all the information that Julie and I just talked about on the show notes, you’ll find that on oddfonic.com. That is the Audphonic Podcast Network. where this podcast and others are. So go and check that out. You can read all the show notes and get in touch with Julie there. Thanks so much. We’ll see you soon.

 

Julie C Butler [00:24:40]:

Thank you so much, Jenny.