TCC Podcast #186: Creating a Successful Summit with Betsy Muse and Greta Cate

In the 186th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, Kira and Rob talk with two ambitious copywriters who recently launched the first of many Women Led Summits. Their first summit included 45 different speakers, helped them grow their email list and actually made money. We wanted to know how they did it, so we invited Great Cate and Betsy Muse to the studio to chat. Here's what we covered: •  how Betsy and Greta became business partners •  the paths they both took to becoming copywriters •  the original vision for the women-led summit and how it came together •  what does it take to create a summit today •  all the moving pieces for producing a summit… time, editing, interviews, etc. •  how Betsy and Greta made it all work •  their favorite take aways from the 45 speakers who participated •  the impact the summit had on their list and bottom line •  the real goal of their summit (it wasn’t really about the money) •  how they promoted their summit—the promotion plan •  their advice to anyone considering creating their own summit •  how they make their partnership work—the benefit of partners •  what the future looks like for both Betsy and Greta •  how they’ve dealt with mindset issues (like introversion) as they’ve grown If you've ever considered creating a summit for your niche, you'll want to make sure to listen to this episode, which you can do when you click the play button below. Or scroll down for a full transcript.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Joanna Wiebe App Sumo WomenLedSummits.com HeySummit The Copywriter Club In Real Life Betsy’s Website Greta’s Website Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Rob:   This episode is brought to you by The Copywriter Accelerator, 12-week program for copywriters who want to learn the business skills they need to succeed as copywriters. Learn more at thecopywriteraccelerator.com. Kira:   What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts, ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits, then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That's what Rob and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast. Rob:   You're invited to join the club for episode 186 as we chat with two copywriters, Betsy Muse and Greta Cate, about forming a business partnership with another copywriter, running a summit and their advice for anyone who wants to do one, their biggest struggles in business and what comes next. Kira:   Betsy and Greta, welcome. Rob:   Hi guys. Betsy Muse:   Thank you. It's great being here. Thanks for having us. Kira:   We're excited to have both of you. It's a little party today with the four of us. We were both recently a part of your summit that you ran a couple months ago now, your first ever Women-Led Summit. So I know we're going to dig into that today and talk about summits which are quite popular right now in the COVID-19 landscape. Lots of summits are popping up. But why don't we start with your story. How did you two end up as business partners? Betsy Muse:   Well, it's a really a funny story. Greta and I met in Joanna Wiebe's 10x Freelance Copywriter and bonded over a shared love for AppSumo lifetime deals. Greta Cate:   Yeah. Betsy Muse:   Greta invited me for coffee. I thought, "Hey, great. She lives in North Carolina somewhere, and so we'll just meet halfway in between." Now, Greta lives in Corpus Christi, Texas. We weren't quite meeting in person. And then a week after our virtual coffee, we started an accountability group in 10x Freelance Copywriter. That group is still active today. Greta Cate:   Yeah. We had right off the bat realized that we had some shared values and were interested in making and having the same kind of impact. Back to AppSumo, they have this summit deal and we were talking about that and Betsy said, "Let's do a summit. Let's do it." So it was born. We weren't putting our heads together and trying to come up with a business that we could run together. It wasn't that kind of situation. It all happened very organically. We just jumped in. Rob:   I know we're mostly going to talk about the partnership that you two have and the summits and the things that you're doing together. But I actually want to take a step back and ask you both how did you get into copywriting in the first place? What was the thing that made you choose to be a copywriter so that you would have joined a mastermind and then met each other? Greta, maybe you could start and then Betsy. Greta Cate:   Sure, sure. I fell in love with writing as soon as I fell in love with stories when I was a child and I sort of never looked back. I come from ghostwriting previous to marketing. I was doing ghostwriting for speeches, presentations, and articles. I have a great love of psychology. I was raised by an educator and a psychologist, so how people learn and why and how they decide to do what they do is kind of a lifelong family conversation that I've extended into a career. So then I found direct response, which was super interesting to me. It didn't fit like it was tailor made for me. And then I found conversion copy and that fit for me and I've been doing that ever since. Betsy? How about you? Betsy Muse:   I have a degree in journalism and have always, like Greta, always wanted to be a writer and have enjoyed learning about and understanding what motivates people to act and do what they do. But I come from the world of political writing. That started before we were online, direct mail pieces, speeches, and then of course once we came online, websites. It was being online I found Joanna Wiebe and that's it, end of story. Kira:   What was the original vision for Women-Led Summits when the idea was coming together in your accountability group and you both had that moment where you're like, "This is it, this is what we want to create together?" Betsy Muse:   I'd love to say we had some masterful plan and process that generated the idea but, as Greta said before, it was very organic. It was a lot of little things that came together at just the right time. What it really boils down to is Greta and I share a desire to help women and to lift up the voices that often go unheard because we live in such a male-dominant society. I'm not pointing fingers, I'm just stating a reality. Kira:   And then once you have that vision that's, in some ways it's the easy part is seeing the vision. You're excited about it, but where most people drop off is actually executing it and bringing it to life. What did you do to get this idea launched into the world and to take those first few steps that are the most critical? What did you do and what did that look like at the time? Greta Cate:   Betsy pushed us off a cliff. Kira:   Yeah. That helps. Betsy Muse:   Childbirth is easier. Yeah, really just jumping, just doing it. It was so great to have someone to do it with and to bounce things off of. I would not have wanted to do this alone. We just had late-night conversations, right, Greta? Greta Cate:   So many, so many. Betsy Muse:   Many, many late-night conversations. We were somewhat flying blind because neither of us had ever worked on a summit before, let alone run one. But there was a little bit of information out there. The summit software that we were able to use offered some guidance too. So we combined that with our marketing no-how and did the best we could. Rob:   So let's dive into the details on that because I'm curious. Maybe I'd like to do a summit someday. What does it really take? How did you find participants? What does the software look like and do? What do we need to know before we jump into something like a summit on our own? Betsy Muse:   I think the important thing is to know what software is out there that can help take some of the tasks off your plate. A product like HeySummit, which is the one that we use, already has some of the landing page structures and the cart and other things, the speaker structure, so that you really only have to plug things in. That's going to be a whole lot easier than creating something on your own, pulling together a variety of third party products. Greta, any thoughts on the software and hardware? Greta Cate:   Yeah. Make it as easy on yourself as possible, particularly if it's your first go-around. You can always iterate. Know that things are going to happen. Not everything's going to go smoothly all the time. That's really just part of it. Rob:   And then how did you guys decide who you were going to ask? How did the invites go out? What percentage of people accepted your invite to participate? Betsy Muse:   Y'all already know the community that has built up around The Copywriter Club, 10x Freelance Copywriter and Copy School. We had amazing response. Greta Cate:   Yes, incredible. It bowled us over, the response that we got. It was absolutely incredible. We had so much support, encouragement, and participation. It was a real testament to the power of community. Betsy Muse:   It really was. Like Greta said, we were so supported by our friends in these communities, but also by people who had no idea who we were. Rob, got to give a shout out to you. Women-Led Summits is women-led but not women only. I don't usually speak for Greta, but I think I can say this for both of us that we were incredibly grateful for the fact that you supported us and spoke at the summit. Rob:   Well, of course. Yeah. For sure. Kira:   Let's break it down a little bit more into ... It sounds like you had this great community support. We were both excited to be a part of it. I think that was the general feel is we were all excited because many of us did know you and we wanted to be a part of it. Beyond that, it sounds like step one, figure out the software.