Meet Shelby Jo Long | Professor & Business Strategist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shelby Jo Long and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shelby Jo, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The intention of my business is to integrate my experience and expertise in a different platform and with a new audience. With the opportunities that we have to connect with people all over the world, I yearned to reach a different audience with my expertise. I am a professor of Business Communication and I had been teaching students to think critically about organizational challenges. I was ready to make the leap into helping businesses solve challenges they may have in their operations.

The method I developed, the Expertise Project, walks you through the steps of transforming your expertise or published book into a program to serve as the foundation for you to serve more people in less time.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I help businesses and individuals develop programs or courses to help grow the influence of their brand and create additional streams of income with their expertise. I love transforming unique ideas & approaches that experts have developed in their lines of work into a program or course so they can reach a larger audience. The expert then becomes a coach to help others walk the same path they have to create more freedom and ease in their life or career. This creates a scalable product and elevates your brand.

Even though this program development process is second nature to me, it took some frustration and time to discover how to monetize and market this product. My time as a Professor of Communication and Intercollegiate Debate coach of 15 years gave me background and expertise, but transitioning the mode of delivery was the biggest challenge, Particularly in a world where technology changes so fast and everything moved online. The communication and advocacy backdrop give me a unique perspective in how a business communicates their message to their audience.

My brand is all about delivering messages to different audiences in a new format to add depth and credibility to your business. That has everything to do with how you communicate the value proposition to the customers that are a match for your product or service. Adaptation to your audience, confidence in your process, and a great business network help you move forward.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Billings, Montana and there are a lot of things to do here. I love getting out of town and visiting the local ski hill at Red Lodge, traveling the Beartooth Pass into Yellowstone National Park and just spending some time in the Beartooth mountains. Enjoy the wide open spaces of Montana and meet some great people.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband Tony and my two children Ava & Emmett. They have been with me through the first challenging years in the entrepreneurship journey.

Website: http://shelbyjolongcoaching.com

Instagram: sjlh2016

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelby-jo-long-9a7b0620/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/longsj

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP11n3EnusWv3t7h8hZmt6A

Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCpveRJ2yG0&t=27s

Image Credits
Jill Nauman 406 Memories: Nico Cordero