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Episode 1 Transcript

Pam (00:20): Are you a lady boss making 50 to a hundred thousand in your business, and you’re ready to break through that six figure barrier.

Jane (00:27): Have you done a great job of creating a nice life as the ultimate gig masker, but your inner CEO is calling you to greater Heights. Well, you’re in the right place if you want to create and implement solid fundamentals in your business without sacrificing fun.

Pam (00:42): I’m Pam Ivey. I’m certified in small business management and I concentrate in the areas of online courses, training, and marketing.

Jane (00:52): And I am Jane Garee, known as the sales strategist for the non-salesperson. I work with successful growth oriented business owners, so they can hear slightly less “I can’t afford it” or “I’ll have to think about it” in their strategy sessions and consultations, and start hearing more “How do we get started?” Hey Pam.

Pam (01:11): Hey Jane, how are you doing?

Jane (01:13): I’m doing great. How about you?

Pam (01:15): Excellent. I’m so excited that this is our inaugural episode, so we’re totally going to be making mistakes and that’s okay. I think the really cool thing is we got started.

Jane (01:27): It is the really cool thing that we got started. And yes, I loved our little preamble there where we were kind of ingest going unique, New York, the rain in spade, you know, warming up our voices. I’ve got the coffee, which you’re never supposed to drink because it’s got cream. And then I also have water, but it’s sparkling, which you never really should drink when you’re speaking because of the fizz, you know, it might go up your nose and…

Pam (01:54): Well, that’s it for me. Cause you know, I’m like totally addicted to diet Coke, but you know, I really wanted to let the listeners know why we’ve created Flourish and Grow to CEO.

So we see so many women struggling to create consistent income in their business, and many are running it like a hobby. And I know you like to say gig masters, and I wonder if you could just explain that to our listeners gig master.

Jane (02:19): So, this really hit me a while ago when it came to my own business, because what I had discovered is that I had done an amazingly great job of creating a business that was really back to back to back to back to back gigs. What I mean by that is I have, and I’ve had for a while, I have income, I have consistent income. I have really nice, consistent income. And I’ve created this for myself that I happen to adore. It allows me to go do the things that I want to do and have the things that I want to have and serve the people that I want to serve and et cetera, et cetera. However, what I really noticed when I started working with one of my mentors and  new coach was that my business was this back to back to back to back to back gig.

So, I would get business. I would serve those clients. I would get that income and I would rinse and repeat. When I started looking at things more strategically, specifically through a lens of financial strategy, I realized, Holy guacamole, I am not running my business like a CEO. I am not making financial decisions through a big picture or to support the bigger vision. Really what I’ve done. A great job of doing is getting clients, serving them really well, delivering excellence. So they have the results they want. They pay me. And I go do that again. So a good master does not make a business. So I kind of defined gig master as you’re in a great position, you’ve got money coming in. You’re not worried about paying the bills. You’ve created a nice life and you have clients and you know how to get clients, but there’s really, it’s like a quilt.

There’s no central theme. There’s no overarching premise there where I do this business for this reason, with these projections, with this concept for, so I get these results. The results were actually just to continue to make money, not a bad thing, but that’s actually not a complex and comprehensive strategy. So gig master is for anyone. If you’re hearing, if you’re listening to us right now, you might feel like you’re a gig master sort of, you know, you’re a gig master right? Remember that old Jeff Foxworthy thing. Master, if you get up and hustle with heart every day, you go figure out how to get clients. You do a great job. You land them, you serve them, you get paid and then that’s your formula. And you go do that. You also are probably a gig master. If you’re wondering, do I have reserves in my business bank account? Can I use those reserves? Why? And when do I want to use those reserves? That would be a tell that you’re a gig master. Another way to tell if you’re a gig master is when you look at a one year, two year or certainly anything further out plan. There’s really no plan other than let me make sure I keep getting clients, let me make sure I keep making money.

Pam (05:08): So it’s definitely a time for money thing, right? Trading your time for money. And you’re continually having to get new clients continually.

Jane (05:19): Yeah. So any business is going to have to continually get new clients, but there’s a big difference, but the strategy of a business and how we’re going to get clients, retain clients, create sustainable growth. And what are we going to do today for, for income.

Pam (05:35): Exactly. It’s just, it definitely can lead to the feast and famine thing because if you don’t have your next client, then the money isn’t coming in. Right. So that’s really,

Jane (05:47): And if you don’t have systems and processes put in place, that’s also another big sign that you’re a gig master. Yeah.

Pam (05:55): And we are huge on the fundamentals. We mentioned, you know, in the intro there that we’re big on the foundations of business because oftentimes we start up a business and money is the end goal. We’re trying to get away from a boss. I mean, there’s a million reasons why we start a business, but money’s the end goal. So we’re busy working in the business to create that money. And we’re not setting up any structure in order for us to get past that feast or famine gate master kind of scenario.

Jane (06:32): Right. And that’s what happens. And I know you and I have talked about this before, where people become a business owner sometimes out of necessity. Certainly this year in 2020, I lost my job. What am I going to do? Sometimes it’s out of desire. I really want to be my own boss. Let me go ahead and get this thing started. So the natural inclination is to put a hundred percent of the focus on revenue generation, otherwise known as the income, the money coming into paying the bills. So there’s a heavy focus on how do I make money or how do I generate revenue rather than implementing foundations that will create a business and create a system that you can rely on. And that will last. And then of course allow for scalability and growth.

Pam (07:16): So, something that’s really interesting, Jane that you talked about with me that I thought, Oh my God, other people really need to hear this. When we talked about sustainability and growth, you talked about decorating a house or something like that. Could you explain that? Because that was like light bulbs went off for me.

Jane (07:33): Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I’ve been 10 years in the code 25 in sales, like through bonafide sales, I’ve really never had a job that didn’t have sales production in it. So the context of that is this. When I would go contractually to work for some of my clients, one of my jobs was to enroll people into a program that was a good fit for them, where they would get the results that they wanted. And we had pre strategy sessions where the people would come up and they would ask questions and look for answers over the course of the next three days. They were attending this live event. So they were in a live event for two or three days. They were allowed to come and have a strategy session with me. The purpose of the strategy session was for them to ask a specific question so I could give them guidance and support around that question.

And then of course let them know that that would probably be addressed, which it almost always was in that event and wanted them to be in the room at this time to listen to this specific thing. So what I noticed and what I encountered over and over again is that the questions were not good. And in sales, I always train the salespeople that the quality of the answers of any question is dependent upon the quality of the question. So what was happening is I had business owners come up to me and they had 20 minutes with me and I’d say, okay, what is your most pressing challenge? And let’s see what we can do to make sure that we get some kind of strategy and plan, or I can give you advice around that. And I was getting questions like this. Should I post on Tuesdays or Thursdays?

How many people should my Facebook group be? Should I enroll people into a six week or two, a six month program? Those aren’t bad questions in and of themselves, but they’re not the best question. And here’s why when I would then ask back, well, who is your ideal client? I would get something like women over 40, who are stuck or working women who need childcare. That’s not enough of a description of an ideal client, or I would say, what, what kind of annual revenue are you wanting to create and how do you want to deliver it? And they would just kind of be there during the headlights look. So I started using the analogy of a house. If you think about building a house, what’s the fun part for most people, the decorations I’m going to get in there. Do I want, what floors do I want?

Tile? What kind of paint? They really start going in visually before the house is completed. And in their mind, they’re spending money or money either literally or not quite yet, but they’re spending money. And they’re thinking about the decorations and they spend a lot of time thinking about how the interior of the home is going to look, but what has to happen, or you will not have an interior of any home is the plan for the exterior. And it’s not just the plan for the exterior. You want to call it back even further. Where do you want to live? Do you want to live in the mountains? Do you wanna live on the beach? Do you want a 10,000 square foot home? Do you want a thousand square foot home? What kind of lifestyle do you want? What kind of material do you want?

What is this house supposed to be so that it supports you in your vision of living. And so the analogy there is, don’t worry about what color your toilets are going to be or what floor material you’re going to have when you don’t have the architectural plan. When you don’t even know where you’re going to live. And when you certainly don’t have anything that’s truly nuts and bolts in that instance materials, that’s going to support you. That is the foundation. It’s building the home with an architect. The interior decorating comes later. If you flip it and you do the interior decorating first, you’re in a whole heap of trouble. And so that’s what I see people do over and over in business is they ask questions. That really don’t matter in the moment because it doesn’t matter if you’re posting on a Tuesday or Thursday, if you can’t clearly define your ideal client and the problem in the language that they would use and a solution that’s compelling and has resonance with your language. So post whatever, cause you don’t really have anything to post. So the quality of the answers, which will determine the sustainability of your business is always dependent upon the quality of the questions you ask. Well, that’s really interesting because as gig masters or, you know,

Pam (11:54): And we work from project to project client to client, when we’re trying to grab those new clients or attract those new clients, we’re jumping into tactics right away. So that’s exactly what you’re talking about. And you and I have kind of defined it as we have a dream like you were talking about, where would you like to live on the beach or in New York city or something like that. Then you create your vision around it. Then you create the strategy, then comes the tactics. So see how we’re jumping into the tactics right away. If I go on social media, maybe I’ll attract clients. If I do send out emails, if I do a podcast and you’re scattered all over the place without any kind of vision and strategy of what you’re trying to achieve. So after the tactics, then we implement. And then of course we measure to see if what we’re doing is actually bearing fruit. If it’s being successful for us. And then we can course correct. So I love that analogy of decorating the house before you’ve really got your foundation built. It’s all out of order. It’s upside down.

Jane (13:14): Yeah. It’s out of order. It’s upside down and out of order, we can talk about this on a future podcast, actually out of order, it wreaks a lot of havoc and people can’t tell until they’re well past it. But when the dream has to come first, the vision supports the dream. The strategy supports the vision, the tactics support the strategy and then the implementation and measurement are applied to the tactics. So it’s not just a good intention of, I need to make money, but it actually creates a plan that you can implement and measure because that’s, that’s really how results happen and you can tweak from there. And when all of that is out of whack and out of order, you spend unnecessary money, you spend unnecessary time, you get unnecessarily frustrated. So the strategy is so key. And of course the strategy has to support your vision, which should ultimately really support the dream. And I wish somebody would have laid all of this out for me 10 years ago when I went into the coaching industry and into my own business, I’ve been on a hundred percent commission for years as a self-employed, but it was always contracted through other people. But when I started my own business, I had to learn all this the hard way. And I know you did too, which is one of the reasons why we’re really talking about this better going to plan now than to find out later that you needed one.

Pam  (14:35): So, keeping along those lines, the things that we really focus on are the foundations of a business. Because if you don’t have those in place, you’re going to continue to be a gig master. Our focus is on inner game and that’s the mindset it’s vital to your success, vision and strategy branding and messaging, marketing sales, and operations.

Jane (15:05): Yeah, I know when you and I sat down, we said, what does it really take to create a successful business? What does it really take to not only hit the six figure Mark, but make sure that you’re generating that kind of income consistently. That’s the key, right? Consistently pulling your hair out and going crazy over everything. And they’re really six pillars, which is what you were just talking about. Pillars, foundational steps, whatever you want to call them. But those six things when they’re put into place and when they’re interconnected with intention, that’s really what creates a successful business.

Pam  (15:42): Yeah, that’s the key it’s seeing how they all interconnect for sure that I think, you know, laying that foundation that takes us from kind of the dabbler, the gig master or the hobbyist as you and I talked about earlier into the CEO, really running a company that sustainable, that can grow, that you can actually employ other people. And I don’t necessarily mean as an employee, but you can contract with other people. You can build a team so they can support you. So you can really focus on the stuff that is juicy to you. That really makes you excited and jump out of bed every morning.

Jane (16:25): There’s so much joy in that. And I was, I was even thinking about this a little bit earlier on this week is there are a lot of different reasons to start a business and to keep it successful. And it, it has to start at home. You need your own paycheck and you should be doing what you love doing. And life should be more fun than not. And you should, but really from there, there’s an opportunity to provide work for other people, to provide employment opportunities for other people to make the world a better place to serve in a different capacity, in a bigger capacity, with greater impact. So starting with your, your primary reason for this is for me, because I need it. There’s nothing wrong with that. That has to happen. In fact, I’d say don’t have that kind of drive for yourself. Then it’s going to be a really rough road. So go in with this as for me, and this is why I want it to happen. But then pretty quickly as you start to build something, you can actually start to see the potential of what this might do for other people or for the community at large. And I think that’s such a reward of being a business owner.

Pam  (17:27): Oh, big time. I definitely want to make a difference in the world. And so many people that I talk to, they’re not just in it for the money. They do want to leave their legacy, make a difference. It’s bigger than us, right?

Jane (17:41): It’s bigger than us. Yeah. It’s bigger than us. It’s really changing the world one person at a time. Isn’t that the truth?

Pam (17:50):

Well, okay. I think that is a great place to stop for our first episode of Flourish and Grow to CEO. But I wanted to ask you, are you really ready to take your business to the next level, take our quiz and find out@flourish.biz. That’s F L O U R I S H.biz.

Pam (18:16): Well, that’s a wrap for our inaugural issue of flourish and grow to CEO. If you liked the show, be sure to subscribe where you downloaded this episode so you don’t miss any of our upcoming conversations around growing from solopreneur to CEO.