Latest / The DM Sales Gal: Close Sales in DMs with Instagram Stories, Lead Generation & High-Ticket Sales Strategies / Breakdown of My Highest Sales Month EVER: $69K in Sales, $24.5K Cash | Ep 18

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Breakdown of My Highest Sales Month EVER: $69K in Sales, $24.5K Cash | Ep 18 · The DM Sales Gal: Close Sales in DMs with Instagram Stories, Lead Generation & High-Ticket Sales Strategies

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: If your Instant Sorry and your Instant DMs are free at 15K or 153, and you're not exactly at the sales point for this order, I've got 50k sales for sales cap.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've been in business for 11 years, and I currently run a dump for you regeneration and feed with Instagram DM.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I would have to show you guys all the juicy sales things on Instagram, Instagram stories to get tweets, quoting sales in the DM sales sales calls.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get into all of the juicy details.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, welcome back to the DM Sales Cal.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like it's been weeks and months and years since I've recorded a podcast.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's been at least two weeks, but our awesome podcast manager and some of my guests have filled us in with new content.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm super excited to come back and do one of my favorite things, which is behind the scenes of July sales.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it was my highest month ever.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's worth noting too that it's my highest month ever of the last like years of being sober.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm obviously a different person and a different business owner now that I am sober.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that really like you know filters in to why it's my highest month at this amount so far is because I wasn't sober before this.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm sitting here behind the computer waiting uh to finish this podcast, answer some DMs, and then my husband and I are gonna go on a hike if the Denver weather can decide on a every 10-minute mark if it's going to rain or not, but super excited for that.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: July and June and May, for three, almost three and a half months since we moved from Louisville, Kentucky to Denver, Colorado have been oh fuck truly like big sigh.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um some of the busiest, flabbergastingly pulled in different freaking directions, most rewarding, most learning, most emotional collapse, pull myself up, make a comeback every week.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's been absolutely wild, and it's just so much learning by doing and doing well and fucking up and fixing it and learning and then doing it all again.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna go into behind the scenes of a 69k July sales month and a 24,500 July cash month.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was literally sitting around like, how the fuck did I make this much money?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Which is just probably what you all are thinking.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: And no, I'm not kidding.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm tired.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, where the fuck did all this money come from?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Which is great, right?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then I pulled up my lead tracker to see where it all originated, and I pulled up our incredibly, incredibly thorough uh cash and payments and commission and growth tracker.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's like 12 pages that our operations manager did to see where the leads came from, why they signed, and then what the total payouts were and make sure I had all the numbers right, and I do have all the numbers right.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to do a breakdown and try to be pretty succinct.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna do a breakdown of behind the scenes of July, both sales and cash.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna talk more about cash, but the sales are pretty obvious.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody who is contributing to us making these sales are done for you weeds clients.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's that offer.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was a three-month retainer for$1,500 a month plus 15% commission.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's a six-month retainer at$1,500 a month with 15% commission.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, any of the numbers that come in through cash, just imagine you do three times them.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Some of these are like smaller projects, or you know, some of it is like a couple of retainer payments coming in, etc.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let me get into the details.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: And also, there are gonna be some notes in here on shit that I'm still working through of like, I guess we could be cute and call it July fails, but or lessons.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: That seems a little, I don't know, generic.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Forgive me, guys.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's like 6.20 p.m.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: and I've worked way too long today.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: But next week, next week we have a client experience manager.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Next week is like the bright, bright, bright horizon.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone who is scaling or has been scaling, and you have to fucking have the next person as soon as you possibly can, like after going through the hiring process, which has to take the time that it takes, you know what I'm talking about.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right, um, which actually is a whole nother collaboration I'm gonna do with a colleague of mine named Jessica O'Kain.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to do a workshop in September about how the fuck do you scale and not lose your mind and still provide like a very, really valuable client experience, etc., etc.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I have that coming in September.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: I also am speaking at a summit online in September called Creative Growth Summit.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then October I'm gonna be a part of a virtual retreat with my creative director, Emily Hester.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's like probably the fucking coolest thing I've ever heard of.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I can't even tell you all the details.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: She's just like so good at world building.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: You basically are gonna be invited into like a haunted house for your business.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, just think, try to think of what the fuck I could be talking about.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's so crazy.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's get into behind the scenes of July.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: 24,500 cash.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's my highest cash month ever, and then 69,000 in sales.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to know the caveat that I have had a fucking crazy May, June, and then July.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, like literally May 1st, we moved across the country, like packed all of our shit in our cat in our car, drove from Louisville, Kentucky, very happily to leave, like just not be there, like leave Kentucky, like goodbye, you know, goodbye.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: So very happy that we left there.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, May, June, July were really crazy.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I say that for the sake of scaling, because the like simplest question I get all the time.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, of course, you guys know it will have to do with sales.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: How do you make sales?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: How do you make DM sales?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get DMs coming in from your Instagram stories?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get so many sales?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: But if you go back to where I am now, which is like thinking three months, six months, one year into the future of like big picture, call it fucking visionary, but like, where is the business going?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think about where it's going for the next two quarters, probably every like every second or third day, right?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: So if we actually scale this back, not to like, how do you make money?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've mastered that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to this, you're aware that I've mastered that.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's frank.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's how it is.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I have for a long, long time.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just about that.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's about how do you make money, keep the money, as you have to scale, stabilize.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing hand gestures, even though you all clearly cannot see me.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Scaling up with your hand going up like a rocket ship and then stabilizing, going to the left like a table.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's been my May, June, July.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So May, we were still scaling in the midst of a move.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: It was fucking insane.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, like, you know, in some extent, it's it's a train.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: What are most people gonna do when the leads and the sales keep coming?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like, and I was booking them out in advance.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like I took 10 clients at the same time.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't taken more than two clients each week for the whole year.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you need to know the context too.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: We've we've been taking new clients.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was every Monday, now it's every Tuesday.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: There has rarely been since like mid-January when I came back to work, there's rarely been a month where we've taken less than four to six.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Last month, I think, was the most I've ever taken.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: We took seven new clients, signed them, but they could be starting in July or later.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: No, for these ones, most of them sign to start in July.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it was crazy.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: We kept getting new leads, kept getting more sales as always, and I was booking them out in advance, but it was still crazy.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like trying to run a business at close to$25,000 a month in your car, like as a passenger princess with your laptop open and your like cat like scream crying in the backseat.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's there are calmer environments, you know, but we're fucking women and we do what has to be done.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I did it for my business and all the people that it affects, all of my team, all my clients, and I got a lot of leeway, but it was still really fucking hard.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that was May, June, July.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: We, I mean, I actually haven't themed uh my months, so May would be SOPs.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's all we did.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: After I like literally like got into our apartment two or three days later, then we had a bed.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: That was awesome.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a big fan of having sex on an air mattress.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: There, I said it in public.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, come sue me for it.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: And for hating Donald Trump.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Already got sued for that one.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's a whole panel where I talk about that.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys ever need to know, yes, I fucking hate Donald Trump.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: If you didn't know, please just know that.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: So May would be SOP's month.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: As soon as we got our fucking furniture, got a bed, then I had somewhere to sleep.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that gave me enough energy to try to.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we had the mover guys put the office like together, like the actual desk, but then I had to set up all my equipment and such.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: As soon as I could do that, maybe like May 5th or so, all we did the entire month was SOPs.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Take clients, SOPs, SOPs, SOPs, work with clients, SOPs, SOP is like so much work I could never even describe it.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: I probably worked 12 or 14 hours a day at least five or six days a week.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: May was SOP's month.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: June, we hired, hired, hired, hired, hired.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: July, we were, you know, back to scaling, obviously, highest month ever.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now I would say we're kind of out of mix.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have to urgently stabilize, nor do we have to urgently scale.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: I am on track for us to hit 50k monthly recurring revenue months by the end of the year.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: I want to do 30 in August, 35 in October, 40 November, 45, 50 by December.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, here we go.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that was May, June, July.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then here's where the lead sources come from.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna go over the lead sources.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go over what lead source changed to give me a lot more, a lot faster traction.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: It involves Taylor Lane.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor, if you're listening, I fucking love you.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for making me so much fucking money.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're the best, and I love you so much.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody who did skip the sales call challenge with Taylor and I, you know Taylor Lane.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And the second to last podcast episode, episode 16, is the breakdown of our skip the sales call challenge, which, if you haven't heard of it yet, uh was a challenge that Taylor Lane and I did for three weeks.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor is a badass threads expert, in my opinion, and about 6,000 other people's best in the industry.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no question.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: She is the threads girl.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, she's just cornered the entire fucking market.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, go fucking Taylor.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously, she is a mogul.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really lucky and grateful and happy to know you, Taylor.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Anyways, though, so we did a skip the sales call challenge.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was for three weeks.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was her threads expertise.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get new leads every day?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Every day on threads.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Then I help people, then bring them from threads to Instagram stories and close in the DMs.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that whole combo, I mean, I've always been doing stories and DMs, but doing threads to stories to DMs opened up a whole new, whole new world.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I've done it before, just not on the scale that Taylor has.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: And Taylor, I'm still working up to being you when I grow up.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna talk about lead sources, we're gonna talk about threads, which changed the game for me from Instagram stories to DM sales, uh, the monthly recurring revenue, and a little bit of a profit check and some of the fails.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: I got notes, guys.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: But on the threads, for one more note, she got me to open up to the words like to the word engagement, which is not just like comments and likes on Instagram, but it's engaging on threads, which I was already doing, but not to the level that I started during the challenge and have fallen off.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I have a sales team of seven to pick me back up again, so like I don't have to do everything myself, which literally I'm sighing again, just saying it.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank fucking goodness, because I could not.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so 69k in cash, and then we're gonna talk about threats some more because that's the next note.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Instagram, obviously, still my top lead source and sales, sales source of 11 years uh from people seeing my carousels and reels.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so behind on reels and all of my marketing, but you guys are just gonna have to you're just gonna have to live with it and come DM me and then DM me again if your DM gets piled, say like bump and we will pick it back up.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: But 24k of sales came from Instagram, which is people in the DMs or not yet in the DMs watching my carousels reels, Instagram stories, and then we're DM them or they're DMing us, and then we're either closing in the DMs most of the time or booking a sales call.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would say of the seven clients that closed, I think five were in the DMs and two were sales calls, but I'll be very clear about my sales calls.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: These women wanted to start very quickly.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're not like don't have time to be all up in Instagram all the time.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's why they need us.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Wanted to start very quickly, wanted like double accounts, meaning or like$3,000 a month rather than$1,500 a month.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes also had a co-founder that needed to be on the call or team members that needed to be able to listen in to a whole call, even just a recording.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I did those.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: There's a reason.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not just doing a sales call for whenever.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Also, if Emily is listening, guys, Emily is my creative director.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then Emily, Emily, forgive me for saying it that way.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: E M Y L E is a new incredible client of ours that I'm so excited to introduce you guys to more if you don't know her.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we did a call too, and it was like because we wanted to start in like four days, right?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like then it then it makes sense because we had that spot open and someone moved their spot back a week.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: So 24,000 in sales from Instagram, Instagram stories and DM sales.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean by that.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: But 22,500 of 69k in sales came from threads, and we're still closing them in the DMs, but I can attribute those directly from coming from threads.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: So when I say Instagram sales, they're coming from all over Instagram, watching my stories, closing in the DMs mostly, or sales call.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: When I say threads, I mean that's the origin source, that's where those came from, not the wide world of Instagram threads specifically.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Paid membership.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: We got a big client, one of our doubles from a paid membership.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in Instagram stories collabs.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: What's up, Megan Wall?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: I did a collab with Megan Wall about um like how to position for sales as a finance expert.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: She has a whole program on it.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: That was a$4,500 sale.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then in real life events, uh, awesome client that I met in like it's been like 14 months now in New York when I went to Rich Girl event that some of you listening know all about that.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's a whole other that's a whole other shebang.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I met some incredible people at Rich Girl and had a really, really good time.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh now we get to work together too.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the top five sources Instagram itself, threads, paid membership, Instagram Stories Collab, and in real life events.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll also say for those of you thinking of doing a podcast or have a podcast and really want to integrate the podcast with sales, we have a lot of leads.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like what I didn't include in here is I do have leads coming straight from the podcast.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'll talk about that more in August recap because it's newer where they're literally finding me through the podcast, like in Spotify search engine, if you will.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I have a lead right now who is going to decide to hire me or not just from listening to my podcast.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's fun.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So podcast is a big like attributor to a lot of these sales as a piece of it, and now even as like the one origin source.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so we'll get into that in the August recap.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Threads is the plot twist here.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I have made sales on threads when people tag me, maybe two or three sales, four or five sales over the course of the year was me posting what I call like mini offers on threads, which I can still do these while I'm sleeping, really.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: But I would be like, DM me stories for your three next Instagram stories ideas.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Or what was the one I did that went really well that got a bunch of clients that I think was like last November, though.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: So different one was like DM me the number three, and I'll review three of your um latest carousels and tell you what to make next.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: That got like 9,000, 13,000, like two or three clients, um, end of last year.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I've gotten money from threads, but it hasn't been a consistent lean source because I didn't put in the effort that's needed.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just wasn't using it that much or using it at all.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: So threads is the whole plot twist, and that's because of Taylor Lane.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: That that's it.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Guys, I've sent so many referrals to Taylor and they're all loving it.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like everyone that I referred to and I refer to Zoe and Marie and Taylor and and um Laura and on and on and on and on, the people are like, oh my god, why didn't you send them to me sooner?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I literally just met you.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: I could not have referred you to Taylor any sooner because I didn't know who you were.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, but you're welcome now that you are in her life, and vice versa.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: So threads changed it all.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor and I pulled in 140 leads, and that's like we gave no notice.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: This was not like a launch warning.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, should we do this thing?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Probably.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Then we put up a thread, told people we're we were thinking of doing skip the sales call, which was her thread's expertise, my Instagram stories expertise, and then DM sales, which she's incredible at too.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor is like pretty anti-sales call as well.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: If she doesn't need to, you know, like she's a mama, like she's got shit to do, has to do the all kids or no kids.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have kids for anybody who's new here.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but anyways, so the skip the sales call challenge included prompts.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, and I still have that, by the way.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's in hiding, but we have that resource.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: If anyone missed it and still wants it, and I'm relaunching it as an ongoing group program on September 14th as well.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: But Taylor and I had this idea um for Skip the Sales Call Challenge, which was my name, and luckily it stuck.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but we had this idea for the challenge, which is becoming the paid program.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so I posted on Threads, the best place for market research, and said, I think we want to do this.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: What do you guys think?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, it was nuts.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm never, ever in like 11 years, the woman to be like, it went viral, and Taylor's gonna be like, this did not go fucking viral.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: It got like a hundred comments.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's a lot of comments, especially when everyone in the fucking comments misses where you can sign up for the challenge.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: So my ass went and sent the fucking sign up link to a hundred people one by one.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: You're so welcome, guys.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was like the it was the worst.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was like the worst task.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a Saturday at 10 p.m.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: when my husband was at work and I was like, fuck it, and still fuck it, wouldn't do it again.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: But we put these prompts for threads.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor did the prompts for threads.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: I did prompts for stories, and we also did prompts for DM sales, and I used Taylor's prompts and asked Taylor a hundred questions.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we had live calls where me and other people asked Taylor a hundred questions and talked about Instagram stories and DM sales, we didn't group coaching calls.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: And for once I listened and did what Taylor said to do and then made a fuckload of money.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that's like that's the story, right?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: The MRR, the monthly recurring revenue, at the start of the summer, like May, we had 8,000 monthly recurring revenue.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: We had all of these short-term tickets, if you're clients tickets, I don't know.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: We had all of these short-term clients for one month for our lead gen sprint, which is great for a cash injection, like on the sales side.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I wanted more time with these people, and they needed more time.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: And they closed leads and sales after we worked together as well.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: And some of them while we worked together, but they needed more time with us.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the idea was like, you know, I've done this lots of times before.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: I've done a one-week, two-week, four-week lead gen sprint, but you need at least three to six months to start seeing sales, like on an average.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I got these people in for$1,500 for one month lead gen sprint.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: And now that I tell you guys that, you're gonna come ask me about it.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you, I'm doing this for you.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: It is not long enough.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then people will fill out the fucking feedback form after and be like, I just wish we had longer.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: So do I, but no one was able, like the people who booked this, like that's what they wanted.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And for many of them, that's what they could afford.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now we have Plana payment plans, which makes it way more affordable.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this was like back into March, April.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: We were booking the one month sprint.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I've learned like a lifetime of shit since then.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: But 8,000 MRR at the beginning of the summer, April, May, Spring, summer, and now um like in July, 18,500.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a pretty fucking significant jump.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then almost almost done here, guys.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then sales really means nothing though without like a profit check, right?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's all all Zoe.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's all Zoe.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: People wonder, I think, why I like shout out my team so much because I wouldn't be here without them.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And and I couldn't keep doing what we're doing without them.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I can hire people if something you know goes awry, if someone gets ill, like I could hire someone else, but I truly have the best fucking team, and we would not be where we are without them or be able to go to 50k months without them either.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Anywho, so it was let's just call it 25 uh 700.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh let's just call it 25,000 for easy math, but 24,500 actual number.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm using that so I can give you a simple breakdown.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: July spend was for the business was about$10,000.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's$9,450.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Then our profit was$14,662.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is why I said I wanted to do easy numbers, guys.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say$10K for July spend, nearly$15k for um, yeah, nearly$15K for profit.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: So the profit margins are 60%.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love them to be 60 to 70, but most of our expenses are fixed, minus the sales team who gets paid more as we get them more clients, obviously, and as we add new sales team members.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now we have seven.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I was in this hole for May and June, early May and June, where we had all these short-term clients and we kept getting cash injection, cash injection, cash injection all the fucking time.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we signed seven clients in July.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: There have been weeks where we signed four clients, and like it seems like the money keeps coming, but also I was hiring and not like not intentionally, very intentionally, but then at the end of the month, or really the beginning of the next, looking at wow, I made all this, but also this much is due next month.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: It had to stop.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we adjusted that a lot to of who we were paying and how much we were paying and what roles we had, etc.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: etc.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so anyways, that's that.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys want a full like breakdown of the team too, I'm happy to share that because no one does that and it pisses me off.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like we should be talking about who we're hiring, in what order, how much we're paying, why that role is worth that amount, etc.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is actually like what I talked about with Jessica O'Kain this morning, and we are gonna do like a workshop on.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys want, you know, all of these updates.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I paid someone, Laura, to help me do ongoing emails, probably like two per week.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: So please do get on the email list.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be linked in the show notes.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: All the shit will be in there.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: The skip the sales call challenge.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: If you miss the free challenge, we'll probably give that to you on the email list.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to come to our like scaling event, me and Jessica, that'll be on the email list.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to come see me speak at Creative Growth Summit in September, also will be on the email list.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to come to the virtual retreat in October, it'll also be on the email list.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys can come DM me anything you want, but if you're not on the email list, also get on there because all this shit is gonna be on there because it's not just up to me.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be me and the team now, which is awesome.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: For the last two minutes, also, some shit happened.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I did say this at the beginning, so I'm not like putting it last to put it last.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: This is just the order that Claude wrote my notes.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we onboarded new clients.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: We have seven again on the sales team.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: One of our very loveliest favorite sales team members had to take a little break, and we'd love to have her back.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we got down to six, now we're back to seven, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: I also went on a retreat and got sick over the last always.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Every time I go to an like in-person event, I get sick.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, I don't want to hear about it, guys.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think about it all of the time.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's not because I get sick from the people there, it's because I get sick from being around people all the fucking time.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: Even when I take massive breaks, it's still worth it, I think.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the experiences are incredible, and I get so much support, and I get to support and help others.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, so in the last week and a half of July, uh, very end of July, I went on a retreat and it was Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Keystone, Colorado.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was Abby Braytick's first event.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: She fucking smashed it.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's a wonder how she did everything that she did with her incredible mom, also.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Then I came home and got sick.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: And between that time, that Thursday, Friday, and then a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, so about five days, mostly out of office or so sick and tired, I literally don't remember what the fuck I was doing.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: But I did it and I did a good job at what I was doing, but I could not do it all.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, in the name of that, and I'm giving myself credit here.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: We had uh one contract that was literally sent like while I was traveling.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, like Thursday when I was going out of office, that was like one of the last seven things I did was give the um like details to our team to help make the contract.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I missed some details and didn't clarify some details.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: So we sent somebody who was gonna start in August.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: We sent them a contract with our new August terms because it was the day before August.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: But instead, we should have sent the July contract with the July terms, and it upset that person and made them nervous and brought back being burned by other agencies.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I really, really, really get it.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I've had like when I was signing and paying with someone, like I've had this issue a couple of times, and I owned the fuck out of it.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: I was on retreat on Thursday night, our first day there, after we traveled to get there at 10 p.m.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: and got a message about the errors and sent messages back explaining what happened and giving really sincere apologies.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we lost that client.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I, I mean, that client, you know, that person who I would have loved to have worked with may very well be listening.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I I really apologize for our errors and I share this because it fucking happens, and I had to take care of my health and my commitments, and I made a mistake, and we made a mistake in some sense as a team, but it's my mistake and it's my business, and I feel really bad that you know, I spooked that person and we would have given them a great experience, and we weren't able to, and also, you know, all that I can do is fuck up, own it, and you know, hope to get the grace and forgiveness that I strive to give to others, but that doesn't mean that I like deserve it or are owed it in return, which I learned through recovery.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would love to, you know, get second chances and forgiveness and grace and consideration and empathy all the time, but you know, that's not always possible for for others to give, and everyone is, you know, totally valid to have their own like feelings and perspective and past experiences.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a real bummer.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: I've reflected on it so much.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, it no one's fault except for mine.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like it, and that's a negative word too.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Please don't come at me with like all of the jargon interpretations.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, like, it was our error, but it was my error.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: And because I own everything that happens in my business, and like I'm sorry that it happened, but it's also a mistake, and we'll do better in the future.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: But like, I'm not gonna not fuck up.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're gonna fuck up and just have to learn from it and fix it and try to get the grace and forgiveness that we can, but that happened, and then we had another issue like that, similar that happened while I was traveling and sick, and really like this isn't.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's maybe like three percent of it even had my team to do with it, like that they were involved in the second issue.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: Again, like this is my my responsibility.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, again, the second one I was sick and I didn't like touch the computer on Monday.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I was out of office like Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I had a proposal that I was supposed to send on Monday, and I was sick as shit.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, I was too dizzy to like walk to the restroom, like it was bad.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: I would like get up to get water and ask my husband like to come and like hold my arm as I walked back.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I was fucking sick.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was supposed to send this proposal and I didn't remember until Wednesday because I was sick as shit and I wasn't on my computer.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: So on Wednesday, I saw it on my task list.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: I let them know, like, I'm so sorry, I was traveling and then got very ill and couldn't do this.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'll get it back to you, you know, the next day.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I still couldn't.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I emailed again and said it's gonna take one more day, and that was it.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we lost that opportunity too.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, honestly, if I'm really honest, like I think you can tell if you know me or listen to the podcast and are starting to get to know me.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: We have no shortage of money.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: I and I told I told one of these people this like, I don't give a fuck if I get the money from you or not.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's not about you giving me cash.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's not what this is about.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: I have a literal list.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: I even just now sorted, like, oh, these people we like close for July.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: We need to move the ones that we're still talking to for August.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: We have another 15 leads on top of 50 leads on top of 40 leads for different offers and different camps for August alone.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't need money from one specific person.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about that, it's never about that.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's that I really want to help that specific person.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: I could fucking help and get paid from hundreds of people, and I have.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: I really wanted to help them and the fact that, like, one thing that was my mistake, and in their eyes, like an error, which it was, like, we couldn't get past it, so I can't provide them that experience.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I really do understand, and still it makes me really sad because if on my side, for where I'm at, if I was trying to onboard with someone and there was one error, I would probably like get through it with them if they were sincere and explained and we're sorry, and we're gonna do their best to not have it happen again.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: But that is not a like condemnation of what anyone else would do.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I would do, and I'm bummed that I didn't get that chance, but I didn't, and look still, like I have friends who would be like, Why the fuck is this the end of your podcast episode?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: You made$25,000 almost,$24,500, because I fucking give a fuck about the fucking people.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's why.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't not, sorry, Ray.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: I can't, I can't, I can't not, I can't not see the potential in the women we can help to help so many other women who help so many other people.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: I always think like that.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's always a daisy chain.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Does that have to be sexual?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my head is like in other places, you know.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've made sex jokes in here and hiking references.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like business sex hiking, business hiking sex.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: All right, I'll leave you cats at that.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really good uh outro for an episode.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: And please come message me on Instagram if you want to chat.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: And if you guys will do me a favor and write what episode that you came from.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is episode 18.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: You can say behind the scene of July.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: You could say, I listened to an off episode, but I can't fucking remember the name.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: We can figure it out together.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to come DM me, if you'll just mention that you listen to the podcast so I know what you've been listening to.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't wait to chat with you guys soon.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's it.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: All right, bye guys.