Latest / Curiously Guided Podcast / Ep.102 | Trading Hustle for Health Insurance: Walking Away from Entrepreneurship for a 9-to-5 with Miranda Rodriguez, Marketing Consultant

Transcript

Ep.102 | Trading Hustle for Health Insurance: Walking Away from Entrepreneurship for a 9-to-5 with Miranda Rodriguez, Marketing Consultant · Curiously Guided Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Curiously Guided Podcast.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: We're your hosts, Mariah.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: And hey guys, I'm Shay.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: We're two online business consultants who are passionate about rewriting the rules to success within both life and business.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: We believe that curiosity is our superpower.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: And trusting the nudge is a muscle that's meant to be strengthened.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: Especially if we want to create a life that feels good from the inside out.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're ready to open your mind and let curiosity guide the way, let's get into the episode.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Y'all, this is our first guest of season six.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: And we got a goodie in here.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: So Miranda Rodriguez has become actually like a really, really good friend of mine.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: We chit chat all the time over Voxer.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's so weird to say that, like, we've never met in person.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: I say that out loud.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, no, that can't be right.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: But it is.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: But that's like the cool part about the internet, right?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so she was actually a guest on, I think it was season two.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna put her previous episode in the show notes below.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: But like Miranda's perspective on marketing, it's just it's so good.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: And like you'll hear in this episode kind of like the complete 180 that she's done with her business and with her career and the reasons and decisions kind of behind that.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: But it's cool because now she's at a place where it's like she's really learning and balancing and kind of bridging this online business space with this in-person business space.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so many of us don't really get experience in both of these arenas.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I always think that it's really interesting when people can come in here, they can bridge these gaps and like the things that she's learning through this new role that she's in.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's just, it's really helpful.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: I love her perspective, and I'm really excited to share this episode with you.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's great.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: We actually taught a workshop with Miranda all about marketing.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Her, she's just a genius, and her perspective on it is really approachable and easy to understand.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: And it's interesting, we're kind of shooting these intros after the fact.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: We've already shot about 10 episodes this season.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of themes coming through this season, and one in particular is really not to keep saying the word seasons, but this idea of embracing the seasonality of your life and the chapters of your business.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: And Miranda's a really good example of someone who's just been honest about what's going on in her personal life and how her business needs to change to reflect that.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really an encouraging conversation and where she's landed is really cool.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think a lot of people know about how awesome of a resource your local business development center is.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: So hearing about now her perspective coming from the person that is actually kind of coaching and helping small businesses get access to loans and grants and all this kind of stuff, it's just very insightful and helpful.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think this will be a good practical episode, but also really good for supporting the human in us all as we're running these businesses.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, let's talk a little bit about who Miranda is.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: She is the small business coordinator and business advisor at the Illinois Small Business Development Center at the Wabonsee Community College in Aurora, Illinois.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: She is a marketing strategist by trade and formerly a marketing consultant and coach at Marketing for the Uninhibited.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: If you guys want to read the rest of her bio, check out the link in the show notes.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: And with that, let's jump into the episode.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like this is a very special episode with a very special guest that we have today.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_03: So Miranda Rodriguez, she was on episode 37 in season two, which is absolutely bananas.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: I don't even know how many years ago it's been three years, two years?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: The years go by quickly.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: I have no idea, but it was a while ago.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: And so Miranda in that previous episode was talking about like consistency of marketing and in a business, like when you're running your own business, an online business, a small business, all of that.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: But Miranda, a lot has changed in your career since that conversation.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: You wanna you wanna get us up to speed?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm trying to think I well, Roman will be two in February, so I think it probably was at least three years ago.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because I don't think I was pregnant.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Nope.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so at least three.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, oh my goodness.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I ran my business for several years, and you know, something that you all know and your audience knows, as business owners, um, it's important to network.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things I did locally, and that's always been a strength of mine, is like net local networking and online networking and kind of like marrying these two worlds, um, which works out nicely in my role now.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I was um heavy in the local like marketing, small business scene, and had made a connection with the local small business development center.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Someone referred me there to be a workshop presenter, and so that's how my relationship started with them, actually before the pandemic.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd been presenting with the local SBDC for since 2019.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I did that for a long time, and then in 2023, I guess, I got pregnant.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is like a trying to dig back in the recesses of my brain.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and then I thought naively when I got pregnant that I was gonna have all this motivation and like be so creative and all this.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I was just fucking tired.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Just tired.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I was tired of selling, and I was tired of the hustling and the grinding, and I had some recurring clients.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: I had made some pretty big sales at that point, you know.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I was like comfortable in my role, but I didn't I didn't really know where I wanted it to go at that point.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I made the decision to investigate going back into the um full-time world, back in the job market.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I did that, and it was pretty deflating after being an entrepreneur for six years.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a marketer by trade.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I have a degree, a bachelor's in marketing from the University of Illinois.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, this is what I've always wanted to do.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when I went and was applying for like corporate marketing jobs and networking to see, I had a VP of marketing and sales pretty high up for a very large corporation, tell me that I would have to start at an entry-level role.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I'm not entry level, you know, not at all.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Well, you just I didn't fit into any of their boxes, right?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because I I'm not a siloed marketer, I don't specialize in one type of marketing besides like marketing strategy and big picture.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and she was like, unless you're in the C-suite, that you strategy is just not an option to like specialize in as a marketer.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, okay, well, this is not gonna work for me.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: So um I had to really go back to the drawing board and like reevaluate what my title is and what I wanted my role to be.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then I just decided to reach out to my network, which is with the advice I would give any of my clients.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's like start hyper local and reach out to your own network.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I reached out to the at the time, the manager of the SBDC, and I just said, Hey, I want to go back in the job market.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I did not tell her that I was pregnant and um or the timeline of anything.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then she replied that day and was like, Oh, really?
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'll be retiring in February.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And at this point it was October, my baby is due in February, and I was like, Oh, okay.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then she's like, you know, there'll be a chain of command and there'll be a position open, like below the manager.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so at 38 weeks pregnant, I went to her retirement party so I could rub elbows.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I met all the higher-ups, all the decision makers that would be in my interview process later.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and she introduced me literally as the replacement, like, this is who I want for this role.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: This is who I want for like to the state director of the SPDC in Illinois, to the dean of the workforce development.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, like the SPDC, I'll talk about that in a minute.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, all the decision makers.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was very pregnant and very confident that I would have this job after maternity leave.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the timing just worked out, so I made the leap.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which is it's hard to quit a business, which is like something we can talk about, you know.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: But um the decision to quit your business and to just let it go comes with a lot of different feelings.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like for me, I just wanted that paycheck, you know.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to have to sell anymore, I wanted benefits.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like at the time my partner and I were not married, so it was still like my responsibility, which you know, there was some foreshadowing there.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: I needed to have those things in place later down the line.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, so I quit and I just kind of like Irish goodbye, my business.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't make an announcement, I didn't make a to-do about it, I just left.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that was it.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because I was coming off maternity leave.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: So like everyone knew I'd gone on maternity leave.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I just never came back.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that is like that brings you up to speed now to I'm full-time in this role would be two years in May.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: Before we talk a bit about that, because I think I've certainly gone through that life transition where when a lot of stuff is going on in my personal life, I did not feel like it was almost like my personal life was unstable and I needed more stability in my work life.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that was the right at that moment in time, the right decision for me.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: And it sounds like that was the case for you.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I'd love to hear more about like you mentioned, I think that's a fear we all have of we've been, we're kind of like these weird weirdos out on the rim, like making up our own careers.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I I I have had that fear of can I even go back to the workforce if I needed to, you know?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'd love to hear more about like what about this job?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: And this role felt like a better fit as opposed to like that marketing job, like entry-level marketing job.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that is a good this role is ideal for me because it allows me to wear many hats.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of the same hats that I wore in my own marketing consulting business.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: I work with, I mean, like, so from the, I guess, like a legal standpoint, I have a pretty strict non-compete here.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when I decided to take this role, that was an agreement that I was closing my local business because I cannot do both, right?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so um the small business development centers across the United States are funded in part federally by the small business association.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so what we do technically, we are grant-funded nonprofits and we provide no-cost community business services.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so that means people can work with me at no cost when before I was charging charging a premium.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not ethical even to keep my clients.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I just rolled everybody over, and like lucky for them, you know, they got to access me for free now, um, which was if they lived in the state of Illinois, right?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a huge benefit to them.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but this role was appealing to me because one, it's hyperlocal, so it's in the town that I live in and that I built my business in.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Two, I could roll my clients over.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And three, it allowed me to flex the muscles that I had developed over the years, like my marketing skill set, my one-on-one coaching and advising, um, workshop, educating, presenting, like all of that, but also develop another skill set because now I'm a more I'm a general business advisor.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so um there's a a lot about business that the online business world doesn't teach you or even talk about, um, like understanding your financials and really what it means to like understand your profit margins, to understand like your operating expenses, to check in with those things every month.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you can do those on your own.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's the other side of business, which is like acquiring a business, like buying.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: I met with a guy today who, and I have done several of these, but wants to buy a business.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so we can help evaluate the viability of that purchase and help them identify funding sources for that purchase.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then on the flip side of that, selling your business, right?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And exiting your business.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, when I left my business, there was nothing to sell.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: For for a lot of people, especially probably in the online world, there's not going to be anything to sell, especially if you're not tracking your numbers and things are not on the books.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's all gonna come down to what the value that is on the books and can be proven.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so this it was appealing because it's like I get to do everything I already know, I'm good at, and I like, and I get to learn this entire other set of skills now that really I feel like rounds me out as a business coach.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm still sometimes feel very general, like a generalist, because if I were to go back to the corporate world, I still don't have a like I'm not an accountant, I'm not a financial advisor, I'm not a, you could say I'm a marketing strategist, but like I am really a consultant or coach, you know.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um I love the role for that.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's just a lot of other I work in higher ed now because we're part of a community college, and there's some really great perks, you know, like fingers crossed schools close tomorrow because it's gonna be minus 30 here.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, you know, we're gonna get the day paid off if that happens.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: It has before, so I'm like hopeful.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: But um, and then there's just like paid holidays, you know, things that you forget when you work for yourself, like yeah, you go or paid holidays.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like I get two weeks off at Christmas, it's insane, paid, you know, and um we get half day Fridays in the summer, and those are paid, and I get really great benefits, which is good because also in the past year I've dealt with um breast cancer.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm a cancer survivor now, and I needed those benefits, and I needed paid time off.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so this is um also something that I feel like people don't talk enough about in entrepreneurship world, but it's planning for emergencies, having that business safety net.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: One my first experience with this was having an unpaid maternity leave, right?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then my second would have been my cancer journey, like how I would have navigated that as an entrepreneur, I have no idea.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, especially not with marketplace insurance, it would have been a lot more expensive.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so they're just for me, without even knowing it, this was the right fit on so many levels.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it's funny because hey, I'm just thinking about like the benefits that you're naming.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: And like at this time, Andrew just got a full-time job like two weeks ago, and he's getting these benefits, dude.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: We get his benefit package, and they were like, you get this and you get that.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: I looked at how much her health insurance is, I was like, bro, I was spending three times that just for me.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, what?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then every three years, he can take six weeks off to prevent burnout.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm literally just like, bro, what did you say?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: 13 holidays and like benefits are something that I feel like in the online space, we'll we'll hear people talk about and we're like, oh, that sounds good.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: That sounds good, but like when you're faced with like decisions and you're faced with things, it's like it feels really, really fucking supportive to be able to lean back on those things and like on your day off, you're not sitting here worrying about how much money you have to make next month and how how much electricity is going to be, or like all of these bills not even taking into account health insurance during like emergencies or anything like that.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's just like something like that's a huge thing in the online space that like we don't talk about it.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: If we do want to set ourselves up for that, that just makes our bills for like investing in those things so much bigger, which lowers our profit margin so much more.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, I didn't want to think about that.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: I also started this business when I was 22.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: I ain't thinking about that.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: And like part of me is like happy that I was delusional when I was little because little, when I was like a a young 22-year-old, because it's like, I don't think I would have done this.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-mm.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I do think there's a fair amount of delusion that has to happen, and and that's something you can't explain to people sometimes.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like in a so in this role, I get e people coming here and they want me to solve their problems.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and sometimes I can and sometimes I can't.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then you very quickly can identify like characteristics that are gonna make people successful, because I see a lot of people, and now I've worked with entrepreneurs since 2017, almost a decade of doing this.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that but that delusion, like healthy amount of delusion, is good because you need it in order to like take some of these risks, but then it can go too far.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I joke that like my real title is dream killer, because I really just kill people's dreams for a living.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then my mentor reminded me that, you know, in killing their dreams, I'm saving their a lot of times their life savings, their 401ks, their, you know, mortgage payment, whatever it is.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I've worked with clients.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a financial forecasting tool here.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a just a super robust spreadsheet.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's got a bunch of tabs, it's all formulaic.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's like the go-to with every client.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so all I do is interpret that spreadsheet and the date what the data is telling me, right?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not actually giving my personal opinion, um, I'm just telling you what the numbers are telling me.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I have had to tell people like, well, based on this, you're gonna be bankrupt before you even open the doors.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And some of them say, Well, we can fix it and we can do this.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: And and they literally, I have seen people who have had to go bankrupt, who have invested their literal life savings.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: They've emptied their 401ks, they've sold houses, they have, you know, drained every account.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like they've this is it.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes the math just ain't math, and as much as you want it to, you know, and as as much as like the online space wants to tell you that you can like manifest it, and you know, like at some point there has to be a level of practicality to that and reality to that, and then you have to identify the risk and reward.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, well, what if it doesn't work out?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what if it does, right?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because they can prove you wrong for sure, and people have.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that's a much smaller percentage point than I think people than is realized.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you kind of mentioned that at the beginning, but I really love this idea of the math ain't math.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a lot of us, especially in the online world, A, we didn't get that fundamental business education where you learn about the difference between profit and revenue and you know, all that numbers type stuff that's so important.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we are bombarded, at least I am, with these big numbers.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Our people are just, I earned uh hundred million dollars this year doing this Y and Z.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I know now just from talking with people that that is a lot of smoke and mirrors.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of hard as a consumer because then especially as an entrepreneurial-minded person, I can see all these numbers, oh my gosh, there's so much opportunity and I can make so much money and blah, blah, blah.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: And not that that's not true, but it's not realistic because a lot of these people are delivering these numbers, I will say about almost all of them without full context.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I kind of made a rule for myself of like, I'm not listening to anybody's numbers unless I can go in and see their books because I know that they are not giving the full picture, they want to get clicks.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's the goal online get clicks.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it kind of makes this inflated idea of what is possible, what people are doing, what is possible, how long it takes to get somewhere.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so when you mention that idea of like the math ain't math, and that is like a theory I've kind of had about at least a lot of the online businesses we're surrounded by.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I wonder, and well, before we kind of dive more into the numbers and what you do, I think this will tee it up.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned like there are certain traits of successful people that come in and like kind of do well.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: Do you mind telling us about like what is that person?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like what or who is that person not?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what are those traits that you notice?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: All right, y'all.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: This season of the Curiously Guided Podcast, including this episode, is sponsored by Adobe Acrobat.
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• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: Create a PDF space and bring it all together for your audience, just like we did for season six of this podcast.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: We turned a PDF space into an insane resource.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's like nothing you've seen before, and you're gonna love it because you're gonna find exactly what you need quickly and easily without scrolling through endless show notes.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's free to use and interact with.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: Click the link in the show notes to check it out.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the top traits that I've noticed is organization.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you are organized, and it doesn't mean you have the fanciest tools, it doesn't mean that you are like spending a lot of money on systems and flows and all of this.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's like just basic level organization.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like I worked with a client, um, and I can share this because we shared it publicly through the SBDC, but he was starting a um trucking company and he works full-time, his wife works full-time, they have three kids.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: He's very family oriented.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: He had started one business prior with the SBDC and then had to really scale it back because of COVID.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it was successful, but not as successful as he wanted it to be.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so he came back.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And since this was round two for him, and he's a very like, so he's organized, he's very determined, and he is focused.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's like no, I think the distraction, right?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: So when you talk about like these online it like influencers and and not knowing the behind the scenes, um, I think there's a lot of distraction there too.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Things that can like pull you away from the goal that you have at hand.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so just really going back to the basics and being okay with starting at square one.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what he did, even though this was his second business, right?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: And even though, I mean, their home life is crazy.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: He works nights and his wife works days, and they have a young toddler, and so they're rotating baby shifts, and he just like came in here, he was very focused on the goals that he had, which were to retire his mom and retire his wife, employ his brother, and then employ his nephew.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so very family-oriented.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then he and his wife had planned for this.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a certain level of um what's the word I'm looking for?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we don't want, and I've been this business owner, make like I've made rash decisions.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like I've I walked into my my boss's office and I quit my director of marketing role and pitched him to be my client at the same time, but I had no safety net.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like that was the safety net.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: If he didn't agree to be my first client, I didn't have a safety net after that, and I just quit my full-time job, you know.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think people have a fair amount of like foresight.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: So foresight, organization, discipline, focus, like those things, and those are not necessarily like sexiest characteristics, like when you're selling online as an influencer marketer.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and there's uh also a groundedness, right?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you are up in the air and you don't know what your business idea is and you don't know, like I had someone call me today and she's like, I don't know.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think I just want to start a business.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what are you?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you know, that's cool.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: What do you want?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: But we do have programs for that.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: So like we I can funnel them into workshops.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but so this, so for this guy in particular, you know, those were the characteristics, and that's what I see over and over again, right?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: There's like a a clear, grounded, focused determination there.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: And not, and so for some people, like it is relentless, like the pursuit of that dream is relentless, and I do think you have to be relentless as an entrepreneur because if you let up, and I did or like, or you know when it's time to tap out, right?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because that was me.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was letting up that I didn't want to put my foot on the gas anymore.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: I was tired, I was tired of all of it, and so I just let it go.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think there's gotta be a fair amount of that.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are not clear on what it is you want to do or how you want it to play out, and not every detail, like we know things don't go to plan as much as you want them to, or as much time as you spend on your business plan, but at least a vision of like what do you want to create, you know, and then being like clear and confident and grounded in that vision.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I love that question, Shay.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm really glad that you went into that.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, also made me feel very good.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh my god, I see myself in some of this.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's okay.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: It um and it's true, right?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like, if I compare myself with like Andrew, for example, like we tried to do a sourdough business with him.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: He was the owner of that business.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying that my husband is not grounded and that my husband is not clear, but like it wasn't, he wasn't relentless.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: He wasn't willing to do everything.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: And now that he got this job, he was like, Yeah, I'm I'm gonna tell you one thing, girl.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: I am not an entrepreneur, and I don't ever want to be an entrepreneur, and that life ain't mine.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: You can have it.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: The flexibility was almost suffocating to him.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: And it's he was like, you can't stop thinking about it.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: To me, that's what I love, right?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: And like I have to be good at like those boundaries of like, no, we we are reading a book, we are not strategizing your blog post that you just published.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like dumb shit like that.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_03: But like I don't like it when people say anybody can be a business owner or like just start a business, like you're saying with that person calling.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's like that's a hobby.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_03: Start a hobby.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_03: Anybody can have a hobby, but like a business is a real thing, especially when you need it to pay full time to like money in order to live.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like, this is like for real decisions.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: And it's funny, I just saw a business consultant that used to be a client.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: She posted on Facebook and she said something along the lines of like, My job is to tell people the numbers and like the forecast and like how long, like, my job is to be realistic.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: She goes, Your job is to prove me wrong.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, it's not my job to come in here and be like, but we can get it done in one month.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, no, I'm gonna tell you the shit's gonna take you three years.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's your job to be like, no, I'm doing this in six months.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then comes all of those qualities that you just named, where it's like, yeah, if you want to do it in a shorter amount of time, you do have to be relentless and grounded and organized.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: So, like, I love the way that you shared that.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, um, so just to touch on to go back to something Shay said too, to bring it all together, but you never know the behind the scenes of someone's business, like their own finances, but also who's supporting them.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, I have seen some crazy investments here, and sometimes it's their own personal investment.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've had people come in here with almost six figures that they've saved to invest in starting a business.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've had people who are selling property and so they're gonna take equity out, you know, or whatever and move things around.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've had people who have been able to call their parents and get big loans to pay off things or to invest into like growth.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you just don't know.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I think like there's an idea, especially locally, that there are there's free money, there's grants, you know, everybody wants grants.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: They call we're, you know, we're a local nonprofit and people call us all the time for money and marketing.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times that money for startups, I mean, there really is no startup funding because the what the funding that's available is for proven businesses.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: So people who have a track record of sales that can prove that they can pay back a loan or that they're gonna do right by the money that they're given if it's a grant.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so when you look at startups, that's what I tell people like investigate where they how they got started.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I had um a woman, anyway, she wanted to start this business and she had given me some other industries, like that she was using for inspiration.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And one of them was the skincare industry, and she had given me a specific brand which was like super high-end, um, very niche.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I just said, okay, how'd they get started?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do your homework and figure out where they got their money to get started.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you want to elevate to that level and you want to replicate that success, we need to figure out like all the details of that, right?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it's the same for people who are starting new things, like um a podcast.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: I always tell people, like, whatever podcast you listen to, go back and look at the first episode.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Look at their beginner marketing, look at who the guests they had on, you know, and listen to the intros and the music that they had in the first three episodes, because it's gonna be terrible.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you probably have never listened to it.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's highly unlikely for most people, you know, you're joining in once they've seen success, right?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: So this idea of just you just don't know how people are supported, in addition to how they're doing their math or cooking their books or whatever.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if because the pressure when you're selling, the pressure that you have when you have to pay bills with that, you have to feed your family with that, you need to pay your mortgage is totally different than if you have a partner who's able to carry those bills and you don't have to.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, like there's no pressure, right?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: So you can sell from a different place, and it's just it it makes a difference.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that I I've kind of wrestled with that idea quite a bit.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: When I first got into business, I had a web design firm and I started networking locally, and I was being mentored by a group of women in like no shade or anything, but I kind of realized they all had husbands with full-time jobs benefits who funded their business through those infancy stages.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's a really important point, is a lot of people aren't starting with bootstraps.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: They're and maybe they had the foresight and maybe they have a spouse that supports them and maybe, and that not that there's anything wrong.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think we should all use whatever resources we have available to us.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: But I think the problem becomes when we don't see those beginning steps, we just assume, and then there's all this discord be your own boss, you can stay on work from a laptop on a beach, and you're like, yeah, that sounds awesome.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: I want that, I want the lifestyle, but I don't really know the business plan.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: I don't really know how I'm gonna get there.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm curious, you Mariah said something really interesting.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: So Bobby and I are out here, we're on marketplace, he's got major health insurance, rent health issues.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: We pay about double our mortgage and healthcare costs, I would say, every month.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so it that was something I obviously didn't expect this.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, I am a human being that cannot have a boss.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: I've just realized about myself I have to be an entrepreneur, that's where my realness comes from.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, I have just accepted that as my heart.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that is my shit sandwich.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm gonna be out here and it's gonna be fucking rough because I can't listen to anybody.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: But like life gets real.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, when you I think we all started this, or I got into this in my 20s, Mariah got into it.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Me too.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: You didn't really have to care so much about retirement.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we should save a little bit, but it's like that's far off.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: No, retirement's real.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what how are we saving for retirement?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: Healthcare costs are real, healthcare costs are gonna keep going up.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's there's like this realism that it's like the option of opposite of the delusion that Mariah mentioned.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that is it's fucking hard.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's really fucking hard.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I certainly have had moments, and I your story is really inspiring to me because I've had this narrative of I've had this story in my head of like, I'm gonna have to go back and start at square one.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: And instead, I love your job.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: You found a job that was perfectly suited for you.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're a generalist, you know how to kind of meet people where they are and see the big picture.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: And now you are in your zone of genius in this world that I thought I couldn't fit into, right?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I think non-for-profit is different than corporate.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: I've always done better there than like a corporate structure.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I really love, and now Miranda, you the knowledge that you've picked up from being able to talk to all of these people and like see these trends is incredible to me.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so if you don't mind a little bit, I think most people don't know that they have access to a small business development center and what especially online people.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_02: I I've worked a bit in this world, so I know that like brick and mortars are a little bit more likely to reach out.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: But tell us about like what is the resource, what is the resource that a place like you provides and how could you help people?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: What could they reach out for?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because I mean, I was here, I was a presenter here before I was full-time.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think in all my seven years of consulting, I had one client who had utilized the SBDC.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I got one client out of a workshop I did who went on to like we worked together for a really long time.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so the SBDC's Small Business Development Center, every state should have them.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um in the state of Illinois, we have 35.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: SBDCs are funded in part by the Federal Small Business Association.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then there is a some sort of match at the state level.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um in the state of Illinois, it's with the Department of Chamber and Economic Opportunity.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then in Illinois at least, um, there are relationships with a host and the SVDC.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I am located at a local community college, Wabansi Community College, and they're our host.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: So there's also like a partnership there.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um so technically, I like to describe us as an island here because we are housed in the college and we are part of the college, like the college is who's on my W-2, you know, and my benefits.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we report up in two ways.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: So we report up to the state, um, the state director of the Small Business Development Center in Illinois, and then we also report up to the college side.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so we kind of have like two sets of missions and two sets of goals.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so with that, I get the benefits of being part of the higher ed system that we talked about.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then we get the benefit of providing no-cost community services because it we are a grant-funded nonprofit.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so those services here at least, um, so the manager before the new manager who's here now, the one that retired, she was here for 17 years.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: So she built up this program in this community and really became the go-to source for just, and when I asked her about it, because in any municipality, there's going to be politics, you work in higher ed, there's you know, clout chasing and all this stuff.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I just was like, How did you not get distracted by this in 17 years?
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, I just kept my head down and I did my job really, really well.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that regardless of the situation, when people knew that a business needed help with a business plan or financial projections or growing their business or they were struggling, they knew who to call.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, I've really tried to heed that advice.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but our services, so we provide um twice a month in English and Spanish at our location, a it's called Starting Your Business in Illinois Workshop, which is just like our the workshop we funnel all the newbies through, right?
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're calling us.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we don't want to answer the same question a hundred times to just go take that workshop.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that instructor is super knowledgeable, more knowledgeable than I ever would be about like setting up your corporate structure and your organization and all of that stuff.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then um, twice a year we run a 10-week cohort.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like uh an advanced business boot camp.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: I would really consider it more of an accelerator than an incubator.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: So an incubator by nature is going to incubate ideas, right?
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's for new business owners who are trying to get things off the ground.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Although people use these terms interchangeably, they're not.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, an accelerator is this is a pet peeve of mine.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um accelerator, by nature of the definition, is going to accelerate your business, right?
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so business bootcamp is meant to accelerate existing businesses.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's for established businesses that have a proven track record of sales, like you can present a W-2, is what I want to see, right?
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we run that twice a year in English and in Spanish.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it's a great group.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, my brother and I are in the home buying process, and I just hired a home inspector from the last cohort to do our home inspection, which was fairly cool.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, to like see him work in real time, you know.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: So so we offer a lot of educational.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: We had Mariah come and present, she did an SEO workshop, which was really cool.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and people they loved that.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: They, you know, they just loved the her energy and the real world application of it, but then it was something different, you know?
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that's something we would try to focus on here is like not necessarily trending, but what is necessary in the market right now, you know, and so we did um the SEO workshop was scheduled right along the same time.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: We also did a three-part series and AI workshop for small business um and how to use AI to set up systems in your business.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then we also do QuickBooks workshops, and then we also do one-on-one advising.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's where obviously you really can see traction um with a one-on-one advisor.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: There's no limit to the amount of resources you can utilize or the amount of times you can come back so you can grow your business with the SVDC.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we have resources outside of the SVDC.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: When I have a business, um, for example, I had a client who bought a local company, like a million-dollar, you know, deal.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so he came here, but really it was, I don't want to say above my pay grade because I probably could have helped him to some degree, but definitely like pushing the limits of my experience.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: So um that's when I call in.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_01: We have a team of contracted expert advisors.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: So they are bound by the same confidentiality agreement as we are, but they're not employed by the SBDC or Wabonzi.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: So they're contractors.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so then I have industry-specific contract advisors.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: So if I need someone, you know, someone who is in the transportation industry, I know who to call.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: And if I have someone who has a manufacturing business, I know who to call.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: If I have someone who's acquiring or selling, I know who to call.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's not just us here, but we have a lot of resources.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then as part of our roles here, you know, it's to be connectors within the community.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so, um, you know, like, oh, I got a guy.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so we needed a home inspector.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I got a guy.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, also the plumber that we hired at the house was uh, she's on our advisory board.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: She, you know, her and her husband owned the plumbing business.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: And um she was uh when they had that plumbing business 17 years ago, well, five years ago was when they took the program.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, they also were graduates of the SVDC, the Business Growth Academy program.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so you just realize like so much of my job, and maybe Mariah can speak to this about human design and what it means for me, but like is connecting people and keeping that mental catalog of like, oh yeah, yeah, I can like you should call so and so, or I can put you together with so and so.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so that I think it's a pretty good overview of what we offer here.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: I love A, you working for the SBDC, and I love the SBDC for a couple of reasons.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: So you, even before you like were in this role, I know that you had those relationships and stuff like that, but people used to ask me for like referrals for different things, and like when you always came to mind as like the bridge between the local business community and the online space.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_03: And it's funny because I feel like before you were maybe consulting like online business owners and telling them to go and use the resources that they have locally, and then it's like, but then you also had local business owners that you were like, there's a shit ton of resources online, and so it's cool to be able to see that like depending on what they need, there's resources for everything.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: But I know like the small business development center and things like that.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_03: Whenever you say resources, me as an online business owner who hasn't I don't have a degree and ain't none of this shit, right?
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: And so I hear resources, I go, okay, funding.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I think of.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think of workshops, I don't think of mentor, I think of finances for funding, helping me create a business plan and lawyer services.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: Those are the three things that like I think of.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, well, I don't need those resources right now.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: So like, why am I gonna even reach out and go to any anything that and like each hub does have a different like website and a different this, which can make reaching out to them difficult.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like I remember when I moved back locally, I tried reaching out to my small business development center because I was jealous that you were so close with yours.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_03: And so I was like, I want to reach out to mine, but like mine, their website is awful.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: I can't find any information.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_03: There's nothing where yours absolutely incredible.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: The way that they have things laid out, you can see everything so clearly.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_03: And for me, I was like, so I have to call somebody and ask them what they can do for me.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a millennial, I'm not doing that.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_03: What do you mean?
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_03: And I tried sending emails, nobody responded to me.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_03: And so being an online business owner, I literally had no idea that any of this stuff was possible.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I think even to this day, without you telling me about your experience, me knowing that you got a job there and how you help people, I don't think that I would have known that.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_03: No, literally, I can go down to the center and show up and ask a lawyer question or show up and learn how to use QuickBooks or get uh feedback on copywriting or help with, I don't know, if I wanted to start my own nonprofit, like all of these things that I feel like online business owners think that we have to navigate and do by ourselves, there are resources and people to help you with that.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I had no idea.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm sure there's listeners that are like, what do you mean?
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to pay for it.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like it depends on the program and stuff like that.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_03: But like it sounds too good to be true, but like it's there.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's here.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: And we I mean, and so many businesses in the beginning are you're bootstrapping your finances, right?
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: Unless you have an investor, whether it's your partner or your father or somebody else, you know, but but you're bootstrapping it.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think to have the support and something I'll say too is I would rather someone call me and say, like, hey, I don't really know what you have to offer.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if this is a good time for me to meet with you, but here's what I have going on.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: Then call me in six months and tell me, like, oh my God, I need a loan because I can't pay my bills, you know, because it's too late.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is really the worst part of this job is that we often get the calls too late.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: We're the last stop instead of the first stop.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_01: And um, because people, you know, we're problem solvers.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so like even the like local economic developers from the different municipalities, well, they know to send people to us and use us as a resource.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of times it's businesses that are reaching out to them looking for funding because they're having trouble paying rent that month or or they want to get a business off the ground and they ran out of money, you know.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so at that point, it really is too late.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I can't, I can't fix math problems.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like the math ain't math, and there's not a lot I can do about that.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I can help you with marketing, but a lot of times what I see is people come here thinking they have a marketing problem, but they really have a math problem.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: And especially if it's brick and mortars, that math problem is the rent to revenue ratio.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's tough, right?
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because we all know if you rent or have considered renting, um, rent is crazy expensive.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, if you are a brick and mortar business owner and you're trying to evaluate, like, well, you want to have this shop, you really do have to run your numbers carefully to see like what percentage of your revenue is your rent going to be?
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: And how much revenue do you need to make in order for this to be sustainable?
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's the same like equation when you're buying a house, you should evaluate what percentage of your take-home pay is your mortgage going to be.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're pushing like 50% in either scenario, you don't want to be there at all, right?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people are, and that's a really scary place to be.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I've learned a lot about the numbers, and I've always like harped on the numbers in my business.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've always had clients track their numbers.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: I've always been into like analyzing the data, you know, with Google Analytics and understanding and it using the data to inform your business decisions.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: But now it's just on such a deeper, deeper level, like for my personal understanding and in the way that I can help clients understand too.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: So are you, I'm thinking like I'm going in with a brick and mortar.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_02: Are there certain like thresholds that you look for, like a percentage of uh revenue to rent, or like how are you guiding people?
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: Are there like good standards to follow?
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: So the standard, the metric that I was given is like the same in the mortgage world.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like Dave Ramsey has a metric where he wants your, oh my gosh.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, if you want to laugh, just like look at what he thinks you should have in place before you buy a home, okay, in this economy.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but anyway, so Dave Ramsey says the threshold for your your mortgage to take home pay is 25%.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like you don't want your mortgage payment to be more than 25% of your take home pay.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: In the business world, the metric that I was given by an economic developer is that conservatively, you don't want your rent to be more than 10% of your annual revenue.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you're doing the math on that, right, and you have to pay five thousand dollars a month in rent, which is cheap, I guess, depending on the space you're in, the size, right?
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so$5,000 a month in rent times$12,000, so that's$60,000 a year, and you need that to be 10%.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna have to make over half a million dollars in revenue to make that comfortable for you.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody that is having this like dream of opening up a boutique or a coffee shop is melting into their chair, melting into their track, their chair.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's my job.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: Do you see why I'm a dream killer?
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no, but it's just a reality check because there, and you may see like in your local, I want you to think about your local businesses now and think about like your your favorite coffee shop, okay?
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: It is hard to make money with a coffee shop because like restaurants, the profit margins are low, um, especially when the cost of goods is high, you have tariffs on the these products, you know, like all of these things.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um you have to sell a lot of coffee.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to sell, you want to make that ratio make sense.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: So now let's say you push it a little more.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like you could push it to be like 20, 25.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: I have businesses that are like at least 50%.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like the rent is at least 50% of the revenue.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason why that's problematic is because you've got a fixed cost expense, a fixed expense now, right?
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: So like when your revenue dips, you can't limit that expense in the same way that you can limit your inventory or you can limit your labor, or you can cut back on other things.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot cut back on your rent.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is what makes it scary in the same way it is at home with your mortgage.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can cut back on your grocery bill, you can try to cut back on your utility bills, right?
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know how much any of that actually helps, but you can't cut back on your mortgage payment.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's a fixed cost.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is what's problematic.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then you come here and you tell me you have a marketing problem because you have to make more money because you need more customers because you have to pay your rent.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: And the reality is at some point you're gonna hit capacity, right?
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: So with the amount of labor, if you need more customers and you need more coffee, then you need more labor and you need more inventory, and so like all of your expenses are going up.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so you just doing the math at least at a basic level is really important.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I had a client and she had a really successful business on her own, and then she had a dream of opening a brick and mortar in the town that she lived in, and she was willing to like siphon a portion of the income she was making from her business into this side business to support it.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I told her to take that out of her financial projections because it wasn't realistic, because I wanted to see what that business could support on its own, right?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like propping up your business with external income as like an angel investor for yourself is is fine if you want to do that, I guess.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: But it's to include that in your projections is not an accurate projection of what that business is gonna generate.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_03: All of this is wild, right?
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_03: And like we're in the online space because we're fucking dreamers.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_03: We're creatives, we're creative, we see a problem, and it's like vanilla ice.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's like you see a problem, yo, I'll solve it.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_03: You're just like, yeah, I can solve that shit.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_03: I can make some money.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_03: What do you mean?
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_03: And then you start making online money, right?
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then you're making online money, and you're just like, yo, I could just like I could help somebody with their spreadsheets and I can charge them on upwork like 65 bucks.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_03: That took me 15 minutes.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_03: So then you start doing all these things where you're like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like all of that is true.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I also am a person that sees the world through unlimited opportunities and potentials.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: But the math has to math.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_03: And that is what like I'm so grateful that I was able to live at my parents' house when I first got started with this business.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: If I didn't, there was no way that I would be here right now.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_03: There's no absolutely no way because all of that uncertainty that was happening, it's like I couldn't go full time in my business and pay rent and all of my bills and live alone in my own apartment until I was like four or five years in, four years in.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like people forget about that when we're starting a business and all of this, like the local coffee shops.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like this is it's also uh a really good reminder of like, if you cannot go to Starbucks and go to your local spot, if you have a local restaurant that you love, try to support them as much as possible.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I know that people are like, well, we don't have extra income.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, yes, I understand that if you're in that place.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_03: But also it when you do, if you do putting it to your local community, I think getting more involved in networking locally feels really grounding and feels really good.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: And it reminds you that these are people behind these.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not saying that like somebody that has a really shitty rent to profit ratio, like should start begging people to come in.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_03: But it's as consumers, it's like if you like these businesses, they need us now more than ever.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like it's just a really good reminder where it's like support the businesses when you can, really.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: You say support them and you really never know what's going on behind the scenes, you know.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there are so many businesses I think that put up a good front and they're just good at not letting those emotions, the stress of running that business, like come to the surface or murky the waters in the customer interaction.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, like I was telling a client the other day, because the other thing is like you don't need a bunch of, you don't need to invest a bunch of money, especially for service providers, it to just start, right?
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because you need validation from the market that this idea is worth pursuing.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was telling someone, she she came with all of her website, like website outline printed, so we could like review it.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, hold on.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: You haven't even sold a single service yet.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_01: You haven't even got paid ever for this.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: So why are we gonna invest all this money in a website?
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_01: I said, you need to create just a PDF of your services, something that you can sell.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_01: And she, I can tell that makes people uncomfortable because I think that's just every everyone's insecurity.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I can relate this to this too, because I was like this at one point.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: But you want to have something to give, right?
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like a business card, you want to look professional and you want to show up.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: But then as I grew in my career, I stopped with all that bullshit.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I used to sell$10,000 consulting packages out of a Google drive sheet.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_01: And like she, I blew her mind with that statement.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I it's like, yeah, dude.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then to take it a step further, and like sometimes there was like for sure negative in my bank account or close to it, and I'm out here selling 10K packages, you know what I mean?
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, you there, that's the relent relentlessness, right?
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that pursuit.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I did live at home too for the first year of my business, and then I moved out, and then I got supplemental income and I got a contracting job.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I would work corporate events like one or two weeks of the month, and I would make really good money there.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that would, between that and the fact that I had pitched, quit my job and pitched my boss to be my first client, those two things like gave me the freedom and the flexibility to just not have the pressure to make all this money, pay my bills out of my business right away.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think there's like this idea of being grounded and focused in your business, but then you also have to be open and flexible to possibilities.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I have clients who have come to me and we've run the numbers, and the outcome of that was like, hey, you're gonna need to get a part-time job.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like this is this is not a marketing problem.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_01: This is not a how many, like you're a good saleswoman, you're great at what you do.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta get a job if you want to continue pursuing this business and not a full-time job, right?
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and so there's a another piece to this, also with like knowing to say good when to say goodbye to your business, or let go of revenue streams or product lines, right?
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_01: But it's you're the death of your ego, and you have to be like, as business owners, we're so proud.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you should be proud.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: You should be proud if you've like invested time and money and blood, sweat, and tears, right, into building something that you created, like you birthed into the world.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: But you have to like not be so stubborn that you let it be your downfall as well.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to be okay.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've I mean, I've seen people do a bunch of things.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: I used to walk dogs.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've had, you know, there's like, I have lots of clients who've had to pick up side hustles, and there's no shame in it.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_01: There's no shame.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that there is a version of the online world where there is shame if your business is not making enough income for you to pay your bills.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that is not real life.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_01: Just like all these beautiful homes are like these moms of five who like perfect kitchens and cabinets and stuff.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, no, that's not real life.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like your kids are spilling things on the floor, there's dirty diapers over here, like somebody's screaming in the background, you know, like not everybody's house is like beautifully curated and up to date and all.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like find the people.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_01: I guess for me, I want to see the real side.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not gonna trust you if everything in your life or everything in your marketing is perfect, you know, because that to me is not real life, it's a facade.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm immediately thinking about all the trad wives out there that are preaching like trad wife lifestyles, but they're earning way more money than their husbands are.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, I think that idea of proof of concept is interesting.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's something I run into a lot.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm selling five-figure branding packages and I'll have people come to me that have not earned a dime.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great idea, and maybe they have money from their career, but they have never earned a dime with this idea.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll honestly steer them away because I'm like, this investment does make sense for certain types of business, especially if you're trying to like get to that next level.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_02: But what I have noticed is that type of entrepreneur, they are excited about that piece.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_02: They're excited about the branding, they're excited about the website, and so that feels easy and they want to dive into it and they're kind of avoiding what they need to avoid, which is is there demand in the market for what I offer?
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think like that piece, it's really easy or to stay into research mode forever and never prove that piece.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_02: But to me, proof of concept is so important, especially when you're talking about investing on this level.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_02: And the other thing, I was thinking about like, what are other ways the math doesn't math for businesses?
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_02: I've noticed a lot of us don't quantify our own labor.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, this business runs and it's profitable if I'm here, but the second I take me out and I perhaps had to hire somebody to do what I do, the numbers fall apart.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I'm curious, like, are there any other like math ain't math in situations that like pop up a lot for you or scenario goes?
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_01: The one thing that comes up a lot um when we're doing monthly expenses, recording monthly expenses, and I ask people, okay, do you pay yourself?
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not uncom uncommon for people to say no, right?
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: Especially in the beginning.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then we're doing the math, and I'm like, okay, where so you're stressed about money, you're here because you're having a hard time paying rent or whatever the problem is, right?
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_01: But this spreadsheet is telling me like you should have money in the bank account every month, and the business is structured in a way that is profitable.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't see a problem with the pricing or your services or the rent to revenue ratio.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_01: There are no other red flags.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_01: So where's the money going?
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then I have to go back to the monthly budget tab and I have to go through everything again.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, So, um, are you paying for any personal expenses out of the business?
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then they'll say, Oh, well, yeah, I paid for my car payment out of the business.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, you know, and then they're just I had one client and it was like she was paying for massages and nails and like that was me.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_03: That was that was me like five five years ago.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, um, yep, on on the business card, on the business card.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_03: This is marketing.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_03: I'm pitching her as she's massaging me.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_01: This is networking.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is networking, this is CEO self-care, this is, you know, whatever.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that um I will find gaps a lot of times where it's like, well, you're not telling me everything, you know, and so then we have to go back.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, okay, so then you are actually paying yourself out of the business, it's just going towards, you know, your living needs, which you need to take care of, of course, but you have to account for those.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's not just like a wash somewhere.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like you need to account that money in and money out, you know.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: So um that I think, and then I've had people who have spent like astronomical amounts of money on marketing, like on agencies.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's a really bummer, a sad one to see because you're not getting that money back, and I know they're not gonna see an ROI on that.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so that I mean, those are the main things.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then especially businesses who are like just getting started.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_01: I just can't encourage them enough to just streamline their operations.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like just go see if someone's gonna pay for it and how much they're willing to pay and how many customers you can get because you don't need a website.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can use local marketing for most of this stuff.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_01: And they just a lot of people want to avoid that because it's uncomfortable.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's uncomfortable to go out there and sell yourself, especially face to face.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that is you want free marketing, you want the, you know, the fastest way to move the needle forward in your business.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's not Mariah knows, it's not SEO, you know, that's a long-term play.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's not online marketing in general, right?
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_01: That takes time.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um what did I have the other day?
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_01: I had someone who was gonna start a program.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not programs, right?
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you're new to business and you don't have an audience to sell to, it is going to be very, very hard to launch a program or to launch any sort of anything.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_01: You need to build up your clientele.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_01: You need to build up that audience and generate interest and excitement.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so also I want to say I'm not a pessimist.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like I know this like a downer because I am pragmatic and I'm very realistic.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I do have hope, you know, for these businesses, some of them.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I do think you have to have faith for your business to like to grow and to be open to opportunity and and all of those things.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's an element of uh realism, you know, that I think is missing a lot of times.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_01: People keep the blinders on.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I'm not like all doom and gloom, although I did do a presentation and I had someone they had they interrupted and said, it's not all doom and gloom.
• 1:03:18
  unknown: Okay.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if you're in my chair um long enough and you see enough like sad stories.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's sad.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it I don't take these things personally.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've been coaching long enough to know better than to take it on personally, but it doesn't mean it's I don't have empathy for the situation because I've also been there and I've also had to pay my bills and I've also struggled with that, you know, and I've also had a million side hustles in my business to make ends meet and to figure it out.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I've also made some really bad investments in business, you know, that I paid for.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_03: Them group coaching programs, dude.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_03: They'll just the group coaching programs PTSD alone.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like we all have a story about paying way too much for way too little.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I calculated it this morning.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how I knew we were gonna talk about it, but I think I invested like$30,000 over seven years in group coaching or big, like big expensive coaching.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_02: That's another narrative narrative is oh, you you the you need to invest in the best coach, and the if you're at your best, you're 50k a year in a coach, and like you can't be successful.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's um, I think that the narrative too, like that the coach, which I obviously I've had to reconcile, right?
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because my services are offered at no cost now.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that the idea that the more that the coach is charging, the more valuable they are.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is like I just think, oh, I just hit okay.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_01: I hope I was recording the whole time.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think yours was, but anyway, so the idea that like the more expensive, the more valuable, and maybe I guess, you know, but I think, and that's why people shy away from local business services, I feel like, because they for whatever reason don't deem them to be as valuable.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_01: And there are, I mean, I know like what we offer here and the success that we've seen here with our clients, and then the manager before, like this program itself is really valuable.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you have some really incredible like people, but the manager and the advisors and like just the whole team, right?
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and the access that we have at a state level and a federal level.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are other, we didn't talk about um there's SBDC, but there's also WBDC with the Women's Business Development Center, and then there's also SCORE, which is a national nonprofit.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not really sure where they're at.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think they did not receive funding this year, or it was cut.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so those resources may be scaled back in your local community, but definitely worth pursuing because these are people.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_01: Who have done it.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, these are professionals like who have walked the walk, you know.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so I had a guy in my office yesterday who's uh here with his friend who was running a business, but he's 84, he's a real estate attorney, and he's like, I've worked with small businesses my whole life.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know this resource exists, and I am blown away by the service that you have to offer small businesses.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, wow, thank you so much.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that was a huge compliment because this dude has done it in this community for 60 years.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't know.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_03: I I think that A, it goes to show you that businesses were businessing before the internet.
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_03: There was always different ways to like make money.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's why like I really wanted to have you on A to share your story and to share it with just like it's okay to go and get a full-time job if that's what you want.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I have actually quite a few friends in the past couple of years that I met in the online space, and they were like, yo, I need some stability and some benefits, fam.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I can't, I can't be doing this anymore.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so your story is really inspiring because like you did what you needed, and now you're gaining so much knowledge, having your hands in different businesses that you would have never been able to see.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_03: And who knows what your career is gonna look like after this or in a next chapter or just like a next level and like the opportunities that are gonna come.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I just really want to encourage people, especially if you've been in the online space for so long, like me, like it, like I've been in here for 10 years.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_03: I just found out two years ago when you got hired in a different state that there was this opportunity.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so then when we moved back to Buffalo, I've actually started developing a relationship with the Women's Business Center here.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_03: And that's been really great.
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_03: I've been able, I was able to teach like an in-person workshop to people that otherwise had didn't know who I was and maybe could not have afforded my services.
• 1:08:02
  SPEAKER_03: Some of them were really new.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_03: I think some of them could have.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_03: They were like further along in business.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_03: But then just like learning about these business centers and like the opportunities for you, A, for you to collaborate with them as a business owner, like me, business owner to business owner to like with this uh women in business center, like I got a speaking opportunity.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_03: Now I have like the video of me up there and teaching a group of people, that's incredible.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like they want me to teach another workshop.
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, that's great.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's growing my name and my credibility locally, where it's like if you're overwhelmed in the online space, or if you just want to switch it up where it's kind of where I was, where it's like, go and connect with your people locally.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_03: You have no idea the connections that people have.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's mind-blowing.
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_03: You get into a conversation with somebody, and I'm just like, oh yeah, I'm looking for somebody to do X, Y, and Z.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_03: And they're just like, oh, my cousin's brother's uncle does that.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_03: Let me put you in contact.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_03: And you're just like, bro, what?
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you forget that, like, this is how we have evolved as humans is community.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want to balance out your business a little bit better, if you're primarily online, get to talking with your local people.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that and you just don't, that's the number one thing I tell people like whether they're a service provider or a local, you know, brick and mortar, it's like go get involved in your community.
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because you want your community to support you, then you also have to support it.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's reciprocal.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_01: And if you want practice speaking, you start local.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like I started speaking at the local networking groups, and then I got referred to the SBDC and I did my first ever workshop.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then from there, I was able to develop a workshop curriculum that I could pitch to other places, you know, and so then that became like my go-to curriculum.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_01: And like then, you know, so things just evolve from there.
• 1:09:55
  SPEAKER_01: So like I tell people, um, I have a few clients who are working on building up to workshops and like speaking and that type of thing.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, go pitch the libraries, the local libraries.
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Most of them run programming, right?
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_01: At no cost to the clients.
• 1:10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they have grant budgets.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you could get paid.
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_01: You just don't know.
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_01: But like your local resources are a lot of times going to be the easiest to get into and the most supportive, may not be the most lucrative, right?
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_01: But it's experience, and that's what you need.
• 1:10:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna sharpen that toolkit because nothing makes you better, a better speaker than doing it in person.
• 1:10:31
  SPEAKER_01: I could present on Zoom all day long.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're on mute, their cameras are off.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like talking to myself.
• 1:10:37
  SPEAKER_01: But you go in in person and you like make a joke and they don't laugh, and you're like, whoops, okay.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_01: This, this it's a completely different beast.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, completely different.
• 1:10:48
  SPEAKER_03: You're like trying to pick up the energy of the people in the room.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, are you guys following?
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_03: Are you not following?
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what are you at?
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like, does this make sense?
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_03: Are you okay?
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_03: Are we all here together?
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_03: What's happening?
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like you start questioning yourself more, and like then you realize that, like, how's my posture?
• 1:11:01
  SPEAKER_03: How am I like present?
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Is my voice loud enough?
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Where it's like, here, I just moved my microphone closer to my mouth.
• 1:11:08
  SPEAKER_01: My God, you guys want to hear a funny story?
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, right after um my first chemo, I it was over the summer, and um I went back to work, so I had to, it was like a week later that I was back in the office, but I also had a bad cold.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't know what was chemo and what was the cold symptoms, and we had to give a presentation for work, and my coworker, um, she was spearheading it, and she's a little younger than me, but we got out of that presentation and she was like, Why were you yelling at them the whole time?
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I couldn't hear because like the chemo brain fog and the the cold congestion.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, shouting at them the whole time is so embarrassing, but you know, what can you do?
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_03: What can you do?
• 1:11:49
  SPEAKER_03: And also, it's just like it's just such a good experience.
• 1:11:53
  SPEAKER_03: Networking and meeting people in person, it's completely different than hopping on a Zoom networking call.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_03: You just get way more confidence and you get in your body more.
• 1:12:02
  SPEAKER_03: You have to be in your body essentially when you were like meeting these people.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like I was so used to like disassociating sometimes that it's just like I don't even know like what I'm saying or who I am, or I would get in my hat, or I would get anxious.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_03: And like the only way to work through that was to like force myself to keep doing it.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then you get it's a it's a muscle you develop.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And like I I use timers with my toddler a lot.
• 1:12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, you're gonna go to bed in five minutes, let's set a timer.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people need to use timers more.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is why I tell people who don't want to um network.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you set goals.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Either it's a time limit after 30 minutes, you can leave, or it's a number of people, right?
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm gonna go in there and I'm gonna exchange business cards with five people.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And when I hit my goal, I can leave.
• 1:12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like a workout.
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like I had to talk myself into workouts soon.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, all right, I'll do two rounds.
• 1:12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then by after round two, I'm like feeling it.
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then I go ahead and finish, you know, four.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_01: But you gotta like work up to it, and then you talk to five people, and maybe you're tired and you do want to leave, or like maybe you're having a good time and now you're gonna stay and you're gonna so like this idea too that when you do things, it's gotta be like a hundred and ten percent.
• 1:13:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're gonna go to a networking event every week, is like, no, no, you don't have to do that.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Just like put a few on the calendar, go for 30 minutes.
• 1:13:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're all adults here, no one's gonna be like, leaving already, like, yeah, I gotta go.
• 1:13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like that.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's that's such a good reminder.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like we can just make it make the barrier to enter lower for yourself.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_02: That works for me 100% of the time.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I like the idea of thinking about that in business.
• 1:13:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I have a final question that's a bit selfish, but I'm curious, and I know this will be hard to answer.
• 1:13:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Mariah and I went to a conference this past summer in Idaho, and it was all on online entrepreneurs for the most part.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_02: And one thing I was struck by was when you're meeting people, every single person will introduce themselves and say, hi, I'm so-and-so, and this is my business.
• 1:14:05
  SPEAKER_02: But what I really want to talk to you about is this other business I have.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like we all are trying to start new businesses all the time.
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I have a feeling other people question.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_02: If you, I'm wondering for you right now in this economy, what is a green flag business?
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll give it a little bit more context.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm getting all this Cody Sanchez talk about like um Google businesses and it's a good idea to buy all of these old businesses, service-based businesses that are going out of business.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Ryan and I left that conference wanting to start a podcast studio.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_02: And after this conversation, I'm realizing there's a lot online people can learn from brick and mortar and vice versa, no doubt.
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm curious for you, like what do you see as businesses that are doing well?
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_02: Is it these old plumbing companies that mom and pop owns and selling?
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_02: Is it the online business?
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_02: Is it AI focused?
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like what it doesn't seem like it's coffee shops.
• 1:15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, tell me, like, what is a green flag business these days that you see?
• 1:15:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, for sure it's the trades.
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they like the plumbers, that's a great example.
• 1:15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, these trade businesses, because they're they're needed and those people need help too.
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, that's the thing.
• 1:15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think um online businesses kind of gets like the shiny object syndrome, like people are attracted to that, you know.
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it is, it's great.
• 1:15:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I can help those businesses as well.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_01: But if you are a tradesman or you're like we work with um an HVAC company and they're getting ready to retire, the owner of that wants to retire, so we're helping him with an exit strategy, and he's got a great like few-year plan that you know, he's got a number that he wants to reach before he gets out.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's got a person in mind that he wants to take over, and we're working with both of them.
• 1:15:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, it's like these um those businesses are green flag businesses.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think any uh the biggest one, a big one is transportation, like medical transportation, delivery services.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like the client I was talking about in the beginning, they started a um transportation company.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_01: They started with a sprinter van and in that guy.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so this is work full time, right?
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_01: That his wife works full-time, and they're calling these, like it's called um a load board.
• 1:16:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's like where they put the transportation routes, and anyway, he was reaching out to these people like 30 a week.
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's how many he's calling to try to get his first route.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And he prioritized professionalism and customer service.
• 1:16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, everything's branded.
• 1:16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like his driver is branded, the truck is branded, they have business cards, they're on time, they communicate clearly and effectively.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so when you enter these industries like the trades or like um transportation, these things that are largely like unregulated in a lot of ways, right?
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can go in there and you can be like what's gonna set you apart, what's gonna differentiate you, and a lot of times it's gonna be customer service.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like, I mean, think about your Amazon drivers, even like they're really not the most friendly, right?
• 1:17:11
  SPEAKER_01: They're it depends on the driver, but a lot of them can't drive.
• 1:17:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's a miracle that they get these contracts and they're like, I'm sorry, I have a real issue with my brother works for UPS, and so it's like a joke in our family that all the other delivery companies are less than.
• 1:17:30
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, um, UPS trains their drivers.
• 1:17:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's why, you know, it's a whole other so think about like, yeah, so delivery is a solid one to bring it back to the question, and um transportation, because those things are not going away.
• 1:17:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then if you're gonna enter that industry, it is saturated, right?
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do you set yourself apart?
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so, in the case of that client, it was professionalism, and then it's working.
• 1:17:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, like he's getting more contracts, like they are gonna expand.
• 1:17:58
  SPEAKER_01: He announced this um like publicly at a meeting we had, but they're ready now to get uh the ne the second truck.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_01: So they started with the sprinter band and now they're gonna get a box truck, and he's gonna employ his nephew now in the business.
• 1:18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and his wife is doing the books.
• 1:18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so this is like his plan.
• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_01: What's really cool about this job, to like bring it back on a positive note, is that I do get to see the ripple effect that we have in the community in real time.
• 1:18:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, like this guy came to us with a plan to start a family-owned business that can provide generational wealth for his family, his kids, his brother, his nephew, because his brother was driving for a company and not making good money at all, you know, just not a great situation.
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_01: So he was like, you know what?
• 1:18:45
  SPEAKER_01: We can do this better.
• 1:18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And he did.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I think oftentimes we think that in situations, and maybe it's short-sighted because you don't really know what goes into whatever the other profession is.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_01: But in his case, he really did think it all the way through.
• 1:19:00
  SPEAKER_01: And now I can, I'm seeing in real time, like he employed his brother, and now his brother is training his own son, the nephew, who's gonna be the driver in the sprinter van, and the brother is now getting his license to be able to drive the box truck, and so it's just like so cool to see the impact that our services have and the connections that we have helped him with have on like his family, you know, and um he's tracking to hit his goals, which are like retiring his mom and his his wife in five years, and he's tracking to do that.
• 1:19:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that's wild.
• 1:19:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, yeah, and I think it comes down to like the traits that you mentioned, like everything that you said, it's like, well, he had a goal, he had a plan, he was relentless, like he was organized, he went in there and he's doing all these calls.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's a thing, is that a lot of people, it's like they'll want to do this thing, but they won't make the calls, they won't reach out, they won't test it.
• 1:20:02
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the thing.
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's like some people would go in and start off with like four different vans, and it's like, no, he started with one.
• 1:20:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so I feel like the green flag, and especially like if you're buying an older business or something like that, it's like going in to make sure that it's still needed, like you're saying with the trades.
• 1:20:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like the trades are very much needed.
• 1:20:22
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like this could be kind of like a whole other episode, like talking about this specifically.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but we are coming to a close.
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_03: And so we have just a couple more questions for you.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:20:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so A, can you tell our listeners where they can find and connect with you?
• 1:20:41
  SPEAKER_03: Just like if they want to learn more about what you got going on.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:20:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you can, if you want to connect with me, you can connect with me on Instagram.
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know what my handle is anymore because it's not the business name.
• 1:20:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll share it in the show notes.
• 1:20:56
  SPEAKER_01: And um we will uh let's see, we'll share the Illinois SPDC website.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're local to Illinois and you want to check out our SBDC, happy to share that.
• 1:21:06
  SPEAKER_01: We can also share the um national SPDC website, so maybe you can connect with your local SBDC and then we can share my email as well.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have any questions, you want to reach out, connect that way too.
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and just to the boomer business, I know that is trending, like especially with Cody Sanchez.
• 1:21:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's a real thing to like buy a laundromat, you know, but I would say make sure you have someone to evaluate the viability of it and the profitability.
• 1:21:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you can do that through an accountant or you like you could come here and we could run it through our financial projections.
• 1:21:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, I would say a red flag in that scenario would be if the owner of that business does not want to give you the financial statements for the past three years.
• 1:21:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's a red flag.
• 1:21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Or if they give you the financial statements and it's like this like haphazard spreadsheet, which I have seen, and it's like, oh, well, my wife has been doing it for 30 years, and you're like, okay, but like what what did you submit to the IRS?
• 1:22:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so um that's something we can do here.
• 1:22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually really love that because it's not personal in that case, right?
• 1:22:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's like we're evaluating a neutral third party evaluating whether this is a good decision or not.
• 1:22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that's really fun to do.
• 1:22:15
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, that's where you can connect with me.
• 1:22:17
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you so much for coming on.
• 1:22:19
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for answering all of our questions.
• 1:22:21
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like a huge takeaway, like there's a lot of takeaways, but the biggest one is like A, do whatever you got to do for your career in order like to support the season of life that you're in, first and foremost.
• 1:22:35
  SPEAKER_03: And number two, it's like check out the resources available.
• 1:22:40
  SPEAKER_03: Find a local business center, even if it's online.
• 1:22:44
  SPEAKER_03: Like I know that Score does a whole lot of like online stuff.
• 1:22:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like you, if you don't find one specifically near you, maybe if you're living in a small town or something like that, you can always reach out and connect, especially statewide for sure, for sure.
• 1:22:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but before we come to a close, we have a question that we ask every human on the podcast.
• 1:23:02
  SPEAKER_03: What's been sparking your curiosity lately?
• 1:23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, what has been sparking my curiosity lately?
• 1:23:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good one.
• 1:23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um like in general?
• 1:23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Anything.
• 1:23:16
  SPEAKER_01: There is no wrong answer.
• 1:23:18
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like I know, but I don't want to speak for you.
• 1:23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, I'll say what I so what's been sparking my, I was just gonna say like the lymphatic system.
• 1:23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've been really deep diving on that, you know, as a cancer survivor, you know, on an ever-evolving health journey.
• 1:23:37
  SPEAKER_01: I've just been like really fascinated with um the human body and and all of the tools that we have within to like heal and to to optimize, but not in like a biohacking way, right?
• 1:23:50
  SPEAKER_01: But just like make sure everything is living a good fucking life while you have one of the plates.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, but I do my lymphatic tapping every day and my red light and I get in the sauna.
• 1:24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what were you thinking, Mariah?
• 1:24:06
  SPEAKER_03: I was gonna either say that or I was gonna say uh buying a house because you might be in a rabbit hole with that.
• 1:24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, actually I would say um like sales in general, I think has come up.
• 1:24:18
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a whole other podcast, but yeah, I've just been learning more about myself, and I think the past couple of years have done that, but um, I can be an aggressive person and a very direct person, and I'm finding that I really like that aspect of me, you know, and I think I used to like downplay that.
• 1:24:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, that goes back to just like the personal journey, learning more about my body, my personality, like all of those things.
• 1:24:46
  SPEAKER_03: I fucking love it.
• 1:24:47
  SPEAKER_03: The journey never ends.
• 1:24:48
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Miranda, thank you so much for coming on.
• 1:24:52
  SPEAKER_03: We'll definitely leave all the links to everything in the show notes below, but I think we're ready to close this episode down.
• 1:24:59
  SPEAKER_03: So remember, friends, that you have the power to create whatever the fuck you want.
• 1:25:05
  SPEAKER_03: If the math is mathing.
• 1:25:06
  SPEAKER_03: Follow the nudge, ask questions, and let curiosity guide the way.
• 1:25:10
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see you in the next episode.
• 1:25:13
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.