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How She Made $100K in Her First 90 Days as a Coach · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Carly Ries: What if you could generate a 100 k in your first ninety days as a coach without paid ads or a huge following? Andrea Engstrom did exactly that. After driving millions in sales for other people's businesses, she finally bet on herself, walking away from a 12 k per month gig and pulling in a 134,000 in her first ninety days as a coach. In this episode, Andrea shares her playbook, how she got 500 workshop registrations from organic posts alone, the counterintuitive sales shift that doubled her close rate, and the systems that let her run consistent hundred k months working just three days a week. So if you want a business that funds your life instead of consuming it, do not miss this one.
• 0:44
  You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those in pursuit of a life first business. I'm Carly Ries, and my cohost, Joe Rando, and I spend every episode with solopreneurs who are proving there's a better way to run a one person business and experts who are helping make it happen. We like to say life first, then business. So let's get right to it. Andrea, if you can't tell, I'm just so thrilled you're on the show today because we live so close.
• 1:14
  I don't know why, but Joe, we have so many East Coast people on the show and in our community. So when there's somebody in my neck of the woods, I get so excited.
• 1:23
  Joe Rando: You're very excited if they're in the mountain time zone.
• 1:26
  Carly Ries: Yes. That's very true. Let alone, driving distance for me. But Andrea, we're so happy you're here today.
• 1:34
  We have so much to unpack, and I think as a coach yourself, I think you could give so much advice to give our listeners. But before we get into all of that, we have an icebreaker question for you just to get to know each other a little better. And that is if you could go back and give your pre entrepreneur self one piece of advice, what would you say, and would your younger self even listen?
• 1:55
  Andrea Engstrom: That's such a great question. Thanks for having me. The piece of advice I would give myself is one that I got from someone when I was getting ready to launch my coaching program. And I wish that I had heard it sooner. I wish that I could go back in time and tell myself the three words bet on yourself. I spent the majority of my life feeling like I had to rely on someone else for a paycheck or to be the front person. And I was more comfortable being in a support role than on stage or on camera. I was really good at promoting other people and I realized that that was my comfort zone. That I'm a great creator. I'm a great promoter.
• 2:45
  But the truth is that I'm actually really good all on my own. I'm not sure if the previous version of myself would have heard that. I would have been like, no, no, no. I'm really good at promoting other people. And I thought that was like my strength and my skill set because I am a great marketer. But I didn't allow myself to be the one that I was marketing until much later in life.
• 3:10
  Carly Ries: Well, and you are a great marketer because you generated over a 100,000 in your first ninety days as a coach, which can you walk us through what those ninety days actually looked like step by step for someone who's still in that aspiring stage of being a solopreneur?
• 3:28
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah, absolutely. So during that season of my life, I was working in somebody else's organization. I did $2,000,000 in sales for someone else the year before I launched my own coaching program. And so when I tell you I was great at promoting other people, I was great at doing some of the things behind the scenes, and I just had that nervousness about me being the one that I was promoting. And so I had been coaching in somebody else's group and doing sales, doing some marketing.
• 4:03
  I helped them launch their podcast. so I had a lot of people that were reaching out to me and wanting to connect with me. And y'all I had 900 unaccepted friend requests on Facebook. Because I was worried that if I accepted those friend requests that then they would be asking me for something. Do you know what I mean? people would be like, oh, tell me more about how you do this. Let me just pick your brain. And I was like, I don't have time for that. I'm, working really hard in somebody else's business. so I have this kind of wall of protection a little bit.
• 4:36
  And so before I decided to launch my own coaching business, I went in and accepted all those friend requests. I was like, if I'm gonna launch something new, then I need more audience. That's part of the key. Right? So that was one of the things that I did.
• 4:51
  I heard this podcast, where Amy Porterfield was talking about her book coming out called Two Weeks Notice. And she described this season in her life where she was working with Tony Robbins, doing amazing things with amazing people, basically crying in her pillow at night. And I was like, girl, that's me. And so when I heard that she then, put a date on the calendar and she mapped out her own program, and she said those three words, bet on yourself. And after I heard that, I grabbed a notebook and I wrote at the top of the page, what would the bravest version of me do?
• 5:31
  And I mapped out how I would wanna help people. I had worked in enough other people's organizations to know what makes a great coaching program. I had invested in coaching in myself. And so I mapped out a coaching program, and I put a date on the calendar. I was like, success leaves clues.
• 5:48
  I'm gonna do what she said. And I put a date on the calendar and the date on the calendar was for a workshop. And I said, okay, I want to create a workshop where I can introduce what I'm doing to help people. And this is gonna be sort of my coming out party. And so I put that date on the calendar and I started promoting it.
• 6:09
  Like this is my workshop and then I didn't even have a coaching program figured out yet. I was just like, I know that I need to launch and I'm just gonna do what she said to do is put a date on the calendar. And I started promoting that. And then I figured out what I was gonna sell on the workshop. so I mapped out my coaching program and then I hosted that first workshop and I promoted it a few times a week.
• 6:35
  You guys, I got 500 registrations for that workshop which is unreal for just organic posts.
• 6:42
  Carly Ries: What did you do?
• 6:43
  Joe Rando: Yeah. That's what I wanna know. What were you doing?
• 6:44
  Andrea Engstrom: Let me share with you what I did to promote it. I started sharing my story authentically. And I think that's a key that is very uncomfortable for especially a new entrepreneur. I was sharing things like, I did have a result that I have achieved. So I had started a real estate investing business and I did 10 deals in my first six months.
• 7:11
  And seven of those deals were from networking and referrals. And so my coaching program was gonna be about clarity, confidence, and connections. I was like, I'm gonna share with you how I did this thing. But one of the things that I did as I was promoting it was I shared a part of my story that was like, you know, because just a year and a half before I launched that real estate investing business, I got sober. And my life changed so dramatically.
• 7:40
  I did the personal work. I lost a bunch of weight. And so my before and after pictures were pretty compelling. But I wasn't teaching weight loss. I wasn't teaching how to get sober.
• 7:50
  But I shared, you know, life used to be really different than it is today. And when I learned this thing, it changed everything. Right? And so I did some deep personal work. And then I did this thing and launched this thing.
• 8:05
  And so when I shared something that was authentic from a personal transformation standpoint, and authentic from a business result standpoint. And I posted videos that were very vulnerable and not like trauma dumping. That's very different. It was more like common experience. Common experience like, you know, are you trying to build a business and you sit down at your desk and you're not even sure what to focus on?
• 8:37
  I'm like, me too. And this is what I do about it and I would share a specific strategy and then share. If you want more ideas like this, I'm hosting a workshop and I wanna invite you to come with me. And so it was a mix of authentic sort of storytelling common experience videos, sharing my before and after, that personal transformation that happened for me in my life and then saying, come on girls, let's go. I'm gonna share, I wanna bring you along.
• 9:08
  And so I think there's a hesitancy sometimes in us to share our personal results because we don't want to sound like we're bragging. And there's a hesitancy of sharing hard things that we've been through because we don't want to feel like we're trying to get people to feel sorry for us or we don't want to share unflattering things about our life that would make people think something of us. And I just said if I'm gonna do this, I'm just gonna share and be real. Because authenticity connects at a deeper level than sharing tips or, you know, just trying to make it look like everything is really good. And it's always been that way.
• 9:47
  I think people relate to struggle and real. so when you're willing to show up in vulnerability, it is magnetic.
• 9:56
  Carly Ries: So did you start with a pretty substantial following on social media when you're creating these posts? Or for people that are starting from zero, I mean, 500 registrants on your first, like Coming out part of your business. So did you have a large following already?
• 10:14
  Or is this something that people could do starting from nothing?
• 10:17
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. So if you have at least 500 follower or 500 friends on Facebook, when I accepted those 900 friend requests, that bumped me up to about 4,500 friends. I didn't have like followers on any channels. I just had friends and most of them were my ideal audience from a standpoint of like, I work with women entrepreneurs. That's who I really wanna connect with.
• 10:49
  And so I had added several friends but I added a whole bunch more. And then I had you know, old friends from a previous chapter of my life where I was doing other things in business that had nothing to do with this new thing. And so the 500 friends and can I tell you what happened when I hosted that workshop? I made some big mistakes.
• 11:14
  And so I had, on that very first workshop, my Zoom account would only handle a 100 people actually showing up. And so at the very beginning of the workshop, I had to stop and be like, hey guys, hang on just a sec. I'll be right back. And there was a girlfriend on the call that I was like, Chris can you keep this going for a second? I'll be right back.
• 11:35
  And I had to literally go in and upgrade my zoom account at the beginning of it. And then it let more people in. So I had 500 registrations but I ended up with 250 people that showed up. And I hosted an amazing workshop. It went awesome after that. And then at the end of the workshop, I dropped a link for a program that was $1,997.
• 11:59
  And, I dropped the link for people to buy and no one bought. I was like, woah! and I walked away from a very cool gig making $12,000 a month in income. I quit that job. I had to put in my notice because they said you can't launch your own thing and still work for us. And I said, I got it.
• 12:20
  I gotta go because I have this clarity and I wanna run with it. so I dropped that link and no one bought. And so the big learning there was that even with just a $2,000 program, I recognize that people would need a one on one conversation. so I scrambled and I sent the replay and I sent a link to book a one on one strategy call with me. A free strategy call with me.
• 12:45
  And then like 24 people signed up for that and I was able to convert 12 of them into my program for the $1,009.97. I even added a payment plan option of like 12 payments of a $197. And so half the people paid in full and half the people took the payment plan. And so even though I had a ton of people register, the reality is I only had 24 people that actually booked that call because I had to do that scramble afterwards. If I could go back in time, that's the one thing I would do differently, to actually just give them a gift. so host a workshop and then just offer opportunity to meet with you one on one because that's where people will make a decision, is on that call. That was a key learning.
• 13:33
  Joe Rando: I have a question on that. You did the free strategy call. And one of the things that we've heard from a lot of solopreneurs is that these free strategy calls turn into people come in and they pick your brain, they get what they think they need, and then they're gone. So did you have any way of managing kind of adding value in that call without giving away the farm, so to speak?
• 13:54
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. so I used that strategy call script for my first million dollars in sales, and I wanna share a strategy that I learned in my third year that changed everything. But on that strategy call, yes, you will have people that just show up and wanna pick your brain. But the key is that we keep control of that call. And so I have very specific questions that I will ask.
• 14:21
  And then to understand what are their goals? What is their current reality? And then I will ask permission to just make a suggestion. And I make a suggestion that is related to some way that I help and then I just ask for permission. Can I share with you how I help people in your situation?
• 14:42
  And so if people start wanting to pick my brain and asking a question, I will say, I have a program that addresses, we dig into that. Would it be all right if I shared with you how that works? And so instead of getting into a pick your brain strategy, I transitioned to, oh, it sounds like you really need help in this. Can I share with you how I help people do that? And instead of just answering their questions and allowing them to control the conversation, I'm gonna redirect to presenting my offer.
• 15:13
  Carly Ries: Well, so you clearly figured out a strategy that works for you because you ended up scaling to a consistent hundred k months while only working three days a week. So my question there is, what did you have to say no to? How did you structure yourself to make this kind of schedule and this kind of income possible? Because in my mind, you've just turned down a lot of things too.
• 15:36
  How do you do this?
• 15:38
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. That's exactly right. So I'd never hit hundred k months until I shifted my strategy from and this is gonna sound counterintuitive. I used to do a one call close that was just a strategy call. When I transitioned to doing a multi part closing strategy.
• 15:57
  So today I meet with people for three sessions for free instead of just one session. And that sounds like the opposite should be true. Right? Like, oh, I've just given up even more of my time. But the reality is this is my highest value activity.
• 16:13
  And so I will meet with someone for three days for free. We do a thirty minute call, a forty five minute call and then another forty five minute call. And my closing rate more than doubled when I transitioned from a one call close to a three part system. so my process is I will meet with someone to do the discovery and understand where they're at and what they're dissatisfied with. And I assign a piece of homework that first day.
• 16:42
  The second day, we're going over their homework and helping them have a very specific breakthrough. Where they lock in clarity, and at the end of that call, I say, so tomorrow we're gonna talk about how to run with that clarity. And so if you'd like to know how to turn that into this, that's what we're gonna talk about tomorrow. And they're like, yeah, let's go. So when I present my program and my offer on day three, they're like, I can't imagine doing this without you.
• 17:09
  You've already helped me to get this clarity and this breakthrough. Like you're my person, right? And so I've demonstrated coaching competency in that. But the process I use is really they are coming to their own decisions with some guidance. And when you ask great questions people neither agree nor disagree.
• 17:31
  They just own their answers. And then on that day three they're just taking the natural next step. And so I hardly ever ask for the sale in the traditional way. I just say, does this feel like it would be helpful to you? And they're like, yeah, I can't imagine doing this without you.
• 17:47
  Amazing. I've got two options. How do you want to go forward?
• 17:51
  Joe Rando: Can I ask two questions? So you have two options. What are those and what do they cost?
• 17:58
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. So the primary program that I sell is to help people launch their own coaching programs. And so the first step is 7,900 paid in full that saves about a thousand dollars. Or you can spread it out in payments over either twelve or twenty four months.
• 18:15
  And so based on the person's capacity that I'm talking to, I'll make one of those two recommendations. So if they wanna save a thousand dollars, they can pay in full or they can spread it out. And I almost never come across someone that can't afford to get started working with me because I've spread those payments out over time. What that's created is I have $25,000 a month in payment plans that hit my account whether I make a sale or not. And so when I show up for a sales call or a sales opportunity, I get to have really open hands because I can pay my bills whether they join my program or not.
• 18:51
  I don't have sales breath on those calls. I'm just like, hey, would this be helpful to you? And they're like, yeah, totally. And I'm like, okay, cool. Let's go.
• 18:59
  Joe Rando: Borderline recurring revenue business.
• 19:01
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. Exactly.
• 19:03
  Joe Rando: People ever come back after the end of the program? Do they sign on for longer or do they pretty much go on their own?
• 19:08
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. So I have a next level program people can ascend into that's a mastermind program. And I will usually make them an offer to credit some of what they've invested with me towards that next level program. In this, I can do a $100,000 months working three days a week doing that process. And because the goal that I have every week is that I am booking at least six of those opportunities to work with someone for free for three days. I spend about two hours total per person, which means twelve hours a week, I'm locked in on sales calls or sales processes. And so out of twenty four hours that I'm working in a week, about half of that is the highest income generating activity that I do as a coach, which is converting sales. And then I spend time closing sales. I have a handful of part time people that are helping me do some behind the scenes. Like I don't do my own books.
• 20:13
  Joe Rando: Sure.
• 20:13
  Andrea Engstrom: We gotta have a bookkeeper. We gotta get the things off our plate that are not our highest value activity. But that's the critical thing in order to focus on your highest value activity, you're right Carly, you have to say no to things. I say no to people who wanna pick my brain.
• 20:29
  Instead I have a process that they can go through. I have a very clear thing that we do together. And my goal is, and the deal is if I make two offers a day for someone to work with me for free, I'm usually filling my calendar. And so that's the key activity. Is we make sure that if my calendar is not already filled because people are reaching out asking for this, then I need to make sure that I'm filling those appointments.
• 20:57
  Joe Rando: I'm doing the math here. So you're spending basically, three days a week, eight hour days?
• 21:05
  Andrea Engstrom: Mostly eight hour days. usually Wednesdays, I will do a longer day because I do one of my big coaching call every week In the evening on Wednesdays.
• 21:15
  Joe Rando: So are those group calls that you're doing
• 21:17
  Andrea Engstrom: That's the key.
• 21:18
  Joe Rando: Okay. This is where it's starting to come together.
• 21:21
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. So I can't have a 100 clients and do one on one coaching. it doesn't create the leverage that you need.
• 21:28
  Carly Ries: Okay. So right now I'm fascinated by your mindset because you came from corporate to do all of this and now your operations just seems so tied in and your structure and how you do everything. Was that from the get go or did you have to think about that over time? And what was that mindset shift like to get to this structure?
• 21:48
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. When I first started, I was really wanting to help as many people as possible. And I came from a real estate investing and real estate coaching background. And so I would have people reach out to me and say, I've got this problem on this property I'm working on.
• 22:11
  And my coaching program was not real estate coaching. And so, I had to learn to say no to those things, But to look for opportunity if it was someone that really wanted me to be their coach to be able to redirect them and and identify if that was an opportunity to invite them to work with me in my group coaching program. But, you know, I've worked with some amazing coaches over the years. And I've picked up a few things along the way in terms of how they manage their time. Because working as a support team member for someone else who's really good at the CEO mindset, and what they will do and what they will not do.
• 22:57
  I had some really good models over the years. But I had not adopted that for myself yet. so as I realized what my highest value activity was and that I wasn't hitting the numbers that I wanted to in my business, I realized I cannot do what I have done in the past and get a different result moving forward. Something has to change. And so that became for me like a ruthless pursuit of what I say no to and what must come off my calendar.
• 23:30
  And so one of the things that I did when I was first getting started because I didn't start out working three days a week. I figured out what needs to come off my plate and what I needed to put systems in place for. because what I realized is that systems create happiness in every area of our life. And so before I started to outsource anything else and that happens in my business, I outsource doing laundry and doing dishes and grocery shopping and doing some food prep because I was like, okay, I looked around me and I live in this tiny little community. And I was like, it's gonna be hard for me to outsource sales and marketing and some of those things.
• 24:14
  But I can definitely find somebody to come over and do my laundry and my dishes. And when we're a solopreneur and when we're juggling family and life responsibilities like that can be the stuff that you can let go of first. So I had to start saying no to things that also were taking my time but wasn't producing the result in the business. And then I figured out like if I do something on repeat, that is something that I wanna figure out a way to be able to either systemize, automate or delegate.
• 24:50
  And so that was what I started to identify where if I'm doing the same thing like uploading videos after they're recorded into the portal. Editing something or, you know managing something that was happening behind the scenes. if I can get some of those things off my plate and I have part time outsourced people that do the things in my business. And so I'm very ruthless about doing a time audit periodically where I go, okay, what are the activities that drain my energy that are repetitive tasks that are not using my brilliance and my highest ability to produce. That has to go.
• 25:38
  And I either need to stop doing it or delegate that effectively. And so creating systems in my personal life for how we manage the household stuff, but then the things that happen in the business every week. When you have a system, it becomes really easy to ask for help or to, or to now today we can create automations that make some of those things so much easier and faster. And even things like social posts I have dialed in AI prompts that I use and you can train your tools to sound like you and accomplish the result that you're looking for, and still feel really authentic using the tools and the systems and the automations that are available to us today that weren't available even three years ago when I started.
• 26:29
  Joe Rando: But what did you say a minute ago? Because I think I wanna write it down and put a dash next to your name under it. Outsourcing brings happiness to all aspects of life. Is that what you said or something?
• 26:39
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. Systems create happiness in every area of your life. And you guys, I'm rebellious when it comes to being organized and I have this idea that like, I'm creative , you know, I don't have to be organized. I like to be very go with the flow. But the more systems that I put in place and the more structure that I have, the happier that I am.
• 27:04
  And so for me that was a big mindset shift. Is that I don't have to be always go with the flow. I get to create variety outside of what I do in my business and create structure and to be able to create structure and stability in my business. I have to do a lot of the same things that you know can feel repetitive or feel boring. But when I realized that's what actually creates income, it allows me to travel and to create experiences.
• 27:34
  And you guys I homeschool my kids in addition to this. Like I'm more focused on creating the life that I desire outside of what I do in my business. So I'm willing to do boring things in my business in order to have the life that I really want.
• 27:50
  Joe Rando: I just wanna say that we are not paying Andrea to say these things about a life first business. This is purely, what's the word, Carly?
• 28:00
  Carly Ries: Aligned. Alignment?
• 28:02
  Joe Rando: Purely aligned, and this was all just go, you know, this is just honest conversation, so I'm really glad that we got to talk because this is all we talk about, building a life first business, and you are a shining example.
• 28:16
  Andrea Engstrom: Amazing. Oh, and is it okay if I go back and address a few other things that I did in those first ninety days? Because it wasn't just one workshop. That only did 24,000 in sales, but I did a 100 k in sales in my first ninety days.
• 28:30
  And so it is the urgency and frequency of doing high value activity that produces result in your business. so I hosted the first workshop. Two weeks later I hosted another and I called it an encore. I was like, oh, you know, so many people registered for my workshop. We're doing it again.
• 28:49
  And that next workshop I only had about 30 people show up. But I had 20 people that signed up for the strategy call because I followed up with people who registered. Because I don't need someone to come to a workshop in order to make them an offer to work with me one on one for free. Right? because they raised their hand, I can make that offer? and then three weeks later after that second workshop, I hosted another one. And then I got into a rhythm of doing it every four weeks. And so, and so even today I host a workshop at least once a month. also during the ninety days, I launched a Facebook group, a free Facebook group, and I called 20 friends and said, would you invite people who meet these criteria? Will you invite people to my Facebook group?
• 29:44
  And I invited them to be in my coaching program for free in exchange with helping me grow that group. And so within the first several months, I think we hit like 500, then 800, then thousand members of that group. It wasn't a huge group. I have friends that have groups with 68,000 members or you know, one of the gals has almost a million members in her Facebook group. You don't need that many people in order to build a really good business.
• 30:15
  But I personally called and invited people, please, would you partner with me in this way? And then I said thank you and by saying I want you to be in my next cohort to I want you to be a VIP. So would you invite people to the group and show up and be really active in there for this period of time for me? And so that helped build some momentum as well. And, I invested in myself in a coaching program to learn how to grow Facebook groups. so one of the things that I learned was to ask membership questions in such a way that they give you their email address and their phone number. I connected that to a little piece of software so it started to build my list not just generate immediate leads. And so then when people join my group, I can invite them to my workshops. I can invite them to take a next step to work with me for free. And in the first six weeks, I did $64,000 in sales.
• 31:14
  And a handful of people started asking me, Andrea, how did you do that? Pay attention to what people ask you advice for. And I said, well, let me think about it. I mapped it out and I said this is exactly what I did to figure out what to coach on, to get clarity of those things, to launch a workshop, to launch a Facebook group. I mapped it all out to figure out what to charge, ou and then how to convert that into a sale.
• 31:37
  And so I mapped it all out and I made a list of 11 women that I thought would be amazing coaches. And I called them and I want you to catch this. I didn't just post and say, please, join a workshop for this or, would you like to hear how I did this thing? No. I made a list of people that I thought would be ideal clients to teach this strategy to.
• 31:58
  And I just did a thirty minute call and I walked them through, here's what I'm gonna do, with this group. Would you like to be a part of that? And so from that group, from those 11 phone calls, seven of them said yes and paid me $6,000 to teach them how to do what I just did. And so that added another 42,000. And then as my initial group that had paid $2,000, I launched a new cohort every four to six weeks during that time.
• 32:28
  And as they were finishing, I created a mastermind group. And I was like, if you wanna continue working with me, I wanna go deep with you. We're gonna go on a retreat together. We're gonna keep meeting every single week. This is what that looks like.
• 32:42
  And I launched a $10,000 mastermind group and said I'm gonna credit your $2,000 to you joining the group. And actually I said it was $12,000 but I'm gonna give you a $2,000 credit because you joined this first program.
• 32:56
  Joe Rando: And so Is that a one time or annual?
• 32:59
  Andrea Engstrom: One time. So $1,212,000 dollars for the year. I'm gonna credit your $2,000 to that. And by the way, my coaching program that was $2,000, that was just a six week program.
• 33:10
  And so, I started a new cohort about every four weeks so that like somebody could always join the new program. But then when I launched that mastermind group, you know, I had like 40 students by then that had said yes to the lower ticket and four people said yes to the next level group and that was another $40,000 in sales. And so, from people joining the $2,000 program, the $6,000 new offer and then the $12,000 mastermind group that created a $134,000 in sales in the first ninety days when I was coaching. So when I tell you urgency and frequency, some people will launch something and then you know, maybe ninety days later they'll host another workshop and then they'll start another cohort a little while later. And then they'll launch a Facebook group. like all of these things, I was like, it is go time because I left a $12,000 a month income in order to make this thing go.
• 34:09
  And so I just said nobody's coming to save me. Nobody's doing this for me. If it is to be, it is up to me. I've got to bet on myself and I'm gonna do it in the best way I know possible and just take massive action. And I learned some really good things along the way, but it was that urgency and frequency of income generating activity, not over investing time.
• 34:35
  Like when I had my first cohort about an hour before my first coaching call, I was finishing the slides because I wasn't exactly sure what I was gonna coach on that call. I wasn't as focused because that's not really truly income generating activity. And so I have some coaches that I'll talk to and they're like, yeah, I'm almost done mapping out every PowerPoint slide for every coaching call that I'm gonna do and then I'll start selling it. Nope. Just outline it and start selling and then you're getting paid to actually create the content instead of trying to make something perfect and then hoping that people will buy it.
• 35:15
  Get proof of concept before you over invest in what you're actually gonna deliver on those. Because if you have people that are paying you and showing up, you will be ready to to do the first coaching call. You will be ready. You're not going to let people down. You're gonna provide massive value.
• 35:31
  But so many people over invest time doing things that don't actually generate income when they're first getting started because we are trying to make it perfect. We use preparation as a form of procrastination. And the reality is that the things that generate income are the only things that you should really be focused on during that season if you want to create a business that is truly gonna create sustainable success, we've got to focus on that activity. And can I share just a little math? This was something that I knew when I started that some people I think don't realize this. So as an entrepreneur, you have the ability to generate a thousand dollars an hour or 2,000 or 5,000 when you're doing your highest value activity. So most of us are like, okay, well what would that be for me? Well, usually that's closing a deal, closing a sale. That's the only thing that generates that income. And so most entrepreneurs are focused on low or no value activity for several hours a week. So let's do some math. If you spend twenty hours a week doing $25 an hour work for fifty weeks over the course of a year, that's $25,000. If you do thousand dollar an hour activity for twenty hours a week for fifty weeks in a year, that's a million dollars.
• 37:05
  And so when we talk about identifying your highest value activity and being ruthless about saying no to doing things that do not generate income. That is the difference between someone who makes a little bit of money in their business and someone who makes a lot of money in their business.
• 37:22
  Carly Ries: I feel like I just had a coaching session. Andrea, this has been so amazing. I could talk to you all day, but we ask all of our guests this question kind of start to wrap things up. You help so many people find success. What's your favorite quote about success?
• 37:37
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. Business is a tool that enables you to live the life you desire. Business is not life. We get that backwards. And that quote is from my dad.
• 37:52
  My dad is an incredible business coach. I started my career working with him in marketing management and business development and you know, elevating him and his career. And that was something that I heard him say over and over and over. And so now every time I have an opportunity to help someone decide what they want their life to look like by launching a coaching business, we come back to that. And we always start with personal goal setting and then set business goals that make those personal goals happen.
• 38:26
  Because it is too easy as a brand new business owner to make business your whole life. But we've gotta start with the end in mind which is create a life you desire.
• 38:36
  Joe Rando: We are of one mind. That's awesome.
• 38:42
  Carly Ries: Well, Andrea, give us all the links. Where can people find you, your program, everything?
• 38:46
  Andrea Engstrom: Yeah. Thank you. So my website is andreaengstrom.com, And you can register for my upcoming workshop, a 100 k in ninety days, where I literally walk through week by week what I did to create and launch my own coaching program on that workshop. And if you would love to learn more about how I help people get started with that, you can also book a call to see if doing the three day nail your niche process with me could be helpful to you. There's a link where you can you can book that and we'll get you set up and and scheduled for it so that you can take a first step to launching your own coaching program.
• 39:26
  Carly Ries: Well, I have loved this episode so much. This has been so helpful. I feel like my brain, I'm gonna be thinking about this the rest of the day or even the rest of the week. So thank you so so much for coming on this show. This was so valuable for us and for our listeners.
• 39:40
  Andrea Engstrom: Thank you so much. I love talking with people who have that alignment of creating a life you desire. So it's been such a pleasure. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Carly.
• 39:50
  Carly Ries: And listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As always, please leave that five star review. It'll help us spread the word to other people who need coaching and who are solopreneurs. Share this episode with a friend and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, including YouTube. And we'll see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur.
• 40:08
  You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.