0:01 Hi, everyone.
0:01 Welcome back to the Change Your Mind Podcast.
0:03 I'm your host, Kris Ashley.
0:05 We explore personal development, spirituality and science.
0:08 And today we're gonna really get into the personal development aspect, especially if you're a business owner or an entrepreneur or someone with a side hustle, we're gonna talk about money mindset.
0:17 We're going to talk about what it means to turn that side hustle into a full time business and how to think like a business owner.
0:26 So I'm excited first, a couple quick announcements.
0:29 If you check out the links in the show notes, you'll find a link to my book, change your mind to change your reality.
0:34 It's available in paperback ebook, audio book.
0:37 Anywhere you purchase your books, Amazon Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Google, Apple, all the places.
0:44 What's, let's see, what else?
0:45 Oh, there's also links to my free master class that happens every few weeks.
0:50 There's some free downloads from my website.
0:53 So ways to just stay in touch through social media courses, coaching.
0:58 And as always, this podcast is a part of the Los Angeles Tribune Podcast Network.
1:03 So we do a lot with personal development.
1:05 Be sure to check us out, check out all the other amazing podcasts that are part of the network as well.
1:11 And I think we're ready to get into it.
1:12 So, hi, I'm Kris.
1:14 When I was younger I went through trauma that caused me to feel broken and lost.
1:19 But my life changed after I had a spiritual awakening.
1:23 Since then, I've dedicated my life to studying and learning from masters all around the world that have helped me to create a life of fulfillment and abundance beyond my wildest dreams.
1:32 Now I'm dedicated to sharing everything I've learned so that you don't have to suffer for decades.
1:37 Like I did, I've seen people's lives completely transform and I share it all right here with me today.
1:45 I have Reagan Basara.
1:48 Reagan is a numbers witch and bookkeeper, conjuring empowerment for passionate heart, open entrepreneurs in the United States.
1:57 Reagan helps you track and organize your numbers to quickly build wealth while aligning with your principles and ethics.
2:04 Wealth allows you to take back your financial agency and start living out your big dreams.
2:09 Reagan has a degree in Math and Physics from Louisiana State University in Shreveport and almost a decade of experience in public accounting and tax preparation.
2:20 She is a Quickbooks, online advanced proadvisor and is also certified in their payroll products.
2:26 She founded her bookkeeping and payroll services firm in May of 2022.
2:31 After several big life events sparked a desire for more independence and empowerment over her career goals.
2:37 So welcome Reagan.
2:38 I'm really happy to have you here today.
2:41 Thanks so much for having me on.
2:42 I'm excited to talk about all things, business mindset.
2:46 Yeah, me too.
2:47 Me too.
2:47 And I, as someone who uses quick books and, and like has barely scratched the surface.
2:54 Like I know how to use like the banking and the, the like overview, month to month and that's about it is massive.
3:03 So pick you up later for some quick books, insights.
3:08 But first I would just start all the episodes the same way.
3:10 And that is by asking my guests to share their origin story.
3:14 You know, what is it that led you on this path?
3:16 What made you launch your own business?
3:20 You know, I think you have an interesting story because you went from employee to entrepreneur yourself.
3:25 So I'd love for you to share that with our audience.
3:27 Sure.
3:28 Yeah, just like you said in the introduction, I have a math and physics degree.
3:32 I do not have an accounting degree, my accounting experience and myself as a bookkeeper, I am 100% learned on the job like skills developed in that line of work.
3:43 When I graduated college in 2014, I was like, yeah, I just like the accounting things I had interned at a CPA firm during tax season and found it really interesting.
3:55 So I decided to like go into that career field.
3:58 And then after about seven years, I had some like big things happen in my life, like with my family and stuff and just realized that I was miserable, day in and day out at my job and wanted to start my own business, wanted to kind of be my own boss or whatever, like, you know, have the freedom of time and money and all that.
4:18 But everybody kind of says, whatever they go to being an entrepreneur and I had worked with folks in the entrepreneurial space because that is the client that I serve the business owner.
4:28 And so I kind of knew what that experience was gonna be like, but it was completely different to experience it, like for myself.
4:37 Yeah, totally.
4:38 Thank you so much for sharing and, and yeah, it's, it's totally different when you do it yourself.
4:44 You know, I'm, I'm a business owner myself.
4:46 I own two businesses.
4:47 My husband has a couple of LLC S as well.
4:51 And it can be really scary taking that plunge, especially if you're leaving a full time job, right?
4:58 With the paycheck and the benefits and the stability.
5:03 So what do you, what do you think it takes to go from an employee to an entrepreneur?
5:08 Yeah, I think it's, it requires a lot of like personal development even though it's like running a business or being an entrepreneur and you know, being a business person, people don't think that they need to do the personal development work.
5:20 But it is required to like shift your mindset.
5:23 You go from like trading your time, whether your salary or hourly employee and receiving like a wage, you're just trading time for a paycheck for money to live.
5:35 And when you go to being an entrepreneur and you own your own business, now you're trading value, you're trading your experience and your resources some of your time too.
5:45 But like for the most part, business owners cannot trade their time for money because we would all be in that case.
5:52 And being a business owner requires you to create a lot of value, requires you to be creative.
5:58 Even if you're not like an artist or whatever, you have to be creative and provide an offer, provide value to other people that they agree to pay for and that is not about exchanging time anymore.
6:10 So that is a pretty huge shift for a lot of people to make.
6:14 Yeah.
6:14 And it's, it's interesting that you said it starts with the personal development work.
6:18 And also what I found is when you're, when you're first starting out, you're, you are all the roles, right?
6:26 Like you are sales, you are marketing, you are business development, you are creative, like all of the things, especially before you can afford to bring on, you know, maybe like a virtual assistant or someone to help you out.
6:41 So, you know, is that what you mean by personal development, like really trying to hone all those skills, learn all of those skills.
6:50 I think it's more of being willing to do something that's a little bit scary and being ok with uncertainty, a lot of us cannot deal with uncertainty.
7:04 You know, as humans, we love to know like what's gonna come next.
7:08 We like to be pretty certain about whatever outcome is gonna be when we're like investing in something or putting a lot of time and energy into something.
7:16 We wanna know that like that is gonna work out because otherwise, why the hell would we do it?
7:20 Right?
7:21 So I think like the personal development really has to come from like being ok with a little uncertainty and that is the skill that you have to develop.
7:30 You have to learn how to like navigate, not knowing what's gonna come next, not having regular paycheck, at least for the first, you know, couple of years.
7:40 just kind of going with the flow, seeing where it takes you seeing what your audience and what your client want because you can totally start out with an amazing idea that you think is brilliant and then try and sell it and everybody's like, not, that's not interesting or helpful at all.
7:55 You have to like navigate the uncertainty, be willing to change course a little bit change up your offer a little bit to really match like whatever the market wants and needs totally and when you're talking about uncertainty, it made me think of Tony Robbins.
8:11 He, you know, talk about personal development.
8:13 He's like the guru, right?
8:15 Because I'm not your guru.
8:18 He, he has this, this idea that there are six basic human needs and everyone has them in different order and everyone has like two primary ones that are their drivers and they can change throughout your life.
8:33 But one of them is certainty like stability, but one of them is uncertainty.
8:39 There are people and I, I I took his like little quiz to figure it out and I'm actually one of those people and I think probably most entrepreneurs are, there are certain people who thrive off of uncertainty, right?
8:52 And I wonder if, if that is really just like something that's innate in you or if that's really a skill that you can cultivate and development, what do you think?
9:02 I think that like the people that thrive in uncertainty are the people that recognize the uncertainty is where the possibility lies.
9:10 Like you could be certain that you're going to make, you know, $50,000 in sales in your first year of business.
9:16 And then with that certainty, you end up with that result, right?
9:19 Like usually you get what you are capable of allowing yourself to receive.
9:25 So if you're comfortable, if you thrive in uncertainty, if you're willing to like ride through the uncertainty, the possibility can be greater on the other side or at least there is more room for like bigger and better things to come.
9:38 So I think entrepreneurs are the folks that recognize that like uncertainty is where we get to really decide how we want it to unfold, how we want it to play out.
9:49 And like just being, I think being ok with uncertainty is a skill that you have to develop.
9:56 You have to practice kind of that like nervous system regulation of like if I don't make it work this month, like I have to make it work this month.
10:05 Otherwise something has to give like I have to go do something else or whatever, like especially in the first couple years of your business leaning into that and allowing that to be the case is a skill that you have to, to develop.
10:20 And I think that does come from that personal development work, which is having the right mindset, having the resources and like the support that you need, calling that in and having that kind of like be what pushes you into the unknown because in the unknown, it's not necessarily scary.
10:37 It could be something really amazing and great.
10:39 Right?
10:40 Absolutely.
10:41 And outside of your comfort zone is where growth really happens.
10:45 Like they say the comfort zone is where dreams go to die.
10:48 And I like that you talk about adaptation because that's so important, right?
10:51 Being able to adapt and, and you know, if something doesn't work out, not giving up.
10:58 You know, they say that 90% of people don't achieve their goals and that's for two reasons.
11:02 One, it, it doesn't work out and they don't adapt.
11:06 Right.
11:06 They get frustrated, they get,, defeated and they just give up.
11:11 But the more common reason is they're so fearful to get started that they don't even begin in the first place.
11:16 Yeah.
11:17 So, you know, and, and I think another thing that we haven't touched on is like, you have to get used to rejection.
11:22 Yeah.
11:23 Right.
11:23 Like you have to develop a thick skin.
11:26 So, talk to me more about money and growth mindset and, and like, what kind of mindset you need to really do this.
11:35 Yeah.
11:35 I'll kind of talk about where I'm at with my business right now.
11:39 So I'm coming up on two years.
11:40 I'm just a couple of months away from my two year anniversary of my business.
11:44 And I am to the point now where I have to make a tough decision and I don't know when I'm gonna make that decision.
11:50 I've been mulling it over but it is to hire somebody and what that person's role is gonna be in my business.
11:56 I need to decide on that.
11:58 I need to decide what that budget is gonna look like.
12:00 Will this be a short term role or something more long term?
12:04 And the question that I'm facing right now is that like, maybe I don't have the cash flow to support hiring somebody right now.
12:12 But what if hiring somebody is the way that I end up getting more cash flow in my business bringing in more revenue to where then like, am I putting the cart before the horse thing?
12:22 And I think that like that is going to require another mindset shift because right now I'm like, yeah, I can hardly afford to bring on what I need to pay my bills.
12:34 Like I'm married, my husband has a salary like we're fine, but I would like to bring home more money for myself.
12:40 But I'm like, ok, then that means I have to give up something else in order to like hire some assistance for me so that I can free up my time to be more creative and be the business owner, be the entrepreneur and the one with the vision for the business.
12:54 So like that is kind of where I'm at with my business right now.
12:58 And I, I like to share that with people.
13:00 I don't want anybody to think that I just have it completely figured out like I'm a brand new baby bird business owner.
13:06 Like I've only been doing this a couple years, but it does come to a point where like those hard decisions you have to make, even though it might not make sense to make them right now.
13:15 Like that is sometimes it requires developing the mindset to make a decision that like may not be entirely logical at first.
13:25 So I think every business owner needs to be aware of what's going on with their money, which is why I provide the bookkeeping services that I do because like, I can't make a decision if I don't know what's going on with my money.
13:38 And even when I do know what's going on, like right now, I can tell you like cash flow does not support hiring somebody.
13:44 But taking that knowledge, I still have the option to make that choice to hire somebody.
13:49 Like I can still like find a way to figure it out or do that so that I can start bringing in more revenue.
13:56 So the mindset work is part of it but also being empowered through your data, which is like my entire message.
14:04 Yeah, that, yeah, that thank you for sharing first of all and that totally makes sense.
14:11 And I've gotten to similar points with buying businesses, but it was I hi, I ended up hiring a va which was the best decision I ever made.
14:20 It takes care of like, you know, putting these podcasts up.
14:24 She does all the graphic design stuff.
14:26 She does all the social media posting, which is the stuff that I'm not good at, right?
14:31 Like I can't edit a video or, or do graphic design.
14:36 Like I just don't have that gene in me and she's amazing.
14:40 So it allows me to focus on other things.
14:43 , but that being said, I've also had to make that decision around like software, right?
14:47 Like, what do I want to use?
14:49 What do I wanna like?
14:51 Do I wanna spend a little bit more on this thing that's gonna make free up some of my time, but it's also gonna eat up some of this, some of this money coming in, right?
15:02 It's, it's tricky totally.
15:05 , so you mentioned not having a paycheck for a couple of years as a new business owner.
15:14 huh.
15:16 Talk to me about that like how long, how long is the grind?
15:20 You know, and, and I know you also told me before that more than half of small businesses fail in the first five years.
15:26 So talk to me about those first five years.
15:29 How long does the grind happen?
15:30 How long until people typically start turning a profit?
15:33 What does it take to be to be the half that succeeds?
15:38 Yeah, I think that I wanna clarify some terms that we're using because when I say grind, I mean, like hustling like working probably as many hours as you would work in a 9 to 5 day job or, or more like there are people that have a side hustle that devote even more time to that.
15:57 The grind is like where you are doing most of the work, you do not have a workforce or a virtual assistant or that kind of support.
16:05 And So you're having to do everything.
16:06 You are literally like grinding things down to like create revenue, to reinvest in your business.
16:13 And I think that that happens for most businesses over a period of 3 to 5 years, especially if we're talking about sole proprietors, solo entrepreneurs, member LLC S, which is what my business is like.
16:26 I don't have a partner in my business.
16:28 I am not incorporated.
16:30 So when you are just a solo prene sole proprietor, single member LLC, you take what's called an owner's draw, which is where you just pull money out of the business.
16:39 It is not a salary, it is not a paycheck, it is not income to you.
16:44 Your income is the business's net profit or loss.
16:47 So revenue minus expenses, that is your income, whatever you withdraw from the business is equity.
16:54 So you put equity in by investing funds into the business to get things up and going start up expenses and all that costs money.
17:02 and so that's owners equity and so you can withdraw that from the business anytime you want.
17:06 As long as there's money in the account when you become an escort, that is when you start having to pay yourself an owner's salary when you're providing ownership services to the business.
17:18 So most small businesses in their first, I wanna say 3 to 5 years cannot afford to pay themselves or pay their owners salary, which is like the S Corp owner salary.
17:30 Has to be like a big girl salary.
17:33 A big boy salary, a big person salary, like you have to pay yourself what you would pay somebody else to work that position in your business.
17:41 It needs to be based on your level of education and experience that.
17:46 All that being said, small businesses when they first start out, absolutely cannot afford to pay themselves that kind of a salary unless you have like just oodles of cash to invest in the business start up like that.
17:59 That's just not how it usually works for a lot of people.
18:01 A lot of people work by starting to grind it out in the beginning, like creating a product to sell, providing services to people doing everything, to create a cash flow and to create revenue.
18:12 So I think that's why businesses fail because in the first, you know, 3 to 5 years or so, you just can't even afford to pay yourself a salary.
18:22 But you have a life, you have a personal life, you have probably a mortgage rent, at least if you're trying to run a family, raise a family.
18:31 you know, all of these other things in your personal life that require funds like that has to come from somewhere.
18:36 And if your business is the only thing that you're doing, you end up pulling cash out of it.
18:41 There's nothing wrong with that.
18:42 But I think that like it has to get to the point where within that first five year time frame of owning a business, you need to get to a positive cash flow.
18:52 Like there has to be something that puts you over that tipping point to where you can, you know, cover all the expenses the business needs to pay for and then bring something home for yourself for your personal life to like support your life.
19:07 So I think that is where the failure comes in, just managing to grind it out for so long and you burn out or it just is not gonna tip over that positive cash flow point.
19:22 Thanks for explaining all of that.
19:24 And I think the other, the other piece of it is you also want to put money back into your business, right?
19:30 Like you don't want to just be taking out, you want to put money into marketing or sales or whatever it is that you need to help build it, right?
19:38 Because if you're not putting money back in, like you're not working towards that dream of growing your business.
19:44 Exactly.
19:46 So, so what does it take to succeed?
19:49 Like what's, what's that magic pill like, what do you, what do you advise people if you wanna succeed?
19:58 I mean, you just have to kind of decide on that.
20:00 Like if you and that could be, well, it should probably be something specific that you say like success looks like this for me making this much revenue every year or growing my workforce or having this type of client load or, you know, having this sort of reach in my audience, whatever you define that success, like, set that goal and then if you haven't gotten there yet, then you just haven't gotten there yet.
20:25 Like, you just keep going right.
20:27 If you're committed to that success, if you've decided on that success, if you're like, well, I don't have it yet.
20:33 It's just like, ok, just keep going like, and that sounds kind of simple, but that really is all it takes like figuring out a way to make it work, make more money.
20:43 Like that's what being a business owner is about.
20:45 Like, you are the one that has to figure out how to make it work.
20:49 Nobody else is gonna step in and do that for you.
20:52 Yeah.
20:53 And it, it reminds me of what I teach with, with my own work is you have to get really clear on your vision that you have to have that North Star, you have to get super specific and then you can map out the steps that it takes to get there, right?
21:07 And then have this path where you can navigate the gap between where you are now and where you want to go, right?
21:13 Because you don't know where you want to go.
21:16 You know, it's, it's pretty hard to get to a place, right?
21:19 Success.
21:20 You said the word success is so subjective and it kind of sounds like the difference between starting a business and running a business.
21:27 So, can you talk to me about that a little bit?
21:31 Yeah.
21:31 Starting a business requires a lot of decision making in the beginning.
21:35 And just to be clear, you are going to make some bad decisions, you were going to make some wrong choices.
21:41 And that's not a good enough reason to stop, but in the beginning, it does require so much like, well, let's just try this and run with it for a little bit.
21:52 And if it doesn't give us the results, we want, we can just keep going with it to see if it needs a little bit more time or we abandon it like we're done, we're not doing that anymore.
22:01 It is a lot of decision making.
22:03 It is a lot of data gathering.
22:04 Like, like I said before, you kind of don't know what the market wants our needs until you start offering things and they either buy it or they don't.
22:12 And so it is a lot of like just getting feedback from folks.
22:17 Like I've worked in this industry for so long.
22:19 I still incredibly value the feedback I get from some of my longest standing clients.
22:25 Like they're like, yeah, actually, I think I wanna do this thing now.
22:28 Like that's new information for me.
22:30 And I'm just like pulling those little pieces of data in so that the next client that comes along and wants to work with me.
22:37 I have so much at my disposal.
22:40 I have so much in my arsenal of like tools and resources to help them make better choices.
22:46 So in the beginning, it's like you're gonna make a lot of decisions, some of them are gonna be bad and that's ok.
22:52 And you are just really gathering data like from the start for several years and you have to kind of be committed to that amount of time of like, I don't know.
23:03 So we're just like, let me just fill up my bucket with as much data as I can gather.
23:08 That's so true.
23:09 And I'm so glad that you shared that.
23:11 Thank you for sharing because because yeah, you might have an idea that you think is great and then you try to test it on the market and it's a total flop and like I was saying before, like, you can either adapt and be like, all right, I'm gonna make these tweaks and test this out and, and just keep testing and keep testing, right?
23:30 Like you don't want to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.
23:33 That's literally the definition of insanity.
23:35 Right.
23:35 Right.
23:36 You have to like in order to have something you've never gotten before, you have to do something you've never done before.
23:42 So you have to, you have to keep trying and that could be like a really discouraging feeling for a lot of people for anyone.
23:50 Really?
23:51 Right.
23:51 , and you know, especially if you're not getting any income in and you're spending money on trying to advertise or market or whatever it is.
24:01 So, you know, do you, here's a question, do you recommend starting a business as a side hustle, so that you have at least income coming in or?
24:14 And I'm thinking, like, I love Shark Tank.
24:15 I don't know if you watch Shark Tank but you know, they rip apart the people whose businesses are side hustles.
24:24 Right?
24:25 It's so true though, right?
24:26 Like, like if you are not 100% committed to this, it is gonna fail.
24:32 So I'm curious what your, what your take on that is, I disagree with that 100%.
24:37 That is the most ridiculous and like, honestly classes thing than ever,, when you're doing a side hustle, if you have the intention of like launching a full business with it, it is 100% ok.
24:50 If your financial support comes from a full time job like that is ok.
24:54 Like we all like it costs money to like live, like it costs money to have a housing, to have food and health care and like, you know, just like the basic necessities.
25:06 So the fact that, you know, someone working a full time job while they have a side hustle, but they want to turn into a full business is not an indication of whether or not they will be successful.
25:16 That is just, there are so many people that started out with businesses as side hustles while they were for somebody else and they are successful in their business now.
25:26 So that is like, just completely ridiculous to me.
25:29 I disagree with that wholly and the support that you need to live your life to like, be secure in your housing and food and like, you know, health care and all of that, it has to come from somewhere unless you've got, you know, just like I said, oodles of cash sitting somewhere that you can like personally invest funds into the business and afford to like stop working so that you can focus on your business.
25:54 You might have faster growth because you have more time devoted to like growing the business.
26:00 But it, it is not an indication of whether or not you will be successful.
26:04 I think that is just like very silly.
26:08 I hope that I appreciate your take.
26:10 I appreciate because yeah, like we, yeah, we have mortgages to pay and we need to eat and a lot of people have Children and yeah, absolutely.
26:22 There's like that meme or tweet or something.
26:24 That's like why does everything cost money?
26:26 It's like, that's just how it is and we all kind of have to deal with it.
26:30 And if we want to run a business, like, like I said, my husband has a salary and then I, I had some personal savings.
26:37 I had a,, a lot of credit cards.
26:40 , my personal cards, I paid down a lot before I paid off completely before I started my business.
26:46 So that I would have like that credit available to be able to buy the software that I needed and pay for coaching and things like that.
26:53 So, like I had financial support and it wasn't a pile of cash.
26:57 It was like the fact that I'm married and I have personal credit to use, I have personal savings to put in.
27:03 So like financial support is going to come from somewhere.
27:06 And if that's you working a full time job, there's nothing morally superior or inferior about that to somebody else who just has finances to like, hold them over for a little while.
27:17 Absolutely.
27:18 And you, you mentioned coaching and, you know, I personally, I've said this so many times on the show and I am a coach, like I would never want to work with a coach that didn't have a coach, right?
27:30 Because more than learning, like you wanna work with someone who has a growth mindset themselves, right?
27:35 Who's always learning and, and you know, innovating.
27:38 So talk to me about the importance of coaching because I know there's also a lot of people out there listening who are probably like, wait, you want me to start my own business, barely make ends meet, be grinding for 3 to 5 years and pay for coaching.
27:53 So talk to me about, talk to me about that.
27:55 I mean, I totally don't have to pay for coaching, but for me personally, that has been probably one of the bigger factors in my development and in my businesses growth.
28:07 So in 2023 when we're recording this, I have replaced my annual salary at my last job in my first full calendar year business.
28:16 I ground, I grinded ground the hell out of my business and I, they take weekends off and stuff, but I have that supportive, I'm in a coaching community as well as I have like a personal or a business coach, like one on one, we do stuff together and it is because of that supportive community that I don't feel so alone.
28:38 And then I'm able to have like a sounding board and get feedback on my ideas.
28:43 I need somebody to tell me when something sounds crazy and it's not gonna work because they've been doing this for 20 years like they know.
28:49 And I don't, so, you know, I find that incredibly valuable, I can't go without that.
28:57 Like I need that kind of support in community.
28:59 But if someone doesn't feel like they need that, then I'm not gonna tell them that they have to have that.
29:05 So, for me, that was like, it is still the thing that I'm like, no matter what, I'm gonna make sure that I could pay my coach.
29:14 Like I've got to be able to have that person in my corner who is helping guide me,, while I still learn things, trial through fire along the way.
29:28 Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
29:29 I'm also part part of a coaching community and those weekly calls with everyone where we're all on the same path like we have different.
29:37 But we're all, we're all coaches in some sort of personal development sphere and we're all trying out similar things and you know, it's so nice to have that sounding board and to have that encouragement because yeah, really isolating, especially when you're, when you're like working by yourself and your business is online.
29:58 Yeah.
29:59 So isolating like I have to like remind myself like get outside and walk or like go to the store, you can have human interactions.
30:08 Yeah, even if you don't talk to anybody at the store just being around other people, it's like, oh, that's right.
30:14 Other people exist.
30:16 Yeah, and like, ok, do your hair and put on a cute outfit even if right?
30:21 Like just so you feel better about yourself.
30:24 And I think, I think what you, you also touched on something important that I want to highlight is like, find, find a coach who's already successful in what you want to do, right?
30:36 Like a mentor or someone like because it is so much easier when you don't have to re invent the wheel and be like, here's what worked for me.
30:46 Here's the path that I did.
30:48 Here's like the software tools I use.
30:50 Here's the tactics I've figured out because they've probably spent, like, decades.
30:55 Right.
30:56 Or at least years, like, figuring it out.
30:58 So you get the benefit of not making those mistakes that they did.
31:01 And it's, it's, it's, it's so invaluable.
31:04 Yeah.
31:05 I,, hired a sales coach specifically.
31:09 Not because I felt like I was bad at selling, but there was just that little bit of like, this feels a little bit icky.
31:16 I don't wanna, like, ask people to hire me and now I'm like, do you wanna hire me?
31:20 I'm, like, be having people, like, do you need help with your bookkeeping?
31:23 Because, like, I can help you with that.
31:25 Like, it has made a huge shift of my mindset for selling because I hired someone specifically to teach me how to sell better.
31:33 So, like, even if you in general just want a business coach or maybe if you're just struggling with one area of your business, like the marketing or business development, you can find somebody that specializes in that area and really sit down with them and, like, work on that piece.
31:50 Yeah.
31:50 And I think, I think what they really do, well, what you were kind of saying is they push you out of your comfort zone, right.
31:57 Like, I, I do webinars now, I was doing them weekly.
32:01 It's just with the pregnancy and everything it's become every couple weeks.
32:05 Yeah.
32:05 And that's where I get most of my clients from, like, more than just like organic social media.
32:11 And I was, like, terrified to do this time.
32:15 I was like, and it was a lot of work to put into it and, like, make the slide deck and like, he, you know, my coach, like, helped me through it and like, there was like a formula to follow and all that stuff.
32:26 But like, now that I do it a lot, it's just, you know, I just go in there with the mindset that, like, I have a lot to offer.
32:36 I'm, I'm helping people.
32:38 Like, if I, if I can even teach one person something really valuable during this time, it's like, even if they, you know, they might not buy my services right away.
32:49 But like, I'm giving them really good information, right?
32:52 Like, it's not just like me, like having a slimy sales pitch.
32:56 Like, I'm, I'm teaching them some really great information for free for like an hour of that before I ever pitch anything.
33:02 It's like, ok, maybe, maybe like months from now down the road, they'll come back, right or anything.
33:08 It's like if I could just help someone and it's like having that mindset of service where I'm more focus on the audience and the other person than I like my own whatever.
33:19 Right.
33:20 That helps a lot.
33:21 And that, that's, that's public speaking too.
33:23 Like I love public speaking.
33:24 But if you're so worried about yourself and wrapped up in your own head and your nerves.
33:28 You're not serving audience.
33:30 Right.
33:31 Exactly.
33:33 I think,, something my coach taught me that is in line with what you were just talking about was and I have it written on a post, it, note on my monitor right now.
33:41 It's that everybody who's following me or listening to my podcast or reading my emails and they haven't paid me anything is still my client.
33:50 I still providing them with some sort of value or service and they're paying me with their attention.
33:56 We're in a, in an attention economy, right?
34:00 Like we scroll our phones all day long and like Binge Netflix, like someone taking time out of their day to pay attention to what I'm saying is a big deal.
34:10 And I consider that like you're my client now, you have been here like listening to me and I'm giving you something of value that makes you my client and going into it with that mindset is like, why wouldn't you want to, you know, just offer up some help that's gonna relieve somebody else's kind of pain or issue that they're dealing with?
34:31 I really, really like that attitude and that, that, that mindset.
34:37 And, you know, I, I remember when I first started out, it was like, oh, I don't want to give away like all my secrets for free.
34:44 Like that means behind it needs to be behind a paywall, right?
34:48 Yeah.
34:48 And now I've completely switched that around and I think like, Alex for Mozi was like a really big inspiration in that.
34:55 Like, he gives away everything for free.
34:58 But it's like if you give, if you give people a ton of value, they're, they're gonna want to work with you and see like, what else?
35:05 Right.
35:05 And you still to provide really excellent value once they're working with you.
35:09 Right?
35:10 Like, it's not like things can take a dip.
35:13 But, you know, because they can go anywhere, right?
35:17 They can learn, they can find a million different accountants, right?
35:20 They can find a million different coaches online, like, fucking everyone.
35:23 It's a mindset coach these days.
35:25 Right.
35:25 Yeah.
35:27 But if you can provide value or say things in a way that resonates with them, that they're not getting elsewhere, then they're, they're gonna come back, right?
35:36 Like a lot of times they're gonna be paying clients and it's, it's funny.
35:41 So I used to run yoga studios.
35:43 I still have the company as well, but I used to run yoga teacher training three times a year and I would always think like, ok, there's these regulars or die hard, they're here like seven days a week.
35:55 I see them all the time.
35:56 They know my name.
35:57 Like those are the people that are gonna sign up and those were never the people that signed up.
36:01 It was the person that would like, creep in super shy, like, once you know that, like, no, they kind of, like hid anonymously, like, didn't talk to anyone like those were the people that came.
36:14 Yeah, I never really know.
36:15 It might not be those vocal people for sure.
36:19 And, yeah, like, I think letting people have the information they need to have to make a good decision is like the best part of selling.
36:27 Like, I'm just gonna tell you what I can help you with and what kind of value I can provide so that you can make a good choice.
36:33 If you don't agree that what I have to offer is valuable, that's fine.
36:37 Like it's, it's OK, you can find somebody else to work with, I guess.
36:41 But like me communicating my values like of utmost importance and my kind of like word for the year or whatever in 2023 was over delivery.
36:52 And I really think that I managed to accomplish that I really showed up and like you said, tried to give away a lot of value and information and help for free because like that's just my role is to show up and help people with these specific things about their business.
37:09 And I'm, I've been doing it for 10 years.
37:11 Like, of course, I will help you.
37:12 Of course, I will at least put you in the right direction or show you a small tip or a trick.
37:17 And the clients that pay me like and are a monthly client of mine where I do their bookkeeping, they get so much value out of working with me and I want everybody to feel that way no matter if they pay me money or not.
37:30 And, and by the way, those are the clients that are going to keep coming back.
37:34 The ones that are like, oh my gosh, Reagan just gave me like all of this other bonus stuff for free.
37:40 Like no other accountant is doing that, right?
37:42 Like if no one else is doing and over delivery is so important.
37:47 And I think also what you touched on right before you said that was authenticity, like authentic, so important because if you're trying to be something you're not, if you're trying super hard to sell, like if you're like, people can see through that bullshit, right?
38:04 Like they can totally sniff through it.
38:06 So if you really come from this place of like wanting to serve people wanting to help, like here's my credentials, here's my story.
38:14 Like why I can provide value.
38:17 This is how far I'm willing to go for you.
38:19 Like people feel that yeah, I think the best compliment I get and I was on a consultation this morning with the prospective client and she told me like, what after I kind of like gave the pitch or whatever she was like, yeah, I think what you're doing is like, so helpful and amazing and like your messaging is just has made that so clear that that's what you're about.
38:41 And so like, it really comes through and I was like, oh my gosh, I was like unprompted and it was so meaningful to me to know that my message is in alignment with like how I show up to like, serve my clients too.
38:52 Like I just, I want that to be very congruent and in line and it's amazing, whatever I get that kind of feedback where somebody's like, you've made it very clear to me like what you stand for, like what you're about and then you also like follow through on that.
39:07 So that was like, I was like, oh yes, I love when that happens.
39:11 That's awesome.
39:12 That's an amazing compliment to get and, and so important like congruity is so important in all of your messaging, especially if you're running like ads you want what's in your ads with your landing page to be congruent with whatever products they're getting.
39:29 Like you wanna, you wanna just be honest with people, you wanna, you like there's no place for shadiness at all.
39:39 Yeah.
39:39 And imperfections are like the name of the game too.
39:42 Even if your ads don't exactly line up with your landing page.
39:46 Like if you are yourself being authentic and honest and you're like copy in the way that you show up and actually serve the client once they're in front of you.
39:53 I think that will come through more than just like having all of the pieces in place absolutely perfectly.
40:00 Like it's, I feel like all of that is unnecessary and my, my time and energy can actually be spent just providing value, you know, like totally get your, get your copy together.
40:10 But like, yeah, if you make it clear to people that you have some sort of value to provide and they're like, cool, I'm opting in and then you show up with that value and then you over deliver and then, you know, you give them an amazing experience and you help them feel a different way.
40:25 I think that like speaks for itself more than any ads or landing pages could honestly.
40:32 Yeah.
40:32 And I like that you said help them feel a certain way because that's, that's what we all want in the everybody's buying real good.
40:41 Yeah, everybody's buying a feeling.
40:44 Yeah.
40:44 Yeah, exactly.
40:48 So what do you, what do you think about creating business plans?
40:52 Like, do you recommend creating like a one year plan, a five year plan?
40:56 Like, what do you do for your business?
40:58 So I have my little monthly calendar sitting on my desk right here because that's what I've been doing over the past couple days is going through month by month.
41:08 I put all of my like personal stuff, vacations, I wanna take personal days and then like all of my like work planning things.
41:16 Then I have a launch coming up and make sure to put that on there.
41:19 And so I was just kind of like layering in what the next year my business is gonna look like.
41:24 I think in the beginning it's totally fine to stick to maybe one year or even just a couple, like a quarter, you know, three months, like looking that far ahead because you're doing so much trial and error, you're doing so much like science experimenting, like changing variables and information gathering.
41:41 So, you know, if you've been in business for a while, totally make a five or a 10 year plan.
41:47 But if you're just kind of starting out or if you're side hustling, like you can test a few things here and there for a couple of months, make sure that you actually do give it time.
41:56 Like don't try one thing, make one social media post and then be like, well, that was a fail.
42:00 Like, no, you have to keep, you know, talking about it, keep pushing it and trying new things.
42:07 But, you know, a year is probably as far out as I wanna go personally just because I'm so like new at this and it is in its earliest stages still.
42:18 That makes sense a lot.
42:19 And, and I appreciate that and, and by the way, you can always change your plans too, right?
42:25 Yeah, there are no rules about that.
42:27 So you said something interesting, you said, like, don't just make one social media post, like keep pushing it.
42:34 How long do you recommend testing something new for?
42:38 Ok.
42:38 So I'm still trying to figure this out for myself.
42:41 But, I have like a beta testing launch that I'm doing right now and like it closes next week at the time that we're recording this and my clients and like people on my email list just started like, reading it and figuring it out like this week.
42:57 And I'm like, I've been talking about this since October like 10th, like, oh my gosh, it's such a long time of me being like, hey, hey, hey, here's the thing, here's this thing and they're like, finally like, what, what are we doing?
43:10 What is this?
43:10 Do I need to do something with this?
43:12 And like, yes, I want you to buy this thing.
43:15 Like I want you to have this, I made this for you.
43:18 Like, please buy this.
43:19 So I am planning to have a 12 week period for a launch that I'm doing next year where like I start talking about it at week one and then at week 12 is like when the cart opens or whatever.
43:32 So having plenty of runway not only for like developing the offer and talking about it and marketing it and selling it, but like you gotta give people time because they are not paying attention like they are paying attention, but they're not like it's not sticking until much further down the road than you think.
43:53 It's going to stick.
43:55 So that was my lesson for this year is give myself plenty of runway, give myself more runway than I actually think I need.
44:03 Ok, thank you for sharing that.
44:06 And, and by the way, you know, it's December 21st today.
44:10 So that was 2.5 months before people really started to.
44:15 Yeah, and I, I think that's such an important lesson because you know, we think, oh we're putting it out there, people see it but I'm sick of hearing about it honestly.
44:25 Yeah, you're gonna be talking about it but like think about it like social media algorithms like you're not showing up on everyone's feed, right?
44:34 Emails like not that big of a percentage of people open their emails like you should speak of data and analytics, you should be tracking your open rate.
44:42 Yes.
44:42 you know, all of these things, right?
44:46 Like however you're getting out there to people like it might not be penetrating as much as you think it is.
44:51 So yeah, you really have to saturate it before somebody's finally like, what is that thing that you were doing?
44:57 And then the the indicator that I've started using is like when people start talking to me about it in real life, like outside of business stuff, they're like, I saw that you're doing a thing and I could have been talking about it for six months and they're just now when they start talking about it to me in person or bringing it up in conversation.
45:16 That's not about work.
45:17 That's when I know, like, oh, something's finally sticking and that takes a lot longer than then.
45:23 I thought it would at the beginning and that a lot of people think, but you're talking about, like, the people that you're talking about aren't, like, just friends and family.
45:30 Right.
45:30 That might just be like, oh, yeah.
45:31 Like friends and family.
45:33 Yeah, like I'll see a friend start sharing my posts from my business page like about an offer and I'll have been talking about it for two months and sharing it and reposting and talking about it online and then like, I finally start seeing your shares.
45:47 And so, and then people in random conversation will be like, oh you're doing this right now, aren't you?
45:52 And I'm like, yeah, like that's what I've been talking about.
45:55 So it is, I do mean like whenever people, friends and family and just kind of like on the periphery of my business, start realizing it and talking about it to me that I'm like, oh, it's finally sticking now.
46:07 I feel like and maybe I'm wrong but I feel like whatever amount of time it takes your friends and family for it to stick, give it even longer for clients and take a special interest in you that your clients are right?
46:22 Like it's like, ok, this is just starting to penetrate that outer layer now.
46:27 We need to give it even more time to penetrate like that, that inner layer of clients, the people I really here.
46:33 Exactly.
46:34 And for me right now, because I've been, I've been really focusing on short form video content this year.
46:42 I really pushed Tik Tok and I grew my following there and now I'm like, OK, like I have an audience that's like, pretty warm.
46:49 Now, now, what do I do with it?
46:51 Like, and not like that?
46:53 They're not people but I mean, like, OK, I've got these people that have invested some time have interacted with me in some way, kind of know what I'm about.
47:01 How can I like, bring my messaging to them over and over again so that they really start to understand like, what I've got going on.
47:08 So that's kind of where I'm at in my business is like, I've got the warm people.
47:13 Now, what am I gonna do with this kind of community that I've created?
47:18 Totally, I had a business coach on a few episodes back and she was, she was talking about this with me and I thought it was really interesting.
47:25 So I have like, I have like a decent following on tiktok.
47:28 I think it's like 18,000 right now, but it's not, it's not like massive by any means and like even the videos themselves don't get like a ton of views just because of kind of like algorithms.
47:38 But yeah, so like so much of what I do on tiktok is like giving away free advice, free content.
47:46 And this woman was, she was really smart.
47:48 She was like, that's fine to do every once in a while.
47:51 But like, that's not selling, right?
47:54 That's not, that's not like providing, that's not the right content to get them to then like take that next step.
48:01 So I've kind of been trying to figure out what that next step is or what, what kind of content will get them to be like, oh I wanna sell and like, you know, some examples she offered where you know, client success stories or things like that, that will kind of make them be like, oh you know, this person helps people and works with them.
48:23 You know, like, you know, I bet every, every once in a while I do get those messages like, hey, do you work one on one with people?
48:28 But you know, see to me like that's just marketing to me like just sharing my client success stories or like recommendations that they've given about my services.
48:38 It's just like, yeah, like this is just all part of my marketing.
48:42 The selling part comes in when I'm like, buy this thing.
48:45 I have a thing that can help you with this like issue that you're, I know you're having it.
48:51 The algorithm put you here, I tell them that all the time, like the algorithm put you on my page here.
48:55 You are, I know what you're dealing with.
48:57 Here's how I can help you.
48:58 I need you to click this thing.
48:59 I need you to D M me or leave a comment or whatever it is and like asking them to take that action is actually part of the selling.
49:06 Like saying I have this value to offer you and I need you to click this thing so that I can help you get some relief.
49:14 That is like actually, and it works like I have, I've had so many people like the person that I was having a consultation with earlier came to me from Tik Tok and I just, I only have 1800 followers.
49:25 But like what I mean is that I've got such a saturated warm group of people that I interact with and that kind of are like getting to know me to the point where they're like, OK, I will book a consultation.
49:35 I do want to find out more about how you can help me, but I tell them to do that, book a consultation, book, a consultation, book, a training with me.
49:42 Like those are the phrases that I say over and over again and it, it takes a while for it to stick, but they will take the action that the that you ask them to take.
49:51 Do you do that just at the end of your videos or do you do videos that are completely devoted to selling.
50:00 So I do, this is kind of like the formula.
50:04 I do like 3 to 5 seconds of like some sort of hook and I trim it down so that it's like immediately catching somebody's attention and then I introduce myself.
50:12 I say what I do follow me like this video or whatever and then I kind of like talk for a little bit.
50:17 Here's a problem, here's how I fixed it or this is what my client said to me.
50:22 This is the response that I gave them.
50:23 And then the end of the video is the call to action, which is usually book a consultation with me.
50:28 If you want to talk about this, if you're having this specific issue or the call to action can just be follow me because like 80% of it is just like just consent into seeing more of me, just follow me for, you know, more, more of this basically.
50:43 Yeah.
50:45 Yeah, that's, that's kind of like the, the script that I've heard to follow to like h teach him something, give him some sort of value called.
50:54 It is really worked for me like once I committed to that formula and then also did it every single day, like every day of the week for probably four months.
51:04 I was posting two videos a day of that like every day.
51:09 So it's, it's so it's, it's, it gets to be a grind in and of itself when you're like, oh my God, what else can I say?
51:18 Like, what else?
51:19 Oh Yeah, of value.
51:21 Like, how can I phrase this thing?
51:23 Yeah.
51:24 And sometimes you just repeat yourself over and over again because nine times out of 10, they didn't see the first video, the algorithm did not show it to them and it's OK to repeat yourself totally.
51:34 Yeah.
51:34 Absolutely.
51:36 Awesome.
51:36 So, is there anything else that you feel like would be valuable to listeners about being an entrepreneur or money mindset or growth mindset or anything that we haven't covered today?
51:49 So I will specifically say that I, if I'm, if I'm gonna give any financial advice that's going to be to set a time with yourself solo or with a coach or a planner or somebody.
52:01 and set a time to look at your finances.
52:03 It doesn't mean doing a deep dive into everything.
52:05 It doesn't mean going down a rabbit hole for one transaction.
52:09 It is just getting kind of the overview picture of what's going on with your business finances.
52:15 Once a month, set a time and then I say, set a timer because nobody needs to go down a rabbit hole, you know, 1015, 20 minutes is all you need to kind of get the lay of the land.
52:26 What?
52:26 And then like, OK, I know what I need to kind of accomplish this month to get things a little bit more organized.
52:32 So I give folks that practical advice.
52:34 Like, go ahead and put it on your calendar, block it out.
52:37 I'm busy this time.
52:38 Turn off notifications.
52:39 Look at my reports, look at my bookkeeping, look at the invoices that I have, that people need to pay, like, send those out something to the effect of paying attention to your financial organization for that dedicated amount of time and then cut yourself off.
52:54 Like, don't keep following it.
52:57 You have to do that, right?
52:59 Like I can't imagine running a business and not doing that.
53:01 So if you're listening to a lot of people do it, if you're listening and you're not doing that and you have a business, write that down.
53:09 I do it on the first of the month every month just to make it easy and it, and it, it doesn't really take that long.
53:16 Right.
53:16 And like, you don't even need quick books.
53:18 I use quickbooks for my yoga business.
53:19 But for my coaching, I just do it in a spreadsheet and I my bank account and I look at like the P and L and I it's super simple.
53:28 Nothing like super fancy, but it's in a google sheet.
53:32 And then I know where I'm at with that.
53:35 I can't imagine trying to make business decisions without having data or knowing where you're at, at least go download your bank statement at the beginning of the month.
53:44 I agree with that.
53:45 That's the first thing that I do for all of my client bookkeeping that I do download the bank statement number one.
53:50 Yeah.
53:51 Yeah, you have to.
53:53 Awesome.
53:53 So if people wanna work with you and find you online and follow you and figure out what your offers are, all the things can you let us know?
54:03 Yeah.
54:04 my business is All ease accounting, E A S E and that's all ease accounting dot com.
54:09 I host a weekly podcast called Money Through Ease.
54:12 And then like I said, you could come find me on social media and all of that.
54:16 I've given you links for, for the show notes.
54:18 Yep, it'll all be in the show notes.
54:20 Awesome.
54:20 Well, thank you so much for joining.
54:21 Right again.
54:22 Everyone listening.
54:23 If this resonated with you, please like share, subscribe, send it to someone who you think will get value out of it.
54:31 We talked about a lot of important things today and thank you all so much for following for being a part of the community.
54:38 I will see you all next time.
54:39 Have a beautiful rest of your day.
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