Episode 8
Authenticity is the key to building a successful brand
Authentic Branding The Secret Ingredient for Business Growth
In today's fast-paced business world, authenticity is the key to standing out and building a lasting brand. But how do you navigate the challenges of personal branding while staying true to your values?
In this eye-opening episode of La'Quita's Toolbox, I sit down with Zach Coleman, owner of an athletic-driven branding agency, to explore the intricate relationship between personal growth and business success.
Unmasking the Truth About Personal Branding
Zach shares his insights on:
• The pitfalls of "marketing fatigue" and how to avoid them
• Why retention is more crucial than acquisition for sustainable growth
• The importance of aligning your business with your personal values
Practical Takeaways for Your Business Journey
Learn actionable strategies to:
• Identify and attract clients who align with your values
• Create a sustainable lead flow without burning out
• Cultivate a community that supports your brand's growth
This conversation goes beyond typical business advice, delving into the personal transformations that fuel professional success. Whether you're a gym owner, an online entrepreneur, or anyone looking to build an authentic brand, this episode offers valuable insights to help you leave your mark.
Connect with La'Quita:
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Transcript
Welcome back to another amazing episode of
Speaker:Laquita's Toolbox. I am your host, Laquita
Speaker:Mondley, and we are coming at you today
Speaker:with another amazing episode and a really
Speaker:great guest here. His name is Zach and I
Speaker:cannot wait for you guys to meet him. So
Speaker:for those that are returning listeners,
Speaker:you know the drill. Get something to write
Speaker:with and something to write on. Because we
Speaker:know pen and paper, they don't forget, but
Speaker:sometimes we do. And we want to write them
Speaker:down to make sure that we can make proper
Speaker:application of the tools that Zach will be
Speaker:sharing with us today. But before we jump
Speaker:into our conversation with Zach, let me
Speaker:take a moment to thank our sponsors at
Speaker:Covenant Press. Covenant Press is a faith
Speaker:based christian apparel and accessory shop
Speaker:where we as believers can shop online for
Speaker:clothing and accessories that allow us to
Speaker:wear the message of the love of Jesus
Speaker:Christ. Go out to www. Covenant Press.
Speaker:Again, that's www. Covenant. [unk]press
Speaker:com shop until you drop. But do not click
Speaker:off of those pop ups too quickly because
Speaker:they contain valuable codes. And when you
Speaker:place that code at checkout, you'll
Speaker:receive some amazing savings on your
Speaker:purchases with Covenantpress. Again,
Speaker:that's WW, Covenant Press. Listen, Zach,
Speaker:welcome. Welcome to the toolbox. I'm so
Speaker:excited to have you, sir. How are you
Speaker:today? I am doing fantastic. A little bit
Speaker:sick, but overall, fantastic. Thank you.
Speaker:Awesome. Every day that we can wake up on
Speaker:this side of the dirt, I like to say it's
Speaker:fantastic. And I really have to remind
Speaker:myself of that on days. Yeah. But on this
Speaker:thankful Thursday, welcome to the toolbox.
Speaker:And take a moment, please, if you don't
Speaker:mind, to introduce yourself to the toolbox
Speaker:audience. Well, my name is Zach Coleman
Speaker:and I own an athletic driven branding
Speaker:agency that helps gym leaders build their
Speaker:brand through community and digital
Speaker:experiences. Now that sounds exciting.
Speaker:Zach, how exactly do you do that? Because
Speaker:when I think about, and I say that, and me
Speaker:and my husband have a workout program that
Speaker:we purchased and it's right on my Apple
Speaker:TV. But you're talking in like, a physical
Speaker:location gyms, right? I am. So how does
Speaker:that work? Explain that to me, because I'm
Speaker:curious. Well, I think we'd have to take a
Speaker:little step back, right? I think that with
Speaker:everything going on with the digital
Speaker:marketing world, and if you just say
Speaker:online world and digital world, I feel
Speaker:like a lot of people kind of get what I
Speaker:call marketing fatigue. They think that,
Speaker:hey, I have to try everything. I have to
Speaker:go on social media. I have to do this. I
Speaker:mean, I own a marketing agency. And I'll
Speaker:tell you what, I've had marketing fatigue
Speaker:myself millions of times because you feel
Speaker:like you just have all this stuff at your
Speaker:capabilities to try things, do different
Speaker:things. And I think with the online space,
Speaker:if you're a personal trainer or doing
Speaker:something online, you have a little bit of
Speaker:a different type of strategy. Your
Speaker:strategy isn't so much a physical
Speaker:location. Like for me, for instance, I'm
Speaker:in Arizona. So if I wanted to market a gym
Speaker:that was local to me, their members and
Speaker:the people that would be willing to go to
Speaker:that gym to get that experience would be
Speaker:only driving one or 2 miles, right? Where
Speaker:if you're online, you're like, all right,
Speaker:well, they can find me easier, but I have
Speaker:a million. What is it? How many people are
Speaker:in the world now? 20 billion people that
Speaker:I'm marketing to now, instead of just this
Speaker:two to 3 million there in my little local
Speaker:location. And so when you're doing an
Speaker:online thing, it's a little bit
Speaker:differently. It's a little bit different.
Speaker:You have to put a lot more money to your
Speaker:Marketing. You have to put a lot more time
Speaker:and energy to be seen from the People
Speaker:online where when you're a gym, I think
Speaker:that, or you're a Physical Location, you
Speaker:think that you need to market to all those
Speaker:people. But in reality, it's much easier
Speaker:to take a step back and say, hey, you know
Speaker:what? I really just need to focus on the 3
Speaker:million people within a two to three mile
Speaker:radius of where I live or where my gym is.
Speaker:And so I think that would probably be, and
Speaker:we work with athletes as well. We've
Speaker:worked with athletes. We've worked with a
Speaker:lot of online businesses as well. It's a
Speaker:different audience, or how I would put it,
Speaker:you have a much larger audience that you
Speaker:have to start focusing on. So you said
Speaker:something there with the burnout that
Speaker:comes with marketing, and I thought that
Speaker:was just me because I have no idea what
Speaker:I'm doing. But to hear the experts say it.
Speaker:So partnering or knowing when to partner
Speaker:or having the right team members in that
Speaker:time as a brand, and we're talking no
Speaker:matter what brand it is. But for you,
Speaker:specifically gyms, how necessary is that
Speaker:for them in this day and age to be able to
Speaker:keep their doors open and what, I mean,
Speaker:like customer tension and not just
Speaker:customer acquisition? Well, I think that's
Speaker:part of the problem. I think that a lot of
Speaker:people in this day and age, they just
Speaker:focus on acquisition. I'm not going to put
Speaker:any of my so called non vertical
Speaker:competitors on the board here, but you do
Speaker:see a lot of them kind of saying, hey,
Speaker:just reach out to a million people and
Speaker:just cold call or call a million people
Speaker:and see if you can get people in the door.
Speaker:And to be honest, when you're a personal
Speaker:brand or you're under, let's say, 500,000
Speaker:a year mark, you are going to have a lot
Speaker:of those trial periods, you are going to
Speaker:have a lot of marketing fatigue, finding
Speaker:out your services, enhancing things,
Speaker:building offers, I think that's common in
Speaker:the validation stage of trying to grow
Speaker:anything, let alone the owners around it.
Speaker:Evolving as people and saying, oh, now I
Speaker:have different metrics of success that I'm
Speaker:looking for. I think those kind of go hand
Speaker:in hand, which is a different story. But I
Speaker:think at the end of the day, yeah, myself,
Speaker:I know how to do the things. And so that's
Speaker:what made it very hard for me to slow down
Speaker:and be like, I can do this, this and this.
Speaker:I can do them all very well. But really
Speaker:trying to find one or two things marketing
Speaker:wise that you can do. And back to your
Speaker:point, when you're under a certain amount,
Speaker:there is a lot of businesses out there,
Speaker:and I think it's very common for people
Speaker:that are in the corporate world or people
Speaker:that may be in leadership roles, a gym or
Speaker:anything that may not necessarily be the
Speaker:owner. Don't understand that, hey, top
Speaker:line revenue, you're making a million
Speaker:dollars you don't need, or they don't
Speaker:necessarily have thousands of employees.
Speaker:People are so used to seeing these big box
Speaker:gyms or these 50 million to a billion
Speaker:dollar companies and they're like, oh,
Speaker:they have millions of employees. No, when
Speaker:you're small, you maybe have one or two,
Speaker:maybe three. And I think that when you're
Speaker:smaller, you get into the grasp of your
Speaker:first real move as a personal brand and as
Speaker:you're trying to sell yourself is you kind
Speaker:of transition into what I call going from
Speaker:a me to an us. I mean, a me to a we.
Speaker:Sorry, you go from a me to a we, which is
Speaker:your mindset starts to shift and you go
Speaker:from a manager to a leader because you
Speaker:hear everyone just say, delegate,
Speaker:delegate. So that's what you do, right?
Speaker:You hire other marketers, you hire video
Speaker:editors, you hire something. If you're a
Speaker:personal brand and or you're hiring an
Speaker:agency. I mean, I have the same problems
Speaker:because I have to hire a team to do things
Speaker:right. That you get to a point where you
Speaker:realize that you're just getting fatigued
Speaker:because you're a manager, you went from
Speaker:doing the work to managing the work, which
Speaker:is really, you're still changing time for
Speaker:trading time for money. You just gave
Speaker:yourself a different title. And for you to
Speaker:really evolve into the we aspect and
Speaker:becoming more of a leader, it happens
Speaker:around that mark, right? You kind of have
Speaker:to start saying, oh, well, you realize
Speaker:that, hey, I'm making a good amount of
Speaker:money, I'm happy, or I feel like I've
Speaker:reached a milestone that I feel like I can
Speaker:reach personally, but it's not about me
Speaker:anymore. You start to get out of that
Speaker:spectrum of wanting it all just to be
Speaker:about this invisible number of success,
Speaker:because you realize, bottom line is way
Speaker:different than top line. And so you start
Speaker:to be like, oh, I actually want to help
Speaker:other people succeed. I want to help other
Speaker:people learn this stuff. I want to start
Speaker:not just delegating my services off, but
Speaker:bringing people onto the team that have
Speaker:similar values, have similar aspirations,
Speaker:enjoy what they're doing. And so as you
Speaker:start to become more of a leader, that's
Speaker:kind of the transition period that a lot
Speaker:of business owners or a lot of even
Speaker:personal brands have to take to become
Speaker:more of a we brand. And then to go to an
Speaker:us, it's really just aligning that team
Speaker:and yourself with the clients, the
Speaker:clients. To go back to your original
Speaker:hypothesis of, oh, what's different from
Speaker:owning a physical location compared to
Speaker:going online? Well, there's really only
Speaker:two differences. One, a gym has an actual
Speaker:location. So like I said, you could target
Speaker:just the people within a three mile
Speaker:radius. And your marketing is much easier
Speaker:because you don't have to spray the wall
Speaker:to the whole world. But two, you have the
Speaker:ability to have group classes or sell
Speaker:certain things in bulk. And so as an
Speaker:online brand, if you're like an online
Speaker:personal trainer and or an online
Speaker:situation, trying to start building more
Speaker:cohorts or building situations where you
Speaker:can make the same amount per individual,
Speaker:but being able to do it in a group setting
Speaker:so that you're not spending your time
Speaker:training one person or training just a
Speaker:handful of people, being able to train a
Speaker:whole bunch of people. And that's really
Speaker:only the two differences that I see
Speaker:between having a gym and an online space
Speaker:is you have that, but really, at the end
Speaker:of the day, it's expenses. Right? An
Speaker:online brand, I see a lot of people
Speaker:thinking that, oh, if I'm going to be a
Speaker:personal brand, that really means I don't
Speaker:have all the responsibility of hiring a
Speaker:team. I don't have the responsibility of
Speaker:owning a location and having the expense
Speaker:of paying 2003 $4,000 a month for this
Speaker:location. Pay that in the tools you need
Speaker:to be successful online. Yeah, for an
Speaker:online, it's a little bit different
Speaker:because you look at a gym, for instance,
Speaker:and a very healthy gym, a very healthy
Speaker:gym. And this is in most industries that
Speaker:have a location, restaurants, et cetera.
Speaker:Gyms is about 10% profit margins.
Speaker:Restaurants is about five. But that's a
Speaker:different story. You have about a 10%
Speaker:profit margin. That means they have about
Speaker:10% of their profits that have to go to
Speaker:marketing of not their profits of their
Speaker:overall top line goes to marketing. So
Speaker:usually about, that's where they only have
Speaker:10% wiggle room there. So you have that
Speaker:where you're online. People that are
Speaker:online don't really think that way. They
Speaker:just think, oh, I'm bringing a lot more
Speaker:money into my pockets. But you do. You
Speaker:have to put more to marketing. You just
Speaker:have to, there's more people you have to
Speaker:reach, and so you have to constantly put
Speaker:more stuff out there and building stuff
Speaker:online. And that's where a lot of that
Speaker:fatigue comes from, is hearing someone
Speaker:say, do social media or do this or do
Speaker:that, and that bled into the space of
Speaker:local retailers and local membership
Speaker:things because they think the same thing.
Speaker:They think, oh, hey, I have to be on
Speaker:social media. I have to do social media.
Speaker:Advertisement I have to do social media
Speaker:posts of my workouts and stuff, though.
Speaker:Those things can be effective. I've seen
Speaker:that. What now? But there's no guarantee
Speaker:even in that. Well, there's no guarantee
Speaker:in anything, really. I heard this phrase
Speaker:yesterday by, funny enough, one of my
Speaker:coaches that really aligned with me, and
Speaker:he mentioned something about, anyone can
Speaker:kind of build a strategy, right? Anyone
Speaker:could build a strategy, but it's the
Speaker:person behind the strategy that makes it
Speaker:effective. That makes sense. I like, know,
Speaker:yeah, let me take a minute. Just, I know
Speaker:you guys have been loving everything that
Speaker:Zach has been putting out there, because
Speaker:I've been loving everything that Zach has
Speaker:been putting out there. So take this
Speaker:moment, if you would, to go ahead and hit
Speaker:those, like, share and subscribe buttons
Speaker:on your favorite podcast listening
Speaker:platform. And let's make sure that we get
Speaker:this episode into the hands of those that,
Speaker:you know, that it will be a blessing to,
Speaker:because what he's talking about here,
Speaker:these strategies and these principles are
Speaker:not just for gym owners. These strategies
Speaker:and these principles that he's talked
Speaker:about so far for business owners, period.
Speaker:So you want to make sure. We get this out
Speaker:and we get this shared to as many people
Speaker:as possible and make sure that you're
Speaker:going to go in and check these show notes
Speaker:so that you can know how to get in contact
Speaker:with Zach. Because I know you're going to
Speaker:have a thousand questions for him. Just
Speaker:like questions. I have a thousand
Speaker:questions for him because, you know,
Speaker:whether it's the online space where under
Speaker:the products that my husband and I use and
Speaker:we got it during COVID just to be able to
Speaker:spend some more time together. But yes,
Speaker:workout is a program and I like the
Speaker:program and it's an online workout program
Speaker:and it's called Strength of seductions.
Speaker:It's for couples. But I'm also looking at
Speaker:it as a business owner. They put a lot of
Speaker:money into that marketing and to that
Speaker:branding and to all of the things. And
Speaker:this is just online. I can't imagine. And
Speaker:it's the couple that created it, even
Speaker:building their personal brand. So when
Speaker:you're talking to gym owners that aren't a
Speaker:part of a big box franchise, how much of
Speaker:their success in this space depends on
Speaker:their ability to build a strong personal
Speaker:brand that helps draw people to that
Speaker:business or does it not work like that?
Speaker:Well, I think it's funny because I think
Speaker:we just kind of said the definition of
Speaker:branding within that last statement we
Speaker:talked about before the break, which was
Speaker:it's the people behind the strategy that
Speaker:actually makes the difference. I think
Speaker:that if we wanted to go deep into this
Speaker:conversation, I always tell people, I'm a
Speaker:marketer that hates marketing and it's
Speaker:because that marketing fatigue and the
Speaker:premise of everyone thinking that they
Speaker:have to push the tangibles, they have to
Speaker:say, I need a website, I need to put
Speaker:content out there, I need to do this. But
Speaker:none of that's as effective as the person
Speaker:behind the leadership roles, the business
Speaker:owners. And that in itself is branding.
Speaker:That in itself is branding. You go to any
Speaker:sort of like these people that you were
Speaker:talking about that you work out online. If
Speaker:they're very authentic and you can feel
Speaker:it, that you probably wouldn't be watching
Speaker:them if you didn't feel that they were
Speaker:authentic, if you didn't feel that they
Speaker:had authentic, they were there to help,
Speaker:they had a vision in line with what they
Speaker:were doing. You probably would not be
Speaker:watching them. You probably would be like,
Speaker:they don't match me. They don't match who
Speaker:I am in situations like that. So it is
Speaker:very important, I think, that a lot of
Speaker:people fall into the trap. I fell into the
Speaker:trap too, because I do the tangibles for a
Speaker:living, which is I was in this identity
Speaker:trap, so to say. I was literally pushing
Speaker:content out there constantly. I was trying
Speaker:to do all these things because I thought
Speaker:that that's what I needed to do and I had
Speaker:the team to do it right. I had to take a
Speaker:step back and I had to tell myself, what
Speaker:do I want? How do I want to lead? What are
Speaker:the things that are going to make me happy
Speaker:personally? And that's why I said earlier
Speaker:before on like KPI, personal KPIs, because
Speaker:those personal KPIs, me going to the gym
Speaker:and going for runs, getting my meditation
Speaker:in doing that stuff for myself actually
Speaker:has helped me be much more clear minded in
Speaker:the actionable items that I need to do to
Speaker:make it to that next level. I like it.
Speaker:Coming back to your original question, I
Speaker:think that it's very important. I think
Speaker:that smaller gyms do have the problem of
Speaker:they try to do too much at once, they try
Speaker:to do too much at once. They try to go in
Speaker:and say, oh, we want to sell products or
Speaker:we want to. Actually, that's the biggest
Speaker:one I see is they say, let's sell products
Speaker:now, when in reality it's like, hey,
Speaker:you're now trying to compete in the online
Speaker:space, not the local space. So you'd have
Speaker:to put way more towards marketing for
Speaker:that. Nothing wrong with that. But until
Speaker:you have like three or four locations, if
Speaker:you're a gym owner that's at stage four
Speaker:and you're expanding and you need to start
Speaker:worrying about design consistency and you
Speaker:have a little more budget, then, yeah, you
Speaker:can kind of kill two birds with 1 st by
Speaker:some of the marketing efforts that you do.
Speaker:But it's down to the leadership. I always
Speaker:say my superpower is I can see a company
Speaker:online or even in person and I can tell
Speaker:how good that company is at actually
Speaker:giving results and being there for the
Speaker:contribution of everyone just by seeing
Speaker:their marketing collateral, just by
Speaker:saying, how good are they doing here? How
Speaker:good are they doing there? And I may be
Speaker:biased because I do it for a living, but
Speaker:if you think about it, all that marketing
Speaker:collateral, all that marketing material
Speaker:comes down to how they're leading their
Speaker:team and how they're trying to get
Speaker:clients. And if they're doing it in a way
Speaker:that's skeezy. They have bad customer
Speaker:service, they have this. And that's pretty
Speaker:obvious up front. And that's part of the
Speaker:way the leadership roles are as people.
Speaker:And that's why branding in itself is much
Speaker:more than just that logo or that website,
Speaker:those are definitely a part of it. Those
Speaker:tangibles do play a part. But those
Speaker:intangibles of being authentic and
Speaker:actually serving people that you want to
Speaker:serve, that you can help and being able to
Speaker:identify the problems and solutions that
Speaker:you can do for a particular type of person
Speaker:are going to be what gets you from that
Speaker:stage two to stage three, which is
Speaker:basically just what you did to get to 250
Speaker:to 500,000 depending on what you're in,
Speaker:what business you own, isn't going to get
Speaker:you to a million, isn't going to get you
Speaker:to 3 million. It's a completely different
Speaker:set of objectives and solutions and
Speaker:results. And I feel like a lot of people
Speaker:miss that. And that's part of what holds
Speaker:them back and that's part of what even
Speaker:gives them burnout when they're trying to
Speaker:make it to that next level. When we're
Speaker:trying to make it to that next level. And
Speaker:I'm looking at this for me personally from
Speaker:more than a gym standpoint, because
Speaker:everything that you're saying and have
Speaker:said, it works for online model for gym.
Speaker:It works for an in person model for gym,
Speaker:but it works in an online model. If I was
Speaker:selling lipstick or trainers or cars or
Speaker:whatever, if we're not having some of
Speaker:these things, like we'll take it back to
Speaker:something that we briefly ran over when I
Speaker:commented, is this more customer retention
Speaker:focus or is it more customer acquisition
Speaker:focus? And you commented, unfortunately, a
Speaker:lot of people or a lot of gyms are just
Speaker:more focused on a customer acquisition
Speaker:focus. If that's the focus of any company.
Speaker:When we're looking at scaling and growing,
Speaker:I can see why fatigue and burnout happens.
Speaker:According to what you said, you will
Speaker:forever and ever and ever be judging what
Speaker:we're doing or we're looking at our
Speaker:bottom, we're looking at our earnings, and
Speaker:it's like, gosh, we lost 50 people, but I
Speaker:gained 150 people. But did that balance
Speaker:out? It's so annoying to me because you're
Speaker:correct. I always tell clients, your
Speaker:biggest metric for business growth isn't
Speaker:your client acquisition. Yes, it's
Speaker:important and you should always be
Speaker:focusing on your marketing and spreading
Speaker:your message. But it's the retention.
Speaker:Retention or lower churn rate. If you're a
Speaker:gym, it's lower churn rate. Like how do
Speaker:you keep members on longer? That's what it
Speaker:comes down to. And I've seen it go both
Speaker:ways. You could talk about it in any
Speaker:industry. I think ecommerce, for instance,
Speaker:if you're selling products online.
Speaker:Retention is a very hard metric to push
Speaker:for. Right? You're usually just trying to
Speaker:sell one off products to people over and
Speaker:over and over and over again when it's
Speaker:like, how could you find a way to have
Speaker:this be more of a retention based model? I
Speaker:mean, I would say that's being more human
Speaker:to human and building something that
Speaker:relates. I think that's why subscription
Speaker:box companies have gotten so big. Yeah. In
Speaker:the coaching and speaking space, or let's
Speaker:say coaching space, that has been
Speaker:something. And even for me as a podcaster,
Speaker:in any space, subscription services have
Speaker:been the aha. Like, oh, this is the next
Speaker:bright idea. No, it's not. It's not the
Speaker:next bright idea. You just figured out
Speaker:that you can actually make more money when
Speaker:you keep people than trying to get new
Speaker:people all the time. But that's my
Speaker:soapbox. We won't get on it today. I've
Speaker:had clients for eight years. I've had
Speaker:clients ever since I opened the business,
Speaker:and some of them I adore and I'll do
Speaker:anything for. I'll go over the wall for
Speaker:them because they pay us a lot of money
Speaker:and we built good relationships. That's
Speaker:not always going to happen though, right?
Speaker:Things change, things grow, people
Speaker:rebrand, people evolve, and so there's
Speaker:always time to let people go, or vice
Speaker:versa. But at the end of the day, what you
Speaker:said is true. I've come to a period where
Speaker:I'm in a B to B space. I'm not in a B to C
Speaker:space. I don't have to market to 3 million
Speaker:people. I have to bring more quality to a
Speaker:smaller amount of individuals. I mean, I
Speaker:sell ten clients, I'm at a million. So why
Speaker:would I focus so much on acquisition
Speaker:myself if the retention and making my
Speaker:clients happy is my main metric for
Speaker:success? Because it's going to hurdle. So
Speaker:I don't need to bring on ten clients a
Speaker:month. I don't need to bring on 20 clients
Speaker:a month. And that's a large number for the
Speaker:type of business I'm in. But if you're
Speaker:like a gym or an ecommerce store, of
Speaker:course those numbers are much higher
Speaker:because you are b to c. But I need one. If
Speaker:I can bring one client a month on and like
Speaker:you said, just grow at a steady pace where
Speaker:I can really watch my team and I can
Speaker:evolve the inner workings of the business
Speaker:as I grow, instead of trying to, what you
Speaker:said, bring on 150 and then, oh, what
Speaker:broke? Let's fix this. And drop 50. I feel
Speaker:like companies too much. Why do you think
Speaker:there's so many hiring and firings all the
Speaker:time? I think so many companies are like,
Speaker:oh, we need to hire on all these people
Speaker:all the time. And then it just causes
Speaker:their we of their team to be disoriented
Speaker:and uncommuntative, and then it just
Speaker:causes even more problems because no one
Speaker:sees the inner workings. I mean, I told
Speaker:you earlier, I kind of can by seeing
Speaker:certain things, but majority of people
Speaker:can't. I agree with you 100%. I think
Speaker:retention is by far the most important
Speaker:thing that anyone can try to bring on into
Speaker:their business. And you could just call
Speaker:that the reoccurring model if you want to.
Speaker:But I look at more as, how can I continue
Speaker:to bring value to people as they evolve
Speaker:and as they grow? As they grow? I'm really
Speaker:big on retention, having moved from
Speaker:employee to, I like to say, partner with
Speaker:those that work for me. We're in a
Speaker:partnership. I've been an unhappy
Speaker:employee. I've been an even unhappier
Speaker:supervisor. And it usually, in the end,
Speaker:boil down to retaining the right people in
Speaker:the right positions and how much that cost
Speaker:versus, oh, we're always doing some type
Speaker:of hiring because this person quit. This
Speaker:person moved on. This person did something
Speaker:and an amount of money and energy that it
Speaker:went through when we could have just done
Speaker:a couple of simple things and this person
Speaker:would not have left, at least in that
Speaker:manner that they left. Because even as you
Speaker:said, as your b to b, like, a lot of my
Speaker:customers are business owners, and they
Speaker:come on the show for exposure, or we have
Speaker:companies that come on, okay, I want to
Speaker:buy a slot, whether it's here on the
Speaker:podcast or on my TV show. It's companies
Speaker:who want to expand in their advertisement,
Speaker:and they want to advertise on streaming
Speaker:TV. It's hard to get that customer, but if
Speaker:I get a set amount of customers, I'm good
Speaker:now, keeping them past three months, six
Speaker:months, one year, two year on as sponsors
Speaker:for. It's easier to do that. And even
Speaker:then, if they said, okay, LaQuita, we have
Speaker:maxed out what we think we can do in your
Speaker:space, but we love what you've done for
Speaker:us, but it's time for us to move on to a
Speaker:bigger space. Great. But them leaving in
Speaker:that manner, they're still a cheerleader
Speaker:for me. They're still advocating that,
Speaker:hey, if you want to start out and have
Speaker:your ad dollars add up and give you a
Speaker:great ROI, advertise on her podcast.
Speaker:Advertise on her TV show. Come be a guest
Speaker:just on the TV show. Come be a guest on
Speaker:the podcast. Know you have a function
Speaker:going on. Invite her to be a speaker.
Speaker:You'll see an ROI, though. They may be
Speaker:like, okay, LaQuita, we've moved on
Speaker:because now I'm on John Maxwell stage, or
Speaker:I'm on Valerie Burton's stage. I'm. I'm on
Speaker:Mr. Beast podcast or something like that
Speaker:now. Great. But they're still going to
Speaker:give me positive raving reviews. That's
Speaker:going to help bring in. Either they're
Speaker:going to introduce me to their replacement
Speaker:client, or that replacement client is
Speaker:going to say, hey, how did you hear about
Speaker:me? Oh, I heard about you from John,
Speaker:because he's been singing your praises for
Speaker:two years. So I want to come over here and
Speaker:become a part of that. It's so much easier
Speaker:to do. Is. It is. And it's funny because
Speaker:going back to the digital marketing space
Speaker:and the way the world has kind of pushed,
Speaker:like, social media and the situation is
Speaker:the world has become very transactional.
Speaker:It's become very transactional. And
Speaker:there's nothing wrong with doing a CTA.
Speaker:There's nothing wrong with saying, hey, a
Speaker:give and take or to ask for something,
Speaker:especially when you're giving good value
Speaker:to people. But so many times I get people
Speaker:that will just look at me as a number and
Speaker:be like, oh, we can find someone else that
Speaker:does this who says, I want to work with
Speaker:you. I don't feel jolly or happy when you
Speaker:could pay me five grand a month or ten
Speaker:grand a month. I mean, in fact, I had a
Speaker:client last year, and this kind of goes
Speaker:hand in hand with what you were saying
Speaker:earlier with your own partners, is going
Speaker:from a me to a. We isn't necessarily
Speaker:having to be team members. You can have
Speaker:partners that follow similar values as
Speaker:you, and you can have clients that follow
Speaker:similar values as you do. And sometimes
Speaker:people fall through the cracks. You think
Speaker:that they match certain things and they
Speaker:don't. And at the end of the day, it's
Speaker:okay. It's like we just don't match the
Speaker:same values. And I had a client last year,
Speaker:and they were, they were paying us ten k a
Speaker:month. We had a guaranteed year contract.
Speaker:So that got us end of the year. We did our
Speaker:due diligence. He seemed like a really
Speaker:great guy. We brought him on, and then
Speaker:about a month and a half into the
Speaker:contract, he completely shifted. I mean,
Speaker:he was okay on the phone, but those emails
Speaker:that came through sporadic mean, trying to
Speaker:change our services, trying to say, you
Speaker:have to do this desperate. He had
Speaker:something, what I call in my industry's ex
Speaker:girlfriend syndrome, where he was blaming
Speaker:everything on us compared to what happened
Speaker:to him in his last relationship. But I
Speaker:eventually canceled out his contract. I
Speaker:didn't go after him for the extra money. I
Speaker:just was like, you know what? Yes, we
Speaker:would have about 50 to 60 that we're
Speaker:losing out on this year. But at the end of
Speaker:the day, I was like, I'd be spending more
Speaker:in therapy. I can't do this. And so I had
Speaker:to let them go because I couldn't handle
Speaker:it. And those are the situations that I
Speaker:just see happening and not letting people
Speaker:go, but having those situations are what I
Speaker:see happen on a normal occasions for a lot
Speaker:of people, which make them kind of unhappy
Speaker:and is part of the reasoning why they
Speaker:can't shift their mentality to that next
Speaker:stage of growth in a positive manner. And
Speaker:a lot of it is due to the effects of being
Speaker:able to have us market on social media and
Speaker:do all that stuff. And I'm just not a fan
Speaker:of cold, cold leads, cold calls, like
Speaker:anything like that. I'm like, I'd rather
Speaker:have someone come to us because they want
Speaker:to come to us. So all of our marketing is
Speaker:war marketing, which to me is more of a
Speaker:branding tactic than it is a marketing
Speaker:tactic. I'm sorry, people on here that do
Speaker:marketing may say otherwise, but I don't.
Speaker:I think that war marketing is really just
Speaker:branding. I'm neither. I'm not a marketing
Speaker:expert, definitely not a branding expert,
Speaker:but I came also from a space of having
Speaker:been a network marketer for a while,
Speaker:guaranteed. It's so much easier to deal
Speaker:with the warm market than it is a cold
Speaker:market. And in this social media driven
Speaker:age that we live in, no matter what your
Speaker:business is. I had a previous podcast
Speaker:guest, she was 75 and she's out here in
Speaker:these social media streets killing it.
Speaker:She's doing 1000 times better on TikTok
Speaker:than I ever would hope to. It's like, go
Speaker:ahead, grandma, you do your thing. But
Speaker:people, that's where you get your warm
Speaker:market from. I was in an interview this
Speaker:morning where when we're showing up in the
Speaker:places we need to show up as our authentic
Speaker:self, just from a personal branding
Speaker:perspective, I've had clients to tell me,
Speaker:oh, I've been following you, and then
Speaker:they'll tell you about the different
Speaker:things and stuff that you've said or done
Speaker:or whatever was captivating to them. And
Speaker:then they came and they did business with
Speaker:me. It wasn't, well, Laquita, tell me what
Speaker:you offer. It was, no, I know you have
Speaker:this. This is what I want. And how do I
Speaker:pay and when can we get started? By the
Speaker:time they came to me, to me, that's a warm
Speaker:market, because now they're familiar with
Speaker:me, because they've taken the time and did
Speaker:their due diligence. Whether it's 18
Speaker:months, twelve months, six months, most of
Speaker:the time when something like that happens,
Speaker:it's usually around the 18 to 24 month
Speaker:mark for me, where that happens, and
Speaker:especially if I've seen them show up
Speaker:where, okay, I noticed that person. I
Speaker:didn't notice when they subscribed to my
Speaker:email campaign, but I did notice when they
Speaker:hit a reply or when they sent a message or
Speaker:something like that, because I'd like to
Speaker:do that part as a human touch. I'm
Speaker:actually looking at that. I've seen that
Speaker:name before, or I enjoy live streams, so
Speaker:I've seen that person comment before, and
Speaker:now here I am having a real life
Speaker:conversation with this person. And now
Speaker:that person has become my client. To me,
Speaker:it's so much easier to do that. I'm not
Speaker:picking up the phone to cold call. I'm
Speaker:just not doing that. I'm just not doing
Speaker:that. I know you'll hear it from multiple
Speaker:people, and I'll be honest with you, it
Speaker:goes both ways. And I think that that's
Speaker:kind of a problem within the energy a lot
Speaker:of business owners put out into the world
Speaker:is they don't match their own values.
Speaker:Right? For me, for instance, I don't do
Speaker:cold calling either. The only way I'll
Speaker:email someone cold is if there's an intent
Speaker:involved. If it's like, hey, I knew you
Speaker:were already looking for this stuff. I
Speaker:heard it from the grapevine that you're
Speaker:looking. I heard someone gave me your
Speaker:information and you're looking for it. I
Speaker:thought I'd reach out. Yeah, then I'll
Speaker:reach out and make an introduction. But I
Speaker:think that I've spent so much money and
Speaker:time on making sure the people that come
Speaker:in and want to work with me match my
Speaker:values, like, match our stuff. And I think
Speaker:that I'll get people on the call and
Speaker:they'll be like, our first call and
Speaker:they'll be like, oh, so tell us about some
Speaker:of the clients you've worked with. And I'm
Speaker:like, didn't you go through the six emails
Speaker:I sent you or our website where we spent
Speaker:hundreds of thousands of dollars on making
Speaker:sure that you got enough information about
Speaker:us so you felt like we were a good fit.
Speaker:And they don't. And I'm not asking people,
Speaker:of course, to spend hours and hours and
Speaker:hours of due diligence, but it should go
Speaker:both ways. People should be looking at
Speaker:vendors or looking at the people they want
Speaker:to partner with, just like the people that
Speaker:are looking to hire them. They should be
Speaker:having an equal opportunity there to be
Speaker:like, yeah, I think we relate to each
Speaker:other and we would be a good fit to work
Speaker:to each other. I mean, when that client
Speaker:left last year, one of our partners prayed
Speaker:with me. He was like, they were working on
Speaker:part of the solution with us, with them.
Speaker:And he's like, let's jump on a call. And
Speaker:he prayed with me. And I appreciated that
Speaker:ability for him to be not just like, oh,
Speaker:well, sucks, you'll get the next one. I do
Speaker:feel like we all just need to be able to
Speaker:say, hey, what are my values? What are the
Speaker:things that I really, because what I
Speaker:portray myself and who I am, and that is
Speaker:branding, right? What I portray myself,
Speaker:who I am, and I don't care what it is. If
Speaker:you want to be an ahole and that's your
Speaker:personality, then you're probably going to
Speaker:attract other aholes. But that's your
Speaker:right to be that type of person because
Speaker:that's who you want to be. I would say
Speaker:there's trauma involved in the reason
Speaker:they're like that, but that's a whole
Speaker:different topic in itself. But I could go
Speaker:off in many different directions with
Speaker:these conversations. But yeah, I feel like
Speaker:being able to kind of figure out who you
Speaker:are and going even further back to is it
Speaker:important for gym leaders or business
Speaker:owners to brand themselves personally?
Speaker:Yes, I think it's important for everyone.
Speaker:And I think that, yes, if you're just
Speaker:starting out and you're finding yourself
Speaker:totally understandable why you're at a
Speaker:certain spot. But I think that the
Speaker:correlation between business growth and a
Speaker:human and being, who they truly are,
Speaker:really kind of intersect at a similar
Speaker:spot. And I think that's why you see a lot
Speaker:of business owners that make it to what we
Speaker:call in the business world the value death
Speaker:period. And then they either quit or they
Speaker:decide they have to pivot because they
Speaker:personally find different metrics for
Speaker:success. And I think that correlation, and
Speaker:you and I talked a little bit before we
Speaker:jumped on this call about me and having
Speaker:children. That was a huge thing for me
Speaker:personally. That helped me even pivot the
Speaker:way I am marketing my business. And so
Speaker:that shows you how the personal business
Speaker:owners behind the scenes or the ones
Speaker:building the personal brand themselves,
Speaker:why it's so important for them just to be
Speaker:themselves and market the way they want to
Speaker:market. Absolutely. I know you said that.
Speaker:I thought about one of my husband and I in
Speaker:2017, we owned a virtual call center, and
Speaker:we were subcontractors through a larger
Speaker:company called Arise. And the reason that,
Speaker:for me, that I chose to partner with that
Speaker:is because I've been a military wife at
Speaker:that point, he had just retired, so a
Speaker:military wife for like, 24 plus years. And
Speaker:one of the things that was hard for me was
Speaker:to maintain a career because we were
Speaker:always moving every couple of years. And
Speaker:so when I saw this company, and it allowed
Speaker:the individuals who took the calls from
Speaker:the major companies, they were contracted
Speaker:with lots of major brands, and the people
Speaker:who were answering the phones were doing
Speaker:it from home, and they created their own
Speaker:schedule. That resonated with me in a
Speaker:special place, as a wife, as a mom, as
Speaker:someone who lived a transient life,
Speaker:because we go where the army says we had
Speaker:to go, that was something that, with that
Speaker:company, they resonated with my personal
Speaker:core values. And I was happy to do
Speaker:interviews with other women, other single
Speaker:parents, other single dads, or even people
Speaker:who, this was their part time job because
Speaker:they need to meet ends meet. Like, all of
Speaker:those things at one point had been my
Speaker:family story. So to be able to empower
Speaker:somebody, because that's how I felt.
Speaker:Empower them with not only a way to earn
Speaker:extra money for your family, but be able
Speaker:to do it and keep your priority. Your
Speaker:priority. When you started to have
Speaker:children, that shift happened. For a lot
Speaker:of us, that shift happens. But sometimes
Speaker:we don't get to do what we want to do
Speaker:because somebody else is telling us what
Speaker:we have to do, and somebody else is
Speaker:telling us, you're going to do this 65
Speaker:hours a week, you're going to do this 40
Speaker:hours was a week, and I'm only going to
Speaker:pay you. I'm going to max you out at $30
Speaker:an hour. That's all you're going to get
Speaker:from me. But you're going to do everything
Speaker:that I tell you to do when I tell you to
Speaker:do it. And your family has to fit in when
Speaker:they can fit in where now you can do
Speaker:exactly what you want to do. Even today
Speaker:with us, like success for me now, I've had
Speaker:so much fun at that program for my
Speaker:grandbabies today. You did, and I did. It
Speaker:was so amazing. But there was a time where
Speaker:I wouldn't have been able to do that.
Speaker:Yeah. Even as a business owner, I would
Speaker:have been afraid to do that. This isn't
Speaker:just me being somebody's employee, this is
Speaker:even me being a business owner. How that
Speaker:transition has happened for me over the
Speaker:years where there would have been a time,
Speaker:I would have been like, honey, can you
Speaker:video it for me and I'll watch it when you
Speaker:come back because I've got to do this. But
Speaker:as we grow and we evolve and we understand
Speaker:our power, we take more responsibility in
Speaker:our personal development. You'll see that
Speaker:shift. And that's how we are able to
Speaker:connect with people and know when we are
Speaker:aligned. Some people don't even know what
Speaker:that means to be aligned with your ideal
Speaker:customer or their mission, their vision,
Speaker:their core values. Are they in alignment
Speaker:with yours? They don't know to check for
Speaker:it because the things that are put before
Speaker:us is, are they going to pay? You know how
Speaker:hard that would have been for some people
Speaker:to walk away? Yes. You do know how hard it
Speaker:would have been for some people to have
Speaker:walked away from that toxic client either.
Speaker:Like, man, just make it to the end of the
Speaker:contract. No, that's not more important to
Speaker:me. It was very hard for me, I will admit
Speaker:it was a very hard decision. But I
Speaker:remember right when he was gone. So here's
Speaker:the funny thing with that client, and I'm
Speaker:not going to say who he is because I'm
Speaker:just not that kind of person. But other
Speaker:people will figure out themselves when
Speaker:they try to buy his products. But he owned
Speaker:a health and wellness ecom brand. And I'm
Speaker:looking at it and I'm saying, I'm like,
Speaker:because of the type of person you are, I
Speaker:would never feel comfortable buying your
Speaker:products. Like, there's no way in heck I
Speaker:would rely on your products. How do I know
Speaker:that they're even safe? Because if you're
Speaker:this type of person, then do you really
Speaker:care? Do you care enough to think about
Speaker:the client and the services that you are
Speaker:providing? And that's branding in itself,
Speaker:right? That's what it really comes down
Speaker:to. And back to your point, I think it's
Speaker:very important for people to realize is
Speaker:you mentioned, hey, business owner. You
Speaker:had to realize it. Even as a business
Speaker:owner, that's what I had to go through.
Speaker:Because when you first start a business,
Speaker:no matter what business you're in, even
Speaker:when you're probably doing the call center
Speaker:stuff with your husband, I learned so much
Speaker:in the first year of business that I
Speaker:learned many years in the corporate world.
Speaker:And it was one of those situations where
Speaker:when I was out, I was learning so much.
Speaker:But then you just get caught up. You get
Speaker:caught up in like, oh, I have to survive,
Speaker:I have to grow, which is fine. There's
Speaker:going to be part of you that has to make
Speaker:that next sale or has to do something, has
Speaker:to learn, has to grow, especially at the
Speaker:very beginning. But you lose yourself. You
Speaker:lose yourself in the process of trying to,
Speaker:how do I explain it? It's like you're
Speaker:chasing this invisible number. You're just
Speaker:like, oh. And a lot of it came down to I
Speaker:was very unseen and unheard as a child. My
Speaker:dad was an NFL player. I played soccer
Speaker:growing up and I'm not going to go deep
Speaker:into this story too much, but my business
Speaker:was growing around that traumatic
Speaker:experience of, oh, if I make it to a
Speaker:million, I make it to 2 million, top line
Speaker:people will see it and I'll be heard by
Speaker:all the people around me. Very similar
Speaker:situation, but different occurrences
Speaker:happen to gym owners because I did. I
Speaker:started taking up working out as a way for
Speaker:me to really, it was a way for me to
Speaker:reduce my anxiety and my mental health and
Speaker:all that. But I didn't realize that at
Speaker:first either. I was like, oh, I'm going to
Speaker:look buff. I'm going to do this, I'm going
Speaker:to showcase it. And as a business owner,
Speaker:you start to be like, well, is this
Speaker:important? I mean, when my first child was
Speaker:born, my first child was born, I remember,
Speaker:and I was just talking about my wife about
Speaker:this the other day and I'm thinking I'm
Speaker:going to do some sort of speech on this of
Speaker:some sort because I'm going to have three
Speaker:children now and each experience is going
Speaker:to be uniquely different and better. But
Speaker:when I had my first child, I remember we
Speaker:were at the hospital and I got a call from
Speaker:a potential client that I've been over
Speaker:serving like crazy, going back and forth
Speaker:over and over again to try to make a sale
Speaker:and say, hey, we need to jump on a call at
Speaker:like twelve. And it was like 1015. And we
Speaker:were at the hospital, it was like day two
Speaker:and I'm like, love, I have to get home. I
Speaker:have to get on this call. It's a potential
Speaker:large sale. And I did, I went home, I was
Speaker:like five minutes late because we rushed
Speaker:home from the hospital and I'm like, I'm
Speaker:sorry, guys. I just had my baby and I
Speaker:jumped on this call. I look back at that
Speaker:and how ungrounded and unpresent I was
Speaker:around my family. And I'm like, man. And
Speaker:it's very easy for business owners of any
Speaker:size to get trapped in that mentality, no
Speaker:matter how big you are. I see $20 million
Speaker:business owners that still work 50 hours,
Speaker:5100 hours, work weeks, and they're
Speaker:miserable. And it's like, all right, well,
Speaker:I'm not saying money is not important.
Speaker:Money is an energy. And the trade
Speaker:associated with money is really irrelevant
Speaker:because people consider money's value
Speaker:differently, even with the economy, no
Speaker:matter where you're from. And so I look
Speaker:back at that situation, I'm like, there's
Speaker:no way I'm doing that. I did better on my
Speaker:second one, my third one. I'm of course,
Speaker:like, you know what? No, I'm taking two
Speaker:days off. I may do a couple of slack
Speaker:things with my team, but no, I'm even
Speaker:thinking about taking two weeks off and
Speaker:just simmering down and being present
Speaker:around my wife and my kid because I want
Speaker:to be around my family. Yeah, and you're
Speaker:right. No matter being in this space, in
Speaker:the leadership space. I know when we
Speaker:opened the call center, my husband
Speaker:retired, and we were living in Germany at
Speaker:the time, stationed in Germany. We're
Speaker:having this conversation. It's like, okay,
Speaker:well, what do you want to be when you grow
Speaker:up? No, I don't want to continue to be a
Speaker:government employee. I don't want to be a
Speaker:government contractor. I've been there.
Speaker:I've done that. There's some security in
Speaker:it. Yes, there's a lot of headache in it.
Speaker:Absolutely. But I started to realize how
Speaker:those things were defining me instead of
Speaker:me defining me. So I don't want that. So
Speaker:what do I want to do? Well, this business
Speaker:came across, that partnership with arise
Speaker:at the time it came to me, was brought to
Speaker:me. I was like, okay, Lord, let's find out
Speaker:about this. So the more I found out about
Speaker:the business, the more I wanted to do it.
Speaker:So I said, okay, honey, when you retire,
Speaker:this is what I want to do. I'm going to
Speaker:own this business because I can do it no
Speaker:matter where I am. We can do it legally
Speaker:from Germany. I'd done that research as an
Speaker:American. Or if we have to go back home
Speaker:stateside, I can do it there. Well, for 24
Speaker:years, my whole identity had been wrapped
Speaker:up in his career. You walk in a place and
Speaker:you're not known by who you are. But at
Speaker:that time, he was master Sergeant Monley
Speaker:in some branches, first Sergeant Mundley
Speaker:and he worked in the intel industry, in
Speaker:the military intelligence field. And so
Speaker:all of the things and stuff that go with
Speaker:that, and now here we are. That's no
Speaker:longer going to be the case. Well, who am
Speaker:know or if I'm dealing with my children.
Speaker:I'm Dariel Devante, Denise, David and mom.
Speaker:But who am I? That part was, I was
Speaker:unpacking that and so, oh, now I've got to
Speaker:be this wonderful business owner, got to
Speaker:have this fabulous company. So I'm dumping
Speaker:all of my time in it because the four
Speaker:older children had been off to college and
Speaker:they were gone. We just had the one
Speaker:youngest son, and he was very independent.
Speaker:He was in the 9th grade going to the 10th
Speaker:grade. So I spent insane hours, insane
Speaker:hours building that company to where my
Speaker:husband would come in looking for me and
Speaker:come in the office and just stand behind
Speaker:my computer looking like, when are you
Speaker:coming down these stairs? Or my children,
Speaker:or then I noticed my grandchildren would
Speaker:come in and come to the office and say,
Speaker:oh, you're working, and then just turn
Speaker:around and leave, not come give granny a
Speaker:hug or anything like that. And I realized
Speaker:after doing that, now, let's be clear, I
Speaker:was not a genius in the first 90 days. I
Speaker:wasn't even a genius in the first year
Speaker:with that. It took me a while for that to
Speaker:resonate with me and know that, okay, this
Speaker:can't be, this can't continue. We've done
Speaker:that for 24 years because the army ran our
Speaker:life and we didn't have no, we didn't have
Speaker:a walk away power. But now we're not going
Speaker:to reverse that role to where now I'm the
Speaker:person that's doing it. But I have full
Speaker:control. My husband had no control. I will
Speaker:have full control. And this is a decision
Speaker:I'm making, and it's an unhealthy decision
Speaker:coming from an unhealthy place. So what
Speaker:are we going to do about it? So then you
Speaker:do the work. And I found that over time,
Speaker:it didn't hurt my business. Those clients
Speaker:who were going to be connected to me, that
Speaker:divinely connected to me, they're still my
Speaker:clients. Those people who are going to
Speaker:resonate with me because of who I am
Speaker:authentically, even in transparent moments
Speaker:where I've shared pieces of the story, and
Speaker:I'll find that, oh, no, we're going to
Speaker:connect with you even more. You're going
Speaker:to connect with me, but you have to build
Speaker:the personal brand. Yes. You have to show
Speaker:up and be authentically yourself. Yes. But
Speaker:it's showing up from the healthy part of
Speaker:you and having some firm boundaries in
Speaker:place that where I'm from, it's a saying,
Speaker:all money isn't good money that has a
Speaker:powerful meaning and believe it and know
Speaker:it and operate in it, and you'll find that
Speaker:you'll have a healthier, happier life and
Speaker:business. Because in those terms, we've
Speaker:defined success for ourselves instead of
Speaker:letting other people, clients included,
Speaker:define it for us. Because we've left
Speaker:corporate, because we don't want to be a
Speaker:slave to the corporate plantation. Don't
Speaker:come into your business and then do the
Speaker:same thing. Yeah. And it's very easy for
Speaker:you to do it, too. I'm not going to say
Speaker:there's nothing wrong with it, but as
Speaker:people, what makes us comfortable, it's
Speaker:what we've learned. And so you do have to
Speaker:adapt and change. When I opened my agency,
Speaker:I came from the corporate world, working
Speaker:with large brands like the Suns. I worked
Speaker:for Pearson Education. But a lot of the
Speaker:stuff that we did was production based,
Speaker:the tangible stuff. We created a lot of
Speaker:the tangibles. And so that's how my agency
Speaker:slowly started to grow, was in that way.
Speaker:And I kept asking, what's wrong? Why am I
Speaker:not happy? Why is this not working for me?
Speaker:And it wasn't until I was like, it's
Speaker:because I'm not really helping people. I
Speaker:am. I'm giving them stuff, I'm helping
Speaker:them get clients, but if they're still
Speaker:unhappy personally, then they're still
Speaker:going to have roadblocks on them finding
Speaker:their success. Right. Which is what we've
Speaker:talked about. And so that's where I came
Speaker:to my realization, where I'm like, oh, I
Speaker:need to go out and speak more. I need to
Speaker:go out and I need to start consulting more
Speaker:and helping them understand the importance
Speaker:of branding as a person and helping them
Speaker:really build that within their brand.
Speaker:Because if I don't, then there's a good
Speaker:chance that they're not going to be able
Speaker:to go from here to there because they're
Speaker:not going to know how. Yeah, that's real
Speaker:good. That's real good. It has to start on
Speaker:the inside of the person. It has to start
Speaker:on the inside of the person. And when
Speaker:that's done, you'll see the positive
Speaker:impact in their personal life, but
Speaker:definitely in their brand, in their
Speaker:business. You'll see that growth, even if
Speaker:that growth means I transition from this
Speaker:to that. Because am I showing up in this
Speaker:business? Because again, it was from an
Speaker:unhealthy place, and I'm trying to give
Speaker:1000% for something that's actually not in
Speaker:true alignment with me. So I need to make
Speaker:that pivot so that I can show up from a
Speaker:healthy place. And this thing that I'm
Speaker:doing now is in perfect alignment with me,
Speaker:and let's watch it grow. And it doesn't
Speaker:mean that the first business didn't make
Speaker:money. It probably made a lot of money.
Speaker:But were you fulfilled even if it meant,
Speaker:okay, my business name or anything? I'm
Speaker:not rebranding, but perhaps I'm going to
Speaker:change my target market. I'm still going
Speaker:to do what I'm doing, but maybe I need to
Speaker:change my target market so I'm more in
Speaker:alignment with who I am and my ability to
Speaker:serve people. Because am I serving people
Speaker:or am I serving. I mean, the corporation
Speaker:is a group of people, but am I serving
Speaker:them? Because just helping them close
Speaker:sales, that doesn't mean I'm serving them.
Speaker:But how am I serving them? We could
Speaker:definitely have many conversations. That's
Speaker:a fun conversation right there that I'd
Speaker:love to have, actually. Am I actually
Speaker:serving them? Well, actually serving the
Speaker:people that we said we're serving. Right.
Speaker:Well, get this. It wasn't until I went on,
Speaker:about a year ago now, I went on a
Speaker:spiritual walk. I had a spiritual day with
Speaker:one of my coaches. He was great guy. And
Speaker:it was actually probably one of the only
Speaker:coaches I've had that actually has helped
Speaker:me through the things that I feel like are
Speaker:tangibly needed to make it to the next
Speaker:level. And I remember coming home crying
Speaker:to my wife because I'm like, my feelings
Speaker:of being unseen and unheard. I was over
Speaker:serving clients. I was over serving. I was
Speaker:expecting too much out of my business. And
Speaker:it wasn't until I had went on a spiritual
Speaker:walk I realized that I'm like, my family
Speaker:is there for me. They hear me, they see
Speaker:me. I'm just putting too many of certain
Speaker:types of emotions and expecting too much
Speaker:out of what I am doing for others that I'm
Speaker:not looking at. I can transition those
Speaker:emotions in those situations towards other
Speaker:parts of my life. And I think that comes a
Speaker:lot with getting burnout in business.
Speaker:You're just expecting too much on
Speaker:something making you happy when that
Speaker:should only be a leg to the chair. Yeah.
Speaker:Listen, this is an amazing conversation.
Speaker:Let me go ahead and apologize to you for
Speaker:not being mindful of your time today. It's
Speaker:all good, but I'm definitely looking
Speaker:forward to our next conversation, and we
Speaker:can dive more into that, because I'd
Speaker:really like to unpack that spiritual day
Speaker:that you have. Because as humans, as
Speaker:business owners, we've got to realize that
Speaker:we're triumph beings. We're spirit, soul,
Speaker:and body. And when we take care of all of
Speaker:those components, it shows up for us in a
Speaker:magnificent way. So I definitely love to
Speaker:have to dive deeper into that experience
Speaker:and how it helped, not just on a personal
Speaker:level, but how you were able to see the
Speaker:fruits from that in your business. Yeah,
Speaker:definitely would love to. Listen, I know
Speaker:I'm over my time. I apologize. But please
Speaker:let the toolbox audience know how they can
Speaker:connect with you and stay connected to you
Speaker:and what you have coming up. Yeah,
Speaker:definitely. So we've recently come out
Speaker:with our private podcast. This private
Speaker:podcast is a three episode series limited
Speaker:to people that are looking to get out of
Speaker:being stuck and move to building a much
Speaker:more sustainable lead flow that can be
Speaker:worth their while as they continue to grow
Speaker:slowly and steadily. And through this
Speaker:private podcast, you'll be able to
Speaker:discover and be able to build the three
Speaker:pillars that really help you start to
Speaker:cultivate that community that you're
Speaker:really thriving to build within your brand
Speaker:and your business. You can find us, and
Speaker:you can reach out to us through
Speaker:that@leavethatmark.com. And you'll be able
Speaker:to subscribe to that private podcast and
Speaker:hear more of me talking. Make sure you
Speaker:guys reach out and get subscribed to his
Speaker:private podcast because I know he has some
Speaker:amazing jewels to share. Listen, Zach,
Speaker:thank you again. Those of you that are
Speaker:tuning in to Laquita's toolbox, if this is
Speaker:your first welcome, welcome. I know you've
Speaker:been blessed by the content you received
Speaker:today for my returning listeners. Hey,
Speaker:y'all, thank you for tuning in. We
Speaker:appreciate you, as always. Until next
Speaker:time, I am your host, Laquita Monley. You
Speaker:guys be blessed and have an amazing rest
