Coaching Episode - Q4 Business Chat with Amber Lyda
We know the Q3 podcast business chat with Amber Lyda got a little bit heavy, but we brought a whole new, fresh energy to our Q4 chat to wrap up the year.
This episode is jam-packed with insight about…
Why Q3 felt a little off (for both of us)
The level of vulnerability that is appropriate in business
Our highs and lows of 2021 (personally and financially)
What we wish we did differently this past year
What we’re working focusing on for 2022
Did I also spill a little bit about what I have coming up next year? YES. You don’t want to miss this one—get the inside scoop and listen now.
CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN!
Show Notes:
Hey, Risers. Welcome to episode 135 of Empathy Rising. Today, Amber Lyda is joining us again for the end-of-year wrap-up. We're gonna be talking about some updates when it comes to quarter four of our business, so October, November, and December months, and also just talking about the year as a whole and bringing things to close and also what our wishes are for next year for 2022.
So I hope you enjoy this culminating episode, and head to the Facebook group and let me know if you liked this. I've gotten a lot of positive responses to these episodes in particular. Amber and I could certainly do something like this again in 2022, or I may tap my friend Lecia McDonough and do something similar with her, or anybody else.
So if these are conversations that have been helpful for you, and just to hear periodic updates and what we've gone through - our ups and our downs throughout the year, and just how it's been to be a business owner in 2021 - let me know if that's something that was fun for you, helpful for you, valuable for you. And this is something I can surely repeat going forward for 2022. So without further ado here is Amber and I wrapping up the year for you.
Marissa (M): Hey guys, welcome back to Empathy Rising. That was weird because normally I say, Hey risers, but Amber and I have been talking before I hit record and we'd been giggling. So that's why that sounded funny. Anyway, hey Risers. Welcome back to Empathy Rising. I'm here with Amber again for her Q for biz bestie chat.
And of course, she will introduce herself more formally in just a second, for anybody who's like "who's Amber?" but all of us are probably on a first-name basis with her right now. But we've been doing these all year long. It was something we just came up with on the fly. We just met for one chat earlier in the year during the first quarter, obviously, and then we, on the fly said, hey, do you want to do this all throughout the year?
And just keep people updated on not only how our business is going, but how our lifestyle is going. And so this is our end of the year. If you haven't listened to the previous episodes and you're interested in hearing, maybe pause this one first and then go back and listen to Q1 and go back and listen to Q2 and Q3. So this will be our fourth for the year.
Anyway, Amber, if you could do us the pleasure of a little formal introduction, just in case there's anybody new listening.
Amber (A): My name's Amber Lyda, and I teach therapists how to build successful and soul-filling online therapy practices. I do it through courses. I do it through coaching and membership.
M: Yeah. And we are meeting like late at night. It's eight o'clock for you; Seven o'clock for me. I guess that's not late. It's relative.
A: Late for us.
M: We normally don't talk this late, but I've, I'm done my gua sha. I don't know how to pronounce it. But I’ve done my gua sha on my face. And if you guys could see me, I'm in my Harry Potter pajamas.
A: I'm in my target pajama pants.
M: Are those the ones that you said they were like the flares or something on the bottom and you'd love?
A: Yeah. I love them so much. I'm thinking about buying more, just so that I have them forever.
M: Yeah. I don't remember where I heard you say that maybe it was Voxer or maybe it was a Facebook live, I don't remember.
Anyway, we were in a much better mood this episode than we were in the last one. Last one, we were a little bit like yours on quarter three, and we're chatting a little bit before we hit record about why that might be. And for me, I think it's definitely a little bit of time of year.
It's not only like the slowest time for my business and when it... that slow time gives me a little bit of anxiety, even though I know, and it's been a pattern for six years now and I don't, it's like some of my students say, what's your book of evidence, in Side Hustle. And I'm like my book of evidence is that Q4 is always a banner quarter for me.
It's always my best quarter of the year. But for some reason in Q3, it's all going to hell and nothing's working and it's all broken. And my business sucks. No one likes me. And then here I am sitting in quarter four and doing just fine. So part of it is my business always slows down and I think that's intentional because it ramps up so much for quarter four.
And I'm trying to think ahead to next year about how I can embrace that a little bit more, but also just the season for me too of okay, we're coming off of summer and it's just here in the south at least it's a very... it's an abrupt transition.
It's not a gradual change from summer to fall. It's, like, hot and humid and there's a ton of bugs. And then overnight it's like 40, over 40 in the night, and it's just, I think that's part of it too. But what do you think about why we're both kind of feeling better right now, as opposed to our last call.
A: Well I would be curious about your launch cycle because I know for me, part of my mood dip is just the energetic depletion after my launch. Like I'm in coast mode because the launch is so exhausting and I'm coming off the end of that. And I'm like, ooh, okay, tired. Like it needs to recover.
M: See, for me, it's the opposite because my biggest launch, so I don't even consider a side hustle launch a launch in the traditional sense because the cart is open for a couple of weeks or whatever. Like I had people asking me in August, can I get into Side Hustle? And I was looking before we hit record, so I could have some data and I had five people enrolled in September.
Normally I'll have one or two who were super early. I had five enrolled already in September to start January. Usually February, this month, or this 2022, it's January 31st, because that just happens to be the Monday. So it really runs February through October and for people to be like knocking on my door in August and September, some of it was like, so if I'm really honest, here's what happened:
Five people enrolled in September and I'm like, oh, okay, we're going early. And then October was like crickets. And I was like shit. If there was interest in September and now I have no interest in October, like, is this it? And obviously, that's not it, I've had a lot of people enroll.
I ran Space Holder Live in October and people enrolled off of that. And then a lot of people, most in the majority of my people have enrolled in November. My coach is sitting here saying, Marissa, I've been with you - we've worked together off and on for the entire time I've been in the online space, but we've been working one-on-one strictly for two years now.
So this is her third Side Hustle launch with me. Fall 2019, fall 2020, and now fall 2021. And she's Marissa, November is always the month they enroll. It's always November. And I'm like, And she's yeah, it's always November part of it threw me off because I was like, oh, let me just hit the gas pedal. And I did, and then there was no one there.
A: Yeah. Okay. So I'm thinking back on my answer. So now that you've brought up data, let me think back on data. Every year I launch in May for my June and July cohort and I launch in September for...wait is that true? Yes.
I launch in October for my November-January cohort and my spring, I am pumped and I'm like, let's do it. And it's always a much bigger launch. And then by the time we get to October, I feel like it's wind-down time. Like it's towards the end of the year if you were somewhere where leaves fell, which I'm not...
Everything's like preparing for winter, it feels completely seasonal to me. And then I get hit by when the temperature does change here. My brain goes straight to the new year, and that's when my energy starts picking up. And we just had our change in temperature.
Like the windows are open. It's beautiful. And I guess that's the same with spring too. The temperature changes and I'm like let's clean the house, and let's have a big ass launch. The same happens when the seasons change or the temperature changes here towards the new year.
M: Yeah. Speaking of temperature change, I have my seasonal change cough. So if you guys hear me like hacking that's why. I think that's part of it too is biologically, or if that's the right word, but like we're predisposed to slow down at this time
from an evolutionary standpoint. And Q3 is normally dead for me. And then Q4 is crazy. October, November, and December is crazy, but I don't know why. Well really, actually November and December are crazy. October was for this month, this year, at least was the deadest of all.
A: When you say crazy, do you mean sales or do you mean effort?
M: Sales.
A: Okay. Okay.
M: I don't know how to say this without sounding like an asshole. I don't put a lot of effort into the Side Hustle launch because people want this program. Part of me says it's because it serves a need in the market.
But part of me knows some of this is just damn luck. Luck, magic, whatever. There's something special about the offer. There's something special about the audience.
A: Also about you.
M: Awe, thank you. I wouldn't say that, but thank you. But it's just like for people to knock on my door, my virtual door in August, and be like when can I enroll? We also did something very different this year.
Okay, so there's a few variables at play here. This is the first time, not the first time I'm running it as a nine-month program. Cause I ran it as nine months in 2021, but that nine-month was still off of a six month. So I had people enroll fall 2019 for January 2020.
And then I had people enroll in April, May, June for July 2020. And then we started the nine months in January 2021. So there was still that consistent buzz of having two launches a year. This is the first time where the last time I launched was a whole year ago. So yeah, the last time I launched Side Hustle was a full year ago.
Now I've done some smaller things. I had the summer workshop series I launched, if you want to call it that, Space Holder Live. And I say Space Holder Live was a full launch because I did the webinar and did the cart open and cart close in two weeks, and that type of stuff. So it was a full, actual launch.
And I made a brand new webinar for that. So I think maybe that's what it was, is having an actual full launch in September, October. That's probably what felt funky about it because they've never launched at that time in a true launch. That's because with Side Hustle my cart or application period is open for four months.
It's just applications are open. And then as I start to get... I don't cap the program, but I know what feels like a comfortable number, always in January one or two weeks in, which is how it always is. But I usually do go ahead and close the applications. But it's like a four-month period. So I don't have that intensity of two weeks, like, all my money has to come in and two weeks. And that's intentional for me.
A: Like, for me, because I do have to do full launches. And as an introvert. It is depleting. So even in the spring, when I'm like pumped and let's go full out, by the end, I'm like, okay, ready to coast. I'm ready to get my course. I'm ready to teach and coach and not have to extrovert launch.
And I think towards the end of the year, it's almost like a double-decker. Like we're at the end of the year and introvert me, I want to be in the creative zone. I get my energy there, and doing a launch does not feel like the creative zone.
M: I've known you four years and I would have never pegged you as an introvert.
A: Oh God.
M: You're like on Facebook live every day.
A: Yes. Cause there's a barrier between us. I am very... I just get, I like people, I just get depleted after socializing. This is funny. My mom and I were just talking about Christmas and how we're going to arrange both sides of the family and how you do all of that.
And she had some idea of doing like both things in the same day. And I was like, mom, I can't hold on for that many hours. That's just too much socializing. I love everybody, but that's a lot.
M: So how do you intentionally manage that with an online business, or is that something you've had to learn through doing? Because a lot of my students identify as introverts. So I'd like to hear that from you.
A: I think that part of it is the sort of model I've set up for my business. So when you and I were Voxing the other day, we were talking about, do I want a high-touch model with a high price tag, or do I want a medium-touch model with a medium price tag, but more people.
And as much as I love to be nosy and in the business of the people that I'm helping, I also will overdo it and then I'm super depleted. So my step-by-step program is just perfect for my introvert. I get to be hardcore in it during our scheduled times, but they're in a container. I don't have to be constantly available on Voxer.
If I had a small group coaching program, I don't want to be constantly available on Voxer. Even if nobody ever Voxes me, I will feel it, that I could have to do it. I have just this little perfect container and step-by-step, I love it. I love how it's set up. I
M: I'm still trying to figure out if I'm an extrovert or introvert, is that weird? Like, I'm in my mid-thirties, I'm still trying to figure that out because I think I was very extroverted younger when I was younger, but I think it was a coping mechanism. I think it was, I think it was wrapped up in trauma and stuff like that. So as I've gotten older, I can go a long time by myself and be fine.
But if I do hang out, go to lunch with a friend or something, I do have a buzz after that for an hour or two. So that makes me think I'm still probably actually an extrovert, but I don't need that very often at all.
A: Do you crash after the buzz?
M: I'd have to pay more attention. I'd have to pay more attention. But I do know like thinking back to the last time I met with a friend and we had kind of a breakfast coffee, and then I had to go to a hair appointment after that.
So that was two times where I was really interacting with people and driving from the coffee to the hair appointment, I was like, woohoo and stuff. And then after the hair appointment, I had to go pick up the kids from school. And so I probably did crash, but that's normal.
A: Who knows what the cause was there.
M: So I think being with people does give me energy, but I don't need it very often. Like I'm talking to once every 3, 4, 5 months that I'm like, oh, I really am feeling like I need to hang out with somebody.
A: Yeah, I do, I also get high on the energy of being around people in the right situations. Like when they're like-minded people, obviously. But I crash hard after I will sit on the couch almost like in a coma, I'll have the buzz for a while. I just actually had this conversation with a cousin of mine while I was home.
I was like, I did sober October and I found that it wasn't the wine that makes me socially awkward or after the conversations be like, why did I say that? That's just me when I get high on engaging with other humans. Then saying, and doing things that afterward I'm like, ah, should I have said that? Why did I say that?
M: Yeah, I'm the person who like, when I was younger, like within five minutes of meeting me, you knew my life story. And it was oversharing and in an inappropriate way. And so as I've gotten healthier that has stopped a little bit, but I still feel like I have a motor mouth.
I'm not the type of person when I'm nervous that I'm quiet. I'm the type of person when I'm nervous I talk more and more.
A: I never would have pictured you as an oversharer though.
M: Oh yeah.
A: Huh. I want to tap into that.
M: Yeah.
A: There's something there. Overshare, I want to know more stuff.
M: So we're just talking to random today guys, but I can remember this one guy we met... Well, he went to the high school in the town next to mine. So we had mutual friends. We'd crossed paths, but in college, we connected, and then he called me and we were like, hanging out on the phone, back when he used to do that.
So my parents got divorced when I was five, his parents were getting divorced as he was 20. And I remember just he was like what was it like for you? And I talked for 40 minutes about what it was like for me. And I'm like, but that probably doesn't make any sense to you cause you're like 20 and I was five. So maybe it's the subject matter where I might overshare or something where it touches on the trauma.
A: Yeah. Yeah.
M: And I think this oversharing has shown up in my business early in the PR like my first few Facebook lives. Or even just like the fact that I like long-form content, is it because I really like to deliver for an hour or whatever on a podcast or a Facebook live?
Or is it because I'm nervous or I'm trying to make it look as if I'm more knowledgeable or more competent on something.
A: I do the same thing. I go way longer than I think most people would generally have an attention span for it comes from exuberance and excitement for me. Like, I just get super as soon as I'm in teaching mode and I can see the reactions and see oh, they're getting it.
Or, oh, that was helpful to somebody then I just want to do more and more. And oh, and this too, you should also know this.
M: Yeah. Yeah. And I think as I've just gotten more comfortable as myself because not every brand is a personal brand, but consumers want to know who they're purchasing for, even if it is a company.
And if you follow me for a while, this is why we know Jeff Bezos's name. This is why we know Bill Gates, his name and that him and Melinda got divorced. And it's sad. And like these things like that. We know these things about these people. Even though their companies are Amazon and Microsoft, we still want to know who we're buying from.
So as I've gotten more comfortable with me. And I think entrepreneurship is a mirror in a sense like you're going to see the great parts of you, your strengths, for sure. But you're also going to see the crap, like the parts that you don't mind, maybe love so much or need to work on, or need to learn to love and accept, maybe not change, but just to acknowledge and accept that they're there.
So entrepreneurship has been a mirror for me, and as I've gotten more comfortable with me, I think that nervousness and that oversharing in my content has gotten much better. I don't feel like I have to blab to cover my ass, so to speak. That like, they'll see through me if I stopped talking.
A: Yeah. So we're talking about multiple things. We're talking about speaking more because you're filling space and you're trying to make sure that people think that you know what the hell you're talking about.
And then there's the speaking more because of sharing vulnerability, and then there's the exuberant excitement: I can't stop because I'm so excited to help you give me that dopamine hit of seeing you have that insight, right?
M: Oh yeah.
A: And then there's so in that middle space, that vulnerability space, it's a tricky freaking line to walk because I do tend to be what my husband would definitely say as an oversharer.
I think it's absolutely perfectly appropriate. And people in my audience respond very well to it. They connect and they're like, oh man, finally somebody said that thing that I've been thinking, or I'm not alone in feeling.
But I also know why that comes naturally to me and I feel good about it. Like when I shared about perimenopause, that's not related to my business, but when I got all of these emails about people saying, like, I've been going through that too. And I didn't know that. Thank you for sharing. That feels good to me, it feels okay. I took a risk, it was uncomfortable for me, but it was worth it because it helped somebody.
But then you have these entrepreneurs who are using vulnerability as currency. It was almost like part of a marketing scheme rather than it being true to their actual nature.
M: Yeah. I think the thing that makes it different is the intent behind it. And in marketing land, they'll say share the scab, not the wound.
I don't always necessarily agree with that because when you're sharing... what they mean by that, as you're sharing the scab, like after you're past it, after it's scabbed over and healed and no one wants to see the pastor, the blood, and yeah, if we're using that analogy, that's gross. But at the same time, I think if you've gotten all the way to the scab, you're really removed from it.
Cause healing can take a long time. And also, are you just trying to get to the scab faster and you're not actually feeling and experiencing the wound part? I don't think that if you only shared about your wound forever and ever, is it going to help your business? No, but I think sharing a little bit of the part when you're still wounded and when you're in that part of it, I think that has extreme value.
I think a lot of people aren't willing to go there and I think that's where that scab vs. wound thing is oh yeah, I'll tell you about my issue once I'm already a year past it.
A: Yeah. It may be, I think for me, the line is, I wouldn't have wanted to share a medical thing the day I found out about it, that's way too premature for me.I haven't done any processing, but if I've done some processing and there's something I can share, that would be useful.
It's not me using my audience to process my emotion or to feel better. But it's in the experience. Here's something I'm not done with this experience, but at least here's one thing that could be useful to somebody else that helps me move through it myself. And it's also helpful to somebody else.
M: Now, I'm going to get a little morbid for a second, but I Voxed you. Was it yesterday? The day before? I don't remember. After I got that email of somebody who I follow ended up passing away. And when I re-read the email, I was so shocked at first that I had Voxed you right away.
And I was like, what do we do about this? Like when we started talking about procedures and things for our business, but I re-read it, and it turns out it was her daughter writing the email and this woman, I think she was in her fifties or sixties. Cause this daughter is like an adult. And she passed away from breast cancer, which is unfortunate.
The thing that when I re-read it, that stood out to me was there was a paragraph about why the person who passed didn't want to share the diagnosis. And they were saying, they said something like, oh, she just thought she was going to beat it kind of thing. But there was one sentence in there.
I don't know if this was the intention of the sentence or just the way that I interpreted it, but it was something about revenue. And I was like, did they think that a cancer diagnosis was going to make it so that people lost trust in her, and so they wouldn't spend money with her? And they were trying to maximize their revenue as much, so they didn't say, they didn't disclose?
I don't even know if that's what they meant, but that's what I thought. And I was just like that's yucky.
A: Yeah. Imagine okay, let's imagine us in that place or something similar. If I found out that I had a horrible diagnosis and there was a chance that I might pass away. Right. How would I want to handle that? And who knows this person's story; I don't want to cast judgment on the way that they handled it.
What would be integrity for me or for you, if we're in that situation that would feel aligned. And I sure as heck don't want to be figuring that out. And in a traumatic moment.
M: I would share with my audience 100%. It would not be the week, month, or maybe even six months that I got the diagnosis. It would take time for me to figure out a way to process it myself, but then how I was going to frame it with my audience. But it wouldn't be something that I would keep back from them.
A: Particularly for a revenue rationale.
M: Going back to business model: Maybe she runs really high-touch program and she wasn't able to be at meetings or wasn't feeling up to being at meetings and things like that. I can see how a lot goes into figuring out your business structure.
And this is again, one of the things that I say is no decision is set in stone. So even if you've started with a program like Side Hustle - if I got sick and I was running Side Hustle, it'd be very difficult for me to run Side Hustle the way I run it now. But how could I imagine it being different?
How could I pivot it? How could I change it? So being able to be adaptable, which is something that we talked about last time we chatted in the quarter three biz bestie episode.
A: Yeah. And I don't know if you're ready to kind of wrap these two business models, but that is one of the fun things that I'm thinking about for 2022.
M: Yeah. I want to just make one more comment on this topic and then we can move on. So I was doing a sales call for Side Hustle, and what's nice is by the time I'm getting on the phone with people who are interested in that program, there are people who have researched me well.
Even if they're just new to my audience, they're still doing a lot. They're doing maybe a deep dive in the podcast or whatever. And a lot of times, the majority of the time, the people who are joining are people who follow me for a while.
So when we get on those calls, we feel like we know each other, and this woman was saying oh, I know your kiddos in this, not in this, that, and then she paused. And she was like, is it weird for you that people know details about you? They know you're an army spouse. They know you have kids, they know this. And I was like, this isn't weird being on the phone with you.
It isn't weird when I talk with people on zoom, almost what you were saying, where there's a barrier. What was weird for me was in 2019, but when we were still traveling, I went and spoke at the therapy re-imagined conference in LA. And people were coming up to me, hey Marissa, in person. And they knew me because they knew my face and they knew personal details about me. And that was freaky. That was weird when it was actually in the same room with people.
So I do think we need to be cautious and conscious of what we're sharing online. And I do have quite a bit of transparency. I do agree that my audience appreciates it, but I do think we also need to think about what we share needs to be something that we're okay with anyone and everyone knowing.
A: A creeper knowing, really. I will share a similar story. I went to a new yoga studio down the road from me and I go in and I'm getting ready for class. And somebody comes into the yoga room and says, are you Amber? And I said yes, assuming it's related to checking in, and she says are you Amber Lyda?
I said, yes. And she says of the online therapist group? I was like, yes. She said I followed you for so long. And this is insane. So weird right now. But we take a selfie and we had a good time. And now we're friends on Facebook. So it's this is so strange right now.
M: But it's weird when it's in your physical space. I'd have no issue with it on the computer. I'd have no issue with it on the phone whatsoever, but when it's in your personal physical space, it's different. It's very different. Anyway, okay.
A: I keep thinking about that. That's so funny. Last time, after we talked, I feel part of our conversation in the biz bestie episode opened me up to being in a new space for this incoming quarter.
Like we did some deeper processing and afterward, I was like, wait a minute. I'm feeling different. Things have shifted.
M: I'm the same. I really needed that. Even though after we recorded it, we were Voxing and you're like, do we want this to go out? And we made sure and I was like, I think I might have this part edited or something, but I think we both came to the conclusion to publish it, which we did cause it's live, but it was deeper.
And I needed it too. Like it did, it moved something, it was cathartic, literally like something needed to move.
A: I wish that more people did that kind of stuff. I was thinking, as you were introducing this, my ultimate dream is getting behind the scenes of other people's businesses. It's one of my very favorite things in my mastermind.
Like I want to know why you made the decisions you made. How did it work out? What do you regret? What worked well and for people to get to hear that the high below the in-between for free in your podcast is pretty freaking cool, you know?
M: Yeah. I think it's pretty neat and transparency is 100% one of the core values of my company and it's just a core value of my life. It's nerve-wracking sometimes though, for sure.
A: Especially because we're coaches. So there is also the normal human element of wanting to look good. And then I am a coach and I want people to hire me. So if I'm sharing that, I have a slump during the year, how are people going to respond to that?
M: But you know what, actually on the calls that I've been having for Side Hustle, I haven't kept track of how many, but a handful more than one or two have said that the most recent episode with Amber was really cool or was really helpful. Every time we released one, I get comments from my audience on the fact that they really liked those episodes.
A: That's awesome. And this is like something for your listeners to take home is I think that this happens more often than not when you share things that maybe you're not quite so sure people are going to want to hear or it's different than the norm. A lot of times, that's what brings people into your world?
I just have the experience with a coach that I'm working with. She's been saying some things publicly that are pretty controversial and...
M: You can't gloss over that.
A: Okay. You said, is anything off-limits the off-limits around the person's name and what they're sharing? You sharing some things that I'm like, oh, thankfully somebody is saying this like finally, but also oh, wouldn't really want to be the one to say that's kind of risky.
And so I recently purchased some things from her and I wrote in an email to her. One of the reasons I was willing to spend this money is because nobody in the industry is talking about this and I have been thinking it and thinking it, and I don't know how to strategize around it.
So your willingness to talk about a thing that could really, like, make people not want to work with you is making me want to work with you. She wrote back and she was like, I just read that to my husband. Thank you so much for that.
M: Good marketing repels more people than it attracts. The Side Hustle students heard me say that a hundred times over nine months. Good marketing repels more people than it attracts. And when you are working... I'm sure for this person, you're probably an ideal customer for him or her. Her, I think you said.
She is going to be more fulfilled working with a smaller group of people who are the right people, than hundreds of people that are not quite the right fit.
A: Absolutely. And I'm like, take my money because you are unique, you are a unicorn, you are a snowflake. There's nobody else out there saying what you're saying. I will pay to work with you because I can't find anybody else like you, so I'm willing to pay more.
M: Yeah. Do you think that it's easier to take those risks after you've been doing it for a while?
A: Hell yeah. I don't... wait. I gave you a "hell yeah", but now I'm going to retract because you have more to lose after you've been doing it for a while. So there's that piece, but you also have more confidence. So you might be less affected by people pushing back.
M: That's super interesting to think about because I think about my Side Hustle students, and most of them are on the apprehensive side to get vulnerable. on the apprehensive side to share, but I might steal what you just said and say: Right now, you're not making revenue. Right now,you have 10 people on your email list, right? Like, now's the time to maybe make a bold statement because you're not playing with a house of cards, basically.
A: Right. That will be interesting. I think about Erica Miley. I don't remember if she did your program or not, but I know she follows you.
M: She's been on the podcast before.
A: Yeah. She went bold right from the get-go, and she's built an incredible business. Being willing to talk about things that other people aren't willing to talk about.
M: Yeah. I love it too. So now that we're at quarter four, I'd love to do two things. I'd love to sum up the highs-lows.
In our house, we call them roses and thorns every night at dinner we do: What was your thorn today? What was your rose today? So some roses and thorns, highs and lows. And then let's talk about maybe what we're shifting for next year or what we're looking forward to for next year kind of stuff.
A: I love it. Definitely one of my roses, and probably the biggest one, I have worked so hard to be able to have free time and I had more free time this year than I have ever had, ever, in my working life.
Since I was 16 years old, I have always been triple hustling in every way. I'm like doing my internship and teaching online courses and some other thing. And it was incredible. Like just exactly the life that I was trying to create for myself, I got to live this year.
M: Do you consider yourself on a sabbatical from your therapy practice or do you consider yourself your therapy practice is closed? Because that's one thing that you did was you almost, I think you might have one or two still that you're seeing, but you've almost stopped seeing clients this year.
A: I am completely done. No more clients.
M: Oh you are. I thought you had one more or two.
A: Yeah, completely done. No more clients and I know for sure that I want to take at least a year off. For sure. After that, we will see. I can't imagine, I'm like 45, 46, whatever, I'm going to probably work another 20 years. It's hard for me to picture not seeing clients again over 20 years.
Maybe, but it's hard for me to picture that. But I want to have the space from my clinical work to fall in love with it again and to be a different sort of therapist than I've been in the past. I've done a lot of internal work and a lot of growth and it's going to affect the way that I do my clinical work. It's going to look different, but I'm not there yet. So it'll be a while.
M: Yeah. But so you don't only have one revenue stream because you have multiple revenue streams within your single business, but you have only one business that you're actively running, correct?
A: Yep. Yep. So if it would be helpful, I can talk about the revenue streams at some point. So that would be definitely the rose. What's your rose for the year?
M: My rose for the whole year?
A: You can have more than one.
M: Well, like, I have a lot of mini roses, probably. I think my rose for the whole year I had in 2021 was an exercise in self-trust. I think we talked about this a little bit on our last chat, but just not in a negative way.
This is going to probably come out negative at first, but like no one has my back but me. And that can be really intimidating and that can be really scary, but that can also be really empowering and really freeing and really cool. And I dance on both sides of that this year.
Especially with Josh getting that blood clot, which was really weird because it was the super scary 36 hours. And then like he got the blood thinner, and then he was fighting, and then nothing was wrong again. But like for 36 hours, it wasn't fine.
A: Whiplash.
M: Yes. Whiplash is a very good way to put that. So I never went to oh my I'm going to lose him. Like I never went there, but it was like, okay, this life that we thought was very stable in the terms of the army, at least until you retire, what if that went away?
And so there was some really great freedom that came from that. And like I'm woman hear me roar. If the army stopped paying us tomorrow, we'd actually start living on my income and we'd have more to live on than we even do right now because we don't even watch my money. But also, holy shit. We'd have to actually start spending my money on things, that it has to go somewhere now, instead of the mutual fund, that it just sits in an accumulate.
So it was like, there was really great things about it, really scary things about it. But I would say that ultimately even going through the worrisome parts of it, I still think that's a rose because it really solidified my relationship with myself. That is what I am taking away from 2021.
A: I love that.
M: Thank you.
A: I got a lot of free time, and you're like...
M: No. That's profound too. Part of me is realizing that even when I have free time, I don't either know what to do with it or I waste it. So that's one of the things I want to change in 2022. And some of it, yes, will be completely white space.
And I'll just be like, what am I doing today? Or what am I doing in this hour? But also cultivating hobbies again, cultivating things that I can do with free time that don't feel like I end up just bingeing Netflix all the time.
A: Yeah, and that's been such a great part of this year. This last year I've ridden my bike more. I've gone to the beach more. I've started learning tennis, which I am really bad at, but whatever started doing it, I've been going to Zumba, going to yoga. I feel like we are living our retirement lives right now. And the work that I do is work that makes me feel excited. And I don't know that things could be any better than that really.
Like I could be making millions and millions of dollars and helping a lot of people with that money. But other than that, my daily life is really frigging nice.
M: Yeah, yeah. What about any thorns? Was there anything that were thorns from 2021?
A: You know there are. Yeah. So what I had hoped for this year is that I would have a lot more time, and the money that I was investing in a team would give me that time, which it totally did, but it would also really shoot my revenue up.
And so I invested money in a team a lot this year and got tons of time back for that and got all systems in place for many years going forward. But I did not get the revenue increase that I was hoping for.
In fact, revenue went down this year in part because of paying team, but also partly because most online entrepreneurs lost about 40% of their normal revenue this year for a variety of reasons.
So that was definitely a thorn, not just because of the revenue hit because I'm fine. My team is fine. More it was a shakedown of, oh, took for granted, like after being in this business for a while, that I had "control" to keep this going. And so it was a little shaking of oh, okay. So the universe has some control. What am I going to do?
M: Yeah. I'm thinking of a few different things because teams can be utilized in a couple of different ways. A team can be utilized just to give you time. And that's exactly what it sounds like happened. And it doesn't have to be part of a growth strategy.
It can be part of a stabilization strategy, which is like what your revenue went down a little bit. Mine's down from 2020, but what I'm hearing in the online space and just in general from general business, like accounting is to compare your 2021 to your 2019. And just take 2020 out of the equation because it was a weird year.
It was either a banner year for people, or it was a bust year for people. So just if you remove it, what does your trajectory look like? And that's interesting.
A: Yeah, I will do that. That's really interesting.
M: Because when I compare my 2021 to 2019, I'm super happy when I compare it to 2022, I'm like, oh, I didn't hit what I made in 2020. And I get all bummed out, but that's just cause 2020 and was insane.
People just wanted my stuff because it made sense at that time. And people were impulse buying and people were this and that, so when I look at 2021 compared to 2019 I'm happy and pleased. And there was growth and growth in revenue and growth in me and growth in the structure of the business and that kind of stuff.
A: Yeah, I will. I'll go back and look at those numbers. That's going to be helpful. And the investment certainly paid off in time, and I would do it all over again. And I also have to remember that part of the purpose was to invest in systems that didn't need that many hours from my team going forward.
M: Because you can bring on team members who their specific goal is to bring you money either to bring you leads or to close your sales or whatever. So their role is growth, or you can bring team members on to give you the time, and then you do all the revenue-generating activities.
Because there's not going to be growth unless you're doing extra, or you're not extra, but like shifting into solely revenue generation and the team is taking care of everything else, or that is a specific team member's role is to generate revenue for you.
A: You know, you also just made me think about the fact that I don't know how much more revenue the business would have decreased if it hadn't been for the efforts on the back end of the team. Like how, with everybody earning less, most people earning less, would it have been even less? Yes, it would have been because I guarantee you, I would not have dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's that Chantelle was doing on the backend guaranteed.
M: So I think that there's some deeper things to look at there instead of just top-line revenue.
A: While we're on this subject, this is just me using your coaching brain for a hot minute. I remember you saying somewhere, I think that I heard it from you, that you think about... I'm going to just use a hundred thousand, let's say that your business made a hundred thousand, you take 50% and then the other 50% goes to all of your expenses, including team. Am I remembering that correctly?
M: So I do just cash-based accounting. And I pay my taxes pre expenses, which you're supposed to do it the other way around. You're supposed to take your taxes out first and then pay or your expenses out first and then pay taxes on what's left. I don't. So out of a 100K, 30K will go straight to taxes.
That is purposeful. I overpay on purpose. Also, I'm not trying to live on my money. If I was trying to live on my money, I would do it differently, but I do 30K would go straight to taxes. So then I'd have 70 leftover. A good percentage is 50, 25, 25 is usually what people talk about.
So 50 to you, 25 to retained earnings and expenses and those types of things, and then 25 to taxes.
A: So after taxes. Wait, say that one more time. Cause if I'm confused maybe people at home are confused.
M: Yeah. So a hundred thousand 50, 25, 25. So a 100K, 50 would be your profit margin, which you would take home. 25 would be expenses and retained earnings. And the other 25% would be taxes. So the difference between expenses and retained earnings is expenses are your operating costs.
Those can be a fixed amount every single month, Like your zoom payment or your Canva payment or whatever. And then there's variable costs every month. In our businesses, we don't have a lot of these, but like with your house, like your electric bill is a variable cost.It goes up and down, right?
And then your retained earnings is what you keep in your business account for you to make discretionary purchases. Buying a course, buying coaching, hiring a contract employee to complete one project for you. That's what you would need retained earnings for.
They're not normal recurring expenses or things that you count on as expenses, but there are discretionary funds.
A: Okay. So your team costs would be in your operating expenses, but if you had a random contractor, they would be in the other category.
M: Yeah. So for instance, Shayna, she's the in-house graphic designer for Side Hustle. I pay her a certain amount of money a month as a team member, but I have a side project that I'm doing, which I'll share more with my audience about in probably March-ish. And she's designing something for me for that side project, and it's 500 bucks for her to design that. And so that's not part of her team cost. It's just a project that she's completing.
A: Okay. One more follow-up question. I'm looking at my follow-up numbers over here on my other screen. Follow-up question is, so I can't remember how you're incorporated, I'm incorporated as an S-corp, which... you too? So the escort allows you to put away up to $57,000 into retirement pre-tax. Do you count that? Or would you count that as your earnings, like that 50% would come under that? Or would it come from somewhere else?
When you're incorporated, things have to be different, especially with an S-corp because an S-corp you can bonus yourself and do different things. So this is one of the reasons I stay a sole prop is because the accounting is a lot simpler.
So I don't have the exact answers on where that would count if that would count as something that you would pay yourself as part of your salary, or if it would be part of those bonuses that you can bonus yourself out.
A: I'm just thinking even less about tax and more conceptually, so what I'm really thinking about is how much income total, whether it be in my retirement or my take-home or whatever I'm doing with it.
What percentage of my business income goes to team? Because what I have done is this past year increased what I'm spending on team in order to get more time and to get my systems in place. But I don't really know where that fine line is about what's healthy for a business in terms of what stays in my pocket.
And I don't know whether to include retirement in that or to take that off the top sort of like you do with taxes, conceptually.
M: If you can take it off the top, take it off the top. If it's a pre-tax contribution, do that. As far as team percentage, so when we're talking brick and mortar businesses, this is one of the things that's so amazing about online business.
When we're talking brick and mortar business, your profit margin, a good profit margin for brick and mortar business is like 8, 10, 12%. Expenses and employees and all of those things are so much higher with a brick-and-mortar business.
Before I brought on Kristin and Shayna, I remember I had my tax accountant, he was looking at my 2019 tax return. And in 2019 I grossed 127 or something like that. And he was like, is this right? And I was like, what? He's like your profit on 127 was 80, whatever it was. I'm like, yep, that's right.
A: 80%?
M: No, 80,000 out of 127,000 - whatever that is, it's probably close to 80%. And I was like, no, that's right. I don't have overhead. My business is online right now. My profit margin now, I have Kristin and Shayna and Hailey, and I pay for ads and things, that was the big change between 2019 to 2020. And I made more than double in 2020, and my profit and my profit margin was high in 2020 because my revenue was high, but my expenses were higher as well.
So that's one of the things in 2021 that's weird. It feels like tension almost is the best way for me to describe it. It feels like this tension in 2021, because I'm not making 2020 revenue, but I still have 2020 expenses.
A: Yes. So when you compare 2019 to 2021, your take-home pay is up?
M: Yes, it has to be up.
A: Even though your expenses are also up, so your business must be making considerably more. If your expenses are up and your take-home pay is still up.
M: Yes. I don't know what my 2021 will close out at. It's probably double 2019, but not as high as 2020, right?
A: Yeah. I like the idea of not counting 2020 at all. I'm totally taking that advice.
M: Yeah. So my revenue is double. My expenses are more. Here's what I can tell you. So my goal, this is part of my thorn. My thorn for 2021 is I love when I make all of my money for the next year, from the Side Hustle launch in the fall. And this is the first year I'm actually doing that because it's the first year that I've gone a full calendar year between a launch. In the fall of 2020.
I think my goal was 30 or 32 for Side Hustle. And I ended up having 27. And so I knew I had a gap there of revenue that I had to make up, but I was like, oh, I'll make it up through Space Holder. I'll make it up through this. And then by Q2, it was obvious I was not going to make it up from Space Holder.
And so I felt like in 2021, like I loved Summer Slowdown. It was super fun, but it had a clawing, striving energy. I was trying to scoop up the revenue that I had not already made for the year. And then the same energy went into Space Holder Live, and I felt like I was still trying to make up for what I didn't have yet.
And that's when I let go of that and just was like, whatever it is, what it is part of that self-reliant piece or that self-trust piece was like, okay, I need to generate money. Okay, this is what I'm going to do. And I generated plenty of money from it. And that was really cool to see I have that capability, but I didn't like that it always felt like catch-up from numbers that I didn't make.
A: Which was really you earning the money before the year even started. M: It sounds really ridiculous when you say it out loud, but I can tell you going into 2022, I'm going to have all my money. I'm gonna have all of what I need, and what I mean by all my money and what I need is my goal.
And these are realistic numbers, depending on where you live, this might sound absurd, but I'm trying to buy a house in Prescott, Arizona, and you guys know my money goal or what I'm working for. I'm talking about 650, $700,000 for a four-bedroom house. Like I'm not talking about a mansion here.
I'm talking about a normal four bedroom, two and a half bathroom house, $700,000. So my goal at the end of every year is to have contributed another hundred thousand dollars to the house account. So that is what I mean when I've made all my money means that by the end of the calendar year, I'll have a hundred thousand dollars in that account.
We use my money for like vacations or extra spending things, but we do not live off of my money. So for 2021, I'm going to close the house account at probably 67, 70 thousand. That's insane. That's $70,000 sitting in a bank, people are like that. The 2018, the 2019 me, it would have been like, oh my God, that's amazing. The 2021 me in May and June was like, I'm missing $30,000.
A: Yes. Yep.
M: And so that was the energy that I had, I think now that we're really getting into this, that's the energy I had on our last call, our last meeting.
A: Okay. So while we're discussing, yeah. So in my mind, this is so weird that we're similar in this way. I am always feeling like I'm needing to make up for having not put money into a retirement account for fricking ever because I was in school, I was in debt. I wasn't making money in my jobs. And so I have this mentality like I need to max out what I can put in there and what I can put in there is 57,000 every year.
But I also pay, like Paul and I split expenses. Like our money goes into the same pool and it pays for our life together. So in my mind, I say, I need to make an additional 57,000 from what we need to live on together. And I need to pay for my team because I care about them and I want to give them jobs.
And also, I don't want to do all that work. And so this past year, same energy as you when we talked last time because I was short of that 57,000. I didn't hit it. And it was a trade-off, like, I made an intentional trade-off. Could I have scraped together that money? Sure. I could have done some things.
I could have worked harder. I could have cut back on team and just not done some stuff. I could have, but it ultimately wasn't worth it to me to do that. But I absolutely have it in my head unconsciously into what we're talking about it right now, but it's not a bonus for me to put it in there. It's me making up for a deficit. Like I have to catch up.
M: Have you sat down with a financial planner and then calculated out like the compounding interest because you might not need to actually max that out.
A: Yeah, we have. And do I remember those numbers? No. I could max out 57,000 a year.
M: Yeah. And so I'm telling you what I needed in September and October and also what I remind myself of on a daily basis is 32 verse 57, like it's amazing to put 32,000 for a year into a retirement account that's going to grow at compounding interest. That's going to just do its work for you in that account.
And then I just think of the background that I came from. Like my mom is here. I just picked her up at the airport. She's not in this room, but if she heard me talking about these numbers, she'd either laugh or cry or get really pissed off that I'm being flippant about the amount of money that I'm being flippant about.
A: Absolutely. Paul and I just talked about this over dinner right before this call. These are the conversations we're having, we're talking about a stoic meditation guru.
M: Cool. Well, I want conversation.
A: What this guy talks about is. Let's say you are here - for those of you listening, I'm just putting my hand in front of my face - but we always want to be here farther forward and the distance between where we are and where we dream we want to be is the thing that keeps us unhappy.
That's the part that leads us to strive, striving in a bad way. Like always reaching, never being present, and appreciating what we have and that even if you get that thing, you've already moved with goalposts. You've never stopped the suffering that distance causes because you've moved the goalpost.
I certainly have done that. All I wanted to do when I left my job was replace my income and work half the hours. And I did that in six months. Done. But did I keep moving the goalpost? Absolutely. So this is what this guy says to do. I haven't decided if I think this is a good idea or not.
He says, when you meditate, one way that you can work against the gap, and the suffering the gap causes, is to think about something that's in your life right now that you deeply love and appreciate and imagine losing it. And you meditate on the loss of your spouse, the loss of your dog, the loss of your home, the whatever it is that's making you like... whatever it is that you should be appreciating more focus on that, meditate on that.
And it helps you to really stop the game of imagining what else could I have? Because you're thinking about what you actually have and how bad and painful it would be to lose it. So when we talk about these big numbers, I have to go back to that of yeah, would it be great to fund my retirement and to feel the safety and security that would come from knowing?
Absolutely. I can guarantee you the minute that I did it, I would start perseverating on the fact that the market could crash. I could lose all that money and I need to save a bunch more money and hide it under my bed because who the heck knows what might happen.
M: And I can't tell you... I can sort of tell you, I'm not gonna tell the listeners yet...a little teaser there. I stopped caring.
I don't know exactly how it happened. It almost feels overnight. And I know...Okay, I have to kind of say some of it. I have another offer plan for next year and you know a little bit about it, cause we've been talking about it and I'm not going to give details yet because I want to do it justice and I want to talk about it. But I have another offer coming next year.
And the second I said, and I said this on the call to my coach, Jacqueline. And I said I don't care anymore. And she was like, what? Because she knows me. She's like what? You don't care anymore. It was like, if I don't make the money from Side Hustle, I know I'm already planning this new offer. It'll just come from that.
That's what I'm wanting to launch anyway. So who cares? The second I stopped caring, I had like 10 people enrolled in Side Hustle within a week. A: You let go of the desperate energy. Your natural energy starts vibing again.
M: Yup. And it was just crazy. I was like if that's not proof of abundant mindset or whatever you'd call that, then I don't know what it is.
Cause honestly, the second I was like, who cares anymore? I've found myself drifting back. There was a proposal for Side Hustle that was out for a couple of days longer than I thought. And so I was like, let me just go make sure she got the email, and so I found myself drifting back into that energy. And I was like, I don't need to, I don't need to, I don't care anymore.
Of course, I care, but I care about my students. They care about the program. I'm so excited about our next round, but I'm trying to not care about the amount of money that has to come from this perfect thing in this perfect way. One thing Jacqueline says is she says "this or something better".
A: Yes. Yes.
M: And so that's what I'm trying to adapt. It's like this or something fricking better.
A: Yeah. And there's like that non-attachment that frees up the energy. And when I think we were Voxing just yesterday about this, where I was trying to come up with what are some other offers so that if I don't close this gap, I have a way to close this gap.
And there was a desperation that I was feeling to come up with a foolproof plan to close this gap. And after we talked it through, and then I sat on it overnight, I woke up and I was like, what, why am I trying to plan out the entire year guarantee the entire year when I know that I have this new offer coming?
I'm gonna launch it in the first couple of quarters. Let's just see where we're at. Let's just see. I don't have to get every possible way of guaranteeing the income done in Q1. It will be okay.
M: And I think this theme, we always get into themes, but this theme of a double-edged sword is coming up for me again, because is it really wonderful when it works that all the money that I "need" to hit my revenue goal or whatever is on the books?
Now I want the listeners to hear, like, when I say all on the books, I'm collecting that money all through 2022. It's not paid to me before 2022. It is committed to me. It's on the books. But I will have collected it throughout 2022, but to have that all on the books or committed by December 31st or whatever, it feels pretty damn good.
It's happened to me twice. It's going to happen this time. And it's happened, I think in 2019 because that was the 2020 revenue. So it's happened to me twice now and it feels pretty damn good, but it's also that double-edged sword of if it doesn't happen, or no, it couldn't have been, yeah, 2019, not 2020.
When it doesn't happen it sucks. Cause it didn't happen in fall of 2020, and so it's like, how can it be: Oh, this is great when it happens and oh when it's not the end of the world.
A: It's right back to the non-attachment. Like, I appreciate that it happened and I'm enjoying that it happened without expecting that it always has to happen a hundred percent.
M: A hundred percent. We're so Buddhist.
A: We aspire to be so Buddhist.
M: Okay. So what are your intentions? I don't want to say, what are you changing for 2022 because we're giving ourselves room and stuff, but what are your intentions of things you want to approach differently for 2022?
A: I'm super pumped about 2022, right at this moment. So it feels, like, full circle back to when I first started my business. So as I'm creating this new offer, which I believe is going to be my foundational offer henceforth, the thing that most people come to know me for and the thing that I help most people with...
M: Let's hold on. That is an identity shift. That's an identity shift of the business, the identity shift of the brand, and an identity shift of you as the facilitator of both of those things. That's a big deal.
A: That's interesting for you to say that maybe it will feel that way for other people. For me, it feels like even more in alignment with my intention in the business, which is to help therapists have more freedom, flexibility, and flow. So if I can help them get more private-pay clients, which is the intention of the course, it's a marketing course for your online private practice.
If I can help them get more clients, then they're going to be able to have more time. They're going to be all the things that I always want to help them to get. Yeah, this is the thing that's going to help them to get. So it feels super in alignment. But it probably is going to be a little bit of an identity shift for the marketplace. I'm going to have to think about that.
M: Cause I think about when I went from: I sell cathartic marketing to I sell Side Hustle, and mine was a bit more... a bit different because I was even shifting my ideal customer. I was shifting from practice marketing to move into a side hustle. So the problem I was solving, the person I was serving, everything shifted.
I think your person is not shifting, but it's an evolved version of your person. Your problem is shifting for sure.
A: Yeah. Yeah. So the business model will move to... step-by-step will still exist. But I think that most people, if I think of a hundred people, 60 to 70 of them are going to want to learn how to market their practice, they're going to feel like, meh, I can figure out how to throw it together.
That's where I'm going to be putting all the new energy in 2022. And then we've talked about the ascension model so many times. So thinking through what the top of my ascension model is going to look like is going to be a fun place to play too. Right now, I have the momentum membership and that's for therapists who have a fuller/full-ish practice.
And they're looking to have more time to earn more money, but not work more hours. And that's super fulfilling. It is high-ish touch, but not so high touch that my introvert is exhausted, and getting to see 12 people get these amazing results is like a different kind of high than I get in a program like marketing your online practice or step-by-step where it's a much bigger cohort.
So I'm feeling like I'm going to be tapping all of the like synapses that get me excited and get me firing is going to be a shit ton of work this year. It's going to be a very heavy lifting year and I'm super glad it's last year I got a lot of rest and recovery because otherwise, I would be going into it with oh my gosh, I can't do all this.
And instead, I'm going into it with post-its index cards, markers, and a mood board of everything that I'm trying to do.
M: I love that. And I feel like that's an evolution of you. And I think we talked about this on one of our other calls that like, we know each other, so I don't feel bad saying this. But I think you've always been organized, but you almost are someone who's oh, new idea! You're a quick start. That's what it is.
You get an idea. You can do the idea like this and you're purposefully or intentionally slowing yourself a bit. And it just shows growth. And not that being a quickstart is something you need to heal or get better at. That's not what I'm saying, but just you're approaching things in a more methodical way.
A: I want to be a strategic quick starter. Cause if you quick start on the 40 things that are in front of you, which is what I would do, I didn't have the energy to follow through on them. And so now... I mean just yesterday, the day before, when I was talking to you about the super high touch offer in the past, I would have talked to you, made a sales page, put it in my Facebook group, and had sign-ups or I had thought the whole damn thing through, and then it would have been committed to it.
M: And it was part of our discussion about the person who passed away that we were talking about earlier that you were like, I'm not doing a high touch offer, because there was like some things that you realized in when we were discussing that you were like, oh, nevermind not doing it. So more information came to light and you sat with it longer and made a cool decision.
Okay, so going into my 2022, I am launching a new offer as well. And I teased this. I've teased this for a while. If people who follow me have listened and paid attention and it wasn't like teasing the offer like, oh, something's coming. It was just like, I am called to do something on the life angle, life coach angle, lifestyle angle. I've been talking about it since quarantine.
Quarantine was a profound life-changing event for me. And I was like I need this to be more front and center of my life. And it is about some bringing intention into things and I'm not going to share too much, but what I'm excited and a little nervous about I've never run a membership site. I have always run group programs or courses with support, and I've never run a membership site. And this new program is going to be a membership site.
A: You're going to crush a membership site. This is so in your wheelhouse, you're going to kill it. I have zero, zero concern about you running a membership site.
M: Thank you. It's different to sell a high-touch program where I need 30 sales for the whole year, and then my money for the rest of the 12 months is on the books type of thing versus a more accessible price point or a volume-based offer.
It's going to be different. I'm going to need to approach it differently, but I'm really excited about it. But I will be running four programs next year.
A: Holy moly.
M: Yeah, because Space Holder meets monthly. Side Hustle, we know about, the mastermind after Side Hustle meets twice a month, bi-weekly.
If I'm saying that right, not bi-monthly, I don't know, whatever, twice a month. And then this membership site will meet four times a month. Well, we won't meet four times a month, but there will be a weekly thing that happens. It'll meet twice a month on the off days of this one. I will be the most offers I've ever ran.
Another thing in 2021 is I didn't run the mastermind intentionally this year because I was so burnt out from 2020. So I only had two offers in 2021. Had I ran my full ascension model, I don't think I would have had any revenue issues. So it's the same type of thing with you. It's like prioritizing rest, but seeing that potentially has a dip in revenue associated with it.
A: Like the beautiful thing about these models is when you have, let's say three, four offers, you can choose how much energy to put into turning any of them up or down in terms of getting new people to sign up. Last year, I really turned down my coaching.
I was like, I want more time. So I can turn that down this year. If the marketing course isn't making the revenue it needs to make I'll know in Q1. And I can turn up the volume on other offers. I can launch step by step differently. I could turn up the coaching offers. I could add another level of my Momentum Membership.
It's just so grounding to know, okay, I have options about how I'm going to deal with that.
M: That's that self-trust piece that I was talking about. Like you just really articulated that really well. I will do whatever I need and want, not only whatever I need to do because that's that scraping energy I was talking about, but what I've learned from this is I can, I will do whatever I need and whatever I want to do.
A: I loved how you asked me - this is just to play you up for a moment, why you're such a great coach - when I was talking to you yesterday about the, with scraping desperate energy, of like a high-touch model. Should I touch a model? And you said, is this about revenue or is this about like you feeling called to this thing?
Is this a new model that you feel called to? And immediately I was like, absolutely not. This is not a model that fits into the life that I want to live. And here are all of the reasons why. That question made me realize this is only one way that I could turn up the volume on income and I don't have to pick this one.
I can pick one of 12 or more others that can turn up the volume on income if I even fricking want or need to. And I can do it in a way that's in alignment with the lifestyle that I want to.
M: Yeah. Someone I know is doing a really neat offer. She's just doing it for the month of January. She's calling them spark sessions, and they're 90-minute intensive in groups of three.
So instead of one-on-one coaching, it's her and three other people. So I guess groups of four, technically her and three other people. And I'm like that's really cool because she's it lets her give a really accessible price point. But because there's four people, it still makes revenue that she wants to make, but it's like these one-off sessions.
But one-off doesn't have to be one-on-one. That like shifted my mindset immediately. I was like, I'll do that, I'll sell spark sessions next year if I want to. I just think like talking with you, both of us are just so much more open than we were eight weeks ago or whenever that was that we talked.
A: Yeah. My energy feels totally shifted and we both predicted it. We both said this is where it always is at this time of the year. And we know as it starts to approach the new year, that things shift.
M: Yeah. The biggest thing that I'm changing for 2022: Taking even more ownership over my calendar.
I felt like I did a really good job about, Side Hustle dictates my schedule. Essentially Wednesdays are full Fridays are full and then so that gives me Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, but I was just leaving them open. One of the bonuses that students get when they enroll inside hustle is they get three one-on-ones with me.
So I could go to bed with Tuesday being open and then I could wake up and then there was something on Tuesday. And you're like, yeah, I see your face. Then it didn't bother me until I realized it bothered me. And so that's one of the things that Jacqueline and I were working on, which is so ironic because I help people do this.
This is one of my strengths. This is one of my strong suits is blocking things on calendars and energy management and timing. But when it comes to me, it's the mechanic whose car runs like crap, or whatever they say about the shoemaker's kids or whatever.
A: So sometimes it feels okay to have that spontaneity in your schedule. And sometimes you're like, yep.
M: So that was one of the things that Jacqueline and I started planning out and we're going to do, we're going to use one of our coaching sessions to do the actual calendar is: This is when people can book one-on-one calls. This is when I have I'm paddleboarding, or this is what I'm this, and this is when I have white space to do whatever I feel like I want to do spontaneously, but it is still blocked as white space.
A: I can't wait to see it, and that's my jam. I love that. And I like to redo it every quarter to every six months too cause I like change and novelty. So
M: I do think I got a little bit. I get... complacence is the word that comes to mind. And I don't like it because it's not that I was complacent in the program. Like I showed up for my students. I showed up in the areas I needed to show up way better this year than I did in 2020, like way better.
But with that free time, with that white space, I guess that's where I would say like placements, the word that comes up is oh, I just didn't intentionally prioritize social events. Or I didn't intentionally ask myself what would make me feel good right now. And intentionally do it. I just was like, oh, it's a free day. Okay, Netflix or book, or whatever. And so that's what I want to do better in 2022.
A: I love that. And inertia will always win if there isn't a plan. So I like to have, I call them the endless possibilities pages, where I just jot down all the potential things that I could do. And that at least helps me not to just do what I would normally do if I have blank space, which is mess around on my computer or watch Netflix. So if I have this big list, it just becomes easier.
M: What is your biggest thing you're looking forward to doing differently or you are to shifting for 2022?
A: I think I just really want to be in the energy of excitement and creation and not let things get heavy and tasky, but to like... Shantelle and I often talk about like, how can we make this easy and light?
We know what we want to do, but she and I can get real OCPD about stuff, and it like makes everything hard and heavy.So we're like, okay, how can we make this easy and light?
M: I like that.
A: I want to stay in that kind of energy.
M: Yeah, me. Me too. Okay. So thank you so much for doing this. Not only tonight but like the whole year I want to intentionally sit down and listen to our four episodes in a row. I just want to go back and do that for me. And just to hear how our energy was here, what we were excited about here, what we were going through. Like all of that.
I think that'd be really cool to just sit and journal on and reflect on. I love that idea, but thank you for being willing to go there with me. I think we both saw the value of this in the first episode, and it was cool that we kept them going, who knows, maybe we'll do something similar next year or whatever.I'm not committing us to anything, but I think it's really neat that we did this.
A: Yeah. And it's been really fun to reflect too. So I'm glad to hear that it's helpful for your listeners as well.
M: Speaking of that, do you have any - I'm putting you on the spot - any like summing up of this year in business for you, this year in life for you, anything you want people to know about as you're wrapping up?
A: Yeah. I think that what I just keep reminding myself of and what I think is so helpful for all of us to remember is whatever it is you're going through in your personal life or in your business, whatever season you happen to be in, you're probably normal. Like 95% of the time, you're probably normal.
So when I saw income issues and I immediately was like, oh crap, things must be wrong with what I'm doing. Talk to other business owners, because as soon as I did that, I was like, oh, you mean everybody's down 40%. Oh, okay. Alright, that can help free me up. Or your clients aren't showing up. Guess what?
That's what happens during the holiday season? That's happening to everybody. There's not a damn thing you need to change. So just take the cue from these calls and be vulnerable with some other people in your space so that you know what you're going through is totally normal. And don't start pivoting and making changes until you've done that because you probably don't need to.
M: Yeah. I heard a really good analogy this morning on a podcast, as I was driving to get my mom. And it was like so many people go at their business with a weed Wacker or they're hacking at it with a chainsaw when sometimes you just need those Bonsai tree pruning scissors.
Like everything needs a reevaluation often. I tweak my programs often. I, especially right now, as I'm going into round six, I'm looking at things and doing things differently and making adjustments, and that those are Bonsai scissors. I'm not hacking everything to death. And so I think a lot of times when one little thing isn't working, we think we need to hack it. And instead, it might just be we need little pruning scissors.
A: All entrepreneurs feel like burning it all to the ground and starting over. That's also normal.
M: We have had that conversation this year, too. I think my biggest takeaway from this year and you and I, me more than you, but sometimes revenue is our focus.
We're money-driven. Revenue is the focus for our business. And the second I let that go, I made more money in a week than I had all year. You know what I mean? And I think that's another one of my challenges for myself in 2022 is stop being so revenue-focused. And that's what I'm excited about this new offer is it's much more values-focused than it is revenue-focused.
A: I think we should do, and perhaps not on the podcast, but wishes for each other for the new year. So we named the things that we think we want for the new year, but we know each other well. I think that would be fun maybe on Voxer, maybe a mini-podcast episode, but I think that would be really fun.
M: And all the listeners went, ooooh. Maybe what we'll do, we should do, if we're comfortable: When this episode goes out, we could do a screenshot of our Voxer messages and we could put it in like the thread or something like that.
A: Totally down.
M: That'd be cool. Okay. That way we have some time we're out on the spot thinking about them. This is officially my longest episode of the year.
A: My husband's like are we watching a show or what?
M: Yeah. And it's late for you. I'm sorry. We just got to talking. Well, I will talk with you, but anyway, I'll still say happy holidays. Happy new year. And thank you again for just going on this journey with me all year long. It's been really cool.
A: Thank you for bringing me along.
M: Talk with you soon, probably later today.
Alright. So that's a wrap on our updates and it's also a wrap on this podcast for 2021. The next time I'll be coming to you guys through your earbuds or headphones or however, car stereo, however, you're listening to me. We'll be in 2022. I love and appreciate and respect and honor and revere all of you.
I do this for you guys, and it means the world to me to share value with you to be a little part of your lives. And I wish you guys a safe, prosperous, happy, healthy, light new year. And I will be back with you guys in 2022. Alright, until then keep on rising.
