Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - Converting Opportunities & Blowing Up The Lanes With Heather Monahan Episode 67

Episode Date: August 11, 2020

“Don’t limit yourself to one lane…there’s so much beyond that if you choose to blow up your lanes and start seeing the potential that’s outside of the small bubble so many of us operate in�...�. In short, don’t sell yourself short. You get to decide what comes next, how you want to show up and where you want to lean in.  Heather takes us behind the scenes of one of her virtual talks and demonstrates how she blew up her own lane again and again to create more opportunities and how to do it all confidently and authentically.  To inquire about my coaching program opportunity visit https://mentorship.heathermonahan.com/ Review this podcast on Apple Podcast using this LINK and when you DM me the screen shot, I buy you my $299 video course as a thank you!  My book Confidence Creator is available now! get it right HERE If you are looking for more tips you can download my free E-book at my website and thank you! https://heathermonahan.com *If you'd like to ask a question and be featured during the wrap up segment of Creating Confidence, contact Heather Monahan directly through her website and don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list so you don’t skip a beat to all things Confidence Creating! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:35 goals, overcome adversity and set you up for better tomorrow. And ready for my close time. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so excited that you're back here with me yet again this week in this crazy thing called 2020. So few things today. Today is a different episode. Wait a minute, number one. Let me tell you that.
Starting point is 00:00:57 And this is kind of crazy and I'll just cut to the chase. I had two interviews lined up for this week and both of them had to reschedule. And now that I'm doing this executive coaching, my schedule is really, really busy during the week. So I'm filling up, you know, the majority of my schedule on Sunday for the next week. It's really hard for me to pivot if someone needs to move. We're in the past. It was a bit easier.
Starting point is 00:01:22 I had more flexibility with my schedule. So that poses new problems, right? It's sort of interesting when you work for yourself and you're trying to figure all these new things out. You just think, oh, you know, it'll all work out. And okay, I finally had a patch. What's going better? And then, oh, no, that's not going to work anymore.
Starting point is 00:01:38 It's, you know, one step forward, two steps back, one step forward, two steps back. So as I'm accelerating and working more on my coaching clients and my individual one on one coaching, I've been leaning into this more and that's picking up. It's starting to take away from other sides of my business. So it's an interesting balance when like any company, you need need, need, need must have multiple revenue streams. You must continue to have a personal brand and have reach and show up.
Starting point is 00:02:10 And you know, you don't want to just disappear into the night and merge yourself all into one thing, which is what I've been doing. Plus I have, my book has deadline dates now with HarperCollins leadership for my new book coming out next year. So, you know, I've got to deliver on those different things, and I've been working really diligently on these click funnels now, which I told you about, which we're supposed to be up and live. They are not.
Starting point is 00:02:33 Yeah, they are not. We ran into tons of problems with integrations and stripe accounts, and so many things you don't even want to know about, but I don't want to know about that now I do, and have sucked hours out of my week. But again, this will be a passive income strategy that once up and running and then optimized, will be able to set and run. So there's so many things like this that I try that sometimes work out and sometimes don't at all. And then sometimes go great,
Starting point is 00:03:02 like my speaking business was just taking off. And then the pandemic came. Right. So there's no way to prepare for so much of this. But what I do know is not changing. Not evolving is not an option. That's death for any business. For anyone in any leadership role. So I know that you need to constantly evolve and change. So I know that you need to constantly evolve and change. There's just times when it's harder and versus times when it's easier, right? So the good news is I'll share a good story with you. It's really exciting. I met a really fantastic young woman. Gosh, I don't know how many months ago now.
Starting point is 00:03:36 Maybe six months ago. And she had me as a guest on her podcast, just a great podcast. And right thereafter, getting to know her a little bit, her father became very sick with the coronavirus. And I'd seen it online and was, you know, DMing her and messaging her to check on her, and ultimately her father passed away from the coronavirus, which was heart-wrenching. She's a young girl in her 20s and awful. And so I called her the day that it happened. I was just heart
Starting point is 00:04:06 wrenching. It was just so sad. My heart broke for this young girl, you know, having to deal with all of this. It emits the pandemic. And she's this big job. It's a marquee brand. I'll leave it at that. I won't get into detail. And so anyhow, she's this huge job. And all this pressure and all this sadness of someone losing their dad. This man she idolized, wonderful human being and doctor and just heart-wrenching. And anyhow, I stayed close to her during that time because obviously, you know, that's when people need people and need support and need to know that someone's looking out for them.
Starting point is 00:04:42 And as time passed, you know, over the last couple of months, she's started to feel better and wanted to get back to work. And we were talking one day and I said, you know, this is a, you just got to launch your own company. You're far too talented. You know, let me be your first client, but this woman is so talented, so organized, so strategic. She's such a great delegator. She's a great leader. She's got a team of people. She's got it going on and she moves quickly and she's really good in areas I'm not.
Starting point is 00:05:11 And so, and she's got experience working for a marquee brand getting trained there, plus bringing her own unique talents and flavor and she's a very kind person on top of it all. So I said, you know, if I could do things differently, I would have started my own business in my early 20s, not worked for and made other people rich. I would have done that for me. So I want that for you now, especially thinking that her dad was no longer here. Someone needed to give her that direction and advice that I wish that I had had, right? So I gave it to her. And, you know, anyone can listen to your advice and
Starting point is 00:05:41 take it or leave it. And she listened and she shared that she was scared and that while she wanted to do it, there's all these questions and doubts and we kept talking and probably we would speak at least once or twice a week and brainstorm and she'd always give me tips and ideas for my business and anyhow, to make a long story longer during this process, someone else had reached out to her and said,
Starting point is 00:06:05 hey, do you know anyone else that can manage social media? I like what you do, who manages yours. So she said, well, I'm actually thinking of launching my own company. Anyhow, she ends up calling me and says, well, I've got another woman now on top of you that wants me to do this. What do you think?
Starting point is 00:06:18 And I said, why don't we launch both at the same time? You'll be doing the same work, building out the same teams for very similar brands, and just jump on it and do this at night on the weekends when you're not, you know, doing your day job, which she's doing remotely, of course, now, which makes it easier, too. And she already had built out teams, already had this skill set, already had these talents, and now she just needed to launch them for her own initiative under her own company name. And she just did. And so I was so excited for her, so proud of her.
Starting point is 00:06:46 And for me, really excited to, because I've been working with so many different contractors or individuals here or there or interns, everything's broken, it's not united. Under one umbrella, it's just me shooting off things here or there where I can. And then I just fill in the gaps, I do the rest. Well, now she's much more holistic.
Starting point is 00:07:04 She's beyond organized. And she can touch my podcasting business. She can touch my social media. She can touch my automation. She can touch my email and drip campaigns. She can touch my brand wording, my website, everything. So she's really well versed in all of these different functionalities and elements of a business. And so she's already putting together these Google drives and showing me how everything's
Starting point is 00:07:32 going to live on one page. So anyone on the team can jump in and check off at something. Anyhow, the very initial stages right now of just setting this up. But I can already see just her leadership in organization and ability to delegate really well is going to, in the long run, not in the short run because in the short run, we've got to make sure that she brought on the right people for the team and that they understand my brand and they understand me and my boys. That stuff takes time and I get that.
Starting point is 00:08:00 However, one of my biggest issues when I just work with individual contract workers is I'm not a big piece of their business, right? So they treat you that way, you know, they'll get things done when they can and they'll, you know, throw something together for you, but it's not, this is something bigger picture. It's a bigger opportunity for her and she knows that and she's approaching it in that regard. So there's a sense of to me, I'm not there yet, but in the horizon horizon I can see that this woman is going to take so much work off, and it's it's menial work that I'm doing, you know, me sitting around researching my podcast guests at Nazim can eat up hours of my week. Me sitting around writing copy for my social media posts does eat up hours every single day. Me sitting around trying to write
Starting point is 00:08:43 drip email campaigns when I'm I have no experience doing that, it's just not even effective or efficient. So yes, I had to do that because I don't want to just throw money in the dark at crazy ideas, but now I've found someone who's actually an expert in it and will and is building a team to help support me and will begin to understand my business. And I know, again, it's not gonna be this month,
Starting point is 00:09:06 but in the coming months, I truly believe I'll be able to see that change. And when that actually happens, wow, that's gonna free up my schedule immensely. And allow me to do things that I'm good at, creative things where I can create more and write more and go after an amazing guest that I wanted to find that I just haven't had the time to lean into or do some bigger things
Starting point is 00:09:31 that I know I can accomplish and do when I get everything else organized and off my plate. So I'm super excited about that. Another thing that I wanted to share is I brought someone on for very cheap to try this automation because I had been hearing about these automated campaigns on social media and how people were making fortunes off of it and was driving downloads, it was driving meetings, it was driving new business clients, etc. And so I did it on the cheap just to give it a shot and it failed. Not one conversion, not one anything, a completely negative experience.
Starting point is 00:10:02 And I was sharing that with her and she said, can you shoot me over and show me what you did? And I did, and she said, how the other, this number one, the copy's terrible. Number two, the targets were not correct. You know, and I had never done it before. She's done it. And so I said, do you want to try to test it with your own thoughts? And she said, just give me a test.
Starting point is 00:10:18 She launched her first test today. So top of mind for me right now. And I just have been back and forth on social media today with, I would say probably seven potential business opportunities now, because we don't have this mapped out big enough yet, the work will come back to me. I'll now send account or link back to reply to these people who have raised their hand as express interest to these automations she sent out, and then I'll see if it's, you know, okay, is there a business opportunity there or not?
Starting point is 00:10:46 And then we'll refine it and optimize it from there. But this is an opportunity to drive business. This is something that I didn't have to touch at all, at least until now, when we have, you know, six or seven people raising their hands, saying they're interested. So this already just today is better than what I had been doing for the past month when I hired on the cheap someone to try this. So just because you're trying something and it's not working, it doesn't mean it's not
Starting point is 00:11:08 the right platform or the right strategy. It might be the wrong messaging. It might be the wrong person managing it. It might write there's so many levels to evaluate that our gut reaction sometimes is, oh, another thing didn't work. Toss it out the window. Well, we might not have been managing it correctly, utilizing it correctly.
Starting point is 00:11:27 The answer might be in the weeds, right? It might be in the copy. Maybe it was all about the copy we sent out. And I'm not a copywriter. So it's just, it's so interesting from a business perspective, just to see you constantly need to innovate, you constantly need to evolve and change and try new things. However, that can be challenging sometimes
Starting point is 00:11:45 because there's so much out there, it is flipping overwhelming. However, I will go back to you. I'm super grateful that four years ago, I launched my personal brand and started investing in myself. That was a really critical investment that pays off now. Because if I didn't have that, I couldn't go do this automation thing
Starting point is 00:12:03 because I have 85,000 followers on LinkedIn, right? So if you haven't built a relationship with the community, if you haven't been posting and investing in yourself and branding yourself, if you didn't do that four years ago, like I didn't do it today, there's value there. You have something to say, you are an expert in your own way, you are unique in your own way, it's time to start raising your hand and showing up because you are only expert in your own way, you are unique in your own way. It's time to start raising your hand and showing up because you are only building more value in yourself for today, tomorrow and for your future.
Starting point is 00:12:31 And that's why I continue to show up every single day. That's why I have my podcast. Hello, that's, you know, these are all extensions of your voice and your exposure and your messaging and your helping other people. So definitely if you haven't done it yet, raise your hand, jump in and start today. It's critical. During times like these were, everything's uncertain. Everyone's stuck at home. I saw today Michelle Obama,
Starting point is 00:12:55 Kim Mottens, and she's depressed. Who isn't depressed? It's a really difficult time for everyone right now. But if you can take a step back and say, okay, five years from now, when I look back on the pandemic and let's say we're in quarantine for a year or whatever it is, we're supposed to be inside, what did I accomplish during that time? I hope you invested in you. I hope you took action and built your brand.
Starting point is 00:13:15 I hope you took action and found new and innovative ways to bring your message to life and to convert it into revenue and value for you. I hope you took action. That's the bottom line, right? So I'm continuing to take action some weeks go better than others as you know, some have been pretty tough. Okay, so here's what's interesting.
Starting point is 00:13:35 I had this rescheduled this week which didn't come to fruition. I'm actually doing one of these interviews this week and this person that happens to be a friend of mine. So I'm actually excited for it. So for this week, I was talking to my producer. He said, oh my gosh, I have no fresh, exciting interview, but I have something that would be interesting that I'd like to try.
Starting point is 00:13:54 So you guys have to let me know what you think. I do a lot of virtual speeches now, and while I will always love on sites so much more, but it's still as fun to do a virtual speech. And I get a lot of sales teams reaching out to me, asking me if I can do a one hour talk for them. So that's what you're gonna listen to today. It is not the whole talk because that would not be kosher, but you can take a listen behind the scenes
Starting point is 00:14:22 of what it's like being yours truly when I show up to do a talk from my living room on my Zoom with people all over the world. This talk was in London, Brazil, Miami, and I miss Singapore and somewhere else, I don't remember where else, but all over the world, sales people. And my background, I started out as a salesperson.
Starting point is 00:14:45 I was in sales leadership and I was a chief revenue officer. And that's my jam. I can do that with my eyes closed. And luckily I can, because this was the day, as I mentioned, that my mentor had passed away the night before. And I did not sleep very much. And I was crying, and I looked horrible. And I fought in the morning.
Starting point is 00:15:04 Do I really think I can pull this off right now? Cause I believe it's an 8am EST keynote and I woke up and I just thought, I don't think I can do this. And then I reminded myself, what would Bob say and Bob would say, come on kiddo, you gotta do this, they need you. And it made me smile and I thought about that.
Starting point is 00:15:22 So I showed up and actually in the beginning of this talk, I cried a little bit because I told them, I said, listen, I'm gonna tell you that I look like H-E-L-L right now and I kinda feel like it and here's why. And it choked me up. But then once I started my talk, I was okay. And these people asked a ton of questions and it was a fun group.
Starting point is 00:15:43 So hopefully this puts a little kick in your step today. I hope it does. It didn't mind. I listened to it back and I usually don't listen to my talks back and it made me smile. So I hope it makes you smile too. Hang tight, we'll be right back. We the different guests each week.
Starting point is 00:15:58 We're on the chair! All of us, really. I put to work the fact that I was different and I stepped into that and it worked. Got into the radio business when I was in my early 20s and had the opportunity to become an equity partner and a $25 million property as long as I was willing to move forward to Saginaw, Michigan. National security experts are warning.
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Starting point is 00:18:33 inventory, HR, e-commerce, and more. If you've been sizing NetSuite up to make the switch, then you know this deal is unprecedented. No interest, no payments, take advantage of the special financing offer at nextweat.com slash monahan. Nextweat.com slash monahan to get the visibility and control you need to weather any storm. Nextweat.com slash monahan. Which I know there's a lot of people here in London and Miami and these really glamorous places. Second on Michigan is not so glamorous, but I went for the opportunity to put the work and and hard work pays off. We turned that property into a $55 million
Starting point is 00:19:10 property and under three years and I had finally set myself up as a poor girl who now had some cash. So I was really excited about that. But when you're driven by scarcity you say, I need to get back to work. And so I wanted to go to that next level. And I saw an opportunity at a publicly traded company that Billy mentioned. And I ended up taking a step back for a much smaller role as a DOS initially in order to prove myself to them. Because I saw that they weren't connecting the dots. There were some opportunities that I was seeing at that company on the outside that sometimes you can't see when you're in the grind every day.
Starting point is 00:19:48 And I thought, oh, I can leverage this for opportunity for me. I went in, I proved myself in the first year. I went back and I called a meeting with the president of the company. We sat down for lunch and I put myself in his shoes and I knew he hated change. I knew that he hated working hard.
Starting point is 00:20:06 I knew that he wanted to look good and drive value for shareholders but it was a constant struggle for them. I crafted my pitch around those pain points that he had and I said listen I know that you've got this long history here and that you guys have done business this certain way and it's paid massive dividends and and I'm so proud to be a part of this legacy. However, I see an opportunity for you to potentially double the company's revenue moving forward. I'd be the one that would do all the work. I would answer to you. You would be the one getting all the credit and you would drive the value for the shareholders. Would you be interested in looking an opportunity like that? Well, of course he would, people, right?
Starting point is 00:20:45 And he smiled, but he ends up saying no. So I was a young girl back then, I said, well, forget this, I'm outta here. And I went and just found another job and called a meeting again to sit down with him and said, I want to meet with you one last time. I've been offered a really big job back in Boston. And I'm gonna take it, unless you've decided
Starting point is 00:21:04 that you wanna to move forward from my proposal. He excused himself from the restaurant and went outside. He came back in and offered me their newly created VP of sales position. I asked, where did you go? And he explained to me, he had to call his father, the CEO. He wasn't the ultimate decision maker. And I learned a critical lesson in that moment. So often we spin our wheels as salespeople before we ever really qualify who the ultimate decision makers are. And I was making a pitch to someone who could tell me no, but could never tell me yes. And I don't want you to make, don't spin your wheels and don't ever take a no from someone who can't give you a yes So over the next 14 years I more than double the company's revenue alongside my team
Starting point is 00:21:49 And we went from a hundred million annually to an excess of two hundred million annually at the time that I eventually got fired During my 10 year there. I was promoted three different times one lots of awards and the CEO that I work for became ill He elevated his daughter to replace him. She was my arch nemesis, the CFO, and fired me immediately. In that moment, and I know a lot of us are in this column in this world are struggling right now with furloughed
Starting point is 00:22:16 and losing job and fear of loss. And I have so freaking been there, I am like a ninja in this space. But when it first happened, I was paralyzed, sitting on my couch, drinking shardinay under a weighted blanket, wondering what the heck I was going to do to get out of this mess. I had bills to pay and I had no idea where revenue was going to come from. First thing I did, which was really smart, was I asked for
Starting point is 00:22:40 help, I put it out on social media. I have just been fired. And after 14 years, I wanna know if I've ever impacted you and I need your help today. And that post went viral. And people told me I was crazy. They said, why would you tell people you got fired? But I just thought if people don't know you're available, how can they know to help you? So I showed up as a real version of me.
Starting point is 00:23:04 Something that I hadn't done much of when I was in corporate America. A lot of people showed up to help me, and ultimately, Froggy from the Elvis Durant show, a huge radio show, showed up and said, how can I help? And here's another lesson I learned. When someone offers to help you, convert that opportunity in the moment.
Starting point is 00:23:23 Even if it's just a small ask, people get busy, people's lives are changing so fast, you can't circle back two weeks later and say, Hey, I was wondering if you're still up for helping me out. So when he tweeted at me, let me know how I can help. I tweeted right back. Get me on the show. And he did. And so I went on the Elvis Dorian show and halfway through the interview, Elva said, well, obviously, you're writing a book. And I said, well, obviously, but I wasn't, how would I write a book? I was the chief revenue officer.
Starting point is 00:23:53 I was the sales driver. That's what the lane I thought I belonged in. So I got on the plane and I googled, how do you write a book? And it said, you have to sit down and write for X amount of hours a day. So I figured, I'm unemployed. What else am I going to do? I need a product to sell.
Starting point is 00:24:12 And if this huge personality believes enough in me that I have a book, and then I can do that, I should at least try. So I sat down every single day. Remember, I told you, hard work is not a problem for me. And I started writing. And I didn't know if it was good, and I didn't know if it would ever come to light. But I started writing, and then I mocked up a book with a piece of paper,
Starting point is 00:24:34 and I just signed my name at the bottom. I started visualizing what will this look like if I really have a book. But I know one thing, I know I can sell. And I thought, OK, there's probably lots of good books out there and people don't know how to sell them, but I am a hustler and I will find a way to sell this book and make myself some money. So I figured I better find someone ahead of me. If you don't have someone ahead of you in your life, tap a freaking mentor because I tapped an editor and I hired a man that had written 19 books.
Starting point is 00:25:02 And the minute I had him working with me, we moved so much faster because he taught me the hacks. He told me what I was missing. And eventually, we brought to life my book, Confidence Creator. Super proud of that. So I self-published that book. I didn't know how to self-publish, so I googled that too. And I figured it out.
Starting point is 00:25:21 And you know what? It's perfectly imperfect because done will always be better than perfect. There are three mistakes in my book, one of which is my son's age, which is so embarrassing. However, I own him and rock him, thank you, Billy. I own him and rock him because I'm proud that I'm a freaking author. I thought I could just be good in this one lane
Starting point is 00:25:43 and getting fired taught me. They could take my paycheck from me, but they couldn't take my skills. They can't take my unique talents. They can't take my experiences. They can't take my stories. They can't take my network. And they can't take what's special and unique about me. I took all of those things and I blew up the lanes.
Starting point is 00:26:03 And I took my talents to become an author. And that book went number one on Amazon. The first week we released it and I was so freaking proud. I can't tell you and that experience taught me. Don't limit yourself to one lane or one approach or one way. There's so much beyond that if you choose to blow up your lanes and start seeing the potential that's outside of the small bubble, so many of us operate in.
Starting point is 00:26:30 So I googled, how do you sell books? And it said, speak. And I had been speaking for 20 years in corporate America. I didn't know people that paid to speak, by the way, because I had my head down in one little media world. And in that world, they didn't pay people to speak. So I started cold calling, dialing for dollars. That was easy. I knew how to do that. I cold called all day long and I pitched myself to companies. I'd love to come in and talk about collaboration,
Starting point is 00:26:56 innovation, and confidence in the workplace. And they'd say, yeah, come on in. And I would sell my books and sell my books. And then one day I called and someone said, sure, what's your speaker fee? And I thought, I'll get right back to you. And I googled, what are speaker fees? And I found out people get paid from $5,000 a speech to $500,000. So I started googling about the speaker business. And I found out you need an agent.
Starting point is 00:27:22 So I sent an email to Harry Walker speaker agency to the president because don't take a know from someone who can't give you a yes. Remember that lesson? So I went to the president and I said, I'm going to put myself in his shoes. I'm going to go study his site. I'm going to find a white space he's not servicing. And I'm going to show him how I can drive a new revenue stream and add value to him. And that's what I wrote in my email to him. And he replied back, wow, you're right, you would take up a white space. However, there's a lot of chief revenue officers and executives that are speakers on my team. I don't know that you're unique enough.
Starting point is 00:27:58 And I took the screenshot of my book Confidence Creator, Trumping Donald Trump on Amazon's bestseller list. I was number one, he was number two in that screenshot, marketing, and I sent him that in the email, and I said, do you have any authors on your roster that Trump Trump for number one of business biographies? And he wrote back, to Shay, I do not. Yes, I will add you to my roster.
Starting point is 00:28:21 I leveraged that one image of him putting me up on his roster alongside presidents and all these amazing people. And I took a screenshot of that and I sent it to GDA speakers. And I said, listen, I don't know if you've heard, but I've been added to Harry Walker's lineup. I'm doing a lot of speaking and driving new revenue streams and I'd love to do that for you. And then I leveraged GDA to get APB. And then I leveraged APB. These were all the steps that I took. I didn't know what I for you. And then I'd leverage GDA to get APB. And then I'd leverage APB. These were all the steps that I took.
Starting point is 00:28:47 I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't even know what I could eventually get paid. But one of those leveraging moments led me to the opportunity to interview Sarah Blakely live on stage in September for the Hyper Growth Marketing Conference. That image of me with Sarah Blakely on the stage, mind you, I got paid 10,000, she got paid 150,000, so we had some growth potential left within us, but that moment of people seeing me side by side with a billionaire, allowed my
Starting point is 00:29:16 speaking business to take off. Things were going really well, and then the pandemic hit. And all of the speaking engagements I had for the remainder of the year were canceled. All of my revenue disappeared overnight. I got on my Peloton, because for me, I am my most creative when I'm moving, when I'm exercising, and we all have maybe you meditate, maybe it's when you hold your child or your pet,
Starting point is 00:29:42 but figure out where your creative space is. We are all creative, by the way. I had been told for a long time in corporate America, I was a revenue driver and I wasn't creative, that's BS. I jumped on my peloton and I thought, what are the things people ask me for? What are the questions that I get from people? And I started thinking, I get a lot of DMs on social media
Starting point is 00:30:03 asking, would you ever mentor me? Would you ever coach me? Do you offer coaching programs? And I had never had interest in that. I was constantly traveling for my speaking engagements, my at a podcast. I was all over the place. I couldn't physically handle coaching people. There just wasn't enough time. And I thought, well, there's lots of time. Now, I'm stuck at home LinkedIn and I said, I have no idea about the coaching business, but I am willing to 100% guarantee results because I am that confident in me. If you are looking to go to the next level in the month of May during this pandemic, I will be the person to take you there. I'm only accepting 15 clients and click the link below to send me an email that you want to apply. I sold that program out. I didn't know what the program was, by the way. So I started googling
Starting point is 00:31:12 coaching programs and researching and trying to figure out how can I add value. I didn't have a website, I didn't have anything. I was going on PayPal sending email invoices. It wasn't good. But what I figured out is there was a need in the marketplace and people knew like and trusted me. And I had value and expertise. I had to figure out how to repackage it. I've been offering that through speeches. How could I now bring that live through a computer
Starting point is 00:31:39 and show specific value to the people I was working with? And so I started asking them, what are you struggling with? How can I bring value to you? How can I deliver results for you? And while everyone had different challenges and initiatives and goals, there was this through thread that I saw, they all struggled a bit with their confidence because of the uncertainty that was in the world.
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Starting point is 00:34:02 Find the Millionaire University on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Keep coming back, you got plenty of space! Oof, not how you would have done that. You like working with people you can rely on, like USAA, who has helped guide the military community for the past 100 years. USAA, get a quote today. And I thought, well, I might not have all the answers. There's more power and numbers.
Starting point is 00:34:28 Let's start with a team meeting and introduce one another and let's start connecting and those connections started people doing business together and those connections help people accountable on these weekly calls. And pretty soon it wasn't me hitting people over the head saying you need to go do this. It was my team motivating and encouraging one another. Then we created a LinkedIn group. Then I started servicing daily emails to keep the motivated and focused on driving forward and taking chances
Starting point is 00:34:55 and being more confident and stepping into who they really are. And then out of that, I got a DM, would you ever do private one-on on one executive coaching? And I asked one of the people on my team, what are you charged for that? And she said anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 a month, Heather. And I thought, oh my gosh, here I am chasing these individual clients for low dollar amounts when I need to shift my business and look, but I wouldn't have figured it out if I hadn't jumped into begin with. Through the past few months, but I wouldn't have figured it out if I hadn't jumped in to begin with. Through the past few months, now I have, I learned all about Shopify and digital marketing and click funnels, and I'm learning about this whole digital path to purchase that I knew nothing about on May 1st when I launched this. Is it perfect
Starting point is 00:35:38 no, but I guarantee my results, and I'm watching and learning from the feedback that I get from my clients. Yes, I launched an executive coaching program and it's way more profitable than my team program. But I wouldn't have gotten here if I didn't take the first step and jump on the peloton and think about what is it that people ask me for that I wasn't able to deliver previously. What value add can I bring to life? So now that we're at 30 minutes, I figure I could open it up for questions for you guys. Happy to, I'm an open book. So if there's any questions that you have,
Starting point is 00:36:13 I'm happy to answer them. Bill, do you want to take over? Sure, Heather, it's funny because my text messages as you're speaking are going off with all the ladies in this company. And I'm seeing, she's such a badass. I love this woman. She's brilliant.
Starting point is 00:36:27 So I haven't had this level of interaction before. So Kudos to you. You know, Heather, I think I'll ask the first question. At our company, we do a really good job of empowering everyone. And we've run program for empowering our female salespeople, our female executives. And I know you have the hashtag Boston Heels.
Starting point is 00:36:47 Can you tell us a little bit about that? And this is important to know, the year before I got fired in corporate America, I made a crazy decision to start investing in myself. And if you guys haven't invested in yourself, and I don't care if you're a man or woman, whatever, it's irrelevant. Invest in yourself and put your best foot forward. To that end, I launched my website, HeatherMontahan.com.
Starting point is 00:37:08 I did a $20,000 photo shoot because I thought, if I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna go big and make it really impactful. And on that site, I decided a lot of people grow up with rich parents that have things handed to them. Maybe the people I used to work for. I thought I wanna service and support the people like me that didn't grow up with that.
Starting point is 00:37:29 So I just provided all the hacks that I had learned. You wanna get to this these week, go to my site and check it out. I'll tell you exactly how I did it. You wanna sell million dollar deals? I'll tell you how I do that too. You wanna overcome objections. So I created that from a place of give back,
Starting point is 00:37:43 but also of elevation for me. I thought I've got a voice and a story to share, and it's not being service just in this bubble. I want to go bigger. And that's the time when I also hired someone to help me with my social media, which I knew nothing about, but I could see the more omnipresent and visible I can be in social media, the more I can pull clients towards me, the more I can launch and step into a personal brand, which is separate from the company brand, which is smart by the way, I'm going to be able to connect with potential talent to pull them.
Starting point is 00:38:15 I'm gonna allow people to get to know me before I'm ever showing up on their doorstep trying to sell them radio. And that initiative, thank goodness I did that a year before I got fired. However, that comes into play with probably why I did get fired. But that's okay because that brand that I had built was the catalyst that already had me up and running to launch my book, have an audience to sell my book to, to inevitably
Starting point is 00:38:37 launch, you know, my speaking career and then inevitably my coaching career. So, you know, all of that started with this hashtag that I originally used, which was hashtag boss and heels, which meant when you show up as a leader as the real you, when I was younger people would tell me, don't wear your hair down, don't wear a dress, don't bring attention to the fact that, you know, you're a younger woman, you know, wear glasses and wear your hair in a bun. I'm just wearing a hair in a bun right now because I had a rough night last night, and I was crying, but darn, too bad I didn't show my blowout like usual.
Starting point is 00:39:11 But, you know, people would tell me, look a certain way, which was the opposite of how I wanted to look. And I did what they told me, because I thought I wanna get ahead and I wanna break the glass ceiling. That was bad advice, because the more I would step into a fake version of me,
Starting point is 00:39:26 the version they wanted me to be, that dim your light version, the less I separated from the real powerful me. So, hashtag bossinheels means, you want to rock a red dress with your hair down? Rock it, show up as you. If you're a guy and you want to wear flip-flops with purple hair, I say rock that,
Starting point is 00:39:45 but show up as who you are because the more you do that, the more you attract those right people to you. You're very confident and it comes across very dynamically now. What was the flip? So how did you go from this shy, young girl learning a way to becoming this confident superstar. You know, along the way, I was so driven to make money initially, that drive would push me into fear. And one of the biggest things for me to build and create confidence is stepping into fear. Every time I do it, I become more stronger. Every time I do it, I become more confident. I now see fear as a green light that means go. So whenever I walk into that fear, I say,
Starting point is 00:40:28 oh, I'm about to go to the next, let's go. I get excited about it now. And that's a really important pivot. But when I was younger, I didn't know that. I was just chasing the check, right? So chasing the check did push me into fear. The fact that I pitched a job that didn't exist. You know, these things, these steps I took in my work life were driven because I wanted
Starting point is 00:40:49 money, but they were actually creating confidence within me within that segment. I didn't have the perspective big enough yet that confidence is different in different places, right? I'm really confident as a mother, but I'm not as confident in my personal relationships. I'm super confident at the gym, but I'm not as confident with my spiritual practice. There's all these different parts of our life, and there's ebb and flows to all of it.
Starting point is 00:41:15 The more that I start to appreciate and understand, I'm not perfect, and that's okay. I celebrate that, the more compassionate I can be towards myself. And accepting I can be towards myself, and the more I can become confident in all of those different areas. Thank you. The two people asking the same question really. And I love that line.
Starting point is 00:41:37 Don't take them know from somebody you can't say yes. Type that as soon as you said it. What the saying is, sometimes you've got to pitch somebody which is lower down the food chain and they've got to get the answer from the CEO. What's your tips of getting the decision from higher up? Well, you saw how I did in that one instance. I'm not encouraging this for everyone,
Starting point is 00:41:56 but I was willing to quit. I was willing to walk away, which that's a really big, you know, that's really big. And that strategy might not always work for you. However, I'll give you the one that I use when I go to a hotel, and if you guys don't ask for upgrades when you go to a hotel every time you check in, you're missing the boat, right?
Starting point is 00:42:15 So here's a good story. I was in Canada in Toronto for the NBA All Star game. My son's a huge basketball fan. I had a reservation at one hotel that was really far away from the arena and it was like negative, I don't know, negative 50. It was something crazy. The coldest I've ever been in my life.
Starting point is 00:42:34 My son and I left and it was so cold, I couldn't get to the Uber and I, my tears were freezing because we were that cold that the tears come out and I grabbed my son's hand and I saw a fair month right next door. I said, we're going this fair month. Of course, it's going to be sold out, right? I mean, it's NBA finals or all sort of whatever. So I go up with tears coming up my eyes and my little boy next to me and I walked up to the front desk and the woman said, can I help you? And I said, I don't know who I need to speak to, but I am alone. I am
Starting point is 00:43:04 scared. I am a really difficult situation. I need a room here. I also know the hotel business, and I know you guys hold back rooms. There has got to be one hotel room in here. And if you could please tell me, she said, I just, I can't do it. And I said, I totally understand.
Starting point is 00:43:17 I completely understand you can't. Can you get someone over here that could? And so I asked her for her help. I asked for help, right? I was honest and I created some type of bond between the woman and I. I used empathy in that instance and understanding. And she went and got the general manager
Starting point is 00:43:35 who actually can make that call. I explained to him what was going on. Anyways, of course there was one room. They gave us a room. So what I want to share about that story is, I asked for help. I showed up real. I made a connection point. I didn't fault the person saying no, but I asked for their help to bridge the gap
Starting point is 00:43:50 to get me to the person that could say yes. So if you're dealing with a low-level decision maker and you want to get to the CEO, I would put myself in their shoes, right? The more that we can have empathy for them and understanding for them and get them to say back to us, that's right. So that's a tactic I just learned from Chris Boss who's an FBI negotiator and I want to share it with you. It's a really strong tactic. So you're sitting with a low-level person wanting to CEO. You've immersed yourself and studied how that company works. You got to do the work before you can have a conversation, right? You've asked open-ended questions.
Starting point is 00:44:27 You've allowed this woman to feel heard. You're nodding your head, you're taking notes, you're asking more, and how does that make you feel? Wow, that sounds really hard, right? So you're understanding. You're letting her empty her cup to you. She's giving you all the information you need to connect the dots to go where you need to go. She's saying, it's really hard because I can't tell to cut you. She's giving you all the information you need to connect the dots to go where you need to go.
Starting point is 00:44:45 She's saying, it's really hard because I can't tell you yes and getting a meeting with CEO is hard. He doesn't really want to talk to me. And you say, gosh, that sounds really difficult. You're in a tough spot because you can't say yes, but you don't want to say no. That must be really frustrating for you.
Starting point is 00:45:01 That's right. That's exactly it, Heather. Okay. So now you're creating a bond with this person. They're beginning to trust you because they feel heard, you're understanding their pain. So the more you can create that, you're going to create a situation where this person wants to help you. So then I would ask, is there something that I could do that could help? Would it be helpful to you if I reached out or is there a person close to that person that maybe you and I together could go to with that solve the problem? Start asking and offering solutions in a helpful way to support that person and and and maybe she'll
Starting point is 00:45:37 say, you know what, yes, go direct. All right, I'm going to tell you this is the assistance name, go to her and figure it out because there's always a back channel that you can get to if you have someone on the inside that wants to help you. You know, I really want you to take onboard. I mean, Heather comes across as this incredibly confident human being, but she's been through the same journey that you're going through and it takes time. There's no hacks, there's no shortcuts. She'll give you some tips on our website. But in anything you want to achieve, you've got that outwork, everybody. That's no hacks, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts,
Starting point is 00:46:05 there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no
Starting point is 00:46:13 shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts, there's no shortcuts I'm appropriately, you're gonna miss out on it. And I don't want any of you to miss out on anything. I want you guys to have the legacy's been set a few times there. And I think, let's make sure that we're all leaving an amazing legacy.
Starting point is 00:46:32 I'd ask you to try to find your passion. I hope you loved the talk. I hope it was a good time for you. Please let me know. Shoot me a DM, post about it. If you do, I will always reshare and repost your stuff. It means the world to me helps the podcast so much. And as always, if you can leave me a rating and review, it would be so, so much appreciated.
Starting point is 00:46:55 I appreciate you being here every single week. Please let me know what you thought of this episode being that it's so different. And if you liked it, I'll incorporate more. I've got tons of behind the scenes clips that I can share with you, but I need to know if you liked it or if it gets the big thumbs down. So shoot it at me straight and keep creating your confidence. Until next week, I'll see you then. I couldn't be more insane than the world Once you're in here, start learning and growing And inevitably something will happen And no one will succeed alone
Starting point is 00:47:28 You don't stop and look around once in a while You could miss it I'm on this journey with me At a time when change is constant And we are pulled in far too many directions We need a way to stay present to life Change is constant and we are pulled in far too many directions. We need a way to stay present to life and to increase our ability to remain calm, think clearly, and maintain our well-being.
Starting point is 00:47:54 Many studies indicate mindfulness improves our mental, emotional, and physical health. On a mindful moment with Teresa McKee, you can learn how to practice mindfulness and enjoy its many benefits. Tune in for guided meditations and to hear tips and advice from some of the most respected experts in the fields of mental health and mindfulness. The world truly can be a better place. It all starts with a mindful moment. Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, Wherever we are, whenever we need it,
Starting point is 00:48:46 download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier or pay to description starting at 12.99 per month.

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