Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - How To Feel Good About Standing Out Instead Of Shrinking Back, With Heather! Episode 210

Episode Date: April 20, 2022

In This Episode You Will Learn About:  Setting yourself apart from competitors   How to pitch yourself   Adding value to your life  Resources: Overcome Your Villains is Available NOW! Order here: https://overcomeyourvillains.com  If you haven't yet, get my first book Confidence Creator Show Notes:  There is no one path to success. Finding what sets you apart from the rest and highlighting YOUR strengths is key! If you give life your best shot, you cannot fail. I promise! Today I’ll share with you how I created this very podcast and stood out on my own! I have the perfect chapter to read to you from Overcome Your Villians to inspire you to trust yourself and find certainty within. Remember, If you think you can, you WILL!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's have a digital account to redeem offers. Restrictions may apply, see site for details. I'm on this journey with me. Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals. Overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. That's a no-sleeping day. I'm ready for my close time. Hi and welcome back. I'm so glad you're back here with me this week. Thank you for being back here. Okay, so I've been receiving a lot of messages on social media lately asking me,

hey, can you give me an intro to someone to launch my speaking business? Hey, can you give me the shortcut on how to get ahead in business? Hey, how do I get my business to the next level? Hey, how do I break into the speaking business? Okay, here's the thing. Number one, if there was some magic bullet that just worked in a mystical way for everyone, wish I had it, I don't. I'd be a multi-billionaire with B, which would be freaking phenomenal. So we aren't there yet, kids. So I don't have that magic

bullet for myself, much less, you know, the ability to monetize it and sell it to you, right? Because I would. I definitely would. Here's what I know. And I can just tell you from my experiences is in most businesses, you need to brand yourself, right? So you need some credibility, some name recognition, some level of expertise that you're perceived as an expert or as a brand in some regards so that people know what you stand for and they know what you offer, they know what problem you solve, then you need to Divise some type of a customer acquisition strategy that's repeatable, right? You want to lather rinse repeat and this happens It doesn't mean you have to know exactly what that is today, but you do need

to test and try to innovate. I'm always trying different things to see what could work, what could be better than what I'm currently doing, what competitors are doing, what people are doing in different industries to acquire clients or up-level clients or sell them more products and services or raise your rates. There's so many different ways to grow your business. Having teams of people sell your products, new distribution points, there's so many different ways to grow your business. Having teams of people sell your products, new distribution points, there's so many different ways. For me, one idea that I came up with was selling autograph books because personalization is

big. A lot of people aren't doing that. The majority of my competitors do not sell autograph books. I went out and made a deal with a local bookstore, books and books in Miami, and anyone that wants to overcome your villains or confidence creator, autographed, or even personalized, written out to you. You go to the website, you fill out the form, you request personalization, you request an autographed copy, and books and books take care of it for you. So I worked out a deal such that I go there every other week and they print out the list of the requests and I signed them all there while I'm in the store. I literally signed 500 books last week or two weeks ago when I went over to the store. So you know it's a different model.

Am I saying that's going to be the biggest differentiator for me? No, but to me personalization is important. I get a lot of messages about that. So pay attention to the feedback you get from your customers, you know your team members, and start saying, hey, how can I show up a little differently? Maybe it's a little bit more work, but maybe it brings a lot more value, right? So those are some of the differences that you can bring into your business model. And again, test and try, test and try until we can find better, more innovative ways to acquire clients, up-level clients,

add more distribution points, et cetera. So I keep getting these messages and it just reminds me that on the outside looking in, things look easy to other people. When in reality, they're probably not. It's probably a lot of work. That doesn't mean there aren't times where literally mystical occurrences happen,

right? Like you meet that one person that opens a door to so much opportunity for you and they open the door for you, right? They invite you onto their show and it's a huge show. And then that show leads to so many others or, you know, this partner invites you to a meeting with Walmart and your products get added at Walmart, right? Those are game-changing moments. They, in my life, don't happen every day. So what I've learned to do is to do the work so that I can establish the credibility, do the work, so that I have the experience, the understanding, and then know how to start building and repeating,

building different businesses, opening different doors, and moving into different opportunities. So I'll start with, I'm gonna give you a couple of different examples of this. The first one I'll go to is when I first got into podcasting. Right, and again, these can apply to any business model. It's not just about podcasting, right?

This is about getting into business and achieving some level of success. So, you know, when you first started looking at a business, I remember I was first looking at podcasting. The reason why I looked at it is when I wrote my first book, Confidence Creator in 2018, and I was googling how to sell books, it said to speak, and it said to go on podcasts. And I hadn't done a lot of podcasts, right?

So you have to start somewhere. So I knew it wasn't going to be an overnight, you know, a magic pill for my book, but I thought, am I as well start now? I wish I had started 10 years ago in podcasting, but I hadn't. So I started going pitching myself as a guest to different podcasts. I started on small podcasts first, right? Because those were easier to get on. And I figured the more that I would show up and do it, the better I would get. And then I'd understand how can I add more value to larger shows? How can I better be a better guest? Add more value to their listeners and start to understand.

Not only had I pitched myself, but then once I landed the shows, how could I add value so people would want me back or refer me to other people, or so I could convert those opportunities on the show when I'm in front of a new audience, their listeners into book sales or into my email program, which is driving their data back to my website so that I own their information and then can communicate directly with them.

That's all about conversion. Right, so to me, podcasting was gonna be an opportunity for me to grow my brand, for me to sell my books, for me to reach a larger audience and begin being realized or recognized as an expert or a credible business person. Those were kind of my initial thoughts. So I was doing these shows initially in 2018. I was getting some success and I was learning, okay, if I don't have an offer, it's a wasted

opportunity. So put some kind of an offer out there, a free e-book to drive people back to your website. I'm going to do an autograph book giveaway today for, you know, five listeners, bring some value so you can separate yourself from other guests. Number one, number two, you can offer something to the audience to get them engaged to remember you and get them reaching back out to you because you want to bring them into your fold. So over time, over a year, really, I did more and more shows, hundreds of shows, and I started landing bigger shows.

I went on the James Altature show. I went on the Dr. Drew show. I went on Lady Gang. I started going on some really much bigger shows over a year. Now, I will also say this, for 25 years, I was in the media business, the radio business, right? So, I had a lot of contacts and I had been at thousands and thousands of audio events,

shows, podcasts. I knew this business, but the funny thing was I knew it from the other side, right? So, that was an advantage to me, is that I knew the business, I knew what the listening audience patterns were like. I had some ideas on how to grow audience, how to pitch myself, because I'd been in this business for a long time. I was a chief revenue officer, so I was in charge of driving revenue to the shows. Now I was sitting on the other side, I was getting behind the microphone.

Completely uncomfortable, by the way. Right? Anytime you put yourself in a new situation, I didn't know how it would turn out. I thought, I've got to give this a shot and I'm going to be frustrated. If I don't do it in a Mrs. opportunity, I'd rather just go into it, messy, give it a shot and see,

hey, I'll know eventually if it's working or not. Right, and you will too. You'll start seeing, okay, there are some signs, this is I'm getting some traction, or you're going to start saying, I think I'm starting to waste time. These are the things that I learned a long way. I did waste a lot of time.

I didn't convert a lot of audiences. I didn't add a lot of value at first, and I started learning through doing it wrong, how I could do it better. And learning by looking at people who are ahead of me and listening to their shows to see what they were doing differently, right? So again, a lot of work.

I mean, literally thousands of hours in on this. And then I'll never forget I ended up out in LA, a good friend of mine from the media business connected me to a few people at podcast one where she had a great relationship and she had a lot of credibility. She said, listen, this woman Heather Monahan's a great friend of mine. She's an amazing talent, really smart person. I think you should put her on some of your shows, she'll add big value and she's unique and different. They said yes. That's how I ended up on the Lady Gang Show, just a really, really huge show for female audiences, millions of listeners, millions of downloads to every episode. And that's really important because you want the larger audience you're going to reach, if it's the right demographic, the more opportunity you're going to have to bring those people

into your fold to get them to follow you on social media, get them engaged with your free products on your website. So you get their email address or get them to buy your book, right? I want to do all of those. So we did a book giveaway. We did a free product giveaway for my free ebooks and something else in a social media contest. So we were engaging at all different levels. The Lady Gang was super appreciative because I was doing book giveaways just for their

audience. So I was adding value for them and for their listener base. And it ends up, they released a show right away. I was still in LA. I was out there for a week. And I saw that it hit the in LA, I was out there for a week, and I saw that it hit the Apple iTunes chart. It was like at number eight on the society and culture, and it was next to Oprah Winfrey, had an episode that dropped the same day. Hersha was like number seven, we were number eight, and I thought, oh my, okay, wait a minute, that's a sign. Right, that's noticing, wait, something's working here because we just hit, you know, top 10 on society and culture next to Oprah. Ding, ding, ding, this is a sign. So I got into my business mind and I thought,

how can I leverage this moment in time? Right, when you see a sign, it's something is like, woo, wait, this worked, something's good here. Leverage it, how can I leverage this for a new opportunity? How can I leverage this for more opportunity? How can I engage more? How can I take this one micro event and turn it into a macro event

or a series of other micro events like a domino effect that I can benefit from? So I took a step back. I went to my hotel and I thought, wait a minute. This is a podcast one show. I'm in LA. They're headquartered here. I called my friend that helped me to get the opportunity.

I said, I just want to let you know how well this episode did that you got me on. I sent her the screenshot, right, to give her the proof. She said, holy cow. She said, you should really go in and meet with the CEO right now, since you're there. And since your episode went top 10 on Apple, I tuned to chart. I mean mean this is huge, Heather. I said, great idea. That's what I'm gonna do. So I called his office. I got on the phone with his executive assistant who was so sweet, by the way. And it's always so important to, you know, treat the gatekeeper with care and be nice and treat them like human beings. And so that's

something that I've always done in business. So I was speaking to her for a little while in the phone, telling her about the episode. Brayda was getting her super excited. I'm sharing my story of what happened, how I went out to LA, and I went on her show, Lady Gang, and we went top 10, and we're next to Oprah,

and she was so fired up and excited for me too. And I was sharing with her that I had been fired, and I didn't know what I was going to do. Anyways, we ended up on a call for like 10 minutes. At the end, I said, make a long story. Longer, I'm calling to speak with the founder of your company. Is there any chance he's in town this week? I'm here. I'd just like to come in and thank him personally. For the opportunity, he provided me to go on the show and, you know, and make top 10 on the Apple iTunes chart. And she said, hang on a second. And she said, could you get over here this afternoon? And I said, yes. She said, then

come over as soon as you can. And I'm going to find a way for him to see you. And she was just, you know, so wonderful and so charming and so cool. And just, she was great. So So I literally jumped to the cab. I went right to their offices, which were 10 minutes from my hotel, luckily, or serendipitously. I got into a meeting with the founder. We headed off immediately. And within 10 minutes of me being there, he said, will you need your own podcast, Heather? And of course, I had thought about it. Because at this point, I had been doing doing podcasts this was now the beginning of 2019 I've been doing podcasts now for a year I had gone on some really big shows had some good signs that it was working I'd learned enough

about behind the scenes on how to add value and differentiate myself and so when he brought that up I just went for the clothes right you're never gonna get another opportunity to be in front of the ultimate decision maker and have them give you buying signs. When that happens, you've got to go for the clothes. So I said, you read my mind exactly. Absolutely. I pulled out my book. I showed it my book. He loved the cover. He said, this is the cover art for your podcast. Let's do a show together, based off confidence creator. Let's call it creating confidence with Heather Rwanahan and let's do a show together based off confidence creator, let's call it creating confidence with Heather on a hand and let's do this show together. And I said done. And it was all because this lady gang show his show had done so well with me on it that

it opened his mind to the possibility that I could have my own. National security experts are warning our aging power grid is more vulnerable than ever. January marked the third time a power station North Carolina was damaged by gunfire. Authorities are saying the attack raises a new level of threat. Authorities are now checking our grid for vulnerabilities. They've identified nine key substations. If these substations are attacked power could be knocked out from coast to coast for up to 18 months. Imagine a black outlasting not days but weeks or months. Your life would be frozen right in time right when the power goes out. That's why having your own solar power is more important than ever.

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Anyways, this went on for months finally in May, in May of 2019, my show launched and it was great because I had lined up Gary V as my first guest, which that took months to to do. By the way, that was not easy. I know a lot of people think that I just fell into that one. No, that's not the case, right? So what I had done behind the scenes was the minute I thought that we were really going to have a show together and launch a show together, I thought go big or go home.

Everyone was telling me, it's too late to launch your own show. You're too old. It's too competitive and podcasting, market is saturated, all the naysayers thought they're being helpful, giving me their negative, nelly attitudes. And I remember thinking to myself, no, if I just go really big, I can make a lot of noise, get a lot of attention

and rock the podcasting world and make this show, you know, noticeable or worthy of being noticed. And so I started DMing Gary Vaynerchuk, make this show noticeable or worthy of being noticed. So I started DMing Gary Vaynerchuk like Crazy. I took a Google alert out on his name. And one day I opened up my mailbox to see that he had just started a wine company with a partner and I didn't know the partner. So I went to LinkedIn where I had been showing up every single day since 2016.

So I had credibility, I had expertise. I had a real persona there and value on LinkedIn. If you're not showing up on LinkedIn, start showing up now. It's a huge opportunity for customer acquisition and partnerships and connecting with random people like I did in this day. I messaged this guy, Trowdy, and he messaged me right back. I had reached out and said, hey, saw that you're starting a wine company.

I was in the wine business for years. I've launched a lot of different products in many different marketplaces. I'd love to share with you some of the things that worked and some of the things I would definitely steer clear of based on my expertise. And if you want, I'll jump on a free call with you and just share it, you know, if this is a value to you,

you know, set up a time, if not, best of luck. He wrote back, yeah, I've never been in the wine with you and just share it, you know, if this is a value to you, you know, set up a time If not best luck. He wrote back. Yeah, I've never been in the wine business. Let's do it. We get on a call We're on a call for an hour. We hit it off. I'm just, you know, sharing every insight that I have with him about the industry And at the end he says how there how can I help you and I said it's so funny that you ask I still didn't know when my show was gonna be launching But I knew I was gonna have a show. And I just said, listen, I love it. I'm launching a new show.

I'd love to have your partner Gary, as my first guest, can you help to make that happen? And then we had to jump through so many hoops with his team and Gary's team. And, you know, but that was a starting point. So, again, on the outside, it might look like, oh, she just falls into these things, but it's

not falling into things. It's really about putting the work in, being strategic, keep showing up. Ignore the nose. Stay focused on getting the one yes and keep doing the work. And my keynote speaking is exactly the same, if not even harder. And I've shared this with you a few times, but at a high level, again, this can apply to any business when I've been speaking for 20 years in corporate America, so I've been putting the reps in.

Number one, put the reps in whatever it is that you want to do, whatever you want to build, you got to put the work in to test and try and see what works, what lands and what doesn't, and improve your craft, right? That's bottom-like baseline, number one that you have to do. I had done that for 20 years, so I was a very good speaker. However, I didn't know it was a business. Cut to, I'm trying to launch a speaking career and I'm thinking, I've been doing this for over 20 years. I'm great at it. I'm a speaker. Suddenly, I'm in a new world called professional speaking

and they count me as ground zero because I hadn't been considered a professional speaker. Even though I had been doing it, taking swings, taking reps for 20 years. That was frustrating. But I thought, okay, new hurdle, got to overcome it, let's find ways around it. So I started thinking if I could get a TED talk, that would be a way to break through the noise, break through the clutter. So I started speaking for free as a professional speaker at first, because people didn't want to hire me because I didn't have an agent, I didn't have a name, I didn't have a

real, I wasn't known. And so I started speaking for free and then taking that footage and posting that footage on social media to create opportunities, being really strategic about the hashtags I used and the people I was engaging with to make sure they'd see my content to promote myself as a paid speaker for their business. And I started pitching myself to speaker agents once I had some content created so I could show what it was like seeing me speak and headlining different events. I started gathering reviews and recommendations of my speaking, right? These are all things you should do in any business to leverage

and set yourself up for advancement and to appear credible and as an expert in a field that people would want to hire you for. So I mean, all these things did not happen overnight. I ended up landing a TEDx talk, you know, after over a year and a half of pitching myself. I was told no hundreds of times. I finally landed one and that TEDx talk got promoted to TED. So then I had the ability to send and that TEDx talk got promoted to TED. So then I had the ability to send and that TEDx talk was a lot of work.

By the way, it's a crazy amount of work. But anyhow, so I would then send agents a link to TED Heather Monahan, and they could see my TED talk because my TEDx was promoted to TED, that gave me more credibility. Then I started working myself online as a TED speaker, which gave me a lot more credibility than I started leveraging that Ted talk and sharing clips

on social media. Again, it's like a ladder that you're climbing, right? All these different steps go into ultimately landing you some agents, ultimately landing you some paid gigs, ultimately landing you some great reviews and recommendations of your speaking. And then you learn along the way I learned I had to craft a few different speeches for a few different audiences. I had to focus on what the takeaways would be for them. What was unique and different about me. What were my audience and saying about me so people could have an understanding of what they're gonna get when they invest their money in my speaking.

And then I had to show up constantly and consistently as a speaker and social media on my website. So start looking through that lens of the person that's gonna land on your website or on your content. What does your profile look like? What does your website look like? I remember an agent said to me, I go to your website, Heather, and it looks like you're in an author

and a business person. Doesn't look like you're a speaker. And that was really powerful advice and perspective because to me, I thought it looked like I was a speaker, but he was saying, hit me over the head with it when I show up on your page, which that now if you go to Heather Monahan.com, I hit you over the head with the fact that I'm a speaker and an author, right? So that can constantly change and evolve. When I first launched my website in 2016, I was a C-suite executive.

So it looked different, and I keep adding and layering on, and innovating and changing, and that's the key, right? Is keep evolving, keep changing, keep moving towards what works, you know, start moving away from what doesn't, and test and try different things. And then you get advice, like that man gave me, you know, a couple of years ago to say,

you don't look like a speaker on your website, I think you need to update this. And every time you have to update, it's an investment. Right, so none of this is easy. It's that ladder that you're climbing to get to that next level. So, yes, I do get frustrated when I get these notes on social that say, hey, give me the one trick that I should apply to. Make the one intro for me that I need to get me into the one trick that I should apply to make the one intro for me that I need to get me into the speaking business or to land me a podcast or I haven't found that it's one intro that hasn't been the case in my life. I mean, there were moments when I landed the Steve Harvey show, I thought, this is it. This was the one

thing I needed to do. And then his show got canceled. Right. And that was like that was over. And nothing really huge came out of it Right, so it's so funny to look back in the moments that I thought this was the door I've always been waiting for it to open for me and then it wasn't so don't get hung up on the one magic pill Keep putting the reps in keep showing up and swinging keep deciding that done will always be better than perfect, because you're going to learn something from it, you're going to meet someone, you're going to tip a domino, that's going to tip another one, that's going to tip another, that's going to build momentum for you so you can start to take off.

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It's reading time. That sounds so funny to me, because I was never a big reader in my life until I got fired. That's really when it changed. So it's kind of crazy. All right, but this is an overcome your villains. And if you haven't listened to overcome your villains yet, unaudible, please go and get it.

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March 5th, 2020 was my last live speaking engagement. I had the opportunity to speak at an international finance conference and I was nervous. I had never spoken at a finance conference before, and this was my first time addressing an international audience, double whammy, because I have learned to trust myself, however, I knew I would find a common thread to join

me with the audience. The day before I was going to speak, I racked my brain, hoping to find a way to connect with them. That's when I remembered that my ex-husband had worked in the finance industry, and while I had not been in that industry myself, I did have an insider's peak into how competitive it was I could empathize with their challenges. So I decided to open with that story to relate and connect with them, and it was a hit. By the way, off grid right here, always open any talk with a personal story. It

helps draw your audience in. Anytime we can find a common thread between ourselves and others, we develop connection and relatability, and that is powerful. After the event, I went to the cocktail party. This was my first speaking engagement for a new speaker's bureau, and I wanted the feedback to be off the charts. I worked the room shaking everyone's hands. I had no idea that just one week later, COVID-19, which had been in the news, would make this simple gesture taboo. And asking for feedback. The feedback was fantastic. I was so proud.

I had stepped into the unknown again and it had paid off. It is amazing how fast things can change in our world and how incredibly unexpected it can be. That's why we always need to get up, dress up, and show up. Then on March 7, I received the email from my literary agent that she had accepted the 15th version of my book proposal. Yes, that means that on my 15th rewrite, it was finally a go. I don't want to downplay this. For one full year, I had worked hard to first land my agent, then write and rewrite and rewrite, rewrite, rewrite my book proposal. All in the hopes

that one day I would be able to get a publisher to say yes. But I've got to admit, there were times near the end of this year-long process that I became frustrated and started second-guessing whether I had targeted the right agent and if I was good enough for the big leagues, I can still clearly remember my agent's feedback on the 14th version of my proposal. While she saw a major improvement, she still knew I could do better. I was frustrated. So much so that I had secretly decided that if version number 15 wasn't the charm, then I was going to move on to find someone else who I hoped would believe in me a hundred percent. There was no science behind this decision. I had no experience

writing book proposals, and this was the first time I had worked with a literary agent. I knew only that I had been told, no, 14 times. When I thought the proposal, especially the latest version, which I thought was fantastic, should have gotten me a yes. This doesn't mean that I thought this agent was a villain. She was definitely not that. It simply meant I was wondering if I could ever be the right fit for her and maybe her for me. The fact that this was my first time working with her and my first time working on a book proposal put me in some unfamiliar territory. I was uncomfortable,

confused, and not sure where to turn next. I was questioning everything, including myself. I reluctantly revised the proposal one more time, sent it to my agent and waited. Out of the blue, I got the yes. Just like that, my reality changed completely. I had no idea that version 15 would be the charm. And now I can see that my agent believed in me completely. As she told me, she knew the proposal could be better and she was right. Just remember that. If I had thrown in the towel at version 14, you wouldn't be hearing this today. Success often looks easy from the outside, but on the inside,

it can be a real test to your self confidence. It's all about getting knocked down 14 times, then picking yourself back up for lucky number 15. Don't give up too soon on you. As all this was going on, we were entering a global pandemic. I was so excited to get a yes for my agent that I didn't even think about anything else, but celebration. The next step was for my agent to send her a letter to her target list of ideal publishers describing who I was, what my new book was about, and asking if they wanted a copy of the proposal to review. She sent out 15 letters, and we waited.

The following week, the virus began to spread across the US. We began to receive feedback from publishers. Some of the feedback was positive and some negative, but we did have several publishers that were interested. And even one that was very interested, my agent sent out the 15th version of my proposal to the interested publishers, and we waited. One of the ways I relieve stress is to take action.

Sometimes that can mean going for a workout, other times that means preparing for the worst. I had ordered water, protein shakes, canned foods, paper towels, toilet paper, and the bare necessities for survival. Before taking action, however, I always ask myself, what is the grief to gross ratio? In other words, what's the work put in versus the potential outcome? If the potential outcome is greater than the amount of work required to make it happen, then I move ahead. Conversely, if the amount of work going into it outweighs the potential outcome, then it's

time to re-evaluate. When deciding if I should act on something I ask, what is the grief to gross ratio? Next thing I knew, I received my first NO from a publisher, then another, and another. Given the timing of this feedback, at the same time I was in quarantine with my son, with all of my speaking engagements canceled, my number one revenue stream, by the way, I was beyond down. I jumped on the phone with one of my good friends to vent about my current situation when I was reminded.

It's not how many knows you get. The truth is, you really only need one yes. That shifted my focus immediately. Yes, I had received four knows, but my agent had sent out 15 pitches. I only needed one of them to come back, yes. I was suddenly feeling optimistic. This reminded me of playing softball when I was a kid. As a pitcher, when I would throw three balls, instead of worrying that I was about to walk

the batter, I would celebrate that now I only need to throw three strikes to get that batter out. It's all in how you view the opportunity in front of you. During this time, my son's school was moved to virtual. He was on Zoom technology for his classes. The transition went okay, although the first week was definitely an adjustment. Becoming my son's Zoom School lunch lady and principal, making sure he logged in for class on time, was a lot more work than I had ever expected. As the virus took hold, I took action, and ordered a pelletime.

If you don't have a pelleton, please get one in case of emergency. The monthly fee over a two-year window was reasonable, and again, worst-case scenario, if I was going to be locked up with my 12-year-old son for months, I knew I would need to be able to work out. I had no idea how the situation was about to play out. This was by far my best move yet. Not only did the Peloton give me a great workout with fantastic music, upbeat instructors, but it also gave me the chance to give virtual high fives on the screen.

No matter where everyone else was, we were able to cheer one another on and have a sense of normalcy and team. This was truly a godsend while we were stuck in our small apartment indefinitely. Another week went by, more knows, and then one yes. The yes was from a small publisher and the deal wasn't great. They cited the current pandemic as for the reason for their low offer. So suddenly, I was convinced. I had shopped my book proposal at the wrong time.

If only I had gone to market six months earlier when the economy was strong, I would have gotten more and better offers. At least that's what I thought. After going down this track for another week, I started to open my mind to the idea that maybe this was actually the right time. Maybe given the tremendous crisis we were all going through, this was exactly the right time for my book and the tools needed to overcome adversity and leapfrog villains. That is what I chose to focus on, done and done. Immediately after that change of mind, I received two very strong offers from major publishers. This was an interesting conundrum to be in all of a sudden.

How would I choose which publisher to go with? I remembered how I felt at my old job in corporate America when some people wanted me there and others really didn't. It is a terrible feeling. I figured I would rather be with someone who is into it to win it with me versus someone who was only somewhat interested.

I wanted committed, not just interested, and there is a big difference. And you should want that for you too. I had individual phone calls with each of the publishers. They were each fantastic in their own right, and they were both all in. They both wanted me and my book. That was a great feeling.

I then took a step back and outlined the pros and cons of each publisher. Then I called my agent and asked for her opinion. She's an expert. In the end, we both agreed that Harper Cone's leadership was the right fit, and we agreed to the deal. Then, crickets. It's so hard when you're new at something and you don't have anything to compare it to, I started to wonder if they didn't want me anymore. Can they even do that? Will they pull the offer off because of the pandemic? Was my timing so terrible? Would I ever hear from them again? If you do this to yourself, then no, you are not alone. This old habit was rearing its ugly head. Again, my entire life,

I believe that no communication means worst case scenario. I needed to remind myself that no communication is simply that, nothing. Instead of making assumptions and putting words into others' mouths, I needed to be patient, which is definitely my weakness. I asked my agent what was going on. She reached out to them. Turns out, publishing companies were not set up to make the move to virtual, and they were far behind on getting contracts done. Mine was on the to-do list, but they didn't know when they would get to it.

Patience was clearly something I was going to have to work on. The ups and downs during quarantine came fast and furious. Some days I was so grateful to have my son and our health and our great view cut to the next day when I would have a nervous breakdown and lose my mind because an unexpected package that was supposed to be delivered didn't come. My stress levels were at an all-time high and I started to feel trapped in our small apartment. Our washer and dryer broke.

The tires on my car went flat. My dishwasher broke. I forgot to make my son's lunch countless times when I had meetings and he was in his room on virtual Zoom school. The blinds in my bedroom fell off the rod and I couldn't fix them. No one would come to the house to fix them because of quarantine. But that wasn't all. When school finally opened for in-person classes, they sent my son home with a fever and we were told to quarantine yet again. My son's dog died unexpectedly. My mentor passed away. The air conditioning my car went out to the keys on my Mac keyboard broke while I was writing this book. It felt like Murphy's Law over and over again.

One day my son and I got off the parking garage elevator to go to our car and it was gone. I started crying. My son stopped me and asked me, why would someone steal our SUV when we are flanked by sports cars on either side of us? I stopped crying. Then I grabbed his hand and we walked right back to the elevator.

We had gotten off on the wrong floor. These were not my finest parenting moments. Then I remember the strategy that I had taught myself in years earlier. When you are facing a difficult time, focus on something that you're looking forward to in the not-so-distant future. Once you reach that, create something new to focus on and look forward to again. Dylan and I focused on the upcoming Michael Jordan Netflix documentary The Last Dance, which

we were both looking forward to seeing. While I had started off quarantine mostly optimistic and healthy, that ship had officially sailed. I began eating worse than I've ever eaten before. I was downing bags of peanut M&Ms and before I knew it, I had gained at least 15 pounds. My clothes weren't fitting. I wasn't really leaving the house much so I was able to hide it a bit, but I wasn't feeling good.

That was a powerful realization for me. Going out in public was the way I held myself accountable. With that accountability removed, I realized I was gonna have to create a new approach. With any goal, we need to hold ourselves accountable. And that clearly included my health. With all this insanity going on in the world around us, it also became evident that we wouldn't be going back to normal anytime soon,

which meant I needed to find a new way to drive revenue from insider apartment. I did a few virtual speeches, and I was good, but they didn't pay anywhere near as much as my in-person events. I needed more. I decided to jump on my peloton and figure it out. I'm my most creative when I work out. That's what my best ideas come to me. When are you your most creative and likely to solve problems?

It's important to ask yourself that question. On the bike, it hit me. I needed to go back to the messages where people had sent me DMs on social media and see what they were asking me for. Amidst great uncertainty, we can always find certainty within us. I ran to my computer, I started combing through my LinkedIn messages, within an hour, the answer was clear.

A lot of people have been asking me if I consulted, offered executive coaching, or would be a mentor. That was it. I had no idea what someone would charge for these things, but I knew speed to market is critical to success. If you can solve a problem for others, then you have a product or service to sell, and you are in business. I put a post on LinkedIn, announcing my new group coaching

program, launching May 1st. In the post, I said, you asked, I've delivered. I've got you on this one. I offered 100% money back guarantee because I knew I would work hard and I would over-deliver and that would take the fear out of buying. Then I said, send me a DM if you wanna sign up.

I'm only allowing 10 people in the program this month. Next month, the price goes up. I gave a call to action to move now. Within a couple of days, that program sold out. I was shocked. I was excited. But one thing, I had no idea what this new group coaching program would look like or how I'd run it. Now what do I do? I went back to my old trusty friend Google, a research other similar offerings and decided on a weekly group coaching call,

coupled with individual strategy sessions during the month. I knew I would need to collect an arsenal of testimonials from happy clients to promote and grow this new business. We live in a review and recommendation world, and it is critical that you have testimonials of your work. Don't have any? Start asking for them now. That first month, I over delivered for what I was charging. I was spending all my time on one-on-one coaching calls.

It was not a scalable business model. The good news is I received amazing testimonials to promote my business for the next month. I also learned the hard way that I had to pull back some of the offering to make the program work. Both for me and my clients. That's the key. In any business transaction, both sides have to benefit. When one side benefits, but not the other, it's not sustainable. Now, how is I going to convey this change and not lose clients or revenue? Undervaluing ourselves is always the wrong answer. I want to be perfectly clear. This time was beyond awful for everyone. My son would constantly remind me during the pandemic

that everyone was suffering. I understand that we may have had it better than many others, and that others may have had it better than us. But here's what I know. It was a very hard time for the world, and I am not minimizing that. What I am trying to do is provide you with the understanding and beliefs you need to be prepared to take on the current and future uncertainties that we are all certain to encounter and build a better future for you and the ones you love. And no matter if you are a single parent like me or you found yourself alone and isolated or happily married or frustrated.

We can all be proud that we made it through. Holding the belief that tough times are temporary and there will be better days ahead will carry us through these difficult moments. Key takeaway. Never rely on one revenue stream, one form of customer acquisition, or one means of delivering your product or service. Constantly challenge yourself to innovate how you monetize your business, acquire new customers, and solve problems for your client base. Change and uncertainty will be our constants. But we can always find our certainty within ourselves. So that was, gosh, that was a long chapter, right? Oh my gosh, Heather, overcome

your villains. Love it. That was chapter seven. I hope you liked it. And it just tied into this theme that I was talking to you about today, you know, that on the outside things might appear really easy and that, you know, it's just miraculous how people find success. But it's really more like a ladder and a climb and you know trial and error and mistakes and putting the reps in and showing back up again. And the key is not to give up. Pay attention to the signs. Pay attention to what you're learning.

See where you're building momentum and keep taking action. And just like I break down for you and overcome your villains, a three step process, beliefs, action, knowledge, stick to the three steps, they work. When you put that process in motion, you are destined to find success. Thank you for being with me this week. If you like the show, please share it, tag me when you do. You are immediately entered to win the audible version of competence creator or overcome your villains. I'd love to give it to you. And if you don't win, please go buy it. Both of them are so good.

Check out the reviews online. Start building your reviews for your business, for your brand. You are worth it. Can't wait to see you next week. Keep creating your confidence. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. I'm Jennifer Cohen, host the top ranking business and entrepreneur podcast, Habits and Hustle, apart the YAP media network, the number one business and self improvement podcast network.

So most people live the life they get and not the life they want. And I'm here to change all that. My goal with each episode is to give you the habits and hustle tips you need to show up to your life better, bigger, and bolder. Tune in now, and I'll not only help you answer the questions like what do you want most in life and why don't you have it, but we'll also help you make it a reality. I also picked the brains of top thought leaders on how they've gone to the top, and the advice they have to help you get there too. Head over to Happets and Hussle once you've done listening to this episode and get one step closer to boldness, one episode at a time.

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