EntreLeadership - #107: Christy Wright–Make Money Doing What You Love

Episode Date: August 11, 2015

If you ever dreamed of owning your own side business, then listen in. This week’s podcast features Ramsey Personality Christy Wright. A business coach, speaker and blogger, Christy helps moms across the nation turn their talents and gifts into income.  entreleadership.com/podcast Another great episode sponsored by our friends at Infusionsoft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

helping business leaders grow themselves, their team, and their profits. This is the Entree Leadership Podcast. Now, here is your host, Ken Coleman. We are coming to you from the Music City, and this is the podcast of leaders, by leaders, for leaders, wherever you are, whatever you're doing. We're thrilled that you're hanging out with us. Our feature conversation for this episode is with none other than Ramsey personality,

business coach, and just force of nature. Right. What I want to do is come alongside these women and help them engage. What are the talents and gifts that make you come alive? This is a conversation that will lift entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. Stay tuned because in our conversation with Christy, huge announcement that our entire organization is absolutely jacked about. That's going to be big fun. All right, leaders, you know this. Your database is your lifeblood, but some of you aren't using your database properly. You're just happening to you. your database. It's all about response. Number one, are you responding to your customers properly,

effectively, consistently? Number two, are they responding to you? Or are you just shooting them like a fire hose with all of your emails and marketing and so forth and so on? This is why Antre leadership uses Infusionsoft. We don't just promote them. We actually use them. They've changed the game for us, and it's all about response. Very excited to have Jeff Mask with us again. This is a fun series. I know it's adding value to you. Let's get right to it. Here's the next installment of one question with Infusion Soft's Jeff Mask. When we talk about fear, at the end of the day, optimism plays a huge part in overcoming that. And you touched on this. I want you to talk about how optimism in Infusion Soft's walls, through every step of the journey when you've had to face fear,

how did optimism play out practically? What does it look like, sound like, and how does it move? manifest. Perfect question. One of our core values is we face challenges with optimism. The key to that is facing the challenge. You don't sweep it under the carpet. You don't act like it's not there. You face the challenge. And in one of Jim Collins books that we love, he talks about Stockdale, who is a POW from the Vietnam War, who was in the Hanoi Hilton. And he survived years and years and years of torture. And Jim Collins interviewed him and said, how did you survive? And what Stockdale said was he said, you know, those that survived confronted the brutal facts of their reality with an undying belief that they would prevail. We simplify that by saying we face challenges

with optimism. And so personally, we've said many times, in fact, Clayton and I just this last week were saying, of all our core values that we honor and cherish, we face challenges with optimism is arguably the most important that enabled us to grow and scale and understanding that. But we had to realize we couldn't do that alone. It's one thing to master your mind, but entrepreneurship is a dark, lonely place. It can be. And too commonly, people either don't acknowledge that or don't recognize that and don't voice that out loud because they just want to put on the facade that everything is okay.

That's right. I'm okay and I'm successful versus really the reality of I am so scared. I don't know what to do. I think I might fail. I don't know if I can be in business next week, next year, next quarter, what have you, right? It's a crazy place. Associating yourself with like-minded entrepreneurs to help build that mastermind and community is critical. So associating yourself with like-minded entrepreneurs that have a passion for success is so critical.

A mastermind, if you will, a support group, if you will, because it's just a lonely place. You don't have people that are like you. Too many people say, you know what, go get a normal job. I don't understand. People just don't understand entrepreneurship commonly. And sometimes that's frustrating, but sometimes that's kind of exciting. It's fun for people to just think, yeah, you know what? You keep doing your thing.

This is the life. But you need to be around people that understand that, appreciate that, challenge you and help you become your best self instead of thinking you're a little bit crazy. It's very simple, folks. If you want to change the way you communicate with your clients, just go to infusionsoft.com slash entree. Infusionsoft.com slash entree. If you've never been to an entree leadership one day, one of the big treats for our audiences,

is discovering Christy Wright, one of the Ramsey personalities. You can learn more about Christy, Christy Wright. But you're really going to love this conversation. She's been on this podcast before, so hopefully she's not new to you. But this lady really understands small business leaders. She's been a coach of leaders. She speaks all around the country at our entree leadership events, and we're so excited about having her on here today. She is going to encourage your head and your heart. But ladies, husbands, if you've got a wife who is thinking about starting a business or has started a business, this is a must listen. Let's get right to it. Here is my conversation with Christy Wright. Christy, I'm so excited about this conversation because you and our team have been diligently looking into the need for these mompreneurs, moms.

You're a mom now, a brand new mom, and you're working and you're doing what you love. And so there's a huge need in America to help women kind of start their business to do something that they love. I want you to set the landscape for us right now. What are you learning about this? Well, it's awesome because we've been doing research for about two years. So everything from where we've done one-on-one interviews, we've done focus groups, we've done surveys where over 13,000 people have responded. And we're just seeing this consistent theme where women have a passion.

They have a talent or a skill. They have education and talents and background where they want to have an outlet to use that. And so they get caught up either in their full-time job where maybe they're not engaging that gift. You know, everyone doesn't love their job like you and I do in their full-time job. or they're a stay-at-home mom, and they're just caught up in the day-to-day of chores and laundry and diapers and trying to keep that going. But there's this real need for women to be able to engage their God-given strengths. And so what we want to do is we want to help them do that by creating a business out of that, where then not only do they get to engage their strengths, but they're actually able to produce income and contribute to their family income as well.

You've got some amazing things playing, and we're going to talk about that. But before we do that, you've got some tremendous experience with this growing up with a mother, who started a business. And you've seen this modeled. And it fuels your passion. So I want to go back to that because it's very significant. Talk about those early days when your mom decided, I'm going to start a bakery. She did.

She started it in the front window of this candy shop downtown here in Nashville. Well, it was interesting because she and my dad separated when I was six months old. And so at six months of age, my mom decided to start a little bakery. And she did this to raise and support me, which I can tell you, Ken, now being a mom myself of a five-month-old, I'm going, how did she do it? Like it blows my mind that she was able to manage not only a five-month-old, but also start a business at the same time. But she really was a survivor.

And what's cool is growing up in that environment, being the daughter of an entrepreneur, and seeing how she sacrificed and how her blood, sweat, and tears that went into the building this business really develops my character and who I am and my passions and my work ethic to help women with businesses as well. Because I have memories of being six and seven years old, and she would pull me out of bed at like three in the morning. wrap me up in blankets and take me down to the cake shop so she could bake really early.

And when we got there, she'd make me a pallet on all the big stacks of 50-pound powdered sugar and make me a little bed out of that. And then I would go to school that day with, you know, the smell of flour still in my hair. And some parents would look at that and say, oh, that's a terrible situation for a child to be in. But you know what? It made me who I am. I developed resilience and persistence. And I developed all these qualities because I was right there with my mom in the struggle of business.

So I have such a respect and appreciation for women out there doing this. Taking a nap on a 50-pound bag of powdered sugar seems like a kid's drink. It was pretty comfortable as well. I'm hearing that. I'm not feeling bad for you at all. I would have loved to take a nap on some powdered sugar. But, you know, it fuels your passion. It does.

And so I want to ask you, what's the raw emotion that you experience or raw emotions that you experience as you are on the precipice of a major initiative to help women just like your mom? Well, I think one of the things is it's really giving them permission to be who they are. And so there's something so incredible. and I can say as a mom myself. I've been a mom for all of five minutes, so I know I'm new to the game here. But it's very easy, Ken, to lose yourself in motherhood. It's very easy to lose your identity of who you were before that child to where now you're just mom. And they consume your entire world. And that's not a bad thing because they're wonderful. But I want to remind women that you are more. You are more than a wife. You are more than a mother. And God has given you a set of strengths and talents and gifts to offer the world around you. And if we're not careful, we stop offering who we are to those around us. And we just, instead become what we think they need to be. We are a warm meal on the table. We are a ride to soccer. We are tasks completed. And so what I want to do is come alongside these women and help them

engage. What are the talents and gifts that make you come alive? What gives you joy and breathes life into you and help them to find ways to invest time in those skills and those talents? And then take it even a step further beyond just being a hobby and actually turning that into a business that can serve the marketplace and serve their family by creating additional income, which gives them this dignity of participating in the family finances as well. And that's what's so valuable, what you're doing. It's not just inspiration, it's execution. So I want to focus our conversation for a bit on that.

I think those who are listening in know inherently some of the hurdles that these women face, being mothers, wives, and wanting to start a business. Let's identify a few of those early hurdles that you've got to overcome right off the bat to be able to execute on the inspiration. What are a few that women are facing? Well, I think it's just overwhelmed. You know, many of these women that I'm speaking to, they're not necessarily only creatives, because I'm talking to women that are, you do have the graphic designers and the event planners and those that sew dresses, but you also are talking to women that are accountants or, you know, writers and they're doing contract work, or you're talking to, I talk to one woman that actually

transcribes. And so there's a lot, all these different gifts and all these different industries that are represented, but they don't have the business background and they don't have the steps in the plan that they need. And so they immediately become overwhelmed. to where do I even start? Well, I guess I'll make some business cards. Well, I guess I'll make a Facebook page.

I'll put some flyers up at Starbucks. So they really need someone to simplify the business side of things so that they can spend less time on the things that they hate, like the business and record keeping, and more time on the thing that they love, their talent, their craft, that they're great at. And so that's what we want to do. We want to come alongside them and help them simplify the business so they can spend more time on what they love doing. So how are you doing that? Well, we're going to have an event. And so at this event, we're really going to provide a community of encouragement,

but also practical steps. We've got a plan for them. We've got worksheets and workbooks and tools and resources. And we've got a lot of things fun coming up leading up to the event in November. But at that event, we're really going to answer their most pressing questions. And they'll walk away with not only the inspiration that they need of the encouragement from this community that we're creating of other women just like them doing this. But we're going to give them the answers they need as well to go back and build their business in a way that's going to be successful for them. All right.

We're going to unpack that event, give you all the details. This is really exciting. but this is just the beginning. Right. What is your vision for seeing this play out? I know our team is looking at it. I know you may not be able to tell us everything. Sure.

But what is your vision? And this is really coming around what you want to see happen. Well, Ken, there's nothing out there on this. I've done research for two years. And anything that is out there is more for high-level entrepreneurs that are overwhelming to this market. And so we want to really claim this space. So we've created the business boutique.

And that's what we're putting out there. We're saying we are the place that you come for, all things business, your business questions to be answered, the steps and the plan that you need. And so long term, I would love for the business boutique to be much bigger than me, where people know what that is, they know where to go. It's the credible trustworthy source to help them build their business from scratch or turn their hobby into a business or overcome a hurdle if they're already doing it. And they may not even know who Christy Wright is, but they come there to get the questions that they need answered. So you want a power an army of women to create sustainable businesses.

Absolutely. And just imagine how different our economy would be. Imagine how different our culture and our world would be if it was full of women engaging their God-given strengths. If they were living from this place of strength instead of exhaustion every day of just doing the mundane chores. But they were engaging who God created them to be the full whole woman God created them to be. Not just the mom. That's certainly a piece of it. And it's a wonderful rewarding piece. But it's not the only piece. And so can you imagine what our world would look like if it was full of women out there doing this? I can't even, when you talk about dreaming big, that's what my big dream looks like, is seeing a world full of women doing that. All right. So we talked a minute ago about this huge feeling of being overwhelmed. That's kind of a big hurdle at the start. When they begin to overcome that and they get that practical advice, okay, here's how you do it. It's actually doable.

That helps with confidence. Talk about the balance part of it. You speak in Entree leadership events on this topic. That's a huge deal. So you help them fundamentally figure out here's the plan and steps. But how do you advise women on still maintaining those important jobs? You got the job you want to do in the marketplace, and you got the job you've got at home. How do they balance it?

Sure. What's interesting, because in all of our research, the number one problem that came back for women with side businesses was time management, was life balance. That was their number one struggle. Because when you think about it, Ken, working from home sounds like a dream until you work from home and you feel unmotivated and purposeless. and you've got laundry piles on piles of orders, on piles of, you know, other things to do, and it all kind of takes over your life. You know the socks, by the way? Right.

Just three kids. Can we just admit the fact that the most stressful thing women deal with is the socks? Can I tell you that I spend more hours trying to find lids for my Tupperware. Like when I think about the lost Tupperware lids, lost socks, it's like my life is being sucked away in these things. And you have one little boy. Wait to you another kid. It's like the socks get in the dryer and they decide to just screw with everybody. They disappear.

It's unbelievable. But yeah, you know, it really does kind of those aspects. of your life, your work and your home are no longer separate, but they bleed in in a way that even people that work full-time in an office job don't experience. And so there's practical steps you can give them of how to create a space and a schedule that you respect and treat this job like you would treat a real job, even though you get the flexibility of being at home, having laundry going and having dinner in a crock pot. So there's incredible benefits to working from home. But if you don't create a structure and a schedule and a space that you respect, it will start to take over and just

make you feel a little bit insane because you don't have any clear boundaries and any clear directions. So there's still ways to do that, but a lot of what I teach at Entree leadership about life balance, about engaging and creating time for things that matter to you still applies to these women as well. It's really creating a schedule that reflects what's most important to you. I love this focus group conversation. What surprised you as you've kind of dug into some things? I'm glad yes, because we had an insight actually at one of our groups yesterday that blew my mind. I had not considered this. So in all of my initial interviews when I talked to these women, all of them wanted to keep it a side business. For the most, part. Now, we had a small percentage that said, yeah, I want to grow it into a big business successful with lots of team members, and we would then, at that point, filter them into Entree leadership. That's our brand and our solution for small business owners. But because this is quite different with women with side businesses, the majority of the initial people I interviewed, their goal was to

keep it a side business, to never let it grow beyond themselves. They never wanted to hire people. But what's interesting is with my group yesterday, they said that as they evolved through the process, the business actually fueled their goals and their goals changed. So you may have someone just starting out that considers the possibility of what if. What if I turn this hobby into a business? She could never imagine having a team of five people or 50 people, but halfway through the process a year in, three years, five years in, as the business becomes more successful, it fuels her motivation so her goals and her dreams get bigger. And so we're starting to see that, you know, many of these women may actually be filtered into entree leadership through wanting to grow it

into a small business, but they don't start out with that goal. They start out with, I want to pay for soccer camp. It's that simple. Isn't that fun? Yeah. Do you just get fired up when you hear that kind of thing? I mean, you're on the precipice of something that could be a massive economical revolution. These women creating awesome businesses.

Well, and it's awesome, too, because it's not just an economical revolution, but it's also very personal for them. Of course. I spoke at Purdue University a couple years ago, and I gave my talk on life balance for women. When I talk about investing time in yourself and your hobbies and things that bring you joy. This woman came up to me. She looked so sad and she said, I love what you said, but I'll be honest, I don't even know what it's like to think about me. I don't even know what I would want to do because it's been so long since I've even considered myself, I've spent so many years

considering everyone else first. Now, I thought that makes me so sad for you that you've lost yourself so much for so long. But you know what's so cool is it doesn't take long of remembering, remembering when you were a child, remembering when you were a young adult, before you had kids, what are the things that you loved? Because often those are the things that these women are building businesses out of. The thing that I heard again and again in my interviews, when I said, how did you get the idea to start this specific business? Every one of them used the exact same words, Ken. They said, I had always loved sewing. I had always loved music. So now I teach music lessons. I had always loved events. So now I plan events. And it gives me chills, literally, just

thinking about it, because I'm going, you are inviting these women to engage in how God created them. And how powerful is that personally, but also, like you said, economically and financially as well. So I think we should pause for a moment. Okay. And for the husbands out there, you think this hits your wife right between the eyes. Ask her this question. Mom, wives, if you're listening to this conversation, pause for a moment.

And I'm going to ask you this question, fill in the blank. I have always loved blank. It's a great question. Answer that question. I got goosebumps. It's very, very exciting. Yep. I'm going to tell you what mine was.

Well, sure. Okay, so several years ago, I moved to a farm, which you're familiar with, because I tell this story all the time in Entree Leadership. It's one of my favorite stories. But I had always loved horses. I had always loved farms and animals. And so, Ken, if you literally go back to Granbury Elementary Yearbook, and you look at the yearbook when I was in the fourth grade and you graduate and you graduate and you graduate, and all of my friends in my fourth grade class, you know, doctors and lawyers and astronauts. And mine said, I want to live on a farm. That's what I said as a fourth grader because I love these animals. So fast forward to when I was 22, I moved to a farm and I started a side business boarding horses to help me pay my rent. Even for me, it came out of something I had always loved. So it's very powerful if women can ask that question and if husbands can challenge their wives with that question because it can engage and maybe ignite something in you, you didn't even know was dormant. And what are the possibilities from there?

You know, they're endless. You said so many good things just a minute ago. And so I wanted to ask that question, and I'm glad we did. I have always loved fill in the blank. But you said something else that some of the things you're hearing from these women is that they've never thought about them, right? And, of course, that's what makes mothers so great is their selfless service. However, it strikes me, Christy, that we all benefit so much from the out of boys and the atta girls. So I want to put you on the spot.

Okay. You can handle it quite well. Speak to moms because you're a mom now. And tell them what you are learning, what you are seeing, and what you are believing. about their ability to lead a company, to start a company. I think there's some women that need to hear. You know what? You can actually do this.

What makes these women special leaders? Well, it's so interesting because what you just said, they're such great moms and they're such great wives because they're so selfless. But the real root of that is they want to serve, right? They want to serve their family. They want to love their family well. And women are leading in their homes and in their workplaces and their full-time jobs.

They're leading in many different ways, even if they don't see their role as a leadership role. And so whenever you flip that and you go, what would make a woman a mom or even a young woman or older woman, regardless of your phase of life, what would make you a great leader? It's that same quality. It's your desire to serve. It's your desire to treat people well, to take care of them. And that's what business is. That's what good business is anyway, right?

That's what we teach in entree leadership. The golden rule we do business by treating others as you'd want to be treated. And these women that's so intuitive for them, it comes so naturally to them to love and to serve that it's like that is not. a downfall or a flaw in business, that is their unique angle. That is what makes them set apart in business, and that's what's going to make their business successful. You have been coaching leaders for years. You have been speaking around the country for years. Obviously, you co-headline Andre leadership one day with Dave Ramsey and Chris Hogan. You believe this, you understand this, you're passionate about this, and it's very obvious of this conversation. We talked just a little bit earlier in our conversation

about this exciting new event. And I want to make sure that our listeners understand. Our company is jacked out of our mind about this. This is not another event. This is the beginning of a whole stream of focused business. I mean, it really is a movement. It really is. And we are all in. Right. Is that safe to say? Absolutely. Am I being a little dramatic right now? Because I can be a little dramatic. No. And no. I can too. The thing is, is it's interesting with the Etsy generation, with the gentrification, with the farm to table, and buy local and boutiques and, and, and, and, and, you know, and Pinterest and all that, it's already happening. And so we're stepping in there and we're saying,

we're going to help you do this well. It's already happening on that. It's already happening on Facebook with people having little businesses on their personal Facebook page. We're just going to say, we're going to give you the tools that you need to do this well and win. So this whole thing starts November 6 and 7. I want you to unpack this thing. Because, again, this is not a ticket. This is the beginning for so many women.

We're so, Jack. Tell us about the event. It really is. So, okay, it's for two days. So two full days, we're going to have myself, Rachel Cruz, Dave's daughter, and a lineup of amazing experts and speakers that are going to help these women on all of the different aspects of their business that they need help with. Walk us through the speakers because this is a phenomenal lineup.

Okay, perfect. So we've got Stephanie Parker. She's got an incredible story. She is the creator of Zippity Zip, and she actually was on Shark Tank. So she has this amazing story of building her business debt-free. And she also, interestingly enough, was motivated to do the business and start it. because she wanted to go home and stay with her kids. She's Exhibit A.

Yeah. She really is. Yes, perfectly in the market. So she's going to tell her story of how she built her business, which is so successful now, and really share about how she did that debt-free as well. We've got Tiffany Peterson. She's the founder of Lighthouse Principles. We've got Shannon Lytton.

She's the president and CEO of five-by-five marketing agency. We've got a wide variety here, Ken. Mari Smith, she really is an expert on social media. For example, Facebook hired her to represent them on how to do Facebook well. So if Facebook's hiring her, you know that she is a rock star in this space. So she's going to give these women so many tips on how to leverage all social medias for their business and help them do that. Ellie Holcomb is going to do music, which is fun story.

Ellie and I went to UT together, and we actually worked in a women's ministry back then. So it's fun that that kind of comes full circle, and she's just so beautiful. Her voice is amazing, and she's going to do a devotional for us on the second day. Jeremy Cowart will be there. He was actually named by Huffington Post as the most influential photographer on the internet, which is unbelievable. And we actually have several other speakers we're working on finalizing, but it's going to be an incredible lineup because we're covering such a wide variety of what these women need. They're going to walk away, probably a little overwhelmed with how much information they have, but they're going to have workbooks and tools that when they go back, they know exactly what they need to do to win with their business.

And they're going to also be, hopefully, on this high of encouragement of being surrounded in a room of over 1,000 other women that are doing the same thing, that really they get that inspiration there from there and on stage as well. As I've looked at this event and heard from our amazing team and you who are planning it, I want to point this out. You may be overwhelmed, but it's the best kind of overwhelmed. You'll be overwhelmed from excitement. You won't sleep for three or four days because you're going to actually have a plan, a roadmap and a lot of tools to get it done. It's going to be a great two days.

Tell these ladies and men who need to tell their ladies how they come to the event. How do they sign up? So we're launching it today, which is really exciting. And we do have limited seats. They can find tickets on Dave Ramsey.com or call 88822Piece. The event will sell out. I have no doubt about that because the demand I've seen, Ken, where women have already been calling, emailing, commenting on my blog for the last two years, please hurry up and create this event.

It's going to go quick. I have no doubt about that. But the good news is this is just the first. Like you said, it's the first of many. So we're very excited about that. And just give us one more little tease about what's coming after the event, because it just gets things rolling. And you're going to be working in so many different. have just given us some idea of what to expect.

So we're going to have a lot of options, especially launching in the spring. So we'll have more events, possibly be going to some other cities. We're looking towards a book in the future. So we're looking into some of these things, even though they're not finalized yet. But we know that this first event being the kickoff is not only going to kick it off for the women, it's kicking it off for us as well. And we're going to learn a lot and really plow forward in taking this space. Well, Christy, I want to wrap our conversation with just you talking to women. What would you say to them from your heart?

You know, I wrote a blog, I guess so it was a couple weeks ago. And the title of the blog was the five words that people in your life need to hear. And they were five words that moved me when my husband said them to me. And the blog went viral because this hit a pain point. And I would say this, you're doing a good job. So many people just live their life exhausted, feeling like they're coming from behind, feeling like they're not enough. But you know what? Moms and women and husbands, you're doing a good job.

Don't worry about all the details of your kid's life is not Pinterest perfect. You're doing a good job. and they're going to turn out great because you are taking care of you and being the person God created you to be. Wow. You're doing a good job. Can't, won't add anything more to that. Chris, you're right.

You're awesome. Thanks for being with us. Thank you. Okay, if you want to come to the business boutique event, again, it's November 6 and 7 in Nashville, Tennessee, even if you're looking at it extra 50 bucks or maybe as much as $5,000 a month and beyond, the ideas, the practical advice, the toolkit that you're going to get. at this event, ladies, is amazing. I'm telling you, you need to be here.

Early bird pricing starts at $99 per person. Now, on the day that this podcast has launched, it's out there. Tickets are going to go fast, so you need to move quickly to dayoramsy.com or call AAA 22P, 22Ps, or Dave Ramsey.com, to get the ticket. Now, we have a special pricing. As I said, early bird pricing, $99 per person, or you can get two seats for $175. That's a tremendous value. Two days, you'll be energized, and you'll be equipped.

We want to see you there. The event is The Business Boutique. Again, check out everything you need to know and register, Dave Ramsey.com. Or call, AAA22 piece. You can connect with Christy online. She's got a great blog, Christyright.com. That's Christyright.

She's on Twitter at Christy B. Wright on Twitter. And then her Facebook page is Facebook.com slash official Christy Wright. That's Facebook.com official, Christy Wright. Trust me, you need to follow her. She's doing some incredible stuff online and on social. Well, folks, that's going to do it for this edition of the Entry Leadership Podcast.

We appreciate you so very much. We say that all the time. We want you to help us spread the word. We also want to hear from you. You can always tell us what you're thinking at podcast at Entryleadership.com. We do read the emails. We want to know. Who do you want to hear from?

We get our best guest ideas many times from you, our loyal audience. Well, on behalf of Eric the producer and the entire Entree leadership team, thank you for listening. We'll talk with you again very soon.