The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – EXPERT IN YOU: Build a Lucrative and Impactful Coaching & Consulting Business from Your Xpertise by Ann L. Carden

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

EXPERT IN YOU: Build a Lucrative and Impactful Coaching & Consulting Business from Your Xpertise by Ann L. Carden https://amzn.to/3JEq3sY What would your life look like if you could consistently bring in $15, 20k, 50k or even $100k or more a MONTH? What would your life look like if you were consistently bringing in high-paying, high-value clients you love working with and who appreciate you?I am going to give you what I found to be the winning formula I use myself and teach others to do. The BEAUTIFUL thing is, once you get things working right, you will have a rinse-and-repeat system you can count on to build a dream business. From there, you can scale and leverage your business to achieve an even higher level of success. Many coaches and consultants are out there flailing in the wind to try to have success. One month they have many clients with a high income but then they lose a couple of clients and they are back down again. Being on the income roller-coaster is no way to run or enjoy your business. My first business started in 1991 after leaving a thirteen-year corporate business management position to stay home and raise my babies. Making a move from the west coast to the Midwest to be closer to family, we clearly didn’t think through all the obstacles we would face. Because of the financial struggles we experienced, I started my entrepreneurial journey that would span over twenty-nine years (as I am writing this book.) Over the twenty-nine years, I have built six businesses from the ground up and have sold five of them for significant profits. My coaching and consulting business is my sixth successful business. Over the years I have finally “dialed in” what it takes to have a multiple-six-figure or beyond coaching and consulting business you can love, helping clients get great results, making a great income, while still having freedom in your life. These things are why I am writing this book for you. This book is for the success-minded coaches and consultants or professional service providers who want to reach a higher level in their business. In this book, I am going to provide you with a step-by-step strategic game plan to reach your next level. My hope is when you implement what you learn from this book it will help you change your business and your life. I’m going to teach you how to plan the business and income you want, how to get clients, how to deliver your services, and scale a coaching and consulting business. This book, “EXPERT IN YOU” – Build a Lucrative and Impactful Coaching and Consulting Business From Your Xpertise, is a strategic game-plan for you. There are plenty of coaches just getting started in their business and they may be earning a few thousand dollars a month on a consistent basis, but they are barely getting by. Making low monthly revenue makes it difficult financially to invest in themselves or their business for growth. A lack of financial resources will limit their influence, impact, and freedom. They ultimately can’t scale their business because they don’t have consistent leads, appointments, clients, or money. Many more coaches and consultants become trapped in the way they build their business and as a result, they struggle to have the freedom they desire or the money they deserve. This results in coaches having to work with difficult clients; taking anyone who can pay them (even if it is a little.) Because they struggle financially, they often aren’t able to develop a working process or systems to reach higher levels of revenue or income.I am here to tell you that the strategies and plans I have put into this book are not the only way to build a lucrative business, but they are the effective strategies I use and teach that has allowed me to build a business beyond my wildest dreams, without sacrificing the quality of my life. You can have this too!

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show. The preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready. Get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. It's Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com.

There you go. Welcome to the show. We just have to hit the right buttons there. Welcome to the Big Show, my family and friends. We certainly appreciate you guys being here. Thanks, as always, for tuning in. Make sure you refer the show to your family, friends, and relatives. Go to GoodReese.com, Fortress, Chris Foss, LinkedIn.com, Fortress, Chris Foss,

Chris Foss, one of the TikTokany, and all those crazy places on the Internet. Today we have an amazing young lady on the show. We're going to be talking to her about her business sense, her experience, her consultancy, and helping you do better with everything you're doing. Ann Carden is on the show with us today. She's a strategic business growth and marketing sales consultant. And she's going to be talking to us about her business, what she does and how she does it, and how you can do yours better.

She has more than 43 years of business, marketing, and sales experience with over 32 years as an entrepreneur. She's built seven successful businesses, selling five of them, and is a current owner of two. Her first business started out of financial hardship after leaving her corporate career and income to stay home and raise kids. And then that business went global before the internet and technology we have today. It was sold years later when she began her next small business. She's been coaching and consulting for the past 13 years and has worked with several

hundred small business owners, consultants, coaches, and professional entrepreneurs in over 60 different types of businesses to further their success. Welcome to the show, Ann. How are you? Thanks, Chris. It's great to be here. I am wonderful.

Thanks so much. Thanks. It's wonderful to have you as well. Give us your dot coms. Where can people find you on the interwebs? Yes, you can go to annlcardin.com. That's my website. And you can also find me YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook. Google me.

You can find me. There you go. And you said annelcardin.com, correct? Yes. There you go. So give us a 30,000 overview of what you do and how you do it. Yes. So I work with professional entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, experts, people who are great at what they do.

I help them really level up their business, scale up their business, and build something very high-end. So they're getting those really premium clients. It could be $50,000, $100,000, several hundred thousand dollar clients. So helping them build with a handful of people. There you go. And you've got a book called Expert in You, Build a Lucrative and Impactful Coaching and Consulting Business from Your Expertise you put out in 2020 as well.

I do, yes. That was my latest book. I'm getting ready to do another one, and I'm launching a magazine as well. Yes. There you go. Talk to us a little bit about how you were raised, grew up, what gave you the entrepreneurial bug.

We kind of alluded to that a little in your bio, but people like to hear it from your voice. How did you grow up and get the entrepreneurial addiction, as it were? You know, it's really funny because even as a kid, and this actually came out when I was a guest on a podcast, and they said, when was your first business? And I started thinking back, and I think I was about eight years old old and I was selling craft classes to the neighborhood kids and charging them and running those in my basement. And that was my first time doing something like that. And all through my childhood, I found ways to make money. I was always selling things. I was always doing things to make money, but my dad has also been an entrepreneur all of my life. So I guess subconsciously I knew that's what he did,

but I had never really thought about that until I realized I was doing the same thing. Go out and make your own money. There you go, the influence of a good father. If I had kids, I would have all taught them entrepreneurs. In fact, I would have been like, well, you're 10. What business are we running here, buddy? What do we got? What do we find?

Right. What do we find business registrations from? I don't know. What is it? What's going on? The lemonade stand? Let's do it. Whatever it is.

I agree. Yeah. They'd be forced to wear double-breasted suits and a haircut gecko from Wall Street. Wall Street. The Wall Street movie. Gordon Gekko from The Wall Street movie. Gordon Gecko from the Wall Street movie. And I went down the corporate path and did that for 13 years, but ended up going back into being an owner, doing my own thing.

Yeah. It's great to be your own boss. What do you feel is so beneficial to working for yourself as opposed to others to see if we can inspire some people to join us? Yeah, I think the one thing that I love the most is that you can really pivot and do whatever you need to do. So it doesn't matter what's going on in the economy. It doesn't matter what's happening around us. If we can innovate and we can think about, okay, what can I do with this? I mean, just the sky's the limit. There are no limits as to what we can think about, okay, what can I do with this? I mean, just the sky's the limit.

There are no limits as to what we can accomplish. It's as big as our imagination, right? Definitely. And I like just not having anybody really be my boss. That's kind of my favorite thing. I'm unemployable at this point. I'm 56. If I go into a, if I go in to get hired by some company, my resume is going to be just a mess. There's only one job you've done here for all these years and, and you just work for yourself. That's it. That's your, that's your experience, but I'm probably, I'm probably the best person you can hire and I'd probably do better than your CEO. So there you go. So let's, let's get into what you do and how you do it. Who are your clients that you work with?

Anybody listening out there who's wondering if you can help them, who are the clients and the people that you work with, and what are some of the programs or coaching things that you, courses, maybe you do with them? Yeah, so I really have kind have two sides to my business. First of all, I have my media agency and then the expert in you that I'm expanding that brand. But then I have the coaching consulting side. But I really work with two different types of clients. One is people that are already experts at what they do, but now they want to start coaching, consulting, maybe running programs

of some kind, and they don't really know how to put the pieces together and leverage that expertise. So they would be more, they're not startups, but they are startups as far as stepping into this world. And then the other people that I work with are people that are really ready to level up. They have a good business. They're doing great. They get great results with their clients, but they're ready to just take things to a new level. They want to get those premium high-end clients. They want to build a more high-end brand and just really work at the top of their industry, get into that top level. So it's really both of those markets. There you go. And you help them take it to the next level.

What are some mistakes that you have made building businesses that you want to help others avoid? Oh, gosh. When I came into the coaching space, I went down a lot of rabbit holes. I invested a lot of money in different programs and things to learn what not to do and what didn't work for me. When I came into the business coaching space, I had all of these years of experience and expertise and even selling businesses. But I kind of fell into sort of the low ticket trap that a lot of entrepreneurs fall into. And I was bringing in the wrong clients and I wasn't charging a lot. And I just kept hitting the ceiling in my business. And I thought, what is wrong here? Why can't I build businesses? Why can't I get this one into multiple six and seven figures? And I really almost even quit because I was so discouraged with the industry. I thought, this is not what I signed up for. I don't love this. And I didn't feel fulfilled because I wasn't getting to do the things that I wanted to do with my clients

because of really the way I was taught to be building this business. So I took a step back and I said, I'm going to figure this out. And the one thing that I had done through all the years of building businesses and even in my corporate days, I was used to working in a premium market. And I always had very high-end programs. Just to give you an idea, Chris, over 20-something years ago when I was running health clubs and weight loss centers, I mean, they were mine, but we had a $12,000 fitness program. That was unheard of back then. And I always knew that worked. It was always the thing that gave me the profitability to expand and go

bigger. And so when I kind of took a step back and said, what's wrong here? That was the thing that came to my mind. Oh my gosh, you're playing too small. You're not leveraging all of your expertise. You're not packaging this in a way that you can help people make these big leaps in their business. And that's worth more money and that's worth more and it's more impact. So when I made that shift and I started, I built out a high end really kind of suite of offers and I started selling at the high end and then everything else was a downsell versus the opposite, which is what most people do.

They start low and they try to get people to upsell. I did the opposite. And when I did that, my business exploded. And when I helped other people, it worked for them too. So yeah, that's where it came from. There you go. You know, after you do business for so long, regardless of the type of business,

it's pretty, I don't want to say rudimentary, but there's basically the same tools you utilize throughout it. You know, I've phoned, I don't know, say rudimentary, but there's basically the same tools you utilize throughout it. You know, I've phoned, I don't know, 30 different corporations plus or more. And basically you just, the models are mostly the same. I mean, of course you have your balance sheet, you focus on profitability, your P&Ls and income statements, you know, you invest in culture, you build your employees, you build the widget, and then you scale the widget.

It's pretty much all the same. And a lot of it isn't so much about the widget, because, I mean, that's pretty simple. But a lot of it is targeting, marketing, finding the right person to buy your product. If there is a person that will buy your product, I know some people build products, and you're like, who did you build this for? Because I don't know that there's anybody that really wants what you built.

There's a lot that go into the graveyard in that. And, you know, it's a lot of that sort of stuff. Now you have, I think, two books. Do you want to delve into the two of the books that you have? Yeah, I really, I actually have three, but I have two in front of me. These are my most recent, 10 Marketing and Money-Making Secrets Every Business Owner Must Know. So that was, oh gosh, that's been several years. And then my expert in your book.

And then I have another one called Insider Secrets to Small Business Success. That was my very first book. It was probably about 14 years ago. And it's really designed more for kind of a startup. You know, here are the things you should know. Here are the things you should be aware of going into mistakes that I made. So that was my first book. There you go. And so in it, you help people consistently bring in 15,000, 20K, 50K, even 100Ks or more a month? Yes. So as I help them really build out and get these high-end clients, I help them put in the marketing systems and everything

so that they can continue to bring in these high-end clients. But there are some other pieces, the way I help them take their payments, structure their payments, especially in the coaching industry, a lot of coaches will say, let's say they're charging $30,000. They'll spread that out over 12 months. And I actually help them to get paid more in full or fund that so that they're getting those bigger shots of revenue. And so if you think about even a $50,000 client, if they could bring into a month, they, they, you know, they're at $100,000. And if they've got the

marketing engine and system in place, they can do that month after month. Or if they're bringing in $100,000 clients and they can bring in one a month. You know, Chris, from running businesses, it's really about the math and the numbers and how do you make that work. But just that piece alone, a lot of times can really change the game for people because if they're out there selling something charging, let's say $1,000 a month per client to get to $25,000 a month, they have to be working with 25 people. They have to keep doing that. Just the shift alone can make a big difference for coaches and consultants. There you go.

It's a numbers game. It is. It's a numbers game. And, I mean, it just makes all the difference when you're running the numbers. You know, people always forget. They always teach us about the sales funnel. You know, this is before sales funnels, but this is back in retail back in the day. And, you know, our sales manager would draw, you know, that funnel on the board.

And he's, here's your contacts, how many people you got to talk to. And then here's your people that you get into the middle level. And then out the bottom comes your sales. And so you've always got to be talking to your people that you get into the middle level and then out the bottom comes your sales. And so you've always got to be talking to more people than you're selling. And, you know, a lot of people that aren't very good at sales or marketing don't understand that. They're just like, I don't talk to one person and it becomes a sale.

What? Right. You don't talk to 10 people to get one sale? That's a lot of work. Right. Welcome to business. Yes. And it is a hard part for people and for, you know, coaches and consultants, they get, they have a lack of clarity around how they're going to package their offers and what they're going to sell. And

they have a lack of clarity around the message to market. And, and I had to learn all, all of those things as well. But I always say, if you know how to market and sell, you will never be without income. You will never be without it. There you go. I mean, income's great. I've heard of it. I've heard it's good. I like that.

The IRS also likes income, my income as well, evidently. And anyone's income, evidently, when it comes down to it. They're kind of into income, the old IRS. But it pays for the roads. It pays for roads and politicians to sit around and do nothing. I'm kidding. He's so true. Enough of the politics jokes, Chris.

How does someone know if they're not asking enough for the value of their services? How do they know what too much is, maybe? Yeah. I think that's a great question. First of all, you really need to understand the value you're bringing to the market. And also the market you're working with is going to make a big difference in this as well. If you're targeting markets where there's not a lot of money, you're going to be capped at what you can charge and what you can offer.

But also the bigger the solution, the bigger the problems you're solving, the more you're solving, the more you can charge. And so it's really understanding the amount of money that you're asking to the results or the outcome or the transformation you're helping them get. So I like to just use money as an example. It doesn't have to be money. It could be marriages. It could really be health, anything. But if you think about if you can help an organization or a company get a $10 million bump, what would make sense for them to pay you? And that could be half a million dollars, a million dollars, even much more. So it's understanding that value to market.

And then, again, making sure that the target market is aligned with that value that you're providing and what you want to charge. Yeah. At least charge them 10 bucks, eh? At least. Or 100. Maybe 100. Maybe 100 bucks. 100 bucks. That sounds like a good figure. I sound like who's that evil guy on the movies where he's one million dollars, and they're like, sir, things have changed. You need to charge like a billion dollars. That's true. Yeah, that's what I sound like right there.

So as you go through these different folks and help them, what's the best advice you can give to overcoming challenges that come in business or life? I've got a few. Oh, gosh. I actually just did a video around this today for YouTube, but I talked about resistance and fear. You know, That comes up. It doesn't matter if you're at a small, just getting started or if you are going bigger and expanding and taking big risks. And the one thing that I say is fear is like building a muscle. You don't go to the gym, do 10 bicep curls and go, oh, hey, look at my big muscle. You have to work it. And fear is the same way.

You have to just keep stepping through it and to keep taking those risks and just working through that fear. And it becomes like a muscle where, okay, now it's not that big of a deal. Not to mean that you won't be scared, but the other thing is resistance is always going to come before a breakthrough.

I see it. I've seen it over and over again. And anytime you feel resistance, you should be getting excited about that because a lot of coaches would say, you're not aligned. I disagree with that. I think you're in for a big breakthrough. So when you're playing bigger, resistance is going to be part of it. And you just have to understand that.

And you have to learn how to navigate that. I totally agree. You know, one of my favorite books is Ryan Holiday's book, The Obstacle is the Way. And a lot of it's based in Stoicism. And so, you know, Stoics believe that, you know, when you come across an obstacle, you know, it's your job to push through it instead of sitting around crying about, hey, is there a rock in my way? That doesn't work. Yeah. I mean, it does for some people, I guess. It doesn't move the rock, but they just, it gives them something to do, I guess.

And I mean, you can just play victim all day long with stuff like that. But, you know, the great thing about humanity and kind of our nature and being creative is, you know, we figure out a way to get a lever or something, move the rock, or we get a bunch of people together and we go, hey, let's work together and move this rock, eh? And, you know, that just just that just makes the difference and so i love that sort of mindset there was something else i had set up but ryan holiday's book is really great because it talks about you know the obstacles the way oh i remember so when i was writing my book in 2021 and my memoir of all my crazy business stories all through my life, available at a retail interview, whatever.

And I remember I was going through the editing process, and I had reached the point of where I'd been writing for 10, 12 hours a day trying to finish the book. And the editing people were making me mental because they kept throwing stuff away. And you're just like, that was 5,000 words and a lot of brain damage. And so I finally reached a point where I was at this shining moment where I felt like I was typing, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Like I was reaching that insane part of Jack. I get it.

And so I was complaining about it, I think on Facebook or I think I had an author on or something. And I kind of bitched about it in the green room. And she said to me, she goes, Chris, the fact that you're, this moment that you're at right now where you're ready to just throw it all away and quit. She goes, that means you're at right now where you're ready to just throw it all away and quit. She goes, that means you're almost there. Yes. And I was like, shut up.

No, but do you know how many people stop there, Chris? Like they stop themselves. Yes. Yes. And she was right. And I talked to another author and, you know,

she said, Chris, there's someone who needs to read your book. There's someone who needs those stories. You're not going to probably ever meet them. If you're lucky, you might meet them. One of the other authors on my show had a gal come up to her at a book signing and tell her that I used to be in prison. And your books were inspiring us to not recidivate in prison and to get out of prison and do something with our lives.

And we actually had a book club that would read your books in the thing. recidivate in prison and to get out of prison and do something with our lives. And we actually had a book club that would read your books in the thing. And so now when she writes, she keeps a picture of that young lady in her orange jumpsuit before her to remind her that there's somebody who needs to hear that book and to what you said, you know, sometimes, sometimes, and they were all right, I was, I was there. I just needed to, i just need to you know just keep grinding a little bit further and there it was boom it was done and right three feet before the gold right exactly and you know now i look back and i'm like god damn good thing yeah i almost

blew it i think i would have still kept going but i was really enjoying bitching about it and i was really starting to complain about it. Thankfully, the author friends that I have, it's good to have lots of author friends. They jumped in and they're like, hey, moron. Now that you're, you know, after you write your first book, you know, it becomes easier because you're like, I know how this whole process goes. What's a good business story that you like that might inspire others to become an entrepreneur? To become an entrepreneur. Or maybe a time you bailed out a client or helped them achieve a new goal.

Yeah, I think so. One of my favorite stories is I had a client that came to me. He was a referral from a past client. And he had been trying to launch his business business talking about stopping three feet before the gold. He had been trying to launch his business for about six months and he was getting no traction at all. He had no appointments. No, I mean, nobody wanted his thing. And so I, you know, I started working with him and he said, and I have 90 days to get this going or I'm going to have to go back and get a job. And I'm like, okay, no pressure. Here we go. But I looked at everything he was doing. First of all, his offer wasn't dialed in the way it needed to be. He was trying to sell a machine

actually. And I said, there's more to it that we can, because I help people with coaching, consulting businesses. I said, there's more to it that you can do here. So I said, let's repackage this. And we took him, it was going to be like a $4,000 thing and pitch it to a $25,000 thing. And we added in some marketing and we fixed his marketing. We fixed his sales process. And he went to actually a trade show right in front of his ideal clients. And he was able to close $80,000 that weekend. And then he went to build almost a million dollar business in 12 months. And it was because we got his system working. It was rinse and repeat.

He hired some salespeople in different places in the country, and they were able to duplicate the process. So that was a fun story because it just shows the opportunity when you have the right things in place. And just like him, he had tried and tried. He was even working with different people to do different things, but nothing was cohesive. He was kind of piecemealing. So this person over here was telling him how to sell.

This person over here was telling him how to market. Nothing was cohesive. Nobody was looking at the whole business. And that was a big eye-opener for me too, that I don't want to just do one thing with people. I like to look at everything they're doing and be sort of that A to Z coach. And so that's a lesson for people. If you're piecemealing things and you're grabbing from here and you're grabbing from there, just know it's number one, going to be more expensive. It not just in lost opportunity, but also probably in outlay of investing, but it's also not going to move you as fast doing something like that.

You know, I believe anybody can build a business if they're willing to put in the work and put in the effort, but where they go down the wrong path is a lot of times they don't get the right help or they do, they're looking for tactics or they're looking for the next latest, greatest strategy. And that just isn't the proper way to build a business. Definitely. I always think of it as like a combo to a safe and you've got to make sure, like you said, all the pieces are aligned. There's a sequence. Yeah. There's a sequence to it. There's, there's, you know, it's, it it. It's basically like a combination, and you've got to be able to get that dial right. And you can be off like one hair or two, and you don't have that third number, whatever it is.

And so that's usually when I think about when I'm innovating or I'm trying to resolve something or create something, you'll try stuff. And you just don't know when it works. And, like, all of a sudden, you'll hit that right combo, and the lights kick on, and the engines roar, and you go, okay. And the music plays. The music plays, yeah. We found the secret sauce, whatever. And, yeah, I just, so what I do is I think of it as a combination of safe.

Like, I'm a safe cracker, be breaking a safe. Maybe I was a criminal. I may, I may have been a criminal in my prior life or something in the twenties. I was a safe cracker for the mom or something, but yeah, I just kind of think of it that way. And then I don't get so frustrated cause I'm like, okay, I just, all right, I got two clicks and we got, you know, some things are starting to work here and, and make some noise. Okay. We just got to find what the, that, that final thing is. And so if you just kind of think of it that way, um, it's a little bit easier because you're like, there's always a way,

like there's always a way to make something better. There's always a way to innovate. That's what I always think in my head. There's always a better way to do something. And then once you figure out what that is, there's a better way to do that. And there's a better way to do that. It seems like it's an infinite loop. You know, you see people constantly take great ideas and make them better. Like I always joke on the show about how, and this is true. I, I, when I was a kid, I remember thinking, you know, those, those staples and, and paperclips, you know, that's pretty much done somebody invented that and that's that's as far as that's going and then i started noticing i go to the office

store and there would be paper clips that were painted and they were painted like different colors and and then they some were some were grooved so that they could hold the paper better they you know put little g's in them and so they could do that paper better. They, you know, put little jingles in them. And so they could do that. And that just, you know, next level. And I constantly say, there's probably more they've done. But I'm just like, wow, okay. So there never is an end to the ability to innovate and do stuff and make things better.

Yeah. So you can just keep going. You know, that's such a great example. And if you, speaking of the paperclip, and I love that example. You know, that's such a great example. And if he's speaking of the paperclip and that, I love that example. I'm going to file that in my brain, but if you even think about it, they even changed the shape. So now there's fancy paperclips, right? And those are premium. Those are the ones you pay more for. You pay 10 times more for 10 of those, but, But it does show that there is a market and yes,

things can consistently evolve. And yes, people that are able to just innovate and be smart and know that there are really no limits. I mean, like I said, it really, the limit is what our imagination can come up with. There you go. One of the other favorite innovations that I saw that, you know, I thought was done, like tools, you know, power tools, you go to the Home Depot, they got, I don't know the names of power tools, because I pay somebody else to do power stuff. You know, if I work with power tools, stuff's just going to break and people are going to get injured. It's not a good look, right? I'm not, I'm not the power tool person. Early on in building our desks and our office equipment, my business partner was like, no more for you.

You just don't touch anything. We'll build the stuff. I think I put together a desk. It was one of those slap-together desks with glue and dowels and stuff. Know your strengths, right? So I put one together, and as soon as it was done, it just went, it just, all the glue had not dried and it just fell apart. And he goes, you know, I think, I think we know that your skills are better.

You know, go be the idea boy. But there was a, so I thought tools were done, you know, and because of the high divorce rates now, we have more single women in the marketplace. There was a gal who got divorced and she wanted to do some home, home remedy, homework, home, homework. That sounds like school stuff. She wanted to do some home improvements.

That's the word I'm looking for. And she found that all the tools, number one, weren't very attractive to a woman. You know, their colors are pretty masculine. And then the handles are kind of built for a man's hand. You know, I have a 10 and a half inch span hand, giant hands. You know, they were kind of built for a man's hand. You know, I have a 10 and a half inch span hand, giant hands.

You know, they were kind of made for bigger man hands. And she, you know, she being a woman had maybe some smaller hands, I think. So she decided to come up with her own line of power tools made for women. And she painted them pink. And they're pink. And I believe they had, excuse me, her handles and stuff are more, you know, they don't weigh. I've lifted some of the drills that they have there and I've been like, holy crap,

I'm not even man enough to hold this thing. You know, they weigh a lot and so they're kind of, so her tools are more designed for that and that's just an example of where you're like, what a great idea. Why didn't I think of that? You just punch yourself in the head as an entrepreneur going, duh. Yeah, but you know, so often things come out of a need or, you know, something where people are like, oh, gosh, why isn't this a thing?

And so that's where sometimes the best innovations come from. There you go. What are some sales strategies or tips maybe that you give out to people on how to help close more clients? We've kind of generalized over some. Anything specific you'd like to throw out? Yeah. One of the things that I like to help people do is really co-create solutions with their clients versus, so you see this a lot in the professional space.

Send us a proposal. So they spend, you know, these people like marketing agency owners or consultants, they'll spend all this time creating this amazing proposal, right? And then they send it, they email it, and it goes into the black hole of wherever. They're chasing the client. So one of the things I'd like to help people do, if we can, get rid of proposals or at least turn that proposal into an agreement. So when you sit with a client and you uncover everything they need, and then you also interject your expertise and how about this and how would

this work with your company and you're co-creating a solution. Number one, you're taking yourself out of the commodity category. So you are now, why would they not buy from you? Why would they not want to work with you? Because you're giving them everything they want and you're getting yeses all along the way. So then when you get that done, it becomes an agreement. They're signing. You already know what their budget can handle. The other way to do that is if you do have to give a couple of options, then get people back on a call with you. Don't email. Still get the yes. Still get the yes, we want to work with you. Just come up with a couple of options. Let's take a look at those. So you're not spending time writing proposals and doing proposals that aren't going to go anywhere. And so when you do that, now you get back on a call with them and you're just able to

close things so much faster. So that's one strategy that I like to help people with. It's giving the client what they need, what they want. But it's also simplifying the process and it's shortcutting the process and it's speeding that sales cycle. So that's a really important piece. And also maybe limiting the options you give people because people can get an option. You know, people can get an option. No more than three ever. Yeah.

No more than three ever. Yes. There you go. Yeah. There you go. The, you know, one of the things that people do, and you're totally right on what you said, people buy you when it really comes down to it. They buy you.

One of my first companies that I started, we i i we we found a client that was way way out on the sticks and we didn't know how we're going to build their our car network to do the deliveries for delivery service it was basically like a local fedex ups service and we got this client who had multiple offices across the Wasatch Front, and we weren't sure how we were going to build the network on top of it. But I went and saw them, and I knew that I had to start somewhere with the client for us to be able to build this network that you have when you're in the courier business of delivering stuff.

You've got to start somewhere, right? You can't just be like, we can't make enough money to do just these three offices you have. You've got to build it. And I went and met with them and I was very honest with them. I'm like, we're a new company. We're starting out. They ask questions like that. And I was really honest with them, but I sold them on the power of my personality and my ability to the fact that my leadership skills, I think, came through in it too. And they bought me. And they're like, this guy is going to make this thing work. And we're saving a lot of money. And you know what was funny was I had a little trick is I went to them,

and instead of like super undercutting what we were going to charge and, you know, bear by slitting our own throat, I just said to him, look, we're going to save you 25 cents a package, but here's the deal. That doesn't sound like a lot, but based upon your yearly consumption, that's going to save you $2,000 a year in cost structure. The other thing is that I didn't really tell him or sell until billing came up was instead of billing every month, we billed every two weeks. So while we were saving them 25 cents and they were saving a lot of money and we had a great innovative service.

I mean, we built such a great innovative service, people couldn't leave us. There was nobody that could compete with us. But we billed twice a month. So really when it came down to the cash value of money, we were probably doing much better than losing the 25 cents. But something like that and people buying you, and that's what I've learned a long time ago. If you can sell yourself, if you can go in and get people to buy you and that relationship can start, it makes all the difference in the world.

I mean, people really tune in to you. Even, I'm 56 and single. So even when I'm dating or talking to somebody, maybe I'm interested on Facebook or on a thing, I'll start sending voice messages. And people can pick up on my voice. They can pick up on my personality, my character. It's a masculine voice, really.

And that's really a converter when it really comes down to it. People buy you. And I think that's what a lot of entrepreneurs need to remember. People buy you. Your customers buy you. You know, when you're the CEO, you're selling everybody. The customers, the vendors, the, you know, your employees by your vision, you know, people by you. And it's so important to think of that and remember like

what you've talked about, what are you selling and how are you selling it? And you is the main thing, especially when you're first starting out. Yeah. I mean, 100% in all my businesses that I started, it was me getting out there, talking about it, being passionate about it, letting people see my heart, letting people, you know, just being kind, being nice, being real. I love that you were, you know, you were very honest and you said, hey, I'm new to this. And that's one of the things, too, when I am working help people get out there and elevate their brand and let people, you know, to do a podcast or interview people that could be their potential clients, because then their personality can come through, their honesty can come through. And it's such a huge piece. And for people that just hide out, and they're not willing to step out and have conversations and

put themselves really out there for people to get to know them, they're missing huge, huge opportunity. Because we do business, not to be cliche, but with people we know and trust. But there's not a clearer statement than that. So it's just so true. Definitely. It makes all the difference in the world. Tell me how people can onboard with you, the service you offer,

some of the courses that you offer on your website. How can people get in touch with you? I noticed that you have some different things you offer on your website. How can people onboard with you or get to know you and handshake you and find out more if you guys are a good fit? Yeah. So you can just go to acardin.com and book a call, or you can go check out the different things I have on my website. My agency side, we do a lot of done for you services. And then in the coaching consulting side, I have masterminds. I do VIP days. I do private private coaching and consulting. So it really just comes down to what your needs are. And I like to have conversations with people. I don't have a sales team. This sounds crazy, but I don't.

I work with a handful of clients. I choose my clients and I like to be the one that does the call with them so I can see if it's going to be a fit. And that's I run a high end business and I don't work with, you know, thousands of people that just doesn't interest me at this stage in my life. And yeah, but that's that's the best way is just see what would be a fit just to get into a conversation with me and we'll see what would work for you. There you go. It's, it's, it's really important to work with people that you like. There are some pretty toxic customers, not all customers always, right? There's some toxic customers that out there that just are not a good fit.

And sometimes they're just abusive, narcissistic, whatever. And, you know, you're just going to end up butting heads with them. And I'm somebody who loves to butt heads. It's, you know, and you can tell, like, early on. I've seen so many coaches and consultants being like, you know, I got the red flags of this customer. I knew they were going to be a pain in the ass because they were being a pain in the ass in the front, you know. But I went, okay, well, just, you know, we need the business maybe or whatever the reasoning was. Don't do it, man.

I learned that 20 years ago. Don't, don't. There's some people you just don't mess with. They're not worth the money. You'll just fag over the money in the end. Cause they're usually people that always think on dime you too. Yeah. That,

that, you know, they just don't see the value in you and what you're doing that, or they're just, their attitude is just getting everything for free or as cheap as they possibly can. And, and they really don't understand the value of it.

Cause anytime you have free advice to people, they never follow it. Absolutely. No. What's the saying? Unless you pay, you don't pay attention. That's a good saying. I like that saying. I love it.

So give us your dot coms one last time as we go out on the show. annlcardin.com is my website. There you go. Thank you very much for coming on, Ann. It's been a fun show. Thank you, Chris. It has been fun. I appreciate being here with you and getting to chat. There you go. Thanks to my audience for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com,

4chesschrisfoss, linkedin.com, 4chesschrisfoss, chrisfoss1, the TikTokity, and all those crazy places on the internet. Thanks for tuning in. Be good to each other. Stay safe and we'll see you guys next time.