Hey, I'm your host Ellen Yin. Welcome back to Cubicle to CEO the podcast where we ask successful founders, the business questions you can't google. This week's bonus episode was recorded live in Dallas, Texas from our first ever pop up podcast installation at Make Your Mark live 2023 an event hosted by my friend Jordan Gill of Systems Saved Me. Over this two day conference we asked 40+ inspiring attendees this question - reflecting back on your business journey thus far, what is one decision or strategy you would remix? As in change or improve knowing what you know now? And what is one thing you would repeat exactly as is?
This question is inspired by another friend of mine speaking Coach Heather Sager, who first asked me a version of this repeat remixed question onstage at her own event. And it's stuck with me ever since. In this episode, we've curated sound bites from 12 of our favorite responses to this question shared here in no particular order. Some answers highlight a repeat moment, others have remix opportunity. We hope you benefit from the collective hindsight of these 12 brilliant entrepreneurs who hail from different backgrounds, industries and stages of business. There are links along with Jordans and Heather's will be listed below in the show notes for you. Without further ado, here is our repeat remix round up.
I'm Christina Lenkowski, and I'm a podcast publicist. I help traditionally underrecognized entrepreneurs go from best kept secret to go to expert by guesting on other people's podcasts. I would absolutely repeat listening to my ideal audience and what they wanted. And even if that meant a pivot in the service that I offered. So for me, when I first started out, I was more in the training, education, you know, space trying to let people know, hey, this is how you can get booked. And I just had multiple people that were just like, yeah, no, this is great. But could you just do it? Yeah, like. And that was a really big moment in my career of saying, like, you know, I did it my way. I was like, I'm gonna do this kind of in the way that I want to do it. But listening and responding to that, and then growing the agency that I have today from that.
That's so wise. And I definitely see actually, even more recently, a huge shift in people's desire for wanting more done for you.
I couldn't agree more. Right. Couldn't agree more. I think that there's so many people out there that are at the point where they're like, You know what, I don't need to be the expert in everything or the doer of everything. Yeah, you know, I can find people that this is what they do. And they do it really well. And they can do it quick. And it's going to have more impact.
I'm Cindy McGhee, CPA, I'm the founder of Next Gen. Tax based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And I am obsessed with supporting small business owners and helping them find more profits, and making sure they're the main strategic and not overpaying in their taxes. You know, it's hard to pick one when it comes to a remix. Because you know, we learn a lot kind of from trial and error. Yeah, but I think the one thing that shines for me is really like honing in on the right audience.
So I think as startups, we just want to serve anybody and everybody that can pay us, right? It's just the fear of rejection. So you're like, say yes to me. But in learning over the past six years, niching is so important, and making sure that my offer and my messaging is targeted to the right audience, because we're not actually called to serve everybody, we're really called to serve people that are going to be aligned with our mission and our vision, and that we can support in a really meaningful way. So we realized that the impact that we can deliver to professional service advisors that serve other business owners,
So B2B?
B2B Yeah, we have found that we can make the biggest impact with that audience. So we can save them the most money in taxes, we can find more strategic profit motives for them. So we can do something that's going to be truly transformational for them, right? In comparison for others that are in products, or E commerce or other services like trades, we don't have the same level of impact. And so the highest use of our time is where we can have the highest impact. So we like to niche into those professional service advisors that are b2b providers. And we know that we can deliver a very consistent result and outcome that's going to be very favorable for our client.
That last piece, I just want to pull that out for our listeners, being able to find the people that you can deliver the most consistent results and outcome are so good. That's like such a great definition I think of what it means to have really optimized your niche.
I'm Katy Widrick. I'm a fractional CMO. I love helping fix funnels and really operationalize marketing for visionary CEOs
Ooo fix funnels Okay, what do you find is the most common opportunity for improvement when you're looking to fix a funnel?
Yeah, it's really interesting because I find that there is so much talk in the marketplace about having a bit audience, how do I get more and more and more. And the challenge that I think a lot of business owners don't see in front of them is that their audience is already talking back, even if it's 10 people, if it's 100 people, they're signaling, whether they're ready to buy, or what questions they have. And that's as simple as what links are they clicking on? What types of emails are they opening? When they do reply back? What behavior or signals are they showing? And I find that really leaning into a narrow casting, instead of just thinking about more more, more emails more and more and more many chats more and more and more text campaigns, how can you really listen to what your audience is already telling you in some non obvious ways, and when you can really lean in and look at that behavior and go one to one, it's not always scalable, but it is incredibly impactful. And it's profitable, it builds a community of raving fans. And it really decreases the time and the money you have to spend on those top of funnel engagements.
So a good example for me would be somebody who maybe is sending a newsletter or a roundup, and they're thinking this is a nurture campaign, I have some recent podcasts episodes that I want to share or places that I've been, or maybe even just voices that aren't my own that I want to amplify, right? And so you'll look at some basic things like what was my open rate was my click rate, how did this AB split test you? But what you don't realize is that somebody who has clicked on a podcast all about business is telling you, hey, I'm interested in growing a business. Somebody who's clicked on something about navigating parenthood is saying, Hey, I'm struggling with this balance of working in parenthood, and really thinking about how you segment and branch those conversations off. Again, it comes back to narrow casting, how am I meeting people where they are? And a lot of times when you'll even think about how am I pulling my audience? So I'm going to send a survey, I'm going to ask them, what product should I launch next? That can be really effective, but it's a huge ask for your audience. Why not just look at what they're already telling you by what they're clicking on what activities they're taking, and really meet them where they are. And you can do that with automations and systems, right? So it can be scalable.
My name is Yasamin Salavatian, but I go by Yasi. And I'm a messaging and positioning strategist. And I partner with entrepreneurs to bring words to their vision, to plan their thought leadership and storytelling strategy. So remix, I would say start talking as soon as possible...
Like talking?
Talking, like on social, podcast, because if you start your thought leadership early, you'll get to the center of your brand and your core message a lot sooner. The longer you stay silent, the more you're going to be influenced and the more you're going to be confused about what you eventually want to talk about.
That's such an amazing way to frame, I don't think you've ever heard anyone say it like that, where it's like it's not even just about more visibility for yourself, but it's actually the distraction the the influence, like you said, of if you're not sharing your thoughts and other people's thoughts will absolute aside for you. Oh, that's so good.
I'm Dr. Julia Colangelo and I help thought leaders and public figures find their flow with the science and psychology of mindfulness and flow. The first thing that I would do is really be kinder to myself, I made a lot of mistakes. I it was a crash course in online business, I made a lot of mistakes really quick and overextended myself quite a bit. And I was really tough on myself. And I think the one thing I would do is just be kinder to myself. And that's what I really want to carry forward. That's the remix is just to integrate and prioritize self compassion, through all of the lessons all of the success and all of the challenges along the way.
My name is Mikki. I am the dot connector and I love empowering transformative leaders to elevate their value, voice and vision with disruptive and distinct branding strategy that helps them connect the dots between reputation and revenue alignment. I built my brand before I built my business. And so by elevating my visibility through clothing and whatnot...
Which looks amazing, by the way!
Thank you so much! I began to attract and magnetize people to me, and through those conversations, they were able to present and connect me with opportunities that I didn't even know existed for me. So one of those opportunities is I was recently invited to be an influencer for a pretty big museum in my backyard, going to like their press nights and just being able to do social content, but that adds steps to my business Yeah, because I'm the dot connector and I'm out there connecting.
Yes. I cannot agree more. And I love that you even shared like your journey, starting with building your presence in the community and your reputation and your brand before you even had something like you said to sell through business. Yeah, I find that so inspiring because I think a lot of times people feel like they can't put themselves out there until they have a concrete offer or something, but you are so right that relationships are going to create opportunities, just like you said that you couldn't anticipate events. So, so so, so glad you shared that story.
My name is Allison Jordan, I help women who have bloating and constipation through functional medicine, and I helped them end it for good. 2020 - Everybody had to try something new and 2020 Yeah, probably, I was up until that point, an in person business, I was a massage therapist. And I worked with clients primarily. So with gut health, through hands on modalities, but definitely cannot see these people when COVID hit and I gathered and completely gained a new skill set to work with them. And the very first thing I did is I reached out to clients I'd been working with who I knew, I mean, I'd been working with them, I knew their bodies, I knew their problems. And I basically did this incredibly specific sales call to them, because I said, Hey, I've learned this new thing. I know you're struggling with XYZ symptom. This is what we've tried. This is what I just learned. And here's how it's going to help you and why it maps on to what you're dealing with. Do you want to do that? And I got like five people to do this thing I had never, like technically help someone with before. But there was all this like no trust.
And you had a track record of helping of helping them.
Yeah, I'd already helped them a little bit. And I didn't not every client that I had and needed that service. But then those five people got so much results that a they kept being a client of mine, because they're like, We love this. But I get all these testimonials. I started a podcast and it was really just the beginning of me being an online and virtual health coach that helped coach because I didn't try to go everywhere. I didn't try to go online. I started with people I knew. Start with the people, you know, if you are creating something new, where you already have somebody if you can think of a pain point that a current client of yours is dealing with, and you're like, I'm creating something that like totally maps on to that pain point. Go to them, go talk to them.
I'm Belinda Rosenbloom. I'm the founder of Own Your Money. And I help the overwhelmed struggling six figure entrepreneur who feels like she's on this hamster wheel stuck making reactive decisions only based on her bank balance, because she doesn't have a real plan to grow. So I started the business about 16 and a half years ago. And back then...
And it was right around the crash the financial crash, right?
Yeah, so it was in 2007. Yeah, on this, May of 2007. And I did what I feel like it was kind of a trap that a lot of entrepreneurs fall into, in that I focused on revenue, like that was my sole goal, at the expense of my own well being to some extent, like just working late nights, working weekends, and I understand that you need to work, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not trying to expect a handout. However, I think that I didn't take care of myself. But the bigger thing was that I did grow the revenue. So I met the goals. The first year was like 65k, the second full year was 155k. I took home $2,348 on 155k. What was happening was that there just wasn't a lot left for me.
And I think that's what happens with a lot of us, right? Where we're looking at the bank balance. We're like, we can afford it. We can't afford it. You know, and we think that okay, well, next month, it'll be different. Next month, I'll make more revenue, and I won't need to spend as much. So next month will be the month right. So I knew it was closer than I wanted. Yeah. But I kept thinking like I was close to that. Yeah, turning point that was going to change things. For me. I think part of it is that I had kind of set aside my accounting, understanding and bought into the online coaching world. And I was like, Wait, something is like literally broken with our system. I can't just focus on revenue. Because two years ago, I made zero revenue in the business. And I took home zero and now I made $155,000. And I took home two, like, yeah, there's just something broken.
And so, you know, I think that if I were to remix it, it taught me a lot. And I feel like all the things that we do in our business aren't mistakes, right? They can be lessons if we learn how to reframe them. And I think it's really given me a compassion, and a passion for teaching people to create a plan so that they don't fall into that same challenge. Because so often, we're so focused on our customers and getting to that revenue threshold, and then we get there and then we're like, Well, wait a second, I kind of lost my life. And I'm not actually even making what I thought I was gonna make because six figure salary is so different than six figures. profit or revenue is what I was gonna say, right? Because six figures revenue, you have all these business expense, right? Whereas when you make a six figure salary, that's income to you. Yes, that's what I meant.
Oh, I see what you mean. Yes. That's the differentiation between what the business earns and your owners pay. Right.
But I think we do this mental math and we think, okay, the money comes into the business. I can spend it. Yeah, yeah, right, personally, or business wise. It's like, we just commingle it all on our head. We're like, right, I have money. Now. Let's go spend data and I'm not a scarcity kind of person. So I didn't like lean out and say, Okay, cut back on everything, right? Instead, I was like, let's reallocate the money. And then let's lean into revenue, but in this more empowered way to make sure that I was adding leverage and make sure that the spending was really going to the best places.
What would you say was the best reallocation of your funds that you made in that following year?
I believe in team, I believe in having a support system because and a lot of us have to shift from the solopreneur mindset to become the CEO like to believe that it's not just a baby business anymore, it's actually going to be a real business. Yeah. And so I wanted to have a support system. However, I reallocated, who I had on the team, then the other piece was that I took some of that cash then, and pushed it to hiring a coach. And so I had another coach that then I could bill out, so I could start making money off of her hours, right. So I was still investing in team. But now my team was making me money directly, yes. And then I could raise my prices. But I could still keep that price point, which I thought was really helpful for people. But my other coach could be at that rate.
I'm Tania Bhattacharyya and I help social impact entrepreneurs show up as the thought leaders they are on LinkedIn. You know, what I think I did that I'm really glad that I did is as I started really sharing my own thought leadership, I made sure to not just put it on LinkedIn, but actually put it in an air table. So that now I can go back. And when I get these questions, which you know who everybody who's listening is an expert in their own regard. And so people are coming to you often and asking similar questions. So now I have a library of repurposable content not even for LinkedIn, right. But even if somebody sends me a DM, it's like, Oh, I did this podcast. Here you go, Oh, I did this like little bit. Here you go. And it feels very personalized. And people feel very good about it. But it just comes from having this library that's built up over the years.
Jaclyn, in one sentence, can you share with us who you are and who you help?
Probably not? Jaclyn Mellone, I have the talent of making a short story long. And I have a podcast called Go-To Gal. And I really focus on partnerships and all different aspects. I have an agency or we do partnership matchmaking, I work with partners and my own business and have courses and content to help other people collaborate with other business owners. There are so many remix moments over the years. But the one common through line, if I look back at all of the times that I have pivoted and had to make that change of this isn't working. It's because I was following a business model that was not designed for me. In this industry, there are so many people that are crushing it and you're like, I want to have a business like that person, I would have a podcast like this person. And what we don't take into account is what actually works best for us. And apparently, my personality type is a bit different than most people in online business. I am extroverted and I want to be around people. I don't want to have everything be evergreen and automated. So I don't talk people again, I got the opposite of that. And when I look back at having a membership as my first offer, and under charging for it grossly and realizing okay, I basically was charging too little for a group coaching program.
Yeah, that that is actually something I've noticed happens a lot is people create memberships that, essentially are group coaching programs, that there's not a lot of differentiation between the two.
If you don't think you can get 100 people in a membership. Yeah, you're basically under charging for group coaching. Yeah, here's the thing I can write, I can do video. But at what expense, it takes a lot out of me. And so when I was trying to keep up with the Joneses of the online space by creating all of this content, or having offers that were meant to be automated, and that way, I felt one really drained because it was very energetically draining for me to show up in that way to create that content. But also, I just didn't like what I was doing as much. And when I started to hear other people be like, Oh, now all I have to do is make videos and comment on Facebook. I'm like, that's everything I don't want to do. That's why, like, that's why this isn't working for me.
And so taking that step back and saying, Okay, how do I want to spend my day? And what gives me energy instead of sucks my energy out of me and starting to create a new business model and a new approach to business from that lens. So going back and remixing it's like, okay, not just what's working in the industry or who are my following and what they're doing and their business model. But really finding that business model that's best suited for me and for the people I want to serve. Right? It has to go both ways, but energetically as the leaders as the CEOs of our businesses, if we're designing businesses that are burning us out, we're setting ourselves up to fail, and we're going to let down our community ultimately.
My name is Erin Perkins, and I am an accessability educator, and I help independent business owners on how to be as accessible throughout their entire realm of the business, not just your website.
You know, I gotta say, I give a lot of credit to you. When I first met you about a year ago, at Laylee's creative educator conference, I remember you inspired me and allowed me to take an actionable step in making my business more accessible by asking for transcripts on all of our podcasts episodes. So if any of you have ever downloaded a transcript of our podcast, you can thank Erin for making that suggestion that we could easily implement.
Yeah, it's just like, such a simple but it probably impacts a lot more people than you realize. I feel like I would have like owned being an accessibility educator a lot sooner. Like, I feel like I've took until like, maybe the end of last year, like which is 2022. And I started my business in 2018.
Oh, wow.
So like, 2022. Like, I would have owned it a lot sooner. I wish I had done that. But it was my identity that I needed to own as well. Because like growing up, yeah, I was deaf. But I didn't register that I was blind until maybe during the pandemic, I'm like, oh, I'm deaf blind. And that was something that took me a while. Once I owned that and then like I started being like, Alright, my business is about accessibility education. Yeah, it's not like graphic designer, I will still always be a graphic designer to my core. Yes. But what I do to help other businesses is accessibility and I wish I had been able to own that sooner.
I'm Laura Sprinkle. And I help digital course creators to set up their affiliate programs for more leads and sales when they want them. I wish that going back in time, I mean, I've worked with so many incredible entrepreneurs who have huge audiences. And I wish that in that moment, I had asked for referrals or for a promotion, or while I was in their sphere. Yeah. And now I'm definitely gonna go back and talk to them and ask for that. Yeah. And I think that in that moment, when you're working with somebody is a perfect time to ask for referral.
Yes. I couldn't agree more. I feel like when you catch someone in the moment, like, when they're riding this high of like, what you've created for them, it's so much easier for them to be like, Oh, yeah. Or even sometimes the act of like getting someone to pull out like their phone or their computer to actually like physically type something can be a lot. But if they just like dictate to you, like tell you like a compliment of you jot it down and then write it up and say, Hey, do I have permission to publish this with your name on it? It just makes it so much easier for them to give you that? You know that yes.
Yes, like for a testimonial or something.
Exactly.
A huge thank you to all of the wonderful people who interviewed with me at our pop up podcast booth. It was a joy to hear your stories and meet so many of you in real life, whether you're longtime listeners or new friends. By the way, if you ever want Cubicle to CEO to bring our pop up podcast booth to an event you're hosting in 2024 or beyond, send us a group DM on Instagram to @MissEllenYin and @CubicletoCEO and we can chat!
