Episode Transcript
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>> Roma Shah (00:01):
When you reach out to someone, um, and I teach this
DM method to everyone I call my million dollar DM M
concept is you reach out with a compliment that's
genuine. Okay. Like you can't copy and paste the same
compliment to the same five different
people. So it's a genuine compliment. And then
you ask them an open ended question that drives the
conversation where you want it to go. So for example, if
(00:23):
I wanted to be on your podcast, right, I give
a genuine compliment like, oh my gosh, I love the episode
about Aantia.
>> Anthony Weaver (00:33):
Welcome back everybody to another exciting show day
about that Wal a podcast where we help
you build strong financial habits. We actually
focus on the sandwich generation so that they
can actually spend money, talk about money, and
even enjoy their money with confidence.
And I have the awesome opportunity to bring on
(00:53):
somebody who is really helping out
women to be the best that they can be and all
that they can be, not in army, but in their
business. So how are you doing today, Ro?
>> Roma Shah (01:04):
Hi. I'm great and thank you so much for having me on. I'm so
excited for everything that we're going to talk about on the show.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:10):
Awesome. Um, um, first of, I'm glad that you're
excited on this Friday. I mean, you can be doing anything
else.
>> Roma Shah (01:18):
No, yeah, I love. I mean, when I heard about
your show and we were talking about this in the green room,
how you have so many successes on your podcast, I was like, I want
to give back and teach a little bit, showcase
a little bit about what's possible for women or
really just anyone with the business.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:34):
Yeah. And when it comes to business,
and because I'm focusing on the sandwich generation,
what is it about business that
excites you the most?
>> Roma Shah (01:45):
I think it's just like no cap, um, for your
income or what's possible.
So speaking of the sandwich generation,
I mean, I don't have a family, um, like I don't have
kids, but I have older parents. And
what I noticed is when I was still at my 9 to 5, a lot
of people were in the sandwich generation. They were taking care of their own
(02:05):
kids, but then taking care of their parents. I'm like
60, 80,000 sometimes it's just not going to cut it
if you want to live a high quality lifestyle in the United
States. And when I got rejected for my first
promotion, I'm like, something's got to change.
A, a man in, um, a
conservative company is not going to give me my
(02:25):
lifestyle, so I have to go fight for it myself. So when he
said no to my promotion, I was like, screw that. I'm going to go start my own
business. Um, so, yeah, I think a business really
helps you get out of the squeeze that you feel in a sandwich
generation.
>> Anthony Weaver (02:38):
Yeah. And because you've had
that experience, you know, from
doing all of that and actually experiencing something like that,
I do apologize that you had to go through that.
But what is it beside saying, like, the
lack of women in finance,
um, that really kind of drives you to
(02:59):
continue doing what you do?
>> Roma Shah (03:01):
Yeah, I'll give some background. So I
started as a consultant, um, and then
I went as a software engineer. And in both realms,
I always thought there weren't a lot of men in either
industry. But I think what hit home for me
is when I would have conversations with my
coworkers and they would always quote, like, Dave Ramsey
(03:21):
or these, um, white guys in finance. And I'm like, I
don't have anyone to quote. Uh, I think at the time,
Budgetista was still there. Right.
Maybe five, ten years ago, but she wasn't as big as she is right
now. And I was, I we the women of color. For
people who look like me, the Iloone quote, I can be like, look at
her book or look at her podcast. They didn't
(03:41):
exist or they weren't as popular as some
of these guy influencers. So I was like, okay,
I need to use my skill set and help
more women entrepreneurs learn about money.
Understand, like, there are more women of color in the
financial industry that they can talk to. So it was really just
from anger that I focused on my niche. I
(04:02):
was like, I need to make sure that all the women of
color in the financial industry are at the top. So they
get like, the book deals, they get the podcast episodes,
they get the publicity money that goes to them on
CNN versus, like, the other guys. Um, so
that's how it all started.
>> Anthony Weaver (04:18):
And what other observations, uh,
that you made in your corporate that kind of led you to focus
on sales coaching specifically?
>> Roma Shah (04:26):
Yeah, I actually would say, like, um,
every day before I went into my nine to fiveock, I would walk down
this long hallway. It was like a 10 minute walk from,
like walking into the door of the building to my actual
office. And I was just listening to podcast
episodes, um, of different
successful entrepreneurs. And something a through
line that they all had was they were all focusing on sales,
(04:48):
their first job was sales, or they got their
start to real money through sales. So I was
like, oh, I thought sales was like selling
cars, not really something super lucrative.
And then I learned about the world of high ticket sales.
I actually started as selling my own lead
generation services. I was an agency before I moved into
(05:09):
PE consulting. Um, and that lead
generation agency outperformed my 9 to
5. We hit one 150 do in the first
year. But I was like, oh, I'm ono something.
Sales is the key. Uh, and then fast
forward a couple years later. Now I teach sales to a lot of women of
color. Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (05:28):
So for somebody that's listening right now and just thinking
about sales is something that I
really want to get into. And I'm thinking
about taking it outside of just selling a
product. But you also got to sell yourself, too.
>> Roma Shah (05:41):
Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (05:41):
And even though it might not be the best version of
you, you might sell, like the
facade so that you can actually get what you
want.
Um, um, can you talk about
what is a good sales tactic
that you found has always hit every
time.
>> Roma Shah (05:59):
That's really funny, um, that you say that of a
facade. Because I actually think the best
salespeople are, um, the ones that
are just authentically themselves. Right.
Because you can only fake it till you make it for so long,
until you have to morph into being that person.
But the best sales tactic, I would say, is follow up.
(06:19):
So I give this story all this time. There was this
one person I followed up with seven times. Most people would have given
up after they leave you unseen. Right. But I followed
up with her seven times, and she ended up becoming a client for two
years. So that's like $20,000 in sales.
It was worth it to me. Did it hurt my ego a little bit that
she kept leaving me un red? Of course. Right.
(06:39):
But follow up is key
because it's not about you. Like, they might be
busy with their kids. They might be busy, um, with
the school year, with their 9 to 5, um, with
their boss. So if someone is leaving you onread, or
if they're liking your message or, you know, not responding,
I wouldn't take that personally. I would just keep following
up until they either tell you to not talk to them
(07:02):
or, all right, you get. You have a discussion with
them. So I would say be relentless, be shameless.
Um, because if you're not making the type of money you want,
you need to start being shameless about how you follow up.
Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (07:14):
Yeah. Because I'm thinking of how many times I've been
rejected and even getting guests on the show. And I mean, you run a
podcast as well and just kind of push it out. There were like,
hey, I like your story. Would you want to come on the show? And then
they were like, no, I'm good. And then it's
like, yeah, do you continue on or do you
say like, try to pitch it to them a different way? Do the green E and
(07:34):
hand method.
>> Roma Shah (07:35):
Or I think I kind of equated to
dating. Right? You don't want to choose one person and like put
all, like wait for that one person to text you back.
It feels like you're clingy. It's desperate.
Reach out to as many podcasts as possible. And then if you
come across that podcast that rejected you again, just be like,
hey, it's been a while. Do you still not want me on your
(07:55):
show? I'd love to come back into the loop.
It helps you detach from that one
person making a decision about you.
Uh, I always say just like, if you
get rejected from a job, you could apply to other
jobs. You don't have to cling on to the one that doesn't want.
You go after the people that celebrate you.
>> Anthony Weaver (08:15):
Y And because you help so many people in
different types of businesses, is there like a particular
formula, like a flat formula besides the follow
up side of the house? So do you say like, hey, my name is so
and so or is it, um, hey, I see you
doing this product. Let's do this.
>> Roma Shah (08:32):
I'll give you my favorite two step strategy. Two
step? Yeah, when, when you reach out
to someone, um, and I teach this DM method to
everyone I call my million dollar DM concept is
you reach out with a compliment that's genuine. Okay.
You can't copy and paste the same compliment to
the five different people,
so it's a genuine compliment. And then you ask them
(08:54):
an open ended question that drives the conversation
where you want it to go. So for example, if I wanted
to be on your podcast, right, I'd give a genuine
compliment like, oh my gosh, I love the episode about
Aquania. It was really great about xyz.
And then I'd ask, are you taking any guess right now?
And it drives, uh, the psychology
(09:15):
is it drives the human need of like giving a compliment.
The other person wants to be complimeended but it also
drives what I want to do, which is get on someone's podcast
or make a sale. So two steps,
compliment, ask an open ended question.
>> Anthony Weaver (09:29):
Short and sweet. Because I do get a lot of those emails like, hey, I'JUST
listening to so and so episode. And now like did you really
listen to it? Um, yeah, because it's like, what did you
pull out of it? And they don't say what they pulled out of it. They
didn't.
>> Roma Shah (09:41):
Not gen. Genine.
>> Anthony Weaver (09:43):
Yeah. And it's like, okay, great.
>> Roma Shah (09:45):
It's not a genuine compliment, I always say.
Um, it's like when you pass someone
walking on the street and you compliment them on their shoes or their hair.
It's not strategic. You didn't formulate the
compliment when you saw them from super far
away. It's just natural. You were like, oh, I really
like this about your podcast. Or, oh, I really like this about,
um, your outfit. It's
(10:07):
genuine. It doesn't feel very strategic. That
makes sense.
>> Anthony Weaver (10:11):
It does. It perfectly does. Uh, because I was just giving
a lady a compliment on her glasses when she was just
coming out of the car. It was an older lady. Like, she had the cane and
everything. Um, and she had, like
these thick, java colored,
um, glasses. And I was like, oh, there's some really
unique glasses. It's really nice. And she was like, oh, thank
you. Like, with a British accent and everything. I was like, this is
(10:33):
great.
>> Roma Shah (10:34):
Uh, but it's a great opener to start the
conversation. I'm sure you could have asked her about her accent and then had a whole
conversation with her.
>> Anthony Weaver (10:41):
Yeah, I had that kind of time.
>> Roma Shah (10:45):
Yeah. But that's just a simple way to make.
Start making sales or start a sales conversation
with your ideal clients. Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (10:52):
Okay, so now we know how to sell on
a digital front. How do we sell out
person in face to face.
>> Roma Shah (11:01):
Yeah. I'll be honest with you. I actually thought
in person selling was so, um,
so not me. Because the whole point I started my business is
I never wanted to be in an office again. I never wanted to have a
commute. I never wanted to be on the highway in my car
going from place A to B. So when I thought of
selling in person, I had the immediate ic.
(11:21):
Um, but what I've learned is,
uh, recently, in October of Last
year, in 2024, I got invited to an event. And
I'm like, I have not gone to a business
event in a long time. Pretty much since the pandemic
happened. So I was like, okay, let me start. And I actually became
a speaker for that event. So instead of trying to network, which
(11:41):
is you're trying to meet a million people, it's easier for
you to be on stage talking. So people
naturally come to you to ask questions about your talk.
I would say if you're one of those people that are just going to a million
conferences and not getting, um,
any sales because you're one in a
million fish that are in that conference center,
See if you can get on stage because it elevates you, it makes you
(12:04):
stand out from the crowd and it puts you in a position of
being credible. And the way you could do that, it's
just the two step method. Compliment whoever is
running the event and then ask them a
question to get to where you want to be. If you could, um,
speak on stage.
>> Anthony Weaver (12:20):
And my next thing is, what is the follow
up then? Because you get them
started and then, okay, they started
talking. Be like, crap, what are I supposed to talk about now?
Or just kind of just go with the flow.
>> Roma Shah (12:33):
Yeah. So I say going with the
flow in a sales conversation leads to no
sales. So usually you start with a
compliment, ask a question, and then you start learning.
Depending on what service you're selling, you
ask about their goals and challenges. And once you know that
information, you take it from the DMs to
Zoom be like, oh, we'd love to talk to you. Do you want to get
(12:55):
on a zoom call? Let's talk about your challenges and how I can help
you. Here you go. And that you can usually do that
in one day.
>> Anthony Weaver (13:01):
Nice.
>> Roma Shah (13:02):
You don't know emails. You don't need ads. You don't need all this
fancy stuff. You could just go straight to the source.
>> Anthony Weaver (13:08):
Well, you mentioned ads. What do you
dislike about ads?
>> Roma Shah (13:13):
I would say ads are fine, but you need to know what
you're doing with them. Um, I think a
lot of entrepreneurs that are less than $50,000 in
revenue, they spend a lot of money on ads before
they mastered the basics of sales.
Conversations, closing calls. I think
I've heard this story so many times where people will spend
(13:34):
maybe 100ars to $1,000 in ads to not get
anything. Um, and it's just because you're
trying to skip steps. You're trying to skip steps to
learn how to have sales conversations, learn how to close the
deal with ads. And
it's kind of like trying to cheat on a test that you
didn't prepare for. Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (13:52):
So how do we not cheat? What are the steps?
Walk us through.
>> Roma Shah (13:56):
Yeah, I would say one master. If
you have never made a sale, start with
making a sale on your own before you buy into
ads. Um, you will hear success stories where
someone just created a product yesterday and
they spent $100 on ads and they made a million dollars.
Those are exceptions to the rule. And you could
(14:17):
totally be that exception, but you could make a
sale for free with the DM method I just taught you. Or
spendt$100 and make no sales. It's up to you
how risky you want to be and what's worth your time and
energy. Uh, but in terms of
going to ads, learn how to do sales
conversations, close a couple sales of
your own product or service and then start
(14:38):
experimenting with ads.
>> Anthony Weaver (14:40):
All right. And then is there like a
closing method as well? Far as like, all
right, cool. We see what you like. Try it
out or do you want to buy?
>> Roma Shah (14:50):
Yeah. So actually if you go to, um,
my website, the
roshaw.comemail series,
you're going to get a five step method that we teach.
So we set the intention. On the call, you ask about the
goals, the challenges, then you give them a plan and then you
pitch them. And it's very simple. It doesn't require
script, anything like that. It's just a framework
(15:11):
that makes sure you check all the boxes. Did I ask about
their goals? Did I ask about their challenges? Did I pitch them
yet? Um, but yeah, we have that whole checklist on
our website. But it's very simple. Like it doesn't need to
be this high pressure situation like you see on
the car a lots.
>> Anthony Weaver (15:28):
Yeah. And it gets me to think of almost how I run
in the podcast show'kind of being more
interested instead of interesting to kind of
help the person open up a little bit more
to. Because it's about the guess, it's
about the person you really want to know. And how are you'going to get to know them if you're
constantly talking?
>> Roma Shah (15:48):
I think that's a great point. Um, and
I also run my own podcast and I always tell my clients, if
you're talking the majority of the time on a sales call, you're
losing the sale. It's not about you. Stop talking
and let them talk. Because if you
notice now with AI, you could tell. But if
you notice you're talking the majority of the time on a sales
call, you're probably not going to make the sale because it's not about you,
(16:10):
it's about them. And you don't know anything about them. If you've been yapping
for like 50 out of the 60 minutes that you
have.
>> Anthony Weaver (16:17):
Yeah, I was playing around. Somebody, um,
did not believe me when I said the best sales book is green
eg and ha. And they was like, what do you mean by Green Eggs
and Ham'a SAE book. I'm like, the dud been sitting there
trying to sell him on green eggs and ham the whole
time, trying out these different things instead of just asking him
a basic question. Hey, you want to try
(16:38):
something more exclusive? Something that's new on the
market. Are you in the market
for trying out something new? Um,
how about you just try this for size or.
So many people have tried this already and they seem to
love it. Would you try it, like
so many different ways. He could have closed to, say, a lot faster. That's my
thought on it.
>> Roma Shah (16:59):
Yeah. I haven't read that book in a while. But it's
like just talking to your people, right?
Instead of, uh. I think a
little bit of it is about ego. Just because you have a
product that you love doesn't mean everyone's going to love it. So
you need to talk to people about it.
>> Anthony Weaver (17:16):
That's true. Because not everybody'to customer. Right?
>> Roma Shah (17:19):
Not everyone's your customer. And I learned it.
I feel like I've always been in sales. Even when I was working
in. I, um, was working in luxury
web design. I worked at Sacks Fifth Avenue.
And we got to go to these sample sales.
I saw Chanel on the racks, all of that. And I
saw them selling it for $1,150. When malls, it was like
(17:40):
$1,000. And I realized the
value of things is different where you place them.
So even though you might also be in the
wrong spot, if you're trying to sell your service
on Facebook in front of a bunch of nine to fiver that have never
bought anything for $5,000 versus you go to
an Instagram community that understands the value of
$5,000 service, you're going to have a different
(18:02):
experience too.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:04):
Okay, so are you really
selling an experience at this point or the
product?
>> Roma Shah (18:11):
Are you talking about in my own business? Yeah.
I would say right now we sell mostly the service. Right.
So we consult a lot of businesses on how they
can increase their sales. And a lot of times it is
not mind blowing. It's probably something that was staring you in the
face the whole time. And then in 60 minutes, I'm like, this
is the one thing you need to do. I'll give you an example. We had this
(18:32):
one client that's, uh, a bakery in Chicago already doing like a million
dollars a year.
Um, I think they're called Brown Sugar Bakery. Worked with them
a couple years ago. They're a bakery, right.
But they did not have the basics of email set
up. Um, they had hundreds of.
I don't know if it's hundreds of thousands, but they had hundreds of customers. And
I'm like, where are all their email addresses? So you can send them
(18:53):
coupons, send them Valentine's Day promotions.
They didn't have it. They were just
Collecting all this information and not using it. So most of the time, if
you want to make more sales, the data is right in front of
you.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:06):
Yeah, so we understand
that. We. Because sometimes some of the steps that we miss
when we just excited about, you know, hey, we started
something, we just want people to come in and buy stuff at the end of
the day. And you're talking about the follow up,
you're talking about the follow through. Now with the,
um, email capture and
(19:26):
bringing on, I guess you could say almost a new
clientele because now you'getting discounts to kind of
lock in that user.
So I think one step that I want to
capture is how do we find our ideal client?
Or how can women really identify the ideal client?
>> Roma Shah (19:42):
I would say the easiest one is your ideal client is usually you. It's
some past version of you or
future version of you. So I remember when I first
started, my mentor made me write out a whole
sheet of, like, who I was looking for, who I wanted to
be, blah, blah, blah. Uh, when I was looking at the sheet, I'm like, oh, this is my best
friend. I knew her like the back of my hand. And when
(20:03):
I wrote out all her details, even down to her
hair and eye color, it was a very specific type of
ideal client worksheet. I was like, oh, I talk to this girl
every day. I know her like the back of my hand. So let
me sell to her because I know her really well, sell
to people that are like her. And that's how my
business kind of blew up, because I knew my ideal client because
(20:23):
that ideal client was me or my best friend.
I think a lot of times if you try to sell to
an ideal client that you don't have any interaction with, you
look phony. I'll give you an example. A lot of times
I see entrepreneurs trying to sell to doctors. They have
no experience with a doctor. They don't have
anyone in their family that's gone
through, um, medical school and medical
(20:46):
training. So when a doctor sees you and they see that your targeting
doctors just because they make a lot of money, they know that
it feels fake from a mile away versus one
of my mentors. She's always
had like, um, I think when she was very young, she
had heart surgery as a baby, and then she's had plastic
surgery to cover up the scars. Then she created a
(21:06):
practice around helping surgeons. But she had a really
authentic story. She's been in a surgeon's office since she was like
2 years old. So she could connect with them
versus someone off the street. That's like, I'm going to target surgeons because they make
millions of dollars. The story isn't there, so it's harder to connect
with that audience.
>> Anthony Weaver (21:22):
I like that.
So you bring out the concept of story and I m like, how
we pieceing this all together is that, um,
when you have your story, I think that's one of the
things I've always been told is your story
sells the product more so than the products selling
itself. Um, so like this
microphone that I'm using and a lot of people ask
(21:43):
like, man, your audio sounds really good. And I was like, yeah, because I've been
through a lot of crappy mics before. As I was
evolving, I finally landed at this one. But now
that I've gotten here, I'm like, okay.
My story behind it is that I really wanted to
provide a better audio experience.
And one of the things is like, I kind of wish
(22:04):
I've known before is that there is another
mic that is a step down from this
that has both USB and
xlr and that could have saved me a lot
of money instead of buying a wholeher $500,
um, mixer just to kind of
use this microphone. And
(22:24):
it's just one of those things as a thing to help. I know it's a bad
analogy, but it's just kind of like, what is
your story behind your product? So
if we can dive into your story behind your
product, how did you get started?
>> Roma Shah (22:38):
Yeah, I think it's like I mentioned it
before, but, you know, it's like not seeing enough women
in the financial industry, seeing
like having conversations with my coworkers and not being able to
point to a famous woman of color in finance that be like,
I learned investing from her. Um, and I think what
you pointed out is so important. Storytelling is more important than
(22:59):
credentials sometimes. Unfortunately, right
now, like, you see the US election and someone with the
most credentials, who has the
education, who has been in government for years,
she didn't win. And it's just because the
person with the best story tellling skills won. And that's
just really unfortunate. But it's just human
nature. People will buy the story more than the
(23:21):
credentials. Uh, and I think even the best
business owners, they have a really good story, but they might not have
the Harvard degree. Right? And the person with the Harvard
degree might make a couple might make good money, but it
won't be as good as an entrepreneur with a really,
really good story.
>> Anthony Weaver (23:38):
I totally love it because I mean, if you think about it, they
say at least when I was going through college,
they were saying that all the C students, C and B students
will be your entrepreneurs and actually running
the businesses, whereas your A students will be the
workers. And it took me until
I became an adult to start to see that. Um,
(23:58):
because like you said, as people of color, we
always do an extra mile, like getting the certifications, getting a
degreegree. And it's like you
look at the person that's your supervisor and be like,
you don't have a degree. You might get a.
I know not to competitorgrees, but
they go through.
>> Roma Shah (24:17):
I think it's so important because I think honestly, you need both.
Not only do you need the degree, but you need. Because I think the
myth is like, you don't need a college degree, um, to be
successful. And I think, as personally, in my own
experience, I don't think I would have gotten a job without a college degree. I could have
a good story, but I need both. I need a great degree,
I need to have great credentials, and I need to be
(24:37):
really good at storytelling. So it's like
unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to put it,
you almost need both. But don't rely on your
credentials only. You need to get really good at telling your
story. And I think a lot of times we don't have the opportunity
to brag about ourselves enough so we don't build up
that skill.
>> Anthony Weaver (24:57):
How do you formulate a good story?
Do you, uh, go over storytelling in your process?
>> Roma Shah (25:03):
I do. And I'll be honest, for a long time,
I didn't think storytelling was important at all. Like,
uh, until I started going to these in person events and people
wanted to know my story, I was like, oh my God, I got toa start talking
about it. Um, uh, but storytelling
really just, it has to feel true. Right? It's
even if you don't know what your story is just right. If you
(25:23):
look at every year of your life, you can start piecing
it together. Fifth grade, I did this. In seventh grade, I did
this. In college, I did this. And then the story is just going to
come out. If you'not. If you don't feel very creative about your
storytelling, stick with the facts and the facts will tell
you your story.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:39):
M yeah, I like that. I like that.
So, um, you know, you talked
about your parents a little bit. What is it
about them that kind of driven you to
continue doing what you're doing?
>> Roma Shah (25:53):
Yeah, that's a good question. So in 2008,
when the recession happened, I think I was,
was. I was in middle school or elementary school. I Can't
remember. But, um, they were
stressed out, and I had no clue why. I remember
my earliest memory of that time was, like, they couldn't buy
the school photos, um, that they come out with every
year. And I thought it was weird because they loved those photos. And
(26:16):
then a decade later, I found out
that they lost all their money in the 2008
recession. And it was very scary to find
out because they were immigrants. They came
here, they worked very hard. They worked, like, two, three jobs
at the same time. And to learn that they lost all their money in the
stock market in 2008 suck because we did not
have the financial literacy or the education.
(26:39):
And it's all, um, It's a snowball
effect. I told you the story about my 9 to 5 and my coworkers,
but really understanding
that entrepreneurship is going to give you no cap on your
income. And me being an entrepreneur, I can help my
parents, um, in a way that I could never do with
my 9 to 5. I recently took them on vacation with
(27:00):
my sister to Portugal. I would never have been able to do
that with my 9 to 5. Not
even just taking off the PTO, but being able to make
the type of money. I want to kind of
help them and give back to them and also just spoil them. I want to treat
them pretty really well. You
can't always do that with a nine to five.
>> Anthony Weaver (27:20):
Yeah. And that's good that you continue. Want to give back
and continue on to thrive for the family
unit. And that's really beautiful that you're taking
out time to do that.
>> Roma Shah (27:30):
Yeah. And I would say if you're listening to this
and be like, oh, that's so easy for Roma. No, it took,
like, years. And if you want to do that for yourself and
your family, start small. Just start
thinking about your ideal client. We went through the wholes sales
process during your podcast, but just follow the
steps and see where you can go. Um,
(27:50):
to achieve your dreams, it's all possible. You
just have to stay committed to the vision.
>> Anthony Weaver (27:56):
What is it in the financial bucket that
actually helps you save up to actually take that
trip for your family?
>> Roma Shah (28:03):
I'm going to sound crazy, um, because I don't hear a lot
of people talking about it. #us they want to make other people feel good
about where they're at. But I
live, like, really like a college student. The
first two, three years out of college, I
bought. I lived in the cheapest housing I could
find. Um, I lived alone.
My rent was about, like, 1250. I know that's
(28:26):
very Hard right now if you try to find an apartment in New
Jersey, New York at that price. But I was willing
to keep my costs low so I could contribute, like 70% of
my paycheck to my. To my investments. And that
meant, like, if I. Let's say I made
$5,000 that month, I would try to contribute
4,000 or, like, whatever was my rent
payment, and then the rest of it would go straight
(28:49):
into my brokerage accounts, um, into my index funds,
into maxing out my 401k. It was not fun.
I felt crazy, but I was like,
I really wanted to hit the first 100k as fast as
possible. And that meant I had to contribute as much
of my paycheck as I could. And then when I
realized that wasn't enough, that's when I started my business too. I'm like, the
(29:09):
paycheck is not going to cut it for me to hit a million dollars,
um, before the age of 30.
>> Anthony Weaver (29:14):
Yeah. Why 100k?
>> Roma Shah (29:16):
I think I was jealous. Um, I saw other people.
Like, a lot of it is just, I'm being super honest. Like, I would
see online that this girl hit
100k20 by 25, and I'm like, I'm
22. How is that going to happen for me? I need to hustle.
I need to do these things. And it was just,
um, it was just truly just like a
little bit of jealousy. I was like, why can these people do it, not
(29:39):
me? Uh, and that's
what kind of forced me, motivated me. I always
knew that I wanted to be successful and extremely
wealthy. And I was like, if someone can
do it, why can't I? Now that did
caus a lot of stress and pressure on myself,
but I have no regrets. I did what I needed to do to get to that
(29:59):
amount, and I did it. Yeah. Awesome.
>> Anthony Weaver (30:01):
Um, m. And, um, it just shows that
competition can either break you or make you. And
it seemed like it really pushed you.
>> Roma Shah (30:09):
I would say, uh, and I'm being super honest.
Like, a lot of time I don't get super. I
don't like negative feelings like jealousy or
anger. I think they get a bad rap. But I actually think it's a
good indicator for what you want in life. If you're jealous of someone
or something, you probably want it. So you need to
work towards it. If you're angry about
something, you need to change your situation. So work
(30:32):
towards it. Instead of using those emotions and saying that
you're a bad person, just lean into them and do what you
need to do to get out of that.
>> Anthony Weaver (30:41):
Love that love that.
Uh, because this brings up, I'm going
to focus on, uh, going on to the third segment here, which is the
features mostly because as you bring up the
anger and the passion, I will say it's
more passion. Give me more passion.
>> Roma Shah (30:56):
Sure, sure. Whatever you want to call it.
Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:00):
Uh, like what areas do you want to focus
on improving in your life or even your career?
>> Roma Shah (31:05):
Yeah. So I have a couple of things in the
pipeline. Um, but speaking was one of them.
Right. Like I, uh, know we mentioned in the green room
that I'm speaking in front of 200 people in D.C. in
April of this year. And that's really exciting.
And that's, that's something that I, a
skill set that I was kind of hiding from for a long time. I started
(31:25):
my business during my 9 to 5, so that meant I was
hiding from a lot of people so I wouldn't get fired
or, you know, I wouldn't risk a promotion.
But now as a full time entrepreneur, I can really be seen in
ways, um, that if someone sees me that used
to work at my company, I don't care. It's not going to hurt my
reputation. So I'm just working on playing
bigger. I don't need to hide my social media or my face
(31:48):
or my name. Like I'm just working on the
publicity side of things because there's nothing at
stake as much when I was at my nine to five.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:56):
That makes sense.
>> Roma Shah (31:57):
Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:58):
Do you have any like habits that you feel are
essential for all the entrepreneurs that are out
there that are listening?
>> Roma Shah (32:06):
That's a good question. I don't. I know
there's, it's like so popular to say like you wake up at exit,
um, day or do this every day. Um,
I would just say
don't feel bad for who you are. Like if you need to watch
5 hours of Netflix to then to work 12 hours on your business, that's
okay. If you like waking up at 10am instead of
(32:27):
5am, that's okay. Like lean into who
you naturally are instead of feeling bad that you can't
do the same thing as the next person. Um,
and I say that from my own example. I'm not a morning person
and I do need a lot of downtime before I work on my
business. And I stopped beeding myself up about it. I just
accepted it. I'm like, how can I just work this into my schedule so
(32:48):
that I can make the type of money I want to? So
stop making yourself wrong for things that you do. A lot of the
time that might be your secret weapon.
>> Anthony Weaver (32:56):
Yeah. And also you run in the podcast and I know how it
is to run one. Um, and to do the
speaking and to do deal with the clients.
It's a lot. Um, do you have any, like, AI
systems are going to help out with that process?
>> Roma Shah (33:10):
Yeah. I'm glad you asked. So I actually one of the
biggest things that helped me grow so fast was hiring, but now
with the world changing so much, um, I mean, I hired a lot
in 2021, but actually in
the past year I've let go of the majority of my team
because they've been able to be replaced with a lot of tools and
automations that I've put in place. If you go to
(33:30):
my Instagram, the Rosha T H E R
O S H A H Right when you go to our Linkn
bio, there's like an automation checklist of all the free
AI tools that we use. Between
video editing, repurposing,
um, follow up. Right. Automating, follow up.
All those things can kind of be done for free nowadays, so you
(33:51):
don't really need an admin or a VA to do it for you. So you could
definitely check out the whole list, the whole checklist for free on
there.
>> Anthony Weaver (33:57):
Awesome. I'll definitely. We will be checking that
out because I use the very few when it comes to
interacting with people. Uh, but I do use
it from editing the show and
putting things out there and all that fun stuff. So.
>> Roma Shah (34:12):
Yeah, we could talk about it too. Like what,
what automations you can use to definitely.
>> Anthony Weaver (34:18):
Uh, so is there anything you have before we dive into the final four
questions?
>> Roma Shah (34:21):
No, I'm good. Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (34:23):
All rightty
number rul one. What does wealth mean
to you?
>> Roma Shah (34:33):
It m means not asking for permission
from anyone or anything. So when you have true
wealth, you don't need to ask someone if you can go on vacation
or you don't need to worry
about if this flight is the cheapest on this day because you
could just buy it. It's really just getting a lot of your time
back. Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (34:52):
Okay. Number two, what
was your worst money mistake?
>> Roma Shah (34:57):
Oh, that's good. Car lease.
>> Anthony Weaver (35:00):
What? A car lease.
>> Roma Shah (35:03):
I thought, um, I'm really big on values and
I'm a huge environmentalist, so when EV cars
came out, I got really excited about them and I got a Nissan
Leaf. They don't have charging stations
in, uh, around my
state and it's very hard to charge your car. So that kind
of put me in a bind of like, where to charge the car. Um,
(35:24):
but It's a very cheap lease. It's just, it's.
You're only limited to a 200 mile range. Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (35:31):
Awesome. Number three,
what book that inspireds your journey
or change your perspective?
>> Roma Shah (35:42):
You know, I'll say this. I. If you go. I went to Barnes
and Nobles yesterday and I was looking at the business section. I pretty much read every
single book in the business section. And I wish
I say this on every podcast. I wish someone would just put
a, uh, banner over the business section
for inspiring entrepreneurs and be like, hire someone. Because
I read every book and it took me like five
(36:02):
years before I started a real business that made real
money. Real money is in over 100k.
But I need to tire someone. I need to put my money where my mouth is.
So I would say stop reading the books and just hire someone
to help you do the things, because reading
only gets you so far. Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (36:19):
Okay, well, maybe you might start the first book
that says hire someone.
>> Roma Shah (36:23):
Like, that is the one page. Just one page.
One page. Just hire someone. Here's the list of who I've hired in
the past.
>> Anthony Weaver (36:30):
And then the back of the extra pages says, lessons learned,
Lessons learned.
>> Roma Shah (36:34):
Did you hire someone yet? Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (36:37):
Love it. I'll buy it.
Um, number
four, what is your favorite dish to
make?
>> Roma Shah (36:48):
This is so funny. Um, because I just asked my
sister to like, put together a Valentine's Day
dinner for me and my friends and she's like, all you
need is like rice, protein, and
a vegetables. Um,
but that'my favorite daily dish to make.
It just checks off all the boxes and then I can go
back to work. Um, but my favorite dish
(37:11):
to really humorous side. My
favorite dish to probably make is
a, uh, dosa. It's like an Indian dish. It's like an Indian
crepe. And it's delicious. I love it.
>> Anthony Weaver (37:24):
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
All right, so, you know, we went through all the fun things,
learned all the things about you, and congratulations
on your upcoming speech. Uh, u in
front of 200 women. That's a lot. Um,
um, and is there
any place that people say, like, hey, I love what you
have to offer. I've, uh, went through. Love
(37:47):
the episode. I want to work with you or even just
kind of get to know you and reach out to say, like, hey, awesome interview.
What. Where can they find out more about you?
>> Roma Shah (37:55):
They can definitely go to any
platform if you like YouTube, TikTok,
Instagram. I'm on Instagram the most. But you could definitely
send me a dm. Um, at ah, the roa T
h e r O S H A H and
just shoot me a message and I'll send you whatever you need. So if you like the
automation stuff we talked about, I'll send you my automation checklist.
(38:16):
You like the sales call stuff we talked about, I'll send you the free
sales call checklist. Just grab the resources you need,
but let me know what you want. Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (38:24):
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time,
Row. This has been amazing. I've learned a lot
and this is something that I do plan on to
lean more into. Uh, because I do have
some services that I need to get off the the
ground and. Or just really just let people know about it.
Because a lot of people just think I'm a podcaster. So,
yeah, I do a lot more. So let's go on and make
(38:46):
this happen. Uh, so thank you so much for coming
through and for you who listened all the way
this far, you know what you got to do.
And if sales isn't your thing, go ahead on and share it with somebody
who is into sales or into business and just
really want to take themselves to the next level.
Remember, you have what it takes to take yourself to the next
(39:07):
level. You just have to do the work. All right,
everybody, I wish you the best. Y'all be safe out
Peace.