February 26, 2025 • 45 mins
What if now is the perfect time to build the life and business you’ve been dreaming of?
In this episode of BUILD, Amy Porterfield shares powerful advice on how to turn your "what if" into "what’s next." Whether you're stuck in a 9-to-5, dreaming of freedom, or finally ready to quit and start your own business, this is the conversation you didn’t know you needed.
Amy opens up about:
- Why waiting for the "perfect time" is the biggest mistake
- How to shift from employee to entrepreneur (without losing your mind)
- Building your dream before you're ready
- Overcoming the fear of "Who am I to do this?"
- Creating your runway to quit your job the right way
- How to stop worrying about the "ugly website" and just start
- The mindset shift that took her from corporate to 7-figure business owner
This isn’t just about quitting your job. It’s about betting on yourself, stepping into your power, and finally building something that’s yours.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Any time is the best time.
I think people need tostart before they're ready.
And if you feel that knowing,do not wait because you think we
don't know what's going to happen.
That's the worst mistake.
The best question to ask is how longam I willing to wait until I actually
create the life I genuinely want?
You have to start askingyourself, why wouldn't it be me?
(00:21):
If all these other peoplecan do it and figure it out.
There's such a mindset shift thatyou have to go through from nine
to fiver to entrepreneur, but itdoesn't happen overnight and you don't
have to be ready before you start.
From zero to eight figures in annualrevenue, Amy Porterfield is a one of a
kind entrepreneur that has dedicated herlife to helping aspiring entrepreneurs.
(00:42):
Find their footing by teaching businessowners, educators, entrepreneurs, the
profitable action steps for buildinga highly engaged email list, creating
online courses and utilizing onlinemarketing sales quickly through our
bestselling marketing courses, listbuilder society, digital core society
and our thriving Facebook community.
Not to mention her top rated podcasts.
(01:03):
Amy Porterfield again is one of a kind.
She's helped over 250, 000 entrepreneurs.
Win the day, build amazing businesses.
Guys, please help me welcome theone and only Amy Porter Phillips.
I'm super excited to talk to you.
Your, your work speaks for itself.
I mean, you are the hard fought, uh,battle entrepreneur, uh, building
your own thing from zero to, tosomething magnificent already.
And uh, you know, my, I have aheart for early stage startups.
(01:26):
Um, uh, I built my own business fromscratch to what it is today and all the
twists and turns and all kinds of stuff.
And then.
In the world of The Great Resignation,one of our mutual friends, Dean, mentioned
that this, we're about to go into awinter season as we step into 2023.
And, uh, and then I get to, thenI get a quick, a quick peek at the
new work and I'm just like, oh mygosh, yeah, we got to get this going.
(01:47):
Um, talk to me a little aboutwhy now is probably the great,
the best time in the world.
Uh, to turn your two weeks notice and,and, and basically start your dream.
You know, I have been studyingwhat's happening in the world,
especially in the work world, sinceI wrote the book about quitting.
And one thing I've noticed is afterwe came out of COVID people had a
recalibration and I I've seen it inso many of us where what we valued
(02:12):
before has dramatically changed.
Where now our personal lives, ourfamily, our health, our hobbies,
our lifestyles are just asimportant as making that paycheck.
And so we're not going to puteverything into building somebody
else's empire by ignoring everythingabout ourselves and what we want.
And we just saw that likerage in us throughout COVID.
(02:34):
So now here we are on the other end of it.
And our priorities have changed.
And so many people are looking aroundthinking, this can't be all there is.
Coming to this nine to five job, workingfor someone else, being on someone
else's time and someone else's dime.
There's got to be something better for us.
And I think people have gottenthe courage to question it now.
I quit my job right at thetail end of a recession.
(02:57):
I really do believe that if you'rewanted, And you are serious about getting
it going at any time is the best time.
I think people need tostart before they're ready.
And if you feel that knowing,do not wait because you think we
don't know what's going to happen.
That's the worst mistake.
The best question to ask is how longam I willing to wait until I actually
(03:18):
create the life I genuinely want?
Right now is the best timebecause you want it right now.
Well, and the crazy part is, isif you wait another week, it's
gonna take you another week.
You wait another month, another month,another year, another year, right?
All over again.
It starts a crazy cycle.
You know, I'm, as someone who, I was kindof forced into my first business, right?
I was, I was left outof all options, right?
(03:38):
So I, I, I knew the construction trade.
I grabbed a hammer and I just started and,you know, lo and behold, through lots of
learning and errors and mistakes alongthe way and whatnot, um, it fortunately
turned into something wonderful.
And then I was able toobviously move on from there.
But one of the things I remember inthat season specifically of trying
to fight on the insecurity side was.
(04:00):
Am I really an entrepreneur?
In fact, I don't even know that the wordentrepreneur was really the top of my
head It was all the insecurities thatwere tied to who am I to start a business?
Why would I do that?
Are you crazy?
Are you kidding me?
Like I want to touch on that becauseso many of our listeners and viewers
are in that space where they're kindof like They have a dream Maybe they
maybe they've got a little side hustlegoing they got something cooking, but
it's not really a business yet Yes.
(04:23):
Okay.
I love that you said that.
When I used to work for TonyRobbins, which was my last nine
to five job, never ever did Isay, I want to be an entrepreneur
was not part of my vocabulary.
It felt like a foreign land.
Like, what are you talking about?
And never even did I think Ihad the capacity or capability
of being my own boss.
(04:44):
So, but I also, like you said, Ihad this knowing inside of me, I
wanted more freedom than I had.
And as a woman, I knew I washitting that glass ceiling and I
didn't know how to get beyond itother than creating my own wealth.
And so sometimes we have to ask ourselves.
Okay, maybe I don't know if I'm cutout to do this and, and you might even
(05:06):
be saying, who am I to be doing this?
But then I look around and I look at alot of people doing what we're doing.
And if you're really honest, butin your private thoughts, I bet
you could look around and think, Icould do it better than that person.
I know I can like, yeah, I'm sure.
I'm sure there's some moments like that.
Right?
Like we don't say it out loud,but we do think it, and if
they can do it, why can't I?
(05:28):
You have to start asking yourself, whywouldn't it be me if all these other
people can do it and figure it out?
And so you also have to get very clearon what you do not want and what you do
want because that is going to get youpast the, who am I to be doing this?
It doesn't matter who you are.
You want something bad enoughor you don't want something,
so you want to leave it behind.
So we're going to have to move forward.
(05:49):
So there's such a mindset.
Shift that you have to go through fromnine to fiver to entrepreneur, but it
doesn't happen overnight and you don'thave to be ready before you start.
Yeah.
Well, the crazy part is, isyou don't really realize you're
becoming an entrepreneur whileyou're becoming an entrepreneur.
Oh, so true.
You know what I'm saying?
You're just, all right, I'm, I'mmaking a call or I'm sending an
(06:09):
email or I'm building a website.
In fact, I want to touchon that for a second.
Cause one of the things I lovedabout what you put in the book.
Um, and I know it's I know it's availablefor pre order right now more anything
else people would absolutely love itUm because you're so transparent and
vulnerable and honest in there And you'retalking about the the beast with basically
an ugly website like do the ugly websitelike get it out there do something Yes.
(06:30):
Exactly.
That's the thing.
I always say, I made my first millionwith the ugliest website on the planet.
And, uh, one, I'm not really goodat design and aesthetics anyway,
but two, I knew where I needed tofocus and it wasn't business cards.
It wasn't going to all the events.
It wasn't a beautiful website.
I needed to figure out what I wasgoing to offer and I needed to learn
(06:53):
how to put that offer out there.
And that was most important thing.
And I talk about that in the book,like how you make an offer, what
it looks like, how to get started,because once you make a dollar online,
you can make a thousand dollars.
Once you make a thousand, youcan make a hundred thousand,
but you have to start somewhere.
I was just talking to a friendand his first, but he has a
multimillion dollar business.
His first sell online was.
(07:14):
7. He made 7.
And so he said, and he took a picture.
I thought that was really cool.
Let's try and hang up thefirst dollar bill on the wall.
Yeah.
So anyone who hasn't made money onlineyet, the first time you make money
online, you take a picture next to yourcomputer and you save that forever.
Because it does give you a senseof like, wait, I can maybe.
(07:34):
Figure this out.
And so that's the thing weworry about all this stuff that
we do not need to worry about.
And we take way too much time onthe things that do not matter.
So get clear on what it reallytakes to get that foundation of
an online business up and running,which is what I put in through all
of these pages of two weeks notice.
So you have a strong foundation tomove toward what you really want.
(07:55):
Yeah, well, here's like, so here'sanother interesting aspect and I'm
jumping around a little bit from whatI originally wanted to chat about just
because you're a phenomenal human beingand we're going to cover a lot of ground.
Um, this concept of, I don't know aboutyou, so I'm now in the quote personal
development slash thought leadershipspace, like I'll do events, I host events
for other people like Ed and some otherswe talked about before and however,
(08:17):
My biggest achilles heel right now Andjust being transparent owner and honest
with you right now is selling stuff Orselling products and services online
because I want to give it all away.
I'm like everybody needs thiseverybody Just have it Right.
I don't need the money you here Rightthis kind of thing and a good friend
of ours brandy comes up to me saiddude You can't you can't do that.
(08:38):
I'm like Why?
He's like, uh, do you not haveto pay for all the plugins and
all the website and the hosting?
Yeah.
Do you not have to pay the, the 3 percentprocessing fees for all the transaction?
Yeah.
Do you not have to pay your graphicdesigners to design the pictures?
Yeah.
He helped me realize very quickly thatthe model in which I was operating on,
which was a completely philanthropicmodel, um, was going to end up bankrupting
(08:59):
what I had spent 25 years creating.
So.
Talk to me for just a minute on how Iget more secure and then offering that
to the public, um, at a rate that isreasonable and, but effective enough
to, uh, build a business, but alsoavoid the fact of like, not feeling
like I'm overcharging and being icky.
So the thing I learned early on,and again, it was, it was from my
(09:21):
student, my friend, Stu McLaren.
So I've got to get him credit.
But what he taught me early on isthe more money I make, the bigger
impact I can make in the world.
Yeah.
Wait, if I don't have the money.
I there, I'm very limited interms of the impact I can make.
So when he said that, I thought,Holy cow, I have to charge what
I'm worth because when I'm makingthat money, I can give to charity.
(09:44):
I can sponsor people through spot,um, scholarships through my programs
and I can create the life that I want.
And if I'm living the life that I want,I am a better version of myself and I am
adding even more impact into the world.
So I really do think it's important.
The more money.
The more impact when you useyour money wisely, of course,
and with full integrity.
(10:05):
But another thing is there'ssomething about self worth here.
And I talked to more women about thisthan men, but since you brought it up,
if you're not charging for it and you'resaying, I just want to give it all away
for free, cause you do have a big heartand you do want to help people, but
what does that say about how you value?
What you are bringing to the table,you deserve to get paid for that.
You wouldn't work forfree for somebody else.
(10:27):
So why should you workfor free for yourself?
And I think there's like, youhave to ask yourself, how much
do I value what I'm doing?
And then you charge for it.
Cause you're going to show up asa better version of yourself when
you're getting paid what you're worth.
I never thought about it that way.
Kudos to you Anstu, Ithink you just changed me.
Awesome, I love it.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Charge for those products.
That's right.
(10:47):
Well, you know, the reality is, is like,I'm in a good season of life, right?
So I, you know, there's, there'salready things I get to benefit from.
And I've always felt like, allright, well, the Steven that
I used to be had zero dollars.
The Steven that I used to be wasdyslexic and ADHD and, you know, all
those things that I still kind ofmonkey with today, you know, so I
have all of this going on over here.
And I was like, well, you know, one of ourfriends, Rory was talking about, you know,
(11:10):
he and I have this quote that we kindof banter back and forth about serving
the person used to be kind of thing.
Right.
So the person that I used to bewas an early stage entrepreneur.
Well, not really sure I was anentrepreneur, but then one of the
things that I recently understood wasI was actually 10 different people
in 10 different segments of my life.
So yes, there was the me that couldn'tafford anything, and that's where we have
(11:32):
YouTube and we have the free ebooks andthe things that like, hey, look, if this
is all you can do right now, fantastic.
Right.
Just, just start.
Right.
And then there's the mini coursesand all kinds of stuff that
kind of come in after that.
Now, I know one of the things thatyou're incredibly gifted at, um, not
just as an entrepreneur and a marketer,but specifically the, the core space.
How did you find yourniche in the core space?
(11:54):
I love this question becauseit kind of takes me way back.
So early on, when I first startedout, I taught Facebook at a time
when everyone and their brotherwas a social media manager.
So it's very saturated.
So please don't think that just becauseother people are doing it, you can't.
I promise you can.
So I made my space teaching Facebook.
And then from there, I startedcreating digital courses.
(12:15):
Teaching other people how to doFacebook marketing and all of that.
And what happened more than anythingis people would say, how are you
making so much money with your courses?
How are you selling it?
How are you doing those webinars?
Like, how are you doing this?
And that's what you got to payattention to when you first start
out, see what people gravitate toward.
Why are they coming to you?
What are they asking?
And I thought everyone'sasking me about these courses.
(12:37):
And so that's when I started tothink, well, I love to create
courses and I've gotten results.
I teach my students.
Don't teach anything whereyou haven't gotten results for
yourself or for somebody else.
It seems very simple, but you'dbe surprised how many people
are Stop renting Lamborghinis.
Yes, exactly.
And so, and I have such compassionfor people that teach things they
shouldn't be because my very firstcourse, I taught people how to
(13:00):
launch a book using social media.
Um, my book is coming out 14 years later.
I had never launched a book.
And so I had no business teachingit, but the compassion comes
from, I had a desperation.
I got to figure something out.
I got to make money.
I can't go back to my nine to five job.
So there's a little bit of desperationthat comes in the very beginning.
Give yourself grace.
It's very normal, but I wishI knew don't teach anything.
(13:22):
You haven't gotten results, but I hadgotten some great results with courses.
I had gotten asked about it so much.
I thought I'm going all in.
I'm going to create.
A course on how to create courses.
Now, at the time it was beingdone by some really big names and
some of my friends, and I had tohave the courage to do it my way.
That's another thing you lookaround and it feels like everyone's
doing what you want to be doing.
(13:44):
It doesn't matter.
No one's ever going todo it the way you do it.
Yeah.
Well, it's crazy.
So I was one of your customers.
I actually bought your.
Courses on how to create courses.
Yeah.
Um, and quite frankly, I actuallyreally enjoyed your approach of
how you communicated the content.
Not that everybody else was bad or wrong.
It was a social ability.
There was a relatability that seemed verydown to earth and humble and like she's
(14:04):
legitimately here to help me and teach me.
Right.
And, um, as a client, a former client,I guess, of that program, I, that's
what the feedback I would give you.
And I think that that's a key point.
And because one of the other thingsthat you're really gifted at is
creating a community Of like mindedindividuals who not only engage really
well with you through social mediaand whatnot, but also with each other
(14:26):
when you do different programs, whenthey get to meet and greet each other.
So talk to me a little bit about that,because I think that's a core attribute
of building a sustainable businessas well, is creating that community
that everybody feels like they'repart of the same community, I guess.
Yes, I think I feel like that'ssomething is so incredibly important,
no matter what you're selling onlineto create these communities around
(14:46):
like minded people doing somethingthat they could really use support on.
So again, I teach people howto create digital courses.
So I have this community of mystudents who help each other and
get in the trenches and they have anopportunity to not go at it alone.
Entrepreneurship can be incrediblyisolating if you're not careful.
And so not only do I.Actually have the container.
(15:08):
I create the, the community that they cancome into, but then I create systems and
processes for how to get them together.
I actually have to lead the way.
And so I know it can't just be me.
I am not their guru.
I want them to actually know that theyhave it inside them, but they can,
uh, collaborate with other people.
So I put together an entire system.
Here's how to find youraccountability partner.
(15:29):
Here's how you meet every week.
Here's how to get into communityand literally map it out for them.
If they want to great, theydon't have to, but this is why.
I don't know why people are together foryears after my course is done because they
found their people and that's priceless.
I think you would totally agree.
We've been together at eventswhere if you're, there's certain
people you gravitate toward thatyou pull up when things are tough
(15:52):
that you can ask questions to.
Imagine if you had nobody todo that with and things weren't
working, you might give up.
Oh yeah.
Easy, easy.
So important.
Yeah, absolutely.
No, I love that.
You know, here's the crazy thing.
And one thing is I love about the thebook, the new book, um, which everybody's
gonna grab the preorder all day long.
Um, and we'll make sure welink it in the description.
All that good stuff.
Um, is this concept of understandingthat you also have to exit well.
(16:16):
I kind of put in my notes, exitwell before you sell, meaning
exit what you're doing well.
Don't, you know, don't, don't justthrow the big middle finger and
head out the door kind of thing.
And then, you know, startto launch your business.
Um, one of the things that I love aboutthe book is you kind of outline that.
Talk to me a little about how to exitwell and then kind of position yourself
to really kind of be your own boss.
Okay, so for anyone listening that wantsto quit a nine to five job, or maybe just
(16:40):
leave behind what's no longer servingthem, like when I left my nine to five
job, I created a business I hated andI had to leave that behind after that.
So wherever you are that you'relike, what I'm doing right now
is not what I want to be doing.
You have to think about how can I exitin a way that I'm proud of that will
propel me into my next chapter of life.
So one of the things, if you're still ina nine to five job that I think everyone
(17:01):
needs to do, we already talked about it.
Get clear on what you wantand what you don't want.
Do you want to pick your kidsup from school at three o'clock?
Do you want to not work weekends?
Do you want to make awhole bunch of money?
Like, what is it that you wantthat you do not have right now?
We're going to get really clear on thedays that your worries wipe you out.
The why will pick you back up.
So we got to get clear on that.
(17:21):
Why?
But after that, we gotto get more tactical.
So first of all, you gotto choose an exit date.
What is the date you're going to leavebehind the nine to five job or what?
Whatever's no longer serving you.
For me, what I did is it was June 19th.
I put it on a post it note and I put it onmy mirror where I get ready every morning,
but I didn't just look at it every day.
I looked at it and I asked the question,what's one thing I need to do today
(17:46):
to move me closer to that date?
Self confidence comes from staying true toyour own word that you made to yourself.
So I knew I'm leaving on that date.
Come hell or high water, it is happening.
And so from there.
You ask yourself, and what I meanby that is, maybe you make a phone
call, you ask for a favor, you askfor a meeting, you go to an event, you
(18:06):
listen to a podcast, you buy the book,whatever it might be, every single
day you're moving closer to that date.
Now the next thing is,you have to be careful.
Who you tell, because not everybodydeserves to hear about your dreams.
The person that runs their mouth andtells everybody their plans, right?
You tell everyone your plans and Iguarantee what's going to happen.
(18:28):
90 percent of the people willtell you why that will never work.
And it's a direct reflectionof their own fears.
They're too scared to leavetheir nine to five jobs.
So of course, they're going totell you why you shouldn't do it.
Do not tell everybody your dreams.
I told precisely three people, myhusband, Hobie, my mom, who thinks I
could land on the moon and do anythingand my best friend, they're the only
(18:49):
people that knew in the very beginning,six months before I ever left my job,
that I wanted to leave and I wantedto have my own business later on.
I told more people, butnot in the beginning.
Yeah.
I mean, I think that'ssuch an important step.
I am curious.
What evidence did you already see infront of you that those three people were
safe for you to share your dream with?
Great question.
What evidence was there?
Because I, I did the opposite.
(19:11):
Like I shared it with three peoplethat I shouldn't have shared it with.
And then I shared it with onethat's like, I will help you do it.
Like I will mentor youto do it kind of thing.
So I did the opposite.
So I'm curious what evidence that you see.
In other words, how do people kindof recognize this person's for me?
Yes.
Okay.
So one of the things you want to lookat is if this person you're thinking
about telling, are they, do they tendto be a naysayer where most things
(19:34):
that you bring up or they talk about,they're kind of a Debbie Downer.
They're, they're going to look atthe negative before the positive.
Some people just have that personality.
So if they are a naysayer forother things, they're going
to be a naysayer for this.
Also, they don't have to be someonethat's quit their job or done big things.
Like my best friend who I told, she'salways had a nine to five job at the time.
(19:54):
However, she also believes in me.
Like other things that I'vedone, she's built me up.
Times when I've really struggled,she was the person that was there.
Look at their track record with you.
Have they always supported you?
They might give you tough love,but have they always at the
end of the day supported you?
Those are the people that get to know.
But other than that, andsometimes it's not your spouse.
(20:17):
This is a little tricky, but it is true.
And this is especially for the ladies, butsome men might be able to relate as well.
A lot of the times my students are womenand they'll tell me, my husband does
not support me being an entrepreneur.
He is very nervous.
He wants me to stay in my, a lotof, I have a lot of teachers.
He wants me to stay in my teaching job.
(20:37):
Because we need the revenue.
We need the money.
And he's very scared that likethis hobby, he calls it a hobby,
is never going to be anything.
And the thing is not every spouseor partner is going to support you.
And this is hard to navigate,but I'm going to say do it
anyway, because it's your life.
And at the end of the day, weneed you to be happy so you
can contribute to your family.
What you need to do sometimes isexplain why this is so important.
(21:02):
For your family, what could this possiblydo and why you need their support?
Cause your spouse or your partner,you're going to need to get their
buy in eventually, or at leasthave them accept that you're going
to be doing something different.
But it's not always, they're not goingto be the most supportive person.
They're scared and that is okay.
You still do it.
Yeah.
Well, one of the, one of the techniques,so my wife, obviously when I said, Hey,
(21:24):
look, I'm gonna start putting myselfon the public eye, she's like, why?
Why do you, why do you want to do that?
And I'm like, I don't know.
I just felt like there's something insideof me I need to share with the world.
And, um, so we startedcentering the conversation.
Maybe this will help everybody.
We started centering the conversationaround not if I should do it
or not, but if we were goingto do it, how would we do it?
(21:45):
Where she was relatable and she was coolwith it, you know, so she's like, all
right I don't want to see any picturesof nice stuff that we owed i'm like I
can do that Like I don't want to see youout there, you know With stacks of dollar
bills on top of a table and like goingup right all this kind of stuff i'm like
done She's like, all right And then whenyou do your live events and stuff like
that I want to make sure you're surroundedby people to keep you out of trouble
(22:07):
I'm, like so what are you trying to say?
She's like i'm not worried about you.
I'm worried about otherpeople I'm like, okay fine.
So we started we started creating aframework If you will, that's like,
okay, I'll abide by these rulesjust to have your love and support
because this is super important to me.
Um, so maybe the conversation'snot if I should or shouldn't,
it's like, how would we?
I love that.
Yeah.
How can we make this work?
(22:28):
How can I give you a little bit ofsense of security knowing that we're
also going to get uncomfortable?
We're going to have to get uncomfortableto make this work, but what is the level
of uncomfortableness you are willingto live by until we figure this out?
I love that.
Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying the show.
Steven Scoggins here.
I've got something that I think isactually going to blow your mind.
(22:48):
Imagine taking your life and yourbusiness to the whole nother level.
I'm talking about an eightfigure level and beyond.
You see, you've been working your butt offto build your business where it is now.
But what if you could work smarter,free up more time, make more
money, and impact along the way?
How much would that be worth to you?
You see, I can prove that basic stepsBasic Mindset Shifts and Subtle Changes
(23:08):
can make the biggest difference.
I want to introduce you tothe 8 Figure Mindset Makeover.
It's absolutely freeand it's here for you.
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It's a complete mindset overhaul withsimple hacks that you can apply today
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(23:32):
I would like the honor to share thesetypes of things with you that turn my
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And if you're really ready to takeit to the next level and elevate
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(23:52):
the show notes and click the link,or you can go to stephenscoggins.
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That's stephenscoggins.
com backslash 8figure.
Until then, much love.
God bless.
Let's get back to the show.
Take care.
Well, the other thing I loveabout the book, too, is there's,
um, you talk about a runway.
So we talked about some do's, like, sodo some of these things before you exit.
(24:13):
Let's talk about the don'ts.
Yeah.
What are types of things we don'twant to do as we're trying to
build this runway to our dream?
Okay.
So one thing we don't wantto do is burn bridges.
And the way that you can easily burna bridge is if you decide to leave
and now you're just sick and tiredof your job and you're like one foot
out and just annoyed, and I've seen.
I've seen it so many times.
(24:33):
So you don't want to burn yourselfout, meaning don't say, don't give
your two weeks notice, but actuallygive six weeks or I mean six months.
Don't like say I'm quitting,but I'll stay for the next six
months to help you guys out.
Do not do that.
You will feel resentful.
So get really clear on how longyou're willing to stay when
you want to give your notice.
Some people give a month's noticejust to help the other person
(24:55):
kind of usher into their role.
But be careful how much timeyou give yourself and how
much time you communicate.
Make sure you are good with it.
Another don't is we're not going tofiddle with business cards and, uh, silly
things like that, that you do not need.
I tell this story in the bookabout my first business card.
It turned out it looked like a condomwrapper at the end when it was designed.
(25:17):
And I spent.
Hours and tons of money onthis dang business card that
I hardly gave out to anyone.
It's just, we preoccupy our stuffthat built with stuff that feels safe.
So don't stay comfortableout in this runway.
You have to start doing things thatyou are not necessarily comfortable
with, but it's so very important.
(25:37):
And I think another thing thatyou don't want to do is don't
turn a blind eye to your finances.
Money anxiety is a real thing whenyou leave your nine to five job.
So if you're thinking about leavingyour nine to five job, one thing I want
you to do is sit down and think, whatdo I need to make in order to get by?
You're not living in the lap of luxuryyour first year as an entrepreneur.
(25:58):
You're not going on the vacations.
You're not driving the nice cars.
You are definitely sacrificing becauseyou want to give yourself a little
time and space to make the mistakesyou need to make and figure it out.
And so how much money do you absolutelyneed to make to get by and then back out?
Okay, here's how I'm going to do that.
My first year, you won'thave all the answers.
You also do not need a business plan.
(26:20):
I've never even seen afull fledged business plan.
I don't know any of my peers whohad one when they first started out.
So an elaborate businessplan, you do not need.
It's busy work.
It's the same kind of, yeah.
So what you need to do to get started.
It's figure out what valueyou can bring to the world and
then start charging for it.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, I mean, that's about it.
Call it a starter idea.
(26:41):
Yeah, exactly.
You need a starter idea just to make moneyin the, on the short term till you figure
out how you want to do it in the longterm.
Yeah.
I mean, I, uh, one of the programs thatwe do, uh, called Unstoppable Startup.
I try to take people through theframework, the five frameworks, which
is, you know, obviously there's astartup phase, which is hustle and grind.
It's just you, you're going out, you'remaking stuff happen, you're knocking stuff
over, you're making lots of mistakes.
(27:02):
Um, then there's the testing phase.
Hey, I got something that's working.
How do I make it better?
How do I, how do I maximize this thing?
You know?
Then you got the scaling stage,which is now you got systems
and processes and people, right?
And then you got this, uh, basicallythe, the, the, the next step,
which is selling or operating.
So you have all thesedifferent, different phases.
And I feel like people get reallyconfused at what phase journey they're in.
They're in the startup phase andthey're thinking, no, I need to
(27:24):
have all these different systems,all these different processes.
And I'm like, no, you justneed to knock something over.
Yes.
It's so true.
So we've talked aboutsome do's and some don'ts.
And maybe we've got people sold, right?
You and I both started businesses, um,from nothing and grew them to something.
And now we're trying to helppeople do to basically learn
from those, those experiences.
(27:45):
What are some other chapters thatwould come out of the, the, the, the,
there were chapters in the Bible thatI don't think ever made it in there.
One is called second hesitations.
Right.
So what are some other hesitationsthat might, would keep you from taking
the leap now versus what, you know,having to wait a year or 10 years?
One of the things is that whenyour job is okay, when you're in a
(28:05):
situation where like at Tony Robbins,I was making good money traveling the
world, going to his events, like onpaper, all of that looks really good.
And when you're in a job that.
It's good.
It's okay.
It gets by.
It's very easy to then justify, I'mgoing to stay here and maybe I'm just
going to dabble on a little side hustle,or maybe I'm going to go to the core,
(28:28):
get the courses, listen to the podcast.
I'm doing all that, but you are doingnothing to move forward in your business.
So what I always talk about isthe fact that you have to get
uncomfortable on a regular basis.
So if you are comfortable and cozyin your nine to five job, but you
know, you are not happy, why wouldyou ever live your life that way?
(28:50):
But it's very easy to do so.
You can make every excuse in thebook why you should leave there.
A recession's coming.
I should never quit my job.
Let me tell you a story.
I had a student.
I tell this in my book where she alwaysthought about being an entrepreneur.
She did the dabbling.
She bought the courses.
She listened to the podcast, thebooks, went to the events, all of
that, but did nothing to get startedbecause she always used the excuse.
(29:11):
It's not the right time.
And she was making a lot ofmoney in her nine to five job.
I don't have X, Y, and Z. Yeah.
Yeah.
And then what happenedis she was laid off.
She didn't have a choice anymore.
They made the choice for her thatyou don't get to work here anymore.
You don't get that paycheck anymore,which could happen to every single
one of us in a nine to five job.
And so her livelihood wastaken away and she scrambled.
(29:32):
She knew she wanted to startsomething, but had started nothing.
So now she's scrambling lastminute to try to get it together.
Imagine if, while she's still in hernine to five job, she gave her six
months to work on her runway to leave.
And then she got laid off.
She'd be ready to go.
Yeah, people are getting laidoff left and right right now.
And some of the biggestcompanies, it's going to trickle
(29:53):
down to the smaller companies.
Do not let them decide for you thatyou're not going to work there anymore.
If you're ready to move, put aplan together, get your runway.
I explained the wholerunway inside the book.
For sure.
For sure.
Another thought I was just thinking ofis all right, so let's, let's say, okay.
Amy, you've sold me.
I'm ready to start my, my gig.
I'm going to go get the book right now.
(30:13):
I know you've got a roadmap.
You got me templates.
You got all kinds of stuff.
I'm gonna follow up.
I'm ready.
Okay.
What do I do day one on my, you know,so yesterday I was employed and today
I'm not employed and I got my own gig.
What am I doing today?
Okay.
I love this question becauseyou're going to look around and be
like, Oh my gosh, what did I do?
I remember that day very vividly.
(30:35):
I was in a tiny little condo in Carlsbad,California, and I was sitting at my
kitchen table cause I did not haveroom for an office and here I was like.
What do I do?
And so I don't remember exactly what Idid on day one, but what, here's what I
wish I did put together a content plan.
So here's where we're goingto get a little tactical here.
Everyone needs to learn howto create original content.
(30:58):
Anyone listening right now that ifyou're struggling in your business,
you're not making enough money, if.
It feels hard and you don't feel likeit's really, uh, gelling together.
It's likely because you don't havea good content marketing plan that's
going to bring in the people into yourbusiness that want to buy from you.
So when I say contentplan, here's what I mean.
Every single week, I want youto figure out a plan how you're
(31:19):
going to create original content.
That means a podcast, a video show.
A blog.
Maybe you go live on IG oncea week, whatever it might be.
Same time, same place, every weekyou have a new piece of content.
And what I don't want you to do is oneweek you podcast, the next week you put up
a video, maybe you blog once in a while.
No, no, no.
We're choosing one platform tobegin with and we're going all in.
(31:41):
Because the day I went all inwith my podcast, which was about
a year into podcasting, where Istruggled that whole first year,
when I started to be consistent.
Every single week is wheremy downloads shot up.
Yeah.
So I want you to puttogether a content plan.
Now the question might be, well,what am I going to talk about?
Well, you might not even be ready tosell anything just yet, but let's start
(32:02):
thinking about what's your starter idea.
What could you talk about in your sleep?
What's something that you feelcomfortable teaching about?
Let's start creating content around there.
Start before you're ready.
Yeah.
Yeah, we know it's funny.
We were, um, chatting before we hoppedon and hit the record button with one
of our mutual friends, Jen, and Jimwas very open to an audience, uh, at an
event that they used to do, and she waslike, she literally showed on screen,
(32:26):
like just getting started and she'slike, okay, this is video number one.
I'm, uh, Yeah, this is video number one.
Oh, hi everybody.
I'm sure hi to people, you know kindof thing And then over the course of
a you know, she showed the transitionfrom you know months to month to
month You know 24 months 36 monthsand not only would does she become
an amazing presenter across that?
(32:46):
But she was also building hercommunity the entire time.
Now I do have a, this is a bit of aselfish question because it, especially in
the thought leadership entrepreneur space,there's a lot of similar concepts because
some concepts are just life truths, right?
This works, right?
Don't spend more money than youmake while you're building a
business or don't do it at all.
You know, but you know, there's,there's things that work.
(33:08):
How does someone actually createtrue original content that feels
that feels original to themversus a mimic or a copycat?
Of, you know, someone theyadmire or respect, like how,
how do you disseminate that?
Okay.
First of all, I love this questionbecause in the beginning, you probably
are going to model someone else.
It's almost inevitable.
(33:28):
You look around, you see what you like.
You're drawn to this.
Oh, I like how they create content.
I'm going to do more of that.
It's very normal to startout that way, but you do not
want to stay there very long.
I totally get my studentspermission to model someone
else that they think is great.
Not copy, but model.
Yeah.
Soon you have to start thinking about.
What is my authentic way of doing this?
(33:50):
How do I want to show up?
In the early days, I watereddown all my messages.
I was not polarizing.
I didn't want to havetoo strong of an opinion.
I didn't want someone notto like me online, which is
impossible for the record.
And at one point, I, I, Finally startedsaying, I'm not getting any traction.
Like I am literally lostin the sea of online noise.
(34:10):
And someone said, it's becauseyour message is super watered down.
Amy, what do you stand for?
And like me saying every single week, youshould have a podcast video or a blog.
Other people totally disagree with me, butI know what works for me and my students.
So I put a stake in the groundand I wasn't scared anymore to
say, this is what you need to do.
Well, some people are going to disagree.
They're going to tell me allthe reasons why I'm wrong.
(34:32):
And in my early years, I believe them.
Oh my gosh, this is why I'm notmeant to be an entrepreneur.
I'm an idiot.
Why would I even say that?
Like, I really believe them.
I called them a thousand yeses and one no.
And you focus on the no.
Exactly.
And that is exactly what happened.
And I called up my friend.
I'm like, this guy online islike thinking I, I'm an idiot.
He's telling everyone that Idon't know what I'm talking about.
(34:53):
And my friend Jasmine, she laughed andshe said, you're not for everyone, boo.
You're not Santa Claus.
You're not going to make everyone happy.
You've got to find your people.
And no, not everyone gets anopinion about your business.
If they're not paying your bills,they do not get an opinion.
And so That's where I startedto think, okay, I've got to put
(35:14):
a stake in the ground and I'vegot to be known for something.
And then I started to learn my own style.
That's the thing.
You don't even know yourstyle in the beginning.
You don't even know howyou want to communicate.
You've never done it before.
So that's why we just got to getstarted, like Jen was saying.
And then you'll kind offind your groove over time.
I'm pretty sure every single one of uswill cringe at the first months of video.
(35:35):
That is true.
I literally want to die.
Yeah, I got rid of the ones with mewith hair, so I got rid of those.
Okay.
Well, I had like a Bob haircut.
I looked like a monk and I, I rememberhad the ugliest background and I had
a lamp that I took the lampshade off.
Cause you know, lighting is themost impossible thing when you're
brand new at making videos.
So like, yeah, we all kind ofcringe and we all start with zero.
(35:57):
Yeah, no, that's so good.
Well, all right.
So I'm going to pivot a little bit.
We talked about why you should.
Like why now's the time to start planningfor your exit and putting your two, two
weeks notice why it's time to go get thebook, why it's time to organize that,
that thought process to get you ready.
Okay.
Yeah.
We've talked about some of the fearsthat you're going to have to overcome,
some of the insecurities that aregoing to hit you and better tell
(36:19):
you about them now than when theyhit you and then you get derailed.
So true.
Right?
Let's talk about what the heck are wegoing to sell and who are we selling to?
Cause not everybody knows the term avatar.
You know, some people think blue peoplewhen they, when they hear the word avatar.
So let's talk aboutavatar product service.
Like how do we figure out who we'regoing to be and what we're going to sell?
And like, how do I mean, howdoes that even come into shape?
(36:40):
Okay.
So the first thing you want to do is thinkabout, okay, what do I want to offer?
And remember, this is your starter idea.
It's going to change down the road.
The first thing I offeredwas Facebook audits.
I, for 300, I would, and then remember,this is the wild west of social media.
So no one knew what they were doing.
So I would audit someone's Facebookpage and tell them what they're doing
well and what they need to fix and givethem tons of examples of how to do it.
(37:03):
300. That's how I mademoney in the beginning.
And I did as many as I could.
That I do not do anything likethat today in my business.
So just know whatever you do in thebeginning, it doesn't stick forever.
And that is a good thing.
So you've got to figure outhow am I going to make money?
And that's where you're goingto look at your expertise.
Where have you gotten results foryourself in your personal life?
(37:23):
In your business life?
What do people ask you about all the time?
What could you teach in your sleep?
Let's just start withwhat you already know.
Now, from there, I callthis the sweet spot.
There's four quadrants.
Okay?
The first thing is, where have you gottenresults for yourself or for somebody else
in your personal life or business life?
The second quadrant is, who do you wantto help with the results you can get them?
(37:44):
So when you start thinking abouthow you can get people results.
Who are the people youcan get results for?
And you said it earlier, it's likelysomeone like you, but maybe a few years
back, you only need a 10 percent edge.
You just need to be 10 percentahead of those you serve so
they can follow your lead.
Who is it?
And when you think about that person,think about their challenges, their
(38:06):
pain points, what's likely keepingthem up at night and make sure that
your results can be the solutionfor what they're looking for.
Okay.
The third quadrant is whereare people spending money?
So are there books about the topic youwant to teach or you want to create a
business around podcasts, other courses?
Are people teaching thisand making money with it?
And if the answer is yes,that is a great thing.
(38:27):
You might say, but Amy, it'salready been done before.
Not by you, my friend.
That's right.
Good.
If it's already making money,cause that's validated.
It's a good thing.
The fourth quadrant is what lights you up?
It doesn't need to be your life passion,but what would you enjoy teaching,
doing, putting out into the world?
Cause you're going to be doing ita lot and you're going to have a
lot of challenges in the beginning.
(38:48):
So you have to be willing to enjoy whatyou're doing and so your expertise.
Your ideal customer avatar, theperson that you can get results for.
Who is that and what are their challenges?
Where are people spendingmoney and what lights you up?
If you start thinking aboutthat, that's your sweet spot.
That's where you start with an offer.
Yeah, no, it's so good.
(39:09):
Um, it's cause you know, you're goingto identify the problem that you're
trying to solve, you're going to,you're going to clarify all that.
I've always said too, that, youknow, you mentioned earlier about.
Where you start is not going tobe what you're going to be doing
three years from now, five yearsfrom now, 10 years from now.
Right.
And I think it's because I have this termthat I've tried to teach our students,
which is pivot until it becomes possible.
Right.
So you're going to, you're going tostart with concept a and because you're
(39:30):
out there grinding and trying to knocksomething over, you're going to realize
that when you knock something over, itactually knocked the bookshelf over,
over here that then the book felloff the wall and you're like, Ooh.
I actually resonate withthat, resonate with that more.
I'm going to do something like that.
And you'll go over thereand you'll do that.
And then five years from now, all of asudden you've, you know, you'll have an
entrepreneurial journey to go from, butin the terms of, you know, pivoting,
I know that content is so important.
(39:52):
You started talking about it andI sidetracked you, unfortunately.
Sorry about that.
This signature content, the signature,you refer to it in the book as kickass
content, which I love the fact thatyou give a roadmap on how to create it,
but I'm curious, how does someone, Iknow with the limited time we got left.
How does someone kickoff kick ass content?
Like, how do they create it?
Okay, so first of all, rememberyou gotta choose your platform.
(40:15):
It's important because if you don't knowthe platform, you're not really sure how
you're going to even create any of this.
So let's pretend you choose a podcast.
I'm going to podcast, whichis one of the easiest ways to
get started for the record.
And so from there, You're going tosit down and I want you to think
of eight weeks of content thatyou could teach based on remember,
(40:35):
we went through the sweet spot.
So now you're kind of clear aboutwhere you're going to start.
I want to teach how I want toteach people how to meal plan.
Let's just say that's whereyou're going to start.
You're a massive meal planner.
You're really good at it.
There's tons of steps that you do.
You're going to teach that.
So now you start thinking, okay,I've got this concept meal planning.
So what are you Eight differentthings that I could teach, add insight
(40:57):
to, tell stories about related tomeal planning and you start to just
brainstorm and list them all out.
And you're going to probably list outmore than eight, but give yourself
10, 20 minutes to just brain dump.
I could teach this, the equipmentyou need, the Tupperware that's
the best, um, how to cook.
Uh, tons of things all at once.
The fact that what are,what should you be cooking?
(41:18):
How should you do your shopping?
All of these different things.
And then you start to think,okay, these are eight different
topics I can talk about.
You now have two months ofcontent that you can batch.
Batching is something I teach in thebook where basically you're going to do
a lot of content creation in one step.
So you're not on the, the hamsterwheel of creating content,
(41:38):
but it starts with that topic.
And then you think all the questionspeople would ask, all the things they
should ask, but they're not asking.
And those are individualpieces of content.
So let's do two months at onceso we can knock a lot out.
Well, and the other thing to tellus, just to get through that, cause
we, we batch content ourselves here.
But the cool thing about batchingcontent is you're also in the frame
(41:58):
of mind and the frame of reference.
Yeah, right.
You're you're steppinginto an undistracted zone.
Yeah, uh to go in and literally createHonestly out of thin air, uh in many
respects Um, i've seen people compoundideas to so much so that becomes super
refined and super clear over time And alot of that is done through the batching
And if I can piggyback on what you'vealso mentioned is when you're creating
(42:20):
that content, go ahead and set up alittle, a little iPhone or something
over to the side of you while you'rerecording the podcast, turn that into
an IG story or something like that.
So you're, you're kind of duplicatingyour effort in a, in a way to help
you maximize the content production.
Absolutely.
I think that's a great idea.
The more different angles of contentyou can create, the easier it gets, but
you have to kind of get in a rhythm of,I'm going to turn my camera on here.
(42:43):
I'm going to get some B roll.
I'm going to record this podcast, butalso turn it into a real, I love that.
Yeah.
Well, we, you know, I've got one finalquestion for you and this is, there's
so much we could talk about, Lord knows.
Love chatting to you aboutthis stuff because you have a
heart to serve entrepreneurs.
You have, I mean, you have a huge heartthat generally wants to serve people.
And I love that about you.
It's one of the reasons I was soexcited to bring you on the show.
(43:04):
But on top of that, I want to talk alittle bit about this over service.
Cause I feel like in thebook, you actually over serve.
You go as far as getting scriptsout for people to send emails
to friends and family andcoworkers and, and, and all that.
First of all, why did you do that?
And second of all, whyshould someone use them?
I care deeply that people actuallytake action with the content I create.
(43:25):
Action creates clarity,clarity creates results.
And so it's not enough for me topeople read my book and think,
that's a good book, good job, Amy.
Nothing is going to come of that.
And if I really believe that I canmake an impact by helping people quit
their 9 to 5 job and find financialfreedom and being their own boss.
Then I have to give themthe tools to take action.
Now it stops there.
(43:46):
I can't do the work for them.
So I always know there's twopeople in this dance for sure.
That's something I teachmy course creators.
You can create a kick ass amazingcourse, give the Best, best instruction.
But at the end of the day, there'stwo people involved, course
creator and the person doing it.
So you have to give a, you haveto let go at one point or another.
(44:06):
But I'm going to give as muchas I can to get you there.
And then hopefully you believe in yourselfenough to say, okay, I'm going to take
what Amy gave me and I'm going to do it.
So I'm all about action.
That is what I'm about.
But also if people actually downloadthe resources and they do it, they're
going to come deeper into my world.
That worked, Amy.
What else do you have?
(44:26):
Like, Oh, you have acourse on digital courses.
Great.
Teach me.
So I do want people more into myworld, but it starts with action.
So I got to help him do so.
And one of the reasons I do that when,anytime I share anybody with our audience,
I want to make sure that they know thatI only bring people on the show that I
have a genuine heart to help them win.
Right, uh, you have a proven track recordlong before I got in into the thought
(44:47):
leadership world or whatever Um, youyou've already been doing it for a long
time But I want people to have a fullappreciation of the work that you put into
this particular work because it's meatyUm, they're going to need a highlighters.
They're going to need ink pens and page.
Like there's going to be alot, there's a lot there.
I do love the fact that it's structuredin a way of, it's kind of like, why, what,
how, when, like it's, this is exactly,so I love the roadmap aspect of it.
(45:11):
Amy, you're a rock star.
Thank you so much for spendingsome time with me today.
I really appreciate it.
Thanks so much for having me.
This was fun.
I appreciate it.
All right.
Take it easy.
See ya.
Bye.
Any time is the best time.
I think people need tostart before they're ready.
And if you feel that knowing,do not wait because you think we
don't know what's going to happen.
That's the worst mistake.
The best question to ask is how longam I willing to wait until I actually
create the life I genuinely want?
You have to start askingyourself, why wouldn't it be me?
(00:21):
If all these other peoplecan do it and figure it out.
There's such a mindset shift thatyou have to go through from nine
to fiver to entrepreneur, but itdoesn't happen overnight and you don't
have to be ready before you start.
From zero to eight figures in annualrevenue, Amy Porterfield is a one of a
kind entrepreneur that has dedicated herlife to helping aspiring entrepreneurs.
(00:42):
Find their footing by teaching businessowners, educators, entrepreneurs, the
profitable action steps for buildinga highly engaged email list, creating
online courses and utilizing onlinemarketing sales quickly through our
bestselling marketing courses, listbuilder society, digital core society
and our thriving Facebook community.
Not to mention her top rated podcasts.
(01:03):
Amy Porterfield again is one of a kind.
She's helped over 250, 000 entrepreneurs.
Win the day, build amazing businesses.
Guys, please help me welcome theone and only Amy Porter Phillips.
I'm super excited to talk to you.
Your, your work speaks for itself.
I mean, you are the hard fought, uh,battle entrepreneur, uh, building
your own thing from zero to, tosomething magnificent already.
And uh, you know, my, I have aheart for early stage startups.
(01:26):
Um, uh, I built my own business fromscratch to what it is today and all the
twists and turns and all kinds of stuff.
And then.
In the world of The Great Resignation,one of our mutual friends, Dean, mentioned
that this, we're about to go into awinter season as we step into 2023.
And, uh, and then I get to, thenI get a quick, a quick peek at the
new work and I'm just like, oh mygosh, yeah, we got to get this going.
(01:47):
Um, talk to me a little aboutwhy now is probably the great,
the best time in the world.
Uh, to turn your two weeks notice and,and, and basically start your dream.
You know, I have been studyingwhat's happening in the world,
especially in the work world, sinceI wrote the book about quitting.
And one thing I've noticed is afterwe came out of COVID people had a
recalibration and I I've seen it inso many of us where what we valued
(02:12):
before has dramatically changed.
Where now our personal lives, ourfamily, our health, our hobbies,
our lifestyles are just asimportant as making that paycheck.
And so we're not going to puteverything into building somebody
else's empire by ignoring everythingabout ourselves and what we want.
And we just saw that likerage in us throughout COVID.
(02:34):
So now here we are on the other end of it.
And our priorities have changed.
And so many people are looking aroundthinking, this can't be all there is.
Coming to this nine to five job, workingfor someone else, being on someone
else's time and someone else's dime.
There's got to be something better for us.
And I think people have gottenthe courage to question it now.
I quit my job right at thetail end of a recession.
(02:57):
I really do believe that if you'rewanted, And you are serious about getting
it going at any time is the best time.
I think people need tostart before they're ready.
And if you feel that knowing,do not wait because you think we
don't know what's going to happen.
That's the worst mistake.
The best question to ask is how longam I willing to wait until I actually
(03:18):
create the life I genuinely want?
Right now is the best timebecause you want it right now.
Well, and the crazy part is, isif you wait another week, it's
gonna take you another week.
You wait another month, another month,another year, another year, right?
All over again.
It starts a crazy cycle.
You know, I'm, as someone who, I was kindof forced into my first business, right?
I was, I was left outof all options, right?
(03:38):
So I, I, I knew the construction trade.
I grabbed a hammer and I just started and,you know, lo and behold, through lots of
learning and errors and mistakes alongthe way and whatnot, um, it fortunately
turned into something wonderful.
And then I was able toobviously move on from there.
But one of the things I remember inthat season specifically of trying
to fight on the insecurity side was.
(04:00):
Am I really an entrepreneur?
In fact, I don't even know that the wordentrepreneur was really the top of my
head It was all the insecurities thatwere tied to who am I to start a business?
Why would I do that?
Are you crazy?
Are you kidding me?
Like I want to touch on that becauseso many of our listeners and viewers
are in that space where they're kindof like They have a dream Maybe they
maybe they've got a little side hustlegoing they got something cooking, but
it's not really a business yet Yes.
(04:23):
Okay.
I love that you said that.
When I used to work for TonyRobbins, which was my last nine
to five job, never ever did Isay, I want to be an entrepreneur
was not part of my vocabulary.
It felt like a foreign land.
Like, what are you talking about?
And never even did I think Ihad the capacity or capability
of being my own boss.
(04:44):
So, but I also, like you said, Ihad this knowing inside of me, I
wanted more freedom than I had.
And as a woman, I knew I washitting that glass ceiling and I
didn't know how to get beyond itother than creating my own wealth.
And so sometimes we have to ask ourselves.
Okay, maybe I don't know if I'm cutout to do this and, and you might even
(05:06):
be saying, who am I to be doing this?
But then I look around and I look at alot of people doing what we're doing.
And if you're really honest, butin your private thoughts, I bet
you could look around and think, Icould do it better than that person.
I know I can like, yeah, I'm sure.
I'm sure there's some moments like that.
Right?
Like we don't say it out loud,but we do think it, and if
they can do it, why can't I?
(05:28):
You have to start asking yourself, whywouldn't it be me if all these other
people can do it and figure it out?
And so you also have to get very clearon what you do not want and what you do
want because that is going to get youpast the, who am I to be doing this?
It doesn't matter who you are.
You want something bad enoughor you don't want something,
so you want to leave it behind.
So we're going to have to move forward.
(05:49):
So there's such a mindset.
Shift that you have to go through fromnine to fiver to entrepreneur, but it
doesn't happen overnight and you don'thave to be ready before you start.
Yeah.
Well, the crazy part is, isyou don't really realize you're
becoming an entrepreneur whileyou're becoming an entrepreneur.
Oh, so true.
You know what I'm saying?
You're just, all right, I'm, I'mmaking a call or I'm sending an
(06:09):
email or I'm building a website.
In fact, I want to touchon that for a second.
Cause one of the things I lovedabout what you put in the book.
Um, and I know it's I know it's availablefor pre order right now more anything
else people would absolutely love itUm because you're so transparent and
vulnerable and honest in there And you'retalking about the the beast with basically
an ugly website like do the ugly websitelike get it out there do something Yes.
(06:30):
Exactly.
That's the thing.
I always say, I made my first millionwith the ugliest website on the planet.
And, uh, one, I'm not really goodat design and aesthetics anyway,
but two, I knew where I needed tofocus and it wasn't business cards.
It wasn't going to all the events.
It wasn't a beautiful website.
I needed to figure out what I wasgoing to offer and I needed to learn
(06:53):
how to put that offer out there.
And that was most important thing.
And I talk about that in the book,like how you make an offer, what
it looks like, how to get started,because once you make a dollar online,
you can make a thousand dollars.
Once you make a thousand, youcan make a hundred thousand,
but you have to start somewhere.
I was just talking to a friendand his first, but he has a
multimillion dollar business.
His first sell online was.
(07:14):
7. He made 7.
And so he said, and he took a picture.
I thought that was really cool.
Let's try and hang up thefirst dollar bill on the wall.
Yeah.
So anyone who hasn't made money onlineyet, the first time you make money
online, you take a picture next to yourcomputer and you save that forever.
Because it does give you a senseof like, wait, I can maybe.
(07:34):
Figure this out.
And so that's the thing weworry about all this stuff that
we do not need to worry about.
And we take way too much time onthe things that do not matter.
So get clear on what it reallytakes to get that foundation of
an online business up and running,which is what I put in through all
of these pages of two weeks notice.
So you have a strong foundation tomove toward what you really want.
(07:55):
Yeah, well, here's like, so here'sanother interesting aspect and I'm
jumping around a little bit from whatI originally wanted to chat about just
because you're a phenomenal human beingand we're going to cover a lot of ground.
Um, this concept of, I don't know aboutyou, so I'm now in the quote personal
development slash thought leadershipspace, like I'll do events, I host events
for other people like Ed and some otherswe talked about before and however,
(08:17):
My biggest achilles heel right now Andjust being transparent owner and honest
with you right now is selling stuff Orselling products and services online
because I want to give it all away.
I'm like everybody needs thiseverybody Just have it Right.
I don't need the money you here Rightthis kind of thing and a good friend
of ours brandy comes up to me saiddude You can't you can't do that.
(08:38):
I'm like Why?
He's like, uh, do you not haveto pay for all the plugins and
all the website and the hosting?
Yeah.
Do you not have to pay the, the 3 percentprocessing fees for all the transaction?
Yeah.
Do you not have to pay your graphicdesigners to design the pictures?
Yeah.
He helped me realize very quickly thatthe model in which I was operating on,
which was a completely philanthropicmodel, um, was going to end up bankrupting
(08:59):
what I had spent 25 years creating.
So.
Talk to me for just a minute on how Iget more secure and then offering that
to the public, um, at a rate that isreasonable and, but effective enough
to, uh, build a business, but alsoavoid the fact of like, not feeling
like I'm overcharging and being icky.
So the thing I learned early on,and again, it was, it was from my
(09:21):
student, my friend, Stu McLaren.
So I've got to get him credit.
But what he taught me early on isthe more money I make, the bigger
impact I can make in the world.
Yeah.
Wait, if I don't have the money.
I there, I'm very limited interms of the impact I can make.
So when he said that, I thought,Holy cow, I have to charge what
I'm worth because when I'm makingthat money, I can give to charity.
(09:44):
I can sponsor people through spot,um, scholarships through my programs
and I can create the life that I want.
And if I'm living the life that I want,I am a better version of myself and I am
adding even more impact into the world.
So I really do think it's important.
The more money.
The more impact when you useyour money wisely, of course,
and with full integrity.
(10:05):
But another thing is there'ssomething about self worth here.
And I talked to more women about thisthan men, but since you brought it up,
if you're not charging for it and you'resaying, I just want to give it all away
for free, cause you do have a big heartand you do want to help people, but
what does that say about how you value?
What you are bringing to the table,you deserve to get paid for that.
You wouldn't work forfree for somebody else.
(10:27):
So why should you workfor free for yourself?
And I think there's like, youhave to ask yourself, how much
do I value what I'm doing?
And then you charge for it.
Cause you're going to show up asa better version of yourself when
you're getting paid what you're worth.
I never thought about it that way.
Kudos to you Anstu, Ithink you just changed me.
Awesome, I love it.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Charge for those products.
That's right.
(10:47):
Well, you know, the reality is, is like,I'm in a good season of life, right?
So I, you know, there's, there'salready things I get to benefit from.
And I've always felt like, allright, well, the Steven that
I used to be had zero dollars.
The Steven that I used to be wasdyslexic and ADHD and, you know, all
those things that I still kind ofmonkey with today, you know, so I
have all of this going on over here.
And I was like, well, you know, one of ourfriends, Rory was talking about, you know,
(11:10):
he and I have this quote that we kindof banter back and forth about serving
the person used to be kind of thing.
Right.
So the person that I used to bewas an early stage entrepreneur.
Well, not really sure I was anentrepreneur, but then one of the
things that I recently understood wasI was actually 10 different people
in 10 different segments of my life.
So yes, there was the me that couldn'tafford anything, and that's where we have
(11:32):
YouTube and we have the free ebooks andthe things that like, hey, look, if this
is all you can do right now, fantastic.
Right.
Just, just start.
Right.
And then there's the mini coursesand all kinds of stuff that
kind of come in after that.
Now, I know one of the things thatyou're incredibly gifted at, um, not
just as an entrepreneur and a marketer,but specifically the, the core space.
How did you find yourniche in the core space?
(11:54):
I love this question becauseit kind of takes me way back.
So early on, when I first startedout, I taught Facebook at a time
when everyone and their brotherwas a social media manager.
So it's very saturated.
So please don't think that just becauseother people are doing it, you can't.
I promise you can.
So I made my space teaching Facebook.
And then from there, I startedcreating digital courses.
(12:15):
Teaching other people how to doFacebook marketing and all of that.
And what happened more than anythingis people would say, how are you
making so much money with your courses?
How are you selling it?
How are you doing those webinars?
Like, how are you doing this?
And that's what you got to payattention to when you first start
out, see what people gravitate toward.
Why are they coming to you?
What are they asking?
And I thought everyone'sasking me about these courses.
(12:37):
And so that's when I started tothink, well, I love to create
courses and I've gotten results.
I teach my students.
Don't teach anything whereyou haven't gotten results for
yourself or for somebody else.
It seems very simple, but you'dbe surprised how many people
are Stop renting Lamborghinis.
Yes, exactly.
And so, and I have such compassionfor people that teach things they
shouldn't be because my very firstcourse, I taught people how to
(13:00):
launch a book using social media.
Um, my book is coming out 14 years later.
I had never launched a book.
And so I had no business teachingit, but the compassion comes
from, I had a desperation.
I got to figure something out.
I got to make money.
I can't go back to my nine to five job.
So there's a little bit of desperationthat comes in the very beginning.
Give yourself grace.
It's very normal, but I wishI knew don't teach anything.
(13:22):
You haven't gotten results, but I hadgotten some great results with courses.
I had gotten asked about it so much.
I thought I'm going all in.
I'm going to create.
A course on how to create courses.
Now, at the time it was beingdone by some really big names and
some of my friends, and I had tohave the courage to do it my way.
That's another thing you lookaround and it feels like everyone's
doing what you want to be doing.
(13:44):
It doesn't matter.
No one's ever going todo it the way you do it.
Yeah.
Well, it's crazy.
So I was one of your customers.
I actually bought your.
Courses on how to create courses.
Yeah.
Um, and quite frankly, I actuallyreally enjoyed your approach of
how you communicated the content.
Not that everybody else was bad or wrong.
It was a social ability.
There was a relatability that seemed verydown to earth and humble and like she's
(14:04):
legitimately here to help me and teach me.
Right.
And, um, as a client, a former client,I guess, of that program, I, that's
what the feedback I would give you.
And I think that that's a key point.
And because one of the other thingsthat you're really gifted at is
creating a community Of like mindedindividuals who not only engage really
well with you through social mediaand whatnot, but also with each other
(14:26):
when you do different programs, whenthey get to meet and greet each other.
So talk to me a little bit about that,because I think that's a core attribute
of building a sustainable businessas well, is creating that community
that everybody feels like they'repart of the same community, I guess.
Yes, I think I feel like that'ssomething is so incredibly important,
no matter what you're selling onlineto create these communities around
(14:46):
like minded people doing somethingthat they could really use support on.
So again, I teach people howto create digital courses.
So I have this community of mystudents who help each other and
get in the trenches and they have anopportunity to not go at it alone.
Entrepreneurship can be incrediblyisolating if you're not careful.
And so not only do I.Actually have the container.
(15:08):
I create the, the community that they cancome into, but then I create systems and
processes for how to get them together.
I actually have to lead the way.
And so I know it can't just be me.
I am not their guru.
I want them to actually know that theyhave it inside them, but they can,
uh, collaborate with other people.
So I put together an entire system.
Here's how to find youraccountability partner.
(15:29):
Here's how you meet every week.
Here's how to get into communityand literally map it out for them.
If they want to great, theydon't have to, but this is why.
I don't know why people are together foryears after my course is done because they
found their people and that's priceless.
I think you would totally agree.
We've been together at eventswhere if you're, there's certain
people you gravitate toward thatyou pull up when things are tough
(15:52):
that you can ask questions to.
Imagine if you had nobody todo that with and things weren't
working, you might give up.
Oh yeah.
Easy, easy.
So important.
Yeah, absolutely.
No, I love that.
You know, here's the crazy thing.
And one thing is I love about the thebook, the new book, um, which everybody's
gonna grab the preorder all day long.
Um, and we'll make sure welink it in the description.
All that good stuff.
Um, is this concept of understandingthat you also have to exit well.
(16:16):
I kind of put in my notes, exitwell before you sell, meaning
exit what you're doing well.
Don't, you know, don't, don't justthrow the big middle finger and
head out the door kind of thing.
And then, you know, startto launch your business.
Um, one of the things that I love aboutthe book is you kind of outline that.
Talk to me a little about how to exitwell and then kind of position yourself
to really kind of be your own boss.
Okay, so for anyone listening that wantsto quit a nine to five job, or maybe just
(16:40):
leave behind what's no longer servingthem, like when I left my nine to five
job, I created a business I hated andI had to leave that behind after that.
So wherever you are that you'relike, what I'm doing right now
is not what I want to be doing.
You have to think about how can I exitin a way that I'm proud of that will
propel me into my next chapter of life.
So one of the things, if you're still ina nine to five job that I think everyone
(17:01):
needs to do, we already talked about it.
Get clear on what you wantand what you don't want.
Do you want to pick your kidsup from school at three o'clock?
Do you want to not work weekends?
Do you want to make awhole bunch of money?
Like, what is it that you wantthat you do not have right now?
We're going to get really clear on thedays that your worries wipe you out.
The why will pick you back up.
So we got to get clear on that.
(17:21):
Why?
But after that, we gotto get more tactical.
So first of all, you gotto choose an exit date.
What is the date you're going to leavebehind the nine to five job or what?
Whatever's no longer serving you.
For me, what I did is it was June 19th.
I put it on a post it note and I put it onmy mirror where I get ready every morning,
but I didn't just look at it every day.
I looked at it and I asked the question,what's one thing I need to do today
(17:46):
to move me closer to that date?
Self confidence comes from staying true toyour own word that you made to yourself.
So I knew I'm leaving on that date.
Come hell or high water, it is happening.
And so from there.
You ask yourself, and what I meanby that is, maybe you make a phone
call, you ask for a favor, you askfor a meeting, you go to an event, you
(18:06):
listen to a podcast, you buy the book,whatever it might be, every single
day you're moving closer to that date.
Now the next thing is,you have to be careful.
Who you tell, because not everybodydeserves to hear about your dreams.
The person that runs their mouth andtells everybody their plans, right?
You tell everyone your plans and Iguarantee what's going to happen.
(18:28):
90 percent of the people willtell you why that will never work.
And it's a direct reflectionof their own fears.
They're too scared to leavetheir nine to five jobs.
So of course, they're going totell you why you shouldn't do it.
Do not tell everybody your dreams.
I told precisely three people, myhusband, Hobie, my mom, who thinks I
could land on the moon and do anythingand my best friend, they're the only
(18:49):
people that knew in the very beginning,six months before I ever left my job,
that I wanted to leave and I wantedto have my own business later on.
I told more people, butnot in the beginning.
Yeah.
I mean, I think that'ssuch an important step.
I am curious.
What evidence did you already see infront of you that those three people were
safe for you to share your dream with?
Great question.
What evidence was there?
Because I, I did the opposite.
(19:11):
Like I shared it with three peoplethat I shouldn't have shared it with.
And then I shared it with onethat's like, I will help you do it.
Like I will mentor youto do it kind of thing.
So I did the opposite.
So I'm curious what evidence that you see.
In other words, how do people kindof recognize this person's for me?
Yes.
Okay.
So one of the things you want to lookat is if this person you're thinking
about telling, are they, do they tendto be a naysayer where most things
(19:34):
that you bring up or they talk about,they're kind of a Debbie Downer.
They're, they're going to look atthe negative before the positive.
Some people just have that personality.
So if they are a naysayer forother things, they're going
to be a naysayer for this.
Also, they don't have to be someonethat's quit their job or done big things.
Like my best friend who I told, she'salways had a nine to five job at the time.
(19:54):
However, she also believes in me.
Like other things that I'vedone, she's built me up.
Times when I've really struggled,she was the person that was there.
Look at their track record with you.
Have they always supported you?
They might give you tough love,but have they always at the
end of the day supported you?
Those are the people that get to know.
But other than that, andsometimes it's not your spouse.
(20:17):
This is a little tricky, but it is true.
And this is especially for the ladies, butsome men might be able to relate as well.
A lot of the times my students are womenand they'll tell me, my husband does
not support me being an entrepreneur.
He is very nervous.
He wants me to stay in my, a lotof, I have a lot of teachers.
He wants me to stay in my teaching job.
(20:37):
Because we need the revenue.
We need the money.
And he's very scared that likethis hobby, he calls it a hobby,
is never going to be anything.
And the thing is not every spouseor partner is going to support you.
And this is hard to navigate,but I'm going to say do it
anyway, because it's your life.
And at the end of the day, weneed you to be happy so you
can contribute to your family.
What you need to do sometimes isexplain why this is so important.
(21:02):
For your family, what could this possiblydo and why you need their support?
Cause your spouse or your partner,you're going to need to get their
buy in eventually, or at leasthave them accept that you're going
to be doing something different.
But it's not always, they're not goingto be the most supportive person.
They're scared and that is okay.
You still do it.
Yeah.
Well, one of the, one of the techniques,so my wife, obviously when I said, Hey,
(21:24):
look, I'm gonna start putting myselfon the public eye, she's like, why?
Why do you, why do you want to do that?
And I'm like, I don't know.
I just felt like there's something insideof me I need to share with the world.
And, um, so we startedcentering the conversation.
Maybe this will help everybody.
We started centering the conversationaround not if I should do it
or not, but if we were goingto do it, how would we do it?
(21:45):
Where she was relatable and she was coolwith it, you know, so she's like, all
right I don't want to see any picturesof nice stuff that we owed i'm like I
can do that Like I don't want to see youout there, you know With stacks of dollar
bills on top of a table and like goingup right all this kind of stuff i'm like
done She's like, all right And then whenyou do your live events and stuff like
that I want to make sure you're surroundedby people to keep you out of trouble
(22:07):
I'm, like so what are you trying to say?
She's like i'm not worried about you.
I'm worried about otherpeople I'm like, okay fine.
So we started we started creating aframework If you will, that's like,
okay, I'll abide by these rulesjust to have your love and support
because this is super important to me.
Um, so maybe the conversation'snot if I should or shouldn't,
it's like, how would we?
I love that.
Yeah.
How can we make this work?
(22:28):
How can I give you a little bit ofsense of security knowing that we're
also going to get uncomfortable?
We're going to have to get uncomfortableto make this work, but what is the level
of uncomfortableness you are willingto live by until we figure this out?
I love that.
Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying the show.
Steven Scoggins here.
I've got something that I think isactually going to blow your mind.
(22:48):
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I want to introduce you tothe 8 Figure Mindset Makeover.
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Until then, much love.
God bless.
Let's get back to the show.
Take care.
Well, the other thing I loveabout the book, too, is there's,
um, you talk about a runway.
So we talked about some do's, like, sodo some of these things before you exit.
(24:13):
Let's talk about the don'ts.
Yeah.
What are types of things we don'twant to do as we're trying to
build this runway to our dream?
Okay.
So one thing we don't wantto do is burn bridges.
And the way that you can easily burna bridge is if you decide to leave
and now you're just sick and tiredof your job and you're like one foot
out and just annoyed, and I've seen.
I've seen it so many times.
(24:33):
So you don't want to burn yourselfout, meaning don't say, don't give
your two weeks notice, but actuallygive six weeks or I mean six months.
Don't like say I'm quitting,but I'll stay for the next six
months to help you guys out.
Do not do that.
You will feel resentful.
So get really clear on how longyou're willing to stay when
you want to give your notice.
Some people give a month's noticejust to help the other person
(24:55):
kind of usher into their role.
But be careful how much timeyou give yourself and how
much time you communicate.
Make sure you are good with it.
Another don't is we're not going tofiddle with business cards and, uh, silly
things like that, that you do not need.
I tell this story in the bookabout my first business card.
It turned out it looked like a condomwrapper at the end when it was designed.
(25:17):
And I spent.
Hours and tons of money onthis dang business card that
I hardly gave out to anyone.
It's just, we preoccupy our stuffthat built with stuff that feels safe.
So don't stay comfortableout in this runway.
You have to start doing things thatyou are not necessarily comfortable
with, but it's so very important.
(25:37):
And I think another thing thatyou don't want to do is don't
turn a blind eye to your finances.
Money anxiety is a real thing whenyou leave your nine to five job.
So if you're thinking about leavingyour nine to five job, one thing I want
you to do is sit down and think, whatdo I need to make in order to get by?
You're not living in the lap of luxuryyour first year as an entrepreneur.
(25:58):
You're not going on the vacations.
You're not driving the nice cars.
You are definitely sacrificing becauseyou want to give yourself a little
time and space to make the mistakesyou need to make and figure it out.
And so how much money do you absolutelyneed to make to get by and then back out?
Okay, here's how I'm going to do that.
My first year, you won'thave all the answers.
You also do not need a business plan.
(26:20):
I've never even seen afull fledged business plan.
I don't know any of my peers whohad one when they first started out.
So an elaborate businessplan, you do not need.
It's busy work.
It's the same kind of, yeah.
So what you need to do to get started.
It's figure out what valueyou can bring to the world and
then start charging for it.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, I mean, that's about it.
Call it a starter idea.
(26:41):
Yeah, exactly.
You need a starter idea just to make moneyin the, on the short term till you figure
out how you want to do it in the longterm.
Yeah.
I mean, I, uh, one of the programs thatwe do, uh, called Unstoppable Startup.
I try to take people through theframework, the five frameworks, which
is, you know, obviously there's astartup phase, which is hustle and grind.
It's just you, you're going out, you'remaking stuff happen, you're knocking stuff
over, you're making lots of mistakes.
(27:02):
Um, then there's the testing phase.
Hey, I got something that's working.
How do I make it better?
How do I, how do I maximize this thing?
You know?
Then you got the scaling stage,which is now you got systems
and processes and people, right?
And then you got this, uh, basicallythe, the, the, the next step,
which is selling or operating.
So you have all thesedifferent, different phases.
And I feel like people get reallyconfused at what phase journey they're in.
They're in the startup phase andthey're thinking, no, I need to
(27:24):
have all these different systems,all these different processes.
And I'm like, no, you justneed to knock something over.
Yes.
It's so true.
So we've talked aboutsome do's and some don'ts.
And maybe we've got people sold, right?
You and I both started businesses, um,from nothing and grew them to something.
And now we're trying to helppeople do to basically learn
from those, those experiences.
(27:45):
What are some other chapters thatwould come out of the, the, the, the,
there were chapters in the Bible thatI don't think ever made it in there.
One is called second hesitations.
Right.
So what are some other hesitationsthat might, would keep you from taking
the leap now versus what, you know,having to wait a year or 10 years?
One of the things is that whenyour job is okay, when you're in a
(28:05):
situation where like at Tony Robbins,I was making good money traveling the
world, going to his events, like onpaper, all of that looks really good.
And when you're in a job that.
It's good.
It's okay.
It gets by.
It's very easy to then justify, I'mgoing to stay here and maybe I'm just
going to dabble on a little side hustle,or maybe I'm going to go to the core,
(28:28):
get the courses, listen to the podcast.
I'm doing all that, but you are doingnothing to move forward in your business.
So what I always talk about isthe fact that you have to get
uncomfortable on a regular basis.
So if you are comfortable and cozyin your nine to five job, but you
know, you are not happy, why wouldyou ever live your life that way?
(28:50):
But it's very easy to do so.
You can make every excuse in thebook why you should leave there.
A recession's coming.
I should never quit my job.
Let me tell you a story.
I had a student.
I tell this in my book where she alwaysthought about being an entrepreneur.
She did the dabbling.
She bought the courses.
She listened to the podcast, thebooks, went to the events, all of
that, but did nothing to get startedbecause she always used the excuse.
(29:11):
It's not the right time.
And she was making a lot ofmoney in her nine to five job.
I don't have X, Y, and Z. Yeah.
Yeah.
And then what happenedis she was laid off.
She didn't have a choice anymore.
They made the choice for her thatyou don't get to work here anymore.
You don't get that paycheck anymore,which could happen to every single
one of us in a nine to five job.
And so her livelihood wastaken away and she scrambled.
(29:32):
She knew she wanted to startsomething, but had started nothing.
So now she's scrambling lastminute to try to get it together.
Imagine if, while she's still in hernine to five job, she gave her six
months to work on her runway to leave.
And then she got laid off.
She'd be ready to go.
Yeah, people are getting laidoff left and right right now.
And some of the biggestcompanies, it's going to trickle
(29:53):
down to the smaller companies.
Do not let them decide for you thatyou're not going to work there anymore.
If you're ready to move, put aplan together, get your runway.
I explained the wholerunway inside the book.
For sure.
For sure.
Another thought I was just thinking ofis all right, so let's, let's say, okay.
Amy, you've sold me.
I'm ready to start my, my gig.
I'm going to go get the book right now.
(30:13):
I know you've got a roadmap.
You got me templates.
You got all kinds of stuff.
I'm gonna follow up.
I'm ready.
Okay.
What do I do day one on my, you know,so yesterday I was employed and today
I'm not employed and I got my own gig.
What am I doing today?
Okay.
I love this question becauseyou're going to look around and be
like, Oh my gosh, what did I do?
I remember that day very vividly.
(30:35):
I was in a tiny little condo in Carlsbad,California, and I was sitting at my
kitchen table cause I did not haveroom for an office and here I was like.
What do I do?
And so I don't remember exactly what Idid on day one, but what, here's what I
wish I did put together a content plan.
So here's where we're goingto get a little tactical here.
Everyone needs to learn howto create original content.
(30:58):
Anyone listening right now that ifyou're struggling in your business,
you're not making enough money, if.
It feels hard and you don't feel likeit's really, uh, gelling together.
It's likely because you don't havea good content marketing plan that's
going to bring in the people into yourbusiness that want to buy from you.
So when I say contentplan, here's what I mean.
Every single week, I want youto figure out a plan how you're
(31:19):
going to create original content.
That means a podcast, a video show.
A blog.
Maybe you go live on IG oncea week, whatever it might be.
Same time, same place, every weekyou have a new piece of content.
And what I don't want you to do is oneweek you podcast, the next week you put up
a video, maybe you blog once in a while.
No, no, no.
We're choosing one platform tobegin with and we're going all in.
(31:41):
Because the day I went all inwith my podcast, which was about
a year into podcasting, where Istruggled that whole first year,
when I started to be consistent.
Every single week is wheremy downloads shot up.
Yeah.
So I want you to puttogether a content plan.
Now the question might be, well,what am I going to talk about?
Well, you might not even be ready tosell anything just yet, but let's start
(32:02):
thinking about what's your starter idea.
What could you talk about in your sleep?
What's something that you feelcomfortable teaching about?
Let's start creating content around there.
Start before you're ready.
Yeah.
Yeah, we know it's funny.
We were, um, chatting before we hoppedon and hit the record button with one
of our mutual friends, Jen, and Jimwas very open to an audience, uh, at an
event that they used to do, and she waslike, she literally showed on screen,
(32:26):
like just getting started and she'slike, okay, this is video number one.
I'm, uh, Yeah, this is video number one.
Oh, hi everybody.
I'm sure hi to people, you know kindof thing And then over the course of
a you know, she showed the transitionfrom you know months to month to
month You know 24 months 36 monthsand not only would does she become
an amazing presenter across that?
(32:46):
But she was also building hercommunity the entire time.
Now I do have a, this is a bit of aselfish question because it, especially in
the thought leadership entrepreneur space,there's a lot of similar concepts because
some concepts are just life truths, right?
This works, right?
Don't spend more money than youmake while you're building a
business or don't do it at all.
You know, but you know, there's,there's things that work.
(33:08):
How does someone actually createtrue original content that feels
that feels original to themversus a mimic or a copycat?
Of, you know, someone theyadmire or respect, like how,
how do you disseminate that?
Okay.
First of all, I love this questionbecause in the beginning, you probably
are going to model someone else.
It's almost inevitable.
(33:28):
You look around, you see what you like.
You're drawn to this.
Oh, I like how they create content.
I'm going to do more of that.
It's very normal to startout that way, but you do not
want to stay there very long.
I totally get my studentspermission to model someone
else that they think is great.
Not copy, but model.
Yeah.
Soon you have to start thinking about.
What is my authentic way of doing this?
(33:50):
How do I want to show up?
In the early days, I watereddown all my messages.
I was not polarizing.
I didn't want to havetoo strong of an opinion.
I didn't want someone notto like me online, which is
impossible for the record.
And at one point, I, I, Finally startedsaying, I'm not getting any traction.
Like I am literally lostin the sea of online noise.
(34:10):
And someone said, it's becauseyour message is super watered down.
Amy, what do you stand for?
And like me saying every single week, youshould have a podcast video or a blog.
Other people totally disagree with me, butI know what works for me and my students.
So I put a stake in the groundand I wasn't scared anymore to
say, this is what you need to do.
Well, some people are going to disagree.
They're going to tell me allthe reasons why I'm wrong.
(34:32):
And in my early years, I believe them.
Oh my gosh, this is why I'm notmeant to be an entrepreneur.
I'm an idiot.
Why would I even say that?
Like, I really believe them.
I called them a thousand yeses and one no.
And you focus on the no.
Exactly.
And that is exactly what happened.
And I called up my friend.
I'm like, this guy online islike thinking I, I'm an idiot.
He's telling everyone that Idon't know what I'm talking about.
(34:53):
And my friend Jasmine, she laughed andshe said, you're not for everyone, boo.
You're not Santa Claus.
You're not going to make everyone happy.
You've got to find your people.
And no, not everyone gets anopinion about your business.
If they're not paying your bills,they do not get an opinion.
And so That's where I startedto think, okay, I've got to put
(35:14):
a stake in the ground and I'vegot to be known for something.
And then I started to learn my own style.
That's the thing.
You don't even know yourstyle in the beginning.
You don't even know howyou want to communicate.
You've never done it before.
So that's why we just got to getstarted, like Jen was saying.
And then you'll kind offind your groove over time.
I'm pretty sure every single one of uswill cringe at the first months of video.
(35:35):
That is true.
I literally want to die.
Yeah, I got rid of the ones with mewith hair, so I got rid of those.
Okay.
Well, I had like a Bob haircut.
I looked like a monk and I, I rememberhad the ugliest background and I had
a lamp that I took the lampshade off.
Cause you know, lighting is themost impossible thing when you're
brand new at making videos.
So like, yeah, we all kind ofcringe and we all start with zero.
(35:57):
Yeah, no, that's so good.
Well, all right.
So I'm going to pivot a little bit.
We talked about why you should.
Like why now's the time to start planningfor your exit and putting your two, two
weeks notice why it's time to go get thebook, why it's time to organize that,
that thought process to get you ready.
Okay.
Yeah.
We've talked about some of the fearsthat you're going to have to overcome,
some of the insecurities that aregoing to hit you and better tell
(36:19):
you about them now than when theyhit you and then you get derailed.
So true.
Right?
Let's talk about what the heck are wegoing to sell and who are we selling to?
Cause not everybody knows the term avatar.
You know, some people think blue peoplewhen they, when they hear the word avatar.
So let's talk aboutavatar product service.
Like how do we figure out who we'regoing to be and what we're going to sell?
And like, how do I mean, howdoes that even come into shape?
(36:40):
Okay.
So the first thing you want to do is thinkabout, okay, what do I want to offer?
And remember, this is your starter idea.
It's going to change down the road.
The first thing I offeredwas Facebook audits.
I, for 300, I would, and then remember,this is the wild west of social media.
So no one knew what they were doing.
So I would audit someone's Facebookpage and tell them what they're doing
well and what they need to fix and givethem tons of examples of how to do it.
(37:03):
300. That's how I mademoney in the beginning.
And I did as many as I could.
That I do not do anything likethat today in my business.
So just know whatever you do in thebeginning, it doesn't stick forever.
And that is a good thing.
So you've got to figure outhow am I going to make money?
And that's where you're goingto look at your expertise.
Where have you gotten results foryourself in your personal life?
(37:23):
In your business life?
What do people ask you about all the time?
What could you teach in your sleep?
Let's just start withwhat you already know.
Now, from there, I callthis the sweet spot.
There's four quadrants.
Okay?
The first thing is, where have you gottenresults for yourself or for somebody else
in your personal life or business life?
The second quadrant is, who do you wantto help with the results you can get them?
(37:44):
So when you start thinking abouthow you can get people results.
Who are the people youcan get results for?
And you said it earlier, it's likelysomeone like you, but maybe a few years
back, you only need a 10 percent edge.
You just need to be 10 percentahead of those you serve so
they can follow your lead.
Who is it?
And when you think about that person,think about their challenges, their
(38:06):
pain points, what's likely keepingthem up at night and make sure that
your results can be the solutionfor what they're looking for.
Okay.
The third quadrant is whereare people spending money?
So are there books about the topic youwant to teach or you want to create a
business around podcasts, other courses?
Are people teaching thisand making money with it?
And if the answer is yes,that is a great thing.
(38:27):
You might say, but Amy, it'salready been done before.
Not by you, my friend.
That's right.
Good.
If it's already making money,cause that's validated.
It's a good thing.
The fourth quadrant is what lights you up?
It doesn't need to be your life passion,but what would you enjoy teaching,
doing, putting out into the world?
Cause you're going to be doing ita lot and you're going to have a
lot of challenges in the beginning.
(38:48):
So you have to be willing to enjoy whatyou're doing and so your expertise.
Your ideal customer avatar, theperson that you can get results for.
Who is that and what are their challenges?
Where are people spendingmoney and what lights you up?
If you start thinking aboutthat, that's your sweet spot.
That's where you start with an offer.
Yeah, no, it's so good.
(39:09):
Um, it's cause you know, you're goingto identify the problem that you're
trying to solve, you're going to,you're going to clarify all that.
I've always said too, that, youknow, you mentioned earlier about.
Where you start is not going tobe what you're going to be doing
three years from now, five yearsfrom now, 10 years from now.
Right.
And I think it's because I have this termthat I've tried to teach our students,
which is pivot until it becomes possible.
Right.
So you're going to, you're going tostart with concept a and because you're
(39:30):
out there grinding and trying to knocksomething over, you're going to realize
that when you knock something over, itactually knocked the bookshelf over,
over here that then the book felloff the wall and you're like, Ooh.
I actually resonate withthat, resonate with that more.
I'm going to do something like that.
And you'll go over thereand you'll do that.
And then five years from now, all of asudden you've, you know, you'll have an
entrepreneurial journey to go from, butin the terms of, you know, pivoting,
I know that content is so important.
(39:52):
You started talking about it andI sidetracked you, unfortunately.
Sorry about that.
This signature content, the signature,you refer to it in the book as kickass
content, which I love the fact thatyou give a roadmap on how to create it,
but I'm curious, how does someone, Iknow with the limited time we got left.
How does someone kickoff kick ass content?
Like, how do they create it?
Okay, so first of all, rememberyou gotta choose your platform.
(40:15):
It's important because if you don't knowthe platform, you're not really sure how
you're going to even create any of this.
So let's pretend you choose a podcast.
I'm going to podcast, whichis one of the easiest ways to
get started for the record.
And so from there, You're going tosit down and I want you to think
of eight weeks of content thatyou could teach based on remember,
(40:35):
we went through the sweet spot.
So now you're kind of clear aboutwhere you're going to start.
I want to teach how I want toteach people how to meal plan.
Let's just say that's whereyou're going to start.
You're a massive meal planner.
You're really good at it.
There's tons of steps that you do.
You're going to teach that.
So now you start thinking, okay,I've got this concept meal planning.
So what are you Eight differentthings that I could teach, add insight
(40:57):
to, tell stories about related tomeal planning and you start to just
brainstorm and list them all out.
And you're going to probably list outmore than eight, but give yourself
10, 20 minutes to just brain dump.
I could teach this, the equipmentyou need, the Tupperware that's
the best, um, how to cook.
Uh, tons of things all at once.
The fact that what are,what should you be cooking?
(41:18):
How should you do your shopping?
All of these different things.
And then you start to think,okay, these are eight different
topics I can talk about.
You now have two months ofcontent that you can batch.
Batching is something I teach in thebook where basically you're going to do
a lot of content creation in one step.
So you're not on the, the hamsterwheel of creating content,
(41:38):
but it starts with that topic.
And then you think all the questionspeople would ask, all the things they
should ask, but they're not asking.
And those are individualpieces of content.
So let's do two months at onceso we can knock a lot out.
Well, and the other thing to tellus, just to get through that, cause
we, we batch content ourselves here.
But the cool thing about batchingcontent is you're also in the frame
(41:58):
of mind and the frame of reference.
Yeah, right.
You're you're steppinginto an undistracted zone.
Yeah, uh to go in and literally createHonestly out of thin air, uh in many
respects Um, i've seen people compoundideas to so much so that becomes super
refined and super clear over time And alot of that is done through the batching
And if I can piggyback on what you'vealso mentioned is when you're creating
(42:20):
that content, go ahead and set up alittle, a little iPhone or something
over to the side of you while you'rerecording the podcast, turn that into
an IG story or something like that.
So you're, you're kind of duplicatingyour effort in a, in a way to help
you maximize the content production.
Absolutely.
I think that's a great idea.
The more different angles of contentyou can create, the easier it gets, but
you have to kind of get in a rhythm of,I'm going to turn my camera on here.
(42:43):
I'm going to get some B roll.
I'm going to record this podcast, butalso turn it into a real, I love that.
Yeah.
Well, we, you know, I've got one finalquestion for you and this is, there's
so much we could talk about, Lord knows.
Love chatting to you aboutthis stuff because you have a
heart to serve entrepreneurs.
You have, I mean, you have a huge heartthat generally wants to serve people.
And I love that about you.
It's one of the reasons I was soexcited to bring you on the show.
(43:04):
But on top of that, I want to talk alittle bit about this over service.
Cause I feel like in thebook, you actually over serve.
You go as far as getting scriptsout for people to send emails
to friends and family andcoworkers and, and, and all that.
First of all, why did you do that?
And second of all, whyshould someone use them?
I care deeply that people actuallytake action with the content I create.
(43:25):
Action creates clarity,clarity creates results.
And so it's not enough for me topeople read my book and think,
that's a good book, good job, Amy.
Nothing is going to come of that.
And if I really believe that I canmake an impact by helping people quit
their 9 to 5 job and find financialfreedom and being their own boss.
Then I have to give themthe tools to take action.
Now it stops there.
(43:46):
I can't do the work for them.
So I always know there's twopeople in this dance for sure.
That's something I teachmy course creators.
You can create a kick ass amazingcourse, give the Best, best instruction.
But at the end of the day, there'stwo people involved, course
creator and the person doing it.
So you have to give a, you haveto let go at one point or another.
(44:06):
But I'm going to give as muchas I can to get you there.
And then hopefully you believe in yourselfenough to say, okay, I'm going to take
what Amy gave me and I'm going to do it.
So I'm all about action.
That is what I'm about.
But also if people actually downloadthe resources and they do it, they're
going to come deeper into my world.
That worked, Amy.
What else do you have?
(44:26):
Like, Oh, you have acourse on digital courses.
Great.
Teach me.
So I do want people more into myworld, but it starts with action.
So I got to help him do so.
And one of the reasons I do that when,anytime I share anybody with our audience,
I want to make sure that they know thatI only bring people on the show that I
have a genuine heart to help them win.
Right, uh, you have a proven track recordlong before I got in into the thought
(44:47):
leadership world or whatever Um, youyou've already been doing it for a long
time But I want people to have a fullappreciation of the work that you put into
this particular work because it's meatyUm, they're going to need a highlighters.
They're going to need ink pens and page.
Like there's going to be alot, there's a lot there.
I do love the fact that it's structuredin a way of, it's kind of like, why, what,
how, when, like it's, this is exactly,so I love the roadmap aspect of it.
(45:11):
Amy, you're a rock star.
Thank you so much for spendingsome time with me today.
I really appreciate it.
Thanks so much for having me.
This was fun.
I appreciate it.
All right.
Take it easy.
See ya.
Bye.
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